The Moment The Democrats Picked Cheri Bustos As DCCC Chair, As I've Been Saying For Two Years, They Baked Terrible Losses Into The Cake

 

DCCC Chair Cheri Bustos, Born To Lose by Nancy Ohanian

House Democrats are freaking out over more losses as the ballots get counted. According to a Politico piece, House Dems brace for more losses by Ally Mutnick and Sarah Ferris. Already officially gone are Abby Finkenauer (IA), Joe Cunningham (SC), Kendra Horn (OK), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL), Donna Shalala (FL), Collin Peterson (MN) and Xochitl Torres Small (NM) and close to losing Anthony Brindisi (NY), Max Rose (NY), Susan Wild (PA), Harley Rouda (CA), Ben McAdams (UT), Abigail Spanberger (VA), Gil Cisneros (CA), Lauren Underwood (IL)... What do all these candidates have in common? Well, first off, except for Donna Shalala (in a "safe" D+5 district) they all have "F" scores from ProgressivePunch. Shalala has a "D." All of them, with the encouragement-- urging-- of the DCCC decided to stake their career on the false notion that the way to win is by taking the Republican-lite route. That's why they all either lost or are hanging by a thread.

The Democratic Party-- as long a sit holds the majority-- is better off without them. They are almost all Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. They shit all over the Democratic brand and confuse voters and alienate working families while spouting Republican talking points and allowing Fox and other right-wing media outlets to set the debate in terms designed to always result in Republican advantage.

It's worth listening to this shrt talk from Alan Grayson who recorded it while he was the congressman from Orlando, the first Democrat to have represented Orlando in decades.





According to Mutnick and Ferris, "The most likely scenario for Democrats is a net loss of between seven to 11 seats, according to interviews with campaign officials and strategists from both parties. That toll has prompted some tense discussions within the Democratic caucus about its message, tactics and leadership, with an internal race intensifying to succeed Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Cheri Bustos (D-IL). And the fallout means the House is indeed in play in 2022, and the battle will be fought on a whole new set of district lines, most of which will be drawn by Republicans who maintained control of key statehouses."

Pelosi, delusional, said-- after spending over $100,000,000 to win Republican seats-- "We lost some battles. But we won the war. We have the gave." She claimed Democrats in Trump districts faced "almost insurmountable" obstacles, but neglected to mention that outspoken progressive Matt Cunningham-- also in a Trump district-- won his seat while advocating for the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, unlike all the Bustos-Pelosi losers. Maybe voters in his northeast Pennsylvania district actually understand that he represents them, not the elites they hate. He's the whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and his ProgressivePunch score is "A." Trump won his district by 10 points in 2016-- 53.3% to 43.7%. Right next door, where New Dem Susan Wild is hanging on for dear life, Hillary won the district by a tad over a point, but Wild is barely a Democrat another's no reason for anyone to vote for her.

They'll both likely win reelection-- as will conservative Democrat Conor Lamb on the other side of the state-- but Pelosi should make an attempt to understand why working class voters hate her and hate where she and other Democratic leaders have taken what they once thought of as their party.

Right now there is just one challenger still standing in a California race against a Republican incumbent: Liam O'Mara-- and he ran in an R+11 district where Trump beat Hillary by 12 points-- who took on Corrupt Ken Calvert with exactly NOT ONE PENNY from the DCCC. Yet he's offering more of a challenge to Calvert than most of the Democrats who Bustos decided to spend millions of dollars on did in their own races. So far-- with thousands of absentee ballots, mostly from Democrats, to be counted, he has 44.5% of the vote. The DCCC and Pelosi's SuperPAC spent millions on Pelosi's costliest 2020 gamble, Blue Dog Sri Kulkarni in Texas, who she and Bustos spent over $7 million on-- and just wound up with 43.0% of the vote. Had they spent a million of that on Kulkarni, O'Mara would have wiped the floor with Calvert. But the DCCC hates progressives and would rather have Republicans in those seats than progressives.

Republicans were ecstatic this week. In a press call held Wednesday afternoon, National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Tom Emmer (MN) mocked Democrats for their upbeat predictions and poor messaging.

“Cheri Bustos laughed in my face when I made the argument that the Democrats’ socialist agenda was going to cost them seats, during a panel that we both attended in September of 2019 in Austin, Texas-- by the way where they didn’t flip a single seat,” Emmer said. [They did-- a single seat.]

The latest DCCC memo was sent to members hours after Bustos and other top Democrats held an emotional three-hour caucus call on Thursday, where some lawmakers traded blame as they processed the string of losses-- even as Democrats are increasingly likely to capture the presidency.

On the call, Bustos declared that the campaign arm would do a post-mortem in the coming weeks. No Democrats on the call directly criticized Bustos or any other Democrat about the losses, though several in the caucus have begun privately lining up to succeed her as chair. Bustos has not said whether she will run for the position again.

Rep. Tony Cárdenas of California [one of the most sleaziest and most corrupt members of Congress and a child rapist] has told members he is interested in running, and Reps. Linda Sánchez of California, Marc Veasey of Texas and Sean Maloney of New York [a Wall Street pawn who makes his campaign calls out of the office of a hedge fund] are also in the mix, according to multiple Democratic sources.

The DCCC is facing a litany of criticism, from its spending decisions to its Latino outreach to its polling. While health care again remained a central theme in down-ballot campaigns, Democratic candidates and outside groups were yoking their GOP opponents to Trump in dozens of TV ads in districts from Texas to Illinois that the president will likely end up carrying.

Swing district Democrats-- many stung by tighter-than-expected margins in their own races-- say they’ve been privately sounding the alarm about the party’s anti-Trump messaging, which they say hurt in areas like upstate New York, Staten Island and Miami.

Shalala, who holds a South Florida seat Trump lost by 20 points in 2016, said her polls didn’t pick up how harmful the GOP’s “socialism” attacks could be. But those tags-- along with accusations that Democrats would defund the police amid widespread protests over racial injustice and police brutality-- “caught on.”

“It’s not just Biden, it's the whole Democratic establishment that has to work these districts consistently,” Shalala said. “We had not been working them over a generation. It just takes a lot of work. Could we have done more? Absolutely.”

Progressive Democrats have disputed any finger-pointing from the caucus’s centrist flank about the party’s 2020 message.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a member of the progressive Squad, argued that moderates did, in fact, steer much of the legislative agenda for the last two years-- the reality of a House Democratic majority with tight margins, which are only likely to shrink in the 117th Congress.

“They were very much centered and prioritized... No one was really sounding many alarms to me about how they felt about their race,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview.

In Congress, There Is A Big Difference Between Bipartisanship And Waving A White Flag As You Cross The Aisle

 

Meet The Blue Dogs and New Dems

Working across the aisle in a bipartisan fashion in an art. Most Democrats in Congress do not have a clue about how it's done. The so-called "Problem Solvers"-- like Third Way and the Blue Dogs and New Dems-- make up the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, colloquially, "the Democraps." They are always the first to rush across the aisle and claim they are thereby bipartisan. Being a coward and having no values is not the same thing as being a smart, skilled bipartisan legislator. That's way over the heads of the conservative Democrats who vote the most frequently with Republicans when progressive issues come to the floor of the House. This dirty dozen is not a list of bipartisan heroes. It is a list of always craven, 100% cowardly, and usually corrupt DINOs.

• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)- 23.46% (R+10)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)- 24.69% (R+6)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- 27.16% (R+13)
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)-28.40% (R+6)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)- 28.40% (R+10)
• Jared Golden (Blue Dog-ME)- 34.57% (R+2)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- 39.08% (R+12)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)- 39.11% (R+3)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)- 40.02% (D+9)
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)- 40.74% (R+1)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)- 41.25% (R+3)
• Abby Finkenauer (secret New Dem-IA)- 41.98% (D+1)

You'll notice that they are voting with the Democrats less than half the time on these crucial roll calls. I've included the PVIs of their districts so you can see how much each one is being pressured by the far right-- from Collin Peterson and Ben McAdams (a lot) to Henry Cuellar and Abby Finkenauer (not one bit).

Many people remember former Orlando Congressman, Alan Grayson as a fervent partisan and they especially remember his iconic Die Quickly-GOP Healthcare speech. But one of the things I always admired most about Grayson was his ability to pass prodigious amounts of legislation with bipartisan support. In fact, the Republicans controlled the House for much of the time Grayson was a member. And he still managed to write and pass more legislation than any other member of that body! I had a long talk with Grayson about this yesterday. He said that he tended to work with people-- regardless of party-- "who gave a shit." If someone cared, he felt there was a way to find some common ground without abandoning any principles or values. This is a small part of what he told me:

On our side the aisle, the political class is resolved to employ focus groups to try to validate meaningless phrases that sound good to them, and then to force-feed them to the electorate through ad-buys that give them their 15%. This resulted in Clinton’s “Stronger Together” motto, which no one understood, much less believed. (And I say that having voted for her, and having wanted her to win.) This sort of tasteless political oatmeal is what makes it hard for ordinary people to identify the Democratic Party with any tangible proposals that might improve their lives, and it creates a vacuum that the other side fills by promising that a Democratic victory would hasten the apocalypse.

But the most flavorless of all this flavorless oatmeal is the abuse of the term “bipartisanship” by, well, people who stand for nothing. Here is a very easy way to judge whether such a sentiment is real or not: has it resulted in any actual legislation? After all, that’s the job of a Member of Congress, according to the Constitution. If you see any actual legislation, then you can argue whether it made the world better or worse, but without that, the term “bipartisanship” is lipless lip service.

In my first term, with the Democrats in charge, I passed the only real bipartisan accomplishment of the 111th Congress, the law to audit the Federal Reserve. In my last two terms, with the Republicans in charge, I passed 121 laws through the House. I also accounted, personally, for ½ of all the amendments passed by the Science Committee, and 1/3 of all the amendments passed by the Foreign Affairs Committee. And EVERY SINGLE ONE of these was “bipartisan”; I couldn’t have passed any of them unless I had GOP votes. Further, in their own ways, every single one of them was progressive. When I passed a law extending mental health benefits to veterans-- after 250,000 of them came back from Afghanistan and Iraq with permanent brain abnormalities you could see with a CAT scan-- that was progressive to me, whatever may have led the GOP to vote for it. That’s real bipartisanship, not the “bipartisanship” that begins and ends with right-wingers calling right-wingers “my esteemed colleague from Whosits.”

Barney Frank had an interesting point to make in this regard-- he constantly reminded others than anonymous polling of Capitol Hill staff named him both the most partisan and the most bipartisan Member of Congress. Or, to put it another way, bipartisanship is judged not by words, but by deeds.

I haven't written much about Jody Hice, a radical Georgia teabagger, since he was first elected to Congress in 2014. In fact, I haven't heard much about him-- until yesterday, when he joined Ted Lieu to co-sponsor a bipartisan bill that's good for Lieu's constituents and good for Hice's constituents and good for the country in general. The transpartisan establishment may not be thrilled with it but it is neither a Republican nor a Democratic bill. The legislation-- the Oversite.gov Authorization Act-- is meant to increase transparency and accountability within the federal government. If passed and signed into law-- presumably by Biden-- it will formally authorize the establishment and maintenance of a website to help the public more easily access reports that have been generated by the independent work of Inspectors General.

In introducing it, Ted said that "Our bill will allow for crucial improvements to be made to Oversight.gov, a central online location for all federal Inspectors General to publish their reports. IGs are critical to rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in our government, and this website will make their findings more accessible to the American people. I am pleased to introduce this bipartisan bill to increase transparency in the IG community."

Hice was obviously proud to let his constituents know he was working in their interest with someone sane. "The inspector general community is on the frontlines in combatting waste, fraud, and abuse across federal agencies on behalf of the American taxpayer. The Oversight.gov Authorization Act is an important step in promoting and protecting the work of inspectors general, enabling the public to view firsthand the need for greater accountability and transparency in our government. This bicameral, bipartisan legislation is a commonsense measure that all of Congress can get behind, and I look forward to working with my colleague Rep. Ted Lieu, as well as Senators Chuck Grassley and Maggie Hassan, in seeing this bill across the finish line."

Previously, Ted and Hice have worked together to safeguard Inspectors General through their bill, the Inspector General Protection Act, which passed the House in July of 2019, to enhance the independence and integrity of IGs. As soon as Trump heard the word "integrity" he sensed the law would be bad for him and told McConnell to shit-can it in the Senate, which he promptly did.

Ted is co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, and he has been coming up with much of the messaging that is destroying the House Republicans this cycle. Like Grayson's description of Barney Frank, Ted is very partisan... and very bipartisan at the same time. Confusing? I asked him about it this morning. "I have always believed that people of good will, intelligence, and patriotism can disagree on policy. I think it's important to try to work in a bipartisan way where possible. I drive my staff crazy sometimes, but I am always asking them to find me a Republican co-lead for our legislative ideas. It is much easier to move legislation through the process if you have bipartisan support from the outset. There are some issues upon which I will most likely never agree with my Republican colleagues. But the truth is there are many issues where there is a fair amount of common ground to be reached. I also try not to let disagreements on one issue impact potential partnerships on other issues. Just because I disagree with a Republican colleague on gun safety or abortion doesn't mean I won't work with them on marijuana legalization or government transparency. I will not compromise on my principals-- but I can search for common ground on good public policy. In my view the key to being a good legislator is being able to tell the difference."

The Case For A Progressive Democrat In A Red-Leaning Florida District-- Adam Christensen (FL-03)

 

Florida's 3rd congressional district is an unlikely place for one of the iconic races of the 2020 cycle. Obama lost the R+9 both times he ran-- with 44.2% in 2008 and 41.9% in 2012. Then Clinton did even worse-- 40.2%-- against Trump. Although Alachua County is solidly blue, it is the only one of FL-03's six counties that is. Alachua has the most voters but Clay County has nearly as many and it is far redder than Alachua is blue. And with Marion and Putnam counties this has made the district unfriendly territory for Democrats. In 2018, the blue wave never reached the district and radical right tea-bagger Ted Yoho beat Yvonne Hinson 176,616 (57.6%) to 129,880 (42.4%), with strong wins in 5 counties and a thrashing in Alachua.

And then three things came along to change the complexion of the congressional race: 4 years of Donald Trump, whose unique behavior has offended Republicans in Clay County Jacksonville suburbs in and around Middleburg, Green Cove Springs and Orange Park; the mishandled COVID pandemic which has brought Marion County 10,706 cases and 347 deaths, Alachua County 10,114 cases and 74 deaths, Clay County 5,966 cases and 117 deaths, Putnam County 2,335 cases and 50 deaths; and Adam Christensen, a political outsider and an energetic and dedicated smart young progressive, a very different kind if candidate than what FL-03 has seen before.

