Not All Democrats Are The Same

Five months from now it will be too late. The primaries will be over and the new House of Representatives chosen. I feel certain that the Democratic wave will have swept Republican Trump enablers across the country out of office. The fellow at the blackboard up top is Trump rubber stamp and Wall Street puppet Bruce Poliquin (R-ME). He will face off against a fighting progressive-- Jared Golden, who has proven his leadership skills on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan and as the majority whip of the Maine House of Representatives. Jared is a blue collar union guy and he's facing off against Poliquin because Maine voters chose him as their nominee instead of an elite careerist with nothing much to say beyond the regular DC consultant palaver the DCCC spits out. The Democratic Party and the United States need as many Jared Goldens as we can get, not Republican-lite fake Democrats. Democratic voters in Omaha, Nebraska, in Pennsylvania Dutch country, in Lexington, Kentucky, and in California's 45th district in the heart of Orange County picked 4 progressive women, reformers, who the DCCC either ignored or were hostile to.

Tomorrow there are pivotal primaries in New York, Colorado, Maryland and Oklahoma that pits progressive reformer against the Old Guard, DCCC status quo conservatives. What a difference it would make to wake up tomorrow morning to find out that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fiery 28 year old Latina and Berniecrat from the Bronx has taken down Joe Crowley, the most corrupt Democrat in Congress! Nor is NY-14 the only crucial battleground in New York today. On Long Island, an effective and proven leader for progressive causes, DuWayne Gregory is up against someone with many empty promises and no accomplishments for the right to face Trumpy-The-Clown enabler Peter King. Upstate there's a better candidate, Dana Balter, running in Syracuse than, Juanita Perez Williams, the DCCC pick. The best candidate to beat Faso in November is Jeff Beals.



In Colorado, we have we have crucial congressional primaries for Congress in Denver (Saira Rao) and the Denver suburbs (Levi Tillermann) and for a state legislative seat (Emily Sirota). The full-blown progressive in Oklahoma City running for the nomination to face reactionary Steve Russell, is Tom Guild. And in Maryland the most progressive Democrat for governor is Ben Jealous.

Chose wisely today. It makes a real difference. Last week, in the middle of most frenzied part of her campaign, Alexandria Ocasio flew down to Tornillo, Texas, to, in her words, "protest the barbaric practices of this administration at a joint-action event outside of the first ICE detention center... sitting on the sidelines as ICE continues to terrorize people across the country and tear families apart just wasn’t an option."

Yesterday she sent a note to her supporters noting that "every part of our campaign is in overdrive. We’re spending everything we have to send out canvassers to talk to voters, help national volunteers make calls, and put out ads to help people get to their polling booths."

But we can’t get complacent-- because Crowley’s fighting us with an massive corporate war chest. He's buying TV ads, sending dozens of letters to his steadfast supporters, and trying to drown out our progressive message.

In these critical last 48 hours, it’s more important than ever to take a real look at what’s fueling these machines.

Joe Crowley has raised $1.1 million this cycle from 250 corporate PAC donations alone-- not even counting his donations from party elites.

In contrast, our campaign has received exactly zero dollars and zero cents from any corporations or corporate PACs.

We don’t need corporate money-- our progressive message that fights for social, economic and racial justice has encouraged over 10,000 unique donors to contribute to the cause.

...I know it might feel like donating this late in the game won’t help as much-- but it’s more important than ever. This is our last chance to make sure that we can convince first time voters to come out and vote.

Every cycle, 3% of the voters in this district choose the path for the rest of us. That’s a broken democracy, and it’s time we fixed it.

Levi Tillemann's last minute message to his supporters was also inspirational. "Washington power brokers," he wrote, "are running scared-- and going to extraordinary lengths to try to blunt our momentum! Last weekend, This American Life announced it was running a piece on DCCC interference in Congressional primaries. We were interviewed extensively for that piece. Well, the insiders cried foul and put extraordinary pressure on This American Life to write us out. In response, This American Life delayed its air date (to eliminate its impact on primaries), changed the episode’s name, and rewrote the content. Think about that: It’s kind of INCREDIBLE! It’s also OK, because we’re going to win."

All of today's independent-minded progressive candidates are in the same predicament. They have to keep funding their get-out-the-vote operations. It's worth helping them; it makes the difference between winning and... a weak and ineffective Congress. If you'd rather give to upcoming races, like for Kaniela Ing in Hawaii or Randy Bryce in Wisconsin, or if you want to send contributions for folks who already won their primaries and are already battling Republicans (like Jared Golden, Kara Eastman, Katie Porter and Jess King), all of these candidates are on the same Blue America 2018 congressional elections page on the right. Please take your pick and consider contributing what you can. Remember, there's no such thing as a contribution that too small. Now's the time to make a real difference when we have an opportunity to decide which kind of Democrats run in the general election in November.

Today Congressional Republicans Proved Once Again That They Can't Govern-- Just Complain

I don't think anyone really thought Goodlatte's extreme hard-core anti-immigrant bill (HR 4760) had a chance of passing this afternoon. And it didn't. With every single Democrat and 41 Republicans voting NO, it went down 231-193. It was interesting that most of the Republicanos with tough reelection battles looming voted against it. They know which way the wind is blowing. This were some of the frightened Republicans who voted NO:

• Mike Coffman (CO-06)
• Barbara Comstock (VA-10)
• Carlos Curbelo (FL-26)
• Jeff Denham (CA-10)
• Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25)
• Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01)
• Will Hurd (TX-23)
• John Katko (NY-24)
• Peter King (NY-02)
• Steve Knight (CA-25)
• MacArthur (NJ-03)
• Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05)
• Erik Paulsen (MN-03)
• Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48)
• Pete Roskam (IL-06)
• Steve Russell (OK-05)
• Elise Stefanik (NY-21)
• Fred Upton (MI-06)
• David Valadao (CA-21)

As Duwayne Gregory-- the progressive Democrat running for the South Shore Long Island seat Peter King occupies-- just told me, "Republican members of Congress can only grow a spine when they feel their re-election will be directly impacted. Peter King has not shown the leadership that his district and quite frankly the country deserves from a longstanding member of the Republican majority in Congress. Our country doesn’t need members in Congress who do the right thing only when they feel they elections are threatened. We need leaders who will stand up with courage and conviction to do what is best for our country regardless of the consequences."



The "compromise" bill (it shields DREAMers from deportation), which is slightly less extreme has been postponed until tomorrow-- at the soonest. It is expected to fail as well.

House conservatives have been asking GOP leaders for more time to review the legislation. And House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) has been advocating for additional time to whip the bill all week.

Speaker Paul Ryan called a meeting early Thursday afternoon with other Republican leaders to discuss the situation.

“I think it is a mistake that leadership is rushing this [compromise] bill to the floor today,” Rep. Raul Labrador, one of the top negotiators of the text, said before the leadership meeting was announced.

"I actually think with a little bit more conversation, we could actually get to an agreement on things,” the Idaho Republican said. “Somebody suggested this today: we don’t have the White House picnic. Let’s spend those two hours in a room as Republicans talking about how we can actually get to 218.”

...The expected failure of both measures is also a setback for Trump, who pitched himself to voters as the world’s greatest dealmaker. Not only does the exercise make the president look weak, the collapse of the bill will undercut his message of blaming Democrats for problems at the border. Republicans can’t get on the same page themselves... Trump fired off a flurry of immigration tweets Thursday morning but, notably, none were a direct push for House Republicans to back the compromise bill. Instead, the president attacked the U.S. asylum system and accused Democrats of preventing action on immigration.

