Welcome to the fourth month of March, everyone! I kid, but haven’t we all been in some collective Groundhog Day situation since the beginning of spring here?
Lots to unpack this week in the news that might have flown under the radar, so let’s get to it!
Trump wants to scare suburban white women back into his arms. Wanna guess how that's going?
By Kos
The Trump campaign is cratering in the polls, riven by internal division, and trapped both by two generational crisis—the movement for racial justice, and a global mass-death pandemic. And while there is theoretically time for impeached racist Donald Trump to turn things around, he won’t. He can’t. He is utterly incapable of understanding the moment, and the kind of leadership necessary to navigate it.
His core electoral problem? He’s gotten hit among some of his core constituencies, such as seniors and non-college whites. Republicans, in general, suffered from greater participation among core Democratic constituencies in the last three years, chief among them, Black voters, but also youth, Latinos, and other voters of color. But nothing has electorally hurt Republicans than the loss of suburban college-educated white women. They’re the reason Democrat Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House, the reason Democrats won governorships in blood-red Kentucky and Louisiana last year, as well as total control of Virginia government. They’re the reason Trump was already hurting in the polls.
And calling “Black Lives Matter” signs a “symbol of hate” and ranting about “chaos” in the streets isn’t bringing back those voters, or anyone else he’s lost.
Hahaha, Trump sucks. That’s my new attitude moving forward. But also, let’s not make the same mistakes we made in 2016 and underestimate him. Yeah, he’s *the worst* but let's stay ever-vigilant until Biden is sworn in. (And even then, to be honest.)
Republicans didn't think they'd have to defend these three Senate seats. Let's flip 'em all!
By David Nir
Priority #1 for progressives this fall is beating Donald Trump, but priority #1A is taking back the Senate. That’s why Daily Kos is proud to announce we’re endorsing a trio of candidates who are running to unseat vulnerable Republican senators in November:
- Steve Bullock in Montana,
- Theresa Greenfield in Iowa, and
- Jon Ossoff in Georgia.
If Joe Biden prevails but Sen. Mitch McConnell clings to his gavel, we’ll be in for at least two more years of extremist bad faith obstruction of literally everything Democrats might hope to accomplish. This we cannot let happen. Our country is in dire straits and demands a new direction. It’s up to us to make sure we can start turning around our ship of state come January.
Please donate $1 to each of these fantastic Democrats who are doing their utmost to flip the Senate!
Virginia still showing the good consequences of elections
By Joan McCarter
Virginia continued to demonstrate the critical importance of state houses and governorships with a handful of new, progressive laws passed by the Democratic legislature and signed by a Democratic governor that came into effect July 1. Abortion rights, LGBTQ+ civil rights, the decriminalization of pot, an end to incarcerating juveniles for life—all happened in the state because of Virginia’s 2019 flip of the legislature to Democrats.
The Reproductive Health Protection Act overturns a number of abortion restrictions that had been on the books in the state. That includes the repeal of mandated counseling prior to an abortion, a mandatory ultrasound, and a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can have the procedure. Nurse practitioners will be available to provide first trimester abortions, making the procedure that much more accessible. The new law also removes a requirement that clinics providing more than five abortions a month be classified as hospitals, easing regulations for them. "It makes Virginia the first state in the south to proactively protect a woman's access to abortion care and reproductive health," said Democratic state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, a sponsor of the bill. "We want to be proactive in protecting the doctor-patient relationship and a woman's access to care." That's a big deal.
Elections have consequences. Sometimes, amazingly good ones. Well done, Virginia.
Domestic terrorism database of the Trump years shows how the radical right has gone on a rampage
By David Neiwart
Donald Trump’s reign of error has been remarkable on a historic level in a variety of ways: COVID-19, the destruction of our traditional overseas alliances and open appeasement of Russia, the increasingly open embrace of white nationalism. To that list we must now add something with similarly long-term consequences: the stark surge of domestic terrorism committed by right-wing extremists—many of whom act on the belief they are supporting, defending, and enabling Trump and his agenda.
Data gathered from 2017 through 2019—and published today—by a team I led at Type Investigations and Reveal News shows that far-right domestic terrorism now dramatically eclipses all other forms of terrorist threat in the United States, both in raw numbers of events and in sheer lethality. It’s as though Trump lifted the lid off the Pandora’s Box of far-right violence and the demons promptly flew out.
Be sure to tell others this November that maybe they should vote for the candidate that doesn’t inspire an entire reign of far-right domestic terrorists.
Speaking of the election, we’re getting to the convention soon. Who are you hoping the vice presidential pick will be? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to see where our Daily Kos community stands these days.