Christensen, who turned 27 last weekend, won his 3-way primary by concentrating his efforts not in bright blue Alachua County but by taking his populist message to the rural precincts of the district. Now he's working to persuade voters in those areas to back him in replacing Ted Yoho, who has decided to retire from Congress. Christensen has made more headway with independent voters in the rural counties than he has with Blue Dog Cheri Bustos and her DCCC, who have refused to take FL-03 seriously. Florida progressive icon and former congressman, Alan Grayson, looked at the race and endorsed Christensen, noting that "Adam chose a [campaign] URL-- ForTheManyNotJustMe.com-- that conveys why he is running for Congress: for the many, not just him. And, as it turns out, that is the most important thing in a candidate, because if you don’t start out with that in your heart, you’re sure not going to pick it up on the way. Good luck in FL-03, Adam. There’s only one right reason to run for Congress, and you’ve found it."

In his closing message to north-central Florida voters, Christensen wrote that those who have followed his race know his opponent has based her entire campaign on following an insulting GOP cookie cutter playbook unrelated to the real issues facing the district's families-- "attacking AOC and fear-mongering about progressive women of color in Congress. Why? Because just like her boss Ted Yoho, my opponent has no vision for our district. She’s not interested in helping people and knows she can’t win on the issues, so she resorts to constantly throwing out rightwing red meat to try to rally her base. Our campaign is the exact opposite. I'm running BECAUSE for too long our district has been neglected by Washington politicians like Yoho and my opponent while they use their office to pursue their personal ambitions." 

We believe the job of a Representative is to help their constituents secure a better life. That’s why we just released the most ambitious and innovative jobs plan our district has ever seen.

Our plan would create 32,715 jobs over the next 5 years just in Florida’s 3rd district alone, with widespread effects for job creation across the region. It’s a blueprint for a sustainable future with shared prosperity for all.

Our plan will:

• Invest in high speed rail
• Provide high speed broadband internet for all
• Recommit to supporting small businesses and farms
• Protect our towns and rural communities from destructive big corporations
• Bring tourism and talents back into our district

This is about a movement of all of us to create the change we seek in this world, to say enough is enough and stand up to fight back against corporate greed and a corrupt political establishment that have decimated our communities.

We believe that a better world is possible. And with your help, we can replace Ted Yoho and accomplish so much here in FL-3 and throughout the country.

Thank you for supporting our campaign, and standing up for progressive values that put people over profits.

A few days earlier, Christensen's campaign listed 10 reasons why voters should support him and not his GOP opponent. Please take a look and if you like what you see, consider sending him a last-minute contribution for his Get Out the Vote program by clicking on the Trump District Dems thermometer on the right.

1. He would be the youngest person in Congress. At age 27, Adam is the youngest Dem congressional nominee in the country. And if elected, would be the youngest sitting Congressperson. Let’s invest in the next generation of progressive changemakers.

2. Adam will stand up for working families. Growing up in post-Recession Indiana, Adam saw firsthand how corporate greed destroyed working and middle class communities. That’s why in Congress, he’ll always stand up to special interests and fight for working people.

3. He will fight for middle-class tax cuts-- including cost-saving, common sense health and education solutions like Medicare for All and Universal Pre-K.

4. This campaign is helping flip Florida blue. Our race is in a dead heat right now, and so is the state of Florida. If we can flip this district, our victory will help ensure Donald Trump is defeated in Florida and becomes a one-term president.

5. He will protect the environment and ensure no one gets left behind. Adam supports the Green New Deal to make sure that our community and environment survive for future generations.

6. He has a plan to create over 30,000 good-paying green jobs in FL-3. Adam believes everyone deserves a good union job with a living wage.

7. Adam will fight for dignity and justice for all. From comprehensive immigration and criminal justice reforms, to caring for our veterans and people with disabilities, Adam will fight to ensure that in the wealthiest country on earth, everyone is treated fairly and gets a dignified life they deserve.

8. He will fight to end predatory business practices. Adam’s day job is catching corporate fraud. From cash bail to Big Pharma price-gouging, Adam will stand up to greedy corporations that cheat and rip off working people everyday.

9. He will fight for small business. Adam successfully started two companies on his own, and knows the struggle of small business owners trying to provide good benefits for their employees while growing their businesses. That’s why he’ll fight to make Medicare for All a reality, and will make sure the federal government provides direct investment and assistance to help small businesses thrive.

10. He has the cutest dog! Look at his pomsky puppy Pummel! 

Will Trump Actually Go To Prison?

 

Most people say they would rather see Trump in prison that dead or in exile. Personally, I like the prison option too. There have, of course, been heads of state who have been executed, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette come to mind, as do Charles I of England, Mary Queen of Scots, Nicholas II of Russia, Mussolini, Patrice Lumumba of Congo, Nicolae Ceauşescu of Romania. Ion Antonescu pf Romania, Haile Selassie, Saddam Hussein, Vidkun Quisling of Norway. Philippe Pétain (although his death sentence was commuted to life in prison). There were dozens of heads of state that were imprisoned, Trump's pals Silvio Berlusconi and Hosni Mubarak being two. Crooked right wing French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Prime Minister, François Fillon, ran France from 2007 until 2012 and were both arrested in 2017. I think Sarkozy got off but Fillon may still in prison. Panamanian President Manuel Noriega was kidnapped and thrown into an American prison until he died.

Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, was imprisoned for treason for a couple years, then went into exile and was quickly pardoned by Andrew Johnson. I guess that would be the closest we come to Señor Trumpanzee.

Yesterday Forward reporter PJ Grisor asked Could Trump become the first president to flee America since Lindbergh? Obviously he was referring to Phil Roth's novel, The Plot Against America in which the fascist who beat FDR, Charles Lindbergh, flew his own plane from Louisville to DC but disappeared enroute.

While the HBO adaptation of Roth’s novel indicates that Lindbergh actually crashed-- his radar jammed by British intelligence and a group of American-Jewish patriots-- show creators David Simon and Ed Burns preserved an alternative view of what became of the 33rd president. As in the book, the revelation comes courtesy of the character of Evelyn (Winona Ryder).

Evelyn is the wife of a Lindbergh administration insider, and evidently someone capable of believing the QAnon theory that JFK Jr. faked his death by plane crash. She tells her sister, Bess that Lindbergh didn’t actually die. Rather, Hitler’s people kidnapped the beloved airmail pilot’s son, Charles, Jr., a year before the Nazis came to power and raised him as a member of the Hitler Youth.

Using the son as leverage, the Reich then dictated Lindbergh’s actions as an isolationist president-- including his hostile policies towards American Jewry.

Berlin wasn’t pleased with Lindbergh’s first-term job, and so ordered him to stage his disappearance so his vice president, Burton K. Wheeler, a more committed antisemite, could take control and implement the plans von Ribbentrop laid out for persecuting Jews. While it’s never explicitly said where Lindbergh ended up, given the Nazi blackmail plot, we can only assume he was recalled to Berlin.

With rumors swirling about a Trump resignation, speculation that the president’s foreign policy is dictated by kompromat and the QAnon conceit that Trump and a parade of notable people-- some of whom are dead-- are out to save children from a Democratic blood-youth pedophile cabal, the Roth scenario, crazy as it is, now certainly sounds more plausible.

The fear that Trump might skip town, leaving Pence in charge of a well-oiled oppressive state-- if one that’s more Handmaid’s Tale than Man in the High Castle-- also follows a certain trend of left-wing alarmism that matches what goes on in Plot.

