113 Comments
RemovedJun 10
Comment removed
Expand full comment

Are you able to post a link that’s outside their paywall? It’s hard to send a letter about an article that I cannot read.

Expand full comment
deletedJun 10·edited Jun 10
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
deletedJun 10
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
RemovedJun 10
Comment removed
Expand full comment

Excellent!

Suggestion: If you want to edit you first post, inserting this link, I’ll glagly delete my posts.

Expand full comment
RemovedJun 10
Comment removed
Expand full comment

Thanks for posting, but are you sure that garbage wasn't written by Robert Hur?

Expand full comment

I think we have to always remember that our fight for freedom, and a truly vibrant multi racial democracy, is not only against the maga republicans but also against the corporate media and their billionaire backers that want absolutely nothing to do with liberty and equality for all! Please folks, lets not act surprised and sad when we read these nonsensical hit pieces from these stenographers for the ruling class. We need to get our heads down and always remember that there's a lot of power with we the people! The ruling class bank on sowing cynicism and disinformation to blunt our power. Never give into them. Always do more and worry less!

Expand full comment

There’s that, and the fact that their feculent felon idol gives them all the clicks and views and subscriptions they could ever want. “He’s bad for America, but good for business.” (Remember the guy who said this, former CBS CEO Les Moonves, was booted from his job for sexual harassment. Birds of a feather, etc.)

Expand full comment

feculent felon - very nice!

Expand full comment

I'm a subscriber, and already wrote to The Atlantic on that. I usually find the Atlantic enriching- prodding me at times to examine how I view things. But that piece irritated me. Mark Leibovich has a habit of playing things off something that doesn't apply. In this case, comparing Biden to Ruth. The situations are completely different, and I thought it was a cheap shot. This article's entire premise sounds like an attempt to create uncertainty and distrust of the Democratic mission itself. The problem isn't Biden: it's that people who cover the election strictly through the lens of WaDC and the Wa media seem to be largely unaware of what people like us are doing and accomplishing. We are already seeing the shift happening, and it will become more visible as we grow closer to the election. Mark still has the WaDC blinders on and hasn't seen it yet. He will. And I hope he doesn't dismiss it as he did in this article.

Expand full comment

I couldn't find where to write to the editor.

Expand full comment

Please, the next time some Doug says people care about the economy and inflation, agree and say that’s why it’s important that inflation is down, wages are up, unemployment is low and the economy is strong. Then say only Democrats have plans to deal with housing costs, credit card debt, bank fees and consumer protection.

Expand full comment

au contraire, Simon had what, seconds for his reply, framed it in the larger context of their candidate's ugliness. there are other opportunities to cover details. fascinating that CNN host Berman filled out the sexual assault reference.

Expand full comment

Thanks Simon for pointing out that even in Europe the right has underperformed!

Would appreciate a further dive on the quality of the polls showing Biden improvement. I don’t doubt the conclusion but I have long argued that the polling was suspect when it showed a weaker Biden. Want to be prepared to rebut arguments from friends who are both extremely smart and very concerned about prior polls.

Finally, sharing my contributions to our cause. Donated to Sue Altman, Joe Biden, Jon Tester and Tom Suozzi during his special election. Have written over 100 letters to PA voters through Vote Forward with a steady cadence in place for summer and fall.

Happy Monday!!

Expand full comment

The polls were off in India too, by a lot. Modi's party held on, but they are damaged goods. And he's basically a right winger.

Expand full comment

Show them the facts. No need to make your case other than showing people the facts (meaning the "undecided" voters) and the pools are junk for the most part.

Expand full comment

Wonder if the GOP will still embrace Orbán ??

Hungary's Orbán shows weakest performance in EU elections in 20 years, opening path to pro-EU rival

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hungarys-orbn-shows-weakest-performance-eu-elections-20-110991511

Expand full comment

I had the opportunity to hear Sue Altman on a Markers for Democracy postcarding zoom. She was great! I can't wait for when Simon does a brief interview with her for Hopium.

Markers also interviewed Janelle Stelson who is running against MAGA Scott Perry for Congress in PA-10. (You may recall he got involved in Trump's attempt to overturn the election and he introduced now-indicted, former-DOJ-employee Jeffrey Clark to Trump). This is an R+5 district, but Ms. Stelson has enormous name recognition since she was an emmy-winning local newscaster for 20+ years in the Central PA region in which she is currently running.

