RFK wanted a cabinet position in exchange for his endorsement. He's a demonstrated liar and fraud. If he had just approached Harris like most people who offer endorsements with some concerns or asking for a seat at the table, it would have been palatable. But he wanted a quid pro quo. There is no cabinet position for which he is even remotely qualified for anyone who is actually serious about governing.
It's baffling to me that anyone would contemplate giving a cabinet position to an unqualified conman and serial liar in exchange for that fraudster's endorsement. I'd certainly reach out to his supporters and try to change their minds, but I'd not entertain a quid pro quo at all.
It's not arrogance. I'm just not sure I'd want support from, for example, a holocaust denier (different conspiracy theory, same principle), especially if he wanted a position on my cabinet.
I agree with Claudia's assessment of the primary importance of keeping everybody engaged and preventing us from losing heart. And thank you Simon, not only for all you've done already, but for what you're doing right now by keeping Hopium going - that's one sure way for us all to stay engaged and not lose heart!
MSM failed us utterly . . . While they were focusing on Joe Biden's "gait" or whether he called people "garbage", Elon Musk was talking to Putin and turning his acquisition of Twitter - oops, "X" -- into a full blown Trump re-election vehicle.
Matt Stoller on the importance of anti-trust enforcement as a way of bringing relief to consumers, eliminating monopoly pricing of rental units, and ending costly hidden fees.
Senator Chris Murphy on the need for Democrats to abandon neoliberalism and develop progressive populist policies.
Tom Nichols on the embedded racism and misogyny in American culture and the need to address it forcefully.
It’s as if “our brand” is spoiled somehow. Plenty of otherwise deep red voters will say yes to legal weed, abortion, raising the minimum wage, and so on. They just won’t vote for it if it’s tied to Democrats. I wish I knew what to do about that. Bring back Zombie Huey Long?
This 100%. Dan Pfieffer (again-- he's my go-too!) said exactly this. R's successfully branded D's as elitists who don't care about the working class. The opposite is objectively true, as almost every policy initiative, and even broader agenda, that Dems champion benefits the working class. Dems absolutely have to build their brand back. Smarter people than I can figure out how to do it. I know how not to do it, though: ridiculous purity tests (anyone who ever worked for any corporation in his/her life is a corporate shill, for example), and Bernie Sanders' shouting that we've abandoned the working class.
When the MSM and the republicans mention the "working class" what they mean, in my opinion, is the WHITE working class. Jesus, how many Trump voters in diner interviews have there been since 2015?
Seriously, look at how he used his "fireside chats" to educate, inspire and lead the nation through the Great Depression? Couldn't a Democratic president today figure out some way to use the "bully pulpit" effectively during economic hard times?
100%. When these policies are polled without telling the respondent that these are Democratic priorities, they love them: health care. education. food security. But the minute they realize these polocies are "DEMON-RAT"? That's it. THAT is the power of the rightwing information machine.
WHAT "progressive media"? Name one, just one, large communication conglomorate that is more democratic ( note small "d")than right twisted, there are none!!!! The Rupert fascist empire and the Sinclair empire, again, is far right and control the majority of small stations, the so respected major print corps proved to have the spines of jelly fish - not that many under the age of 40 read them. Then there is all the web influencers. Again, what news? When, about 50 years ago, too many school districts bought into the notion that this country didn't need history or civics, we were on the road to perdition. They were helped to come to that conclusion by the Koch family and their far right beliefs by the massive infusion into local school board election nation wide . We don't have skin in this game. We've lost a generation or two because of that. Until people begin to feel the pain of the noxious fairy tales the MAGAmonsters have spun, it's hard to have a universal game plan. Every case will be different.
This is exactly what I'm going to be talking about for the foreseeable future. I invite any of you along for the ride on the @Freedom Over Fascism stack and podcast.
Investors care about the bottom line. If they care about democracy, they are going to have build their organization. All of the established papers are now in the hands of those who sane-washed the felon. The only papers that are widely read and that still look to the better angels of democracy are the Boston Globe and the
Philadelphia Inquirer. That's my point. The establishment has sold out.
I must take exception to this notion because it gets repeated a lot. I have 31 years in education and I can assure you that civics and history are still taught. That doesn't mean most people remember it beyond passing a test in class. We test kids on math and reading in order to graduate, but not on social studies. If we think it is important, it should be on those tests.
What state(s) are you familiar with? Of course "civics and history are still taught" -- in some places, and some schools. And the benefits can be far-reaching. After the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, several survivors became youth leaders on the national stage -- the strength of the school's government and theater programs certainly contributed to this.
The statement about math and science proves the point. It is an elect NOT a requirement. It used to be a requirement. Now all that is taught is how to fit into the widget employment world - not how to question and how to think independently.
Will repeat what I stated above. I don't think there's a better avenue for teaching critical thinking and logic than science and math. Maybe an equivalent one, but not better.
Math and science absolutely teach critical, logical thinking. You can't be successful in either without it. Logic and critical thinking are the basis for math and science. I'm not in any way saying other disciplines aren't important-- but it seems that the problem lies with how science/math are taught, if anything (lack of teacher quality, maybe). The same would be true of humanities. If it's not taught well, it'll not accomplish the objectives.
Also it is an ongoing process to be used across disciplines. BUt keep in mind the average school teacher is underpaid, may be teaching outside her ( most are women ) discipline due to shortages, has too many students and is also in charge of breakfast, lunch and bus duty. By day's end the only critical thinking you can muster is hoping you don't collapse from exhaustion on your commute home.
I teach in CA and I teach civics, American history and the Constitution everyday to 8th graders. I have no control over how much they remember, but I know they have had an extensive year in Social Studies on it.
Betsy is certainly right about California—my kids studied these subjects in California schools—and the same is true of many other states. It’s also true that right wing officials have politicized what can be taught in some states in recent years. These developments need careful attention.
For those with a genuine interest, Jason Stanley (author of How Fascism Works) just published an essential new book, Erasing History. There’s also specific discussion of what Ron DeSantis and his allies have done to education in Florida in Asha Rangappa’s interview of Stanley for Freedom Academy last week. https://asharangappa.substack.com/p/freedom-academy-book-club-erasing
And I think this encapsulates one of the big problems, because it was my experience as well; the subject is taught in middle school when it needs to be taught when kids are getting ready to vote, just like driver's ed.
Simon, one thing I’m very interested in learning is whether or not the “hordes” of Gen Z voters that we were told were registering in numbers too big to ignore actually voted. I think that one reason I’m struggling with this loss is because, as we worked to get folks registered, I kept hearing about the “huge numbers” of young adults registering and that their enthusiasm was really high. I guess that I thought that as long as the tried and true old guard turned out, that we’d be well over the top with the addition of the youngsters voting. What happened? Did they register, but then not vote?
And, by the way, thank you and Tom (Bonier) both SO much for all you’ve done and continue to do! I’m beyond grateful.
Yes, they are dedicated to electing GOP candidates, but Fox new and others are also dedicated to lying for the Republicans on everything from health care to supporting Ukraine, including the seemingly fundamental question that the economy is "good" or "bad". In MSNBC we have passionate and well-informed and articulate people writing and working. Why is that not enough? How do we break the stranglehold on alternative reality?
This nothing we have not known about for years; Air America was an attempt to combat it. It was likely the reason Obama got elected; shortly after Mitt Romney bought the stations out and replaced AA with sports talk and other inane stuff. Source: Thom Hartmann.
I remember Air America. However, in Wikipedia, I don't see any mention of Mitt Romney buying out the stations. Sounds like the network had financial and management problems long before it was sold (to New York real estate investor Stephen L. Green and his brother Mark Green -- per Wikipedia).
What if "the left" isn't "ceding" anything? What if the media imbalance -- which is definitely real -- is built into our under-regulated economic system?
Because that's exactly the case. In just about all times and places, Big Money is conservative, sometimes to the point of reactionary. It's not hard to understand why: it wants to protect itself. That includes being anti-labor and anti-government. It takes countervailing forces, like labor unions and government policy, to keep Big Money in check.
The Reagan administration gutted those countervailing forces, busting unions, slashing social programs, and cutting the corporate tax rate. This gave rise to mergers & acquisitions (corporate consolidation) and an increase in the number (and influence) of billionaires. Take a look at how many media outlets, social and otherwise, are controlled by billionaires. Corporate consolidation has also killed off hundreds, maybe thousands, of local and regional news outlets.
So it's not just Fox. And it's not a coincidence that neither the Washington Post nor the LA Times (owned by Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong respectively) didn't endorse Harris-Walz. Twitter took a deep dive into the cesspool after Elon Musk bought it. Facebook is erratic at best, and Instagram is now also part of the Meta empire.
Nothing even slightly left of center has the economic clout to challenge this without the backing of a government that takes anti-trust seriously.
Well, not sure what to say other than the GOP has complete control of government right now. So, addressing this through government regulation/action is an object impossibility.
We will continue to lose election after election after election unless and until major Dem billionaires step up to the plate and build an information universe which competes against Fox and its progeny.
