The Republicans have already jumped on the “we’re going to sue you” wagon which seems ridiculous. Is there really any basis for this or are they blowing BS, as they usually do? Will they have a case to send to corrupt SCOTUS? I’m guessing Thomas and Alito are already digging through 18th and 19th century law books to grant the Trump/Vance family the victory before the election.
Here, here!!! Great piece!! There is only ONE goal. Defeat Donald Trump and mini me Vance, Fascist partners and his enablers, Leo, Theil, Musk, etc, etc. Get with it, folks!!! VOTE!! Protect your kids’ futures and preserve a way of life people died for!!!
Rick, you should volunteer to be Kamala’s campaign manager. The Dems need someone who can use Republicans’ own tactics against them and shove it up their ass sideways.
We should stop describing the Trump shitshow as a political campaign. It is not. It is a huskster's con job, a long con in fact, with the biggest mark in huckster history: the American nation, world democracy.
The only rationale to the lack of field offices, lack of policy platform, denial of January 6 crimes, and refusal to promise acceptance of the vote next time is that there is an intention to build hubristic expectation of a win, and incite violence when it doesn't happen, resort to the Supreme Court and be declared the winner. Biden has one big job left to save America, and that is to increase the Supreme Court bench before the election.
That's one justice. The usual number in court packing suggestions is four. Plus, SCOTUS is out of session until the first Monday in October. Most relevant of all, with Bob Menendez facing an expulsion vote this week for his corruption conviction and Kamala Harris on the campaign trail and not available to break ties, it's not likely we'd be able to confirm nominees in the Senate before election anyway.
America has been crying out for "next generation" leaders, and now we've got one.
Of the only serious contenders for the candidacy, Gavin Newsom has already endorse Kamala, and I suspect Gretchen Witmer will soon be onboard.
Kamala is a strong smart take-no-bullshit woman who, I have no doubt, will re-energize and re-unify not only the Dems, but all of those no-more-Trump voters (who just couldn't go over to Joe). Not to mention the money is already pouring in, and like it or not, money is the oxygen of campaigns: pays for offices and workers and signs and phone banks and data firms and ads and ...
One TV chevron said "Mega-Donors all-in for Harris." She raised more money ($50 million) since Joe's announcement this afternoon than any day in the 2024 cycle.
Joe will now get his well-deserved accolades, and the convention will proudly select Kamala (and my $s on Gavin for VP) and I think a lot of hearts will be filled with joy and hope that finally someone will drive a stake through the heart of the MAGA-mob.
Even Joe-loyalists (who are understandably disappointed tonight) will rally behind a new team to defeat once and for all Trump and his neo-fascist agenda.
Trump and Fox and MAGA can throw all the dirt they can find at Kamala, but it won't stick, because the Dems (and the majority of Americans who don't support Trump) now have a young, next-generation candidate to take down Trump.
Today will be a turning point in American history. Joe saves his legacy (I'm sure there will be a Joe-night at the convention) and America gets its hope back - hope that Trump's ugly fascist movement has found its match.
I'm not a drinker, but I'll raise a glass tonight to Joe (for passing the torch) and to Kamala (for taking the fight to that disgusting little creep Donald Trump).
well, Bob, with Joe's delegates endorsing Kamala, she's now the official Dem nominee for Prez, and there's no contested convention to worry about. Even Manchin has packed it in.
And with the attempted assassination of Trump, I suspect the Secret Service will be putting the total kaybosh on any planned disruptive demonstrations.
If Job One is to Defeat Trump, then the Great Blue Wave has begun.
I never had despair that Biden would lose to Trump. It was going to be a tough, close race but we had six of Allan Lichtman's keys in our back pocket. The voters Joe was losing he was going to get back. But the media never gave the man a chance.
Here are my fears about Kamala: She has a very insular office and there's been a high turnover of her staff. She didn't get off the ground in the '20 primary despite moving to Iowa. She's terrific in front of women's groups and black colleges but she hasn't spoken in front of general audiences. And although as Rick says, TrumpCo has built a huge media infrastructure around caricaturing Biden, switching to Kamala would be cake for them because she pushes every culture war button there is to push. Can she beat Trump? Of course. But she might have a harder time of it than Biden. That the money is flowing again really kind of doesn't matter, at least for the presidential campaign. The field infrastructure is already built out and national TV ads, the biggest money suck in previous presidential campaigns, are getting less and less important in the age of cord cutting and social media.
I'm just saying that Harris v Trump is not going to be a slam dunk.
All that said, Harris has to be our nominee because anyone else would both be a logistical nightmare of epic proportions and provoke a Democratic civil war.
agreed on most of that (except our expectations for Joe v. DT)
As for Lichtman's 6 keys - they didn't include debates, and that debate turned out to be a significant game changer; also, Kamala isn't an "incumbent", but as VP she carries some incumbency cred.
I heard him yesterday ranting against dropping Joe, before Joe left.
So let's see how he re-assesses the situation.
I think we can disregard everything about Kamala that went before (already baked in); it's like the old etch-a-sketch; Wipe it clean, let's see Kamala go to work, and let's see the polls 2 weeks out from here.
I'm guessing she'll be closing Trump's lead. Especially in Penn, Mich, & Wisc. That's the road to the WH, so let's give her a couple of weeks and see if she moves things there.
Then we'll have a better sense of where thing's are heading
No slam dunk, for sure, but renewed hope among many Dems and donors (I think $ does matter - the bigger the organization and ground operation , the better.
At least the Dem civil war is over. Now Kamala (and the party) can turn their wrath on the real enemy: Trump-Vance and the neo-fascist formerly-known-as Republican Party.
Oh my goodness, Abe, I disagree with just about everything you wrote. Let me run it down:
1) Allan Lichtman has an open contempt for the idea that presidential debates have any meaning. That's why they're not one of his keys and he developed this system in the early 80s; he missed a call only once.
2) Being VP is no proxy for incumbency. Incumbent presidents win reelection much more often than they lose. Let's run down the postwar VPs: Truman barely squeaked by Dewey, Nixon lost to Kennedy, Humphrey lost to Nixon, Bush beat Dukakis, Gore lost to Bush, so that's 2 wins, 3 losses. Incumbents: Eisenhower 2 terms, Kennedy and Johnson N/A, Nixon 2 terms, Carter lost, Reagan 2 terms, Bush lost, Clinton 2 terms, Bush 2 terms, Obama 2 terms, Trump lost, so that's 6 wins 3 losses.
3) Allan Lichtman has a Plan B, which is if Biden steps down, he also resigns the presidency so he can bestow incumbency on Kamala.
4) You cannot etch-a-sketch a political candidate. Even if you want to, your opponents won't let you. AOC says that in the room where House members were talking about getting Biden to step down there were also voices who wanted Kamala to go, too. She has a narrow appeal, she's never been tested as VP in front of general audiences as opposed to Democratic interest groups, she had zero appeal in Iowa in the '20 primary and she's a highly polarizing figure. That's not me talking, it's the same Democratic poohbahs who knifed Biden. Once you knife your presumptive nominee, it's open season on everybody else.
5) Kamala will get a polling bump for sure. But so will Biden. And Biden's bump will be bigger. This will trigger buyer's remorse in the poohbahs.
6) The Democratic civil war has not begun yet. We'll know that it never starts if Kamala can get the nod on the first ballot. If she can't, then gods help us all.
Great pod, Rick. Well, the die is cast. Kamala had better end up with the nomination, and it better happen quickly, like TOMORROW! Anybody (And I mean ANYBODY!!) who gets in the way gets run the fuck over. Time is short. As Ray Lewis astutely said:THIS IS BIG BOYS SCHOOL!!💪💪😡👊🇺🇸
I agree that we need to come together pronto, I'll do what I can. I have some ideas for you, Rick.
I heard a newsclip from the Mayor of Erie, PA. In 2018 when the campaign came through Erie they left owing the city about $37K for the extra security and never paid the tab. It's pretty safe to assume he did this in a lot of places back then (seems like I read he did this in more than one place). What about Baxter, PA? The Mayor of Erie went on to ask him to pay his tab and to pay in advance before his upcoming visit to Erie. This the way Donald does business, apparently.
