Month: May 2022

Republicans will leverage every advantage. Will Democrats?

Apologies in advance for what is an extended tease.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, it was clear that many campaign standard operating procedures were out the window in the pre-vaccine Covid lockdown. Campaign booths at street festivals, indoor and outdoor rallies, canvassing, etc., were off the table. Except for the MAGA cult: former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain played chicken with the virus at a Trump rally and lost his life.

Democrats would not be holding voter registration drives on streetcorners and at public events in 2020.

I began investigating ways to register eligible citizens that would not require face-to-face interactions but be more targeted than collaring random passersby. People not on state voter registration databases are largely invisible to campaigns. But they can be found.

Voter registration by mail efforts like those of the Center for Voter Information seemed poorly targeted and confusing. When a friend (formerly on the DNC) and I began receiving multiple letters from the group urging us to register to vote, we became convinced the effort was as much about someone’s bulk mail profits as boosting voter participation.

Along the way, I hit on another registration tactic no state party has tried. With mask mandates dropping and Covid waning, I began contacting state executive directors (EDs) about an existing, nonpartisan registration effort that if leveraged might 1) boost new voter registration by almost a full percent, 2) tip new registrations in Democrats’ direction*, 3) save state parties tens of thousands of dollars on mailings, and 4) shave vote margins in rural areas where Republicans eat Democrats’ lunch. Advance preparation (targeting) by the party is required, but costs should be minimal.

One former ED I spoke with said not pursuing this idea is like leaving money on the table. A half dozen of the EDs I emailed asked to hear more. A coordinated campaign director in a key swing state requested the 2-page brief. That’s hopeful. With help from Hullabaloo readers, perhaps we can do better.

This is an untested, outside-the-lines tactic that state parties locked into what’s familiar may be loath to consider. Meanwhile, Republican opponents seek any and every advantage for disadvantaging Democrats and for reducing the U.S. to a one-party state. Our democratic republic is on the line. Business as usual in 2022 is playing to lose everything.

This targeted voter registration tactic will not apply in every state (nor in mine). But it could work in these:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

Apologies again. This is just a teaser. The details are best not broadcast. (No, I won’t be mailing the 2-pager to all comers.) However, if you have close connections to top, state-level Democratic party officials in one of the states above, or to directors of your state’s coordinated campaign in those states, let’s talk. (tpostsully at gmail dot com)

National Voter Registration Day (unrelated) is Tuesday, September 20, 2022.

*Voter registration is a nonpartisan activity by law.

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For The Win, 4th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free, countywide get-out-the-vote planning guide for county committees at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.

The president-in-exile holds court

You read something like this and automatically think that this group of crackpots, losers, grifters and fools are just a silly sideshow and should not be taken seriously. Why are we even talking about this?

But this is where the undisputed leader of the GOP holds court and runs the Republican party, which is in position to take back the majority in the fall and possibly re-install the Orange Napoleon back in the White House two years later. You can’t ignore them as much as you might like to.

But let’s just say that the GOP is not sending their best:

On a warm evening in May, a small galaxy of MAGA stars in tuxedos and floor length sparkling gowns stood around a pool sipping cocktails, eating plates of risotto and clinking champagne glasses under perfect palm trees.

They had gathered there, at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, not for a campaign fundraiser or a holiday affair; but, rather, for a glitzy film premiere.

Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative provocateur, was releasing his documentary, “2000 Mules,” the most recent addition to the cannon of right wing conspiracy flicks questioning the well-established outcome of the 2020 election. And for the first formal viewing, he had chosen the site dubbed by the 45th president as the “Winter White House.” In doing so, D’Souza joined a growing list of those dabbling in MAGA film noir to turn to Mar-a-Lago for their coming out party.

Trump’s private club has become the Grauman’s Chinese Theater for the Hollywood-hating crowd. Just weeks before D’Souza’s debut, a slew of Trump allies, friends, and conservative figures flew down to Palm Beach estate for the showing of a documentary, “Rigged,” on the 2020 election. The film starred Trump himself, and was produced by David Bossie, the president of the conservative group Citizens United. Shortly after, Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, debuted his own documentary, “Culture Killers: the Woke Wars” on cancel culture poolside at Trump’s club.

[…]

The transformation of a Palm Beach club into a MAGA movie destination is yet another way in which Trump has managed to keep himself at the epicenter of modern conservatism. Barack Obama may have joined Netflix to help produce documentaries about climate change and the planet. Trump is convincing the documentarians to cover his election gripes and to come to him.

It’s not just movies. Almost every night at Mar-a-Lago, there’s a new event — fundraisers, book party, or social confab — usually marked by Trump descending from a stairwell, or through grand double doors, to be met with cheers.

The steady parade of events earns the president’s club some cash; though how much it costs to premiere a movie there is unclear and the Trump Organization did not respond to a question about the cost of these private events.

On a larger level, it also underscores how Trumpism itself is the fusion of politics and culture. Whereas Trump once promoted steaks and wines and neck ties as symbols of business status, he now touts social media platforms, picture books, documentary films and streaming services as demonstrations of one’s — for lack of a better term — MAGA-ness. And nothing demonstrates that quite like being there, in the flesh, at Mar-a-Lago.

“I think a lot of people on the right felt like they had to keep their voices and opinions quiet and Trump allowed them to know they’re not alone and they have others that support them,” said Sean Spicer, Trump’s first press secretary turned Newsmax host, who was invited to the event but unable to attend in person.

For the “2000 Mules” premiere, there was a sea of famous faces: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) chatted with former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, holding an American flag-bedazzled clutch. Conservative commentator Dan Bongino huddled with Devin Nunes, the CEO of Truth Social. A few yards away Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen-turned-conservative icon who was acquitted for killing two men during 2020 protests, was circled by excited guests, among them former 60 Minutes correspondent turned ousted Fox News contributor Lara Logan.

Several of the other VIPs in attendance have been subpoenaed by the House Committee investigating Jan. 6, including former Trump adviser turned QAnon conspiracy folk hero Michael Flynn, former NYPD police commissioner Bernie Kerik, and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who smiled for selfies with fans.

They grabbed food from a steaming mini-buffet of hors d’oeuvres and sipped on their drinks. At one point a blonde guest exclaimed, “She was in a movie!” as a woman walked by the red carpet. It was in fact a real life actress, Kristy Swanson, who is most famous for starring in the 1992 “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” flick and has since spoken out about anti-conservative bias in Hollywood.

Another 90s star, Kevin Sorbo, who played Hercules on TV, was given a prime spot for the screening behind the faces of D’Souza’s documentary, Dennis Prager and Sebastian Gorka.

Guests mingled before Trump was ushered from one chandeliered ballroom, where he posed for photos with VIPS, to the next. When he finally walked into the room, they craned their necks and held out their phones to take photos. Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to Be an American” blasted over speakers.

Inside the club’s largest ballroom, where gold chairs were set up in neat rows for the screening, Trump spoke to the crowd, ticking off a list of false claims about the election, bashing his former vice president, criticizing President Joe Biden and rattling off his thoughts on the latest culture war battles. At one point Trump called out the New York Times, after hearing a reporter was in the room and pointed to an empty, roped off group of seats where no reporters sat. Guests sat in rapture, and munched on popcorn in theater style red and white boxes.

Trump, it appears, loves the movie, and has played a central role in promoting it in statements, interviews and at MAGA rallies. Its dubious claims have become a main talking point among those on the right who continue to claim the election wasn’t lost but “stolen.”

It’s pathetic to anyone still connected to reality. But these people are living in the delusional bizarroworld Trump thinks he can force to make real just through sheer force of repetition. And I’m not sure it isn’t going to work.

I have to laugh at this, though:

“Typically in my earlier films, people would stand up and clap at the end. But in this one I think the reaction is more sober, it’s an emotionally different tone, and a documentary is really aimed at throwing light on something, not resolving issues,” he said.

Uhm… maybe that’s why they didn’t stand up and clap. Maybe not.

Follow the science

100,000

500,000:

1,000,000:

In this important commentary, Chris Hayes draws the comparison between the HIV epidemic and where e are with COVID.

