#28: Kansas She Said Was the Name of the Star

This is the next of a new series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020. 

Please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every 3-4 weeks.

As it turns out, the munchkins in the Wizard of Oz were correct. Kansas was at the center of the movie, and it certainly is now. The election results in their reproductive rights referendum were stunning. It would be hard to recall a boost to Democrats three months before an election that was as unanticipated and consequential.

Prior to the referendum, pundits were saying that the pro-choice movement would celebrate if they got 46% of the vote. They got 58%, due in part to a huge turnout. Months after it was hard to say what the Dobbs decision would kindle in November; it isn’t hard to say at all. America is going to fight back for choice. Consider these tiers:

The first tier, which Kansas exemplified, is a state which has the right to choose on the ballot, unimpeded by the Legislature. The New York Times analysis says given that opportunity, proponents of choice would win in 42 states. This fall Colorado has such an initiative. Among other things the choice-related turnout will bolster Democratic Senator Michael Bennet’s re-election.

The critical second tier is states where we were already bent on flipping legislative control in one or both houses, and where the upcoming legislative session is already scheduled to debate what if any level of choice they provide. This very juicy list includes Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. The Kansas vote signals a significant increase in the number of competitive state legislative races, and an all-new motivation to get to the polls, especially for the younger voters whose participation normally falls off during the mid-term.

The third tier is promising as well. These states are battlegrounds over the right to choose where the Governor will or will not rein in Republican legislatures bent upon the worst possible outcomes, even precluding a woman’s choice in cases of rape or incest. We must re-elect Democratic Governors in Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas and Pennsylvania and elect Democratic Governors in Georgia and Arizona.

For all of us who are obsessed about the future of the country, this is an unprecedented opportunity. Since it would take 60 votes in the Senate, Congress is not going to pass a law codifying the protections of Roe v Wade. Even so, the above states where the debate over choice will be especially intense have everything to do with us expanding our majority in the Senate and the longer shot of maintaining our majority in the House. Kansas can be our jumping off point.

Given the activity in the above states, the Kansas outcome shows we can protect Raphael Warnock in Georgia, Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire, and Marc Kelly in Arizona. It will help John Fetterman win the Senate seat in Pennsylvania and make it more likely that Mandela Barnes will beat the startlingly acidic Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. And that’s just the minimum, with Cheri Beasley in North Carolina, Tim Ryan in Ohio, and Val Demings in Florida all expecting to get a boost.

The Republican response to all of this has been bewildering. The people in Kansas were misled and bedeviled! In the face of Clarence Thomas’ threats in the Dobbs decision, we would like to protect contraception and gay marriage, but we just can’t! Also, we are going to make it a point to vote against giving assistance to veterans who got cancer from burn pits! Sure, we support this bill, but we need to show that we are mad, at least for a week! Don’t you see we are making a point!

Of course, they were angry because of inside baseball. Mitch McConnell had said Republicans wouldn’t pass the bipartisan bill they helped write to strengthen the semiconductor industry if Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer got America to invest in fighting climate change. Then they thought Manchin and Schumer were estranged, so Republicans helped pass the CHIPS and Science bill. Right after that, Manchin and Schumer reconciled and cut a mammoth climate change-fighting, drug price-reducing, corporate tax-increasing deal. Mitch McConnell thinks the Manchin/Schumer estrangement was a ruse. Accordingly, he was more dour than usual, which is a difficult standard to meet.

For Democrats, the pieces are fitting together. As is his practice, Donald Trump has weakened the field of Republican candidates. And there are signs that inflation is coming under a modicum of control. Meanwhile, as David Axelrod pointed out, Joe Biden may have compiled the most impressive legislative record of any president since FDR. Thanks to Robert Hubbell, here’s the evidence:

• 03/11/2021 American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a sweeping $1.9 trillion relief to address the continued impact of COVID-19 on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals, and businesses.
• 11/15/2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, $1.2 trillion investment in “hard infrastructure” including roads and bridges.
• 03/29/2022 Emmett Till Antilynching Act, 120 years after an anti-lynching bill was first introduced and after failing on nearly 200 prior occasions, Congress passed a bill designating lynching as a hate crime. 
• 06/25/22 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, extended background checks for gun purchasers under 21, funding for state red flag laws and other crisis intervention programs, and partial closure of the “boyfriend” loophole.
• 07/29/2022 CHIPS and Science Act, the most significant research bill passed in a generation, including a $56 billion investment in American semiconductor production to incentivize companies to move chip production back into the United States.
• 08/02/2022 Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, provides healthcare and other services related to veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during military service.
• 08/07/2022 Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the largest climate investment in US history, lowers prescription drug prices by giving Medicare the power to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs and extends expiring health care subsidies for three years.

Of course, there are countless things to do. If spurred by the Kansas result, one was in the activist mode, one could support NARAL Pro-Choice America, the premier advocacy organization for choice. You could strengthen Sarah Longwell’s Republican Voters Against Trump, even if you are not necessarily a Republican voter. The States Project is focused entirely on state legislative races, trying to create a post-Kansas fervor. And you won’t find a better set of field coordinators than Common Power and the grassroots organizations with which they partner. 

For the first time since the inceptions of these messages in the darkest hours of 2016, we are going to underscore just one thing that each of us should do:

Arizona houses the most bizarre set of election deniers in the country. That might be okay, if one of them wasn’t the Republican candidate for Secretary of State, who supervises elections! This is quite unbelievable that a major political party would nominate Mark Finchem, an Oath Keeper who after multiple recounts and election audits continues to call for the decertification of the Biden victory. Finchem’s Democratic opponent is former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes.

