For the last 6 years Democrat candidates have run on one thing “Orange man bad”. Now that he is no longer a scapegoat they look completely lost. In the last 2 weeks I have interviewed and grilled 5 Dem candidates. Not one had an answer as to what they want to do in office.
I asked them their vision, they couldn’t answer it. I asked them their top priority, 3 said “clean water” the others said “I haven’t really thought of it”.
If you are running for Congress you should not be trying to figure out why you are running AFTER you announce.
At first I thought “maybe this is just this candidate”. But after the 3rd time it became clear that it is a deeper issue. There is very little substance to these campaigns. They want to run on how they are “better” than the Republican, not “what they will do” for their voters.
Can someone explain to me why house democrats aren’t subpoenaing exon executives, creating special councils, using the bombshell report to go after fossil fuel companies and using the momentum to push though climate legislation? It’s a political slam dunk!
You have a perfect villain (exon), you have a perfect time (infrastructure bill), you have the ability to put senators like Manchin and Sinema and Rubio on the hot seat. You have a national narrative. You have videos of the ocean on fire. You have EVERYTHING. perfect scenario.
I mean you honestly can’t lose. You can push federal jobs to transition from fossil fuels. You get your full infrastructure package. You can do a full frontal against Republicans for midterms. And you’ll have the full backing on of people under 40 YO and the left.
This is the thing that most people don’t understand. Right now there are litterally rules on the books that prevent most progressive policies from getting passed. And because we haven’t cared about these rules, corporate politicians rewrote the rules to favor themselves.
So before most progressive policies can even get voted on we have to change the procedures, and the rules to allow us to even vote on them. Congress doesn’t work because it’s been designed not to work. We have to fix that also.
“You want to know why McConnell is the majority leader? It’s because that turtle ass-hat knows the rules!”
Listening to @AOC talk with @jeremyscahill on intercepted I have two observations.
1. @AOC and @RashidaTlaib are doing everything in their power to prepare themselves for leadership positions.
2. If the left wants power, it needs to master parliamentary procedure to pass bills.
As this last week has shown we (the left) are woefully inapt at understanding the intricacies of how to get laws passed, and we are fighting amongst ourselves unnecessarily even when both wings of the Democratic Party want the same thing (Ie. $2kx6months)
Nancy Pelosi will retire in the next few years and there will be a leadership vacuum. If the left is able to position themselves in those leadership positions they will hold power for the long term whether corporate Dems like it or not.
Democrats are straight up losing the PR battle right now, and they are losing enthusiasm for Georgia. The speaker of the house should be all over social media saying vote for @ossoff and @ReverendWarnock and We will get you $2000 a month for six months.
Why isn’t @JoeBiden On every Sunday morning news show saying “get me the Senate and I will give you money”. Where are the billboards, where are the Facebook ads, where are the TV advertisements saying I’m going to give you your money back so you can survive.
Why don’t we have guests on every single media outlet talking about $2000 a month. Passing $600 once doesn’t help anyone, it’s just prolongs the inevitable. Give people an actual reason to care, make it transactional. When they vote for Democrats = $ + their lives are better.
The left constantly mocking faith and everything spiritual is a mistake. The church’s greatest message is to value and uplift the working poor and those with no power. The church should become the greatest ally of the populist left. Bring them into the fold like MLK Jr. did.
The comments in this tweet are exactly what I am talking about. The reason so many “Christians” are republicans and locked onto Donald Trump is because they are welcomed warts and all. At the same time they are twisted into whatever the Republican Party wants. A feedback loop.
As one of the biggest critics of “hypocrite” and the “Christian right” it’s clear that the left had done a very poor job of expanding and grabbing hold of this “low hanging fruit”. Returning them to their “roots” of caring about people should be a no brainer.