And if we are going to play the “purist game” and say we refuse to have billionaires on our team, then we are fucked.
How about you make a list of "major Democratic billionaires" and lay it alongside "major Republican billionaires"? Even if you use "liberal" instead of "Democrat," methinks you'll wind up with a rather short list, most likely with George Soros at the top. As I noted elsewhere, wealth tends to be conservative.
Maybe read some history, about how the abolitionists, the suffragists, the labor organizers, and the civil rights activists didn't wait around for millionaires (billionaires weren't so common back then) to show up before they got to work?
I just looked it up: Inequality.org says 801 "based in the US." Info based on an Institute for Policy Studies analysis. More than I realized, and I don't know any of them.
And here it is, folks. The lack of logic is astounding. I don't know how you can fix things like this. Gaza particularly. It's like: I care so much about Gaza that I'm voting for the guy who told Bibi to "finish the job."
WTF is "lived experience" and how does it differ from "experience"? Heinous redundancy that's everywhere now. To be clear, I don't have dead experiences to report and neither does anyone else.
Point taken but I shouldn't have to qualify my experience as "lived." One of those popular phrases that offends me as a literate person every time I see it. Forgive me.
Oh for heaven's sake, you're going to chide me for one little off topic comment? How about letting me vent a little about something trivial? That's unity, too. Have a good day.
Another annoyance: "She is speaking "her truth"." No! Someone is either speaking the truth or they are not.
(Yet another objection of mine is to people writing "different than" instead of "different from". Not to mention the British absurdity, "different to".)
Not true. There is truth. In the telling, there is her truth, his, mine, yours. In politics perception is reality. Truth is a word much misused. There are also facts. Not subject to interpretation like perception. Maybe we should more accurately say "she speaks her reality" or "her perception" -- all of us make observations based on the totality of what is in our consciousness at the time, and it varies wildly.
I've never heard of or used the term "lived experience" until recently. In my mind it is an attempt to understand why inflation helped elect MAGA. Inflation spiked after the pandemic all over the world which proves the cause was not Biden's wild spending. The spike in inflation was Trump's fault for mishandling the pandemic. Biden successfully reduced inflation from 9% to 2.4%. The goal post had to then be changed from inflation to absolute prices being higher than they were pre-pandemic Trump. I don't know the answer but I question how much of this is "lived experience", that is truly remembering what you paid in 2019 compared to now, and how much is due to the influence of right wing propaganda bombarding the airwaves with how bad the economy is. Look at correlation between party and vibes on the economy. Just wait to see how concerned MAGA is over inflation when Trump is president.
That's a higher level of abstraction than I was aiming for, but all I know is I see the phrase in all sorts of contexts, as in "The writer's memoir is his lived experience." I got the point at "memoir."
JD Vance is leaving the Senate to assume the vice-presidency. Trump has announced his intention to make Representative Elise Stefanik the US Ambassador to the United Nations. That’s likely to be a headache for the House GOP’s very precarious majority, as the seat will be empty for a few months, and it forces a special election in NY-21 this spring.
Democrats have an excellent track record of overperforming in special elections. We need to launch high-intensity efforts to capture whatever House and Senate seats are vacated by Trump’s appointments. Hopefully there will be many!
EDIT: Hopefully, Democrats are already working on recruiting optimal candidates for any and all soon-to-be-vacated seats. And their campaigns should start ASAP.
The OH Senate will be in 2028, but yes; and, having flipped three U.S. House seats in New York this cycle, maybe D's can build on that. CPR says that NY-21's partisan lean is only R+4.
Yes, OH Gov. DeWine gets to appoint an interim Senator, but they have to have a special election the next time there is a federal election - That's why Mark Kelly and Rafael Warnock had to run again in 2022. Jon Ossoff's race in 2020 lined up with when that seat was supposed have an election, so he got a full 6-yr term.
Knowing that each state has it's own rules for filling vacancies, I looked this one up on https://abcnews.go.com/ "Different states have different rules for how Senate vacancies are filled. In Ohio, the governor of the state has the power to appoint someone to temporarily fill the vacancy. A special election will then be held in November 2026 to fill the vacancy through the remainder of Vance's existing term in 2028."
"Paula Collins (Democratic Party, Working Families Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 21st Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Long-term, maybe, because Sherrod Brown certainly has been an excellent fit for Ohio, at least before our current hyper-polarized political environment. However, first Republican Governor Mike DeWine gets to appoint Vance’s successor, and in the 2026 Senate Election that person will be an incumbent of sorts.
One small upside before then: DeWine is not MAGA, and there is a strong likelihood he’ll appoint a non-MAGA person to fill Vance’s senate seat.
I live in NY-21 and door-knocked in two election cycles to defeat Stefanik. We are gerrymandered red so it will be a tough fight, but we have been represented by democrats before. Tedra Cobb was an excellent Dem candidate in earlier cycles. But as I drove around the county just before the election, I saw far more signs for Stefanik than I did for Trump, and he won by a landslide here. People, bizarrely, love her even more than they love Trump. She is so awful and I'm so glad to see her go, but it will not be easy for a Democrat to win here in this historical moment.
As Simon writes, most immediately, the need is for ballot curing. Bob Casey's Senate race in PA, and 19 races in the House of Representatives have not yet been called.
To Simon's list for the House races in need of ballot curing support (phone calls, in-person, and funding), add:
Dave Min (CA-47, Katie Porter's seat). He has pulled ahead by less than 1 point, but his opponent is also ballot curing.
Best to look for the candidates' individual campaign sites or search on mobilize.us
There's always "another election" and we've got two big ones (Virginia and New Jersey governors) coming up in 2025.
Time to be ready for those. Virginia and New Jersey were close wins for Kamala, but Democrats have been doing well in getting good governors elected, so these races could add to that deep bench.
Yes. Dan Pfieffer made a great point: After Bush won in 2004 (he won the popular vote, also) Repubs were talking about a permanent majority for decades to come. Four years later, we took the White House, the House, and had a supermajority (a fleeting one b/c Ted Kennedy died) in the Senate. Dems thought the same way after Obama's second win. Four years later, R's had all three branches.
In the words of Rush, "he knows changes aren't permanent, but change is"
I hate to confess this. And, Simon, you may take this post down as being contrary to the Hopium mission. But I am one of those who left a lot of it on the field. I contributed more money to campaigns than I could afford. I cared more deeply and passionately than I ever have. And I am left now disheartened and dispirited. I wish I could feel like I want to do more. But I'm too full of despair, and too tired. I won't read the newsletters anymore. I've turned off my beloved MSNBC. My ulcer has been reactivated. I'm just plain down in the dumps, and can't imagine these feelings will soon pass. All that being said, thank you for EVERYTHING. You remain always one of my heroes. I'm 78 years old, and, at this point, signing off.
You did everything you could and then some, LuVoss. Your health comes first. Please enjoy your well-earned rest. We will carry on the struggle on your behalf. 💙
LuVoss, I understand your feelings. I am two years younger than you and get what you are feeling. Take two steps back, and know that your work is appreciated and your somewhat less active opposition still matters, but should you feel the hunger to engage again please know that we will welcome you back to the fight.
LuVoss, start posting on your substack. Don't sign off of everything forever yet. And look up Rory Nicholas piece on TikTok or YouTube. He explains how I have been feeling and it resonates with what you are now feeling. I'd love to know what you response to it is.
I am two years older and probably did not work as hard as you did. I am from TX and we've been under siege for years. I am lucky to belong to a Democratic organization that works well together. I, too, have stopped watching MSNBC and canceled the NY Times and WaPo.
I find Simon's and Robert Hubbell's essays helpful and the commentary is engaging and uplifting.
I hope you will refresh and continue with this group. We need you.
I need to tell you are not alone. We sound like twins in action. I also am swamped by depression and fears. It borders terror at times.
Please keep engaging here. We can really help each other while helping plot a way forward:
My solutions have been to temporarily refill depression meds I haven’t needed since 2007. I am not allowing myself to sit unless I’m doing something to occupy my mind. If the despair hits I get up and go for a walk in the rain or cold or whatever. I shut down social media and turned off notifications for posts from bulwark and medias touch. I’m trying to find someplace to volunteer that has nothing to do with politics.
If others have coping strategies I’m into trying almost anything.
May I suggest more of your favorite music, whatever it is. Personally I find Bach, Arvo Pärt, certain works by Jan Garbarek (Officium) or Steve Reich, Fairouz, Sister Marie Keyrouz and Gregorian Chants incredibly calming.
I’m trying to find someplace to volunteer that has nothing to do with politics.
⬆️
How about in a public school? I am a Math tutor in a local home-grown program. This is my 6th year and I always am in a better mood after I spend time with "my kids". (I tutor two kids individually back-to-back, 30 minutes each).
I know there are also reading programs nationwide. Commitment is likely 1 hour per week plus travel time. If you want something less formal, look into being a lunch buddy. Another option might be to volunteer at a public library. Then there are adult literacy programs or programs where you can help non-native English speakers help improve their ability to speak English. (I would check with your local public library).
