Trump/GOP Embrace Default, Early Vote Starts in Jax, Israeli Fight for Democracy, Abortion
Happy Friday All!/Paid Subscriber Briefing Noon EST Today
What a week my friends. Tucker goes down. Nate Silver is leaving 538. The Biden re-elect is off to a very strong start. The National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan gave an important speech about US economic policy and globalization. An important week…..here are some other things I’m thinking about on this rainy Friday morning from DC:
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Trump/RNC Embrace and Promote A Financial Crisis/Default - I have going to much more say about this next week but look at this statement from Trump this week. His central attack on Biden is something which hasn’t happened yet, and will only happen if Kevin McCarthy causes the US to default (it is important to read his actual words from time to time):
In their new anti-Biden video the RNC also talks about an American financial crisis. The things they are discussing here - an American financial crisis, crashing currency, loss of dollar dominance - will only happen if Republicans choose to default on our financial obligations. That they are already attacking Biden for these things, before they have even happened, suggests the decision to default has already been made by Republican leaders.
Americans from across the political spectrum should be loudly condemning the Republicans for their unprecedented threats to the integrity of the American and global financial system. How did this party get so crazy on so many matters? We need more Bob Igers out there condemning this extremism that has become so dangerous to American and America itself. It’s just not okay.
The Fight for Israeli Democracy - Just posted my discussion with leading Israeli journalist Amir Tibon on the ongoing battle against Bibi Netanyahu’s attempt to cripple Israeli democracy. It was a highly informative talk - hope you will watch or listen.
Early Vote Starts Monday in Jacksonville - Please Support Donna Deegan Today - Our attempt to get a big win in Florida’s largest city on May 16th enters a critical new phase on Monday - early vote begins. We won those critical races in 2022 by using our grassroots power to blow it out in the early vote. Let’s do the same here for Donna Deegan. Sign up to donate, call, text or write postcards here. Hope all of you will do at least one GOTV shift in the next week.
To learn more about Donna and her critical race watch or listen to my recent interview with here.
“I Nearly Died On Their Watch” - Listen to this compelling, and courageous, Senate testimony from Amanda Zurawski about what the extremist abortion restrictions in Texas and elsewhere can mean to the health of young women here in America:
Friends, despite some of the ugliness, this was a very good week. I am really encouraged by the early Biden re-election narrative, and am ready to get to work to defeat MAGA, again, next year. Onward - Simon
Re: Early Vote Starts Monday in Jacksonville. Simon, here’s proof of concept for what you set out to do on Hopium. In response to your call for nationwide grassroots action focused on Jacksonville, we at BlueVoterGuide.org added Florida to our list of covered states in 2023. Blue Voter Guide presents a simple ballot guide tailored to every voter based on where they live, showing endorsements of trusted, local, on-the-ground organizations on the left. Essentially an X-ray of who backs all the candidates and ballot measures, making smart Blue choices easier and faster. At https://BlueVoterGuide.org, click on Jacksonville (Active Primaries--under the address window) to see how Donna Degan’s race looks to her potential voters. Thanks for focusing our grassroots power via Hopium!
Simon - I hope you will spend more time right away on the huge, looming "debt ceiling" crisis. Its such a potential threat to Biden's presidency and our agenda re MAGA.
Your comment today just adds to my mounting concern:
"In their new anti-Biden video the RNC also talks about an American financial crisis. The things they are discussing here - an American financial crisis, crashing currency, loss of dollar dominance - will only happen if Republicans choose to default on our financial obligations. That they are already attacking Biden for these things, before they have even happened, suggests the decision to default has already been made by Republican leaders."
We also have the NYTimes (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/us/politics/biden-debt-ceiling.html) again treating MAGA as a legitimate political entity instead of the financial terrorists that they are. And -- in my reading -- suggesting that negotiating should now be the norm, utterly failing to differentiate between the "debt ceiling" and future budget negotiations.
I hope that you will formulate a very specific, concise summary of the debt ceiling issue -- what's at stake, what's happened in the past, how it differs from future budget negotiations etc -- that we can use in our activism. I regularly write/call (and encourage a large number of family and friends) Biden, my Congressional representatives and the main stream media. Help with how to best frame my comments on this issue, in the most understandable and forceful/LOUD way, would be very welcome. I hope it would be to others who are part of this community as well.
Thank you for all you do, for your encouragement, for going the substack route.