Mi Familia Vota did extraordinary work in the 2020 election. It is no exaggeration to say that Joe Biden would not have won Arizona without them. Among other quests, they are dedicated to registering and rallying Latino voters to beat Finchem, saying “to have this person be the states’ top election official is truly frightening.”

Mi Familia Vota has budgeted $20,000 for targeted digital ads to beat Finchem and elect Fontes. Adding $10,000 immediately is our new special project. Many of us have been together in this blog world for six years. For this $10,000 campaign, we proudly have our own ActBlue link, which underscores our goal! You can make your mark for election integrity by watching this $10,000 boost to Mi Familia Vota grow, and making it grow.

David Harrison

Bainbridge Island, Washington

#27: Americans Declaring Independence from Donald Trump

 This is the next of a new series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020. 

Please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every three to four weeks.

And then one day, the worst was over. The chances that Donald Trump would again become President vanished in a round of Congressional hearing revelations.

The narrative that no evidence or action could diminish his support had never been the case, at least not since the 2018 Congressional elections, in which millions of independent voters deserted him. From that point on the very tactics that he used to maintain his core support have been anathema to the other voters he would need to win. The House Select Committee investigating the attempted coup on January 6 is delivering in a manner not accomplished by the two previous impeachment trials. They are setting things up for felony indictments.

Mitch McConnell, Bill Barr, Kevin McCarthy, Mick Mulvaney, and countless other Republican leaders have known for some time that Trump was unable or unwilling to fulfill his oath. They kept supporting him for two reasons only. First his presence made them more able to advance their agendas. Second, he was able to execute politically many of those who challenged him. For a time, there seemed to be no insult to the Constitution that his own party would challenge.

The hearings on the January 6 coup attempt have provided cover to Republicans who have longed to move away from Trump, a few since 2016. Whether or not he is convicted of a felony, Trump is a distance from his last tweet or his final lie-laden rally since those are his oxygen. But Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Asa Hutchison, Glenn Youngkin and a pride of others don’t need any further signal to fire up their campaign consultants. The Wall Street Journal and Washington Examiner have washed their hands. Bill Barr, Betsy Devos, and Mark Esper will say more about how their service as Cabinet secretaries was marked by determined challenges to the President, not obeisance. Almost everyone who has a story will tell it to the media. 

Cassidy Hutchison is the Republican truth telling hero for now. The witness tampering charges related to her testimony will not go away. Offended by the clumsy witness tampering attempt, former White House Counsel Cipollone has agreed to testify under oath. And there are other shoes out there wanting to drop. There will be additional disclosures about fraudulent electors. Trump will insist on having the stage back to his detriment, saying that he doesn’t know any of these people, since at this point, he barely knows Ivanka. His endorsement of gun-toting Proud Boys and Oath Keepers charging the Capitol will offend Republican members of Congress.

There is some thought that Trump will announce his candidacy for the Presidency as soon as this summer to turn people away from the present criticisms of his soullessness. Of course, that won’t work, but announcing his candidacy will temporarily back off DeSantis and Haley. It will also set up a claim once he is indicted that Democrats are using the courts to try to keep him from running. 

The truth is he will be indicted because he has engaged in flagrant felonious actions that sought to overthrow the government of the United States. Absolutely, it would be unprecedented and even a little scary to indict a former President for actions he took while he was in office. In the face of the evidence, it would be worse not to indict. If you can’t or won’t indict someone for trying to block the peaceful transition of power, where does that leave you as a country?

Trump will not be criminally charged with grifting his donors out of $250 million in his appeals after the election, wherein he said such funds would be used for election cases. Instead, in order of their likelihood of emerging, the country will focus on these three charges:

• Fulton County, Georgia Prosecutor will charge Donald Trump with criminal solicitation to commit election fraud. Trump is on tape asking Brad Raffensberger for 11,780 votes and threatening criminal sanctions if he does not respond.
• The U.S. Department of Justice is extremely likely to charge Donald Trump with criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States. This charge stems from the scheme to select fake electors and to use the Justice Department to falsely establish their legitimacy.
• The U.S. Department of Justice might well charge Donald Trump with obstructing an illegal proceeding of Congress. This charge relates to working with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to assault the Capitol, including Trump rejecting the concern that some were armed, and his subsequent rejection of Republican pleas for him to send help to the Capitol.

While these actions unfold, it’s important to address the place where the Trump-led damage to our constitutional rights has been greatest, the Dobbs decision to overturn Roe v. Wade after almost fifty years. Let’s do these three things.

1) Take the Signal that Brett Kavanagh Provided
	On his way to providing the critical vote to overturn Roe, Brett Kavanagh filed a concurring opinion with huge implications for protecting the right to choose. He said that states may not ban their residents from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion because there is a constitutional right to interstate travel. He said this constitutional question “is not especially difficult.” Neither Kavanagh nor Chief Justice Roberts will provide the fifth vote to permit states to block the travel of their citizens to other states where abortions will remain legal. This is a very important signal to Planned Parenthood and other providers. It is up to us to find a Planned Parenthood or other clinic that needs our financial assistance to increase their service to women from out of state. Clinics in Virginia, New Mexico, Southern Illinois, Eastern Washington, and Eastern Oregon are all a good bet. In terms of service provision, this is a more effective way to contribute than sending money to Planned Parenthood’s national fund, where these service needs are not the only target.
2) Pick One of These Six States
	The fall elections will determine the extent to which the right to choose will be protected in at least six states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Kansas. Following up on your current activity in any of those states would be excellent. One great option for your support is recognizing how great it is to have a Democratic governor who will protect abortion rights in Kansas. Laura Kelly won four years ago when Republicans nominated a Trump flunky, and her race this year is very tight.
3) Connect With NARAL Pro-Choice America
	Pro-Choice America now has four million members. They are the place to go if you are looking for the nation’s exceedingly focused choice advocate. You can go there whether you have money to give or not. You can sign up to receive texts on late breaking news, volunteer, find out what is happening in legal and legislative actions in each of the fifty states, and make even a small contribution to become a member.

