Hmmmm. The race to gerrymander previous confederate states would seem to throw some shade on your point of view about the recent SCOTUS decision re: the Voting Rights Act. True, no separate drinking fountains, but....you know, likely fewer black representatives. But, maybe, I misunderstand you.
Why is the race of a candidate important? An entire generation of white moderate Dems in the South was wiped out in the 1990s...activist blacks made deals with Ultra-right conservatives to draw those districts. You think representation of black people improved? I voted happily for a black man for president twice. I voted against an inept racist black named Jamaal Bowman for Congress--and feel much better represented now by George Latimer. If I lived in Michigan, I would happily vote for the black Republican for Governor. He's an impressive guy. You may be surprised: the gerrymandering of the south may lead to candidates who need support from blacks and moderate whites. That would be nice, wouldn't it?
I am the product of fly-over Kansas country followed by a 54-year adventure as an adopted southerner (Texas then Georgia now Texas again) I can attest that the race of candidates in the south has made a difference in positive and observable ways. True, black activists and white conservative cooperated in drawing districts where a white candidate couldn't win and that was a double-edged sword. My black representative in Georgia (for a time) worried that if too many Marines were relocated to Guam that the island "might tip over". Truly one of the dumbest men , black or white, I have had the occasion to observe. Still, the shift in political power was a plus and surly overdue. I, too, voted for Obama twice but I didn't vote for Jasmine Crockette as I can sense a flawed candidate when I see or hear one. Your overall take on the current southern situation seems to suggest that you think systemic racism has been eliminated. If so, I strongly disagree. As for the hope that gerrymandering in the south may lead to candidates who need the support of blacks and moderate white, it's a hope but not a given. Best personal regards from your humble servant, Bruce B.
Meanwhile, I have to tell my Barney Frank story. It’s the summer of 1980 and I’m at a fundraiser for him in Weston, Mass (one of my many former home towns, as it happens). Barney arrives an hour late and apologizes with this explanation “I was at a fundraiser in Newton when one of the guests collapsed on the floor. Someone yelled out “is there a doctor in the house?” and then we realized “This is Newton, there are SEVEN doctors in the house” But, being Newton, it turned out that four were psychiatrists, two were philosophers and one had a doctorate in Russian literature. So one of the psychiatrists knelt down to the ailing guest and the guy’s son turned to his mom and said “What’s Dad going to do, talk him out of it?”
I have no idea if the story was true but I knew I had a new political hero. I also like the fact he apparently has requested these words on his tombstone “The gentleman’s time has expired”. Joe, here’s hoping you can make it to the funeral, which I have to believe will be an all timer. May many Dems read that final testament he put out and heed his words.
Pay attention Joe, MAGA is a national populist movement, not a cult. President Trump, the greatest president in our lifetime, has stepped up to be the leader of this movement. I like having a strong alpha male leader to lead our movement. Just because you call us a racist, misogynist cult doesn’t make it so, it merely demonstrates your desperation to oppose our movement. And when you and others in the lamestream media insult us, I enjoy watching President Trump disrespect you because you deserve it for disrespecting us. And when you say that you know what President Trump thinks, like your ridiculous assertion that he thought Iran would be like Venezuela, you make yourself appear even more stupid. Joe, you and the rest of the lamestream media consistently demonstrate that you aren’t intelligent enough to understand what President Trump thinks.
To those of us in the MAGA movement Lisa Murkowski has about as much credibility as Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger, i.e. none. They are like the democrats, they don’t care what is best for the American people, they just want to oppose everything Donald Trump as long as they can get re-elected. So now Murkowski says that since Senators Cassidy and Cornyn aren’t going to be re-elected they can just oppose everything Trump. So much for being a servant of the people. I’m glad the MAGA movement in Texas was not fooled by the $150million the establishment poured into their RINO Senator John Cornyn's campaign and instead voted in Ken Paxton who as AG has worked tirelessly on a number of issues, like election integrity, which we voted for but aren’t popular with democrats and the fake news media. It’s also time for 27 Senators to vote out John Thune and elect a leader who will bring the Save America act to a vote, which over 80% of voters support including a super majority of democrat voters.
We know that the rate of inflation is a residual of the massive government spending and printing of money by the autopen Biden administration. Fuel prices have risen because of the Iranian conflict, but this is transitory.
You in the lamestream media are juvenile in your belief that going into this engagement in Iran that every move and counter move would be played out exactly as planned to the end in this four dimensional chess game, especially against an apocalyptic regime who would gladly die for their Jehad and were willing in the blink of an eye to torture and kill 40k of their own citizens who peacefully protested their diabolical control.
This military engagement has been won. All of the military objectives that were defined at the outset of the campaign have been achieved; Iran does not have the capability to produce nuclear weapons or the missiles to deliver them, their air force, navy and command and control have been destroyed, their support of proxy terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis who were a threat to the entire western world including the US has been vanquished and at least the top two levels of their regime leadership have been irradicated. They are now down to Brigade command level and are run by a minority IRGC committee and an invisible ayatollah. President Trump has been stating for a few weeks that no one knows who is in charge and so his changing tactics deal with the changing circumstances and as he has said before he is not going to reveal his strategies to the public and thereby the enemy. We will learn what the strategies were when it is over.
Your only solution is boots on the ground, which is exactly what President Trump is avoiding. It’s why those of us on the top of the IQ curve voted for him and don’t believe you.
It doesn’t matter whether the Mullahs were two weeks, two months or two years from building a nuclear bomb. They’ve already called the US the big Satan, listen to your enemies. The incompetent Obama/Kerry’s deal was a joke and flying planeloads of cash to the Mullahs only further funded their nuclear development. The IRGC admitted that they had enriched enough uranium to 60% to build eleven nuclear bombs once they enriched to weapons grade which they could do in short order. I don’t want Iran to have nukes and I really don’t care what unintelligent, uninformed, Trump hating media hacks think should be a strategy.
In terms of the Straits of Hormuz, President Trump’s “trump card” blockade maneuver was brilliant. He has since offered US Navy escort, but the insurance companies “out of an abundance of caution” will not insure the ships. I don’t see the big orange “fascist” dictator forcing them to. It’s another strategy on the chessboard and there is no one on the entire planet better to play this than President Trump. I am looking forward to watching the master at work.
President Trump posted on 5/19/26:
“I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond. This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN! Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Joe, I don’t care if you don’t like his cabinet, it’s the greatest cabinet that has been assembled in my lifetime and they are implementing the things for which I voted.
The bonus has been that Trump the builder is renovating the White House and Washington DC. These changes will be magnificent. President Trump reported today that there are 21 water fountains in DC and when he took office none of them were functional. Now all 21 work. Joe, it pleases me that it will bother you and the rest of the lamestream media that these magnificent accoutrements to our nation’s capital will forever be a standing testament to the greatest president of our lifetime, Donald J. Trump.
As for today’s democrat politicians, they are losers who don’t have what it takes to be successful in business but have found a way to grift off the taxpayer and their doners and their pay to play and insider trader schemes. Their first and only priority is to do whatever it takes to get reelected and continue their grift (e.g. the Clinton and Biden crime families, the Pelosi’s, Feinstein’s, Schumer’s, Newsome’s and the squad, etc.) . Their juvenile Marxist communist grievances don’t work in the land of opportunity where they can’t stir up dissent based on class. So, they’ve sociologically divided everyone into two categories, oppressors and oppressed, and tried to weave a coalition together of their manufactured oppressed groups based on skin color, gender and sexual orientation. But by doing so the dems are beholden to the radical left wing communist Marxist Jacobians who hate America and at the same time claim oppressed status. As a result, there is no democrat party platform other than DEI, championing transgenderism and being anti-Trump in everything. Joe, I’m glad that you want them to move to toward the center and support the working class, but the dems don’t have the talent. There are no Barney Frank’s in today’s democrat party. Name a single democrat in national office today who is qualified to lead your dysfunctional party.
Pay absolutely no attention to Deplore This (an apt name, by-the-by). He is a poorly programmed troll bot who hangs around Joe's Substack so he can "own him some libtards".
Child masquerading as an adult, you are not liberal. You are illiberal and intolerant of viewpoints that don’t align with your leftist borg. But it is entertaining to torture you borgtards with facts and logic.
I was a Republican for years. I didn't vote for Obama, but I was proud of the country for voting in the first Black candidate. I did get tired of his lecturing the "people who cling to guns and religion." I thought he was pretty divisive. I never voted for Trump. I did vote for Biden thinking he'd tack towards the center - boy was I wrong.
The Dems will never, ever win with a simple "we hate Trump" platform." They will NEVER win continuing to beat the intersectional woke drum. Most people really don't care if you're LGBTQ or whatever. Just don't scream about it constantly and force the pronouns issue. Trans should not play in women's sports, most folks believe that. Why is that so hard?
There's work to be done Dems, but they can't seem to help themselves from making GIANT mountains of molehills.
I definitely think the country is in serious trouble here.
So much of the recent commentary operates on this idea that there is one hive mind that operates the Democratic Party - but it really isn’t true. Yes, it it is the home of AOC and Gavin Newsome but it is also the home of Al From, Elaine Kamarck, Josh Shapiro - and those who somehow manage to straddle the wide chasm of political spectrum like Joe Trippi. Mostly, it is full of elected officials who recognize that the emphasis should be on economics and kitchen table issues but don’t dare alienate the cultural left. And things are made infinitely worse by a media that mostly loves the left leaning pols, especially the sexy ones, and can’t resist turning them into rock stars, giving them a boost over the workhorses who probably have broader appeal.
The abundance/affordability meme, as irritating as it can sometimes be, is a useful tool in the pivot from a politics of identity to a politics of economic justice, which is a pivot that needs to be made. The hope is that, if the Dems do retake the House and the Senate, it will be recognized as attributable to economic discontent (and disgust with unprecedented corruption) rather than an affirmation of DEI and all the rest.
Put another way, I think the bulk of Democratic officials recognize the unpopular issues but are stuck with a politics that dare not speak its name. But if Ossof,, Talarico and perhaps especially Sherrod Brown can squeak through, the stage will be set for a bit of a sea change. In the meantime, I highly recommend suspending your subscription to New York Magazine.
but James Murdoch is the good one, no? And as for the rest, the Republicans won't let the Democrats escape their dreadful positions on cultural issues. You gotta be able to answer the questions: Should boys be allowed to play on girls' teams? Should blacks be given advantages in college admissions? (It would be nice if some Dem came out in favor of eliminating legacy admissions--but that would threaten their fund-raising.) And on and on. People care about these things. They can't be avoided.
Hmmmm. The race to gerrymander previous confederate states would seem to throw some shade on your point of view about the recent SCOTUS decision re: the Voting Rights Act. True, no separate drinking fountains, but....you know, likely fewer black representatives. But, maybe, I misunderstand you.
Why is the race of a candidate important? An entire generation of white moderate Dems in the South was wiped out in the 1990s...activist blacks made deals with Ultra-right conservatives to draw those districts. You think representation of black people improved? I voted happily for a black man for president twice. I voted against an inept racist black named Jamaal Bowman for Congress--and feel much better represented now by George Latimer. If I lived in Michigan, I would happily vote for the black Republican for Governor. He's an impressive guy. You may be surprised: the gerrymandering of the south may lead to candidates who need support from blacks and moderate whites. That would be nice, wouldn't it?
I am the product of fly-over Kansas country followed by a 54-year adventure as an adopted southerner (Texas then Georgia now Texas again) I can attest that the race of candidates in the south has made a difference in positive and observable ways. True, black activists and white conservative cooperated in drawing districts where a white candidate couldn't win and that was a double-edged sword. My black representative in Georgia (for a time) worried that if too many Marines were relocated to Guam that the island "might tip over". Truly one of the dumbest men , black or white, I have had the occasion to observe. Still, the shift in political power was a plus and surly overdue. I, too, voted for Obama twice but I didn't vote for Jasmine Crockette as I can sense a flawed candidate when I see or hear one. Your overall take on the current southern situation seems to suggest that you think systemic racism has been eliminated. If so, I strongly disagree. As for the hope that gerrymandering in the south may lead to candidates who need the support of blacks and moderate white, it's a hope but not a given. Best personal regards from your humble servant, Bruce B.
Strongly disagree with your blithe characterization of Platner as preppy oysterman w Nazi tattoo. Willful ignorance of his personal history.
He is literally the best future of the Democratic Party.
He will thankfully win the Maine Senate seat over the nefarious and blithering Collins
Too far left to be the future of anything.
Meanwhile, I have to tell my Barney Frank story. It’s the summer of 1980 and I’m at a fundraiser for him in Weston, Mass (one of my many former home towns, as it happens). Barney arrives an hour late and apologizes with this explanation “I was at a fundraiser in Newton when one of the guests collapsed on the floor. Someone yelled out “is there a doctor in the house?” and then we realized “This is Newton, there are SEVEN doctors in the house” But, being Newton, it turned out that four were psychiatrists, two were philosophers and one had a doctorate in Russian literature. So one of the psychiatrists knelt down to the ailing guest and the guy’s son turned to his mom and said “What’s Dad going to do, talk him out of it?”