I don't know the level of physical activity you are looking for, but foodbanks are always looking for volunteers to sort donations. In addition, many faith-based organizations operate small food pantries once or twice a month and need volunteers to take shifts to staff them.
Thank you for your hard work and many donations. This is a really tough time for all of us. I am spending time finding the successes we had despite Trump’s victory for President. I am convinced our hard work made room for those wins and that it would have been much worse if we had not all worked so hard. I would love to see Simon put up a Google Doc where we could all add our favorite wins. Some are hitting the national news but many are not. Maybe organize them by state and also allow sorting by level of office. The more of these wins roll into my inbox, the better I feel.
I will join remotely to stand with The Opposition Party. Have been recruiting people to use our terminology while in Washington, D.C. this week and by text. A friend wrote that a "single word that best describes my state of mind is ... resignation." I wrote back that "oh, you are so wrong. The single word is opposition. We are the Opposition Party (aka Democrats) and this is a fight to be won. " To which he replied, "Deb, I accept I'm wrong. You're literally an inspiration to me."
That's my reported achievement as an Information Warrior.
We need our own Southern Strategy - not a strategy which calls folks to fear and rage, but one based on the extraordinary story of the American South, which I've long thought of as THE place national revival must spring from. That's where the deepest wound is and the GOP has spent my entire lifetime building its bones on that wound. Anyway, I'm discussing starting a podcast with my husband's best friend to explore all this in an accessible way. Be good to yourself and each other today, Hopies!
At the risk of immodesty, I recommend my new memoir about this very thing. I returned to teach history at my alma mater in Richmond, Virginia, aka the Capital of the Confederacy. In 1976, America's bicentennial, my school was nearly all-white. When I came back to teach there in 2003, thirty-seven languages were spoken. Now it is majority-minority. I reflect on my own changes that these kids sparked in my identity: evangelicalism, a new sense of community, and my Southern heritage. It's all too scarily relevant after last Tuesday.
Can we discuss what to do about family who voted for Trump? My family don’t wear the hats or fly the flags, but they watch Fox and are on Facebook and I am seriously considering saying goodbye to the lot of them. The Hopium community clearly voted for Harris. But many in this same community have family that did not.
Black women on SM are rightfully calling us out for not gathering our own. We need to have a conversation about how, at the end of the day, white people have failed them, no matter how much time or money any of us personally donated. Every Hopium member who has family that voted for Trump in 2024 needs to do better, or differently, or something. Do we cut them off? Can we reach them? This can’t continue.
I'm in that boat. Not sure what to do about it. Tried to have that convo with my mom several times about T and her reaction was to have an emotional meltdown with her crying saying "Why am I doing this?" to her. I feel like they won't get it until they are faced with the hard consequences of their choices and maybe not even then.
The problem is that so many people who voted for him won’t face consequences. It will be the marginalized communities, the pregnant women in red states, the farm workers who don’t have a say in our elections, who will suffer.
I get where you are coming from, but I disagree with most of what you are saying. It is NOT on us to "do better, or differently, or something" about how our family members vote. We can't control their decisions. I have A LOT of family members who unfortunately voted Trump. I love all of them, and I had discussions with them why they voted the way they did. Most of it came down to inflation and them not understanding that it was getting better. Many of them are fed up by both mainstream Republicans and Democrats, and find Trump to be "different". Again, I don't agree with any of this, and I've limited my contact with them a bit because of it, but I'll never cut off family over who they voted for. That's just not something I'm ever going to do.
I tell them I worked for decades with both sex offenders and their victims and I cannot fathom how they could vote for one, and there is nothing more to discuss.
I agree with this. A siren alarm poll from CNN the weekend of the election was that 53% of people (compared to 47% for Harris) said "Trump represents the change America needs". VP Harris didn't have enough time to make the case that she was the change agent. Very difficult task given she was Biden's VP, but I think the fact that she came within 6 points in just 3.5 months indicates she could have done it with more time.
I believe, for those that have family and friends that vote for Trump, it is each person's individual decision for how to proceed. I have a sister who votes for Trump and I barely speak to her. It is what works for me. She is not interested in facts and I am not interested in knowing how great Trump is for us. Being Hispanic, sorry, but I do not buy it's the economy or the price of eggs. It's self loathing and a wish to be above "the others". I have had people tell me they know Hispanics who tell them it's the economy. They tell me we know people of color who say this and it's not racism, misogyny or self loathing. It's the economy and we just need to show them the truth. I say I AM A PERSON OF COLOR. I am telling you, they won't say it but most of them want to be part of the white club. I am generalizing but I know of what I speak. Once we accept this, maybe we can stop trying to convince people "their facts" are not correct. They are not interested in facts. They do not want to say the quiet part allowed, or maybe even to themselves, they want be part of the club that looks down on those less fortunate and/or marginalized communities.
I'm reading an interesting book "White Trash" 400 years of class in america by Nancy Isenberg. She points out (as others have also) that every strata (stratum?) of society wants/needs/desires someone to look down on! There is an eye-opening chapter on Ben Franklin and what he thought of those he called, literally, "waste people." It is putting our history in a different perspective for me. Trump doesn't just come from Nazi background; but from our Founding Fathers background as well apparently. In 2008 I thought we were so close to overcoming....
I. wonder if there's a place we could take this discussion. Yours and the replies tell me it's possible to look at this together but probably elsewhere. One of our sub stacks maybe? Smaller room?
I think this is a good idea (sorry I didn’t check all the posts on this thread before). We really need to have this conversation about how to reach our family. I have seen families that literally never reconcile in their lifetimes. It can’t be that RW media and one awful man create so much division between people who love each other. Let’s start something.
"Let's start something" sounds like a slogan to me! A bit different to Do Something which I thought was excellent but is now a Democratic saying so not useful across the aisles.
I agree that RW media and one awful man not be allowed to tiny-handedly destroy democracy. Though it isn't one man; it is one major party that's lost its mind in its frenzy for power and wealth and "vengence" for mythical wrongs. And it seems one awful man has done a LOT of killing and oppression and devastation: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Xi, Kim, Orban, Erdogan, Modi, Khomeini, Netanayahu, Putin. Each had their "generals" of course.
I am half Latino, I whole heartily agree with you. I have been trying to tell some of my white/liberal friends this, but you summarized it much more articulately than I have been able to.
It's frustrating, isn't it? We want the same things, but unless we address some of the true, core motivations, we will continue to end up with more Trumps.
100% to this. I am from a Southern family and have spent way too much time trying to square my family’s (problematic) history and whiteness (I believe strongly in the need to acknowledge and understand our history and the corrosiveness of whiteness). But, I what I do know is that working people want what whiteness offers. It’s why the Italian guys in South Philly are such big Trumpers and why many Hispanic men voted for Trump. Democrat’s message that we are “feeling your pain” person of color, and fighting to change the (whiteness) system even though it seems like the system never changes increasingly sounds hollow and like bullshit (particularly as it is often delivered by wealthy, albeit well meaning white people). We can’t expect us saying that “they are rascist and we want to change the system” will win over voters who see things clearly getting worse and understand that the easiest and clearest way to get ahead in this country is to work (and not fight) the system.
In the South in the 50s and 60s they were called white trash or the working poor. It doesn't explain the wealthier suburbanites though -- maybe that's just greed.
It’s fine to disagree, but we as a community need to have this conversation. And this isn’t about politics or parties. This is about people voting for someone who is a manifestly dangerous, unfit criminal.
My BIL from ME wanted to come for Thanskgiving all of a sudden to gloat I guess. We told him we canceled this year, out of protest for America electing a fascist. Message sent. Also, don't come down. We are busy ( we are not ).
I'm for cutting off those who can't be reached. At least temporarily. Too much brain damage and betrayal. And in fact they are not the majority in the US. Some of them may figure it out when they start to suffer from their choices. Then we don't gloat but just point out it was their choices.
Frankly, I am a white woman and really I have no power over other white people. All the people I associate with are not Trumpers. I'm concerned in this era of mass data that we tend to stereotype and generalize about people based on their demography. We are rightfully mourning and angry but I don't see how pointing fingers at people because of their race/ethnicity/gender is helpful. Blaming and shaming is not a tactic/strategy for success - it is a tactic for turning people off and failure. Someone who lives in a blue multicultural culture and geography has no power over the red-hatters. We should on the other hand look at ways we may be contributing to lack of understanding and connectness - I've seen a growing tendency for those with college degrees, living in wealthier blue areas, to really not understand what life is like for those with less status and means because we are all living in splintered bubbles these days.
I have no power over anyone. I don't give people a pass for voting for Trump. I am not interested in their justification. They have every right to vote for whomever they want, but I am not letting them wash off the stench of voting for Trump by telling them I understand. It's all BS anyway. They voted for him because they wanted to vote for him.
