It’s been a week of turning off the radio, silencing people on social media, and trying to ignore the DailyKos headlines about the end of all democracy and hope.
Its been a banner week for the doom and gloomers. It’s been Eeyore week with “all is lost” echoing through the ether. It feels like someone released dementors into every liberal corner of America and we are all left facing every bad memory we have had.
The GNR writers have faced this avalanche of despair by offering encouragement, humor, snark, fresh outlooks, and, of course, good news.
Today, I have a different approach. Ready?
SNAP THE F&*& OUT OF IT!!!! I get it. It SUCKS that Barr released that biased memo with not one full sentence from the actual Mueller report. It SUCKS that Mueller didn’t march Trump out of the WH is cuffs. It SUCKS that trump and his minions feel like they won, when really all they did is rig the game again. OK?
GET OVER IT. We have work to do. No one is coming to save us except us. So we can’t mope and whine and share memes about the end of the world. That ain’t going to save us.
Need help getting over it? Here are six big reasons why you should be energized and not depressed.
1. It is better if we win with democracy.
It would have been awesome to see Trump kicked out of office in disgrace because he is the worst but it will be more powerful if we get rid of him with a decisive vote from the American people.
I hate to agree with Comey on anything (because: fuck that guy) but he said at one point that he hoped that the Mueller investigation didn’t take down Trump because for the country to really move on, we would need to do this as a democracy — to have we the people take down trump at the ballot box.
And we know we can do that and we will. I have no faith in anyone coming in to save us. I have faith in US saving us ourselves.
We only lost in 2016 because people were complacent on the left. Do you know ANYONE who is going to be complacent in 2020 with a race against trump? Me neither.
Nothing will motivate us more than Trump still in office and on the ballot. Our hatred for him is so deep and so passionate and so fierce. Think about how hard we fought in 2018 even WITHOUT him directly on the ballot. Now imagine a race with him ON the ballot. See what I mean?
Look, this past week was very disappointing, but this has nothing to do with 2020. This would have gotten him out BEFORE 2020, but there is not one American out there who was like “you know, I like trump and want to vote for him, but I am waiting until the Mueller report comes out before deciding.” That was not a thing. I think it hilarious when people say this will make trump more likely to win in 2020. No. It won’t.
Although it would have been joyful for us to see impeachment hearings, its not a way to win in 2020 and that matters —> Mueller Just Gave Democrats a Gift.
Scandal and impeachment were always political losers. Now the 2020 election can be about which party will improve the lives of more Americans.
and this:
Democrats won a historic victory in 2018 running not on impeachment/Russia but on health care and economic issues. They will have to do the same in 2020 to dislodge Trump.
And check this piece of good news out:
Did you get that? over half of Americans will DEFINITELY not vote for him. That doesn’t even include the people who are likely not to vote for him or haven’t decided yet. And I know, voter suppression, electoral college, etc, etc…. yes, yes this is not going to be easy.
But nonetheless, take a moment to savor that in the BEST week this monster has had, he STILL has the majority of Americans saying that there is zero chance that they will vote for him. That is HUGE.
2. Their overconfidence from this will bite them in the a$$.
Let the people on the right celebrate and say trump won. Let them celebrate and think this will make them win in 2020. Let them keep saying it. Let all his people believe this until after we kick their butts in 2020.
Nothing brings a bunch of narcissists down like hubris.
and he has hubris → Trump Rages Against the Losers
As Trump went on delivering wildly exaggerated promises and boasts, short on deliverables as usual, what struck me was its large-scale incoherence.
It felt like serial message-testing, with a red-hatted focus group of Trump base voters under the microscope. Trump was largely on-prompter, but sniffed the wind constantly, searching for the themes that resonated with the blue-collar audience there to cheer him.
If there was any doubt Trump is sticking to the base-only strategy built by and for Fox News and the Trump fan club (but I repeat myself), Thursday night resolved it. Only Fox carried the rally in its sweaty entirety.
this victory dance is only turning most people off because it is only aimed at his base. And his tendency to do that is trump’s Achilles heel. He has to keep the love and admiration of the weakest, most passionate of his base. He is a tiny man that can’t survive without that kind of admiration. This is a huge weakness that WILL help us in 2020. Because those people are not enough to win him the election. And making them happy not only means disgusting the mushy middle but also means riling us up and making us ready for action. And we are ready.
Democrats should be absolutely delighted with Trump’s descent into Crazyland. Trump’s already abysmal rating with women will no doubt fall further as he plays the role of emotionally abusive ex-spouse. Many of them wouldn’t give this kind of character their phone number or leave their house plants in his care — let alone give him the nuclear codes for six more years.
Trump did not deliver a marvelous health-care plan (in fact, he threatens to leave millions without health coverage if his court case to invalidate the Affordable Care Act succeeds). He has started a trade war. Coal is still a dying industry. The sugar high from his mammoth tax cuts is already wearing off. He mocks climate change as the country drowns, burns and gets blown away by extreme weather.
If 53 percent of Americans, according to the Quinnipiac poll, say they are certain not to vote for him, they might soon have company. So-called “soft” Trump supporters’ disgust might rise as his emotional and intellectual state deteriorates. And if the economy no longer produces ample distraction, they might simply sit home and watch from afar as he and his party hurl themselves into political oblivion.
And as for his 5 dimensional chess game: He also decided to celebrate this by… trying to take healthcare away from millions of people. This is a giant loser politically and a gift to us for 2020 (in particular because he likely can’t really get this done — see item 5 below)
He has the republicans in a panic with his overconfident idiocy → McConnell signals he won’t play a leading role in crafting the health-care bill Trump wants
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has signaled that he does not plan to play a leading role in developing a new health-care bill and will instead wait to see what President Trump can craft that might pass in the Democratic-led House.
His comments come as Trump is urging Republicans to be “the party of healthcare” and produce a replacement for the Affordable Care Act in advance of the 2020 elections.
Some leading House Republicans are also wary of Trump’s approach. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) urged Trump to hold off on pushing for a court-ordered destruction of the ACA, advice the president ignored
We WIN on healthcare. They know it. We know it. Only trump doesn’t know it…
Democrats pivot to health care as Trump attacks ‘Obamacare’
Trump is calling on Republicans to revive the effort to quash the Affordable Care Act, handing Democrats an opportunity to unite in defense of the law as they try to move past the Russia investigation and win the White House in 2020.
WTF Is Wrong With Them’: Republicans Horrified as Trump Goes After Obamacare Again
Basking in the best week of his presidency, Trump decided to re-engage on the issue that’s vexed him the most.
“They are completely tone deaf. How bout a few more victory laps on Mueller while you can get away with it? WTF is wrong with them?”
— GOP strategist
The Justice Department’s surprise decision is giving Democrats a chance to move past the disappointment of the Mueller probe.
3. We have the House.
2018 made all the difference. We have actual people in power not only fighting for us, but showing America what democrats will do when we are in power.
House Democrats look to use budget process to pressure Trump administration to comply with investigations
Senior House Democrats, frustrated by the Trump administration’s unwillingness to comply with multiple congressional investigations, are seriously considering withholding money from key administration priorities until their document requests are met.
I am guessing you have all seen this, but it is so amazing, that if you haven’t you should watch it RIGHT NOW. If you have, you might want to watch it again. Schiff has been the target of their ire and he handled it in exactly the right way. So proud of him and so impressed by him!
House votes to condemn Trump's transgender military ban
The House passed a resolution formally condemning the Trump administration’s transgender military ban in a 238-185 vote on Thursday.
Five Republicans joined every Democrat in backing the measure, which was spearheaded by Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), who serves as the chair of the Equality Caucus’s Transgender Equality Task Force.
Have I ever mentioned that I love NDP? I do. Here is more reason why:
4. There are still lots of legal trains headed right for trump.
Still not convinced you should be upbeat? Still feeling like you miss the idea of Mueller out there working hard for justice? Well get ready to rejoice because Mueller was not the only game in town. Check it out:
5 ways Donald Trump is still in legal peril even though Robert Mueller is done
1. Congress will want to see Mueller’s entire report and will want to understand why, after two years of investigating, he declined to reach a decision on obstruction of justice. Did he expect Congress to make that decision in light of Department of Justice policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted? Did he believe it was appropriate to surrender this ultimate question to Barr as the head of the Department of Justice? Or did he plan to reach a conclusion, only to be overruled by Barr?
2. A second legal battle looms in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), which continues to investigate campaign finance violations.
Just last week, a federal judge in New York ordered that 19 pages of a search warrant for Cohen’s property could remain sealed for another 60 days while the SDNY investigation continues.
This language indicates that SDNY is nearing completion of its investigation, and that other individuals face criminal exposure. Only a small universe of individuals were involved in the scheme, and, if Cohen is to believed on this point, one of them is Trump.
3. A third area of legal risk for Trump is the SDNY investigation into the Trump inaugural committee and Trump Organization.
4. A fourth legal challenge looms regarding the Trump Foundation, a nonprofit organization that Trump voluntarily dissolved last year after the New York attorney general filed a civil lawsuit
5. A fifth legal threat exists in the form of lawsuits alleging that Trump has violated the emoluments clauses of the Constitution.
