Before I get to the good news, I’d like to weigh in on the general panic I saw in left wing circles this weekend about Trump’s approval numbers.
Y'all, take it easy. A 42% approval is PATHETIC. It is super low. It is lower than almost any other president at this time in his tenure (the only one who was SLIGHTLY lower at this point since polling began was Carter who had a GREAT second term, as I recall /s).
In addition to being historically low, it is insanely low with the country, to most people’s eyes, doing so well. The economy is humming along. Unemployment is at a record low. We are approaching possible peace talks with a major threat.
To have approval numbers in the negatives with those kinds of facts? That gives me great hope!
Think about it. Readers of these diaries follow the news and keep track of all that is going on. So we know that the economy is actually Obama’s economy. We know that Trump is mortgaging our future for short term gains.
But most people don’t follow that closely. And Trump is constantly, non-stop, pushing how awesome and amazing he is. And even with that, and with many things cooperating in the world right now, he can’t get his numbers out of the hole (i.e. higher negatives than positives).
That gives me great hope for us.
Trump likes to talk about how his base wouldn’t turn on him even if he shot someone. That may be true, but these numbers give me hope that the MAJORITY of Americans will not be snowed by him even if he puts on his best show possible. No matter what kind of horse and pony show he puts on, the majority of Americans are not buying what he is selling. The majority of us are disgusted with the racist dog whistling, the lying, the attacks on the media and judiciary, and the constant grifting. And that is GREAT news.
Would it be better if more Americans were aware of what was really going on and turned against him? Yes, it would. But I honestly think that is likely to happen eventually. Trump has pressure from so many sides. The truth about him will come out. And he knows it.
Trump is totally panicking about his secrets all coming out. For example, we can see his panic in this pathetic Giuliani show he is allowing:
Rudy Giuliani is a Pathetic Last Ditch Effort that Shows Trump is Truly Out of Good Options
Giuliani’s shit show of narcissistic idiocracy is good news not only for the reasons below, but because that Trump is letting it happen is a sure sign of how few legal options he has and how panicked he is about the storm that is coming after him.
Rudy Giuliani won’t rule out Trump pleading the Fifth Amendment in another bewildering interview
Rudy Giuliani is not helping. The newly appointed lawyer on President Donald Trump’s Russia investigation defense team has been on a befuddling media blitzin recent days; most recently, Giuliani said in an appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday that the $130,000 payout to keep Stormy Daniels quiet was too little and that Trump might not cooperate with a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller. Giuliani wouldn’t rule out the president pleading the Fifth Amendment in the Mueller probe or or definitively answer questions about whether another Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, had paid hush money to other women.
Giuliani stumbles into another fiasco
“He”ll get his facts straight,” President Trump said Friday of his new personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. “I say, You know what? Learn before you speak. It’s a lot easier.” Yet there Giuliani was Sunday morning, speaking on ABC News’s “This Week” with host George Stephanopolous. The result was a fiasco.
There were too many remarkable utterances during the interview, including refusing to say whether the president would comply with a subpoena and opining that “I happen to think [James] Comey is Judas,” to break down every single one. But there are two things to learn from the latest Giuliani train wreck. First, regardless of the legal questions, the line the president and his team are trying to walk narrows daily. What was once “Trump doesn’t know Stormy Daniels” became “he met her but didn’t know about the payoff” and is now “he knew, but he also didn’t know because he makes so many of these payoffs.” The alleged affair with Daniels may not carry the legal danger of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe, but politically speaking it’s more and more likely Trump won’t be able to make this story (and possibly others to come) go away.
Second, Giuliani’s continued presence on TV, even after Trump tried to walk back his comments, proves there’s no cavalry coming over the hill to save the president. It was bad enough for the president that he had to settle for Giuliani after other more capable legal minds such as Theodore B. Olson turned him down. It’s even more embarrassing that, after Giuliani’s other disastrous interviews, this White House was still fine with him representing the president on a major talk show. With the talent pool around Trump this shallow, no wonder the president can’t stop tripping over himself.
I bolded that because it is my main point here. Giuliani is being allowed to fail this badly because there is no better option.
and there may be real consequences to his idiocy: Rudy Giuliani's flubs may let Stormy Daniels take down President Trump
The danger, however, is far greater than a lawyer learning about a case live on television like some legal reality show. The problem for Trump is that the Daniels controversy could supply the obstruction case
The Daniels case could present a case for obstruction or related crimes. There are no complicating constitutional powers or political judgments. The New York prosecutors are investigating the payments and have conducted a raid that, in part, sought information related to payments to Daniels as well as similar payments to Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Efforts to withhold evidence, encourage false testimony, or influence witnesses could present credible foundation for criminal charges ranging from witness tampering, obstruction to subornation.