Constant turmoil is where we are right now, and it isn’t going to change anytime soon. But something profound has changed, nonetheless. Watching Donald Trump’s influence continue to fade will be one of the great joys of our time.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#26: How We Will Win More Senate Seats

This is the next of a new series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020. 

Please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every three weeks.

We feel numb. Our heart aches for the families in Buffalo and Uvalde. And then it aches for our country in its distress, battling for equilibrium and jolted every single week. By far the greatest obstacle to getting our footing is those that have an alternative view of what we are and should become. The other obstacle will be our own selves if we lose our will.

Polls show a strong majority of Americans want what we want--- the protection of a woman’s right to choose; new initiatives to significantly curb carbon emissions; prohibitions on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and a political system that examines and recognizes facts and devises and implements solutions. We have functioned for six years now with truth on the scaffold. Lying about elections (and lying about most everything else) is not going to fall out of fashion on its own. It needs to be pushed out.

In Congress, Trump’s grip is weakening, but Republicans are still locked into their Faustian bargain, trading their souls to avoid being “primaried” by whatever maniacal, election result-denying person Trump selects. Thus, they will agree to some gun control measures, increasing “red flag warnings,” but will fall far short of what the nation needs to stop the carnage. 

If the November election were held today, we would lose the House. But we have a few more months. Between now and then, the Supreme Court will overturn Roe V. Wade. This will meaningfully increase our turnout and sway some independent voters, including suburban woman. It will help us hold onto a score of seats we narrowly won in 2020. There is no basis to the claim that the decision will help both sides equally.

Republican position on the right to choose and failing to restrict sales of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines give us an all-new boost in several closely contested Senate elections. As much as Democrats have criticized Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, it has been hugely significant to have 50 votes in the Senate, especially in approving judicial appointments and passing the COVID-related American Rescue Plan and the infrastructure law known as the American Jobs Plan.

The goal is to go from having 50 Senators caucusing as Democrats to 54 or 55. This will keep Mitch McConnell out of the Majority Leader’s office and make Charles Schumer less dependent on Manchin’s assent. It could seem so, but this goal is not outlandish. We are fortunate that there are contests for open Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri and North Carolina and strong candidates against vulnerable Republican incumbents Marco Rubio in Florida and by now stone crazy Ron Johnson in Wisconsin.

We have already received some help from Donald Trump, and he has promised some more. He is testing out suppressing the Republican vote, saying that his supporters may stay home in November rather than voting for Republican Brian Kemp, who pulverized Trump’s candidate David Purdue. Trump’s legendary petulance will not only help Stacey Abrams in Georgia, it will hold back Republican Herschel Walker in his effort to unseat Democratic Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock.

The Trump grievance traveling road show is a swell party for Democrats since it accelerates our turnout and pushes independent voters to us. Trump requires that the candidates he supports dwell on his lies about the 2020 elections, Thankfully, his ego will not let him recede. We should take up a collection to support him traveling to swing states as often as possible. 

In addition to defending Warnock’s seat, we need to win Catherine Cortez Masto’s re-election in Nevada and Mark Kelly’s in Arizona. Then we need to go out and win ourselves most, or all, of these six Senate races:

• In North Carolina, we are set up nicely. We would have taken back a Senate seat there in 2020 if our candidate Cal Cunningham had stuck to the fine idea of having one woman in his life at a time. This time, Republican Senator Richard Burr is retiring, and we have a very strong candidate in the former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Cheri Beasley. She will be running against the Trump-supported election denier Ted Budd. She should be able to pick up some support from those who voted in the primary for former moderate Republican governor Pat McCrory.

• Pennsylvania is very promising as well. Our candidate is Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who has caught attention due to his 6-foot 8-inch height, his tattoos, his service as mayor of Braddock, and most of all, his unflinching nature. The Republican Candidate will likely be Dr. Mehmet Oz, who will beat Doug McCormack by a thousand votes out of more than a million cast. Oz is not a wizard. We will benefit from the upcoming recount, which is sure to generate some additional bad feelings among Republicans.

• We hope to be helped in Ohio by the long warfare among Republican candidates, including a threatened fistfight on their debate stage. J.D. Vance won the race, overcoming the delicious fact that he accurately referred to Trump in 2016 as “noxious”, and “reprehensible”, and said “My God, what an idiot.” Our candidate is long time blue collar focused Congressman Tim Ryan, who is polling even with Vance.

• The open seat in Missouri would not be in play at all, except there is a chance that on August 2 Republicans will nominate Eric Greitens, who resigned the Missouri governorship in 2018 after his hairdresser accused him of blackmail over their sexual affair. Democrats will nominate Busch beer heiress Trudy Busch Valentine on August 2.

• Wisconsin is not an open seat, since COVID, climate change and insurrection denier Ron Johnson occupies it in his own special way, in which facts are no consideration. He is a bit more vulnerable than he would otherwise be since he had initially promised not to run again. The race is even more attractive because Democrats hold the governorship and the other Senate seat. Our candidate (to be determined in the August 9 primary) will be Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes or businessperson Alex Lasry.

• Florida will not be easy, since Marco Rubio is less vulnerable than Ron Johnson. However, former Orlando police chief Val Demings is running a very competitive race and is an ideal candidate. She distinguished herself during the second set of Trump impeachment hearings and was on Joe Biden’s list of potential vice-presidential candidates.

Our candidates are being selected with considerably less drama than the Republican candidates. It will take a lot, including Trump’s miserable behavior and a strong response to the Supreme Court’s likely decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, but we can pull this off. We can defend in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada and win the majority of the six races above. We can do it all with the formula tested in 2018 and 2020, starting with these three things:

1) Help Organize in Each of the Six Targeted States
	Our targeted candidates will raise huge amounts of money, as they did in 2020. This makes donating to grassroots organizers an even more attractive option than it otherwise would be. These groups will make certain that new voters are registered, suppressed votes get freed and cast, diverse populations are reached, and voter turnout is increased. These are all things that we do at scale when we want to win. David Domke’s Common Power is excellent at identifying effective on the ground partners.  Common Power’s grassroots organizer recommendations in four key states are: Pennsylvania - NextGen Pennsylvania North Carolina - You Can Vote Florida - Forward Florida Action Ohio - Ohio Organizing Collaborative
2) Support the Young People Who Are Obsessed with Voter Registration
	For a long time, large organizations like Rock the Vote have gotten most of the attention when new voter registration gets its due. Now, an all-new organization, Voters of Tomorrow, founded by immigrant Santiago Mayor and led by college students is spreading across the country. They need a boost.
3) Give Your Counsel to John Cornyn
	It is self-evident that whatever gun restrictions that Republican Senators agree to will be too little. They won’t agree to increase the age for purchase from 18 to 21, which would match the age one can legally buy a cigarette. They won’t agree to banning assault rifles. But they might well agree to universal background checks and “red flag” warnings, both steps worth taking. Help them along by calling their chief negotiator, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, at 202-224-2934.

In the midst of the most awful news about gun violence, Donald Trump lost in Georgia. We need to build upon the bit of momentum that gives us. It is now that attention must be paid.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#25: By Summer, Merrick Garland Will Indict Donald Trump

This is the next of a new series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020. 

Please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every three weeks.

History is not repeating itself. When elected in 1856, 15th President James Buchanan was highly respected, but he sympathized mightily with the slaveholding South. When Abraham Lincoln was elected four years later, Buchanan did nothing to discourage the various plots to block Lincoln’s inauguration, scheduled four very long months after the election. Buchanan was tempted but didn’t participate in a coup, and instead the southern states seceded.

Sixty years earlier, as Lin Michael Miranda has taught, Aaron Burr’s political estrangement began when Alexander Hamilton blocked his path to the Presidency. Subsequently, he committed treason by plotting to establish a new nation in the Southwest. No coup there either.

Millard Fillmore, no way. Rutherford B. Hayes or James Monroe, not a chance. Not even a faint notion in the mind of William Howard Taft. Except for Donald Trump, the singular sensation, our 230-year record of peaceful transitions of power is unblemished. The seemingly never-ending stream of disclosures from the Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection will provide much of the evidence Merrick Garland needs to indict Trump. In addition, the Justice Department has charged 820 people in the breaching of the Capitol, and 260 have pleaded guilty, including pleas of guilt to the charge of “seditious conspiracy”. We know the identity of the seditious conspirator in chief.

The Committee’s upcoming public hearings will establish that Donald Trump endeavored to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election and thus sought to overthrow the government of the United States. 

Did you ever think you would hear such a thing? Donald Trump orchestrated the selection of bogus electors in seven states, all of whom submitted false affidavits and thus committed election fraud. In advance, he sought the creation of a mob to send to the Capitol to prevent the election’s certification, and he chortled over their temporary success. He invented powers for the Vice President which did not exist and tried to make Mike Pence his coup partner. He pressed the Georgia Secretary of State to ignore his Constitutional responsibility and change the outcome. Through it all, he demonstrated enormous contempt for our country.

The Select Committee has already shown that Trump was not just being swept along by the maniacal disregard of the law by Sydney Powell and Rudy Giuliani. Through it all, as everyone from Bill Barr to Sean Hannity have since observed, he sought a new set of acolytes every time someone informed him that he had lost. This set of actions by any other American elected official in the past century would have resulted in their immediate departure from public service.

Trump has numerous, distinct problematic legal problems across the country, as CNN has outlined. The Fulton County Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis has convened a grand jury. But all the cases pale against being indicted by the Attorney General of the United States.

Democrats are bumping into each other claiming that Merrick Garland is too cautious, or insufficiently vocal. The truth is, we are out of practice viewing how an Attorney General should show restraint in public in circumstances like these. If nothing else, Garland is displaying the behavior every appellate court is expecting of him. But he did say this, which seems pointed:

“The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law—whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.”

The two most likely potential charges are obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the American people. The first charge involves Trump’s instigation of the insurrection, made more difficult (but not impossible) to establish because he did not physically enter the Capitol. The latter charge might well depend on proving that Trump knew he had lost. There is also the matter of the fraudulent submission of electors, which has attracted considerable attention from the Special Committee.