Beyond these five legal issues, Trump faces the potential disclosure of the full Mueller report, which did not recommend criminal prosecution but could still include facts damaging to Trump and his presidency. He also faces multiple congressional investigations into foreign influence, his finances and his White House personnel practices. And one of Mueller’s grand juries continues to investigate “robustly,” according to a federal prosecutor in court on Wednesday.
Mueller delivered his report, but for Trump, this is far from over.
and this from WaPo →
The Mueller investigation is over, but other legal probes of Trump’s world continue
They list all the same ones as the article above and also add these (see the article for much more detail on all of these):
- Apprentice contestant defamation
- Employment of immigrant workers without legal status
- Inflated financial valuations
Just for fun, here is another one:
Do I think one of these will get him out of office before 2020? I doubt it, but who knows. What I am pretty sure of is that having these hang around his neck is not going to help him in 2020 AND it is going to be waiting for him with real trouble when we win the WH and say buy bye to this sad, pathetic man.
5. The justice system is far from perfect, but it is also a frequent ally.
It is easy to get lost in the bad legal news and not realize all the great things that are happening as well. At the top of the list are two huge decisions that really put a giant crimp in trump’s desire to destroy health care:
Judge strikes down Medicaid work requirements
A federal judge struck down Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas, saying they contradict Medicaid's legally defined purpose as a health care program.
Why it matters: Approving Medicaid work requirements is the most significant change the Trump administration has made so far in health policy, and the new rules have already shrunk Medicaid enrollment — by 18,000 people in Arkansas alone. But they may not last.
‘Clearly an end-run’: Federal judge rejects Trump’s health-care plan to go around Obamacare
A federal judge in Washington ruled late Thursday that the Trump administration’s push to make health insurance plans available outside the Affordable Care Act that avoid the requirements of the health-care law was illegal, calling the efforts “clearly an end-run around the ACA.”
and check out who cracked open a beer and actually wrote a good concurring opinion: Supreme Court Stays Execution of Buddhist Inmate
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the execution of a Buddhist inmate in Texas whose request that his spiritual adviser be present in the execution chamber had been denied.
In a brief, unsigned order, the court said that Texas may not execute the inmate, Patrick H. Murphy, “unless the state permits Murphy’s Buddhist spiritual adviser or another Buddhist reverend of the state’s choosing to accompany Murphy in the execution chamber during the execution.”
In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote that the state’s policy of allowing only Christian and Muslim chaplains to attend executions amounted to unconstitutional religious discrimination. “The government may not discriminate against religion generally or against particular religious denominations,” he wrote.
6. Our Movement is Powerful
Just a few short days ago, Devos was so proud of her role in ending funding for the special Olympics. She and trump couldn’t even decide who should take more credit for stealing money people with special needs to fund a racism wall. But WE raised our voices in horror and, once again, we made a difference!
Betsy DeVos, Who Wants To Defund The Special Olympics, Smiles Dumbly, Gets Thrown Under The Bus, Then Lies
Donald Trump said he had “overridden my people”—the Special Olympics will not lose its federal funding. Keep in mind that this proposed budget had basically no chance of being passed by Congress anyway.
Very quickly, DeVos released her own statement praising Trump for not defunding the Special Olympics, even though just this morning she had once again defended her proposal to defund the Special Olympics, the proposal that most likely wouldn’t have passed anyway. The only thing that was accomplished in this entire process is that everyone now knows Betsy DeVos would love to defund the Special Olympics if she had the power to do so.
check out this amazing member of our force:
and look who is having a sad due to our movement:
NRA Fundraising Letter: We Could Shutter ‘Very Soon’
“[R]ight now we’re facing an attack that’s unprecedented not just in the history of the NRA, but in the entire history of our country,” the letter began. “And if this attack succeeds, NRA will be forced to shut down forever.”
The threat, LaPierre said, is imminent.
and look who finally bent to the pressure: Facebook to ban white nationalist or separatist posts
Facebook will begin banning white nationalist or white separatist content on its platform starting next week
Facebook officials formally decided to ban "white nationalism" and "white separatism" on the platform at a content moderation meeting on Tuesday, according to Motherboard.
The significant policy shift comes a year after Motherboard, a tech news outlet, reported that Facebook's content moderation had allowed "white nationalism and separatism" on the platform, though it barred explicit "white supremacy."
Finally, in honor of the wonderful OldHippieDude who gets all our love and wishes for fast recovery this week, here is my favorite tweet of the week:
Final message: cheer up! You have had time to grieve this miscarriage of justice. Let’s move on. Let this past week steel your spine for 2020. Let it gladden your love of democracy. Let it guide your actions for the election.
I am so proud and so very lucky to be in this with all of you ❤️ ✊ ❤️