Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

If you are doing god’s work getting out the vote today like my morning man Tom Sullivan is, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you’re standing in line right now to vote for Harris Walz, your country is grateful. But if you are like many of us, you’ve already voted are living in places where it isn’t close and you’re just on the edge of your seat waiting to see if America is going to come through one more time.

I know what I’ll be doing today — doomscrolling. It’s my jam on a good day. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Mark Liebovich had some advice:

My friend Amanda Ripley wrote in The Washington Post last week about a study in which women waiting to learn the results of breast biopsies were found to have similar levels of stress hormones in their saliva as women who had already learned that they had cancer. “In experiments, people who believe they have a 50–50 chance of getting a painful electric shock become significantly more agitated than people who think they have a 100 percent chance,” Ripley wrote. “Anticipating possible pain feels worse than anticipating certain pain.”

In other words, don’t wallow in the potential for, or inevitability of, a worst-case scenario. Instead, seek out distractions. Maybe edibles too.

Shop for enlightenment beforehand, which you can apply during the white-knuckle hours. To that end, I spent a few days last week reaching out to some of my favorite campaign gurus. I wasn’t seeking intel about the election itself. Rather, my goal was to assemble a last-minute tool kit of coping mechanisms and best mental-health practices.

As much as possible, we should try to make ourselves sensible consumers of the treacherous and triggering torrent of information we will soon be drowning in. Note the metaphor here, as it segues into the important piece of guidance: Be careful where you swim. Avoid needless waves and currents. This includes the majority of information you get on TV before a critical mass of returns are processed, not to mention most of the inane opinions and guesswork and “partial data” you’re getting from the various walls of broadcast noise (disguised as maps) before 9 or 10 o’clock.

“It’s extremely important to consume news on your own terms,” CNN’s Paul Begala, the longtime Democratic consultant, told me. As Election Day approaches, Begala tries to turn off every news notification on his phone that could increase his level of tension. “You cannot let anyone weaponize your amygdala against you,” Begala said, referring to the brain area that helps regulate emotions such as fear. Text bulletins, algorithms, and (God knows) social media are engineered to prey on our amygdala. But resist. You do not need this information right now, let alone predictions or useless speculation. It’s just empty-calorie pregaming. Trust me, you will learn who won and who lost. The news will find you.

Yes it will. I’ll be here all day, posting random thoughts, probably not very coherently. Good luck America.

In case I’m not back by 2nd post time

Sarah Palin has company:

What the hell is going on? These people are f*cking nuts! pic.twitter.com/0qMgJFfNcG

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 4, 2024

Democrats need to keep putting points on the board all the way to the close of polls on Election Day. Really. Wherever you are. I’m back from a pre-dawn lit drop at 90 doors. Made it back after lit-dropping and reporting on voter traffic at multiple precincts to add this.

Voter traffic in my town this morning is slow after record-breaking early voting in North Carolina, I won’t lie. For voters of every stripe. Don’t misread that.

But early voting was so intense here in 2008 that by Election Day there was virtually no one left to vote at my precinct who intended to. Between 3 p.m. and polls closing at 7:30 p.m., six voters showed up. It was like walking into an episode of The Twilight Zone. A news helicopter came and hovered over US 25 with a camera aimed out the door at our polling place, looking for voters in line. But it was just me and tumbleweeds outside in the street. In the end, Barack Obama won North Carolina by 14,000 votes, 3,000 less than the margin delivered out of our county. That was close. Not Florida 2000 close. Not Roy Cooper 2016 close. But too close.

We can do more. We will do more in 2024.

Back later

Not far off from MAD Magazine’s “Scenes we’d like to see.”

Don’t just sit there reading this. Get out and do something. Even if this is the best the Party of Trump has got.

https://twitter.com/SimonWDC/status/1853521980714308028

This guy has a nice explanation of “herding.”

https://twitter.com/VetsForRL/status/1853308571296907539

Kat Abughazaleh provides a primer on what BS allegations will come out of MAGAstan tonight.

This from Dan Pfeiffer:

Looking at the fundamentals, we shouldn’t even be in this race. This is a brutal political environment. Three-quarters of Americans think the country is on the wrong track. Two-thirds are unhappy about the economy. The incumbent President ran for reelection despite huge misgivings about his age and then had a debate so disastrous that he had to drop out only a few months before the election.

