I agree with the polls on our youth. First of all, college students are great critical thinkers. They see the bigger picture. They lived through Covid and saw first hand the disaster DT created with that. Saw healthcare was top issue (thinking repro. health lumped in) They also care about gun violence and their economic future. PS Have you met a single younger person who is actually voting for DT or RFK Jr because I have not.
I recall going to high school with a guy who, in another era, would eagerly have voted for that Austrian with the funny mustache. Sadly, they are still out there. In addition, of course, to voters who are delusional or who have very warped ideas about "masculine values".
The younger people most likely to favor Trump are also likelier to be non-voters (men with less than a college degree). Young women are *very* strongly Democratic, and young women also tend to be more reliable voters.
And if any of the polls saying that *older* voters (the over 60’s) are now more favorable to Joe Biden…this is great news, as older people DO turn up to vote.
I would be surprised if there was much of a gender gap at all in party preference among the slight majority of under-30s who actually vote. I would wager that significantly more of those eventual male voters are/were *reluctant* voters who need more outreach, and I would also wager than it is far more attributable to a basic attitude problem than different policy preferences.
Young men are constantly having the message reinforced that you shouldn't be vulnerable in general, don't be a sucker, don't get caught caring too much, etc. They want to stick it to "the man" or "the system," not get caught buying into it, so that is the energy you usually have to tap into to get them on your side. Women don't subscribe as much to the whole I'm-a-lone-wolf-and-that-makes-me-an-alpha-genius schtick, because men copping that schtick is largely what makes their lives difficult, so you are going to get more of them showing up by tapping into the energy of "a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."
I just received another shipment of blank voter postcards that I purchased from a vendor on Etsy. Along with the blank postcards, the vendor included a preprinted insert that lists online political orgs where one can find postcarding opportunities. All of the orgs (grassrootsdems.org, mobilize.us, etc) happened to be Dem-aligned. I find that interesting, and noteable. When I ordered the blank voter postcards, the vendor didn’t ask me my political leanings. And the postcards themselves (“Be a voter!”) aren’t particularly partisan. Yet the baseline assumption for this vendor is that anyone doing the work of grassroots mobilization of fellow voters must obviously be a Democrat. And honestly, I think that assumption is well founded.
To me, this is our secret weapon. Our superpower. This grassroots pro-democracy movement that we’re a part of has no countervailing equivalent on the right. Sure, there are some super-MAGA folks who go to Trump rallies, as dark entertainment. And there are right wingers who spend the day mainlining Fox News, the way you or I might have light jazz music playing in the background as we go about our day. But there’s relatively little organizing power to that stuff. It mobilizes few swing voters. It reaches few uncommitteds. It solidifies the far-right bubble that our conservative friends are in, but it doesn’t win them elections. The work that we’re doing… that stuff wins elections.
So let’s keep doing it, everyone. Each day until November.
Thanks Patrick--I totally agree that our grassroots, volunteer-led organizing is critical to the success of Democrats up and down the ballot.
I'm glad you're writing postcards, but I'd like to add that 2-way conversations with voters are the most powerful and effective way to mobilize voters to vote. Postcarding complements those conversations but the 2-way conversations we have with voters through canvassing door-to-door, voter registration and in phone banking are where we have a chance to LISTEN to what issues are most important to voters and engage them in a conversation that is personal--and connects with them.
I am one of the leaders of the Bay Area Coalition; we lead Zoom phone banks (led by experienced coaches) to voters in battleground states and Congressional Districts that anyone in the country can join, as well as canvassing & voter registration in CA, AZ & NV, training, and a Messaging Library. Please join us: https://bayareacoalition.org/
You’re talking to somebody who grew up in the Monterey Bay Area (more specifically, that valley inland that runs from the dot on the map where Clint Eastwood once served as mayor), and who had a good friend who lived on the Morro Bay.
That said, when we spoke of "The City" there was no ambiguity – for it was unmistakable that we were referring to San Francisco.
Thanks, Susan, for that work that you're doing. I do intend to do some phone banking and canvassing when Election Day gets closer. In the meantime, for Dems who are introverts (and I happen to be one of them), postcarding and letter-writing provides a daily opportunity to make a positive contribution to the salvation of democracy in November. It might not be quite as potent as door-knocking or phone-banking. But I still do believe that hand-written personal outreach does indeed makes a difference.
