“We have to be a nation that trusts women.”

March 15, 2024

The most significant political development on Thursday was the appearance by Vice President Kamala Harris at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota. Her appearance at a women’s healthcare clinic was the first by a U.S. vice president (or president) at a facility that provides abortion services. See CNN, Kamala Harris becomes first VP to visit abortion provider with Planned Parenthood visit.

The visit was part of Kamala Harris’s “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour. She is taking the lead on an issue where she can be (and has been) a more effective and outspoken advocate than President Biden. Her leadership on the issue of reproductive liberty is a good development for Harris, Biden, and the American people.

V.P. Harris said, in part,

I’m here at this health care clinic to uplift the work that is happening in Minnesota as an example of what true leadership looks like. . . .

The reason I’m here is because this is a health care crisis. Part of this health care crisis is the clinics like this that have had to shut down and what that has meant to leave no options with any reasonable geographic area for so many women who need this essential care.

Harris framed the issue as one that pitted politicians against women’s control over their bodies:

How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need. To tell women what’s in their best interest. We have to be a nation that trusts women.

Harris’s visit was historic. But it also showcased Kamala Harris’s campaign skills, including her ability to connect with women and young people on the campaign trail. For readers who remember Kamala Harris only from the debate stage in 2020, I urge you to watch a few minutes of her appearance in Minnesota.

No soaring rhetoric. No shouting. No anger. No pep rallies. Instead—like Joe Biden—she is a relatable candidate speaking to the American people about their needs, wants, and fears.

I was impressed and by Kamala Harris’s appearance in Minnasota, and I hope you will be, too.

But there is more. In a similar speech last week in Arizona, Kamala Harris touched on a matter of extreme urgency for all women and men: The plan by religious fundamentalist extremists to make contraception illegal.

In Arizona, Harris said,

And right now, other extremists, as you have heard and know, are in court trying to bring back a law from 1864 that would completely ban abortion in Arizona — 1864.  Understand: 1864, before women had the right to vote, before women could own property, before Arizona was even admitted as a state.

So, the 2024 ballot will not only include access to abortion service, but access to contraception. See The Independent, Republicans are taking aim on contraception — and they’d rather you didn’t know.

In short, Kamala Harris is fast becoming the leading voice for reproductive liberty on the Biden-Harris team.

Readers sometimes send emails suggesting that Joe Biden replace Kamala Harris by appointing her to the Supreme Court or to serve as Attorney General in Biden’s next administration. When I question readers about their desire for a different vice presidential candidate, some say Harris is not “likable.” That (mis-)impression is an unfair hangover from her appearances on a debate stage with sixteen other Democratic candidates in 2020. Watch the video above if you still labor under that misapprehension.

Other readers say (wrongly) that Harris is not “ready” to be president if called upon to replace Biden. As I tell readers who raise that concern, she has more experience than did the following presidents when they began their first term: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan. She has comparable experience to George H.W. Bush when he was elected president.

Biden and Harris are a formidable team. That fact will become increasingly apparent when Trump picks a V.P. candidate from a rogue’s gallery of sycophants willing to debase themselves by serving as running mate to an insurrectionist, coup-plotting, extortionist, document-stealing sexual abuser.

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Don’t worry about the delay in the New York election interference trial.

Manhattan District Attorney Marvin Bragg asked for a 30-day delay of the criminal trial against Trump for election interference (i.e., the cover-up of the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels). Trump has asked for a 90-day delay. NBC News, NY district attorney supports 30-day delay in Trump hush money trial.

The dueling requests for delay were prompted by a last-minute production of documents from the US Attorney in the Southern District of New York in response to a subpoena from Trump.

If the delay of trial is granted, the new trial date will be set between late April and late June, 2024. Either way, the change in trial date will not likely change the impact on the election—i.e., reminding voters that Trump cheated on Melania while she was home with an infant and that Trump concealed the hush money payment by lying on his FEC disclosure forms.

So, at one level, the development is a non-event.

But it is merely the latest manifestation of Merrick Garland’s inept pursuit of justice against a failed coup plotter seeking to overturn the Constitution again by gaining the presidency. The Southern District reportedly delayed and dithered in producing the documents, creating the need for a last-minute continuance of the trial. While Merrick Garland was not in charge of responding to the subpoena, he is in charge of directing US Attorneys to cooperate with state and local prosecutions of the failed insurrectionist.

Trump's delay strategy is working for one reason: Merrick Garland’s unforgivable 18-month delay in opening an investigation of Donald Trump. See Washington Post (6/20/23), FBI resisted opening probe into Trump’s role in Jan. 6 for more than a year.

Per the Post:

A wariness about appearing partisan, institutional caution, and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient to investigate the actions of Trump and those around him all contributed to the slow pace. Garland and the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, charted a cautious course aimed at restoring public trust in the department while some prosecutors below them chafed, feeling top officials were shying away from looking at evidence of potential crimes by Trump and those close to him, The Post found.

Merrick Garland’s mission to restore trust in the Department of Justice has failed (miserably)—and Garland has given Trump enough time for his delay strategy to work.

The honorable thing to do is for Merrick Garland to resign.

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President Biden issues statement on death of Nex Benedict

Republicans in Oklahoma have offered 54 anti-trans / LGBTQ bills in the state legislature this year—the most of any state in the nation. Bullying of LGBTQ youth is a leading cause of suicide—especially when that bullying is tolerated, ignored, or encouraged by adults who are supposed to ensure a safe environment for all youths.

Nex Benedict, a non-binary teen, committed suicide a day after being beaten unconscious in a school bathroom (according to a state medical examiner). See The Guardian, Oklahoma medical examiner rules death of teen Nex Benedict as a suicide.