I recall reading about the way he treated contractors in his personal businesses. It was something like (guessing, example) a contractor gives DJT a bill for $1K. DJT gives the contractor a check for $600 or so and saying if you want the rest sue me. Ouch!
I also recall reading the The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis and that was an eye opener. One of the first chapters was Chris Christie talking about the money chest that both Presidential candidates had to have before the election that would, if necessary, to be used for the transition if they won. When DJT learned of this he said, "That'm my f##king money and I want it..." And as it turns out there was no effective transition to power. It was a total clusterf##k. The rest of the book goes on to reveal other @#$% in his presidency, but you probably no that. (I'm preaching to the choir. ;-)
I'm now a registered as a Democrat but over the years I've voted for who I thought was best. (I'm pushing, 76, an adult educator now retired and back in AZ where I grew up. I support you and the work of the Lincoln Project. Ilegitimus non carborumdum... Thanks, Hal
Out of the Darkness that is Trump-Vance and into the Light that is Harris-Wals.
The Republicans have already jumped on the “we’re going to sue you” wagon which seems ridiculous. Is there really any basis for this or are they blowing BS, as they usually do? Will they have a case to send to corrupt SCOTUS? I’m guessing Thomas and Alito are already digging through 18th and 19th century law books to grant the Trump/Vance family the victory before the election.
Thank you, Rick! What a beautiful and inspiring video. I feel energized and hopeful for the first time in a long time. Thanks sooooooooooooooo much.
Thank you Rick. You always know how to rally us to the fight.
Here, here!!! Great piece!! There is only ONE goal. Defeat Donald Trump and mini me Vance, Fascist partners and his enablers, Leo, Theil, Musk, etc, etc. Get with it, folks!!! VOTE!! Protect your kids’ futures and preserve a way of life people died for!!!
Thanks Rick…..I’m starting to feel optimistic again.
Godspeed, President Joe Biden - "Go Kamala"!
Lotus for POTUS!
(Kamala means lotus in Sanskrit)
Love this!!
Rick, you should volunteer to be Kamala’s campaign manager. The Dems need someone who can use Republicans’ own tactics against them and shove it up their ass sideways.
Sadly, since Rick runs a superpac, he's forbidden by law to do that.
This is so beautiful! It made me cry, thank you! Joe Biden is a great President
We should stop describing the Trump shitshow as a political campaign. It is not. It is a huskster's con job, a long con in fact, with the biggest mark in huckster history: the American nation, world democracy.
The only rationale to the lack of field offices, lack of policy platform, denial of January 6 crimes, and refusal to promise acceptance of the vote next time is that there is an intention to build hubristic expectation of a win, and incite violence when it doesn't happen, resort to the Supreme Court and be declared the winner. Biden has one big job left to save America, and that is to increase the Supreme Court bench before the election.
There isn't time to nominate and confirm two or four more justices before the election.
Really??? It took 1 month and 1 day for Comey Barrett to be nominated and sworn in. From 26 Sept 2020 to 27 October 2020....
That's one justice. The usual number in court packing suggestions is four. Plus, SCOTUS is out of session until the first Monday in October. Most relevant of all, with Bob Menendez facing an expulsion vote this week for his corruption conviction and Kamala Harris on the campaign trail and not available to break ties, it's not likely we'd be able to confirm nominees in the Senate before election anyway.
America has been crying out for "next generation" leaders, and now we've got one.
Of the only serious contenders for the candidacy, Gavin Newsom has already endorse Kamala, and I suspect Gretchen Witmer will soon be onboard.
Kamala is a strong smart take-no-bullshit woman who, I have no doubt, will re-energize and re-unify not only the Dems, but all of those no-more-Trump voters (who just couldn't go over to Joe). Not to mention the money is already pouring in, and like it or not, money is the oxygen of campaigns: pays for offices and workers and signs and phone banks and data firms and ads and ...
One TV chevron said "Mega-Donors all-in for Harris." She raised more money ($50 million) since Joe's announcement this afternoon than any day in the 2024 cycle.
Joe will now get his well-deserved accolades, and the convention will proudly select Kamala (and my $s on Gavin for VP) and I think a lot of hearts will be filled with joy and hope that finally someone will drive a stake through the heart of the MAGA-mob.
Even Joe-loyalists (who are understandably disappointed tonight) will rally behind a new team to defeat once and for all Trump and his neo-fascist agenda.
Trump and Fox and MAGA can throw all the dirt they can find at Kamala, but it won't stick, because the Dems (and the majority of Americans who don't support Trump) now have a young, next-generation candidate to take down Trump.
Today will be a turning point in American history. Joe saves his legacy (I'm sure there will be a Joe-night at the convention) and America gets its hope back - hope that Trump's ugly fascist movement has found its match.
I'm not a drinker, but I'll raise a glass tonight to Joe (for passing the torch) and to Kamala (for taking the fight to that disgusting little creep Donald Trump).
My hope for America has returned.
Look, Abe, I am very happy for you that you're so pumped.
But I'm not going to exhale until we make it past the convention in one piece.
well, Bob, with Joe's delegates endorsing Kamala, she's now the official Dem nominee for Prez, and there's no contested convention to worry about. Even Manchin has packed it in.
And with the attempted assassination of Trump, I suspect the Secret Service will be putting the total kaybosh on any planned disruptive demonstrations.
If Job One is to Defeat Trump, then the Great Blue Wave has begun.
fair enough;
miles to go before we sleep.
but my despair (that Trump & Co could win) has lifted, and hope has returned.
I never had despair that Biden would lose to Trump. It was going to be a tough, close race but we had six of Allan Lichtman's keys in our back pocket. The voters Joe was losing he was going to get back. But the media never gave the man a chance.
Here are my fears about Kamala: She has a very insular office and there's been a high turnover of her staff. She didn't get off the ground in the '20 primary despite moving to Iowa. She's terrific in front of women's groups and black colleges but she hasn't spoken in front of general audiences. And although as Rick says, TrumpCo has built a huge media infrastructure around caricaturing Biden, switching to Kamala would be cake for them because she pushes every culture war button there is to push. Can she beat Trump? Of course. But she might have a harder time of it than Biden. That the money is flowing again really kind of doesn't matter, at least for the presidential campaign. The field infrastructure is already built out and national TV ads, the biggest money suck in previous presidential campaigns, are getting less and less important in the age of cord cutting and social media.
I'm just saying that Harris v Trump is not going to be a slam dunk.
All that said, Harris has to be our nominee because anyone else would both be a logistical nightmare of epic proportions and provoke a Democratic civil war.
agreed on most of that (except our expectations for Joe v. DT)
As for Lichtman's 6 keys - they didn't include debates, and that debate turned out to be a significant game changer; also, Kamala isn't an "incumbent", but as VP she carries some incumbency cred.
I heard him yesterday ranting against dropping Joe, before Joe left.
So let's see how he re-assesses the situation.
I think we can disregard everything about Kamala that went before (already baked in); it's like the old etch-a-sketch; Wipe it clean, let's see Kamala go to work, and let's see the polls 2 weeks out from here.
I'm guessing she'll be closing Trump's lead. Especially in Penn, Mich, & Wisc. That's the road to the WH, so let's give her a couple of weeks and see if she moves things there.
Then we'll have a better sense of where thing's are heading
No slam dunk, for sure, but renewed hope among many Dems and donors (I think $ does matter - the bigger the organization and ground operation , the better.
At least the Dem civil war is over. Now Kamala (and the party) can turn their wrath on the real enemy: Trump-Vance and the neo-fascist formerly-known-as Republican Party.
- Kamala is vetted, is that right , no she is on the left. "Go Kamala" !
Oh my goodness, Abe, I disagree with just about everything you wrote. Let me run it down:
1) Allan Lichtman has an open contempt for the idea that presidential debates have any meaning. That's why they're not one of his keys and he developed this system in the early 80s; he missed a call only once.
