In short, as I tried to argue, Beto's plan offers a real and serious answer to Trumpism. For a really good explainer of some of these ideas, and a lot more, see this @toddntucker thread:
@toddntucker Great points from @paulkrugman on how Trump's nationalism is seductive to Trump country, but is actually deeply damaging it. Farmers rely on global markets his trade wars are closing off.
As noted above, this is the worldview Beto's trade agenda rebukes.
Remarkable: Rep Chrissy Houlahan, one of the Dems Trump called for executing, tells me her office literally filled out a Capitol Police threat report listing "the president" as the person making the threat.
One reason she and other Dems did the video about Trump's illegal orders is that they're hearing from inside the military and intel services of actual live fears that they're being given unlawful commands:
Trump's boat bombings in the Caribbean just got worse. An internal DOJ memo says the victims are waging war on the US, but per NYT, it extensively cites the WH's *own claims* to this effect as evidence!
The memo purportedly justifying these murders also contains a lengthy section that lays out arguments defending the actions of those carrying out the strikes. In short, it *preemptively* defends them from potential prosecution later.
Ever since the bombings began, a big Q has been: Do those carrying them out fear they're being given illegal orders? The official overseeing them recently resigned with no explanation, prompting Dems to ask if he'd concluded bombings are illegal. 3/
This has gotten lost: Abigail Spanberger won big after vowing to RESCIND Glenn Youngkin's executive order directing local cooperation with ICE and voting AGAINST the anti-immigrant Laken Riley Act. Yet she gained bigly with working class.
Remember when Ruben Gallego preened around over his support for the Laken Riley Act, and pundits treated him as having the magic key to Dems' working class woes?
Well, Spanberger voted against it and erased GOP gains with working class and among Latinos:
Some Dems and pundits overread Trump's win. They looked at dissatisfaction with the border and discerned a seismic cultural reaction to immigration levels inside the country. The former was real. The latter is a mirage.
Remarkable: In Virginia and New Jersey, Spanberger and Sherrill erased the GOP edge among working class. Per exit polls, each got 50% of noncollege voters, big gains over previous contests.
Anti-Trump politics appeals to working class, too!
The results decisively refute need for false choice between "anti-Trump" and affordability. In exit polls, Spanberger and Sherrill both got 50% of noncollege voters, and both got *huge* majorities of nonwhite noncollege voters. Reverses Trump gains bigly:
Trump screws his voters again: He just denied disaster aid to Maryland (while giving it to red states). But I took a look. Turns out the ailing Maryland counties are in Appalachia and backed him by 40 and 54 points.
When Trump denied disaster aid to Maryland, he apparently thought he was punishing a blue state. But afflicted areas are Garrett and Allegany counties. Western MD is Appalachia. Those counties are deep in Trump country.
@stevebenen Those Maryland counties deserved this aid. The damage clearly qualified for federal assistance. Yet Trump denied Maryland (plus VT, IL) aid with no serious explanation (while giving it to MO, AK, NE, ND). We all know why.
Trump's agents shot Marimar Martinez, a US citizen, multiple times for allegedly menacing them with her car in Chicago. Only hours later, Kristi Noem and DHS started spreading disinfo about the shooting.
DHS also said her car "rammed" the agents' vehicle. But the Chicago Sun-Times reports that her lawyer says body cam footage undermines the notion that she drove her vehicle toward them and shows an agent saying "do something, bitch" before shooting. 3/