Whatever joy I will feel should the Republicans lose control of the Senate will be tempered by the fact that the Democrats will have gained control. Other than the negative joy in seeing the Republicans lose, the Democrats will provide no positive joy. The plutocrats will remain in control, the wars for profit will drag on and on, the poor will receive no justice, and the corporations will continue to profit from the misery of others. We will get no relief from this corrupt two-party script.
10
Ah, American politics! Better than fiction. You really can't make this stuff up.
3
Blankenship sounds like a perfect Republican politician. He's what the Republican Party has become.
11
How many crackpot republicans need to win their primary for the Democrats to take the Senate? Since Trump still has the approval of 80% of Republicans its likely to be quite a few and possibly enough for them to loose the Senate in spite of the math being in their favor. If it can happen in Alabama it can happen anywhere. Mitch couldn't stop it. Trump is in control of the Republican party.
2
Blankenship is campaigning while on probation. Yet a black woman on probation was sent back to jail for several years because she, unaware of the ruling against such an action, attempted to vote "while on probation." Amazing.
20
Poor Mr. Bruni...and his NYC readership. Both WV and AL are just outside that NYC 100mi radius of understanding. WV remains solidly democrat at the local level...things in WV have changed little since FDR. What has changed is the DNC NAtional Corporate Strategy....which has by and large ignored the small states in favor of easily esploited large urban populations with large Electoral College votes....NY, IL, CA...you get the picture. The DNC,Inc expects local democrats to "toe the corporate policy line" to ignore local politics. Joe Manchin comes from a highly popular political family and owns Coal Mines....just the same as Don Blankenship......going to jail for standing up to the Feds is sometimes seen as a badge of honor....but it probably wont outweigh Mr. Manchin's clear local clout, especially as Manchin supports various Trump pro-coal policy........the interest in WV politics is largely naive NYC world-view. The only surprise would be if Joe Manchin suddenly announces he's switching parties!!......Likewise in Alabama.....where a Hollywood/Media run flashmob campaign of shaming and bullying convinced a small number of Fed govt employees in Huntsville to shift from overwhelming support of Roy Moore in the primary.....to providing the margin of defeat to Roy Moore in the special election! (Everyone else in Alabama voted exactly as expected). All the accusations against Roy Moore have been dropped now that the result is clear.
4
Did you really mean to say that "Corker fawned over Bredesen?" Fawned? Earlier you said he "praised" Bredesen, which seemed a more appropriate a description.
6
The current GOP may well be birthing a true radical party, unattached to fact and reason, and bent only on the maintaining of power for their exclusive club.
Look around the world and you see these extreme right wing parties which sanity abhors, but attract some of the craziest, unhinged, mean spirited people, of which there seems to be no shortage.
Red and Blue are going to expand. We already have Purple and now there is a a dark hearted Black party rising from the very soul of the GOP, shepherded by no less than Mitch McConnell himself in his lust for unfettered power.
It looks like it is going to be a party of a vengeful God, a party of conformity by force, bigoted, misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ, racist, monumentally willfully ignorant, fact ignoring, science denying, and an anti-conservationist earth pillaging environment destroying, mean spirited, and narrow minded bunch of vitriol spewing non-compassionate people, where the likes of lying awful people such as Alex Jones, Trump, Hannity, Bannon, Limbaugh and their ilk reign supreme.
This new radical party is going to embody all the worst of our human impulses and fears and the darkest and ugliest nature of mankind. It may very well physically divide the country.
I hope I am wrong, but look at history both near and far, and look at the current state of these groups around the world.
Scary times.
7
"It looks like it is going to be a party of a vengeful God, a party of conformity by force, bigoted, misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ, racist, monumentally willfully ignorant, fact ignoring, science denying, and an anti-conservationist earth pillaging environment destroying, mean spirited, and narrow minded bunch of vitriol spewing non-compassionate people, where the likes of lying awful people such as Alex Jones, Trump, Hannity, Bannon, Limbaugh and their ilk reign supreme."
Well done!
3
I don’t grasp yet how 100% of voter’s did not disqualify Trump as a presidential candidate on the basis of his false claim about Obama’s birth certificate. It proved to me that there is something the matter with my view of human beings. It’s hard for me to see how anyone could fall for Trump’s repeated lies about the Kenyan who became presidents! You would have to be ignorant, corrupt, stupid, or insane, perhaps all of the above, to believe Trump about anything after that. His use of hollow claims and empty words were clearly evident in the birther game Trump played.
12
If this trend continues, the trend being the GOP nomination of a slate of marginally-literate candidates, the Dems will retake both the Senate and the House.
Marsha Blackburn, a veritable southern-fried Palinesque figurine, argues with a blend of grammatically-challenged platitudes that only a Klan whisperer can interpret and should be easily caricatured into defeat while Democratic Senator Manchin is thanking his lucky stars to be facing the JOKE of a human being that his opponent in WV will be.
On the other hand, if the Dems can't turn back this angry tide of utter stupidity, then we should really start worrying in a more permanent way about the future of our country.
8
All the voters have to wait and watch is whom does Trump endorse. Then all they have to do is vote for the other candidate and they would have made the right choice.Trump endorsed the pedophile Roy Moore and Roy Moore was dead before the race itself. And now Blankenship. He is burnt toast already, thanks to being endorsed by Trump. Therefore, there are two choices for the Republicans - hide the candidates from Trump's view or hide Trump and not allow him to play God. Frankly, Republicans have no choice. And November is just round the corner.
3
If the Democrats take control of the house and senate, that will be some evidence there is a god.
7
If there's one age group of voters that is completely ignored...its those of us from the Punk Rock Years......we fostered a band called Generation X, and then dont even get that label!! (the GenXers are our children).....most of us are clearly Baby Boomers....."born in the 50s"...another song reference...the Police)......We also foisted another character on society......Johnny Rotten.....the punker with orange hair, fed up with "the Establishment", used foul language, spit on people, etc.....remind you of anyone? btw...Johnny Rotten recently gave a left-handed endorsement of Donald Trump. Our world view tends towards egalitarian and we dont suffer lightly self-righteous fools....The kind of fools that the older Baby Boomers have increasingly become...defenders of the 1960s era Status Quo...refusing to adapt to modern times, grasping the levers of power and using just as much corrupt morality as those that preceded them. The DNC is corporation....God Bless the Queen....she aint no Human Being!
Phil Bredesen D-TN, is the best friend a Republican ever had.
1
Its may seem like a mess but really its up to the American voter as to who they want to elect. And if they are happy with electing convicts, thieves, sexual predators, who are you to complain?
2
This is definitely the Age of Chiselry. I think they'll be a real big chapter on it in the history books of the future.
5
I think a lot of politicians in the know believe Trump's people are crooks and billionaire gangsters who, like Pruitt are just along for as many freebies they can get.
2
A very weird year, in a very weird country...led by a very weird president.
3
If the Democrats want to keep their seat in those 10 states won by Trump, the strategy is very simple. Run as a Democrat, not a me-too Republican. Those people who vote for Trump have been heart by the conservative or neo-liberal policies supported by both parties, more by the Republican than the Democrat. Michael Moore has given the best definition, I ever heard of the Presidency of Bill Clinton: "The best President, the Republican ever had." Bill Clinton as a governor of Arkansas (1979-1981, 1983-1992) never proposed or advocated the abolition of the Arkansas right-to-work legislation. May be the people who vote for Trump remember that in 2016. So the Democrat has to stop insulting them ("deplorable") and proposed a new vision different of Trump and the Republican.
By the way when those Republican men of God support people like Roy Moore and Don Blankenship, it gives me, one more reason to be an atheist.
1
Mr. Bruni does a solid job of reviewing interesting Senate races and brings in respected views. I cannot help but wonder, however, that we are in a new political place where the former rules do not apply in the same ways.
The rise of internet-enabled communications platforms have emboldened and enabled the formerly voiceless. The traditional brakes on the extremes from fundraising by the parties have been cut but no one has discovered that they are gone.
New entrants into the political arena include formerly absent groups such as the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Why do 17-year-olds have such influence? Because they are social media natives, raised in a deep understanding of the platforms where they flex their political muscles.
We are just beginning to see the influence of non-traditional actors. They put all traditional tools and prognostications on notice.
1
Of all the reasons one should vote against Don Blankenship, the fact that as a convicted felon he can't even vote for himself is surely the most ironic. As long as the GOP thinks it's ok for rich guys to run for office just because they're rich, Democrats will have a chance.
5
While it's true that optimism about Democrats winning a majority in the Senate is less warranted than such about their chances in the House, it is distressing to detect a fatalism about the Senate struggle among party figures ("well, at least we'll have the House..")
The most damaging legacy of the Trump administration will be lifetime appointments to the federal bench of the sorriest collection of right-wing loons and utter nimcompoops to ever come down the pike. It is the Senate that holds the power to put a stop to this infantilization, and it's imperative that Democrats passionately pursue victory in both houses of Congress.
7
That Senate is gone forever. Mitch McConnell changed the Senate when he stole the Supreme Court seat from President Obama and all the voters who elected him. He got away with that and there will be no going back. We'll never have 2-party governance again. It's either Democrats and democracy, or Republicans and authoritarian oligarchy from now on. Voting has never been so important.
6
Why Early ’80s New York Matters Today? Because It Was The Murder Capital Of Our Nation.
Hallelujah! Finally I have become properly aware of Kamala Harris. Why she does not feature more often and more prominently in these pages is yet another sign of how off pace the editorial staff of this newspaper really are.
The means by which the Democrats are going to win the midterms and then the presidency have now become obvious. As set out in a really brilliant column by Adam Davidson in The New Yorker, Trump is now under the force of legal gravity that is going to propel him down to crash and burn.
On the other side, the Democrats now have Kamala Davis to demonstrate the skillset necessary to win elections in Trumpland. Even if Davis is not the Democrats' candidate for president, her participation in the primaries is going to winnow the wheat from the chaff like noone ever before.
Davis has a lifetime's purpose as a prosecutor - a Democratic prosecutor - and she brings to bear the kind of confrontation interrogation that is bred by a determination to see justice be done. Someday, in an impeachment hearing, she is going to tear Donald Trump into pieces.
So that's the worthwhile lesson for the Democrats running for the Senate. What your country and your party need right now is a commitment that the truth will out though the heavens fall, and the professional expertise and experience that is modelled in the person of Senator Kamala Davis.
Finally there is some hope for the Democrats, America and the rest of the world.
4
The Democrats should keep their message simple - protection of the social safety net - larger tax cuts for the middle class - a living wage - support for education - retraining - certificates - 2 and 4 year degrees - at little or no cost. They should keep discussions of trump (republicans) and the false populist message to a minimum or not at all. They are not running against republicans - but for the vast majority of the American people.
6
I am old enough to remember (well, it was less than a year ago actually) back when pundits, especially Republican ones, sang a different tune. More than once they said that because of who was up for re-election (mainly Democrats, many of them in red states, and the GOP incumbents were mainly invulnerable) the Senate mathematically had to stay Republican. And some pundits added that because Democrats in Congress, especially those in positions of leadership, were on average older, more Democrats would be retiring in both houses, but especially in the House. So (it was said) even if Trump's minority approval rating sank further, Republican control was safe.
It's still too early to tell, but I think that Bruni is on the right track here.
4
From this boomer's point of view, both Democrats and Republicans have lost the thread of Congress' critical mission to govern for the benefit of the majority of Americans. The 20th century's challenges - industrialization, Great Depression, two world wars, cold war, space race, oil crisis, and more - Congress and the president had to deliberate and reach a fair compromise regardless of party or ideology.
Judging by the current shameless ideological deadlock and subsequent lack of legislative progress, the current officeholders feel no pressure to produce for the American people. (No, the "tax reform" that will drive up the deficit so our grandchildren will still be paying it off is not progress.)
We need to hold them accountable and make ourselves heard by throwing as many of them out as we can.
5
If Blankenship doesn't win the WV Senate primary, Trump can keep him in reserve as Secretary of the EPA in case Pruitt flames out. That year in federal prison is additional confirmation that he's the right guy for the job.
8
Here's the problem: The country, in its unsolved difficulties, is becoming increasingly authoritarian—and so is the Repub party.
Authoritarianism includes a very strong insider-outsider mentality, which means not only racism and anti-immigration, and "Anyone is better than a Democrat," but also the idea that you don't have to treat outsiders fairly. They're outsiders = bad = any dirty tricks against, say, likely Dem voters or lies about Dem policy are just fine. The double standard of behavior is part of the authoritarian mentality.
Authoritarians will vote for the criminal without blinking, because he's "one of us".
8
Nightmare Scenario #6: Republicans maintain Senate control. Ted Cruz loses re-election, and Trump appoints him to Supreme Court.
5
I think the Democrats are going to win Senate seats in Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and Tennessee. The Republicans might be able to pick up the seat in Indiana. If I'm right, the Democrats will run the Senate, 52-48, and we will have sanity again in Washington.
We can dream.
11
Trump would not be as big a threat to our country if it weren't for McConnell and Ryan. We will soon be rid of Ryan but we need to rid ourselves of the ethics challenged McConnell. There is no cure for stupid, but some voters are just uniformed. So let's educate them with real news. Resist!
25
My head and my heart are right now engaged in a Hollywood movie-style fistfight over taking stock of these polls.
One thing is certain; Democrats need to win back control of the House, in order to help restore some level of sorely and desperately needed checks and balances.
As an aside, no matter what Trump does, I can't see how his legion of wingnuts, misfits, and other naive, and gullible ignoramuses could vote him back in, in '20, if he's found to have committed crimes like obstruction of justice and corruption.
I'd rather see him jailed, than be impeached.
36
And I would love to see him massively shamed for being such a despicable person.
