Why I remain hopeful about 2024

July 11, 2024

I remain hopeful about Democratic prospects up and down the ballot in 2024—including retaining the presidency under Joe Biden. I explain my reasons, below.

One of the unexpected blessings of writing this daily newsletter is the opportunity to meet with grassroots groups and Democratic candidates running for office. The meetings are almost always Zoom presentations designed to explain and promote the work of grassroots groups and raise money for candidates. On Wednesday, I hosted a fundraiser for Kari Lerner, who is challenging MAGA extremist Byron Donalds in Florida’s 19th congressional district and co-hosted a fundraiser for Blue CD2 New Mexico, a PAC devoted to re-electing Rep. Gabe Vasquez in New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district.

Like you, I have been weighed down by the relentless media attacks on Joe Biden and the “next-shoe-to-drop” statements by an increasingly long line of Democratic officials, pundits, and celebrities. It has been unsettling and dispiriting, even for me.

But after the two meetings today, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I was reminded once again of the Democratic Party's secret weapon: the millions of grassroots volunteers who began as members of “the resistance” in 2017 and have matured into a seasoned, professional, battle-tested citizen army ready to defend democracy.

I meet with grassroots groups a few times a week. There are usually a hundred or so volunteers on each call. Multiply those meetings and attendees by thousands of similar groups, and you will be looking at hundreds of thousands (or millions) of motivated volunteers. None of those volunteers were politically engaged before the 2016 election.

The sophistication and planning of the grassroots groups are impressive. They are data-focused, message-centric, and mission-driven. The grassroots groups are why political pollsters repeatedly missed predictions in the 2022 midterms and special elections in 2023 and 2024. As pollsters and pundits scratched their heads trying to figure out why they were wrong, the answer was staring them in the face: The under-appreciated, under-reported, and frequently disrespected grassroots movement.

Professional consultants and advisors often resent and fear grassroots groups because the groups do for free what the consultants and advisors get paid a fortune to do (often not as well as the grassroots groups).

There is nothing like viewing screenfuls of faces of dedicated volunteers who haven’t given up and aren’t buying the B.S. the media is selling. While I am frequently asked to provide inspirational and motivating remarks to the groups, I take inspiration and motivation from them every time I meet with a group.

What is so gratifying and confidence-inspiring is that the volunteers remain focused on the grinding work of neighborhood-level get-out-the-vote efforts despite the firestorm in the media over Joe Biden. Such efforts are the secret sauce and secret weapon of the unexpected Democratic success since 2022.

There is one more aspect to the grassroots movement that must be acknowledged. It is the 90% Rule. Like other constants in nature—the speed of light (c) and the gravitational constant (g)—the 90% Rule applies across all grassroots organizations. The 90% Rule describes the fact that on every call, in every meeting, in every action, women constitute 90% of the grassroots volunteer movement.

Women have been the backbone of “the resistance” and the pro-democracy movement since the Women’s March unleashed their collective power in 2017. And Black women have been at the center of the women’s resistance movement.

The overwhelming presence of women in the grassroots movement gives me great hope. It gives me hope because they understand and live the pain of being demoted to second-class citizens by the Dobbs decision. They are denied basic healthcare because gynecologists and obstetricians are fleeing hostile jurisdictions or refusing to practice their specialty for fear of prosecution or civil penalties. They feel most acutely the pain and trauma of LGBTQ children struggling to navigate an increasingly anti-LGBTQ world. They are the caregivers for elderly parents reliant on Medicare and Social Security to maintain their health and dignity in retirement.

If grassroots groups are the secret weapon of democracy, women are the not-so-secret weapon of grassroots groups. They feel the suffering and pain of our nation in a way that others do not. An attendee at the Blue CD2 New Mexico meeting today posted this saying by Coretta Scott King:

Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.

Women in the grassroots movement have become the soul of the nation. While I hope and believe that Democrats will show up in overwhelming numbers in November, women will be motivated more than any other group to protect their liberty, their children, and their parents.

The volunteers on the two calls I attended today aren’t giving up. They continue in their effort to win the 2024 election one voter at a time. They are anxious and worried like the rest of us, but they act while many in the political world dither.

Action is the antidote to anxiety. And action in community is a sacred act that is uplifting and affirming. If you are not a member of a grassroots group, join one ASAP! You will feel more optimistic, and you will increase the chances of Democratic success up and down the ballot in November.

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The drip-drip-drip continues

As Will Rogers said, “I’m not a member of any organized political party. . . . I’m a Democrat.” Proving that Will Rogers was right, the Democratic Party continues to give the public and the President conflicting, oblique, and damaging half-measure statements. As I wrote yesterday, “Fork. Road. Take.”

Like many of you, I continue to be disappointed by the equivocation from Democratic leaders whom I otherwise admire and respect. We deserve more leadership and direction than “Kinda-sorta-hem-haw-look-there-goes-Elvis.” We have four months left, dear leaders. Pick a position so we can agree or disagree with you. Time is a wasting!

The NYTimes continued its single-minded campaign to drive Joe Biden from the race, this time with an op-ed from actor George Clooney. See, Opinion | George Clooney: I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee. Clooney had the guts to take a position. But he had the poor judgment to attack those Democrats who support Joe Biden in good faith.

Clooney’s op-ed was offensive and damaging in two ways. First, he writes,

We are not going to win in November with this president.

Oh, perfect! And what if Joe Biden is our nominee on November 5, 2024? George Clooney’s op-ed is Exhibit A in Donald Trump's pitch to independent voters—“Don’t vote for a loser! Just ask George Clooney.” What the heck was Clooney thinking? Answer: He wasn’t.

Second, Clooney writes,

It is disingenuous, at best, to argue that Democrats have already spoken with their vote and therefore the nomination is settled and done, when we just received new and upsetting information. We all think Republicans should abandon their nominee now that he’s been convicted of 34 felonies.

Clooney apparently thinks it is “cute” that Democrats believe their votes matter. I thought my vote counted, but Clooney says I am being “disingenuous” for two reasons.

First, he says we have “new and upsetting information.” Wrong. When I voted for Biden, he was opposed by Dean Phillips, who ran on a platform that Biden was too old and incompetent to serve a second term. I considered and rejected that pitch. Perhaps Clooney wasn’t paying attention during the primaries, but Democratic voters were. I was. My vote should count. To say otherwise is anti-democratic.

Second, Clooney draws a parallel between Trump’s 34 felony convictions based on election interference and Joe Biden’s age to argue that both Biden and Trump are equally subject to calls to withdraw. That parallel is insulting to Biden, to Democratic voters, and to every person Clooney believes is “old.” Criminal election interference and age are not the same thing. The parallel is ageist, plain and simple.

I will repeat my plea: If you want a replacement candidate, go out and get one. Work your tail off to elect the candidate. Qualify the candidate for ballots in 50 states. Prepare for GOP litigation to keep your candidate off ballots in red states. Raise money for the candidate. Consider whether the candidate’s political profile will be better or worse than Joe Biden’s.

Clooney tries to conceal his lack of plan with this paragraph:

Let’s hear from Wes Moore and Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear and J.B. Pritzker and others. Let’s agree that the candidates not attack one another but, in the short time we have, focus on what will make this country soar. Then we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out.

So, “the [replacement] candidates should not attack one another,” but Clooney feels free to brand Joe Biden as a loser to force him from the race. Rank hypocrisy.

Clooney finishes with this gem: “Then we could go into the Democratic convention next month and figure it out.”

Under Clooney’s proposal, the next five weeks would be wasted in suspended animation based on the hope that a miracle would occur at the convention.

The decision to call on Joe Biden to withdraw should be informed by the answer to the question, “What happens next.” George Clooney has not only failed to think through that vexing question, but he has also managed to disparage Joe Biden and insult Biden’s supporters in the process.

Clooney has been a stalwart Democratic supporter for decades. But his op-ed was poorly reasoned, counter-productive, and offensive. He is better than that. At the very least, he and his advisers should consider an apology and a clarification.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez files articles of impeachment against Justices Thomas and Alito

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment against Justices Thomas and Alito. See AOC launches effort to impeach Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito | US supreme court | The Guardian

According to a statement from Rep. Ocasio-Cortez,

The first impeachment resolution includes the following impeachment articles against Justice Thomas:

Failure to disclose financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities, and transactions, among other information.

Refusal to recuse from matters concerning his spouse’s legal interest in cases before the court.

Refusal to recuse from matters involving his spouse’s financial interest in cases before the court.

The second impeachment resolution includes the following impeachment articles against Justice Alito:

Refusal to recuse from cases in which he had a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party in cases before the court.

Failure to disclose financial income, gifts and reimbursements, property interests, liabilities, and transactions, among other information.

The articles of impeachment will not advance out of committee unless and until Democrats regain control of the House. Even then, conviction would require a 2/3 vote in the Senate. But if Democrats retain control of the Senate, they could force Justices Thomas and Alito to defend themselves. Moreover, the impeachment inquiry in the House could be aided by subpoenas directed to the justices and their benefactors.

Kudos to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez for pushing this matter to the forefront!

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Join me in a fundraiser for Joe Biden

I will host a fundraiser for Joe Biden on Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern /5:00 p.m. Pacific.

I did a similar fundraiser in 2020 for Biden’s campaign. Joe Biden needs money to run his campaign in 2024, but he also needs small-dollar donors to demonstrate to the doubters that Democrats have Joe Biden’s back. Do I hope you make a big donation? Sure! However, supporting Joe Biden with a donation of any size is at least as important as the donation amount. Suggested donations start at $25 and go up from there.

I hope you will join DNC Treasurer Virginia McGregor and me as we discuss the state of the race and Joe Biden’s efforts to improve the lives of all Americans.

Here is the link: Click here to sign up for Today's Edition Fundraiser for Joe Biden

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Concluding Thoughts.

Stay the course. We are four months out from the election day. There is much to be done. The media continues to paint a picture based on inside-the-echo-chamber of Washington, D.C.  Meanwhile, there is a nation of 330 million people out there who don’t talk to a handful of political correspondents at a dozen media outlets. Do not succumb to the cognitive bias of overweighting the opinions of a tiny sliver of the American electorate simply because they appear on news outlets that a tiny sliver of the American populace watches on any given day.

Reality is what happens in the thousands of meetings and millions of touchpoints by volunteers working to win an election. With a handful of exceptions, American media is collapsing. There are many reasons for that failure, but loss of trust is chief among them. As the collapse unfolds, the remaining outlets see ratings and clicks as salvation. But that survivalist profit model is bad for democracy, for accuracy, and for the mental health of news consumers.

Action is the antidote to anxiety. And action in community is a sacred act that is uplifting and affirming. Get out of the echo chamber and take action. It is the only thing that will make a difference.

Talk to you tomorrow!