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Created
Sun, 02/06/2024 - 02:00
The first post conviction poll:  Ten percent of Republican registered voters say they are less likely to vote for Donald Trump following his felony conviction for falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Friday. The two-day poll, conducted in the hours after the Republican presidential candidate’s conviction by a Manhattan jury on Thursday, also found that 56% of Republican registered voters said the case would have no effect on their vote and 35% said they were more likely to support Trump, who has claimed the charges against him are politically motivated and has vowed to appeal. The potential loss of a tenth of his party’s voters is more significant for Trump than the stronger backing of more than a third of Republicans, since many of the latter would be likely to vote for him regardless of the conviction. Among independent registered voters, 25% said Trump’s conviction made them less likely to support him in November, compared to 18% who said they were more likely and 56% who said the conviction would have no impact on their decision.
Created
Sun, 02/06/2024 - 00:30
Defeating fascism is not someone else’s job President Joe Biden’s comments on the Trump conviction were in Dan Pfeiffer’s opinion calibrated about right. “He’s a serious person addressing a serious matter.” However, that doesn’t excuse the rest of us from being surrogates. Big moments matter, Pfeiffer reminds readers. Trump’s cut over the eye. It may be unseemly for Biden to pound him. But not for us. Work the eye. Now (emphasis mine): One of President Obama’s cardinal rules of politics is that if you don’t talk about the giant elephant in the room, the voters will wonder what you are trying to hide. Trump’s conviction while running for President is a giant fucking elephant. Just ask yourself, how would Republicans handle it if Joe Biden were convicted of a misdemeanor related to the handling of classified information? Would they turn the other cheek and tell people to respect the verdict before pivoting to inflation or another issue? Seems unlikely. The Republicans would use every weapon in their media arsenal to brand the President as a criminal in the eyes of voters.
Created
Sat, 01/06/2024 - 23:00
Says it all Republicans be like: “Though Trump could not pass a background check to be a custodian in a middle school, he should be given back the keys to the White House.” Enjoy. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV planning guide at ForTheWin.us.
Created
Sat, 01/06/2024 - 10:02
I was working at my desk this morning when I got a text from my daughter, who’s 16 years old, and a student at Brooklyn Tech. She wanted to know if I would go with her to a walkout for Palestine that had been organized by and for New York City high school students. Having dragged her to so many demonstrations when she was much younger, I was thrilled to be asked to join her on this one. We met up, and at 3 pm, the students converged at 52 Chambers Street, where the Department of Education is located. I was impressed by a few of the increasingly familiar elements that distinguish this generation of protesters from previous ones—the extraordinary […]
Created
Sat, 01/06/2024 - 09:30
Some random cuteness to cap a good week: Some other good news for DC: Since China first sent giant pandas to the National Zoo following the normalizing of ties with the U.S. in 1972, the iconic bears have been a sign of friendship between the two nations. But the number of giant pandas at U.S. zoos has dwindled as tensions between Washington and Beijing rose in recent years. D.C.’s last three pandas — Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji — returned to China in November per the terms of the zoo’s loan agreement with the Chinese government. A return was uncertain. Now, the many new bears China has pledged to send to the U.S. in recent months are a promising sign for “panda diplomacy.” Diplomatic goodwill was on full display during the National Zoo announcement, where Chinese ambassador Xie Feng dubbed the duo “our new envoys of friendship.” 🐼 Meet the pandas: Bao Li is a 2-year-old male and the son of Bao Bao, the female panda born at the zoo in 2013, and the grandson of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the two pandas who left the zoo last year.
Created
Sat, 01/06/2024 - 08:00
One of DC’s most important conveyors of conventional wisdom, John Harris of Politico, says something unexpected: Yes, it’s obviously true that a 34-count felony conviction would be enough to demolish the career of any normal politician. Yes, it’s obviously true that former president Donald Trump is not a normal politician. His most devoted partisans will only become more so following Thursday’s guilty verdict. Just as they did after the Access Hollywood tape, the impeachments, the Jan. 6 riot and other examples too abundant to recount or, for many people, even to recall. But these two obvious truths tend to obscure another one. Trump simply cannot beat President Joe Biden relying solely on the votes of people who think his legal travails are a politically motivated scam, and who cheer Trump not in spite of his transgressions but because of them. Or, more specifically, because they thrill to the outrage and indignation Trump inspires among his adversaries. There are plenty of such people — enough to power this generation’s most important political movement — but still not enough to win the election.
Created
Sat, 01/06/2024 - 06:30
For those of you who don’t want to sit through 45 minutes of this lunatic rambling, here are some morning-after highlights. Many people testify in their own defense. A normal man running for president at the same time he is being tried for 34 felonies would almost certainly want to do it in order to prove his innocence. No, that’s not required in a court of law but you’d think someone in his situation would have felt it necessary to do that if nothing else to appear fearless and strong. But he knows his people and they apparently prefer a sniveling whiner.