I have no idea if the story was true but I knew I had a new political hero. I also like the fact he apparently has requested these words on his tombstone “The gentleman’s time has expired”. Joe, here’s hoping you can make it to the funeral, which I have to believe will be an all timer. May many Dems read that final testament he put out and heed his words.
Pay attention Joe, MAGA is a national populist movement, not a cult. President Trump, the greatest president in our lifetime, has stepped up to be the leader of this movement. I like having a strong alpha male leader to lead our movement. Just because you call us a racist, misogynist cult doesn’t make it so, it merely demonstrates your desperation to oppose our movement. And when you and others in the lamestream media insult us, I enjoy watching President Trump disrespect you because you deserve it for disrespecting us. And when you say that you know what President Trump thinks, like your ridiculous assertion that he thought Iran would be like Venezuela, you make yourself appear even more stupid. Joe, you and the rest of the lamestream media consistently demonstrate that you aren’t intelligent enough to understand what President Trump thinks.
To those of us in the MAGA movement Lisa Murkowski has about as much credibility as Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger, i.e. none. They are like the democrats, they don’t care what is best for the American people, they just want to oppose everything Donald Trump as long as they can get re-elected. So now Murkowski says that since Senators Cassidy and Cornyn aren’t going to be re-elected they can just oppose everything Trump. So much for being a servant of the people. I’m glad the MAGA movement in Texas was not fooled by the $150million the establishment poured into their RINO Senator John Cornyn's campaign and instead voted in Ken Paxton who as AG has worked tirelessly on a number of issues, like election integrity, which we voted for but aren’t popular with democrats and the fake news media. It’s also time for 27 Senators to vote out John Thune and elect a leader who will bring the Save America act to a vote, which over 80% of voters support including a super majority of democrat voters.
We know that the rate of inflation is a residual of the massive government spending and printing of money by the autopen Biden administration. Fuel prices have risen because of the Iranian conflict, but this is transitory.
You in the lamestream media are juvenile in your belief that going into this engagement in Iran that every move and counter move would be played out exactly as planned to the end in this four dimensional chess game, especially against an apocalyptic regime who would gladly die for their Jehad and were willing in the blink of an eye to torture and kill 40k of their own citizens who peacefully protested their diabolical control.
This military engagement has been won. All of the military objectives that were defined at the outset of the campaign have been achieved; Iran does not have the capability to produce nuclear weapons or the missiles to deliver them, their air force, navy and command and control have been destroyed, their support of proxy terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis who were a threat to the entire western world including the US has been vanquished and at least the top two levels of their regime leadership have been irradicated. They are now down to Brigade command level and are run by a minority IRGC committee and an invisible ayatollah. President Trump has been stating for a few weeks that no one knows who is in charge and so his changing tactics deal with the changing circumstances and as he has said before he is not going to reveal his strategies to the public and thereby the enemy. We will learn what the strategies were when it is over.
Your only solution is boots on the ground, which is exactly what President Trump is avoiding. It’s why those of us on the top of the IQ curve voted for him and don’t believe you.
It doesn’t matter whether the Mullahs were two weeks, two months or two years from building a nuclear bomb. They’ve already called the US the big Satan, listen to your enemies. The incompetent Obama/Kerry’s deal was a joke and flying planeloads of cash to the Mullahs only further funded their nuclear development. The IRGC admitted that they had enriched enough uranium to 60% to build eleven nuclear bombs once they enriched to weapons grade which they could do in short order. I don’t want Iran to have nukes and I really don’t care what unintelligent, uninformed, Trump hating media hacks think should be a strategy.
In terms of the Straits of Hormuz, President Trump’s “trump card” blockade maneuver was brilliant. He has since offered US Navy escort, but the insurance companies “out of an abundance of caution” will not insure the ships. I don’t see the big orange “fascist” dictator forcing them to. It’s another strategy on the chessboard and there is no one on the entire planet better to play this than President Trump. I am looking forward to watching the master at work.
President Trump posted on 5/19/26:
“I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond. This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN! Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Joe, I don’t care if you don’t like his cabinet, it’s the greatest cabinet that has been assembled in my lifetime and they are implementing the things for which I voted.
The bonus has been that Trump the builder is renovating the White House and Washington DC. These changes will be magnificent. President Trump reported today that there are 21 water fountains in DC and when he took office none of them were functional. Now all 21 work. Joe, it pleases me that it will bother you and the rest of the lamestream media that these magnificent accoutrements to our nation’s capital will forever be a standing testament to the greatest president of our lifetime, Donald J. Trump.
