Sorry to miss meeting you in person in Los Angeles, Simon. I’ll be celebrating Shabbat. Hope to have another opportunity to meet you and thank you for your leadership during this critical time.
I am taking this post down for people have to resist posting here in a way where you are offering ideas, suggestions not telling me or other people what to do or what works. The arrogance is misplaced. We are all doing our best in difficult circumstances but the idea there is a right way or wrong way is ridiculous right now and we need to move away from this kind of sentiment. Thank you.
Yes! I posted about the Pennsylvania senate count before I saw your comment. There may be some interesting stuff happening. But it seems Pennsylvania’s count and process could benefit from more transparency.
Perhaps someone can find better and more up-to-date sources than I posted?
My brother lives in PA and told me the day before yesterday that there were several hundred thousand ballots still to be counted. He was hopeful for Casey to pull this out. The R's want us to think its over but its not
I did ballot curing for PA Dems most of the day on Monday and spoke with a voter in Cambria County who told me that he'd gone in to vote planning to vote for Bob Casey and at least two other downballot Dems NONE OF WHOM WAS ON HIS BALLOT. On the Senate line, only Dave McCormick appeared. He didn't request nor was offered a provisional ballot - he just went home, though there were several others in his same situation! I told him to call the voter protection hotline - it was all I could do - and when I googled it, I discovered there may have been thousands in the same boat. I reported it to the boiler room, but what else can be done?! https://www.publicsource.org/pennsylvania-cambria-county-elections-democrats-majority-house-results/
"I am calling on the House Ethics Committee to preserve and share their report and all relevant documentation on Mr. Gaetz with the Senate Judiciary Committee."
. – Dick Durbin
"I can’t understand any situation under which we would deny ourselves access to full and complete information. Part of this is not only to determine fitness for the nominee, it’s also to protect the president. Because there may be information that the investigation would find forthcoming that would ultimately be an embarrassment to the president. So this is for all of the above reasons, we need to get access to everything."
. – John Cornyn
I would love to see the Senate reject Matt Gaetz’s AG nomination. Given that he already resigned his House seat, America would be rid of him for the foreseeable future. A far better fit for Matt‘s skill set might be ambassador to Tuvalu, Palau or North Macedonia.
We should start by putting pressure on the nominees that are drawing the most concerned reactions from conservatives. We probably won't get anywhere trying to oppose Rubio. But we could possibly with building an opposition pressure campaign against Gaetz, Gabbard, and Hesgeth. At the very least, we deserve background info on all three. Hesgeth will have access to the nuclear codes for crying out loud. Republican politicians are up for re-election in 2026 and 2028. They need to be reminded that there is a future without trump and his vote-getting MAGA machine to help them along.
I read that even in a recess 1 senator can come in every 3 days and gavel in. So it’s not an official recess. Dems better stay in DC and fight! We are all the fighting opposition.
Apparently you can’t actually talk to anyone at Substack. After a lot of searching I finally got an automated chat. They suggested using a different browser, turning my iPhone off and back on, deleting the Substack app and reinstalling. Nothing worked. Must be a system problem??? Idk.
Grow up? Sadly, it’s far more likely that Matt Gaetz would continue to exercise his hebephilic and ephebophilic proclivities, doling out drugs to make new underage sex victims pliable.
I agree we need to push back on nominees. The problem is.. If we scream about every single one? No one will hear us over the din of constant screaming. Of course that is what Trump wants us to do. To be so distracted about EVERYTHING that no one can focus and then many people give up.
Even if we have to scream against every one of them, we should. Constant screaming will have a profound effect of distracting the Republicans from everything. Slow it down if not outright reject all of them.
Breaking: "Infowars" has been sold on a forced auction to pay part of Alex Jones’ $1.5 billion defamation penalty after he for years falsely claimed that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. The purchaser: THE ONION!
Under The Onion’s ownership, we can safely assume that "Infowars" election coverage and other news will skew considerably closer to reality.
For a while, I dreamed of what Newsmax might become if Dominion’s defamation lawsuit resulted in them becoming the new owners. I imagine Newsmax’s 2024 election would have been very different. But, alas, they settled out of court.
Thr Onion is awesome, I was really hoping some collaborative effort of all the Big Tent Party influencer (and all the celebs that supported Kamala) pro-democracy silos would take part - either in the Austin TX studio auction or remotely via crowdfunding - to take Jones' Infowars, rebrand it for the Big Tent and start blasting out the bandwidth for our Pro-Democracy message via New Media and in Congress featuring our deep bench of Dem. Talent.
As 2025/2026 will be here fast, Special Seats are gonna open to grab from all over the MAGAsphere...
*I stil think we need to Roadshow PROMOTE every single great piece of legislation Biden Harris got done as it takes more effect the next 4 Years. We saw this during Kamala's Campaign, all the things that are positive for Americans from our side - Labor Unions, Healthcare assistance, pro-small business - and the heartbreaking stories from all the women post 2022 Roe.
