Eugene Robinson: There's just one way to constrain this lunatic administration

[BumRushDaShow]

There’s just one way to constrain this lunatic administration

by Eugene Robinson Columnist July 23 at 5:52 PM



Last week it was Russia, Russia, Russia. This week began with a bombastic, all-caps screed about Iran — and, of course, more wailing about the purported “Mueller Witch Hunt.” In between was a stray tweet about football and the national anthem, just to stir the racial pot. President Trump is wagging the dog so hard, I fear he will injure himself.

Through it all, we must keep our eyes on the prize. There is just one realistic way to constrain this lunatic administration and hold it accountable: Vote in November to snatch control of Congress away from the quisling Republicans and hand it to the Democrats. If I sound like a broken record on this subject, too bad. You can shut me up by generating a gigantic midterm turnout and flipping at least the House. Otherwise, prepare to be reminded, repeatedly and perhaps obnoxiously, that I told you so.

You have no idea when special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is going to finish his investigation, and neither do I. But we all should know by now that when Trump boasted during the campaign about being able to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still not lose support, he must have been talking about the GOP majorities in Congress.

We know the drill. Trump says or does something so far beyond the pale that any other president would have been investigated, censured or even impeached. A few Republican members of Congress go public with measured words of criticism; many more acknowledge privately that the president is dangerously out of control. Trump changes the subject via Twitter, and the complaints abruptly stop. Nothing happens. Nothing at all. It is possible that Mueller will reveal something so shocking that even House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will choose country over party. But it is not likely.

More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-just-one-way-to-constrain-this-lunatic-administration/2018/07/23/5aa09c14-8eae-11e8-bcd5-9d911c784c38_story.html

[tman]

1. Agree

Placing all our hopes in Mueller is misplaced imo. In the end, the GOP won't do shit.

The old standard of American politics is dead.

Vote

[BumRushDaShow]

38. What Mueller's work is doing however

is making people more aware about what is going on out in election-land and how it is being impacted by social media. So the more skeptical that people are about what comes over their "feeds" about candidates the better chance they have for taking the time to fact check and vote accordingly once they have the facts.

[global1]

2. We Need To Have An Historic Voter Turnout For The Nov 2018 Election....

I've posted this many times before on DU and will keep on posting this until the Nov 2018 election is over. It needs to be the biggest voter turnout in U.S. history for any election. We need to send a meaningful message to the Repugs & Trump. So - GOTV!!!!!!

We know the Repugs are going to pull out all the stops to suppress votes, cheat, steal votes and have Russian help. The only way we'll be able to counteract this is to have people come out to vote in historic numbers in Nov. Make it the highest voter turnout than any election ever in the U.S.

We owe this to the future generations of this country. Right now I'm thinking of the millennials and those that follow - essentially - our children and grandchildren. I'm thinking the millennials are a little older and maybe out of college and starting careers and families. I believe we need to work on that group of potential voters. It is too easy for them to be distracted and not take an interest in politics and that they may be more apt to sit out an election. This is also the group that is laden with staggering college loans that they may never get out from under.

We need to make sure that that group realizes that their best interests are at stake in the Nov 2018 election. Especially if they are starting a family - as many political decisions that will be made if the Repugs maintain control of Congress - and now SCOTUS - will directly have an impact on their kids and their kids kids.

We can't take Nov 2018 for granted there has been a lot of talk about a Blue Wave. What I'm worried about is that many will sit back and say we got this in the bag and maybe not come out to vote. We can't let that happen. This is why all Congressional Dems must stay on message and do everything in their power to influence their constituents to GOTV. We need to turn the Blue Wave into a Blue Tsunami.

Everyday currently is like another nail in the coffin of this democracy. With a SCOTUS appointment again for Trump it will change this country for generations to come. The Dems need to fight like they never fought before. Screw taking the high road. Where has it gotten us?

So again - the Nov 2018 Midterms need to be a 'most historic election'. We need to make the midterms the highest voter turnout of any election in this country and we have to do everything in our power to take back the House and Senate (even if by one seat in the Senate).

I'm not social media savvy - but those of you that are - you need to get this message out on social media ASAP. Again the purpose is to 'get people out for the Nov 2018 Midterms to make it the highest voter turnout of any election ever in this country'.

GOTV!!!!! TABA!!!! (Take America Back Again)

[oasis]

5. +1

[DownriverDem]

13. Yep

That is how the repubs have been winning for decades. Let's follow their plan. All we need is +1. This summer the Parkland students/grads have been traveling the country registering young voters.

