#42: Bolster These Six Strengths All the Way to November

This is the next of our 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 these messages by email, 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.

Don’t discount the danger that Joe Biden will soon have the wrong thing in common with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In 2013, after Barack Obama told her that Democrats were likely to lose the Senate in 2014, thus inhibiting his opportunity to name her successor, Ginsburg made the choice to stay on the Court.

Ginsburg was 80 then and had beaten cancer, but like Biden today, she felt fine. Being a Justice of the Supreme Court was her life, and there was much work to be done. Moreover, she felt good about Hilary Clinton winning the presidency in 2016.

Ginsburg died at 86, four months before the end of Donald Trump’s term in 2020, thus making possible the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It wasn’t her intention to put her nation at risk. How it turned out was heartbreaking for her and for us.

At 81, Joe Biden loves the work and feels good about his chances for re-election. He aims to serve at 86. At this point, he is putting our country at great risk. The big danger is not that he will be elected in the face of his diminishing capacity. The two far greater perils are 1) that he will lose because the American voter has already made a different calculation than he has about the implications of his age, or 2) He will suffer a medical incident between his nomination and the election, thus creating near certainty that the Republican candidate will win.

There is still a chance that Joe Biden will decide not to run, but his recent rejection of David Axelrod’s voiced concerns is troubling. Independents and even some Democrats are casting their eye on the very conservative Nikki Haley, aware that she has read the Constitution and does not seem to have a Trumpian vitriol addiction. This is because when you fear for your country, you can start thinking about the least bad alternative, in case Democrats band behind Biden until November 2024 and it doesn’t work out so well.

None of this has anything to do with Biden’s performance up until now, as some “progressives” seem to have misunderstood. Blaming Joe Biden for not having a bigger package of incentives to reduce carbon than the huge package he got enacted is bizarre. Are we going to go back to Ralph Nader’s assertion to younger voters that there was “no difference” between Al Gore and George W. Bush? How did that turn out?

Instead, this is all about Joe Biden’s future potential. The Democratic Party leadership needs to huddle with each other and with Joe Biden and start active consideration of Gretchen Whitmer and others. In the meantime, we can revel in the six strengths we have heading into 2024.

1. Choice - The Dobbs decision which overturned the right to choose has richly rewarded Democratic candidates ever since the Supreme Court ruled in June of 2022. It must seem like a decade for Republicans rather than just 18 months. Among other things, it cost Virginia Republican Governor Glen Youngkin a Republican majority in both his House and Senate. Democrats gleefully project initiatives putting choice on the ballot in 2024 in the swing states of Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Colorado.
2. Demographics - Depending on the candidates, there is no guarantee that the Democrats’ 70%-30% margins among Latino voters will materialize at that level in the fall of 2024. However, the percentage will still be favorable and the non-white population of nearly all the swing states is growing at a faster rate than the overall population.
3. The House of non-Representatives - It has arrived at the point where the impasse among House Republicans is so intractable that political damage for Republicans is inevitable, especially in swing states. It takes a lot to disabuse the American voter of their idea that both parties are equally to blame for Congressional dysfunction. In response, Republicans are pioneering new ways to obstruct legislation, and there isn’t anything Speaker Mike Thompson can do about it. 
4. The Economy - There is a popular and peculiar notion among commentators that Democrats aren’t getting and won’t get any boost from recent inflation reduction, market upswings, lower gas prices and 14 million jobs. “No boost” is an overstatement. Every piece of good news about the economy helps Democrats, just not nearly as much as they wish it would.
5. Trump - Obviously, it is a great danger to have him around, but Trump boosts Democratic chances with independent voters everywhere he goes. There should be a Democratic PAC that pays to send him to swing states. He isn’t staying put on the old list of wrongs, grudges, and recriminations. He finds new people to insult every day, including Iowa evangelical leaders. There’s a shibboleth that putting Trump on trial only reinforces his support, but that is among the minority of voters that are his base. As the trials reveal a new litany of misdeeds, independent voters will walk away, as they have in every election since 2016. Even the Koch empire knows this, as they demonstrated in their support of Nikki Haley.
6. Ukraine - Surprisingly, a lot of Republican leaders share Trump’s desire for a bromance with Vladimir Putin. No accounting for taste. As we get into the election year, Zelenskyy will soldier forward, Biden and McConnell will get him and the Ukrainians the necessary support, and the Republicans will continue to find themselves in another minority position.

Building on these strengths, let’s do these three things now:

1) Take Advantage of the House Republicans Fighting Each Other
	The battles between House conservatives and House ultra conservatives have created a caucus that cannot function, whatever the efforts of new speaker Mike Johnson. Ever since Democrats helped them pass a continuing resolution to fund the government until January, the Republican majority has been unable to even pass a procedural rule covering floor debate on two appropriations bills. There is no way forward. Republicans won’t kick Johnson out as speaker because they have nowhere to go. Instead, they will keep on warring until the next election. These persistent battles put the Republicans in swing districts at enormous risk, including several who were elected in districts that Joe Biden won in 2020. Swing Left has served up a first list of targeted districts in which to invest, including explanations of why they selected them.
2) Consider Dean Phillips
	For some who think that it is time for Joe Biden to step aside, supporting another Democratic candidate would be a difficult or even painful thing to do. The other point of view is that either way Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips is not going to end up as President. Supporting him in New Hampshire might be a good way to send a signal to the Democratic Party, which seems frozen behind Joe Biden’s unwise candidacy.
3) Alarm Yourself About Trump and the Insurrection Act
	One more good reason to fight Donald Trump is that he has already discussed using the centuries old Insurrection Act to involve the American military in domestic situations. As the Brennan Center for Justice has pointed out, none of the protections that would keep a President from misusing the act are present in the law as written and interpreted by the courts. The effort to amend the law is still in the early stages. It isn’t too early to use the Brennan Center as your source to keep track of all such matters. You can subscribe to their outstanding newsletter.

As this missive reports, we have a lot of electoral strengths as we head into 2024. Will we all jump in so late that we fail to take full advantage of those strengths? That would be a pity, no?

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#41: Thank Joe Biden, and Select Your New Presidential Candidate

This is the next of our 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 these messages by email, 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.

