Mr. Trump "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time" - Abraham Lincoln
16
If true, why all the NYT cultural Marxist Opinion Kingdom propaganda? Not sure about that 93% above-the-fold "sure-thing" DNC Politburo "Blue Wave" this November?
3
Trump’s supporters love him only for one reason and that is the Trump’s rhetoric about race....white race. How can democrats beat that. Trump has made the “white American” scared and paranoid. Trump hates Obama only for one reason and that is president Obama was gutsy and intelligent black man. Average American is still clueless like trump about the benefits of Obamacare.
27
As a resident of Washington and someone who has spent a lifetime working for the interests of children with special needs and their families, nothing would please me more than to see McMorris-Rodgers lose her seat. She has supported taking away health care benefits from all citizens including those with disabilities. Interestingly, she has a child with special health care needs who is not at risk. He is the child of a retired military member who, due to his dependent status, will recieve military medical benefits as well as Medicaid and whatever benefits his mother’s cadillac medical benefits. No worries at all. How about all the other families with children who do not have the wealth of healthcare benefits McMorris-Rodgers family can provide. Not her problem.
34
@Kathleen
Despite socialists' and cultural Marxists' view to the contrary, the public weal is not without limits, e.g., England. At what point will doctors and nurses agree to minimum wage so that it might go on?
2
For those of us here in Spokane, such opinion pieces in national publications like the New York Times help to energize us. Many of us have wanted to flip the 5th district for quite some time. Not only does Cathy McMorris Rodgers does not represent our district but she hardly spends time here. She has in the past couple of months because she has a real threat in Lisa Brown.
What we really need is backing from national Democrats who may now believe that this district is in play. CMR has lots of money at her disposal from PACs like Paul Ryan's. This money was used during the primary to fund inflammatory tv ads that made it look like Lisa Brown was in favor of sex offenders.
Timothy Egan grew up in this area. His assessment of the needs and challenges we face in Eastern Washington are realistic.
22
I recall the election in which Mr Foley was defeated. I was amazed at the naivete (stupidity) of many of the district's voters who expressed astonishment at the fact that Ms. McMorris Rodgers wasn't chosen to replace Mr Foley as the Speaker. Does speak volumes, doesn't it?
3
Elite means being the best at something. It’s not a dirty word or anything to be ashamed of. Stop letting the Ivy League educated Rebuplicans who are the elite use it to demean serious scholarship of subjects and is so badly needed at this particular time in history.
Every parent, rich or poor, urban or rural would be beaming with pride and draped in sweatshirts emblazoned with Yale, Georgetown, Harvard, Berkeley, etc. their children, the elite.
Trumps poison is only lethal to people around him. He’s somehow sleazed his way out things for a while. But the politicians who choose to turn a blind eye or benefit from it are not my concern. The people who are truly hurt financially and physically and emotionally are the only ones I cRe about.
11
Thank you for this op-ed—it is about time some actuals facts get out there about McMorris Rodgers.
I’ve been reading her email newsletters for some time (not sure how I got on the list- being from Seattle and all), which are, to say the least, frequently misleading. She writes long and hard in her newsletter about causes that few will remember (such as the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program and the Resilient Federal Forests Act, both of which she takes enormous credit for), but she gives short shrift to the big ones (such as health care and tax reform).
Her newsletter on the tax reform bill was brief and peddled the plan as a “middle class tax cut”, which is absurd, and in a Fox Business interview she made the nonsensical claim that the tax plan is “pro-family” and “pro-economic growth”; you don’t have to do much due diligence to know that is poppycock. Of course, like every other Republican back then, when she came into office in 2005 she was adamantly opposed to any increase in the deficit. It’s pretty clear that McMorris Rodgers doesn’t actually think about all this stuff, she’s just another GOP sycophant.
I just hope the 5th District folks realize how badly they have been hoodwinked and make a change.
28
I do doubt that any diehard GOP voter, especially a Trump supporter, could ever bring themself to vote for a Democrat. I could never vote for a Republican. I've always been an independent, and both parties have a basic neoliberal agenda that ignores the everyday lives of those of us who are not very wealthy. But every advance in human and civil rights has come from the left.
It's hate for "liberals", a word that is an epithet to the right, that makes it impossible for ill informed, hate filled people to vote for a Democrat. The only hope in the fall is those voters with some part of their rational mind still operating.
I voted for Obama twice and was deeply disappointed in many ways. I'm a rationalist so I could admit that Obama messed up far too often. Bruce Rozenblit is right that Trumpers cannot admit they were conned.
If a voter will not admit they are wrong, they are not rational. Anyone who likes Trump is a reality denier. Fear-based hate and the denial of actual reality are ancient human traits, and the US has always been infected with the poison they cause. Let's hope voters with reason and good character take back the House at least.
The GOP has been successful because of hatred of liberal values(same as the biblical prophets), and sheer ignorance, masses of gullible suckers. Hate of people saying follow the golden rule. Hate of non whites, gays, "moochers", Muslims, socialism. Hate over pocketbook. Old ways die hard.
3
More precisely, Tim, you don't like Trump's policies. You provide no evidence other than a close primary that shows his policies are unpopular.
I can guarantee you that with the exception of the loony left (most of it) most people like:
1) A roaring economy
2) A very low unemployment rate
3) Forcing NATO to pay its fair share
4) Protecting our borders and controlling immigration
5) Getting N Korea to de-nuclearize
6) Confronting Russia when they misbehave
7) A fairer trade policy -- and stopping China from stealing our intellectual property
8) Fewer regulations that cripple businesses
9) Withdrawing from ridiculous and meaningless agreements like the Paris Accord (a worthless piece of paper and photo op for celebrities and politicians).
10) Re-doing the Iran agreement.
11) Forcing people to pay for health insurance they don't want.
Of course, I could be making this up. Sort of like you. But I do think it's hard to disagree with most of the general policies. Some of the details are problematic for some. And I don't agree with everything. And I think our growing debt (which isn't Trump's fault) is a big problem.
You don't like him. You don't like his style. Fine. But don't make stuff up. His approval rating is through the roof with Republicans and I believe it keeps going up overall. The only issue I see right now is who will be able to follow up 8 years of Trump?
7
They are not!! The democrats have lost they're way.
Remember they’re "No fly No Buy” stunt. They literally wanted to remove a Constitutional right from citizen if they get placed on a secret list by a secret court.
They swore a oath TO THE CONSTITUTION ! for gods sake right !
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/democrats-stage-sit-in-on-house-f...
Trey Goudy
https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/14267/
2
Funny statement "Nor do they need to send out trendy socialists from New York to districts where the main ideology is common sense." Politics in nearby Seattle is far more trendy socialist than those of NY. In fact the Settle city council is the most social activist governing body I have ever had to deal with. Mrs Rodgers voters don't have to look very far to see things about Democrats that they don't like.
3
A decent article, but it suffers from a serious blind spot. Ironically, while Egan takes a knee-jerk potshot at Ocasio-Cortez as a "trendy socialist" whose ideology is somehow incompatible with "common sense," he fails to understand that the core of her platform is a set of policy answers of precisely the type he is advocating. This means improving access to healthcare, education, and jobs that provide a living wage. It is "socialist" only in the sense that some European countries that provide a far better minimum standard of living are "socialist." I'm sure Fox News wants people to think of Stalin when they hear that term, but the real model is represented by the Scandinavian countries, among others.
Ocasio-Cortez has taken the position that most voters aren't interested in "ideology," they're interested in whether they can afford to see a doctor or send their kids to college. Or even make rent this month. Egan seems to get this, yet is blinded by academic issues of ideology. The result is the incoherent message that Democrats must shift to the right to appease Republican voters who will never vote for them, yet also somehow push a platform with socialist elements. The term "socialist" doesn't have to be applied, but the policies that energized BOTH the Trump base and the Ocasio-Cortez supporters were inherently socialist. Voters don't want raw capitalism, where the largest corporations determine if you starve or survive. The left and the right agree there.
2
I think it’s more like 49.999 percent hate President Trump and 50.001 percent like him. Granted it’s a real small number of respondents - two - but I did some Democratic gerrymandering, and viola more people like him than don’t. Don’t you just love political science. It’s just so accurate.
2
Lisa Brown is playing exactly right - focus on the issues. Trump's unfitness speaks for itself at this point, as does Republican hypocrisy and complicity. The nation overwhelmingly supports the Democrats on the bread and butter domestic issues of healthcare, Social Security, education, the environment, public works, gun control, and now tariffs, just to name a few. The Republicans have constructed a dam against the will of the majority with gerrymandering, voter suppression, Citizens United and the Electoral College. It might turn out that the election of the unqualified and seemingly incompetent Trump is so outrageous that it might finally burst the dam. Over 14 years Rodgers has proven to be an ice cold patsy for the super-rich and should be defeated.
25
I reside in the Congressional district of this horrible woman, and look forward to the chance to vote against her in November, along with my wife and two voting-age daughters. I gave $250 to Lisa Brown and have knocked on doors for her. I'll be doing more as we approach the general election. It's what I can do to try to save a country in peril.
The big money is pouring in from outside the state, though, and it will be a hard fought battle.
21
The main ideology is common sense? So why have they voted for someone who, as you say, hurts them?
We teach our children to be aspirational-“anyone can be president”and then when they are (like the DSA) we chide them as immature...rather you did. This whole idea of being a buzzkill=grown-up is getting old
1
"Trendy socialists?" How utterly dismissive.
9
YES. Trump distracts with tweets, but we can distract ourselves with our reactions to them. The man is a terrible President. His policies are horrible and hurt the very people who voted for him.
People know how repugnant he is, and they still voted for him. The message we need to get across is how much what he's done, and not done, is hitting everyone where it hurts.
1
Democrats need to remind folks that not many people are more ‘elite’ than a republican member of congress.
6
Leaving it all on the field for the WA 5th:
1. Gift billions to millionaires and billionaires.
2. No raise to the federal minimum wage.
3. Farmers bankrupted.
4. No infrastructure jobs.
5. Repeal affordable health insurance.
6. No effort to strengthen Social Security or Medicare.
8
I live in Washington State and was very encouraged by the primary results in this race. I've been disgusted by McMorris-Rogers for a long time, and this feels like a real opportunity.
I like Mr. Egan's view that Lisa Brown is focusing on the basic-life things that matter to people rather than all of this distracting craziness of the Trump circus and the national GOP collaborators.
I hope all Democrats get this message -- make it local, make it real, make it FOR something rather than AGAINST someone (no matter how stunningly horrendous he is). Help people fix problems, and stick to basic ethical boundaries. That's the beginning of good government and that's what we need to get back to.
34
Amen!
2
Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that what really divides the United States is race. People are loathe to admit it but that (in my opinion)is the crux of the problem Why else would a white person call the police on a black child selling lemonade, or a black student sitting in the student union eating lunch? The list goes on. That white person is afraid to speak to a person of another race; possibly they have never had occasion to speak to someone of another race and are afraid? Trump is only a symptom of an issue that will continue to divide our country. All across the globe people are zealously holding on to their "culture" or their "race". Governments everywhere have swung to the right.
If we fail to unite as a planet and declare that we are all humans and our culture is "Earth" we will fall to a dystopian future so popular in current literature and movies.
19
“Voters who haven’t given a sniff to....”. Nobody, repeat, nobody should ever sniff a politician. It’s neither nice nor healthy.
4
Another pundit trying to tell us the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
Whites have been voting against their own self interests certainly since 1994, assuredly since 1980, probably since 1968, most likely since 1964 and beginning in 1935 before the ink dried on the Social Security and Wagner Acts.
Why does Egan think 2018 will be any different? Trump? Please!
Wisconsin dairy farmers have been quoted in this paper as saying they will pour their milk into the ground (due to tariffs) in support of Trump because he will take care of them in the long run.
8
Why does he think 2018 will be any different? Because even in solid red districts, Ds are winning or coming in virtually even with Rs.
2
Socialism is "trendy" now? I've waited my whole life for this moment.
11
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (or CMR, as the local shorthand goes) has been running a dishonest and misleading ad about Lisa Brown and state legislation re: sexual predators - a bill was initially introduced and flawed - Brown voted for the stronger version and it passed. Of course, CMR refuses to back down, even when hundreds of local Child abuse and prevention experts and health care providers signed a letter of protest that was published in the Spokesman Review (Sunday, Aug. 5, page A7 - worth a look). Brown and CMR just announced that they will debate on 9/19 in Spokane. That should be one for the ages!
17
If McMorris Rogers loses to Lisa Brown, give the bulk of the credit to China. While Brown herself is a strong candidate, a Democratic victory in Eastern Washington will require outside help.
When Trump launched his idiotic tariff war, China targeted US agricultural goods for retaliatory treatment. Farmers abandoning Trump in rural America will likely be the deciding factor in his demise. Losing the farm vote is a big deal in itself, but it also sends a potent symbolic message to the larger rural community for whom farmers serve as opinion leaders.
7
The fact that new data (see today's WashPo) shows that non-voters handed the presidency over to Trump in 2016 means that we must urgently make these people see how very important their votes are this coming November. We must all talk about this and advertise this fact nonstop until the elections. No need to point fingers directly at particular individuals, let them keep their names anonymous as we don't want to possibly alienate them, but we must make all the non-voters aware that their decision to not vote was a vote for Trump! They must examine their own consciences and take some responsibility for today's state of affairs because they and must vote without fail come November.
11
This year we have the perfect combination to dump McMoRo. 1. An electorate that is getting more progressive (younger, college educated, etc.) 2. An incompetent incumbent who hasn’t commented with us for years and who come out solidly for Trump early on so there’s no denying it now and best of all 3. A Democratic challenger in Lisa Brown with great credentials and the campaign energy of the energizer bunny. She’s been everywhere doorbelling, holding Lemonade with Lisa gatherings in parks, marching in every little summer festival parade all over the district. Cathy is never seen because people ask her hard questions. We vote by mail in WA. Many ballots come in on Election Day and they aren’t all processed yet. Lisa leads in Spokane county by a few thousand and there are 40000 still to count as of today. I predict when they are all counted she will pull ahead in the district.
16
There is a reason working class whites everywhere today, but traditionally in the heartland of America, overlook their own economic interests, abandon the Democratic Party and vote for the pro-rich Republican Party.
They do not see our politics as helping them live their lives. Additionally, they are put off by the political game which features elitist politicians courting powerful corporations so they can get rich and stay rich.
Given these failings, working class whites are easy prey for Republican Party candidates and operatives’ angry, paranoid, nationalistic, blame-laying, social appeals that falsely explain to them their problems in a digestible manner and offer simplistic and apparently achievable solutions.
The Republicans then make a deeper connection with these voters by making them feel like they are an indispensable part of a necessary movement.
The only way Democrats can break this emotional connection and win back some of these voters is to gently talk up the pocketbook issues while ignoring the expected attacks by those who cannot be persuaded.
