I suggest the Democrats take a few long, deep breaths. The impeachment is about to go into the public phase. People who are not engaged now may well be later. If the public comes to understand what Trump has done and how his corruption and lies affect them, they may be ready to through out Republicans in Congress who cover for him and refuse to eject him from office.
How does his corruption affect them? He lies about his accomplishments in office. He has not "saved" manufacturing or mining. He has not improved the lot of the workers or middle class. His tax cut did nothing for the middle class. It was for the wealthy. Hammer home how he lies to us and uses the office to line his own pockets.
30
I think the fear is that we feel (and are, in fact) powerless to influence the minds of Trump's minority fan base. They are like a cult, or a large group of addicts: they will only change when they reach their bottom and decide for themselves that enough is enough. We cannot rationalize with them. We cannot even influence them. Yet this small minority of cult fandom controls the political process and power.
The solution is that we have to vote in numbers too large to manipulate; then we have to take away the car keys from the intoxicated Trump fans.
46
Democrats are host to several fears, from Trump derangement syndrome to believing in a climate change apocalypse looming eerily in the background. It appears, Ms. Goldberg and her cohorts have succumbed as victims of their own doomsday projections they have purposely purloined on the unwashed.
Knowing deeply within that old Elizabeth Warren is clueless, older Bernie is a stumble away from cardiac arrest, old Joe Biden is a corrupt and desperate mirage, and the lurking old ghosts of Bloomberg and Hilary only merit a tired soundbite or two, the shrill scream of constant fear is beginning to metastasize. Soon, Ms. Goldberg and friends will go underground handing out armbands, and inciting violence. Four more years, they fear, will be a pain no opioid can relieve.
9
One cheery note here- Trump is feeling the pressure more and more every day. His tax returns may soon become available. Oh Happy Day! Let him do more campaigning- Lot's More! His message is getting really cloudy lately. Attack, attack, attack! Enemies closing in! Must offend, not defend! Everyone is trying to destroy America, the country HE built that is so great again. Only I don't see what is so great- you mean attacking combat veterans who risked everything for their country? The list of "traitors" and "socialists" is growing exponentially! "Beware America, they're coming for me... I mean YOU!" "They're coming for you!" Only "I" can save you from disaster! "I'm your only hope!"
No quid pro quo! Perfect Conversation! Fireside chat- Read The Transcript! IOW, let him tangle himself up in meaninglessness until there are no people left between the West Coast and the East Coast left to condemn, to make fun of- maybe he should just "lock everyone up"? But yes, ORGANIZE. And if we have to stage public sit-ins, if we have to bombard the Capitol with thousands, neigh millions of concerned citizens who've had enough, then be prepared to do so. This all started with The Tea Party, remember? So get out the Shellac- it's time to get representative government back!
12
All of the events and Marches that you write about, as well as the entirety of the Trump Presidency should give the Democrats something to scream about - Daily. Trump even owns a Hotel near the White House. He just ceded Syria to the Russians. But the Democrats say or do - little. Sadly they have become the 'Scared-E-Kat' Party
4
Grow some brains Dems. We won the 2018 House on the strength of moderate voters throughout the country. Same in 2019.
Read the writing on the wall. A moderate candidate will win the country. Not a candidate who has been labeled a socialist that sticks with voters.
Sanders and Warren are the dream candidates for Trump and the GOP. The lessons of 2018 and 2019 tell us so. Avoid them like the devil, Dems.
14
Trump has done nothing for the middle and working class. He has dramatically increased the rate at which we are going into debt. The economy has been given a boost by the national debt credit card, which will come around and hurt the next Democrat president. He is conducting a chaotic trade war that has only done damage - with no benefit. He walked right into North Korea's trap with nothing to show. He has done nothing to widen the net of those covered by health insurance. His withdrawal from Syria was a form of mass murder, done stupidly with little to no savvy. He aims daily to savage the planet and leave it worse off for future generations. He lies constantly and is genuinely unkind - a true sociopath. Our former allies are gravely concerned about the position of the US as the reliable moral leader in the world and their relationship to us. Lowering interest rates during strong bull markets leaves no bullets for the next, inevitable bear market. He's not thinking long term about the tools we will have to boost the economy when things cycle down - which they always do. He's running us into debt and will have little room to lower rates further. There is a great deal to run against here - why are we talking about medicare for all? It's a total waste of time without democratic control of the Senate. We need to run against Trump's incessant mistakes and horrific moral depravity.
11
This tale of "fear" and "terror" among "67% if Democrats" sounds to me like a huge con job. This is propaganda-driven fears.
This is manipulation. Democrats are being manipulated to vote without thinking, without questions, without concern for issues or interests of their own. Just vote against the Monster and Trust Us.
Nope. Don't trust you. Not as far as I can spit.
8
I am not afraid. Trump will win.
7
Thank you, Michelle!!
3
The “silver bullet” may just come from Ms. E. Jean Carroll who recently filed a defamation lawsuit wherein she alleges in 1995 Donald Trump raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman. In June of this year during a T.V. interview Ms. Carroll spoke of the alleged rape and mentioned that the dress she had been wearing at the time was still hanging in her closet, unwashed after 20 years.
Predictably Mr. Trump took what may have been the bait and went after Ms. Carroll in one of his worst misogynistic tirades. Recently Ms. Carroll's lawyer responding to Mr. Trumps denials of the incident replied with 4 words: “We can prove it.”
That dress in Ms. Carroll's closed isn't blue by any chance?
5
Michael Bloomberg... a real billionaire who has created thousands of jobs... hoping he runs....
2
As a #NeverTrump Republican, I’m as concerned as my Democratic friends that Trump will be elected. But I never hear from my Senators or my Congressman. They never answer my letters/emails, so I have no idea how to make my views known or support their efforts to remove Trump from the WH. I suspect that I’m not alone and believe that many like-minded Republicans will stay home, rather than vote.
3
Michelle, "Curing Democrats’ 2020 Terror" requires a two step diagnosis and preventative measures.
First, one of the Democrat candidates has to forthrightly 'expose' Emperor Trump publicly.
I've previously commented here in the "Times" that I constantly and each week for the last year protested ‘in the streets’ in Portland Maine (in front of WCSH TV 6) and in the center of Portsmouth NH..
With my only demonstration, march, and protest sign: which simply reads on one side,
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
and, more importantly, on the other side, under an image of ‘our’ American flag,
“We can’t be an EMPIRE”
For the last month I've added shouting-out to the Ch 6 News Reporters; "Amanda, Cindy, Rob, Pat, Lee start reporting the News" --- "We've got an Emperor sitting in 'our' White House".
Individually, as they go in and out of the station, I've told them, "Lee you could win a Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting' -- if you are the first news anchor to tell the American people that "we've got an Emperor in our Oval Office" --- "Just call him Emperor Trump instead of President Trump!"
Well, they may not, but the first of the Democratic candidates who calls Trump, 'Emperor Trump' --- instead of President Trump is IMHO very likely to win in 2020.
In fact, the entire media: TV, print, etc. that calls Trump out as an EMPEROR will sway all Americans to level the 'pet name game' that Trump uses on others like "Little Ted", "Crooked Hillary" etc. back right onto his Emperorness.
7
The thing that drives me the craziest about the upcoming election is that if Trump is re-elected, apparently the fault for such a calamity will not be the Republican party or the people who voted for him, no somehow the Democrats who loathe him will be responsible for his re-election.
I am so tired of reading "If Democrats want four more years of Trump, just keep doing x" or "why aren't liberals doing a better job of empathizing with the real Americans in the heartland" (knowing that apparently there is absolutely no obligation for the empathy to be reciprocated).
I am trying hard to be the best Christian I can and love my neighbors without judgement, but if Trump is re-elected it will not be the fault of California or the New York Times or Nancy Pelosi or the Squad, or whatever Fox News meme pops up, it will be the fault of the people who voted for him, and everyone who enabled him.
We may have more liberal tears in 2020, but Trump is an apocalyptical catastrophe hell-bent on creating an authoritarian state, and the Republican Party is 100% willing to risk the destruction of our Democracy if it allows them to cling to power for a few more months.
Republicans will rue (I actually think some of them are starting to rue) the pact they have made with the Devil, but they will have no one to blame but themselves.
19
PROZAC!
1
I'm in almost terror that Trump will win again. I'm 70 and in that long life I've never seen a candidate, let alone a President who has less respect for the this country or our Laws than Donald Trump. He is just plan an evil megalomaniac.
What is worse is that his campaign rallies and the way he hold his right hand up just like Adolf Hitler did scares me. But his rabid, fascist, hate filled supporters scare me the most. I believe it would not take much encouragement from Trump for them to reenact Crystal Night when the Hitlerian Storm Troopers decimated jewish synagogues and businesses. Only this time it will be the blacks, the latinos, the Asians, and the Liberals. who will be attacked. The way Trump supporters act, with the full approval of the Republican Party, reminds me more and more if the Nazi propaganda films.
14
So Democratic Party, give us the roadmap.
I've long been frustrated by the generic, fear-mongering emails asking for money or a faux survey of my opinions followed by a request for money to support the House, the Senate, the Party.
If you tell me where to send the money for the early organizing in the states and jurisdictions that make a difference I will do it. If you tell me where to direct my texts and phone calls, I'll do that too. But you have to do what Ms. Goldberg has done: tell me specifically where I can make a difference, and how.
19
Michelle Goldberg, and those she folks she describes, offers solid advice on our Trumpian melancholia. Get involved. I would also like to add that many of the people I see simply don't want to be announcing their favorites fearing to offend a friend or to ignite an argument on who can win. According to the polls someone my age should be steering center toward Biden. But in fact I am a Bernie man and I am now wearing a pin stating so. And that's important, to state your cause even when those around you feel that your vote is hopeless. I feel it is far from hopeless in this strange Kafkaesque world. The anomaly has a good chance. Anyway, center these days is certainly not the center of that era of American prosperity where I grew up, the 50s. Back then center was way off to the left. That was true north.
9
Dems will do what they did in '16...remain divided, split by identity ties, single-issue concerns, and fail to solidify behind one candidate. Trump wins, perhaps again with fewer votes than the leading progressive, but benefits from rigged districts and the electoral college scam. Not a pretty picture, but Trump's crowd are solid behind him, and progressives are too divided into small interest groups.
5
2020, Dems will maintain the House only.
Senate will not shift to Democrats.
Dems will lose the WH due to the electoral college (despite winning the popular vote once again.)
The situation will be the same.
Time to plan on what to do in that eventuality.
9
As a Frenchman whose job includes teaching French history, that is, teaching about 2000 years of coups, games of thrones, culture wars, civil wars, power grabbers and confidence men turned heads of state, I think a scared Democrat voter is a smart voter.
But Ms Goldberg has a point : the way out of the civil war so much of the Trump base is yearning for, and which Trump himself so strongly implies if he is defeated is through a victory so resounding it will smash all dreams of undemocratic violence.
14
Lets not forget that Trump lost the popular vote by more than 10m+ votes last time.
7m+ votes that went to 3rd party Johnson and Stein aren't going to vote Trump now, and there is no Hilary to protest.
Add that to the 3m+ that she beat him by and that's the 10m.
Add to that, at LEAST 5m who have regretted voting for Trump and if swing back to Democratic will be a difference of another 10m.
Everybody has got to get out and vote because his followers sure will, but, with all else being the same and no election rigging, the Dem. candidate wins by 20m+ votes by my calculation.
Sure we have the electoral college numbers. but he won PA, MI and Wis by <110k votes combined.
I say Trump loses in a 20+ million vote landslide, which, btw, would be a record.
I have convinced myself of this outcome to help me cope.
Please don't go shooting holes in it.
24
I LIKE your math!
7
Unless something changes, Democrats will lose the election on immigration issues. I myself, a lifelong Dem voter, will have a hard time supporting a nominee who would liberalize immigration laws. Not because of racism - I believe immigrants are beneficial culturally. But I cannot deny the impacts of over-population.
Without immigration this country would hover at replacement population level. That is all we can or should expect to support going into the unknown economic, food/water supply, health, infrastructure, disaster relief, etc. stresses of climate change, as well as job losses due to increasing automation. We can't even take care of the population we have, there are homeless people sleeping in the streets. It makes no sense to propose generous social benefits with unlimited numbers of people entering the country.
All the ills of the world are caused or exacerbated by too-many-people, no matter who they are or where they came from. Even a great many Democrats sense this, judging from NYTimes comment sections. Democrat candidates need to realize that if the rank-and-file is skeptical about their immigration positions, they will do even worse with the general public in the 2020 election.
9
I stopped at overpopulation. Thanks.
4
The most important thing we can do is build a progressive social movement OUTSIDE of the Democratic party. Electoral politics matter but real social change is NOT going to come from either political party. Progressive social change is going to come from a real socialist social movement along with
a reinvigorated progressive labor union movement.
5
There is certainly plenty of reason to worry about Trump being reelected. Since he has taken office it is clear that he is a white nationalist, an autocrat, has no intention of following presidential norms, praises authoritarian leaders around the world, has lied many thousands of times in public, has not released any tax returns, has appointed corporate lobbyists to head up governments agencies, has tried to end Obamacare, has pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, has broken up families along the Mexican border and has put children in cages, has taken money designated for the military to build his wall which will cause great ecological damage, etc and yet still has remained popular with a large segment of the American population. So basically it is hard to think of anything he could do that would cause him to lose much of his support. Therefore it appears he might win but it is far from certain. But unfortunately the Democrats are not united. Although Indivisible will tell people to vote for whomever the Democrats nominate it seems certain that if Warren or Sanders are not the nominee many progressives will decide not to vote for president or vote for a third party nominee, perhaps once again Jill Stein of the Green Party.
4
I've donated $1900 so far. And I'm not done.
If everyone can go to ActBlue.org and just donate a little, that can add up to a billion dollars towards our victory funds. Corporations give the GOP all their money, so we need this.
16
People are over-reacting to this.
Be honest, how has YOUR life been changed by the election of Donald Trump, other than people sending themselves into a frenzy about nothing?
Much of the "chaos" that exists is a construct of the liberal media and its faithful adherents.
I read in the Times of president Trump "railing" against his enemies, so I go look at the video of the event (not included in the Times), and he's simply making a calm statement.
The chaos is contrived. It is one of the tactics being used by the liberal media to undermine a presidency, and our country.
6
How many people died in Ukraine while aide was withheld? How did the decision effect the people in Syria? How many died , innocent people with the invasion of Turkey. How do you think the free people around the globe feel without American leadership? It’s not contrived, we have an ad hoc leadership style in this administration. How many people are insulted by this president and the constant lying which facts point out. Just yesterday a judge had an admission of guilt from the T business about abuse of his foundation money to charity which was attached to the 2 million dollar fine. He said of course not so but read the ruling he had to make admission of abuse of funds. It’s in black and white. Just the last example of the con.
5
Voter registration drives are great but even if new voters are registered in many states they have to have the proper ID to vote. I know of only one charitable, non-partisan group that focuses on that, which I find troubling. That group is Voteriders. There should be much more focus on the ID issue in states like Wisconsin and Georgia and Texas. The ID laws are reprehensible but they're still in effect and we have to address the issues they raise. Check out Voteriders.
10
The Trump supporters will also come out in force. They have been doing this recently by attending his rallies by the thousands and they will only increase in number as time goes on. They too have power and grit. They will canvas the neighborhoods to get out the vote and will triumph. President Trump has been receiving a lot of money towards his 2020 political campaign from his donors and this is just the start. His supporters will not sit on their laurels as they want their lives to continue being great.
3
The data - and a visit to any American airport - suggest Americans do not like paying taxes: in 2016 only 4 of the 36 OECD nations had a lower overall tax rate as a percentage of GDP than the US, and of course the subsequent Trump tax cut further reduced the tax rate. It isn’t at all clear that the way to rebuild your “blue wall” in those places which actually determine the presidency is to nominate the candidate whose proposals will most drastically increase the tax rate. Democrats have every reason to be concerned.
5
"Levin reminded me that in 2017, Democrats’ chances of winning the House seemed bleak, given the effect of gerrymandering. “In early 2017 we got laughed at when we said we could take the House,” he said. The blue wave of 2018 wasn’t preordained — people built it."
Yesterday a car in front of me had a bumper sticker that read "I am Woman, watch me vote."
May I suggest that this is a very good tactic to use a turn of a well recognized phrase, such as "I'm with HER, watch US vote!"
Take Elizabeth Warren's campaign; she has written a plethora of policies and states her position on many issues (but showing all your cards in a poker game isn't a winning strategy.) That is all fine and well, but is difficult to convert into a succinct message. Good, maybe in a debate, and excellent talking points to toss out when needed.
Whomever is the nominee for Democrats really should contrast what 45* has done during the 2016 election, and subsequently while in office, that you will never do.
You will not: be a Twitter troll and start trades wars; enact tariffs; fire Cabinet members, ambassadors, staff, top intelligence officers and personnel by tweet; and you will not ask for foreign help, or dirt, on opponents.
You will: ensure elections are tamper-proof, fair and accurate in every state and county in the country.
Washington famously said "I cannot tell a lie..." The next POTUS should exclaim to voters "I cannot tell 14,687 lies my predecessor has while in office...!"
12
Have we thanked Ezra Levin enough?
I remember watching him on Maddow after Trump got elected and left the segment finally feeling hopeful after the weeks of despair.
Kudos to Indivisble!
14
I just watched a full 25 minutes of Trump's "helicopter press gaggle" on the South Lawn. It's mind numbing. Try it ... see how long you last. It's impossible to believe anyone thinks that he's a good president or makes any sense when he speaks.
He's the product of a failed national education system that doesn't teach critical thinking. This will take a generation or two to fix and that's only if we start today.
19
The Democrats have reason to worry that President Trump will be reelected. Their presidential candidates have gone so far to the left that only the most progressive voters would ever dare to vote for any of them. They propose open borders, free college education for citizens and illegals, and free health care. They want to tax the rich and give to the poor.
Their progressive policies do not appeal to most Americans and those affected most will be the middle class. They will be paying higher taxes and getting nothing in return. They have been completely ignored by the Democratic Party and in turn will not cast their ballots for any of them.
7
Let's go everyone, get off your butts and MOVE TO A SWING STATE!!
That's right:
Wisconsin - fine cheese, one socially-owned professional football team, lots of blondes, cold winters.
Michigan - cold winters, two decent college football teams, nice lakes.
Pennsylvania - funny accents, nice small towns.
Let's go everyone, you can work from home now - no excuses.
13
the democratic candidates need to quit dissing each other and get together. e pluribus unum, remember? by and large, the candidates are a good bunch; so let the party pick one in the primaries and at the convention, and unite behind her/him. don’t do the republicans’ work for them.
duh.
12
When will 18 candidates, the DNC, the DCCC,the DSCC, ActBlue stop sending me the tickler questionnaires designed to get me to donate just one more time. This avalanche of email began 6-8 months ago . Do they not know they are preaching to the choir.?
When will They send me user friendly, organization web sites, phone numbers, email addresses to contact. As a life long, and now retired, Democrat, i have passion , time, and willingness to volunteer. All I need is training. There must be thousands, young and old with the passion to create a wave election to equal 1932.
13
Find your local indivisible chapter and start writing postcards, texting, calling, canvassing.
2
Michelle- You say that “Nobody knows what to do” and that “it’s not clear exactly what Democrats who abhor Trump should be doing right now.” First let me tell you what Democrats should not be doing, and then I’ll tell you what we should be doing. What Democrats should NOT be doing is spending all their time debating the relative merits of candidates who won’t appeal to mainstream America at all. Wake up Democrats! Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders may seem exciting to you, but two-thirds of the electorate will find them terrifying and will be eager to vote against them. What Democrats should be doing is supporting a candidate who can actually win in red states. And there actually is one candidate who has proven that he can do that: Steve Bullock, the Governor of Montana. I can’t understand how his candidacy has gotten almost no support. I mean – Democrats, what do we want to do in the presidential election? Number 1 is- we want to win and get rid of Trump! We should certainly support the candidate who has the best chance of winning. Check out Steve Bullock – you’ll like him, and so will almost all the voters in those crucial states.
8
We didn't get Trump by accident. Liberalism ran off the rails with an arrogant elitism engendered in no truth relativism, political correctness, trigger warnings, micro aggressions, safe spaces, medicare for all, open borders, and its general, "basket of deplorables," disdain for those who saw the world differently than they did, just to name a few. So far as I can see, liberals have done very little to stem these truly awful behaviors, nothing to soften their stance and be more inclusive of America's working class, the very same workers who used to be who Democrats cared most about. At the moment, neither Party is fit to lead America, but Republicans have a natural structural advantage in returning Trump to office. it's still not too late, but the current slate of candidates doesn't seem to embody the healing and rapprochement that is desperately needed for our nation to move forward.
8
@Jack You're absolutely right, and it's just terrible that liberalism has gone off the rails. If you want a Democratic candidate who can bring about the healing and rapprochement that is absolutely desperately needed and one who really cares about America's working class, check out Steve Bullock's website. He's the Governor of Montana and he's one of the Democratic candidates, even though it seems that the DNC and the activist liberals have done their best to ignore him (he was only invited to one of the debates).
1
I'm one of those boomer working class white PA residents. I could not care less for Red State voters. Willful ignorance is no excuse, if those Fox News zombie hicks want to vote against their best interests, so be it. It's time for a major pendulum swing back to the middle class. I'm sick of reading these scary cat comments from people terrified of Warren. Pick a side, and let's roll.
7
The level and power of local organizing is still largely below the radar, but that's why Trump will ultimately be doomed to defeat. Democrats are running smart campaigns based on issues important to voters and this gives us a lot to campaign for, not just getting rid of Trump.
4
I would like to see all Democrats resolved to vote for any Democrat that wins the nomination. Period. The danger of Trump going completely off the rails grows by the day. Any Democrat running right now would be significantly better than Trump.
17
@Sally M I made that resolution the day after Trump became President.
14
What the Democratic Party should do, ASAP, is to make MAGA (make America great again) its official mantra.
MAGA — dump Trump in 2020,
9
I guess you mean in a "if your can't beat him, join him" kind of way?
Your fear is warranted.
3
About 100 million Americans who were eligible to vote did not do so in the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic candidate in 2020 needs to be someone who will get these non-voters out of their chairs. After 2016, my husband and I moved back to Iowa and have been volunteering on Democratic campaigns: local, state and U.S. Congress. Cindy Axne flipped a House seat by sending volunteers to knock on doors beyond the Democratic base. Yes, we had doors slammed in our faces at times, but most Iowans are polite and will listen. (A bigger concern was men who would not allow their wives or daughters -- who we had on our lists as self-identified Democrats -- to come to the door and listen to us. This happened daily.) After listening to and meeting most of the presidential candidates, a bonus of living in Iowa, we are supporting Elizabeth Warren. As she says, we need to do more than "nibble around the edges" to combat income inequality and bring health insurance to all. Her organization here is impressive. For those who say she isn't electable, I say: Remember in 2015 when Republicans had 16 candidates on the stage? Who would have looked at those 16 and said Donald Trump was the one who was electable? If a candidate can get previous non-voters to the polls, as Trump did, he or she can win. Energizing even a small percentage of them is enough.
208
@AE: The trouble with saying that "[t]he Democratic candidate in 2020 needs to be someone who will get these non-voters out of their chairs" is that there is no candidate (Democratic or otherwise) who can motivate 100 million Americans to vote Democratic. Those 100 million Americans are not a monolithic bloc. Many of them might be motivated by the right candidate, but for different voters that will be a different candidate.
I am absolutely committed to voting in 2020 but there's no candidate who is motivating me to do that. I was committed to voting before any candidates announced. In some order, my motivations are getting Donald Trump out of office, saving American democracy, and saving the planet. I plan to support whoever is the candidate. I will certainly vote in my state primary election and I think highly of Elizabeth Warren. But relying on any particular candidate to motivate new (or returning) voters isn't the strongest strategy for taking back the White House. We need to impress on voters everything that is at stake. We need to motivate as many Democratic voters as we can even before the candidate is selected. And then, with the candidate at the forefront, we should motivate even more.
31
@AE
The Democratic candidate will not have Russian help.
15
@AE If the last 4 years of Trump's abuse does not get those voters to vote, there is nothing the Democratic Party can do to get them to vote.
15
It would help too if several long shot Democratic candidates ended their campaigns as a start toward unifying the party. I’m talking about Michael Bennet, Corey Booker, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang. They’re all polling at five percent or below and have been unable to articulate why they’re running. It would also be ideal if the supporters of the top tier candidates stopped savaging each other on social media. They skewer each other’s candidate as if they’re Trump supporters. Bloomberg would be an intriguing late entry though. Former big city mayor. Takes gun control and climate change seriously, eschews Medicare for all and, unlike Trump, is actually successful and a decent human being. If the latest NY Times poll is to be believed, he might be the moderate that dethrones Trump.
177
@AlNewman Actually, not a good idea to drop out if you have the money to continue. At this point in the cycle, Obama was where some of those mentioned are. Klobuchar has been unticking; let's see what she can do.
32
@AlNewman
I'd agree except for Klobuchar, who might find a lane if Biden fades, which I expect he will. If Biden fades, the moderate role will go to either Klobuchar or Buttigieg, and Buttigieg, while well spoken and a great fund-raiser, does not have Klobuchar's track record.
32
It's relatively rare to beat an incumbent, even one as illegitimate, corrupt, treasonous and odious as Trump. His juggernaut began
years before 2016 and has continued to become more powerful with every tweet, every rally, every lie and every scandal he's responsible for. His fanatical base has an insatiable appetite for raw, rancid red meat delivered daily by FOX News, aided and abetted by a complicit congress.
I believe the it's all up hill for Democrats regardless of how much money they can raise, since their disunity and far left proposals are too unrealistic to be taken seriously. I totally understand the realistic fear shared by Dems who, deep down, aren't nearly as fired up about any current candidate as they should be. Perhaps, just perhaps, the hope lies in the concept of a co-presidency whereby both running mates can excite imaginations, turn out voters and double down on Public Enemy #1.
The sooner the better.
5
I salute our fellow citizens who are mobilizing themselves to knock on doors, register voters, etc. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
But I have to wonder -- where is the DNC in all of this? Aren't they supposed to be organizing people to do just this kind of thing?
5
Elizabeth Warren could start listening to country music.
I'm serious.
5
Right on Michelle! Following the 2016 election, I joined the Democratic committee in my town. I've been canvassing, calling, attending local fundraisers and organizing for each cycle. We helped elect Dem. Gov. Phi Murphy, after Chris Christie left. We helped elect Dem. Mikie Sherril following a long term Republican congressman's retirement. We also meet with like minded neighbors at least once a month. You are correct it is therapeutic. For this years elections we have also supported various local officials in republican Morris County. The final results are not always positive for the Democrats, but at least you feel that you're in the fight and involved. There is also a great sense of satisfaction when your chosen candidates win. Get involved, you'll meet some nice like minded people along the way!
11
as i have told my son, who is farther to the left than me, no matter who is the democratic nominee, he has to vote for that nominee no matter what. it is that simple. no one can stay at home on this one. no one, regardless of ethnicity, religion or beliefs. and far lefters cannot just vote for some third or forth party nominee. the damage that trump has already done will only worsen if he slips in again by a minority vote. it is the electoral college vote that will matter, even though it should have been removed in the 20th century for it is archaic and deprives the population their right. so, anyone who is smart enough to realize just how corrupt and dangerous trump is will simply have to vote for the democratic nominee even if that person is not their favorite choice. as i told my son, the ramifications of trump and his idolizing tyranny has to be stopped.
14
Occasionally persons get elected from jails, but I doubt that Trump will.
3
Fear is good. It's a great motivator for progressives to show up and vote. Complacency is what cost us the election in 2016. Put the fear of Trump into every sane person and keep beating those drums until Nov 5, 2020.
12
Anything short of impeachment (a witch hunt that hasn't worked even before Trump embarrassed Hillary), is pretty much a lost cause for 2020. The millions that Trumps competition will waste on a futile campaign could surely do more good if donated to needy Americans.
4
Again, comment after comment here without anyone saying a word about the continued and intensified Russian meddling impacting our coming election. Putin will absolutely want to keep his boy in for a second term. That scares me!! Just like the 1st "win", it will not be a legitimate win, but we'll be stuck with him anyway.
10
I know someone who walked door to door in 2018 in a Congressional district that turned red to blue. She believed the door to door efforts really helped make that switch because many people were confused about the differences between the parties and needed her explanations.