“What is the purpose of the House doing good immigration bills when you need 9 votes by Democrats in the Senate, and the Dems are only looking to Obstruct (which they feel is good for them in the Mid-Terms),” Trump tweeted. “Republicans must get rid of the stupid Filibuster Rule-it is killing you!”

Time and again in his dealings with Congress, and especially with Republicans, Trump has shown that he doesn’t know how to close deals on legislation. At crucial times, he hasn’t been able to move votes, due in part to his failure or unwillingness to grasp the intricacies of legislation and policy.

Trump can attack Republicans in Congress, he can confuse them, and he can scare them, but he often can’t make them vote how he wants.

“We’re still working through a lot of questions that members have,” Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) said Wednesday night after leaving a whip meeting. “I think the president had a really good meeting at the White House with a number of members as well and he was really strong in his support and why he wants this bill on his desk.”

Scalise acknowledged, however, that GOP leaders still don’t have 218 votes.

The votes on a pair of immigration bill come a day after tensions between leaders, conservatives and moderates boiled over on the House floor. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows accused Ryan of lying to him about which conservative bill he’d allow to come to a vote. The North Carolina lawmaker, who rarely raises his voice, also fumed that two provisions he’d won in the compromise bill were left out, breaking their agreement.

GOP leaders huddled Wednesday night after the clash. Ryan called Meadows and told him they would give him the provisions he wanted, leaving both sides chalking up the run-in as a misunderstanding.

Some people close to the negotiations and aligned with leadership complain that conservatives were shifting their demands as the vote approached. Immigration hard-liners counter that leaders have been unwilling to do enough to secure the border. And even though a compromise was reached on what the House would take up, ill will lingers.

Conservatives are disappointed by Trump’s inability to sell the compromise bill and are therefore wary of voting “yes.” The package includes a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and some other types of immigrants, devised by immigration hawk Rep. Raúl Labrador of Idaho.

But conservatives don’t like the final product. It would significantly curb family migration, end the diversity visa lottery program and appropriate $25 billion for a border wall. Critics on the right wanted additional provisions, such as E-Verify, which mandates that all businesses check the legal status of their workers.

Trump met with a handful of lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday and appears to have moved some of them, according to one Republican source. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen were on the Hill separately Wednesday to try to drum up support.

But GOP leaders say the only way the compromise legislation would pass is if Trump himself tells conservatives explicitly: Vote for the compromise bill.

Trump hasn’t done that. Neither, it appears, did his Cabinet officials, who echoed Trump’s careful talking points: the president would sign either a conservative bill or a moderate bill, they said.

The "compromise" bill provides DREAMers with a pathway to citizenship and gives Trump the $25 billion for the wall, most of which he plans to steal and enrich his friends. It also prevents families from being separated at the border-- incarceration instead of separation?

This Tuesday, progressive Democrat Tom Guild has his primary against some establishment candidates Today he told us that his Republican opponent "Steve Russell has made a living by logging a radical voting record and his bloviating and extreme rhetoric. When all of his Oklahoma Republican House Colleagues voted for the extreme immigration measure, Russell vote no. He was for the bill before he was against it. He must feel the heat on the immigration issue our campaign has focused on him and his radical views. Since Russell wakes up in a new world every day, we’re waiting with baited breath to see what his next naked political chess move will be."

The Year Duwayne Gregory Can End Peter King's Long, Tired Political Career

Alexa Sheryll is Duwayne Gregory's campaign manager. Their primary is a week from Tuesday, June 26. Alexa explained this week that she's heard that "a lot of people don’t know exactly where the money they give to campaigns goes. "As DuWayne’s campaign manager," she said, "I can tell you exactly where your donation goes... With our campaign, money isn’t going to some shadowy super PAC fund. It’s going directly to our efforts to bring real leadership to NY-02." She pointed to three priorities they need to fund between now and the 26th:

• Supporting our field team (even volunteers have to eat!)
• Helping DuWayne connect with as many voters as possible
• GOTV (get out the vote) efforts

Duwayne has already been endorsed by the Working Families, Women’s Equality and Independence parties and will challenge Peter King on those lines. His primary opponent is a woman and many Long Islanders wondered why Duwayne was endorsed by the Women's Equality Party. They based it on his work on behalf of women's equality, not on gender ID. Recently Duwayne wrote that "Trump campaigned on a platform that was anti-women-- and he’s followed through."

It started with repealing the Affordable Care Act’s birth control access mandate.

Now he has instituted a domestic gag rule that will withhold federal grants from organizations like Planned Parenthood simply because they perform abortions.

Planned Parenthood and similar organizations are the main source of healthcare for so many women across the country who couldn’t otherwise afford it.

I’m standing with women-- and against Trump-- and denouncing this domestic gag rule.

I have been a lifelong advocate for women’s rights and equality on every front. I support Planned Parenthood, paid family leave, equal pay, and a woman’s right to choose.

Peter King, on the other hand, has voted against paid family leave, voted against the ACA (which increased healthcare access for women), and voted to ban abortions nationwide.

Peter King is running the same anti-woman agenda that Trump is. As your Congressman, I’ll vote for policies that bring women’s rights to the forefront, not turn back the clock.

This domestic gag rule is just Republicans’ latest attempt to curtail women’s rights and freedoms.

Duwayne, who I've known for several years, is the Presiding Officer of the Suffolk County Legislature, a post he's been elected to several times. His campaign isn't so much about unaccountable promises as it is about solid progressive accomplishments, which has a lot to do with why Blue America endorsed him. He was the victim of a hate crime when he was eleven years old. This experience helped mold him into a champion for the voiceless. The son of two union workers, an auto mechanic and a registered nurse, he understands what working class families are fighting for. Washington needs more people with a sense of purpose to understand what they are fighting for and what they are fighting against. I asked Duwayne to name a half dozen things he's done that have changed the loves of people on the South Shore. These are the ones that popped into his head immediately:

• I created the Hate Crimes Task Force to address the hate crimes that were happening in the county.
• I sponsored a bill that was the first in the nation ban on powdered caffeine to minors. The FDA later took action to ban the bulk sale of powdered caffeine after my lobbying them.
• Under my leadership we expanded our human rights law to address housing discrimination against undocumented immigrants and LGBTQ.
• I also supported the ban of microbeads in consumer products which was having a detrimental effect in the environment.
• I initiated a program to provide child care for students at our community college that is on public assistance.
• I also created the Suffolk County Land-bank which is charger with cleaning up environmentally contaminated properties and returning them to the tax rolls. This program has received national recognition and has brought in over $5 million in tax revenues. 

It's one thing to talk about doing this and supporting that. It's something else to work with other people to get something done. Blue America supported legislative leaders who showed what they could do in legislatures before they got into Congress. And now we have dynamic congressional leaders like Ted Lieu (CA), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Jamie Raskin (MD) and Karen Bass (CA). This year some of our top endorsements are proven legislators like Kaniela Ing (HI), Jared Golden (ME), Lisa Brown (WA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Ellen Lipton (MI), and, of course, Duwayne Gregory (NY).