Wow. That Geoff Duncan piece is fantastic. I have to think there are many other Republicans who will pull the lever for Biden. And regarding college students, I agree with Teri Mills below. My college senior has kept me updated on her campus's protests (U of Oregon, pretty chill as she has put it) and I can't imagine her cohort -- at least those friends of hers I know -- doing anything but voting for President Biden.
Those college survey results indicate that most college students are able to clearly distinguish between Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Hamas demonstrations. Which is interesting, giving how our news media are failing to make this vital distinction.
Yes. It is sparse so far, but if what we have is to be believed, Brown and Tester should be considered frontrunners.
You can google "538 recent polls" and when you click on the page, there are dropdown menus that will let you select type of race, state, and year. Select "Senate," "Ohio" (or Montana), and "2024" and you are good to go. Provided you take it with a huge grain of salt, of course.
I have a question for Simon and co. Isn’t by far the most important thing defeating Trump? Since so few people split tickets anymore, if Biden wins, other races should go well. Wondering if all our efforts should be at a presidential level in battleground states? At least that saves democracy and gets rid of Trump once and for all.
The most important thing right now is to defeat the entire ethos of fascism that was supercharged by Von Tweeto but has gripped his party as a whole. Defeating him will not save democracy, it is simply the most essential step to doing so. The entire party must suffer losses in all areas to be compelled enough to turn back toward traditional conservatism.
You are correct that people are not splitting their tickets anymore (unless there is an incumbent that is particularly longstanding). Yet that dynamic does not only apply from the top down but the bottom up. It is harder to get many people excited about a could-not-be-more-publicized Presidential race than to get them invested in a state/local candidate who is "one of us"/"closer to home." We cannot let the President be the face of the party alone. We have seen how much damage that did during the Obama years, and Obama was a particularly charismatic person.
Disagree…. Biden is most important to be sure, but margins will never be identical across the ballot. This tunnel vision focus on just the White House is how we got catastrophically creamed in 1994, 2010, and 2014…..if we held the senate in 2014 we would have replaced Scalia with a liberal justice…..think of the ramifications of that alone. The meat of the Dobbs decision was a 5-4 vote…..holding a narrow Senate majority in 2014 would have prevented what has happened to women in the past two years…..so, no….I fervently do not agree that we should only focus on Biden or that somehow the threat to democracy ends with Trump. Trump was a pawn in a scheme by Mitch McConnell that actually ended the protections of Roe and all the chaos that Pandora’s Box has handed us…..we have to get comfortable minding the whole store all the way down to Sheriff and City Counsel without taking our eyes off of the Presidency at the same time
A strong benefit of good down-ticket campaign is "reverse coattails". In other words, strong Democratic gubernatorial campaigns, senate campaigns etc all increase the likelihood of Biden-Harris garnering extra votes.
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With regards to SCOTUS, let’s not forget Citizens United, which severely damaged American democracy.
This is quite lengthy (it was written for another forum), but as a recent college graduate myself I think my fellow Hopium denizens with a few extra minutes might be interested in my thoughts, so I have decided to copy/share them here...
It is funny, I can't remember much of my math anymore, but I still remember the prayer.
I can rattle off the Hanukkah prayer in Hebrew and English both, and know what each side of the dreidel says, and can taste the latkes now. There was nothing but childhood comfort in those memories. That is how tradition can and should be. I am not Jewish in that I don't belong to the religion; I am agnostic. Yet my grandpa was, and we used to do a few days of the holiday out of respect for his memory. I am told I am like him, though we never met. I have a Jewish last name and look very Jewish, dark beard, bigger nose, glasses, all of it. I had a friend in high school who tried calling me Motel (from Fiddler in the Roof) and have been mistaken for an exchange student named Youssef in a bookshop (sorry to disappoint). When you *seem* a thing, you become aware of it, especially if it is a thing many people irrationally dislike. It doesn't matter if you *are* that thing or not, only that people think you are for you to live in danger, because prejudice is not rational. You don't have to be an immigrant for the xenophobe to yell "illegal!" and shove you in the spermarket, you don't have to be gay for the homophobe to yell "fag!" and shove you against your locker, you don't have to be fat or skinny or short or tall or smart or dumb or anything that some ugly people believe is even though it isn't. I remember my mother getting tearful when a few family friends asked if her sons were feeling safe after the 45th president was un-elected. People asked again after Charlottsville, or gave sympathetic looks. Personally I never did feel unsafe, only because I am cocky and have a surfeit of arguably unearned attitude.
For the first time these past few days, I *do* feel a bit unsafe. The call seems to be coming from inside the house. How else should I feel when I see a photo in the paper of people who look like they should be my friends climbing over their college gates holding fire and a sign proclaiming their love for a Leninist terrorist leader who advocates for the only Jewish nation to be erased? Or statements from a student leader saying that people like me who support the existence of that country (a group that includes the POTUS) should be "grateful" to not be "murdered" because we "don't deserve to exist"? How about my demographic brethren tearing down the flag of my country - the flag I was raised to never let touch the ground - and replacing it with the flag of a foreign nation that has no freedoms of protest, currently run by terrorists whose stated aim is to have me murdered many times over?
Worse than the wild eyes of the radicals is the blind spot that, deliberately or not, so many otherwise progressively-minded people really do maintain around anti-Semitism. We accept that the group that is impacted by prejudice should get to decide what that prejudice looks like to them, and when they describe it to us we should take it to heart and not participate. Absolutely vital... but apparently Jews are exempt. If someone described Blacks as stealing welfare to buy off a baby mama or Latinos as taking jobs to send money to the cartel, we would correctly condemn this as virulent racist. Yet the number of times I've seen people hammer the narrative that the only majority-Jewish country on Earth is the ultimate in the evils of colonialism, and has been controlling media coverage and our politicians through money and propaganda (AIPAC! wOoOoO!) is jaw-dropping. That this is frequently ccepted as potentially valid perspective is even more dosappointing, and any attempt to help people understand how blazingly, incontrovertibly anti-semetic it all is usually gets hand-waved away as overreaction.
Anti-semites know this indifference is an advantage to them. They also see the incredible violence coming from Gaza and know that peoples' common empathy can now be manipulated into an advantage to them. They have seen their window of opportunity, and it has been astounding to see them be successful at pressing their rhetoric to an excess of virulence and past the limits of plausibility... and have otherwise progressive people go along. The warp speed at which the latest chapter in a historical cycle of tragedy has gone from "indiscrimminate disregard" to "possible war crimes" to "war crimes" to "slaughter" to "ethnic cleansing" to "genocide" (regardless of facts or context), coupled with the speed at which the upset-but-not-radicalized among us have gone from "uncaring" to "denying" to "complicit" to - according to Ms. Omar - actively "pro-genocide" makes the blood go cold, then boil.
Yet I do not want fear and anger to corrupt my commitment to principles and open-mindedness, so the other day I turned to Dad for a reality check. Dad was active in student organizing and photojournalism during the famous UC Berkeley events of 68-69, where he at one point stood feet away from MLK and at another was knocked unconcious by police club. (Political resume: lifelong anti-war progressive, who campaigned for RFK & McGovern and supported Bernie in '16.) It was time to seek out an elder to set me straight.
Hey Dad, do we have an opinion on the protests? Silence, then... "It depends on if they are pro-Palestine or anti-Israel." What makes it one or the other? "Are they focusing on demanding that we send the UN or something similar in to help those poor people or are they demanding that we punish and abandon Israel?" More of the latter, it seems. "They're ignorant hooligans who either don't understand the big picture and are anti-semitic, plain and simple." Are you sure that is the right way to describe them? "I regret that hooligan is a British word, but yes." Some people say anti-Zionism is distinct from anti-semitism. "Zionism won in the '40s. Ever since, it just means Jew. They know they can't say that outright, so people use the word Zionism as a cover and a dog-whistle. Just like any neo-Nazis; they know what they mean." People are claiming sympathy for what they see as Palestinian oppression... "Look, this 'aggression' bullshit... I've been alive for this whole thing. Every decade or so they try to end Israel, and every time they get their asses handed to them times twenty. It's been 80 years, you've lost and are going to lose. Stay where you are, get along with your neighbors, and you could have a lovely place to live if you put your energy into that instead. This time is truly ugly, though. Netanyahu is an awful, awful guy." I'm just asking you because thousands have been arrested and people are comparing it to '68. "That is ridiculous! Try hundreds arrested a day at ONE school! We were protesting for our lives and our brothers' lives, and even then my friends and I knew not to break anything and that if someone started to run hot you would make them cool down, because the police could be brutal to everyone otherwise. Today? I like street theater as much as the next guy, but the performance has to end eventually."
