In 2016 when Bernie refused to concede, Obama invited him to the White House and both he and Biden asked him politely to stop aiding the GOP by claiming Hillary was not the legitimate winner. But Bernie claimed--without evidence--that there would be a contested convention.
The impact of that counterfactual narrative created the "Bernie or Bust" phalanx. 25% of Bernie voters voted for Trump. Another portion voted 3rd party. To this day many claim that the nomination was "stolen" from Bernie, even though he lost in a landslide. This harmed Hillary.
Refusing to acknowledge the facts and promoting a false alternative narrative because you think you should have won weakens people's belief in government. Trump is doing that now. He has Bernie's precedent and sees it didn't hurt Bernie--it hurt Hillary. Trump thinks he can win.
When men violate norms & standards women are held to rigorously, it restructures the tone in our real politik and makes it harder for women to access power. The GOP fears a future Kamala Harris run. This is as much about her as it is Biden because Hillary won the popular vote.
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THREAD 📌
This is a thread about #poverty and how people who aren't poor treat poor people. I was reading a thread about people giving expired food to food banks and it sent me into a memory hole to my and my parents' lived experience of poverty. DO NOT DO THIS.
1/x
One of the miseries of my poverty childhood was wearing other people's clothes. It was also a misery of my mother's and why I was taught to sew at 8. Our clothes were either made by my mother, who was an extraordinary seamstress, or came from the thrift store.
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DO NOT GIVE TORN, TOO-WORN OR STAINED CLOTHES TO THIFT STORES. Why would someone else, who already has to deal with the humiliation of wearing USED clothing, want your stained ("just a little stain") blouse or moth-eaten ("someone handy can mend this") sweater?
3/x
This is stellar reporting & beautifully written. The final quote is extraordinary. Read the whole piece. It's just so heartening about our nation & statewide officials' tranparency.
What is most gratifying in this story is how GOP secretaries of state refuse to bolster Trump's narrative. Additionally, the Georgia GOP Secretary of State called Loeffler and Perdue's claims of lack of transparency and fraud "laughable," noting he had posted HOURLY counts.
The story also points out that Trump and his cohort are seemingly unconcerned about voter fraud in states Trump and the GOP won, like SC, OH and KY. But the GOP Ohio SoS was outspoken that there is no voter fraud in his state and he did not support Trump's claims.
Dems repeatedly fail to acknowledge, no matter how often I or any other journalist explains it, is Republicans support Trump. A handful of wealthy Never Trumpers--all still GOP--distancing themselves from Trump is not the Senate, House & Trump courts. Twitter is not the GOP base.
Of course McConnell and Graham were going to weigh their power. But they both just crushed their opposition in large part because Trump got Republicans voting. It is a grim reminder that half the country-Independents skew right--voted for Trump AND believe he was cheated.
There was bigger turnout than ever since for the 1st time in US history, every state had early voting & no-excuse mail-ins. Trump got nearly 10M more votes than he got in 2016. EVERY demographic went up for him, including BIPOC and LGBTQ. This is why the GOP is standing with him.
Important clarifying thread from @jbouie. He notes that it would be good if folks read what AOC said rather than hear something else. Why she never gets credit for her work is a factor of misogyny +racism. But she is 100% right that we should be focusing on Democrats not GOP.
It is significant that Kamala Harris worked on bills with her they co-sponsored. One of the critiques of Harris when she was running for POTUS was that she was too left. And her Senate ranking is in the top three. My endorsement of Harris was because of her progressive policy.
Being a progressive senator is not a bad thing. @KamalaHarris's LIFT proposal is something I reported on in depth and it was far more progressive and far reaching than any other anti-poverty program and would radically add to Black wealth by raising people into the middle class.
The AME church behind our house has a big service every Sunday. Lots of gospel music, lots of preaching. The loudspeaker system puts it right in the room with us. This morning they also have a band. The joyful noise is clear: A new day dawned with the election.
The emotion is palpable. History happened yesterday and today we are living a different reality: A whole new future lies before us. The Wife says everything feels lighter. And it's true--it is a gorgeous sunny morning, unnaturally warm for November. But yes--we can breathe again.
Right now the preacher is singing "Thank you Jesus" repeatedly. "Thank you G-d, we have won the election. We have been given the hope. In this crucial battle between Good and Evil, between Right and Wrong, against Hate."
THREAD 📌 In 4yrs NO ONE reached out to Hillary voters. We were treated to endless interviews with Trump supporters, but never a word from the people who were cheated out of a president. For 4yrs we were terrorized by the Trump regime and its racist, misogynist, abelist policies.
For 4yrs Republicans and their enabling cohort in the MSM lied to us and about us and never gave us a platform to refute their claims. They continued their assault on Hillary Clinton, whose only seeming crime was calling out white supremacy and institutional racism and misogyny.
While countless Black men, women, children and #disabled were murdered by police, the GOP either sat silent or demonized the victims. While sick and disabled Americans were desperate for #healthcare, Trump and the GOP drove an assault on the #ACA, #Medicare and #Medicaid.