14
Republican' s strength is that they rely on lock step belief in the party line. But it is also their weakness in that they eventually find it hard to respond to changing local conditions. They spout the line like puppets that the ACA is evil incarnate while places like Kentucky have learned to depend upon it. They spout the line that Republicans are the party of physical responsibility while it is always under their watch that deficits soar. They talk about free trade and the security of the nation and support wars and huge weapons build ups that give us no security as they denigrate ties to friends. When Republicans abandon common sense and ridiculous uncommon sense becomes the norm eventually even they may see the ridiculousness of their position.
8
To win, the Democrats have to understand on a pure emotional level why decent folks voted for Trump and why many coninut to support him.
My guess: bitter, past-their-prime men whose life achievements have not meant their personal expectations. Trump is the man they would like to be -- openly hateful, lustful, greedy, the most powerful bully.
Consider Oprah as an emotional antidote.
7
Thanks, Mr. Egan for another thoughtful piece of writing. (I do wish that the NYT had included a picture of Lisa Brown instead of McMorris Rogers.) The choices that Republican voters have been making for many years, to support a party who would stand on their child's neck and then lie about it, appear irrational until race and racism is factored in, whereupon they look truly despicable.
15
The fight in my district is real. Spokane is slow counting the ballots, but it looks good for Lisa Brown. And the reasons all come down to the inability of CMR to identify as a Washingtonian. She is in lock step with the Republican Leadership. She blindly repeats, and sometimes authors, Republican orthodox. She is, quite frankly, as close to "generic Republican" as it gets. And under Trump, she, like all of the "generic Republicans" has become an extreme radical.
Also, I hate to point it out, but our district under CMR doesn't get the same pork we got under Foley three decades ago. Just saying.
19
@Edward Allen
Yes! They feel safe so they become the “lock-step vote” for Republicans in Congress. They don’t legislate for their district but take their NRA money or whatever they can lay their hands on and vote on whatever is best for the party not their constituents. Same here in California district I’m in-we are fighting and have a good chance of flipping the district to Blue!
4
Disproportionate *number* of people. Not disproportionate “amount”. As a person, with some experience of being a person, I can assure you that we come in numbers, not amounts. Please confer on us the grammatical honor of countability.
6
I hope that Republican enablers or President Trump like Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, are voted out of office. Her obsequious support of this Presidential administration filled with grifters, that supports denying people access to affordable health care, and that gives tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires while expanding the national debt is severely injurious to the people of her district. Furthermore, her enablement of this administration risks a ruinous trade war due the whims of an ill- tempered, egomaniacal president. This trade war harms the farmers in her district.
9
Complicit Cathy has to go.
12
I live in Eastern Washington and am a huge supporter of Lisa Brown. She really stands a very good chance of toppling Cathy McMorris Rodgers off her longstanding perch in Congress. Cathy has so far greatly underestimated the appeal of Lisa, who is a moderate Democrat--the only kind of Democrat who stands a chance in Eastern Washington. It will be a close race. There are many people who live in this area who will vote for Cathy no matter what, simply because she is a Republican. But we also have a fair amount of true independent voters and a good number of liberal transplants like myself who could make the difference in electing Lisa. Cathy has run some truly horrific ads and has sent some equally bad direct mail pieces filled with lies about Lisa that have caused a big backlash and have fired up the liberal and independent base. We'll see how that translates to votes in November.
13
Trump won because he saw something few other politicians did: a deep well of resentment in our federal government. It just didn't work for the common person. Now he hasn't fixed that, but he understood their frustration. He was the last candidate standing who promised to help the little guy.
Democrats who want to flip their district this year would do well by tapping that same well, because the frustration is still there. Trump and the Republican Congress have only made things worse. So run on the theme of restoring democracy which gives the average person a real voice. This is the key to enacting policies like more secure health care, fairer, more progressive taxes, repairing our infrastructure, improving our environment, and investing (instead of tearing down) our public education system.
Candidates need to explain that restoring fair voting rights, limiting dark money, eliminating gerrymandering, and changing congressional rules to force compromise are the keys to getting what the people want.
4
Let me correct Mr. Egan. McMorris Rodgers has worked for the government or a politician ALL of her adult life. The more these anti-government types hate the government, the more they cling to their government jobs. The real question for me is why her constituents vote for someone who is only in it for herself. She votes against their interests when the party tells her to do so. Her opponent needs to point this out over and over and over again.
17
All hands on deck. The ship of state is in crisis. What we Democrats need is...everyone. We need conservatives, we need moderates, we need liberals, we need progressives, we need socialists.
I don't care if you love Nancy Pelosi or hate her...either from the left or from the right. Let her district decide her fate. Let the reps in the Democratic caucus vote whoever they want for leadership. I'm for democracy. I'm all for having diversity within the party...diversity of gender, diversity of skin color, diversity oF religious preferences...and yes, diversity of political leanings. As long as the core beliefs hold, we are still on the same team.
Connor Lamb and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the same team? YES. Elizabeth Warren and Joe Manchin? YES. Even if they only agree 50% of the time, it's still better than 0% of the time we get with Trumpublicans.
Everyone running should tailor there message to their district or state. Hey, they represent that district and that state. If their state or district is not some microcosm for the whole country, what would you expect? Where politicians get in trouble is paying more attention to Washington, DC than their district. So...represent your district and if the rest of the country doesn't like it...too bad.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
27
Is the Democratic Party a detriment to progressive politics?
What is the Democrats function other than to give the trump voters something to hate worse than their own unhappy lives.
I realize the progressive ideas that the Democrats represent win all the time in opinion polls, but what's the point if people won't vote that way.
My Congressman is John Sarbanes. He represents my views. We had a townhall Monday and numerous people expressed their political issues which Sarbanes agreed with. So what? As a minority Congressman his views are worthless.
I don't think anything changes until the disaster the Republicans are leading us into occurs. Even taking over the House by the Democrats can't stop that train now. I think we'd be better served if the Democrats are totally out of the way while that disaster takes shape. The pain will be very great but when common sense in the electorate fails, it is the only way
2
A Democratic woman legislator who can connect with other mothers and with the concerns about healthcare with the people in her district - What a rara avis compared to Cathy McMorris Rodgers! Whenever there is a photo op of the top Republicans in the House, there will be Rep. Rodgers hovering in the background, the same way that VP Pence hovers behind Trump. Wallpaper has no place at the table.
At that despicable fund-raising dinner where Republicans talked arrogantly to each other, ignoring their constituents in favor of moneyed folk, a lot was revealed. Nunes should be removed from his chairmanship and investigated (again) on ethics violations. He openly spoke of what would happen if Mr. Mueller did not "clear the president" and openly claimed that Mr. Rosenstein should be impeached, regardless of any nonpartisan investigation or cause. Rodgers went along with this. Nunes was supposed to recuse himself since he has a conflict of interest, as a member of Trump's transition team.
Rodgers herself was found to violate Congressional ethics in 2015 when she used campaign funds to pay a staff member to help her campaign. Rodgers has a 92 score from the Family Research Council, a hate group, and 0 from the League of Conservation Voters.
Lisa Brown holds a doctorate in economics and cares about the bread-and-butter issues in her own state.
Excellent Democratic choice for Washington State!
14
Dream on.
I Iove when educated, worldly, costal, pundits try to figure out how "the dumb people way out there" think and also continuously give them the benefit of the doubt on having some kind of well thought out rational for voting against their own interests.
Reading that they actually benefit from Obamacare but voted to topple it gives me a right to call dumb just that - dumb. No shame in that no matter how we are told we should see Trump voters as "nuanced".
Mr' Egan's whole column is an exercise in this futility weekly.
6
Forget about issues when trying to explain American politics. We like to think that the electorate is wising up and voting for the "right" party (whichever that is at the moment) and throwing the bums of the "wrong" party out, but the whole process is best explained as a pendulum: It swings one way, hovers a bit (for about 8 years), then swings the other way. The swinging has little to do with what the party that is out of favor does to regain favor, and more to do with the fact that the middle ground of the electorate, you know, the ones nobody pays attention to, are a fickle lot and get tired of the party that is in office after about eight years and throws them out. That formula might get tweaked a bit when a particularly incompetent president holds office (like Trump), pushing the pendulum to swing a little early, but it generally holds. It certainly explains why Clinton lost - the Democrats had held the presidency for eight years and it was time for the pendulum to swing towards the Republicans.
It's still gays god and guns. People will vote against their self interests because, a: they really do hate gay people, and they hate trans people even more. they want them out of visible range. b: they worship a vicious and vindictive god who hurls fire and brimstone and has an abiding interest in, not only defeating his (not her) enemies but seeing them suffer. Seeing enemies suffer is huge to them. Thus c: guns kill, painfully, horribly, and with finality, suffering and lots of blood. They love that in their movies, their tv shows, they love the sense of power it gives them. The bigots who are McMorris Rogers and company will never change. Our only hope is to outnumber them. Vote!
3
Cathy Rodgers, and Devon Nunes, are repulsive, and it behooves all voters, who hate this administration and these corrupt Republicans, to donate to their political opponents (Democrats,) even if it's only 10 bucks. Speak, act, donate, vote! It's YOUR country. Would you like to keep it?
10
Trump did exactly what he said he'd do. Exactly.
The people who you are trying to explain to us and empathize with VOTED for him.
Yet, they want Obamacare and hate Tariffs/Anti-Globalism because 90% of their crops are sold overseas.
You can't explain that to me logically and you can't cure stupid.
8
Readers are indebted to Mr. Egan for giving us a woman’s point of view.
1
Vote her out!
6
"Elites"? Aren't they talking about themselves? Who among us is more elite than the billionaire class to which Trump claims to belong? Yeah, I think it is high time we talked about "elites", and I sure don't mean people with a college degree and a mountain of debt to show for it.
13
One line in Egan’s piece caught my eye: “And in those 14 years, she has consistently voted for things that hurt people in her district.” At what point will the electorate wake up and understand that anyone who blocks our rights and basic governmental services is not worth having in office? When will people understand that so many in government are self-serving voting for their own interests (and of the PAC monied interests), not ours? When will the bad behavior of our elected politicians, either through their questionable voting or deeds, be enough to vote them out of office? Another great piece, Mr. Egan. Keep up the pressure and maybe we’ll get back to managing this country on a true bi-partisan basis where the winner doesn’t take all.
10
Hope abides, but I suspect the habit of voting against one's best interests and voting for supposed "values" will be a hard habit to break...
5
McMorris Rodgers was my representative in college. She continued to represent me in my first job in a tiny rural town far west of Spokane, and again when I moved to Washington's wine country for another gig. She has never represented me or the communities I've lived in well (and indeed, once almost ran me over with her car; a different story). I've been fighting her (as much as I could, given professional constraints) and voting against her for nearly a decade.
Imagine my immense disappointment that when we finally have a tremendously qualified and exciting candidate running against her, I live 300 miles away, in another part of Washington, and volunteering is off the table, for reasons of distance and professional rules.
Alas, I'll focus on voting against her acolyte and for another professional product of the Washington State University system, Carolyn Long, in Washington's Third.
8
@Ami Lamb I live in Camas, WA and donated to both Carolyn Long and Lisa Brown's campaigns before primary day because I want to flip mine and can't stand CMR's smugness about taking away healthcare while her 3 kids are covered no matter what under her retired husband's military insurance. Ironically CMR's district is the second highest user of the WA state health insurance exchange in the state. The only higher user is one district over - the 4th where it appears Dan Newhouse is safe - so if the house goes blue I suggest all the GOP voters in the 4th, receiving ACA subsidies, give them up to protest not loosing their coverage :(
7
@Ami Lamb
Another fabulous candidate in Washington in the 8th District House race is Dr. Kim Schreier, a sensible doctor, scientist, mother who has been running a clean upright campaign addressing the issues the people care about: affordable health care, women's health care being between a woman and her physician, gun safety, access to clean air and water, good public education. https://www.drkimschrier.com/
Washington voters have a chance to replace the GOP in the 3rd, 5th and 8th House Districts. Get out the vote and get rid of these Gas Oil Party brigands, poltroons and anti-democratic oligarchs.
9
There was a time when strong American values such as self-reliance and freedom to choose could be held in abeyance for the common good.
Consider Social Security: Everyone must participate, no choice here, but that lack of choice is compensated by a defined benefit.
Obamacare before Trump: Everyone must participate, no choice here, but that abridgment of freedom offended the (shortsighted) healthy and did not sufficiently lower the premium.
Obamacare after Trump: No more forced participation, there is freedom here, but the price of that freedom--higher premium or no coverage--is not felt by the rich or the healthy.
Obamacare after Trump: We accept social security tax so let us accept medical care tax. No need to talk about mandates.
With determination, Democrats should advance the cause for a healthier US by reaching back to the greatest nation building and defending years of our country under FDR.
5
Tim,
This opinion piece is encouraging. I know this district and there are others like it. Trump's trade policies are hurting them, but what I am not sure of will it be enough for the voters to realize that it is in their best interests to change the majority in the House so that the Congress can demonstrate the principle of separation of powers contained in the Constitution.
I was around when Mr. Foley lost his seat. It was unbelievable to me but I was told by the head of the Democrats from the district that the voters thought the new person elected would become the speaker!
2
Well I know one thing: I am seeing red and ready to flip out if we don't end this horrible reign of Trumpism and Republican extremism sooner (2018) rather than later (2020).
August 2018 Gallup Poll: 54% disapprove of the job Trump is doing; 41% approve. Trump has never reached even a 50% approval the whole time he has been in office. 89% of Republicans approve; 33% of Independents, and 7% of Democrats.
The Democrats have the edge, but it is going to be all about turnout in 2018 and 2020, and you know the Trumpsters are going to be out in force to support their president.
6
Restore the safety net for working Americans! We don’t have to say “socialim”; that’s not what this is. We want a society in which there are jobs, yes, but even if those jobs don’t pay health benefits (most don’t) then health care is available anyway, childcare is available at reasonable cost, college doesn’t break a family, long term care doesn’t send a family into bankruptcy, and one doesn’t need to have saved 2 million for retirement just to be comfortable. Too many things are out of whack for us in the middle class. We used to have tax policies and safety net programs that helped families manage such things.
In the days when American WAS great, the rich paid very high taxes, corporations believed in rewarding the communities in which they were based, the rich didn’t have off shore accounts to hide their money, and we welcomed immigrants because we welcomed their contribution to society. A few generations later, our policies and our perspectives have changed. Would we rebuild a Germany and Japan under a similar Marshall Plan now, for all the goodwill that achieved? Sadly, probably not; witness Iraq.
But we must turn back the clock to resurrect the vision of a vibrant middle class. Without it, our society will collapse into civil unrest. I hope for a blue wave and the unseating of hypocrites who vote against the interests of their constituents. There was never a better example than McMorris Rodgers, Mr Egan.
21
Healthcare, healthcare, healthcare!
All Americans are affected.
Dems need to focus on this number ONE issue.