It is NUTS that the Republicans in congress is now refusing to spend money on COVID related policies. The next generation of vaccines and therapeutics depends upon this and it’s our only way out at this point. W

Right wingers have a new manual

I’m sure you’ve heard about the right’s crusade to stop indoctrination of children in our schools. They have taken to calling teaching Black history and being open and welcoming to gay families “grooming” children.

Indoctrination may be a problem but it isn’t about Black history or gay families:

Wow — Former Trump Defense Dept official Kash Patel has written a children’s book perpetuating the lie that the FBI investigation into Trump-Russian collusion was because of the Steele Dossier, and not a Trump campaign aide telling an Australian diplomat about “dirt” on Clinton.

Patel claims in the illustrated children’s book — titled “The Plot Against the King” launching tomorrow — that the merchant Donald was wrongly accused of cheating by a slug Keeper Komey and Hillary Queenton, and was saved by Kash the magician and Duke Devin.

Originally tweeted by Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) on May 15, 2022.

Trump installed Patel in a number of highly sensitive posts in the government. He even tried to make him head of the CIA.

By the way, the book is just shockingly terrible:

You can buy a signed copy for only $59.99.

Does this make any sense at all?

This just happened last week:

An appeals court panel ruled on Wednesday that California’s ban on the sale of semiautomatic weapons to adults under the age of 21 violated the right to bear arms found in the Second Amendment of the Constitution.

Judge Ryan Nelson, writing for a two-to-one majority in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, struck down a ruling by a federal judge in San Diego that upheld what Judge Nelson called an “almost total ban on semiautomatic” rifles for young adults.

“America would not exist without the heroism of the young adults who fought and died in our revolutionary army,” Judge Nelson wrote. “Today we reaffirm that our Constitution still protects the right that enabled their sacrifice: the right of young adults to keep and bear arms.”

An 18 year old just gunned down 10 innocent people in a deranged, racist rampage. How’s that working out for us?

Kyle Rittenhouse was a guest a Mar-a-lago last night. According to Politico, he was a huge draw among the cult members, grifters and sycophants gathered to see the premier of Dinesh D’Souza’s new film, “2,000 Mules.” Our once and future president loves him. He is a huge hero on the right. The kid who gunned down all those people in Buffalo is unlikely to be acquitted. But I’m sure there are plenty of these same people secretly high-fiving him for “taking a stand” as well.

Our guns laws are insane and the right holds the entire nation hostage with its firearms fetish. Why would we be surprised that they are enacting the rest of their extremist agenda?

And they think they are “pro-life”

Here’s one of the reputedly sane Republicans who rejects Trump, the supposed hope for the future for the GOP:

Gov. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska confirms that he thinks women and girls who are raped should be forced to carry that pregnancy to term pic.twitter.com/5Z2TgNVytO

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 15, 2022

“They’re still babies.”

I guess the little girl who was raped by her father is an adult who needs to take responsibility for her behavior. But he feels compassion for her so that’s all that matters.

Oh, also this:

Asked about Buffalo mass shooting, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says he doesn't support any further restrictions on gun ownership b/c the real problem is mental health (never mind that regular mass shootings like this don't happen in other comparable countries w/ tighter gun laws) pic.twitter.com/IJPhKxKlPK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 15, 2022

This is the mainstream of the Republican Party without Trump. They are radical, far-right zealots on their issues and there is no common sense or compromise with them.

Update – Here’s the Peter Thiel backed candidate from Arizona who said last week that the thinks Griswold (the contraception case) should be overturned:

If you thought the people peddling Great Replacement Theory would stop and pause, a Republican Senate candidate posted this hours after someone murdered 10 people in the name of these ideas https://t.co/fFeHPBrLVa

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) May 15, 2022

these tucker carlson "great replacement" clips are just from the last year and I may have missed a few. pic.twitter.com/l04NvLJq2C

— John Kerr (@JohnnyHeatWave) May 15, 2022

The New York Times found Tucker Carlson pushed great replacement rhetoric on more than 400 episodes, totaling over 50 hours, since 2017. pic.twitter.com/VK8dugB0nM

— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) May 15, 2022

Ain’t America great again?

Sometimes just a couple of tweets tell a tale.

Two mass shootings in 24 hours, in Milwaukee and Buffalo — the latter killing ten people.