Nate Cohn summed up the challenges in the New York Times:

For the first time in decades, Republicans have pulled even or ahead in nationwide party identification. Polls also find Republicans with an edge on most key issues — with democracy and abortion standing as significant exceptions.

The Democrats’ challenge appears to be part of a broader trend of political struggles for ruling parties across the developed world. Voters appear eager for change when they get the chance. The ruling parties in Britain, Germany, Italy, Australia and most recently Japan all faced electoral setbacks or lost power. Mr. Trump himself lost four years ago. France and Canada might well join the list.

Trump should be running away with it. If Joe Biden was still on the ballot, Trump would likely be headed for an electoral landslide. The race is this close because of Kamala Harris.

I will just say right here that I think that’s overstated. There are plenty of people who would have voted for a fetid pile of garbage over Donald Trump and I think this race would be close even if Biden had stayed in the race. This was always about fascism and anti-fascism. And yes, Biden might well have lost but I don’t think it ever would have been a landslide, not with Trump on the ballot.

However, I just think Harris has made it much less close because of her special sauce of joy and forward thinking and especially her message to the women of America that Biden just couldn’t credibly make.

Pfeiffer gives her her due here:

A Candidate Who Delivered in Big Moments

Kamala Harris woke up one morning and ate breakfast as Vice President, and by lunchtime, she was the de facto Democratic nominee. She was thrust into the presidential race. Even though she knew there was a chance Biden would step aside, she could do nothing to prepare for that possibility. She couldn’t have a strategy meeting. Her team couldn’t write a memo or make a list of people to call. She couldn’t seek advice from people in her life. If she had and it leaked before Biden made his decision, her campaign might have ended before it began.

Normally, the nominee spends time campaigning in the early states, doing countless town halls, debates, and interviews. They hone their message, develop their policy platform, and answer tough questions about their record beforehand. The primaries are a chance for them to introduce themselves to the electorate.

Because of Harris’s failed 2020 campaign and some early stumbles as Vice President, questions arose about her political skills.

With the utmost pressure and scrutiny, Harris stepped into the breach and delivered. While she hasn’t been perfect, Kamala Harris has been pretty damn close. At every big moment — the debate, the convention, and her Fox interview, she delivered. She made the impossible look easy.

Kamala Harris pulled off a difficult maneuver and it hasn’t been discussed enough. She made politics fun and exciting again. She brought people who had checked out since 2020 back into the process. Democratic enthusiasm in this election is as high as it was in 2008 when Barack Obama was first running.

Under the leadership of Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Harris campaign did the unimaginable. One day they were working to elect Joe Biden, the next day they had a new candidate with a new message and new strategy. They had to pivot on a dime while incorporating new staff and advisers to the Vice President. In a month, the campaign vetted and rolled out a VP, reorganized the Biden campaign, planned a convention, developed a policy platform, and prepared Harris for a high-stakes debate. And, oh yeah, they raised a billion dollars.

I spent the weekend knocking doors for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in Nevada and Arizona. I haven’t seen Democrats this fired up in a very long time.

That’s because of Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and their campaign team

I watched long sections of Trump’s rallies and Harris’s rallies that have been televised so far today. There is simply no comparison. Harris’s rallies are far, far more energetic, not to mention, far bigger. He is tired, he is sour, he is down. She is upbeat, smiling and the crowds are loving it. Crowds don’t mean everything but I think in this case they do mean something. The momentum is clearly with Harris.

It was always going to be a close eleciton because of the polarization and the unique grotesqueness of Donald Trump. But watching this unfold over the last couple of week especially, I think Harris’s energy and positivity has breathed new life into the anti-Trump constituency and I think it’s going to give her a decisive win.

As I’ve said before, I think she’ll win 51-47. And I’m guessing that she’s going to take the Blue wall and at least two of the other battlegrounds. I don’t believe this is going to be the squeaker everyone expects.

If I’m wrong, I won’t be too surprised. It wouldn’t be the first time. But as a close observer of American politics for some years now, this is what I’m seeing as we go into the big day tomorrow. Fingers crossed that I’m not just smoking the hopium.

On CNN, @davidplouffe said that after reviewing latest EV data, ED projections & how undecideds are breaking, “we have a credible pathway to all 7 states" to go for Harris, "but we think they’re all going to be close.”
You think you could win all 7?
“Yes," Plouffe said.