Don’t disown your Trump voting relatives. We’ll need them in the future. We cannot allow the Democratic Party to keep shrinking. I’m concerned by how many more in “blue” states like NY voted for Trump. If Trump’s overall # of votes is the same as 2020, did more of those votes come from blue states than they did in 2020? Or is it just that so many fewer came out to vote for Harris than for Biden?
I know this blog is called Hopium. But I'm coming more from Reality Land. Realisticum. Call it whatever you want. I think we have to accept that the House is probably lost. Dems would have to go 15-3 in the final 18 undecided races (per the last graphic I saw) to take it 218-217. The odds of that happening are probably 5 percent or less.
In Reality Land, this is our worst nightmares confirmed. Even if you say that it was "not a landslide," all the MSM outlets are calling it that. That's the message. Trump will take that and run with it. Even more so if the Republicans have both houses of Congress. No checks on Trump. Supreme Court decidedly in his favor. It's a clear freeway for him.
I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here. I'm just saying, let's face reality. Let's not quibble over little details. Let's try not to argue amongst each other as to why this happened (other that to honestly analyze it so we can prevent it from happening again). AND THEN LET'S FIGHT LIKE HELL, TOOTH AND NAIL, EVERY DAY, TO STOP AN EMBOLDENED TRUMP AND REPUBLICAN PARTY WHO THINK THEY HAVE A MANDATE TO DO WHATEVER THE HELL THEY WANT.
Counterpoint: Even a shaky majority is one we can work with. Remember the two separate pie fights they had to have to elect a Speaker last year? House Republicans are so incapable of working together, they can barely build a coalition around having eggs for breakfast. We play our cards right, the legislative session will be over before it begins, and we'll be in a firm spot to retake both chambers in two years.
Counter-counterpoint: Trump looks at the bumbling Republican Congress (already completely sycophantic and kowtowed to him) and says, "Who the hell needs you? Here's Project 2025. Just the follow the blueprint, do what I say, and you keep your job." I'm not sure how Republican disarray prevents this. Does any Republican in Congress have a spine left? I believe all of them who did (like Cheney and Kitzinger) quit or got beaten in the last 8 years, replaced mostly by MAGA who will rubber-stamp the Trump agenda, especially after this last electoral triumph.
Again, I'm trying to prepare people for the reality we are facing. We will probably need more bodies in the streets, less comments on message boards. We need a united Democratic opposition for sure, and that's where our best leverage lies. But we are going to be fighting an emboldened, vengeful leader in Trump. We will have to pull out all the stops.
Heritage Foundation is VERY GOOD AT IT!!!!!!! And they have been waiting for a long time. And Vance is their boy. And Peter Thiel's boy. Look for Trump to be retired before the halfway mark.
Well, now they've run into their second problem. Trump was lightning in a bottle, an anomaly. He's term-limited now, and Vance trying to control his followers would be a disaster, as he has neither the charisma nor the control over them Trump does.
Trump is going to outsource working to his deplorable minions, Elon, JD, RFK Jr, Bannon et al. He will play golf, sell out America's interests, both foreign and domestic, for cash, preen at the pomp and circumstance occasions.
I'm with you. I hate to say it but I think we have to suffer the consequences (and if the GOP owns the entire govt then they can't blame it on Dems and we cannot let them blame it on anyone but themselves and their loathsomeness). People are going to die. People are going to suffer and lose everything. But at the bottom there is nowhere to go but up or as Churchill said "when you are going through hell, keep going." (or something like that)
Yeah, I'm with you. Pain is the best teacher sometimes. After you touch a hot stove and get burned, you rarely touch it again. Thought we would have learned that lesson with COVID as a bumbling, lying, divisive administration caused hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. But, I guess we need to touch the hot stove again. It'll suck, but maybe we'll come out better on the other side.
I feel as though Trump won through a very carefully crafted and lavishly funded campaign of disinformation, spread via social media sites and podcasts with HUGE popular followings. Anyone who uses Twitter can see the number of bots and trolls that infest it, and it's very easy to access other sites that broadcast disinformation through "personalities" and celebrities and guest "experts" who get up there and lie, lie, lie. Fox news and the other right wing channels contribute, but I think they are less relevant and becoming more so as their audiences die off. I think the left has to come up with a way to counter this effort. Disinformation and lies are at the heart of who Trump is, and what he stands for. He wants wealth and power at any cost to anyone, and his followers think it's somehow going to rub off on them. It will be interesting to see what happens to Musk. Will Trump share the limelight? I don't think so. Anyway, countering disinformation is out number one job, in my view, starting with elementary school children, in the classroom. More podcasts by dynamic hosts designed to attract the young. More pro democracy trolls and bots on key social media sites. George Orwell never was more right on than now.
Every single story that got traction- pet eating, FEMA aid to immigrants, the "bad" economy- started on social media and was picked up by the disinformation networks (Fox), followed by the mainstream media, which only added a normalizing factor. This right-wing disinformation production is setting the entire agenda for all of media coverage.
Social media is a cancer. I remember when Facebook first came out, thinking “oh good, I can find my high school friends again!” And if that’s all it had remained, it might not be a bad thing. But it became a horrible way to both simultaneously tear down fences (no fences make for psychopathic neighbors) and create echo chambers. Not to mention the people who get all their news from social media.
Yes great questions. Thank you Simon. I particularly like this one: How can Dems tell better stories about themselves, who we are and what we want to do, particularly on the economy and getting ahead/opportunity? It connects with getting Loud and Proud. Telling our very very true story of advancing an even playing field, And a focus on strengthening the middle class. My grandfather who fought in WWI used to say—what makes America great is a free and mandatory public school system. He was no student but he felt valued by our educational system. People,especially young people and new Immigrants do not know our history, so they believe the lies. We can value them by telling our story, our truth.
I am taking this post down for it is unnecessarily disrespectful. Feel free to report it with a more respectful tone to all involved.
RFK is an anti-vax wack job. I'm glad the Democrats didn't stoop so low to make some false promises to him in exchange that he'd endorse Harris.
RFK wanted a cabinet position in exchange for his endorsement. He's a demonstrated liar and fraud. If he had just approached Harris like most people who offer endorsements with some concerns or asking for a seat at the table, it would have been palatable. But he wanted a quid pro quo. There is no cabinet position for which he is even remotely qualified for anyone who is actually serious about governing.
It's baffling to me that anyone would contemplate giving a cabinet position to an unqualified conman and serial liar in exchange for that fraudster's endorsement. I'd certainly reach out to his supporters and try to change their minds, but I'd not entertain a quid pro quo at all.
It's not arrogance. I'm just not sure I'd want support from, for example, a holocaust denier (different conspiracy theory, same principle), especially if he wanted a position on my cabinet.
Hi I will read this in full later. This is my window to get chores done.
But this one I think is very very important:
“How do we keep the millions of Americans who left it all out there on the playing field in 2024 engaged and prevent them from losing heart?”
I agree with Claudia's assessment of the primary importance of keeping everybody engaged and preventing us from losing heart. And thank you Simon, not only for all you've done already, but for what you're doing right now by keeping Hopium going - that's one sure way for us all to stay engaged and not lose heart!
I have had some beers and now I am so fed up by the MSM. What useful idiots they have been.
I am sad.
I hear Portugal is allowing us to come in.
They are tiny. By the time I figure it out they will be packed to the gills.
MSM failed us utterly . . . While they were focusing on Joe Biden's "gait" or whether he called people "garbage", Elon Musk was talking to Putin and turning his acquisition of Twitter - oops, "X" -- into a full blown Trump re-election vehicle.
Portugal is on our list too
People whose views should be considered:
Matt Stoller on the importance of anti-trust enforcement as a way of bringing relief to consumers, eliminating monopoly pricing of rental units, and ending costly hidden fees.
Senator Chris Murphy on the need for Democrats to abandon neoliberalism and develop progressive populist policies.
Tom Nichols on the embedded racism and misogyny in American culture and the need to address it forcefully.
And Krystal Ball on making left populism work.
Voters do support these policies and these policies already do exist- the problem is they won't vote for them if a Democrat is associated with it.
It’s as if “our brand” is spoiled somehow. Plenty of otherwise deep red voters will say yes to legal weed, abortion, raising the minimum wage, and so on. They just won’t vote for it if it’s tied to Democrats. I wish I knew what to do about that. Bring back Zombie Huey Long?
This 100%. Dan Pfieffer (again-- he's my go-too!) said exactly this. R's successfully branded D's as elitists who don't care about the working class. The opposite is objectively true, as almost every policy initiative, and even broader agenda, that Dems champion benefits the working class. Dems absolutely have to build their brand back. Smarter people than I can figure out how to do it. I know how not to do it, though: ridiculous purity tests (anyone who ever worked for any corporation in his/her life is a corporate shill, for example), and Bernie Sanders' shouting that we've abandoned the working class.
When the MSM and the republicans mention the "working class" what they mean, in my opinion, is the WHITE working class. Jesus, how many Trump voters in diner interviews have there been since 2015?
How about zombie FDR?
