Biden wins 96% of the vote in the South Carolina primary. Trump gets less than 55% of the vote in the NH primary. Just going to leave that here. Don't get complacent, work hard, and we will win decisively in November.
And be very suspicious of polls, and of the media, which continues to report on the Presidential election like it is a frigging horse race. The NYT, which should know better, had a reprehensible analysis earlier this week.
Yes. This morning listening to NBC news reporting on a poll (didn't say which one; no context whatsoever--which made me very suspicious) that they "said" had President Biden 20 points behind the stupid orange thing. I didn't believe it for a second, so it was either shriek and throw a hardcover book at the tv or turn it off. In the interests of my spouse's Sunday sports watching, I turned off the tv and banged a few pots around while making a late brunchy breakfast. Mainstream media are NOT reporting in a nonbiased fashion, that much is crystal clear.
Not only between two normal people but pretending that everything that trump does is normal. He is not normal by a far stretch. The things he does are so abnormal.
It's so bad that the news that his little buddy Walt Nauta was charged with a bunch of sexual harassment charges by the Navy in 2021 (I think) that just got some publicity the other day and I didn't hear about it until today. In any other campaign or ex-president's retirement that would be huge news. I had to go to the Daily Beast to get the details. Birds of a feather sure do flock together.
The local NBC newscast repeated the same thing. I also changed the channel. Just a couple of days ago that pollster that starts with a Q had Biden ahead sufficiently. Quinipak or whatever. I try not to pay too much attention either way.
My entire adult life and half of my childhood was reading the daily Los Angeles Times. It seems like 'that' Times is imploding. It's very sad. Such great writers - investigative, City Hall, Arts and Entertainment, Sports! RIP.
One factor is that they are so afraid of being called liberal. Like that's a bad thing. So to hold their image of being impartial, they slam Biden and give trump a pass. That isn't what impartial means.
"Indeed, the mainstream narrative about lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden appears to be dead wrong if you look at results, and not polls."
The mainstream narrative, including many of these early polls, are funded by the right, who hope to make Dem voters question their support for the President.
It didn't work in 2020, and it's not going to work now, especially given Trump's handicaps.
I was just going to write the same thing. I do not pay attention to any polls coming out of major newspapers. I follow Simon‘s analysis and polls. There is literally no point in paying attention to any other polls other than the ones that he considers authentic and reasonable.
It really helps that he had been a long term Senator that he knows how it all works.
I have nothing against Governors, Representatives, or other people who have worked in government running for high office, but I think it's really helpful to have people who actually know how it's supposed to work and how to get it to work. So if you have never worked in government, I think you should learn the ropes at a lower level and not at the top.
Although in a way, that might have been a silver lining. The new crew didn't know what they could or could not do and didn't know how to accomplish what they wanted to do. If trump gets in a second time, he's bringing in a better crew to dismantle the government.
Not to rip on Biden — he's just doing what any other president would do, probably including Bernie if he was in there — but isn't there a better way to handle the Middle East than bombing the crap out of it all the time? What if Biden offered Palestinians a Marshall Plan?
UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, is still in business, even though it was set up in 1949 or something like that. Most of the Iranian proxies maintain their existence on the basis of the 70 year old Palestinian refugee question. Take that issue away from them (obviously there are ethical reasons, but I'm talking simple strategy here), and the majority of these Iranian proxies have no purpose in life. Obviously it would help if other surrounding nations took in more refugees (Jordan is the only one that does), but still, more benign statecraft seems in order.
It would piss off Israel something fierce if we offered up such a plan, but they made their bed by continuously re-electing Netanyahu. For once, I'd like to see American foreign policy people think out of the box just a little. Blowing away desert nomads on Arrakis isn't going to do a damn bit of good.
That said, Vote Biden. We are in a national emergency of epic proportions until the MAGA threat is extinguished.
Completely destroying and trying to reoccupy Palestine, which it appears Israel is trying to do, is going to make the state of Israel a pariah in the world. It’s not going to help them one bit. Netanyahu is out of his mind and shows no interest in negotiating a settlement of any kind.
I do think that what you suggest is going to be a plan going forward. Although not sure when it can commence. Blinken is running around the mid-east having talks with everyone. I'm not sure who is coordinating but someone has gotten the Arab states to pledge rebuilding money to Gaza. Billions of dollars I believe (it's nice to have a big fat stack of petro-dollars to lean back on!)