Even if some voters are happy with their current healthcare benefits, they know that it's still in serious jeopardy with the GOP in power.
Or...they have a family member or friend who is affected by Trump's cuts in healthcare benefits.
8
Obviously, trump doesn’t read these posts because he doesn’t read. And you can bet that his cronies surrounding him in the white house won’t read them to him.
I believe, though, that it does help to rant about, and at, trump. It releases some anger and it gives one pleasure to be able to do that without fear of getting arrested———yet.
So here goes:
trump is a lying, arrogant, uber egotistical, womanizing, putin loving, ignorant, misogynistic, stupid, cheating, wannabe dictator who doesn’t care for anybody but himself. And he can’t read either.
It comes down to this: ALL Democrats, Republicans, independents and all people of good conscience and integrity, no matter what party you signed up for, who love our country, who have high morals and ethics must vote in all local and national elections. Sitting back and letting the "other" person do it is a sure vote for trump and the GOP. We must NOT let this happen.
If the GOP isn’t ousted this November it will make trump even more dangerous. He will consider it a green light to do whatever he wants and we will then be on our way to becoming the Dis-United States of Russia.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN - DUMP TRUMP and all of his buttkissing sycophants in the crooked GOP!!
No, that won’t get rid of trump but it will be a big step in the right direction.
12
Most Republicans believe that if they like their liar, they can keep their liar. Period.
6
Blue, and Ready to Flop
2
Were it only true, but just as Trump simply proclaims his fantasy of what reality is, so do you. So far, the candidates he endorses win.
He proves daily a determined minority, a self righteous mob, can direct the course of an indifferent nation.
Racists, gun fanatics, Aryan nation members, may be relatively small, but they can seize the wheel of the ship of state and we all sail blithely along.
4
@Claudia
"So far, the candidates he endorses win."
They win primaries. But often not general elections.
The GOP is shrinking - already down 5% in numbers since the 2016 election. Mr. Trump enjoys a large piece of a shrinking pie.
6
I would like to believe this, and so would fellow progressives. But we have not forgotten how loud, and misinformed, the echo chamber was at NYT and other progressive media during the presidential election. All we heard for weeks, months really, was how far ahead Clinton was in some polls. By some accounts, at various points on the timeline, she had better than a 90% chance of winning. NYT especially promoted this view. Progressives were lulled, I think, into a false sense of security. Maybe that accounted for less voter turnout, aside from disaffected Bernie Bros. Anyway, let's not make this gross error again, please. Give it to us straight. Optimism, yes... but realism as well.
1
Every congressional district has about 750K citizens. (327 million divided by 435). This week's Ohio special election only turned out about 202K votes. Let's be generous and say, a third of those 750K citizens are too young or otherwise ineligible to cast a legal ballot...That leaves 500K eligible, yet only 40% of them cast a legal ballot in this election! What happened to the other 300K of voters?!
That's the reason the country runs like an engine on pure heptane...Too many of us shirk our civic duty! Politicians have no reason to fear, obey, listen to or craft policies that favors folks who do not vote. Polls can be ignored, elections cannot.
If we want to bring them to heel, we have to pick up the leash. Vote!
[Once we have a Congress that is responsive to citizens, we need to decrease the ratio of citizens to representation. Something like Article the First.]
4
Mr. Egan -
I think you could have written this fine column without disparaging the "trendy socialists from New York" who by the way are offering an ample dose of common sense themselves.
6
Democrats must push the message over and over about who the real elites are. They are the CEOs, hedge fund managers, and trust fund billionaires whom Trump and the Republicans in Congress cater to. GOP policies benefits these affluent plutocrats to the detriment of the rest of us. Why haven't the Dems made it clear that is is Trump and his cronies who are the elitest of the elite?
9
Yes I’d rather be American than Republican.
8
“ gays, guns and God “. The unholy trinity, for the GOP. Well, here’s another : GRIFTERS. That exactly what they are, OR their enablers. ENOUGH. VOTE in November. Straight Democratic ticket. It’s the only way to save our Country. Seriously.
3
Nonsense.
The white American majority voted 55%, 59% and 58 % Republican in the 2008-2016 Presidential elections because the Republican Party is the partisan political party of, by and for the white Judeo-Christian Christian majority in America.
See "Dog-Whistle Politics : How Coded Racial Appeals Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class " Ian Haney Lopez
4
@Blackmamba
Very interesting comment. Will look up the article you mentioned.
"Nor do they need to send out trendy socialists from New York to districts where the main ideology is common sense."
And who is the "they"? And what does Timothy mean by "trendy"? It sounds like his own version of "gays, guns and God."
3
Unfortunately many, including his base, still believe what he says, even though what he is doing is already hurting them.
I just hope that there won’t be too many suicides when they realize that they have been conned. He is a great con man.
People voted selfishly for their tax theft, radical right wing judges and out of tribe. - that's it,
The ''base'' got a meager (17% of the overall that will sunset) tax cut, while the rich and corporations (83% of the overall that was permanent) got the lion's share.
The ''base'' got their judges - one seat that was stolen, and one seat that will probably be voted in that will take away even more of their rights. ( A women's sole right to have dominion over their own bodies)
The white backlash is self explanatory as this administration put babies and children into cages, as they took them away from their parents that did nothing but claim refugee status - the base wildly cheered over that one.
I cannot tell you how many interviews I have seen of that base where there is a man and a woman. The woman is explaining that they have both lost their health care and are not sure what they are going to do. The man declares immediately that he is satisfied with the administration/President and that they BOTH will be voting for the President and party again. The woman looks away as if in disbelief and shame.
THAT is what Democrats are up against, Do we simply right off these people, or do we continue to try and placate them ?
The eternal question.
2
You forget the tons of GOP voters who blindly vote GOP!
2
"Yes, a majority of Americans find Trump repulsive — his lies, his pathological narcissism, his lack of decency, his illiteracy of democratic principles. But more important, his policies are not popular. "
Trump sickness (sick of Trump) is not enough to run a government.
Just as Trump's sicknesses (hatred of immigrants and all things critical of Trump) are not enough to run a government.
But hate is a quick and dirty unifier--and so people vote against things they hate--without considering the replacements or consequences. Thus attack ads--hate propaganda--are effective.
Don't rest content with saying "good riddance" to Trump. Aim for government FOR common people. Even Trumpies--being bilked by Trump and--apparently--loving it.
1
I hate to be a wet blanket, but a "dead heat" doesn't comfort me.
You have to drill down to analyze the numbers. Lisa is ahead in Spokane county by 4,000 votes. Because we have all mail-in elections day of ballots are still being counted. There are still 40000 Spokane county ballots to count. The other counties in our district that reached from Oregon to Canada have very small populations and their ballots are counted already. Also Lisa’s primary showing is much larger than anybody Cathy faced in the past. Remember this is the district of former Speaker Tom Foley.
6
It's the Policies, People!
2
Outwardly Pious equals Inwardly Cruel.
Seriously.
9
At the end of the day, you would hope that people would vote for the ones who are trying to do it “ for you,” instead of the ones who are in support of doing it, “to you!”
4
Thanks for revealing the sinister nature of McMorris-Rodgers, who like other Republican congresswomen appears on the surface to be quiet and homespun, but is dangerous because of her abject failure to thrown shade on the woman-hating, race-baiting leader of her party.
3
Trump is the most incompetent, corrupt businessperson I have ever known. His entire career has been built on bilking people, not providing services or a product. This leopard spot's have not changed even though he was elected via the Electoral College to lead the most powerful nation on Earth. How dare he not take this responsibility serious. How dare Republicans, and the American people, allow him to continue unchecked as president. To vote Republican is to vote for Trump. This November realize democracy hangs by a thread due to Trump and the compliance of his party. Vote like your very existence depends on it. It does.
DD
Manhattan
11
The most important thing that happened this week in American politics is Infowars getting shut down on major social media platforms. This is more important than *almost* winning (again) some red state Congressional district.
3
The problem is, most Republican voters are white or affluent or both. When your race confers automatic advantage or when your money confers automatic power, there is no reason to vote Democratic. White affluents don't care about people who can't afford health insurance. All they care about is taxes and maybe government regulation that restricts their business activities. If they are fundamentalist Christians, they may want respect and political power for their version of faith, morality and family. Many whites of modest income have definitely benefited from subsidized premiums and other parts of Obamacare, but they cannot admit that. It would destroy their self-image that sets them apart from "lazy welfare bums (aka black people)." So I cannot imagine how the Democratic candidate can wrest their votes from the Republican candidate except by appealing somehow to their disgust for the embarrassing morals, corruption and rhetoric of Trump.
1
Women got the memo. Men didn't
4
My basic idea for a bumper sticker/ slogan for Dems:
Vote vor cruelty and corruption. Or vote for the Democrat.
Can someone fix it?
1
You (like so many others) disparage "trendy socialists" being sent to places where, supposedly, "real" Americans have "common sense."
Then you say the "case in point ... is health care" in a "district where Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers has held this seat for 14 years" & "has consistently voted for things that hurt people in her district."
So, who, exactly, is lacking in common sense?! I would argue that it's the people who voted for her for 14 years! Your lack of common sense, on the other hand, is stunning given that you sited these two facts in successive paragraphs.
I was born and raised one of the places where you think common sense prevails (the Deep South in my case). I am now a coastal elite, if by that you mean an educated person who lives on a coast. I have voted consistently Democratic my entire life.
I'll tell you what prevails where you seem to believe common sense does: racism, sexism, homophobia, antisemitism & more of the same. I know because I'm from there and saw it first hand as a 10 year old with the racist parents of my school friends. They ate Nixon's racist overtones up! And THAT'S why these people sent the same representative to Washington to hurt them for 14 years straight, and that's why Trump won the district.
I'm tired of blaming coastal elites for Trump! If coastal elites like you don't wake up & smell the racist coffee, we will never get out of this mess. We should place the blame where it belongs: with those who voted for Trump!
9
This does not mention if Brown really is running as a Democratic Party elite, or if she is running with more independent ideas.
This does not mention is Brown is talking in ways heard as threatening the guns of her constituents, or if she is reassuring them.
In short, it does not say if she is one of those from the "coastal and urban enclaves" or more like Doug Jones ran in Alabama.
That makes a huge difference in her prospects and in the larger meaning of it.
The article, like most articles on this topic, evades the most important question of all: why has the GOP won all those local elections for so long? Forget Trump: he was a fluke. But what about majorities in so many stares, let alone the House and Senate? Common answers like racism and FOX news are nonsense. If everybody is a racist, nobody is since it becomes a default setting for the culture. And there is no thought police that forces people to watch FOX if they don’t want to. Liberals among whom I count myself have to come to term with the fact that people don’t vote their supposed economic interests. People vote their values. Self-reliance is an American value and so is freedom. Unless you appeal to these values, promises of better health care delivered by a centralized federal bureaucracy will fall on deaf ears. There is a way to frame the Democrats’ platform in terms of freedom, equality and self-responsibility but you have to know how to do it. Socialism is not the answer. Neither is censorship or identity politics.
146
@Mor: "why has the GOP won all those local elections for so long?" Gerrymandering and voter suppression.
That's your answer.
3
@Mor Self-reliance is a pretend American value. Why do I say pretend? Because the rich certainly don't think about self-reliance as they take their bailouts while sticking the rest of us with the bill. The rich dodge taxes (e.g. Betsy DeVos' Cayman registered boat) leaving us to pay for services to protect the property of the rich person who did not pay!
@Mor
Self reliance is an American value? Maybe you'd better read the Times article about the Carrier employees not showing up for work.
They talk the talk, but they don't walk the walk. They just blame everything on liberals as directed by Sean Hannity.
I'm sorry, but every other developed country provides "socialist" services such as health care for their citizens, and I'd bet money that those citizens don't feel they are pawns trapped in a system with no freedom. If that were the case, the Scandinavians wouldn't consistently rate among the happiest people. Are they delusional? Maybe, but we could use some of their delusion here, that's for sure.
I don't know what you want from Democrats. They've been hopelessly shifting to the right since Reagan. Maybe they should keep their mouths shut about Socialism until they're back in power, but the only hope we have for the future is for people like Sanders to get the point across to Americans that there are real countries with happy citizens doing things a different way, and maybe we could be like them instead of insisting we have all the answers.
I hope you are correct Mr. Egan. I live in North Central Washington and I voted for Ms. Brown. But then I’m a former “coastal Washington state elite” who reads various newspapers, books by experts and scientists , listens to PBS News Hour, and tries to exercise critical thinking. I continue to be surprised at the crushing ignorance, resentment and anger that exists in populations on the eastern side of the mountains.
7
Tim, the too close to call at the recent polls say otherwise. I think when a majority of voters come out and dispose an incumbent you can safely make the claim, "... a majority of Americans find Trump repulsive. But more important, his policies are not popular."
I am not sure we are at the majority level yet, but the dawn is quickly rising on the great conman.
2
The wedge issues for Democrats should be healthcare, education and income inequality. These issues actually affect people's everyday lives in a way that the tired old Republican wedge issues just can’t match.
6
Tim, it was foolish of people in E. Wash to turn to the right in 1994, and the error has been compounding ever since. Realistically, the 90s were a good time for most Americans. Sadly, the (true) witch hunt against Clinton was actually an assault on the democratic party and its values, and ultimately, we lost.OK, Clinton won a second term and somewhat overcame his impeachment in kangaroo court. But WE never recovered. Because of this Gore "lost" in an election that should have been his landslide; a right wing SCOTUS anointed bush; 9/11 happened; the GOP neo-cons used that as an excuse to invade 2 countries; bush's economic policies led us to absolute economic catastrophe. But still, the democrats never really recovered, in spite of Obama's 2 victories that proved America knew Bush had been an abject failure. But still places like E. Washington have continued to be red. In fact, they should be read with shame over their repeated political miscalculations. With the election of trump, and his disastrous policies well beyond economic issues-- we are done. The world will move on and the USA will be stuck in a very dark place.
3
I've been to Spokane about 3 times this year. It's changing just like many red areas where there are colleges nearby. Spokane is also seeing that legalizing marijuana didn't make the walls come down crime wise, they are seeing that healthcare is needed and they are also seeing how the economy as you head west is getting better. This does not surprise me. Also, Eastern Washington relies heavily on migrant farm labor. Apples, grapes and other crops will sit if they don't have anyone to pick them. It's not uncommon for people to come through the northern border to get to this area to work. Washington being a northern border state also has a relationship with Canada that they see deteriorating because of Trump. All of this bodes well for a Western governor to run for president in 2020. The west is leading the way against Trump.
5
The new Democrats are pretty smart. It should not be difficult to provide a sharp contrast and clear choice for voters in local districts if they Democratic candidates follow simple principles: All politics is local; back to common sense; and as Michelle Obama advised, "When they go low, we go high."
This 2018 election should be a cakewalk for Democratic candidates--given the embarrassing ignorance, intentional chaos, and unnecessary cruelty imposed by the ruling right-wing crazed, loutish buffoon Trump and his sell-people-and-the-planet down the river loyalist lackey Republican enablers.