Primaries-- Tuesday And Beyond

On Tuesday there are primaries in California, Iowa, New Jersey, South Dakota, Alabama, Mississippi, Montana and New Mexico. Three weeks later-- on June 26--there are congressional primaries in Colorado, New York, Oklahoma (and Utah). If you live in any of the states that vote Tuesday, please be sure to get to the polls-- and drag a friend-- or two friends-- with you. Blue America has a special page for California congressional candidates we've endorsed. Kevin de León is the progressive running for the U.S. Senate. And these are 7 candidate for the House who California can contribute to the effort to pass a progressive agenda and put a check on Trump.

• Doug Applegate (CA-49)
• Katie Porter (CA-45)
• Sam Jammal (CA-39)
• Ammar Campa-Najja (CA-50)
• Ricardo Jose Franco (CA-22)
• Wendy Reed (CA-23)
• Marge Doyle (CA-08)

But let's focus on the most important June 26 campaigns in Colorado, New York and Oklahoma, where our candidates are Levi Tillemann in the Denver suburbs and Saira Rao in Denver itself, DuWayne Gregory on Long Island and Alexandria Ocasio in a district in Queens and the Bronx and Tom Guild in the metro Oklahoma City district.

What does it mean to be a progressive candidate in these races? Let's look at how Alexandria defined it in her just released video. Besides helping save the country from Trump and helping save the country, NY-14 and the Democratic Party from Joe Crowley, Alexandria emphasizes that "It's time we acknowledge that not all Democrats are the same. That a Democrat who takes corporate money, profits off foreclosure, doesn't live here, doesn't send his kids to our schools, doesn't drink our water or breathe our air cannot possibly represent us. What the Bronx and Queens needs is Medicare-for-all, tuition-free public college, a federal jobs guarantee, and criminal justice reform. We can do it now."

Does "late money" for the June 26 campaigns do any good? I asked three of our candidates. DuWayne has been elected and reelected over and over to be Chief Executive of the Suffolk County legislature. He told us that "During this phase of the campaign voter contact is critical. We have over one hundred volunteers going out speaking with voters. We can use these funds to pay for supplies our canvassers need like pens, clip boards, campaign leaflets, or to buy a tank of gas. Also, with additional funds the campaign can purchase a last minute cable spot to get our message costs $50,000. To send an additional mailing costs $14,850. It is expensive to finance a political campaign and your contribution will help us meet the critical tasks that have to get done in order to win."

"We have knocked nearly 13,000 doors," said Tom Guild. "We have participated in 16 parades. We have spoken at numerous events. We have put up hundreds of yard signs. We have done a mailer to the district. We have billboards up throughout Oklahoma's 5th CD. We have started display advertising in key publications. We have done online advertising. We need financial support to do one final mailing, buy crucial paid media on TV and radio, and to support our GOTV efforts. Your support can make a crucial difference and put us over the top to win the June 26 primary. That will put me in a position to make a YUUUUGE difference for you, our state, and our nation and to pursue and implement our shared progressive agenda to move our country forward by providing quality affordable health care, repairing our crumbling infrastructure, fixing our corrupt campaign finance system, protecting our environment, providing quality public education for our children, expanding Social Security, and adopting Medicare for All. I’m all in! Are you?"

Levi Tillemann is the candidate the DCCC is trying to undermine so they can get their corrupt conservative candidate, Jason Crow, into the race against Mike Coffman in the suburbs around Denver. This morning, Levi told me that "We can’t beat Republicans by being Republicans. We won't beat them by being more pro-business and anti-worker, or having more photos holding guns, or sacrificing the rights of women, immigrants, or the LGBTQ+ community. Over the last decade, the Democratic establishment’s reach for the center has lost us over 1,000 legislative seats nationally. Voters are looking for people who will fight for them. That’s why I’m fighting for Medicare for All, free college for middle-class Americans, a $15/hour minimum wage, and impeaching Trump and its why I’ve rejected all corporate and PAC money. It’s time to give voters a clear choice between a bought-and-paid-for rubber stamp like Coffman and a true progressive who will fight for them."

Escaping Trump, Escaping Trumpism... Is It Possible?

Ted's right-- both on this tragic and shameful, heart-breaking specific and in a more general way. Everything in Trumpworld is sheer bullshit. Friday, Masha Gessen, writing for the New Yorker asserted, rather than questioned, that In the Trump Era, we are losing the ability to distinguish reality from vacuum. Never mind his and his odious regime-- does morality even apply to his supporters? Author of the award-winning book, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, she asked how is one to maintain sanity, decency, and a measure of moral courage?

Decent members of the Administration-- is that a thing?-- and congressional Republicans have to ask themselves what is "the best way to try to save the country from Donald Trump: by staying close to him, or by walking away... Is the possibility of moderating the damage done by this Administration worth sacrificing one’s moral principles? Should one protect one’s individual integrity by sacrificing the chance to moderate damage done by this Administration? We can’t possibly know." And what about the rets of us?

The overstimulation of the age of Trump, meanwhile, makes us lose track of time and whatever small sense humans normally have of themselves in history. We forget what happened a month ago. If we look away for a day, we miss news that seems momentous to others-- only to be forgotten, too, in a week. Living in a shared reality with our fellow-citizens is an endless triathlon of reading, talking, and panicking. It creates the worst possible frame of mind for answering vexing moral questions, especially ones that require a choice between two desperately unsatisfying options.

Thinking morally about the Trump era requires a different temporal frame. It requires a look at the present through the prism of the future. There will come a time after Trump, and we need to consider how we will enter it. What are we going to take with us into that time-- what kind of politics, language, and culture? How will we recover from years of policy (if you can call it that) being made by tweet? How will we reclaim simple and essential words? Most important, how will we restart a political conversation? Political discourse was in crisis before Trump-- no wonder Americans of all stripes have become accustomed to using the words “politics” and “political” to denote substance-free transactions in the electoral arena. But, under Trump, it is nearing complete destruction.

Consider the last month’s worth of conversation about Trump and North Korea. Forgetting the President’s “little rocket man” remarks and building on months of denial that Trump had brought the world as close to the brink of nuclear annihilation as it has ever been, politicians, bureaucrats, policy wonks, and journalists have been speaking as though Trump were engaged in actual negotiations with Kim Jong Un. Some deliriously joined him in contemplating the prospect of a Nobel Peace Prize. The voices of a few experts who dared say that nothing had been accomplished yet and expressed doubt that the summit would actually occur were quickly drowned out. The ritual of analysis and anticipation that normally accrues to diplomacy was accruing instead to Trump’s flailing gestures, in the same way that the normal rituals of punditry have accrued to Trump’s tweets, harangues, and inconsistencies, all of which are the opposite of politics. On Friday, the Times’ morning podcast, The Daily, offered up a thoughtful analysis of Trump’s summit-cancelling missive, which was written in the language of a sulking, lovelorn seventh grader. But no sooner was the podcast posted than Trump told the media that he might hold the summit after all.

We are losing the habit, and perhaps the capability, of distinguishing reality from vacuum. This is disorienting in the present and disastrous for the future-- it is the one factor that will make post-Trumpian recovery, when it comes, so difficult. We must pose a bigger question than whether Administration members or congressional Republicans should stay or go, for it’s not only Trump’s appointees or fellow party members who are implicated in the daily insults and damage to our perceptions. We should be asking what each one of us can do to assert a fact-based reality at any given time. The great French thinker and activist Simone Weil had a prescription that she wrote down in her journal in 1933: “Never react to an evil in such a way as to augment it.” A few days later, she added, “Refuse to be an accomplice. Don’t lie-- don’t keep your eyes shut.”