But we probably shouldn’t worry too much about Trump’s threat, given the undesired diplomatic consequences any host country would endure as a result of his indefinite stay there as a man on the lam. It’s also tough to imagine Trump surviving in a country where English isn’t the dominant language or where his preferred McDonald’s menu items might be adulterated with flavors more exotic than trans fats and ketchup.

More concerning-- and imminently more likely-- is the warning present in the finale of HBO’s Plot adaptation. In the closing moments, set during an unprecedented election, we see voter intimidation, names of people of color missing from the rolls and men in suits carting off ballots and burning them en masse.

Some conspiracy theories have a bit more merit to them.

Jon Schwarz noted at The Intercept that Losing Could Expose Trump To Prosecution For Any Number Of Crimes. "Former presidents," he wrote, "normally don't go to jail, but few have committed so many obvious crimes unrelated to their duties in office." BUT "no former U.S. president has ever seen the inside of a cell-- and not because all presidents have faithfully followed the law. Presidents accumulate huge favors owed, favors that they cash in, figuratively and literally, when they become former presidents... [E]x-presidents receive political protection from their allies, as when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for anything whatsoever he’d done in office. And beyond anything concrete that a president does for the factions that back him, those factions also strenuously oppose any consequences for their president’s actions for reasons of basic class solidarity. If an ex-president can face consequences, that would suggest that people one step down the power ladder could too. And the people at the top of U.S. society see consequences like Leona Helmsley saw taxes: They’re for the little people."

Trump is more vulnerable to prosecution than other presidents because he’s engaged in so many potential nontraditional presidential crimes. With the invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush committed what the Nuremberg trials referred to as “the supreme international crime” of initiating a war of aggression. But there was never any chance that he’d be punished for this, because the entire U.S. power structure agrees that American presidents have the right to do it. Same for conducting thousands of drone strikes or torturing people around the globe. By contrast, Trump has engaged in many comparatively small, shabby, possible criminal activities outside of his presidential duties.

Right now, Trump is protected from indictment under all federal laws because he’s president. For decades, the Justice Department has held that it cannot prosecute sitting presidents; former special counsel Robert Mueller agreed and explained that he never had the option to charge Trump because it would be unconstitutional. And, whether or not this perspective is correct, Attorney General William Barr is a loyal hatchet man who would never take action against his patron.

It does seem, according to a recent Supreme Court ruling, that Trump could theoretically be indicted for violating state laws while in office. In practice, however, that is extremely unlikely.

But if Trump is defeated and extracted from the Oval Office, much of his presidential shield will disintegrate. He could try to pardon himself on the way out the door for all crimes he’s ever committed. But no one knows whether presidents can do this, since none have ever tried; in any case, it would only apply to violations of the federal code.

So let’s assume that Trump loses, he doesn’t pardon himself, and the state and federal justice systems suddenly become enthused like never before about treating the ultra-powerful like the powerless. Trump would then become vulnerable to prosecution in the below ways we already know about-- plus, in all likelihood, many, many others we don’t know about yet.

The crimes? Tax fraud, bank and insurance fraud, campaign finance violations, bribery, negligent homicide (in terms of the pandemic), and obstruction of justice. Schwarz reminds his readers that "After Mueller’s report was released, over 1,000 former federal prosecutors stated that if Trump were not president, his conduct as described by Mueller would 'result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.' It’s hard to imagine a Biden administration deciding to prosecute a former president. But, on the other hand, Kamala Harris said in 2019 that if she were elected president, 'I believe that [the Justice Department] would have no choice and that they should' pursue obstruction of justice charges against Trump." No mention of treason?

It certainly would have happened if Bernie were elected president but it's pretty much unimaginable it will happen under Biden/Pelosi/Schumer. It didn't take me long to figure out who to ask for a second opinion. I don't know that many people with brilliant legal minds. So I asked Alan Grayson, who possesses one. "I doubt that the next Attorney General will have the backbone to investigate any of his Presidential crimes," he told me, "but all of his run-of-the-mill tax fraud, banking fraud, etc., will work its way through the system. He probably will try to pardon himself from federal crimes before he leaves office, but that won’t even slow down any New York prosecutions, and New York has a very sophisticated financial crimes operation."

Herd Immunity by Chip Proser

Why Is The Florida Democratic Party Working So Hard To Lose?

 

Remember when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was bragging that his do-nothing response to the pandemic was just what the doctor ordered and how Florida would never be like New York or Italy. Today Florida has had 734,491 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (34,198 cases per million Floridians). New York has had 509,460 cases (26,189 cases per million New Yorkers) and Italy has had 354,950 cases (just 5,873 cases per million Italians). On Sunday Florida, still in the first wave, had 1,870 new cases. New York appears to be in the early phases of Wave II and reported 1,145 new cases. Like Trump, DeSantis has made every single wrong decision about the pandemic since it began, Because of DeSantis and Trump 15,365 Floridians are dead and the state currently has 284,231 active cases, more than any state other than California, which has nearly twice as many people.

DeSantis, the most hated governor in America, isn't on the ballot 3 weeks from today. He's lucky; but his party is on the ballot and voters know who the puppets in the state legislature are. The Florida state Senate consists of 23 Republicans and 17 Democrats. Four seats and the Democrats flip the Senate-- not an easy task... but not an impossible task either. Too bad the Florida Democratic Party doesn't seem interested in doing so.

"The party," former Orlando Congressman Alan Grayson told me yesterday, referring to the state Democratic Party, "should have come together and advocated a pro-survival, pro-health platform including free widespread testing, contact tracing, free state-provided PPE for everyone dealing with the public and all seniors, 'public nuisance' or 'disturbing the peace' enforcement against rule-breakers, free COVID treatment for everyone without insurance, frequent state inspection of nursing homes and senior communities for staff compliance, serious quarantining, selective restrictions tied to local outbreaks, virtual school open to all, and everything else that has been proven to work in places that have beaten the virus. Instead, crickets. Just crickets and funerals."

One of the least-covered scandals of this election cycle is how the head of the Florida Senate Dems, Gary Farmer, attempted to persuade-- rudely-- Rachel Brown into dropping out of an open state Senate race in Lee County to smooth the path for Farmer's Republican girlfriend, Heather Fitzenhagen. Luckily, Brown was not easily intimidated. Farmer's Republican girlfriend lost her primary to a neo-fascist Republican, Ray Rodrigues, and Brown is all that stands between him and another GOP extremist in the state legislature. Farmer is completely dismissive of Brown's campaign and has cut her off from state party funds.

Similarly, Farmer is protecting Trump Florida campaign Chair, Sen. Joe Gruters-- who is also chairman of the Florida Republican Party-- and has done everything he can do to sabotage the campaign of Democrat Katherine Norman, one of the best Democratic candidates fielded by the party this cycle.

Another case of Farmer working as hard as a Republican to make sure the Senate does not flip has been getting some national coverage. Joan Walsh's recent exposé in The Nation, Do Florida Democrats Want to Win the State Senate This Year? tells the story of Kathy Lewis, a distinguished African-American candidate who came close to beating the Republican incumbent last time she ran in a swing district that takes in parts of Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties. The Republican incumbent is retiring and the Democratic Party recognized a prime opportunity to flip a seat. They worked hard to recruit, not Kathy but failed gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink. When Sink declined, the party took the district off the map, despite Kathy's candidacy. Many observers say Farmer doesn't like black candidates running in white districts.