The new Democratic candidates are wise not to campaign on party loyalty and talking points, since far more Americans identify themselves as Independents (41%) than as Republicans (26%) or Democrats (30%) (Gallup 7/2018).
Pelosi & Schumer. need to stay out of the picture--not only because they appear old and tired, but because the DNC managed to ruin its brand in the 2016 election by squashing all challenges to Hillary (I liked O'Malley & Bernie, but they were shoved aside by the DNC). Plus, Nancy says things like, "Oh the American people don't want single-payer health care."
The key for the Democratic candidates is clear communication, visibility, and an optimistic, can-do spirit. But we live in a red state where Democratic visibility is almost nonexistent. Why? For a long time, the Dem Party failed to do its homework locally. So it will be a tough slog for Dems.
Fingers crossed!
3
As someone who has canvassed since I was 8 and continued as an activist in the Democratic Party, I have one key piece of strategic advice: STOP CALLING OURSELVES DEMOCRAT SOCIALISTS! This may play well in NY and other very liberal strongholds, but I can guarantee you that the day after anyone gets elected with this identifier, the "dark money" folks on the right have just produced a TV ad or other attack material painting the Party with the broad brush stroke of being "Socialists." Is this what we want? I don't mean that we're not still the party of the "Big Tent," but let's remember what that Electoral College map looked like on Election Night 2016. There was a broad swath of Red carved right through two-thirds of the states. We Democrats must continue to stand for the core principles that make us the more progressive party. But for heaven's sake, let's focus our branding in each race on the basics: the 3 issues that matter most in each district/state and how each of our candidates intends to work across- the-aisle to actually govern at the federal, state and local levels. And, after the news media, which I dearly love, blew it on predicting 2016, reporters better be sure to avoid interviewing "all the usual suspects." Let's hear more from what used to be called, "The Silent Majority."
2
Wow. In his conclusion, Egan puts the word "elites" in quotation marks, as if it were a dubious idea. He has taken issue with the idea that America is run by elites before. Imagine that, elites having power and influence in America. What will those crazy socialists come up with next?
He is often on the right side of an issue in general, but such comments show that Tim Egan is a corporatist at heart.
1
Summer winds are what turn our California fires into raging infernos. It’s a mistake to underestimate them.
When Trump bragged about a health care plan that was 'cheaper and better' than 0bamacare without a word about what it would look like I was thinking back to Nixon and his secret plan to end the Viet Nam War as a candidate which was of course no plan at all. Having any hope that Trump has anyone's welfare at heart beside himself and his family is the triumph of hope over experience. His administration is truly one of cruelty and corruption.
5
Yes, healthcare needs to remain a focus and priority.
2
Liberals have to stop voting Green. Every vote counts. Good candidates with a message and a ground game will win in Lean Republican districts.
4
Republicans promoting unpopular policies is nothing new. That's what they do. Thump the bible while entrenching structural advantages to the wealthy. The difference this time is they got caught. Republicans got too greedy for their own survival. Lay that message down plain and keep repeating it.
Now the important part: Tell people how you're going to fix it.
5
Yep, republicans has strayed too far into laa laa land. Any reasonable, alert, responsive politician could step into the gaping chasm that has opened between residents and their rabid representatives.
3
Democrats win on economic issues and lose on cultural issues. I think I read that in the Times. If the Democrats back off on cultural issues their own base deserts them. If the Democrats press cultural issues the right rejoices.
I am not sanguine about November.
1
This is tangential, but I could not let the last paragraph go without comment. In Sean Wilentz's The Rise of American Democracy, he describes the appeals of Whigs--the Republicans of their day--to poor frontiersmen. Gays and guns were not involved, but God and elites sure were. Some things never change.
1
This 72 year-old male believes the United States will be a much better country when the President is a woman, and the majorities in both houses of Congress are women. Democrats, I would prefer, of course. (That is, if we can work hard enough to defeat the enemies currently dominating both those branches.)
4
Democrats should take a page with Republicans' playbook and ask, essentially, "How's that make America great again stuff working out for you?". Speak to what people are going through. It's a dead end to campaign by moralizing about Trump and his Congressional enablers. Address peoples' lived frustrations, concerns and wishes. Politics has to feel immediate and personal.
Make it about the voters themselves!
6
The National Democratic Party lacks leadership and vision. Maybe that isn’t bad, for such leadership voids give grassroots candidates the opportunity to create viable local platforms, like the ones displayed by western States’ candidates in Eagan’s column.
If I were running for office in the West, these would be the key elements of my platform, all based on personal preferences:
1. Yes, “health care insecurity,” for I just got out of the ER. Simply, it is a horrific feeling not to wonder if you can pay your doctor bills.
2. The environment, for where I live the earth is burning up, the National Parks are overrun, the air is filthy, the water polluted. Who wouldn’t want clean water and air, and less crowed parks and national forests?
3. I haven’t noticed an increase in my checks since the Republican tax law just passed, so where’s this tax-break I was supposed to get? Prove it: follow the money. Is there more money in my pocket now than before the tax cut?
4. The pure tawdriness, grifter nature of Republican Party, for what American citizen would want their grandchildren to grow up to be like a Trump, a Pruitt, a Zinke, an Ivanka, or, the President’s advisors, Judge Jeannie and Shawn Hannity? Character still matters.
5. Lastly, this candidate should be a woman, unless we can clone Beto O’Rourke, for I believe we men have had our chance to govern one of the greatest Democracies ever created, and we have, as shown by Trump and Republicanism, failed.
313
@David Thomas
Who destroyed your sense of reality--Maoist university reeducation camps and our Sovietized mass-media central out of New York City?
1
Timothy, repulsive is surely an understatement. My main concern is "how long?" Until the "base" dies; until the "base" miraculously comes to its senses; until.....?
I believe so many voters ignore the rumblings of both parties because they're too busy working to put food on their tables and provide for their families. What is going to impact each of them? That's what we Dems need to campaign on...reforming and implementing the issues that will impact working Americans. Hopefully, more of our candidates will recognize that.
3
There are so many House districts that I would love to turn blue, but none more than this one.
8
May I suggest Devin Nunes representing California’s 22nd Congressional District?
1
The reason Democrats lost the last election and will likely not make the gains they are hoping for in the next election is because of the attitudes expressed in this article. The tax cut may not mean much to Mr. Egan, but I can assure him that it means a lot to poorer Americans, even a few hundred dollars can make a big difference. Only an "elitist" would make such a claim. Furthermore, higher employment and rising wages, which can be seen at least in part due to stricter immigration policies will also benefit republicans in districts like this. People in these districts don't want Obamacare, they want jobs with health benefits, and to a large extent, they are getting them. I guess I just don't see a lot of Trump voters changing their votes, especially as most of them are better off now than they were 2 years ago.
2
@chip - an elitist like Paul Ryan would celebrate the benefits of the Republican Tax Plan by bragging that a secretary's getting that extra $1.50 a week.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-paul-ryan-tax...
He leaves out a few of the other great things:
- the tax plan rewards big businesses and the wealthy far more than it does poorer Americans
- tax largesse like that $1.50 a week is temporary, cuts to business and many wealthy tax breaks are permanent.
- the economy had been growing since 2010 under Obama, so don't credit Trump's policies for anything other than not breaking the long streak he inherited
- Trump's policies ARE hurting the prospects for people affected by his tariffs. His attempt to pick winners by forcing utilities to use expensive coal and nuclear will cost poorer people a larger share of their income.
- the GOP tax plan implemented double taxation, for the first time since the income tax began in the Civil war, by putting a cutoff on middle-class people's ability to deduct state and local taxes.
- the GOP continues to attack access to safety net programs, and cynically says it's because of the deficit - so medical bankruptcies Obamacare reduced can come back.
By the way, the GOP tax plan increases the deficit, and you'd better believe it's the poor and middle class who will be handed that bill. Federal revenues plummeted due to the big cut in business tax. Businesses rewarded shareholders.
9
I hope Timothy is right. At some point people have to wake up and realize what republicans are doing to most Americans.
9
There are two things that will topple the GOP's grip. Both require people who have had enough. The first is that group of folks who don't vote. The 1% wouldn't be running this country if we had voter participation even 10% higher, and the steady diminution of quality of life for those who accept the results of maintenance-free democracy is finally becoming apparent. They have a stake and they need to realize that there are tangible consequences for non-participation. The second is the group who have been reliable GOP voters because they swallow the trope that Republicans are the party of baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie. In a weird way, maybe Trump is actually a force for good, because the acquiescence and fawning subservience of the majority of the GOP with respect to his behavior and attitude - particularly in Congress - indicts in plain view the credibility of the GOP's purported belief in the things they bray about constantly - patriotism, morality, fiscal responsibility, family values, and so on, things that for many years the GOP has successfully convinced much of America that Democrats are opposed to.
Maybe the blindfold has slipped a bit. I certainly hope so.
6
Like others who have posted here I am clueless as to why so many have voted against their own best interest. Perhaps some of them who voted for trump and continue to support him can explain it. I am at a loss.
13
The fact is that reliable Republican voters in places such as Eastern Washington should now understand that there are going to be consequences very real to them in voting against their self-interest by re-electing the likes of Cathy McMorris Rogers in a way more stark than they have ever seen.
If the GOP retains its majority in the House after the fall elections (and possibly increase their Senate majority), the Affordable Care Act is as good as dead. The GOP will not fail again to repeal it and we now know with absolute certainty that the party has nothing with which to replace it except empty promises. That will hit Red State America and the Red Bits of Blue States harder than anyone. This will no longer be theoretical but very real to millions of Americans.
4
The republicans are really two parties now— the true believer Trumpsters who cheer at the rallies, predominantly rural and socially conservative and urban elites who resent seeing government redistribute their wealth. But the democrats are really two parties as well - Bernie Sanders style utopians and more technocratic centrists like Obama. Clinton showed how easily the technocrats can come off as condescending and lose elections no matter how much more competent they are. I don’t know if anyone cares about Sanders out west, but he does make the “democrats” seem more radical and I think he scares a lot of the people that Democrats need to win outside of the cities. I hope that common sense does win out west. If an appealing technocrat shows up, it should, but Trump keeps showing how anything can happen.
8
@ACA
I understand how people can disagree with Sanders' policies. But radical? I don't see that. Medicare for All, free public college tuition, and a $15 minimum wage may be progressive notions in the U.S. today, but are popular among a large number of Americans and are consistent with successful programs in much of the rest of the developed world, including most of Europe. Progressive, yes. Radical, no.
On the other hand, Mr. Trump truly is a radical. He wants to destroy or undermine many parts of the very government he now heads. He disparages our own intelligence agencies, using the conspiracy theory rhetoric of the "deep state." He calls the press the "enemy of the people," echoing Stalin. His former top aid, Steve Bannon, called for "deconstruction of the administrative state."
Who is the radical here?
3
@ACA, agree. and the jersey (or new york?) "girl" is getting her 15 minutes of fame by appearing in places like kansas. and she has not even been elected in her own district yet! proving the dems are so often foolish, not understanding that our party is not monolithic like the GOP. It's not just eastern washington fence sitters who are put off by people like this, it's genuine lexus CA liberals like me that do not appreciate the tone-deafness of the party. That said, fingers crossed.
3
The lack of health insurance can lead to bankruptcy. The lack of health care can lead to death. The deficit busting tax deal can lead to cuts or dramatic changes to Medicare. Plus the Trump adminstrstion held up subsidies to insurers required by the ACA lovingly called Obamacare. Health care coverage for low income children whose parents work but don’t make much money was used as a political football by the GOP. What more will it take for Americans to see that they are trading the GOP policies on immigrants for attacks on modest efforts to allow Americans to see doctors without going broke? Will a tiny tax cut mean much if you can’t afford to take your children to the doctor? How about if you lose your job because you are too sick to work or you have to stay with sick children or parents? The US is the richest country in the world and our health care system is a mess. We would have had universal healthcare under Nixon if blacks were excluded. Prejudice won, no universal coverage. Only greed and prejudice keep us from fixing healthcare. Trump supporters please figure out which is more important, your life or your fears.
17
Raise taxes?
Abolish ICE?
Dissolve our southern border?
Grant full citizenship to illegals?
Really?
4
@Tuco Not really. Fake agenda. Except for rescinding tax cuts on the greedy rich and corporations to reduce Trump’s $trillion deficit.
2
Yep.
Trump has already raised taxes - he calls this tariffs.
3
WSU is in Pullman, Washington, not Spokane.
1
@David Zimmerman WSU has its large health studies campus (including medical, nursing and pharmacy schools) in Spokane. (I was a clinical instructor at the WSU School of Nursing (superb!) for several years before retirement.) You go, Lisa!
4
WSU has a branch campus in Spokane, thus WSU - Spokane is correct.
4
@David Zimmerman WSU Spokane was established in 1989. Employs over 400 people and serves a large student population.
2
District 32 in Texas has Colin Allred, running against Pete Sessions. Mr. Allred is a perfect fit for the district, and his signature issues are healthcare and wages.
5
All politics is local.
Maybe even personal.
Look that person in the eye and listen first.
Then, speak plainly - words with six letters maximum.
Explain clearly and offer to try and help.
I think places like Eastern Washington are going to see huge turnout for a different direction.
This is change election.
So, let people know how the changes benefit them.
Democrats need to make friends with the people.
18
Thirty years ago I moved from Eugene, Oregon to a small town across the river from eastern Washington. My stay was short, just a year. I was impressed with a feeling of time standing still, in a movie set filled with strollers.
If not us, who? If not now, when?
6
I honestly wish that I could join in Timothy Egan's optimism about Americans finally seeing the light about the man in the White House. But as long as Republicans continue to control all three branches of government, it doesn't make much of a difference.
Take for example; "Health care insecurity". It's no secret that defeating the Affordable Health Care Act has always been prime target #1 on the Trump agenda -- and his vilification of it, and all things Obama is to a great extent what carried him into office.
So there's no real reason to think that suddenly folks are going to wake up and realize they're holding the short end of the stick, because if that were the case, Democrats would be way ahead in every election underway right now.
That said, there's no doubt the majority of Amricans find Donald Trump "repulsive" -- and for all the reasons mentioned here in this article.
And YES. We are the majority.
But until that translates into something more tangible, we'll have to watch our society disintegrate and our Democracy slip away.
Now is the time to come to the aid of our country.
VOTE!
343
@N. Smith
"Health care insecurity" is a real problem now that "pre-existing conditions" provision can be used to deny coverage or increase insurance rates.
90% of Americans have some pre-existing conditions.
1
If McMorris Rodgers should happen to win in November. One thing we will know for a certainty is that the Russian interference with our elections has not stopped.
15
@James If she's won seven elections, if she wins this one, it will be for the same (bad) reasons, not Russians.
2
The national news outlets, especially, the cable networks, focus on Trump and his latest insanities.