I’m heartbroken. And I’m angry.

Angry that the GOP continues to block even the most basic gun safety measures.

We can stop this. We can save lives.

Republicans just refuse to. Cowards.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 14, 2022

Downtown LA rn https://t.co/YCFKcdbG2W

— David Weigel (@daveweigel) May 14, 2022

Tweets from House Freedom Caucus members about the racially motivated mass murder in Buffalo:

BOEBERT- none
GREENE- none
GAETZ- none
GOSAR- none
BIGGS- none
BROOKS- none
JORDAN- none
STEUBE- none
CLYDE- none
HICE- none
MILLER- none
CAWTHORN- none
GOHMERT- none
ROY- none

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 15, 2022

You know where MAGA wants to go again. Where white men have gone before.

Who wants to tell him? #IDIC pic.twitter.com/c3JuKCG2Ek

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) May 15, 2022

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For The Win, 4th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free, countywide get-out-the-vote planning guide for county committees at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.

Backlash can cut both ways

An opinion piece from Finland might be one of the more instructive things Republicans could read this Sunday morning.

Marja Heinonen, a Finnish writer, journalist and author, writes that after decades of neutrality Finns have reconsidered their stance toward NATO. Popular opinion has shifted. No longer concerned about “poking the Russian bear,” at least 60 percent of Finns now want to join. Heinonen explains, “[T]he atrocities in Ukraine have changed our minds.”

Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto dismisses any threats of retaliation from Russia with which his country shares an 830-mile border. He blames Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“You caused this. Look at the mirror.”

That is sound advice for conservatives who have seen their once “grand old party” reduced to a cult of personality. Their oligarchs built a conservative movement, media outlets and all, to advance essentially a one-percent agenda. They kept their base hopped up on grievance for decades while wealth and opportunity gaps widened. When the Southern Strategy faltered, they found others in addition to Black Americans their base could blame for their misfortunes: anyone and everyone non-white and non-evangelical. Fostering ignorance and trafficking in anti-everyone-else propaganda kept the right’s foot soldiers on low boil. It worked for a time. Until the monster Republicans built and fed came for them.

Like Putin, Republicans grossly miscalculated. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired. Like Finns in 1939, Ukrainians would not roll over and submit. Putin and Russia are now paying a price. Republicans for decades thought they could control the radical right. They found in 2016 that the radical right, led by an ignorant bully, controlled them. By Jan. 6, 2021, the mob was coming not just for Democrats but for them as well. The Republican Party they once knew is gone. The cultists are in charge.

Heinonen explains why Finland still controls its fate (CNN):

Decision makers and the general public have to understand all the ways that Russia may try to strongarm us as we move toward [NATO]. With a high degree of media literacy and being blessed with one of the world’s best education systems, Finns are less prone to falling victim to Russian disinformation.

American conservatives attracted to strongmen like Putin have made disinformation the coin of the right-wing realm. They have flooded their media spaces with nonsense to where facts and logic no longer apply. Finns are less prone to disinformation. Republicans depend on it to retain power as a minority.

They found with the ascendance of Donald Trump that while they thought their base was voting for low taxes, small government, etc., it was in fact internalizing the daily dose of xenophobia dished up to keep them voting for the Chamber of Commerce’s economic policies. Trump and QAnon put the lie to that. Republicans have yet to look in the mirror for the reason why.

Finland, says Heinonen, “still faces a geopolitical balancing act, but it can’t allow itself to cower when confronted by the neighborhood bully. To do so would only invite aggression.”

American conservatives now cower before bullies their own efforts have nurtured as well as before those who have taken the lesson that bullies are what their base has been conditioned to want. For all the conservative bluster about freedom, they and we could lose all of it. That is unless Americans who still retain their faculties and principles fight back. Putin’s invasion has backfired. Pray that the authoritarian movement Republicans have raised will too. Backlash can cut both ways.

Democrats have their work cut out for them. Their leaders appear out of touch with the American mood, practicing politics as usual as if they too want to make great the America their party dominated for much of the 20th century. But the United States has changed. The political game has changed. They have not kept up.

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For The Win, 4th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free, countywide get-out-the-vote planning guide for county committees at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.