Throughout the twentieth century, writers and thinkers who faced reality-destroying regimes kept producing similar recipes. “Live not by lies,” the Russian dissident novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote. The Czech dissident playwright and future President Václav Havel pondered the predicament of living, unquestioningly, “inside the lie”-- and the uncanny power of stepping outside of it. In our case, stepping outside the lie means refusing-- stubbornly, consistently, incrementally-- to lend credence to the opposite of politics, the opposite of diplomacy, and the opposite of sanity. That would require thinking, reading, and speaking critically: not treating an outburst as though it were politics, a tantrum as though it were diplomacy, and a delusion as though it were aspiration. The good news is that this is not an entirely impossible task.

Among the 40 Republicans retiring (or resigning) from Congress since the advent of Señor Trumpanzee, some are attempting to win higher office-- so far most of them have failed-- and others have been caught up in various scandals, but most just want to get away from Trump. CNN sat down and talked to 3 of them-- Ryan Costello (R-PA), Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL) and Jee Flake (R-AZ). Costello probably wouldn't be retiring at age 41 if his district didn't flip from a PVI of R+2 to D+2. He's a moderate and in a non-wave year could probably have win it-- but not in a wave year. Dull establishment Democrat who will add absolutely nothing to Congress, Chrissy Houlahan, is heavily favored to win. Ryan told CNN that he feels "increasingly, that if you're a member of Congress, they assume that you're not good. They assume that you're not telling the truth. No matter what you do, someone's out there locked and loaded to say something disparaging, false, mean, in an attempt to have other people not like you... No matter what I say or do, I feel all I do is answer questions about Donald Trump rather than health insurance or tax policy. I think it's a very challenging political environment, and when you add on top of that just the demands from a work-family balance, I just felt it was best for me to take stock in my life and have eight months to decide what I'm going to do next rather than, potentially, six weeks." Hillary won his district by a couple of points; under the new boundaries it would have been 10 points.

Ros-Lehtinen's Miami district is the bluest in the country held by a Republican. The PVI is R+5 and Hillary demolished Trump, 58.5% to 38.9%, his worst score in a Republican-held district. Regardless of what she wants to tell herself, Debbie Wasserman Schultz could no longer protect her and the writing was on the wall. She's mortified by Trump's boorishness but is reluctant to say so publicly. Her voting record speaks for itself. She votes with Trump 68.6% of the time, far less than any other Republican in the House other than North Carolina's completely independent ex-Democrat Walter Jones (53.8%).

And then there's Arizona hard core conservative senator Republican Jeff Flake who seems to agree with Trump on a lot-- though not all-- of policy and detests him as a person. "Our debt," he told CNN has increased massively; we're no longer the party of free trade. We've become a party of anger and resentment, and that is not the optimistic vision that I cut my teeth on as a Republican listening to Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush or others."

Alan Grayson, who spends a lot more time than many of the candidates and incumbents warning about Trump, mentioned that "We’re roughly at the end of Niemoller’s first couplet":

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

"Real life," he added, "is starting to resemble Radio Free Albemuth," Philip K. Dick's dystopian missive set in a society in which a tyrant has been elected president.

Let's look at Long Island Congressman, Peter King, a conservative in a moderate district who keeps going back and forth on Trump. One day he's saying Trump is "not fit to be president morally or intellectually" and then he's saying he's still supporting him. Peter King may not be as much of a crackpot as the Iowa King-- but he's still a real crackpot. You see this tweet from yesterday?

King's progressive Democratic opponent, Suffolk County legislature chief executive DuWayne Gregory didn't miss the not so subtle racism: "Congressman Peter King is trying so hard to attach himself to Donald Trump that he may need a surgeon to separate himself. To equate silent protestors with Nazis that killed millions of Jews and other Europeans illustrates how out of touch Peter King really is. We desperately need change in Washington when the leaders there do not know the difference between peaceful protesters and mass murderers."

Are we slipping into a dystopian society? Are we there already? Will we make it through to the other side? Will we be OK? Tom Guild is in one of those seats-- in the middle of Oklahoma-- that the DCCC is ignoring. He's probably better off without their interference. He's way too independent-minded and progressive for them. He certainly understands the dystopian society Trump and his enablers are creating in our country. This is what he told me about it yesterday:

Bob Corker is a corporate right wing US Senator from Tennessee, who is in a strong continuous bear hug with the Chamber of Commerce. We disagree on so many things and on so many levels. However, he has had a few moments of clarity commenting on the tragedy of Donald Trump in his role as the POTUS. Corker described the White House as an adult daycare center in a moment of clarity. He then got battered by Trumpists in Tennessee and elsewhere and faded back into the woodwork and rejoined others in the tragic cast of an upcoming book, Profiles in Cowardice. He voted for the Trump anti-working people, anti-middle class, that has blown a huge hole in the deficit and for debt, pro-corporate, and pro-billionaire tax cuts. He has recently resembled more of a rubber stamp for the Donald, instead of a cry in the wilderness expressing anguish regarding 45’s demeanor, dishonesty, and dysfunction.

The GOP establishment is dead. If not deceased, it might as well be dead. They have rolled over for every lie, scheme, policy, attack on American traditions and institutions, and disingenuous dishonest diabolical disaster Trump has rolled out. If they had acted like this in 1974, Richard Nixon (or his progeny) would still be president-for-life and the American Republic would have been dead long ago.

Since the Republicans won’t (with a few exceptions occasionally) stand up for principle or even insist on honesty, that leaves it to the rest of us. There are far too many non-Republicans who are on an ethics-free vacation and not only won’t stand up, but rarely speak out for fear that the Donaldistas will vote them out of office. Or they fear the vicious sleazy presidential tweet that might come their way.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has the guts of a government mule and possesses an amazing work ethic and all the right scruples, but he could be quickly sacked without notice. Without the moral authority of a report from Mueller, taking the Trumpists out will be difficult. It would then have to happen election by election and incrementally. The Needle and the Damage Done by the time that struggle ends could result in permanent scar tissue and a severe weakening of America’s constitutional republic.

We can speak up. We can act reasonably and within our legal and constitutional framework. We can resist the constant dishonesty and destruction visited on our cherished country and our constitutional traditions. As Garth Brooks sings in The Dance, if we knew how it all would end, we’d miss the dance. We may survive the dance. America may survive. I’m an optimist and put the odds of survival and repairing the Needle and the Damage Done at 53-47%. Predicting the future is a mighty hazardous occupation. For the sake of all that we cherish and hold dear, I hope the hell I’m right!

Will Rohrabacher's Crazy Homophobia Cost Him His Orange County Seat In Congress?

Should congressmen who get high and play dress-up be barred from buying homes in Orange Co?

I can remember when I was a kid growing up on Long Island, there were fights in the suburbs-- Nassau County-- about selling houses to black families. Half the people who lived in some of these towns were there because of "white flight" and they brought their ugly bigotry and racism with them. Trump is ginning that up again-- and on Long Island! But here in California, Trump's top lackey-- and Putin's-- is Orange County lunatic Dana Rohrabacher and he's got gays in his sites. Thursday, Jeff Collins, writing for the Orange County Register, reported that last week Rohrabacher told a group of realtors that homeowners should be able to refuse to sell their property to gays and lesbians.

“Every homeowner should be able to make a decision not to sell their home to someone (if) they don’t agree with their lifestyle,” Rohrabacher told an Orange County Association of Realtors delegation at a May 16 meeting in Washington, D.C., according to Wayne Woodyard, a former Orange County Realtor president who was at the event.