MAGA Mike Flynn and CEO Patrick Burn did a Stop The Steal tour in 2021 through 2022 all across the nation to sow more Big Lie/Jan 6th disinfo into their base, why can't the Big Tent Party showcase OUR FACT-INFO side to every corner of America via the 50 State Dean style messaging?!
was that The Onion backed by Sandy Hook families of victims purchased Infowars at bankruptcy auction. They have already secured a long-term (1 year?) contract with an anti-gun group.
However; "At a court hearing Thursday afternoon in Houston, the trustee who oversaw the auction, Christopher Murray, acknowledged that The Onion did not have the highest bid but said it was a better deal overall because some of the Sandy Hook families agreed to forgo a portion of the sale proceeds to pay Jones’ other creditors." - APNews.com
Everyone needs to start watching Roland Martins YouTube channel. White people especially white men complaining how we lost is not because of the economy or woke anything it’s because white people aren’t the Democrats base. You can’t base a win on white voters so stop hand wringing about competing with white wing Christian nationalists- focus on building the real base we have- it’s not white voters. You watch and listen to our base— black people. I’m mixed race Hispanic/ white- I listen and respect black peoples views and understanding of what is NOT working. Kamala lost because the wrong people were being focused on. Start there.
Start with hatred for the "other." According to Greg Palast, 2.7 million provisional ballots were tossed. https://www.gregpalast.com/
"Whose ballots? If you’re Black, Hispanic or Asian-American, the chance you were shunted to one of these provisional ballots is 300% higher than if you’re white."
"How many Black ballots were thrown in the electoral dumpster?"
"As a former professor of statistics, I know there’s still a lot of sleuthing in the numbers I have to do, but I can tell you this: The number of rejected provisional ballots, the number of voters wrongly purged from the rolls, the number of ballots “spoiled” and not counted, has unquestionably skyrocketed."
Those votes in swing states may have been enough to change the outcome.
Lots of other irregularities. It's reasonable to expect some people were scared. For months Russian propganda predicted violence on election day. In some places ballots were burned. Bomb threats. My wife worked the polls during early voting. Aqui mismo, Proud Boys showed up.
Greg Palast’s has to present a state-by-state breakdown and references for that claim. Palast may well be right, but a scholar or thorough journalist he is not! I’ve read two of his books; his lack of references, names, dates and other concrete information was extremely disappointing.
If Greg Palast has the evidence, then he needs to present it – and in a very thorough and credible manner.
I don't vouch for Palast but obviously there is voter preclusion. In my state Dems lost close to a million. In many states there is a history of similar facts.
In Pa, before the recount. Casey is down 30,000. No telling how many MBV were tossed and could be cured. How mny provisional ballots? About 100,000 votes from APO military and absetnee ballots not counted...yet.
I posted about Pennsylvania, but it’s probably drowning in the large number of posts. NBC now reports there are 129,000 votes not yet counted. (This morning they showed 82,000. Confusing!)
This is very, very misguided. We are the big tent party, that means everyone is invited. We've alienated white men effectively by dismissing and demeaning them as "privileged." Let's win them back by respecting them. Let's not further divide our country by race. I can't even...
Following what was asked in today's post, here are some of my ideas:
1.Get organized with the leadership of Hopium, Medias, Courier, Post Cards to Swing States, Indivisible and any other groups that I have not mentioned and try to get 5 million people to march on Washington. Have marches in other cities simultaneously.
2. Organize with these same groups a day-long national strike.
3. Follow on to Simon's idea, but flood John Thune with more than 1 million postcards
The only way to try and stop some of this is to come out in large numbers. These groups on a combined basis have the numbers we would need. Don't tell me this is too hard or we are too demoralized. This is our country that we are fighting for and being the opposition is not a spectator sport.
If you want Hopium and Miedas to save us- I’m part of both— both Hopium and Miedas NEED to reach out to black & brown people & women . I’d say white pundits/ channels have kept their views as very outdated models. White men aren’t the base, white women aren’t either based on numbers. So- make changes- make it a true coalition. When you HEAR black people say they are done- you must literally understand why. They are tired of carrying the water for Democrats. David Axlerod wants Rahm Emanuel to be DNC chair. NO. James Carvel is pissed off- who cares— let’s fix our party with realistic solutions like pairing with black YouTubeers like Roland Martin- his guests- we can not win listening to stale strategies.
It’s so maddening that MSM wants to pass the lose on blaming trans people, gay people, under served people black and brown people, women because that’s what they umbrella “ woke” as. Let’s just say the truth — those who voted for the fascists— do not want any marginalized groups in their midst. None. They are petrified of it. Lump in the Hispanics and women and other People who are not white that voted for Trump. They think that magically MAGA will see them as one of them. MAGA only wants white men. They will take anyone else daft enough to give them votes to win- but to MAGA white men are their pride and that’s it. Let’s see Bulwark, Meidastouch and all other podcasters include black & brown people as podcasters on their channels because right now- not many podcasters like the guys at Pod Save America have anyone but white men. Do something.
I really like this thought. And I agree, we need new voices and new perspectives that we don't get in our daily lives. I don't have their lived experience, and we need to hear it and work together to win as a group.
Yup! The latest Stacy Abrams podcast with HCR was a great one - both for reflection of last Tuesday, and the challenges ahead in getting our Pro-Democracy/Pro-Working class New Media up to speed to get even with the Right Wing Mediasphere: Sinclair, Clear Channel, Youtube, TikTok, Xhitter etc in the Disinfo Arena we are wayyyy behind in.
But seeing this collaborative movement from all the Pro-Democracy peeps I follow to leave Elon's Xhitter for Blue Sky en masse is a great start!
*link to the Assembly Required podcast with Stacy Abrams
Organizing huge marches is costly. As a person who has been to many marches, parading through the street for a day then going home does not scare the powers that be at all, though it may make us feel like we are doing something. Case in point: the women's march after Trump's first inauguration. Did that stop Dobbs? No the SCOTUS was not scared by all those well behaved marchers. They said: we can take their rights away and they'll make pink hats. I am so not putting anyone down. I so love everyone who marched. I just want to fight to win. This is deadly serious.
Day long strikes or strikes of any kind, anything that makes them pay an actual cost is good. The moneyed interests are behind this mess and they need to be hurt in their money.
In my view the statements by Gov Newsom and Pritzger indicate an extremely promising strategy. I don't know how you feel but I start with this premise: I don't acknowledge the right of people to vote to install a dictatorship, and therefore there is not only NO obligation to obey, there a necessity to defy. Organizing for mass defiance is something we have not seen since the civil was but I really think were are in that situation. Heather Cox Richardson spoke about how bleak the situation was in one of her newsletters, how it looked like the slavers had locked in their rule forever.
The reason we fail - sorry folks --is symbolized by Biden inviting Trump to the White House. Biden being "classy" is cold consolation as one is being led off to the concentration camp (as some of my relatives were). When Congress passed the fugitive slave laws, that people escaping enslavement who fled to the north had to be returned to their owners, plenty of officials were willing to obey the "rule of law" just like those who obeyed the "rule of law" that Jews were vermin and had to be exterminated. When laws are unconscionable, they must be defied.
What makes me desperate is the apparent disinterest in a forensic examination of the computer systems at the election sites where bomb threats occurred. Let's have the facts. If something is actually discovered, maybe we can stop the whole thing, but the clock is ticking on this.
I am willing to march or strike and I hear you about marches. I agree with your point about not obeying because there is no legitimacy to voting to install a dictator, etc. We have to stop with the niceties and I was also pissed that Biden did the photo ops and basically made it look like Trump is normal and everything we warned about was just politics. It's not helpful. I don't have any good answers, just trying to offer ideas as Simon asked for. As I said, being the opposition is not a spectator sport. We have to push back.
Organizing for mass civil resistance also requires an infrastructure so that people can't be picked off one by one. And it interfaces with media that will get our message out. I was in a march against the Iraq war in NYC. There were half a million people there. The media barely reported on it. The thing I love about what Newsome and Pritzger did is the media can't ignore it. They especially can't ignore it when, for example, Trumps "FDA" bans mifepristone, Gov Newsome announces that the state will be manufacturing its own or importing it from abroad. No federal warrants will be honored against women, doctors, mifepristone makers etc. Women being pursued by these christofascists will be given safe harbor etc.
Thank you, Simon, for your post and thoughts today. First, I've had so many friends reaching out, asking what to do. What do I think they should do. And while I've got some of my work laid out in North Carolina in continuing to elect NC Assembly members who are Democrats (and thanks to great state leadership, and on the ground organizing with groups like mine, County to County NC and Neighbors on Call, we broke the NC GOP Supermajority), I want to work on what we can do nationally. So first, I'm going to ask friends to sign up for Hopium. Thank you, thank you for your work, for being indefatigable in this fight, even when we are worried about the future. Having a way to immediately condemn these incredibly frightening Trump picks is comforting.
Jack Smith & the House Ethics Committee need to release their respective reports so that we have as much information as possible to combat both Trump/Gaetz. The imperative is to strategize both on a local level and with our elected officials. Rest. Rise.Resist.
I think I need to be educated on 1) when to respond, and 2) see what is happening in real time without being sucked into chaos and continual jumping which is not good for thinking clearly and knowing the next step to take.
My question on yesterday is we need to tell our networks what action we need to do to block a nominee should they even come before Congress.
Then we need to know who we can peel off to be on our side.
