Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends, if you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.
And so it goes. Each week of the Trump presidency takes us into new territory. Our nation, our government, our citizens, and our world pay a new price for having momentarily discounted how much the aptitude of the candidate matters in picking a president. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says that our institutions are under assault internally. Way beyond his climate change denialism and unacceptable approaches to health care and tax policy, it turns out that Donald Trump does not have the skills of a president.
He is not even tempered. He is not curious or measured or well-spoken or empathetic. He is not energetic or intellectually driven or thoughtful or patient or disciplined. So much of the damage of his presidency has come from the demonstrable absence of basic skills.
Do not think all of this has escaped Republican members of Congress. They whisper to each other about his bizarre and sometimes delusional behavior, and quietly clean up after him daily. Most are fully aware of the danger he presents to the republic for which they are sworn to stand. All too many seem to have made the calculation that they can control for the worst while reaping the advantages of having a president from their own party, however dangerous he is.
For the most part, their public opposition to the worst that Trump has done has been designed to not give offense to him and to not put up meaningful obstacles. At this point, these Senators have not been providing profiles in courage.
What must Senators Ben Sasse or Johnny Isakson or Bob Corker or Lisa Murkowski or Rob Portman or Jeff Flake be thinking about as they head to work in the morning? How could one watch the Comey firing and the health care debacle and this week's misuse of classified information and read the tweets and not have a heavy heart? How could you look at your children and grandchildren knowing that you are complicit in threatening their future? How long can they maintain this awful charade?
As Donald Trump loses support (even among the original base of non-college educated white males) these Senators may well modify what is their underlying political calculation, but the pace of their movement toward protecting our country is agonizingly slow. However, the political price to be paid for standing up to Trump is lowering, and the political price to be paid for failing to do so is growing.
This week, we saw some more Republican restlessness, which will grow further with disclosures that Trump asked James Comey to cease the investigation of Michael Flynn. In promising news, Susan Collins, John McCain and Lindsey Graham blocked Trump's proposed repeal of the Obama administration's methane gas regulations. And chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr of North Carolina criticized the Comey firing and agreed to the Democratic request to bring deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein before Senators for questioning.
It's possible that Lisa Murkowski of Alaska will keep up her battle to save Planned Parenthood funding. It could be that Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, assigned to come up with a Senate approach to health care, will truly reverse the House approach. And, as the treat of the week, we can appreciate Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Corker of Tennessee saying that with the Trump disclosure of classified information to the Russians, the White House lacks discipline and is "in a downward spiral."
The best political signal to send to all of these Senators is to mount awesome campaigns to defeat Trump-supporting candidates on November 6, 2018. Our excellent chance is to take back the House. As we show signs of being able to do that, it will have the effect of giving the above-named cautious but somewhat principled U.S. Senators more focus and more opportunities to step forward.
These three things that we can do today will help bring joy into your heart on the morning of November 7, 2018:
As I prepare missive #14, the situation is now changing daily. The allegation that Donald Trump asked James Comey to "let go"; of the Flynn investigation could constitute obstruction of justice if it can be substantiated. At minimum, it means that we are traveling into all new territory of subpoenas and investigations. The Trump agenda will stall. The movement to draft a health care approach in the Senate will slow, as will meaningful work on tax policy.
We will each interpret this turn of events, and some will understandably worry even more about the strain or even the threat to our wounded system.
I believe that with all of its excesses and misbegotten approaches, for all of its lack of attention to people in need and maldistribution of wealth, the country we all have created together is worth treasuring and worth saving. I believe the republic will be preserved and will become stronger and that good people will stand on the shoulders of Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King and make it so.
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
And so it goes. Each week of the Trump presidency takes us into new territory. Our nation, our government, our citizens, and our world pay a new price for having momentarily discounted how much the aptitude of the candidate matters in picking a president. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says that our institutions are under assault internally. Way beyond his climate change denialism and unacceptable approaches to health care and tax policy, it turns out that Donald Trump does not have the skills of a president.
He is not even tempered. He is not curious or measured or well-spoken or empathetic. He is not energetic or intellectually driven or thoughtful or patient or disciplined. So much of the damage of his presidency has come from the demonstrable absence of basic skills.
Do not think all of this has escaped Republican members of Congress. They whisper to each other about his bizarre and sometimes delusional behavior, and quietly clean up after him daily. Most are fully aware of the danger he presents to the republic for which they are sworn to stand. All too many seem to have made the calculation that they can control for the worst while reaping the advantages of having a president from their own party, however dangerous he is.
For the most part, their public opposition to the worst that Trump has done has been designed to not give offense to him and to not put up meaningful obstacles. At this point, these Senators have not been providing profiles in courage.
