EMail from Steve Schmidt:

[elleng]

Last edited Sat Jun 12, 2021, 02:38 AM - Edit history (2)

'We’re all getting this wrong.

You have probably heard by now that it is very unlikely that HR1, the federal bill to protect voting rights, has any chance of passing the Senate. Joe Manchin is unwilling to get rid of the filibuster because he is still hopeful of a bipartisan solution.

This is not to blame Joe Manchin personally. But it’s clear that he, too many of his colleagues, and too many in the media have read the situation completely wrong.

There is no bipartisanship anymore. The GOP of old - and the idea that both parties come together and negotiate to get things done - is dead. It doesn’t exist anymore.

Matthew Dowd called it the GOP’s “black mold problem” and made it clear: you do not negotiate with black mold. You have to rip out everything it touched and rebuild. And if you deny it exists...and breathe it in...it makes you sick.

What we all have to realize is that we are falling into a trap. The media, Democratic leadership, former Republican leaders - we are mistakenly believing this is still a two party system, and we’re missing the point.

Everyone is still making an assumption that there are these two parties...but that’s not the fight we’re in. There is only the Democratic Party, and on the other side is an authoritarian movement fueled by Donald Trump. That movement has grown to hold so much power in what used to be the Republican party that it has purged former leaders and left them fearful for the future.

We have to stop them. Help us fight back.

So when we mistakenly think “bipartisanship” is the solution, who are we negotiating with? Either those held hostage by the black mold - or the hostage takers. Neither is a tenable solution for our democracy.

This is no longer a choice between two parties. You’re either part of the authoritarian movement and support their treasonous activities or you are against it. This is what we are tasked to do. You, me, the Lincoln Project, and every American who wants to stand up for our democracy.

And it’s also important to remember that many of our fellow citizens have been lied to. And they believe those lies. But those people, they are not the enemy. In order to help them overcome this and wake up to what is happening, we need to offer those people the truth.

This is no longer a political fight. It is an existential threat to the future of our democracy.

Our role in this is simple. We need to deliver the truth to the people who have been lied to. And every time that someone uses bipartisanship as a reason to negotiate with the black mold, we have to call it out. We need to make every American realize what the stakes are not just next November, but every time someone repeats the Big Lie or cries bipartisanship.

The truth matters.

The more that Marjorie Taylor Green takes the mic and shows the rot in a Republican party fully co-opted by Trump, she proves it is in fact now a movement of autocrats who seek to destroy democracy.

This is bigger than Trump. This autocratic movement will not implode while we stand by and wait. We have to take action now because it is much larger than that. If these people regain the House and the Senate, how much further do you think they’ll go?

We have to stop the spread and we can’t do it alone. Talk to your neighbors. Reach out in your community. We have to start having these conversations before it’s too late.

Thank you for keeping us in this fight.

https://action.lincolnproject.us/donate_0611schmidtfr?

-Steve


((Respond here: Steve Schmidt ([e-mail]) ))

[SheltieLover]

1. K&R!

Ty for sharing, Ellen.

[Budi]

2. K & R Thank You Mr Steve Schmidt

"This is no longer a choice between two parties. You’re either part of the authoritarian movement and support their treasonous activities or you are against it"

That is it.

You will know them by which one they support & which one they denounce.

Appreciate your OP, elleng

[brush]

3. This is true. Manchin is either naive with his Quixotic pursuit of...

a now non-existent bi-partisanship or he's gaslighting us all as he plays McTurtles role from inside the Koch Organization's pocket.

Either way, he's a big problem.

[benfranklin1776]

8. Agreed. I think it's the latter of the two choices you set forth.

However, I agree with Steve Schmidt’s point wholly, this is an existential fight for the survival of our democracy and we need to pull out all the stops and fight like hell and communicate with the forceful urgency the moment requires which means calling out these bastards like McConnell and his gang of fascist enablers for what they are: traitors so besotted with their thirst for power and money they’re willing to sacrifice the country and we the people to seize it. He’s absolutely right: it’s toxic mold or a cancerous growth that cannot be reasoned with or negotiated with. Nor should we grant it any respect by pretending it simply has a “different point of view” and we can reach accommodation with it. Uh uh that minimizes its lethal threat and enfeebles us in our fight to save its victims-our democracy and us.

[brush]

10. I so agree. As for Manchin, If Biden/Schumer can't persuade him...

with shovel-ready, lucrative projects for the unemployed coal miners in his state to vote for the infrastructure bill by reconciliation, if he won't come around and stop with the bi-partisan crap, he has to be held accountable. Perhaps strip him of committees as he's holding up the Biden agenda which could lead to defeat in '22 and '24.