Here are ten important ways in which Republicans have already disadvantaged themselves as they head toward the November 2024 elections, making our victory more likely:

• They are resolute in their opposition to a woman’s right to control her own body.
• They protect AK-47s and AR-15s religiously in the face of massacres across America.
• Choosing Putin, they are increasingly against military aid to Volodymyr Zelensky and freedom seeking Ukrainians.
• Unable to elect a Speaker of the House, they have sapped the institutional strength of the Congress at a critical time. Every day of the week, they demonstrate a lack of leadership. 
• Several of their leaders are dedicated to shutting down the United States government a month from now.
• Many of them are unwilling to recognize that they lost the 2020 Presidential election, even though their conspiracy claims have tattered the flag.
• They refuse to acknowledge that there have been 14 million new jobs created since Joe Biden took office.
• Their leading candidate to date has been charged with felonies in four separate cases and will be a convicted felon by the time the election is held.
• Many countenanced an insurrection against the United States government on January 6, 2021.
• They continue to support tax policies that comfort the comfortable, increasing the wealth gap in America.

Painfully, here is the most important way in which Democrats are already disadvantaging themselves as they head toward the November 2024 elections.

• Resolving to select the current successful president Joe Biden as their presidential candidate.

There is no question that Joe Biden deserves our everlasting gratitude for defeating Donald Trump by seven million votes in 2020. He has served ably. Working with narrow majorities in both the House and Senate, he enacted into law major changes in how this country fights the enormous threat of climate change and reverses the deterioration of its infrastructure.

Joe Biden has performed well on the international stage. More than any other person, he is responsible for the expansion and strengthening of the NATO alliance and the development of the coalition of nations supporting Ukraine, which otherwise would have been conquered by Russia.

Nonetheless, it is time for Joe Biden to complete his more than four decades of service. This is not even an issue of his electability. Despite his low voter approval at this point, he could win the presidency, especially matched against Donald Trump, whom independent voters have deserted.

The issue is Joe Biden’s health and age. Were he elected, he would be sworn in at 82 and be serving at 86, the oldest President in U.S. history. Performing the incredibly rigorous demands of the presidency would be impossible, not only for Joe Biden, but for anyone of this age. Even more concerning is the distinct possibility that he would become incapacitated or even die during the four years of his second term, or even during the campaign.

President Biden having a heart attack or stroke during the 2024 campaign season would deliver the election to the Republican candidate.

Mortality data backs up this concern. More than 30% of 80-year-old males in America will pass away prior to their 86th birthday, and others will suffer a considerable loss of function. The ravages of aging are inexorable. These are the unavoidable facts of life. This is too big a job and too important a campaign year for Joe Biden’s party to bet on his future health. 

Even if millions of Joe Biden’s most grateful supporters wished to accept these dangers, the American voter will not. Three quarters of American voters think he is too old to run, including nearly 70% of Democrats. 

It is time for a generational change. It’s happened before. John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were all the youngest major candidates in their presidential primaries. Strong younger candidates abound. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is 52, and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is 54. California Governor Gavin Newsom just turned 56 and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is 63. Sure, none is as well-known as Joe Biden, but all are a generation younger, fresh, able, and experienced. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is 50 and Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker is 58. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is a huge emerging talent and he’s 45!

There are political analysts who believe that Joe Biden intends to withdraw from this race, that he is waiting until near the end of the year after Congress goes home to shorten the period that he will be a lame duck. Others believe that even as we speak, internal discussions are taking place as to how to convince Joe Biden to step aside if he will not do so on his own. Perhaps they are right. Even those of us who deeply admire Joe Biden must help to make it so. Let’s do these three things to increase our chances in 2024:

1) Call Congressman Dean Phillips Immediately
	Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips is not going to be the next President of the United States. However, what he will do over the next two weeks is of great consequence. Phillips is the Democratic elected official to date most intent on budging Joe Biden away from running. Phillips has made overtures to New Hampshire Democrats and will need to decide in the next two weeks whether to be a candidate.  This is exactly what is needed to give more of our leaders the freedom to talk about the dangers of Joe Biden running, and the opportunity to field an alternative. It will draw considerable press attention, make the 2028 Democratic wannabees take notice, and advance their own preparedness in case Biden reconsiders. It is nothing but a good thing. Dean Phillips is former chair of the gelato company Talenti and is the grandson of advice columnist Abigail Van Buren (sister of Ann Landers). He has stepped down from his House leadership position and is fully focused on this matter. He heads back to Minneapolis frequently. Call his Congressional campaign office at 952-426-1766 and tell his aides you need him to run for President.
2) Contact Your State Party Chair
	Even if you are in a mainstream Democratic state, this is a situation in which state party leadership matters. State party chairs and representatives to the Democratic National Committee are just as worried as you are that voters are overwhelmingly concerned about Joe Biden’s age. Track down their emails and tell them it is time for them to act on their worries.
3) Watch No Labels Carefully
	At this point, it is difficult to figure out the organization No Labels. Their announced intent is to get beyond bitter partisanship and elevate bi-partisan solutions, including centrist candidates. It is possible that No Labels could do something that would change the entire makeup of the election, and even spur the value of Democrats having a new presidential candidate. Early results are unpromising. The joint appearance by former Utah Republican Governor Jon Huntsman and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin left the policy positions of No Labels indistinct, or perhaps nonexistent.

There’s just a little more than a year to go before the next presidential election. There’s plenty of time to get the right candidate if we get going.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#40: Republicans: “Mr. Putin, Put Up That Wall!”

Alert: This small missive played a key role in 2022 in supporting key organizing efforts by Mi Familia Vota in Nevada and Arizona, which helped eke out narrow victories. Mi Familia Vota has set its sights on North Carolina, where the Latino population has now exceeded one million. This is a terrific chance to make inroads in a swing state. Our missive has pledged $15,000 to help Mi Familia Vota get going in North Carolina. We have raised $5,000 so far. Please help us reach this goaltoday. 

This is the next of our 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 and holding onto the Senate in 2022.

If you are not already receiving these messages by email, 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.

