Sources:
www.politico.com/…
www.politico.com/…
www.theguardian.com/…
www.cnn.com/...
On February 1st, the DNC held a vote for who would be the next DNC Chair. Out of 428 votes cast, Ken Martin won the election with 246 votes, beating Ben Wikler (the runner up) who had received 134 votes.
These election results were, apparently, an upset within the DNC. As it turns out, Ben Wikler had been endorsed by Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, and DNC-billionaire donors.… Had I known that Wikler had the weight of billionaire donors behind him, I never would have written this piece two months ago: www.dailykos.com/… Rather, I would have stuck with my initial support for Ken Martin as I expressed here: www.dailykos.com/…
If you have a problem with billionaires throttling the Democratic Party and democracy itself, and if you have a problem with the establishment wing of the DNC thoroughly fucking things up, then pay attention to where the donors and the establishment politicians throw their support — and then run in the opposite direction. Maybe Wikler would have insulated himself from the control of the billionaire donors and establishment Democrats, allowing for Progressive control/influence of the party. Who knows. However, Wikler’s support from those groups cast serious doubts on that front in my mind.
Voters within the DNC Party felt the same way as there was apparently voter intimidation happening within the DNC leading up to Saturday’s vote.
“Outgoing chair Jaime Harrison touched on some of those tensions at the top of the elections, when he condemned reports that some DNC members had been intimidated, pressured or threatened by donors who said they would withhold funding over their votes.”
Golly gee, sounds like the billionaires were trying to influence the vote the same way they threw their money around to give Biden the boot (www.dailykos.com/...), and this time they failed.
“Top Democratic elected officials and billionaire donors found out they don’t have much pull at the Democratic National Committee… Suffering the biggest upset: Some Democratic billionaires who hoped to see Wikler take the top job. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and George Soros’ Democracy PAC kicked in $250,000 each to the FORWARD PAC backing Wikler for chair — making up more than three-quarters of his campaign total, according to a Friday night filing with the Federal Election Commission.”
Call me crazy, but what the hell is the reason for $500,000 to be spent on a candidate’s bid for DNC Chair? It is a vote among 428 insiders. That campaign sounds mostly like it should be phone calls, which is exactly what Ken Martin was doing. As I said before, take note of where the billionaire money is going, and sprint in the opposite direction.
Speaking to reporters after his victory, Ken Martin vowed to rebuild the DNC into a major political vehicle again in the coming months.
Martin stated:
“I’ve always viewed my role as chair of the Democratic Party to take the low road, so my candidates and elected officials can take the high road, meaning, I’m going to throw a punch…
This is a new DNC. We’re taking the gloves off.”
DNC insiders, on condition of anonymity also commented on Ken Martin’s reputation and what he will be bringing to the table as DNC Chair, one describing Martin as a “knife-fighter.”
“Minnesota nice has two sides: Minnesota nice is a pleasant, earnest ability to engage with people publicly, and it is also a private ruthlessness and a coldness that only comes when you’ve lived in 10-degree-below weather half your life… Ken will cut you if he has to, but that ruthlessness is what we need to achieve electoral success.”
“He knows the machine. He literally understands all of the levers, all the ways the resources move, all the relationships with people who make it move… He knows where the bodies are buried.”
Take what you will from those statements. Personally, I see Martin as the DNC Chair that we need right now in our WAR against MAGA. I do not want some kindly “we need to find common ground with Trump” moron who does not understand the existential crisis we are in. I want a fanatical fighter. By all accounts, Martin appears to be that fighter.
Martin was a guest on Brian Tyler Cohen’s channel last week where he outlined his agenda, should he be elected as DNC Chair:
Two of the biggest things that stood out to me were:
1) Reorganizing the DNC to be a 24/7 campaign machine that is fixated not on “winning the argument,” but rather on “winning elections” (not dissimilar to what Wikler was calling for), and
2) Instituting a 0-tolerance policy for Democrats that will not fight against Trump and authoritarianism.
“In 2016, someone said to me, ‘the Republicans are shameless, and the Democrats are spineless.’ We’ve got to grow a damn spine, we’ve got to show people we’re willing to fight for our values, we’ve got to get back in the game, and in short order. I don’t have patience for people running away right now…. We need people right now willing to run into the fire, not away.”
When I was just a small child, I watched the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor. The movie is unapologetic propaganda, but there is one good scene that stands out in my memory:
We’ve been trained to think that we’re invincible, and now our proudest institutions are being destroyed by an enemy we considered “inferior.” We are on the ropes.
That is exactly why we must strike back now.
I am talking about hitting the heart of MAGA, the way they have hit us.
Does anyone in this party think that victory is possible without facing danger?
WE ARE AT WAR!
Most of you did not know of me before I had Covid-19. I was strong, and proud. And arrogant.
Now I wonder everyday why fate struck me down in my prime, and cut away at my most prized possession — my mind (www.dailykos.com/...). But when I see defeat in the eyes of my countrymen, in your eyes, right now, I start to think that maybe he brought me down for times like these when we all need to be reminded of who we truly are… that we will NOT give up, or give in.
Do not tell me it can’t be done.