Conversations like this (edited for brevity) are playing out in living rooms across America, away from Internet forums and comments sections. If perspectives like mine are being developed across the country by people who have always considered themselves progressive in other ways, imagine the views being hardened by a more centrist voter, let alone a right-leaning one. When Republicans attempt to tie the recent protests to their anti-intellectual crusade against higher ed, they are being as cynical and hypocritical as they always are. Yet they are doing so because they have been given an opening to do so by privileged fringe-dwellers who seem to think that literally dressing in the garb of jihad and sprawling skinhead slogans on library walls will be something inspiring. My contempt for the shameless lawmakers is equaled or surpassed by my disgust for these hooligans (thanks, Dad!) who have spent valuable days reaffirming the worst possible views of my generation in the eyes of countless millions, thereby making true progress toward peace more difficult. To blame most of all are the college administrators, fanning delusions of gradeur among the students to distract from their role in the money mill. Unwilling to risk causing a scene by laying down some common sense, inevitably the ugliest scenes were caused on their campuses anyway.
It has been a lonely, exhausting, scary week, and I am pissed as ever can be, but mostly... I am so, so glad I'm not in college anymore. Good riddance.
Thank you Simon. It must be very hard to abandon your own party and openly state you’ll vote for the other party’s candidate, especially when you’ve belonged to a party for decades. We may vehemently disagree on policy but we must create a safe space for Republicans to abandon Trump and have a temporary home in our tent. We all think we’d jump ship if a Dem candidate became a dictatorial loon but I think it’s easier said than done especially when that candidate provides policies you want. This doesn’t excuse the Republicans lining up behind Trump but does provide some context. Thankfully Biden is the perfect candidate to welcome them into the pro democracy fold with his legit bipartisan credentials.
I've often wondered about that. I guess if we wound up nominating someone who is nominally a Dem but a dangerous crackpot and the alternative was an R like Larry Hogan or Charlie Baker, people who I am adamantly against, I would give them my vote if I had no other choice, because they are sane. I just can't imagine such a scenario.
I agree a Dem dictator wannabe getting traction is currently unlikely given that Dems have in general moved towards more free and fair elections while the GOP has in general moved in an anti-democratic direction. The important thing to remember is that we should never vote for a candidate that reduces the chances of the next election being fair or not happening at all. In a true democracy there is always the next election and another chance to win. That’s what America should be about and what I’m figuring for.
Really enjoyed today's letter! Very happy to hear about Geoff Duncan ! Proud of him for opening the gate - hopefully for others to follow! Additionally that was an inspiring statement t from Jen O'Malley Dillon. She knows what she's doing & a prime ex as mole if the people I keep saying I trust Biden to surround himself with. Helping me to keep calm & CAMPAIGN ON!
It is possible we are finally seeing the first tiny crack in the republican monolithic support for DJT? Yes,there are some Republicans who have SAID they don’t support DJT but when asked who they will vote for in 2024 they waffle and weave. NOW, Finally, a former elected Republican has come out and said he will vote for Biden to save democracy! Perhaps his courage will inspire others. We can only hope they are just as public.
Your posts are breathtaking in scope--detail, facts, articles, perspective, research-- and feel like a safe harbor in the storm. Hopium Chronicles is infused with realistic optimism, it is a one-of-a-kind platform, so important and appreciated. The only way to get through the next seven months is leaning in right here.
I agree with the polls on our youth. First of all, college students are great critical thinkers. They see the bigger picture. They lived through Covid and saw first hand the disaster DT created with that. Saw healthcare was top issue (thinking repro. health lumped in) They also care about gun violence and their economic future. PS Have you met a single younger person who is actually voting for DT or RFK Jr because I have not.
I recall going to high school with a guy who, in another era, would eagerly have voted for that Austrian with the funny mustache. Sadly, they are still out there. In addition, of course, to voters who are delusional or who have very warped ideas about "masculine values".
"Have you met a single younger person who is actually voting for DT or RFK Jr because I have not."
Oh, they are out there.
But they are vastly outnumbered.
And that is all that is necessary for us to win.
The younger people most likely to favor Trump are also likelier to be non-voters (men with less than a college degree). Young women are *very* strongly Democratic, and young women also tend to be more reliable voters.