Last week, the Tampa Bay Times endorsed Kathy and demonstrated the short-sightedness of the state party. "Kathy Lewis," reads the editorial, "brings a compelling life story and a rich mix of professional and civic experience to this race. Her drive and clear view of the problems Floridians face would bring a fresh jolt of reality to the Senate." Gary Farmer should read the whole endorsement:

Lewis, 59, is an author, speaker and businesswoman who advocates on behalf of families with children with special needs. She was motivated to run for this Senate seat in 2018 after an ordeal with obtaining services for her daughter-- an experience that Lewis said shows the holes and indifference in the social safety net that punishes hard-hit families.

Lewis said her fight for disability rights grew beyond an interest in expanding Medicaid. And she says the coronavirus pandemic exposed the need to deal with social services across the board. She would invest more in education and public health, improve the unemployment benefits process and devise a strategy to address impacts to the budget. She also rightly wants Tallahassee to be more disciplined about preempting local control. Her agenda and infectious energy could bring average residents into the decision-making process and help restore public faith in government.

Republican Danny Burgess, 34, is an attorney and former state House member who served as executive director of the state Department of Veterans' Affairs from 2019 to 2020. Aside from supporting more reliable access to Florida’s jobless benefits system, Burgess doesn’t offer many exciting ideas or stray from the Republican playbook. He supports the costly plan for new transportation corridors, which is unfocused at best.


Lewis would bring a rich life experience to the upper chamber and a history of perseverance. She emerged from an inner-city household in Baltimore to become a financial analyst in both the public and private sectors and a civic leader in school and children’s groups. She has a command of what’s happening on the ground and what should happen at the 30,000-foot level. The Times Editorial Board recommends Kathy Lewis.

Over the weekend, Daily Kos diarist, SemDem, noted that "For the past two decades, there’s one thing the Florida Democrats have gotten really good at: losing." And, as he points out, there are far more registered Democrats in the state than registered Republicans. As of August, 2020:

• Democrats- 5,203,795
• Republicans- 5,020,199
• No Party Affiliation- 3,653,046

The Florida Democratic Party is fairly good at winning seats in overwhelmingly Democratic districts of Miami-Dade, Duval, Broward, Pinellas, Alachua, Orange, Osceola, Leon, Hillsborough, and Palm Beach counties, but would rather not contest races in districts were they need to work hard making a case to non-affiliated voters. They are lazy and incompetent as a party-- which is why it is so refreshing to have candidates up and down the ballot who are not affiliated with the party apparatus, whether state Senate candidates like Kathy Lewis, Rachel Brown and Katherine Norman, state House candidates like Joshua Hicks, Bob Lynch and Anselm Weber or U.S. congressional candidates like Adam Christensen and Cindy Banyai. (By the way, the 2020 ActBlue Florida thermometer on the right will allow you to contribute to any or all of these candidates. Please consider clicking on it.)

Yesterday Rachel Brown-- who isn't in one of those overwhelmingly blue districts-- told me that she only needs $7,000 to get her entire district's voters to click on her website from Facebook Ads. "A $100 donation," she said, "is the equivalent of a volunteer phone banker who calls for 4 hours a day for 7 days a week for 1 week. There are 132,809 registered Democrats in Lee County. I need 121,000 votes to win. This district is definitely flippable. We need help getting the word out. Please sign up for a phone bank or make a donation today. Even if I lose, the information that I put in my ads is necessary for the people to know. I give stats about livable wage, healthcare, climate, affordable housing, COVID-19 in all my ads. If people donate, the money goes to information/education based ads and conversational texting, and blast texts/robo calls reminding left leaning irregular voters to get out to vote."

One of the promising-- future of the Democratic Party-- state legislative candidates, Anselm Weber, is being actively ignored by the Florida party, despite an energetic and compelling campaign in Lee County that will be turning out votes in the presidential, congressional and state Senate races. Yesterday, Weber told me that "In the face of an openly fascist GOP administration, the gatekeepers in the Democratic Party still cede immense ground to the Republicans while actively helping them in key areas. Florida is a swing state with majority Democratic voters. It is deeply negligent in the face of a DeSantis administration that is openly trying to criminalize peaceful protests, refuses to expand Medicaid, and continues to destroy our environment, that the Democrats are not spending as much as they can to help flip the Florida State Legislature. Even if the Democrats win the Presidency and both chambers of Congress, the door is wide open for Republicans to continue their authoritarian and austerity driven agenda in Florida or any other state. The Democrats should take a page from the Republicans and fight for state and local elections as much as they fight for the Presidency."

Another candidate candidate didn't want to go on record but told me that "the party should and can do way more to help down ballot candidates and it's a shame they don't. Whoever is the chair in 2022 needs to commit to truly supporting down ballot candidates-- as many great candidates won't run again because they aren't treated well."

SemDem went on to point out that Farmer is only targeting 2 Senate seats (SD-9 and SD-39), guaranteeing that the state Senate will not flip. A vigorous grassroots movement has a bone to pick with Farmer and the state Party and has helped make sure a Democrat is running in every district. Like most people, SemDem has identified Kathy Lewis as the Democrat who has the best chance to bring the party the crucial 3rd seat that would force the GOP to share power with the Democrats. He points out that her swing district "transverses the I-4 corridor, which is critical for Biden’s Florida campaign... Supporting this race is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, not only has most of the Democratic senate caucus not endorsed her, she told me that two major donors who had pledged money were told not to donate to her campaign. What is going on?

Florida Senator Gary Farmer, who is set to be Democratic Minority Leader in 2021, oversees the Democratic Senate Victory funding. He has ensured that Senate Districts 9 and 39 are flush with money. District 9 challenger Patricia Sigman has been receiving funds from the Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign since March. More importantly, she and District 39 challenger Jose Fernandez received endorsements early on that helped big donors open their checkbooks. Sigman and Fernandez have raised half a million each.

Kathy Lewis never received such treatment. Mr. Farmer has tweeted against spending money on “long shots” that take away from races that he feels can be won. To be fair, he must spend a lot to win both Districts 9 and 39, and this year he must also spend money in District 3 (Tallahassee) and District 37 (South Florida) to ward off surprisingly strong challengers—even though they are in blue areas. The Democratic incumbents for SD-3 and SD-37 have over $300K each.

However, District 20 is far from a long shot. In fact, an internal poll, commissioned by a large donor in September, showed the race to be very competitive. The poll data showed that Lewis’ Republican opponent, Dan Burgess, had an edge until questions were posed from the GOP agenda, such as cutting Medicare, fracking and not fixing former governor, current Sen. Rick Scott and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ unemployment system-- which became an utter disaster in this state after COVID. The poll swung to Lewis by a 24-point margin! With appropriate funding, and Lewis’ plan to digitally micro-target constituents, the district could be in great shape for a flip.

Nonetheless, she not only received the cold shoulder on funding, she also has only managed to get the endorsements of five state senators as of this writing: Annette Taddeo, Lori Burman, Victor Torres, Audrey Gibson, and Bobby Powell. Endorsements are needed to bring in big donor funding. The other 12 Democratic state senators have not endorsed her, and in some cases, stated they wouldn’t. Fergie Reid, Jr. of 90for90.org revealed that Democratic state Sen. Darryl Rousen told him he had a friendly working relationship with Burgess, the Republican candidate, and thought Kathy Lewis wasn’t a strong enough candidate to beat him. I reached out to state Sen. Rousen and left messages, but they were not returned as of this writing.