[global1]

27. They Are Doing A Great Job Registering Voters In Their Age Group But We Need....

some well spoken charismatic Millennials to go out and do the same with their cohort. In my opinion right now the Millennials are the ones with the most at stake. Many have big student loan debt that they have to work off that will take them years. The jobs that they have don't pay as much as they use to. They are starting families. Trying to buy a house. Need to furnish it. Need adequate transportation to get their kids around, etc. They barely make it from pay check to pay check.

We need to get the Millennials fired up for Nov 2018 as they represent a huge voting bloc and the Dems need to message to this group that the Dems are the best alternative to help them crawl out of their hole.

[BumRushDaShow]

31. Tom Steyer has been helping to fund that effort

Found an article about this here -

Anti-Trump billionaire pays big bucks to get out the millennial vote in Michigan

Updated Jun 4; Posted Jun 4

<...>

Steyer is putting up the money to see his vision through. He has committed $32 million dollars to get out the youth vote in 11 battleground states this election cycle: Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Nevada, Virginia, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

In Michigan, the group has already been active at Wayne State University, U-M Dearborn, Oakland University, Oakland Community College, U-M Ann Arbor, Michigan State University, U-M Flint and Lansing Community College. They are expanding to Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Saginaw, and will get out to other areas of the state by fall, according to organizers.

On Saturday, fresh from the three-day training sessions, the new recruits hit the streets of Detroit to start registering new voters. It's not merely to make sure the next generation is civically engaged, but that they vote for Democrats or progressives, according to Steyer. He makes no bones about being partisan. "We are progressives," he said. "Our mission statement is: Act politically to prevent climate disaster, promote prosperity and protect the fundamental rights of every American."

https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/06/anti-trump_billionaire_is_payi.html

What is good is that he is giving the organizers 3-day training, which is what is needed for canvassers.

[global1]

32. It's Wonderful That He Is Doing This - However......

he's targeted only battleground states and they are hitting Colleges and Universities. There are millions of Millennials that are falling through the crack though.

I'm talking about the ones already out of college and have started their careers. I'll give you a for example:

My friend's son and daughter in-law are in their late 30's. They both work - so they are a two paycheck family. They both have massive student loan debt that they have to pay off and they may never fully pay it off because of the interest that accrues. They were able to scrape up enough money for a down payment on a modest house 2 years ago. Being in their late 30's they had to start their family right away and they have 2 kids - a 2y/o boy and a 3 month old girl. They have to pay for day care for the boy now and the girl will be starting day care in another month when the daughter-in-law has to go back to work after maternity leave. They have to have 2 cars and now that they have the new 3 month old - they need to move to a bigger car or SUV to accommodate both kids easily. They have the expense of the house, utilities and incidentals (you know there is always some unanticipated expenditures when one has a house). They live from paycheck to paycheck barely making ends meet. They also barely have time for themselves now with two kids and it's hard for them to keep up with politics - which takes a low priority in the scheme of things.

I can easily see that during this period of their life that it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and maybe neglect to vote. In 2016 they were fired up about Bernie Sanders - because Bernie's message was getting through to them. Since Trump won though - they are like a lot of us out here and have been demoralized and feel like their vote doesn't count. Now I keep on them and I'm sure that with my prodding they will get out and vote in November - but there are millions of others in this same boat that have no prodding and will just sit out November.

It's those Millennials that I think that the Dem Party can help the most - but the Dem Party has to message them. I don't know if the Dems are breaking through to other Millennials that are in similar situations all over the country. These Millennials are the people that the Dems need to target and make sure that they fire them up enough to motivate them to go to the polls in Nov.

We need to not only support Tom Steyer's efforts but we need to do more. That's why I wish that there was a well spoken charismatic Millennial that could become the spokesperson or talking head out there to get through to them.

[BumRushDaShow]

33. That age group are the ones that people like JayZ and Beyonce target

In the past, many of the young 30-something entertainers have inserted GOTV messaging during their concerts and events. I.e., these musicians ARE your "charismatic Millennials".

Every year here in Philly since 2012, there has been a huge multi-day "Made in America" concert the first week of September on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway sponsored by Live Nation. This year there was a bit of drama between the city and the concert promoter/sponsor about where to hold it in 2019 but that literally just got ironed out yesterday...

In a nutshell, there are multiple stages with a variety of popular and up-and-coming musicians, across multiple genres, who perform (Niki Minaj is apparently headlining this year) and they always have had voter registration activities at the event and many of the performers will insert GOTV reminders and exhortations during their performances.

This was a video from that first "Made in America" event in 2012 during JayZ's performance -

Katy Perry did a GOTV concert for Hillary here in 2016 -

So I expect this will happen at similar events nationwide to hit some of those "older" millennials (like some of my nieces and nephews who I bug continually)!

[global1]

34. Thanks For That Info....

I wasn't aware of that activity. The performers that you speak of in your post are none of the ones I follow. If they target the older Millennial - then all the power to them.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. What often happens with that group

(as I have personally observed) is that if they have young kids, one set of parents will take a whole kit and kaboodle of kids for the day (and older ones for a "sleepover&quot and the rest of the parents can then go on and take a break or go to a concert or hang out at local spot for a happy hour, etc. So sometimes ya gotta get them where they are being entertained.

In fact, the last time I went to the movies, I actually saw an ad for a local hospital during the "previews" before movie started. So apparently some chains (or local movie houses) are actually taking some "outside" paid advertising (other than the more common "national" sponsorships like a Coke or M&Ms, etc) and at some point I wouldn't be surprised if "political" ads may start appearing, although that is a space I wouldn't want to see political ads.... however some type of "Register and vote" public service ad might be good.

[olegramps]

42. I salute Steyer for his vision and support.

On a local level, I was involved in efforts to get young people educated on the issues, registered and vote. It is a difficult task since they have so much going on in their lives that it is easy for them to just neglect it. Many are well intentioned, but when it comes to getting down to the poll to vote they fail to follow through. One of the most effective, if not the most effective solution, is to get them to register for mail ballots. The mail in ballot is without a doubt a key to correcting low voter turnout. Hopefully, a system could be developed to get registration and voting over the internet. The Republicans realize the potential and have put as many obstacles as possible to stop it. It is just a sad fact that the Republicans are far more dedicated in actually voting and win elections even when support for the issues is clearly held by Democrats and the important Independents.


I want to add that elections being held on a weekday is also a major issue. The national elections should be held over a weekend with Saturday and Sunday voting. This would greatly increase turnout. Some nations make voting mandatory and election day a national holiday, however, I doubt that Republicans would ever agree to take those measures since low voter turnout is definitely in their favor.

[BumRushDaShow]

45. Alot of this has to do with what goes on in a household

Last edited Wed Jul 25, 2018, 07:09 AM - Edit history (1)

My parents always went to vote and I grew up with that expectation including registering the day I turned 18, almost 40 years ago.

The one issue with mail-ins is that it should be something that is an option in every state. It isn't here in PA outside of absentee ballots, that require very narrow reasons for use. But with respect to internet voting - THAT is something that although convenient, is ripe for targeting and messing with. There is just no way, in current times, to guarantee your vote gets registered and counted (maybe outside of some heavy encryption, e.g., 256 bit and higher SSL with secure implementation, etc).

And to get some of these legislative changes with elections - the only ones that might be SCOTUS upholdable would be "national" elections. Otherwise states would still probably be allowed the power (via 10th amendment) to handle their own state/local elections.

[watoos]

3. We need to win by enough

to overcome the rigged voting machines. After we win majorities, one of our first priorities should be paper ballots.

[Jarqui]

6. That's the scary part

They've got their fingers on the scales with the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court, gerrymandering, Electoral College, Citizens United, voter purges, restrictive voting laws, allegedly some voting machines and Russian trolls pushing social media buttons that are gearing up for Nov 2018.

i'm beginning to wonder if voter turnout is enough .... This democracy is on shaky ground.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. There needs to be consistent voter turnout in OFF YEARS

which usually covers the state-related races. When people only vote in "national" elections - like every 4 years for a President and/or only every 2 years for Congress, and then ignore the elections for their state reps or state Senators, they continue to cede control of their states to the GOP, who will then implement that gerrymandering, voter suppression, voter ID, and voter purges through policies passed into law by those GOP-controlled state legislatures.

Somehow, someway, people who are registered, have to learn that it is important to vote in every election and make that effort to do so however they can. Otherwise their chances go up to get purged. They also have to deal with the fact that their candidate may not always win (and chalk it up), but they will have to keep trying because one day, they might be pleasantly surprised.