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) November 5, 2024

wow. she's closing with an Eminem ad. if that doesn't trend on this platform, elon officially broke it. https://t.co/umRbluAWsp

— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) November 5, 2024

Stuart Stevens tweeted this about the Trump campaign. It’s so, so true:

Watching the Harris campaign vs. Trump, it’s striking how much of a higher level the Harris campaign is operating. It’s NFL vs. Division 2 college, at best.

Why? Part of it, of course, comes from Trump, who has made a mess of every organization he has ever controlled. But there’s another factor: Democrats have developed a much deeper bench of skilled political operatives.

In 1999, the Bush campaign assembled the best Republican political talent in Austin. In the 2000 campaign, the Bush campaign performed at a significantly higher level than the Gore campaign, which was sort of a mess, moving HQ from DC to Nashville, etc. Cut to 2016.

Most top level operatives did not want anything to do with the Trump campaign. It assembled a collection of second and third-stringers, weirdos, all the sort of people who had been trying to work at the presidential level, but nobody would let them in. Yes, Trump won, but it’s hard to say that his campaign performed at a higher level. Run that race 100 times, Clinton won 90, and it wasn’t like the Clinton campaign put together an awe-inspiring operation.

To recap, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, campaign chairman, deputy campaign manager, national security advisor, foreign policy advisor, long-time political consultant, and personal attorney all went to prison.

That’s to be expected since the Trump campaign is organized like a large criminal enterprise. That has continued to this day. Yes, Chris LaCivita and Suzy Wiles are competent professionals, but look around, and there is still the same collection of second-stringers and freaks involved in the campaign.

Does that matter? Of course. What happened at MSG on Sunday highlighted what a shambolic, incompetent operation Trump has assembled. This should not be a surprise. Since 2016, Trump has run the Republican party. His management style is to hire people who could never have a like role based on merit so that they are loyal to him. (Witness the embarrassing spectacle of Alina Habba dancing out to the podium at Trump rallies.)

It’s how you run a mob, not a meritocracy. How long will it be until Republicans can catch up, assuming they can? I have no idea and honestly, I could care less.

That tracks with how he ran the government too.

Re: my comments on CNN and MSNBC this evening… yes, there are Trump staffers who no longer much care whether he wins or loses. Not exactly breaking news. Hard to overstate how terrible morale is inside of this campaign—and how much anger/resentment is felt toward the candidate.

— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) November 5, 2024

STEVE BANNON: You Have Stolen It, You Lied About It, You Tried To Destroy The Country, What You Have Done With And Let 15 Million Illegal Aliens Invade Our Country, You're Traitors, You're Guilty Of Treason. pic.twitter.com/UJeNyCDv1N

— Bannon’s WarRoom (@Bannons_WarRoom) November 3, 2024

So, right-leaning pollsters dropped a whole bunch of new polls showing Trump doing well today. There’s no reason for it except to gin up the expectations among the Trump cult so that if he loses they can … do what? Write amicus briefs? Stand outside courtrooms holding signs? I don’t think so.

Here’s a little preview of what they may be planning:

Brandon Matlack, a coordinator for a group boosting former president Donald Trump’s election effort, was camped outside an election office in Pennsylvania’s Northampton County when he posted a video Tuesday on the social network X asking his 3,000 followers for help identifying a “very suspect” man he’d seen just drop off “an insane amount of ballots.”

Within minutes, his video had gone viral — cross-posted to Facebook groups, Rumble videos, Telegram channels and pro-Trump forums as visual evidence of election fraud. On X, the video raced to the top of a special “Election Integrity” feed newly promoted by its billionaire owner Elon Musk, where posts sharing the man’s face and license plate were viewed millions of times.

“A nervous operative of the Dem. cheating machine,” one X user wrote. On the social network Gab, another wrote, “Shoot him dead and figure it out later. Remember 2020 !!!”

The Post broke down the nine races and three long shots that could determine whether Democrats lose control of the Senate. Forty-three competitive races will determine whether Republicans retain their narrow control of the House.

But the man Matlack had recorded was actually a longtime U.S. Postal Service worker making a routine delivery, according to Lamont McClure, the county executive. The video ricocheting across X as proof of a conspiracy actually just showed the man doing his job.

The video’s near-instant virality was a victory for the organized network of conservative activists and conspiracy theorists who have spent years building online followings by promoting their belief in corrupt elections. On platforms controlled by Musk — and Trump, the majority owner of the online platform Truth Social — they have worked to stand up a preemptive infrastructure stronger than the “Stop the Steal” movement that grew after Trump’s 2020 loss.

Yikes.

[B]The viral claims could also help shape Republicans’ legal strategy to challenge election irregularities, as seen in the state lawsuits echoing Trump’s Truth Social posts about the purported risks of counting ballots from U.S. citizens or military service members stationed overseas. Last month, Musk shared a post saying Democrats planned to “steal elections using ‘overseas’ ballots”; two days later, Trump shared his post, adding, “Lawyers at RNC — STOP THIS FRAUD, NOW!!!”

Dean Jackson, a former investigative analyst on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection, remembers watching the “Stop the Steal” movement rapidly assemble in Facebook groups after the 2020 vote. But he now worries about the damage that could be caused by election deniers’ four-year head start.

Major social media companies have rolled back content policies they enacted around the 2020 election. Musk and right-wing influencers have lent the movement prominence and legitimacy. And many deniers have moved on to more opaque online networks, including encrypted channels and private group chats, that make it harder for law enforcement to track.

“They have had four years to prime the base to believe and take action around false claims of fraud,” he said. “It feels like open season. It feels like we didn’t learn any of the lessons of 2020.”y contesting the results of the election even before any votes for Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris have been tallied, they have set the stage for a national resistance plan that online observers worry could echo the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in support of his baseless claims that the election was rigged.

Like most people I doubt that there will be an exact re-enactment of January 6th. But somebody is going to do something.

And by the way, Republican officials are going to go along with it:

Trump’s unwavering claims about the nation’s election system being “rigged” have steadily gained more acceptance among rank-and-file Republicans voters over the past four years, and his biggest Republican critics in Congress have either retired, will retire soon or have lost sway…

“The strength of the cult of Trump amongst voters is strong so members are reflecting what their constituents want them to do,” said a Republican strategist and former Senate leadership aide. “The other angle is there are a lot of concerns about how elections are being conducted and the power of social media and our partisan news,” the strategist said. “Republicans watch a lot of Twitter and Fox News, and they see voting irregularities,” they continued, pointing out a recent Detroit News report that a Chinese citizen attending the University of Michigan voted illegally by absentee ballot, and election officials weren’t able to retrieve it.

I don’t know if these people have just decided that if you can’t beath ’em join ’em or if they’ve become believers themselves. Not that it makes any difference. But if anyone’s expecting them to fight this, they need to think again. I can’t imagine what would make them cross him at this point.

Here’s the 1986 cover story of Spy Magazine’s first issue: “The 10 Most Embarrassing New Yorkers.”

He hasn’t changed a bit in 40 years.

* Note that they said way back when that he had the Times in his back pocket…

This is how the MAGA movement is dying, like a bad club when the lights come on. Empty seats and stragglers in trash bag dresses and maxi pads on their ears dancing to the few songs that Trump could get licensing to play. pic.twitter.com/heJqJUR1bH

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) November 4, 2024

Pack it up https://t.co/QzWa494jdt

— Franklin (@franklinisbored) November 4, 2024

In Reading, Penn., the modest sized arena (7000-8000 capacity) is not even half-full. https://t.co/1gsOoE8Xh6 pic.twitter.com/4eUoiOBuhG

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) November 4, 2024

Lots of people were leaving the Trump rally early today. pic.twitter.com/YstB4DNPPc

— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) November 4, 2024

I think we can call that “low energy” don’t you?

It’s not the Democrats

Philip Bump of the Washington Post always travels to Scranton Pennsylvania in the days before the presidential election to check out the Get Out The Vote operations of both parties. His observations are very interesting this year. (gift link)

As I did in 2016 and 2020, I traveled to Scranton to see how the campaigns were tackling this task. Both of my prior visits were, at least in retrospect, revealing. In 2016, I was surprised to see little activity for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and a bustling turnout operation for Donald Trump. Four years later, it was Joe Biden — who often speaks of the time he spent in Scranton as a child — who was running an effective operation. Trump’s supporters seemed to be more focused on handing out lawn signs and boisterous parades of trucks.

In other words, in 2016 and 2020, the campaigns with the more robust GOTV field operations in Scranton (and presumably across the state) ended up winning. In Scranton in 2024, that was clearly the operation being run by Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign and its allies.

The Republicans:

Crossing a bridge over Roaring Brook brought me to the Republican Party headquarters for Lackawanna County, where volunteers in the parking lot were putting lawn signs into their cars.

Inside, about 20 more people were milling around. Some were there to knock on doors for the local Republican House candidate, Rob Bresnahan. Others were at a sign-in table where Robin Medeiros, 64, was preparing to lead a training.

Those volunteers, though, weren’t going out to turn out voters. Instead, Medeiros was helping them fill out the documents they’d need to be poll watchers on Election Day. Others were being trained to be greeters, welcoming people at polling places and providing information about Republican candidates. The focus was on managing those who came out to vote, not on making sure they came out in the first place.

Back in April, the then-new co-chair of the Republican Party, the Republican nominee’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, made clear that poll-watching would be a central focus for the party in November. It was an institutional bet on the idea that Trump’s 2020 loss was attributable not to having more Biden voters turn out, but to that pro-Biden majority being a function of some wrongdoing at the polls. Never mind that there were poll watchers in 2020, too (including some I spoke to then). The party would in 2024 have its volunteers combat imaginary illegal voters instead of turning out real, legal ones. That latter task would be mostly left to outside groups, including, in Pennsylvania, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s America PAC.

Meanwhile, the Democrats:

Babij and Orren-King had come with others on a bus that morning, arriving at a building so nondescript that Ken August, who lives in a Trump-flag adorned house across the street, didn’t know it was Harris’s headquarters. That, despite the activity: There had been five busses from Montclair, N.J. on that day, Babij said. Inside, the office had dozens of people coming and going.

Importantly, they were being tasked with trying to encourage voters to vote. There were scripts for what to say and an app on their phones with the people they were supposed to contact. There were stations through which volunteers would progress from sign-in to getting their materials and maps of their targeted neighborhoods.

The reasons offered by the volunteers for their participation with the campaign were often very personal. For example, Daryl Fanelli, 34, teaches English as a Second Language at a high school in Scranton. “I want my kids to be able to stay here,” she explained, and to have the opportunities that America provides. Even though they were still in high school, she said, they were very “riled up” about the election.

Sheli Pratt-McHugh, 44, wore a sweatshirt for the gun-control-advocacy group Moms Demand Action. She was volunteering, she said, “for my daughter’s future.” That daughter, Penny, 6, hugged her mother’s leg as she spoke.

Any GOP activity like that?

I saw any number of door hangers and fliers for the Democratic candidates: Harris, incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, Rep. Matt Cartwright and others. I saw no one walking on behalf of Trump and only one pro-Trump leaflet, paid for by Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania. (An email to Musk’s America PAC inquiring about its efforts wasn’t returned. Other reporting has described its work as chaotic, if not exploitative.)

No voters I spoke to said they’d seen any Trump walkers, either. One man told me he’d heard from just about everyone then clarified that he’d seen a walker wearing “flag-themed attire,” and just assumed that they were supporting Trump.

In Scranton, at least, Lara Trump’s vision for the 2024 election appears to have been made manifest: prioritizing the prevention of illegal in-person voting in lieu of promoting in-person voting by Trump supporters. Not useful for maximizing turnout, but potentially useful for ginning up reports that might be used to once again claim the existence of rampant fraud.

Trump told everyone that he didn’t need a Get Out The Vote operation because he was all that was needed. He even said “we don’t need any more votes.” So they’ve put their efforts into contesting the vote that they must assume they will not win.

They are losers and they know it.

Breaking: Trump calls for elections to be called by 9pm on election Night.

Stop the steal.pic.twitter.com/oy5Cr1UkwH

— Freedom 🇺🇸🦅 (@PU28453638) November 3, 2024

He actually thinks that in a close election you can count all the votes by 9 o’clock on election night. He’s is literally brain damaged.

If he didn’t need Artizona and Nevada I wouldn’t be surprised if he declared victory at 9 pm est tomorrow night, long before the polls have closed in the rest of the country. In fact, he may just do it anyway, declaring that he has it won in already in the Blue Wall and Georgia/N Carolina regardless of the count.

I wish I believed that his cult would see how ridiculous that is but they won’t. He has nothing to lose by declaring victory immediately because the actual results don’t matter either way. If he wins, he’ll say he should have won bigger and if he loses, well … we know how that goes.

This is lunacy.