If the Florida state Senate doesn't flip, it will be Gary Farmer's fault. If Florida fails to deliver its 29 electoral votes to Joe Biden this cycle it will be Gary Farmer's fault. If Florida remains a Republican hellhole it will be Gary Farmer's fault. Debbie Wasserman Schultz ran the Florida Democratic Party into a ditch; Gary Farmer is keeping it there. Whose payroll is Farmer on?

And it isn't just the venality for characters like Wasserman Schultz and Farmer that have turned Florida into such a challenge for Democrats. The party's incompetence is legendary. Adam Christensen, one of the state's rising stars, told me, regretfully that the state is far behind where it should be technologically-- at least in the rural parts of the state the party has been ignoring for years. Recently, his campaign spent $3,500 buying data from the party. "We decided to run tests on this  data to see just how effective it would be. We found that 80% of it was wrong. This included disconnected phone numbers, wrong cell numbers, incorrect addresses or emails ect… Data wins races, and right now Florida Democrats are running blind in the most critical areas-- that is if they are able to pay for this data at all. In my opinion if the Democratic Party of Florida gave out their software to everyone running and taught them how to do constant updates then they would have a phenomenal crowd-sourced operation and would win far more races than they do currently. It’s time to move into the 21st century, and we can’t afford to keep making the same mistakes."

Why Does Ron DeSantis Seem So Determined To Make His Pandemic Even Worse For Floridians?

 

Florida Man

On Thursday, Florida reported another 2,541 COVID cases and another 172 deaths (by far the worst in the U.S.). Only 7 full countries had more deaths on Thursday than Florida:

• India- 1,144
• U.S.A.- 942
• Brazil- 818
• Mexico- 601
• Argentina- 390
• Colombia- 178
• Iran- 175

Yesterday, Florida reported another 2,847 new cases-- bringing the state's total to 695,887, third worst after much bigger California and Texas. In fact, Florida now has 32,400 cases per million residents, compared to Texas' 26,243 cases per million and Califoirnia's 20,249, which is below the national average (21,767). Florida has 417,626 active cases, are than any state by far. In short, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, aided by Trump and a Republican-controlled legislature, has turned Florida into a COVID-basket case.

Yesterday DeSantis decided to make his pandemic worse by allowing restaurants at operate full capacity and preventing even the worst hit cities and counties from ordering businesses to close. This while new daily cases are spiking like mad in a dozen counties. Yesterday these were the 10 counties reporting new cases worse than some entire states!

• Miami-Dade- 503
• Broward- 191
• Palm Beach- 157
• Orange- 157
• Hillsborough- 155
• Duval- 120 (where Trump hel;d a super-spreader event Thursday night)
• Alachua- 98
• Polk- 96
• Brevard- 92
• Leon- 88

DeSantis announced that all restaurants in Florida will be allowed to operate with at least 50 percent capacity regardless of local rules. Additionally, the governor says local governments will have to justify any capacity restrictions between 50 and 100 percent. Those would require state approval... The governor says he will not allow local governments to close restaurants. As he has stated this week, he does not believe restaurant closures have made a difference in limiting the spread of COVID-19... [B]ars will be allowed to operate with at least 50 percent capacity, just like restaurants.

Meanwhile, DeSantis' boss, Donald, is reported to have "lost patience" with Dr. Robert Redfield the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventio, "as well as with the other public health experts on his coronavirus team because their sober messaging on the future of the pandemic clashes with his rosy assessments.

Trump believes that breakthroughs are not coming swiftly enough, according to people familiar with the President's thinking. Trump's frustrations have caused some to question whether Redfield is on the chopping block, but a Trump adviser said they did not expect the President to make major staffing changes before the election.

The ever-looming threat, Trump's public undermining of the CDC chief and Redfield's tendency to fold to the White House are taking a toll on CDC staff, from top to bottom, employees say. Some have questioned whether their work is making a difference and others have even considered resigning-- and whether the sagging spirits may be hampering pandemic response.

Eight current and former public health officials described for CNN a crushing environment at the agencies charged with the coronavirus response brought on by a President intent on contradicting critical public health messaging and downplaying the threat of the virus, politically motivated pressure from the White House and baseless allegations from political appointees that government scientists are part of a disloyal "deep state."

"The morale is as low as I've ever seen it and we have no confidence in our leadership," a CDC official said. "People are miserable and it's a shame because this pandemic is still flying away and we still need a robust public health response."

Inside the White House, Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci have struggled to compete with the growing influence of Trump's new favorite coronavirus adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no public health or infectious disease expertise whose views are wildly out of step with leading public health experts. Birx has told people around her she is "distressed" with the direction of the task force and is uncertain how much longer she can continue to serve as the coronavirus task force coordinator.

And at the FDA, the agency's top career officials penned a Washington Post op-ed earlier this month reasserting the agency's independence and commitment to science amid political pressure from the White House and "deep state" allegations from the President.

In a nod to the dispirited mood engulfing his agency, Redfield registered his disappointment during a Senate hearing on Wednesday with since-departed top Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Michael Caputo's wild accusations that CDC scientists are part of a "deep state" engaging in "sedition."

Back to Florida for a moment. Matt Dixon reported at Politico that on Friday Bloomberg announced that he’s blanketing Florida airwaves with a $40 million TV ad buy, the first since he pledged to spend $100 million there to defeat Donald. "The massive buy, being made through the Bloomberg-funded Independence USA PAC, comes the same week that nearly 5 million vote-by-mail ballots are being sent to Florida voters in the the start of what effectively is a month-long Election Day in the nation’s largest swing state."

Bloomberg told Dixon that "This fall, the path to the presidency goes through Florida-- and with mail-in ballots going out this week, voters will soon start deciding who gets its 29 electoral votes. That’s why we’re doing everything in our power to tell the story of Donald Trump’s failed presidency and why we need Joe Biden as the next president of the United States."

Florida Republicans can't stop his ads but they are trying to stop him and others for paying the fines of felons so they can vote. Former Orlando Congressman Alan Grayson, one of the first supporters of the idea of re-enfranchising felons who had served their time, told me that "The threat to investigate Bloomberg is the best illustration so far of the psychopathology of the Florida GOP. Florida voted by almost two-to-one in favor of the principle that no one can take away your right to vote, even if you’re a convicted felon. That’s one of those 'INALIENABLE' rights-- a right that you cannot lose-- that the Founders said was 'endowed by the Creator.' But to the Florida GOP, that’s just LOL."





NPR reported yesterday that Ashley Moody, Florida's crackpot, right-wing attorney general, urged on by Matt Gaetz, the furthest right of the Florida congressional delegation, is demanding law enforcement agencies open an investigation into Bloomberg's contribution to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. The Republicans are whining that Bloomberg and other contributing to the Coalition are trying to buy their votes.

Northeast Florida state House candidate Joshua Hicks, endorsed yesterday by President Obama, isn't buying DeSantis' bullshit. "Last I checked, the pandemic is still present," he told me, "we haven't found a cure, people are still getting sick and dying. Yet, today's decision to reopen Florida by Gov. DeSantis was another example of his severe incompetence and his obvious need to please Donald Trump. This decision made by the Governor places lives in danger-- young and old-- and he's playing political games with all of our lives. It's shameful and unbecoming of a Governor. Instead of addressing this virus head on, the Governor has been spreading lies and hiding the facts from the people. He continues to do so and I look forward to holding him fully accountable when I'm elected to the Florida Legislature on November 3rd. Or, he added... as The Atlantic put it Thursday: "In present-day politics, we have one party that consistently seeks advantage in depriving the other party’s adherents of the right to vote."