Even after seven years of MAGA pestilence, you can still get surprised. This is the news. Eighty House Republicans have walked away from Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine. They couch it in “higher American priorities” babble, but it still startles. There is no American interest in protecting a democratic nation from being invaded by a dictator? Marjorie Taylor Greene lies that Joe Biden wants to send our sons and daughters to die in Ukraine. Trump himself says he could end the war in a day, not adding that Zelenskyy would have to cede a third of his nation to Putin for that outcome to be secured. Only the vague knowledge that it is a state would keep Trump from offering Nebraska to Putin, or perhaps Rhode Island.

There is no bigger difference between Ronald Reagan’s Republicanism and the modern-day party, and with it comes a strange new affection for autocracy. This is a party that has identified any number of tyrants to be excused, but Putin? He would subjugate or kill us all if he could, including House Republicans. Don’t they know that?

Democrats are all behind Joe Biden’s engineering of a robust US and international response. Mitch McConnell and many Senate Republicans are there with Biden. So is Kevin McCarthy, to the extent he dares to get away with it with his caucus. Biden has worked hard to get enduring support from other Western democracies. Both major parties in Great Britain unequivocally support Zelenskyy. The reason why Biden is muted in his criticism of House Republicans is he knows it ultimately would be disadvantageous to have Ukraine’s defense be seen as a partisan issue. But one can’t avoid the conclusion that as with Covid, House Republicans are not so good at identifying instruments of death.

Combine that with McCarthy’s serving up an impeachment inquiry regarding Joe Biden and we descend into a world where narrow House margins mean that battles between thirty or forty very right-wing House members dominate the proceedings. Kevin McCarthy didn’t have the floor votes to mandate that inquiry but ordered it up from three committees. Here’s what would make you admire him even less. Kevin McCarthy doesn’t believe a single second that Joe Biden committed an offense, let alone an impeachable one. He is just trying to appease the right flank so they will keep the government open on September 30. If Matt Gaetz told him to do cartwheels through the House chamber, he would do it,

Meanwhile the resolute but weary Biden has decided to own “Bidenomics” after Republicans branded it as a critical sobriquet. Biden is trying to accomplish what happened with “Obamacare” which started out as a derisive term and ended up the opposite. Since Biden has been part of creating 13 million new jobs, he’s understandably looking for some credit. His problem is that he is being blamed for inflation. This blame will recede more slowly than the inflation itself, undoubtedly all the way to November 2024.

We should not forget the monumental legislative achievements of Joe Biden during the first two years of his Presidency. Almost all were dependent on the 36 years he spent in the Senate. However, it cannot be escaped that Biden’s age is a powerful weight upon Democratic 2024 prospects at a time when no votes can be spared. Supporters who say that Biden can avoid the mental and physical ravages of age are wrong. No one can. There is a reason why we have never had an 85-year-old president.

A new Democratic candidate would take advantage of the antipathy of independent voters toward MAGA. Someone like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer would give us the needed immediate generational shift. She would turbo-charge the right to choose part of our agenda and allow us to recast the Democratic economic agenda away from inflation and toward the blue-collar ties she has successfully advanced in Michigan.

Democrats seem certain that Biden is running. But his campaign has started out slowly. It is possible that he is just holding the spot to be certain not to be lame ducked early. To this point, it is not necessarily a disadvantage to be watching Republicans fighting each other while Donald Trump awaits criminal conviction.

It is time to up our focus by doing these three things.

1) Take Advantage of Changed Demography
	To get to 306 electoral votes in 2020, Joe Biden won nearly all the close races in swing states. The notable exceptions were in Florida, which Democrats lost by just over 3% and North Carolina, where Trump squeaked by with a 1% margin. Both will be major targets in 2024, especially because of demographic changes. Half of the population increase in Florida each year is Latino-Americans. North Carolina’s Latino population went from 67,000 in 1990 to 1.1 million in 2020! That is why supporting Mi Familia Vota’s new efforts in North Carolina is so important. Help our missive achieve our $15,000 commitment if you possibly can.
2) Keep Track of State Courts
	The Brennan Center at NYU has been an indispensable organization, especially in providing the resources to the efforts to limit voting in America, which is all the rage among Republican operatives. Now the Brennan Center has an excellent new resource, tracking the numerous positive and negative actions in State Courts, which often carry the day on issues of voter rights. You can sign up today.
3) Call Nancy Mace with the Truth
	Republican Nancy Mace of South Carolina has called out House Republican leaders more than once for their treatment of members who are vulnerable after having been elected in Congressional districts where Biden beat Trump. She is against an impeachment vote on the floor but has developed convoluted reasoning that McCarthy directing three committees to do an “inquiry” is fine. Call her Capitol Hill office phone at 202-225-3176 and tell the recording that America expects her to stand up to the far right.

Admittedly, it is difficult to spend too much time thinking of these often-foul political things. They can bring you down. On the other hand, applying the energy we have and the beliefs we foster, we can bring them down.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

David Harrison ALERT

This small missive has played an outsized role in boosting Latino voters in the highly contested states of Arizona and Nevada, where our movement gained narrow victories in 2022. Our over $20,000 in support for Mi Familia Vota paid for Spanish language radio ads in Nevada, where Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Mastro won by fewer than 8,000 votes.

Now we have an exceptional off-year investment we need to make. 

As we await the new Trump indictments, the best news of the day is that Mi Familia Vota is now expanding the states in which they work to North Carolina, where there are over a million Latinos. Because we lost by only 1.34% in 2020, these are electoral votes that we can win by investing in more intensive organizing right now. That’s exactly what Mi Familia Vota will be doing across the state.

Mi Familia Vota can receive 501(c)(3) charitable donations for allowable educational purposes. At this point, instead they most need political donations so they can go to the heart of the matter. Utilizing their flagship #Basta program, they will kick off their new efforts in North Carolina to engage progressive Latino voters with a communication campaign targeting extremist state legislators, especially those who have sponsored anti-immigrant bills. They are emphasizing the Congressional Districts where we have the best chance to pick up a seat. 

There is no better political investment to get ready for 2024 than to boost Mi Familia Vota in North Carolina. We have pledged to immediately raise $15,000 to give Mi Familia Vota a strong and immediate start. Can you help us today?

David Harrison

Bainbridge Island, Washington

#39: Ron DeSantis Doesn't Like You At All

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.

Ron DeSantis got it partly right. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for us, the part he got wrong means he won’t be nominated.