Seriously, look at how he used his "fireside chats" to educate, inspire and lead the nation through the Great Depression? Couldn't a Democratic president today figure out some way to use the "bully pulpit" effectively during economic hard times?
100%. When these policies are polled without telling the respondent that these are Democratic priorities, they love them: health care. education. food security. But the minute they realize these polocies are "DEMON-RAT"? That's it. THAT is the power of the rightwing information machine.
Does not matter if the left continues to cede media to Fox News and its progeny.
None of this matters.
Dems either invest heavily in progressive media dedicated to electing Dems or we will continue to lose, and lose much worse than this year.
Fox is not just a conservative media outlet. It is dedicated to electing GOP candidates. We match that or we lose.
WHAT "progressive media"? Name one, just one, large communication conglomorate that is more democratic ( note small "d")than right twisted, there are none!!!! The Rupert fascist empire and the Sinclair empire, again, is far right and control the majority of small stations, the so respected major print corps proved to have the spines of jelly fish - not that many under the age of 40 read them. Then there is all the web influencers. Again, what news? When, about 50 years ago, too many school districts bought into the notion that this country didn't need history or civics, we were on the road to perdition. They were helped to come to that conclusion by the Koch family and their far right beliefs by the massive infusion into local school board election nation wide . We don't have skin in this game. We've lost a generation or two because of that. Until people begin to feel the pain of the noxious fairy tales the MAGAmonsters have spun, it's hard to have a universal game plan. Every case will be different.
I’m not sure how to interpret the question or response.
My point being that investors which care about democracy must immediately start investing in media organizations,
both traditional and non-traditional, that are dedicated to electing Dems. There are none now. The GOP has at least 30-40.
Unless this is done, our beatings will get worse.
This is exactly what I'm going to be talking about for the foreseeable future. I invite any of you along for the ride on the @Freedom Over Fascism stack and podcast.
If wishes were horses . . .
Investors care about the bottom line. If they care about democracy, they are going to have build their organization. All of the established papers are now in the hands of those who sane-washed the felon. The only papers that are widely read and that still look to the better angels of democracy are the Boston Globe and the
Philadelphia Inquirer. That's my point. The establishment has sold out.
Nope. Murdock, Theil, Musk, Koch, etc. all bought massive chunks of media as “loss leaders” to spread political messaging
This is a basic fact now.
We need billionaires on our side to do the same. If not, it’s over,
I must take exception to this notion because it gets repeated a lot. I have 31 years in education and I can assure you that civics and history are still taught. That doesn't mean most people remember it beyond passing a test in class. We test kids on math and reading in order to graduate, but not on social studies. If we think it is important, it should be on those tests.
What state(s) are you familiar with? Of course "civics and history are still taught" -- in some places, and some schools. And the benefits can be far-reaching. After the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, several survivors became youth leaders on the national stage -- the strength of the school's government and theater programs certainly contributed to this.
The statement about math and science proves the point. It is an elect NOT a requirement. It used to be a requirement. Now all that is taught is how to fit into the widget employment world - not how to question and how to think independently.
Not gonna disagree with that. I am so OVER the STEM requirements. Critical thinking is a skill that is taught in humanities.
Will repeat what I stated above. I don't think there's a better avenue for teaching critical thinking and logic than science and math. Maybe an equivalent one, but not better.
Math and science absolutely teach critical, logical thinking. You can't be successful in either without it. Logic and critical thinking are the basis for math and science. I'm not in any way saying other disciplines aren't important-- but it seems that the problem lies with how science/math are taught, if anything (lack of teacher quality, maybe). The same would be true of humanities. If it's not taught well, it'll not accomplish the objectives.
Also it is an ongoing process to be used across disciplines. BUt keep in mind the average school teacher is underpaid, may be teaching outside her ( most are women ) discipline due to shortages, has too many students and is also in charge of breakfast, lunch and bus duty. By day's end the only critical thinking you can muster is hoping you don't collapse from exhaustion on your commute home.
I teach in CA and I teach civics, American history and the Constitution everyday to 8th graders. I have no control over how much they remember, but I know they have had an extensive year in Social Studies on it.
Betsy is certainly right about California—my kids studied these subjects in California schools—and the same is true of many other states. It’s also true that right wing officials have politicized what can be taught in some states in recent years. These developments need careful attention.
For those with a genuine interest, Jason Stanley (author of How Fascism Works) just published an essential new book, Erasing History. There’s also specific discussion of what Ron DeSantis and his allies have done to education in Florida in Asha Rangappa’s interview of Stanley for Freedom Academy last week. https://asharangappa.substack.com/p/freedom-academy-book-club-erasing
And I think this encapsulates one of the big problems, because it was my experience as well; the subject is taught in middle school when it needs to be taught when kids are getting ready to vote, just like driver's ed.
You might be interested in reading what Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, wrote in his Substack today. https://reedgalen.substack.com/p/the-joe-rogan-fallacy
Simon, one thing I’m very interested in learning is whether or not the “hordes” of Gen Z voters that we were told were registering in numbers too big to ignore actually voted. I think that one reason I’m struggling with this loss is because, as we worked to get folks registered, I kept hearing about the “huge numbers” of young adults registering and that their enthusiasm was really high. I guess that I thought that as long as the tried and true old guard turned out, that we’d be well over the top with the addition of the youngsters voting. What happened? Did they register, but then not vote?
And, by the way, thank you and Tom (Bonier) both SO much for all you’ve done and continue to do! I’m beyond grateful.
Yes, they are dedicated to electing GOP candidates, but Fox new and others are also dedicated to lying for the Republicans on everything from health care to supporting Ukraine, including the seemingly fundamental question that the economy is "good" or "bad". In MSNBC we have passionate and well-informed and articulate people writing and working. Why is that not enough? How do we break the stranglehold on alternative reality?
Laurence O'Donnell notwithstanding, MSNBC does its share of spinning and circular fire squad-ing. JMO
Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, talks about the roots of the problem: https://reedgalen.substack.com/p/the-joe-rogan-fallacy
This nothing we have not known about for years; Air America was an attempt to combat it. It was likely the reason Obama got elected; shortly after Mitt Romney bought the stations out and replaced AA with sports talk and other inane stuff. Source: Thom Hartmann.
I remember Air America. However, in Wikipedia, I don't see any mention of Mitt Romney buying out the stations. Sounds like the network had financial and management problems long before it was sold (to New York real estate investor Stephen L. Green and his brother Mark Green -- per Wikipedia).
Thom Hartmann is talking about the stations it ran on, not the product itself.
Consider Reed Galen's thoughts on this subject: https://reedgalen.substack.com/p/the-joe-rogan-fallacy
I saw that piece. Interesting take.
What if "the left" isn't "ceding" anything? What if the media imbalance -- which is definitely real -- is built into our under-regulated economic system?
Because that's exactly the case. In just about all times and places, Big Money is conservative, sometimes to the point of reactionary. It's not hard to understand why: it wants to protect itself. That includes being anti-labor and anti-government. It takes countervailing forces, like labor unions and government policy, to keep Big Money in check.
The Reagan administration gutted those countervailing forces, busting unions, slashing social programs, and cutting the corporate tax rate. This gave rise to mergers & acquisitions (corporate consolidation) and an increase in the number (and influence) of billionaires. Take a look at how many media outlets, social and otherwise, are controlled by billionaires. Corporate consolidation has also killed off hundreds, maybe thousands, of local and regional news outlets.
So it's not just Fox. And it's not a coincidence that neither the Washington Post nor the LA Times (owned by Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong respectively) didn't endorse Harris-Walz. Twitter took a deep dive into the cesspool after Elon Musk bought it. Facebook is erratic at best, and Instagram is now also part of the Meta empire.
Nothing even slightly left of center has the economic clout to challenge this without the backing of a government that takes anti-trust seriously.
Well, not sure what to say other than the GOP has complete control of government right now. So, addressing this through government regulation/action is an object impossibility.
We will continue to lose election after election after election unless and until major Dem billionaires step up to the plate and build an information universe which competes against Fox and its progeny.
And if we are going to play the “purist game” and say we refuse to have billionaires on our team, then we are fucked.
How about you make a list of "major Democratic billionaires" and lay it alongside "major Republican billionaires"? Even if you use "liberal" instead of "Democrat," methinks you'll wind up with a rather short list, most likely with George Soros at the top. As I noted elsewhere, wealth tends to be conservative.
Maybe read some history, about how the abolitionists, the suffragists, the labor organizers, and the civil rights activists didn't wait around for millionaires (billionaires weren't so common back then) to show up before they got to work?
There are literally 100s. In CA alone there are likely 30- 40 very progressive billionaires who pump tons of money into progressive causes every year.
Again, we either do this or we lose worse going forward.
The idea that we are going to somehow use our collective intellect to pierce the Fox echo chamber or delusional and dangerous.
We need our own propaganda.
I just looked it up: Inequality.org says 801 "based in the US." Info based on an Institute for Policy Studies analysis. More than I realized, and I don't know any of them.