Bob Lynch is a state House candidate in Miami-Dade, running against one of DeSantis' top allies in the legislature, Daniel Perez. Bob told me yesterday that "You have to remember that Ron DeSantis is doing this AFTER doing nothing to shore up our state’s unemployment, deliberately making it hard to access Federal PUA money, and not rejecting the extra $300 a week in Federal unemployment assistance. So what choice do people have who work in the restaurant industry? Go to work and get sick while bringing the virus into your home or stay home and get no assistance and risk starvation? If we had had a comprehensive state and Federal response since he beginning of the Pandemic we would not be facing this brutal decision.  We should have acted like other modern countries and paid people to stay home. Instead, the Republicans just want to send people to their deaths while providing immunity to business owners that don’t follow whatever messed up version of the CDC guidelines appear from day to day. There is no gray area on the science here. Dining indoors helps spread the virus. The negligence is criminal. The GOP has a very fluid position on states and local rights. They are all in favor of them as long as The will of the people is bent to their vision of what’s 'best'."

Lynch said that "Residents of Florida already overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative in 2018 to restore voting rights for felons. There was no provision for a poll tax to make them pay their fees. Michael Bloomberg, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan have honorably stepped in to assist in this effort as many ex-felons can’t even find out what they will be required to pay to exercise their Constitutional rights. Overturning the will of the people is nothing new in Florida. It happened with Medical Marijuana, it happened with disenfranchising felons, and it will happen again. Hopefully not with the results of the election in November. DeSantis will not provide a critical check on the Trump Regime and Florida Republicans will never provide a check on DeSantis. Our only hope is to vote them all out and elect Democrats who believe in science and the constitution. People will continue to die due to Ron DeSantis’ decisions."

If Rachel Brown wins her state Senate race in Lee County on November 3 you will read the next day that the Democrats, despite the party leadership-- and particularly despite Gary Farmer-- have flipped the chamber from red to blue. This morning Brown told me, referring to DeSantis and his puppets in the legislature, that "they are sacrificing people, school children, for the sake of 'normalcy.' A leader does not pretend everything is ok. A leader deals with an issue head on and is honest with their people. It was absolutely devastating, revolting, apocalyptic... the news. Now that the schools have adapted in these tough times, now this? Now they will have to deal with parents not sending their kids to school with a mask? ... Now it's not safe to go to the grocery store... or go out and vote? That was their plan all along. Discusting."

If There Was No Florida Democratic Party, It Would Be Easier For Democrats To Win

Last night I got an extraordinary e-mail from Alan Grayson. I don't think he sent it to anyone but me and I decided not to send it to anyone else, not even Adam Christensen, whose new video is directly above. This was Grayson's e-mail; you can read it at the same time Adam Christensen does:

I endorse Adam Christensen for Congress. I’ll tell you why, but first, a question. How many URLs are there? The answer is that, even if you limit yourself only to 10 characters or less (like www.absolutely.com), there are 141 trillion URLs. Lots and lots of choices. Adam’s campaign URL is ForTheManyNotJustMe.com/. Now, Adam could have chosen LobsterDinnerWithLobbyists.com-- remarkably, that URL is available. Or Adam could have chosen HowElseCouldIPossiblyMake174KPerYear.com-- also, somehow, available. But instead, Adam chose a URL that conveys why he is running for Congress: for the many, not just him. And, as it turns out, that is the most important thing in a candidate, because if you don’t start out with that in your heart, you’re sure not going to pick it up on the way. Good luck in FL-03, Adam. There’s only one right reason to run for Congress, and you’ve found it.

Moments after Alan sent me the endorsement, this e-mail arrived from Adam, who I had asked for a comment for this post. "We are on our own here. The Florida Democratic Party wrote off this part of the state a long time ago," he wrote. "In fact they haven’t done polling in the last 2 ½ years. What is crazy is that they have completely written off competitive and winnable districts along the way because they are 10-15 years behind when it comes to data analysis. They know less about the people living in Florida than Macy’s does. For instance in our race, there are 40-50,000 Hispanic and Latino voters that have never been asked to vote for either party. There are 40,000 independent and conservative women voters in the rural districts that are winnable. There are former felons that now have the right to vote. Florida will be won in the margins. The only way to flip Florida is to run up the score in places you know you can win and cut the margins in places you can’t. $150,000 is enough to make a +9 district in Florida competitive. $300,000 is enough to win. The Return On Investment for any donor is far better spent giving directly to the candidates-- not the party. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work for the economy and it doesn’t work in politics. Giving to the Florida Party so they can hand it to consultants is not a winning strategy. Fighting for every acre of land and putting candidates in every race-- IS."

Steve Bousquet's headline, Florida Democrats Go All Out For Historically Republican Legislative Seats is slightly, and I'm sure unintentionally, misleading. It gives you the idea that the Florida Democratic Party is trying to win Republican-held state legislative seats. That's a stretch. The Florida Democratic Party is worse than worthless. If they were just worthless they wouldn't be doing anything. Worse than worthless means they are actively sabotaging Democratic candidates, going so far as telling people various Republicans are their friends (or, in the case of state Sen. Gary Farmer, worse).

This should be an especially bad year for Florida Republicans. Trashing science and the advice of public health officials Trump and his puppet governor Ron DeSantis (R) and their puppet legislators in their puppet state House and puppet state Senate failed-- dismally-- to protect Fllorida from the pandemic... and more so than almost any other state. Yesterday, DeSantis infected 3,656 more Floridians with COVID-19, bringing the state total to 643,867. California and Texas have more cases-- but they also have a lot more people. When it comes to measuring how many cases there are per million people, only one state (Louisiana) beats Florida's 29,978 cases per million residents. It gets worse; Florida has-- by far-- the most active cases in the U.S., 535,536 compared to California's 372,054 and Texas' 88,420. Trump, DeSantis and their puppets in Tallahassee have killed 11,815 Floridians so far, including 60 more yesterday. There are 10 hot-spot counties right now, where new daily cases are out of control-- and those counties are I'm every part of the state. Yesterday's dozen worst counties for new cases:

• Miami-Dade +549
• Leon +327
• Hillsborough +281
• Broward +232
• Palm Beach +143
• Orange +139
• Duval +139
• Polk +127
• Gadsden +108
• Pinellas +96
• Alachua +89
• Volusia +87

Other counties with out-sized total case-loads include Lee, Osceola, Escambia, Collier and Manatee. Voters are ready to dump Trump and Republicans up and down the ballot. DeSantis is lucky to not be on the ballot, but many of his closest collaborators in Tallahassee are.

But the state Democratic Party in nowhere to be found in most races, telling candidates in winnable districts that they can't or won't help.

It was the Florida Environmental Caucus and 90 For 90 that have recruited the candidates, not the Florida Democratic Party, which has bullied and threatened candidates in attempts to get them, to drop out-- even if that means giving a Trump-Republican a free ride!

So far the Environmental Caucus/90 For 90 coalition has helped defeat one of the Florida Democratic Party's favorite GOP-backed anti-Semite, anti-gay crackpots, Kim Daniels, who lost her primary race to progressive champion Angie Nixon.