2) Being VP is no proxy for incumbency. Incumbent presidents win reelection much more often than they lose. Let's run down the postwar VPs: Truman barely squeaked by Dewey, Nixon lost to Kennedy, Humphrey lost to Nixon, Bush beat Dukakis, Gore lost to Bush, so that's 2 wins, 3 losses. Incumbents: Eisenhower 2 terms, Kennedy and Johnson N/A, Nixon 2 terms, Carter lost, Reagan 2 terms, Bush lost, Clinton 2 terms, Bush 2 terms, Obama 2 terms, Trump lost, so that's 6 wins 3 losses.
3) Allan Lichtman has a Plan B, which is if Biden steps down, he also resigns the presidency so he can bestow incumbency on Kamala.
4) You cannot etch-a-sketch a political candidate. Even if you want to, your opponents won't let you. AOC says that in the room where House members were talking about getting Biden to step down there were also voices who wanted Kamala to go, too. She has a narrow appeal, she's never been tested as VP in front of general audiences as opposed to Democratic interest groups, she had zero appeal in Iowa in the '20 primary and she's a highly polarizing figure. That's not me talking, it's the same Democratic poohbahs who knifed Biden. Once you knife your presumptive nominee, it's open season on everybody else.
5) Kamala will get a polling bump for sure. But so will Biden. And Biden's bump will be bigger. This will trigger buyer's remorse in the poohbahs.
6) The Democratic civil war has not begun yet. We'll know that it never starts if Kamala can get the nod on the first ballot. If she can't, then gods help us all.
Dems have a deep bench of talent.
I think the VP has to be a man: America isn't ready for a 2-women team (although they've always been OK with 2-man teams)
and I'll leave it up to Kamala and her team (who've done a helluva job in 2 days) to pick the VP who will best help Defeat Trump.
I've rarely seen such unification of a party on such short notice.
Now that all of Joe's delegates have endorsed Kamala, she's the official nominee.
And her team is up and running; they must have seen this coming and were well prepared when Joe passed the torch.
I suspect Trump & Co are now planning some really nasty attacks.
Amen, brother.
You're absolutely right about Biden. This is truly his finest moment. He cemented his legacy today.
I'm also incredibly grateful for you amazing folks at LP. So glad to have you in the fight for America.
We're going to win this. LFG! 🔥
Joseph Robinet Biden is A GODDAMNED AMERICAN HERO!
All props and gratitude.
Great pod, Rick. Well, the die is cast. Kamala had better end up with the nomination, and it better happen quickly, like TOMORROW! Anybody (And I mean ANYBODY!!) who gets in the way gets run the fuck over. Time is short. As Ray Lewis astutely said:THIS IS BIG BOYS SCHOOL!!💪💪😡👊🇺🇸
August 19 through 28th.
August 19 through 28th.
August 19 through 28th.
August 19 through 28th.
August 19 through 28th.
I agree that we need to come together pronto, I'll do what I can. I have some ideas for you, Rick.
I heard a newsclip from the Mayor of Erie, PA. In 2018 when the campaign came through Erie they left owing the city about $37K for the extra security and never paid the tab. It's pretty safe to assume he did this in a lot of places back then (seems like I read he did this in more than one place). What about Baxter, PA? The Mayor of Erie went on to ask him to pay his tab and to pay in advance before his upcoming visit to Erie. This the way Donald does business, apparently.
I recall reading about the way he treated contractors in his personal businesses. It was something like (guessing, example) a contractor gives DJT a bill for $1K. DJT gives the contractor a check for $600 or so and saying if you want the rest sue me. Ouch!
I also recall reading the The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis and that was an eye opener. One of the first chapters was Chris Christie talking about the money chest that both Presidential candidates had to have before the election that would, if necessary, to be used for the transition if they won. When DJT learned of this he said, "That'm my f##king money and I want it..." And as it turns out there was no effective transition to power. It was a total clusterf##k. The rest of the book goes on to reveal other @#$% in his presidency, but you probably no that. (I'm preaching to the choir. ;-)
I'm now a registered as a Democrat but over the years I've voted for who I thought was best. (I'm pushing, 76, an adult educator now retired and back in AZ where I grew up. I support you and the work of the Lincoln Project. Ilegitimus non carborumdum... Thanks, Hal
djt has stiffed many over the years, what a deadbeat, now wounded 'sucker & loser".