4
The Democrats seem skittish about impeachment of a guy who commits impeachable offenses multiple times before breakfast every day, but at least they can campaign on the theme that, if the Republicans are returned to a majority in Congress again, Trump is guaranteed not to be held to account on anything in any way. Not even what would be considered routine governmental oversight, saying nothing of removing him for his pervasive corruption.
10
Whats the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor? Please dont tell me "russians". The only "evidence" that Mueller has ineptly uncovered is that "everyone in DC is taking money from russians and everybody else too."
2
In 1992, even Democrats understood that the electorate votes its pocketbook--as evidenced by the famous phrase coined by James Carville, Bill Clinton's campaign manager, "It's the economy, stupid". But somehow, modern-day Liberals have forgotten this lesson.
Given this, Democrats don't have the slightest chance of taking back the senate. They have not a single idea about how to move our economy forward. They are too focused on class warfare, protecting illegal immigrants, curbing gun rights, redistributing income, legalizing drugs, denigrating law enforcement, weakening our national defense, protecting transgender bathroom rights, raising taxes and impeaching our current president. None of those ideas is obviously pro-economy.
As a small company with 20 employees, I know Democrat politicians don't give a damn about my business--or my employees. They are the enemy--perennially out of touch with what makes this country work.
5
Two words for you: universal healthcare. That’s the only big idea near the top of the Democratic agenda, and the only one of either party that will materially help the average American and improve American competitiveness.
Private health insurance costs this country $1 trillion and 50,000 live each year. It affects who small companies can hire; it’s a factor in age discrimination across the board. You company of 20 employees, if it provides health insurance, sees its premiums rise annually far in excess of inflation. If it does provide health insurance, it’s at a competitive hiring disadvantage and foists costs on the rest of us when an employee needs care they can’t pay for.
The Republican remedy has been shown to be cynical snake oil. Vote for higher taxes, and take health insurance out of the wasteful private market.
20
@James K Lowden: Now that my top tax rate has been cut in half--from 39.6% to 20%, I'm in a much better position to help my employees afford health care. You can keep your government-run boondoggle. I've seen how the V.A treats veterans--and that's not the type of care Americans want.
Of course class warfare, which the rich have won, is the reason the economy hasn’t moved forward for most American. Class warfare seems like a perfectly reasonable war to fight.
5
In January there will be 50 Democrats and two independents who vote with the Democrats in control of the Senate.
9
From your mouth (as it were), to god’s ears.
And, on the day before the election, the NYT predicted Mrs. Clinton had a nearly 90 percent chance of winning the 2016 Presidential election. We all know how that turned out.
2
Historical election results and current political and economic conditions predict the Democrats could pick up three seats in the Senate this fall despite having many more seats at risk.
http://www.politicsbythenumbers.org/2018/04/12/can-the-republicans-hold-...
6
I wouldn't be so sure that Texas is such a sure deal for the GOP. Hispanics are mad and Texas is 40% Hispanic.
19
But in 2016, less than 40% of eligible Latinos bothered to vote in Texas. Hillary won 70% of their votes but it didn’t matter since of them stayed home (as they typically do).
Same story in Arizona.
2
Don’t forget our own Vice President’s words: Christian first, Republican second, American third.
If the leader openly claims he doesn’t care for America, everyone under him got a blank check to do whatever they want.
22
This is what you get after 50 years of using the "Southern Strategy", sucking up to the NRA, propping up the obsolete fossil fuel industry, and using flamethrowers like Hannity, Limbaugh, and FOX news to promote fear and polarization in our society. Blankenship and Trump are the perfect icons for a party that is diseased, racist, sexist and hopelessly out of touch with anything that is hopeful, positive and decent. The sooner the GOP disintegrates under the weight of it's own obsolescence the better for all of us.
29
So, Sen. McConnell takes Sen. Corker to one side to register his displeasure with Mr. Corker for not only not speaking ill of but actually praising a Democrat running for the seat Corker is stepping away from. Pray tell, why am I, an American citizen, 71 years of age, a Vietnam veteran, with nothing more serious than a speeding citation for a criminal record, not able to walk into the halls of the Senate, pull Mr. McConnell to one side and register my displeasure, up close and personal, with practically every word that issues from his mealy mouth?
And as for Don Blankenship. Apparently being a convicted felon does not prevent one from running for high political office while simultaneously being legally barred from voting. According to what I find on Google, while he is on probation, he cannot exercise any right to suffrage. Strange. Very strange.
26
One of the long-standing beefs I have with the New York Times is its 24/7 fixation on the political horse race. Either the paper is writing about the probabilities for the next race, or continuing post mortems about the last one or the developing trends for the still-distant next race. But seldom will the New York Times write about what is happening in the country and in the world. It's not all politics, folks. This is a serious form of blindness.
4
"But seldom will the New York Times write about what is happening in the country and in the world. It's not all politics, folks."
Have you looked through the entire paper or just one page? Turning the page or clicking on the table of contents will reveal much news on the country and world - minus the horse race.
2
I read The Times every day from front page to last page. Guess you don’t. It’s all there friend. A full international, national and business report about every last thing you’re talking about and a whole lot more. This New York Times is a remarkable newspaper ever day.
2
Glad to read you are on the right track.... the questions is ....where is the track.... ? my guess it is on same route as the LEMMINGS
2
Great description of Blankenship, Frank, who will be fawned over by the likes of the Kochs, Pruitt, McConnell and trump. It is hard to tell who is worse - Blankenship, Roy Moore or trump. This is further proof of the Republicans sprint to the bottom of the swamp where the worst of the worst collect and clog the drain. He's just another Republican eager to get into power to further obstruct the law, justice and tear up the Constitution for personal gain and immunity.
Unless the Blue Wave includes a powerful disinfectant, it will not wash away the swamp scum that seems to be impossible to remove - thanks to efforts by the Kochs, Mercers, Russians and many others who now have extra cash to spend on Republican pols thanks to rich tax cut giveaways they received.
Unfortunately this group will mutate and their shenanigans will evolve to resist any disinfectant. They will continue to sabotage the true will of the majority of people. Again.
Democrats have to worry - looking at you, Sen. McCaskill - and continue to sue these anti-democratic miscreants allergic to hard work and addicted to easy money off the back of the actual workers and tax payers subsidizing the wealthiest.
14
The comments here are pretty simplistic. Republicans are evil, democrats are good. How could anyone vote for Trump, he is such a terrible person. The republicans are destroying the country etc etc. People who voted for Trump did so because he was an outsider who called out political correctness, open border insanity, the entrenched Clinton/Bush political machines, the entire establishment. If think a little, the government (both dems and republicans) in this country is basically a massive self serving, money eating leviathan. Sure there was a hardcore element of Trump cultists who went to rallies etc. However, most people who voted for him voted for him because it was refreshing to see someone take on the entrenched establishment in such a brazen way.
Wrap your heads around this, and you will understand Trump, his voters, and the fact that you are stuck with him until 2024. Might as well work to get some things done that you care about. Trump is not an ideologue and can be swayed by both liberal and conservative arguments. He did offer amnesty to 1.8 million DACA recipients... fact.
3
"He did offer amnesty to 1.8 million DACA recipients... fact."
Not a fact. He offered a three-year extension of DACA, not "amnesty."
2
Trump and his administration is the most massive self-serving, money eating leviathan in modern history. The level of brazen corruption is shocking and unacceptable. But yay, he is refreshing, not establishment, not an ideologue, not politically correct. Just a crook. Wrap your head around that.
2
Please give me a single evidence based example of Trump's corruption while in office.
3
Unless we vote as many Republicans out of office as we can, our country may not survive. the GOP obviously is intent on destroying this country.
13
The Democrats may be docile in the face of Trumpism, but they sure rose up and showed that Al Franken a thing or two. Woo hoo.
10
I thought the GOP was the party that didn't want to allow ex-convicts to vote. I guess that mainly applies to ex-convicts who are poor and/or African American.
If you're a rich, white ex-con in W. Virginia, you can probably win the Republican nomination for Senate.
49
West Virginia is 93% white and just 3% black.
That makes sense.
5
Frank, don’t believe in Polls,Most voters won’t admit they like pornography , and Republicans are ashamed to admit they will vote for Trump, which is the same as watching Pornographic Movies.No matter what dirt the Democrats can dig up about Trump, it only enhances the lust they crave.Trump will come out of the Midterm Elections stronger than ever.It kills me to admit this, buts it’s still the economy.He will also swing a peace deal with North Korea, which will make him unbeatable.There is a side of me that dreads the thought of Trump claiming he has neutralized the North Koreans. I can hear it now I’m the Master of the Deal.I’m looking for a place to hide,where there is no communication with the outside world. If I find it, i will keep it to myself out of fear the entire Democratic Party will want to join me.
15
Joe Blow,
Wait a while - if Trump does the things you mentioned maybe he and his party SHOULD stay in power. Wouldn't de-fusing the North Korea situation be a world class historical accomplishment - avoiding a possible nuclear war?
1
Well... Obama had a steadily improving economy and he still lost both the House and the Senate. Trump is magic, but given what happened in both Alabama and Virginia, apparently the magic doesn't extend to other Republicans.
4
Really, China already aced" North Korea. Plus, if people continue to believe trump is good for America, we are all in peril.
Smart money is betting that the national fat-cat billionaire fundings won't work in this year's elections.
7
I really wish Frank Bruni would go back to food where maybe he knew "something."
But as I love Eric Asimov .. maybe Frank should retire.
2
"If I had to place a bet, I’d bet on Cruz, because Texas is Texas..."
One thing IMO people aren't paying attention to: These 2018 major elections may not always be two-people races anymore. In Texas, in addition to Ted Cruz/Beto O'Rourke running for Senate, there are two more: Libertarian Neal Dikeman (the Libertarian Party has already clinched a spot on the Texas ballot), and Bob McNeil, who has until June 21 to get enough Texas voters to sign a petition for a spot.
In this particular Senate race some Democrats might see additional candidates as good news, since both third party candidates are more Republican-leaning and might draw votes from Sen. Cruz. But one could also argue that some Republican/Independent voters who dislike Cruz would vote for O'Rourke - *if* that was the only option. Now they have others.
Some 2018 elections are going to be very close. Look at the numbers of Conor Lamb's celebrated Democratic win.
Conor Lamb Democrat 113,813 49.8%
Rick Saccone Republican 113,186 49.6%
Drew Miller Libertarian 1,379 0.6%
IMO close results like that will be common in 2018/2020 - and the results could go either way. And yet we have a growing number of American voters who actually don't care if their candidate wins the designated election, or even expect them to; all they care about is registering various levels of displeasure with candidates. (Neal Dikeman's website actually says "Vote your conscience.") That can't be good for sustaining a working government.
8
What we live under is the most grossly unjust arbitrary apportionment of input into federal appointments and foreign treaty commitments of any nation posing as a democracy.
8
OMG! How could West Virginians even think of electing someone who has been personally engaged in the destruction of their lives for years and years? Who has been part of the perpetual lie told to these citizens about their resources and how to destroy, not only the resources, but their own lives?
16
They will vote for anyone lying about bringing back coal jobs while they wear oxygen & suffering from black lung disease. Why would anyone vote for a convicted felon who was responsible for coal miners’ deaths & injuries? WV will to bring back not existent jobs in coal.
9
I know this is what I thought. People in his own state and they want him elected office. The opioid crisis will get worse.
1
I can only offer my own experiences in West Virginia as an answer. In the medium sized town I visited there were as many strip clubs in a 5 miles radius as churches and there were a lot. I live outside a major metropolitan area were millions live yet you can count the strip clubs on maybe two hands. That little town in WV had more than I have ever seen in a three state area along with as many churches . Yes churches ... ordinary home with church signs as everybody must seems to be ordained and offering salvation . I asked several people why there seemed to be no end to the dens of iniquity sitting side by side with temples of salvation to which most chuckled saying in WV we like our porn as much as we love Jesus .... or something to that effect. I was stunned and drove home that week trying to figure it out .... but you can’t. Its all rather disgusting
1
Give republicans a chance and they are very good at taking it. Lying, cheating, working for their own self interest, stealing, unconcerned with ethics or their constituents or the Constitution or the country, and generally keeping the party line are their strengths. The voters are easy to fool or are still reeling from having a black president
18
Many are not reeling..... they are reveling the start of changes to a give give give mentality ....
2
@js, Florida:
You will be getting the bill in the mail.
The 2018 deficit is going up after the Trump tax cut by almost double - $600 Billion is going to around $1 Trillion.
Most people I know will be getting about $1,000 a year for 7 years.
That's about $20 a week.
But after ten years, we will have added $10 Trillion to the national debt or about $67,000 for each tax payer.
I wouldn't mind if you voted for Trump and got fleeced. But I am getting fleeced, too.
Reagan cut taxes and got 16 Million jobs and a huge increase in the deficit / debt. It’s the reason they put the debt clock in Manhattan.
Clinton raised taxes and got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan and balanced the budget, zero deficit.
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and we got 3 Million jobs. He also took Clinton's zero deficit and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. And he also gave Obama the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama gave us the "jobs killing" Obama-care and we got 11.5 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush. He got us through the Great Recession and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. And 20 Million people got healthcare.
And now with Trump, Republicans have done it again, cut taxes and increased the deficit / debt. And I expect worse job creation than Obama.
Already the 2.06 Million jobs in 2017 was the lowest since 2010 when the recession ended.
But some people never learn.
4
Dear Bob Corker, If you ever get to Maine, come for lobster at my house!!
6
The same Corker who always rants against trump, then dutifully votes for his agenda? His voting record is over 95% pro-trump and he’s voted “yes” to confirm all of his nominees (including the latest unqualified head of Nasa).
He’s just like Jeff Flake, Murkowski and Susan Collins: a bunch of loud sycophants.
8
If corrupt Blankenship is the best that republicans have to offer, it may become a democratic feast. So much baggage ought to be advertised, so we won't have a 'criminal' advance dubious plans to screw those in need. Although we all are imperfect human beings, doesn't mean we have to give carte blanche to demagogues and charlatans, and add burden to an already suffering democracy. We must do better, and contributing with our vote (by speaking up and/or at the booth) counts.
6
Oh, it's a long, long time from May till November.
4
And it is not even May yet.
2
We should have learned a long time ago that nothing can be taken for granted when it comes to people who vote for the GOP.
They mystery used to be why those voters would vote against their own self interest, when it was painfully obvious that this was the case.
But now, we have a chunk of the American public, completely mesmerized and hornswoggled, voting, supporting, even defending to the death, GOP candidates who should be ashamed to show their awful faces in public, let alone run for office.
Why do they hate us so much? Why does the GOP base who supports Trump and his icky ilk, hate the rest of us so much they would cut off their noses thinking that will spite the rest of us?
15
The stars suggest Eastern Washington can finally rid itself of GOP press conference female cardboard cutout Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R.-Wa.), replacing her with Lisa Brown. Voters here are tired of a complacent lawmaker who dodges her constituents, replies with form letters, and votes straight Republican party line. The Blue Wave is coming.
12
More horse race analysis.
Is Tom Edsall the only writer at the Times who gives a tinker's damn about the Third World economic conditions facing 1/3 of the population of the USA?
4
Edsall only cares about the “white working-class” and has been clamoring about them since the 2016 election (at the expense of minorities and “identity politics”).
Funny how he never wonders why poor minorities don’t associate with them politically.
2
Don’t underestimate how much many Texans loathe Cruz.
13
I cannot believe that the people of West Virginia would elect Don Blankenship, a man whose greed cost the lives of 29 coal miners.
11
He has an -R next to his name, that’s usually all you need to get elected in deep red states.
1
I remember when Americans derided the Italians for electing the likes of Burlusconi and the porn actress Chicolina to Parliament.Who's laughing now?
We have devolved into a country of incompetents and unbridled corruption.Do the folks in the red states realize we have become the third world?
17
Mr Bruni left out some info regarding the West Virginia race. There are 2 other Repub candidates in that primary and this Coal Magnate is running behind both of them and is very unlikely to win so all of the hand wringing over this guy is wasted time.
The whining here about gerrymandering is also foolishness-both sides have been doing that for years! So the only reason you Libs are complaining is that the last census came during the time most states were under Repub control and you guys are unable to to do much about it! Sit down and shut up!
1
While Blankenship was CEO of Massey, he ruled with an iron fist. But every now and then if an employee was showing a little bit of creativity or independence, (s)he would come to find a can of Dad's root beer on his desk. When a fellow employee was asked why is this can of root beer on my desk?
The response was: Nothing to do with root beer; Dad's translates to Do As Don Says.
Were he not such a creep who willingly sacrificed the lives of his employees, it would be almost funny...
6
Funny you should mention Cracker Jacks Frank, because we all know somewhere in there is a surprise.
2
trump supporters have abandoned their human decency, ergo they are less than human. Who in their right mind wants to live in the same country with them?
#calexit - leave the garbage in the garbage dump.
5
How many Republican voters will read this? None to speak of - they get their "news" from the Trump-addled gasbags on Fox. Half the population doesn't even know what's real anymore, and that's a problem we aren't going to solve with NYT editorials.
9
Dear Frank,
Thank you for highlighting yet another Republican who is lacking character running for office. Will you be as critical of Democrats who also lack character?
With so many sleazy Republicans running, who has time to criticize any Democrats?
8
@Stephen: "With so many sleazy Republicans running, who has time to criticize any Democrats?"
The fact that there are sleazy Democrats (just as there are sleazy Republicans) should be a wake-up call to all Americans. Unfortunately, it's not.
Like who? Show me those moralistic, judgmental, holier-than-thou democrats.
Hypocrisy is a feature, not a bug with the right-wing... Just look at white evangelicals’ embrace of trump.
1
The average Republican voter is moral? I don't see any particular evidence of that. Going by the party's efforts to destroy everything good about our country, I'd say the average Republican voter is misinformed, to say the very least.
9
Where do the Russians weigh in on this? After all, the Trump administration has done nothing to stop them from repeating their election meddling.
6
Who remembers when the Democrats were were the "Big Senate Mess?" There's a lesson here for all of us. The two major parties have nothing to party about. Neither has been able to stand, to vote and deliver. It's time to breed some new parties, or.....toss parties into the fested swamp, and vote for candidates best suited and most committed to serving the public. Just think, a majority of us could elect a candidate who espouses progressive ideas, and a responsible way to pay for them. Thinking like that could unstick the sticky wicket. So, grab your mallet and smack your vote through the wicket! We're all winners....
2
This guy falls right in to Trump supporters plus side! Another fascist!
2
Remember Hillary's sure chance of winning?
It is time to get busy registering voters, marching, and turning out Democratic votes in November. Throw the GOP parasites out.
6
Weird year? More like weird Americans. America has collapsed into a banana republic. An over ripe banana at that. Rule of law is a quaint notion to Republicans.
The top banana, Trump, is surrounded by banana Republicans. Nats and fruit flies swarm round them, a sign of certain decay.
And yet too many Americans continue to buy and swallow this putrid fruit. Weird.
What makes Americans choose a party that smells so bad? Weird.
America is not America anymore. Too many people, Republicans, only pretend to be Americans. They pledge allegiance to Amerika.
5
Frank
We here in Texas believe Beto will be a pleasant
surprise. The governor may have a strong political
machine but we the people have the determination
to oust Cruz/Trump.
16
It appears to me that the Republican voter's tactic "to make them libruls heads explode" is backfiring.
For an instant, during the election and for a few weeks after Trump's victory, they did explode.
Then, the majority of the electorate got:
1. Smart - they saw the set up with gerrymandering and the electoral college. Those two items are now part of an opposition strategy. Overwhelm them over or outmaneuver them. There are smart cookies working on this.
2. Angry - Those who didn't vote or voted for a spoiler saw the "error of their ways" and are now involved in changing the opposition so that it is more inclusive. This has been labeled "The Blue Tsnuami".
Those two points put the Republicans, who have little to run on but "Give to the Rich, Take from the Poor" (a good bumper sticker, by the way), in a bad spot.
Given the several legal problems beleaguering the White House, the unruly Congress, and the renewed energy in the Democratic base, I'd say the Republican majorities in both Houses are in trouble. Deep Trouble.
4
Yes, the GOP is unraveling. When asked about the 2020 presidential election many Republican senators and representatives are waffling about who in their party should run, claiming it's premature to have that discussion. Really? I cannot imagine any Democratic legislator being indecisive in 2010 regarding who their candidate should be for the 2012 election. Republican legislators are now distancing themselves from Trump the way Al Gore tried to distance himself from Clinton in 2000. It won't work. Trump's toxicity has pervaded the Grand Old Party. And sending Blankenship against Manchin is like sending a canary into a coal mine.
4
The theme running through this is how much of it turns on who has money. That seems to be the big factor in who gets to run.
2
Universal name recognition is worth 1/3 of the vote before the candidate spends a dime.
3
The romantic image of the regular schoolteacher running and winning elections is just a myth.
American politics has always been a theater of the rich... Just check out the ridiculous number of millionaires in Congress today.
3
And let's not overlook Russian interference. Lord knows Donald and the Republicans in Congress aren't doing very much to insure the integrity of the election.
When we revisit this time in American history, the Republican Party will have much to answer for.
11
As you peruse a menagerie of deeply flawed R candidates, remember the man in the White House. Who could imagine that even a Ross Perot-sized minority of American voters, who somehow are considered honest and intelligent, would pull the lever for a pseudo-billionaire whose most salient characteristic is a ghoulish resemblance to Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion, who famously said about a Wicked Witch who might not have been modeled on a recent Democratic candidate, "I'll tear [her] apart."
We liberals are such rubes. We hear the howling initiated by any suggestion that Americans might be safer if guns weren't handed out like party favors. We notice the backlash from the hinterland when any policeman, no matter how brutish, is charged with killing a black man, even when that murder is documented by incontestable video. We see the love our R brethren have for proselytizers like Mike Pence, who often reminds us that while he might be an American, he is a Christian first, thus warning us of any sacred priorities he might have in any crisis.
These people are already in office.
The RNC's PR department housed at Fox News expresses no contrition that cartoon villains like Ted Cruz, Scott Pruitt, Scott Walker, and Betsy DeVos are the faces of their party. Each time the President tweets out a bald faced lie, there is no embarrassment. Rather, as Dick Cheney advised, they sew each lie into their patchwork of reality.
We are counting on such people this November. Pass me the smelling salts.
13
If they claim to have a personal relationship with God, they are only taking its name in vain, to con people.
4
The pronlem with the Republican Party is that it exists.
14
Easy solution- revoke his probation....
7
"He served a year in Federal prison" what is this language? Sounds like "he served tea to the Queen of England". How about the language we normally see on crime, "Blankenship is a convicted felon"
22
Minimum security federal prison for white collar convicts is called "Club Fed".
2
Apparently these individuals are what the rank and file voters are looking for. This, for Republicans, are the best and brightest they can find. They wanted to "clean up" Washington so they send in a whole new group Sean and Rush can defend. And once they get elected they will have gotten the message: anything goes. And they will pick up right where they left off. I imagine, if elected, Greitens' first order of business will be to reserve his own personal time in the Senate gym. You knowing what the people back honest him there to do.
1
The Democrats need all the help they can get to retake control of the Senate, and it looks as if the Republicans are willing to do their best to help in West Virginia where they hope to add another crookedile to the Washington swamp. This is what happens when your party is between Trump and the abyss. You get sexual predators like accused child-molester Roy Moore and Scott Pruitt-like polluting, criminal predators like Don Blankenship. Keep it up G.O.P. (now rebranded under Trump as Gross Oligarchs and Predators). This Democrat can't wait until November.
7
As he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well Doctor what have we got — a republic or a monarchy?"
"A republic," replied the Doctor, "If you can keep it.”
(From the notes of Dr. James McHenry, a Maryland delegate to the Convention: "The American Historical Review," vol. 11, 1906.)
The question was asked of another Republican more than sixty years ago, "Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" (Joseph N. Welch to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, June 9, 1954, the 30th day of the Army–McCarthy hearings.)
Now, as then, the answer to that question for every Republican in Congress and the Trump-Pence Regime — if not every Republican office holder throughout the land — is a resounding, unequivocal and absolute NO.
Nor have they any shame, much less even a scintilla of integrity — not to mention actual patriotism (defined as fealty to the Constitution, to which they swore an oath to both support and defend): they have revealed themselves to be a collection of sociopaths, misanthropes and sadists.
Will Rogers once quipped, "I am not a member of any organized party — I am a Democrat" ("Ambassador of Good Will, Prince of Wit & Wisdom," 1935). If that still holds true today, then the republic will indeed be lost.
Make certain that you are registered to vote, know your polling place (if voting in person) — then exercise your franchise.
15
"He’s campaigning while on probation."
After reading about the rest of these clods, my dad would say "and that's the good part!"
12
I feel as if all I've done since November 2016 is stand by the side of the tracks, watching an endlessly monumental train wreck in slow motion. It doesn't stop. The GOP has become morally and ethnically bankrupt. Unbelievable. When will it end? Or will it?
8
My coffee started to taste bad when I reached the reference to Marsha Blackburn. She's a nasty but effective politician who skirts the real issues, then gets her manicured claws out to stab sensitive religious buttons when the need arises.
Sound familiar?
14
Beto is a Blue Dog Democrat with charm and intelligence. Stranger things have happened and Cruz is not liked by run of the mill Republicans. I am hopeful.
16
(sigh) Texas, if anything, is turning redder. We don't need a triangle of liberal population centers controlling the rest of America.
1
Things will change in Texas after the Supreme Court blocks their blatantly racist gerrymandering. Somebody should go to federal prison for Texas redistricting. Beto has a chance against Cruz, for sure.
8
If West Virginians can only learn to live without potable water and food that is irrigated with poisoned water, they should feel great about a vote for Blankenship. Hopefully, Blankenship’s check-ins with his parole officer won’t interfere with his campaigning.
10
I really don't believe any of this "blue wave" nonsense. Liberals and Democrats are pathetic. It's an echo chamber.
I speak with stupid Americans. They love Trump even more now. The NYT may as well but yawl don't seem to get it. They ARE America and they love racism and hate. Most the world is like that because most the world is governed by leaders who are incompetent and use fear, ignorance and hate to control. There are a few Liberal bastions in the EU, but not much else...well maybe NZ, I think the bottom of the world may be ok.
2
Please god, democrats must take the senate. That would be a total game changer and may even cause the clown to resign. I couldn't imagine a guy like Trump working with a democratic majority in Congress. As are all people like the president, he's a coward and couldn't handle it. He's no Obama.
9
If democrats win the Senate, trump will be a lame duck immediately. He wouldn’t be able to get any judge confirmed (just like Obama after 2014). If a Supreme Court nominee came up, he’d also get the Merrick Garland treatment.
4
Hence he will quit and slither back to Mar-A-Lago like the snake that he is.
Every Congressional candidate of both parties and those already in Congress should learn from Bob Corker's example of support for the Democratic candidate in Tennessee. Perhaps more than anything else, it was the hyper partisanship in Washington and the resulting dysfunction in Congress that led to Donald Trump. The cautionary historical lesson is mentioned elsewhere in today's Times in the review of Madeline Albright's new book 'Fascism," which describes exact analogies in the political breakdowns that brought Mussolini and Hitler to power.
4
In a state so masochistic that it gave Trump a 40 point win, it would seem that Blankenship - because of his criminality - would be the strong favorite.
3
West Virginia is also the least educated state in the country (HS and college graduation rates) and the 3rd poorest.
Yet, it’s as deep red as it gets.
3
Is there anyone in WV who can explain how they could ever vote for a man like Blankenship? Please, tell us, what make him "your guy."
5
Is Satan had an R next to his name, he’d get elected in those places. He’d only need to rail against abortion to get the support of evangelicals too.
3
Why is the print function disabled on these opinion pieces?
Some of us are not able to read longer texts on computer screens.
1
How can a guy who is a convicted felon able to run for a federal office? And why would the party of "Law and Order" run him as their party's rep? Does ANYONE in the republican party have any sense of decency left? I'd really like to know.
5
There's something about middle America that begets nut-jobs and when they're part of your family and everywhere outside, you become tolerant and inured to living alongside alien creatures.
Midwestern teens who've not yet become infected move to the coasts, which concentrates the nut-jobs in vast areas of rural America. They watch Fox News and breed and drive battered and dusty pick-ups. This is how they live every day and it's normal to them.
They celebrate their derangement by trying to out-do each other and those most able to stand-out are elected as leaders.
1
Most of them never, ever, leave those areas. Only about 30% of Americans own a passport and over 60% have never left the country. It’s easy to guess those percentages are much worse for people in those regions.
3
As much as the Republicans are dividd, they all unte in their fear and hatred of the other side LIBERALS. Unfortunately, democrats do not unite regardless of anything. Sandersites do not support moderates abd moderates are afraid of lberal extremists. Result- Trump, Nixon, Reagan, GW win! Don't worry about Republicans - wory about our own divisionS.
2
Frank, it's a Hundred shades of sleaze and hypocrisy. When they aren't exhorting their own " family values", be assured they are surreptitiously lining their pockets AND fomenting a new, improved plan to grab Rights from the " undesirables ". In Reichspeak, that's anyone NOT a straight, White Male. Some women are allowed as " helpmeets " as long as they know their place and follow orders. And SMILE. Also, Martha Blackburn is terrifying. SHE could twist the knife in your back with a gleam in her eye.
And yes, Claire McCaskill should start buying lottery tickets. Seriously.
4
His tweets are growing more frantic and delusional by the day.
Exactly when his final-blow up will occur is something I can’t tell you, but it seems obvious that his end is near.
To hasten the process along, let us hope that he fires Mueller, Rosenstein and Sessions soon.
Meanwhile, let us pray that there are still enough people in authority around him with sufficient gumption and common sense to prevent him from doing anything totally berserk before he is ridden out of town on a rail.
2
Suicide bombers and Trump have much in common. But we've seen him hysterical before and he's been doing it his entire life, so he may be adapted. I predict he will cut a deal and resign when he gets criminally charged.
1
... let us hope that he fires -- or tries to fire -- Mueller, Rosenstein and Sessions soon.
1
Can he even vote? They locked up a woman in Tx last week for voting on probation. She got 5 years. Oh, but she was black. Blankenship is a good old boy. Forgive me.
9
Voting rights for (ex-) felons varies by state. I don't believe Blankenship can vote now; once he is no longer on parole I believe he would once again be able to vote, by West Virginia law.
The candidates are awful but not as toxic as an endorsement from trump. The RNC doesn’t want trump swooping in for a rally for a republican candidate. That speaks volumes. Crooks electing crooks and evangelicals and the radical right falling over themselves to elect them while they are propped up by the Koch brothers. The swamp has taken over and America is drowning in it. Vote Blue!
2
The Republican Party has lost the claim of being a moral party. They have sunk to levels not seen before in our country. They stand behind child molesters, liars, wife beaters, cheaters, tax evaders and still claim to be moral. They yell Benghazi over and over again while investigating and re-investigating at our expense. But they leave Trump and his Russian ties alone. Democrats will have to speak up more. Republicans fight dirty; Democrats fight clean. This will have to change. I hate to see Democrats sink to the Republican level but that is apparently the only thing that will motivate voters. And I weep for our country.
"He served a year in federal prison "
That's the best "accomplishment" on his CV that Mitch McConnell admires most. The fact is he a convicted felon fits perfectly with Mitch requirement of a compromised "Senator" McConnell can count on.
4
How anyone could vote for loathsome Rick Scott is incomprehensible. He did enormous damage in Florida, and now he would be in the healthcare destruction squad in the Senate!
6
"He did enormous damage in Florida, and now he would be in the healthcare destruction squad in the Senate!"
Oh, I don't know. How would he make his money if he couldn't defraud Medicare/Medicaid?
1
Republicans will remain loyal, their security depends on deep fealty their idiot savant king- the world is changing frighteningly fast and he is their life raft in this deluge of social change at warp speed that the internet has helped to unleash.
Independents are another story, and once again, they will be the determiners of this countries political fate- in the near future, at least.
The fearful and aging white males that dominate the GOP are losing their grip- the young are marching against gun violence and the vast majority of them find no revulsion in the word socialism.
I passed a group of high school demonstrators in my Trump and gun loving town today and I wept tears of joy.
Here, take the reigns of the future of this country, you beautiful children- I am so sorry that we have failed you so but it is almost your turn. I hope we have left you enough to save yourselves.
3
Grifters Operating Prolifically.
Grande Omerata Party.
Greater Outrages&Perfidy.
The everyday news of the GOP reads like a pulp fiction crime novel, except that it is so unbelievable and over the top.
1
"Even so, Trump tweeted an endorsement of Blackburn the day after Corker fawned over Bredesen."
As we've seen in special elections in Virginia, Alabama and Pennsylvania, Fat Donnie's endorsement is the kiss of death.
3
The real tragedy is that Hillary won the popular vote by nearly 3 million. However Russians hacking of myriads of voter records in many key states, GOP gerrymandering, GOP voter suppression with stringent ID requirements and long, long lines in poor neighborhoods, distorted the entire 2016 election outcome. Yet there still many who actually believe that Trump is our president. Sad... but true.
In the end, Trump is who he is and always has been: a lying, immoral sexual predator and racist. It was all out there for everyone to see well before November 2016. The real culprits are the GOP leadership who knowingly paved the way for Trump and who ignore his criminal behavior because it suits their needs. Having the worst person imaginable in the White House distracts the public while the GOP slashes taxes for their wealthy corporate owners, eliminates healthcare for the poor, destroys the environment, defunds Medicare and Social Security.
The Trump Sex Scandal and RussiaGate are far less important than the Republican leadership's systematic rollback of every step of social progress this country has made in the past 200 years. Trump is a clown show, Ryan and McConnell are the evil twins.
Only a massive voter turnout in every election going forward can provide any chance of restoring our democracy.
3
Thanks for sharing that information on Blankenship. What a horrible candidate.
3
Het out the vote is the Democratic mantra for November. Historically, Democrats more than Republicans skip off year elections but this year, Dems are really pushimg the voters to VOTE. We have seen the importance of this in a few seats all over the map, especially the southeast. Once campaigns are in full swing, that needs to be the main push.
4
If Blankenship becomes elected, our nation's social scientists will have a serious opportunity to learn what is wrong with democracy.
37
Oh, I think they've had PLENTY of opportunity already . . .
98
What's wrong with democracy? That's easy - with income inequality (which is power inequality) you get money in politics. Both Progressives and Trumpsters agree on this and "The system is rigged!" is therefore a winning platform.
The concentrated power of the corporations and ultra-rich make democracy a corporatocracy and the People have lost all representation. Both Democrats and Republicans get their funding from their big money donors and lobbyists so that's all they care about.
Trumpsters saw the extent of this corruption and hired Trump to fix it, figuring that the problem was serious and deep enough to need a junk yard dog. They were correct but Trump turned out to be the Swamp personified. Once the slow IQ Democrat voters figure out what the Progressives and Trumpsters already know, we may have the weight to unwind the legalized corruption of a rigged system and get our money and power back. But the pink-hat Democrats are essentially conservative Republican-lites stuck inside their comfort zone. They talk about change but can't change themselves. Instead they wring their hands and blame others for their weak mindedness.
You bet! But, sometimes life is waiting for a "straw to break the camels back".
Thought Trump was a stack, but time is another variable. 2016???? Wishful thinking???
Never underestimate the Republican base and its amnesia coddled by influential, billionaire donors. It's the latter that the leaders count on, which may be why I recently read that some in congress were worried about the Koch's having too much influence over the president. They probably don't want an unequal distribution of wealth aimed at the top, even if that's the way they treat the rest of us.
Unfortunately, the Republicans stacked their tax bill in favor of short term results; it doesn't even take full effect until next year, by then the voters will have plenty of time for buyer's remorse as they did in many states with GOP governors after the worst squeaked in or back the last time around.
I think once again we Democrats are going to have to depend on independents, particularly those who in a mad moment supported Trump in the last election. There sanity may indeed prevail.
4
Republicans voted for Donald Trump. Even when they knew what they were getting. Even know, knowing what they got, some will rave in support for him.
So can Blankenship win, even after being convicted of negligence that killed 29 miners? Sure he can. People view political affiliation they way they view religion. They take it on faith rarely examining or questioning what they think.
Democrats are nuts to start counting unhatched chickens.
158
Cathy, thanks for wading in. What you speak of is true, and in a big way that goes beyond just the Republican Party: a tribalism in American life, and in American politics, that warps the view of everything, overrides the ugly facts of a situation (Blankenship's background, Donald Trump's mammoth lies and void of ethics) and rationalizes that someone's obvious shortcomings or misdeeds matter less than the fact that he or she stands with your tribe in opposition to the supposedly more evil one. Also, if you've been persuaded that the state is corrupt and the news is fake, you can look at a Blankenship and say, "Hey, do I REALLY know that there is and was any wrongdoing there?..." That's what's so insidious about Trump's attack on truth itself. It opens the door to dismissing, or justifying, just about anything . . .
103
These are the voters that Bernie Sanders keeps urging the democrats to focus on and their so-called “economic anxiety.”
The “white working class” explanation for trump’s election was total hogwash. His voters’ median income was over $80K, while Hillary’s was much lower.
They just wanted a “beautiful wall” and “get their country back” from the hated black Kenyan-Muslim-socialist-atheist president.
The media used that “white working-class” excuse to hide the fact that trump’s support spanned all classes, especially their own... Ta-Nehesi Coates called it “escapism.”
16
I take some issue with this tribalism invocation. Of course, tribalism exists and is important in human affairs. But the GOP-Trump connection is more a perverse symbiosis where each party is getting what it wants from the other. Republicans did not support Trump during the campaign until it became clear they would have to support him. If the GOP could get what they want from someone else, they would throw Trump under the bus, and Trump would do the same to them.
Trump's attacks on the truth underscore the need to maintain evidence (e.g., audio and video) to counter attacks. Such attacks are only as insidious as we allow them to be.
7
We already lived in weird years far too long. It began in 2009 when the then Senate minority leader, McConnell, decided that the only and foremost goal of his party was to make the newly inaugurated president a one-termer.
For decades, Republicans have completely abandoned their supposed duty to co-govern for the betterment of the country, be it in the minority or majority. Their oath is for party only, not the country and its Constitution.
44
If the DNC stops sitting on their hands and actually get volunteers in every State to get out the vote. If they would come up with a 50 State strategy to win both the Senate and House aa Howard Dean. If they would actually write a simple tagline that all of us can grasp onto to remind us what the Democratic Party actually stands for. Then just maybe they will be successful.
They have lost their way and they had better come up with a logical and somewhat idealist message.
We need a Party that appeals to our better angels.
Neither the DNC or the RNC have done that.
The DNC had better hurry up before they lose the next election. They cannot afford to take anything for granted.
24
Well put. We spend all our time and energy bashing Republicans. Instead we need to build a winning coalition, strategy, and message. It takes a leader...
16
The GOP seems to choose its candidates these days from police lineups or post office “Wanted” posters.
17
Claire McCaskill is, indeed, the luckiest politician in America. And if W. Virginia does elect this murderer we will know America is done. If people can not only vote against their own best interests but also vote in a murderer? Of their own? It boggles the mind that this is even happening.
What worries me a lot is that McConnell - he who stymied many, many Obama judicial nominees - including a Supreme Court - is now hurrying as fast as the energizer bunny to pack the courts (federal lifetime appointments) with right-wing, incompetent, young white men who will hurt everyone but white men. That is downright terrifying.
We must have a tsunami Blue Wave in November. So huge that they can't suppress or gerrymander or rig it. Stop them cold.
47
Persons with a previous conviction are not admitted to vote in Virginia. In 2016, Gov. Terry McAuliffe only enabled those felons who have served their prison time and finished parole or probation to register to vote. How can Mr. Blankenburg run for Senate when he is still under parole?
5
West Virginia is a separate state. It succeeded from Virginia during the civil war. It has its own 2 senators and a governor. It is very rural, has a large coal industry.
5
Blankenship is running in West Virginia, not Virginia.
1
Blankenship is running in West Virginia, not Virginia. Felons cannot vote in WVA until they have finished probation/parole. Blankenship can't vote for himself, but he can run.
2
"Blankenship has served a year in federal prison for conspiring to violate safety rules, after 29 of his miners died in a 2010 explosion. He’s campaigning while on probation."
After spending the last 20 years in Chicago, I'm used to the bipartisan two-way pipeline between prison and politics.
Still, blowing up your constituents is considered poor form even around here. So is "dating" their children.
Trump, Moore, Blankenship ... is it still too soon to declare that Republican style "conservatism" has completed its transformation from a political philosophy to a diagnosable mental disorder?
20
West Virginia voters.
One question.
Really?
Would even one of you vote for a coal mining 'magnate' who was found responsible for 29 deaths.
Please tell me the answer is 'NO'.
16
Amazingly, Blankenship’s biggest support still comes from coal mining areas.
Why don't people know or talk about the fact the Rick Scott has "stealing from Medicare" stories in his past in Florida when he was in the health care business? He should be in jail if what I have heard is true...that he or his company defrauded Medicare. How come nobody mentions this about the Gov. of Florida?
20
Thanks, was not aware of this.
So discouraging to see how easy it is for con men, criminals and grifters to get elected to any political office
1
That Blankenship is even a contender speaks to how tone-deaf Republicans are in deep red states, feeding on their own Trumpism hype like it's become Maoism. All they need is a Little Red Book. The Democrats need to present a positive message to counter all of the racist grievance politics of Trump, tailored to local politics, and they will hopefully defeat every Blankenship that crawls out of the dark, at national, state and local levels to counteract the epidemic of Trump, the last gasp of 1950's America.
PS: Looking good on Bill Maher last night, Frank!
5
All need to understand the citizenship question proposed by the US Census.
Please watch Alex Wagner on Real Time with Bill Maher; she explains the impact of the question and it is insidious. It solely to protect GOP majorities.
Please check it out. When I 1st heard about the question, my reaction was patriotic but now it is just another deception by Republicans.
Please......vote in November
13
At this point, I am just hoping that we can at the very least HOLD ONTO our Senate seats. And for one, I am hoping that Manchin wins in West Virginia, and it's not just because he is a Democrat in a Red State. Rather if perchance Blankenship were to win, it would mean for me the end of any semblance of morals and ethics in this nation of ours. It would mean that if anyone of his ilk were to win seats from my Party's already sitting senators, hate will have triumphed over justice and sanity, pure and simple.
But Frank Bruni is giving us a little hope here. After all, who would have ever thought that a Democrat would be sent to Congress in place of the Alabaman Jeff Sessions? It can be done again with hard work and tenacity, I suppose.
On a personal note, we have our hands full here in CA re our Republican House Representatives. We've got Nunes to try to oust. No easy task in his district. Speak of having absolutely no ethics, wow!
At any rate, good luck to all of us this November. Let's start rolling up our sleeves now. I don't think I can take another year like this past one with these clowns in power...
15
Well, Bernie Sanders refused to endorse Doug Jones because he wasn’t left enough. If it was up to him, the democrats would’ve nominated a true leftist who would’ve lost decisively to Roy Moore (after all, the moderate Jones only won by 0.7 percent).
Roy Moore would be in the Senate today but at least the democrats would’ve kept their purity, right?
4
Indeed a very weird year in a very weird country. At one time the US was an inspiration to many around the world but these days it is more likely to simply be feared. Feared for what it will do as it decays into irrelevance, hatred and chaos. Trump is not the disease but rather a symptom of a troubled country with a clouded future.
9
Mr.Bruni, thank you for the early scorecard on Senate races.There is some reason for Democrats to be hopeful but the rogues gallery of Republican candidates even if they implode will have support.Unfortunately ,the leader of their party, Mr.Trump has set such a low bar that outrageous and immoral is no longer disqualifying!
5
Attractive candidates with the eloquence to convey a vision of proper governing, i.e., addressing genuine concerns that local constituents relate to will go a long way in these races. In Florida, you underestimate Bill Nelson at your peril. He's like your next-door neighbor and thrives in political combat. Scott will have to toughen up to withstand what's headed his way. In Tennessee, Marcia Blackburn, a Newt Gingrich disciple, has a legend to defeat and yelling (something she excels at) that he's liberal will be a waste of time.
3
Don't underestimate the RNC. They will do whatever it takes to win. With Gerrymandering, media/voter manipulation, low information voters and evangelicals. They know how to win and the DNC knows how to implode. Voting republican is faith based, it doesn't require a lot of thinking. Just believe! Even if it is for a guy who may be responsible for your neighbors and families premature deaths. Just believe!
3
As an Aussie I really don't understand how this Blankenship (I'm ashamed, he seems to have Dutch heritage) is even able to run. Here in Oz our Constitution says you must be only an Aussie citizen (no dual nationality, lot of trouble with that lately, can't be an undischarged bankrupt and also cannot have be convicted of an offence that can attract a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, even if it's suspended. I'm not entirely sure but that has to be at least 5 years past.
2
Many millions of Americans are deeply ashamed at what has happened here friend. We have gone from Beacon of Hope to Run by Dopes, Dupes, and Republican Dunces. With a Liar at the Top.
2
I don’t think that Don Blankenship has played the “God has forgiven me” card yet to appeal to West Virginia’s evangelical voters, after being found guilty and serving time in prison for a safety violations conspiracy resulting in the deaths of 29 miners. Perhaps that is a stretch even for the apparently all forgiving GOP Trump supporting electorate. Then again maybe not.
4
There is only one "issue" left for the GOP - overt racism.
This election will be fought on a pure evangelical white power basis, with the Republican line being that if the Democrats win they will take away the rights of all non-minority Christians.
And it just might work.
4
So why is McCaskill calling the suit that the Democrats have "silly"?
To prove that she's not "really" a Democrat?
Okay. She now has proved it, following in the steps of many
Democrats before her.
And these are many of the same people who didn't support
Sanders, saying he was not a Democrat!
He was more of a Democrat, a real FDR Democrat, than most.
3
I wish I could recommend your post 100 times. If I lived in Missouri, I'm sure I would hold my nose and vote for McCaskill as the lesser of 2 evils, but she very much embodies all that is wrong with the modern Democratic Party (as does Manchin).
1
More important than a mere name like "Democrat," Sanders had an incisive view of the problem (money in politics) and a clear solution to take our country back (reverse income inequality) that would have worked for every person except the ultra-rich. Would not have been easy to accomplish but you have to try and fail and just keep trying. That's how impossible things get done.
McCaskill has not only my vote, but my support also.
After reading the report on Scott Pruitt, we have to take back the senate and drain the Trump Swamp.
12
I agree to disagree. I am a middle of the road Republican and Democrat. Was not Lincoln a better President than any of his opponents in 1861 or 1865? Were Andrew Johnson or LB Johnson or G Cleveland the best possible Presidents? I too want effective leadership, Democrat or Republican. Is the New York Times the paper of Democrats, for Democrats, beholden to Democrats no matter what mess they make? We need strong leadership on both sides of the aisle. Vote and vote often.
1
I completely agree. The trouble is the Republicans have shown themselves to be in the pockets of large corporations for many years.
Show us an equal of Lincoln now. Even Ronald Reagan had a connection to everyday people and was willing to argue for tax increases several times. I want two or three parties with good ideas and healthy debate. We are a country of "silos" now and that is not good.
3
Trump's tariff threats have produced retaliation against ag exports, bad news coming at an already worrisome time in farm country. If this keeps up it could be a significant gift for Dem incumbents in MT, ND, probably MO.
2
Here's the problem all GOP incumbents face: they've got an excrescence in the White House, and they know it. But they can't speak out against him without seriously imperiling ... or even dooming ... their electoral prospects, because die-hard Trumpers are now THE principal part of the Republican electorate. So, in the interest of their political survival, the incumbents maintain their craven silence. It has been a most depressing spectacle to witness.
6
If the election of Trump tells us anything, it is that we should be prepared for anything. Trumps victory seemed to come from nowhere. Now we think we're really smart because we decided to acknowledge the issues that actually elected him. In a nut shell, it was "throw the bums out!"
In interview after interview prior to the presidential election, I heard from people who don't normally vote. They were going to vote for Trump - why? He was new and different. DC was dysfuctional and their lives were getting worse. They had no idea what he would do. They were so angry and they didn't care.
Now we will have an electorate that realizes that he was new and way worse. His "base" won't change their bigoted brains. But there are are a lot more who are furious at the mess in the WH. The Republicans are stained by this.
Trump may give one positive thing to the US: turnout.
4
Whatever the outcome in November, it will be with small margins either way. Overriding a presidential veto requires 2/3 of both chambers in case of a blue wave. Conviction after impeachment also 2/3 of the Senate. A blue wave looks more like a Pyrrhic victory.
2
In this instance, stopping the regression would be immense relative progress. In addition, stopping 45's nominees in the senate would be an outstanding outcome.
7
Judicial appointments now require just a simple majority in the Senate. The effects of such appointments last decades. Pyrrhic victory my foot.
9
And trump has been packing federal courts at a rate not seen in decades. The effects will be felt long after he leaves.
But yeah, “both parties are the same” /sarc
1
It's time to use the age old metaphor here , of standing at the stern of a ship and gloating about the poor people standing towards the bow of the ship; where the hole from the iceberg is.
It doesn't really matter who wins. If the system continues to be decided by money, then we are doomed to failure as a country.
11
The x factor in all of these races will be turn out. What could make the difference is passion...The Trump excitement is wearing off, while, the democrats are already in full metal jacket...give Trump another year if his "wins,", and democrats will be standing at the polls in June waiting for them to open in November.
5
The GOP-led Senate majority has not acted in good faith since 2015. I understand the appeal of throwing aside constitutional norms to obstruct the opposing party and to move the goal posts for electoral advantage. These things are unethical and immoral. These are not the elevation of democratic values but abusing power to affect outcomes.
Congressional leadership has contributed to the decline of our democratic Republic and Republican voters remain committed to seeing it destroyed by seeing courage and strength in obliterating the words and spirit of the Constitution.
My views would not be so dramatic had leadership in the Senate and the House returned to doing their duty in 2017 to what is in the best interests of this country. This has not been the case. Cowardly acts and purposeful ignorance continue.
11
I recently watched an Independent Lens PBS documentary on the 2014 water crisis in WV caused by industrial contamination of the Elk River. I also recently read "Strangers In Their Own Land" by Stanford sociologist Arlie Hochschild, in which she documented the rise of the Tea Party in Louisiana, its deregulatory mania, and the ongoing rabid support of same by those directly impacted by the dire environmental destruction that followed. The bottom line is that as long as the GOP willingly and cynically resorts to the dog whistle, with extreme gerrymandering and the anachronistic electoral college it knows it can maintain control. "Gov'mint" must be prevented from giving "our money to Those People", no matter the cost. End of story. And, ultimately, end of country.
10
About that Tennessee candidate Marsha Blackburn...
Back in my activist days (Democratic), I called several Republican federal office holders Washington D. C. offices to either persuade them to not vote or vote in a certain way. One call to Blackburn's office I'll not forget. The staffer actually got into an argument with me. (The staffers who answer the phone in Washington don't argue with their callers) But this staffer did and one of his points was that Social Security was a "Ponzi scheme," revealing the then Congresswoman's beliefs. I hope she gets asked repeatedly if she will tend to destroy Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid or try to shore up these programs.
16
Whew! So glad to know that even if a shady past is a necessary condition of being a Republican candidate, at least it is not always a sufficient condition. Maybe after all there is only so much you can do to be a threat to your present or future constituents before they notice it and are disturbed by it.
1
My greatest fear on this topic is that Democrats and left-leaning voters will take 2018 for granted, believing that no rational voter would endorse the chaos of the past 15 months. Of course, this is the thinking that led to Trump in the first place. Public opinion is overwhelming in the direction of the Democrats and restraining the incompetent President, but this is easily offset by the billionaire SuperPacs that will assuredly spread lies through the Fox/talk radio network to slander every Democrat in every Senate race. Polls for O'Rourke, McCaskill and Bredesen look good, but there's alot more work to be done.
8
The Republicans have some less than stellar candidates but the Democrats running for office leave a lot to be desired too. It is the voters who are being shortchanged in the selection for political office. They are the ones who are to be pitied. It is a sad day for America when we must choose between the lesser of two evils. Or at least it seems this way lately.
After reading Frank's article about the Senate the first thought that came to mind wasn't concern about who would or would not win the Senate, but whether something bigger than the Senate has already been lost, namely, the country. When one reads about the "sleaze" that is running for office in this year's mid-terms one unabashedly wants to cry out for the whole country to hear: "Lord, give us a break."
3
McCaskill is pragmatic. If she was far more to the left she would have never won in Missouri. But she has defended Obamacare which hasn't been popular I her state.
3
The joker in the deck is the joker-in-chief. No one knows between now and election day how big a train wreck Trump and the Republicans will become.
As Bruni indicates, already unexpected fires are breaking out all over the place like Roy Moore in Alabama, a sure shot until his preference for sweet young things knocked him off the horse he rode in on. A convicted felon in West Virginia, an indicted Governor in Missouri, a loose cannon in Arizona, and we haven't even begun primaries yet.
Too many pots are simmering away, any one of them likely to boil over before November and scald those standing near Trump.
There may be more Democrats up for election, which means they have more to lose but it also means the Democrats have the advantage of incumbency, a major plus in any election.
Trump has done everything possible to alienate independents and moderates. It's unlikely he'll hold the center. Plus Democrats are highly motivated to vote this midterm and if turnout jumps as projected Republican challengers as well as incumbents have a steep climb ahead.
Finally, midterms almost always swing away from the incumbent party.
With a bit of luck and a bit more resolve, a red Congress will turn blue.
7
The average Republican voter is moral. Why doesn't the rank and file protest? Voters can still ask how the Republican Party allowed Trump to be nominated. How easy is the primary system to manipulate? Who allows grossly unqualified candidates to run and why? Are these individuals the best that Republicans have to offer? Trump wasn't. There was qualified choices. Someone needs to explain. Really.
5
In 2011, when Obama was in office, only 30% of white evangelicals would forgive a president's immoral behavior. Now it's 72%.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/opinion/trump-republicans.html
2
"The average Republican voter is moral."
Unfortunately, too many Repubs think morality only has to do with "the pelvic issues"—non-marital sex, abortion, homosexuality, etc.
And they're just sure Trump is now faithful to his wife...
It wasn't all that long ago that Republicans were bellowing about how dangerous electing a "community organizer" would be.
Now we have a Republican president, at least in name, who is being increasingly accused of running a "long con," and a Republican Senate candidate who is actually an ex-con. Any day now, his campaign could post a plaque on the prison where Blankenship served his time, proclaiming "Don Blankenship slept here."
One need only ponder the number of former Trump administration officials who can be labeled "pre-cons" to fully grasp how far the law and order party has strayed from its ostensible roots.
Con-template that.
7
Southern states including Texas in statewide elections I believe now are bluer than meets the eye. It's about turnout and shifting demographics. Why else is voter suppression so important for Republicans in these states? Alabama will realize their Democratic senator is not such a bad guy. Louisiana the same with their Democratic governor. Have you been to Nashville lately? Booming with lots of young transplants from blue states. Anecdotal to be sure, but the red lock on the South just might be fleeting.
12
For republicans in the next 4 years...” a hard rain is gonna fall.” That’s actually a bit scary because they have already proven that they are willing to win by voter suppression and intimidation. Instead of chanfging their policies to reflect what people want, they have increasingly chosen to win at any cost, no matter how anti democratic. Faced with an electoral massacre at the polls...how far are these people willing to go to
Stay in power?
1
Less than 40 percent of eligible Texas Latinos bothered to vote in 2016 (Hillary got 70% of their votes).
The demographics are there but it won’t matter if most of them stay home on Election Day.
2
November is a long way off yet. Some days, when the WH chaos becomes overwhelming, it feels like it will never get here.
But just like I'm counting on Mueller to save our democracy from the kleptocracy in the executive branch, I'm depending on a blue wave to save us from the complicit and give-it-all to the rich House of Representatives. And to protect us further the Senate needs to change hands or we will be saddled with a ultra conservative judiciary for decades. We all need to do what we can to make it happen.
15
The odds may seem to be against 10 Democrats who are defending seats in states that Trump won in 2016, but I wouldn't bet on it. There's such a thing as buyer's remorse, and there may be a tidal wave of it come November. Let's see what Trump's tariffs do to the farm states; let's see what happens when the coal mines don't reopen; let's see if he rejoins the Paris climate accord and the TPP; let's see what happens in construction and the auto industry if he torpedoes NAFTA.
15
After putting the most incompetent person in the white house in my 76 years, I somehow don't trust voters any more!!! I can actually see West Virginia put an existing convict in Washington. SAD!!
Unlike the rest of country, trump approval rating is still high in those red states (especially among white voters).
I sincerely hope for a "blue wave" in November. Yes, the chances of the Democrats winning the Senate are small, but voter turnout and passion make enormous differences, especially since voter turnout in American elections is usually so bad. This being said, I warn against the trap of over optimism. For myself, I will remember that the New York Times was telling us that Hillary Clinton had an 85% + chance of winning the Presidency in 2016. Yes, that's not entirely fair - a lot of fluky and, possibly, malevolent things happened in that election. But that is more reason to be concerned now. Republican voter suppression, gerrymandering, overall corruption and Russian interference have not gone away. The outright hacking of voting machines remains a real possibility in many states. A lot could go wrong.
38
Money and name recognition are the only things Rick Scott has going for him. The odds are in Nelson's favor. Scott would literally have to buy the senate seat away from him. That's possible. We shouldn't miss an opportunity to call him out on it though.
14
Andy, you are so right. Gov. Scott has a past that sounds almost criminal to me. He tried, or his co. did, to cheat on Medicare payments I have been told and he made a ton of money in the healthcare business.
4
This may be leading to the once obvious conclusion, a 25% minority of voters cannot consistently win the majority of votes. The Electoral College win for Trump does not extend to local or statewide elections. Without gerrymandering and voter suppression the Republicans would be a mere splinter party.
25
True the self-serving Scott can self-finance his campaign against the decent human being and Democratic Senator focused on serving Florida, Nelson, but I’d like to imagine that the fact that Medicare fraud is the source of Republican Scott’s millions might finally catch up with him this year.
36
Yay, Lynn! Thanks for that, darling. I was wondering why nobody was talking about Gov. Scott's Medicare fraud! It's outrageous and criminal that he got to be Governor, with his past. The people have got to be told about Scott's past behavior.
5
If Republicans keep voter suppression alive and well they clearly have a chance. What Democrats have going for them in terms of Republican leadership is the Republican led senate hasn't accomplished anything of substance. They don't embrace Trump, but go along with his wacky ideas and they have no solid governing agenda as a caucus. In my view the switch will be made when even the hard core right wingers feel the pain, and see their party is doing nothing healing their collective angst.
13
It a big mess, this Presidency and governance; fraudulent enough to make us in the rural region feel degraded and desultory.
Our dairy farmers are having a rough time and they are hard workers. Frank from PA once invited this visitor to see the birthing of a calf, and my companion fainted on the spot.
Some of us are living on unsteady pay-checks; others have no work, and my neighbors took off to West Virginia in the night. They left their cat behind forever and in my care. We play in the garden at dawn, but he knows.
The local news informs us that for lack of funds the acquiring of a foreign language at school will be dropped, which 'breaks my heart' from a Republican acquaintance, a retired electrician, who took Latin in his day, far away.
We cannot move to Wisconsin, as Trump has suggested. Please send us your Rich; the Enterprising to purchase our land; give us the means for a car wash and jobs. Our water report looks dubious, and this was placed in our town doctor's file where we leave our political views outside the office. She is patient and kind.
The roofing on our houses is deteriorating; Mother Nature was unkind this winter. We remain uncertain, while cramming ourselves with junk food on a diet of brain candy.
Our Valley is beautiful, but we cannot survive without support, and Our Young are taking drugs for hope. College is only for the 'Elite'; the rest are behind convenience counters in possession of three toddlers.
Send Help. We Work.
36
You do work very very hard. Many of us tried to send help
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/rural-communities/
4
Bless you, Miss Ley. That breaks my heart. I am an old lady but it seems to me that the rich are only concerned with making more money and not concerned with helping their fellow humans get work, education and health care. Please, dear God, send America some loving, caring Angels to run our Government so that it is FOR the People and BY the PEOPLE, not for the rich and by the rich. I send my sincere loving thoughts to you and your community.
10
We shouldn’t be surprised that the 2018 midterm elections are weird, given that the head of the Republican Party is Donald Trump. It is really strange, however, that of the Senate seats up for grabs in November, 26 are Democrat seats and only 9 are Republican.
The entire drama will be played out nationally in November on the questions of voter turnout and voter suppression. Money, as usual, will be a bigger factor in the turnout numbers, but money and success in the courts will both be important regarding voter suppression.
Beyond the unpredictability of the Trump effect and the new revelations which emerge almost daily, the mini-dramas of compromised senatorial candidates is both amusing and perplexing.
Republicans are known for competence in running for office (as opposed to their inability to govern), but how on earth do they come up with these strange, unsavory candidates?
22
Don Blankenship's success or failure will reveal to what extent West Virginia Republicans valued Trump's professions of solidarity with coal miners, and to what extent they valued his meanness. If they go with Blankenship, it will prove that meanness was and is closer to their hearts than coal miners.
This could be a kind of bellwether for other Red states.
22
Blankenship's sphere of influence doesn't extend much past a few southern counties. A few years ago, he bankrolled several candidates in state races, at the personal cost of three million dollars lost every one. And that was before the Upper Big Branch disaster. But many( how can this possibly be?) WV voters think trump is doing a great job, so who knows?
5
CAL, thanks for your enlightening reply. There's comfort in that, though it does make Blankenship a dubious bellwether.
I just hope the people who think Trump is doing a great job don't make him a present of their next senator.
Citizens United is the law of the land. Money is the great platform of gilded political speech. Line up your millions and let the games begin. Trump's victory has released unprecedented vitriol. The NYTs want blame it all on Trump. But of course the efforts by the Ds and their deep state allies, which have ironically have become Trump's allies, have given us the Russia stole the election sink hole. Trump and the Rs have passed a wildly costly tax cut that unfairly goes to rich people. And the stock market is fluctuating wildly because of Trump's trade war talk. Trump is truly a xenophobic racist that is a disgrace the country. Money talks and Trump and Bannon hit all the right buttons to their angry resentful followers. The plutocrats and the bigots won.
25
Democrats regularly speak out against the influence of money in politics. According to opensecrets.org, the 142 Democrats running for Senate have raised $265,546,771, while the 226
Republicans have raised $140,375,812. I haven't heard any Democrats call for refunding those contributions. $265 million buys a lot of influence in DC. Aren't we against influence buying?
2
"Aren't we against influence buying?"
That depends on where the money comes from, doesn't it?
Until Citizens United is overturned and there is public financing of campaigns, everyone is forced to play the same money game. Besides, history shows that those who spend the most money don't necessarily win the election. Google Linda McMahon.
35
How’s Senator Meg Whitman doing?
1
@Chris, your point stands but....
On February 10, 2009, Whitman announced she would run for governor of California in the 2010 election. Her campaign was largely self-funded. She spent more of her own money on this effort than any other self-funded political candidate in U.S. history and ultimately lost to Jerry Brown.
Meg Whitman - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman
These articles give me hope, but my political instincts tell me otherwise. Red state voters will forget about clean water issues (and any other rational thinking) upon entry into the voting booth and listen to the pull of their Fox-fueled propaganda in the end. The Senate and House will both be Red come January ... God help us.
32
I agree. We have become an idioocracy have we not? The cult of Trump, now centered in the Republican Party, has turned the country upside down.
2
Cynicism and the absence of voters occurr at the ballot box when your party remains silent.
Which National Democratic figure speaks in sharp, clear terms for:
Environmental protection
Clean water
A military that we do not beat half to death with repeated combat assignments
Wealth distribution that is in some way more reasonable than anything we currently experience
A tax system actually focused at giving average families some help
An education system that equips our country for historical tomorrows
A foreign policy that is does not put us at war for fifteen years
A foreign policy that clear in its objectives and clearly explained
Vacuums are the seed bed that has lead to this malignant moment. The Democratic Party is the party of opposition—I wish it would act like it.
This has been the era of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnel
—it is an endless sea of debt, unending wars and uneducated children. Is that really what we want for the next generation.
Silence and an unwillingness to be more confrontational does not serve any of us well.
Democrats can still snatch defeat from the palm of victory.
62
Any Democrat who speaks clearly about any of that would lose their funding from the Corporatocracy.
Democrats are more conservative than the conservatives.
3
Where do they get these people? And why?
33
I don't mean to sound overly pessimistic, but what should we expect if Democrats fail to take a majority in either the House or the Senate? And Trump remains in power, and the GOP continues to stack the courts? Perhaps writing an article about that would inspire sufficient horror to spur Democratic voters to the polls?
168
I fear that unless we develop an APP for voting on the phone, we will have trouble motivating a certain demographic.
7
"... unless we develop an APP for voting ..."
Sounds like a pain to have to do. Perhaps we could outsource the work overseas somewhere? That way we can continue to keep the "good" jobs here in the U.S. -- for example, work at call centers with no benefits. And I suspect whoever creates this app for us will gladly help us maintain our associated awesome lifestyles for the foreseeable future ...
But seriously, those 18-24 voters will love their new paper ballots -- there's so much paper in their lives already -- I'll give you some examples ... how much time do I have?
3
It's my feeling that those voters who are too disengaged or too complacent to be bothered by all they've seen of Trump so far won't notice, or be impressed, by the kinds of articles you're recommending. There are sufficient alarm bells already to obviate alarm bells about what could come. Also, we (meaning the media and specifically The Times) are indeed writing articles about the degradation of the judiciary, etc. But I am concerned--and I think this is one of the things that you're smartly getting at--that the substance of his presidency is being eclipsed by the reality-show melodrama of it. I was horrified last week to look up and see that the big TV news for several hours was the release of a just-produced sketch of the guy who allegedly approached Stormy Daniels more than five years ago. Really, fellow media members? . . .
70
It's as though Republicans want to scrape the bottom of the barrel of potential candidates to find the least qualified, most easily bought and corrupted hypocrites to run for office.
Each year they find a new crop of deplorables backed by their huge, corrupt, anti-common good, super-rich, Koch, Mercer, Club for Growth, NRA donor networks that convince a certain type of voter to consistently and proudly vote against their own economic interests.
I have to laugh at how easy it is to tap into their anti-immigrant leanings by the fake journalists on Fox News which is owned by the most deplorable, anti-American immigrant this country has ever seen, Rupert Murdoch. It's too bad he and his fake news network of nitwits can't be deported. At least that would give us a chance of fortifying our democracy against those committed to destroying it.
However, that Blankenship may garnish a majority of votes in the Republican Senatorial primary will ultimately be on the voters that support him and they alone will own throwing their votes away again.
52
I hate to say this Mary, because it comes at the expense of another country, but the best thing Murdoch ever did for Australia was to become an American citizen. Sorry.
1
It is all about getting out the vote. For far too long, Democrats have relief on the fact their policy priorities align with the majority of citizens. The Republicans have turned voting into a religious ritual, and so beat popular numbers and sentiment.
Evangelicals and White Nationalists are not going anywhere. This is a long term problem. We are tilting toward authoritarianism and fascism. It will take more than one mid term election to reckon with this sudden historical backlash against the 20th century.
126
Read this to understand:
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2017/05/new-class-war/
What's the point of a column like this, more than six months before the elections? Last time around everyone thought Hillary would win - for months. She lost. All the chattering that she would win (or rather that Trump was too awful to win) meant nothing. If you are not a politician, there is no point in getting obsessed about this stuff until closer to election day.
13
Bob G..
It was never a given for this American that Hillary Clinton was going to win, and the enthusiasm in the rural region for Trump was blasting; reminiscent of standing in-line for the National Sweepstakes because he was going to give us jobs. He failed.
An elderly farmer's wife took this neighbor in, when we had a severe power outage, and she is voting Democrat for the first time at 85.
Cool heads are needed; we are 'obsessed' with pride. The Nation shudders. And, if you see purple or mauve, this American sees Blue. None of us wish to move to Siberia and are watching hard-earned liberties from our ancestors, some built on the torn back of slave labor, slip from our hands.
Bitterness is on the rise, with hope that Don will return to his home river and feed his raft of crocodiles to his pad before election day.
It could happen.
1
I'm assuming you're not a fireman.
1
I find myself angry with rich Republican donors who will contribute significant dollars to elect Blankenship. Apparently there are no ethics among many with wealth, except conning Americans as they seek freedom to denigrate our land and end most social programs. The rich supporting a man who placed money ahead of mine safety and placed his coal business ahead of clean water make a mockery of the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation..
154
The country elected a candidate who used bankruptcy to save his fortune and who is morally bankrupt as the POTUS, thanks mainly to people in states like West Virginia.
Roy Moore of Alabama, with all his problems, only lost by less than 2 percent. So, it is hard to predict what will happen in West Virginia and some of the other states where Trump won big.
56
Let us not forget that Mrs. Roy Moore was quite affable, even strident about supporting their 'Jewish Lawyers', the effect of leaving this American with a distinct preference for Roy Moore's Mare.
A razor's edge in this political turmoil is showing in the cards: Calling on Our States and Heartland to vote and win a red ribbon in blue long grasses under thunderheads, and before this coming November.
1
Texas is Texas. It's not the Texas that was. Beto O'Rourke will win. As for Missouri - McCaskill will not win any votes by voting to confirm Pompeo as Secretary of State. National Democrats should recognize the difference in the two races. O'Rourke is a genuine choice. McCaskill is Republican lite, but at least she is a vote against Hawley, who is Republican shallow and can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
93
I'm actively supporting a candidate for the first time. By that I mean, donating time and money. Despite everyone saying it's impossible for Beto to actually win, I choose to believe it's possible. How Ted Cruz could ever support and play nice with a man who insulted his wife like DT did is beyond me and speaks volumes about the character of the man. He's as despicable as Trump. Thanks for your positive energy around a Beto O'Rourke win!
6
If I were a Republican running for any seat anywhere anytime this year, the last thing I would want is a tweet endorsement from Trump. Instead of a boost, it is the equivalent of the kiss of death. Anyone doubting that only need look at special elections in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other states
When GOP candidates hear the screams of "Run!" they should make doubly sure they understand the intended meaning of the word...
40
The Senate may not flip in November but the House surely will and that will be the end of Mr. Trump. Hopefully a lot of great new people, the ones who still believe in public service not public trough, will move in. Right now it's up to the Democrats to get a clear and resonating message. Too many years of the Clinton addiction derailed talk of the future direction of the party. She didn't lose because of her gender but was allowed to be a candidate because of it.
The Republicans no longer care about the House, they want the next Supreme justice and will fight hard to retain those seats. The Democrats need to fight back, just as hard, and not just accept a House victory because it can impeach. More is at stake.
98
The Senate is much more important than the House because the Senate will confirm all of Trump's nominees for Federal judgeships, cabinet posts, etc. But given how many Democrats vs Republicans are up for re-election, flipping the Senate is unlikely. A Democratic majority in the House will restrain Trump but only a little: he will follow Obama and govern by Executive order.
9
An 'unprecedented' Executive Decision may take place to have Trump locked up at Margo Tower for his welfare, while our Country takes on the task of reinforcing our Foundation, revitalizing our Constitution and restoring our Nation's Soul, with strong will and concrete infrastructure.
The West Virginia water problem, thanks to convicted criminal Mr. Blankenship and others, is world-class bad. The water is so bad you cannot even let it touch your skin. For tens of thousands. Whose houses have lost all of their value, and who do not have the resources to move. It is no secret. The water was polluted by the coal companies, who used bankruptcy and other maneuvering to avoid fixing the damage they caused. As we all know, Mr. Trump's first acts in office included permitting the coal companies to operate without monitoring their water pollution or remedying it.
549
You could be describing Haiti. And with West Virginians probably facing worse health care.
12
A lot of people vote against their own interests because they believe that it's most important to ensure others remain beneath them. So let's leave people out of the picture for a moment. Poisonous water harms all life: maybe everyone can get behind the idea that wildlife is currently suffering and dying because of this industry's criminal acts and needs to be protected?
18
One wonders what would happen if someone filled a tanker truck with that contaminated water and sprayed in on Blankenship’s lawn.
11
It's not too hard to figure out. These weirdo and/or crooked Republicans running for the Senate are not outliers any more. They are the heart and soul of the party.
335
Beyond the destruction of American democracy it's hard to imagine what else republicans are useful for. The illusion of government I guess.
45
Remember though, that Republicans feel the same way about Democrats. This won't be resolved with a vote.
"eyond the destruction of American democracy it's hard to imagine what else republicans are useful for. The illusion of government I guess."
Or, perhaps one might say that Republicans now stand for — and have in fact become — government of, by and for corporations and the obscenely wealthy.
It's really hard to crunch the numbers, considering that the main variable ( why people voted for this administration by the slimmest of margins across 3 states > skewing the electoral college ) will not be included in the midterms.
That variable is the tax cut.
People voted for themselves ( and perhaps in a backlash of tribalism against the last 8 years ) and did not care one iota of what those consequences would be going forward.
Now that they have gotten their tax cut ( perceived or not ), there is nothing left to actually vote for, but so much to vote against.
They have seen what chaos has been brought about over the last year and a bit and I am sure they are going to come to their senses. ( regardless if republicans carried anything by massive numbers > special elections have shown that )
We shall see, but I am quite bullish on Liberals.
42
If a smidge over half of American voters could support Hillary without even TRYING to understand the financial machinations of the Clinton Foundation and despite that dismal and dreadfully-concocted email mess, then I hardly think that West Virginia Republicans should feel an obligation to justify their support of Blankenship – who may or may not conceivably win a primary then against Manchin. But one does hope that WV Republicans can find someone less controversial.
However, a lot of West Virginians, like a lot of East Kentuckians, constantly are balancing their desire for a cleaner environment with the need for jobs to feed their families, whenever coal comes up; and conclude that whenever coal comes up, prison sentences for mine safety violations and occasionally contaminated water also come up, but that they still need the work – heck, the only real alternative to many is somehow to get themselves to a blue state and pretend to be a Democrat just to avoid getting their trailers egged.
The fact that there are so many Dem senators up for re-election is just the way the coal lump rolls this time; and of the 35 Dems who ARE up, so many represent Trump states. But keep in mind that Trump’s approval rating among Republicans isn’t merely “significantly higher than his national number”, but is actually over 85% nationally, and in the key red states for Democratic senators, it’s undoubtedly even higher.
4
I’ve always regarded Claire McCaskill as having made some bargain with Satan. Missourians are dying to get rid of her, but every time it looks good, her opponent turns out to be what LBJ would endearingly call a MO-ron. This time it might not be the opponent but Gov. Greitens. We on the right are hoping for a resignation. But, one way or another, what’s happening in Missouri is hardly a “Republican meltdown”.
As a general matter, it’ simply foolish to be making predictions at this remove from an election – and I certainly haven’t: ANYTHING can happen. However, it’s very few who are foolish enough to see any hope for Democrats this year in taking the Senate.
"However, it’s very few who are foolish enough to see any hope for Democrats this year in taking the Senate."
I will make so bold as to predict I'll be quoting that back to you in November.
Just keep on drawing comfort from that 85-plus percent trump approval rating among Republicans. As everyone knows, elections are decided on the margins, and only a fraction of those voters need to abandon ship to flip a seat. And, by the way, that's 85% of a steadily eroding pool.
Finally, I'm not a defender of everything Clinton, but in all the smearing of the Clinton Foundation, I have yet to see chapter and verse about its so-called "machinations". You imply that you understand them. Very well. If you really are privy to that information, I'm sure you will be prepared to devote your usual 150% of the character allocation to shed some light on it, rather than heat.
187
The poverty rate and opiate usage in East Kentucky is way above the national average. The coal mining jobs are not coming back. Voting for Republicans is suicidal.
262
It is anybody's guess as to the senate election outcomes in the upcoming races. The country is in a fairly good position with a robust economy and positive outlook. People are employed and seeing their lives improving.
The Democratic National Convention's lawsuit against President Trump may be a boost for the Republican Party. People see this as another failed attempt to connect the Republican Party to Russian collusion. They are fatigued at all these investigations and want the country to stop wasting the taxpayers money. This could go towards so many meaningful programs and uses.
The Republicans need to stay on course and message and get out the vote. If things progress as successfully as they have been, they are likely to hold on to the senate. They must not take anything for granted and show real concern for the voters. They must meet with their constituents and listen and take them seriously. There is too much at stake to take the voters for granted. The chances could not be any higher and if they want to win they cannot sit on their laurels.
2
Don't forget that the last time the Democrats sued claiming the Republicans broke in, in 1972, they collected $750,000 of the $1 million they asked for.
"People are fatigued at all these investigations and want the country to stop wasting the taxpayers money. This could go towards so many meaningful programs and uses." Who pray tell will spend the taxpayers money on meaningful programs and uses?" Repubs? I don't think they are the least bit interested in meaningful programs and uses or they would have passed some legislation to that effect after 15 months of controlling the Congress. What better way to spend taxpayer money than to save the next elections from the intrusion of the Russians!
2
It is ironic to me that Republicans (who have the support of the religious right) seem to have a penchant for backing the least moral people for office. Their base will twist themselves into pretzels to excuse the behavior of Republican candidates whom they ordinarily would not allow to babysit their dog, nor guard their wallet. Blankenship is just the latest example of a Republican candidate who didn't let moral values get in his way of making money. He criminally put profits before the lives of people. He has a record for a serious crime, and would probably find it difficult to obtain employment if he were an ordinary citizen, let alone run for political office. However, he is apparently welcome in the Republican Party and is receiving at least some backing from that Party.
Over and over again we see that a social conscience is obviously optional for most Republicans. Yet, they hold all the reins of power right now at a state and federal level. What does that say about us as a country? What does it say about the effectiveness of the Democratic Party?
If we do not retake one House of Congress in the upcoming midterm election, I am afraid Trump will still be sitting in the White House come 2021. Right now Democrats need to do more than just fund raise. They need to find a message that will resonate with the majority of Americans. They also need to find a viable candidate to run in 2020, and start promoting that person now.
281
Diana: Thanks for the comment, in which there's a lot of important stuff to ponder and chew on. I want to start with something you mention toward the end: Democratic lack of message. There are many organizations--including, notably, Third Way in Washington, D.C.--working on this, but I agree that nothing is crystallizing and reaching voters that represents a lesson fully learned and an adjustment wholly made since 2016. This is troubling. As for 2020, I think there are MANY potentially viable candidates out there, as I wrote in this column maybe a month ago. What we don't know is whether one can catch fire, and whether that person will make as much sense in a general election as he or she does in a primary. As for the Republican Party, we should remember that some of the most galling candidates--Akin in 2012, Moore late last year, Blankenship now--were or are actually opposed and opposed mightily by traditional party leadership, which, yes, does way too much to indulge the base you mention, frequently caves to it but is also often simultaneously aghast at it. There's internal tension within the party, as there was during Trump's ascent and as people like McCain, Flake and Corker sporadically remind us. But what we've learned from the coddling of Trump is that tribal fidelity ultimately trumps morality and principle.
44
I'm betting the third way is where the Dems got "a better deal". The third way is populated with Clinton neoliberals who painted the Democrats into their current corner. What we need is the Democratic party way, something that goes beyond so-called identity politics, something that includes everyone, something that echoes the great movements from the party's past. The third way isn't the answer by a long shot.
Blankenship is emblematic of the modern mass of GOP politicians, functionaries, voters, who put self-interest over the interest of the nation and Mother earth. For the GOP, suicide; for the rest of the world population, GOP homicide called genocide. Anyone who rationalizes the time-sequencing is a Republican and an atheist. Not “or” an atheist. Mere atheists are not decidedly venal money-grubbers and are logically interested in earthly existence.
The GOP told us that if they had total government control and no interference from those pesky Democrats they would govern like no one's business. They were going to drain the swamp. Instead they still can't seem to get anything done and they're retiring rather than governing. Seriously, the GOP has lost its collective mind. The disconnect between the party and their base is just breeding insanity. The party is falling apart. There's nothing really to say other than wow, just wow.
146
Besides tax cuts, Republicans will attack trial lawyers and their "frivolous" lawsuits, designed to transfer money from rich insurers and corporations to injured plaintiffs.
One of the Republican attackers, ironically, is also an ex-plaintiff. Texas governor Greg Abbot was paralyzed in 1984 when an oak tree fell on him while jogging in Houston. He sued and received a $6 million settlement.
Trial lawyers are terrible people, until you need one.
45
Republicans know how to “minimize their losses.” That’s what they did in 2006.
In 2006, Democrats regained control of Congress, however, exit poll data shows that "there was gross vote count manipulation and it had a great impact on the results of E2006, significantly decreasing the magnitude of what would have been, accurately tabulated, a landslide of epic proportions." The same may happen in 2018 if our votes continue to be counted in secret.
Jonathan Simon and Bruce O'Dell: Landslide Denied: Exit Polls vs. Vote Count
https://tinyurl.com/y5fk4r
(The Election Defense Alliance website is down)
In the next two midterm elections Republicans beat the odds. They’re just “super lucky.”
In 2010, with 300 safe House seats Republicans won an unprecedented 128 of the remaining 135 seats with a small national vote share even though close races should break about even.
In 2014, the Republican Congress’ approval rating was in the single digits. The GOP wrecking crew swept up more seats despite the fact that progressive ballot measures passed by wide margins, even in non-blue states.
Our ballots, the memory cards, and source code have been deemed “corporate property.” The system has been set up for concealment. We don't conduct banking without a transparent and verifiable process, why are we putting blind faith in secret vote counts?
Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Norway went back to counting ballots by hand after realizing the vulnerabilities with computerized voting.
104
NYT: Computer Voting Is Open to Easy Fraud, Experts Say https://tinyurl.com/ycanp24r
“The list of flaws in the Diebold software is long according to the [John Hopkins] paper. Among other things, researchers said ballots could be altered by anyone with access to a machine [or central tabulator], so that a voter might think he is casting a ballot for one candidate while the vote is recorded for an opponent.”
Whistleblowers:
Tom Feeney, the Republican Speaker of the House in Florida asked Clint Curtis to write a vote flipping program in 2000.
https://tinyurl.com/y8jkhvog
Mike Connell, Karl Rove's IT guru, was killed in a single person plane crash in 2008 before he was scheduled to resume testimony in open court. The case was against Bush, Rove and Secretary of State Ken Blackwell regarding the 2004 presidential election in Ohio.
https://tinyurl.com/yctncqr6
Republican Stephen Spoonamore, Computer Security Guru, Election Theft with Voter Machines
https://tinyurl.com/y7855vmp
"It seems that in every single bizarre circumstance where exit data, polling data or informational data swings it's all been in favor of Republicans, but not the sort of Republicans I want to see in office. These are people who lie and who cheat. We've had numerous elections now where the vote is way off: 5, 10, 12% from the actual polling. These statistical numbers are impossible. Americans must come to the realization there are people in this country who want to steal elections and we must stop them."
71
I believe the fix is already in. The Russian connection is just a red herring. Republicans are too complacent regarding a Blue Wave, and seem unconcerned about losing the massive gains they've engineered for decades.
Democrats are known for being naive ("When they go low, we go high") and are foolishly hoping the Vote will save them. Where is their defense in depth, where are the contingency plans? They don't even have a bench.
If the Vote fails due to it not being recognized as valid, or because of martial law, or standard manipulation, or vote flipping software, or who knows - then what?
The Republicans have all the levers of power and all the guns. Their alt-media says that non-Republicans are not Americans and thus not citizens - so why would they recognize our votes? They have too much to lose - I don't see them quietly handing over power.
The Vote has often been manipulated in various ways and, considering the march of global nationalism, counting solely on the Vote as your Savior is most likely wishful thinking.
My feeling is that the Democrats may be about to be crushed by a Red Wave that comes out of nowhere, just like the last election.
25
Campaign finance reform First.
Then find a better way to "elect" judges who in NY traditionally "pay" for their judgeships. All for votes. Why in Queens NY are the ballots in Chinese as well as Spanish?
Blankenship sounds like he's the poster boy for today's Republican party: seedy, immoral, and willing to do anything for a buck.
If I were running against him, I'd run nonstop ads about the deaths of those miners, plus the chemical spill that polluted West Virgina streams.
I remember when both these things happened--in fact, had I not heard he was running just a few days ago, I'd never have believed it.
But that, to me, just shows the level of corruption and bad behavior that seems endemic these days. Missourians can't dislodge that weirdo governor with his sex scandals, along with new possible felony charges for campaign finance violations.
You can't make this stuff up.
But yes, Frank, Senate Republicans have a big fat mess on their hands, but never underestimate their ability to pull these hard races off, because remember how polarized we are.
If every endangered candidate simply blames his political opponents---taking multiple leaves out of Trump's book--there's a good chance they'll manage to stay in office.
In fact, given their success rate, one might think that scandals and misdeeds are actually a criterion for election victory.
113
AND he's running while on probation for a criminal offense!
4
You know the old Republican saying:
"Sure he may be a thief, a rapist, a pedophile, a murderer and an ex-con...but at least he's not a Democrat"
Republican voter brain damage is a serious pandemic.
I wonder what innovative public policy platform the 2018 crop of Renaissance Republicans will be running on ?
More Guns-Greed-and-God and White Spite to put food on the dinner table ?
More tax cuts for millionaires ?
A Twidiotic President that does nothing but start trade wars, Twitter wars and war with his own Justice Department who is Making Chaos Great Again ?
'Beautiful', drop-dead-gorgeous, clean, delicious, nutritious coal ?
Perhaps the Democrats will remember to shed some reality on the deranged electorate this year by explaining to them that infrastructure investment (JOBS), healthcare investment (JOBS and human survival), and green energy investment (JOBS) and the money to pay for them (higher taxes on the Koch Brothers) are the building blocks of healthy economies and prosperity.
The Republican Party's only real public policy is to steal from the poor and give to the rich, which apparently still has great appeal to the fraudulent Bible Belt and the brainless heartland.
It's famously hard to fix stupid, but we have to try.
Perhaps we can remind America's right-leaning voters that while being trickled on may feel very warm and soothing in the beginning, it leaves one cold, soaked and stinking like uric acid over the long term.
D to go forward; R for reverse.
667
I'm thinking of one of the wise sayings of my great fellow-Leo - Napoleon. "Never interrupt your enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself." But will the DNC notice? THAT is the $64,000,000,000 question.
19
Ruskin, the Republican Party has based its entire political platform on collapsing American IQs, which brings to mind another Napoleon quote:
“In politics stupidity is not a handicap.”
—- Napoleon Bonaparte
1
"being trickled on may feel very warm and soothing in the beginning, it leaves one cold, soaked and stinking like uric acid over the long term."
But trump will enjoy watching.
32
“He’s campaigning while on probation.“
Doesn’t that constitute a basic condition of probation—ie, that the person refrain from engaging in dishonest behavior?
32
violate, not constitute.
11
Blankenship can always replace Scott Pruitt as head of the E.P.A.
108
If Republicans in West Virginia do nominate and then elect Mr. Blankenship it may be time to call it a day for the citizens of that state. Democrats who'd like to run for office there should go ahead and switch parties and then, if elected, proceed to serve their constituents in the same principled manner they would if they had remained Democrats. Perhaps it's just the uniform that appeals to the good people of that state. Or perhaps it's the image of Donald Trump, who wouldn't know a coal mine from a wine cellar, standing up on behalf of the state's toxic industry and reassuring the suckers there that our government will make sure that their freedom to cough up coal dust at the expense of their lungs will somehow be maintained.
135
Frank, the story for the 2018 election will be told in the precincts of these states where GOP'ers can put their thumbs on the scale - where there will be more poll booths in better situated voting locations for GOP'er leaning areas, and the exact opposite in purple or blue areas.
It doesn't often enough get identified as a dirty trick, and is just as often concealed by public officials citing Fake 'budget costs' or 'availability' to excuse reasons for malfunctioning equipment, not enough locations, or any other of a number of alibis to excuse long voter lines.
All designed to paper over what are discouragements to Americans to exercise their primary right - to vote.
Such tactics are un-American on their very face, and officials not absolutely ensuring easy, equal access to polling booths are beneath contempt.
365
Here in Oz the law is that there must be so many polling booths per so many people. Even in reasonably remote Aboriginal communities of 200 odd people there is a polling booth and it reamins open all day.
20
Is it any wonder that much of the world is either laughing at the United States or, in the case of our allies, deeply concerned about the rapid loss of leadership by the president and the political party he now controls?
The Senate debacle in West Virginia and spreading across our country is symptomatic of Trumpism, an ideology of the far right with roots in the Tea Party and the extreme right. They found a voice in Trump and now we have an anything goes mentality when putting up candidates on the GOP side.
Our only way out of this mess is to vote, vote, vote in November. Joe Manchin isn’t ideologically pure enough? Forget about it. The character of this coal magnate in prison can win on Trump’s coattails unless Americans exercise their right to vote.
113
“...Our only way out of this mess is to vote, vote, vote in November.”
— – - — – - — – - — – - — – -
Not only “to vote, vote, vote...” but also "to accurately COUNT, COUNT, COUNT each and every vote..."
From all that I've read, most—if not all—of the problems in the 2016 elections are a direct result of the failure of our system to actually COUNT each and every vote.
Way too little attention is being paid to the fact that NOT all of the votes are being counted.
3
One could argue that without a 60 vote margin the Senate is the most ineffective wing of our present governmental triad. The abuse of the filibuster has made all but wholly agreed upon legislation impassable. I've heard the usual false equivalencies about who is to blame for this speed bump turning into a solid wall but, really, has anyone ever heard of anything remotely more seditious than the Republicans plotting to give Obama no legislative victories before he was sworn in or before any legislation was proposed, even if it was their own idea initially (see Obamacare)? We all know and can feel what the future holds (marijuana legalization, universal healthcare, stricter gun laws, equal pay for women, equal treatment for blacks, more diversity in hiring and less religious oppression) because these ideas make sense in a pluralistic society. However, I feel I will pass away before I see any of these changes because the right refuses to let progress proceed unless it benefits them politically and their donors financially. "We the People" are the last thing on their list.
242
Both parties bear some blame but I have two words about the decline of the Senate: Merrick Garland.
95
Democrats can make considerable gains, even a majority, in Congress this year if we put aside ideology and let candidates speak to the issues their immediate constituents care most about, and in a representative manner.
In recent months, we saw Doug Jones and Conor Lamb win upset victories for a Senate and House seat, respectively, although neither is a prototype Democrat. They both are hardly tools of Trump and the far right GOP agenda, so their victories are well worth it.
Republicans set up a trap of conforming to an inflexible platform (notably, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, who have resisted that pressure, are also out of the running). Democrats can be broader-minded than their counterparts, and in so doing, win Congress.
110
Concur. 1,000 percent. While it's hard to know definitively the precise lessons of Doug Jones, given that he was running against Roy Moore and that was an extraordinary situation, the lessons of Conor Lamb absolutely include the effectiveness of a candidate speaking to his or her district/state, regardless of whether that message winds up perfectly in line with party orthodoxy. And you are right: To the degree that it might diverge in Lamb's case, the party still isn't winding up with someone who will bow down to Donald Trump, so the victory is a real and important one. I think it is vital that for the remainder of Trump's presidency, there is a Democratic roadblock against his worst impulses in one chamber of Congress, and to that end I think it is vital that the party go with the best formula for winning and put purity tests to the side in those places where they're best left there. Thank you, NM, for stating so clearly and succinctly what I too believe. You should ghost-write a column or two for me going forward! I could use the vacation . . .
42
Broadminded is not enough. They also need to narrowcast ideological emotional issues designed to gin up fear and revenge, which are the best motivators of turnout. That's how the Republicans win with a minority.
No turnout, no winning Congress.
6
Thank you so much for your kind words to me and, as always, for your insightful columns. I would be delighted to help you with that needed vacation, though I would miss reading you. Fondest regards and best wishes to you.
It is staggering how bereft of morals today's Republican luminaries are. People who are responsible for mining disasters, revenge porn, completely inappropriate relationships with teenage girls should not be making decisions for the rest of us.
Which is why McConnell's laser-like focus on winning at all costs is so suspect. His goal of lining up a cast of characters hellbent on destroying the government, the environment, health care, education, land conservation, and women's lives makes him as unhinged as Trump, maybe more so because he does it so quietly.
It's a shame that Senators like Corker and Flake, who have stepped back from the insanity, will be overlooked, will be tarred as bipartisan. Today's Republicans have no right to the claim of 'GOP', they're Tea Party extremists and should be labeled as such.
395
I'm thinking of one of the wise sayings of my great fellow-Leo - Napoleon. "Never interrupt your enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself." But will the DNC notice? THAT is the $64,000,000,000 question.
7
Are there any Republicans who aren’t loathsome, self-serving or psychologically defective people? The fact that the president is the head of their party doesn’t say much for those who want to enable and apologize for him.
It makes you wonder if the Republican politicians who are eager to serve under this human outhouse fire have our best interests at heart, or if they’re simply reveling in the chaos he creates. Who’s watching the store while the boss has us transfixed with his legendary stupid antics? What minor crimes go unnoticed while the mob-boss-in-chief is distracting us with inane tweets unbefitting a slow schoolchild?
Many of these candidates are famous for their bizarre and disgusting behavior, whether it’s sexual, criminal or just abusive. And yet there are droves of voters who rally behind them because they think these hypocritical creeps are looking out for the little guy. They should know that they eat little guys for lunch, and then stick them with the bill.
When such a large part of the population of a country is no longer able tell that they’re embarrassing us as a nation while voting against their own interests, maybe America is done. The heartland has spoken, and the brainland is on the ropes.
This isn’t about electing politicians. It’s about determining the future of our country—and if we even have one.
599
gemli, we'll know in November if we, indeed, continue to have a country. It's almost too much to bear - this waiting - but we must. I walk around feeling semi-nauseous these days with this waiting.
158
It is not the politicians running for office, it is the people who vote for them. What kind of mentality favors a documented liar, a swindler, woman abuser, slanderer?
176
"This isn’t about electing politicians. It’s about determining the future of our country—and if we even have one."
We're inflicting dystopian science fiction on ourselves; now we have to figure out how to survive it. Maybe it's never been a question of if, only when. And we're not looking too good right now.
26