[KS Toronado]

27. Maybe behind closed doors Biden needs to ask Manchin......

" Are you wanting me to do infrastructure for every state except West Virginia"?

[WhiteTara]

17. His true paymaster is Koch

[NEOBuckeye]

26. Fuck Charles Koch

Fuck that old bastard and fuck his goddamn money too. The world will be a better place once he is finally dead and gone, and can never again bend the system to his own twisted ends.

Although truthfully, there are other old fools just like him who cling to life and power at the expense of our present and future. Tax them all to death while they are alive, and tax them even more when they are dead.

[WhiteTara]

28. unfortunately he has put many institutions in place

to carry on his evil once he's dead.

[Biophilic]

4. I believe that many of us, in particular white "folk", are angry and actually really, really

pissed because we thought we "owned" democracy. We believed it was our right and all we had to do was vote periodically and occasionally send money to a few people and that that ensured our "democracy". We never, ever thought we would have to fight for it. We never, ever thought it was at risk, especially in THIS country. Right now we are running around losing our heads and trying to figure out what to do next. And we are pissed that things aren't going the way we expected. I never dreamed I would have to fight for democracy. I thought it was just the Democratic party I needed to fight for. This has really set me back on my haunches and I believe that is true for many people. I believe a lot of the flailing around we are seeing is people trying to find their footing and figure out what to do next. They know that whatever they do will have a vastly more important outcome than what political candidate they voted for.

[LisaM]

14. They did this in plain sight in Florida in 2000.

Knocked a bunch of people off the voter rolls, declared premature victory with the willing collusion of Fox News, and then stopped the counting with a stacked SCOTUS where at least three of the judges had conflicts of interest.

If people didn't know, they weren't paying attention. Other Republican governors systematically took voters off the books. The game has been rigged for a long time.

In my opinion, the pandemic and the all-mail voting flipped the switch because so many more people voted. So the Republicans are back to work on suppression tactics.

[Biophilic]

16. I think not paying attention is the key wording. I've never really thought about losing

democracy until last year and especially this year after Jan. 6th. It honestly just wasn't on my list of possibilities. Now I'm scrambling and I think others are also to understand and to respond in a way that will actually support democracy for the generations to come.

[czarjak]

5. I remember Steve scolding anything not conservative as folly. Steve can GFH!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. Never any redemption in your hard eyes? No common cause on an existential threat?

Purism much?

What's next? Loyalty oaths to the Democratic Party? Purges for past transgressions of belief?

[Hekate]

23. +1

[Funtatlaguy]

6. SS is right. He knows these people very well. He's begging us to stop them.

[FoxNewsSucks]

7. "deliver truth to the people who have been lied to"

That's a big job. There's a lot of brainwashed people, and at this time it's impossible to get through to them. They can't conceive they've been lied to.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. He always cuts right to the chase

I think TLP is finally realizing hard-hitting videos are not reaching MAGA world.

Chillingly, what would have altered Germany's course in 1933? The truth?

People love fantasy, entertainment, they embrace their information flow uncritically, and they love to be right. It's a formula for the non-intelligentsia to be manipulated by lies. Because they're used to lies. From the media, from employers, marketers, Hollywood and Madison Avenue, and politicians. A lack of truth or transparency doesn't bother them. They go with their emotions as long as it make them feel superior and powerful. That is what we're up against.

[Hassler]

11. Black Mold party is accurate.

[Duppers]

12. Got that too.

Just finished reading that mins ago.

Talk to Republican neighbors? Brainwashed Faux viewers? Sorry, that's a waste of time. BTDT. But I have hit my brainwashed brother with some facts & hubby gave him a good 30min lecture the other days. He finally admitted he didn't know most of it.



RW lying media is this nation's problem.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. He's right. It's over. There is no turning back. Fuck the mold.

[druidity33]

15. Is that a fundraising email? nt.

[elleng]

19. Among other things.

[Blue Owl]

18. K&R

[BobTheSubgenius]

20. I can't believe I used to think that TLP would drift away and dissolve after the last election.

For a while, I thought the endgame was turning the WH and as much of Congress as possible back to blue. That the wind would be out of "their" sails and the ship of state would finally right itself and regain forward motion.

It's hard to believe the size and depth of the hole that democracy is sliding into. Like every other form of 'evolution,' it's so gradual that it's hard to notice until something really sticks out...or it becomes moot because it's already happened.

[Hekate]

22. Kicking this

[Tommymac]

24. K & R for Meta Action

This is the Ultimate Meta.

It ain't about political parties or ideology anymore - it's about the Democracy.

It's up to us.

[Hekate]

25. Been meaning to toss some cash in their pot & just did so. Thanks for the reminder.