I agree 💯 with Tom Nichols.
IMPORTANT….there is this:
https://x.com/elienyc/status/1856017841423560714?s=46&t=BgA_RxtlnRT3cw-PPydAZw
And here it is, folks. The lack of logic is astounding. I don't know how you can fix things like this. Gaza particularly. It's like: I care so much about Gaza that I'm voting for the guy who told Bibi to "finish the job."
“Trump is going to let men have a voice.” Said to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is a woman. SMDH.
I think we might reconsider labeling anything we do either progressive or even populist. Those labels clearly put off a lot of centrist voters imho.
"Defunding the Police" was another poor choice. If you have to explain what a label means, you've lost the message.
It really was. If you have to also explain you don't really mean it anyway, you've really lost the message. ..
And Robert Reich's post from today
WTF is "lived experience" and how does it differ from "experience"? Heinous redundancy that's everywhere now. To be clear, I don't have dead experiences to report and neither does anyone else.
Well, it differs considerably from Trump’s fictional experience and expertise.
/s
Point taken but I shouldn't have to qualify my experience as "lived." One of those popular phrases that offends me as a literate person every time I see it. Forgive me.
Oh for heaven's sake, you're going to chide me for one little off topic comment? How about letting me vent a little about something trivial? That's unity, too. Have a good day.
Oh, I couldn’t agree more! Hence my sarcasm mark.
Another annoyance: "She is speaking "her truth"." No! Someone is either speaking the truth or they are not.
(Yet another objection of mine is to people writing "different than" instead of "different from". Not to mention the British absurdity, "different to".)
Also, standing "on line" to vote, instead of "in line."
That's regional. Don't diss my "lived experience"!
Not true. There is truth. In the telling, there is her truth, his, mine, yours. In politics perception is reality. Truth is a word much misused. There are also facts. Not subject to interpretation like perception. Maybe we should more accurately say "she speaks her reality" or "her perception" -- all of us make observations based on the totality of what is in our consciousness at the time, and it varies wildly.
You raise some good points. Your terms are more accurate.
I've never heard of or used the term "lived experience" until recently. In my mind it is an attempt to understand why inflation helped elect MAGA. Inflation spiked after the pandemic all over the world which proves the cause was not Biden's wild spending. The spike in inflation was Trump's fault for mishandling the pandemic. Biden successfully reduced inflation from 9% to 2.4%. The goal post had to then be changed from inflation to absolute prices being higher than they were pre-pandemic Trump. I don't know the answer but I question how much of this is "lived experience", that is truly remembering what you paid in 2019 compared to now, and how much is due to the influence of right wing propaganda bombarding the airwaves with how bad the economy is. Look at correlation between party and vibes on the economy. Just wait to see how concerned MAGA is over inflation when Trump is president.
That's a higher level of abstraction than I was aiming for, but all I know is I see the phrase in all sorts of contexts, as in "The writer's memoir is his lived experience." I got the point at "memoir."
OPPORTUNITIES
JD Vance is leaving the Senate to assume the vice-presidency. Trump has announced his intention to make Representative Elise Stefanik the US Ambassador to the United Nations. That’s likely to be a headache for the House GOP’s very precarious majority, as the seat will be empty for a few months, and it forces a special election in NY-21 this spring.
Democrats have an excellent track record of overperforming in special elections. We need to launch high-intensity efforts to capture whatever House and Senate seats are vacated by Trump’s appointments. Hopefully there will be many!
EDIT: Hopefully, Democrats are already working on recruiting optimal candidates for any and all soon-to-be-vacated seats. And their campaigns should start ASAP.
The OH Senate will be in 2028, but yes; and, having flipped three U.S. House seats in New York this cycle, maybe D's can build on that. CPR says that NY-21's partisan lean is only R+4.
https://www.cookpolitical.com/pvi-map-and-district-list
There are two Ohio senate seats. I could be wrong, but was pretty sure there has to be a special election for Vance’s by 2026.
Right
Yes, OH Gov. DeWine gets to appoint an interim Senator, but they have to have a special election the next time there is a federal election - That's why Mark Kelly and Rafael Warnock had to run again in 2022. Jon Ossoff's race in 2020 lined up with when that seat was supposed have an election, so he got a full 6-yr term.
Knowing that each state has it's own rules for filling vacancies, I looked this one up on https://abcnews.go.com/ "Different states have different rules for how Senate vacancies are filled. In Ohio, the governor of the state has the power to appoint someone to temporarily fill the vacancy. A special election will then be held in November 2026 to fill the vacancy through the remainder of Vance's existing term in 2028."
NY-21 is a R+7 district, so its a tough sled, but it is possible! There's work to do here. There's work to do in NJ and Virginia too.
They ran one in NY-21 this year. It was not a particularly competitive race.
In NY, a candidate can represent more than one party:
https://ballotpedia.org/Paula_Collins
"Paula Collins (Democratic Party, Working Families Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 21st Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Wow!
<posted reply in wrong place>
Please keep us informed so we can set up Act Blue recurring donations.
Is this an opportunity for Sherrod Brown?
Long-term, maybe, because Sherrod Brown certainly has been an excellent fit for Ohio, at least before our current hyper-polarized political environment. However, first Republican Governor Mike DeWine gets to appoint Vance’s successor, and in the 2026 Senate Election that person will be an incumbent of sorts.
One small upside before then: DeWine is not MAGA, and there is a strong likelihood he’ll appoint a non-MAGA person to fill Vance’s senate seat.
The most important comment so far. Thanks.
I live in NY-21 and door-knocked in two election cycles to defeat Stefanik. We are gerrymandered red so it will be a tough fight, but we have been represented by democrats before. Tedra Cobb was an excellent Dem candidate in earlier cycles. But as I drove around the county just before the election, I saw far more signs for Stefanik than I did for Trump, and he won by a landslide here. People, bizarrely, love her even more than they love Trump. She is so awful and I'm so glad to see her go, but it will not be easy for a Democrat to win here in this historical moment.
Wow! It would indeed be nice to add two D senators next year!!!!!
Senate election would be in 2026. Vacated House seats get special elections; Senate seats not so much.
Anyway, what race are you referring to as the is the second Senate race? Beside's Vance??
Stefanik is in the House.
You're right. I wasn't thinking. Well..wishful thinking.
As Simon writes, most immediately, the need is for ballot curing. Bob Casey's Senate race in PA, and 19 races in the House of Representatives have not yet been called.
To Simon's list for the House races in need of ballot curing support (phone calls, in-person, and funding), add:
Dave Min (CA-47, Katie Porter's seat). He has pulled ahead by less than 1 point, but his opponent is also ballot curing.
Best to look for the candidates' individual campaign sites or search on mobilize.us
Here's a nice list of CA ballot curing opportunities:
https://www.fieldteam6.org/ballot-curing-ca
God Bless You Simon as the old saying goes
"Patience is bitter but it's fruit is sweet!!!
Blue wave of balance in 2026.....
There's always "another election" and we've got two big ones (Virginia and New Jersey governors) coming up in 2025.
Time to be ready for those. Virginia and New Jersey were close wins for Kamala, but Democrats have been doing well in getting good governors elected, so these races could add to that deep bench.
Yes. Dan Pfieffer made a great point: After Bush won in 2004 (he won the popular vote, also) Repubs were talking about a permanent majority for decades to come. Four years later, we took the White House, the House, and had a supermajority (a fleeting one b/c Ted Kennedy died) in the Senate. Dems thought the same way after Obama's second win. Four years later, R's had all three branches.
In the words of Rush, "he knows changes aren't permanent, but change is"
Yeah, that 2006 midterms was a shellacking for the GOP. G.W. Bush was pretty much neutered for most of his second term.
I hate to confess this. And, Simon, you may take this post down as being contrary to the Hopium mission. But I am one of those who left a lot of it on the field. I contributed more money to campaigns than I could afford. I cared more deeply and passionately than I ever have. And I am left now disheartened and dispirited. I wish I could feel like I want to do more. But I'm too full of despair, and too tired. I won't read the newsletters anymore. I've turned off my beloved MSNBC. My ulcer has been reactivated. I'm just plain down in the dumps, and can't imagine these feelings will soon pass. All that being said, thank you for EVERYTHING. You remain always one of my heroes. I'm 78 years old, and, at this point, signing off.
You did everything you could and then some, LuVoss. Your health comes first. Please enjoy your well-earned rest. We will carry on the struggle on your behalf. 💙
Take care of your health first. We all grieve the loss in our own ways.
LuVoss, I understand your feelings. I am two years younger than you and get what you are feeling. Take two steps back, and know that your work is appreciated and your somewhat less active opposition still matters, but should you feel the hunger to engage again please know that we will welcome you back to the fight.
Thanks I’m also trying to find some funny audiobooks or at least light hearted stuff
Paula Poundstone has some good ones that she narrates.
LuVoss, start posting on your substack. Don't sign off of everything forever yet. And look up Rory Nicholas piece on TikTok or YouTube. He explains how I have been feeling and it resonates with what you are now feeling. I'd love to know what you response to it is.