On Thursday, Rohrabacher confirmed the accuracy of the sentiment, and added that homeowners should have the right to “choose who they do business with.”

“We’ve drawn a line on racism, but I don’t think we should extend that line,” Rohrabacher said.

“A homeowner should not be required to be in business with someone they think is doing something that is immoral.”

The statement ignited a protest by a Realtor gay-rights group, prompting the National Association of Realtors to withdraw its recommendation that members send campaign contributions to Rohrabacher.

“It was determined that Rep. Rohrabacher will no longer receive support from NAR’s President’s Circle,” an association statement said, referring to its list of recommended candidates. Rohrabacher’s stance, the 1.3-million-member trade group said, is contrary to NAR’s code of ethics, which bans discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation or gender identity.”

“We certainly hope that Congress will... support the elimination of housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The about-face occurred as the 15-term coastal Orange County Republican is locked in his toughest re-election campaign.

He’s facing 15 challengers, including eight Democrats as well as onetime political ally Scott Baugh, former Orange County GOP chairman.

“It certainly can’t do me any good to have people take me off their endorsement list,” said Rohrabacher, who represents California’s 48th District in coastal Orange County. “It’s sad to see (the association’s) priority is standing in solidarity with making sure a stamp of approval is put on somebody’s private lifestyle.”

Harley Rouda, a Democrat who is challenging Rohrabacher and a son of a former Realtor association president, called Rohrabacher’s statements “outlandish and unacceptable,” saying everyone should have the same rights to buy and sell a home.

“What Dana Rohrabacher fails to understand is discrimination is discrimination,” Rouda said. “It shows how backward his thinking is.”

Previously Rohrabacher had been designated as a “Realtor Champion,” eligible for support from top Realtor donors.

The Realtors Political Action Committee, the trade group’s campaign finance arm, also donated $5,000 to Rohrabacher’s re-election campaign in December and January, campaign finance reports show. Rohrabacher also received donations from numerous agents, real estate developers and Realtor groups.

The backlash occurred after Orange County Realtors met last week with Rohrabacher during NAR’s mid-year lobbying conference in Washington and asked him to support H.R. 1447, among other issues.

The measure expands the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 to add anti-discrimination protections based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity. The existing law already forbids home sellers, landlords and lenders from discrimination based on a person’s race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Rohrabacher’s remarks sparked outrage among gay and lesbian Realtors after Woodyard posted them on Facebook. The founder of a real estate gay-rights group then wrote to NAR President Elizabeth Mendenhall requesting the association revoke its support of Rohrabacher.

“When a supposed champion of the Realtor Party outright states that housing discrimination should be lawful, I hope you agree there should be cause for concern,” wrote Jeff Berger, a Florida agent and founder of the National Association of Gay & Lesbian Real Estate Professionals. “Ignoring the congressman’s comments belies the decades of serious work and progress NAR has made in the area of fair housing.”

Rohrabacher denied he’s trying to shore up his conservative flank in the face of opposition from Baugh. Indeed, he said, his stance likely will “alienate a certain number of gays who think I’m anti-gay, which isn’t the case.”

Rohrabacher added he vehemently opposes housing discrimination based on race, religion or a person’s sex.

But, he said, “there are some fundamentalist Christians who do not approve of their lifestyle. I support their rights.” He also said he believes the Realtor association’s stance is “way out of sync” with its own industry.

Rohrabacher distinguished race-based discrimination from choosing not to do business with someone because of their lifestyle or political beliefs.

Homeowners, for example, shouldn’t be allowed to deny a sale to an interracial couple, he said.

But Democrats or Republicans should be able to refuse a home sale to people with opposing political views.

Would Rohrabacher, who uses a medical marijuana cream to ease his arthritis and supports relaxed penalties for cannabis use, be OK if a home seller refused to do business with him based on that lifestyle choice?

“Yes,” Rohrabacher said. “Absolutely.”

Ted Lieu is the DCCC regional vice chair for the West Coast, including, obviously, California. Since Rohrabacher refuses to do town hall meetings in his own district, Ted went down to Orange County and did one for the folks who live down there. "Dana Rohrabacher," he told me today, "thinks it is fine for gays and lesbians to be denied a house-- let's work to make sure Dana is denied a seat in the House."

Eric Bauman is the chairman of the California Democratic Party. He's watching all the Orange County congressional races very carefully. This morning he told me "It's pathetic that Putin’s favorite member of Congress thinks his best path to re-election is to attack LGBTQ people where it hurts most-- in their homes and jobs. This sorry excuse for a congressman is happy to help cover up Trump’s exploitation of women, bashing of immigrants and cavorting with foreign regimes, especially because he has no record to run on after decades in the House. So he has no choice but to turn to the classic fascist agenda and scapegoat LGBTQ and other at-risk people. Well I have a suggestion for you Dana, you'd better get out your surfboard and prepare for a long trip, we are going to send you to hang 10, and it won't be in DC, perhaps Moscow or... Stalingrad."

DuWayne Gregory is the progressive Democrat running for the congressional seat in Nassau and Suffolk counties in southern and central Long Island (NY-02), a seat currently held by old time reactionary Peter King. DuWayne recognizes  just what Rohrabacher is up to, "Congressman Rohrabacher is an illustration of how the Trump era has empowered people to speak and promote hatred," he told me this morning. "As a father of a son who is gay, I want my son to be able to live a life free of fear and hatred. A society where he won’t be the victim of a hate crime. A society where he can work for an employer that won’t discriminate against him, because of his sexual orientation. A society where he can purchase a home and raise his own family. A society where he can pursue his dreams just like every other American citizen. That’s why I am running for Congress, because my congressman, Peter King, has just as bad a record on LGBTQ issues as his colleague in discrimination Rohrabacher. We can do better and we must do better by electing people to Congress that understand the true values of our country."

How Toxic Would Trump Be Campaigning For House Republicans In Swing District?

Read any of that stuff about how most Democratic candidates don't want the Clintons campaigning for them? Reactionary Democrats like Andrew Cuomo (NY) and Dianne Feinstein (CA) are exceptions; they love the idea of Hillary. (New York scold Kirsten Gillibrand-- who had been proud to run racist advertising against Latinos when she was in the House, is telling the media that "Bill Clinton should have resigned the presidency after his inappropriate relationship with an intern came to light nearly 20 years ago." Democratic senators in tough campaigns Claire McCaskill (MO) and Heidi Heitkamp (ND) went out of their way to very publicly tell Hillary to stay away.

Democratic candidates would also appreciate Nancy Pelosi to not make any public appearances in their districts. Republicans-- especially Republicans in swing districts-- feel the same way about Paul Ryan. And when Ryan does show up to wrangle big checks out of multimillionaires and billionaires he does it quietly and away from the media. Same with McConnell. McConnell, in fact, is the most unpopular politician in America-- and not just among Democrats. Republican voters have him too.

Democrats want Bernie campaigning for them in their districts. And Elizabeth Warren. And Randy @IronStache Bryce. Others we hear Democrat candidates requesting are Keith Ellison and the members of Congress who are on MSNBC a lot, like Ted Lieu, Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell.