He correctly said that Donald Trump has permanently estranged himself from countless independent voters (especially suburban women) and that Republicans who want to win should be bent on nominating someone who has upside potential with those voters. Presumably that would be someone who was not an election results-denying, classified document-disclosing, mirror-loving, untruth-telling soon to be- felon. Republicans are spooked by the upcoming charges against Trump to be filed by Jack Smith and Fani Willis. DeSantis’ original claim that he would do better with independents resonated.

It might have continued to resonate if DeSantis hadn’t been so eager to scorn pretty much everyone besides himself. He hasn’t met you, but he is certain he wouldn’t like you if he did. He is the ultimate grievance cultivator. Seemingly, he is proud of tackling little old ladies on the way to get their COVID vaccines. His list of wrongs is huge, and new wrongs are invented and detailed every day. As he campaigns in Iowa, it is clear to him that every one of us is intent on upending every part of the life of the insurance agent in Keokuk or the farmer in Ottumwa. The more the Trump-rejecting suburban independents learn about DeSantis, the less appeal he has.

That’s why there is another “lane” in the Republican primary, and it’s not the one dominated by Chris Christie, belatedly and understandably paying Donald Trump back for past humiliations. It’s the lane of candidates who a) are not estranged from Trump, b) are not election deniers, and b) can project a positive vision of themselves and their country, even at Republican campaign rallies. Dominating this lane are two politicians from the same state, Senator Tim Scott, and former Governor Nikki Haley.

Their relative likability is especially important because all of the Republican candidates are saddled with minority minority positions on choice, assault weapons and international security. Neither Haley nor Scott has traction yet, but it is still early, Meanwhile, two sitting Governors are casting themselves as the “in an emergency, break this glass” candidates. The first, Georgia’s Brian Kemp will be vetoed by Trump for failing to commit election fraud. The second, Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin, is out there seeking to keep his name in play. Don’t let him tell you he is not.

Weirdly, there are Governors waiting in the wings on the Democratic side too. It turns out that being a decent President with an outstanding legislative record does not keep your joints from getting stiff or otherwise exempt you from the inexorable process of aging. More than half of Democrats don’t want Joe Biden to run. This is because the risk is too great that he would suffer a catastrophic event during his campaign or early in his second term, or simply see his energy and/or his cognition deteriorate.

It is still possible that Biden will withdraw. If it happens by fall, it will not have wounded his party appreciably to watch Republican candidates attack each other all summer. Gavin Newsom of California, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania are all wannabees, and Wes Moore of Maryland is a future shining star. At this point, the party should go back to the Midwest and choose Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Whitmer has a proven record of attracting blue collar voters, which will be helpful in many states, including the must-have states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

Democrats who are hoping that Joe Biden won’t run are reading the existing Biden campaign efforts as evidence that he will run. The truth is, Joe Biden would be campaigning and articulating his effective record to this same extent if he were just trying to keep himself from being a lame duck. There is still time for party leaders to intervene and for Joe and Jill Biden to think about this some more. Of course, that window will close by the end of the year.

What we need to be attending to now is how to take full advantage of the pro-choice groundswell, the two next Trump indictments and the unabated Republican internal battles to put more states in play for the 2024 elections.

While we consider which states to strive to add to our column in the 2024 presidential elections, let’s remember where we need to hold onto to states that we narrowly won. These include Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. In each of these states, Donald Trump got more than 47% of the vote.

States that Democrats could put back in play are difficult but intriguing. 

• In North Carolina we just missed picking up a Senate seat with former State Supreme Court justice Cheri Beasley as well as almost securing the electoral vote for Joe Biden. Barack Obama won North Carolina in 2008 and we have lost narrowly ever since. The state’s demographics are changing to our advantage, as is the intense battle over choice, where Republican legislators have overridden Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of their restrictive law.
• In Ohio, we have suffered an impermanent shift in what was once a major swing state. What is providing new opportunity is the battle over choice. Ohioans for Reproductive Rights are certain to get a pro-choice initiative on the ballot in November. The Republican controlled State Legislature is trying to stack the deck in putting up an initiative in August to require the November vote pass with 60% rather than 50%. That sudden change of view of Republicans on protecting the sanctity of the initiative process is likely to fail.
• Florida is not nearly the Republican stronghold that DeSantis wants you to believe. He beat the waning Charlie Crist handily, but Joe Biden got 47.9% of the presidential vote. Republicans have since overplayed their hands in their bizarre whatever-DeSantis-proposes legislative agenda.
• Texas has promise. The renewed effort to beat Ted Cruz is attracting good candidates, political organizers, and money. Here demographics are also in Democrat’s favor. In the last twenty years, Texas’ population has increased by 8.3 million people, and 7.6 million of those are non-white.

With all that incentive to seize the day, let’s do these three things.

1) Target North Carolina with Mi Familia Vota
	In recent elections, Mi Familia Vota has played an enormous role in mobilizing Latino voters in such highly contested states as Arizona and Nevada, where readers of this missive extended them over $20,000 in extra support in 2022. It is very exciting news that they are now expanding their efforts to North Carolina, where there are over a million Latinos. Because we lost by only 1.34% in 2020, these are electoral votes that we can win by investing in more intensive organizing right now. Mi Familia Vota can receive 501(c)(3) charitable donations for allowable educational purposes. At this point, instead they most need political donations so they can go to the heart of the matter. Utilizing their flagship #Basta program, they will kick off their new efforts in North Carolina to engage progressive Latino voters with a communication campaign targeting extremist state legislators, especially those who have sponsored anti-immigrant bills. They are emphasizing the Congressional Districts where we have the best chance to pick up a seat. There is no better political investment to get ready for 2024 than to boost Mi Familia Vota in North Carolina. In this missive, we pledge to immediately raise $15,000 to give Mi Familia Vota a strong and immediate boost, please click here to add your contribution. We have already secured the first $500 donation!
2) Lose Cruz
	The Lose Cruz PAC to defeat Ted Cruz has already launched, aiming to take advantage of Cruz’ trip to Cancun during Texas’ epic storm, among other things. The advantage of giving to a PAC early is it allows for campaign advertising well in advance of when the Democratic Senatorial candidate is selected. Learn more about this PAC here. A strong candidate for Senator will also be helpful in our effort to win the Presidential electoral votes.
3) Pitch in For Ohio
	It isn’t too late to write postcards to entreat voters to reject Ohio’s effort to increase from 50% to 60% the percentage of voters needed to approve an initiative. This effort is the worst sort of politics, since the Republican Party would be dead set against this plan were it not for the chance to restrict a woman’s right to choose. Get your postcard list from the Blue Wave Postcard Movement, which has sent over 5 million personalized postcards since its inception.