But local politicians need to keep their eyes on the bread and butter issues that affect their constituents.
The bread and butter issues favor Democrats. Republicans have let their allegiance to ideology and donor money blind them to the issues that affect their constituents. Time for a change in the wind.
263
@Rita
Hello, "hope" and "change" didn't work, nor did Hillary's entitlement run. Got any better ideas for "a change in the wind"?
1
The way for Lisa Brown to win in the general election is to continue to emphasize to her constituents those issues important to their well being and to point out where the incumbent, Ms. Rodgers, has failed to address those issues. Don't worry about Trump. Daily, he continues to remind people of his unfitness for office.
577
That’s exactly what Lisa IS doing. She is everywhere in our very geographically large district. Doorbelling, attending every small town summer festival. Listening to people and mingling with everyone. She’s not afraid of people. Cathy is almost never out in public because if she dares to show up people ask her hard questions about why she supports Trump.
3
Egan raises an important point. He is claiming that trashing Trump is not a path to defeating Trump. In heavily Republican areas, he may very well be correct for the following reason.
What gives the conman his power? His power lies not in his ability fool his victim. His power lies in his victim's inability to admit that they have been fooled.
Trump is a superb conman. One of the best. He tells his believers exactly what they want to hear. There is never any break in the message of lies to the point of extreme contradiction. His victims swallow it all and ask for more. They want the reinforcement. They crave the group think.
Deep down inside, they realize that something is amiss. That $4000 pay raise never materialized. New factories aren't being built. Small town America still looks and operates the same way it did in Nov. 2016. In fact, with the trade war, things are beginning to fall apart. Access to healthcare is worse and more expensive. Europe is now our enemy.
But they cling to Trump because they simply cannot admit to themselves that they have been taken to the cleaners. This is the source of Trump's power.
By presenting them with an alternative that does not hinge on trashing Trump, they are given a palatable reason to vote against him.
In the big cities and professional suburbs, please, trash away. Get people fired up to go to the poles. But out there in guns, gays and God land, use a different marketing tactic. One that is more positive.
920
@Bruce Rozenblit
I think you overestimate your average Trump supporter's ability to connect the dots.
And that's really what it is. A lack of critical thinking skills and the inability to follow the trail of breadcrumbs to a logical conclusion. The comment by MKKW says it all. His/her brother just isn't able to get 1+1 to add up to 2. It will forever be 11 for him because he refuses to recognize the way things work.
1
@Bruce Rozenblit Trump supporters also knows that if they turn against Trump it will be an admission that the people they hate - liberals, elites, the media - were right about Trump all along. They would rather go to their graves than admit that.
16
@Charles L.
With health insurance polices having as much intrinsic value as a degree from Trump University, they may well be going to their graves earlier than they would like.
1
Once again, Republican voters are baffling. Healthcare insecurity is their biggest concern. Obamacare was a tremendous benefit for them. So they voted for...Republicans? Republicans who tried dozens of times to repeal Obamacare? How can we understand what they want? Do they even understand what they want?
1011
@John Ranta John, I'm not from the district but let me give a generic GOP response. Obamacare was a democrat answer to rising healthcare costs - it did not stop rising health care costs overall and while subsidizing coverage for some, drove up the price of insurance for others to the point that some Americans were forced to pay $15,000 a year for useless high deductible insurance for their families. The new cry from the democrats is "Medicare for All", a multi-trillion dollar plan to force us all onto the same low level coverage we provide seniors. Republicans understand what they want they and don't trust democrats on this issue.
@Chris That 'low level coverage we provide seniors' is quite a bit better than the gold policy for which I pay close to 20g a year.
1
@Chris
You do not know the facts of the ACA. The legislation effectively banned insurance policies that charged high premiums for minimal coverage. That was one of the elements that the current administration tried to subvert by allowing insurance companies to go back to writing policies that covered little or nothing and excluded pre-existing conditions. Universal care for all, managed by the government, works in every developed nation on the planet. It is only due to financial influences on our politicians that Americans do not have the same quality of medical insurance as the rest of the civilized world.
A political party that depends on gays, guns and God to win must admit that it's agenda is not worth the paper needed to write it down on.
22
@David Bible
Yes.
I think that this might be a better goal:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. . . “
1
I think that "Ready to Flip" goes too far.
I do not deny that a majority of Americans finds Trump repulsive. He is repulsive. Or that most Americans don't like his policies. He has some bad policies.
So it was in 2016, when Hillary Clinton beat Trump by almost three million popular votes. Unfortunately, the Green Party (to the left of the Democratic Party) chose to get more than enough votes to hand Trump a solid Electoral College victory.
And to a very unusual degree Trump voters are still enthusiastic for him.
My opinion is that for there to be significant flips there will have to be major failures, scandals, and hopefully legal entanglements, in addition to those we already have.
5
It’s not too far if you lived here in the WA 5th.
" A mother of three, outwardly pious, who has drawn a government paycheck for most of her adult life, she seems harmless and friendly." That says it all. She, and all of Congress regardless of party, receives the best healthcare in America, paid for by us, and with a pension that is one of the most generous in America, also paid by us. And yet, she and most Republicans consistently demonize and vote against making life for many, many millions of Americans even marginally better. When will the American public finally realize that Republicans simply have nothing but contempt for Americans - unless you're already wealthy. Pious indeed. And far from harmless.
79
Cathy is like a store mannequin. We are looking forward to seeing her try to debate Lisa Brown, it will be college professor vs. Junior Higher.
2
Trump is highly unpopular with two thirds of the American electorate. Nevertheless, Republican enablers like Nunes keep coming back because of gerrymandering and voter suppression. It’s true that recent votes around the country have been very close and that is the reason. Studies indicate that a turnout of nearly 60% of eligible voters is needed to eliminate the Republican incumbents’ advantage. The effort needed to do that is enormous given the feeling in many voters that their vote “just doesn’t matter.” And BTW a case about gerrymandering is making its way to the SCOTUS. Anyone taking odds that this heavily Conservative Court won’t find gerrymandering and photo IDs and other jump through the hoop requirements perfectly “legal?” Hard to fathom how some voters let their resentments lead them around by the nose and pick their pockets at the same time!
7
@B. Rothman, we cannot blame the election and reelections of nunes on gerrymandering or voter suppression. CA has taken great pains to address both. Nope, this is willful ignorance by an extreme minority of californians that support nunes because somehow he makes them feel as amerricun as their ancestors in Oklahoma. Tragic, really.
3
Timothy Egan: "she [Lisa Brown] served as a chancellor of Washington State University in Spokane."
Is there a branch campus of Washington State University in Spokane? The main campus, of course, is in Pullman, 70 miles to the south.
5
@Andy Beckenbach WSU Spokane was established in 1989
1
@Andy Beckenbach, there is a WSU Spokane, a medical school.
1
Yes there is: the Medical School
1
Great column. Republicans are perpetuating the myth that Trump has delivered on all his working-class campaign promises, when just the opposite is true. All his policy "wins" have favored the wealthy and big business -- corporate tax cuts, dismantling Obamacare without a replacement, tariffs, etc. Anyone who claimed he/she voted for Trump because of policy and despite his indecencies, mendacity and pandering to racists either has to reconsider their vote or admit to themselves that they are actually aligned with Trump's abhorrent sensibilities.
6
Yes there is growing dissatisfaction with Trump and his policies even in farm country, but the crucial difference in this race is that Lisa Brown is a quality candidate. She is smart, experienced, and sufficiently centrist to be appealing to moderate Republicans.
17
Republicans get elected on gays, guns, God, small government and racism. It has always worked for them. But it is government that is taking away their health care, fouling their air and water, keeping their pay checks low and static, keeping their kids from from moving up. In return they get a 12 million dollar military parade and a trillion dollar and growing deficit.
11
But wait, look at all the work she has done for people with Down syndrome. Oh yeah, because she has a child with the diagnosis.
Having advocated for years at the state and federal levels for people with autism, I learned an important lesson about Republicans -- they support disabilities only when it affects someone in their family.
8
I'll believe it when I see it.
If these people are ingesting Fox "news" 24/7, then they aren't being given accurate information upon which to base their opinions.
Extremely cautious optimism seems appropriate.
7
The ACA, the AffordableCare Act, is the worst governmental rules for healthcare--except for all the others. Getting rid of it INCREASES premiums, sets up a pool of sicker insured, and sets us up for misery. The first Trump tax cut gives to the very wealthy. The next attempt- gives to the very wealthy. Privatize profit, socialize cost. What's not to love?
6
It is encouraging to read that a majority of American find Donald Trump repulsive. That is a perfect description of this man, and you can count me in that group.
And even if his shoot-from-the-hip policy directives were solid (they are not), and not self-serving to the Trump family fortune (they are), I would still want to limit his presidency to one-term. He is an embarrassment and a disgrace.
As for the 35% die-hard Trump supporters who think he walks on water, I am reminded of a wonderful quotation from Ben Franklin: "We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."
89
When real enemies fail to materialize for the GOP, the Party is reduced to creating fake enemies out of thin air. That's what "elites" are, basically airy-fairy types like @realPresidentObama who, from time to time, actually think their way out of brown paper bags, who possess more than a 25-word single-syllable vocabulary.
I know that this sounds elitist, but that's no shame. The Republican Party has turned itself into a massive celebration of idiotic invective, carrying the country with it, in a global community where, elsewhere, knowledge and critical thinking are highly prized.
Here, the trump card is Putinization. Look at the "I'd rather be Russian than Democrat" T-shirts. It's a losing card. Just look at the pathetic Russian economy for evidence.
16
Thank you for mentioning the “audio tape.” Its revelation caused me to flinch. Admittedly, I should not have been surprised considering the actors during this theater of sorts. But I was. My state is plagued with Devin Nunes, truly a shameless and shameful snake of man. Yet what defies logic is his support in his district which is agriculture. We have an inept individual taking up precious space in a precious House, himself corrupt. Trump at every turn is destroying the very welfare of his nation - from health care to the food we eat, from the air we breathe to the water we drink. All this while his cronies get richer. I consider this coming election crucial to the survival of our democracy. We Democrats know what to do, however. And I am beginning to feel that wave of enthusiasm that exclaims, “We are ready, willing, and oh so able.”
21
Why have the people you describe in this district voted against their interests for so long. Surely they are not that racist. It is baffling.
3
Not skilled in questioning the status quo.
2
@libdemtex
It's super white here and yes they are that kind of sneaky racist sort.
This is great news, but Democrats have to remember to bring this enthusiasm to their governing style as well. If we demonize the opposition and argue among ourselves, the next movement to "throw the bums out" will be coming after us.
4
This may seem oddly out of left field but pay attention in Trump's China bashing to the S. China Sea. That might rightfully be called the origin point of WWIII, replicating as it does the 1930's provocations imposed by the West on Japan (cutoff of oil, raw materials, commerce) that led to WWII. The Chinese are not building defensible space and power projecting islands for the exercise. Trump's idiocy in dealing with global economics will focus the repercussions on our own economy.
The accelerating of our economic growth (4% !!!) is fake, based on unproductive military spending and deficit borrowing. It's like auto dealers' cash rebates -we get to finance the full cost, then repay the cash (tax) rebate with future principal and interest on a cash bonus now. It's enhancing economic numbers based on future debt.
The Trump financial magic show will only last through the next payroll tax cycle - but by then, the oligarchs and crony capitalists will have extracted all the value from our economy and parked it in their offshore accounts. The ever-growing stock market will also mysteriously unravel.
14
"...mother of three, outwardly pious..."
That second phrase is applicable to 99.9% of Republicans, not just Ms. McMorris Rodgers. The prouder and, especially, the louder one blares his/her religiosity, the more certain you can be that this person is a hypocrite. They have become the Pharisees of modern politics.
14
There is something to say for a not so overprotective Government (less taxes and rules and more relative freedom) but also –if not more- a lot to say for the opposite (safety nets, equal opportunity, and protection of quality of life).
In today’s US society the playing field is not equal. If you are good at sports or are extremely smart you can get into college with a scholarship, if you have money… also. If your average in school or not that focused on your future yet… find it out yourself! (which on its own merit is not a bad thing cause being self-made makes any man/woman proud)
But if you have non off the above and you do unskilled labour (low wages) or you do have skilled labour and a recession hits you or if you fall sick and you don’t have something to fall back on (health insurance or sick pay) and the cost of every-day life exceeds your income you’ll welcome the existence of a good working Government.
a Government which, if properly funded through sound budgeting, can provide people with jobs, safety nets, access to schools, affordable health insurance/care, minimum wage, pension protection, maternity leave, good infrastructure, protection from enemies (if applicable). In short a good living standard for all citizens. And mind you “THIS IS NOT SOCIALISM” this is providing a good living standard.
29
Cathy McMorris Rogers typifies all that is wrong with a cruel and elitist Republican-controlled Congress, which pretends – when the need arises – to find Donald Trump offensive.
Rogers and essentially every Republican in the House and Senate have put average Americans at economic risk by siding with the rich and privileged and with large corporations and their anti-worker bias.
The hypocrisy and dishonesty of Rogers is stunning. Lisa Brown can win, if Eastern Washington State voters are not too stubborn to admit in the voting booth that they have been conned.
27
A fellow commenter, @R. Law of Texas, says, “[I]t’s real-world math and kitchen-table Econ. 101.” And he’s right, of course. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from voting against their own interests in the past—especially not where their fear and hatred are regularly stoked by cynical politicians in thrall to the donor class and fanned into a frenzy by Fox “News” white nationalists.
I wonder, though, if it won’t be different this time around, largely on account of women. Trump has revolted women with his serial adultery (and his buying off of those he so casually used), by his routine bullying and insults of any and everybody he considers remotely his inferior or his opposition, and especially by his ripping of children from the arms of their parents and his apparently lackadaisical efforts to reunite them.
Add THAT to the fact that it’s typically women who keep the family books, who are up close and personal with higher prices and stagnant wages, who are scared to death of rising healthcare costs and the prospect of even less coverage, who see no meaningful difference in their own taxes while Trump and his cronies flaunt the massive increase in their personal net worth. And you get an awfully powerful force that may—finally—stand up and say, “We’re mad as he[ck] and we’re not going to take it any more.”
14
ah, mr egan you have more faith in your fellow americans that I do.
#1 in the world at voting against their own interests.
and the most gullible, uninformed electorate of any western democracy.
rugged, free thinking (!?) 'folks' indeed.
7
A lot comes back to how Trump got elected in the first place: he was able to effectively smear the Clinton candidacy as corrupt and slap down Obamacare, saying that he would provide health care for everyone that was much better and much cheaper.
He said he would "drain the swamp" of the corruption in Washington, and then he puts in billionaires and cabinet members from Goldman Sachs to do the job. Remember what he said? He said he was wealthy and it was better to have wealthy friends in those jobs because they can't be bribed due to their wealth. He said he was the only one who could fix the system because he knew how it worked and how he had gotten around it.
How is this working out? Sounds like a con job.
14
If you don't vote it is irrelevant how lucky you protest or how much money you donate.
3
To understand the hold that the GOP has that compels some to vote against their own healthcare, just ask what would highest individual and corporate tax rate be if all religious social issue conflict suddenly disappeared?
Most of the GOP big money donors don't give a darn about school prayer, ten commandment displays, gays, guns, or flag pins, and corporations have no objection to the cheap immigrant labor that they profit from; a divided American electorate is the objective.
The last thing they want are Americans voting in their own economic interest above all other issues.
Division of the electorate serves to keep the powerful in power and the fearful GOP base can be relied upon to produce the light weight candidates that the American plutocracy needs. Candidates who claim divine inspiration, divine communication, and that they are "chosen". Good thing that at least half of America knows who really chose them. And good thing that at least some of the billionaire class are finally stepping up.
Sawing off the fearful Trump loving Evangelical wingnuts who live in Fox's fantasy world would greatly benefit America.
28
I guess its pet peeve for me but while I agree, as usual, with what you write here I will take issue with your closing paragraph. You mention culture and resentment and then the Three G's. Fine but why not mention, by name, one of the main drivers of all that, ABORTION. Without abortion neither Bush or Trump would have become President
30
@Ernest Lamonica
Agreed. Too bad their mothers did not have access to it.
I live in Cathy McMorris Rodgers' district and have seen firsthand how her votes have been against the interests of her constituents. I have also seen her misleading, if not outright dishonest, negative attack ads against Lisa Brown. There are folks in this district who enjoy willful ignorance and will vote for McMorris Rodgers no matter what, but many of her supporters have now felt her betrayal directly while also finding direct benefit from Democratic policies, particularly the Affordable Care Act. In my medical practice, I saw countless patients who came to me for the first time because they finally had health insurance, thanks to the ACA. For some it was lifesaving. For others, sadly, it came too late as years without coverage allowed tumors or other problems to reach incurable levels. The folks in my district, mostly very independent types, are seeing that decisions in D.C. affect who lives and dies clear out here in rural Eastern Washington and they are deciding that they want to survive.
88
I don't appreciate the "trendy socialists" line. The desire of the main stream media to call for the democrats to embrace moderation is a canard. The socialist policies of free college, universal health care a living wage and others are supported by a strong majority of Americans.
15
@Brian Bennett Socialism is a tainted ideology that has caused and is causing untold misery in every country where it was adopted. Name one case in which it is not true. And don’t bother repeating the lie that social democracy is the same thing as socialism. The truth about socialism needs to be repeated often, lest Americans fall for the demagoguery of the left which is no better than the demagoguery of the right.
@Brian Bennett
Americans may support these "trendy" policies but that doesn't make them any less Socialist. Good luck with that.
Trump, this congress, his administration, the GOP, and quite a few others who support Trump and are in powerful background positions, have done a tremendous amount of damage to 99% of Americans. The damage has been ongoing since Reagan was in office.
They failed to plan for the needs of the baby boom generation and beyond.
They cut the social safety net. (So too did Clinton with his triangulation strategy.)
They have consistently campaigned against and legislated against workers in order to favor employers.
They claim, falsely, that protecting the environment is bad for business.
They appeal to racists, bigots, and fanatics and they support them.
They refused to work with a duly elected African American president for 8 years thereby sacrificing 8 years of potential progress for all Americans.
Their idea of repealing and replacing the ACA is to keep first class medical care available for themselves and the richest Americans while leaving the rest of us nothing.
They prefer to let people remain unemployed, underemployed, in debt, unable to find decent affordable housing because that's what their rich donors want.
Their ideal American is white, male, rich, and selfish.
47
My hope is that these early primaries are a sign that Trump's luck is up. What troubles me is the lingering issue of race in America. No matter how Trump tries, we are a nation that is changing demographically---sit in any public venture in an urban area and you are not sitting in Trump's ideal white America. In general voters see this reality and sense that "their America" is passing away--that fear, over the years has allowed politicians from the South and West to stay in office despite voting against the interests of their constituents. We may be entering a period where quality of life of realities overrule identity realities--- but I never underestimate the power of race to influence an election cycle.
28
We can only hope that Americans who have been hurt by the republican policies the past few decades will come to the realization that if they do not vote, they do not have a voice. Sometimes mid-terms are more important than the presidential races years. But how do you get their attention? Everyone seems to have a phone stuck to their faces but don't talk to people so really have no idea what is going on in our country. I just hope we can wake them up before it is too late.
26
Good article.
Every district has its issues, and every winning strategy its own approach, tailored to local needs.
Healthcare, Hate Speech, and Corruption might be the issues common to us all.
17
I am not a social scientist but I am certain there are many talented social scientists that have have looked at the coefficients of tribalism, guns, God, Gays, and Nancy Pelosi in rural America to determine what threshold of economic despair will finally cause these constituents to stop voting against the interests of themselves, their neighbors , and their families.
We have this cycle where the GOP crashes the economy, the Democrats clean up the mess, make some courageous votes (be it to raise taxes to balance the budget, vote for health care etc), and then the Democrats are punished by the demagoguing GOP who use Guns, God, and Nancy Pelosi to win back power. Obama cleaned up much of the Bush Cheney disaster while being obstructed every step of the way by the GOP. He delivered as close to universal health coverage as you can in America. Yet rural Americans voted for a known swindler that has not likely been in a church since his 3rd wedding .
Everyone has to show up and vote and when we win, we have to make the rural people's lives better. When the GOP obstructs , which is in their genes, the Democrats should play the same hardball that the GOP has practiced. That is how bullies are managed.
134
@Statusk Just so you know, Trump did go to church once. He went to the Washington Cathedral for a service where he embarrassed himself by being unable to find a hymnal (a sure sign that it was an unfamiliar place), then proceeded to be unable to find the hymn and, finally, when found, he couldn't follow the words so he just handed the book to Melania, who he probably called Magdalene, Melanie, Maria or something. He sure didn't look comfortable being in that foreign place called Church. Guess he needed a translator.
1
@Statusk
Superb analysis...….should be in the NYT picks
You should also point out that crazy billionaires have spent billions to push the GOP agitprop, and now the Russians are helping.
2
“three former Cabinet secretaries forced to resign in disgracel
They weren't former secretaries!
“Three Cabinet secretaries forced to resign in disgrace”.
There. Fixed. It. For. You.
It would have been good to name them right there. People forgot all too quickly how CORRUPT this supposed “drain the swamp” president is!
85
Vote, vote, vote. It is a powerful weapon that we have. Use it
52
Interesting column. Please sent to Dem HQ. THIS is the way to win. Leave Alexandria out of the Midwest. Bernie, stay home.
17
Correction: Washington State University is in Pullman, ~64 miles to the south of Spokane.
3
@Dave Washington State University has a campus in Spokane as well.
5
@Dave
The new WSU medical school, though, is in Spokane, not Pullman.
4
@Dave https://spokane.wsu.edu/.
WSU has a campus in Spokane
4
When elections hinge on cultural and identity issues, Republicans win. When elections hint on economics, Democrats win. Yes, it IS the economy, stupid.
32
@Martin Kobren - Enough with the identity issue drivel. Republicans are the ones who demonize people based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity etc. The only thing Democrats have done is insist that everyone be treated equally.
3
Yes, many Americans are disgusted with Trump. But tribalism dictates a loyalty that is often shock-proof. Swift mocked that with his saga of the Big-endians and Small-endians, who warred over how to open a boiled egg. (Americans simply crack the whole egg and peel it, missing the pleasure of eating soft-boiled eggs.) Will Trump's Catholic voters now prioritize the "little children," or will they persist in prioritizing fetuses? Will the rich vote to roll back tax cuts? Will turkeys vote for Thanksgiving?
26
Meant Egan in my comment not Goldberg but she had an overly optimistic piece as well. Changing minds takes years, not months.
4
@MKKW. The primary vote totals don’t lie. It’s essentially a dead heat, just like the race in Ohio.
4
The move to dump Cathy has been building for years.
1
MKKW: Sometimes the glass is half full.
1
“We have to keep the majority. If we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away.”
So said Devin Nunes at a fundraising event for Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers held recently. The only priority of Republicans is to hold on to their Congressional majority, not the concerns of the Washington voters.
As for the Republicans’ scare tactics of using gays, guns and God as demons of the left, they’re oblivious to another G that’s a staple of this administration. It’s called GRAFT, all caps.
46
I hope Egan is right but I fear Democratic complacency, I fear the fanaticism of Fox News watchers and, most of all, I fear the apathy of millions who never vote.
50
@Christy I think that if there is even a sliver of good (and I bite my tongue saying this) from having trump disassembling our country, it is that no one will ever take their vote for granted, or vote for a candidate on a whim.
2
“A mother of three, outwardly pious...a government paycheck most of her adult life...seems outwardly harmless and friendly.”
Kathy McMorris Rodgers is the quintessential Republican politician who has escaped—since the 1994 “Contract With America” House takeover engineered by Newt Gingrich—anything like a searching analysis by the people she is presumed to represent. The holy trinity of the Right’s culture wars against the country: “God, guns and gays,” seems, to the easily-pleased, alright with them.
I’m sorry if the average Trump voter feels insulted by being lumped with the malleable and naive, but when something as basic as healthcare is trashed because the GOP is undisguisedly driven by special interests; and a Congressional district rewards someone with seven terms who has only their votes in mind—but nothing more—well, they’ve merely received that for which they asked.
Buried deep below the surface of the Republicans’ abandonment of those in Eastern Washington state—and around the country—is a desperation that people might be catching on to Trump’s emptiness. That Devin Nunes tape should have devastating consequences nationwide—but how will those in the Spokane area react?
Keeping the atomic mushroom cloud of Donald Trump’s presidency alive is all that matters to the likes of Nunes and Kathy McMorris Rodgers. How voters in her district cannot see that is baffling.
If these people wake up and find that they’ve been used, perhaps they’ll turn the red district blue.
55
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
I believe that the voters in McMorris-Roger's district and other rural pockets vote as they do because their major news source is Fox News; in addition, and their high levels of exposure to talk radio distort their perceptions of issues. I doubt that most of them will ever hear the Nunes recording, and if they do will be told and believe it was faked.
I apologize for not linking to some excellent comments I read earlier today in the Washington Post (can't find them), but will share the gist: Trump pulled off a massive scam on millions of Americans. While the hard core truly buy his message and ideas, many others have serious qualms and are beginning to realize they were conned. Because of its affect on their egos, many cannot and will not admit to being duped, and may trigger some to cling even more strongly to and rationalize their vote. Therefore, trash talking Trump, calling his voters stupid or gullible, or rubbing their mistake in their faces may backfire. Instead, focusing on health care insecurity, how tariffs are hurting them, pointing out the corruption, revisiting the lies behind the tax cuts (ask what they are doing with their $4000 per household pay raise, etc.) etc. may pay off.
I pray that my fellow citizens who were duped will come to their senses. meanwhile, I will will continue to send contributions to candidates like Lisa Brown, Beto O'Rourke, Kristen Sinema, and more nationwide.
4
This is a very good article from Mr. Egan. Indeed, the phrase "gays, guns and God" drives voters here in most of western Kansas as well, which is similar to eastern Washington. There are a lot of poor whites in western Kansas and a lot of scared farmers. There is no chance for a Democrat to win, but if the Democrats want to compete, they cannot attack the GOP on moral issues. The Republicans will simply respond with moral outrage of their own. The Democrats need to have a consistent economic message, whether it is against trade that is hurting farmers, or social security destruction that will hurt the elderly, or healthcare that will hurt the poor.
67
McMorris Rodgers just revealed in a tape with Devin Nunes that she puts party ahead of country. That should resonate in Spokane as it does everywhere else.
40
I think the effective fearmongering that is Trump's and the GOP's forte is too easily dismissed here. When people actually go in that voting booth, they vote their gut. It's going to take powers of persuasion Democrats haven't been very good at for awhile to get folks across the board - independent voters, potentially disaffected Republicans and disenfranchised Trump Democrats; rural folks and farmers and blue collars - to connect policy deficiencies with their fears, and see the problems and unfairnesses associated with their practical day-to-day economic fears as more important than abstract gut hits like "illegals!," "2nd Amendment!," "wrong bathrooms!," "religious expression!," etc.
The "What's the matter with Kansas?" phenomenon, though ameliorated some when Kansans woke up to the wholesale ripoff for the rich their conman governor Sam Brownback had sold them, has by no means gone away, and indeed has morphed into "What's the matter with the United States?" (And Kansas seems on for another go-round by electing another Brownback in Kris Kobach, who is himself an expert fearmonger.)
The Democrats, and the nation, are by no means out of the woods. There are powerful dark forces abroad in the land, and I'm not talking Russian dirty tricks - democracy and the American Experiment are at grave risk from those who seek to gain from instability, too much free rein and mistrust. A lot of care, attention and energy must be applied to our civic duty of political participation.
38
"McMorris Rodgers is the woman that Republicans trot out when they want to put a female face on policies that hurt women."
It's that liberal, elitist attitude that is likely to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in district after district.
3
@Chris
It's this kind of interpretation of benign, factual statement that puzzles me. How is that statement "liberal, elitist"?
8
@Chris Just as an FYI, please explain to me, in detail,why you perceive Egan's quote as being liberal and elitist (although I do understand that a lot of people out there, apparently you're one of them, consider, by default, "liberal" & "elitist" to be the same word).
13
Well what would YOU call it when they have her stand behind the speaker in every photo op?
1
Isn't this precisely what we heard in 2016?
2
All the time, energy, and resources (money) wasted in proving we are not a "United" States. No future there indeed begs the rallying cry "Break it up!!"
3
Lost in the noise of the constant din of hate and stupidity from Trump are the results of a poll commissioned by the Koch Brothers. They expected that the results would back up their claim that the USA is a center right country favoring conservative policies. The results were in fact exactly the opposite. People want a $15 minimum wage. People want strong unions. People want Medicare for All or something like it. Craven Republicans like McMorris Rogers or my own non-representative John Katko, who have refused to place any constraints on the outrages of this misadministration, who have voted with the far right wing consistently, are in for a rude awakening come fall.
53
"outwardly pious" Perfect description of Ms. McMorris Rogers, and of the GOP in general.
55
@TheSchoolLibrary
Yep! Fits Pence 100% as well. And their noncommittal, semi-smirking facial expressions chill me whenever I see them in media photos. Vote ALL Greedy Oligarchic Plutocrats out right now! Enough messing around. They have repeatedly shown their ugliness towards the average American. No more.
With the lowest voter turnout of any industrialized country, I can only pray people vote!
8
To Lisa Brown and all the other women fighting for recognition and a piece of the pie--"if you don't have a seat at the table, then you are on the menu"--I can only add this:
YOU GO, GIRL!
47
Re "Red, and ready to Flip", Tim Egan --Devin Nunes, at fund-raiser for Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Washington Rep. for 7 terms), who is a Trump apologist, said that Republicans in the House must protect Trump from the Special Counsel. For 25 years, Republicans have been winning in Spokane. Nunes's words may come back to haunt the GOP as Mitt Romney's crowing about the 47% of Americans who lost him the 2012 presidential election were "victims, dependent on the government", who would vote for Obama no matter what. So, can we hope for a blue instead of a red wave in November?
7
The baseline Democrat plan is always to reach into productive people's pockets to pay their way for them, (healthcare debate). Not surprisingly, one of their favorite complaints is, "the big Republican tax cut". Well, you can't have a tax cut if you don't pay tax; most Democrats don't. What would you never hear at a Democrat campaign rally? Something like, 'Come on, Dems, let's get to work and pay our fair share!" Don't hold your breath waiting for that one.
@Ronald B. Duke
Most Democrats don't pay taxes? That's preposterous. Here in deep blue New York City, one of the economic engines of this nation, Democrats I know (and plenty I don't know) work hard and pays taxes, and are happy to do so to support the programs and benefits that keep this city, this state and this country going. It's the very rich (individuals and corporations) that avoid paying taxes, as tRump admitted during the Presidential campaign. Their wealth accumulation is enabled by our laws (corporation law, tax law, etc.) and infrastructure (they didn't build that road), yet they hire expensive tax professionals to help them avoid paying taxes. The 1% fights tooth and nail to avoid paying its fair share. We know that massive wealth and income inequality (which is exacerbated by huge tax cuts that primarily benefit the very rich) is dangerous for democracies, so getting the very rich to pay their fair share is an existential necessity.
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One problem with your fact-free thesis: blue states generally send more money to red states in the form of their taxpayer dollars that the government then uses to prop up poorer, less self-sufficient states. Blue states contain the largest economic engines for our country and accordingly generate a lot in wealth, resources and taxes.
68
@Incorporeal Being; What is the latest statistic, that 49% pay no tax? I wonder what the party breakdown of that group would be, 90% Democrat and 10% Republican? Just a guess, but I'll bet it's a good one. If they complain that they do not benefit from a tax cut they must mean it isn't a transfer payment.
My favorite phrase in the whole column: "outwardly pious."
114
The implication being "inwardly blasphemous?"
1
It really is time for a smackdown of the greedy who are promoting the culture war against gays, guns, and God. As the right keeps blowing the dog whistles against their fictional bogeyman (secular totalitarian socialists who take away guns and God) you have to wonder. How difficult is it to stay on the economic message?
Four issues are front and center. Universal healthcare. The environment. Consumer protection. Infrastructure improvements. It's time to coyly avoid the dog whistles with savvy political spin. We need to re-establish good government within the next few years or this American Experiment is possibly going to falter.
29
Thank you for this great report. Cathy McMorris Rodgers,...a wolf in sheeps clothing. Devin Nunez.....a a wolf in wolf’s clothing
35
Policies? Which day of the week?
7
Yes, this is it exactly, Tim. I read commentators in the Times and elsewhere wringing their hands about what the Dems' message should be. Meanwhile, out in the real world, Dems seem to have it handled, because they know what real people care about. Healthcare. Jobs. Being able to make a living and support your family. Here's the problem, though: Of course, Republicans are out of step with most Americans. And the Koch Brothers want to keep it that way. They have bought office after office, and now they're buying the Supreme Court. With Brett Kavanaugh they've almost completed the deal. We will have what they want crammed down our throats for generations if we don't step their candidates and nominees now.
17
Up until this moment, I had assumed that the Republican drive to re-criminalize abortion and block access to birth control for women was all about the "demographic shift" that Laura Ingraham talked about the other day and that Republican politicians and religious leaders have been bemoaning for decades. And I'm still sure it is. But blocking people's access to healthcare by making it unaffordable seems to me to be counter to any goal of increasing the white population. Can the increase in birth rates really keep up with the increase in maternal and infant mortality, plus the lower life expectancies due to addictions and preventable/treatable diseases? I guess we're going to find out, as Republicans conduct their big science experiment on 320,000,000 people.
7
TDS has now reached its second and most virulent stage: ECD (Election Chances Delusion). To diehard Democrats it must seem to be an historic inevitability that the tide will shift in their favor, but their timing is off by about six to fourteen years till Trump and his successor Pence finish out their terms in office, and the American people decide it’s time for a change. Talking up Democratic hopes in a liberal newspaper column or drumming up anecdotal evidence in a few selected districts hardly a tidal wave makes except in the minds of the deranged.
1
@Ed Sea level is rising rapidly, Ed. Keep dry.
11
@Ed. Maybe you are the one who is deluded about the inevitability of continued Republican control of the House of Representatives. Perhaps it’s your primary news source (Fox, I would presume), that is presenting you with a skewed view of the American public’s current state of mind, politically. Your president has a 41% approval rating and continues to be one of the most, if not the most, unpopular presidents in American history. Democrats have won a number of special elections in red states and districts in the recent past in Virginia and Alabama. This past Tuesday, Republicans barely outpolled their Democratic opponents in districts that Trump handily won in 2016 and which have been Republican for decades. Maybe you will be the one considered “deranged” come November.
4
I consider myself a moderate Republican (at least that’s what the Endangered Species tag in my ear says; those tranquilizer needles hurt!). I’m a veteran of two wars. Marine reservist. Retired from both that and as a Federal civilian. Worked in international affairs for many years and have seen up close the real chaos that comes from paying lip service to democratic principles. Voted for Obamacare in 2008 because I believe everyone should have access to basic health care. Voted for Hillary because Trump and his cronies nauseate me. And I’m considering changing my registration. Like the guy in the comments below - in Columbus - I vote for who I think is best for the overall interest of the country (and Hillary certainly wasn’t perfect, I allow that). Had Kasich won the nomination that’s who I would have voted for. But the Republican Party in its current form - Nunes’ recorded comments are further proof - absolutely disgusts me. The Democrats should somehow try and identify people like me in the close districts and focus upon them.
Let the trolling commence.
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@Lightning14
“At least that’s what the Endangered Species tag in my ear says; those tranquilizer needles hurt!”. Laughing out loud - great comment! Thanks.
1
Trump's policies are not popular? I don't know anyone who is complaining about a 4 percentage point drop in their marginal tax rates. I get it that some blue-staters are upset by the cap on SALT Schedule A deductions. Residents in low or no-income tax states though are glad that they no longer subsidize the high income taxes of the blue states. Economic growth is expanding, we have more job openings than applicants, metals plants are reopening, manufacturing jobs additions have not been this strong in a decade or so and despite gushing articles of worry here about how China has us over a barrel, it is quite obvious that the Chinese are the ones who are sweating. We buy $500 billion more annually from them than they do from us and we are one of their largest trading partners. Does it really make sense for China to tick-off their largest customer or that they somehow have leverage over us?
It is striking to read the op-ed page here vs. The Wall Street Journal. The latter is not especially a fan of Trump either but they frame the argument rationally. Trump is not the polished gentleman that everyone wants (Dems - you could have voted for Romney in '12 but rejected him....) but the results he's producing are very much what people want. Hint to the left - Watergate was decades ago. It's time to stop fighting like it just happened.
3
If someone received a 4% drop in their marginal tax rates it has likely been eaten up by inflation and increased health care premiums among other things that Republicans have created with their policies. Trickle down doesn’t work. And btw the tax cuts for the middle class are temporary while the tax cuts for the rich are permanent. What will be your argument then?
32
@Keith
A comment replete with trump/republican talking points but without facts/context/analysis.
The WSJ may not be cheering on Trump but they love the lie of trickle down.
13
@Keithy
Blue staters are actually upset because the Trump tax cuts for corporations and the top 1% have caused the deficit to ballon at a rate not seen since the Reagan tax cuts (which were closely followed by high interest rates and 11 tax increases). Blue staters are also concerned that the last Republican administration caused near economic collapse with its tax cuts and high risk mortgage policies intended to stimulate Trump’s real estate sector. Obama’s was still able to rescue us from that disaster with sound economic stimulus and TRIPLING the value of the stock market despite unanimous obstruction by your Republican buddies. Trump is far more than a crude, indecent, immoral traitor. He is also stupid, and that makes for a combination that really scares the heck out of us Blue Staters. And, by the way, the educated high income Blue States are tired of subsidizing the poorly educated, low income, low tax revenue Red states. It’s about time the Red States started contributing more to the national conversation than guns, voter suppression, and Christmas in July.
16
I guess "common sense" is putting up with the most expensive, wasteful, and dysfunctional health care system in the developed world (that also leaves millions without health care) along with $100,000 - $200,000 college tuition debt and a road system (infrastructure) that ranks just below Namibia on the world scale. I also suppose that fixing those things as suggested by some trendy New York socialists (among others) is impractical and lacks "common sense." Rather, I think watching the country continue down the road toward more corruption, failed statehood and eventual collapse is the true lack of common sense. I haven't heard anything from any trendy New York socialists that a modern FDR wouldn't do (he'd probably do more in fact). This country is in very serious trouble (even in the short run) and is going to need major change in order to survive economically and politically. Sadly, I don't see our economic or political leaders doing anything about it - in fact, they are mostly busy making things worse right now. Sclerotic and dysfunctional - welcome to the new US(SR).
22
It's well past time that America's fake heartland and fraudulent Bible Belt stopped enjoying their Recommended Daily Allowances of right-wing hate radio, Fake News and white spite and realized that the Republican Party has been actively trying to impoverish, bankrupt and kill them for the last few decades.
Birther Lies, Benghazi Witch Trials and Trump Twidiocy don't pay the bills, put food on the table or make anyone's life better.
Right-wing corporate judges on the Supreme Court who want corporate hegemony and gutted unions are no friends of the average American worker or average American.
Mindless tax cuts for the rich spell broken infrastructure, broken healthcare, a broken future and a broken common good for the non-rich.
Put down your fear and loathing and white spite, 5th congressional district, and stop flushing your country down a Republican Trump Toilet and start fixing the country.
There are real-life public policy solutions to healthcare, childcare, low wages, collapsed infrastructure, campaign finance corruption, global warming and education, but Greed Over People is NOT interested and has not been interested since 1980 when Republican Snake Oil first started destroying this country with sociopathic 1% greed.
D to go forward; R for Russian-Republican oligarchy.
Democrat Lisa Brown on November 6 2018.
Stop being conned and snake-oiled by Greed Over People, Republistan.
Republicans don't give a damn about you.... and never have.
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@Socrates: 24/7 fear-and-hate right-wing radio is enabled only by the elimination under Reagan of the Fairness Doctrine, which was intended to prevent one political line from dominating the airwaves that belong to the public. Will the Democrats ever catch up with that thought and restore the Fairness Doctrine? Will they ever stand up to right-wing media monsters like Sinclair Broadcasting and Clear Channel that own hundreds of TV and radio stations dedicated to right-wing politics?
4
@Socrates
Have always enjoyed and mostly agreed with your comments.
How about: D for drive (as in forward) and R for reverse (as in away from democracy).
1
"Specifically, she long tried to take away health care, backing proposals that would have left 70,000 people without insurance in her swath of Eastern Washington."
In my state, Governor, now UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, DID take away health insurance from thousands of people through her rejection of the Medicaid expansion. And we know from recent events in the Republican party, that can mean only one thing - after Trump, she'll be the next Republican nominee for president of the United States.
45
@Thucydides
This is an honest question. Do you think Republican voters will back a woman candidate for president? They seem okay with a woman as the vice presidential candidate, but Michelle Bachman in 2012 and Carly Fiorina in 2016 got very few primary votes. I think Nikki Haley would suffer the same fate in the primaries; to me it appears that the GOP voters just don’t trust a woman to top their presidential ticket yet. Am I missing something?
It pains me more to see women voting against women’s interest than it does to see men voting against women’s interests. Women have enough problems coping with life’s hardships without the likes of Phyllis Schlafly, who was the principal reason the Equal Rights Amendment was never passed, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who has tried to keep women in her district from getting access to birth control, and birth control information, and who has done precisely nothing to help women address their child care needs.
Republican voters living in the Limbaugh/Fox News Bubble of Hate are never going to change their minds about Trump and his policies, or about the abyss into which the GOP has fallen, because doing so makes those voters look bad. There is not much point in wasting precious time and money trying to flip Republican voters, and Republican columnists in this paper and elsewhere attempting to entice Democrats down that path have motives that are, to say the least, suspect.
The only solution going forward is for Democrats to get out the Democratic vote in November 2018. Health care is clearly the issue that resonates, because it is immediate, and it is personal (unlike the infinitely more pressing issue, climate change). Democrats need to use the ammunition that works: Health care. Health care. Health care.
66
Let us hope you are right, Tim. But don't forget that people like McMorris Rogers consistently win elections because they can always count on a sizable percentage of their constituents voting against their best interests. You can lead a horse to water, etc.
28
Republicans went "all in" on opposing Obamacare without even going through the motions of developing an alternative. Since then, diabetes has exploded, especially among children, obesity is worse than ever and the population is aging. Time to pay the piper, GOP.
Increasingly, health care is becoming the "killer app" in American politics. It is easy to see the downside of GOP negligence in increasingly dire outcomes for Americans, but Democrats should also start hammering another argument: our current system makes significantly less competitive globally. If we are paying (at least) twice what every other country is paying, essentially investing huge amounts of money in something that is neither here nor there in terms of productivity, then we are wasting that money and our competitors are not.
So "Medicare for all" is not a form of charity for poor people and minorities. It is, in fact, a way to restore sanity to our health care delivery system, make an even playing field for an essential good, and tell vampire squid health insurance companies, whose greed is endless and immoral, to take a hike. The American people win!
And to those who say "But that will cost $32 billion a year!," I say the obvious: we are probably wasting that much annually already. At least we can firmly control the growth in health care spending this way, and give the people what they need.
78
Exactly. Dems should focus mainly on policies, that are damaging the very fabric of this nations physical and administrative infrastructure. The corruption of the man and his his supporters (including most Republicans in Congress) will speak for itself.
26
My husband and I were out canvassing for Danny O'Connor in Ohio on election day. We came across one gentleman who said he was a republican and always has been. In this year's primary, he voted republican because his father was on a down ballot race and he wanted to vote for him. But, he voted for O'Connor on election day because he cannot abide the toxicity and mendacity of the republican party as it now exists. Minor progress, to be sure, but a welcome change.
141
@Susan Your interaction with this man is very encouraging. Let's hope it is a portent of what will happen on November 6th.
4
As someone who has lived and worked in WA 5, and knows (slightly) Lisa Brown, it’s very exciting to watch her run. I’m now visiting, and I’m seeing her signs all over the place, from Asotin to Kettle Falls; that’s a good omen. She’s smart, she cares, she connects.
Farmers these days have to be savvy international traders, and rejection of the TPP, and now these tariffs, on top of the attempts to gut the ACA, have all hurt the region badly.