The problem is how to stop Israel without withdrawing all military aid. The surrounding Arab states would like it if Israel ceased to exist. So Israel does need the protection, but it would be very very helpful if they dumped Netanyahu and his far right friends and got in a government that was committed to making Palestine into a real country (with borders that are respected.)
That said, a huge problem - probably bigger than Netanyahu - is Hamas. They want a permanent war. If Palestine comes into existence as a real country with real leaders, they are out of any power. And they like power. If other people have to die for their power, Hamas does not care. All losses are acceptable to Hamas.
Plus you have to get past all the hurt from the last few months on both sides. Israel (who was not acting with good intention but still didn't deserve it) got brutally attacked where over 1000 innocent Israelis died and many were raped and brutalized. Then you have Israel bombing Palestinians and killing nearly 30,000 and wounding double that. The two acts are not going to make the civilians on either side trust each other and forgive or at least not want vengeance. I'm not sure how to get past that. People are hurting on both sides and there is no trust. I understand that, but it's just such a sad situation. Both countries could be so successful if they could work together as equals.
Great comment, thanks. If I had a counterpoint to any of it, I'd add it, but I don't, so it's best to just let it sit here in the cyber ether and hope it germinates.
I think the GOP giving Biden the opportunity to look more supportive of the Palestinians will only help him in the general election (may help to get the younger, more liberal, voters out).
Also: My social media has been very heavy on ads for RFK, Jr this past week. Is this worrysome? I am concerned a (barely) Democratic third party candidate will siphon off votes from Biden/Harris.
Someone like Kennedy is much more likely to siphon votes from disillusioned Republicans who hate Trump but can't quite talk themselves into voting for Biden.
Well, you are assuming that all people are reasonable and pay attention. But that is not the case, because I know people who will vote Republican because that is simply what they are conditioned to do. They have been trained and brainwashed to hate Democrats; so if they consider Trump too repulsive, they are more likely to vote for a third-party candidate.
Hi Janet, I’ve enjoyed many of your comments over this past year.
Sure, there are definitely the conditioned and the brainwashed. That’s a given.
Our opposition’s most persuasive and most often delivered propaganda is always to frighten us with their strength and savvy game strategies. They MUST make us believe they have the numbers or the slick, underhanded tactics to beat us and to beat us down.
I don’t believe them. I see something totally different. Most of that is because when I bet on our American compatriots to know the score and to know what to do, even when we hear few reports to buoy me up, my bet wins the chips. And not just sometimes. Our people come through and it’s a mistake to underestimate them.
We Americans are truly the people other freedom loving countries have been proud of and we won’t let them down now.
Think of the men on the plane that was set to crash into the Pentagon. They are us.
I totally believe that what you call “our people“ will come through, which is why I don’t spend as much time worrying about whether Biden is going to lose this election as some other people do. I’m absolutely convinced he’s going to win this next election. But I think it’s important that the win be in the landslide territory in order to crush MAGA. We may not get that, but a win is a win. I live in a very red district, and I am familiar with the mentality of people pressing the Republican button, no matter what and no matter who, simply because it is ingrained in them. I think there’s a slim chance that some of those people will vote for President Biden, but many of them won’t. That being the case, there are more of us than there are of them. And Democrats have been very motivated voters over the past several years. I don’t mean to sound divisive, but it’s just a fact, especially based on election results over the past several years since Trump took office.
The number one thing RFK is associated with is his anti-vax stance, which is anathema to Democrats and left-leaning people. He will appeal to the loons, just like Aaron Rodgers and pose more of a threat to trump than Biden.
For a while, those prone to anti-vax messages were middle class suburban types. I think Covid changed that. The whole "anti-vax" idea morphed into the concept of LibUrTee, and damn the consequences. Along with everything else trump did, I doubt RFK has the appeal to the suburban demographic that once he did. So I really hope that he siphons off GOP types.
I call the "my family has been Republican since time immemorial" types "legacy Republicans." I don't CARE if they can't bring themselves to vote for a Dem, so long as they don NOT vote for trump.
And if anybody read the article that the NYT did on his finances - that is a very ugly picture. The guy is pretty much a grifter. He uses his last name to get people to finance his very comfortable lifestyle without doing much work for it. (I feel for his poor wife, she used to be pretty normal. Now she's doing apologies for him.)