What it shows is that Democratic messaging is unclear to many people and you need a one-on-one communication to help answer questions about what policy statements really mean in reality...
12
@sfdphd
sfdphd, here's a one-on one-message that is easy to understand and to rememberremember:
"When you go into the voting booth, there are only two levers to pull --- one labeled "democracy" and the other labeled "EMPIRE" ---- for the sake of your kids, grand-kids, country, and world, for God's sake don't pull the "Empire" lever!!
1
People can say all they want about these progressive candidates but all I can say is that if Bloomberg ends up winning the primaries I am definitely not voting for him. That, in my mind, would signify that democracy as we know it is dead and thus that we live in nothing short of an authoritarian pay to play scheme. That a billionaire can just barge in and take a campaign through sheer financial might would be yet another major stain on the nation. I realize this might seem crazy but I think we'd be better off letting Trump take the white house again to continue the wrecking ball thing he's got going on so the world can continue to lay witness to the rubble the GOP leaves in its path everywhere it goes. When all is said and done some sticky situations simply have no easy exit. At least leaving Warren on the ticket might represent a somewhat less painful option for a lot of people.
4
@Mike
Mike, what "would signify that democracy as we know it is dead and thus that we live in nothing short of an" EMPIRE --- like our founders, farmers, tradesmen, sailors, patriots, and real "Tea Partiers" lived under from 1763 (end of the French and Indian War) until 1775 when:
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
But, Mike, now in 2020 exactly 244 years ago, and 122 years between now and the "Age of Imperialism" when Mark Twain founded the American Anti-Imperialism League in 1898 --- we no longer have to use muskets and violence.
'We the American people' can fire a; loud, public, sustained, "in-the-streets", but totally non-violent "SHOUT (not shot) heard round the world" and ignite an essential completed Second American people's 'peaceful' "Political/economic & social Revolution Against EMPIRE" --- against Emperor Trump and this Disguised Global Crony Capitalist EMPIRE, which is only nominally HQed in, and merely 'posing' as, our once "promising", and sometimes progressive country (PKA) America ---- with our voices in the streets instead of muskets or AR-15!!"
3
Get started:
https://indivisible.org
https://fairfight.com/fair-fight-2020/
3
Chait and company from the Clinton-era DLC are less worried that Trump might win than that Bernie or Liz might win. Seeing Biden melt away produced first the Mayor Pete bubble and now the Bloomberg news.
What Dems need to do is organize and mobilize. Polls show Bernie beating Trump in WI, PA, and MI. Gurning those early polls into reality means organizing for, not tearing down, our leading candidates, Bernie and Liz.
5
Bernie is not going to win. Period. I don’t even think Liz can win. Older voters aren’t going to go for even Socialist Lite.
7
@JLW I'm old!. Old enough to know that New Deal a nd Eisenhower=era policies are not socialism, just what Dems are supposed to be.
7
Postcards to Voters. A fantastic way to gather worried cohorts around writing postcards to voters for campaigns large and small. Eat, drink, be merry and useful.
4
Unless you are wealthy, you should not be voting for Republicans.
JOBS:
2011 - 2.09 Million
2012 - 2.14 Million
2013 - 2.30 Million
2014 - 3.00 Million
2015 - 2.71 Million
2016 - 2.24 Million
2017 - 2.06 Million
2018 - 2.6 Million now revised to 2.4 Million
And Obama was given the worst Recession since the Great Depression.
And 20 Million got healthcare.
And Obama was given a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit that he cut by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion.
The Trump tax cut is increasing the deficit from $600 Billion to $1 Trillion.
The projected ten year increase in the debt is $12 Trillion which is $80,000 per taxpayer.
All to be paid for by us, our children, and grandchildren.
Every Republican senator voted for it. Not one Democratic senator voted for it.
24
@Independent
It is noticeable that you failed to note the number of jobs that Obama destroyed in 2009 and 2010.
You also don't mention that Obama was handed a $0.4 trillion deficit which he increased during his first year by adding $0.8 billion in infrastructure spending, which got spent, but not on infrastructure.
You also don't admit that the jobs created in 2011 and 2012 were all part time minimum wage jobs in anticipation of Obamacare until July, when Obama declared he wasn't going to collect the employer mandate from employers in 2014 and 2015, which decimated Obamacare.
Although 20 million may have gotten health insurance, that high deductible Obamacare insurance meant they couldn't afford health care. Big, wealthy hospitals raised charges and increased executive pay. Poor inner city and rural hospitals and clinics closed because Obamacare cut their Medicaid supplements. The rich got shorter waiting lines in emergency rooms. the poor lost providers.
As household income increases, people do tend to be more likely to vote Republican. What is fascinating is that the ratios shift when you get to the 1%. The 1% is overwhelmingly Democrat contributors and the 0.1% is 80-90% Democrat cronies.
People who vote Democrat are following the instructions of the most wealthy. No matter what they say, they do not want any disruptions to the status quo.
4
@ebmem
Come on....
You know those jobs were the result of the greatest recession since the Great Depression.
Given to us by W Bush and AIG among others.
We started losing jobs at the rate of 700,000 a month in November 0f 2008.
Regarding the deficit, the fiscal year begins October 1. So the 2009 budget was done by W Bush with a $1.1 Trillion deficit.
But with the Great Recession and jobs lost and unemployment costs, the actual number was a whopping $1.4 Trillion.
I wouldn't mind if Republican voters got fleeced but the rest of the country is getting fleeced, too.
If you have children and grandchildren, vote for the Democrat.
10
I sometimes wonder, for the long-term betterment of the USA, perhaps Trump should be re-elected for another 4 years (and then Pence or Pompeo for 8 more years after that). As a psychologist, I've learned that for punishment to have the most lasting effect on changing behaviour (voters' behaviour, in this case), the punishment should be administered at the highest possible magnitude for the longest possible time. In other words, if you get rid of Trump in 2020, there is a much greater risk for Trump 2.0 in 2024 or 2028. Alternatively, if you keep him and his lickspittle VP for another 12 years, maybe enough voters' will finally wise up.
2
@occams razor. you keep them for another 12 years you won't have a recognizable country left and probably won't have the right to vote either. Bad idea.
9
@Occams razor I'm a psychologist too, and disagree that the highest possible magnitude punishment is the way to change voter's behavior. Research doesn't support that conclusion.
Plus, the risks you describe of getting rid of Trump in 2020 are outweighed by the far worse risks we face if we DON'T get rid of him ASAP.
I'd like to see a panel of psychologists debate these issues. I suspect very few mental health professionals would support re-electing Trump.
5
As a nervous Democrats myself, I think the only thing that would alleviate my election anxiety is if we could matched the Republicans by nominating a cult figure of our own. But we know we don't really want that (Trump is cult enough for a lifetime) so... off to do the hard work.
6
@D Price
What was Obama, if not a cult figure? He came to office with no experience or accomplishments on a platform of hope and change.
During his first two years in office, he got Congress to pass a $0.8 trillion infrastructure bill to prevent unemployment from increasing TO 8%. No infrastructure was built and unemployment increased to 10%. Double fail. He did manage to get Obamacare passed, but could not get 60 votes, so had to pass it with a parliamentary trick. Global warming, immigration reform: nada.
He managed to get re-elected in 2012 by suppressing political opponents using his IRS; by pretending ISIS was not a threat and he had defeated terrorism; by declaring DACA, illegally.
During his reign, Democrats lost 1000 elective offices. In desperation, after losing the Senate in 2014, Obama went to work creating new regulations using his pen and cell phone.
He didn't realize that the ink from his pen would fade upon the end of his dictatorial rule.
What accomplishments can he claim? The Tea party was created in 2010 in response to his leadership. Racial divisiveness, BLM flourished as he divided the country with the pretense that law enforcement was evil. The violent crime rate overall declined, but not for minorities in Democrat inner cities. His regulatory overreach of 2015 and 2016 has been neutralized by Congress.
Obama will be relegated to a footnote in history.
1
You bet we're all running scared. How in the world could any of us be blissfully unaware? Trump is on every witness stand and on every ballot. He is behind every heartless, feckless, clueless statement and action. None of us knows what the outcome of impeachment will be. (We do know we had no choice. What should we have done? Sit idly by and let him blackmail foreign governments into sabotaging our elections?) Nobody knows what kind of Democratic candidate has a better chance in 2020. We don't know whether misogyny, racism, anti-Semitism and other hatreds will carry the day once again. Would mass protests help or hurt? Would mass candle-light vigils be better? Good grief. Trump has said he will withhold aid to California for fighting the fires, but has offered to send money, equipment, people to Russia to help fight Siberian forest fires. Finally, the chaos and the not knowing looks to benefit only the chaotic, erratic, inhinged and untethered incumbent. You bet I am demoralized, despairing. When I wake up in the morning, my first thought is that yesterday's worst ever will invariably be trumped by something even worse today. I guess I will be a precinct captain again, and will visit every home in the precinct as I did before. We have given small amounts to candidates across the country, and will continue to do so. We'll look into the virtual volunteering. We will help Indivisible and Fair Fight 2020. Maybe once I have done these things the dark cloud will lift just a little.
13
A pretty good place to start would be coming up with an electable candidate.
12
@BostonStrong
Hillary ran in 2016 as "not Trump" and "everyone who doesn't like me is evil." Sounds like were heading for a repeat.
Democrats are not going to reclaim the deplorables unless they stop insulting them.
3
@BostonStrong The ONLY measure of electability is actually getting elected. Who is able to do that?
Vote blue no matter who. Stop obsessing and get out there: when the time comes canvass, poll watch and make sure everyone can get to the polls.
11
Progressives should be scared about a Trump victory in 2020. Your happy talk about grass roots organizing and recreating the blue wave is meaningless if you have a weak candidate on the ballot in November. Right now the choice is between two old bolsheviks and another old moderate retread doesn’t appear to be too compelling.
9
Here’s a silver bullet. Everyone who understands trump is a danger: vote blue, no matter who.
Moderates: take the step and support the progressive nominee, if that should happen. You know any “extreme” (to you) proposal made on the campaign trail will be compromised, tweaked, watered down, made more realistic - whatever! - in the sausage-making of it actually becoming law.
Progressives: so what if the nominee isn’t the pure, fiery progressive with bold and (to many) radical views to blow up the status quo? Can you really squander your vote and ultimately let another 4 years of this nightmare go on? Any blue candidate has got to be better. Sometimes change is incremental. Put your energies into pushing for what you want in other arenas: your representative and senator, dismantling citizens united, volunteering for your cause - keep moving forward even if the perfect blue candidate does not get the nomination!
12
This makes more sense than anything i’ve read. The Dem in-fighting will be its demise, I fear. Each “side” needs to get over itself and coalesce behind the eventual nominee and vote Blue NO MATTER WHAT!!
3
@Mossy
You are recommending that voters acknowledge that Democrat politicians are liars, as was the case with Hillary. They take polls and conduct group interviews to determine what promises and aspirations they will communicate to the masses.
Meanwhile, they have their own secret agenda that they communicate only to their high dollar donors. You cannot tell the masses what you intend to do to them because they aren't smart enough to know what's good for them. Only the powerful deserve input into how they will benefit from the policies of the President. It certainly will not be appropriate for the masses to know that the sausage being prepared for them is toxic.
For all his flaws, Trump reveals what he's thinking as soon as he thinks of it. He sometimes changes his mind, particularly when advised to do so by the people with whom he has surrounded himself. He has made mistakes, but has always demonstrated that he acts with the interests of the American people in mind.
Someone who agrees with 50% of what Trump says he wants to accomplish would be better off voting for him than a Democrat. There is no telling what a Democrat politician intends, but no one but his cronies is going to be better off.
1
I just made contributions to Fair Fight 2020 and Florida Forward Action and I feel better already!
2
It is the depth of that fear and the fact that so many people share it that gives me hope that it will not happen.
I will vote for any alternative to Trump who is at least 35 years old, a naturalized citizen, and has a pulse.
5
@Douglas Evans
Since naturalized citizens are not eligible to be President, good luck with seeing your choice elected.
1
We must stay laser focused on putting up the best Democratic candidate who can beat Trump. Sad to say this but that candidate might not be, ideally, the best overall but rather the one who has the best chance to defeat Trump.
As for me, I believe the only chance for Democrats to win over the swing and moderate voters is backing Joe Biden. He must concentrate his campaign on jobs, living wages, climate change, and healthcare with the choice of a public option or keeping your private insurance. Medicare for All won't work here with 175 million who already have private insurance through their employer. We couldn’t pay for it either. I also don't want a wholesale payoff of everyone's student loans either, or free college for all. We simply cannot pay for all this free stuff. There is a definite risk of losing an election because of those pie in the sky initiatives that will not fly for many potential Democratic voters in this country.
To many, Socialism is a dirty word and forcing these ideas down their throats will only result in a Trump victory. We need a moderate to center left candidate. I think a Biden/Klobuchar ticket would be tough to beat. Joe could be a one-term President with Amy as the anointed one for 2024.
If Joe Biden suffers more lapses that calls into question his ability to run and defeat Trump, then I think Mike Bloomberg would make an excellent candidate and President. This is not the time to be idealistic, but rather a time to be pragmatic.
2
@biglatka
We are spending $11,000 per capita and 18% of GDP for healthcare.
That is twice as much, per capita and % GDP, than the other first world countries.
The money is there.
It is just a matter of redirecting it to Medicare for All.
What our employers pay to private insurance would transfer to Medicare for All.
And those other countries all have some form of universal coverage.
We have parts of the US with infant mortality rates of a second world country.
Shame on us.
5
The Democrats can't afford to ignore the fact that Trump is doing what a sizable number of people want done. He's not doing it correctly, he's not doing it honorably but he's doing those things the Trump voters wanted done; mainly, tough on illegal immigration, get out of useless wars in Middle East, create and sustain a strong economy, conservative judges and give the non-elites, the deplorables, the rummy gun toters, a sense of representation that they haven't had for a very long time. If you campaign negatively you'll end up like Mondale and Dukakis. Democrats have got to swallow their pride, especially the elites, and quit reacting so strongly to Trump (who may not even be there next year) and focus on a very positive, high note that incorporates a few of those things that supporters love about Trump like strong borders and a good economy. It is not a wreck. It needs improvement without a doubt but the Democrats, especially Warren and Sanders are running like Chicken Littles. Let the scholars figure out how much damage Trump has done to the democracy and focus on the issues that connect with the people who actually vote, especially in these crucial states. I mean people so alienated, so hungry for leadership and a voice their support for a man like Trump should be a clue into how desperate they are and how more than a few would listen to a solid Democratic candidate.
8
I will pay no attention to Republican recommendation for which Democrat to vote for in our primary. Of course another option would be for West Coasters to vote for one of the better option running as Republicans. It would be wonderful to get to choose between a quite rational William Weld or the like and any of our Democratic candidates. The country would end up in the hands of a better President regardless of outcome.
2
Some days I wake up and say "what resistance?" but this column reveals a myriad of pragmatic efforts to defeat the wreckers of democracy and the rule of law (not to mention the idea that we could do without a crisis every single day, and a real leader knows that). Thank you. Riddle me this: a corporate CEO who acts like Trump wouldn't last a week. The leaders most Americans encounter -- bosses and managers, school principals, city and town mayors and council members, heads of nonprofits and social organizations -- would be scorned and shunned if they ran their operations the way he runs the White House. Why then are his antics acceptable in the land's highest office? I don't get how any ordinary person with experience of leaders in humbler roles makes an exception for the president.
5
i think it mostly comes down to power. dems don't have the power and repubs couldn't care less about tradition or upholding anything good this country has ever done for the people directly as long as they have the power. sure he stinks, they think, but we're winning so whatever
1
I know no Democrat who's priority isn't defeating Trump and who isn't afraid that the Democratic nominee will be the one who can't beat Trump. Also, pundits know what?
1
One reason there’s fear among Democrats, independent voters and dare I say even some Republicans is that this administration has done nothing to protect us from Russian intervention in the 2020 election. We’ve heard little if anything from our intelligence community that it has learned from the 2016 election and has done anything about it. Remember Mueller’s warning in his only public pronouncement?
When Russian intervention is combined with gerrymandering, the electoral college and the million dollars weekly trump invests in social media (Facebook doesn’t care about publishing his lies) no wonder fear pervades so many who oppose this lawless administration.
4
@Regards, LC
How did Russian interference affect your vote in 2016?
Why is it that with all of Mueller's indictments there wasn't one for any Democrat? He indicted many for crimes completely unrelated to Trump or the campaign and got convictions or guilty pleas.
We have documented evidence that Hillary and the DNC paid Steele millions to fabricate a dossier on Trump. That was a crime, because it is illegal to pay foreigners to help win an American election. With knowledge of the criminal nature of their actions, Hillary submitted fraudulent FEC reports, claiming the illegal payments were for legal fees rather than opposition research. That adds fraud and money laundering to the list of crimes committed by Hillary or whichever subordinate or subordinates agreed to take the fall for her.
In Mueller's public statement, he gratuitously asserted that he did not evaluate whether Trump was guilty of obstruction of justice because policy prohibited the Justice Department from indicting a sitting President. Included in his report was insinuations that Trump and company had been disingenuous. Omitted from his report was all of the exculpatory evidence. The reason he did not recommend indictment was that there was a zero percent chance that any objective observer would find any guilt for obstructing an investigation into something that was not illegal.
1
"Part of the problem is that it’s not clear exactly what Democrats who abhor Trump should be doing right now. Immediately after the 2016 election, there was the Women’s March, then the airport protests, then the health care town halls."
And don't we chide the Republican Senators, every day, to put country over party?
"...it’s why Democrats just won big victories in Virginia and, it appears, Kentucky."
If Trump goes to California, stands in front of a homeless city and says, "What have you got to lose?", Democrats have every right and reason to fear his re-election. Who in Virginia is going to point to the policies of California and say, "I want me some homeless people."? As for Kentucky, how many state wide offices did Democrats win? One.
"...those lists didn’t include a single person in the town of Seymour, population 3,459. But canvassers there found enough people fired up about beating Trump to form their own local group." So, how many in the group?
"There are also plenty of things that volunteers can do outside the Democratic Party structure."
Maybe go to California and help some homeless people. Save some homes from the fires. Knock on doors and ask people to surrender their weapons. Beto can lead that effort.
What have you got to lose?
2
I live in San Francisco. One reason we have a lot of homeless people is because funding for mental health care was stripped under Reagan and our then Republican governor Wilson. We are try to rebuild, but I have yet to see a Republican proposal to fund mental health care. “Lock them up” is all they’ve got.
5
@Douglas Evans Reagan was governor 50 years ago. Wilson, 40 years ago. The state has been in total Democrat control for 20? years.
3
@Douglas Evans
Democrats have single party control of California, and have for decades.
Back when Reagan was governor, essentially all mental health care was state, not federal, funded. Since then, much mental health care has become part of Medicaid, which is 50% state, 50% federally funded.
Over 50 years of ever increasing Democrat governance in California, the state has closed hospitals for the mentally ill and refused to establish community care because liberals love for the mentally ill to be freed from institutions but do not want them living in their neighborhoods.
Ironic, isn't it that the progressive utopia with 18% of the national population, has 50% of the homeless population and is looking for Republicans to come up with a solution to the mess the Democrats have created. Begging for a bailout.
What solution have Democrats come up with?
3
Dems might reflect and repeat their midterm successes if they concentrate on "kitchen table" issues. In no particular order, I would suggest a campaign emphasizing individual interests:
Health care costs
Education debt relief
A living wage/strengthen unions
Insure stability of Medicare and SS programs
Once elected, they can turn their attention to more systemic issues - Money in politics, Voting Rights, Wealth Inequality and the Environment. Get voters on your side before inviting them on social crusades.
3
@Richard from Philly I might be wrong, but, wasn't the great Democrat victory of 2018 on kitchen table issues? Who is leading that charge? Nadler? Schiff?
Thank you, Ms. Goldberg, for the encouragement. We all need them at this time. Old fashioned canvassing and building relationships with citizens is the way to beat this monster.
3
The "cure" for the Democrats is to find a center-left candidate between the yawning gap that separates the Sanders-Warren progressives from the Biden-Buttigieg centrists. A candidate with experience, a winning record (especially, in a swing state), who appeals to the working class that abandoned Hillary Clinton in 2016, is acceptable to progressives and centrists alike who can unify the party. There is such a person. He's Sherrod Brown the recently re-elected senator (in an otherwise red sweep) from the crucial upper-Midwest swing state of Ohio. The Democrats are in a must win situation if we're to rid of Trump and save the Constitution. Sen. Brown must be persuaded to enter the race; the Democrats and the nation need him at this very dark hour in our Republic.
1
he'd be a great VP for Sanders
To fight anxiety, do something! That is, get off of social media and connect with actual people. Ms. Goldberg mentioned some options, here are three more.
SwingLeft.org was formed by blue state activists who organized to help swing red-state House seats to Democrats in 2018. SwingLeft has similarly targeted key 2020 Senate races, formed a victory fund, and provides multiple ways to get involved.
PostCardsToVoters.org recognized that personalized contact to a voter is a powerful motivator/influencer. PCV supports Democratic candidates across the country at all levels, with more than 60,000 volunteers sending individually crafted cards to individual voters in target contests. It works.
Join or form a meet-up of local Democrats. We started this about a year ago at a local coffee shop, with attendance by 10-20 on the first Friday of every month. It helps to see other kindred spirits, meet new folks, talk face to face, and organize activities.
Defeating Trump in 2020 will require an army of volunteers. Fight anxiety by signing up, rolling up your sleeves, and working with others.
1
Democrats may be worried, but Trump is worried, too. The news today is that Trump is thinking about accepting Putin's invitation to visit Russia in May. Can anyone think this is a good idea given fears that Putin and Trump will come up with a new scheme to mess with our 2020 election? I mean, can Trump really be this clueless? Unless...
This is Trump's getaway plan. If the polls look really bad in May, Trump will fly to Russia and never come back. What does Putin get out of this? His experts will pick apart Air Force One to learn about all of its technological features. And he can always agree to have Trump extradited to the US in exchange for a favor. Tell the truth. Admit that you think this is a distinct possibility.
3
On this day one year ago, I was on a plane coming back from Dallas to New York. It was the day after the midterm election.
I never canvassed out of state before (beyond phone banking) but we are not in normal times; and so I went to Dallas to canvass for Beto O'Rourke with the hope that Democrats might come closer to taking back the Senate.
Of course I was disappointed that Beto did not win, but two things buoyed my spirits: that Beto came much closer than expected to winning - so that brings hope that a future Democratic candidate can win a Senate race there; and second, that Democratic voter turnout increased substantially. This was a big deal because Texas has one of the lowest rates of overall voter turnout - they are 49th in the nation. There is a huge untapped voter bloc there that Beto - who had an excellent ground game - managed to tap into.
And that paid off: The area that my group of volunteers canvassed heavily to, above all, get people to the polls covered two adjacent congressional districts, one of which - the 32nd - had a House race on. And Democrats flipped the seat. Colin Allred beat Pete Sessions, who had held the seat since 2003. In 2018, it became one of the seats that enabled the Democrats to take back the House.
And now we have impeachment hearings going on, and last week a federal grand jury in NY issued Pete Sessions a subpoena in regard to his dealings with Rudy Giuliani, Lev Parnas, and Igor Fruman.
All that door knocking was worth it.
4
I don't recall anyone "laughing" in 2017 at the prospect of Democrats taking the House. A brief looksie-back at the NYT shows that Dems were mobilizing candidates for 2018 very early on. We have to be careful about self-promotional rhetoric from campaign consultants - especially those preaching doom-and-gloom.
Donald Trump is the most unreelectable candidate in American Presidential history. He's done nothing to to expand his base of support since November 2016 - he's actually worked hard to alienate even more voters. It's the Republicans, not Democrats, who are greatest risk of a 2020 rout. And if Va. is evidence, they are at risk of permanently losing the narrow electoral majority they've enjoyed since 1994.
Democrats and liberals ought to be pumped-up and enthusiastic about taking the country back. We now know what it would have been like had Goldwater won in 64. The tea party nimrods and Fundamentalist theocrats have had their moment and it's been an unmitigated disaster for all the world to see. But at the end of the day, if in spite of all the chaotic filth that daily issues from the White House Trump does get re-elected, then it says something pretty ugly about the character of this generation of Americans. Best to know the truth about ourselves than cling to sentimental fictions.
5
In 1932, the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic nomination was Al Smith who had twice before tried unsuccessfully to win the Democratic nomination and, when he won it in 1928, suffered a crushing defeat in the general election. . A guy who sounds eerily like Joe Biden-the safe bet despite his miserable track record in presidential politics. I am sure Michael Bloomberg, Neera Tanden, Hillary Clinton, Joe Scarborough, all the wealthy Democrats and all the know-it-all’s of the Democratic Party would have supported Al Smith in 1932–instead of Franklin Roosevelt with his dangerous progressive ideas. Fortunately, history would have proved them wrong. The dangerous progressive went on to win the nomination and then the general election in an historic landslide. He then got America through the depression and World War II and laid the foundation for the peace and prosperity America has enjoyed for the hast 70 years. People who want “safe” tend to look backwards for something they know rather than embracing the unknown future—even if that means supporting a proven failure. Democrats should do everything Goldberg suggests but they should not sacrifice their self-interest and their ideals to do it. Nobody ever remembers the people who say “that won’t work.” They remember the doers who name it work. Pessimism is not a winning strategy.
2
I am so sick and tired of nervous Democrats looking for the sure thing, the electable savior who will walk on water and into the White House. THERE IS NO SUCH THING. Never has been, never will be. There is only one way to defeat Trump and that is for all of us to stop whining, support the candidate of our choice and then enthusiastically support the candidate who wins the Democratic nomination. All this hand wringing and negativity simply supports a negative narrative around the Democratic nominee whomever that might be. It's important to understand that the savior who will evict Trump is not the candidate, it is us.
6
Sanders campaign has mobilized millions of people, he has more individual donors than any other candidate by a long shot. a lot of people don't give that any credit, but I think it's a heck of a leg up on any other campaign (including Trumps)... he's not the ideal for a lot of people, but obviously he has a massive movement of working people behind him, can ye who hate him acknowledge that and believe that it is a route to unifying this country and defeating trump???
We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Vote for whoever you like best, who backs your policy choices. Do not vote for who the pundits say is the “electable candidate.”
4
What a nice and positive article.
Be your own fortune's architect.
Do something.
Help the cause that is important to you.
"There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
It is still true.
2
Vote Blue, no matter who. Please don't let your idea of the "correct" Dem candidate stop you voting for another D. if they should win the nomination. I call this sulking. This sulking brought us Trump. We need to get Trump out. After that, everything else is negotiable.
5
@lucys
This about sums up the intellectual logic of liberals. Don’t worry about ideas or people, vote party and everything in life is negotiable...ethics, morals,, right and wrong, and your values. I can understand that people can have differences but to subordinate all for the party is kinda sick and why I can’t understand liberals. It didn’t work with Weinstein the liberal elite and media’s darling or with Bill Clinton and his treatment of women ( I’m avoiding the more appropriate description of his behavior to get past the liberal censors).
1
Over a lifetime, I have made panic contributions to candidates, canvassed neighborhoods and most recently, man-on-the-street voter registration in panic at the prospect of Trump getting elected in the first place; "anxiety" understates the disagreeable feeling this man engenders. Another 4 years of this clown would be worse, likely unimaginably so, than what we have had to endure so far.
Here's the thing: I can't stand Trump and many of his constituents, for instance, racists, to whom Trump has pandered; white nationalists; nativists; religious fanatics; and others. It's political but also personal; I have a granddaughter who resembles the Hispanic little girl being ripped away from her mother by border agents in the famous photograph. There is no compromise when it comes to child confiscation. Of all Trump's transgressions, his appeal to immorality, his irresponsible manipulation of the devils in our nature (slavery, xenophobia), we will struggle to put back in Pandora's box going forward. So I have concluded that Trump's base is immune to logic or moral appeal and trying to get them to see the error of their ways is a waste of time. Better to focus on the Democratic vote.
Your message is correct, Michelle. Anxiety feels bad but it can be useful too. When you have to do something right, no excuses, like voting, there should be some anticipatory anxiety, it can keep a person sharp in the execution. Anxiety is an appropriate response to this terrible president.
2
Remember the FDR four freedoms.
I found some of our Democratic voters as abhorrent as Trump deplorables. In short they are deplorable too.
In Democracy You may loose, you fight for democracy anot for winning.
America's biparty system I believe coming to end. We need new parties.
I am centrist democrat and I share much more idea with Centrist Republicans ( sidelined and excommunicated).
Democracy's open enemy is always Religious power and Fascism, hidden enemy is totalitarian socialism ( i.e Maduro type)
We must come back to our senses and break away these lunatic fringes so they form their political parties at the end democracy means being respectful everybody's idea.
But Centrism at this moment poisoned by this far right and left ideas.
(Some of the Warren-Bernie policies looks like very extreme but we need to also accept some changes but not surrender )
1
There are no more Republicans vs Democrats. Those are 1950's labels.
It's now "authoritarian fascism" vs "progressive socialism".
Hopefully the latter will prevail, or we could end up like Germany in the 1930's.
2
@John Paul Esposito if you want to make historic;a comparisons, learn history. In the 1930s, it was Hitler versus Stalin. The latter was your “progressive socialist”. And the USSR in 1937 had more concentrations camps than Germany.
We can only hope. Agree, we all need to get out and do our part to drive voters. BTW, The Indivisible tool you mention has been used by Everytown for Gun Safety for years. Not sure who created it.
To paraphrase Glinda in the "Wizard of Oz"; 'You've always had the power. You just had to discover it for yourself.' Come on Dems and Independents, stop fretting! When we fight and organize, vote in huge numbers, we can win. The big narcissistic hot air balloon that is Trump, can be deflated by people standing together unrelentingly behind the truth. Remember Trump has NEVER held the support of the majority of the people. Think about that. Strategize to win the electoral college votes, turn out the most massive vote for whomever opposes Trump, and he's gone. Off he goes in his hot air balloon, a warning in history. With any luck, the sycophants (like the flying monkeys) will scatter and wonder why they supported such an malevolent, unqualified, sham.
3
When Democrats craft bills that they know will never pass a Republican Senate they are fooling America into thinking they are doing anything for the good of the people. With that being said we know that Donald has kept his promises (good or bad depending on your viewpoint) and we know the Democrats have done nothing for 3 years except make fools of themselves chasing witches. If the Democrats loose in 2020 they deserve to do so.
If Hillary had won in 2016 nothing would be any different except my 401k plan would have been worth half as much!!
In summary if this is how our congress is going to act then I might as well vote Republican in 2020 and at least keep my money.
1
It is not complicated, just vote!
3
Been working right from the minute Bozo got elected. Won our Congressional seat from the Republicans in 2018, just flipped a lot of local races Tuesday. The hills are alive with the tenacity of volunteers. Not to worry Michelle just get out and organize like the old saw says.
3
“Nobody knows what to do”indecisive democrats looking for a silver bullet to defeat DJT in 2020!
The answer is very simple,just pick one now,unite behind & start building a grassroots democratic wave instead letting your own party fractionally falling apart for failures & let Donald rule & ruin USA converting it into family own plutocracy while his Russian comrades controls the streets.
1
American Democrats are cowards. American Centrists (if these people actually exist) are even more cowardly. Republicans, of course, are utterly repulsive.
And now Michael Bloomberg has entered the race. I know many Dems are shouting hooray! Many Centrists are relieved. And some Republicans are worried.
But what does old Bloomberg gives us? A level head? A moderate? A moderate capitalist?
Been there, done that. How many capitalists have we already elected? What has this given us? Nothing.
Mr. Bloomberg, will you tax the rich? Will you provide us with AFFORDABLE healthcare? Will you reduce income inequality? Will you delay Artificial Intelligence?
If so, fine, but I don’t think you will. With you it’ll be more of the same because you’re a capitalist at heart. Intrinsically capitalism does not favor the poor or middle class.
No, Elizabeth Warren will do just fine, thank you. So will Bernie. Uncle Joe? I don’t think so.
Democrats, you must GO BIG, or go home. This could be the only chance to score affordable healthcare for all so don’t blow it.
Regardless, I’ll vote for any Democrat. But folks, make it one who will actually do something for us. More of the same does not work.
The solution to stopping Trump part deux . Vote,like your life depends on it, as it very well may.
3
What you need Michelle, is better candidates.
Joe Biden is done. No matter what you say, he is so mired in this corruption thing, on his nepotism, his own statements and a very long career in Washington full of skeletons in the closet, ad the fact that he was in the WH during Lybia, Fast and Furious, the housing crisis and so on which he will be made responsible for, I mean, who wants a return of all that happened while he was in the WH?
Warren is delusional in her plans, open borders, free this that and the other, all paid by a fantasy wealth tax that is anti-constitutional, her price tag estimates far below actual reality.
Bernie is one more heart attack away from retirement. You would be voting for the running mate if you vote for him.
The rest cannot even get their party to accept them, much less the country.
The question remains – who else can run? Maybe Bloomberg maybe?
But I doubt the left liberal loonie toons left fringe will support a white, rich, New Yorker male, since they demand it be a woman, black, Latin, or homosexual. As long as the loonie bin demands the candidate be any of your allowed choices, there will never be a middle ground for all of us to agree.
2
This reaction is what happens when all you have is politics as your savior, and it's party independent (Republicans do the same thing, only whinier).
God, I love this country.
It is truly a sad thing; we have an utterly unqualified lying grifter as President....and 30 percent of our Nation (including republican boot-licking Senators) who still fawn over him.
Remind yourselves that character, honesty and a willingness to put personal ambition on hold for the good of our Country is what we, the citizens, deserve every day.
Remember why we fight, why we man phone banks, why we talk to our neighbors, friends, and yes, even those who are on the fence.
America is far better than trump.
4
Trump won because African American voters underperformed for Clinton in swing states. Will it happen again for Dems? Yes, if candidate is ABB....anyone but Biden.
Gosh what an amazing thought: to win an election you should actually get out and do some work! I guess the idea of "winning" via conspiracy theories and Saint Mueller ex machina has been discredited. Better late than never I guess.
2
Democrats should fear his re-election as there is a high likelihood it will happen. Watching the Democrats out promise each other to win the nomination is beyond pathetic. It’s a cast of clowns trying to heard cats to their side. Free college tuition, forgiveness of college debt, full medical coverage for all. Let’s get real, these are empty promises. Where will the funding come from? They have no clue. Where is the infrastructure funding they should be working on? Do they even have a clue as to how to keep the economy humming Nope!!!! They are as delusional as always. Their methods are simply tax and spend and if you need to spend more than tax more.
3
Americans don’t even vote in mass! How do you get Americans to go out and vote?
1
Last night on tv the new polls showed that the five northern, Midwest states that had voted FOR Trump, were now, solidly AGAINST Trump.
Virginia is not only for Lovers - turns out that it's also for Blue Dems.
Even Moscow Mitch's state of Kentucky has a Blue streak.
Now we're headed into a historical moment of Impeachment.
Will Trump be adjudged guilty in the Republican Senate?
Well, let's get real on that.
The Republican Klown Kar went "cult" about a year ago when they realized that the 2018 Blue Wave was taking the House. They lost it, frankly, because the American people are sick and tired of nonsense, 1880's ideology, Christian Nationalists pretending to be real Christians, and Trump gushing over his Dictators.
Boy, does that get tiresome.
No, the Republicans will never impeach their Beloved Leader.
And that is why the Republican Party will smack right into that Wall come the next elections.
Right now the only difference between a "progressive" and a "centrist" is that the Centrist is saying, "Get rid of everything done in the last 3 years", and, a Progressive is saying, " Get rid of everything done in the last 45 years".
And the Republicans are saying, "We don't need no stinkin' modernity! Health care only for the RICH!"
Yeah, yeah, yeah, heard it all before.
Like back in the Gilded Age.
No terror here..... just boredom.
When does this movie end....?
2
How exactly does knocking on doors help combat big data mining and disinformation campaigns performed by shadow actors based overseas who act as proxy's for republicans.
How can knocking on doors fight russia (the leader in disinfomation) and israel (the leader in spyware) - both nations led by leaders who wish to subvert our democracy?
Knocking on doors????
The republicans know exactly who is a democrat and who is a republican because they stole or acquired that data. Dems knock on doors...
1
Billions of words are wasted because the media said that the election of Hillary was a sure thing.
1
Here's what it comes down to: passion in the primary; pragmatism in the general. I've got my candidate (Mayor Pete) and have been working my butt off on his behalf; but the simple truth is that someone will become the Democratic nominee. Not everyone is going to like that person or have worked to help her or him secure the nomination. But when the ticket is determined and those two people are standing on stage in Milwaukee with the balloons and confetti falling, we will need to unite behind those candidates and work tirelessly to insure they are elected. Whatever partisan infighting develops between now and July will have to be put aside and buried deeply in the past. We don't have the luxury of saying, "well, if so-and-so wins, it probably won't be that bad; we'll survive. I'll just sit it out and wait for next time ." We have seen how bad it can get, and the fact of the matter is it's going to get much, much worse before November, 2020 -- and if Trump is re-elected, unspeakably, horrifically, unimaginably worse than whatever we experience between now and then. I'm All In for Mayor Pete, and have been since last February. More than that, though, I am all in for the Constitution, the Republic, and the democratic ideals and principles on which our country was founded -- all of which are now at serious risk. I have learned that the best antidote for depression, angst, and despair is to take action. Reclaim your power: live in solution; don't spin in hopelessness.
1
Trump's winning issue is immigration. His losing issue is health care. So,...
1) Back off on immigration/asylum. We don't owe anything to people who aren't even here yet. And if they are here illegally, then why are we flogging ourselves on their behalf?
2) Pound away at health care. It's a losing issue for the party of indentured medical debt slavery. "All aboard for the public option express!!!"
2
It boils down to how many independents watch and believe FOX. People need to know he's a criminal. Any other issue he will use to keep you in his posse. Biden son, walls or abortion just diversions for his followers.
Good to see some positive input from a pundit in place of the endless hand-wringing. Decent people, with any kind of moral compass, will never vote for this 'malignant narcissist'!
Are Democrats that wimpy that they get anxious?
get real. other djt lack of couth, he is doing a good job for the economy. Ah you dont like his social politics? well the people who voted him in do.
I'm not a stupid person, but could someone please explain to me how Trump has "an extremely high chance of being reelected" with an approval rating that rarely cracks 42% (currently 41.4%) and a disapproval rating of 54%? Even in those swing state polls that just came out, he was losing most of them by 2 or 3 points and Democrats just overperformed by 4% in Virginia and won the governor's mansion in Kentucky. Trump is not going to win Pennsylvania again. Not going to happen. Look at the facts, snowflakes. Trump is a uniquely terrible president in a uniquely terrible position to win reelection.
It is possible to be extremely confident the scoundrel will lose and at the same time extremely vigilant to make sure that happens. Democratic pessimism is such a turn off.
1
Commenters, just stop it! Let's move beyond rejecting the popular voice. Build back up an org like ACORN, and hold folks accountable, and improve upon the person of the hour, and hopefully the next four years from 1/20/21
I find the drama queen, "I can't face the world with Trump as president" routine childish and annoying. Check your privilege, please. Life's not always going to turn out in your favor. If you're honest with yourself, the actual impact of what the president does and doesn't do on your life is pretty minor.
Do you know who has the biggest effect on your life? You do. So snap out of it and start living a better life all by yourself, and discover an identity that goes beyond politics.
2
And remember: The DNC is more interested in protecting THEIR power and seats than in winning--but they will take every bit of credit for every win, just like they did for the 2017, 18, and 19 wins.
The pseudo-"election" of Trump, aided by a hostile foreign power, shook once-complacent Americans to their core. And they have acted accordingly. As much as candidates like to talk about "unity", "hope" and "bi-partisanship", the REAL (and only) motivator that gets people off the couch is serious fear that turns to rage.
So that sounds negative? Well, too bad!
It's what drove the unions to grow and be a force in America. It's what drove the Civil Rights movement--Seeing on TV people peacefully protesting getting beaten by police with fire hoses and on horseback.
It's what drove the Vietnam Anti-War movement: the raw fear that "I" (or my brother /son/husband/father) would be drafted and sent to DIE in Asia! (Remember: John Bolton avoided the draft because, in his own words, he didn't want to die in a rice paddy!)
It's what drove a group of nazis and klansmen to murder half a dozen people at a CWP demonstration in Greensboro 40 years ago, and their jurors to acquit them.
It's what drove the Tea Party when (Gasp!) America elected a BLACK President with a "funny foreign" name!
And that same fear and rage is what has driven the Women's March on 1-21-17, "The Resistance", Indivisible, and, yes, even "antifa".
If enough people are afraid and angry, Donald Trump WILL lose!
2
There are eight “five-point” Democrats: Reps. Abby Finkenauer (Iowa), Cindy Axne (Iowa), Angie Craig (Minn.), Jared Golden (Maine), Elaine Luria (Va.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), Abigail Spanberger (Va.), and Haley Stevens (Mich.). Good idea to fund them.
and if Democrats are the source of terror?
2
Does this mean Sen. Schumer won't be telling the party to blow off western Pennsylvania as he did in 2016?
2
Time to wake up Democrats, one for all, all for one.
don't know one blue leaning person who has any edge of confidence over pessimism as 2020 draws near. just hoping we all can titrate our fears so they are motivating and not paralyzing. and from here in the midwest I would really encourage my coastal friends to consider that a highly progressive candidate is very unlikely to gain traction in the middle of the country. can the Dems for once play this smart and down the center left lane and HARD with a unifying set of messaging that focuses on what the nation needs.
3
Too much fear is paralyzing. I was nine years old at Pearl Harbor and later studied our response to it. Anger turned into a driving force behind public support and participation in the war effort.
We need something similar to defeat Trump who poses the greatest domestic threat to constitutional governance since John C. Calhoun. Trump's doctrine of nullification differs from Calhoun's in that the latter claimed states (slave states, really) could "nullify" actions of Congress and the Executive Branch, Now, under a noxious doctrine of a unitary executive (the latest version of the Divine Right of Kings) Trump claims a Presidential right to nullify laws and judicial decisions.
If he succeeds, we will go the way of Athens and the Roman Republic. But it won't happen if the people subordinate real differences among progressives about policies to the task of saving constitutional governance.
4
We all agree that Trump will again lose the popular vote. its the electoral college that may allow him to be the minority President. He has done a great job lying to his base and bashing any news media that criticizes him. Truth and fact will not change things. We must find an emotional candidate , one who reassures these lost angry and fearful Trump supporters. They are suspicious of a women, any so call "leftists" , any minority person (yes they still are reacting to Obama). Wev have lots of candidates who would not c\scare them and could reassure them.
I like Warren and Buttigieg and Sanders but they will not win the Electoral college swing folks. We need to look at Amy and others who are more Trump base acceptable. Yes, like it or not we are dependent on winning back the trump uneducated base to win.
2
"t’s not clear exactly what Democrats who abhor Trump should be doing right now."
Democrats should emphasize the shared goals of the Democratic Party and their differences with Republicans.
All Democrats support universal health care---they differ on how best to achieve it, which should be the basis of a serious policy discussion not attacks on each other's integrity.
(In contrast, remember that Republican AsG are in Court trying to take away health insurance from all who gained it, and protections for pre-existing conditions and no lifetime caps children up to 26 on parents' plans etc, and that at a Republican debate the audience cheered the idea of someone without insurance left to die in the street rather than get subsidized care)
All Democrats support a livable minimum wage--they may differ on whether the minimum wage in a low cost state (eg Alabama) should be the same as in a high-cost place (eg Manhattan) but all are angry that people working full time live in poverty.
In contrast Republicans have been blocking increases to a minimum wage for decades
All Democrats oppose Citizens United. Republicans on the Supreme Court (with the power given to them by the "there's no difference between the parties" Nader voters in Florida) expanded the case. Republicans not only imposed Citizens United, but have obstructed all attempts to over turn it including past blockage of the Disclose Act and McConnell's "graveyard" for HR-1
and so on, way beyond the comments word limit...
3
Democrats: I have a silver bullet for you. Nominate a moderate. Somebody that normal, patriotic, middle Americans can vote for. You'll be fine.
4
I am doing a tap dance right now for Bloomberg..The sheer joy of knowing that he will make Trump literally insane gives me real joy....Self made man, worth a whole lot more than the highly leveraged mouthy crook currently pretending he is doing his job, and not in fear of the NRA....Probably give Putin a few bad dreams to add to his appeal....Cannot corrupt an honest man....
The perfection of knowing that Trump has absolutely no filth he can try to spread around and that Bloomberg is a whole lot more successful and respected than Trump ever was--it is a wonderful piece of news in the filthy swamp our country has become. We need hope and matching Bloomberg up to Trump is like putting Goofy next to the Lion King.
Hey, Trump: Hear the roar of all the lions????
1
Nonsense.
There is no way that smiling and smirking Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin are going to fail to do all of the hacking and meddling necessary to keep their mutual pet puppet in office.
Making them and their countries great again. At the cost and expense of American interests and values.
Indeed they will likely be joined in their mission by the cackling hyena clan enthusiastic likes of Xi Jinping, Recep Erdogan, Joao Bolsanaro, Kim Jong Un. Abdel el-Sisi and Rodrigo Duterte.
And the gift of the white septuagenarians atop the Democratic Party candidates can't be discounted.
No collusion! MAGA !
1
I usually scroll right past Goldberg columns. Here she is on point 100 percent.
1
I'll tell you Michelle how the Democrats can win in 2020.
Dump the lot.
Get rid of Schiff and the impeachment proceeding and focus on the election.
Stop promoting the Gang of Four. Hide them.
Back Bloomberg for President.
And get Obama to come out of his bunker for Bloomberg so he can win the Democratic Primary.
Bloomberg is your answer. This might not be the answer you were looking for but it's the answer.
Good luck going forward.
1
I could understand the nervousness. With each passing day, we find out more and more about the obvious pay for play corruption the Bidens were involved in.
Hunter Biden, the son of the Vice President of the United States, was in this Ukranian company's back pocket, and on their payroll. Reuters investigated, and concluded he was making 83k per month, not 50k. He never stepped foot in Ukraine, and was hired specifically as a ceremonial position to ward off investigations. The owner of Burisma was under multiple investigations, giving Joe Biden ample motive for getting that prosecutor fired when he held back that 1 billion. Again, this is the son of the VP of the US with a pay for play no show job, that was being investigated. Biden held back 1 billion of US aid to benefit his son.
Our current President isnt allowed to ask about this? And now you want to remove him for even asking?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hunter-biden-ukraine/what-hunter-biden-did-on-the-board-of-ukrainian-energy-company-burisma-idUSKBN1WX1P7
2
Spot on Michelle.
1
Without dating myself:..... "right on Michelle"!!....
BRAVA!!
1
Morning in America! DOW 30,000–Trump 2020!
1
It's the candidates, stupid. The fear and trembling come from looking at a long list of candidates, all of whom who have serious flaws in one way or another, and fearing that the currently most popular three or four of them can't win in a general election. Any of them would make a better president than the one we have now, but only if they can win.
1
Advise to the left wing - stock up on your prozac Donald has a good chance of winning. Very few are significantly bothered by the Ukraine stories given the so called "policies" of his democratic party competition.
2
You may be right. All the more reason for the impeachment process to go forward and force this miscreant from office. Let President Pence pardon Trump for federal crimes until the cows come home. Then NY State and City prosecutors will have at. O Happy Day!
@SurgicalBiologics
Obama created more jobs than Trump. Maybe you should do some fact checking on the info you're getting from faux news
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/09/20/trump-has-created-15-million-fewer-jobs-than-obama/#2804434727ce
3
There is only one real cure: abject resignation.
He's going to be re-elected.
Because the United States has had it with elitists from New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, and Washiington DC, and their snowflake millenial lemmings.
1
Why don’t you simply go volunteer for the Dem campaigns you so fervently write about? You certainly can’t write about anything unrelated to Trump.
1
We have the world's most fraudulent, corrupt, criminally unfit president residing in the White House. If the Dems can't kick him out in the next election they deserve to lose.
The Democrats would greatly increase their chances if they could simply:
1) stop telling white men that they are all privileged toxic rapists
2) insist white people today need to pay reparations for slavery that ended 150 years ago
3) say the words, “boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.”
4) say, “I love America and, despite all its flaws, it’s the greatest country on earth.”
1
Democrats are not telling all white men that they are rapists. Only the rapists. Let's start with Harvey Weinstein, Roy Moore, Brett Kavanaugh (tried but failed)and the Donald himself.
ChesBay | Maryland
This is a comment I made a couple of days ago. It still stands for you fence sitting, "moderate" Democrats. By the way, only well voters off can afford to be "moderates." **** Seize the CENTER? Seize the MIDDLE? Seize the FENCE? Seize the NEUTRAL? Seize no identifiable position? Seize safety. Seize the same old, same old? I can't think of anything less principled than that. This is what political candidates do when all they care about is preserving their power and the status quo for themselves, and when they have no new ideas. This is the point of view of the stiff, slow, dull, LAZY, mind. Biden (or Bloomberg) will be perfect for you "moderates."
2
@ChesBay --..."well off voters...
I did my part by locking Fox News out of my parents' cable box. Recently retired, they're at prime age to be sucked in by the right wing propaganda machine, so as a good son I took steps to protect them.
Why do you think they call it "Parental Controls"?
6
are there polls of Dems in key states, being WI, IA, MI, PA & FL, thqat ask Dems if they 10 voted GOP, 20 stayed home/voted no one or 3) went with Stein? Why? What gender? Which race?
That should give a good clue for a winning strategy.
& if there are no such studies, ain't it time for one. Or is embarrassing the losing Dem not worth it?
1
This is why I made my "panic donation" to Amy McGrath's campaign months ago. If we're going to Ditch Mitch, we need to support her campaign NOW.
DO - join a local progressive grassroots organization like Indivisible. Donate money to progressive organizations like Indivisible, Justice Democrats and Stacey Abrams Fair Fight.
DO NOT - donate to the corporatist controlled DCCC.
Faith, not fear, is what Democrats now need most. Nothing good in this universe can be realized without it. Fear will hedge it bets and make the wrong choice. Panic will be the enemy's victory. We put our faith in the thing that Abraham Lincoln understood about human nature, after acknowledging its perpetual susceptibility to the con. It is a lean reason to hope, but we are at the end of a painful process. I think that things are finally bad enough in this country, and I do not believe that no one but I can see that. Fear and nihilism have brought our republic low. Faith will lead us out of it.
4
"If you make the panic donation a year out, it means that state parties and outside groups can hire more field organizers to train more volunteers to be able to reach out to more neighbors who might never get onto the get-out-the-vote lists unless the conversation starts months and months in advance."
This may be the most important advice offered in this article. Let's do it.
3
"But if there are Democrats out there who think beating Trump is going to be easy, I’ve yet to meet them. I’m deeply scared, and so are most progressives I speak to."
Why should a Trump 2nd term be feared if an apparent winning portion of the population prefers it?
5
As a Democratic Committeeperson, I urge everyone to get to know their Democratic Committeepeople and volunteer to help them canvass in your neighborhood. We just had a municipal general election, and an independent progressive candidate won an at-large seat on our city council by beating several Republicans. It is also a great way to meet more of your neighbors.
3
A question for those touting the "thousands" of jobs that Mr. Trump has created over his career:
did those folks get paid? what they contracted for?
Just wondering. Harriet in San Francisco
1
I just spent the weekend volunteering with the NRDC action fund texting voters in Virginia. I wonder if it had any effect...
it is very hard for me to decide if I want Trump's presidency to end after one term. I honestly feel we are all witnessing and living through the greatest work of art to ever emerge from a real-life human situation, but like any great work of art you experience it and appreciate it but at some point it concludes and you walk away from it and move on so I can't decide whether four years would be enough of this or if we all need to see Part 2 of this Majestic Opera. I am leaning toward wanting to see the second act. If it follows suit with more banal presidencies the second term would certainly take even darker and more disturbing turns that would just be too irresistible to miss. And when it comes down any extra human suffering caused by Trump is Small Potatoes compared to what Bush-Cheney did.
1
I’m afraid you have no idea of the seriousness of the situation if you think Trump’s effect can’t compare to the Bush-Cheney’s calamity. The mind and imagination that enjoys Trump on an aesthetic level, that would get any pleasure out of its opera, is a sick mind that would laugh as the walls come down on top of us.
1
@Stephen Rose
Dude, this is Breaking Bad meets The West Wing meets The Disaster Artist, just sit back and enjoy it! I would MUCH rather have Trump in there serving his puny self-interests and boosting his schlocky brand than a real Republican Mastermind who has the wherewithal to create policies that serve the corporate state and continue to transfer wealth and power to the tippity top. Once you get past his boorishness democrats should Rejoice that Trump got in! Except for a steady stream of federal judgeships and the predictable tax cut for the rich it's pretty much been the usual gridlock.
Willingness to look at one’s own side of the street rather than blaming others is always the best path to peace of mind, rather than blaming others. If the Dems could get grip on the damage Globalization and the destruction of the safety net for indigent women and children under Clinton did to this country they might win back their base instead of handing us all over to the money on the coasts and in the burbs. Progressives without the lower classes are just a bad joke. Hence Trump. We may win anyway but it’s short term gain, only because he’s such a bad joke. Medical care for all won’t replace work and family security, no matter how you cut it.
4
Trump isn’t a bad joke. Trump is a clear and present danger to the nation and world. Yes, the blame for him can be spread far and wide, but make no mistake. We are in grave danger with him in there.
Don't overlook the Senate races! More than 20 Republican Senators are up for reelection (including McConnell & Graham). it
will make a hugh difference, and another blue wall, if Dems can win a majority there.
4
Good ideas.
My biggest fear is we can't get rid of Trump, and it then becomes more difficult to stop the slide towards authoritarianism.
The issues aside....the biggest issue is - who gets to decide what? If democracy means that the majority gets to decide at the same time protecting the rights of minorities to have different opinions, then persuasion becomes critical. Remember opposition to Obamacare? The Dems got it done (albeit, imperfectly), and now the whole country wants it (except for the rich). They had to mollify the health care profit industry and naysayers to get it through, but once people saw what it meant, they recognized how it benefits them. That was an example of persuasion through experience. Sometimes that's what it takes to win people over.
That's an example of incrementalism. Does it have shortcomings? Yes. Specifically, no plan to reduce health care costs and to get the profit motive OUT of health care.
Most issues will be moved like that, incrementally.
The issue that needs to be addressed head on is the creeping authoritarianism in this country. It includes dark money and rich people's money in the election process, voter suppression, broad use of disinformation, gerrymandering, foreign hacking of our election systems, colluding with foreign govts in subverting the election process. What did I leave out.
I tried to add more, but it said I had exceeded my # of words.
3
The answer to all our problems (once Trump is gone) is to get the money out of politics. Election reform and disinformation control so that we are closer to a true democracy. That’s all we need. Democracy. Real Democracy. Failing that, we will be at our throats forever, and our survival prospects will not be good.
1
Thank you, Michelle, for reminding us of this. I just donated to the PA Democratic Party and will continue to do so.
1
If Democrats vote out of fear for Biden or Bloomberg, because the moderates are so sure they will best Trump - as if it’s preordained - and they don’t?
I will leave the Democratic Party
1
And what then? Become republican?
Lets face it. Jill Stein was as responsible for trump as Russia and Fox News were
2
Get serious. Beating Trump (or Tumpism should he not be running) is the Number One priority, we’ll, we’ll, very well worth just about anybody else the Dems night out forward. Any Body Else.
First, let's just point out a couple of economic facts...
1. No Trump has not created more jobs than any other President, in fact, the rate of job creation is less than what we saw under Obama's last 2 years.
2. GDP growth is once again under 2%, the small bump from the tax cut is gone.
3. Our deficits after declining for the previous 7 years are now heading back over a trillion again.
I'm just a little tired of Trump supporters who think he's some kind of economic miracle worker.
All that said, even with a healthy economy we as a nation should not accept a morally bankrupt President who believes he's above the law.
7
Correct. Morally bankrupt and disinterested in governing. Disinterested in governing and in learning. Disinterested in learning and larcenous. Larcenous and callous. Callous and narcissistic. Narcissistic and heartless. Etc.
3
Simple bottom line -Warren and Sanders are not electable. Neither I nor any of my moderate friends will vote for either of their extremist policies. Sorry progressives, you don’t get to take over and live off of working people.
7
Eye roll. Obama wasn’t electable. Trump wasn’t electable.
Get a new talking point!
2
On what planet do progressives “live off of working people?” The entire premise of the Warren and Sanders campaigns is to rebalance the economic burden, after 40 years of destroying the middle and working classes to the benefit of the wealthy. Not sure if the original comment is by a bad-faith troll or a person who needs to pay closer attention to the economic history of this country, but that kind of nonsense does not belong in the 2020 discourse.
4
Really now, is it better that the rich live off the working people?
3
Confused about what to do? Your newspaper's poll set out a fairly clear agenda. Voters want a moderate Democrat. Support moderates with your time, your dollars, and your vote. Encourage uber-progressives to dial back the policy goals and content themselves with incremental progress. Many pundits have written that progressives have become Democrats' worst enemies. Now the polls confirm it. Accept reality and work within it.
7
He is going to win again, if you run a Warren or Sanders.
Biden or any moderate is a winner in Midwestern States, FL and AZ.
But liberals fall in love, and then get mad about the messy breakup.
5
I'm guessing others feel the same way I do - I hate getting robocalls so I only answer when I know the caller. Because of this I no longer make calls for the Dems - how can I call others when I hate it myself? But yes, quite willing to do whatever it takes to help out, but please use my time well!
5
Chait! Sometimes I wonder who bothers him more Trump or Elizabeth Warren or AOC. One thing to consider is that going for the center may be a long term mistake. Center right policies have failed the middle/working class since they started with Reagan. It has been an utter failure, and the center has no solutions, it is status quo. The biggest difference, outside of distracting social issues, between the Republicans (The Dirty Party) and the establishment Democrats is a slightly higher tax rate. That is a gross underestimation of the problems the working class and younger generation face. The Progressives are the only ones even offering any kind of solution. They will continue to gain over the next few (probably more than a few) election cycles. An establishment Democrat who puts on the brakes will only continue the status quo. It is arguable that if the Democrats had not abandoned their values in the 90's they would be in charge now. As it is, they offer nothing substantially different than The Dirty Party of failure. Here is the thing. Economics rule. Solve the social issues after you fix the economy.
1
Educated liberals make terrible gamblers and terrible Stoics. They (we) have no ability whatsoever to compartmentalize circumstances beyond their control. They’re frantically searching for a candidate that will relieve their anxiety about Trump’s possible re-election, without any ability to recognize that such a candidate does not exist.
Trump might get re-elected. That will hold true no matter who we nominate. Deal with it. Nail a copy of the Serenity Prayer to your kitchen wall, get out your credit card, and every time you start to hyperventilate picturing the Orange One getting sworn in on January 20, 2021, donate $50 each to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and to the presidential candidate of your choice.
And whatever you do, don’t back someone in the primary just because somebody told you they have the best chance in the general election. In November 2007 and 2015 both, Hillary Clinton was seen as easily the most electable candidate, and both times her main Democratic opponents were seen as extreme. It just shows how little you can predict.
3
Testify!
Let's spend our donations both on candidates but also on getting people register to vote, for example paying off fines of felons in Florida so they can vote
The DNC needs to spend and raise money for voter registration, help people get their proper ID and provide transportation and get registered, only three states matter, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania
1
Right. If Democrats show up, Trunp loses. Everyone knows it, especially Republicans (why the efforts at voter suppression). While easier said than done, it's doable.
2
True that most decent folks are in near mortal terror of a second trumpy administration. They realize that the noise on the far left and the clamor of victimhood is making it difficult to convince middle-of-the-road, working-class people to take the Democrats seriously. Goldberg has been near the forefront of the left-wing purity tests. For her to talk of a 'blue wall' is simply ironic.
3
The ONLY question at the debates should be "How are you going to beat Trump?"
3
The truth is Hillary won by 3 mil popular vote. The DEMs need to get elected and control the government to get rid of the electoral college. We have good candidates. We just won't know until we get closer to a Primary selection.
4
@Firestar1571
It doesn't matter the Dems could hold every single seat in congress. But unless 38 states agree the EC is going nowhere. Such are the rules of amending the Constitution.
4
I hope Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg are also getting out their checkbooks. We small donors can only do so much. Republicans would never win without their billionaires; we have to fight fire with fire.
1
Here’s the best self-administered Cure for every Adult out there : Make a Vow to yourself to VOTE. A straight Democratic Ticket. Bonus points if you take others to the Polls with you.
Another great Trump analysis from Michelle Goldberg.
May it inspire a rousing Democratic chant, to commence immediately and carry the party through 2020:
"Build the Blue Wall, Build the Blue Wall!"
2
Where can I get some of those signs?
Recommendation for Democratic Party: find a candidate who is not trying to buy the presidency with my money.
1
O.K., as much as I love doing NY Times crossword puzzles I choked on "suppurating" thinking maybe that's just Goldberg's cutesy little defiition for having supper. "I'm suppering at my favorite restaurant."
I too am anxious and suppurating over the frightening idea that we may be subjected to another 4 years of the Apprentice Tyrant who wakes up in the wee hours of the morning and tweets like an inventor who just received a brainstorm idea on how to build a better mousetrap.
Only Trump, pumped up with his growing sense of omnipotence, seriously believes that Article II of the Constitution says he can do anything he wants.
So far, with only a smattering of court rulings curbing the Chosen One's trampling of well-established legal restraints he has not been held accountable for anything nor has he lost a single supporter of his base of loyal entourage.
But, my biggest fear beyond another 4 years of the unhinged, tantrum-throwing jejune in the Oval Office is the tangible loss of an impartial Judiciary packed with anti-individual rights and freedoms judges and ideologues in the mold of the lying-under-oath sexual assaulter Brett "What goes around comes around" Kavanaugh who has openly supported the supreme, unquestioned authority of the president.
The consecration of the executive's unchecked, inviolable powers by the highest court in the land is terrifying.
Thomas Paine would not be happy. Common Sense warned us in advance.
2
Quick dose of reality, most of the country does not care that much. Only about 50% of the voting population even voted in 2016 so not everyone is OBSESSED. This is the reason the left can't figure out how Trump won nor how Trump will win again. Tunnel vision. Contrary there is life outside NYC and Washington DC and they care more about their new job than a phone call to the Ukraine....hard to believe
2
Due to the horrible Dem candidates, how is anyone supposed to build a blue wall. Trump is low hanging fruit that the Dems will likely whiff at. The thought of a Second Trump term makes me loath my fellow Red Staters, yet I’m horrified by the tone deaf Dems who are leading this circus. I like Warren, but she needs to be a little more of a realist, while Biden needs to clean up his message quite a bit.
2
Nervous Nellie Democrats, that is why the Republicans have been shredding us these last thirty years. Democrats need to grow a spine, select a candidate and support that candidate in whatever way they can by getting involved at the grass roots. Donald Trump thrives on our fear. It is long past time we Democrats made him live in fear.
1
Another tip to Democrats. Stop looking for the perfect in a candidate. Its a fools errand. Vow to support the nominee no matter who, vow to stay engaged, and help elect congress people who support your ideals. Stop fearing change. That's what Republicans do.
2
Biden, too old, been around too long. Bernie too old as well and like, Warren too extreme. Pete, very smart, telegenic but maybe too young, limited executive experience (South Bend Counts?) and yes that un-spoken....yes, sexual orientation. Have no idea how that plays out in Middle America, sad as that may be. Amy remains my Choice, Smart, Experienced in the ways of Washington, holds her own with a sense of Humor, like Pete great Academic background, moderate Mid Western Progressive, proven Vote getter and of course a Woman and younger at 59, than the Front Runners. She may be short of stature but will tower over Donald in any debate. Trump will not know what hit him.
2
Why are we not asking WHY Democrats are losing to Trump?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe they are losing, because they are not learning from Trump.
Trump has FOCUS and SIMPLICITY. Democrats are too complex.
Democrats ramble on and on, and voters forget their message.
I suggest IDEA contests for Democratic campaign SIMPLICITY.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
One idea for Democrats is the use of the DEMOCRACY song.
"Democracy is coming to the USA" (Leonard Cohen, 1992)
I think using the DEMOCRACY song may help Democrats FOCUS.
And I hope that the Times will discuss the words of this song:
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
-------------------------------------------
1
Find the political inheritor to Bill Clinton. That should do it.
I have two words that can make democrats feel better, Michael Bloomberg.
1
After reading this column I got to thinking that I could spend less time writing cranky comments after newspaper stories and more time doing something that might actually achieve something. I went to the website of the Nebraska Democratic Party and there was a hotlink to the party organization in my county. They are trying to get 1,000 block captains. They have 600. It will take three canvases a year to talk to roughly 50 people. I can do that.
1
Too old...too young...too progressive...not progressive enough. Thus far, it has been a challenge to find a candidate that pleases even a plurality.
While, at this point, most of us would take anyone strong enough to defeat Trump, the conundrum is that we would also like a candidate that meets our ideological requirements.
I think we all need to consider that any platform—no matter how bland or extreme—will not pass through Congress unchanged; promises and ideologies will be altered no matter the case, so it would seem to be more important to simply get Trump out of office.
Helpful column and so true. I fight depression every day - feeling unable to do enough to help Trump win. I am even thinking of moving to a swing state where my vote will actually mean something - as it does not for presidential elections in California. We are a guaranteed blue state - so if I can move to a red state with a possibility of going blue, my vote would count for more there. Of course, this would be expensive - I would have to rent a house and move there are 6 months to a year.
But while I was there, I could hang out in coffee shops (do they have coffee shops in red states where people discuss politics) and talk to people about why they are voting for Donald Trump. I would look upon this move as a chance to understand what motivates Trump voters as well as to cast my measley ballot for the Democratic candidate.
I am one who sees Michael Bloomberg as the Ralph Nader, Jill Stein, Democratic spoiler of the 2020 election. Electing a Democrat will become TWICE as hard with Michael Bloomberg in the race, splitting the Democratic ticket. He will not run as a Democrat but as an Independent. Bloomberg passed his opportunity to run years ago.
1
Dems are likely headed to a brokered convention. That’s what making me nervous.
Vote blue no matter who. There are many shades of blue. We can argue now whether cyan is better than aquamarine, but unless we agree on a blue we’re going to get stuck with Orange.
4
The case against Trump needs to be forcefully made: why it matters that he is defeated, what destruction he has created. It is not enough to say he is brazen, obnoxious, and narcissistic. Those qualities matter, but only insofar as they contribute to his incompetence. It seems like everyone needs to come up with their own top-5 list to be circulated and passionately stated to the rest of the country. Mine are:
1) He placed people in cages, separating children from their parents, and was too feckless to reunite them
2) He tried to take away the ACA (missing by one vote), after promising beautiful health care that would be much less expensive than Obamacare
3) He ignored and defied the Constitutional requirements of the equal branches of government with Congressional investigative powers, thus defying his oath
4) His total lack of transparency with emoluments and taxes is another example of thumbing his nose at laws and transparency
5) He gave tax cuts, 90% of which went to the top 1%, to wealthy individuals and corporations (thus jacking up the stock market, improving the wealth effect, and giving him numbers to brag about at the expense of huge deficits)
6) He lied about Mexico paying for the wall (sorry, have to add this)
what a terrible president he is, with 5-10 main points, they will be making as strong a case as is possible against Trumpism.
2
i agree with michelle. i use the term "diaper democrats" for those who become incontinent at the prospect of an actual electoral tussle.
i remind these democrats that the republicans -- an electoral minority -- chose the most factually odious and obviously unfit presidential candidate among a field of 17 ... and won.
in contrast, the diaper democrats hope to chose the least objectionable and most milquetoast candidate among a field of -- what is it now: 20, 19, 18? -- and just not lose.
worse, they are triangulating their candidate calculations on the polls and attitudes today, forgetting that campaigns are dynamic, designed to sway voters and, if democrats believe in democracy, prove that the more reasonable and more factual arguments will prevail.
i've a mind to fight. i'm hungry for a real tussle. i'm ready to push back on conspiracy, superstition and slander politics. most of all, because i'm an old man and nothing really can affect my future anymore, i'm angry and energized for the youngsters, the middle aged, the families with kids -- their future and their world.
i also believe in truth, objective, factual truth, and obedience in all reasoning and calculation to what the truth requires.
finally, i believe you win a fight by fighting. i'm a boomer, OK? and this OK boomer is among the generation that stopped an unjust war, forced civil rights on a racially segregated south, and launched feminism. it's time to put things right again: it's time to fight.
578
@drollere Thank you, thank you, thank you. The reason Democrats lose is because they don't play to win, they play not to lose. The go for the "safe" choice, imagining that a bland candidate with no ideas will appeal to the imagined tens of millions of "swing voters" (who, in reality, number very few) and pick someone who inspires and excites nobody.
78
@drollere I want to believe. I really do. But have you seen the polls? Americans have been conditioned to fear progress more than criminality and the Russians. I’m afraid there won’t be a groundswell of support for a truly progressive candidate. Obama was a centrist. He ran on being a centrist.
17
@drollere ... " unjust war "? Unjust for who? Ever had any conversations with Vietnamese " boat people " or survivors of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge " killing fields "? Mr Boomer, time to ramp down the reflexive generational self importance.
You can also send postcards at Postcards to Voters and a million other things than are even listed in this article! Thank you, Ms. Goldberg, for writing it.
I can personally attest to the amount of free therapy that volunteering for a Dem campaign or committee can be! STOP sitting around wringing your hands and get out and DO SOMETHING! Posting on social media is not enough. Knock doors. Raise money. Talk to people. It's the only way to help.
Of course you should vote, but that's the bare minimum you should do. There is a campaign in your area that needs you. Ask them how you can help! Do it to help yourself feel better if nothing else.
Gotta go now! I'm treasurer of my local women's dems. Lots of reporting to do :)
2
Timely and wise reminder that our actions can make a difference. And, glad for specific examples of how. But misdirected energy is not useful either. I don’t think any GOP Senator — with the possible exception of Susan Collins — is going to vote for removal. Period. And, no number of calls from outraged progressives will change that. Worse, creating an unrealistic expectation that it could happen frames those senators as good faith arbiters of Trumps behavior — which they are clearly not.
1
It’s critical now more than ever that more American voters become stakeholders in elections given what’s at stake for each of them, their families and the country over all in decisions politicians at all levels make.
This should be self evident, though to many it’s clearly not.
It’s not enough to be a drive by voter or armchair critic/whiner.
Were more voters actively engaged and informed we likely wouldn’t have massive gerrymandering or government bought and paid for by special interests.
We need a stronger voter oversight body.
I am afraid "getting out there" won't do it.
What the Democrats need is a more electable candidate, but unfortunately there does not seem to be one, plus there are enough "progressives" dug in with support for Sanders and Warren, who will not win, to make it unlikely that a run by a late starter could be successful.
Bottom line is that the Democrats are making a mess of this, and they may lose because of it.
These are great ideas, especially the calling partis for patch throughs. I live in Seattle, and Idaho is too far gone to make a pilgrimage to. I am willing to get on the phone do those patch-throughs. The Dems need more technology approaches like this one!
1
Why do so many people think the election is about Trump? It isn't. Those who make it Trump-centered are merely feeding into his narcissism. It's not about the Democratic candidate either, no matter how patriotic or eloquent or electable he or she may be. It is about the voters' vision of their country.
2
"Once I learned that individuals can donate $10,000 to each of the state Democratic parties"
Can someone clarify if this is an annual limit?
It doesn't take much imagination to picture trump disabling our democracy--after consulting with Vlad, of course--if he is reelected. Democracy impinges on his lawlessness. There is little, if any, regulation in NY real estate, so why should he have to put up with it in the White House? Democracies are fragile; autocracies are rooted. The Oval Office occupants prefers the latter.
3
He's like one of those super-viruses now invading hospitals around the world. One with no effective antibiotic. We all seem to be standing by while the doctors flail around and patients die. We wait for a day when it goes away, when it crawls back into the jungle where we can forget about it.
2
Wonderful points. I live in MA, which hopefully stays safely democratic. A huge problem is the repetitive lies coming from this administration and Fox has influence. Democrats need a repeatable slogan to counteract. Perhaps, "Watch What They DO, not SAY". "Democrats are for good healthcare, education, and the rule of law". There is not enough rebuttal to the lying news hogs.
3
The thing that has people scared of a Trump re-election is not progressive voters. It is voters who are scared off by progressive platforms that are farther left than they are. Those voters are the ones who are going to help get a Democratic candidate in the White House in 2021. The scary thing is the polls (pretty accurate ones, we are told) that tell us about the independnent voters, and the ones who voted for Obama (maybe even twice!) but who voted for Trump in 2016.
Progressives can root all they want for the leftest-lelaning candidates. But more than those voters alone are not going to be enough. I fear that too many of the liberal commentators and opinion writers are still oblivious to the average voter in the average purplish or reddish state between the coasts.
Ms. Goldberg, let's just cut to the chase. Do the Democrats really have a candidate who can beat Trump by large margins? Mayor Bloomberg doesn't think so nor do many in my extended family of diehard Democrats. Is it too late for the DNC to give the voters more possibilities or is it now just a question of how much money a candidate has in his or her coffers to stay in the race, count in the polls and participate in the maddening debates? All the momentum you speak about is important but it should be a directed and unified effort in support of one or two truly electable candidates. Over and out.
1
If people really, truly wanted to send a message to Trump and the Republicans there is really only one thing that can do it and that is a general strike. It doesn't have to even be nationwide. Just the major cities. Everyone, from all walks of life, all occupations, needs to walk out on their jobs at once. Do it for a few days and grind the economy to a halt and watch how fast the Republicans change their tune.
I've heard every kind of excuse against such action and all I can say is this: the very existence of the Republic is being savagely undermined by Donald Trump and his Republican stooges in Congress. It's survival depends on US. Not them.
3
The most effective thing to do is donate money to Democratic candidates’ campaigns and organizations that promote voting rights. Any amount will make a difference.
2
A great article! Thank you Michelle! I'm a member of the Sister District Project and live in San Francisco...we've just spent the last year raising money, calling, canvassing, and writing postcards for Virginia state level candidates! AND WE FLIPPED VIRGINIA!! We just put on a USE YOUR VOICE AND YOUR VOTE high school assembly and got a dozen youth to register and sign up to volunteer! And we're taking this assembly nation-wide next, with a focus on swing states...organizing needs to be happening all the time...it's a slow process of getting people to believe that it's possible for things to be better, that they can make a difference by voting...keep up the good work! Let's have more articles about all the positive work that is being done throughout the country!
3
Whatever the fears now, there's always the prospect of planning ahead.
Whoever the D candidate is in the end, a get of the vote (GOTV) effort next Fall will be essential. And we can plan now to promote that effort. Some of us already are.
If you live in a swing state, do you have room to house a volunteer from a solid Blue or Red state who might come for a while to help GOTV? If you are from a Blue or Red state, can you come to a swing state and work on the GOTV effort?
Here's an idea for the retirees who are among the most active voters: use the time flexibility you have and the possibly empty nest home you have to provide extra feet on the ground to get out the vote when it counts the most -- October, 2019.
We're getting organized ... if you want to join us and help get the movement off the ground, contact me at purplestatesATyahoo.com (and remember the plural S)
4
Democrats are afraid because they cannot count on fair play from Republicans. Moreover, the exposed foreign meddling in U.S. elections contributes to the anxiety as we can no longer trust the entire voting system. Restoring paper ballots would be a confidence booster.
10
Sanders is the candidate who will enthuse citizens who may not usually vote, to vote.
The US desperately needs his integrity, vision, bold ideas and courage.
Sanders can beat Trump because there are more citizens who demand change, than those supporting the status quo.
The US has colossal and growing income/wealth inequality with the richest .1 percent taking in over 188 times the income of the bottom 90 percent.
https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
Sanders values the role of work in the lives of ordinary people. His policies will create equal opportunity for people to be healthy, well educated and prepared for finding satisfying, decent paying work.
President Sanders 2020!
A Future To Believe In!
2
@Lucy Cooke
NOT TRUMP 2020!
@Lucy Cooke , yeah right, people in wisconsin and minnesota are ready to vote for an old jewish guy who is not a democrat at all but is a self announced democratic socialist. I live in blue CA as you do. Who we like and what we think means very little when it comes to the presidency. Why you bernie lovers don't get that by now is perplexing.
1
@Blank
NO to any status quo supporting centrist!
The time for change is NOW!
It is fear that drives the DFL to move right. They fear losing and so even before the election they compromise and change to accommodate the GOP. No one legitimizes the GOP more than the DFL by considering the GOPs stances as legitimate.
The DFL will always fail to be truly progressive, so the people vote for Trump to punish them for never really working for the people. The DFL should stop listening to the fear mongering of the corporations and wealthy and just be progressive.
Kick the football Charlie Brown the DFL is really going to hold it this time. This time they will do as they said they would.
But alas, the corporations will be who they really service.
1
Well, I'm one sort-of-Democrat who believes the White House Occupant is doomed to defeat. I can understand the paranoia. However, first of all, the economy is on very shaky ground. An earthquake could happen any day. Secondly, pundits and pollsters have brainwashed us with a lot of nonsense predictions based on 2016, all focusing on that singular creature known as the Midwestern Swing Voter as if no one else lives in this country. We should also not underestimate the sheer mass hatred of millions of people aimed at the Occupant, which will strongly motivate younger voters. So let's take a deep breath, nominate a decent Democratic ticket, and watch that menace go down the tubes in a flood of rejection.
9
@Michael Engel
Sadly that “earthquake” could happen in the second week of November 2020. Then Individual 1 may already be gearing up for a second term.
@Michael Engel: I agree with the points mentioned in your comment...BUT. Economy is on shaky ground. That's true but the republicans and stump have so ingrained their followers into thinking that everything is going great so they hear no real facts. The brainwashing of strumps supporters...that they have been forgotten, that only he can drain the swamp, that there is a deep web that is working to impeach him, his every negative comment that is cheered by his supporters, they are gleeful but do not go (read) beyond what their fearless leader says. If any of his supporters every looked at (read, again) what is really going on in this administration, they would see that they have been duped. strump cares nothing for his "uneducated" followers. He pretends he loves them when in reality he despises everyone. He's a fraud, a crook and a travesty to the office he holds. There is no getting through to his followers. He very literally could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his followers would say the shooting was justified. I want to be more optimistic but it would take days for me to enumerate all of the stuff that stump has done and got away with. I fear for our democracy.
1
Considering how almost all the pundits and almost all the polls got it wrong last time, why are we still listening to any of them?
Why does anyone still hold out hope that Republicans will abandon trump when we know they never will?
If Democrats can't make the case against Orange they don't deserve to win anyway.
3
Well, if Bloomberg enters the race, that changes things. Biggest plus: He wants to tackle climate change.
I know he used to be a Republican but he has evolved. He is smart, capable and not too far left to win. He might actually get votes from Republicans who know Trump is unfit for office.
I hope he runs because, even though I have tremendous respect for Biden, Warren and Sanders, I'm not sure they can beat Trump. I think perhaps Bloomberg can.
2
@Carolyn
Mr. Bloomberg will be 79 a couple weeks after the Inauguration in 2021. Not that this is a disqualifying fact, both Vice President Biden and Senator Sanders are also in their late 70’s.
It would seem unlikely that moderate Americans in the swing States will vote for left leaning candidates when the economy is making headlines like “record highs in the DOW” and “record lows in Unemployment” every few months/weeks.
NOT TRUMP 2020 is the main goal next year. For all Americans.
"Part of the problem is that it’s not clear exactly what Democrats who abhor Trump should be doing right now."
They should be doing all of the things Goldberg ticks off in answer to her own query.
They should also be worried, very worried, about the counting of the votes for president in November 2020. Simply put, Trump/GOP have the means, and God knows the motivation, to exploit the many documented vulnerabilities of our concealed, computerized vote-counting process to manipulation and fraud.
What can we do? We can launch a campaign to have a Hand Count of the presidential votes in as many swing states as possible. Counting a single race by hand is no more difficult than what Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Holland and other democracies now do in their national elections.
To provide the counters - the non-riggable humans to do the job - I have already launched the WeCountNow! campaign. A group like Indivisible could add recruitment of counters to its outreach work easily enough.
Outside the box? Yes. And that's exactly where we need to be in response to the crisis that is Donald Trump.
6
These suggested preps are an appropriate alert. BUT THE CRISIS IS THE TOTAL COMMUNICATION'S INEPTUDE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Versus the Republican noise machne and Trump. None of the Debating Candidates are right. And, the debates are a total disaster: squabbling about details on health care plans that could never pass, attacking the only viable candidates among them, nobody near the right message. Only occasional comments by Biden have been on target. The concept that the economy is great prevails. Yet, it is terrible for the American people-everybody budget conscious. Food prices soaring, no talk of inflation. Cannot think of a good point made by Democrats in last year.
1
Democrats need to choose an electable candidate. And everyone must vote in November, even if that person is not your first choice
6
Democrats myself included sometimes act as if Trump is the Frankenstein monster and our options when confronting the threat lie between barring the door and hiding under the bed or grabbing pitch forks and marching on the castle.
But Trump is not super human as he tries to convince us he is and resorting to innate fear will do nothing to dislodge him. In fact it is probably what Trump wants us to feel. So traditional means of fighting someone like Trump such as writing letters to the editor, talking to friends, getting out the vote and yes marching if needed are just fine, but fear is not though sometimes it seems to be a great motivator.
I am speaking to myself in this as fear sometimes seems ot be a natural response in view of Trump's existential threat to all that we have loved about our nation, but at a certain point it really does not sere us.
1
It seems that Democrats of Ms. Goldberg’s stripe are doing everything but reach out to influence the ideological middle, which is where the 2020 elections will be decided. They seem to think organizing and further energizing the truest ‘believers’ will suffice, despite what poll numbers and voter interviews almost scream at them. It’s hyperactive laziness.
This deprives left-of-center activists of the opportunity to create powerful political coalitions whose breadth will help win elections *and* create a stable base for successful governing (extremely important), should they win.
People like Ms. Goldberg are part of America’s political problem, not part of the solution. The rest of us certainly *should* be afraid
@Michael N. Alexander I don't know what axe you have to grind but Goldberg, but she's suggesting we put money into helping build up the Democrats' ground game. Turnout is going to be a huge part of the equation in 2020. Her suggestions are not at odds with coalition building. We need to make sure we can reach any voter who might be willing to pull the lever against Trump, and we need to make sure we get them out in November 2020.
A blue wall is a great idea but the correct candidate is just as important. Joe Biden's time is past. He is literally falling with no way to get up. Pete Buttegieg has some not so hidden skeletons in his closet that will cause a huge segment of the Democratic base to stay home. And he is the new darling of the donor class, the establishment political class and establishment media, which the combination of those things mean he is a non starter for me. The establishment is trying to take us back to where we were before Trump. Where we were before Trump was unacceptable to millions of people, which led to Trump. The progressive candidates have ideas that poll wildly popularly across the political spectrum and will fight to get them implemented and will start at their ideal and negotiate, unlike Obama did on health care where he tried to be nothing more than a community organizer rather than a leader that with the Congress he had would have forced it to bend to his will. So Sanders and Warren are the choices and let's take a chance on the structural changes that will benefit the most. Trump conned the people into thinking he would deliver on his populist message. At least those two candidates will use the bully pulpit to work for everyday Americans and not live in a White House of self pity.
4
People go out to vote only FOR someone. Who? Why? Those are the only questions Dems should be asking. Who is the candidate? Why should I vote for him/her? Otherwise, they'll seethe at home.
Excellent article. But why not include contact information for Indivisible's link for calls to progressives in states with R senators up for re-election. I've gotten one message on that several weeks ago but it's buried in the masses of daily emails. And how about a link to Wisconsin? Indivisible and Wisconsin, if you're listening.
On a more abstract issue, I hate to see those who oppose Trump afraid to even think which presidential candidate they want to nominate. I hear so many say they'll vote for anyone who can beat Trump. When I ask who that would be, I get a shrug. That's crazy; people are leaving their choice to others.
As I see it, the primary is my only chance to vote for who I think is the best candidate for our country; come November 2020, there will only be Trump and someone else. That's no choice at all; I'll have to vote for the non-Trump. Bit in November 2019, I still have time to promote and then to vote for the candidate of my choice; at least I know my own mind.
As for fear of Trump winning, that's certainly the case with my friends. But I wonder how many are still oblivious of the tremendous political storm we are all in or are so annoyed with Washington they purposely tune out.
1
If Democrats are worried about losing to Trump they should begin by fielding candidates who are not completely beholden to corporate interests, but promote policies addressing the needs of the average American. Some of these include: 1) equitable taxation- Jeff Bezos and other wealthy Americans should pay the same tax rate (on all of their ‘earnings’) as the average American worker, 2) provide affordable healthcare, housing and education for all Americans, 3) make large investments in public and private infrastructure to create more jobs paying a livable wage, 4) end taxpayer-funded, astronomically expensive wars in Afghanistan (longest running war in US history), Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen (Iran next?), close the 800 foreign military bases currently being operated by the Pentagon and bring our troops home. The entire impeachment process is a convenient way for Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic leadership to avoid addressing issues that matter most too working families. The failure of HRC/Democrats in 2016 is well documented in Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 11/9. Moore points out the Hillary Clinton was more concerned about talking to Wall St bankers than she was going of Flint, MI and directly address lead contamination in the municipal water system.
4
@Paul
Check out the legislation already passed by the Democrats in the House and sitting in Itch McConnell’s round file.
Your talking point regarding Hillary has been debunked and is a clever tactic Bernie supporters continue to use to deflect from their failure to turn out and support Hillary in 2016.
“Pundits sometimes address Democratic primary voters as if they were complacent about the chances of another Trump term and need a harsh dose of reality.”
Once again, I find that you have written about what I and my family and friends are experiencing. I think you are very insightful and able to articulate brilliantly about these times.
The quote you reference from Jonathan Chait represents to me some very inadequate and sorry to say this, lazy analysis. Reading other commenters words in this and other forums does not indicate anything like complacency. If anything, lots of Democrats are keenly aware of what could happen and are as engaged as ever. I believe it’s Trump’s base and enablers who are complacent about the cost of another term for this man, whom I revile and am ready to vote against, if that’s how the nomination ends up, and I have to settle for Biden or another middle of the roader.
At this point, I am for Sen. Warren
and have been supporting her campaign with small donations as are others I know. It’s so much more fulfilling to be inspired by someone, she does that for me.
7
Yesterday at lunch my friends were saying with confidence, yeah Warren will win the Democrat nomination and Trump will be reelected. They pose as democrats but deep on their hearts they are true conservatives so what they were doing was projecting their preferred scenario. I expect the Democrats will choose their best candidate and there are quite a few that would be an excellent choice for the Presidency. My hope is that whoever is the candidate the Democratic party will be able to mobilize the voters.
10
Unfortunately, Trump is blessed with adversaries who are doing a fair job of evening the scales of what should be an indignation fueled landslide. We Democrats are so generous, sigh ...
"Fear" is palpable given that it won't be just Trump v. a Democrat on the ballot, but the Constitution itself. The pressure on Democrats is immense to find not only an electable candidate, but one who can win in a landslide that will also retake control of the Senate and keep Trump from yelling, "They rigged the election!" And, the fear is that, as of now, the Democrats do not have that candidate. Former Vice President Joe Biden has been noticeably faltering and failing, Bernie Sanders is a "socialist" with a severe health problem, Elizabeth Warren is a "tax and spend" liberal/socialist (on Medicare for All) with mounting opposition, and Pete Buttigieg has yet to catch on with the two most important groups in the Democratic coalition--African-American voters and progressives. It may be time for Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown to reconsider entering the race perhaps with Stacey Abrams as his running mate. The Democrats need a strong unity ticket that will energize the voters and create the blue wave turnout they lacked in 2016 and seem headed for a repeat in 2020.
1
What is unstated here is that the Democrats are almost trying to give the election to Trump. Look at the top 3. Biden is old, his son is a liability, and is not being Trump really a winning strategy? Sanders won't win, an 80 year old man with past heart attack shouldn't be president. Most people feel that way.
Warren would do herself a favor and stop alienating people who may disagree with her.
Those are the reasons we Democrats worry.
6
according to Allan Lichtman and the 13 keys to the presidency the only thing that matters is if a sixth key gets kicked over there to their likely social unrest and a recession. According to Lichtman we should run the most Progressive candidate because it doesn't matter who we run
@Scott Trump is old. Trump's son and daughter and son-in-law are liabilities, and being Trump is really a winning strategy?
Trump called Jeff Sessions a "dumb Southerner."
I believe the best route to achieve the advice in this column is to have widely respected national leaders who speak often in public and tell people what they can best do ... supported of course by an organization that will facilitate their doing it.
There has been a glaring vacuum of coordinated national leadership at the top of the Democratic party, despite all the good work done by Pelosi, Nadler, Schumer, Schiff, and many others. Filling that void is the key to a big win in 2020.
5
Let me hypothesize that Trump won because the media geniuses predicted an inevitable Clinton win, and those who might have preferred her to win did not vote for her because they did not like her. Americans have to "like" their politicians.
I point out that Trump won only a plurality, not a majority, of votes in the Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The majority voted for somebody else, but their votes were dissipated in the first-past-the-post system that the political class finds so convenient. Ranked choice voting (wisely embraced by NYC this week) is the easiest way to scramble the calculus and encourage people that they do not have to vote for their favorite Menendez brother.
See fairvote.org
6
What I fear could reelect Trump are Democrats.
Specifically, those who stay home or vote third party because their nominee is not "pure" enough or because they want to "protest" the system. If these people had voted for Hillary she would have won the electoral college.
Yes, the swing voters are important. But the "low hanging fruit" are those who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 but did not vote at all in 2016, along with those who voted for Jill Stein. And don't forget the new voters either.
The battle will almost certainly be decided in six states. That is where the nominee must campaign (and NOT go to any fund raisers). And that is where, as Michelle says, we need to focus our energy. Trump has no more chance of winning California than the Democratic nominee has of winning Mississippi.
Focus, focus, focus.
10
Democrats should be nervous since the leading candidates all stand a good chance of losing to Trump. The party needs to nominate a moderate (similar to those who were able to win in the midterms) in order to beat Trump. Warren and Sanders can not win with the proposals they have put forward. I appreciate the sentiment and idea of health care for all but right now, in this country, replacing 150 million American's health care with Medicare will get them trounced in the election meaning nothing will happen on climate change, inequality, student debt, etc. Their campaigns are inspirational but destined to fail in the general election. As the lyric from Springsteen goes - is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse?
I hope people will look again at Michael Bennett. He is reasonable and serious and polished.
I wish that Sanders would bow out and Warren was less strident. They both have excellent ideas but won’t win
over moderates.
Oh well! Hopes and wishes won’t win the election. But I sure encourage voters to vote for whatever Dem wins the nomination.
2
What is most worrisome about the Democratic field now is the possibility that the winner of the nomination will either not be able to adjust to win against Trump or loose the support that won the nomination.
The world is made by the people who show up for the job.
Vote.
Fight for justice.
Organize.
Vote.
Get people to the polls.
Don't allow big money to call the shots.
Make yourself heard.
Vote.
Forward momentum, one step at time, but always moving forward.
10
@Larry Roth
Clearly stated, absolutely true.
I don't fear Trump winning again. He won't. What I fear is that progressives will give into the fear that Trump will win unless they agree to abandon liberal goals to settle for some centrist idea that Republicans will talk to us if we just meet them in the middle. They won't.
11
Agreed!
I think some of the gloom and doom comments here may just be from sock puppets or at least I hope that is true. Yes, we Democrats have been and always will be a party of diverse factions and with a disturbing ability to form the circular firing squad. I cringed when Ms. Goldberg mentioned events thrilling to her wing of the party (Women's pink hat march, airport activists with signs captured by the NYT photos reading "open borders" along with "welcome immigrants").
I'm sure her wing cringes when we centrists call for moderation and as with the possible KY gubernatorial (the GOP is trying to steal it) victory meeting voters where they are on kitchen table issues and not "up the revolution" with raised fist.
But Goldberg hits a home run with this piece showing it is all about getting out the vote by having a ground game. Yes, Democrats are playing catch-up but do not despair. Be positive, contribute if you can, and most of all remember most voters are registered "independent" in states allowing party preference. Do not write off any swing voters.
1
@Unworthy Servant
What was wrong with the Women's March?
1
@Gideon Ask the women, particularly Jewish women who skipped its second go-round. Then acquaint yourself with the allegiances, finances and views of some of the organizers prompting that "I'll take a pass"." Toxic even for many in the progressive wing.
How can you be terrified of a Warren presidency when we have Trump in office?
She is not proposing ideas that are untested. She is proposing ideas that other countries have tried and found to improve the lives of ALL their citizens.
Let’s be real. The billionaires in our country have largely made their money in ways that are not constructive to society. Contract workers, selling users’ data, financial ripoffs.
If these billionaires had been truly interested in their employees’ welfare, and society’s welfare, we wouldn’t need a Warren presidency.
But they aren’t, and we do.
Don’t be afraid of politicians with big ideas. They are the ones that gave us the national parks, Social Security, space exploration, the Civil Rights act, Medicare. These giant leaps forward were NOT the products of the status quo politicians.
21
You can make all the phone calls and knock on as many doors as you want to, but what gets people to register to vote, and then, when November 2020 rolls around, pushes them to their polling place to actually vote? Enthusiasm.
They have to believe in the candidate and be inspired by them.
Too many Democrats, especially the party elite, have yet to admit they lost to Trump because he got people fired up and they believed he was going to make their lives better. Hillary didn’t inspire enough voters and too many of them stayed home or voted for Trump.
Millions of American families and young people are hurting, living with despair. They need bold ideas and new solutions that will make their lives better, not the same old stuff that is not working. They need to believe not just in the newer solutions, but that the Democratic candidate and the party will fight for them and their families.
Do you think Biden comes across as a fighter? Mayor Pete? Klobuchar?
Add up the poll numbers, the individual contributors, and the dollars contributed, of the two most “progressive” candidates. Look at the energy at their events. Example: Check out the video of 26,000 people at Bernie’s Brooklyn rally.
This is not complicated folks.
9
Your last words sum things up nicely and so I'm doing my part to support Warren. As for anxiety, I'm thinking philosophically; If foreign interference, gerrymandering, voter suppression, the electoral college, black money etc. are ruled out as factors for a Trump win. The country has spoken. But based on these variables it's pretty apparent that democracy is being smothered by corruption in real-time.
Which is a big reason I'm supporting Warren. Hit the streets folks.
10
Why we don't have our own Limbaugh, Hannity, and FIX News?
We desperately need personalities with the audacity to spew out whatever it takes to take Trump down.
Nobody come close.
And both CNN and MSNBC are outmatched by FIX, and by a wide margin.
Help needed.
2
Check out the Crooked Media podcasts (Pod Save America, Lovett or Leave It, Pod Save the World, and more). They are entertaining, informative, and motivational. I listen while I write postcards to voters. They have featured interviews with Stacey Abrams, Ben Wikler and many others who are working now to improve Democratic turn-out and fight voter suppression. I have a monthly donation to the Wisconsin Democratic Party through Act Blue. I am in California but I can do something to help in critical swing states.
4
@morGan
Where is Keith Olbermann?
We desperately need him now. And he should get a 3 hr show daily. He will destroy both Hannity and Limbaugh.
1
Or they could just grow up and accept the fact that all Americans experience what they are experiencing at some point. Yes, we all have to live with presidents we believe are destroying the country while others worship the ground that same president walks on.
Our nation is stronger than Trump's critics or any other president's critics, I can assure you.
38
@AACNY
I do not agree because I believe the strength of our nation is the Rule of Law. It is the Rule of Law that made America the success it is, and Conservatives are simply undermining this in favor of personal power, and have been for several decades.
207
@AACNY
I am a grown up; in my 60's. I've lived through many administrations but have never, ever believed a president of either party was destroying our country. Until now. I fear for our country.
198
@AACNY Assure all you want, but the fact is that trump is aggressively and steadily destroying this country, and for those who understand that it's an enervating ordeal. Once again, you make a false analogy between trump and other presidents, between trump's critics--it's far more than criticism, AACNY, and you'd better reckon with that--and those who criticized other presidents. The scale of the trump threat is orders of magnitude beyond the dislike many had for George W. Bush and others apparently had for Obama. We are now in a crisis of leadership that has never faced this nation before.
159
I know I'm not alone in saying how I long for the days when I didn't have to think about the President of the United States seven days a week.
32
The WI Dems are making an heroic effort. Meanwhile Trump has Brad Parscale doing the same thing, but with digital data mining, in all 50 States, especially the battlegrounds. They probably have a few dozen people total working on it. Dems need to really up their digital game to compete. You transition to personal contact after you’ve identified your potential converts, not before.
3
Back in the day before over a million semi-automatic weapons were in the hands of American citizens, back before Americans elected a president who invited his cult members to exercise their Second Amendment rights against their perceived foes, I went door to door in some very 'Red' communities to advance the interests of a certain Black Senator, running for the presidency.
I heard a lot of hateful sentiments and had doors slammed in my face.
I applaud anyone with the courage to canvas for democrats in this present environment.
I am too fearful of Trump's rabid supporters to do so myself.
2
Trump Fatigue is the only comfort for Democrats and what they can use to counterpunch. It can also be labelled Republican Fatigue, years and years of backward, stubborn thinking.
That said, time is running out to find a savior candidate who can
win, and maybe not now another aged white guy (Bernie, Joe
and Michael). These three have to nobly throw their
support to a younger candidate. But who?
Watch out also for third party and crazy write-in attempts if
Trump isn't mercifully-for-the-world booted by impeachment
conviction. Or, maybe if he is, by way of his dwindling base. A
really good Republican replacement candidate could win, too,
if Democrats don't coalesce. So yes, the whole thing is perilous.
1
You know what we don’t need? Republicans spouting off on how our candidates are no good. On how their ideas are “too progressive” and that “the country isn’t ready for that.”
Hey Republicans: How about nominating someone decent to represent YOUR party instead of trying to tell us how to pick a candidate? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
6
Do not trust American voters to make a sane choice. It is sad that world's most developed country has one-third population that is ready to put its fate in the hands of a criminal mind. These are the people who will find any excuse to give another term to Trump -- Warren is a socialist; democrats will take away your guns, your money, your Bible, et al. So Democrats are better off choosing a moderate and centrist candidate. The Blue Wall should be built by making those people vote who generally do not; and by registering new young voters.
2
As someone who lives in New York, I’d like to know how I can best help - virtually - the folks in Wisconsin. Phone numbers? Email addresses? Websites?
When I volunteered for the Obama campaign in 2012, we New York volunteers called folks all over the country during canvassing and get-out-the-vote periods. I’d be happy to make phone calls. Can somebody post the links?
2
Democrats picked the candidate most likely to lose in 2016 and they are poised to repeat that error again. The good news is that motivated Democrats will likely keep and maybe expand the hold on the House. Unfortunately, no one knows how to make coastal Democrats understand the folly of nominating a candidate who cannot win in the Midwest. Their arrogance and blinders to reality are Trump's best weapons.
3
@Jim Dennis Midwestern Democrats, not "coastal" Democrats, will be the first people to chime in on who the nominee is (unless climate change has unexpectedly turned Iowa into a coastal state).
I think it would be really great if suburban women would address other suburban women. I was in a situation where there were a whole bunch of 35-60 year old suburban women (upper middle class mostly republican leaning). One woman complained that no one on either side represented her concerns. Another woman says "wait, you have kids right? Between the ages of 15 and 30? Do they have student loans? What's their entry level pay? How many of our kids are living at home because their starter job isn't enough to........do you still pay your kid's car insurance? Do you bristle when someone at a party refers to your hard working good student as a "snowflake"? Anyone have a kid with asthma, or..... So which party is addressing your children's concerns. They are the one's who are going to live with this." Democrats need to talk to mothers. Not just the one's who need daycare. We never stop worrying about or wanting what's right for our children no matter how old they are. Talk to suburban moms. Treat them with respect and concern. They can be a part of your blue wall.
6
Yes, but it would be great if the Democratic candidates stopped trashing one another.
For those who are "scared", they might as well write their practice apology letters to the world now for the coming crimes against humanity that Putin/Trump/Kim/Jinping will enact against both millions and the Earth's climate. History said Germany and Japan caused WW2, not the far right in those countries. America will be blamed, not Republicans. Ironically those two axis power nations completely rehabilitated. Yet there are no Mulligans for us with climate change/nuclear scuffle as a side effect of our "ethnic cleansing" policies.
Living in a blue area of a blue state makes it difficult to see a way through to help. Our local neighborhood action group decided early on that the way to restoring some sanity was registering voters, not changing Republican minds.
We've used Vote Forward (www.votefwd.org) to write letters that often include pre-filled out voter registration forms to people in targeted states. We've sent nearly a thousand to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina. The letters are hand-written. Did they have an impact this week? Hard to know, but it was a concrete, palpable effort to get the vote out.
Also: www.nextgenamerica.org to get the younger demographic.
REGISTER VOTERS
REGISTER VOTERS
REGISTER VOTERS!
6
My wonderful 95 year old Holocaust Survivor father often told me during the many decades of Presidents good and bad we have seen together that "America is resilient enough to survive any President".
He would remind me that the Congress can work. Enough diverse and reasonable voices existed among the politicians at the Local, State and Federal levels to keep the threads of our great nation intact.
This is what we must remember now even in the face of the appalling onslaught to our values that is Trump and his acolytes. It would do well for the Democrats to truly absorb this lesson. We will survive Trump. Even 8 years of him. We are that strong. We are that resilient.
We will protect the environment in the courts. We will join the world of nations from the states and the reasonable and functioning national politicians. We will apologize and mediate the far right nonsense spewed by the Trump sycophants.
We will survive this man Trump. I hope that get it together and win in 2020 to defeat this frontal assault on who we are as a nation. But the electorate often cannot see past the day to day economy. If Trump wins in 2020 we (the rational educated masses, not the ignoramuses and greed addled Trump sycophants) will double down and clarify who we are as a nation and survive.
1
I think that there are enough Democrats, Independents and disillusioned Republicans to beat Donald Trump in a fair election, and I know that any one of the Democrats running would be a better POTUS than he is. What worries me is more Russian or foreign cyber-interference, voter intimidation and gerrymandering, and I am not sure that the Republicans, as a whole, are finally above cheating in order to win.
Remember if those who voted for Obama stand up they will defeat Trump , if not they will deserve the alternative.
Actually, despite the heated rhetoric, the difference between the parties are minor. Both Democrat and Republican politicians ardently support our increasingly extremely unequal, capitalist system, which is controlled by the billionaires who pay for their campaigns. . . .Both Democrats and Republicans support our never ending World War Three (the Global War on Terror), and voted in Congress by big margins for steep increases in military spending . . . Now the racist demagogue Trump has converted the G.O.P. into a Fascist party, against whose bullying the old centrist parties are helpless. The only way the Democrats can appeal to the masses is to nominate, not the Hillary Clinton 2.0 of Senator Warren, but a Socialist like Senator Sanders.
2
This is a brilliant piece. It stands out among political Op-Eds in this paper and that is troublesome. The biggest reason I fear that Trump might get re-elected is that wealthy corporate leaders, despite the racism, misogyny, corruption and all the rest, remains firmly in support of him and are pouring money into his war chest.
The corporate news media allowed Trump to grossly misrepresent himself during the 2016 campaign, turned that whole campaign into "The Trump Show" and has allowed itself to be led by the nose. Many pundits and editorial teams on television and in print appear to have decided that if the choice is between a progressive and Trump they will have to hold their noses and support Trump's re-election because, God knows, Sanders or Warren trying to take private profit out of our dis-functional health insurance system is worse than a racist, would-be King with no respect for the Constitution. That's what makes me afraid.
4
To your list of people who should drop out now, I would add Bernie Sanders. He is an aging, blowhard, raging one-issue candidate who had just had a heart attack. If he is a true Democrat, and a true American, he should realize NOW that he has no chance, none at all, of wining the general election, no matter how mad his supporters are. And Elizabeth Warren, the apparent front runner. And good old Uncle Joe Biden, who will be savaged in the debates. He blusters, he loses his train of thought, and his idea that running on Obama's coattails is misguided and foolish. Sadly, Kamal Harris, perhaps the most overlooked candidate, would then have room to move to the front. I would love to see her debate DJT. I support her strongly, and, if the moderators would ever let her speak, he ideas are firm, inclusive and brilliant.
Find 10 people to register to vote and then give them a call before the primaries and the general and evil will be defeated.
I ran for office and got elected. I will run GOTV field offices in 2020. Do something to burn your despair and anxiety, and push yourself, even a bit, out of your comfort zone. ANY of our front runner Presidential nominees are better than Trump. Its not 2016 and Trump is damaged goods. I don’t waste my time worrying about it. And remember the media doesn’t make a big deal about you like Trump voters, nope, they dissect you and criticize you, even though you Pelosi-clap back at every election and every hearing. Find your local Dems or Indivisible and let’s do this!
1
This impeachment inquiry is moving closer and closer to the Bidens. Public hearings will display on national TV how the son of the Vice President of the US was engaged in very blatant pay for play corruption or pay for access. Reuters did their own investigation, released Oct 18th. Look it up. Hunter was appointed to Burisma's board just weeks after being discharged from the Navy for cocaine use. He was making 83k per month, not 50k. He never stepped foot in Ukraine, attending only 2 board meetings per year outside of Ukraine. He was hired as a "ceremonial" figure to ward off investigations. The owner of Burisma was under multiple investigations, giving Joe Biden ample motive for getting him fired - incredulously by holding back 1 billion in aid. So Biden held back 1 billion in US aid to benefit his family. Sound a little like quid pro quo? These hearings will knock out Biden and exonerate Trump in one fell swoop. Then youll be left with Warren or Bloomberg.
Will either of them invigorate the masses to the polls?
This is very worrisome.
3
@SurgicalBiologics Your comment has nothing to do with the column. Plus, no matter how hard you strain, there is nothing that indicates that Biden's actions in the Ukraine had anything to do with his son, NOR did the actions he took in any way benefit his son or Burisma.
After perusing the comments here, I detect a hint of desperation. Voters vote with their pocket books. "Its the economy, stupid", rings true every election season. This is no different. The economy isnt working for everybody meme is a bad way to try and win elections. Its dishonest and deceptive. When has any economy worked for every single person? So the progressive idea is enact wide sweeping programs to redistribute so everyone is equal. The problem with that is, the govt cant give to one person without taking from another. It harkens right back to the very accurate description of socialism.
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
That way of governance is the exact polar opposite of what we have today, and precisely why we are now enjoying a booming economy. Trump has lowered taxes, slashed regulations, making it easier to invest and expand. Socialistic programs will accomplish the exact opposite. And btw - the latest headline from Bloomberg - "Trump’s Economy Is Working for Minorities" - "the unemployment gaps between both blacks and whites as well as Hispanics and whites have reached all-time lows. It’s not just that the job market has been good: For minorities, it has been historically good." That doesnt bode well for Democrats.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-11-06/trump-s-economy-is-historically-good-for-minorities
3
@SurgicalBiologics
A lot of Red State voters do not vote their pocket books. They vote based on race.
I don't think people should be terrified. A solid majority of the voting public is dead set against a Trump presidency. Get that majority to the polls in 2020 and Trump will lose. If you are "scared" think about what others around the world are dealing with. Would you be scared living in Russia under the brutal Russian Kleptocrats? How about China, the new totalitarian surveillance state? Would you like those digs? How about Mexico with its deadly drug wars, or the Northern Triangle, or Venezuela and its environs? We don't have discuss in detail the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia or Africa broadly conceived. Things are much worse. Like those 1000 picogram particulate ratings in Mumbai? Twenty million people being poisoned by the air they breathe.
The world is a challenging place. Perhaps it has always been that way. In world historical terms, Trump is an ugly blimp on the American radar. That is all he is. An active citizenry can deal with him.
The current Democratic debates are useless those on the stage are fighting each other in public SHAME
Like millions of other Progressives, I'm dancing as fast as I can. This is the only way.
Sorry to confirm what your friend-of-a-friend said, Ms. Goldberg, but Trump is likely to win again. Why? Step back for a minute and look at your Party's proposals. They are irresponsible, overwhelmingly costly, and unworkable. To say nothing of making the role of government all-encompassing. While some of the people -- the 20% or so who call themselves progressives -- like what your Party is selling, and while some others -- I'd say another 20% -- hate Trump with a passion, the majority, when faced with the choice of a badly flawed and obnoxious Trump versus the madness that is Democratic Party policies, will hold their noses and choose Trump.
2
@Ulysses
Odd that your view of the Dem party comes from an area that has one of the biggest progressive successes. I am less interested in proposals than results, and judging by results, the conservatives do not have a lot to be proud of. Instead of writing what terrible stuff the Dems do, why not promote the successes of Conservative policies, say, in any of the old Confederate states?
4
@gratis Your comment is not at all responsive to my comment or, for that matter, responsive to Ms. Goldberg’s expressed concern. Instead, you fall back onto cliches about how deplorable those who think differently from you are.
Step one get an electable presidential candidate,no such luck yet.
1
Goldberg takes on the pundit class notion that Democrats are scared, silly little geese who don't understand the harsh realities of big-boy Republican politics. I find that argument be condescending, especially to women and progressives. And fishy--I've also "yet to meet" the legendary fools who think beating Trump will be easy. Let's focus loudly on what Dems are doing right, and give credit to why.
For example, Goldberg writes, "Immediately after the 2016 election, there was the Women’s March, then the airport protests, then the health care town halls." "There was"??? These triumphs of, for, and by ordinary citizens didn't just happen, despite her passive tense. Women organized the Women's March. Progressives organized the airport protests. Women, women, and more women saved Obamacare from those big-boy Republicans we're supposed to be afraid of. They also put family separations and gun violence on the map. Teachers--also overwhelmingly women--put unfair wages on the map.
So when you read, "Democrats mobilized for a series of special elections and then for the 2018 midterms. That mobilization is still happening — it’s why Democrats just won big victories in Virginia and, it appears, Kentucky," notice that mobilization doesn't just happen. Rather, women and progressives do it. And they can do it because they're not afraid. They are smart, competent, realistic, and persistent. Fear is for a corrupt Republican party.
1
"Hope is more the consequence of action than its cause. As the experience of the spectator favors fatalism, so the experience of the agent produces hope."
Cornell West and Roberto Unger
1
We are going to need someone who can handle Trump's dirty tricks and lies, especially in the debates. That person is not Joe Biden. He will be the quarterback who fumbles. Trump has already neutralized him.
My money and heart is with Elizabeth. (Midwestern white guy here). Stop trying to handicap the horse race before it's started and get behind what's right. She has discipline, she comes across as youthful and energetic. She is genuine. Trump will have a harder time against a woman than he will against any man.
1
The real 'terror' is climatic catastrophe and grotesque inequality of condition, wealth, income, property and power. Ah, yes, the 'terror' was made by us, in these shambles of a democratic state. We can and must do better for both the planet and humanity.
Yes, Democrats are our best hope, for their policies face these great and terrible challenges. The Republicans are worthless in their devotion to the rich and only the rich. The carnage is all around us. Time for 'the People' to retrieve our backbone and moral center. Love not greed.
The only cure for worrying is to choose words wisely--This article mentions and "terror" and "choked with panic" and a blue wall. We don't need to cattle prod--that's for Trump's Base............
Play the video clip over and over of Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) saying what he thinks of Speaker Pelosi this week at Trump's rally. Challenge every Republican Senator to condemn Kennedy's statement at every opportunity.
Play the video clip over and over of Trump calling Jeff Sessions a "dumb Southerner." And challenge every Republican Senator and Congresscritter to defend Trump or defend Sessions.
4
"A Blueprint for Democracy After Trump.”
The one thing that for all their alleged intelligence and education the well-off white 'progressives' do not understand and accept is that Trump's victory was a major triumph of democracy. He won as an outsider and a bit of a left-field character against the vicious and uniform hostility of the left media that entirely dominate the US media space, and against the Dems aristocracy epitomized in a Clinton.
Therefore, the democracy is in USA is well and healthy, thank you very much, no worries there, just go on with your 'journalism' and unconditional support for all things never-Trump and see where that gets you. Do not mix the well-being of democracy with your white-heat rage assaults on Trump.
3
The president of UNITED states of America, J. F. Kennedy, on September 12, 1962, in Houston, had announced that “ We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”
Elisabeth Warren plan on health care matches that paramount challenge. Now, a woman cares about her family – in this case her citizens – and, as a womanly psychology dictates she has prepared a detailed plan for everything.
True too is the fact that in this quickly changing Global Warming World, changes are so rapidly appearing that plans will have to be constantly updated. When a journalist asked Bernie the details of his plan on health care he answered that he could not, at that stage, give exact data. That is: a man psychology is better apt to a sudden readjustment.
That’s why Elisabeth Warren should choose as vice-president a non-vitreous, diaphanous man to englobe in her team for her future politics.
A divided US into opposing and equivalent forces - see the vote in Congress on impeachment - will further erode its international prestige - if any left - possibly giving way in the future to an attempt of request of independence - see Scotland - of some States of the Union.
If Democrats just commit to vote Trump
out, no matter who wins the Dem primary, Trump will be gone. If Dems sabotage each other or “protest” vote for a 3rd party candidate, Trump will return.
Do it so RBG’s replacement isn’t a Trump pick. She deserves that.
I like what those in attendance at the Washington Nationals/Houston Astros said to trump: "Lock him up!" Nothing could be finer that what goes around comes around for this excuse of a human being.
As others have mentioned here:
Respectful outreach.
Shoe leather. (Or rubber. Or canvas.)
Phone banks.
Text chains.
Carpools!
And, DNC--get those attorneys ready, because you know there will be all sorts of voter suppression tactics that need to be challenged.
There are more reasonable people than there are reactionary fascists.
We have to make sure we find them, make sure they are registered, make sure they vote.
1
While I agree that we need to do everything we can to get out the vote, illegal immigration is the elephant in the room. Read the comments in response to any op-ed on immigration, most recently yesterday's column by David Brooks. And these are comments from committed Democrats! Go back and read Peter Beinart's 2017 article in The Atlantic. Until the Democrats propose a coherent immigration policy which doesn't sound like open borders, they will be vulnerable.
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@Kathy
I googled Peter Beinart immigration...
a couple of articles
a quote
"Exposure to difference, talking about difference, and applauding difference—the hallmarks of liberal democracy—are the surest ways to aggravate those who are innately intolerant, and to guarantee the increased expression of their predispositions in manifestly intolerant attitudes and behaviors. Paradoxically, then, it would seem that we can best limit intolerance of difference by parading, talking about, and applauding our sameness."
Beinart suggests whoever is the Democratic nominee, commit those words to memory.
19
@Kathy
The cat's out of the bag. Regardless of what policies Democrats officially endorse, they've made their heartfelt desires clear to other Americans. They are so disgusted and disillusioned with the country as it is that they will do anything to change it. What better strategy than repopulation, especially with people from leftist cultures?
3
@Kathy It's clear that any immigration policy put forward by Democrats will be cast as wanting open borders, even though none of the candidates have proposed that. When you have the sort of system currently in place, any more humanitarian direction seems "leftish."
The image of brutish immigrants swarming our borders and overwhelming our social services, bringing crime and disease, seems firmly planted in the minds of many Americans. That this is untrue is not a concern. It's the image that prevails.
It may be unrealistic to expect that most minds will change, but it would be helpful if we didn't base our decisions on how we think other people will vote.
23
The Democratic Party has lost its way. It used to represent working class citizens- now they care only about illegal immigrants and Syrians. Now they are going to raise taxes to provide healthcare to illegal immigrants. I have no problem with helping foreigners- in their home country. We are destroying out future by becoming another over-populated third world country where life is cheap and resources are scarce. The hate directed at white people is disconcerting. Most white men are not racists who built their lives on the exploitation of minorities and women. Most of us are struggling just like everyone else and paying taxes to help our community. I want to help my community- not the world.
6
Wisconsin’s ID requirement to vote suppressed 41,000 votes mainly in black neighborhoods in Milwaukee in ’16, while Trump beat Clinton by 23,000. Republican state legislatures and voting commissions have since escalated voter suppression in battleground states North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arizona. Michigan’s Prop 3 same day registration law reversed voter suppression in 2018. Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum fight voter suppression not only because they were cheated out of governorships, but because as African-Americans in the South they understand voter rights is about power and race. The Republican Party is openly anti-democracy, bringing Jim Crow to the Rust Belt and re-instating it in the South.
Trump’s base now is smaller than his 46% vote in ’16, but he can win the same states by cheating. Demand the National Democratic Committee and leaders Pelosi and Schumer prioritize fighting voter suppression at the federal and state levels.
3
Creating debilitating despair is a Republican campaign strategy! They mock hope.
Register to vote. Make sure your friends and family are registered. Avoid funding the primary races which wastes resources and underwrites intramural Democratic attacks. Do fund voter registration drives in swing states RIGHT NOW.
Don't despair!
And VOTE.
3
Michelle Goldberg identifies the raw fear we feel at the prospect of this unfit tyrant getting another term. The thought alone raises hackles on my neck and back, given the damage he's already done to our democratic institutions.
I agree feeling powerless, helpless, is hardly the antidote to fear. For all my bewilderment how Republicans can cower before Trump, aren't we sort of caught up in the same trap?
So yes, early action is waranted. I'd never thought of donating to specific state voter organizing efforts instead of individual candidates, but it makes sense.
Without a solid voting infrastructure in place, you can have the most charismatic candidate possible, but if Dems don't show up at the polls, charisma means nothing.
4
There is no credible path in sight for "rebuilding" the Democratic Party.
It stands bankrupt now beside a legacy of long uncured spinelessness that will haunt it and America for generations to come.
At a great turning point period of economic development and global challenge, the Democratic establishment of 2000-2019 postured, whined and caved, over and over. It rubberstamped the disastrously bungled and deceit-based invasion of Iraq, it stood by while the economy was ravaged by rampantly irresponsible financial practice, and while its children were systematically addicted to attention-sapping exploitative social media technology. It miserably failed to halt the rise of the worst US president ever, and until six weeks ago has done almost nothing to tangibly rectify that catastrophic disgrace.
Today’s Republican Party is worse. Far worse.
But the two parties, dysfunctional at almost anything positive now, nonetheless fit together into a wrecking ball unprecedented in US history. The GOP wants to win, and let all principles, morals, consistent policy or rationality go hang. It is a perfect strategy for succeeding against a Democratic Party incurably addicted to token posturing, politically correct sound-bites, and feeling good about "resisting" while doing almost nothing to seriously fight back.
It is overdue for America to finally heed the warnings of its Constitution's framers against the perfidious dangers of political parties. Time to put the Constitution first.
1
Why are so many Democrats only focused on beating Trump? Do they not remember that he ran for President before 2016 only to be the joke of town, and he’d never been anything but an annoying clown in any political discourse? Something drastically changed between those days and 2016. If that cause is not addressed, he will be elected again or worse, someone smarter and more nefarious could come up on the horizon. It is mildly encouraging that we do have candidates like Sanders, Warren, and Yang who are addressing this problem, but it should be the primary focus of the party from local to national levels.
Who are the Democrats? The 30% of voters identifying with the party? The "Democrat-leaning voters?" Biden-Clinton supporters? Sanders-Warren supporters? All of the above? None of the above?
Our two "official" parties in a binary political system represent roughly 50% of all qualified voters. A plurality of voters registers as independents or non-aligned. How can a system work when most reject Choice A over Choice B?
The Democratic Party should be terrified. Their candidates paint a picture of dysfunction and disarray as they fail to coalesce on critical policy agendas (other than displacing Trump) and its most enthusiastic support is directed toward two candidates whose unbending "progressivism" spells doom for the 2020 election if nominated.
The fact that the Party regulars (major corporate donors for the most part) are mounting shadow campaigns for the likes of Clinton redux or a Bloomberg putsch is indeed frightening. Or it should be for those aligned with a party whose name begins with D.
Losing once to Trump can be written off as a perfect storm of an unpopular candidate facing a populist riding a wave of resentment and despair. Losing a second time, after 4 years of governance by insanity, spells doom for a party that simply became irrelevant to a vast majority of voters with no other viable choice.
1
Focus on Congress and the Senate. Donate. Volunteer. Phone bank. Knock on doors. Vote.
Do the same FOR WHOEVER THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE IS.
2
Why does the author not address those of us who are terrified of a Warren presidency, and understand the horror it would inflict on America?
57
@DRS Frankly, I am tired of all the scaremongering regarding Warren. Plenty of other authors are already addressing the concerns of those who confuse mediocrity, lack of critical thinking and timidness for wisdom and leadership. I get it, it's less scary if we just continue fiddling and tweaking with the problems that confront America, but I'd rather that we actually address them and fix them.
118
@DRS. What scares me is not so much a Warren presidency as a Warren nomination. From the recent polls and reporting, of three leading candidates she's the one who would lose to Trump in every one of the six states that will determine the 2020 election. That's what makes her terrifying.
27
@DRS
1) If Warren is the Democratic nominee, I'm afraid she will lose the Electoral College and thus the election.
2) Even if Warren is elected president, without the support of the Senate, she will not be able to pass any of her extreme bills.
If Warren is the nominee, I will absolutely vote for her over what is currently in the White House. In my book, anyone who still supports Trump needs to have their head/heart/conscience/morality/ethics examined.
57
Scared? Seriously? Come on. There's no time for fear! This is a ridiculous column. I suppose it's because the columnist ran out of ideas. What good is it to go on about fear? Organize, participate in a rally, call a campaign office, write a letter to the editor, etc. No one is going to be inspired hearing how scared people are. We'll be inspired by people take ACTION. You don't have to wait until election day. You can start now! Give up on fear. Start doing.
3
Sending a panic donation to Wisconsin ASAP. Thanks, Michelle. Let's get that blue wall built!
1
My wife and I know precisely what to do to prevent another Trump term. Drawing upon my experience in business and finance, I write editorials for every publication that will print them. In simple terms, I explain Trump's policy failures (especially tariffs) and the impact they are having globally. My wife focuses on elections, working tirelessly to register voters, especially younger voters who haven't participated. In addition, she attends local meetings and rallies designed to galvanize opposition to the worst president in 243 years.
We consider it our patriotic duty to a country that has given us so much. As a former marine, I took the same oath as Trump, the difference being, I meant it.
Find your niche and participate. Democracy is worth fighting for and so is decency, honesty and loyalty. Drive the wretched looter and his crooked cabal out of office and hopefully, into jail. Let prison serve as an example to other wannabee thieves that America is not for sale, Climate Change is real, and we need to begin the mitigation.
If you live in Kentucky, focus on removing Moscow Mitch from office so the impeachment trial properly adjudicates Trump's many crimes.
Uncle Sam needs you!
1488
@bond trader
I salute you. And your wife, too.
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@bond trader I was a bond trader but am still a Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine.
Semper Fi, Marine!
62
@SurgicalBiologics
You are correct in stating a number of the problems you describe. Trump however has done little objectively to solve any of them. He blusters, insults and bullies, sows chaos and then ultimately claims victory for essentially bringing us back to where we started at best, or in the case of Iran, probably a worse place. Inequality continues to grow, N. Korea continues to nuclearize, climate continues to deteriorate, Syria and the Kurds abandoned. Unemployment is down but the quality of jobs and growth of the gig economy does not necessarily translate into a better life for middle class Americans. The stock market which he so blithely likes to tout in fact saw its largest year over year rise of the last ten years in 2013, with 6 of 8 positive years during Obama's presidency. His contempt for rule of law and the institutions that truly make our country great is breathtaking.
None of the present Democratic candidates are truly socialists, even though Bernie likes to tout himself that way. None of the ardent "anti" socialists seem to be ready to give up their Medicare, Social Security, Veterans benefits, massive corporate subsidies and tax loopholes, wall street bailouts, etc. all of which are nothing but socialism in everything but name.
There is much to dislike about many of the Democratic candidates. Bloomberg may finally be a more practical Democrat who can go toe-to-toe with Trump.
But if not Bloomberg I'll take any of them every time over Trump
68
As someone who lives in Wisconsin, canvassed last week, and canvassed in Seymour this past summer, I can tell you we have lots of people working hard to win in 2020 though we could always use more. One thing I've found in canvassing here is that people who traditionally vote R are often more swayed by a local candidate running as a local representative than by national politics. If you can get them flipping D for a state assembly person or congressperson then it's not so hard for them to do so higher up.
As such, much of my energy is focused on getting Amanda Stuck (a terrific candidate) to replace Mike Gallagher for the Wisconsin 8th. I firmly believe that a large percentage of people we could convince to vote for Amanda would also end up voting straight D. So, if you're stuck in a deep blue state, well, here's an opportunity to help. Full disclosure - Amanda is not (yet) the official Democratic nominee but AFAIK there is no primary opponent.
224
Smart post. Mr. Kodat.
5
@Alex Kodat
All great points! Thank you.
5
@Alex Kodat
Appleton is the seat of Outagamie County. In the 2016 election, Outagamie County voters supported Donald Trump with 51,579 votes. Hillary Clinton received 38,117 votes.
Swing states hold the key to the 2020 election. Should a progressive candidate such as Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders win the nomination, how will Outagamie County voters react to Medicare for All or single-payer health? Would health care, "liberal" immigration policies, trade issues and right-wing propaganda drive Wisconsin voters to Trump? Many voters equate single-payer health with Communism. Should a progressive win the nomination, how would canvassers address their fears?
3
The title of the piece identifies the problem. Too many Democrats are building blue walls of exclusion rather than blue bridges of outreach. Inclusiveness is not a one-way street.
73
@Bruce Williams
Perhaps I might be concerned if the GOP was not so busy burning any bridges the Dems side might build.
30
@Bruce Williams you're right, inclusiveness is two 1-way streets
6
@Bruce Williams
Bruce, I’m all about inclusion, as I’ve written for decades:
“Fighter pilots have a saying that, "speed is life". But, for all the rest of us, "inclusiveness is life" --- and tribalism is death by the oldest lie of empire.
Racism is another deadly old lie of empire, as is aggressively fundamentalist religion.
Nationalism is a somewhat newer lie of empire, proving particularly deadly in the 20th century.
While, economic ideology is the newest, and current, lie of empire (which is causing our economic and environmental collapse).
But all the lies and deceptions of "empire-thinking" lead ineluctably to the very same grave --- so choose your empire poison, stupidly. Or choose your inclusiveness, wisely.”
However, there is no compromising with Empire, or Emperors — like Emperor Trump!
14
As is the case with other longtime Democrats, I have tended in recent years to send checks to individual candidates, rather than to the state Democratic Party.
That was partly because I was afraid the state party would waste the money on fancy local offices with more laptops and conference rooms than they needed. I also was extremely disappointed in the field selected by Ohio Democratic Party in 2016.
I have re-thought that decision, not only for Ohio but for other swing states or soon-to-be swing states, for the same reasons urged by Michelle Goldberg today and because I realize that I have been too fixated on the House impeachment drama.
I’m getting out my checkbook this afternoon and hope others are doing the same to the extent that they are able. Having volunteers knocking on doors and finding out what can be done about registration in states where Republican voter suppression is a blood sport is even more effective than writing a check.
188
@sdw Yes, support your State, county and local dems. I know of none who waste money on anything "fancy" but organize and scramble with hard work to canvas strategically and get out the vote Also support state senate campaign committees through fundraisings and donations. Giving regularly through ACT Blue is a great way to give support. We were successful here in Maine in electing a great Gov, Janet T Mills and now Dems control the State Senate as well as the house. Check out the fantastic backlog of good legislation that has been passed in just the first session. All that good organizing is in place and the hard work is continuing heading in to 2020. And electing a great Senator to replace Susan Collins is a top priority here, along with keeping our Congressional Seats and contributing our few electoral votes to the Dems. Impressive turnouts for even local party gatherings and candidates town hall meetings. Onward.
30
@sdw. I'm focusing my contributions not only on the state Democratic campaigns but on two national efforts--the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, since taking the Senate is critical regardless who takes the presidency, and FairFight, Stacy Abrams' battle against voter suppression. I'm also writing letters to Republican representatives and senators and encouraging everyone I know to do the same. The GOP needs to hear from somebody other than the folks revved up on the "alternative facts" of Fox TV.
18
@sdw
Thank you for your comment. I will do the same.
I can and will google for these organizations, but a link included in your comment would help make it easier.
8
Thank You Michelle Goldberg, as usual the voice of reason. The only thing Democrats have to fear is fear itself. We seem to be in a perpetual state of nervousness worrying about what the if's .
Democrats do need to organize and send money to either the DNC or a candidate of their choice . They do need to join an organization like 'Move On ',where people will schedule them to call their fellow rural Democrats , urging them to get involved locally and most importantly to vote, taking nothing for granted. In 2016 Clinton lost in Pa mostly because Democrats in Philadelphia did not show up for her on polling day .
Lastly Democrats can sign up with Act Blue and donate, big or small amounts that can be debited from their bank account weekly or monthly. It is so important that campaigns have an idea as to where their money is coming from and how much' as Michelle wrote do this now,not in October 2020.
Finally despite what we read in the media even in the Times, remember that we Democrats are the majority. There are more of us than there are Trumpers. So when Republicans talk about the American people and what they want, they really mean Trump supporting Republicans not the majority of Americans.
So I say Be Afraid Republicans Be Very Afraid. We have now had two elections a mid term and an off year, where Trump and his brand 'that is Republicans in Congress' were trounced .
In 2020 this will happen again as Americans want to be rid of Trump and all he represents .
1
It seems to me that there are two ways (but then, there are always at least three) for the Dems to go about this. There is the Anthony Burgess method, encapsulated in his quote "Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities." And there is the Kenneth Rexroth method: "The mature man lives quietly, does good privately, takes responsibility for his actions, treats others with friendliness and courtesy, finds mischief boring and avoids it. Without the hidden conspiracy of goodwill, society would not endure an hour.”
2
I wouldn't care what your political position is, you get a recommend for quoting Rexroth.
One mildly comforting thought: If Trump is elected again, he can be impeached again if Dems maintain their majority in the House. And if he is impeached again, he can be convicted and removed by the Senate if the Dems take the Senate; and to do that, they would need only to flip four Senate seats if they can keep the others.
8
What is the operating definition of "progressive"? I wholeheartedly support addressing gun violence and global warming, have always been supportive of civil rights for all, am appalled by some (not all) pharmaceutical companies' gouging, and believe universal health care is a human right in the biggest, richest economy in the world.
But I'm not for Senator Warren's Medicare For All. The fiscal conservative in me wants to know how she plans to pay for it (which she hasn't really answered), what the impact would be on hospitals, especially regional hospitals, how demonizing the entirety of the insurance industry could backfire, and what such an enormous restructuring of our economy would mean. So far, I'm not convinced. But I bridle at the suggestion that this makes me a Republican.
7
I wonder how every first world nation on earth has managed to provide free health care for all for decades. Every doctor I know supports Medicare for All. Why do Americans have to deplete their savings (happened to me), go bankrupt, or start a GoFundMe and beg to pay for expensive for profit health care? Why is this acceptable? Why do Americans pay four times as much for drugs as our neighbors in Canada.
Like many seniors I wouldn’t be able to afford my prescriptions except that I get them from Canada. Why is this ok?
11
@Zejee
It's not OK, and if we were starting from scratch, Medicare for All would be the most practical model. But we're not starting from scratch, and taking a sledge hammer to such a huge sector of our economy carries enormous risks.
3
@JKF in NYC Those 'risks " are nothing compared to he very real risks underinsured and uninsured citizens face all day every day. you could have said the same thing just before Medicare itself was enacted
1
“Part of the problem is that it’s not clear exactly what Democrats who abhor Trump should be doing right now.“
It’s easy. Nominate someone who can beat him, and get behind that person. Don’t sulk/sit home/vote third party if the nominee doesn’t check all the boxes on your wish list.
6
@NA I couldn't agree more and we need to focus on three states: PA, WI, and MI. The blue states that Clinton won should be defendable (but some cannot be taken for granted). But if we don't win ALL three of these midwestern states (assuming we don't take Florida), then Trump wins again. So who will win in those states? Is it a progressive with a $20 to $30 TRILLION price tag on policies (which includes big defense budget cuts). This isn't about what the progressive wish lists, this is about ELECTABILITY. The recent swing state polls should be very concerning and a wake up calls to the Bernie and Liz supporters. Change can happen. But first, we need to get Trump out of office and it has to be in a convincing manner.
2
@NA I really hope that people currently pushing "vote blue no matter who" are just as willing to vote for Sanders or Warren if one of them is nominated.
1
@Laurabat
Of course they will be. Moderate liberals aren't extremists. They know what's at stake, and they have commonsense.
1
“Democrats are particularly prone to toggling between overconfident jubilance and terrified paralysis...”
We can't help emotions that bubble up, but we can let them settle with a little deep breathing & mindfulness, and then do something rational, as well as be aware of a few hard facts.
It's good to remember: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania account for 46 electoral votes. If Clinton had won these states, she would have won with 274 total electoral votes.
Trump's win was effectively decided by ~107,000 people in those three states. Trump won the popular vote there by that combined amount. That amounts to 0.09% of all votes cast.
So yes, it may well be close again even though he won't win the nation by a majority.
It's worth remembering also that those 3 key states, along with Florida, which trump won in 2016 ... all 4 went for Obama in 2012 (he squeaked out Florida by less than 1% that election, and in 2016 trump won Florida by less than 2%).
We should encourage people everywhere to get out and vote, but those are still the battleground states.
And whoever is on the presidential ticket has to appeal to many of these relatively conservative to centrist voters, to get enough out & back to voting blue.
The goal should be to win based on a balance between what is emotionally appealing & what is rational, & doable.
Those to the far left that care only about purity & conformity to their every view, may well cause the unthinkable to happen. Vote no matter what.
2
Yes, I am afraid of a second Trump term. To me, donating money to the Dems is throwing it away. So I am targeting other groups, especially ones that will register voters, especially young voters and women voters. I am not sure if this is the best thing, but I have to do something, and the Dem party is hapless. I hope the NYT keeps mentioning these smaller groups, as I have no idea how to find them otherwise.
3
Thank you Michelle, for this reasoned, informed opinion. We all need to do our part, be vigilant, and active. Democracy doesn’t just happen, it’s made.
4
What is concerning people is the electoral college. We are all supremely confident that the Democratic nominee will win the popular vote, perhaps by as much as 5 million votes. But until we abolish the electoral college democracy is always at risk.
18
I live in a solidly blue county, there's no one here to convince that isn't already there. I would only be preaching to the choir if I went door to door and I'm not much good at that anyway. If I had the time I might go our to the country where ignorance and prejudice prevail but I have kids and work all the time so it's just not feasible. I'll donate more but that's about all I can do. Still, the kind of success we witnessed in Virginia gives me hope and I would so love to see that movement come a few miles south and reproduce those results here. NC is the next VA.
7
@CR Hare
Gosh I hope that NC is the next VA. NC has to decide if it is part of the modern, thoughtful and prosperous coalition or part of the backward looking, intolerant and scarcity-oriented coalition.
My family is from there, and I still have relatives in NC, It is a little painful to watch.
4
@Cousy, as you are no doubt aware the NC cities are solidly Democratic while the rural counties tend to vote solidly Republican. State politicians have gerrymandered the state to elect maximum conservatives to Congress and they try to drive wedges and feed red meat to their followers by supporting religious groups, being anti-Gay, and preaching that "liberals" are all socialists. Many rural counties, particularly in the western part of the state have trouble locating Democratic voters. We can hope, but I am less than hopeful given the current demographics and the ilk of the elected conservative politicians to hold on to power through hook or crook!
1
Democrats should be very afraid right now. Despite Trump being largely viewed as one of the most toxic and inept President's of all time, he is LEADING both Sanders and Warren in swing states polling, as reported by the NYT earlier this week. This is not an aberration folks, it's a reality check.
The Electoral College math should be the first, second and third most important issues for Democrats right now. Instead its whether to push for medicare for all and tens of trillions of dollars in new spending that will double the federal budget. Not to mention other divisive ideas like reparations, abolishing ICE and forgiving student load debt. If people can't connect the dots between this progressive "darling agenda" and the maddening results of these polls then I fear we have no hope for 2020. As Nancy Pelosi recently said, these ideas may play well in San Francisco, but they don't have nearly the same support in the heartland.
Trump may be widely despised, but he is a formidable candidate who has yet to even strike at the Democratic nominee in all the ways we know he and his team will. Anyone who thinks that Warren or Sanders or Biden or whomever will just shrug off those attacks is living in an echo chamber.
I am a registered Independent, so I can't participate in the Democratic primary, but if I could I'd be voting for Biden or Harris, as they are two candidates most likely to win in 2020.
13
@John
Please register and vote in the primaries, especially if you live in a district/city/state that leans solidly one way or the other. It's critical that the best people make it onto the ticket.
2
Here’s a thought: temporarily change your affiliation to a party so you CAN vote in a primary. It has no bearing on who you can vote for in the general, but it does determine who is on the ballot that you are able to vote for. When the presidential election is over, go back to being an independent. I honestly don’t know why more people don’t do that. I have a cousin in Florida who becomes a Republican every four years so she can vote for somebody sane in their primaries. She obviously has little impact on her own but if more people did that it could create a real change.
2
@John
Not sure if youve noticed, but this impeachment inquiry is moving closer and closer to the Bidens. Public hearings will display on national TV how the son of the Vice President of the US was engaged in very blatant pay for play corruption or pay for access. Reuters did their own investigation, released Oct 18th. Look it up. Hunter was appointed to Burisma's board just weeks after being discharged from the Navy for cocaine use. He was making 83k per month, not 50k. He never stepped foot in Ukraine, attending only 2 board meetings per year outside of Ukraine. He was hired as a "ceremonial" figure to ward off investigations. The owner of Burisma was under multiple investigations, giving Joe Biden ample motive for getting him fired - incredulously by holding back 1 billion in aid. So Biden held back 1 billion in US aid to benefit his family. Sound a little like quid pro quo? These hearings will knock out Biden and exonerate Trump in one fell swoop. Then youll be left with Warren or Bloomberg.
Still think Biden will most likely win in 2020?
As someone who lives in Wisconsin, canvassed last week, and canvassed in Seymour this past summer, I can tell you we have lots of people working hard to win in 2020 though we could always use more. One thing I've found in canvassing here is that people who traditionally vote R are often more swayed by a local candidate running as a local representative than by national politics. If you can get them flipping D for a state assembly person or congressperson then it's not so hard for them to do so higher up.
As such, much of my energy is focused on getting Amanda Stuck (a terrific candidate) to replace Mike Gallagher for the Wisconsin 8th. I firmly believe that a large percentage of people we could convince to vote for Amanda would also end up voting straight D. So, if you're stuck in a deep blue state, well, here's an opportunity to help. Full disclosure - Amanda is not (yet) the official Democratic nominee but AFAIK there is no primary opponent.
2
As long as we have the Electoral College then disenfranchisement of the majority will be a problem. There are 5 states "in play" and that means the remainder of us will sit back and let the people in those states decide whether trump and his followers will have free rein.
Focus on the fact that fully 11 Million more people voted against trump in the last election (including third-party candidates). In 2020 there could be as many as 20 Million people vote against him, BUT the election could, once again, boil down to as few as 100,000 people in several states making the difference.
Pure lunacy.
17
The Electoral College has far outlived it’s utility and has become a serious liability. As the country continues to self-sort it’s only going to get worse. It should be abolished, or changed from a “winner take all” system to a ranked choice system that actually reflects the voting results in every state.
5
@Allen82 . . . and it would help if those sent to the Electoral College voted in such a way as to represent the people who sent them, not their own personal "feelings." They vote their consciences, but that conscience isn't their Personal Conscience, but to be true to the people who sent them and do their jobs as they were sent to do. We do not want Faithless Electors, but Electors who will keep faith with what they are sent to do by the people who send them.
2
@WesternMass . . .Ranked voting is working great in Maine. It could be used Nationally so the popular vote wouldn't be a waste and people felt their vote mattered, even if they don't get their first choice. They might get their second choice. It gives people incentive to vote. People wouldn't write in Daffy Duck because they can't stand to vote for either candidate.
If Democrats can’t get behind a progressive candidate, win or lose - going for broke, they should lose to Trump, deservedly so!
7
I think Goldberg needs to talk to more Democrats than just progressives. Many have been rendered bored, indifferent and even torpid by the unilluminating , confusing and divisive Democratic debates and the ceaseless labelling of them on a linear political spectrum.
8
@Alan J. Shaw
Not buying your assessment. Even moderate Democrats are terrified of a trump reelection. Boredom is not acceptable at this point. If you want a moderate nominee, then start canvassing for that nominee if you're in a swing state, or support a moderate nominee in another swing state. Turning off your TV and complaining is not enough.