Though I don’t vote there any more, I’ve donated to her campaign.
Lordy, I hope she wins!
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@Lisa
Please consider doing what I just did: set up recurring donations for the next 4 months. Act Blue makes it easy to do.
1
“The old way to scare people was through the three Gs — gays, guns and God.“ It would be refreshing, if many Republicans need something to fear, their focus shifted to economic issues. Yes, health care needs to be addressed so that people have coverage and costs, if any (far cheaper with single payer/national system), are manageable (people around me complain about pharmaceutical costs), Yes, let’s talk about effects of obesity (rather than the homosexual in your family tree) on people and health costs. Yes, a living wage would require the country to spend less on subsidizing workers in currently poor paying jobs. Yes, developing and improving reusable energy sources would be wise. Yes, driving vehicles which get more miles/gallon requires less fuel and less money out of one’s pocket book (a no brainer!). Yes, trading with the world rather than going to war (economically) with them seems logical. Yes, markets that farmers have had may never come back. If fear is a basic need for some Republicans lets focus on economic issues for once, please!
From what I know of Trump’s past and what I see now is he is good at bankruptcy. Unfortunately, this time it is someone else going bankrupt (farmers/businesses relying on materials from abroad). Although, who knows about his golf courses and money given by Russians to finance some of them. Maybe he could be in trouble “down the road”??
49
If believe that in many instances people vote against something, not for something. I would bet that in the Wash 5th, voters are not voting GOP because they believe in business tax cuts, removing funds from public education, or loosening environmental regulations. Areas like this vote AGAINST illegal immigration and social programs.
Dems really need to hammer home that they are not a part of the financial upper class, and the people having benefits cut include themselves. If they view everything as us versus them, make sure they know that they are "them" and are being hurt by the GOP.
41
If only I could say Goldberg were correct but the voters who watch Fox News don't have any concept of reality. How do I know this? My brother, well educated, happy in freedom 55 retirement for 10 years on both a military and law enforcement pensions gets his alternate reality from Fox and click bait sites.
I spent a month with him this summer. To listen to him, which I try to do rarely, one would think that the elites are snobs (though our PhD dad seemed to have escaped that characteristic according to him - some kind of exception proves the rule I guess), any form of health care for all is not affordable, the defenceless US has been taken advantage of by big, bad Canada in NAFTA deal, the FBI conspired not to indict Hillary.
I have lived in Canada and have told him the reality of trade and benefits of universal health care but my experience it seems is not good enough.
Years ago I asked him why he was a Republican when he grew up in a Democrat leaning house (dad, fed up from Nixon on and then finally changed his registration when 'that actor' ran for President and mom always a Dem). He said he used to be a Democrat but the dems had lost their way. He bought into the Republican rhetoric and he isn't going to disillusion himself any time soon.
135
@MKKW Research has shown distinct personality differences between conservative and liberal mindsets. Conservatives tend to fear and distrust, place people into stereotypical categories and are unable to accept ambiguity and nuance. For them to be comfortable everything must be clearly either black or white, no shades of gray. Conservative personalities also seek out the approval of others, finding comfort in groupthink. The positive side of the research is that this personality type, although widespread, is in the minority of our population.
22
@MKKW
I tire of people fixated on FOX. Who cares what the "converted" will or won't do. Why waste the energy?
4
"Yes, a majority of Americans find Trump repulsive — his lies, his pathological narcissism, his lack of decency, his illiteracy of democratic principles. But more important, his policies are not popular."
This article dovetails nicely with today's column by Michelle Goldberg.
Both you, Timothy Egan, and her are guardedly upbeat that a focus on issues and the impact of Trump-specific policies on their constituents will determine the outcome of these midterms.
They just need to do with they're doing and pick their issues based on how voters feel about losing healthcare, being in an industry on the wrong side of Trump tariffs, and why this administration seems to spend its entire energy protecting the wealthy and or/corrupt.
Trump promised to help the little guy. Lisa Brown knows how harsh that rings in her district, how totally cynical Morris-Rogers is, and how voters are getting fed up with the negativity and reality show of Washington.
So, while I'm cautious about this "blue wave" that's become a cliche, I'm seeing a commitment to core Democratic values that provides a refreshing counter to the scorecard the president keeps bragging about--a scorecard that reflects largely gifts to the wealthy and deregulation that benefits corporations.
165
I am a Canadian and I am terrified. We have the hottest summer on record, our southern neighbour seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown, America's surrogate mideast Kingdom has condemned us as a threat to the international order, our most important economic trade pact is in danger, America's President's favourite World leader has banned our Minister of Global Affairs and head of our NAFTA negotiations from Russian travel. The world is asking if the USA will stand with Canada against all the nations who have condemned our ethics and values: China, The Philippines, The USA, and Saudi Arabia.
Chrystia Freeland our Minister of Global Affairs entered politics in 2014 after a distinguished career as an economics journalist and writer whose two books Sale of the Century about the the death of Russian democracy and Plutocrats: The Rise of the Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else explain where we are and why we are here.
We are 36 million people and it seems to me the among the last remaining nations to stand up for values and ethics at the expense of earning the wrath of autocrats, oligarchs, crony capitalists and plutocrats around the globe.
We escaped the crash of 2008 because our mixed economy and the wisdom of our government and private financial institutions and Obama's and Canada's decision to bail out too big to fail industries.
Our well being is dependant on the GOP being removed from access to power and we cannot participate in your politics. What to do?
535
@Memphrie et Moi
Fret with the rest of the sane world? Seriously, I love that you have enforced targeted tariffs on areas of the US that supported 45. I think that's one of the single best actions that I've heard.
I'm not sure if we'll get it together or not but my suggestion is to start a wall on your southern border because you are going to have a lot of refugees seeking political asylum if this goes on much longer.
1
@Memphrie et Moi
Canada, I feel, gets so many things right that the US no longer knows enough to even care about.
I do not think you're wrong to be frightened.
I am too, because of late I can sum up my vision for Canada's future in two painful words: Doug Ford.
Be careful up there.
@Memphrie et Moi
You have my support.
America needs to purge the entire upper echelon of the GOP.
Trump is a traitor, one who grovels before Putin, takes orders from Putin, implements Putin's agenda (denies and blocks attempts to defend the US against the ongoing cyber war, destabilize NATO and the EU, lobbies to re-admit Russia to the G7, daily embarrasses the US before the world, etc.).
The GOP congress is complicit. They all must be booted out.
This may be hard to believe at the moment, but not everybody in the US is a gullible salivating deplorable fool. The GOP is currently exposing itself for what it is, a servile weak, a refuge in cowardice, whose supporter's willingness to follow with credulity people who are in the highest degree unscrupulous.
11
If people vote for McMorris Rodgers to represent their interests and needs and then find that she does the opposite, they have the opportunity to vote her out of office.
Let's see how much they really care about medical insurance and all the other needs that are obvious to their welfare when voting time comes.
And if they vote her in again, they deserve no sympathy or consideration.
125
@Sajwert: "And if they vote her in again, they deserve no sympathy or consideration."
If she wins in November, it will be her eighth term. They know full well who and what she is.I have no sympathy for them.
2
this was another wonderful result from Tuesday night. McMorris Rodgers has acted as the "hey we care about women too" figure that the GOP House leadership has trotted out at briefings that often pushed for policies that were dterimental to women and working families. She very rarely speaks, just smiles. But she does have a voice-we heard her on a tape seconding Devin Nunes's plan to impeach Rob Rosenstein after the midterms. May this seat turn Blue this fall.
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If the common sense solutions that people want involve better subsidized health care and childcare I’m sorry to report that “trendy socialism” has not only come to this district but is (unsurprisingly) popular. Stop punching left for no reason!
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@M My thoughts exactly. Cheap shot from Egan particularly when the “trendy Socialist “ is the one pushing and emphasizing the quality of life , bread and butter initiatives that will give relief to the people Egan effectively looks down his nose at .
Newsflash -people in rural Washington have the same basic needs of healthcare, housing , economic security and dignity as those in Queens or the Bronx .
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@Paul G Knox
Mr. Egan certainly does not look down his nose at the people of Eastern Washington. Mr. Egan was born and raised in Washington; and last I checked he still lives there. He is a graduate of the University of Washington. If he uses the term “trendy socialism” it is because he is very aware of the ideological divide between east and west in Washington state; and the suspicion that eastern Washington residents have of “government solutions”.
Don't understand the Spokane area and eastern Washington's "conservatism." Is Donald Trump a conservative? No, he's not even close. He exemplifies none of conservative beliefs with his own history and his demeanor and temperament could hardly be described as conservative. The present day GOP is proving to be a cult seemingly worshiping a self-centered, ignorant bully.
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@tom boyd
The reign of Trump is a a cult. Followers are overwhelmed by their emotions to the point of being unable or unwilling to think rationally. Demagogues have always appealed to these personality weaknesses.
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@tom boyd : Don't understand the Spokane area and eastern Washington's "conservatism."
That's because "conservative" has been redefined. The DNC wing of the Democratic party is what we used to call "conservative", i.e, in favor of a go slow approach of incremental improvements and fixes. The Republican "conservative" is what we used to call "reactionary", wanting to roll back time to some imagined golden age, while the Trump wing, which has become the mainstream is either out-and-out fascist, or collaborating with them. And yes, I do fully understand the meaning of "fascist".
3
@tom boyd It is not about conservatism. It is about tribalism. The support for Trump and CMR is found in the vast parking lots of the evangelical churches, each preaching a message that sounds nothing like the radical words of the Gospels.
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Let’s hope that the combination of policies that have harmed the lives of ordinary Americans as well as the disgusting examples of immorality and lying brought to them by trump and his party are enough to pursuadee republicans to vote for politicians that have their interests at heart. Even for the reasonable educated voter, possibly voting for a candidate in the other party is difficult. I hope that trump has so crossed the lines of indecency and harm that this will change.
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Small green shoots beginning to pop up that perhaps, just perhaps now, Trump has not turned out to be Marcus Aurelius and is instead the very worst 'leader' of anything larger than a taco stand.
Well, we can always hope.
32
From your mouth to God's ear
14
It would'n't matter so much who the people of Spokane elected as their representative if the Senate was a truly representational body. The albatross around our government by the people's neck is the legacy of white plantation owners who inserted the decidedly un-democratic clauses in the constitution to protect their interests. It's a shameful legacy that lives on to the present day with billionaire donors, lobbyists and neo-feudalism.
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All politics is local. Lisa Brown is perfect for eastern Washington; Connor Lamb is perfect for middle Pennsylvania; and, yes, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is perfect for The Bronx and Queens.
And that will be how the "disorganized" Democrats overcome the lock-step GOP.
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@John Graubard,
Finally, Democrats have shown some sense in recruiting candidates who fit the district, have a great personal history and come to the competition with a real desire to serve the district and not the national party elites. It is about time.
13
@John Graubard, the disorganized Democrats will have to try a strategy they haven't used before: penalizing those elected officials in their party who do not toe the party line. The GOP does it all the time. The Democrats need to have a clear, simple message. They need to emphasize, in direct statements, what the GOP has done and is doing that hurts most Americans. And they need to keep on repeating it. Behind the scenes they ought to come up with plans that they can agree on.
Then we, the people, need to stop drinking the outsider is better Kool Aid. Sometimes being inside is better.
3
@John Graubard Perfect.
2
The tape of McMorris-Rodgers and Nunes at her fund-raising event is indeed odious - that it reveals GOP'ers will "circle the wagons" around His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness, no matter what Mueller turns up, and despite the disgraceful kowtowing in Helsinki shows how far back to the back of their minds GOP'ers have shoved the Oaths of Office they all swore.
And it seems that in many Congressional districts, the Democrats should more often be mentioning that Pres. Very Stable Genius 45* has been raising taxes - through his unilateral imposition of tariffs - which hurt regular Americans whilst passing out the Trump Tower Tax Cuts to benefit his donor crowd.
Plus, the GOP'er Labor Dept. has changed overtime pay with the Rolling Trumpster Fire reversing Obama era increases:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-trump-administration-just-ch...
making the economic picture even darker for Jane/Joe Sixpack.
GOP'ers have raised everyone's taxes through tariffs, and have cut millions of Americans' overtime pay under the Orange Jabberwock; Democrats shouldn't let GOP'ers hide from that record.
It's real-world math and kitchen-table Econ. 101
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Will there be 100 percent Democratic voting participation? If not, why not? Anything less leads to a Republican victory.If any Democrat can find an excuse not to vote, that's where Trump wins.
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@Richard Mclaughlin,
Anything less than 100%?
In my 50 years of life I've never lived in a congressional district that has elected a Republican, as I still live within 15 miles of my birthplace in Oakland, California.
I trust my neighbors to continue to vote Democratic.
Maybe with a new Constitution (down with the Electoral College!), or if California divides into multiple States we'd have the power that reflects our numbers, but as it is my vote hardly counts and except for Jesse Jackson in 1984 I don't remember any Presidential candidate bothering to campaign here.
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@Richard Mclaughlin
Don't forget the independent voter.VOTE
6
@James
Let's not take a chance with a Constitutional Convention to write a new constitution--the results could be disastrous with the present state of mass ignorance about history, economics, and governance.
We can work to eliminate the Electoral College by amendment, instead--ditto Citizens United and its ilk.
Democrats, please be for something. Jobs, infrastructure, clean energy, health care, education.
Mr. Egan is correct, ignore Trump and tell Americans that this is still their country
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@Paul E. Nielsen
When have Democrats not been for "Jobs, infrastructure, clean energy, healthcare, education?" Skeptics just have to listen.
15
@Paul E. Nielsen Why don't you run for office?
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@Paul E. Nielsen
"Democrats, please be for something. Jobs, infrastructure, clean energy, health care, education."
If only TV would cover events like this instead of giving air time to eg Giuliani and Conway
https://www.c-span.org/video/?440922-1/house-democrats-unveil-infrastruc...
1
You mention the secret audio of Devon Nunes talking to Republican donors about the need for Republicans to maintain control of the House in order to protect Trump from impeachment. Nunes referred to this as being a "Catch-22," but one gets the sense that Nunes doesn't truly understand Joseph Heller's conundrum. Here's the real Catch-22 for Republicans this November: they can't protect Trump unless they get reelected, but they risk not being reelected if they want to protect Trump.
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@WDG In the last 14 contested Republican primaries where President Donald Trump has endorsed a candidate, his pick has won -- or is leading -- all 14 times. And it speaks to the fact that despite Trump's weak numbers among the general populace, he remains a massively powerful force within the GOP -- someone who can make and break candidacies with a single tweet.
14
@Bill Brown With the margin of victory in Ohio's 12th district as thin as a White Castle hamburger patty, it sounds like you're whistling past the graveyard. But not to worry. There aren't going to be any midterm elections--at least not any after which the results will be honored. Trump will shut down the government next month and follow it up with a military coup on Veterans Day. Be on the lookout for tanks being added to the parade program!