And then we need a news source we can trust to tell us when bills or appointments are coming up for a vote and what action to take.
All the screen time and all the click bait is simply a distraction and will make us feel powerless, and then not act. And we need to be clear, direct, know the facts, and understand when to do something and what we have to do.
Alright- I fully expect to get shouted down and potentially deleted by Simon for this post, but here it is: the Dems spend most of our time trying to save Republican voters from the consequences of their vote or clean up after another GOP administration had wrecked the economy again.
As a strategy, is it working? I don’t want to be defeatist, but I don’t know if the way we convince people that Trump/MAGA/GOP has harmful policies that will make their lives worse in every way is to work our butts off trying to save them from learning that lesson.
This moment to me has so many parallels to the Brexit vote- people were misled as to what it did, they were uninformed, they were angry, and they wanted to blame immigrants for all their issues (sound familiar?) There was pretty instantaneous regret from a lot of them after the vote, and once the effects were fully felt, the opposition party had a pretty decisive victory a few months ago.
I know the stakes here are a lot more serious, but I do wonder if trying to save people from the worst effects of their vote is the best strategy for this moment?
I won't shout you down and I don't think it's something that should be ignored. My counter to this train of thought is that we still need action to drive home the point that the consequences of the harmful policies are because of Trump and R's. Just sitting back and waiting for a bad outcome (which I believe is coming) won't be enough. They will use disinformation to try and blame D's, so no matter what, we have to act. IMO.
"I do wonder if trying to save people from the worst effects of their vote is the best strategy for this moment?"
The problem is that ALL of us, not just Trump voters, will be suffering those really bad effects. And by "all of us", I mean not just Americans but everyone on the planet.
What makes y'all think that you are immune from the disaster? Or that your activism is meant to "save" people? I am not working to "save Republican voters". I am working to protect my family and my community from the pain, fear, silencing of this administration. I am working to preserve my freedom as a woman to vote, to live free from fear, to thrive in my aspirations. I am working to find my joy and use curiosity to create more democracy in a very scary world. I work to be part of the tide that lifts all boats. And yes that includes people that I don't understand. It includes people who didn't vote. It includes people who don't align with any political ideology. "Choose curiosity over certainty in a moment that asks us to create something entirely new. This is that moment." Andrea Gibson
Call our Dem senators now and every day. (We are still in the majority.) Tell them: CONFIRM JUDGES NOW!
If they will be in the new Congress, tell them FIGHT HARD AND LOUD AGAINST UNFIT APPOINTMENTS!
They need us to push them and to know we stand with them.
One answer to Simon’s question about how we will fight is for all of us to engage with our electeds at every level. It’s not the only thing, but it’s the first thing.
Jamie, who are the "leaders" you are referring to here? Name names, please.
Democratic Governors are taking this seriously.
Democratic senators are taking this seriously.
Over 72 million people voted against this, and are also taking this seriously.
Simon has been clear in his videos for paid subscribers that the Hopium chat is not a place for obtaining therapy (his words). https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/early-thoughts-on-the-election-video
It is a place to generate ideas for The Opposition Party and to get to work. Anything else should be vented elsewhere.
This is Simon's Substack. He sets the rules.
Generating ideas for our opposition party IS therapy! The BEST therapy. Doing something is still the message.
Yes to Hopium! No to bringing fear and anxiety here. Simon explains that at 27:10 https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/early-thoughts-on-the-election-video
Sorry to miss meeting you in person in Los Angeles, Simon. I’ll be celebrating Shabbat. Hope to have another opportunity to meet you and thank you for your leadership during this critical time.
I am taking this post down for people have to resist posting here in a way where you are offering ideas, suggestions not telling me or other people what to do or what works. The arrogance is misplaced. We are all doing our best in difficult circumstances but the idea there is a right way or wrong way is ridiculous right now and we need to move away from this kind of sentiment. Thank you.
Simon I know it's a ton of work moderating, but thank you for protecting this community through your leadership.
Is there any chance that Casey can win?
From what I read late yesterday, there is a chance. I am anxiously awaiting today’s update from NBC.
Yes! I posted about the Pennsylvania senate count before I saw your comment. There may be some interesting stuff happening. But it seems Pennsylvania’s count and process could benefit from more transparency.
Perhaps someone can find better and more up-to-date sources than I posted?
It's an outside shot, but it still exists.
He needs to get something like 70% of the remaining vote, but most of what is left is blue areas of the state.