11
@JH
I agree that many, including myself, are quite fearful and even rendered ill by Trump. Contributing to a favored candidate may be just as important as canvassing, but some might wish to save what they can afford for the general election. Those who are "woke," or are at least awake at midnight and after, in NY will keep the TV on even to watch repeats of Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O' Donnell. I still think there is too much division within the Democratic party based on the plethora of hopefuls and misleading labels. I am not sure that all Democrats will unite behind a single candidate. Can there be much doubt that disaffected Sanders voters who failed to vote for Clinton contributed in some part to her defeat?
2
@Alan J. Shaw -- The problem is that "talking" to Corporate Democrats is a fruitless as "talking" to Republicans. They just can't dump their love of big money bribery, power for themselves, and incredible tax cuts that hurt the majority of our people. Most of them are very rich. How did they get that way? There's hardly any difference between Corporate Dems and Republicrooks. Eventually, we will move them out of our government, as well. Persistence and hard work will get the job done. Never look away, again.
1
I live in a beautiful area with horses, cows, chickens, deer, elk, eagles and year round snowy mountains. Many young people like to come to "the ranch" for talk, downtime and to be around the animals, the garden and the wilderness. The price of admission is voter registration and a story of a great experience in their life.
17
Here’s the way I avoid panic at night. First, I remember that Clinton won almost 3 million more votes than Donald Trump did. Next, I think about the fact that the number of votes Jill Stein and Gary Johnson probably subtracted from Clinton’s total in the midwestern states would have been enough to put Clinton over the top there. There could be 3rd party candidates, but given what happened with Trump, I think it’s unlikely that voters will be willing to cast protest votes for these kinds of people. Third, I remember that Trump won in 2016 by less than 100,000 votes across three states, largely because some Obama voters didn’t show up to vote for Clinton, perhaps because of complacency, and perhaps out of disgust with her. Regardless, I don’t see those people making the same mistake. Surely they’ve learned that every vote counts. And last, I look at the massive turnouts all around the country after 2016, I remember that in the past, midterm turnout used to favor Republicans but doesn’t anymore, and I think about the fact that the number of Republicans and Republican leaners is falling, while young people favor Democrats by a margin of 2 to 1.
Sweet dreams!
23
@Martin Kobren If Warren or Sanders fail to win the
nomination, their purist and woke supporters will do what they did last time and put trump over the top by staying home or voting for a third party candidate. if one of them wins the nomination, trump will be easily re-elected. Me? I'd vote for even a serial killer against trump--even Warren if I must.
10
@Martin Kobren Hope you're right but fear what the repubs can do to get people to vote for Trump as the defender of their health insurance that Warren actually wants to take away. Repubs voted for Putin's favorite candidate and I guess Dems will vote for Trump's preferred opponent.
Defeating Trump is everything. Policy debates are academic. Better to address how candidates will win votes.
Offer to appoint a Green Party member Sec of the Interior and EPA. Offer Kasich (Ohio-R) a cabinet position.
Solve a rural problem by offeingr to "fight" to allow rural voters in counties like mine with few insurance providers (1 in my county-HMO's only) to buy into any plan offered in their state at the same rates offered in urban areas or a public option that will lead to lower premiums, deductibles and universal insurance.
Offer subsidies for high mpg autos built in economic opportunity zones in the midwest. Any closed auto plant automatically qualifies.
2
@Big Frank
Purist? Clinton spewed insults at progressives repeatedly in the last campaign and then arrogantly expected their support. Alternative candidates received negligible support and did far less harm to Clinton than she did to herself. The largest voter block did not vote for any Presidential candidate. As for me, I don't seek purity. What I want is honesty, a progressive, citizen-first leadership and most of all, integrity. That is why I and so many others support Bernie Sanders.
2
All Democrats and fair-minded people should realize that any democratic candidate will be far better for us, America, and everyone's future. We each hav positions that vary on some points, but at the end of day, voting for Trump because of some fear of "too much progress" is a mistake. Even the most liberal of Democrats will be tempered by Congress, even a democratically controlled one. But another Trump term will further divide and destroy us.
52
@SurgicalBiologics How many of those “skyscraper” workers and their employers got paid?
180
Trump created jobs but famously refused to pay the people who did them.
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@Surgical Biologics: So you prefer someone who creates jobs, then stiffs those who work them? What value do "jobs" have if they are unpaid? Sounds more like slavery to this reader. You say you are looking for a candidate who has actually created something? Have you not heard of the Consumer Protection Bureau, which was created by candidate Elizabeth Warren, and has served thousands of Americans? https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
As for trump tower in Chicago, the retail spaces on the ground floor stand empty. From the Chicago Riverwalk, the property looks bedraggled and disused, hardly a successful venture. It's actually losing value as other, comparable properties are thriving and gaining value. https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-wp-trump-tower-20191105-arjnetoxijdkdkkjzpbiea3i6m-story.html
Do you not realize that Mayors Corey Booker and Pete Buttigieg have created jobs (that, in fact, paid the workers) and have actual experience in governance?
Yes, let's look at candidates who have governed, and who have shown they are committed to serving their constituency, not fleecing them. That does not in any way describe trump.
171
With so much attention focused on the presidential primaries, it’s important not to forget that there are going to be down ballot races where Democrats simply have to ensure that Democratic incumbents keep their seats (I’m talking to you AOC) and that Democratic candidates unseat every other Republican, from Governor to dog catcher. Given the structure of our system, if you want real change, Republican politicians must be sent into political exile, and their bench and farm teams have to be decimated. The only way to get real change through our system is to get the Republicans out of the way, and convince them that their return to power is more than a few elections away.
All politics is local.
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@Martin Kobren Yep. We did our job in Virginia. Who would have thought ten years ago that the Democrats would be in control of all of our statewide seats and both houses of the legislature? If we can do it in the Old Dominion, we can do it anywhere.
19
...yes and this took years of on the ground organizing. It’s never too early to pick the ground game you’re going to be involved and start donating your time and your money. Tuesday shows that every state is a battleground, turnout is critical, voters CAN be persuaded to switch, and pavement pounding get out the vote elbow grease is how we win. “The antidote to depression is action.” - Edward Abbey
2
Congrats to you in Virginia! Good job! You give the rest of us hope.
1
It might help if they had ideas that went beyond "Trump is bad" and "You've got a right to stuff other people made because they took it from you". But they don't. So those will have to suffice for now.
2
@Michael Increased minimum wage, universal health care (in several varieties), undoing regressive taxation for corps and very wealthy, a return to ethics in governance, ensuring voting rights, incentives for alternative energy technologies and jobs, a return to the Paris Accords (as a start), renegotiation of Iran Nuclear Deal, (real) infrastructure spending and jobs, and generally not praising dictators just because they own or flatter you. There are just a few! There are more!
23
@blue l Increased minimum wage = job killer
universal health care (in several varieties) = high taxes on the middle class
undoing regressive taxation for corps and very wealthy = job killer and penalizing success.
The rest= nobody cares.
1
@Michael
What about combatting environmental degradation, working to make access to high-quality health care affordable for all people, and improving public education across the country, especially in less affluent areas? Are those not worthy goals and endeavors for the U.S? Do they necessarily equate to unfairly taking from people stuff they’ve made?
6
My suggestion, join an advocacy group of your choice, and keep up the fight, regardless of the defeats that will inevitably happen along the way.
For example, if your state suffers from partisan gerrymandering, consider volunteering in whatever organized efforts are available that advocate for fair redistricting reform.
After the 2016 election, I signed up to volunteer for the main advocacy group for redistricting reform in my state (OneVirginia2021) and have found robust bipartisan support for this issue. Over the last several years, progress has been made. (And this progress has been very hard fought, with many ups and downs along the way - including politicians sneaking out of the back doors of meeting rooms in the state legislative building so they did not have to face their constituents on this topic!)
As a NYT Op-Ed from earlier this week so clearly presented, change does not happen overnight and without commitment. It requires dedicated grassroots effort over a long period of time.
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@Voter
Advocacy group?
Who has the time? Many of us are working and enjoying this booming economy!
Im making more money now then I ever did in my 50 year old life!
4
I made more money at 50 than I ever did before, either. Pretty much everyone who works steadily does. During that time, I had at least six different presidents. I don’t give any of them much credit. I do give Pres. Carter credit for student loan programs that enabled me to go to college (at interest rates lower than mortgage rates — something that doesn’t happen anymore). And yes, I paid it all back. This president is toxic to our national health and welfare. I actually care about my fellow citizens. All of them.
10
@Tami Garrow "This president is toxic to our national health and welfare."
True, but while many people agree with you, they'll vote with their pocket book. You cannot seriously argue that anything the current Democrats propose will lead to growth and better outcomes for hard working people.
2
Being terrified is a very good thing.
Complacency is one cause of the perpetual swing in American politics from left to right and back again, repeated endlessly.
We need to stay terrified, stay motivated, stay energized, stay organized, stay granular & local in our politics, and stay active. If anything can achieve that, it's the memory of the trump catastrophe. That's his value to the left.
Never let up, even after winning! Some say that's exhausting. Poor baby, you're tired? I say it's crucial.
30
This article clearly points out "where to start" with a dump Trump campaign. What it and the Democratic candidates have failed to do is outline a resonating message that will convince voters to get out there and actually do what needs to be done.
To some extent, I'm more concerned about our national apathy than Trump. While a Trump reelection would be bad news (who knows what this guy will do next to weaken the ties that bind this nation together), we're practically ignoring a number of issues that are far more dangerous than Donald Trump. Indeed, our preoccupation with Trump is part of the problem.
If we don't do something now about climate change, the result could be beyond our imagination. If we allow foreign adversaries to determine our elections, we've undermined the very thing that holds us together. If we allow the rot to continue in our basic infrastructure (energy, communications, education, science, etc) that alone could spell doom. And if we don't prepare ourselves for the impact of AI, the fractures in our society will dwarf what we're seeing now.
All these things I've mentioned are crises in and of themselves and Trump is exacerbating them. If we can't formulate a message around this, I doubt we're capable of formulating a message at all.
On the bright side, I'm pretty sure most Americans are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get to work to insure a better future for their children. They just need to be convinced about the task(s) at hand.
7
@Jack Hartman most voters, especially hos who vote fo Trump dare not capable o procesing a "message" that Democrts might offer. they vote with thei toxic guts inflamed (the spastic colons of he electorate) by a dmagugue whose only skill is showboating on a stage. and insulting non-cultists)
We democrats are a deeply divided party. Are we going to become a party of centrists to get votes in the midwest, or are we going for broke with a progressive candidate who will work for radical change?
We have had an administration who worshiped corporations and the rich as never before, to the destruction of our air, water, food and peaceful relations with the rest of the world. The Paris accords to combat climate change and the Iran nuclear deal to make the mideast a safer place weren't considered worth the price to the fossil fuel industry and some adversaries of Iran in the area.
So many of us want to change the world for the better. We see others in Europe who have made laws and regulations for a social safety net and a cleaner environment and some semblance of privacy for the individual. In other words a more civilized society than ours, and we say if not now, when?
12
In 2016 Hillary lost in Michigan by 2 votes per precinct. In 2018 the Democrats mobilized voter turnout and won the executive offices, Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State all women BTW! Focusing on turnout in the 4 or 5 most populated counties won it for the Democrats. It is true when there is high voter turnout Democrats win. Whatever anyone can do to help with voter turnout in their state, county or community is what will end this nightmare.
26
This is helpful in describing why funds are needed now and describing the development of strategic outreach campaigns. But I'd like more information about how the money is being spent because I can't see what is being done.
It would also be helpful if there was more emphasis on raising money to be spent on generic Democratic talking points. One of the things that is really good about Bernie's facebook posts is that they have simple facts making the point that the Republicans' actions, or lack thereof, are very harmful to the 98%. If someone could promise me they would use my contributions for billboards pointing out the Republicans' refusal to help real people I would readily give that group generous contributions. My suspicion is that the money spent on tv ads and social media is too easy for uninformed voters to ignore. Instead of dunning me with requests for money coming from specific candidates, at this point in the campaign I would like to see more outreach from a generic Democratic group.
4
@Eero You can conribute directly to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), who accepts contributions to help the party nationwide.
1
Your column impressed me for one main reason: not once did you mention the progressive vs. moderate wing of the party. My affinity lies with Pete Buttigieg, but ultimately I will vote for any breathing Democrat who gets the nomination. I've said several times I'll even back the Philly Phanatic if that's who it is.
36
For those worrying about who is electable, stop. No one has a crystal ball, and, depending on circumstances with the economy or foreign policy or whatever, whoever is electable now may not be a year from now. Or we might be able to elect a toaster because T has so wrecked everything. There is no way of knowing. Instead, investigate, learn about the candidates and their positions, while at the same times following the excellent suggestions for involvement listed in this piece. Vote in the primary for the candidate who best represents your values. Then get behind the one who wins. Is that candidate too progressive/not progressive enough for you? Remember that this person will not govern by fiat, but in conjunction with the other branches of government. That's the way it's supposed to work. Stop worrying (from a Virginian who was worrying up until Tuesday night).
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@L. M. Allen
Well said! I'd add that people have to get used to the fact that primary campaigning is very, very different from campaigning in the general. In a primary, candidates are seeking to differentiate themselves from the primary field. In the general the candidates are seeking to differentiate themselves from the other candidate(s) in the general field. HUGE difference, and we saw this play out in spades on the R side in 2016. And the D side in the 2018.
For some reason, the media, and obviously many, many people don't get that distinction.
14
@L. M. Allen Thank you so much for your wise words! For those many of us who are suffering the fear that the "wrong" Democrat will be up against Trump in 2020, your thoughts are like a balm for a painful wound.
It's good to pause and remember that what we as individuals have actual control over, in the end, is very small. Living and acting by our values is one of those things we have complete control over. I will be using your comments as I reach out to other voters.
10
@L. M. Allen , Thank you. I am so tired of all the negativity about Warren, etc's viability. Who is behind this discouragement? The status quo is not working for majority of our citizens. 45 does not deserve to have 4 more years to destroy our government. Between impeachment and rational discussion any democrat is going to defeat the horror we now have. Just enough people need to learn the facts and reject the lies, and it will happen.
6
Voter registration and get to the poll on Election Day should be on the front burner now. Enlist students during breaks to go from door to door and get people to register. If the people who don't like Trump vote Trump is toast. If Africa Americans voted in Mississippi this week they could have flipped that race. The world should be out there every day that all hands on deck are needed to save us from Trump. All of our energy is on an impeachment that every one knows is going nowhere. Trump has to love the excuse of impeachment to do nothing.We need to stop crying about voter suppression and make our vote fail safe.
9
This kind of directionless fear gives more moderate liberal leaning voters real hesitation; a hesitation reflecting doubt surrounding this panicky, disorganized, pie in the sky approach delivered with rage and protest......like some kind of revolution.
That right combination seemed lost, until yesterday when Michael Bloomberg entered the race. A Measured, confident, professional who still has all the intellectual bandwidth and realistic views of change that can bring respect, dignity and leadership back to the Oval Office. Democrat-only voters should sigh in relief because this guy is exactly what moderate liberals want— and they decide elections.
5
@Thinking
Moderate liberals like me do NOT want a rich guy coming in to buy the election.
1
The solution is clear: they need to triple the number of candidates. And make sure that they’re all ABSOLUTELY committed to their particular microscopic world view, with no possibility of compromise. That way, when their particular candidate loses, they stay home on Election Day, and hold their breath until they turn blue. That’s why it’s called the Blue Wall. It certainly worked in the last election.
2
What a strange democracy you have when only two states out of 50 are the only ones that matter. Surely there are far better ways for electoral systems to be devised that actually are closer to the ideal of democracy.
62
@Kevinlarson Yes, this is the biggest problem we face every 4 years in our national election. For a progressive society, we can't seem to overcome it, except at the state level in most states.
5
Democrats need to deal with who their lead candidate is. Warren comes across as unwilling to compromise on her high ideals. She smacks of she knows better on virtually everything. The almost overpowering messaging is from the progressives who are trying to convince the party moderation and incremental are bad words lacking in vision. Like single payer is the only right answer. And big multi national corporations don't care about America. I can't get on board with re-engineering more than half the economy.
2
Thank you for this article, it just amazes me how someone could put their hand on the Bible to take an oath to the United States of America and only represent a fraction of this great Republic. Trump talks like a one hit wonder let’s hope he proves to be a one term wonder.
6
@CathyK
The folks Trump represents support capitalism.
The folks that support Warren or Bernie support socialism.
This great Republic is great because of capitalism, not socialism.
If you support socialism, you arent part of this great Republic. You are part of a group of folks who would like to change this great Republic into something that it isnt.
Dont like capitalism? Well, this isnt the place for you. Move to Greece, Venezuela, or even the Scandinavian countries..
If you wont or cant, you should ask yourself why. Then youll begin to understand why capitalism works, and socialism doesnt.
Organizing is very therapeutic. Of course we are afraid of of four more years of the mad king. It would be folly not to be afraid.
Here in WI in 2016 in the state wide race for governor and US Senate the Republican incumbent and Repulican challenger for the Senate seat ran as fervent Trump supporters. Both lost.
The most interesting results were people in nominally suburban Republican strongholds split their vote because Tammy Baldwin, who is gay, won her Senate seat with more votes than the male Democrat governor did.
And remember Trump won here by the smallest of margins.
A Democratic candidate who voters are enthusiastic about will win for turnout in Madison, Milwauke, EauClaire and cities with a college will be the key to victory here. And Trump aversion in Republican areas may lead to a decrease in turn out.
Young people and even some oldsters like us and our friends are all in for Warren.
27
@Edward B. Blau This New Jerseyan votes by mail. I vote in every election and always vote for all Democrats on the
ballot. I get my news digitally -- NY Times, CNN, Washington Post, Guardian, Politico. I never see political ads. My favorite at this time? Elizabeth Warren.
7
I fear we face a lose-lose future. If Trump is either removed from office or loses the 2020 election, he will incite a civil war throughout the country. If Trump escapes removal and wins the 2020 election, he will irreparably destroy the fabric of what made our country great. All norms, all traditions, will be shattered.
6
@nzierler This is exactly my fear. The more upset guys on the fringe right are already talking about "Second Amendment" solutions if Trump is removed, or (even more frightening), if he's voted out.
2
@nzierler
Well, it isnt a norm to remove a President over a phone call. It also isnt a norm to remove a President because he wanted to address the history of blatant corruption before he hands over 400 million of taxpayer money.
Hunter Biden, the son of the Vice President of the United States, was in this Ukranian company's back pocket, and on their payroll. Reuters investigated, and concluded he was making 83k, not 50k. He never stepped foot in Ukraine, and was hired specifically as a ceremonial position to ward off investigations. The owner of Burisma was under multiple investigations, giving Joe Biden ample motive for getting that prosecutor fired when he held back that 1 billion. Again, this is the son of the VP of the US with a pay for play no show job, that was being investigated.
Our current President isnt allowed to ask about this? And now you want to remove him for even asking?
1
@SurgicalBiologics trump met with three Russians in the White House without another American present soon after the electoral college named him president. he also met with Putin without another American present. In both instances, the interpreters were Russian, not American. he has held international meetings in his private hotel properties, thus earning money from USG activities. he had/has his daughter and son-in-law on the payroll, though no one knows what their roles are...and, the list goes on. Fortunately, the most recent incident--ordering a US military unit to stay at his property in Ireland--was widely condemed and he recanted.
1
Maybe this is my millennial cynicism, but I don't believe it's possible to change anyone's mind anymore. But it's definitely possible to affect voter turnout. This election I'm planning to go to my home state of Pennsylvania and make sure everyone has their ID on election day, to register voters, and to offer logistical help getting folks to the polls. In other words, it makes a lot of sense to try to reduce the cost of voting for folks for whom time is really valuable.
26
This is the glass half full way to look at things. The longer Trump stays in office the worse things will get for the republicans. They have already lost the House of Reps, they will surely lose the Senate by 2022, and we can presume we will definitely get a Dem in the WH in 2024. With super-majorities at every level of the process, whatever the dems want to do will pass, including national healthcare, free college, and anything else you can think of. The republicans have made and will continue to make a mockery of their parties message, let them continue to show what they are all about, a whole generation of first time voters will come of age in the next 4 years, these people will have to choose a party. The longer Trump stays in power the easier the choice.
5
AAAAA
Action almost always absorbs anxiety!
Take small or large actions to help Democrats win. It helps you to feel better in that moment. No one likes to feel powerless. So taking an action helps you feel less powerless.
15
Good call, Michelle! I will look for ways to join the movement in Pennsylvania today!! You capture the sense of emotional anxiety perfectly and outline the steps to take NOW! Thank you for the wake up call!
16
Democrats should not be demoralized, but they need to be realistic.
The Times/Siena polls confirmed what I repeatedly experienced. I think a great deal of Elizabeth Warren, but everyone who believes she can win the Electoral College needs to speak with people outside of the physical/virtual insular groups they associate with.
I know a lot of people in the Midwest, specifically Michigan and Wisconsin. Travel in Wisconsin or Michigan and you'll find support for Warren is weak. In Michigan much of the state is downright hostile. These are not Trumpsters, they're people who don't like Trump. (Biden and Sanders do considerably better).
Things are very bad in traditionally Republican suburbs central to moderates Gretchen Whitmer and Tony Evers winning in 2018, where gains in the House were made in 2018, and where gains were made 3 days ago. This is where winning votes will come from. These voters may support a Democrat, but Warren isn't one. (Among the women I spoke with events like the Women's March played no part in their thinking).
As Nate Cohn laid out, Trump can lose by far more than 3 million votes in 2020 and still win the presidency as Democrats have "no promising" way to win the Electoral College if Trump wins Wisconsin or Michigan in 2020.
Registering voters is good, but among the top tier of Democratic candidates "Warren is worst", and "nonvoters and unregistered voters" are not "poised to save the Democrats in the six key battleground states" by voting for her.
13
@Robert B the Siena poll was one poll. On the same day Emerson posted a poll of MI: Warren + 8, Biden + 12, Bernie +14. Also just one poll. There aren’t enough aggregated polling of the swing states to know yet how close this will be, but in every poll to date rump is down, as are his approval numbers in every state. Our collective ‘16 PTSD shouldn’t lead to fear, but to motivation, engagement and action.
8
@Robert B
Virtually all the results from that six state poll fell WITHIN the margins of error.
All the Democratic candidates were essentially tied with each other and withTrump.
The poll was based on small samples with HUGE non-response rates.
The results were weighted based upon past demographics and turnout. That doesn’t reflect what will happen in 2020.
The poll was conducted beginning in *mid* October—BEFORE the impeachment inquiry and damning testimony came out.
Such polls, a year from an election and months before any primaries no or caucuses have been held are notoriously *unreliable*.
Other polls have shown Biden, Warren, and Sanders beating Trump, even in the key battleground states.
In other words, don’t base an argument about electability, the status of the race, or who is appealing to midWesterners on this single deeply flawed and misleading poll!
2
@Mags
I've been a strong Warren supporter, but what I experienced in Michigan and Wisconsin is the same thing which Clare Malone, senior political writer for FiveThirtyEight experienced in the same states, and has reported on. The Times/Siena polls merely confirms what we have experienced. Further, I truly wish the Emerson Polling poll was accurate, but it isn't.
The Times/Siena polls was a very large, very high-quality poll of Likely Voters, which is the actual metric which all quality polls should use, not Registered Voters.
In contrast, the Emerson Polling poll you cite made the same exact mistakes which 2016 polls made in radically underestimating Trump's appeal, and radically overestimating Clinton's strength, in the Electoral College.
The mistakes in Emerson Polling's poll are glaring. It's why Poll analysts, if they're being overly polite, are quick to point out how problematic the poll is, and if they're just being honest, say it's simply wrong.
Firstly, the Emerson Polling poll you cite has a very small sample; secondly it heavily undersamples working class whites which are Trump's strongest supporters, finally, it is for Registered Voters, not Likely Voters, which is out of favor in polling for very good reason, as it tells next to nothing about who will actually vote.
Little wonder why every poll analysis has given the Emerson Polling poll very low marks.
Many of us wish it were otherwise but it isn't. If Warren is the nominee, she'll lose to Trump.
2
It was a mistake for over twenty democrats to compete in primaries in order to take on Trump. By the time the eventual Democratic nominee emerges, he or she will have been badly bruised from all those primaries fights and all their weaknesses exposed for Trump to exploit.
21
@Shailendra Vaidya vote blue does not matter who. No bruising no scars. Just plain blue.
5
@petey tonei Just hope that Sanders supporters don't cross party line or stay home this time in 2020.
2
@Shailendra Vaidya you can’t ignore them they have got to be included in the process. They were told to shut up by the DNC in 2016.
The Republicans already have a huge war chest and an incumbent on their side. Democrats need to create a tsunami of voters who will overcome inertia and complacence and go to the polls. Evil can only remain, and grow, when good men and women fail to act. Democrats: As Ms. Goldberg notes, NOW is that time to act.
10
I canvassed for Obama when he ran and haven't done any canvassing since. It seemed pointless. I either got the door slammed in my face or a quick smile from those who took the flyers I was handling out and no doubt (I thought) threw them away before I got to the next house.
Now I am beginning to believe that the door-to-door strategy is what might work -- especially if, for now at least, we focus on registration and the broad picture of what Democrats stand for instead of individual candidates.
We are so bombarded by advertising these days many of us don't even bother to open a candidate's emails and turn off the sound when another political ad appears on our TV screens. What really matters is human connection, real human faces, handshakes, and individual passion.
I open my door to all the political workers here in NH and invite them in when it's cold. We sit down at the kitchen table and I learn things. Mostly what I learn by talking to everyone from the earnest young men to the tired but spirited older women who stop by, is that there is real hope among them and that they feel empowered being out there, working for what they believe in. If they can go out day after day, hopefully more of us will be shamed into at least getting out to the polls on that one day it really matters -- maybe even inspired to do more.
75
People who say party isn't scared enough or doing enough about Trump are usually sitting in DC or NY and have no idea what the candidates are doing in Iowa, N.Hampshire, etc. I think the NYTImes and major press should put their reports and commentators like Goldberg out in the country from now to election day. No coming back to comfortable DC or NY and really see how the country is and what they are thinking. They have to live it not just conversations here and there.
8
Blue and Red combined make Purple. The US needs:
1. An emphasis on disease prevention, with candidates from both parties demanding nutrition education and free and low-cost immunizations and flu shots; with the federal government releasing figures on which counties and towns have rates of which diseases and what to do to prevent them; and a push for bike paths, sidewalks, trains, and fewer cars on US roads by TAXING HEAVILY all oil products, except in agriculture and for public safety where necessary.
2. Allowing a return to fee-for-service and cutting the health insurance companies out of the picture, eliminating the middle man.
3. Candidates from both parties going after the so-called "architectural review committees" of neighborhoods as un-Constitutional, so that in places like Charlotte, NC, one might grow food without having the neighbors pitch a fit. Self- sufficiency is the old American way.
4. Candidates from both parties demanding gun registration, background checks, and that any youth with a gun be enrolled in gun safety classes and if found to be unfit emotionally to bear arms, or too immature, to be told to wait. Fathers would teach their kids gun safety, but some sort of written test and field tests should be involved.
5. Candidates from both parties need to work with the religious communities to open orphanages. Foster care hardly works.
6. The school systems must include writing (fine motor skill development), arts/music/PE/home economics/shop.
1
@Cheesecake
Nutrition education?
Bike paths?
Home gardens?
Hardly the stuff of a national presidential campaign!
Add in your call for a return to “fee-for-service” and you’ll end up with most of the country being priced out of health care, not getting preventive care, etc.
History matters. Before we passed Medicare and Medicaid, most poor people and elderly were suffering from a lack of health care or from poor health care. We need single-payer, universal health care.
You’re endorsing a handful of local issues plus a return to the dark ages of health care.
And calling for orphanages is, please forgive me, simply daffy! “More gruel, please!”
2
Democrats are trying to be all the things to all the people. That is just not possible. The reality of politics is that you have to make choices and you have to make your stand clear to those whom you expect to vote for you. The Democrats are painting such a broad canvas that I doubt it is possible to achieve any of it. The only real achievement Obama administration had was Obamacare and it was more of a giveaway to the health care insiders than anything else. The legislative achievements of the Clinton administration were the war on crime and the war on welfare, both highly successful but more in tune with the Republican agenda rather then the Democrat agenda.
4
@Rahul
This is true for voters as well. So many seem to expect candidates to match their every belief.
At this point, candidates’ policies mean less to me than Who They Will Bring With Them in Office.
Who will be in their Cabinet? Who will they nominate to head agencies. These people will match most of my positions.
Voters: stop being toddleresque and expect everything to be exactly like you want it. No candidate will match you 100%.
Compromise.
6
The primary process produces winners who are good at winning primaries.
3
The most important step Democrats can take is to begin addressing the inevitable disappointment that will occur when voters’ preferred candidates don’t top the ticket following the primaries. Younger, idealistic voters must learn that their votes still matter, even if Bernie, Biden, Warren, Pete, etc., doesn’t win the nomination. If your chosen candidate isn’t on the ballot, don’t stay home on Election Day complaining about the perceived failure of democracy. Don’t write in your first choice as a protest. Get to your voting booth, vote for the nominee, and accept that, sometimes, voting against the other party is as important as voting for your candidate.
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@Janette Yandrasits Yes! I believe this is vitally important and when Bernie Sanders did not ask his people to support Hillary in the general election, I was very disappointed. It's
a big reason I cannot consider his candidacy at this time.
22
@Janette Yandrasits Moderates and Never Trump Independents and Republicans also need to prepare for the possibility that the Democrats nominate a more progressive candidate than they prefer. If you care about democracy, you will vote Blue, no matter who. It is really that simple.
21
@Janette Yandrasits Indeed. If every single person who voted for Jill Stein in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin voted for Clinton instead, we would had had a Clinton victory on November 8, 2016.
21
People tend to live in bubbles, that's the problem. I recall scrolling around YouTube back in 2016 and feeling shocked at the coverage of the Trump rallies. Who were all these people queing up to get into the venue? The rest is history.
It is definitely a mistake to take anything for granted. The election will boil to six or seven swing states. So far, I have felt deeply uneasy at the candidates on offer. As much as E. Warren and Bernie appeal to me PERSONALLY, when I look at them through a Trump's supporters eyes, their problems are all too obvious. Biden, too, has several weaknesses.
I think therefore we should take comfort that Michael Bloomberg is in the running. Firstly, Bloomberg is on board against the most serious crisis we face -- the rapidly changing climate. He is also supremely well funded and has experience leading America's foremost city.
To most Americans he will look like a safe pair of hands, not too radical, which is what we want. This is not the time for long shots and hail marys. We need Trump gone!
20
Many people cannot register to vote because they do not have the proper identification papers. Maybe they don't drive and can't get a picture ID; maybe their wallet was stolen; maybe they were born at home and have no "official" birth certificate. While these restrictions may be unnecessary, voter ID laws will not be going away in 2020.
This lack just doesn't affect the ability to vote, it affects everyday lives. And many states have made it even more difficult to get identification -- one cannot get a replacement card if you need ID to get into the office to get new ID! So look for organizations, often connected with churches, which help these people navigate bureaucratic Catch 22's to get the documentation needed to become counted citizens. It helps voting; it helps people. It's needed all the time.
20
I agree with all of this, but the thing that scares me most is that Democrats haven't articulated a vision that can be expressed in a few sentences. They desperately need a "build the wall" equivalent. Then, there needs to be unity among democratic candidates and a well articulated plan for explaining how this will benefit people. When I listen to Tom Perez, I hear him talk and talk but he says very little. If we don't want to lose, I think we need to start with these fairly simple ideas.
22
@Susan I like "Lock Him Up" simple and to the point. I'm still smiling about the World Series last week.
9
@Susan
I hear you. Progressive democrats need a "build the wall" alternative. I suggest we go the "OK boomers" (the young who blame their parents and grandparents for the mess they're in) one better, and appeal to those who can really make a difference.
Let's have some tee shirts and bumper stickers saying "OK billionaire."
2
@Sandy L Lock Him Up may play to Democrats, but we need the Independents to get Trump out there. Need something better than that.
1
For the Democrats to take back America they need to accept the fact that ‘good’ beats ‘perfect ‘. Whomever becomes the Democratic nominee for president will be light years better than the current president. She/he may not give the answer you want on every issue but they will be close enough. Any vote for a ‘pure’ third party candidate will be a vote against a real change.
19
Over the past 2/3 years I have marched (locally) in the Women's March, & March for Our Lives marches. I also participated in a Trump protest this summer.
I've already made a calendar reminder on my phone for the mega-march in Washington, D.C next October sometime) combining participants from all of the above movements & more. Now, to get organized!
8
Michele's advice rings true in swing states, but in NY door to door is a waste of time. We're lucky if the Democratic candidate makes a visit to NY - he/she knows that NY is a lock. If you want to spend time/money, direct it to states that matter.
4
@Dave 1984, the election, not the book.
@Mike Apples and oranges.
I believe one thing that really scares people is how few voters are again likely to decide the election, viz. the ones in WI, MI, and PA. And when we learn from polls, as we just have, that people in those states aren't very keen on impeachment, it makes us worry that if we nominate Warren we may find out that in those states she looks to a lot of voters like Hillary II. But if we nominate Biden he'll be too feeble a candidate. And who knows if voters in those states are ready for a gay president? It's a frightening time.
14
@Greg Weis Hillary was seen as generically untrustable and unlikeable. Tell the swing voters that they may lose employer based healthcare or give someone (doesn’t matter who) loan forgiveness or free college, and you’ll lose more than the swing states.
“It’s the economy, stupid” encompasses not just jobs but perceived pocketbook issues. America doesn’t do nuance...Warren and Sanders have already (unfortunately) lost the national election, and no amount of pivoting is going to correct the stated positions.
One of the most rewarding things I ever did as a GOTV volunteer was to call voters in Alabama on behalf of the NAACP on the eve of the special senatorial election in 2017 to make sure they had a ride to the polls and to bring their picture ID (required in AL).
Not only did I get to talk with some wonderful, passionate, people, I also received a first-hand education in how much black Americans are determined to exercise their civil rights, and to stand up for them, and many of those I called inspired me to work even harder towards that ideal of a "more perfect union."
Doing something is the best antidote for fear, and generates a great deal of positive outcome. Multiply that doing something by thousands of people and that is how change happens.
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@Jan
With one drop of water into a bucket followed by another and still another, soon enough we’ll have a full bucket, maybe even overflowing.
I’ll be searching for a way to help soon — just a little more rehab on a new knee and then I’m there. I like what you did — it seems like an effort that would fit my quirks better than others.
5
Democrats need to fund the relocation of volunteers to states whose electoral votes put DJT in power. You can vote 30 days after a move. After the election, they can move wherever they want. That would be a better use of campaign money than TV ads in deeply red states.
1
@JM Impractical, BUT if volunteers worked on getting college students (every single one of them) from blue states who are going to university in red states to vote in that red state, that might make a difference.
7
@Karen K They don't have to change their state residency to attend college in a different state, so I doubt they would be willing to switch when they might be more interested in their home state's government.
1
America has changed. Customary electioneering practices no longer work, at least with regard to Presidential elections. Knocking on doors and meeting voters may be effective at the local level where voters can meet and speak to candidates, but everyone knows who Trump is and already has opinions. You are not likely to change the mind of Trumpiteers by ringing a door bell and discussing his candidacy face to face. As an example, a few years ago, when Obama was President, a friend was running for Mayor in a NJ community, going from home to home to meet voters. At the local level, candidates often don't identify their political party. One resident insisted on disclosure, and when hearing that the candidate was a D stated "Oh that means you support the N word", slamming the door in his face. You aren't going to change the minds of conservative, white American voters. Voter complacency is also a major issue. Look at the percentages from Tuesday's election- deplorable. Admittedly, it wasn't a presidential election, yet you would think any concerned D would have come out just to show displeasure for the current administration. We are divided on the basis of race, religion and reason. Trump should have provided all the motivation Liberal voters need. If he hasn't sufficiently terrorized them by now, increased campaign efforts and spending are not likely to change anything.
8
It's not rocket science Michelle. Do what the democrats did in 2016 to take back the House despite big odds.
1-Do not identity/social engineering obsess and run a Neo con like Hillary again. This is exactly what the moderate progressive voters in middle America who elect presidents in the electoral college did not want.
2-Do nominate somebody (right now it's Biden) but it could be anybody white, black, male, female, young old who offers moderate progressive ideas to issues like immigration, wars, Wall Street, medical care, blue collar job loss etc. that Trump demagogued.
3-Stay away as far as possible from the word socialism or anything that is related to it.
If the democrats do they, they stand an excellent chance of taking the WH and even the Senate in 2020 like they did with the House in 2016.
16
My wife is a call fanatic and knocker on doors---for the last two election cycles she has worked the phones and walked local neighborhoods for a number of candidates in our state, and out of state candidates. What she tells me is that she rarely convinces those supporting opposing candidates, in fact, to her credit, she is able to take an awful lot of abuse over the phone and in person---Republicans are not nice people. But, the real story is her personnel call/appearance is able to get out people---mostly family members---who have not voted before. With a little push they tell her tell that yes, their son or daughter or mother in law will now vote. So far her record of 18 wins, 1 loss- Should add, I only wish I had the courage/fortitude, whatever you call it, to emulate her grassroots drive.
61
I wonder if the powers-that-be in the Democratic party are mounting grass roots, well-funded efforts in the few states that threw the election to trump last time and appear to be lining up to support him to our great misfortune - Michigan, my state, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. We are still stuck with the completely dysfunctional electoral system that has revealed the elitism of our founders when they wouldn't actually let "The People" have one person one vote and honor that result. The founders were educated intellectuals of the Enlightenment when it came to the interests of their "tribe" but as to women, slaves and the indigenous peoples who were victims of genocide not at all and so here we are, in the gravest threat to our democracy we could never have imagined.
9
@fg We would have won if enough Democrats hadn't decided that Hillary Clinton had to be absolutely perfect, when that has never been required of a male candidate.
1
Absolutely sound. Do something, rather than mope around being scared. But there is an important issue to consider. Who should lead the ticket? It is quite possible that each of the top four contenders today, should one of them be the nominee, may not have enough to win in the general election, despite favorable democratic winds. And that is a source of worry that gnaws deepest.
This is just the usual calculus that the candidate preferred within party may not be ideal for the general election, a well-known issue, but still critical. However, having said that, the mounting evidence against Trump, impeached or not, should erase the razer thin margin that he won by last time, and lead to a Democratic victory for the WH. The Senate -- that's another story. Even with favorable winds, are there enough flippable Republican seats available?
4
The debates, campaign, soon to be primaries result in the Democratic candidates attacking one another non-stop. (And not just one another; Ms. Warren went after Mr. Bloomberg, undeclared, with a vengeance).
Assuming that they are honest, then one can only believe all the attacks of each on the others.
True, one will ultimately remain standing, but after months of attacks, there will be many people believing what has been said. Hard to at that point say it was only make believe. The system provides canon fodder for the opposition and depresses voters.
And you think Ms. Goldberg that volunteering for a candidate is the antidote or panacea?
5
All politics, in the end, is local. How much is known about local candidates? We no longer get information from Town Newspapers, or at Fellowship breakfast after weekend religious services. It should be easy for Dems to win voters based on the ideas that matter to them the most. But where is the beef, so to speak? How much effort is being put into this approach? Who is willing to run for office, and put their lives on hold? The second issue is the Senate. A decisive win in the Senate can do much to blunt the affect of a Trump re-election, a travesty that so many of the 20 or so candidates on the Democratic side are helping. Lets hope some of those candidates stop wasting everyone's hope and dreams and either step aside, or run for those other critical offices. If anyone is not sure about why this matters, just ask Merrick Garland.
8
I am extremely nervous. And since Warren proposed the government taking over healthcare I’ve gotten more nervous. We need a private-public cooperation, akin to Germany or Switzerland. That’s our only chance in the US for universal health care. Warren and Sanders are handing Trump this election.
8
@J
I believe those two countries have government-funded healthcare.
2
Good old fashion campaign activism: canvassing,phone calling, letter writing, etc...I am not planning on working much for Dems in Vermont...we are solidly 'blue'. But I have and will continue to work for Dems in New Hampshire where DJT almost won in 2016. The prevailing thought of reasonable, thoughtful people concerned about this country's future is we need to get rid of DJT ! So GET OUT THERE and make sure that happens !
32
I drove up to Kenosha, WI on Sunday and did just what Michelle Goldberg said: I knocked on doors and talked to voters. On a sunny fall morning--no snow!--I met more than a dozen voters and learned what issues are important to them. Though I live in a blue bubble, it's always great to get out and talk to more moderate Democrats and Independents. I learned that Democrats, through hard work, can definitely win back Wisconsin in 2020.
197
Dems traditionally win the battle but lose the war.
THe big picture is still being missed. No long term vision. Learn from Koch and Black Money.
Plan for: Citizen’s United and Fairness Doctrine. Laws that a Presidential candidate be properly vetted before running; taxes and mental health.
THe Koch brothers had the big picture way back in the 70’s; take over the American political system. Control education. Make Black Money great again; Vision works. It gave us McConnell.
Dems need to have a Long Game. Or keep the popular vote and lose the election. THey win battles but lose the war.
28
Much has been made of the Democratic victory in the Kentucky gubernatorial race, and Goldberg mentions it here. While, yes, it is a big deal, it is worth noting that the outgoing governor won in 2015 with just over 500,000 votes out of total turnout of just under a million. He lost on 2017 with over 700,000 votes. Turnout was up by 40%. Democrats are not the only ones mobilizing, apparently.
In the struggle against Trump, there is no room for complacency.
213
@Bob23 Sure wish Beto would have concentrated on another senate run instead of the presidency. He wasted a lot of important political capital and energy. (And I've often thought about Molly Ivins during this whole Trumpian disaster.) Go blue in Texas!
6
Michelle, I’m all in for whomever the Democrats nominate in 2020. That said, I don’t think having Elizabeth Warren running around touring an idea that, at best is controversial, and at worst is so polarizing it’ll keep Trump in the WH.
22
I just sent a message to local Democrats who seem to be more interested in eating than working. Some local groups are more organized than others, but local leadership needs to treat this like it is, an emergency. Let's not have regrets a year from now.
23
Great suggestions. I should patch this article though to my dad, who spends a lot of time on Facebook leaving angry comments on the Michigan Senate Republicans Facebook page as if it will change their minds.
11
I’m from Wisconsin. So glad to have Ben Wikler at the helm of our state Democratic Party.
We look forward to the National Convention in Milwaukee next year. Steps are being taken to make it great.
But Wikler’s right. We have been hesitant to try to tap into other prospects. I remember canvassing in our rural town, not real far from Seymour, actually. We have come across silent Democrats, all right. This area has been primarily Republican rural dwellers. It has been historically comprised of Republican farmers for many years, Trump/Pence signs in abundance.
But we do need to get over that! We see the need for great public education, for healthcare, for saving our natural resources. Wisconsin cannot in any way afford to lose the pristine land we live on.
And speaking of pristine land, we need to appeal to our Native American friends. They, for the most part, would not vote for Trump, ever. So we need to get them involved, to help us, and to bring in their voting power.
We have a large casino in Milwaukee. If we could assure voting interest there, and then spread that interest it would make a difference.
Many Native Americans are veterans. My husband, who is not Native, but who has taught in a public school on a reservation is right in there at the pow-wows with the Native veterans, not for elitism, but for camaraderie.
We have venues to gather in Democratic votes. We Dems need to get to work! Yes we do, and in the words of Barack Obama, “yes we can!”
251
@MIMA
Don't forget the voter suppression and ID issues that made it easy for trump to win WI.
I too will be out knocking on doors! I hope for and expect an organization at least as well coordinated as for Obama in 2008.
15
We're all agreed that are should do all we can to help beat Trump in those crucial states that make up the blue wall but let's also commit ourselves to changing the laws that designate some states, some locales and some voters as being "crucial" . All votes should be treated as crucial and the only way to achieve that is to get rid of the Electoral College. It's antiquated, it's unfair and it's undemocratic. Like daylight savings time, the reasons for it's existence longer apply to our present reality.
107
Dems want to get rid of electoral college Bc they can’t win at it. Can’t win at Supreme Court, so try to change court makeup by proposals to pack court. How about just trying to win over electoral college state voters? Now that’s an idea!
15
@BT In a fair world, there wouldn't be "electoral college states". There would just be states, none getting special treatment. I thought conservatives didn't believe in special treatment for minorities? If your "electoral states" don't have the population to win, maybe that's an indication they don't know what they're doing. Adopt smart policies, and the population will follow.
20
@BT
Democratic wins in the electoral college: 1992, 1996, 2000 (see pg. 23, NY Times, November 2001 for proof), 2008, and 2012
Republican wins in the electoral college in the past 30 years: 2004 (maybe), 2016 (maybe)
4
While this is all true, this biggest thing Democrats need is a candidate who can win--and by win, I mean in the general election. People who are turn-on politically and active at the primary level often have more liberal (or conservative in the case of the GOP) ideals than the general public. My fear is that they will choose someone who will not appeal to midwestern voters, swing voters, and the suburban voters who recently started voting Democrat. These folks do not want Robin Hood as their President. Also, while they abhor cruel/racist immigration policies/rhetoric, they would still like to see our borders and our laws respected.
22
Totally agree with comment that the far too much energy is spent on the primary unless clear programs and proposals are spelled out that will address and benefit the people who were duped and lied to by Trump. Jobs, real tax reform (i.e., making the ultra wealthy pay a fair share - thanks Reagan), endorsement of the Paris accord, and repeal of all EPA regulations created under this administration, infrastructure programs which will create an infinite number of jobs and enhance the economy. And finally, this person's additional wish list: A return to civility, respect for the Golden Rule, and a return to bipartisanship in the legislative branches, reform of a corrupt lobbying system, and a realistic health care system for all Americans with an opportunity for choice and options. Trump's only care at this point is that he will be able to rule and wreck for four more years and the thoughts of this are terrifying so hopefully the Country will mobilize and send Trump home permanently.
60
I am not listening to debates or watching polls. I like them all , though I like Elizabeth Warren the best. I know I will vote blue no matter who.
It is the party of the people, the party of truth and compassion.
Not hard at all.
I agree we must focus on turnou.
5
Absolutely. If you're anxious about a Trump re-election, take that energy and put it into doing something positive. On a personal level, you can talk to your friends about the importance of voting. Then, volunteer at your local Democratic Party office. A few hours here and there can have a huge impact. Send your local candidates a few bucks.
Hillary didn't lose in 2016 because she didn't have the majority. She lost because some Democratic leaning voters in Midwestern states didn't show up. You won't let that happen again, will you?
And, let's be realistic. The fight is in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and perhaps Florida, not in California, New York, or Massachusetts. The candidate who wins this election will be the one who can talk to those Midwestern voters and their parents in Florida.
Hint: They are concerned about their jobs, healthcare, and their children's and grandchildren's futures, not the usual divisive social issues on which Democrats tend to beach themselves.
Trump will be hammering immigrants and taking credit for the economy that Obama built. Reframe those issues by talking about the benefits of legal immigration and the better jobs and healthcare that would be available if Democrats win.
277
@Crossroads This is exactly why I am concerned about Warren as the nominee. She may frighten away the very voters who can deny Trump a second term.
20
@Crossroads Indeed. Trump got the state by 2 votes per precinct in Michigan. Wayne County didn't show up to vote in large enough numbers for Hillary to carry the state.
16
@Crossroads We should definitely talk about better jobs and healthcare, while being kind yet firm about limiting immigration. However much white liberals might support expanding legal immigration, extolling its benefits will not be a winning issue for Democrats.
27
Probably should pay more attention to the Bernie or Bust movement that will split your party by or at the Convention. The Squad illustrates it quite well. Two have endorsed Bernie, the other Warren. That mirrors the party as a whole and you still have those who want it to Biden or Buttiegieg. So, brokered convention it is. Might want to focus on that before you talk about a blue wall or wave.
12
@GregP
To be quite frank, I don't think "Bernie or Bust" will be a huge, make-or-break thing in 2020. I hang out in some die-hard Democratic circles and while everyone has their preferences, when it comes to the final nominee the rallying cry is "Any Blue Will Do".
35
@GregP Actually, THREE "Squad" congresswomen endorsed Bernie Sanders; the fourth endorsed Elizabeth Warren. That's *all four* popular congresswomen supporting a significant shift to the left, including on hot issues like healthcare, living wage, climate, and immigration policy. Given the excitement around both candidates, especially among young people supporting Bernie Sanders, there's your mirror of the party as whole, ca. 2020. Times are changing--that's good!
As for your warning about the so-called "Bernie or Bust movement", you are scaremongering. (Also, the 2016 convention wasn't brokered, though what happened with regard to delegates and superdelegates is a separate matter requiring a comment of its own.) Bernie did 41 rallies for Hillary Clinton and urged his supporters to vote for her; the vast majority of us did, with only about 11% of disappointed Bernie voters voting for Trump. Whereas in 2008, one in FOUR (25% of) disappointed Clinton supporters spite-voted for John McCain.
The stakes are high. Turnout is going to be everything in this election, and Democrats will be wise to nominate the candidate who has the policies people want, and who brings out the crowds--most saliently the young Americans who will inherit the nation and all its problems going forward.
2
@GregP.
The people who are so wrapped up in their favorite candidate's campaign that they absolutely refuse to vote for anyone else are a very tiny minority. Despite all of the bitterness that the 2016 primary engendered the vast majority of Sanders supporters voted for Clinton in the general election. I'm one of them and I voted for her despite the feeling that she and her people didn't particularly care whether I voted for her or not.
This time, whoever wins the nomination is going to have to do whatever it takes to bring all the factions together and that goes double in those troublesome swing states.
Simply acting as if they have no place else to go as Clinton did is a recipe for disaster.
4
Democrats can’t invest enough in going door to door and motivating people, one home at a time, to get out and vote. It’s the single most important thing they can do. They need to continuously test and refine their messaging, and learn, state by state, how best to make people really understand and feel the importance that their single vote will have in keeping the republic from going into an abyss. Everyone needs to viscerally feel part of a movement that is centered around one thing in the next year: voting to save their country.
123
Its not just Trump that need to be defended.
As we speak the billionares are mounting a offensive against Progressives by running Bloomberg.
If the people who own and control everything think they will have to pay one cent more than the average 3.2 percent they pay now they will split the vote keeping Trump and the tax cuts they love in office.
83
@gene: Yes it IS Trump who needs to be beaten. Bloomberg is a true progressive about tackling climate change and gun violence. I don't care if he's a billionnaire (and he's not in shady real estate or the fossil fuel industry by the way), as long as he has integrity and competence. The mid-west and South is predominantly conservative to moderate and without a number of those states Democrats won't win. If the choice will be between Trump and Bloomberg (third party candidates won't win at that stage and will be spoilers), the choice is perfectly clear to me. Or do you want four more years of Trump trashing the climate to serve his oil oligarch masters and fomenting violence, bowing to the NRA?
31
@gene
Even though I personally lean a bit more to the left, I honestly prefer Bloomberg over Biden. As I just said to another person, when it comes to the final nominee, any blue will do as long as we beat Trump.
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@gene I oppose a Bloomberg candidacy. The last thing we need is another old white man in this race. And Bloomberg is 77 now and if elected will be a couple weeks shy of 79 when he takes the oath of office. If we want an octogenarian president, let's at least elect someone with a proven track record who is actually a democrat and has successfully run the world's fifth largest economy: former California governor Jerry Brown. Yes we need to beat Trump, but Bloomberg is not the ticket and his money spent on gun-control measures will be used as a club to beat him in WI, MI
and PA.
6
This is a false debate, because the Democrats and Republicans are much more than political parties: they are the American electoral machine itself.
That's why people like Bernie Sanders had to enter the Democratic Party in order to have a realistic possibility of electability. That's why people like Donald Trump had to enter the Republican Party in order to have a realistic possibility of electability.
If the Republicans went with someone like Romney and the Democrats went with someone like Sanders (or even Warren), the centrists/moderates would've been bashing the Democrats and voting for the Republicans. It's only a serendipity that it was the GOP -- and not the Dems -- that went to the extreme of the political spectrum first.
11
@VK: All good and well, but what do the Democrats need to do in order to beat Trump in 2020 in your opinion? Ms. Goldberg gives some good advice. Anything to add?
1
What we need to do is make sure we have provided all the help we can to get people registered and get them to the polls. All the ads, phone calls, neighborhood canvases are great, but if the people on the other end of those endeavors are not registered or who find getting to the polls too cumbersome, then what will have been accomplished? I think Gillum and Abrams' efforts are exactly what needs to happen. Imagine , also, if a voter calls a hot line on election day and says "I have no way to get to the polls" and the next thing you know an Uber driver is sitting in front of their house. What would that say to voters? Republicans fear a huge turnout more than anything else. They bank on, and actively work towards low voter participation in the democratic process. How sad is that?
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@Walking Man : I signed up for Abram's Fair Fight platform and have heard exactly twice. That is worrisome. I was enthused about her doing this and thought it would really take off. It hasn't.
9
@Walking Man A few years ago, in my district, we did offer rides in several elections. While canvassing the area, we would identify older Democrats who had no way of getting to the polls and volunteers would give them a ride to and from the polling site. We also had "Take a Friend to Vote" posters in heavily Democratic areas.
12
@Walking Man
Hang in there and never lose faith.
Dems need every opportunity to fight the devil AKA Trump.
You're from NY, as am I. We KNOW how fraudulent Trump is and always was. His family fight for him with the equally fraudulent ways theu were taught.
Dems can and will win big in November 2020.
Oh, and with a new manager and great GM, the Mets will win ahain too. 2020? ;-)
2
Spot on and brilliant! Wish I could volunteer to help but am currently outside looking in from Australia. But I’m a born Michigander and have heaps of friends back home I’d e happy to tap on the shoulder?
6
@Carl: And you can cast your absentee ballot.
I am one of the 67 percent of Democrats who feel anxious about a possible reelection of Trump. I make an automatic monthly donation to Indivisible. I participate in anti-Trump and anti-Republican activities. But Michelle reminds me I can always do more and so I will. We cannot afford to have Trump reelected. Let me say that again...We cannot afford to have Trump reelected.
Many of our parents, brothers, sisters, ancestors have fought in active wars to serve and defend America, the least we can do is fight an election to keep our country.
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@JABarry Voter apathy is high. Given most places offer the opportunity to vote absentee, or are open for multiple days - should elimate the excuse of not having time to vote. I agree with your last point. We (I'm a Vietnam vet) and millions of others fought so we could have the right to vote and have a say in our democracy. Sad that so many don't appreciate this freedom.
86
@JABarry I'm with you. After the results of 2016, I took the step of becoming a precinct delegate and wore out shoe leather knocking on doors in my precinct. It's great being able to introduce yourself as a neighbor and to then be able to ask for a vote. We flipped the Secretary of State, Attorney General and Governor here in Michigan, and just elected progressive candidates to the City council in what has traditionally been a very very blue district.
17
@misterarthur I meant very red district. Sorry about that error in my reply
3
Thanks, Michelle! Say it loud and say it often. We ALL need to get out there one way or another.
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@Teresa So glad to hear your affirmation of a great article. I'm a member of the Sister District Project...we've just spent the last year raising money, calling, canvassing, and writing postcards for Virginia state level candidates! AND WE FLIPPED VIRGINIA!! We just put on a USE YOUR VOICE AND YOUR VOTE high school assembly and got a dozen youth to register and sign up to volunteer, And we're taking this assembly nation-wide next...organizing needs to be happening all the time...it's a slow process of getting people to believe that it's possible for things to be better...keep up the good work!
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@Teresa
Democratic TERROR or Democratic ERROR
Why are we not asking WHY Democrats lose to Trump?
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Maybe they are losing, by not learning from Trump.
Trump has FOCUS and SIMPLICITY. Democrats are too complex. Democrats ramble on and on, and voters forget their message.
I suggest IDEA contests for Democratic SIMPLICITY.
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An idea for Democrats is the use of the DEMOCRACY song.
"Democracy is coming to the USA" (Leonard Cohen, 1992)
Using the DEMOCRACY song may help Democrats FOCUS.
And I hope the Times will discuss the words of this song:
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
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2
@Teresa
The Trump era may encourage a Trump ANTI-VIRUS,
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Perhaps the multitude of Trump evil doing has a plus side.
It may lead to a new DEMOCRACY wave in the USA!
I suggest the DEMOCRACY song of Leonard Cohen:
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
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(Can the Times discuss this song?)