I am two years older and probably did not work as hard as you did. I am from TX and we've been under siege for years. I am lucky to belong to a Democratic organization that works well together. I, too, have stopped watching MSNBC and canceled the NY Times and WaPo.
I find Simon's and Robert Hubbell's essays helpful and the commentary is engaging and uplifting.
I hope you will refresh and continue with this group. We need you.
I need to tell you are not alone. We sound like twins in action. I also am swamped by depression and fears. It borders terror at times.
Please keep engaging here. We can really help each other while helping plot a way forward:
My solutions have been to temporarily refill depression meds I haven’t needed since 2007. I am not allowing myself to sit unless I’m doing something to occupy my mind. If the despair hits I get up and go for a walk in the rain or cold or whatever. I shut down social media and turned off notifications for posts from bulwark and medias touch. I’m trying to find someplace to volunteer that has nothing to do with politics.
If others have coping strategies I’m into trying almost anything.
Stay safe.
May I suggest more of your favorite music, whatever it is. Personally I find Bach, Arvo Pärt, certain works by Jan Garbarek (Officium) or Steve Reich, Fairouz, Sister Marie Keyrouz and Gregorian Chants incredibly calming.
I’m trying to find someplace to volunteer that has nothing to do with politics.
⬆️
How about in a public school? I am a Math tutor in a local home-grown program. This is my 6th year and I always am in a better mood after I spend time with "my kids". (I tutor two kids individually back-to-back, 30 minutes each).
I know there are also reading programs nationwide. Commitment is likely 1 hour per week plus travel time. If you want something less formal, look into being a lunch buddy. Another option might be to volunteer at a public library. Then there are adult literacy programs or programs where you can help non-native English speakers help improve their ability to speak English. (I would check with your local public library).
https://www.rif.org/literacy-network/get-involved
I don't know the level of physical activity you are looking for, but foodbanks are always looking for volunteers to sort donations. In addition, many faith-based organizations operate small food pantries once or twice a month and need volunteers to take shifts to staff them.
Thanks great suggestions
Thank you for your hard work and many donations. This is a really tough time for all of us. I am spending time finding the successes we had despite Trump’s victory for President. I am convinced our hard work made room for those wins and that it would have been much worse if we had not all worked so hard. I would love to see Simon put up a Google Doc where we could all add our favorite wins. Some are hitting the national news but many are not. Maybe organize them by state and also allow sorting by level of office. The more of these wins roll into my inbox, the better I feel.
Thank you for everything you did. It probably helped some people in the House and Senate. Take care of yourself and I hope you feel better soon.
Understood. Take good care of yourself and enjoy the rest of your life! Blessings to you 🌷
1000% feel you!!
I will join remotely to stand with The Opposition Party. Have been recruiting people to use our terminology while in Washington, D.C. this week and by text. A friend wrote that a "single word that best describes my state of mind is ... resignation." I wrote back that "oh, you are so wrong. The single word is opposition. We are the Opposition Party (aka Democrats) and this is a fight to be won. " To which he replied, "Deb, I accept I'm wrong. You're literally an inspiration to me."
That's my reported achievement as an Information Warrior.
We need our own Southern Strategy - not a strategy which calls folks to fear and rage, but one based on the extraordinary story of the American South, which I've long thought of as THE place national revival must spring from. That's where the deepest wound is and the GOP has spent my entire lifetime building its bones on that wound. Anyway, I'm discussing starting a podcast with my husband's best friend to explore all this in an accessible way. Be good to yourself and each other today, Hopies!
At the risk of immodesty, I recommend my new memoir about this very thing. I returned to teach history at my alma mater in Richmond, Virginia, aka the Capital of the Confederacy. In 1976, America's bicentennial, my school was nearly all-white. When I came back to teach there in 2003, thirty-seven languages were spoken. Now it is majority-minority. I reflect on my own changes that these kids sparked in my identity: evangelicalism, a new sense of community, and my Southern heritage. It's all too scarily relevant after last Tuesday.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D58SVZC4
Good for you. I'm going to recommend it to my red-county library.
Thank you. I was born in Lexington, VA in 1966 while my father was a senior at W&L. I will check out your memoir!
Check out Joyce Vance's substack; she fights for democracy from Alabama. And Tennessee
Brando with posts from yep TN.
Can we discuss what to do about family who voted for Trump? My family don’t wear the hats or fly the flags, but they watch Fox and are on Facebook and I am seriously considering saying goodbye to the lot of them. The Hopium community clearly voted for Harris. But many in this same community have family that did not.
Black women on SM are rightfully calling us out for not gathering our own. We need to have a conversation about how, at the end of the day, white people have failed them, no matter how much time or money any of us personally donated. Every Hopium member who has family that voted for Trump in 2024 needs to do better, or differently, or something. Do we cut them off? Can we reach them? This can’t continue.
I'm in that boat. Not sure what to do about it. Tried to have that convo with my mom several times about T and her reaction was to have an emotional meltdown with her crying saying "Why am I doing this?" to her. I feel like they won't get it until they are faced with the hard consequences of their choices and maybe not even then.
The problem is that so many people who voted for him won’t face consequences. It will be the marginalized communities, the pregnant women in red states, the farm workers who don’t have a say in our elections, who will suffer.
But…that is US.
Not everyone will die but everyone will suffer the consequences. Within a year. If he and Heritage aren't stopped from their worst impulses.
I get where you are coming from, but I disagree with most of what you are saying. It is NOT on us to "do better, or differently, or something" about how our family members vote. We can't control their decisions. I have A LOT of family members who unfortunately voted Trump. I love all of them, and I had discussions with them why they voted the way they did. Most of it came down to inflation and them not understanding that it was getting better. Many of them are fed up by both mainstream Republicans and Democrats, and find Trump to be "different". Again, I don't agree with any of this, and I've limited my contact with them a bit because of it, but I'll never cut off family over who they voted for. That's just not something I'm ever going to do.
I tell them I worked for decades with both sex offenders and their victims and I cannot fathom how they could vote for one, and there is nothing more to discuss.
I agree with this. A siren alarm poll from CNN the weekend of the election was that 53% of people (compared to 47% for Harris) said "Trump represents the change America needs". VP Harris didn't have enough time to make the case that she was the change agent. Very difficult task given she was Biden's VP, but I think the fact that she came within 6 points in just 3.5 months indicates she could have done it with more time.
I believe, for those that have family and friends that vote for Trump, it is each person's individual decision for how to proceed. I have a sister who votes for Trump and I barely speak to her. It is what works for me. She is not interested in facts and I am not interested in knowing how great Trump is for us. Being Hispanic, sorry, but I do not buy it's the economy or the price of eggs. It's self loathing and a wish to be above "the others". I have had people tell me they know Hispanics who tell them it's the economy. They tell me we know people of color who say this and it's not racism, misogyny or self loathing. It's the economy and we just need to show them the truth. I say I AM A PERSON OF COLOR. I am telling you, they won't say it but most of them want to be part of the white club. I am generalizing but I know of what I speak. Once we accept this, maybe we can stop trying to convince people "their facts" are not correct. They are not interested in facts. They do not want to say the quiet part allowed, or maybe even to themselves, they want be part of the club that looks down on those less fortunate and/or marginalized communities.
I'm reading an interesting book "White Trash" 400 years of class in america by Nancy Isenberg. She points out (as others have also) that every strata (stratum?) of society wants/needs/desires someone to look down on! There is an eye-opening chapter on Ben Franklin and what he thought of those he called, literally, "waste people." It is putting our history in a different perspective for me. Trump doesn't just come from Nazi background; but from our Founding Fathers background as well apparently. In 2008 I thought we were so close to overcoming....
Thank you. I am going to look up that book.
I. wonder if there's a place we could take this discussion. Yours and the replies tell me it's possible to look at this together but probably elsewhere. One of our sub stacks maybe? Smaller room?
I think this is a good idea (sorry I didn’t check all the posts on this thread before). We really need to have this conversation about how to reach our family. I have seen families that literally never reconcile in their lifetimes. It can’t be that RW media and one awful man create so much division between people who love each other. Let’s start something.
"Let's start something" sounds like a slogan to me! A bit different to Do Something which I thought was excellent but is now a Democratic saying so not useful across the aisles.
I agree that RW media and one awful man not be allowed to tiny-handedly destroy democracy. Though it isn't one man; it is one major party that's lost its mind in its frenzy for power and wealth and "vengence" for mythical wrongs. And it seems one awful man has done a LOT of killing and oppression and devastation: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Xi, Kim, Orban, Erdogan, Modi, Khomeini, Netanayahu, Putin. Each had their "generals" of course.
I am half Latino, I whole heartily agree with you. I have been trying to tell some of my white/liberal friends this, but you summarized it much more articulately than I have been able to.
It's frustrating, isn't it? We want the same things, but unless we address some of the true, core motivations, we will continue to end up with more Trumps.
100% to this. I am from a Southern family and have spent way too much time trying to square my family’s (problematic) history and whiteness (I believe strongly in the need to acknowledge and understand our history and the corrosiveness of whiteness). But, I what I do know is that working people want what whiteness offers. It’s why the Italian guys in South Philly are such big Trumpers and why many Hispanic men voted for Trump. Democrat’s message that we are “feeling your pain” person of color, and fighting to change the (whiteness) system even though it seems like the system never changes increasingly sounds hollow and like bullshit (particularly as it is often delivered by wealthy, albeit well meaning white people). We can’t expect us saying that “they are rascist and we want to change the system” will win over voters who see things clearly getting worse and understand that the easiest and clearest way to get ahead in this country is to work (and not fight) the system.
What a lot of Trump voters want is to pull up the ladder behind them.
In the South in the 50s and 60s they were called white trash or the working poor. It doesn't explain the wealthier suburbanites though -- maybe that's just greed.
Well, I like Trump. He’s a world champion!
I am, of course, thinking of Judd Trump, but I don’t get to watch much Snooker these days.
okay so now I have to look up who Judd Trump is ArcticStones!
It’s fine to disagree, but we as a community need to have this conversation. And this isn’t about politics or parties. This is about people voting for someone who is a manifestly dangerous, unfit criminal.
My BIL from ME wanted to come for Thanskgiving all of a sudden to gloat I guess. We told him we canceled this year, out of protest for America electing a fascist. Message sent. Also, don't come down. We are busy ( we are not ).
I'm for cutting off those who can't be reached. At least temporarily. Too much brain damage and betrayal. And in fact they are not the majority in the US. Some of them may figure it out when they start to suffer from their choices. Then we don't gloat but just point out it was their choices.
Frankly, I am a white woman and really I have no power over other white people. All the people I associate with are not Trumpers. I'm concerned in this era of mass data that we tend to stereotype and generalize about people based on their demography. We are rightfully mourning and angry but I don't see how pointing fingers at people because of their race/ethnicity/gender is helpful. Blaming and shaming is not a tactic/strategy for success - it is a tactic for turning people off and failure. Someone who lives in a blue multicultural culture and geography has no power over the red-hatters. We should on the other hand look at ways we may be contributing to lack of understanding and connectness - I've seen a growing tendency for those with college degrees, living in wealthier blue areas, to really not understand what life is like for those with less status and means because we are all living in splintered bubbles these days.
I have no power over anyone. I don't give people a pass for voting for Trump. I am not interested in their justification. They have every right to vote for whomever they want, but I am not letting them wash off the stench of voting for Trump by telling them I understand. It's all BS anyway. They voted for him because they wanted to vote for him.
Don’t disown your Trump voting relatives. We’ll need them in the future. We cannot allow the Democratic Party to keep shrinking. I’m concerned by how many more in “blue” states like NY voted for Trump. If Trump’s overall # of votes is the same as 2020, did more of those votes come from blue states than they did in 2020? Or is it just that so many fewer came out to vote for Harris than for Biden?
I know this blog is called Hopium. But I'm coming more from Reality Land. Realisticum. Call it whatever you want. I think we have to accept that the House is probably lost. Dems would have to go 15-3 in the final 18 undecided races (per the last graphic I saw) to take it 218-217. The odds of that happening are probably 5 percent or less.
In Reality Land, this is our worst nightmares confirmed. Even if you say that it was "not a landslide," all the MSM outlets are calling it that. That's the message. Trump will take that and run with it. Even more so if the Republicans have both houses of Congress. No checks on Trump. Supreme Court decidedly in his favor. It's a clear freeway for him.
I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here. I'm just saying, let's face reality. Let's not quibble over little details. Let's try not to argue amongst each other as to why this happened (other that to honestly analyze it so we can prevent it from happening again). AND THEN LET'S FIGHT LIKE HELL, TOOTH AND NAIL, EVERY DAY, TO STOP AN EMBOLDENED TRUMP AND REPUBLICAN PARTY WHO THINK THEY HAVE A MANDATE TO DO WHATEVER THE HELL THEY WANT.
Here for all of it. Let's Effing Go.
Counterpoint: Even a shaky majority is one we can work with. Remember the two separate pie fights they had to have to elect a Speaker last year? House Republicans are so incapable of working together, they can barely build a coalition around having eggs for breakfast. We play our cards right, the legislative session will be over before it begins, and we'll be in a firm spot to retake both chambers in two years.
Counter-counterpoint: Trump looks at the bumbling Republican Congress (already completely sycophantic and kowtowed to him) and says, "Who the hell needs you? Here's Project 2025. Just the follow the blueprint, do what I say, and you keep your job." I'm not sure how Republican disarray prevents this. Does any Republican in Congress have a spine left? I believe all of them who did (like Cheney and Kitzinger) quit or got beaten in the last 8 years, replaced mostly by MAGA who will rubber-stamp the Trump agenda, especially after this last electoral triumph.
Again, I'm trying to prepare people for the reality we are facing. We will probably need more bodies in the streets, less comments on message boards. We need a united Democratic opposition for sure, and that's where our best leverage lies. But we are going to be fighting an emboldened, vengeful leader in Trump. We will have to pull out all the stops.
That would require Trump to both a) Know things, and b) Do things. Both of which he isn't particularly good at or interested in.
Heritage Foundation is VERY GOOD AT IT!!!!!!! And they have been waiting for a long time. And Vance is their boy. And Peter Thiel's boy. Look for Trump to be retired before the halfway mark.
Well, now they've run into their second problem. Trump was lightning in a bottle, an anomaly. He's term-limited now, and Vance trying to control his followers would be a disaster, as he has neither the charisma nor the control over them Trump does.
works for me
I'm not counting on this scenario happening. Sounds more like a wish than a plan.
Trump is going to outsource working to his deplorable minions, Elon, JD, RFK Jr, Bannon et al. He will play golf, sell out America's interests, both foreign and domestic, for cash, preen at the pomp and circumstance occasions.
Leaving us with the very same problems I identified above. Time to get to work.
And read Robert Reich's substack for a totally chilling and informed dose of bitter reality
I'm with you. I hate to say it but I think we have to suffer the consequences (and if the GOP owns the entire govt then they can't blame it on Dems and we cannot let them blame it on anyone but themselves and their loathsomeness). People are going to die. People are going to suffer and lose everything. But at the bottom there is nowhere to go but up or as Churchill said "when you are going through hell, keep going." (or something like that)
I think that's about the size of it. I hope we're wrong, but I'm going to assume the worst and act accordingly.
Yeah, I'm with you. Pain is the best teacher sometimes. After you touch a hot stove and get burned, you rarely touch it again. Thought we would have learned that lesson with COVID as a bumbling, lying, divisive administration caused hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. But, I guess we need to touch the hot stove again. It'll suck, but maybe we'll come out better on the other side.
Agreed. Maybe his base didn't suffer in covid. Tariffs will hurt everyone. Hoping they'll wake up.
I feel as though Trump won through a very carefully crafted and lavishly funded campaign of disinformation, spread via social media sites and podcasts with HUGE popular followings. Anyone who uses Twitter can see the number of bots and trolls that infest it, and it's very easy to access other sites that broadcast disinformation through "personalities" and celebrities and guest "experts" who get up there and lie, lie, lie. Fox news and the other right wing channels contribute, but I think they are less relevant and becoming more so as their audiences die off. I think the left has to come up with a way to counter this effort. Disinformation and lies are at the heart of who Trump is, and what he stands for. He wants wealth and power at any cost to anyone, and his followers think it's somehow going to rub off on them. It will be interesting to see what happens to Musk. Will Trump share the limelight? I don't think so. Anyway, countering disinformation is out number one job, in my view, starting with elementary school children, in the classroom. More podcasts by dynamic hosts designed to attract the young. More pro democracy trolls and bots on key social media sites. George Orwell never was more right on than now.
Every single story that got traction- pet eating, FEMA aid to immigrants, the "bad" economy- started on social media and was picked up by the disinformation networks (Fox), followed by the mainstream media, which only added a normalizing factor. This right-wing disinformation production is setting the entire agenda for all of media coverage.
Social media is a cancer. I remember when Facebook first came out, thinking “oh good, I can find my high school friends again!” And if that’s all it had remained, it might not be a bad thing. But it became a horrible way to both simultaneously tear down fences (no fences make for psychopathic neighbors) and create echo chambers. Not to mention the people who get all their news from social media.
Would love to hear from Stacey Abrams, Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow, and a representative from Indivisible.
Yes great questions. Thank you Simon. I particularly like this one: How can Dems tell better stories about themselves, who we are and what we want to do, particularly on the economy and getting ahead/opportunity? It connects with getting Loud and Proud. Telling our very very true story of advancing an even playing field, And a focus on strengthening the middle class. My grandfather who fought in WWI used to say—what makes America great is a free and mandatory public school system. He was no student but he felt valued by our educational system. People,especially young people and new Immigrants do not know our history, so they believe the lies. We can value them by telling our story, our truth.