If you are taking the summer off from America’s political challenges, please reconsider the consequences.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#38: America Flipped Off by DeSantis, Flipped Out by 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. 

If you are not already receiving this by email, 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.

The Wall Street Journal says that Ron DeSantis needs a self-deprecating sense of humor. Obviously, a complete personality transplant would be in order if modern medicine would only offer it. What a relentlessly unpleasant and meanspirited man DeSantis is. It is almost like he is modeling himself after a former President who would already have patented such behavior if it made him a dollar.

DeSantis is running to the right of Trump! If Trump mentions firearms, DeSantis will get his toadies in the Florida State Legislature to pass a law forcing all Floridians over age 12 to accept the gift of a gun and require them to brandish it. If Trump mentions COVID, DeSantis will say he has personally ripped masks off the faces of the elderly. If Trump is associated with anti-choice legislation, DeSantis will advance a state law that jails pregnant women and their doctors. DeSantis will excuse Putin, pardon insurrectionists, including Trump, and stomp on both Mickey and Minnie Mouse until their wee little mouse bodies are broken.

Why would this be DeSantis’ approach? Fresh from his Florida victory over a fully spent Charlie Crist, DeSantis could have chosen any Republican lane to the right of moderate New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. He selected his furthest right lane because of the present and anticipated prosecutions of Trump by Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, and Letitia James. He thinks they will prevail, and that he will win the MAGA core after Trump’s demise. He would rather have most of Trump’s core than any other Republican cohort. His attacks on Trump are fashioned with that goal in mind, though after Trump's relentless assaults, the DeSantis gloves are starting to come off. DeSantis’ careful position is continually expressed: This is not the same Trump as 2016. 

Former Republican presidential speech writer Peggy Noonan said DeSantis’ vibe “makes you feel he might unplug your life support to recharge his cell phone.” 

It makes one wonder who will emerge as the Republican alternative to this tiny man after a series of indictments drags Trump out of the picture. Certainly not Mike Pence, a man without a following. Not Asa Hutchison, with no base to build upon. Not Tim Scott, a conservative whose x-rays reveal the possible presence of a heart and brain. Nikki Haley? 

More likely, the alternative will be Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, sitting and waiting in the wings, watching the carnage. Of the wannabees, Youngkin is the most able to appeal to independent voters, currently being flipped off by DeSantis and flipped out by Trump. Youngkin has kept his eye on his education agenda, including recovery from COVID-driven declines in reading and math. Former CEO of a private equity firm, he is being characterized as “neither never-Trump nor Trump-lite”.

Also watching are a dozen Democratic presidential aspirants, still not fully believing that understandably weary Joe Biden is running for President. Democrats wary of having an 82-year-old candidate are muting themselves, not wanting to offend Biden or diminish their November 2024 prospects. Earnest and adamant private discussions are needed. 

Now is the time for Barack Obama and Hillary and Bill Clinton and Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries to convince Joe Biden he is putting his party at great risk. The fact that the Republicans are tacking even further to the right gives Democrats a huge opportunity to keep the Presidency, take back the House, and defend the Senate. That advantage will be lost if Joe Biden runs for re-election. This is not because of his performance or policies, but because Americans don’t know any 80+ year olds who have the mental acuity and physical stamina and boundless energy the Presidency requires. Fears that Biden would not survive the second term are realistic.

But for now, Joe Biden being the candidate is helpful. His skills are as advertised. With divided government, a narrow majority in the House and a narrow minority in the Senate, this President works across the aisle better than any since Lyndon Johnson. His approval levels are up. With Biden the announced candidate, Democratic candidates can develop their plans and stay out of the line of fire. Any incoming criticism will be soaked up by Biden. If the aspiring candidates are Governors (such as J.B. Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Gavin Newsom, or Wes Moore) currently they can be seen running their states and protecting a women’s right to choose. 

In no way is it Joe Biden’s fault that the debt ceiling debate turned into a bizarre ritualistic game of chicken. Already pledged to avoid default, Kevin McCarthy did what he could to get spending changes without getting so close to default that he and his party could get blamed for a stock market plunge. For his part, Joe Biden pushed the next debt ceiling battle until after the November 2024 elections, itself hugely consequential. He protected his legislative achievements, including carbon reduction incentives and huge infrastructure investments. He kept Medicare off the table and saved the jobs of 77,000 new IRS agents. 

There are defense and farm bills left to pass, but other than that the rest of Biden’s presidency is all about defending Ukraine, strengthening NATO, offending Putin, managing China, celebrating a decreasing inflation rate, and continuing to make progress at the border. Then we are on to the next great electoral adventure, requiring us to do these three things:

1) Put Your Eyes Back on Arizona
	Even after electing Katie Hobbs Governor and re-electing Mark Kelly Senator, there is no question that Arizona is a swing state. We need to do everything we can to secure Arizona for our 2024 presidential candidate, and not let Kristin Sinema’s defection cost us a Senate seat. The way to do that is to get the right to choose on the ballot in November of 2024, which will take over 300,000 signatures. As has been proven in Kansas, Kentucky, and Michigan, the fight for abortion rights is an exceptional way to increase voter turnout. Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom is gathering signatures right now and could use a boost. Also, we can start keeping an eye on South Dakota. Fresh from a successful state initiative expanding Medicaid coverage, activists at Dakotans for Health are aiming to put Roe v. Wade level protections on the state ballot.
2) Ask Joe Biden to Eschew Running for President
	Joe Biden is right to be a proud man. He should be praised for doing everything he can to get the most out of his presidency. The first two years of his term produced the most significant record of legislative achievement since Lyndon Johnson, who had a huge majority with which to work. It is more than a little ironic that an important thing to do is to call Joe Biden, thank him for his service and add your voice to the many who are asking him not to run. His comment line is open from 11 am to 3 pm Eastern time every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. You can call 202-456-1111.
3) Make Sure House Modernization Continues
	One of the small bipartisan victories in the Capitol has been the work of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. It was chaired by Representative Derek Kilmer of Washington State, and 45 of its recommendations were adopted. Now the committee has emerged in the McCarthy led house as a subcommittee of the Committee on House Administration. Those who are at least a tiny bit interested in Congress being more transparent and using 21st century technology can subscribe for free to the news put out by the organization Demand Progress.

