Let’s just cut to the chase, here. Full disclosure: I am for Sen. Kamala Harris and I hope she will be the Democratic nominee in 2020. But let me be absolutely clear:
VICTORY IN 2020 IS IMPERATIVE. WE ARE IN A WAR WE MUST WIN. THE FUTURE OF THE UNITED STATES IS AT STAKE. PERIOD.
And that means that the ONLY things that matter to me are 1. Seeing Trump voted out 2. Seeing McConnell become Minority Leader (or unemployed). The priority, however, remains defeating the most dangerous, dishonest, unhinged president of my lifetime, an outright criminal who represents an existential threat to the United States. So let me say the following:
A. ANY Democratic candidate would be a THOUSAND TIMES better than Trump.
B. It does NOT matter if I don’t get my way on 100% of the issues. For example, I favor allowing a buy-in to Medicare, as I think the Medicare for All position is problematic. But if a Medicare for All candidate is our best bet, I am for that person.
C. I fully understand that there are candidates on our side with personal failings. But would any Democrat in their right mind argue that such failings come anywhere near those of Donald Trump? I have done some research on Trump’s life. I cannot find a single good thing about him as a human being. Nothing. Not anything. He has ALWAYS been a liar, a cheat, a friend to organized crime, a gutless coward, a racist, a sexual predator, a con man, and an outright criminal. He is the most thoroughly dishonorable public figure I have ever studied, and I know something about Richard Nixon. Anyone who fails to vote Democratic for president in 2020 because they don’t like this or that aspect of the Democratic nominee’s personal conduct needs to have their head examined.
D. I pledge to you now: I will not only vote for the Democratic candidate, I will WORK MY HEART OUT for them. I will pour money into their campaign. I will sacrifice my time, my energy, and even my health, if it comes to that. Other than the well-being of my family and friends, there is NOTHING that matters to me more than beating Trump. I would crawl over broken glass to see him defeated. Whomever the nominee is, I’m in!
E. I expect every loyal Democrat or Democratic-leaning independent (or disgusted Republican, for that matter) to swallow their objections to the Democratic candidate and give that person their all-out support.
F. Finally, I demand—I DEMAND—that every Democratic candidate who fails to win the nomination commit themselves to an ALL-OUT effort to campaign for the nominee. If my choice, Harris, is the nominee, I expect Bernie to make a full-court press to get his supporters to unite behind her. I expect Beto to work for her in Texas, Mayor Pete to work on Indiana and a GOTV effort in the Midwest. I expect Biden to roar out his support in every blue collar county in America. You get the idea. WE NEED UNITY, NOT UNANIMITY.
GOTV is our sacred task. It doesn’t matter how horse shit of a candidate a Republican is, those people on the Right will vote for them. I want to see that kind of discipline and dedication on OUR side for our non-horse shit candidate.
BUT ABOVE ALL, I WANT VICTORY.
We must give up the fairy tale that Trump will be forced out of office before 2020. He will not be. So electoral victory is our only path. I want to watch a broken and humiliated Donald Trump conceding defeat. I want to see an ashen face Mitch McConnell realize that all his vile criminality will be undone. And you know what? I don’t give a damn which Democrat inflicts that suffering on them.
UNITY. GOTV. VICTORY.
Period.