You can't "win" unless you "play" the game (vote).

[Jarqui]

11. Absolutely. I agree

Have to fight it everywhere we can even if it is uphill

[stevenleser]

43. That's the real reason Democrats have lost so many seats the last 12-16 years. We don't show up

in non-Presidential elections.

[BumRushDaShow]

44. Yup.

We have ceded our states to the GOP and then whine about Voter ID, purges, gerrymandering, "Right to Work", GOP-sanctioned rape of women by forcing trans-vaginal ultrasounds before certain medial procedures, and on and on.

[brush]

26. I think it's more vote count hacking than individual vote machine hacking.

[disndat]

21. Agree

100% and paper ballots the next step for sure, if we win.

[Honeycombe8]

4. That will help. But it may be too late to do anything about Trump.

Once Kavanaugh is confirmed, that pretty much does it.

He is singularly the one person in the world who believes that the President of the U.S. has almost total authoritarian control and is above the law.

Whether the other 4 conservatives will go along with that is an unknown. But their track record isn't good.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Well remember that

we have a "tricameral" government. So what the SCOTUS might strike down can be re-written a different way by Congress and passed into law.... and based on how typical court cases go, it may take upwards of 7 years for a new law to reach the SCOTUS.

One might be "powerless" under GOP control of all 3 branches but you regain some power when you take the legislature. The legislature changes every 2 years and is a direct result of "THE PEOPLE" vs the Presidency, which changes every 4 years, and is a direct result of "THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE".

The bigger the control of the legislature, the more one can overcome the tyranny of the Executive.

[NewJeffCT]

12. Kennedy generally voted with Republicans

though, he did occasionally side with Democrats.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. Yup.

He voted 57% with conservatives (all cases) and 71% with conservatives (close cases) - https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/justice-kennedy-wasnt-a-moderate/

[Puzzler]

7. K&R!

-Puzzler

[dalton99a]

10. Also known as Get Your Ass To The Polls

[BumRushDaShow]

14. And once we vote in 2018

we MUST vote in 2019 and vote in 2020 and vote in 2021, and on and on.

Robinson begins to conclude with this from the OP link -

There will be plenty of time to worry about the 2020 presidential election. Right now, the Democratic Party’s exclusive focus should be on registering new voters and ensuring that constituencies with a habit of voting only in presidential years — especially minorities and young people — come out in November.

There is too much of a disconnect in "local" politics and who is representing whom... In essence, not only do Democrats need to take America back, we need to take our states back as well. It is the states where gerrymandering, voter suppression, demands for voter ID and voter citizenship, and voter purges are enacted in law by GOP-controlled STATE legislatures and governors.

There should NOT be GOP governors in VT or IL or MD or MA - states that we are told are supposedly "blue" (often due to their large urban areas and more liberal suburbs).

[dalton99a]

17. +1

[disndat]

22. A great post.

NT.

[Hortensis]

15. New, respected poll on Roe v W: 71% DON'T want repealed, and

get THIS: 52% of the dwindling Republicans want to keep abortion legal and 76% of independents!

Average in 88% of Democrats and nearly 3/4 of Americans oppose repeal of RvW, including a bare majority of Republicans.

It's like repealing the ACA. It was a big rallying cry for Republicans in general as long as they were in no danger of losing it. Now it turns out only the zealots on the far right and left, who also spent 2010-2018 denouncing and calling for its repeal) mean it.

I think this means the power to use abortion to control right-wing voters is weaker than it's been.in decades, and the same for the evils of national healthcare programs.

As Robinson says. Vote like we really mean it!

COUNTDOWN TO DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF CONGRESS: 104 days!

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Yup saw that poll

I think what has happened is that we need to go back to blasting out the term - "PRO CHOICE". The GOP capitalizes on what has sadly become a divisive definition for a medical procedure and then the whole discussion of women's health spirals into an abyss.

Women should have the right to control their bodies and there should be NO law that seeks to take away that right.

[Wounded Bear]

16. K & R...for truth...

[certainot]

19. disagree. there is something else that has never been tried - destroy the talk radio psyops

that has been lying to the base and driving all this alternate reality.

every business that adverttises on ANY rw talk station needs to be forced with boycott pressure to decide if they want to actually support trump/putin or not. if so then so be it, but most of them will head for the hills when they find out how easy and cheap it is to transcribe the shows their ads air on so they can now be listed along with the racist pro trump bullshit they sponsor

[BumRushDaShow]

24. I know we have agreed that this is a major issue

and I brought it up in this thread.

I posited that there is a "gap" age group that still listens to radio but also participates in limited social media. So when we ignore that gap group (that tends to be among some of the highest percentage of voters), we not only cede our programming to the GOP from the radio standpoint, but also cede it on the internet. And this is based on the fact that the social media of choice by many in that demographic (Facebook) is literally littered and infested with RW propaganda, much of it disguised as "legitimate" progressive views but is actually a narrative that causes FUD about the Democratic party.

[certainot]

29. thanks, i missed that thread. i woould like rich liberals to follow your advice but most liberals

have already fallen for the rw talking points about air america failed due to lack of demand, it's not relevant today etc.

on relating rw talk and modern social media, i think the russians have been using rw radio for at least a decade, since limbaugh decided he would withold support of mccain until he took palin. it would be very interesting for researchers to look into parallel propaganda on radio and social media. and gabe sherman got sam nunberg to say he listened to 1000s of hours of talk radio for trump in 2014 (ny magazine - 4/3/16). and i'll be the cll screening software the blowhards use to prioritize callers can easily be hacked. i used to think the paid callers were sitting in rw think tanks but why not russian think tanks?

i think the left now has a fantastic opportunity to destroy that rw monopoly and open up stations for liberal talkers and push for 'balanced' programming on stations and make the transition a lot easier. artificial intelligence in the last year made it much cheaper and eaiser and faster to transcibe spoken word. $5/hr and under at sonix.ai - i'll keep pushing that.....

it wouldn't take much action and a few well placed press releases for advertisers and ad agencies to realize advertising on political talk radio is now VERY easy to politicize - advertisers on an hour of talk radio are easy to list without listeneing and associate with the crap.

how many advertisers will be able to say they like trump's, the racism, etc.

a lot of stations can't afford that kind of shunning and they'll have to start thinking about music or sports talk and may even try offering balance.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. Agree

plus even if they did consider dropping the format, operation of syndicated talk is much cheaper because you don't have all the royalties involved that music has. And as I noted, the very stations that are currently running RW talk, eventually re-added the "community service" type programming like gardening and home repair, etc.,, after some people started boycotts and there was a need to get some type of listenership back... And much of that non-political talk plays well with liberal messaging...

Case in point, a gardening show I listen to via podcast originates out of a RW loon station and although 99.9% of the callers do not appear to be regular listeners to the RW lineup, I did hear one guy slide in and start arguing about "climate change" to the host - a man who is a seasoned horticulturalist, gardening author, and nursery owner, and who really didn't want to get into that.

So yes - we do have an opportunity for sure! But those who might try buying a bundle of stations must understand that they may not turn a profit for some time but it would ultimately be cheaper than contributing towards buying last-minute ads ahead of an election because it has longer-term benefits.

[AllaN01Bear]

23. this impatent patient will wait patently for the conclusion of investigation.

and vote.

[MyOwnPeace]

25. WONDERFUL column!

As many have said over and over again - we must GOTV!!!!

There can be NO excuse for staying at home - the future of our democracy is at stake!

A wonderful point about "litmus tests" - we cannot allow "small differences" break us apart. We need DEMOCRATS to win in their voting areas with whatever strength they bring to the race. THIS IS CRUCIAL!!!!!!

Get Out The Vote!!!!!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

28. Yes and as an example

I just saw this post about Conor Lamb - https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210917738

If we these folks are good to vote for the (D) platform checklist 75% - 100% of the time, then they should not be rejected outright, because their presence actually gives us control of chambers and the committee chairs. I.e., WE would control what hearings go on and what the legislative calendar will look like when we are in the majority.

[Cha]

36. Exactly. And BS is out there with this anti-Democratic

message.

Link to tweet

[BumRushDaShow]

37. I saw that and the sudden BS threads

Something must be about to drop from Drumpfland.

[lordsummerisle]

39. The Washington Post

won't let me read their site anymore...where else can I read this?
Thanks...

[BumRushDaShow]

41. Try this newspaper - Troy (NY) Record

http://www.troyrecord.com/opinion/20180725/eugene-robinson-there-is-just-one-way-to-constrain-this-lunatic-administration-vote?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=tw-troyrecord

[lordsummerisle]

46. Hey, thanks! n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

47. You got it!

[Stuart G]

40. k and r...