Surprisingly, some things are happening in Congress even with the distraction of the work of the Special Committee and the political primaries that are underway. A bipartisan effort led to the passage of the Postal Reform Act of 2022, which will save the U.S. Postal Service $50 billion over the next ten years, thus increasing its viability. Also destined to pass is the Innovation and Competition Act which among other things seeks to resolve America’s microchip shortage. The Senate version received support from 18 Republican Senators.

 

It isn’t outlandish to imagine and work for a future where former Presidents are brought to justice when they attempt a coup, and where Congress works together on major legislation. With such goals in mind, let’s do these three things. 

1) Fight to Protect the Right to Choose
	The disclosure of Supreme Court Alito’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade does not guarantee that the Court has made its final decision, but it does signal a highly likely outcome. Still an issue is whether the Court will end up protecting even the most limited constitutional right in states bent on banning access to abortion entirely. This will change the battleground away from both the states that have passed restrictive abortion laws and the 16 states and the District of Columbia that have clearly protected the right to choose. Almost all the states that are in play already have important Senatorial and Gubernatorial races this fall. These are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. All have Republican control in the Legislature, but all but North Carolina voted for Joe Biden. There will also be intense battles in Florida, Iowa, and Ohio, depending on the Governor.  Protecting choice will instantly become the number one issue in countless state legislative races, especially in the above states. There will be plenty of chances to make targeted contributions. In the meantime, a very good place to send money would be NARAL Pro-Choice America, which fights for choice in partnership with Planned Parenthood and Emily’s List.
2) Follow Republican! Candidates for President
	There is a good argument that Donald Trump being on the presidential ballot in 2024 would be a gift from the gods. On the other hand, allowing America to bleed every day can’t be such a good thing. So, it is interesting to watch present and former Republican Governors brave Trump’s wrath by exploring their own candidacy. These include Larry Hogan of Maryland, Chris Christie of New Jersey, Nikki Haley of South Carolina, and now Asa Hutchison of Arkansas. All these people have the wrong ideas most of the time, but some are not intentionally and mind-numbingly mean spirited.
3) Don’t Forget to Register Voters
	You have friends who are becoming eligible to vote, and perhaps some others for whom are losing the protections of Roe v. Wade will motivate political action. Now is the time to evaluate who in the world is not registered. Rock the Vote has everything you need to know about election law in each state and how to register online.

The unfinished work is monumental. We don’t have any choice but to adopt an approach of relentless attention to what needs to be done. We can do that, no?

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#24: Which Republicans Have Summoned Moral Courage?

This is the next of a new series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020. 

Please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every three weeks.

Moral and political courage have been on our minds for six years now. Watching Republican cabinet officers and elected officials, many of us wonder: If you were an elected official, and you knew your friend or ally or leader was diminishing your country, or imperiling it, or falsely claiming election fraud or even considering a coup, would you say something? When would you say it, and to whom? Like so many, would you instead keep your lips tight, fearing recrimination from Donald Trump that would be so severe that your own career would be threatened, or ended?

Would you hope that someone else steps forward, in your mind thus relieving you from doing so? In the meantime, would you offer veiled criticisms of Trump, hoping that those listening would read between your lines? Would you tell yourself you were still looking for the best opportunity to stand up? Would you convince yourself that your silence about the huge threat to American helps you move otherwise useful things forward?

Maybe you are Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, carrying out most orders and resisting some, all of the time shaking your head, lasting as long as you can but never letting the press and public know the awful things you know. Maybe you are Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, privately questioning the President’s basic intelligence, finding him uninformed and dangerous, but walking away silently. Or, you are Attorney General Bill Barr, peeping but once as the Big Lie grew and grew, now remembering your one moment of truth and forgetting all else.

You are Mitch McConnell garbage feeding month after month to get your Supreme Court Justices. You are Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, easiest with your criticisms when you aren’t running, or Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, capable of moral outrage but providing the votes in the Senate when the Republican caucus needs them. 

Moral courage has been absent from nearly the entire Republican party. Every reason to not step forward has been exercised, even in the face of the threat to the peaceful transition of power. Mercifully, there have been a few members of Congress who are willing to put their careers in the balance to combat the insurrection and attempted coup. Several are from Congressional districts that Trump won by a large margin. All are as “conservative” as Trump in the normal usage of the word. They include Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who voted to hold the always contemptuous Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress, farmer Dan Newhouse of Yakima, Washington, who never said a bad word about Trump until he voted to impeach him, and Liz Cheney of Wyoming who has been at the center of the Congressional effort to bring justice forward.

All three are running in contested primaries, Mace in June and Newhouse and Cheney in August. All three have Republican opponents endorsed by Trump, none supported by him for any reason but that they have bought into the Big Lie. Thus, this summer we finally have the uncommon test of whether a small number of courageous conservative elected officials can stand the tallest among their colleagues, brave the greatest retribution, and help our country right itself. Even though it is not the intent of these Republicans to boost us in the November election, their success will do so.

In the meantime, Joe Biden is trying to get people to notice two monumental things events that took place this week in America. First, 431,000 new jobs were reported. This eleventh consecutive month of gains over 400,000 has returned employment back to pre-pandemic levels. Second, COVID hospitalizations sank to their lowest point in the pandemic. Joe Biden’s role in these two outcomes should be extolled.

Biden has been the leader of the resurgence of NATO and the emergence of far greater sanctions of Putin and Russia than had been thought possible. Russia’s economy is broken. Distinguished appointee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson survived her Ted Cruz/Josh Hawley sliming ordeal and will soon become the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court. Millions have returned to the workforce as schools have reopened, Democrats are hoping that the American voter will notice all these things during the midterm elections in November.