What about Trump? Of course swing district Democrats would do anything to get him campaigning in their districts with their opponents. Yesterday Bryce's sassy campaign manager, David Keith told me that "We welcome the day Trump comes, as it'll greatly help us engage with those working families who have been left behind and are ready to stand up and fight. Bernie came to talk about hope and lift the working people up. Trump will come-- and while he'll argue he's doing the same-- and simply lie on behalf of the big corporations looking to ship jobs oversees. It's a slap in the face to working people on behalf of Ryan's job-exporting driver and/or Paul Nehlen, the Nazi... and the working people will know it."

Sunday, McClatchey ran a piece by Katie Glueck about how House Republicans are refusing to even answer questions about Trump coming to their districts. Of course, in deep red districts, filled with low-IQ Republicans and few normal people-- like districts represented by fascists Mo Brooks (AL), Matt Gaetz (FL), Louie Gohmert (TX), Jim Jordan (OH) and Liz Cheney (WY)-- they'd roll out the red carpet for Señor Trumpanzee-- and any of the cast of characters around him. One Republican in a deep red district that Trump won with nearly 70% told me-- obviously on condition of anonymity that it would make his skin crawl to do a rally with Trump but that his constituents like Trump more than they like him, so he'd do it in a second. "I'd have to take a hot shower afterwards, of course," he said, giggling.

DuWayne Gregory is in a tough Long Island district where Trump beat Hillary 53.0% to 43.9%. But he knows a Trump visit is going to motivate Democrats and independent voters in a way that isn't going to help incumbent Peter King. "The people of the 2nd Congressional District, he told me, "are still recovering from Donald Trump’s last visit when he encouraged police officers to rough up suspects. This community doesn’t need anymore of his division. We are a community united to fight against his bigotry against immigrants and Paul Ryan and Peter King’s lack of leadership in standing up for what is right." Right now DuWayne is putting together a rally with a respected-- even beloved-- Democrat in his district. It's a surprise though, so I can't tell yet. Trump also won in the Oklahoma district Tom Guild is running in. Guild told us he "would enthusiastically welcome Bernie coming to Oklahoma to support our campaign. I’ll leave it up to Mr. Russell to decide if he wants Mr. Trump to appear on his behalf in 2018." Levi Tillemann is the progressive Democrat running in the Denver suburbs against GOP stooge Mike Coffman. "According to the polling we’ve done," he told me, "Trump is actually more popular than Coffman in the district. So I guess Coffman would probably embrace the opportunity. If there’s one thing we learned over the years it’s that Mike Coffman flows like water towards political expediency."

The question of whether endangered GOP candidates want President Donald Trump to campaign with them sparked dodges, lengthy pauses and a cascade of caveats in interviews with about two dozen GOP House members who are facing varying degrees of competition in races this fall.

But the answer several Republicans from tough districts have settled on is, sure-- if Trump will campaign on their terms.


“It depends,” said Fitzpatrick, a Republican from a suburban Philadelphia district that Democrats are targeting. “On what issue is he campaigning for me? If he campaigns on term limits-- I just met with him on that. If he’s able to get public support behind it, absolutely.”

But would a campaign rally be helpful? “We’ll see, we’ll see what our schedule is looking like,” he said, getting into an elevator at the Capitol.

Rep. David Valadao of California, whose district Hillary Clinton won by nearly 16 percentage points, offered a similar calculation: “If it’s a topic like water or something positive on immigration that actually benefits us-- I think if the president of the United States wants to come to the district to highlight something that’s actually helpful to the district, I think it would make sense, but it depends on the topic.”

And Miami-area Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who represents the most Democratic-leaning district in the country held by a Republican running for reelection this year, suggested he would welcome Trump's help-- if he "supports my work."


"I’m not asking nor have I ever asked anyone to come down and campaign, I don’t need it from anyone,” said Curbelo, who is leading an effort to force votes on immigration-related bills, rankling House conservatives. “The conditions for anyone to support me, to campaign for me, is that they support my work and are helping me achieve it for the benefit of the country."

Midterm elections are often challenging for the president’s party, and the question of where polarizing presidents can campaign tends to be a fraught one. It’s a reality that has applied to a range of leaders including Presidents George W. Bush in 2006 and Barack Obama in 2010 and 2014, when beleaguered candidates from their respective parties were loathe to make joint appearances or offer public praise.


...“It might help get out the base who might not be as fervently for a candidate such as myself,” said retiring GOP Rep. Ryan Costello, who currently represents another Philadelphia-area suburban district Clinton won. “I think, though, it would be a reminder, negatively, to swing voters who view him unfavorably but who I would want to have respond to my message of being an independent check-and-balance.”


...Still, the majority of candidates McClatchy interviewed said they would be open to Trump on their trail-- though their enthusiasm in answering that question, and the level of detail they provided in their responses, swung wildly.

“Yeah, I've encouraged every president, every president, to come to my district,” Rep. Jeff Denham of California said after pausing for a few seconds. Like Valadao, who also represents the Central Valley, Denham then turned back to local issues, referencing a water controversy. “To have our president come to take a look at our water being shut off, at our communities being devastated, that is something I would definitely support."

Westside Congressman Ted Lieu, the regional vice chair of the DCCC-- and the only competent person working for the organization-- cut right to the chase when I asked him how he'd feel about Trump coming to Orange County or the Central Valley to campaign for the embattled and vulnerable Republican incumbents in those two areas. This is what he told me: "I sincerely hope Trump shows up in California to campaign for Republican congressional candidates here. The DCCC is going to spend a lot of money tying Trump to these candidates, and this would make the job that much easier. I would gladly pay the permit fee for Trump to show up in California to do one of his toxic rallies. It would be super awesome for Democrats if Californians can see Trump unleashed. It would be even better if Trump brought Scot Pruitt and Ted Nugent with him and went full MAGA. Trump's xenophobic and bigoted rallies will jack up Democratic turnout and horrify independents in California."


...Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee, said it was one thing for candidates in competitive seats to voice enthusiasm for a Trump visit. It’s another thing entirely to actually pursue one.

“They’ve got to take care of their base,” he said. “If you’re telling your base, ‘I don’t want Trump to come,’ you run the risk of being judged by that, and having people unhappy and everything that comes along with that. … I think it’s a different issue when it comes to actual campaigning. I think we’ll see Trump in really red places more than anywhere else.”

But Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, who represents a district Clinton won, beamed when asked if he would want Trump to show up in his suburban Dallas district. He answered in the affirmative before a reporter finished asking the question.

"Awesome, I welcome him with open arms," Sessions said. "Can you invite him for me?"

The progressive running for the Dallas-area seat, TX-32, Sessions is occupying, Lillian Salerno, told me yesterday that she "would not be surprised if the President campaigned for one of the most reliable yes men. After all, Congressman Sessions was instrumental in helping the President nearly get away with taking health care coverage from 22 million Americans. That's devotion. The reason I ran was precisely because we need to win this seat in order to help hold Trump accountable. Trump and the rigged  system know that they must remain in power to continue the fraud on the American people. This means control of Congress. I am in this race to make sure the corporate Democrat doesn’t win and I am on the ballot to beat Sessions."

Ron Brownstein, reporting for CNN, noted this morning that as Trump's daily "bombshells detonate, sometimes within hours of each other, congressional Republican leaders then react with little more than a shrug. Even more important, the vast majority of the Republican electoral coalition increasingly responds the same way... The elimination of any distance between Trump and the conventional Republican interests that controlled the party before him has happened so incrementally it can be difficult to discern from day to day. But it remains one of the central political dynamics of 2018. Over the long term, Trump's success at stamping his polarizing brand on the GOP remains a huge electoral gamble for the party because it risks alienating the young, well-educated and diverse groups growing, rather than shrinking, in the electorate. But in the near-term, the GOP's choice to ally so unequivocally with such a unique president may have the paradoxical effect of producing a much more conventional midterm election than seemed possible earlier this year."

50 Republicans Are Willing To Push Ryan Over The Cliff To Solve The DREAMers Problem

When going over the new poll from Muhlenberg College of Pennsylvania voters the other day, I noticed question about DACA. It was the most agreed-upon topic in the entire survey 81% of voters favor DACA. That's especially interesting because 40% of voters identified themselves as Republicans. What about other states? I have a feeling that voters in other states-- maybe not Confederate states, but normal states-- feel the same way as Pennsylvania voters. How do i know? "Queen of the hill" rules rarely pass. When it does it enables the House to consider a specified measure without approval from the majority party's leadership.

This week 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans-- Will Hurd (R-TX), Jeff Denham (R-CA), Pete Aguilar (D-CA) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM)-- have been pushing one through Congress to save the DREAMers from Trump. It would be a slap in the face to the lame duck Speaker, Paul Ryan, and his puppet Rules Committee chair, Pete Sessions. They need 218 votes to override Ryan's opposition and claim they have 240 votes-- 190 Democrats and 50 Republicans. I'd love to see the list of Democrats who have refused to sign on... as well as the Republican who have.

Denham: "We talk a lot about transparency around here and regular order. Well, that’s what we’re doing here today we want to follow regular order and have a debate... [Ryan] can put whatever he wants in the bill. I’m sure with the speaker’s wisdom he will find whatever the president wants and will sign."

Ryan is using Trump as an excuse for opposing a solution. "Our goal," his spokesperson said, "is to get a DACA and border security solution into law, and we certainly don’t want to pursue a strategy that the president won’t sign. Republicans made three good-faith offers during the omnibus negotiations and Democrats declined all of them. We continue to work to find the support for a solution that addresses both border security and DACA."

The next step would be a discharge petition, the equivalent of a vote of no confidence in Ryan, McCarthy and Scalise. The Dallas Morning News reported that something like 124,000 DACA recipients live in Texas. In all, the proposal covers between 800,000 and 1.3 million DACA recipients, all of whom arrived as children before June 15, 2007.

Last September, Trump announced that he would shut the program down as of March 5, arguing that his predecessor didn’t have the authority to grant permanent legal status. He called on Congress to find a permanent solution to protect Dreamers from deportation, but that hasn’t happened.

During budget talks, Trump tried to wrest $25 billion from Congress to build a border wall in exchange for providing DACA recipients a path to citizenship. Few lawmakers supported that idea.

Hurd said he’d likely support one of the four proposals-- a measure by Denham that is expected to include Hurd’s “USA Act.” The bill, which has bipartisan support, would create a permanent solution for DACA recipients and implement border security measures through technology and some “physical barriers.”

...Denham, a Republican, said passing the resolution will allow for “a full debate” of the DACA program, but he noted that Ryan would have the final say in what bills get to the House floor.

“We’re going to continue to show the speaker and the president that the will of the House, the will of people is right here on demanding a vote,” Denham said, adding that he expects the amount of support will catch Trump’s attention.

Ryan pushed aside the possibility of including DACA in February’s budget deal because he said he wouldn’t want “to just risk a veto” from Trump.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court let DACA stay in place as challenges work through lower courts.

Hurd said his constituents want a secure border and a permanent solution for Dreamers. And he is hopeful that Trump would sign a DACA bill into law.

“Let’s have a permanent legislative fix for over a million young men and women who have only known the United States of America as a home,” he said, adding, “I actually believe the president wants to see this get done.”

DuWayne Gregory was speaking for a load of Democratic challenger when he called out Long Island incumbent Peter King yesterday: "Washington DC’s inaction on dreamers is yet another example of King’s ineffectiveness. He serves a sizable immigrant community and that community has gone unrepresented when it comes to their issues and fears. King is a proud supporter of Trump’s border wall and xenophobic policies. King's recent remarks on DACA is more of the same from Republicans in unsafe seats. Pandering to both sides with empty rhetoric is not going to fool any of his voters this time around. This district is ready to flip and he knows it."

Paul Ryan Runs Away

Because Blue America has spent years trying to defeat Paul Ryan, about a year ago we got two consecutive call, one from former Ryan opponent and one from state Senator Chis Larson, asking me to call a very politicized progressive union iron worker in Racine County and help persuade him to run against Ryan. The Wisconsin Working Families Party had already done the heavy lift and they just needed me to push Randy Bryce over the edge. It was a pleasure talking with him over the phone; he was a Bernie guy who had the right answer on every single question. In introduced him to two political operatives who could bring his vision to reality-- Bill Hyers, the guy who made that first video, and David Keith, the guy Randy hired as campaign manager. (Alan Grayson this morning: "David beats Goliath.")

Bryce made it clear he wasn't dependent on the DCCC, that he and his team were running an independent campaign without the establishment interference. And he caught on like wild fire while the DCCC sat around scratching its ass and wondering if they could bottle whatever Bryce was doing. They could ask Jared Golden, the whip of the Maine state legislature and a candidate for Congress very much like Bryce. "I think this confirms that when Democrats put forward strong working class candidates, like Randy Bryce and myself, who have served our country in the military and who have a record of fighting for workers and labor, GOP incumbents like Paul Ryan and Bruce Poliquin are in trouble and they know it."

Paul Ryan and Bruce Poliquin have been working together in the House since 2015, and in that time they've added trillions to our national debt, given mega tax cuts to the super rich donors who prop up their campaigns, and tried to take healthcare from millions of Americans. And they've had so much fun, doing it together...

Or take it from another veteran and working class candidate, DuWayne Gregory, executive of the Suffolk Count legislature, the progressive running for Peter King's seat. "Paul Ryan’s retirement is the biggest signal to date that the blue wave is coming. But it will take more to move more entrenched establishment type likes Peter King out of office. Rumors are he wants to 'pass on' the 2nd Congressional District seat to his daughter as some type heirloom. I’m working as hard as I can to make sure that plan doesn’t happen and this district has a representative interested in serving the people not his own personal interests."

Yeah, because-- as we've been predicting for 2 months-- Ryan pulled out of the race today. No one's going to get the pleasure of watching Bryce beat him on election night in November. Although everyone-- except maybe Beltway types-- knows Bryce already won-- scaring the 48 year old Ryan into a premature retirement. Moments after Ryan's announcement this morning that he's not seeking reelection Bryce's campaign released the following statement. 

Paul Ryan decided to quit today rather than face Randy Bryce and the voters. With nearly $5 million raised to date, a strong field program aided by organized labor, a broad coalition of support locally and nationally,  Randy Bryce is incredibly well positioned to be the next representative for the First District. Electorates far more conservative than Wisconsin's First have already elected Democrats in special elections in Wisconsin and across the country.

WI-01 is far less conservative than many districts that have already turned blue, in and outside of Wisconsin, this year. PA-18 went to Trump by nearly 20 points and it's rated by the Cook Political Report as an R+11 district. WI-01 is rated R+5 and Trump won the district by just 10 points. Senate District 10 in Wisconsin, which went to Trump by 17 points, also flipped blue in a special election in January of this year.

The Bryce campaign has organized a robust, grassroots campaign. Randy has raised $4.75 million to date, with 75 percent of those donations coming in small-dollar increments of $200 or less. That support allowed the campaign to begin airing TV ads in the district at the beginning of March, so voters are already becoming familiar with Randy's story.  The campaign is also building a strong grassroots field program. Over 140 county captains have already been trained to serve as volunteer leaders in their areas.

Even earlier this morning campaign manager David Keith sent out his own note:

After 20 years in Congress rewarding billionaires like Charles and David Koch, Paul Ryan took one look at Randy Bryce and this campaign and is throwing in the towel.

Think about that for a moment. The most powerful Republican in Congress is retiring because he's too scared of Randy Bryce and the hundreds of thousands of working people who have built this campaign.

When ordinary people work together, we can do the extraordinary.

Now it's on us to send a U.S. Army veteran, cancer survivor, and union ironworker with one heck of a mustache to fight for working people in D.C.

...[O]ne of the Republicans running in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District is an actual neo-Nazi.

I'd like to say he's unelectable, but look at who is in the White House. So, we can't take anything for granted. There's still time for Paul Ryan to get one of his rich buddies to run. And don't forget, this district has more registered Republicans than Democrats.

We still need to build this campaign and be ready for whatever comes next.

The little campaign that could! They chased Paul Ryan right out of Congress. Soon he'll be bumping into Steny Hoyer on K Street. Yesterday Axios was one of the first to ring the bell: "One of Washington’s best-wired Republicans said: 'This is a Titanic, tectonic shift. … This is going to make every Republican donor believe the House can’t be held.' The announcement will help Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in his fundraising because 'the Senate becomes the last bastion,' the Republican said." Yeah, it will also help Democratic candidates all over the country. Keith Ellison a few hours ago: "Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced today that he will not seek reelection this November. After leading the charge to pass the historically unpopular GOP Tax Scam, targeting Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security for huge cuts to pay for it, and enabling Donald Trump’s divisive agenda, he sees the writing on the wall. Americans are fed up, and even the GOP Speaker of the House recognizes that our momentum is real. This is the clearest sign yet that we’re on the right track to win majorities in Congress this November, and now we just need to keep the pressure on."

The Fallout Begins

Insiders expect a flood of mainstream congressional Republicans to run for the exits now. The first out after Ryan was Dennis Ross (FL-15), minutes after Ryan's announcement. His central Florida district runs from Brandon and the suburbs east of Tampa north through Lakeland up to Groveland and beyond past Florida's Turnpike. Obama lost the district both time, Trump won by 10 points and the PVI is R+6. There were half a dozen Democrats competing for the nomination, though none of them have raised the kind of money it would take to make the district competitive. Ross' excuse for backing out was "Eight years takes its toll on you. When you feel like a stranger in your hometown, it’s time to say, 'There’s got to be an exit strategy at some point.'" And here's Paul Ryan's worthless, embarrassing bullshit from this morning is in the video below.

One Republican congressman-- feeling the angst-- told right wing propagandist Erick Erickson at a Safeway-- on condition of anonymity-- that "it's like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really fucking stupid Forrest Gump. He can't help himself. He's just a fucking idiot who thinks he's winning when people are bitching about him. He really does see the world as ratings and attention... But dammit he's taking us all down with him. We are well and truly fucked in November. Kevin [McCarthy] is already circling like a green fly circling shit trying to take Paul's [Ryan] job... [Lord's name in vain], at least I'll probably lose too and won't have to put up with that shit... Judiciary is stacked with a bunch of people who can win re-election so long as they don't piss off Trump voters in the primary. But if we get to summer and most of the primaries are over, they just might pull the trigger if the President fires Mueller. The shit will hit the fan if that happens and I'd vote to impeach him myself. Most of us would, I think. Hell, all the Democrats would and you only need a majority in the House. If we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherfucker. Take him out with us and let Mike [Pence] take over. At least then we could sleep well at night."

Unfortunately, not all defective Republicans are retiring. McCarthy and Scalise are already battling over the speakership and, less blatantly, Mark Meadows is making a play for the neo-fascist vote in that battle. He most have been happy to hear that Virginia Foxx won't be retiring. We asked her progressive opponent, Jenny Marshall, if there's any chance Foxx would follow Ryan out the door. No good news on that front: "Virginia Foxx has stated recently that she has no intention of retiring from Congress even with vast majority of people in our district wishing she would. I have spoken with many Republicans who would like to see someone new take her seat. They, along with the Democrats and unaffiliated voters who do not subscribe to her narrow view of the world want a representative who actually represents them and their communities. Virginia Foxx is bought and paid for and we all know it. It's time for a change-- whether she thinks so or not."

 


UPDATE: Ryan's Legacy-- POS

This evening New Hampshire congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter tweeted the naked truth about Ryan and his cowardly decision to retire: "Good riddance to Paul Ryan, the most overrated fraud in American politics." Lawrence O'Donnell was as savage on his MSNBC show. Before either of them, though, Ronald Brownstein eviscerated what was left of Ryan's reputation, noting that The outgoing House speaker, more than any other lawmaker, paved the path for congressional Republicans’ subjugation to the president and that he personifies the Devil's Bargain the GOP struck with Trump.

Paul Ryan... will leave Washington carrying a more tarnished legacy-- as the most important enabler of Donald Trump.

No one in the GOP was better equipped, by position and disposition alike, to resist Trump’s racially infused, insular nationalism, or to define a more inclusive competing vision for the party. Instead, Ryan chose to tolerate both Trump’s personal excesses and his racially polarizing words and deeds as the price worth paying to advance Ryan’s own top priorities: cutting spending; regulations; and above all, taxes. The result was that Ryan, more than any other prominent Republican, personified the devil’s bargain the GOP has signed with Trump. And his departure crystallizes the difficult choices Republicans face as Trump redefines the party in his belligerent image.

...[A]fter Trump took office, Ryan blinked at confronting the president’s appeals to white racial resentments. Pressed for reaction to comments like Trump’s reported description of African nations as “shithole” countries, Ryan managed to mumble the bare minimum of plausible criticism: “The first thing that came to my mind was very unfortunate, unhelpful.” For most people genuinely distressed by Trump’s remarks, “unfortunate” and “unhelpful” were probably not the first words that came to mind; “racist” and “xenophobic” were.

Even more consequential was Ryan’s refusal to challenge Trump on behalf of the young undocumented immigrants included in former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Though the speaker repeatedly promised the “Dreamers” that Congress would protect them, he has allowed the legislation that would have preserved their legal status to wither, after Trump and House Republican hardliners insisted on linking it to poison-pill provisions that would slash legal immigration.

...The result of all this inaction has been the transformation of the GOP majorities into the see-no-evil Congress, with rank-and-file Republicans and their leaders repeating the same mantra: Move along folks, there’s nothing to see here... Ryan more than any other Republican paved the path for this subjugation to Trump-- if only because he provided the most viable rallying point for an alternative, optimistic, inclusive vision and yet chose to submit. He leaves the party lashed to a volatile, impulsive leader who is systematically stamping it as a vehicle for white racial resentment, even as the nation grows kaleidoscopically more diverse.

The former head of the NRCC, Tom Davis of Virginia, pointed out that "Ryan's exit is a destabilizing blow to Republicans’ 2018 plans on nearly every front" and that "I don’t know what he was thinking. I think this was a huge miscalculation. I think this is the captain abandoning the sinking ship."