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I never tire of sharing this quotation:

"There are but two parties now, Traitors & Patriots and I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter and, I trust, the stronger party."

-- Ulysses Grant, 1861

Grant was the general of freedom who vanquished the armies of slavery, and the president who expanded and defended freedom. We must summon similar spirit and resolve at this time.

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First, thank you so much for your posts. They are my favorite source of news and have gotten me through so many sleepless nights this year!

One thing about the post tonight, however: I’d caution you to think that the many people who have changed their voter affiliations from Republican are doing it because they are disgusted with Trump.

Quite to the contrary, many are doing it because the LOVE Trump and are angry with the Republican Party for insufficiently supporting him. I know this first hand because my father is one of the former Florida republicans who proudly did just this, and I know he is definitely typical of a “type” you might meet in Florida, which is one of many unique “types” of people I know in Florida who think Trump was the greatest president to ever walk the earth and are in complete denial of his lies.

The influx of newly registered NPA voters in Florida last year also concerned me for the same reason, which appears to have played out in the votes. As such, I looked up a few of the arrested insurrectionists on a site that allows you to search the voter registrations for people in several states and found that quite a few were registered NPA.

I suspect that the Patriot Party could become a legitimate third party, taking the 25-30% of Americans (who I think are Trump loyalists based on polls on various topics) with it. And I believe it is going to be popular with far more demographics than one might think.

I only hope the Senate can muster the courage to prevent him from becoming president again so that his party might lose steam before fully taking hold.

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On 1/24, you posed a question about rural vs urban voters. I think you should pose one about politicians vs constituents. An except from today's LFAA reinforced this.

"Republicans who were hoping to pick up Trump’s supporters in future elections signed on to his challenge of the election outcome. For some of them, pushing the idea that there were questions about the election was a safe way to signal support for Trump and his supporters, knowing that argument would fail."

This bothers me for a couple of reasons. First, why sign up for a path of action they know will fall, and it will fail because it represents no good value to the nation? Second, many of these people are not focused on representing their constituents today but are considering their longer term political ambitions.

In an excellent but enraging column by Barry Friedman on 1/24, he covered the Sunday morning talk show circuit and the continued resistance of Rand Paul (KY), Marco Rubio (FL), and Mike Rounds (ND) to unequivocally say that the election was fair. Only Rounds, in a backhanded way, suggested that further investigation would "probably" conclude there was no significant fraud that would've changed the election at a starter our local level.

As I noted in my response to your rural vs urban voters question, it feels like there's a disconnect between how a representative votes in relation to what their constituents might vote. While it appears a majority of voters don't dispute the results, a large number of self identified Republicans believe the election was stolen, but have yet to provide any factual evidence to prove they're point. A second example is abortion rights. Approximately 75% of Americans support abortion rights, though they may differ about what conditions should be met. Since 75% of Americans aren't Republicans, that suggests some Republicans favor abortion rights. Yet the vast majority of GOP representatives support a conservative plank that is anti-abortion. A third example is DACA. About 74% of Americans support granting legal status to children of illegal immigrants, including 54% of Republicans. Why continue opposition to a program a plurality, if not majority, of your constituents support?

Are these people really representing their constituents? IMHO, it feels like candidates are using bait and switch tactics by selling themselves to voters in order to get elected, then voting in accordance with their party leadership or their donors, regardless of their constituents' preferences. I can't prove that with the time I have this morning but it seems to violate the premise of representative government.

If a representative is afraid to stand up in on behalf of their district or state in opposition to the party's leadership, they're in the wrong job. Is two years too short a term, given the amount of time representatives spend fund raising? In 2014, it inspired Represent.Us to craft a fake congressional candidate, Gil Fulbright, who starred in "honest political ads," and who started wearing logo patches for all his corporate sponsors like a NASCAR driver. "Listening to my constituents, legislating—these are things I don't do," Gil would say. "What I do is spend about 70 percent of my time raising funds for reelection."

The House passed the bill H.R. 1, the For the People Act, similar to the bill passed after the 2018 midterms, and now joined by S 1, passed by Democratic Senators. Each is aimed at reducing the influence and corruption in election laws, from voter suppression to dark money donations. The Center for Responsive Politics estimates $14B was spent trying to influence the 2020 elections. That's more than twice as much as was spent in 2016. "Nobody spends this kind of money without looking for something in return."

Do voters not pay attention to what their reps do? Why are people with low approval rating returned to office time after time? I don't know, but we're clearly not holding representatives to account frequently enough. I representatives respond only to moneyed interests, we no longer have a representative democracy in this country.

https://barrysfriedman.substack.com/p/will-nobody-speak-for-the-81283485?

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/17/americans-broadly-support-legal-status-for-immigrants-brought-to-the-u-s-illegally-as-children/

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2019/11/07/476945/1400-organizations-individuals-voice-support-daca/

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a35296946/hr1-for-the-people-bill-reform-money-in-politics/

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It is a sad day when you see on TV Senator Rubio, Republican from Florida, call the second impeachment trial of former president Trump stupid. What is truly stupid is the man put himself in a position to be impeached for a second time. That aside, what concerns me is what if the mob attacking the capital had succeeded? What would Rubio say about that? What if they had murdered Speaker Pelosi and hung Vice President Pence? What if the mob was able to reinstall Trump as President. What would Rubio say about that, it was smart? All Republicans should act as if Trump had overthrown the government. After all, five people died in the attempt. I haven't heard Rubio say anything about the dead.

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“... if Trump or his supporters do manage to put a dictator in charge...” When I read that my mind went to Ivanka. And then to Evita Peron. Very unsettling.