🙏🏻
My brother lives in PA and told me the day before yesterday that there were several hundred thousand ballots still to be counted. He was hopeful for Casey to pull this out. The R's want us to think its over but its not
I did ballot curing for PA Dems most of the day on Monday and spoke with a voter in Cambria County who told me that he'd gone in to vote planning to vote for Bob Casey and at least two other downballot Dems NONE OF WHOM WAS ON HIS BALLOT. On the Senate line, only Dave McCormick appeared. He didn't request nor was offered a provisional ballot - he just went home, though there were several others in his same situation! I told him to call the voter protection hotline - it was all I could do - and when I googled it, I discovered there may have been thousands in the same boat. I reported it to the boiler room, but what else can be done?! https://www.publicsource.org/pennsylvania-cambria-county-elections-democrats-majority-house-results/
"I am calling on the House Ethics Committee to preserve and share their report and all relevant documentation on Mr. Gaetz with the Senate Judiciary Committee."
. – Dick Durbin
"I can’t understand any situation under which we would deny ourselves access to full and complete information. Part of this is not only to determine fitness for the nominee, it’s also to protect the president. Because there may be information that the investigation would find forthcoming that would ultimately be an embarrassment to the president. So this is for all of the above reasons, we need to get access to everything."
. – John Cornyn
I would love to see the Senate reject Matt Gaetz’s AG nomination. Given that he already resigned his House seat, America would be rid of him for the foreseeable future. A far better fit for Matt‘s skill set might be ambassador to Tuvalu, Palau or North Macedonia.
We should start by putting pressure on the nominees that are drawing the most concerned reactions from conservatives. We probably won't get anywhere trying to oppose Rubio. But we could possibly with building an opposition pressure campaign against Gaetz, Gabbard, and Hesgeth. At the very least, we deserve background info on all three. Hesgeth will have access to the nuclear codes for crying out loud. Republican politicians are up for re-election in 2026 and 2028. They need to be reminded that there is a future without trump and his vote-getting MAGA machine to help them along.
I assume Trtump will make interim appointments.....
I believe these recession appointments would last through 2025
However we have a budget crisis with possible shutdown making matters more complicated
I read that even in a recess 1 senator can come in every 3 days and gavel in. So it’s not an official recess. Dems better stay in DC and fight! We are all the fighting opposition.
Supposedly the report could be released on Friday
No time can be lost in the days leading up to "THE STEAL"
Jess Craven makes it easy with scripts and phone numbers.📲 Takes minutes !
https://open.substack.com/pub/chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions/p/chop-wood-carry-water-1114-cb4?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
I sorry, but every time I try to click on a link anymore, the whole comment gets minimized. Not sure why this is happening. Any ideas?
Same problem.
Apparently you can’t actually talk to anyone at Substack. After a lot of searching I finally got an automated chat. They suggested using a different browser, turning my iPhone off and back on, deleting the Substack app and reinstalling. Nothing worked. Must be a system problem??? Idk.
I pity those places but they might make him grow up.
Grow up? Sadly, it’s far more likely that Matt Gaetz would continue to exercise his hebephilic and ephebophilic proclivities, doling out drugs to make new underage sex victims pliable.
I agree we need to push back on nominees. The problem is.. If we scream about every single one? No one will hear us over the din of constant screaming. Of course that is what Trump wants us to do. To be so distracted about EVERYTHING that no one can focus and then many people give up.
Exactly.
I have no idea what this means. I have offered three. These three have to be opposed. I am not talking about any of the other nominees.
Even if we have to scream against every one of them, we should. Constant screaming will have a profound effect of distracting the Republicans from everything. Slow it down if not outright reject all of them.
Breaking: "Infowars" has been sold on a forced auction to pay part of Alex Jones’ $1.5 billion defamation penalty after he for years falsely claimed that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. The purchaser: THE ONION!
Under The Onion’s ownership, we can safely assume that "Infowars" election coverage and other news will skew considerably closer to reality.
https://www.axios.com/2024/11/14/alex-jones-infowars-the-onion
For a while, I dreamed of what Newsmax might become if Dominion’s defamation lawsuit resulted in them becoming the new owners. I imagine Newsmax’s 2024 election would have been very different. But, alas, they settled out of court.
Whatever happened to Smartmatic lawsuits?
I thought this was a joke. Wow.
To an existentialist, life is a comedy of the absurd.
Can we read a glimmer of hope in this? A bit of deprogramming the cultists?
Hell, yes. I can even see Infowars interviewing Simon!
Thr Onion is awesome, I was really hoping some collaborative effort of all the Big Tent Party influencer (and all the celebs that supported Kamala) pro-democracy silos would take part - either in the Austin TX studio auction or remotely via crowdfunding - to take Jones' Infowars, rebrand it for the Big Tent and start blasting out the bandwidth for our Pro-Democracy message via New Media and in Congress featuring our deep bench of Dem. Talent.
As 2025/2026 will be here fast, Special Seats are gonna open to grab from all over the MAGAsphere...
*I stil think we need to Roadshow PROMOTE every single great piece of legislation Biden Harris got done as it takes more effect the next 4 Years. We saw this during Kamala's Campaign, all the things that are positive for Americans from our side - Labor Unions, Healthcare assistance, pro-small business - and the heartbreaking stories from all the women post 2022 Roe.
MAGA Mike Flynn and CEO Patrick Burn did a Stop The Steal tour in 2021 through 2022 all across the nation to sow more Big Lie/Jan 6th disinfo into their base, why can't the Big Tent Party showcase OUR FACT-INFO side to every corner of America via the 50 State Dean style messaging?!
Oooh interesting … some general educating may prove very useful
What I read
(https://apnews.com/article/onion-buys-infowars-alex-jones-6496f198d141c991087dcd937b3588e9)
was that The Onion backed by Sandy Hook families of victims purchased Infowars at bankruptcy auction. They have already secured a long-term (1 year?) contract with an anti-gun group.
However; "At a court hearing Thursday afternoon in Houston, the trustee who oversaw the auction, Christopher Murray, acknowledged that The Onion did not have the highest bid but said it was a better deal overall because some of the Sandy Hook families agreed to forgo a portion of the sale proceeds to pay Jones’ other creditors." - APNews.com
So, more court hearings, etc., forthcoming ...
Those are fascinating details!
Everyone needs to start watching Roland Martins YouTube channel. White people especially white men complaining how we lost is not because of the economy or woke anything it’s because white people aren’t the Democrats base. You can’t base a win on white voters so stop hand wringing about competing with white wing Christian nationalists- focus on building the real base we have- it’s not white voters. You watch and listen to our base— black people. I’m mixed race Hispanic/ white- I listen and respect black peoples views and understanding of what is NOT working. Kamala lost because the wrong people were being focused on. Start there.
Start with hatred for the "other." According to Greg Palast, 2.7 million provisional ballots were tossed. https://www.gregpalast.com/
"Whose ballots? If you’re Black, Hispanic or Asian-American, the chance you were shunted to one of these provisional ballots is 300% higher than if you’re white."
"How many Black ballots were thrown in the electoral dumpster?"
"As a former professor of statistics, I know there’s still a lot of sleuthing in the numbers I have to do, but I can tell you this: The number of rejected provisional ballots, the number of voters wrongly purged from the rolls, the number of ballots “spoiled” and not counted, has unquestionably skyrocketed."
Those votes in swing states may have been enough to change the outcome.
Lots of other irregularities. It's reasonable to expect some people were scared. For months Russian propganda predicted violence on election day. In some places ballots were burned. Bomb threats. My wife worked the polls during early voting. Aqui mismo, Proud Boys showed up.
Greg Palast’s has to present a state-by-state breakdown and references for that claim. Palast may well be right, but a scholar or thorough journalist he is not! I’ve read two of his books; his lack of references, names, dates and other concrete information was extremely disappointing.
If Greg Palast has the evidence, then he needs to present it – and in a very thorough and credible manner.
I don't vouch for Palast but obviously there is voter preclusion. In my state Dems lost close to a million. In many states there is a history of similar facts.
In Pa, before the recount. Casey is down 30,000. No telling how many MBV were tossed and could be cured. How mny provisional ballots? About 100,000 votes from APO military and absetnee ballots not counted...yet.
I posted about Pennsylvania, but it’s probably drowning in the large number of posts. NBC now reports there are 129,000 votes not yet counted. (This morning they showed 82,000. Confusing!)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/pennsylvania-senate-results#senate-results
Decision Desk HQ shows Casey has reduced McCormick’s lead to just 25,740.
https://decisiondeskhq.com/results/2024/General/races/pennsylvania-us-senate-all-parties-general-election/
If both numbers are roughly correct, I am now far more hopeful that Senator Casey just might win reelection!
This is very, very misguided. We are the big tent party, that means everyone is invited. We've alienated white men effectively by dismissing and demeaning them as "privileged." Let's win them back by respecting them. Let's not further divide our country by race. I can't even...
I am disappointed Biden hosted Trump at the White House. I believe it just further normalizes Trump but Biden is going to Biden - decent, classy.
Republican Kevin Lincoln has conceded the CA-09 race to incumbent Democrat Josh Harder. Also, Decision Desk HQ projects Harder to be the winner.
https://nitter.poast.org/KevinLincolnCD9/status/1856918732473295103#m
Following what was asked in today's post, here are some of my ideas:
1.Get organized with the leadership of Hopium, Medias, Courier, Post Cards to Swing States, Indivisible and any other groups that I have not mentioned and try to get 5 million people to march on Washington. Have marches in other cities simultaneously.
2. Organize with these same groups a day-long national strike.
3. Follow on to Simon's idea, but flood John Thune with more than 1 million postcards
The only way to try and stop some of this is to come out in large numbers. These groups on a combined basis have the numbers we would need. Don't tell me this is too hard or we are too demoralized. This is our country that we are fighting for and being the opposition is not a spectator sport.
Additional groups to organize with:
Moms Demand Action
White Dudes for Harris
Black Women for Harris
Roland Martin/Black Men for Harris
And a group call Ed Environmental Voters. Thousands strong. Theme of the March? Country over Party.
Tim your posts today have been constructive and helpful. Thank you.
If you want Hopium and Miedas to save us- I’m part of both— both Hopium and Miedas NEED to reach out to black & brown people & women . I’d say white pundits/ channels have kept their views as very outdated models. White men aren’t the base, white women aren’t either based on numbers. So- make changes- make it a true coalition. When you HEAR black people say they are done- you must literally understand why. They are tired of carrying the water for Democrats. David Axlerod wants Rahm Emanuel to be DNC chair. NO. James Carvel is pissed off- who cares— let’s fix our party with realistic solutions like pairing with black YouTubeers like Roland Martin- his guests- we can not win listening to stale strategies.
I agree, which is why I listed some of those same groups in my reply to my original comment. Agree 100%.
It’s so maddening that MSM wants to pass the lose on blaming trans people, gay people, under served people black and brown people, women because that’s what they umbrella “ woke” as. Let’s just say the truth — those who voted for the fascists— do not want any marginalized groups in their midst. None. They are petrified of it. Lump in the Hispanics and women and other People who are not white that voted for Trump. They think that magically MAGA will see them as one of them. MAGA only wants white men. They will take anyone else daft enough to give them votes to win- but to MAGA white men are their pride and that’s it. Let’s see Bulwark, Meidastouch and all other podcasters include black & brown people as podcasters on their channels because right now- not many podcasters like the guys at Pod Save America have anyone but white men. Do something.
I really like this thought. And I agree, we need new voices and new perspectives that we don't get in our daily lives. I don't have their lived experience, and we need to hear it and work together to win as a group.
Totally agree with everything you said!
I'm all for expanding the party but not shrinking it.
Rahm Emmanuel - NO FUCKING WAY. I agree with everything you say here!!!!
Well I was too skittish to put it this way, but yeah.
Yup! The latest Stacy Abrams podcast with HCR was a great one - both for reflection of last Tuesday, and the challenges ahead in getting our Pro-Democracy/Pro-Working class New Media up to speed to get even with the Right Wing Mediasphere: Sinclair, Clear Channel, Youtube, TikTok, Xhitter etc in the Disinfo Arena we are wayyyy behind in.
But seeing this collaborative movement from all the Pro-Democracy peeps I follow to leave Elon's Xhitter for Blue Sky en masse is a great start!
*link to the Assembly Required podcast with Stacy Abrams
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5xri5wKAYm7HvhumcrNVgB?si=_Lk8_GG2Qqu_WT3uu-3JtQ&t=0
Rahm Emanuel? God, I hope not. No to David Axelrod. JMO
Organizing huge marches is costly. As a person who has been to many marches, parading through the street for a day then going home does not scare the powers that be at all, though it may make us feel like we are doing something. Case in point: the women's march after Trump's first inauguration. Did that stop Dobbs? No the SCOTUS was not scared by all those well behaved marchers. They said: we can take their rights away and they'll make pink hats. I am so not putting anyone down. I so love everyone who marched. I just want to fight to win. This is deadly serious.
Day long strikes or strikes of any kind, anything that makes them pay an actual cost is good. The moneyed interests are behind this mess and they need to be hurt in their money.
In my view the statements by Gov Newsom and Pritzger indicate an extremely promising strategy. I don't know how you feel but I start with this premise: I don't acknowledge the right of people to vote to install a dictatorship, and therefore there is not only NO obligation to obey, there a necessity to defy. Organizing for mass defiance is something we have not seen since the civil was but I really think were are in that situation. Heather Cox Richardson spoke about how bleak the situation was in one of her newsletters, how it looked like the slavers had locked in their rule forever.
The reason we fail - sorry folks --is symbolized by Biden inviting Trump to the White House. Biden being "classy" is cold consolation as one is being led off to the concentration camp (as some of my relatives were). When Congress passed the fugitive slave laws, that people escaping enslavement who fled to the north had to be returned to their owners, plenty of officials were willing to obey the "rule of law" just like those who obeyed the "rule of law" that Jews were vermin and had to be exterminated. When laws are unconscionable, they must be defied.
What makes me desperate is the apparent disinterest in a forensic examination of the computer systems at the election sites where bomb threats occurred. Let's have the facts. If something is actually discovered, maybe we can stop the whole thing, but the clock is ticking on this.
I am willing to march or strike and I hear you about marches. I agree with your point about not obeying because there is no legitimacy to voting to install a dictator, etc. We have to stop with the niceties and I was also pissed that Biden did the photo ops and basically made it look like Trump is normal and everything we warned about was just politics. It's not helpful. I don't have any good answers, just trying to offer ideas as Simon asked for. As I said, being the opposition is not a spectator sport. We have to push back.
Organizing for mass civil resistance also requires an infrastructure so that people can't be picked off one by one. And it interfaces with media that will get our message out. I was in a march against the Iraq war in NYC. There were half a million people there. The media barely reported on it. The thing I love about what Newsome and Pritzger did is the media can't ignore it. They especially can't ignore it when, for example, Trumps "FDA" bans mifepristone, Gov Newsome announces that the state will be manufacturing its own or importing it from abroad. No federal warrants will be honored against women, doctors, mifepristone makers etc. Women being pursued by these christofascists will be given safe harbor etc.
ooof - I'm glad I did not see the photo op.
I am not a big fan of marches right now. It is a single day and require incredible resources to put on. We need to go 24/7/365 not a few times a year.
I still have, and wear, the pink pussy-hat I knitted eight years ago. :)
Thank you, Simon, for your post and thoughts today. First, I've had so many friends reaching out, asking what to do. What do I think they should do. And while I've got some of my work laid out in North Carolina in continuing to elect NC Assembly members who are Democrats (and thanks to great state leadership, and on the ground organizing with groups like mine, County to County NC and Neighbors on Call, we broke the NC GOP Supermajority), I want to work on what we can do nationally. So first, I'm going to ask friends to sign up for Hopium. Thank you, thank you for your work, for being indefatigable in this fight, even when we are worried about the future. Having a way to immediately condemn these incredibly frightening Trump picks is comforting.
Jack Smith & the House Ethics Committee need to release their respective reports so that we have as much information as possible to combat both Trump/Gaetz. The imperative is to strategize both on a local level and with our elected officials. Rest. Rise.Resist.
I think I need to be educated on 1) when to respond, and 2) see what is happening in real time without being sucked into chaos and continual jumping which is not good for thinking clearly and knowing the next step to take.
My question on yesterday is we need to tell our networks what action we need to do to block a nominee should they even come before Congress.
Then we need to know who we can peel off to be on our side.
And then we need a news source we can trust to tell us when bills or appointments are coming up for a vote and what action to take.
All the screen time and all the click bait is simply a distraction and will make us feel powerless, and then not act. And we need to be clear, direct, know the facts, and understand when to do something and what we have to do.
—Molly Hermes
The CIA should detain and arrest Tulsi Gabbard immediately.
The CIA cannot act against American citizens domestically. The FBI can.
Alright- I fully expect to get shouted down and potentially deleted by Simon for this post, but here it is: the Dems spend most of our time trying to save Republican voters from the consequences of their vote or clean up after another GOP administration had wrecked the economy again.
As a strategy, is it working? I don’t want to be defeatist, but I don’t know if the way we convince people that Trump/MAGA/GOP has harmful policies that will make their lives worse in every way is to work our butts off trying to save them from learning that lesson.
This moment to me has so many parallels to the Brexit vote- people were misled as to what it did, they were uninformed, they were angry, and they wanted to blame immigrants for all their issues (sound familiar?) There was pretty instantaneous regret from a lot of them after the vote, and once the effects were fully felt, the opposition party had a pretty decisive victory a few months ago.
I know the stakes here are a lot more serious, but I do wonder if trying to save people from the worst effects of their vote is the best strategy for this moment?
I won't shout you down and I don't think it's something that should be ignored. My counter to this train of thought is that we still need action to drive home the point that the consequences of the harmful policies are because of Trump and R's. Just sitting back and waiting for a bad outcome (which I believe is coming) won't be enough. They will use disinformation to try and blame D's, so no matter what, we have to act. IMO.
This is nuts.
I agree.
The only way you can stop a cat from jumping on a hot stove is to let him do it.
"I do wonder if trying to save people from the worst effects of their vote is the best strategy for this moment?"
The problem is that ALL of us, not just Trump voters, will be suffering those really bad effects. And by "all of us", I mean not just Americans but everyone on the planet.
What makes y'all think that you are immune from the disaster? Or that your activism is meant to "save" people? I am not working to "save Republican voters". I am working to protect my family and my community from the pain, fear, silencing of this administration. I am working to preserve my freedom as a woman to vote, to live free from fear, to thrive in my aspirations. I am working to find my joy and use curiosity to create more democracy in a very scary world. I work to be part of the tide that lifts all boats. And yes that includes people that I don't understand. It includes people who didn't vote. It includes people who don't align with any political ideology. "Choose curiosity over certainty in a moment that asks us to create something entirely new. This is that moment." Andrea Gibson
Call our Dem senators now and every day. (We are still in the majority.) Tell them: CONFIRM JUDGES NOW!
If they will be in the new Congress, tell them FIGHT HARD AND LOUD AGAINST UNFIT APPOINTMENTS!
They need us to push them and to know we stand with them.
One answer to Simon’s question about how we will fight is for all of us to engage with our electeds at every level. It’s not the only thing, but it’s the first thing.