It is certainly possible that voters will recognize Biden’s considerable achievements, but it is not inevitable. Independent voters are even less approving of Trump than they are of Biden, but they have been slower to turn away from Trump’s acolytes like Kevin McCarthy, who would run the House if Republicans take it back. The most likely Republican leadership in the House is made up of McCarthy, Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise, far to the right of the Republican leadership in the Senate. With these Trump enablers waiting in the wings, it is the challenge of the next six months to speed up the recognition of who they are. Many independent voters like the idea of divided government, but these “leaders” come from a Republican party the independent voters will not recognize if they look more closely.

Meanwhile the millions of resisters who have stood in Trump’s way for six years need to spark themselves before November is upon us. Let’s do these three things:

1) Find One More Republican of Conscience
	Roy Blunt of Missouri is retiring from the Senate after thirty years in Washington. On numerous occasions he has called for Trump to stop re-litigating the November 2020 outcome. He has said the election was properly certified based upon the reported results. He works across the aisle, often with Amy Klobuchar. He sides with Mitch McConnell and against Trump as he recruits candidates for the Senate. He purports to love the Constitution. Is he really going to walk away from the Senate in November without ever underscoring and seeking to minimize the damage caused by Trump’s claims of a stolen election? The very least we can do is remind him that shying away from a threat to his country contradicts the service he has sought to provide. He will be back in the state quite a bit over the next month. Call his St. Louis office at 314-725-4484.
2) Figure Out How to Walk the Walk
	Now vanished are the millions of dollars from Democratic donors who supported Amy McGrath’s Senate candidacy to unseat Mitch McConnell in 2020. The bitter realization is that Amy McGrath did not have a chance to win the race, and that donors got so overwhelmed by their antipathy to McConnell that they ignored that fact. Of course, the lesson is that when seeking the most favorable results we have no choice but to target our dollars carefully. That is why Swing Left is starting by emphasizing only six Senate races. Under Swing Left's plan we would start by emphasizing the opportunity to flip the Senate seats in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and seek to defend seats we hold in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. Further targets may appear in Ohio, Florida and Missouri but Swing Left wants us to make certain not to get ahead of ourselves. Another important approach is to support the underlying work that makes victories in these states possible. The volunteer organization Walk the Walk is intent on supporting the organizations that undergo organizing efforts on the community level, emphasizing disenfranchised communities. This is an outstanding focus in response to the voter suppression efforts that Republicans are advancing in the same states. Check out the specific partnerships that Walk the Walk has forged and give this initiative a boost.
3) Turn Yourself into a One Person Campaign Team
	You could live in a community where people of similar political persuasion are few or difficult to find. It is also possible that your schedule makes participating in group projects difficult. In these cases, you can dive into campaign projects on your own. One good bet is the Progressive Turnout Project. Among other things, they have been engaged in producing 27 million personalized postcards. As a part of a broader array of campaign strategies, they are a proven tool that is associated with the high turnout that we have achieved of late. You can sign up in a minute and adopt an outstanding, useful alternative to fiddling with your phone. If you do ten a day starting now you will have sent 2,000 to swing voters before the election.

Joe Biden is 78 and he isn’t tired. It is time to give our efforts an upgrade. The other option is to stay the course while Donald Trump is calling Putin a genius.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#23: Seizing Our Role in Rejecting Autocracy

This is the next of a new series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020. 

Please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing effort.

As divided as we are, most Americans don’t like attempted coups or hate filled speech. The idea that we are heading toward civil war is ridiculous. That’s not what the druggist in Peoria and the insurance agent in Indianapolis want at all. The rejection of the coup showed our strength more than our weakness.

But, if anything that is happening should fill one with rage and worry, it’s the obeisance paid to autocracy by Fox News, Donald Trump and too many Republicans. Wags say “As long as we are freezing Russian assets, why not Mar-A-Lago?” It’s too bad for our country that it isn’t just a joke.

It didn’t start ten days ago with Donald Trump calling Vladimir Putin smart and savvy, saying his invasion of Ukraine was an act of “genius.” In 2017, Trump said “Do you think we’re so innocent?” when asked about Putin’s attempt to poison a political opponent. Trump missed the fact that, unlike Russia, we do not haul our citizens off to jail when they dispute the government’s actions. We have tens of thousands of local governments who take direction from their voters. We have been accomplishing peaceful transitions of presidential power for over 230 years, every year except when Trump visited himself upon us. We could always use a little help, and every year is not a good one, but our arc bends toward justice. Putin’s does not.

Tucker Carlson’s rooting for Russia has become a staple of Russian state television. Donald Trump’s dismissal of claims against Putin were an embarrassing staple of his “presidency”. By last summer, over two thirds of Republicans were noting their admiration of Putin. Though that number has diminished as Russian tanks advance on Kyiv, it is not hard to see that that autocracy has found a new foothold in a party that once prided itself in its rejection of the Soviet state. In his attacks on NATO and his bromance with the “genius” Putin, Trump might as well have been saying “Mr. Putin, Rebuild This Wall!”. That is the net effect of his admiration of this dictator. At one point in our history, Trump’s affinity for autocrats would have disqualified him from any further public exploits. 

Over 70% of those watching the State of the Union liked Joe Biden’s sanctioning of Putin over his invasion of Ukraine. Even these positive numbers (including a nice boost with independent voters) are lower than they should be. So far, voters have little sense of the indispensable role this President played in convincing Europe to make the sanctions much more severe than the Europeans wanted. 

The failure to give Biden credit for his achievements has become chronic. Under Biden, the economy created 6.5 million jobs last year and the Gross Domestic Product grew by 5.7%, highest in four decades. We have received over 550 million vaccinations and COVID is receding. Biden engineered the largest investment in roads, bridges, public transit, and water supply systems in our history, and got significant bi-partisan support for it, over Trump’s objections.

With the midterm elections looming, and the natural advantage they afford the party not in power, we can’t afford this under-recognition of the President. Hopefully the polling uptick he has received from the State of the Union and his firmness on Ukraine will be sustained. We will either give ourselves definition or it will be done for us.

Mitch McConnell’s efforts to retake the Senate for the Republicans in November are built around negative campaigning against Biden, making up positions for him on countless issues, McConnell is trying to make certain his party’s candidates don’t get defeated by being Putin apologists or by showing their true beliefs on tax policy or governmental programs that help people. Luckily, Senator Rick Scott has precipitated a blow up with McConnell by freelancing his agenda to “rescue America”, which includes a plan to build the wall on the Mexican border and name it after Donald Trump! How is that for toadying? Scott’s plan would increase taxes for tens of millions of low-income taxpayers so they would have “skin in the game.” Neither is McConnell’s least favorite Rick Scott idea. Scott proposes to subject each federal program to a “sunset” every five years, meaning it would have to be reauthorized to continue. Scott neglected to exempt Medicare and Social Security from this treatment, thus meaning he would put these ever-popular programs in great jeopardy. 

This position will be a gift that keeps on giving all summer long. Hopefully Trump, Rick Scott, and others will think of other helpful ways to decrease Republican turnout and drive away independents. We need to help that along.

Even though our outlook for the fall remains a huge concern, there are positive signs beyond America’s support of Joe Biden’s international leadership. Joe Manchin has just outlined what a scaled back “Build Back Better” budget package would look like. It would require wealthy companies to pay a minimum corporate income tax, and use the money to reduce the deficit and provide incentives for carbon reduction. Leaders of the progressive wing have welcomed discussions. The special Congressional committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has indicated in a court filing that Trump was a part of a “criminal conspiracy”,

There’s no denying that the movement that got Joe Biden more than 81 million votes in November 2020 needs to generate more energy than it has mustered to date. Let’s build upon Biden’s international leadership and do these three things to help accelerate our mutual project to protect America:

1) Target Sedition Caucus Members
	The Progress Action Fund has established its Sedition Caucus PAC to defeat Members of Congress who voted to overturn the election on January 6, 2021. Recently, they have singled out five Sedition Caucus members whose past results demonstrate they are especially vulnerable in November. They are already running ads in their districts. An outstanding way to respond to Donald Trump’s position on Ukraine is to defeat five of his favorite Members of Congress. Their first choice of the PAC is overturning Mike Garcia in California’s 25th District. He defeated former California Assemblywoman Christy Smith by only 333 votes in 2020. She is a very capable candidate, boosted further by redistricting, which removed part of the conservative Simi Valley from the district. Help her out today if you can.
2) Have a Heart to Heart with Rashida Tlaib
	Democratic U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib appointed herself to give a “progressive response” to President Biden’s State of the Union. Her timing was surprising, since Joe Biden has devoted enormous attention to keeping progressives and liberals on the same page since he was elected. One of her colleagues noted that she was “keying her own car” in calling out Biden. The predicted virulent public schisms between the party’s wings have not emerged. Leaders like Representative Pramilla Jayapal (chair of the 97 member House Progressive Caucus) have been unflinching in the advancement of progressive proposals, and trust Biden. Why would Tlaib interject herself on the one day Democrats most need to stand together? How could she possibly believe taking the microphone at that moment would advantage any idea she raised, or help Biden get things done that she insists need to be done? Call Rashida Tlaib’s office at 202-225-5126, thank her for working hard, and ask her to stand with Biden.
3) Get Some Guidance from Swing Left
	Even though we took back the Senate in 2020, there are lessons from those times. One is that we need to invest in campaigns with the greatest of care. We poured money in, and it was a critical factor in our getting to 50 seats. But in the case of Amy McGrath in Kentucky, our antipathy to Mitch McConnell caused us to spend money where we had no chance to winning. Swing Left has been touted in these missives previously. From the beginning, they were shrewd about targeting the races where we have the best chance. They were innovative in setting up “district funds” to provide resources for candidates on the first day they became the nominee. Now, they have improved their educational and organizing efforts to have even more impact. On the Senate side, they are starting with defense of our incumbents in Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, and our excellent chance to flip seats in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Most importantly, their new Blueprint tool will help discerning donors sort out where to put their dollars.

From now to November, it is all about getting better one week at a time. Our country is opening up again. Heartsick over Ukraine and worried about the future, we can do something now to shape it.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#22: This is How Trump Can Help Us Win in November

We are pleased to bring to you the next of a series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020. 

If you are not already receiving our emails, please click here to be added to the list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every three weeks.

It has always been difficult to figure out which are the worst of Donald Trump’s offenses. If you pay attention to it all, the numbness sets in. You can be tempted to dwell on his boorishness and malevolence, gathering material for “did you hear?” exchanges with your friends. You could use the House of Representatives as your guide, focusing on the specific offenses leading to him being impeached twice. You could select one or more of the things that are most likely to make him a felon.

But isn’t it easy to identify the absolute worst behavior, that which has been most destructive for our country? 13 presidents before Trump were denied re-election, each conceded to his opponent, and each participated however ruefully in the orderly transfer of power. In Trump’s era, Mauricio Macri of Argentina did it, as did Peter Martharika of Malawai and Jose Mario-Vaz of Guinea-Bissau. Why couldn’t Trump muster an ounce of character to step aside? It’s a rhetorical question, we know the answer.

It became much worse than the failure to concede. Our darkest suspicions and predictions have now been realized. Trump prepared his lies about the “steal” months in advance of the election. As the House select committee will eventually conclude, Trump helped plan the insurrection, advanced fake electors, illegally interfered in the recount in Georgia, and stood between a country and its Constitution. He attempted a coup. 

Luckily it is not correct that we are in greater danger of a coup being successful in 2024 than we were in 2020. Trump was in control over the agencies of government during his last attempt and he would not be in 2024. It will be beside the point since he won’t be running in 2024 anyway. His permanent fade has begun. The con is being recognized. 70% of American voters don’t want Trump to run again. 

The Republican bootlicking will diminish one Ted Cruz style self-debasement at a time. The signal for its sure decline came from an unlikely person, Trump loyalist and South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds. The chance is zero that Rounds upbraided Trump on his own without advance consultation with Mitch McConnell and fellow South Dakotan John Thune. This is what Rounds said:

"We looked -- as a part of our due diligence, we looked at over 60 different accusations made in multiple states." 

"While there were some irregularities, there were none of the irregularities which would have risen to the point where they would have changed the vote outcome in a single state." 

"The election was fair, as fair as we have seen. We simply did not win the election, as Republicans, for the presidency. And moving forward -- and that's the way we want to look at this -- moving forward, we have to refocus once again on what it's going to take to win the presidency." 

"And if we simply look back and tell our people don't vote because there's cheating going on, then we're going to put ourselves in a huge disadvantage. So, moving forward, let's focus on what it takes to win those elections. We can do that. But we have to let people know that they can -- they can believe and they can have confidence that those elections are fair.”

As important as the statement itself is that Rounds was unafraid that Trump would execute him. Of course, one of the reasons McConnell chose Rounds for this duty is that he isn’t up for re-election until 2026. And their motivation is that they are petrified that “Stop the Steal” will cause Republican voters to lose so much confidence in the integrity of the process that they won’t vote this fall. They think that it could all be a repeat of the Ossoff and Warnock victories on January 5. And it might be.

This gives us an all-new strategy, which goes beyond Representatives Benny Thompson and Liz Cheney exposing Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection. It is beyond Trump being charged by the New York Attorney General, and/or the lower Manhattan District Attorney, and/or the Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor. It even goes beyond Attorney General Merrick Garland charging Trump with abetting or planning the attack on the capitol.

Our strategy includes Joe Biden standing behind the American Rescue Plan, the American Jobs Plan, and a new version of Build Back Better that Democrats will pass in the next few weeks. It includes the pandemic waning to the point that normalcy will return before the November election, perhaps even by late spring.

Happily, our political fortunes now involve us taking advantage of the increasing public schism between Republican leaders and Trump over his insistence that the election was fraudulent. Deeply ironic is the fact that Mitch McConnell (himself a god in the annals of the suppression of minority voters) is petrified that Trump is suppressing the Republican vote.

Beyond Chris Christie, John Thune, Mike Rounds, Roy Blunt, and Mitch McConnell, we need to help Republican leaders speak their truth about the election. And when they do, Donald Trump will call them names, threaten to run candidates against them, and repeat all the Stop the Steal lies. The more they say the election wasn’t stolen, the more he will do to say it was, and the more his core supporters will shy away from the November ballot. It won’t take very many supporters staying away to significantly increase our chances to win Senate seats in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida, all of which are held by Republicans.

The disclosures will keep on coming. Sean Hannity texted Trump on January 6 “no more stolen election talk” and implored his staff from enabling “crazy people” from entering Trump’s orbit. We will hear much more about which insiders were imploring Trump to stop. There will be more and more ways to keep Republicans debating both the failed coup and Stop the Steal all year long. Let’s do these three things:

1) Demand Leadership from John Barrasso
	As chair of the Senate Republican Conference, John Barrasso of Wyoming is the Senate’s third ranking Republican, behind Mitch McConnell and John Thune. When asked about Mike Rounds’ declaration that Biden won the election, Barrasso, who clearly has not read Profiles in Courage, said “Noting to add to what’s already out there.” Of course, he didn’t say which thing that is “out there” doesn’t need additional improvement. That is a bit of a moral fiber problem. It is good to let him know the world is watching. Let him know at 202-224-6441 that we are all out here waiting for him to defend the Constitution.
2) Tell UPS They Promised to Deliver
	The United Parcel Service was among the companies that stopped giving campaign contributions to the 157 members of Congress who opposed certification of the election results. This “Sedition Caucus” has seen a drop in their support, but companies like UPS are starting to wobble, as documented by Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW). It’s time to call the UPS Media office and tell them you will not give them your business as long as they fund campaigns of the seditionists. Call them at 1-404-828-7123.
3) Remind Trump Who Won
	There’s hardly a billboard in the world which better serves the public interest than the TRUMP LOST billboard that has been up in Times Square. This billboard is in a score of other locations as well. It is the work of the Republican Accountability Project. Because they are a group of Republicans, this organization is is ideal to fight Trump’s false claims. You can sign up on the mailing list, or help pay for more billboards, which will goad him into even further false claims.

What a bizarre, awful human being. Trump just announced that the insurrectionists would be pardoned if he becomes the 47th president. Grover Cleveland was the only president who returned to office a term later after being defeated for re-election. Donald Trump, you’re no Grover Cleveland.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington