In the interests of full disclosure, I’m a former Republican Party member as of 2016. I left because I was strongly opposed to its tolerance of racism. I transitioned into becoming an Independent voter and then finally, I signed up with the Democratic Party to take part in the resistance to oust the republican President Donald Trump from the White House along with whoever enabled his presidency.
I desperately want those ‘dark money’ GOP donors to suffer a loss that they will never forget as the message is driven home, that they cannot buy this US democracy were “We the People” have to tolerate a man in the White House who looks and acts like a Russian asset, a flawed leader who’s an inveterate liar with financial ties to countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Israel that has most of us questioning his loyalty.
If President Trump is not forced to leave his job before 2020, then he has to be trounced in his bid to be reelected. It’s crucial to send a clear signal to others with similar thinking, that we’ll not suffer another Donald Trump in the White House.
It’s been my contention the GOP ‘dark money’ donors backed Donald Trump in becoming president versus more highly qualified conservatives because they knew that he lacked a conscience to where these mega wealthy GOP money men could be guaranteed delivery on their wish list without his giving a second though to what’s best for the American peoples.
But my desire to trounce President Trump’s chances at reelection is being compromised by some Democratic Party members starting to overreach to where they are turning off the 10% of independent voters. Those who push for ideology purity overlook the fact that only 10% of the voters who register as Independent voters truly fit this category as most lean left or right, and that their votes are crucial if the Democratic Party wants to win back the White House and to become the majority party in both houses of the US Congress. In short, the reality is, Democratic Candidates cannot win like they did in 2018 without these votes. Most of those who succeeded in 2018 were centrist contenders with a smattering of progressive wins as in the case of NYC AOC Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Here are instances that could cause Democrats not to prevail in 2020:
1.) Those State of Virginia leaders who have been accused of sexual abuse and /or a history of racial insensitivity need to step down, especially those officials who appear to be avoiding taking responsibility for their actions. As Democratic Party candidates vie for elected offices in 2020, they need to compare well to their republican counterparts to where there’s a clear contrast as to which party stands up for doing what’s right. After all President Trump is supposed to be the perfect foil to where republicans who continue to back him have to realize that they are squelching any claims of supporting decency, to where it’s the democrats job to drive home this point, over and over, again.
We don’t want to hear from republicans about a Democratic Party US freshman member of the US Congress making anti-Semitic comments, even if she did apologize and even if the party elders were quick to denounce her words.
There should be established reliable standards that are developed as not all youthful indiscretions require the death penalty versus lesser consequences.
2.) Those Democratic Party officials in the States of New York and Virginia cannot be seen as being celebratory when passing less restrictive abortion laws. While there are good sound medical reasons for their actions, it behooves those who pass this legislation to be sensitive to the reality that a minority of voters approve of, for example, of late term abortions. The reasoning behind the revised legislation has to do with the rare instances as when patients have been advised that their wanted pregnancies are not viable which forces them to seek medical care in other states because of local abortion restrictions.
3.) When the democrats are accused of socialism because of policies like the “Green New Deal” and “Medicare for All,” they need to counter that these concepts are a way of promoting the reality that climate change is a national security risk which requires serious attention and the ‘Medicare for All’ are words to drive home the point that the vast majority of Americans require easier access to more affordable, high quality health care where there is automatic coverage for preexisting conditions. These are the ‘North Stars” for Democratic Party candidates but there is an open mind regarding solutions to meet these objectives. Please put the spotlight on how republicans have avoided presenting ANY PLAN to address both these crucial issues.
When republicans talk about the concept of giving jobs to all Americans, remind them of their work requirements for welfare recipients. When they talk about the idea of free college education, ask the republicans what their solutions are to to the reality that the costs to obtain a university degree have undergone an inflation rate of over 1,100% since 1978 (as per Economic Policy Institute numbers). But then point out that that Democrats are aware that these goals are not feasible right off the bat, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t start to look at these issues with due deliberation to come up with some sensible steps to improve the lot of average Americans with regards to these areas of pocket book concerns.
4.) Business is not ALWAYS the enemy. They are needed to provide jobs and Democrats would do well to remember this. Yes, there are business executives who are not good actors but there are many who are. I for one find that those businesses which support the denial of climate change need to be held accountable, but we as a country require the assistance of business executives to help us fix / mitigate against the inevitable negative consequences of climate change.
Until today, on the 15th of February 2019, I have been an ardent fan of the freshman NYC US Democratic Party congressional representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but she has lost me, as she celebrates the withdrawal of Amazon’s bid to build new facilities in the Long Island City (Queens) area that has cost locals up to 25,000 good paying jobs that most voters wanted and a billion dollars per year added to the economy. She has been decrying the fact that Amazon was being awarded $3 billion dollars in tax breaks which in my mind, should be looked at, as investment monies (coupons). These monies have not been set aside yet, but it comes in the form of a commitment to give Amazon breaks after their executives have constructed new buildings and hired lots of new workers. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives fought Amazon to where it pulled out, as of February 14, 2019 while other communities would kill for this opportunity. This was not even her district where the vast majority of the locals backed welcoming Amazon into the neighborhood.
Think about how their actions will make it more difficult for governors, mayors and other officials to entice companies to relocate to New York.
JOBS SHOULD’VE BEEN THE TOP PRIORITY.
Here’s the rest of the story…
As per the 2/14/2019 NY Times report, “Amazon on Thursday (2/14/19) canceled its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City after facing an unexpectedly fierce backlash from lawmakers, progressive activists and union leaders, who contended that a tech giant did not deserve nearly $3 billion in government incentives.”
“The decision was an abrupt turnabout by Amazon after a much-publicized search for a second headquarters, which had ended with its announcement in November that it would open two new sites — one in Queens, with more than 25,000 jobs, and another in Virginia.”
“Amazon’s retreat was a blow to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, damaging their effort to further diversify the city’s economy by making it an inviting location for the technology industry.”
“The agreement to lure Amazon to Long Island City, Queens, had stirred intense debate in New York about the use of public subsidies to entice wealthy companies, the rising cost of living in gentrifying neighborhoods, and the city’s very identity.”
Link to NYT report: Amazon’s Retreat on NY City Headquarters
See Washington Post report: Amazon had NY City in the bag. Then left-wing activists got fired …
See WTVD-TV report: Amazon pulls out of NY headquarters plan
Gronda Morin 
When I heard his yesterday, I thought why on earth would they want to turn away 25,000 jobs? In time, some other state will woe them and it will be a big boom for that state. I share your concerns about AOC too. I think she has some good ideas, but gets carried away in her new found zeal. Maybe maturity will change that.
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Dear Mary Plumbago,
At first I admired her zeal and youthful energy but she has lost me as a fan. She just cost her own state a lot of good paying jobs and additional revenues. I’m betting that she didn’t even confer with the US representative of the region losing Amazon. She just made a huge blunder where she’ll pay a price. She has to get that she has a huge responsibility to act with greater due diligence and care.
Hugs, Gronda
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[…] via Dear Democrats, Do You Want President Trump To Win In 2020? Keep It Up And You’ll Succeed […]
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Dear Sotomayor111,
It’s crucial that DEMs prevail in 2020 elections were they become the majority party in both houses of the US Congress and that their candidate wins the White House. That means that I don’t want to hear about ideology purity as this will increases the chances that Dems will not prevail in 2020. We should be electing candidates who are right for the districts that they represent and the presidential candidate should be someone who can represent all Americans with an open mind, not beholden to those on the far left.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be the right candidate for her NY liberal district; whereas, Sen. Joe Manchin, a more conservative democrat is the only kind of candidate who can win a state wide election in W Virginia.
Thanks a million for your support and for this reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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At 74 years I have voted In every major election, and have always been an independent, not necessarily of registered record, but I have supported candidates in both parties.
In the election of 2016, in my opinion neither party fielded a qualified candidate. After the election, trump is who he always was, a despicable ignorant human being with a personality disorder whose only goal is personal control and is willing to use any means to get it. However Clinton , in my opinion, had no achievement other than using her position as Bill’s wife, I.e., she never had her own achievements of any political or social significance, and especially not as a senator.
My point is with the election of President Obama Republicans showed themselves to be a party of no integrity, no ethics and willing to support anything—no matter how destructive to the USA—to make President Obama look bad. With the election trump who is a despicable human being, the old Republicans have shown themselves to be worse than they were under Obama— it is not the issues but that they support trump who is a despicable human being.
However while the congressional Republicans have severely damaged the US political institutions and democratic process, the Democrats have not improved their position, they have stayed the same as they were in 2016.
Immigration is a crisis, an international crisis. Since WWI oil has created the greatest wealth the world has known, mostly for the financial benefit of a few, and while in western countries it enabled a middle class, in other countries it enabled brutal dictators to amass high quality weapons mostly manufactured by western countries and millions have died to make a few so wealthy.
Before electronic media (refer to Marshal McCluhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy) most of the world’s poor did not know what they were missing, enter electronic media and they all know they do not have the option of standing in a line for a pair of $400 blue jeans much less getting enough food on a daily basis. And, more important they know its only because of where they were born.
For 400,000 years humans have been migrating in search of a better life while geopolitical nation states with their ideologies of national sovereignty have been around for maybe 300-400 years. Between the natural normal behavior of people to seek a better life and the constantly evolving nature of political unities, humanity is not going backwards, no one wants to life in caves, nation states are a stepping stone and there will, as shown by the steps in history, emerge a global common political and legal structure., and who knows whether it will be a hierarchy of bullies as espoused by trump and putin or a liberal democracy as developed by the the west in the tradition of Magna Charter,
The politics of nation states with their fanatical demogoguory, their standing armies financially supported by taxes and the wealth created by oil may well be the barrier where the violence will emerge and without visionary political leadership, like crossing the Rubicon where the estimate suggests 500,000 died in one afternoon, there will be millions of people dying.
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Dear Steve Naegele,
This is the time that the Democratic Party has to get its act together in order to trounce President Trump and his GOP sycophants in the US Congress in the upcoming 2020 presidential elections.
Like you, I will spend time to figure out who’s the best candidate and then I vote accordingly. In 2008, I voted for President Obama because of Sen. McCain’s VP pick, Sarah Palin. In 2012 I voted for President Obama again because of Mitt Romney’s ‘47% comment’ and because I perceived the GOP as fanning the embers of racism.
In 2016, I voted for Hillary Clinton as a counter to Donald Trump.
I worry that Democrats will figure out a way to give President Trump, a second term. Their number one goal should be to prevent this from happening.
Hugs, Gronda
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I appreciate your unique viewpoint, Gronda. I will only say that the media (and Republicans for that matter) are covering the ultra-progressive Democrats and AOC far more than anyone else. This leaves readers with little information about what the rest of the party members are doing. It can leave the impression that the Democrats are moving far to their left, when its just the media creating that narrative.
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Dear TokyoSand,
Your analysis is right on. I worry that the GOP talking point of continuously yelling socialism will end up defining DEMS unless they start pushing back.
For example, it is possible for capitalism and safety net programs to co-exist. We already have Medicare which is a safety net program that American workers pay into during their working years. There are numerous Medicare Advantage programs that are managed by private healthcare insurance companies like Aetna.
Democrats should respond that DEMs favor capitalism with guardrails that protect consumers. Those are the regulations that many corporations want rolled back even if in doing so, harms average Americans.
I’ll be doing several blogs on this issue alone, within the next week.
Hugs, Gronda
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Looking forward to reading them.
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Gronda, this is an important lesson for the Democrat party. We are thinking along the same lines. My latest post is “Hey Dems, please focus on these four issues.” I also posted a slight variation of this post on the website of every Democrar Senator running for President plus a few others.
What Dems need to do is look at history. Nixon had a group of marauders (Roger Stone was one) that disrupted Democrat campaigns. They did not want to run against the moderate Edmund Muskie; they wanted to run against the more liberal George McGovern and did, winning 49 to 1 state. Ronald Reagan similarly crushed Walter Mondale.
Right now, more Republicans than Democrats (per a survey) know who AOC is. She is being painted as the bogeyman.
Our country is one of the most uninformed countries in the world. If we were more informed, Donald Trump would not have stood a chance. Americans do not realize we are not a pure capitalist economy; we have socialistic underpinnings – Social Securty, Medicare, Medicaid, ACA, unemployment, workers comp, bankruptcy protection, insider trading rules, et al.
What is a hard sell is conversation around the proper balance. Medicare for All is a hard sell, but is worthy of discussion. I have long advocated expanding Medicare to early retirees at age 60 or 62. This would reduce ACA exchange premiums and Medicare premiums. We then could measure the veracity of this expansion.
Timely post, Keith
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Dear Keith,
You get the picture. GOP have their marching orders to paint DEMS as socialists who want to give away everything. It’s important for DEMS to fight back.
You’ll note that no one has seen any GOP proposals to improve ACA/ Obamacare; to create more better paying jobs for real where wage rate increases exceed US inflation rate by more than 2%; to deal head on with climate change; and to protect the integrity of the vote by insuring that there are voting machines with a paper trail and more seamless ways to get registered to vote.
It’s easy to point the finger at what’s wrong with DEMs proposals when they offer nada.
Like you said, the US practices capitalism but Dems push for consumer protection and employee rights where GOP lawmakers don’t because they could care less about average hard working Americans.
We also have safety net programs to protect those who fall through the cracks, for the most vulnerable amongst us.
Hugs, Gronda
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All true. Your comments are echoed on my recent post and in a couple of comments.
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