Fergie Reid runs 90 For 90 and Bousquet interviewed him last week. "Reid," he wrote, "says 90-for-90’s goal is to flood the zone with candidates and create enthusiasm. Many of them don’t have to win, he says; just be competitive and force Republicans to devote extra resources. From his vantage point, Reid says Florida Democrats are not trying hard enough. 'Democrats lose Florida by microscopic margins,' says Reid. '10,000 for Nelson, 30,000 for Gillum, 60,000 each for Sink and Crist. A hundred and some-odd thousand for Hillary Clinton against Trump. That’s nothing in Florida.'"

I spoke with Reid yesterday. He was adamant that there should be Democrats running in every House seat and in all the state Senate seats that are being contested this cycle. "The current Florida Senate," he noted, has 17 Dems and 23 Republicans. Dems need to flip 3 seats to share power in the Senate as the decennial gerrymander session approaches. If they have a 'seat at the gerrymandering table,' Dems have a chance to draw reasonably fair districts throughout the state. If Dems remain in the Senate minority, the Republicans will draw incredibly unfair districts, limiting the number of Dems that can be elected to the Florida congressional delegation, and the Florida state legislature.

"There is one Senate Special Election this year," he emphasized, "replacing a GOP senator who resigned to pursue 'greener pastures.' That Senator won re-election in 2018, barely. He received an unexpectedly strong Democratic challenge from a first time candidate named Kathy Lewis. She got 46.5% of the district’s vote total, despite being outspent 12 to 1. Kathy Lewis is the Dem candidate again this year. She has name recognition and is well respected for her years of Florida Disability Rights Advocacy. The Democratic Senate Caucus believes that they can realistically flip 2 seats, Senate Districts 9 and 39, both in the eastern part of the State. Kathy’s district is Senate District 20, in the city of Tampa, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Polk counties. Kathy Lewis could flip the coveted 3rd seat for Senate Dems; but so far, they’re behaving as though they don’t want to flip this seat. WH !!!??? Kathy Lewis is Black, and she’s running in a White district. The party refers to these types of districts as “non-Minority Access” districts. The party doesn’t like Black candidates running in White districts. Oye Vey !! Is this 2020; or 1963 ?? If Kathy gets the necessary financial support from National small dollar donors, she’ll over-perform again, just as she did in 2018. Hit the thermometer below; send a serious message to the Florida Democratic Party and the Florida Democratic Senate Caucus. The Florida donation limit is $1,000."

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Joe Gruters-- fighting for his political life as environmental activist and working class champion Katherine Norman becomes better and better known to voters in Sarasota and Charlotte counties. Gruters, delusional says the Florida Republican Party is "going on the offensive... I think 2020 is going to be a phenomenal year for Republicans. We are very optimistic about our chances, and I am very happy to run, myself, on the coattails of the president of the United States." Trump's toxicity in Florida is likely to help defeat puppet incumbents like Gruters. I asked Katherine how her race is proceeding, even without any help from her own party. She was focused on the voters and on Gruters, not on the state party. As she told me recently, "more and more voters in traditionally red districts are reaching for competent leadership across the aisle. Republicans in Sarasota and Charlotte counties are revolting against Gruters, some leaning towards voting blue for the first time in their lives. As the mismanagement of Florida's coronavirus pandemic continues, we can expect to see increasingly positive polling for Biden in this state... I am deeply saddened for our six million Florida seniors who are locked in their homes, unable to hug or see their grandchildren, unable to fulfill the travel dreams of their retirement because of the complete mismanagement of coronavirus by Florida Republican leaders. Senator Gruters said that he expects the virus to get worse before it gets better. We should not have to accept this nonsense answer from our elected officials. Our citizens deserve leaders that respond to science and that have the basic decency to protect the most vulnerable in our population."

Trump's Racism Caused Him To Push To Sell Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is 5,328 square miles with a population of 3.2 million (Americans). Greenland is melting but the area is 836,300 square miles with around 56,000 people, less than the 70,000 who live in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico's 7th largest city. Greenland's biggest town, Nuuk, has 18,000 people. There are 140 Americans station in Greenland at the Thule Air Base.

Former Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor is getting really famous. The video above is an interview he did with Hallie Jackson on MSNBC yesterday. It's worth watching the whole thing but at the 5:15 point he said "One time before we went down, [Trump] told us, not only did he want to purchase Greenland, he actually said he wanted to see if we could sell Puerto Rico, could we swap Puerto Rico for Greenland, because, in his words, Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor."

Taylor said Trump wasn't joking. He said that Trump "expressed deep animus towards the Puerto Rican people behind scenes. These are people who were recovering from the worst disaster of their lifetime. He is their president. He should be standing by them, not trying to sell them off to a foreign country."

Alan Grayson, who grew up in the Bronx, in an area that has more Puerto Ricans than anyplace else in the continental U.S. and then went on to represent the Orlando area, which has one of the continental U.S.' biggest Puerto Rican populations said he feel "the feeling is mutual. I’m sure that Puerto Ricans would love to trade Donald Trump for the Queen of England, Pope Francis, or even Muammar Qaddafi’s corpse. To say that Donald Trump is a racist is like saying that Serena Williams is a tennis player."

I think anyone who knows anything about Trump from his pre-White House days, knows he's always been a bigot with an animus towards Puerto Ricans, especially working class Puerto Ricans. The first time the young Trump made it into the legitimate newspapers was as the result of the federal government suing him and his father for illegally discriminating against Puerto Rican families in a building development they used federal funds to develop. That's around the time Woody Guthrie, one other tenants in Brooklyn rode this song about Trump, Sr.





Progressive Jared West is the official Democratic candidate running to replace Trumpist Sam Killebrew in the Winter Haven-Haines City-Davenport area of Polk County (HD-41). He wasn't happy about hearing what Trump said about Puerto Ricans. "It is absolutely deplorable Trump said that," he told me this morning, "but are we really surprised? Puerto Rico has been through a lot lately, and he’s done nothing but mock them and ignore them. Puerto Rican people are Americans, and my district has one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Rican’s in Florida. Many of them came over after the natural disasters. Today, when I’m elected, and forever, I stand with all people and especially Puerto Ricans to denounce this awful hate filled rhetoric. We will see you in November Donald Trump, and you will be answering for these comments."

Bob Lynch is the Democratic Party candidate for the Miami-Dade state House seat held by GOP wig wig Daniel Perez, a knee-jerk Trumpist, with no interest in working families other than during election season. Lynch has a very different perspective. This morning he told me that "It is unclear why Miles seems surprised as to the extent of Trump’s depravity and lack of humanity. He willingly went to work for a man that announced his presidency by declaring our Latino neighbors to be rapists, thugs, and killers. We have people that are still living without electricity and running water in Puerto Rico because of the agency Miles continued to work for, despite his shamelessly self-serving newfound conscience. Trump, Kitstjen Nielsen, and Miles Taylor are all personally responsible for thousands of needless deaths in Puerto Rico as well as thousands of Latino families destroyed after being separated by ICE. Miles should have resigned and immediately gone to Congress the day it was proposed to keep children in cages. Congress should also haul him, Nielsen, and everyone else who committed crimes against humanity at Trump’s behest in for non-stop hearings between now and November. A redemption tour because he sees grifters like the Lincoln Project getting rich is not something the media should be feeding into. Donald Trump doesn’t consider Puerto Rican’s to be Americans nor does he believe other Latinos should be given basic human rights. Miles Taylor could have done something to stop it and chose to do nothing. November is way too late for his victims."

Here's the version of the same Woody Guthrie song, the one I've been listening to for the last few years-- and performed by Ryan Harvey, Ani DeFranco and Tom Morello: