1. It’s the economy stupid
More great economic news came in yesterday
February’s jobs report came in hot: The US economy added 275,000 jobs last month
The US economy added 275,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, as the labor market continues to beat expectations.
It’s the 25th consecutive month that the nation’s jobless rate has been below 4%, the longest stretch in more than 50 years.
2. Biden did a GREAT job at the SOTU
a loud and feisty delivery.
Mr. Biden may not have mentioned Mr. Trump by name, but he left little doubt about whom he was speaking — and whom he was running against.
The president outlined sharply divergent views of America — its government and its role in the world — with “my predecessor,” a phrase he first used fewer than five minutes into the speech.
Mr. Biden came into Thursday’s speech determined to use the high-profile moment to beat back accusations that he is too old for a second term.
He delivered feisty remarks at a near-shout in an effort to show energy and vitality. He sparred with Republicans in the chamber several times, diverting from his prepared remarks to ad-lib his retorts. And as he neared the end of his speech, the president joked about his age.
“I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while,” the 81-year-old commander in chief said to chuckles in the chamber. “And when you get to my age, certain things become clearer than ever.”
He seemed to relish tangling with the G.O.P.
Moments of Mr. Biden’s address were reminiscent of the one he gave a year ago, when he responded to heckles from Republican lawmakers with quick retorts that earned him high marks for being quick on his feet.
On Thursday, he did it again, sparring with Republicans about tax cuts and immigration and more. Once, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, yelled during the speech that Mr. Biden’s son should pay his taxes.
On Thursday night, with the help of the Republicans, he avoided both extremes. He ended the 68-minute speech with an even louder finish that drew the usual standing ovation from Democrats.
Biden got feisty at the State of the Union, and voters ate it up
If President Joe Biden's feisty performance at the State of the Union on Thursday was representative of a man in decline, some viewers walked away thinking old age might not be that bad after all.
"I hope I get this kind of dementia," comedic writer Alex Baze quipped.
The speech was chock full of red meat for Democrats about protecting democracy, standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, codifying reproductive freedoms, taxing billionaires and corporations, cutting health care costs, and banning assault weapons. Biden gave Democrats in the chamber and at home plenty to stand up and cheer about.
Sure enough, post-speech, Democrats in the chamber were ebullient, Republicans ran for the exits, and a giddy Biden had to be yanked away by staffers.
3. Biden’s poll numbers are rising (even before the speech)
Even before this powerful speech, the President has had his best week of polling in some time
Four new, national polls show him leading. He has made meaningful gains in all of them, and all of them had more interviews than the the NYT poll from last week (you can find the polls at 538):
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47-44 Kaiser Family Foundation (7 pt Biden gain since last poll)
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51-49 Emerson (3 pt Biden gain since last poll)
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44-43 Morning Consult (5 pt Biden gain over past month)
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43-42 TIPP (3 pt Biden gain since last poll
Many have heard me say that what I thought would happen this spring was that when it became clear it was Biden vs Trump a big chunk of our wandering coalition would come home, and Biden would gain 3-4 points and open up a small but meaningful lead in national polling. It’s possible that is what we are seeing now
4. The Biden Campaign is just getting stared
Biden’s Campaign gets ready for March Push
New swing-state advertising from the campaign and outside groups is expected in the coming weeks and months. State leadership teams in the eight battleground states, including newly added New Hampshire, have been ordered to begin engaging with volunteers and contacting voters through what the campaign has started to call a “March month of action.” Offices will open. Coalition groups will launch. Members of Congress will be dispatched. Administration travel, including by Biden, will be robust, according to people involved in the planning.
“We leave this quarter with an operation built to scale so that we can dial up aggressive communications programs across all of those paths to victory,” said Dan Kanninen, the Biden campaign’s battleground states director. “There will be a lot of voter conversations and volunteer conversations.”