Per The Guardian, the “US Department of Education said it will launch an investigation into Owasso public schools on whether it “failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment of students.”

Trump has used anti-trans rhetoric on the campaign trail, promising to end “anti-trans insanity in schools” on “Day 1” of his administration. Joe Biden, on the other hand, issued a statement mourning the death of Nex Benedict and condemning anti-trans and LBTQ bullying.

Biden wrote,

Jill and I are heartbroken by the recent loss of Nex Benedict. Every young person deserves to have the fundamental right and freedom to be who they are, and feel safe and supported at school and in their communities. Nex Benedict, a kid who just wanted to be accepted, should still be here with us today.

Nonbinary and transgender people are some of the bravest Americans I know. But nobody should have to be brave just to be themselves. In memory of Nex, we must all recommit to our work to end discrimination and address the suicide crisis impacting too many nonbinary and transgender children.

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Campaign news.

Biden campaign. The SEIU labor union announced that it will support the Biden-Harris campaign $200 million. See The Hill, Labor union spending $200M to help Biden win reelection.

RNC kills mail vote initiative.  In a complete capitulation to Trump's election conspiracy theories, the RNC has killed its effort to encourage mail-in voting. That makes complete sense if Republicans are planning to lose the popular vote and challenge the results. See MSNBC, Trump's RNC officially kills the GOP's mail-in voter effort.

More on North Carolina MAGA extremist candidates. Republicans in North Carolina have nominated extremist candidates for governor, attorney general, and head of the public schools.

• The N.C. GOP nominee for governor holds a variety of objectionable views, including denying the Holocaust, claiming that the Civil Rights Movement hurt Blacks in America, and saying that things were better when women didn’t have the right to vote. Democrats have nominated the highly respected Josh Stein for governor.

• The N.C. GOP nominee for state attorney general authored the first “bathroom bill” forbidding trans people from using any bathroom facility that does not correspond to their biological sex as identified on their birth certificate. Democrats have nominated the impressive Jeff Jackson.

• The N.C. GOP has nominated as Superintendent of Public Instruction a woman who has frequently called for violence against Presidents Biden and Obama. See CNN Politics, GOP nominee to run North Carolina public schools called for violence against Democrats, including executing Obama and Biden. Democrats have nominated the highly qualified Mo Green.

Here's the point: North Carolina will be a battleground state in 2024. Democrats have nominated a slate of highly respected, accomplished candidates for statewide office. Republicans have nominated candidates that most Republicans would not allow in their homes or workplaces. While we cannot count on Republicans to beat themselves, we should recognize that Democrats dominate in the “candidate quality” arena—which usually turns out well for Democrats and poorly for Republicans.

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Concluding Thoughts

I spoke at the Field Team 6 “Register Democrats Summit” today. As always, the attendees' energy, enthusiasm, and commitment inspired me. I felt new inspiration and confidence after attending the Summit. I ran out of time and was unable to deliver all of the remarks I prepared, so I include comments below that I was unable to share at the Summit due to time constraints.

In preparing my remarks for the summit, I reflected on the two marches on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in March of 1965. The first march resulted in “Bloody Sunday” in which dozens of marchers were savagely beaten—including John Lewis. The savage violence against peaceful marchers shocked the nation.

Two days later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a second march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. A federal injunction prohibited the marchers from crossing the bridge. When Dr. King brought the marchers to the foot of the bridge, he asked them to kneel and pray. They did. He then led the marchers away from the bridge. In walking away, Dr. King complied with the federal injunction prohibiting the group from crossing the bridge.

Dr. King’s decision not to cross the bridge a second time led to widespread anger and disappointment among his followers. He was criticized by many of his fellow civil rights leaders, who labeled the second march “Turnaround Tuesday.” But President Johnson was moved to action both by Dr. King’s restraint and by the violence of Bloody Sunday. Five months later, the Voting Rights Act was passed.

(The full story is much more complicated; if you are interested in the details, I urge you to read more about this fascinating and important chapter in our history.)

The Voting Rights Act was the product of millions of selfless acts of bravery and sacrifice by hundreds of thousands of civil rights foot soldiers. But there were two final catalysts for change: The decision to march across the bridge on Bloody Sunday and the decision the following Tuesday to kneel in prayer before walking away from the bridge.

Despite the anger and disappointment following Bloody Sunday, Dr. King continued his leadership of the Civil Rights Movement and is rightly remembered today as a new Founding Father of our nation. As time passes, his decision not to cross the bridge seems wiser with each passing year. But whether it was the “right” or “wrong” decision is beside the point. Dr. King made a difficult decision in the moment and accepted responsibility for that decision despite its unpopularity.

That is what good leaders do. They are vessels into which we pour our competing hopes and desires. They contain our incompatible demands and convert that entropy into pressure capable of performing useful work.

Because leaders in a democracy must “contain multitudes,” we cannot—we must not—demand absolute perfection or conformity to our viewpoint at every moment. They will make controversial decisions that will not please everyone. They have assumed a great burden and deserve from us the benefit of the doubt and the presumption of goodwill.

By continuing to follow Dr. King even after his controversial decision at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, his followers helped Dr. King advance the cause of civil rights for the three remaining years of his life.

We are engaged in a consequential battle for democracy. Our leaders face decisions for which there are no easy answers. They must manage incompatible demands from passionate people on all sides. We must not hold their good faith efforts against them by demanding perfection in every decision and criticizing them when they fail to deliver perfection. If every contested decision is grounds for abandoning our leaders, democracy is in peril.

We are faced with a stark choice between democracy and dictatorship. The choice should be clear, even if the vessel is imperfect. That is one of the lessons of Dr. King’s legacy.

Talk to you tomorrow!