The traitor has diminished his own base with all of the division not to mention the ones who died from Covid and the ones in prison. Kennedy is a complete idiot and I can’t see him getting too many votes.
And nutty Marianne Williamson. Sure they are like 1 and 2 percent of the vote, but every vote counts. I don't think Cornell West is going to do very well either. Dean Phillips as well - why doesn't he just quit at this point? (Ego, most likely.)
Let’s not look more supportive of the Palestinians, KC. Let’s BE more supportive. They deserve their own country, do they not? Excuse my nit-picking. I know you meant what you said strategically speaking.
jdvance is an insufferable, arrogant jerk whose lips are so fastened to drump's stinky backside that it's a wonder they didn't appear together.
That bullshyte story that E. Jean Carroll is what the Dems will use to pry drump off the ballot? Nah...it'll be used to impoverish the schmuck who can't keep his big mouth shut... Once drump is no longer "big rich", maybe his supporters will view him a bit differently. Doubtful, but one can hope.
Daniel, I’m not sure I can listen to this because JD Vance makes me sick to my stomach, but I’ll give it a try. I place him, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley right up there among the most repulsive senators we have ever had to endure.
I know, the list is just endless. I did get through 90% of the JD Vance interview. George Stephanopoulos is the only one who can conduct meaningful interviews with traitors. The incredible nonsense and vile garbage that Vance vomits out every time he opens his mouth is more than I can bear. These people have to be brought to their knees.
They’re ON their knees, in front of trump. And I was SO proud of George!! Not only did he call out the lies, but then he cut off his final lie at the end! Was a virtual castration! SO proud!
He’s excellent. George is the only interviewer I can listen to anymore. JD Vance sounded like a complete fool. As I wrote in another newsletter yesterday, they are digging their own graves these Republicans, and they can’t stop doing it. And then someone replied to me with, “ And they’re bringing their own shovels. We don’t even have to supply them.” 😊
That’s rich! Wish I would have thought of that. The thing I’m loving most is how, as soon as they utter some ridiculousness, Biden’s team immediately turns it into a campaign ad.
Share this everywhere!! We need the entire world to see just how bad things are getting, especially when they are saying it out loud, publicly, without a care.
Dean is/was my Congressman here in Minnesota. He did a great job - until now. What was he thinking? Good riddance. He sure burned a lot of bridges in his backyard.
As someone who lived barely a half-mile from his district, I've wondered the same. Him defeating Paulsen in that district, and then getting re-elected was big, and I know he's done a lot of good for the district. I know people who volunteered many hours to his campaign who are really dismayed. Especially when you find out who some of his donors are.
Hubris? Selfishness? Delusional? I don't know what motivated him, but I've always thought it ridiculous when anyone tries to make the jump from Rep. to POTUS. I once thought Phillips might have been a favorite to someday replace Klobuchar or Smith in the Senate. No longer. Good thing he's a got a yogurt fortune to fall back on.
She can have all the great ideas in the world, but doesnt she need to be "known", have serious backers, advisors, messaging, that resonates? Because like Susan Burgess pointed out, she has good ideas...
I don't think her ideas are that great. It's a lot of airy fairy we need more love in the world... I don't find that inspiring even in greeting cards. She doesn't really have any plans to achieve the ideas that aren't bad. Just more love....!?!?!
Susan, Many of her ideas are right on the mark. Have you heard them? She has been under attack in the press and intentionally made a fool of. But granted, she should not be primary-ing Joe Biden. When she drops out I expect her to endorse Biden. That will pull in a lot of people who may not have voted otherwise. Maybe that was her strategy from the beginning.
I have barely read about her, I confess. When I first learned of her, I wasn't impressed-likely I fell victim to what the press wanted me to think. 🤷🏼♀️. Just reading up now on her views, which I align with. Has she had serious backing from donors or run for any other office? Interesting.
She ran in the primaries in 2020. She is often brushed to the side for ‘reasons’. People have biases against smart white women who speak like she does. Everyone ought to hear her out before they decide to dismiss her.
Jay took the words right out of my mouth. She’s an egomaniac extraordinaire. I’ve listened to her speak before, and she just oozes narcissism. It creeps out of her pores as she speaks.
Can you imagine someone like Marianne Williamson, who is essentially a speaker and writer of self-help books about lifestyle choices, managing international affairs and making the decisions that Biden has had to make over the past few years? It’s preposterous.