A team of senior Biden advisers, including campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and co-chair Mitch Landrieu, briefed members of Congress on the plan last month during a Democratic caucus retreat. One of their messages was a plan to “lean heavily into voter and volunteer engagement for March, which the campaign sees as a key moment for engagement and mobilization,” according to a Biden campaign briefing document. Members of Congress were asked to chip in with swing-state office openings, yard sign distribution and volunteer recruitment drives.
5. The republican party is a hot mess
Honestly, they keep getting in their own way. And if you are worried about them finally getting it together, I would argue that their mess is a feature, not a bug. These are not the best people.
Official GOP Response to SOTU Has Republicans ‘Losing It’
The freshman senator is considered a rising star in the party. But her speech’s intense tone—with an over-the-top dramatic cadence that was delivered in a kitchen—left political operatives and observers struggling to make sense of it.
The performance was so bad that some Republicans watched the high-profile speech with a grimace. A GOP strategist told The Daily Beast that Britt’s delivery quickly became a gossip item Thursday night among operatives connected to Donald Trump—something that could have potential implications for her consideration as a vice presidential pick for the former president.
“Everyone’s fucking losing it,” this Republican said, requesting anonymity to discuss private conversations. “It’s one of our biggest disasters ever.”
and this:
GOP Voters Don’t Care About Winning Elections, Just Owning the Libs
In the twilight of her campaign, Nikki Haley pleaded with Republican voters to move on from the “unhinged chaos” that comes with Donald Trump. At every appearance, she called out Trump’s ugly rhetoric, his toxic narcissism, his grift, and his reckless empowerment of Vladimir Putin.
Even as he moved closer to clinching the 2024 GOP nomination, Haley warned Republicans that the multi-indicted Trump cannot win the general election.
But on the eve of Super Tuesday, this much seems clear: The Republican voters don’t want normal.
Electability? All in all, they’d rather have The Trump Show.
6. Haley Primary Voters are breaking for Biden
7. Republicans Made A Huge Mistake
This. This. This. They spend so much time in their far right echo chambers, that they forget that not everyone lives there. So they think they can paint Biden anyway they want and everyone will believe it forever. The problem is that the only people who will believe it forever are THEIR people who would vote for them anyway. This is a huge mistake. They made it in 2020 and they have only doubled down on stupid.
8. Progress in the Middle East
U.S. to Build Pier to Allow Aid Into Gaza by Sea
the U.S. military will build a floating pier off Gaza, in what the White House called an “emergency mission” that would allow hundreds of truckloads of additional aid to be delivered by sea to Gazans who are on the brink of starvation.
Based on the description provided by White House and military officials, the temporary port for aid delivery would be built from U.S. ships, and then moved close to shore, attached to some kind of temporary causeway.
9. Sweden Entered NATO
This is great news. A strong broad coalition is exactly what we need
Sweden Enters NATO, a Blow to Moscow and a Boost to the Baltic Nations
Sweden formally joined NATO on Thursday, becoming its 32nd member two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sharply bolstering, with Finland, the military alliance’s deterrent in the Baltic and North Seas.
With the addition of the new Nordic member states — Finland joined last year — the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, now finds himself faced with an enlarged and motivated NATO, one that is no longer dreaming of a permanent peace but instead facing years of trying to contain a newly aggressive, imperial Russia.
On Thursday, after months of uncertainty caused by the hesitations of Turkey and Hungary, Sweden officially became a member by depositing its legal paperwork — its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty — with the U.S. State Department in Washington.
10. Good News from Super Tuesday
GOOD NEWS: Super Tuesday Shows Biden and Democrats Far More Popular and United than Trump and MAGA
Among the most notable differences between Trump's and Biden's victories is the disparity in the margins of victory. In the fifteen states that held Super Tuesday primaries, Biden won all but two of his races with more than 80% of Democrats voting. And in three of those he won by more than 90%. That's an average of 84.7% across all fifteen states.
iden's margin of victory bested Trump's by about 14 points across all of the Super Tuesday states. Trump lost more than a quarter of his party's voters. That stands in stark contrast to the bragging that Trump does about how beloved he is by his cult followers. Not only did he underperform the pre-primary polling, he underperformed his own rather ridiculous predictions, wherein he claimed to have 96% - or even 100% - support from the Republican Party.
Even in Defeat, Haley Exposed Trump’s Demographic Weaknesses
Haley’s quixotic race for the GOP nomination exposed Trump’s flawed and weakened standing within the Republican Party, but more broadly with the American electorate. A new Associated Press survey found that two in ten Iowa primary voters, a third of New Hampshire Primary voters, and a quarter of South Carolina Republican voters would refuse to vote for Trump in the fall.
A CNN exit poll of Virginia primary voters found that among Nikki Haley voters, 78 percent would not commit to voting for the Republican nominee in November. In California, 69 percent of Haley voters said they wouldn’t vote for Trump in November, according to an NBC News exit poll. Even more striking were exit polls out of North Carolina that found 81 percent of Haley voters would not commit to voting for the eventual GOP nominee.
These numbers are remarkable if you consider that GOP primary voters are historically among the most intense of voters—meaning they will turn out and skew strongly more to the right than the average general election voter.
11. The IVF decision brought real issues to the table
Thank the Alabama Supreme Court for its IVF decision. I’m serious.
Maybe we should thank the Alabama Supreme Court for its bizarre ruling that frozen embryos are children protected by state law. The decision, which seemed absurd to many people on its face, shone a needed spotlight on the concept of “fetal personhood.” It highlighted the danger that view poses not just to what remains of abortion rights in the United States but also to the modern technology that helps people build families. And — fingers crossed — the appalled reaction to the ruling might help thwart efforts to go even further than the Supreme Court already has in limiting reproductive freedom.
Here is where, no kidding, we should be thankful for the Alabama Supreme Court. Its overreading of the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act exposed the risks inherent in the push for fetal personhood — and might have put the brakes on this development. In Florida, for example, in the aftermath of the Alabama ruling, legislators paused work on a measure that would have extended wrongful-death protections to fetuses.
The political lesson of Alabama echoes the fallout from Dobbs. Strong majorities reject extremist positions. They don’t want women who are undergoing miscarriages to be forced to suffer sepsis before they can get medical help. They don’t want lawmakers or courts to interfere with a procedure that has helped millions of couples conceive. They believe that an abortion at six weeks is different from one at 20 weeks; they understand the moral and physiological difference between a microscopic clump of cells and a fetus kicking its mother in the womb. The more rigidly personhood advocates hew to their stance, and the more the public understands about the consequences of this position, the better for those who take a more nuanced view.
Republicans are in trouble on IVF, and Democrats are coming for them
Republicans continue to flounder when it comes to protecting access to IVF, and Democrats are intent on making it even worse for them. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign organization designed to elect House Democrats, released a scathing memo Monday, blasting “so-called moderate House Republicans” who seek “political cover by backing non-binding House resolutions that do nothing to actually protect access to this vital health care.”
“The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is poised to make House Republicans’ blatant disrespect for women and families a defining campaign issue,” the memo continues. They’re taking particular aim at members of the Biden 17—the 17 House Republicans who occupy districts that Joe Biden won in 2020—who have rushed out competing House resolutions to say how much they love IVF, but have refused to actually protect the treatment. They are empty promises, and Democrats won’t let them get away with it.
12. A silver lining to the voter suppression awfulness
Republicans’ voter suppression obsession may end up helping ... Democrats?
Since Barack Obama’s reelection in 2012, many conservatives have grown increasingly afraid of the republic they claim to love.
For much of the modern era, Democrats have enjoyed disproportionate support among young, low-income, and nonwhite Americans, who all have a lower propensity to vote than US adults as a whole. For this reason, high levels of voter turnout tended to increase the party’s odds of victory.
But Trump’s ascendance accelerated a decades-long, leftward shift among college-educated voters, a group that has an exceptionally high propensity to vote. In 2012, Obama won 46 percent of college-educated white voters; eight years later, Biden won 54 percent of the demographic.
This has dramatically changed the relationship between turnout and partisan advantage. In a 2022 paper, political scientists at the universities of Auburn, Rice, and Texas A&M documented this shift. Drawing on correlations between partisan preference and propensity to vote obtained from survey data, the researchers simulated the impact that higher or lower rates of turnout would have had on recent US elections.
They found that Obama would have won by even larger margins had voter turnout been higher in 2008 and 2012, as voters who were on the fence about participating in those elections leaned Democratic. By 2016, however, Democrats ceased to derive an unambiguous benefit from higher levels of voter participation. Four years later, the partisan implications of higher turnout flipped: Had vote participation been 20 percent higher in 2020, then a pool of Trump-leaning marginal voters would have made their voices heard, and the Democratic Party’s vote share would have fallen by 0.6 percent, while a 20 percent reduction in turnout would have increased Biden’s margin by nearly a percentage point.
All this suggests that it is Republicans who have a political interest in making it easier for people to vote.
13. Biden continues to do great things for America
why just this week… Credit card late fees capped at $8 as part of Biden crackdown on junk fees
Federal regulators finalized a rule on Tuesday to cap most credit card late fees at $8 as part of a broader push by the Biden administration to eliminate junk fees.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates the new regulation, first proposed in February 2023, will save families more than $10 billion a year by cutting fees from an average of $32.
The new rule aims to close a 2010 loophole the CFPB says has been “exploited” by credit card companies, allowing them to jack up fees on borrowers who made late payments.
“For over a decade, credit card giants have been exploiting a loophole to harvest billions of dollars in junk fees from American consumers,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “Todays’ rule ends the era of big credit card companies hiding behind the excuse of inflation when they hike fees on borrowers to boost their own bottom lines.”
14. Taylor Swift is on our side
The most powerful woman in the world (I said what I said) is on our side. You better believe that an explicit endorsement will come eventually
Taylor Swift urges her 282 million Instagram followers to vote on Super Tuesday
Taylor Swift urged fans in her adopted home state, Tennessee, and other Super Tuesday voting jurisdictions to exercise their democratic rights by casting ballots.
The simple message to vote might not seem impactful, but it comes from perhaps the world's most famous pop star — with 282 million Instagram followers.
“I wanted to remind you guys to vote the people who most represent YOU into power,” Swift posted on Instagram. "If you haven't already, make a plan to vote today."
15. We have great candidate across the board
for example, this week we gained this one → Colin Allred Wins Democratic Contest to Take On Senator Ted Cruz in Texas
Representative Colin Allred, a Dallas-area Democrat who defeated an incumbent Republican in 2018 to gain his congressional seat, won the Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, emerging on top of a crowded field seeking to challenge Senator Ted Cruz.
“I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be your nominee to be the next senator from the great state of Texas,” Mr. Allred, a civil rights lawyer and former N.F.L. linebacker, told his supporters Tuesday night.
and lost this one → Kyrsten Sinema Bows Out of Arizona Senate Race
The independent incumbent’s decision cleared the field for a two-person race, most likely between Representative Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, and Kari Lake, a Republican.
On the lighter side
What can you do to save democracy
Take action. Nothing makes you feel better than action.
Your donation will come bundled with others from our Good News community and will show the Biden team that there are many of us who support him and combine hard work with optimism in our battles for a better America!
You can also Educate other people about what Biden has done and we can win!
To help, I’ve been writing a Boosting Biden post every weekday of this year and plan to continue to the election. You can share these every day (or some days) with Facebook groups or other groups via email with friends on other social media… anywhere!
You can use these to educate other people about what Biden has done and we can win!
Here are the posts so far. Not too late to read and SHARE:
Dark Brandon Saved us From a Recession: Boosting Biden Day 1
Dark Brandon Destroyed Crime: Boosting Biden Day 2
Dark Brandon Reduced Inflation: Boosting Biden Day 3
Dark Brandon Put the First Black Woman on the Supreme Court: Boosting Biden Day 4
Dark Brandon Cleaned up the Great Lakes: Boosting Biden Day 5
Dark Brandon's Stimulus Saved the Economy: Boosting Biden Day 6
Dark Brandon Created Workforce Hubs to Retrain Workers for Modern Jobs: Boosting Biden Day 7
Dark Brandon Expanded ACA so 10 States have (almost) universal health care! Boosting Biden Day 8
Dark Brandon went after cheating 1%ers AND WON: Boosting Biden Day 9
Dark Brandon Protected People with Disabilities: Boosting Biden Day 10
Dark Brandon Pardoned Thousands Convicted of Marijuana Use: Boosting Biden Day 11
Dark Brandon Created Jobs: Boosting Biden Day 12
Dark Brandon protected our soldiers from sexual harassment and assault: Boosting Biden Day 13
Dark Brandon Cancelled Billions in Student Loans: Boosting Biden Day 14
Dark Brandon OWNED the republicans at the State of the Union: Boosting Biden Day 15
Dark Brandon Caused a Black Small Business Boom! Boosting Biden Day 16
Dark Brandon Protected Veterans Health Care with over nine different Bills: Boosting Biden Day 17
Dark Brandon Saved The State of Virginia! Boosting Biden Day 18
Dark Brandon is Destroying Methane Emissions: Boosting Biden Day 19
Dark Brandon protects victims of sexual harassment and assault: Boosting Biden Day 20
The Dark Brandon Economy Is Remarkably Strong. Stop the Malarky!!! Boosting Biden Day 21
Dark Brandon Is a Snarky MFer: Boosting Biden Day 22
Dark Brandon Is Old. Get Over It. Boosting Biden Day 23
Dark Brandon is halting the biggest fossil fuel expansion on earth: Boosting Biden Day 24
Dark Brandon has done more for unions than any president ever: Boosting Biden Day 25
Dark Brandon made heat pumps and solar panels a national security issue: Boosting Biden Day 26
Dark Brandon Stopped 500 Illegal Gun Purchases: Boosting Biden Day 27
Dark Brandon Saved the State of Pennsylvania! Boosting Biden Day 28
Dark Brandon Made Lynching a Federal Crime: Boosting Biden Day 29
Dark Brandon Caused a BOOM in Small Businesses! Boosting Biden Day 30
Dark Brandon is saving the planet by plugging old oil and gas wells: Boosting Biden Day 31
Dark Brandon Feeds Hungry Kids! Boosting Biden Day 32
Dark Brandon is going to make your kids smarter! Boosting Biden Day 33
Dark Brandon Can Create Chains With His Bare Hands!!! Boosting Biden Day 34
Dark Brandon Is Fostering More Resilient Foods Systems Across the World: Boosting Biden Day 35
Dark Brandon Is Slashing Bank Overdraft Fees! Boosting Biden Day 36
Dark Brandon Ushered In a New Era of Tribal Self-Determination! Boosting Biden Day 37
Eight Ways Dark Brandon Has Lowered Health Care Costs: Boosting Biden Day 38
Dark Brandon Is Helping States Reduce Gun Violence: Boosting Biden Day 39
Dark Brandon Is Boosting Electric Cars: Boosting Biden Day 40
Dark Brandon Is Saving Salmon: Boosting Biden Day 41
Dark Brandon Brought Diversity to the Judicial Branch: Boosting Biden Day 42
Dark Brandon is increasing access to birth control: Boosting Biden Day 43
Biden Is Giving Farmers Big Bucks to Go "Climate Smart": Boosting Biden Day 44
President Biden is moving microchip production home! Boosting Biden Day 45
President Biden made it much cheaper to buy hearing aids: Boosting Biden Day 46
President Biden Helped Small Meat Producers Fight Against Giants! Boosting Biden Day 47
President Biden is making light bulbs more efficient: Boosting Biden Day 48
President Biden is modernizing airports: Boosting Biden Day 49
President Biden Reduced Climate Emissions from Cars: Boosting Biden Day 50
Looking for something else? GREAT! Here are some other ideas:
I am so lucky and so proud to be in this with all of you 💓💚💛🧡✊🏻✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿✊❤️🧡💛💚