It is difficult not to be beaten down by DeSantis and Trump. Their world is built upon being aggrieved. We have a strong chance of getting the country to move away from them.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#37: How Trump Got DeSantis to Punch Mickey Mouse

This is the next in our 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 this by email, 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.

Donald Trump makes it a point every day to punch Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who he calls “DeSanctus” or “DeSanctimonious”. It may seem odd since they are of the same ilk, but DeSantis is trying to climb up to the rock that Trump has occupied for seven years and strongly feels is his own personal rock.

Meanwhile, Ron DeSantis is a combative guy and would love to punch Donald Trump back. However, he is betting that Trump will fall under the multiple federal and state indictments he is about to face. He wants to be there just after it happens so that he can say right away that the Republican Party needs a candidate who is not “distracted”. At that time, he will want the love of Trump supporters, so he can’t attack Trump forcefully now. Casting around for alternatives, he has chosen to punish a nearby mouse.

This spectacle will please Democrats every day that it is the Republican main event. The selection of a squeaky little rodent is based upon labored reasoning. Because Disney opposed DeSantis’ antediluvian “Don’t Say Gay” law, DeSantis identifies them as representative of an intolerable nationwide “wokeness”. At least ten independent voters have been drawn to DeSantis’ quest. The fact is, Mickey is more beloved than DeSantis, which is not setting the bar high.

The genuine policy disagreements between Trump and DeSantis are few. At this point, they are arguing about who has been more eager to leave us all vulnerable to a communicable disease that has killed 1,124,063 of our neighbors, friends, and relatives. Both have registered their Putin-preferences, making the invasion of Ukraine a “regional dispute” rather than an attack on a sovereign, democratic nation. Both are standing between a woman and her doctor on the right to choose. Both are climate denialists and AK-47 protectors. All these are losing positions with independent voters.

Now that he is an official candidate (whether he ends up running for President or not) Joe Biden’s assignment is to act presidential, lead on the world stage, reduce immigration problems, and whip inflation not now, but by November of 2024. He can do all those things. With Kevin McCarthy as speaker, there will be no more sweeping legislation, but Joe Biden got it when he could. In the next month or so, he will be avoiding a government shutdown and possible default while the rest of us watch the law catch up with Donald Trump, which it will do in short order.

Donald Trump will face two federal and one state felony indictments between now and the end of the summer. Courts have swept aside all manner of appeals. More than once, Trump appointed judges have been part of a unanimous decision rejecting Trump petitions at the federal appellate level. They have disallowed multiple claims of executive privilege. Almost all of Trump’s major aides have appeared before grand juries by now. Now this is to come:

• First, the jury will come to its decision in E. Jean Carroll’s civil suit. This is the case where Donald Trump gave an illuminating deposition. He said that E. Jean Carroll is “not my type” and then misidentified a picture of her as his ex-wife Marla Maples, who presumably was his type.

• Second, by late spring, federal special prosecutor Jack Smith will charge Trump with allowing others access to highly classified government documents, and feloniously keeping those documents in his possession. This is the case where Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran certified there were no documents at Mar-A-Lago when there is security camera footage on the same day showing staff members moving the documents within the building. Evan Corcoran has now testified before the federal grand jury. His attorney-client privilege claim was denied due to evidence that it was being used to shield criminal activity.

• Third, by early summer, Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis will charge Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and several others with conspiracy to commit election fraud. This is the case where eight of the sixteen fraudulent electors have accepted immunity from charges in exchange for their testimony before the grand jury.

• Fourth, by later in the summer, Jack Smith’s other shoe will drop. The Department of Justice will charge Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States. As with Georgia, the focus will be on fraudulent electors and on related attempts to prevent states from reporting their results and the resultant electoral votes. This is the case in which former vice president Mike Pence spent a full day before the grand jury. Jack Smith has brought in several witnesses a second time and is thought to be wrapping up.

Both federal cases and the Georgia case will make it to trial unimpeded by appellate rulings. The trials may well all be held before spring of 2024. Two civil trials will also be held by then. The Stormy Daniels hush money case will likely be first. This is the case where the National Enquirer helped Trump win in 2016 by using their “catch and kill” method to keep Stormy Daniels’ story out of the news.

Around the same time will be the New York State Attorney General Letitia James $250 million business fraud suit. This is the case where Trump took the 5th amendment 400 times during the deposition, even though in such cases taking the 5th can permissibly give rise to an “adverse inference”.

The weight of the indictments and subsequent trials will take Donald Trump down. In the meantime, Republican state legislators are handing Democrats a political gift that keeps on giving. Not content with the Dobbs decision obliterating the right to choose, many are working mean-spiritedly across the country to remove exceptions permitting abortions in cases of rape, incest, and protecting the life of the mother. This delivers to Democrats the single most powerful tool in upcoming elections, as evidenced by the recent victory of Wisconsin State Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewics, who got a pro-choice electoral boost in the range of 10%. These three things come immediately to mind:

1) Yes, Virginia, There is an Election This Fall
	As we all remember, Virginia and New Jersey have odd election cycles, with their State Legislatures being up for election this fall. Virginia is one of ten states where control of the two legislative bodies is split. Democrats have a 21-19 margin in the Senate, and Republicans control the House 52-48. Expanding the Senate lead and taking over the House is well within our reach. It is necessary to block Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s efforts to kill Virginia’s protection of a woman’s right to choose to terminate her pregnancy in the first 26 weeks. One can be informed about who is running and why you should support them through the by now well established Sister District Project The best way to get money early to the candidates that need that dough is the new choice focused PAC that has cropped up in Virginia, the imaginatively named Roe Your Vote Virginia.
2) Use Initiatives and Referenda Wherever We Can
	When you are dealing with protecting or advancing a woman’s right to choose, there is nothing like a statewide vote, as has already been shown in Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, California, and Vermont. Such measures capture voters who don’t get engaged in partisan elections. There are 23 states which have adopted initiative or referenda processes, or both. Pro-choice advocates understand that in addition to protecting choice, ballot measures increase the vote for pro-choice candidates in close races. There are already signature gathering efforts in Colorado, Montana, Florida, Arizona and Nevada and there will be more. If you are in a state that has a petition drive underway, call the ACLU to find out where to get one and how to circulate it. If you are in another state that permits initiatives, find out what is happening.
3) Next, Why Not Ohio
	It’s complicated, but there is a good chance that Ohioans will protect their right to choose in a statewide ballot this fall. Click here to support the coalition Protect Choice Ohio or to stay in contact with them. They have two hurdles. First, they need to get 400,000 signatures by July. Then they will have to contend with a possible August ballot in which duplicitous opponents will try to get state law changed to require initiatives to gain a supermajority of 60 percent rather than the current 50%.