I have to say that many people like her, but having had a great deal of experience with narcissists and sociopaths in my life, I feel she fits into that box. But I’m sure many people would disagree with me, because even a narcissist occasionally says something meaningful and true. 😊
I am an expert on narcissists and Marianne Williamson is the opposite of that. The press has been fighting her tooth and nail. That negativity is bound to seep in to the community consciousness.
I’m not advocating for her to be president. I’m saying many of her ideas are good ones, better than most, and timely.
To my mind, just the act of believing that you can be president of the United States, with no experience in government and international relations, is an active narcissism. She’s not going to do any harm to President Biden, so I’m not concerned about her being in the primary. And I have no idea if she will endorse him after she drops out; but I have read, listened to, and explored some of her work, and I think she lacks a certain amount of authenticity. I’m actually a bit turned off by her, but these are all opinions and gut feelings, and everyone is going to react differently. I’m not criticizing your opinion of her, I’m just not impressed with her.
Was Greta Thunberg a narcissist when she sat and held her first sign warning people about the environmental issues? She had no experience. Was she cheeky to believe her beliefs could make a difference?
Wonderful jobs our pollsters are doing. In NH, they predicted Biden at +22, but he made +44 without actually being on the ballot. They predicted Trump at +23, and he edged by at just +11. For the lord of the party and most popular man in the world, that's got to hurt.
Then in SC, they put Biden at +64, and this time, being on the ballot, he came in at a whopping +94.5.
Looks like the pollsters are using magic 8 balls. Me thinks we should ignore them until they show that they can perform better than flipping coins.
ME idiocy continues, and NO lessons learned by the Americans...salt every corner of the conflict-rich region with US bases using the time-worn "trip-wire" strategy - "Oh, look, those filthy ragheads are attacking our boys, let's nuke the mullahs!"
The Blob remains fully in control of US policy in the ME, doing the Saudis' and Israelis' dirty work for them, all the while Biden waves the AUMF arrogantly at Congress and the public as "justification" for yet opening another theatre of war.
Agreed Pete! I’m also a Minnesotan and every time he talked I waited for him to say ANYTHING useful about policy. He just kept talking about Biden being too old - I wish the interviewers had challenged him on what he would do differently besides just be younger. I never thought of him as arrogant until this dumb decision.
Biden wins 96% of the vote in the South Carolina primary. Trump gets less than 55% of the vote in the NH primary. Just going to leave that here. Don't get complacent, work hard, and we will win decisively in November.
And be very suspicious of polls, and of the media, which continues to report on the Presidential election like it is a frigging horse race. The NYT, which should know better, had a reprehensible analysis earlier this week.
Yes. This morning listening to NBC news reporting on a poll (didn't say which one; no context whatsoever--which made me very suspicious) that they "said" had President Biden 20 points behind the stupid orange thing. I didn't believe it for a second, so it was either shriek and throw a hardcover book at the tv or turn it off. In the interests of my spouse's Sunday sports watching, I turned off the tv and banged a few pots around while making a late brunchy breakfast. Mainstream media are NOT reporting in a nonbiased fashion, that much is crystal clear.
They're treating it like it's a presidential race between two normal people, which is their first error. It just gets worse from there.
Exactly!
Not only between two normal people but pretending that everything that trump does is normal. He is not normal by a far stretch. The things he does are so abnormal.
It's so bad that the news that his little buddy Walt Nauta was charged with a bunch of sexual harassment charges by the Navy in 2021 (I think) that just got some publicity the other day and I didn't hear about it until today. In any other campaign or ex-president's retirement that would be huge news. I had to go to the Daily Beast to get the details. Birds of a feather sure do flock together.
The local NBC newscast repeated the same thing. I also changed the channel. Just a couple of days ago that pollster that starts with a Q had Biden ahead sufficiently. Quinipak or whatever. I try not to pay too much attention either way.
The New York Times has become an embarrassment. I have a Trump Headline Corrector on my substack that is almost all NYT headlines.
Go figure. Why is NYT doing that, in your opinion? Yeesh!
Follow the money. Who owns the NYT and what do they get out of biased coverage? More clicks and ad revenue? Plumps up the bottom line.
My entire adult life and half of my childhood was reading the daily Los Angeles Times. It seems like 'that' Times is imploding. It's very sad. Such great writers - investigative, City Hall, Arts and Entertainment, Sports! RIP.
One factor is that they are so afraid of being called liberal. Like that's a bad thing. So to hold their image of being impartial, they slam Biden and give trump a pass. That isn't what impartial means.
Thank you voters of SC, for declaring your love for Democracy, united we stand! Vote 💙
"Indeed, the mainstream narrative about lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden appears to be dead wrong if you look at results, and not polls."
The mainstream narrative, including many of these early polls, are funded by the right, who hope to make Dem voters question their support for the President.
It didn't work in 2020, and it's not going to work now, especially given Trump's handicaps.
Biden 2024 all the way.
Quite right. I wrote about the weaponization of polls by the GOP in an earlier piece in The Big Picture. Hope everyone is subscribed! https://open.substack.com/pub/thinkbigpicture/p/weaponized-polling-republicans-trump-biden?r=1zr8b&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I do...the Status Quo and the Big Picture.
See Simon Rosenberg for accurate polls…
I was just going to write the same thing. I do not pay attention to any polls coming out of major newspapers. I follow Simon‘s analysis and polls. There is literally no point in paying attention to any other polls other than the ones that he considers authentic and reasonable.
Biden is not doing what any other President would do, at least the way I see it. He is working against a hostile takeover from the inside.
..and doing it remarkably well.
It really helps that he had been a long term Senator that he knows how it all works.
I have nothing against Governors, Representatives, or other people who have worked in government running for high office, but I think it's really helpful to have people who actually know how it's supposed to work and how to get it to work. So if you have never worked in government, I think you should learn the ropes at a lower level and not at the top.
I agree with that. It upset me so much when Trump got rid of the talented people who understood how government was supposed to function.
Although in a way, that might have been a silver lining. The new crew didn't know what they could or could not do and didn't know how to accomplish what they wanted to do. If trump gets in a second time, he's bringing in a better crew to dismantle the government.
Everything that trump the loser (etc) touches go rotten and corrupt. At last the republicans show their true faces. Down with them!
Not to rip on Biden — he's just doing what any other president would do, probably including Bernie if he was in there — but isn't there a better way to handle the Middle East than bombing the crap out of it all the time? What if Biden offered Palestinians a Marshall Plan?
UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, is still in business, even though it was set up in 1949 or something like that. Most of the Iranian proxies maintain their existence on the basis of the 70 year old Palestinian refugee question. Take that issue away from them (obviously there are ethical reasons, but I'm talking simple strategy here), and the majority of these Iranian proxies have no purpose in life. Obviously it would help if other surrounding nations took in more refugees (Jordan is the only one that does), but still, more benign statecraft seems in order.
It would piss off Israel something fierce if we offered up such a plan, but they made their bed by continuously re-electing Netanyahu. For once, I'd like to see American foreign policy people think out of the box just a little. Blowing away desert nomads on Arrakis isn't going to do a damn bit of good.
That said, Vote Biden. We are in a national emergency of epic proportions until the MAGA threat is extinguished.
Completely destroying and trying to reoccupy Palestine, which it appears Israel is trying to do, is going to make the state of Israel a pariah in the world. It’s not going to help them one bit. Netanyahu is out of his mind and shows no interest in negotiating a settlement of any kind.
These are good ideas, in my opinion.
I do think that what you suggest is going to be a plan going forward. Although not sure when it can commence. Blinken is running around the mid-east having talks with everyone. I'm not sure who is coordinating but someone has gotten the Arab states to pledge rebuilding money to Gaza. Billions of dollars I believe (it's nice to have a big fat stack of petro-dollars to lean back on!)
The problem is how to stop Israel without withdrawing all military aid. The surrounding Arab states would like it if Israel ceased to exist. So Israel does need the protection, but it would be very very helpful if they dumped Netanyahu and his far right friends and got in a government that was committed to making Palestine into a real country (with borders that are respected.)
That said, a huge problem - probably bigger than Netanyahu - is Hamas. They want a permanent war. If Palestine comes into existence as a real country with real leaders, they are out of any power. And they like power. If other people have to die for their power, Hamas does not care. All losses are acceptable to Hamas.
Plus you have to get past all the hurt from the last few months on both sides. Israel (who was not acting with good intention but still didn't deserve it) got brutally attacked where over 1000 innocent Israelis died and many were raped and brutalized. Then you have Israel bombing Palestinians and killing nearly 30,000 and wounding double that. The two acts are not going to make the civilians on either side trust each other and forgive or at least not want vengeance. I'm not sure how to get past that. People are hurting on both sides and there is no trust. I understand that, but it's just such a sad situation. Both countries could be so successful if they could work together as equals.
Great comment, thanks. If I had a counterpoint to any of it, I'd add it, but I don't, so it's best to just let it sit here in the cyber ether and hope it germinates.
Thanks for this and all of your work.
I think the GOP giving Biden the opportunity to look more supportive of the Palestinians will only help him in the general election (may help to get the younger, more liberal, voters out).
Also: My social media has been very heavy on ads for RFK, Jr this past week. Is this worrysome? I am concerned a (barely) Democratic third party candidate will siphon off votes from Biden/Harris.
Someone like Kennedy is much more likely to siphon votes from disillusioned Republicans who hate Trump but can't quite talk themselves into voting for Biden.
I hope you are correct about Kennedy. He seems like a weasel to me.
He is a total weasel. But even the weasels don't want him. They say they have integrity and he's lacking that.
hoping that is not so, Robert is tarnishing the Kennedy name.
What’s not to talk themselves into? Biden has been brilliant in his direction so far.
Well, you are assuming that all people are reasonable and pay attention. But that is not the case, because I know people who will vote Republican because that is simply what they are conditioned to do. They have been trained and brainwashed to hate Democrats; so if they consider Trump too repulsive, they are more likely to vote for a third-party candidate.
Hi Janet, I’ve enjoyed many of your comments over this past year.
Sure, there are definitely the conditioned and the brainwashed. That’s a given.
Our opposition’s most persuasive and most often delivered propaganda is always to frighten us with their strength and savvy game strategies. They MUST make us believe they have the numbers or the slick, underhanded tactics to beat us and to beat us down.
I don’t believe them. I see something totally different. Most of that is because when I bet on our American compatriots to know the score and to know what to do, even when we hear few reports to buoy me up, my bet wins the chips. And not just sometimes. Our people come through and it’s a mistake to underestimate them.
We Americans are truly the people other freedom loving countries have been proud of and we won’t let them down now.
Think of the men on the plane that was set to crash into the Pentagon. They are us.
“Let’s roll.”
I totally believe that what you call “our people“ will come through, which is why I don’t spend as much time worrying about whether Biden is going to lose this election as some other people do. I’m absolutely convinced he’s going to win this next election. But I think it’s important that the win be in the landslide territory in order to crush MAGA. We may not get that, but a win is a win. I live in a very red district, and I am familiar with the mentality of people pressing the Republican button, no matter what and no matter who, simply because it is ingrained in them. I think there’s a slim chance that some of those people will vote for President Biden, but many of them won’t. That being the case, there are more of us than there are of them. And Democrats have been very motivated voters over the past several years. I don’t mean to sound divisive, but it’s just a fact, especially based on election results over the past several years since Trump took office.
Our people are just thinking, decent Americans who look for and carefully weigh sources of reporting that reflect the case at hand.
I’m sorry for that error. That plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
The number one thing RFK is associated with is his anti-vax stance, which is anathema to Democrats and left-leaning people. He will appeal to the loons, just like Aaron Rodgers and pose more of a threat to trump than Biden.
For a while, those prone to anti-vax messages were middle class suburban types. I think Covid changed that. The whole "anti-vax" idea morphed into the concept of LibUrTee, and damn the consequences. Along with everything else trump did, I doubt RFK has the appeal to the suburban demographic that once he did. So I really hope that he siphons off GOP types.
I call the "my family has been Republican since time immemorial" types "legacy Republicans." I don't CARE if they can't bring themselves to vote for a Dem, so long as they don NOT vote for trump.
And if anybody read the article that the NYT did on his finances - that is a very ugly picture. The guy is pretty much a grifter. He uses his last name to get people to finance his very comfortable lifestyle without doing much work for it. (I feel for his poor wife, she used to be pretty normal. Now she's doing apologies for him.)
It worries me.
Think Nader.
I don't know a single Democratic voter that is interested in him, or even takes him seriously.
The traitor has diminished his own base with all of the division not to mention the ones who died from Covid and the ones in prison. Kennedy is a complete idiot and I can’t see him getting too many votes.
Think Jill Stein, too.
Yes.
And nutty Marianne Williamson. Sure they are like 1 and 2 percent of the vote, but every vote counts. I don't think Cornell West is going to do very well either. Dean Phillips as well - why doesn't he just quit at this point? (Ego, most likely.)
Let’s not look more supportive of the Palestinians, KC. Let’s BE more supportive. They deserve their own country, do they not? Excuse my nit-picking. I know you meant what you said strategically speaking.
Need more ammunition against Republicans? How 'bout this interview this morning on ABC This Week? From none other than my Ohio's fascist Senator, jd vance. https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/1-1-sen-jd-vance-106933004
jdvance is an insufferable, arrogant jerk whose lips are so fastened to drump's stinky backside that it's a wonder they didn't appear together.
That bullshyte story that E. Jean Carroll is what the Dems will use to pry drump off the ballot? Nah...it'll be used to impoverish the schmuck who can't keep his big mouth shut... Once drump is no longer "big rich", maybe his supporters will view him a bit differently. Doubtful, but one can hope.
Daniel, I’m not sure I can listen to this because JD Vance makes me sick to my stomach, but I’ll give it a try. I place him, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley right up there among the most repulsive senators we have ever had to endure.
I'd add Tubby, Scott, Scott, Johnson, Grassley.....man, it's a long list!! And that's just the Senate!
I know, the list is just endless. I did get through 90% of the JD Vance interview. George Stephanopoulos is the only one who can conduct meaningful interviews with traitors. The incredible nonsense and vile garbage that Vance vomits out every time he opens his mouth is more than I can bear. These people have to be brought to their knees.
They’re ON their knees, in front of trump. And I was SO proud of George!! Not only did he call out the lies, but then he cut off his final lie at the end! Was a virtual castration! SO proud!
He’s excellent. George is the only interviewer I can listen to anymore. JD Vance sounded like a complete fool. As I wrote in another newsletter yesterday, they are digging their own graves these Republicans, and they can’t stop doing it. And then someone replied to me with, “ And they’re bringing their own shovels. We don’t even have to supply them.” 😊
That’s rich! Wish I would have thought of that. The thing I’m loving most is how, as soon as they utter some ridiculousness, Biden’s team immediately turns it into a campaign ad.
Yikes, a Peter Thiel special…
Share this everywhere!! We need the entire world to see just how bad things are getting, especially when they are saying it out loud, publicly, without a care.
Fucking shit show…🙈 sorry for the salty language, the occasion seems to call for it!
I don't usually use them, but I DO know al the words!
I do on a regular basis…
Yes, it was a repulsive interview, as much of it as I could tolerate listening to. Ugh... How do people like this get elected to begin with???
Well, it IS Ohio, where the most corrupt state government in the Union has destroyed public education and all but eliminated voting rights.
Dean is/was my Congressman here in Minnesota. He did a great job - until now. What was he thinking? Good riddance. He sure burned a lot of bridges in his backyard.
As someone who lived barely a half-mile from his district, I've wondered the same. Him defeating Paulsen in that district, and then getting re-elected was big, and I know he's done a lot of good for the district. I know people who volunteered many hours to his campaign who are really dismayed. Especially when you find out who some of his donors are.
Hubris? Selfishness? Delusional? I don't know what motivated him, but I've always thought it ridiculous when anyone tries to make the jump from Rep. to POTUS. I once thought Phillips might have been a favorite to someday replace Klobuchar or Smith in the Senate. No longer. Good thing he's a got a yogurt fortune to fall back on.
Exactly.
Marianne Williamson. Bless her heart. Why? 🤦♀️
Narcissistic disorder?
She can have all the great ideas in the world, but doesnt she need to be "known", have serious backers, advisors, messaging, that resonates? Because like Susan Burgess pointed out, she has good ideas...
I don't think her ideas are that great. It's a lot of airy fairy we need more love in the world... I don't find that inspiring even in greeting cards. She doesn't really have any plans to achieve the ideas that aren't bad. Just more love....!?!?!
Susan, Many of her ideas are right on the mark. Have you heard them? She has been under attack in the press and intentionally made a fool of. But granted, she should not be primary-ing Joe Biden. When she drops out I expect her to endorse Biden. That will pull in a lot of people who may not have voted otherwise. Maybe that was her strategy from the beginning.
I have barely read about her, I confess. When I first learned of her, I wasn't impressed-likely I fell victim to what the press wanted me to think. 🤷🏼♀️. Just reading up now on her views, which I align with. Has she had serious backing from donors or run for any other office? Interesting.
She ran in the primaries in 2020. She is often brushed to the side for ‘reasons’. People have biases against smart white women who speak like she does. Everyone ought to hear her out before they decide to dismiss her.
Jay took the words right out of my mouth. She’s an egomaniac extraordinaire. I’ve listened to her speak before, and she just oozes narcissism. It creeps out of her pores as she speaks.
OK. I've never heard her speak...now I'm curious! Gonna have to look her up... Thanks guys!
Can you imagine someone like Marianne Williamson, who is essentially a speaker and writer of self-help books about lifestyle choices, managing international affairs and making the decisions that Biden has had to make over the past few years? It’s preposterous.
Well, maybe she can help Putin make different lifestyle choices that would benefit himself and the rest of the world. 🤷🏼♀️🤣
Yes, she can help him get in touch with his inner goodness. 🤠😂
LOL!!
…or his inner badness.
Putin would skewer her on a stick and eat her as a snack. She's never been up against someone like that.
Open your mind Janet. Go to her website and watch her videos. Hear her words. Then dismiss her if you still want to.
I have to say that many people like her, but having had a great deal of experience with narcissists and sociopaths in my life, I feel she fits into that box. But I’m sure many people would disagree with me, because even a narcissist occasionally says something meaningful and true. 😊
I am an expert on narcissists and Marianne Williamson is the opposite of that. The press has been fighting her tooth and nail. That negativity is bound to seep in to the community consciousness.
I’m not advocating for her to be president. I’m saying many of her ideas are good ones, better than most, and timely.
To my mind, just the act of believing that you can be president of the United States, with no experience in government and international relations, is an active narcissism. She’s not going to do any harm to President Biden, so I’m not concerned about her being in the primary. And I have no idea if she will endorse him after she drops out; but I have read, listened to, and explored some of her work, and I think she lacks a certain amount of authenticity. I’m actually a bit turned off by her, but these are all opinions and gut feelings, and everyone is going to react differently. I’m not criticizing your opinion of her, I’m just not impressed with her.
Was Greta Thunberg a narcissist when she sat and held her first sign warning people about the environmental issues? She had no experience. Was she cheeky to believe her beliefs could make a difference?
You are misreading her.
No, not in my opinion, and I’ve listened to plenty of her talks and even took an online class with her. I do not think she’s authentic.
Ha ha ha, it’s her Vassar accent.
No, Susan, I’m not that superficial. It’s way more than that. Let’s just agree to disagree because I really can’t continue this thread.
My comment about her accent was not meant to pin superficially on you. Not at all.
Wonderful jobs our pollsters are doing. In NH, they predicted Biden at +22, but he made +44 without actually being on the ballot. They predicted Trump at +23, and he edged by at just +11. For the lord of the party and most popular man in the world, that's got to hurt.
Then in SC, they put Biden at +64, and this time, being on the ballot, he came in at a whopping +94.5.
Looks like the pollsters are using magic 8 balls. Me thinks we should ignore them until they show that they can perform better than flipping coins.
Apologies to Dean, but Joe is on an express train.
ME idiocy continues, and NO lessons learned by the Americans...salt every corner of the conflict-rich region with US bases using the time-worn "trip-wire" strategy - "Oh, look, those filthy ragheads are attacking our boys, let's nuke the mullahs!"
The Blob remains fully in control of US policy in the ME, doing the Saudis' and Israelis' dirty work for them, all the while Biden waves the AUMF arrogantly at Congress and the public as "justification" for yet opening another theatre of war.
Same as it ever was.
“ the mainstream narrative about lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden appears to be dead wrong if you look at results, and not polls.”
Gee. What a surprise.
There are lies, damn lies, statistics, and then there are polls.
With apologies to Samuel Clemens
Agreed Pete! I’m also a Minnesotan and every time he talked I waited for him to say ANYTHING useful about policy. He just kept talking about Biden being too old - I wish the interviewers had challenged him on what he would do differently besides just be younger. I never thought of him as arrogant until this dumb decision.
Hopefully Dean Phillips will take the hint and suspend his nothing of a campaign.