And if any of the polls saying that *older* voters (the over 60’s) are now more favorable to Joe Biden…this is great news, as older people DO turn up to vote.
I would be surprised if there was much of a gender gap at all in party preference among the slight majority of under-30s who actually vote. I would wager that significantly more of those eventual male voters are/were *reluctant* voters who need more outreach, and I would also wager than it is far more attributable to a basic attitude problem than different policy preferences.
Young men are constantly having the message reinforced that you shouldn't be vulnerable in general, don't be a sucker, don't get caught caring too much, etc. They want to stick it to "the man" or "the system," not get caught buying into it, so that is the energy you usually have to tap into to get them on your side. Women don't subscribe as much to the whole I'm-a-lone-wolf-and-that-makes-me-an-alpha-genius schtick, because men copping that schtick is largely what makes their lives difficult, so you are going to get more of them showing up by tapping into the energy of "a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."
"This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass."
Couldn't come up with a more concise argument for why Republicans should vote for Biden if my life depended on it. Hope a lot of people see this.
I just received another shipment of blank voter postcards that I purchased from a vendor on Etsy. Along with the blank postcards, the vendor included a preprinted insert that lists online political orgs where one can find postcarding opportunities. All of the orgs (grassrootsdems.org, mobilize.us, etc) happened to be Dem-aligned. I find that interesting, and noteable. When I ordered the blank voter postcards, the vendor didn’t ask me my political leanings. And the postcards themselves (“Be a voter!”) aren’t particularly partisan. Yet the baseline assumption for this vendor is that anyone doing the work of grassroots mobilization of fellow voters must obviously be a Democrat. And honestly, I think that assumption is well founded.
To me, this is our secret weapon. Our superpower. This grassroots pro-democracy movement that we’re a part of has no countervailing equivalent on the right. Sure, there are some super-MAGA folks who go to Trump rallies, as dark entertainment. And there are right wingers who spend the day mainlining Fox News, the way you or I might have light jazz music playing in the background as we go about our day. But there’s relatively little organizing power to that stuff. It mobilizes few swing voters. It reaches few uncommitteds. It solidifies the far-right bubble that our conservative friends are in, but it doesn’t win them elections. The work that we’re doing… that stuff wins elections.
So let’s keep doing it, everyone. Each day until November.
Thanks Patrick--I totally agree that our grassroots, volunteer-led organizing is critical to the success of Democrats up and down the ballot.
I'm glad you're writing postcards, but I'd like to add that 2-way conversations with voters are the most powerful and effective way to mobilize voters to vote. Postcarding complements those conversations but the 2-way conversations we have with voters through canvassing door-to-door, voter registration and in phone banking are where we have a chance to LISTEN to what issues are most important to voters and engage them in a conversation that is personal--and connects with them.
I am one of the leaders of the Bay Area Coalition; we lead Zoom phone banks (led by experienced coaches) to voters in battleground states and Congressional Districts that anyone in the country can join, as well as canvassing & voter registration in CA, AZ & NV, training, and a Messaging Library. Please join us: https://bayareacoalition.org/
Great work! And I totally agree: two-way conversations and postcarding complement each other.
I was about to ask "Which bay area?", given that we have so many in this country. But your link gave me the answer. :)
It is my experience that people from the SF Bay Area consider it THE Bay Area, all other bays be darned lol.
You’re talking to somebody who grew up in the Monterey Bay Area (more specifically, that valley inland that runs from the dot on the map where Clint Eastwood once served as mayor), and who had a good friend who lived on the Morro Bay.
That said, when we spoke of "The City" there was no ambiguity – for it was unmistakable that we were referring to San Francisco.
Ah, yes! THE CITY! As if there are no other cities to be found!
To us growing up over the hills farther east, BART was also THE TRAIN. You took THE TRAIN to work in THE CITY. We were all so singular!
Thanks, Susan, for that work that you're doing. I do intend to do some phone banking and canvassing when Election Day gets closer. In the meantime, for Dems who are introverts (and I happen to be one of them), postcarding and letter-writing provides a daily opportunity to make a positive contribution to the salvation of democracy in November. It might not be quite as potent as door-knocking or phone-banking. But I still do believe that hand-written personal outreach does indeed makes a difference.
Wow. That Geoff Duncan piece is fantastic. I have to think there are many other Republicans who will pull the lever for Biden. And regarding college students, I agree with Teri Mills below. My college senior has kept me updated on her campus's protests (U of Oregon, pretty chill as she has put it) and I can't imagine her cohort -- at least those friends of hers I know -- doing anything but voting for President Biden.
Good to hear. If Eugene is chill, there's hope for all.
Those college survey results indicate that most college students are able to clearly distinguish between Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Hamas demonstrations. Which is interesting, giving how our news media are failing to make this vital distinction.
Is there any polling for senate races in Ohio and Montana?
Yes. It is sparse so far, but if what we have is to be believed, Brown and Tester should be considered frontrunners.
You can google "538 recent polls" and when you click on the page, there are dropdown menus that will let you select type of race, state, and year. Select "Senate," "Ohio" (or Montana), and "2024" and you are good to go. Provided you take it with a huge grain of salt, of course.
Thank you thank you thank you for bringing up some of the down-ballot races, especially Gallego and Baldwin.
Rock on my Hopium friends!
I have a question for Simon and co. Isn’t by far the most important thing defeating Trump? Since so few people split tickets anymore, if Biden wins, other races should go well. Wondering if all our efforts should be at a presidential level in battleground states? At least that saves democracy and gets rid of Trump once and for all.
The most important thing right now is to defeat the entire ethos of fascism that was supercharged by Von Tweeto but has gripped his party as a whole. Defeating him will not save democracy, it is simply the most essential step to doing so. The entire party must suffer losses in all areas to be compelled enough to turn back toward traditional conservatism.
You are correct that people are not splitting their tickets anymore (unless there is an incumbent that is particularly longstanding). Yet that dynamic does not only apply from the top down but the bottom up. It is harder to get many people excited about a could-not-be-more-publicized Presidential race than to get them invested in a state/local candidate who is "one of us"/"closer to home." We cannot let the President be the face of the party alone. We have seen how much damage that did during the Obama years, and Obama was a particularly charismatic person.
Disagree…. Biden is most important to be sure, but margins will never be identical across the ballot. This tunnel vision focus on just the White House is how we got catastrophically creamed in 1994, 2010, and 2014…..if we held the senate in 2014 we would have replaced Scalia with a liberal justice…..think of the ramifications of that alone. The meat of the Dobbs decision was a 5-4 vote…..holding a narrow Senate majority in 2014 would have prevented what has happened to women in the past two years…..so, no….I fervently do not agree that we should only focus on Biden or that somehow the threat to democracy ends with Trump. Trump was a pawn in a scheme by Mitch McConnell that actually ended the protections of Roe and all the chaos that Pandora’s Box has handed us…..we have to get comfortable minding the whole store all the way down to Sheriff and City Counsel without taking our eyes off of the Presidency at the same time
Our PianoMan is absolutely correct!
A strong benefit of good down-ticket campaign is "reverse coattails". In other words, strong Democratic gubernatorial campaigns, senate campaigns etc all increase the likelihood of Biden-Harris garnering extra votes.
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With regards to SCOTUS, let’s not forget Citizens United, which severely damaged American democracy.
This is quite lengthy (it was written for another forum), but as a recent college graduate myself I think my fellow Hopium denizens with a few extra minutes might be interested in my thoughts, so I have decided to copy/share them here...
It is funny, I can't remember much of my math anymore, but I still remember the prayer.
I can rattle off the Hanukkah prayer in Hebrew and English both, and know what each side of the dreidel says, and can taste the latkes now. There was nothing but childhood comfort in those memories. That is how tradition can and should be. I am not Jewish in that I don't belong to the religion; I am agnostic. Yet my grandpa was, and we used to do a few days of the holiday out of respect for his memory. I am told I am like him, though we never met. I have a Jewish last name and look very Jewish, dark beard, bigger nose, glasses, all of it. I had a friend in high school who tried calling me Motel (from Fiddler in the Roof) and have been mistaken for an exchange student named Youssef in a bookshop (sorry to disappoint). When you *seem* a thing, you become aware of it, especially if it is a thing many people irrationally dislike. It doesn't matter if you *are* that thing or not, only that people think you are for you to live in danger, because prejudice is not rational. You don't have to be an immigrant for the xenophobe to yell "illegal!" and shove you in the spermarket, you don't have to be gay for the homophobe to yell "fag!" and shove you against your locker, you don't have to be fat or skinny or short or tall or smart or dumb or anything that some ugly people believe is even though it isn't. I remember my mother getting tearful when a few family friends asked if her sons were feeling safe after the 45th president was un-elected. People asked again after Charlottsville, or gave sympathetic looks. Personally I never did feel unsafe, only because I am cocky and have a surfeit of arguably unearned attitude.
For the first time these past few days, I *do* feel a bit unsafe. The call seems to be coming from inside the house. How else should I feel when I see a photo in the paper of people who look like they should be my friends climbing over their college gates holding fire and a sign proclaiming their love for a Leninist terrorist leader who advocates for the only Jewish nation to be erased? Or statements from a student leader saying that people like me who support the existence of that country (a group that includes the POTUS) should be "grateful" to not be "murdered" because we "don't deserve to exist"? How about my demographic brethren tearing down the flag of my country - the flag I was raised to never let touch the ground - and replacing it with the flag of a foreign nation that has no freedoms of protest, currently run by terrorists whose stated aim is to have me murdered many times over?
Worse than the wild eyes of the radicals is the blind spot that, deliberately or not, so many otherwise progressively-minded people really do maintain around anti-Semitism. We accept that the group that is impacted by prejudice should get to decide what that prejudice looks like to them, and when they describe it to us we should take it to heart and not participate. Absolutely vital... but apparently Jews are exempt. If someone described Blacks as stealing welfare to buy off a baby mama or Latinos as taking jobs to send money to the cartel, we would correctly condemn this as virulent racist. Yet the number of times I've seen people hammer the narrative that the only majority-Jewish country on Earth is the ultimate in the evils of colonialism, and has been controlling media coverage and our politicians through money and propaganda (AIPAC! wOoOoO!) is jaw-dropping. That this is frequently ccepted as potentially valid perspective is even more dosappointing, and any attempt to help people understand how blazingly, incontrovertibly anti-semetic it all is usually gets hand-waved away as overreaction.
Anti-semites know this indifference is an advantage to them. They also see the incredible violence coming from Gaza and know that peoples' common empathy can now be manipulated into an advantage to them. They have seen their window of opportunity, and it has been astounding to see them be successful at pressing their rhetoric to an excess of virulence and past the limits of plausibility... and have otherwise progressive people go along. The warp speed at which the latest chapter in a historical cycle of tragedy has gone from "indiscrimminate disregard" to "possible war crimes" to "war crimes" to "slaughter" to "ethnic cleansing" to "genocide" (regardless of facts or context), coupled with the speed at which the upset-but-not-radicalized among us have gone from "uncaring" to "denying" to "complicit" to - according to Ms. Omar - actively "pro-genocide" makes the blood go cold, then boil.
Yet I do not want fear and anger to corrupt my commitment to principles and open-mindedness, so the other day I turned to Dad for a reality check. Dad was active in student organizing and photojournalism during the famous UC Berkeley events of 68-69, where he at one point stood feet away from MLK and at another was knocked unconcious by police club. (Political resume: lifelong anti-war progressive, who campaigned for RFK & McGovern and supported Bernie in '16.) It was time to seek out an elder to set me straight.
Hey Dad, do we have an opinion on the protests? Silence, then... "It depends on if they are pro-Palestine or anti-Israel." What makes it one or the other? "Are they focusing on demanding that we send the UN or something similar in to help those poor people or are they demanding that we punish and abandon Israel?" More of the latter, it seems. "They're ignorant hooligans who either don't understand the big picture and are anti-semitic, plain and simple." Are you sure that is the right way to describe them? "I regret that hooligan is a British word, but yes." Some people say anti-Zionism is distinct from anti-semitism. "Zionism won in the '40s. Ever since, it just means Jew. They know they can't say that outright, so people use the word Zionism as a cover and a dog-whistle. Just like any neo-Nazis; they know what they mean." People are claiming sympathy for what they see as Palestinian oppression... "Look, this 'aggression' bullshit... I've been alive for this whole thing. Every decade or so they try to end Israel, and every time they get their asses handed to them times twenty. It's been 80 years, you've lost and are going to lose. Stay where you are, get along with your neighbors, and you could have a lovely place to live if you put your energy into that instead. This time is truly ugly, though. Netanyahu is an awful, awful guy." I'm just asking you because thousands have been arrested and people are comparing it to '68. "That is ridiculous! Try hundreds arrested a day at ONE school! We were protesting for our lives and our brothers' lives, and even then my friends and I knew not to break anything and that if someone started to run hot you would make them cool down, because the police could be brutal to everyone otherwise. Today? I like street theater as much as the next guy, but the performance has to end eventually."