And I’m one of the 6000 North Carolinians changing my political affiliation from Republican to Independent. I no longer want my name associated with people (including my husband 😢) who support dt.

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Trump clearly had intent (he coerced and threatened Georgia officials to overturn election results there; he often encouraged violence against anyone not supporting him; he invited thousands of armed protesters to rally in Washington DC on Jan. 6). Trump also had opportunity (as POTUS he persuaded/commanded his armed supporters on Jan. 6 to head for the Capitol building; too, it grows more clear by the day that some individuals inside the government were aiding rebellion). For Nikki Haley to say, “Give the man a break… move on,” is shameful, to say the least. She needs to be gone, along with the rest of the odious crew from South Carolina.

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The number of executive actions for which the Biden Administration was prepared from day one is a demonstration of administrative competence made more apparent by the bungling lack of same in the previous administration. All this quietly accomplished in spite of the previous administration's acting to stall, stone-wall, and torpedo productive cooperation with Biden's transition team.

I have great confidence that the right people are in charge of the executive branch of the government.

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Thank you for this column. I’m frustrated with my favorite news outlets (NYT, BBC) because they still publish Tr*mp related articles that don’t convey need to know information, but seem to continue to feed off of the sensation here tries to create. It’s such a low bar, I suppose. I don’t need or want to read about him. However, we do need to keep an eye on him and the rag-tag mob. I thank you for informing us about the important moves and counter moves and not the flash-bang distractions he lobs out every so often.

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“Office of the Former President.” I’m going to have trouble sleeping wondering what kind of shenanigans take place there.

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Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sounded big, strong and bold in his interview with Rachel Maddow this evening. The Democrats finally being strong and bold is heartening. With Minority Leader McConnell caving into Schumer on Senate rules, it seems McConnell also sees the advantage right now for the Senate to be bold and support business interests.

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Making trump’s impeachment stick feels like the only way out of his never ending downward spiral. To make him disappear off the political scene, that he should have never been a part of!

Thankfully, Biden is just getting to work. Cleaning up as much of the mess as he can as quickly as possible. Seems like two alternate universes at play, but at the same time. Crazy!

Glad your post is much earlier! Here’s to a good night’s sleep!

Thank you, Heather!

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Add to all of Heather's summary Rachel Maddow's lengthy interview of Chuck Schumer last night. A friend described him afterwards as "almost giddy," which is accurate. Schumer is primed and prepped re making clear that the Dems are now in charge and will act accordingly. He seemed forthright in what he said, but could not be nudged into revealing specifics about what he and Dems have planned for circumventing the gigantic barrier that is Mitch McConnell.

Irony: While that taped interview was being played on MSNBC, Rachel inserted some real-time info, which is how we learned that McConnell not only blinked but caved (her words, not mine) on his quid pro quo demand that the filibuster remain as is. That, my friends, is a big WOW! in case you didn't know. Which you do, because you're all sentient beings.

I predict that today and the tomorrows thereafter are going to be eyeball-poppers. On we go!

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We should all be cheering for T****'s Patriot Party. It will pull 2/3's of Republicans away for the GOP and usher in years of Democrats in control of D.C. By making a minority smaller than we are now facing might cause some problems in the states but the reverse will be true as well.

If T**** pulls it off it will create a stampede of GOP Senators to convict him and keep him out of running ever again. If the Patriot Party is created it will join a long list of doomed 3rd parties. The question is would this be like the events when the new Republicans ousted the Whigs?

These are just a few of the points made by Robert Kuttner over at The American Propect story "Trump’s Patriot Party—Bring It On!"

https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/trump-patriot-party-bring-it-on/

Mornin'!

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We are going to have to work to help President Biden and Bice President Harris. And we’ll have to work harder for the 2022 elections than we did for the 2018 ones. We must keep the country moving forward.

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"Business republicans" don't seem as substantial a force as they sound here, but it's an interesting problem.

IG Farben and Krupp and friends found it perfectly possible to do business under a dictatorship even if they had hoped in advance to be better able to control the man they installed - and the kleptocratic "understandings" business routinely "organizes" with dark money, lobbyists rotating through agencies, etc. probably prepare them well for such a scenario.

During the long-fruitless efforts at peace in Belfast, it was often theorized that business interests would reign in the paramilitaries (how could the economy continue to function otherwise?) but the facts on the ground proved impervious to these incentives, at least for a long time.

Nevertheless Anne Applebaum argues that the best case we have for dealing with lawless insurgents is, if not business stability, at least getting to work on concrete local projects orthogonal to the political provocations.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/seditionists-need-path-back-society/617746/

I fear the story will be the inability of the country to function due to the filibuster, and Dems' inability to abolish it. Including even leftish pundits hand-waving about a theoretical abstract minority needing a voice as power oscillates hands (thinking of last week's Brookings talk https://www.brookings.edu/events/debating-the-future-of-the-filibuster/), when the fact on the ground is a permanent minority nakedly devoted to plutocratic, racist, misogynist and anti-democratic ends that holds all power for long stretches due to malapportionment and then *still* calls the shots even when an electoral trifecta by some miracle nevertheless manages for a brief window to actually reflect the will of the people.

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Budweiser is skipping buying time during Super Bowl. According to Forbes, it is releasing a 90-second video today set to the tune "Lean on Me" featuring footage of the pandemic. https://www.forbes.com/sites/martyswant/2021/01/25/skipping-the-super-bowl-budweiser-is-donating-its-ad-dollars-to-covid-19-vaccine-awareness-efforts/?sh=2b1e3a193c17

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