What must Senators Ben Sasse or Johnny Isakson or Bob Corker or Lisa Murkowski or Rob Portman or Jeff Flake be thinking about as they head to work in the morning? How could one watch the Comey firing and the health care debacle and this week's misuse of classified information and read the tweets and not have a heavy heart? How could you look at your children and grandchildren knowing that you are complicit in threatening their future? How long can they maintain this awful charade?
As Donald Trump loses support (even among the original base of non-college educated white males) these Senators may well modify what is their underlying political calculation, but the pace of their movement toward protecting our country is agonizingly slow. However, the political price to be paid for standing up to Trump is lowering, and the political price to be paid for failing to do so is growing.
This week, we saw some more Republican restlessness, which will grow further with disclosures that Trump asked James Comey to cease the investigation of Michael Flynn. In promising news, Susan Collins, John McCain and Lindsey Graham blocked Trump's proposed repeal of the Obama administration's methane gas regulations. And chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr of North Carolina criticized the Comey firing and agreed to the Democratic request to bring deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein before Senators for questioning.
It's possible that Lisa Murkowski of Alaska will keep up her battle to save Planned Parenthood funding. It could be that Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, assigned to come up with a Senate approach to health care, will truly reverse the House approach. And, as the treat of the week, we can appreciate Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Corker of Tennessee saying that with the Trump disclosure of classified information to the Russians, the White House lacks discipline and is "in a downward spiral."
The best political signal to send to all of these Senators is to mount awesome campaigns to defeat Trump-supporting candidates on November 6, 2018. Our excellent chance is to take back the House. As we show signs of being able to do that, it will have the effect of giving the above-named cautious but somewhat principled U.S. Senators more focus and more opportunities to step forward.
These three things that we can do today will help bring joy into your heart on the morning of November 7, 2018:
| 1) Respond Directly to the Unacceptable House Vote on Health Care | |
 |
The organizations Act Blue, Swing Left, and the Daily Kos have combined efforts to raise funds immediately to target members of Congress who provided key votes to pass the Trump/Ryan health care bill in the House. The effort is ingenious and attracted nearly 50,000 donations the day it was announced. Don't miss out. We need 24 seats to gain the majority in the House. Appropriately, there were 24 Republicans who voted for the bill who are from districts where Donald Trump got less than 50% of the vote. Act Blue, Swing Left and the Daily Kos organizations are setting up campaign accounts that will be donated in each of these 24 districts to the winner of the Democratic primary in 2018. Here is the Act Blue approach. |
2) Sort Out Where You are Going to Put Your Energy, If You Haven't Already |
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The excitement about taking back the House has grown because of recent polling of "generic" races between Republican and Democratic Congressional candidates. Even before the Comey sacking and Flynn disclosures, the Quinnipiac poll revealed that 54% of those questioned would vote for the Democratic candidate if the election were today, and 38% for the Republican. Anything close to that in 2018 would mean that Democrats would pick up 60 seats! Of course it is way too early to say, and we must advance these dreams through hard work rather than just dream them. It's always good to understand the cautions, such as these put forward by political scientist Larry Sabato. Swing Left has improved its methodology for targeting races, and has come up with these 65, with a handy searchable map. The issue for each of us is the specific actions we will take once we have picked a race. On local organizing, each of us can pick the organization with which we are most comfortable and which can utilize our energies. In some cases, as the Democratic Party gets its act together, they could be the organizer. At this point, the best thing going in terms of local resistance activity is still Indivisible.You can search their site for the chapter near you. |
3) Remember Two Special Elections Coming Up Soon |
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New polls show Jon Ossoff running even with his opponent in Georgia, in a seat that the Republicans won by more than 20 points last November. The election will be held June 20. If you know someone in this district, please contact them right away! This will be an enormous boost and signal if we can pull this off. If you are vacillating between sending a check or not sending a check, please send a check. Rob Quist's effort in Montana is a longer shot, but take a look and see if you are game. |
As I prepare missive #14, the situation is now changing daily. The allegation that Donald Trump asked James Comey to "let go"; of the Flynn investigation could constitute obstruction of justice if it can be substantiated. At minimum, it means that we are traveling into all new territory of subpoenas and investigations. The Trump agenda will stall. The movement to draft a health care approach in the Senate will slow, as will meaningful work on tax policy.
We will each interpret this turn of events, and some will understandably worry even more about the strain or even the threat to our wounded system.
I believe that with all of its excesses and misbegotten approaches, for all of its lack of attention to people in need and maldistribution of wealth, the country we all have created together is worth treasuring and worth saving. I believe the republic will be preserved and will become stronger and that good people will stand on the shoulders of Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King and make it so.
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
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