Expand full comment

Simon, wondering if you're hearing anything about Biden campaign outreach to Ukrainian-American voters? Where I live in Montgomery County, PA, there are a lot of Ukrainian flags and yard signs and bumper stickers. I would love to hear news about a strategy building around this important bloc of voters, including people who've been in the USA several gens but still have strong cultural / family ties. I just created a Biden hearts Ukraine / Trump hearts Putin bumper sticker that ppl can see at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vIK8bAy9yPzfdXKwSa6lkuQdSSUV9tVH/view?usp=sharing. Feel free to share the link. I'm also willing to get these printed and share them at cost. I want to help us do all we can!

Expand full comment

Nice, Maurice. Cleveland and Chicago would be other target markets.

Expand full comment

I'd love some help knowing who to contact or email the visual of the bumper sticker to. Just straight to Dem offices in those places? I looked up FB groups and Reddit groups but it's really hard to tell what the groups are about and whether or not my showing up randomly would be welcome.

Expand full comment

I'm originally from W.Pa. Our Ukrainians were divided based on religion. You would think that Poles, Litvaks, Finns etc would oppose Trump, but racism and hatred of the "other" is extremely strong.

Expand full comment

Yes, yes…. “Ukies” are good Dem voters…. Or should be! Outreach to Ukrainian-Americans Is good!

Expand full comment

Thanks! Any concrete suggestions for action?

Expand full comment

Strong/weak. How about competent versus incompetent. Great editorial in Post by Jennifer Rubin about just this. Joe Biden is eminently competent to do the job, Trump is totally incompetent.

Deborah

Expand full comment

Hear, hear!

Jennifer Rubin is one of the best.

Expand full comment
author

Capable, competent is part of strong/weak. They are establishing this frame, and we must respond to it.

Expand full comment

Thank you for the reassurance about Europe. I was panicked with that news. Simon came through on CNN much better than the Republican strategist. I was struck by Trump’s promise not to tax tips and by a Truth Social post in which he lied by insisting that he had capped the cost of insulin, not Biden. What’s interesting is the campaign is waffling on whether to normalize him or capitalize on the Bannon extremism. The fact that Trump is even trying to make campaign promises suggests to me his personal power is fading with his base.

Expand full comment

I thought it was odd that Trump promised not to tax tips right away. First, he can't do that as I believe it takes Congress to do it. But, I thought, why??? Why, all of a sudden, is Trump promising not to tax tips? Is he getting desperate? Also, I seriously doubt he even means it. He is such a liar.

Expand full comment

It was because he was in Las Vegas, where the Culinary Workers Union is BIG. He was pandering.

Expand full comment

He is such a liar. He probably doesn't even tip. What am I talking about? He probably doesn't even pay the check.

Expand full comment

I can’t find the post now, it was shared on the VoteDem subreddit, but basically the Culinary Workers Union knows that Trump is BS’ing and called him a convicted felon.

Expand full comment

Yes. I did read an article with the Union Rep responding. They know he is full of it. Was a little worried bc of their narrative that Trump is ahead in Nevada and made the mistake of looking at 538. I have to stay off that site!

Expand full comment

Shared by the wonderful Gen Z journalist Adam Mockler on the MeidasTouch YouTube network. I think this bit by David Sedaris in the New Yorker perfectly captures “The Choice!”

“To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. ‘Can I interest you in the chicken?’ she asks. ‘Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?’

“To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.”

Expand full comment

Well, that latter dish is what Elon Musk keeps trying to serve on his Xitter.

(The pronunciation is left as an exercise for the reader.)

Expand full comment

“Values, Leadership, Integrity”. Great way to finish strong, Simon!

Expand full comment

I appreciate this overview of the general movement and reality of polls vs behavior at the polls both in the US and in Europe. However, I continue to be concerned that the Biden team doesn't come out with a strong message that goes beyond, "we aren't that bad, evil guy". I think people need more evidence that Biden gets their struggle against inflation and even though its not his doing, plans to do something about this. He is the guys that fights for them, but I don't think a lot of people know that (independents). I think that they need a good reason to make a decision to choose Biden/Harris and not just "not Trump".... maybe this will come after the convention? But I think it can't come too soon.

Expand full comment

But I think we are not the bad evil guy is more than enough. And I think people do know Biden is on their side. They are just surly about prices, which I maintain are really not that bad right now. And I'm getting calls for work again. My wife isn't, but I am.

Expand full comment
Jun 10·edited Jun 10

I caught two podcasts last week that had Sasha Issenberg as the guest to talk about his book around digital strategy. I came away feeling much more confident about the Biden Teams understanding what messages work with persuadable voters and how they are chasing/defending important narratives.

Less so with some of our senate candidates but still time to turn that around.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/winning-elections-in-the-disinformation-age-with/id1382983397?i=1000657763297

Expand full comment

Name of podcast? Thank you.

Expand full comment

Offline with Jon Favreau, and Why is This Happening with Chris Hayes were the two I was referring to.

Expand full comment

The 2024 campaign is just getting started. Real campaigning starts after Labor Day weekend, then there will be the blitz in ads.

Expand full comment
Jun 10·edited Jun 10

I cannot say I agree. They need to be aggressively messaging early so they can saturate into the bubbles of people who are not paying attention. Given all of the disinformation they probably do not want their closing message to be the only one voters hear.

As much as I might disagree with the President around the war in Gaza he is probably doing a good job showing disengaged voters that he is not being pushed around by the party activists and is in charge. The weakness argument seems to be more about if he is capable and in charge, not if he can run a mile. We are on much better footing if people think he is in charge and just have to be shown he is capable than trying to do both.

Expand full comment

Wise use of resources. For months, and especially right now, Biden is getting his message across through making very public statements as President. People can see and hear what he is working on, and to my mind it is very clear that he is in charge.

Those who think he was not working on the Gaza issue do not have an understanding that those kinds of negotiations are never public until there is an agreement. It was critical for Biden to maintain contact with Israel to keep that discussion going- and to back off to make it clear that N was not responding adequately. (Israelis are also on N's back. His future is limited.)

The paid election advertising is beginning, but the fact is that few people pay attention in the summer. Summer is the time to strategize for the fall, and the time to send donations is NOW, so that election committees and pacs have the funds to plan and develop media outreach and ads, as well as events going into the fall.

And most of all, we continue the underlying impact of our phenomenal grass-roots action in getting out the vote.

Expand full comment
author

I want to say that I find this criticism to be a bit ridiculous. Did you watch the "Flag" ad they have running now which I shared over the weekend? Wasn't that what Biden wanted to do, the contrast I describe? Or what he did in France this weekend? Or the strong jobs report on Friday?

I understand that you may not be feeling the argument where you are but this idea that they are not making a positive case for his Presidency every day is way out there......

Expand full comment

I think their ads are really good. Surrogates are being more forceful as well. The Governor of Illinois was terrific.

Expand full comment

ever since CNN gave trump a town hall meeting last year, I gave up on watching them. They let maga get on the air and lie thru their teeth about how great trump is and how bad biden is with minimal pushback. I only watched this video because you told me to see it through.

Expand full comment

“It’s like, do you think these people give a f–k who’s president? They want Darth Vader to come back. They want him to come back. Because they had nothing to talk about, because it’s show business..." Comedian Bill Burr on CNN.

Expand full comment
Jun 10·edited Jun 10

And another thing: Trump is now LITERALLY taking credit for Biden's massive win of capping insulin prices. This isn't just another routine Trump lie. A campaign that is *WINNING* and claims to be ahead in polling wouldn't make this kind of unforced error (and outright lie) if it were indeed true that they're winning. This is the kind of issue that plays well with seniors and people of all backgrounds and political stripes.

Expand full comment

I said something similar before reading your comment. Exactly!

Expand full comment
Jun 10·edited Jun 10

Trump needs to be positioned as "the inflator." It shouldn't be hard to do. You start with what everyone knows about Trump, how he consistently exaggerates--inflates--his accomplishments, his wealth, the value of his properties, then you move on to show how he created the inflation Biden had to deal with--it's easy to lay literally every contributer at his feet, supply chain problems as a result of COVID, the invasion of Ukraine, which even his own former senior advisors say he caused, if not actively engaged in (eg how and why was he offering congrats to Putin *two days before it started*), his irresponsible tax cut for the wealthy and resulting massive deficit spending, the biggest four year deficits in history (ie the very thing Biden supposedly did to cause this--Moody's disagrees, and in fact the inflation began before dollar one of the American Rescue Plan hit anyone's pocket), his trade wars with allies, price-gouging by his real base, the 1 percenters. Bottom line: he handed Biden a melting pot that was about to boil over, it did, and it's taken a couple of years to clean up the mess.

Finally, as a kicker, hit everything he says he's going to do that will make inflation far worse than he made it the last time--deporting all undocumented workers (driving up labor costs & creating supply chain problems), more trade wars, including a 100% tarrif on all goods from China, more irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy, driving deficit spending right up again, killing all the green energy initiatives that are helping us leverage the cheapest energy sources on the planet while holding us hostage to the whims of the Russians, Iranians, Saudis, and Venezuelans, etc etc etc.

The Inflator. That's what he is. He'll do the same thing to your cost of living as he does to the square footage of his properties: make you pay more for less.

Expand full comment

"The bloated inflator!"

Expand full comment

Rapist. Fraudster. Traitor. Felon. Bloated Inflator.

Expand full comment

Agent Orange is how I often refer to him.

Expand full comment

That, too.

Expand full comment

Yup, he and that plutocrats want to make feudalism great again 🙄

Expand full comment

The inflated one !😂

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-64411569

(Yes, Simon, I am focused but I couldn’t help myself! 😜)

Expand full comment

You did a "pivot and attack" a la Rachel Bitecofer, bringing up Joe Arpaio like that.

I actually love the idea of not taxing tips, just like I loved the idea of bringing jobs back home from overseas, which Trump campaigned on and never actually did. If it actually gets done, it'll be Biden who does it.

Expand full comment

Vote Blue 💙. We take the House, keep the Senate and WH🤞🏼. No Sinema or Manchin and the Dems can get it done!

Expand full comment

No, raise the wages and do away with tipping, an antiquated tradition started as a way to underpay POCs. Just my two cents. There's a tip jar everywhere now, and even the guys at Home Depot expect a tip for loading a bag of topsoil into your car.

Expand full comment

Re the Atlantic piece: President Biden is a completely different person from Ginsburg. She was six years older than he is chronologically, but eons older than he is physiologically. RBG had metastatic pancreatic cancer that, over time, spread to her colon, lungs, and liver. She was repeatedly treated with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, all of which take enormous tolls on the body, especially in an elderly person. President Biden has none of that going on, and is clearly a remarkably healthy and active man. Shame on The Atlantic for publishing such a piece; it was not only alarmist, but just plain dumb.

Expand full comment

When you have to depend on Bill Maher, Washington Examiner and the two latest GOP Speakers for a lot of your "vibe" re Biden, there are problems with your thesis. If you haven't already, check out Leibovich's interview with Tim Miller on Bulwark. It's telling...

Expand full comment

Thank for the tip re the interview. I like Tim Miller a lot, so this should be interesting.

Expand full comment

As do I - even when he starts to get a little pessimistic, he always manages to turn it into a moment of humor.

Expand full comment

Seriously ?! I thought Biden's age issue had receded somewhat (don't get me wrong I know it'll always "be there" fo an extent). I guess the Outlets are foraging for something to fuss about aren't they ?! And the Atlantic ?! I definitely give them credit normally for better pieces than this ! Since I'm tapped out I'm not going to getting behind the paywall anyway, but still....

Expand full comment

It had indeed receded some--but then Trump was convicted of 34 felonies, and the WSJ (Murdoch paper) felt the need to change the subject back to Biden's age. And, unfortunately, The Atlantic thought they should follow suit.

Expand full comment

Well, that one article did. I like The Atlantic, but that particular article was a clinker. The guy thought he was making a point, but I think his thinking is trapped in WaDC miasma and he can't see outside the district to what is going on all over this country. Us, in other words.

I cannot stand the WSJ.

Expand full comment

Yes, I should have made it more clear that it was that specific article. The thing about it is, the author himself points out that he has written similar articles before. I actually did write the editor with questions about what was newsworthy in this article, and what their considerations were in the timing.

Expand full comment

RBG also had colon cancer years before she had PC. She was one tough lady and beat the odds greatly.

Expand full comment

The I’m Not Voting for Either Candidate crowd needs to be vanquished with our facts and positivity that Dems do good and the choice is clear. Keep on networking, peeps ‼️

Expand full comment

The commercials that the Biden campaign have put out lately have been inspiring, making the contrast between a sane, law abiding citizen who cares about everyone in this country vs. a flaming megalomaniac who whines, pleads, threatens, and bullies everyone not like him or his cult is a pretty stark choice.

The center IS holding and WILL hold in November. Even GOPers and red Independents who left the GQP/MAGA cult are coming out for Biden, so what does that say to the cult propaganda being spewed daily online and on the MSM? I've started watching The Bulwark's YouTube channel and it has helped sooth my anxiety away because they see exactly what has gone - and continues to go on - in MAGA's alt-reality and they hate it, too. They are voting for Biden and are encouraging other red leaning Independents and the GOPers to vote for Biden as well.

Don the Con's whiny little playground bully schtick is sooo 2016 and no one's buying it except for the small minority left in the MAGA cult. VoteBlueNoMatterWho2024 💙

Expand full comment