Conversations like this (edited for brevity) are playing out in living rooms across America, away from Internet forums and comments sections. If perspectives like mine are being developed across the country by people who have always considered themselves progressive in other ways, imagine the views being hardened by a more centrist voter, let alone a right-leaning one. When Republicans attempt to tie the recent protests to their anti-intellectual crusade against higher ed, they are being as cynical and hypocritical as they always are. Yet they are doing so because they have been given an opening to do so by privileged fringe-dwellers who seem to think that literally dressing in the garb of jihad and sprawling skinhead slogans on library walls will be something inspiring. My contempt for the shameless lawmakers is equaled or surpassed by my disgust for these hooligans (thanks, Dad!) who have spent valuable days reaffirming the worst possible views of my generation in the eyes of countless millions, thereby making true progress toward peace more difficult. To blame most of all are the college administrators, fanning delusions of gradeur among the students to distract from their role in the money mill. Unwilling to risk causing a scene by laying down some common sense, inevitably the ugliest scenes were caused on their campuses anyway.
It has been a lonely, exhausting, scary week, and I am pissed as ever can be, but mostly... I am so, so glad I'm not in college anymore. Good riddance.
Georgia is going to be tough, but we can win it.
Brian Kemp knows how to win statewide in GA.
Trump, Herschel Walker and MAGA do not.
The latter are on a big losing streak there - and that could continue. Haley picked up nearly 15 percent in the GOP primary.
Peel off enough Duncan-Haley-McCain Republicans and Biden wins GA again.
Our grassroots team has a strategy to help win GA and NC - Give us a hand by texting unregistered voters.
BuildingBridgesforAmerica.com
Wasn’t Kemp governor in 2020 when Trump lost?
Yes, he was. He wasn't running himself that year, though.
Also Key Supreme Court Election in GA on May 21st. Please help out John Barrow if you can https://barrowforgeorgia.com/
Thank you Simon. It must be very hard to abandon your own party and openly state you’ll vote for the other party’s candidate, especially when you’ve belonged to a party for decades. We may vehemently disagree on policy but we must create a safe space for Republicans to abandon Trump and have a temporary home in our tent. We all think we’d jump ship if a Dem candidate became a dictatorial loon but I think it’s easier said than done especially when that candidate provides policies you want. This doesn’t excuse the Republicans lining up behind Trump but does provide some context. Thankfully Biden is the perfect candidate to welcome them into the pro democracy fold with his legit bipartisan credentials.
I've often wondered about that. I guess if we wound up nominating someone who is nominally a Dem but a dangerous crackpot and the alternative was an R like Larry Hogan or Charlie Baker, people who I am adamantly against, I would give them my vote if I had no other choice, because they are sane. I just can't imagine such a scenario.
I agree a Dem dictator wannabe getting traction is currently unlikely given that Dems have in general moved towards more free and fair elections while the GOP has in general moved in an anti-democratic direction. The important thing to remember is that we should never vote for a candidate that reduces the chances of the next election being fair or not happening at all. In a true democracy there is always the next election and another chance to win. That’s what America should be about and what I’m figuring for.
* fighting for
Great column today Simon!
Really enjoyed today's letter! Very happy to hear about Geoff Duncan ! Proud of him for opening the gate - hopefully for others to follow! Additionally that was an inspiring statement t from Jen O'Malley Dillon. She knows what she's doing & a prime ex as mole if the people I keep saying I trust Biden to surround himself with. Helping me to keep calm & CAMPAIGN ON!
Stupid phone keypad - prime example* of the kind of people
It is possible we are finally seeing the first tiny crack in the republican monolithic support for DJT? Yes,there are some Republicans who have SAID they don’t support DJT but when asked who they will vote for in 2024 they waffle and weave. NOW, Finally, a former elected Republican has come out and said he will vote for Biden to save democracy! Perhaps his courage will inspire others. We can only hope they are just as public.
May it be a floodgate 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Your posts are breathtaking in scope--detail, facts, articles, perspective, research-- and feel like a safe harbor in the storm. Hopium Chronicles is infused with realistic optimism, it is a one-of-a-kind platform, so important and appreciated. The only way to get through the next seven months is leaning in right here.
Takes a village!