As for today’s democrat politicians, they are losers who don’t have what it takes to be successful in business but have found a way to grift off the taxpayer and their doners and their pay to play and insider trader schemes. Their first and only priority is to do whatever it takes to get reelected and continue their grift (e.g. the Clinton and Biden crime families, the Pelosi’s, Feinstein’s, Schumer’s, Newsome’s and the squad, etc.) . Their juvenile Marxist communist grievances don’t work in the land of opportunity where they can’t stir up dissent based on class. So, they’ve sociologically divided everyone into two categories, oppressors and oppressed, and tried to weave a coalition together of their manufactured oppressed groups based on skin color, gender and sexual orientation. But by doing so the dems are beholden to the radical left wing communist Marxist Jacobians who hate America and at the same time claim oppressed status. As a result, there is no democrat party platform other than DEI, championing transgenderism and being anti-Trump in everything. Joe, I’m glad that you want them to move to toward the center and support the working class, but the dems don’t have the talent. There are no Barney Frank’s in today’s democrat party. Name a single democrat in national office today who is qualified to lead your dysfunctional party.
Are kidding?? That was hilarious!
I assume you mean Are "you" kidding, but English is obviously very difficult for you. The answer to that question is no.
What you seem to find "hilarious" demonstrates that this is just all too difficult for you to understand. So sorry.
Pay absolutely no attention to Deplore This (an apt name, by-the-by). He is a poorly programmed troll bot who hangs around Joe's Substack so he can "own him some libtards".
Child masquerading as an adult, you are not liberal. You are illiberal and intolerant of viewpoints that don’t align with your leftist borg. But it is entertaining to torture you borgtards with facts and logic.
I was a Republican for years. I didn't vote for Obama, but I was proud of the country for voting in the first Black candidate. I did get tired of his lecturing the "people who cling to guns and religion." I thought he was pretty divisive. I never voted for Trump. I did vote for Biden thinking he'd tack towards the center - boy was I wrong.
The Dems will never, ever win with a simple "we hate Trump" platform." They will NEVER win continuing to beat the intersectional woke drum. Most people really don't care if you're LGBTQ or whatever. Just don't scream about it constantly and force the pronouns issue. Trans should not play in women's sports, most folks believe that. Why is that so hard?
There's work to be done Dems, but they can't seem to help themselves from making GIANT mountains of molehills.
I definitely think the country is in serious trouble here.
Thank you, Mr. Klein. I agree with you. Let’s hope for better times and days ahead.
So much of the recent commentary operates on this idea that there is one hive mind that operates the Democratic Party - but it really isn’t true. Yes, it it is the home of AOC and Gavin Newsome but it is also the home of Al From, Elaine Kamarck, Josh Shapiro - and those who somehow manage to straddle the wide chasm of political spectrum like Joe Trippi. Mostly, it is full of elected officials who recognize that the emphasis should be on economics and kitchen table issues but don’t dare alienate the cultural left. And things are made infinitely worse by a media that mostly loves the left leaning pols, especially the sexy ones, and can’t resist turning them into rock stars, giving them a boost over the workhorses who probably have broader appeal.
The abundance/affordability meme, as irritating as it can sometimes be, is a useful tool in the pivot from a politics of identity to a politics of economic justice, which is a pivot that needs to be made. The hope is that, if the Dems do retake the House and the Senate, it will be recognized as attributable to economic discontent (and disgust with unprecedented corruption) rather than an affirmation of DEI and all the rest.
Put another way, I think the bulk of Democratic officials recognize the unpopular issues but are stuck with a politics that dare not speak its name. But if Ossof,, Talarico and perhaps especially Sherrod Brown can squeak through, the stage will be set for a bit of a sea change. In the meantime, I highly recommend suspending your subscription to New York Magazine.
but James Murdoch is the good one, no? And as for the rest, the Republicans won't let the Democrats escape their dreadful positions on cultural issues. You gotta be able to answer the questions: Should boys be allowed to play on girls' teams? Should blacks be given advantages in college admissions? (It would be nice if some Dem came out in favor of eliminating legacy admissions--but that would threaten their fund-raising.) And on and on. People care about these things. They can't be avoided.
It would indeed be not only nice, if the Democrats were honest with themselves, but took that innate knowledge and began to practice it.