"...As We Sleepwalk Our Way Towards The Most Predictable Financial Crisis In The History Of Man"

There wasn't a policy of his I ever agreed with when Sanford was a congressman the first time, nor while he was governor, nor when he rejoined Congress. And I still don't. When he hits on a truth-- example: Trump is a shit head who is wrecking our country-- his analysis is never correct. Same goes for shit-for-brains professional centrist and NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman. His latest column-- with the click-bait title ‘Trump’s Going to Get Re-elected, Isn’t He?'-- is little more than a gussied up neo-liberal plea for "serious" Democrats and #NeverTrumpers to nominate anyone but Bernie.

Friedman and his wealthy circle were horrified in June when Democratic presidential candidates talked about fundamentally changing the system that has been so very good to those, like Friedman, in the top 1%. Status Quo Joe was tailor-made for Friedman. If he didn't already exist, they would have to create him-- or draft Gina Raimondo, the neoliberal Wall Street shill from Rhode Island. He's their man. And if he wasn't before-- all those decades of racism can be embarrassing to pretend liberals-- those comments about how "nothing would fundamentally change" clinched it.

I was shocked that so many candidates in the party whose nominee I was planning to support want to get rid of the private health insurance covering some 250 million Americans and have “Medicare for all” instead. I think we should strengthen Obamacare and eventually add a public option.

I was shocked that so many were ready to decriminalize illegal entry into our country. I think people should have to ring the doorbell before they enter my house or my country.

I was shocked at all those hands raised in support of providing comprehensive health coverage to undocumented immigrants. I think promises we’ve made to our fellow Americans should take priority, like to veterans in need of better health care.

And I was shocked by how feeble was front-runner Joe Biden’s response to the attack from Kamala Harris-- and to the more extreme ideas promoted by those to his left.

So, I wasn’t surprised to hear so many people expressing fear that the racist, divisive, climate-change-denying, woman-abusing jerk who is our president was going to get re-elected, and was even seeing his poll numbers rise.

Dear Democrats: This is not complicated! Just nominate a decent, sane person, one committed to reunifying the country and creating more good jobs, a person who can gain the support of the independents, moderate Republicans and suburban women who abandoned Donald Trump in the midterms and thus swung the House of Representatives to the Democrats and could do the same for the presidency. And that candidate can win!

But please, spare me the revolution! It can wait. Win the presidency, hold the House and narrow the spread in the Senate, and a lot of good things still can be accomplished. “No,” you say, “the left wants a revolution now!” O.K., I’ll give the left a revolution now: four more years of Donald Trump.




That will be a revolution.

Four years of Trump feeling validated in all the crazy stuff he’s done and said. Four years of Trump unburdened by the need to run for re-election and able to amplify his racism, make Ivanka secretary of state, appoint even more crackpots to his cabinet and likely get to name two right-wing Supreme Court justices under the age of 40.

Yes sir, that will be a revolution!

It will be an overthrow of all the norms, values, rules and institutions that we cherish, that made us who we are and that have united us in this common project called the United States of America.

If the fear of that doesn’t motivate the Democratic Party’s base, then shame on those people. Not all elections are equal. Some elections are a vote for great changes-- like the Great Society. Others are a vote to save the country. This election is the latter.

That doesn’t mean a Democratic candidate should stand for nothing, just keep it simple: Focus on building national unity and good jobs.

I say national unity because many Americans are terrified and troubled by how bitterly divided, and therefore paralyzed, the country has become. There is an opening for a unifier.

And I say good jobs because when the wealth of the top 1 percent equals that of the bottom 90 percent, we do have to redivide the pie. I favor raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans to subsidize universal pre-K education and to reduce the burden of student loans. Let’s give kids a head start and college grads a fresh start.

But I’m disturbed that so few of the Democratic candidates don’t also talk about growing the pie, let alone celebrating American entrepreneurs and risk-takers. Where do they think jobs come from?

The winning message is to double down on redividing the pie in ways that give everyone an opportunity for a slice while also growing the pie sustainably.

Trump is growing the pie by cannibalizing the future. He is creating a growth spurt by building up enormous financial and carbon debts that our kids will pay for.

Democrats should focus on how we create sustainable wealth and good jobs, which is the American public-private partnership model: Government enriches the soil and entrepreneurs grow the companies.

It has always been what’s made us rich, and we’ve drifted away from it: investing in quality education and basic scientific research; promulgating the right laws and regulations to incentivize risk-taking and prevent recklessness and monopolies that can cripple free markets; encouraging legal immigration of both high-energy and high-I.Q. foreigners; and building the world’s best enabling infrastructure-- ports, roads, bandwidth and basic social safety nets.

Ask Gina Raimondo, Rhode Island’s governor, and my kind of Democrat.

And Biden's kind of running mate... if they're going to force him to pick a girl? Literally a Blue state Republican who calls herself a Democrat because of abortion and for no other reason whatsoever. She may be Thomas Friedman's-- and other neo-liberals'-- wet dream, but I can't think of many Democrats less fit for the presidency than Joe Biden... but Gina Raimondo, who nearly ran until she did the polling, is certainly one of them. Andrew Cuomo too.

Meanwhile the big-money Democratic funders have made their decision about who to back. As anyone would have guessed, they've always wanted Status Quo Joe and have banked on McKinsey Pete in case-- as is likely-- Biden self-destructs. And then there's Kamala, another one who has always been on good terns with the very wealthy. These bundlers raised tens of millions of dollars for Clinton and for Obama and now are just thinking about one thing: stopping the one candidate who is for fundamental; change. Career-long Wall Street shills Booker, Gllibrand and Klobuchar have also done very well. They usually give to multiple candidates...but not Bernie.

Politico looked at 1,923 big donors and bundlers who gave to Obama and Hillary. Give to anyone you want at the DWT thermometer on the right. Here's how the money flowed in terms of the number of big donors and fundraisers:

• Status Quo Joe- 253
• Kamala Harris- 246
• McKiney Pete- 224
• Cory Booker- 152
• Amy Klobuchar- 113
• Gillibrand- 106
• Beto- 60
• Michael Bennet- 48
• Jay Inslee- 46
• Bullock- 42
• Frackenlooper- 39
• Elizabeth Warren- 39
• Castro- 19
• Delaney- 15
• Moulton- 12
• Tim Ryan- 11
• de Blasio- 7
• Eric Swalwell- 7
• Marianne Williamson- 5
• Andrew Yang- 4
• Bernie- 4
• Tulsi- 2

One of them, obviously delusional, said, with a straight face, "Electability is the most important thing. We just want a candidate that can beat Trump. You invest in candidates that are delivering as a candidate, or that polling tells you has a good shot to beat Trump."