You may not be one to watch the news, but there will be items of special interest this summer. Fulton County, Georgia and the United States Department of Justice are about to firmly establish that no one is above the law.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#36: Fox Found Lodging in Chicken Coop

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.

Lachlan Murdoch, Co-Chair, Newscorp (owner of Fox News): 

“A news organization (1) has an obligation to report the news (2) without fear (3) or favor (4). And that is what Fox News has always (5) done and always will do. (6)”

(1) The term “news organization” is more correctly applied to organizations that do not knowingly lie about the outcome of a presidential election.

(2) Commonly the term “news” refers to things that have actually happened, not things that you are set on lying about, including your presentation on the “tourists” that overran the Capitol on January 6.

(3) The term” without fear” is compelling to be sure. Saying things you have admitted internally are crazy so that you won’t lose viewers to the right wing Newsmax shows that you acted with fear, not without it.

(4) Lachlan, it is stunning to say that you have acted without favor, since texts discovered in the Dominion lawsuit show that you concentrated every day on how to please Donald Trump.

(5) You should be saying never, not always.

(6) When do you expect what you always will do to begin?

William Randolph Hearst called Franklin Delano Roosevelt a “Socialist, Communist, and Bolshevik”. In our nation’s history, there are plenty of political rags or soapboxes masquerading as news organizations. It is harder to find one that has done more damage to this country than Fox News. Because of Fox News coverage and the pronouncements of their commentators, a third of Americans still think the 2020 election was stolen, even though Fox News (which convinced them it was so) itself did not believe it to be so!

The damage to American confidence in elections going forward is huge, and the monetary damages that Fox will owe Dominion Voting will be huge as well, despite Lachlan Murdoch’s ludicrous statement that Fox acted “without fear or favor”. There is little consolation that the Murdoch owned New York Post headlined Trump’s new bid for the Presidency “Florida Man Makes Announcement” and put it on page 26. Their new man is Ron DeSantis, who is already being afforded their brand of fearful favoritism.

The fact that for seven years Trump and Fox shared ownership of Trump and Fox has misled people into considerable misunderstanding of Trump’s future.

If you have been a Fox follower during this time, you are trained by endless, repetitive Fox stimuli that all media disclosures about Trump (no matter what conduct is being disclosed) is not evidence of any perfidy or iniquity but rather another of a series of attempts to unfairly wound or remove Trump. The rest of the nation wants these Trump supporters to say, “This time Donald Trump has just gone too far” by taking classified documents, or organizing or praising insurrectionists, or loving Putin and bribing Stormy Daniels, or pandering to Putin and loving Stormy Daniels. “Gone too far” are words that will never escape the lips of this cohort. There is no use wishing this will happen. Trump’s bad deeds and the resultant public criticism are their elixir.

As the preeminent narcissist of his time, all this makes Donald Trump happy, to have undying support among a third of Republicans. He could show up at 98 years old in a blizzard in Ashtabula and there would be a small crowd there waving MAGA signs and saying the blizzard was a media plot.

This makes Republican election officials very unhappy because what makes Donald Trump and MAGA loyalists’ lives complete are the very same acts that convince everyone else not to support him ever again. He is poison to independent voters and a proven guarantor of high Democratic turnout. He has gone too far to turn back, locking himself in as a permanent loser for himself and his party. Thus, Republican elected officials are divided into these four groups, now separately populated by one person, two people, dozens of people and the largest group, everyone else:

• Lindsay Graham, once John McCain’s best friend who has now reached an astonishing level of sycophancy. To be able to know in advance what the highest level of obsequiousness would be and to be able to regularly exceed that level is a rare talent. There is no school for this.
• Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, who love their Twitter following and thus love Trump.
• Chris Sununu, Larry Hogan, Asa Hutchison, Chris Christie and others who know Trump is taking their party down with him and say so.
• All other Republican elected officials, who are afraid to make it clear for fear of retribution, but who desperately want Trump to withdraw from public life.

Watching these elected officials is a lot like viewing Odysseus trying to get past Scylla, scary for the rest of us to know about, but epic, nonetheless. It shouldn’t keep us from doing these three things:

1) Enroll in Media Matters
	Finally, a nonprofit has emerged to relentlessly monitor and expose Fox News and other conservative media. Their analyses of what is being said and what is being purposely ignored is invaluable. Their latest reports include how the media is ignoring the background of the federal judge who is a about to rule on the abortion pill, and how Fox News has ignored Trump’s engendering threats against Prosecutor Alvin Bragg. Connecting with Media Matters does not itself represent political action, but it is the necessary underpinning. Get on the list and/or offer support at https://www.mediamatters.org/.
2) Understand What is Happening on Choice at the Local Level
	The 2022 Congressional elections and successful battles in several state legislatures in Michigan, North Carolina and elsewhere demonstrate that post-Dobbs choice activism is very strong. In addition to supporting such national political powerhouses as NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, activists need to focus on strengthening support networks for women and grassroots political action in states that have criminalized abortion. Now from the National Network of Abortion Funds comes this very complete list of organizations gathering resources for local support.
3) Start Now to Beat Lauren Boebert
	In 2022, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz won re-election by sizable margins in very conservative districts. Nearly equally destructive Lauren Boebert barely squeaked by in Colorado’s 3rd District, beating City Councilman Adam Frisch by 563 votes. Boebert calls for more “grace” in government. Her demonstration of grace is toting a gun on Capitol Hill and shouting at Joe Biden while he was trying to deliver the State of the Union. Adam Frisch has already launched his 2024 campaign. If you aren’t ready to donate, leave a message on Lauren Boebert’s office phone 202-225-4761 saying that graceful people eschew shouting during the State of the Union. If you want to boost Adam Frisch, there is no time like the present.