The greatest danger of the campaign-finance allegations, however, is not the charge itself. These violations are rarely charged criminally and, as shown in the failed prosecution of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, difficult to prove.
Rather, the greatest danger is the response to the investigation into campaign-finance violations or fraud. Again, all the prosecutors need is a criminal investigation to lay the foundation for more serious crimes such as obstruction.
Another problem this may cause → it might lead Cohen to flip. Check out this new story: “I’D DIE FOR MY WIFE AND MY KIDS. AND THIS IS ALL RUINING THEIR LIVES”: AFTER RUDY’S MELTDOWN, MICHAEL COHEN GRAPPLES WITH HIS NEW REALITY
Cohen’s friends warned him that at the end of the day, Trump only looks out for himself. And no matter the intention of his comments, Cohen recognizes that these interviews have complicated his legal situation. They have also added to his mental strain and financial burden. Cohen has told friends that he and his wife have lost a collective 20 pounds since the raids.
Cohen himself is grappling with the fact that, in his early fifties, his life and his business will never be the same, and that he is isolated from the people in Washington around Trump, who, he has said, have been treating him as though he is “disposable.”
“I am sitting here in this nightmare,” he has told people. He has said he has had no peace since January 2017, when BuzzFeed published the so-called “dossier” that made several claims about Cohen’s interactions with Russians throughout the presidential campaign (claims he has repeatedly denied). Since the raids, however, and following Giuliani’s media blitz, two people said that Cohen feels even more alone. Friends have said that “Washington has made a huge mistake” in hanging him out to dry. “That,” one person said, “is a dangerous place for him to be.”
And the reviews of Giuliani are a pleasure to read:
Trump grows frustrated with Giuliani as Stormy Daniels drama rages on
President Donald Trump has shaken up his legal team in the last three weeks — and he’s still not happy.
The president has been griping to associates that Rudy Giuliani, his new personal attorney, has failed to shut down the Stormy Daniels hush money saga. And he has expressed frustration that Giuliani’s media appearances are raising more questions than they are answering, turning the story into a days-long drama capped by the admission Sunday that the president may have made similar payments to other women.
Schiff: Giuliani has been ‘deeply hurtful’ to Trump’s defense
Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday said Rudy Giuliani’s recent statements as President Donald Trump’s new lawyer have been unhelpful to his client.
The California Democrat, a former prosecutor and the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he was “taken aback” by Giuliani’s legal strategy in defending the president against allegations that a payment from his longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels violated campaign finance laws.
“His legal defense for the president seems to be a bit orthodox [sic], to start out by saying, ‘You can’t believe the president of the United States. That’s our defense. So when he says things you’ve just got to discount them,’” Schiff said. “‘And more than that, trust me, this wasn’t a violation of campaign laws.’ Neither one of those things is pretty persuasive.”
Lanny Davis: Giuliani needs to be replaced
Longtime Hillary Clinton ally Lanny Davis said Sunday that he believes President Trump needs to replace attorney Rudy Giuliani because of the former New York City mayor’s comments about a payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels.
Davissaid on “Fox News Sunday” that he believes Giuliani will be subpoenaed over whether the $130,000 payment to Daniels as part of a nondisclosure agreement constituted a campaign contribution.
“I think that there’s at least an argument that by speaking publicly about a conversation with the president that he becomes a fact witness on a crucial question,” Davis said.
Stormy Daniels attorney: Giuliani interview an 'unmitigated disaster'
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ attorney said on Sunday that Rudy Giuliani’s appearance on ABC minutes before him was an “absolute unmitigated disaster” for President Donald Trump’s legal counsel.
“I can’t believe that that actually just happened,” Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.” “I mean, what we witnessed by Rudy Giuliani may be one of the worst TV appearances by any attorney on behalf of a client in modern times.”
Claiming that he has evidence Trump knew about the Daniels payment, despite denying it to reporters on Air Force One, Avenatti said the end result of the case “is going to be a disaster for Michael Cohen, the president and now Rudy Giuliani.”
“It is time for Rudy Giuliani to be put out to pasture,” Avenatti concluded.
speaking of Avenatti:
Michael Avenatti is Awesome
The Brilliant Egomaniac Who Could Bring Down Donald Trump: In praise of Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti.
Someday, when the story of Donald Trump’s decline and fall comes to be written, historians may wonder at the impact of a hiring decision that passed by unnoted at the time. When Stormy Daniels brought on Michael Avenatti, she unleashed a force of nature who has been steadily besting Trump at his own game. Now, two months after Avenatti first appeared on the porn actress’ behalf, Daniels’ lawyer has laid a series of traps that have genuinely imperiled Trump’s presidency.
If Robert Mueller is silent as the tomb, Michael Avenatti is a midtown traffic jam—specifically, the one between 30 Rock and the Time Warner Center. At this point he has replaced the old “full Ginsburg” with theAvenatti ricochet—MSBNC to CNN to MSNBC and back to CNN in the same day. He is a risk-taker and a rule-breaker. He gets his energy from insulting enemies and taking theatrical umbrage at their pathetic responses. But if he mirrors Trump in certain respects, Avenatti is deeply unlike him in ways that matter greatly to their conflict. His ego is large, but aligns with his desired outcome. His impulse is to use the truth to his advantage rather than to spin a convenient lie.
As a legal strategist, Avenatti is similarly calculating, a setter of snares that the president and his men aren’t clever enough to evade.
Before it became clear that Cohen was in legal jeopardy, Avenatti framed these choices in a way designed to a drive wedge between Trump and his lawyer. This split may prove even more decisive than Avenatti could have anticipated back in March. But Avenatti has always understood that when presented with binaries of this sort, his adversaries reliably choose in a way that proves disastrous. Trump tests one alternative, then the other, then the other, until he has backed himself into an inescapable position. We see this same dynamic around the question of whether to testify before the special counsel. Trump says he will, but can’t. As soon as Trump says anything, Avenatti reframes the issue as an unappealing choice.
Avenatti expects more hush payments to be revealed
Adult-film star Stormy Daniels's attorney, Michael Avenatti, said Sunday that he believes evidence will be revealed proving Michael Cohen paid other women to cover up alleged affairs with President Trump.
"Women have come forward and contacted our office, George, as I’ve stated in the past. And we haven’t completed vetting those stories but I think at the end of the day, there’s going to be evidence of such payments," Avenatti told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week."
Avenatti later pointed to Giuliani's comments and argued that they meant such payments on Trump's behalf were "commonplace."
"The president had effectively an extramarital affair slush fund that was administered by Michael Cohen, and that he would just be expected to take care of these things," Avenatti said.
"I mean, that in and of itself should be very disturbing," he continued. "Most people of means, most people of wealth and celebrity, they don’t have extramarital affair slush funds and the suggestion is insulting."
Glad he is on our side!
Great Election News
Republicans whose jobs once seemed safe are struggling for a 2018 survival strategy
Across the country, dozens of House Republicans who previously coasted to victory are for the first time facing credible and well-financed Democratic opponents — and working furiously to find a strategy for survival.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) delivered a stern message last month to the rank and file after a surprisingly narrow special election win in a reliably Republican Arizona district: Wake up, because Democrats are motivated.
As I have mentioned before, they really are between a rock and a hard place in this one. They need Trump to get their base going, but too much Trump pushes independents and swing voters to the Democratic side
Politico reports this morning that Trump’s team actively wants to frame the midterms as a referendum on whether his presidency should survive, by arguing that a Democratic-led Congress would result in impeachment.
You know who is giving Trump this advice? BANNON that genius who got us a senate seat in Alabama. Oh, do go and follow his advice boys. What a winner he turned out to be! /s
He wants trump on every ticket out there and so does trump!
One imagines that Democrats will seize on this quote: Yep, Trump is on the ticket in every district. And by the way, it isn’t just Bannon. Other GOP strategists have explicitly said that a war with Mueller will turn out the base. As one of them recently put it: “Voters see themselves in this fight with the president.”
It is certainly true that Republican voters view things this way. But independent voters do not. A recent Post-ABC News poll found that 70 percent of independents support Mueller’s probe into possible Russia-Trump campaign collusion, and 65 percent of them support his probe of Trump’s business activities. And a recent Quinnipiac poll found that 58 percent of independents say Mueller’s probe is fair.
As Amy Walter recently pointed out, even if Republican voters do “come home” to the GOP candidates this fall, a big question will be which way undecided and independent voters break — and right now, they don’t like the president. Given this and the broad support among independents for the Mueller investigation, it’s hard to see how a sustained confrontation with him will help GOP candidates among those voters.
Well they still have the Cut Cut Cut bill to run on right? Nope. Republicans in key election races turn down volume on Trump's tax cuts
Right after Republicans in the U.S. Senate passed their income tax overhaul in December, delivering tax cuts to businesses and most American taxpayers, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was buoyant.
Surrounded by jubilant fellow Republicans, he told reporters, “If we can’t sell this to the American people, we ought to go into another line of work.”
Four months later, McConnell’s attempt at levity could prove prophetic.
The most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the tightest congressional races in the November elections are talking less and less about the tax cuts on Twitter and Facebook, on their campaign and congressional websites and in digital ads, the vital tools of a modern election campaign, a Reuters analysis of their online utterances shows.
We would LOVE for you to go into another line of work! We’ll help you get there in November!
And they can’t get any big name people to get their voters out → GOP is scrambling to identify headliners who might boost enthusiasm on the 2018 trail
Republicans don’t just suffer an enthusiasm gap this year. They also have the weighty problem of finding a headliner who can close it.
Sen. John McCain, once one of the GOP’s most prolific surrogates and a hero to moderate Republicans, is ill. House Speaker Paul Ryan is on his way out of Congress. And the laundry list of Republican presidential hopefuls who hit the congressional campaign trail in 2014 don’t have the same cache after their bruising losses to President Donald Trump last cycle.
Republicans are already facing a spate of congressional retirements, an energized progressive base, a polarizing president from their own party and mounting frustrations from moderate suburbanites who are historically a core GOP constituency. A lack of surrogates who can convince those Republicans to stay in the fold — and turn out in November — adds another potentially deadly challenge to the GOP landscape this year.
“You may have stumbled on a major problem we have not addressed,” said one Republican operative involved in midterms, struggling to name any surrogates who might perform well in moderate suburban districts. “It’s not obvious, is it? It’s not obvious.”
Some election news that may be huge for 2020 and beyond:
Connecticut state Senate passes bill giving electoral votes to presidential candidate who wins popular vote
The Connecticut state Senate on Saturday voted in favor of a measure to give the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote.
The move puts the state in a position to become the 11th, in addition to Washington, D.C., to join an interstate compact to pool their electoral college votes for the candidate who wins the popular vote.
With the addition of Connecticut’s seven electoral votes, the compact would have 172 in total. For the compact to go into effect nationally, it would need 270 electoral votes – the number needed for a candidate to win the presidency.
This is huge because In the last 25 years, Dems have won every popular vote except 2004—and Republicans winning in 2004 required Ohio's Republican Secretary of State deliberately creating 9-hour voting lines in majority-minority Ohio precincts so that George W. Bush could win Ohio by 50,000 votes.
If we can get more states to do this, we can change how we elect a president and increase the odds for the good guys!
Other Good News
Trump Says He Got Rid of Obamacare. The I.R.S. Doesn’t Agree.
At a rally in Michigan a little over a week ago, President Trump assured his supporters that he had kept his promise to abolish the Affordable Care Act — even though Congress had failed to repeal the Obama-era health law.
But despite Mr. Trump’s longstanding desire to unwind the signature legislative achievement of his predecessor, many parts of the Affordable Care Act remain in place. And the Trump administration is even enforcing some of its provisions more aggressively than President Barack Obama did — a reality that has enraged business groups and Republicans in Congress who still want the law officially repealed.
Under Mr. Trump, the Internal Revenue Service has been pursuing companies that fail to comply with the mandate and, according to the agency, was sending penalty notices to more than 30,000 businesses around the country.
Democrats score wins with revamped prison reform bill
Democrats scored several wins in the newest version of the House prison reform bill scheduled for a markup on Wednesday — and Attorney General Jeff Sessions is not happy about some of the changes.
The details: The bill would send 4,000 prisoners home, allow men and women in prison to earn time in house arrest or halfway homes instead of prison cells, require them to be placed within 500 miles of family, outlaw shackling during child birth and mandate the provision of sanitary napkins and tampons to female inmates, according to a copy of the latest language obtained by Axios.
Check out this heartwarming story about a man in confederate flag regalia’s interactions with an African-American family.
and this story shared from getting1 → 'Miracle' child Trenton McKinley comes to life from brain injuries after parents sign organ donation papers
So lots of good news today! No doubt about it, we are living through dark and scary times. There is always a lot of worrying and negative news. But we are in it together, and with our hard work, we can get ourselves out of this mess.
Y’all the most most most important thing for us to do is win in November. What are you doing to get us there? Are you able to do a little more? If so consider these options:
Donate to ActBlue
Donate to Swing Left
Send postcards to voters in other districts
Sign up to go door to door in your district
Sign up to drive people to the polls
My faith in our ability to win in November comes from my faith in YOU! I have faith in our movement and I have faith in our dedication. Let’s do this!
So proud and lucky to be in this with all of you ❤️ ✊ ❤️