It seems like the course of events in America means activists are called upon to enter the fray every single week. That’s the way it is going to be. There isn’t any alternative, and the rewards are plentiful.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#35: Trump Derails, Causes Toxic Incident

This is the next of our 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 on out mailing list, please click here to be added. 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.

In 2018, Donald Trump took apart the Obama administration rules that required advanced braking technology for trains carrying hazardous materials, which might well have prevented the train crash in East Palestine, Ohio. 

This is not the first time that he has derailed things and generated toxic outcomes in America, and not the first time that he has disavowed any responsibility. He has derailed a lot more than 34 cars, most notably trust in the American election process.

Happily, even before his imminent multiple indictments for massive election fraud, only 42% of Republicans want him to run again, according to a Fox News poll. What a piece of work, that man. It turns out that the Fox anchors who were mocking liberals for having “Trump derangement syndrome” were displaying those symptoms themselves in January 2022 as Trump’s efforts to undermine the democracy were at full tilt. 

As the Dominion lawsuit has established, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity and Rupert Murdoch himself thought that Trump lawyer Sidney Powell was crazy. Behind the scenes, Carlson said that Powell was lying about Dominion voting machines. On the air, he stressed that he was witnessing “the greatest crime in American history.” He knew that he was betraying the trust of his viewers in doing so, but told colleagues that Trump was “a demonic force” who could “destroy us”. Murdoch even suggested that Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham go on the air together to declare the election over. It didn’t happen because they all thought the small competitor Newsmax would take their viewers.

To this day, over half of Republicans remain suckered by Trump’s big lie, but a quarter have concluded his election denial has “threatened democracy”. Joe Biden’s national speech on the rending of democracy and the assault on Paul Pelosi helped Democrats keep the Senate and narrow the expected margin in the House.

Ironically, the reason why many Republicans don’t want Trump to run again is not that he inspired an insurrection or sought to block the peaceable transfer of power through election fraud. It is not that he is malevolent. It is because they believe they are less likely to win elections when he is their leader. Wherever would they get such an idea! They are just now understanding that they were disadvantaged by Trump in the elections of 2018, 2020, and 2022 and will be in every election where they hand him the microphone. Trump has insisted on picking candidates who themselves are election denialists, turning independent voters away. In addition, he is a major force in helping Democrats get out their vote.

One would think that Republicans would be weary of Trump labeling every Republican elected official who fails to genuflect to him a Republican in Name Only (RINO). Apparently, he thinks he re-invented the party of Lincoln. Wait, he did! So now they must figure out how to keep Trump from running while not triggering his vicious and relentless attacks on whomever prevails as their candidate.

Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have separate approaches on this. DeSantis is staying out of Trump’s way, and instead is betting his ranch on whatever cultural wars he can magnify or invent. He is banking on Trump’s upcoming indictments impeding his candidacy. It has been said that Nikki Haley “can’t decide” whether she is with Trump or not. Of course, she can. She doesn’t choose to do so because exclusively choosing either path would destroy her candidacy. Her argument that the presidency needs a generational shift is intended to catch Trump in the health and age disqualifiers that Republicans have placed on Joe Biden.

The other dilemma besides having Donald Trump on their side is that Republicans hold minority positions on election integrity, the right to choose, the need to ban assault weapons, and the government’s obligation to raise the debt ceiling. Plus, their right wing is pushing a Putin protection plan for Ukraine. No wonder DeSantis is focusing on third grade classrooms.

Joe Biden is better off being the President rather than being the President and an announced candidate at the same time. He is continuing to build his voter approval and is guarding against being thought of as a lame duck. But running at 82 is still a bad idea, since at age 82-86 the body’s weakening is inevitable, the oath of office notwithstanding. He may decide not to run. 

So, we aren’t talking about Gretchen Whitmer, Wes Moore. J.B. Pritzker, or any other fresh candidates for President, to say nothing about solid candidates left over from 2020. That gives us the extra opportunity to work harder on these three things: 

1) Refocus on Ranked Voice Voting
	There have been countless distractions that keep us all from thinking about ranked choice voting. The argument in its favor is that it makes a voter’s choices more consequential and can help detoxify one on one campaigns. In 2022, members of Congress Jared Golden of Maine and Mary Peltola of Alaska were elected through ranked choice processes, which have also been adopted by numerous cities and towns. Time to find out more. The national organization Fair Vote is the best place to go to figure out what is happening in each state and decide whether this is a commitment you want to make.
2) Make a Tax-Exempt Off Year Investment
	It seems a relief to not get a hundred appeals a week from candidates and political organizations. One could let one’s bank account recover. This respite could allow those with the resources to think about nonprofits who are doing important work protecting democracy and to whom charitable tax-exempt donations can be made. Here are three organizations who qualify and who could use a boost. In addition to itemized contributions, they accept Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) from retirement accounts. The Brennan Center for Justice continues to be one of the premier organizations in the country fighting against voter suppression. The Mi Familia Vota Education Fund promotes Latino citizen participation in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas.  It is the sister organization of the political advocacy organization Mi Familia Vota, which has been strongly supported by followers of this missive. In only a few years, Common Power (formerly Common Purpose) has emerged as one of the nation’s leading advocates for a just and inclusive democracy. Its tax-exempt educational wing is Common Power Futures.
3) Read a Poem
	It wouldn’t be incorrect to time the political movement we are all in from June 15, 2015, when Donald Trump sullied the value of escalators everywhere by using one to descend into his announcement for the presidency. Given the toll that Trump has exacted, it’s a good idea to restore oneself through poetry. The writer of this missive had the opportunity to do so, blessedly receiving this affirmation from the dear Janet Knox. When day darkened you found a small trail at the corner of the field, trod by light of foot. You brought back the light. In spring, a small strawberry between the teeth. When leaves thin to gold and fall, crouch low now leap to grab a last red apple. Sweet small things so sweet.  You wrote such truth and truth it was not rote.

In November 2016, we found ourselves in a big hole. It took years of effort to climb out. Let’s keep on moving further away from the edge.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington