Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

White supremacy is terrorism.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2018 / For the good times

For the good times

by | 75 Comments

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Many of you seem like good, virtuous people. You live responsibly, making economical dishes in your slow cookers. You volunteer, you probably canvas for candidates you support, you may already be in local government in some capacity. You do all of these things even when they seem like a grind.

I’m not like that at all, unfortunately, but I spent a ton of time working with local candidates for the House and State legislature from 2006 through 2008. It was a lot of fun! It was fun because we had the winds at our back and because that was when blogging was new and exciting. I got into huge fights with other local activists, felt betrayed by a charismatic candidate who turned out to be a sex harasser (Eric Massa), and burned out on the whole experience.

The next few years are going to be like 2006-08 on steroids, though maybe “on crack” would more accurate. The generic polls have Dems up by 10 and on average Dems are outperforming Hillary 2016 by 10 points in special elections. Democrats in Virginia gained 15+ seats out of 100 in State House elections. That’s the equivalent of 65+ seats in the US House.

Things are likely to get worse for Republicans. They’re either going to fail at all attempts at major legislation or, much worse, pass wildly unpopular legislation. There will mostly likely be more indictments. Trump will probably pardon several people and/or fire Mueller. The economy is unlikely to keep going like this for another year.

The potential for Democratic gains is immense. It’s also going to be nuts, completely fucking nuts. Breitbart will be throwing crazy shit against the wall to try to tar Democratic candidates. There may be bogus DOJ investigations of Democrats. Russians will be trying to hack our elections to help Republicans, and in some cases Republicans officials will be working hand in hand with them.

It’s so exciting that I wish I could throw myself into it, but this is the busiest time of my life professionally plus we are having a baby next month. So I can’t. But you should. It’s going to be a blast. You don’t have to be the kind of person who is naturally good. You can just go into to it to have a good time. You will. Start a local blog. Have a ton of coffee or a different beverage of your choice and knock on doors. Whatever you do, it’ll make a difference. And this is probably a once in a lifetime cycle. It will make for a lifetime of good stories.

Reader Interactions

75Comments

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    Howard Fineman‏Verified account @howardfineman

    I’ve watched @alfranken unfairly bracketed w/ accused serial sexual predators. He & I’ve been family friends for decades. As a comic, he could be crude. He went too far (& apologized). BUT: he’s NOT predatory, adores his wife & family & is a lifelong champion of women’s rights.
    7:56 AM – 18 Nov 2017

  6. 6.

    Mary G

    A long time since Red Kitten had Sam Kitten, so happy to hear your news, Doug. Congratulations to the J family!

  7. 7.

    martian

    Congratulations, new daddy! The first year is going to go by in a blur, embrace it. If it weren’t for my handy iPhone camera, I’m not sure how much detail I’d even be able to remember of my kids’ first year.

  8. 8.

    Doug R

    @rikyrah: Part of good comedy is treading right on that line. Sometimes you go over. But I feel Franken’s comedy is not about making the other humiliated, it’s self-humiliation to draw the others out. He really does not want good people to feel bad. Others like Rush who use their station to lie and humiliate to gain power, he’s all over that.

  9. 9.

    MoxieM

    Ok, so I’d like some advice (the constructive kind, please!) since 2007-7, when I was involved, and did data work in my local area for the Presidential …many things have changed for me (and I don’t mean the national political scene). I can’t knock on doors (don’t walk too good, plus c-PTSD would make that, or phone banking, a nightmare). But, I want to put my shoulder to the wheel. I’m not wealthy so I can’t just fling money. I offered my services to the HRC campaign, but, crickets.

    Any ideas of ways I could constructively help out?

  10. 10.

    Raoul

    “The economy is unlikely to keep going like this for another year.”
    This may be the understatement of 2017. It got very little coverage, from what I can tell, but Trump utterly failing in economic talks in SE Asia last week will be one of many dominoes to topple in 2018.

    Basically, everyone who would have been in TPP — except us, of course! — has now signed a new pact. I don’t want to litigate right now whether Obama’s TPP was the particular right formula for trade (a worthy discussion but moot since we’re out, now). But having no agreement is deeply foolish.

    I have come to realize that the titans of American industry are all as stupid, flaccid and ill informed as Tillerson. The economy right now is coasting on fumes, imo. Hard times are coming. The Trumpian go it alone won’t work.

    Paul Ryan’s smash-n-grab tax plan will cause a massive surge in the deficit, which won’t have the interest rate impact the bond vigilantes always think is coming, but it will force huge gov’t service cuts. I’ve seen several indications that as passed by the House, CMS will be required to sequester $25billion (with a B!) from Medicare. Medicare, the program seniors — aka Republican stronghold voters — rely on. Government spending cuts are rapidly contractionary, since that money moves quickly through the economy.

    Richie-rich spending from marginal tax cuts is anywhere from slow to negligible. OK, some of them will order a private jet or two. They’ll be delivered 2, 4, 5 years from now and a few people in Wichita will get work – most of the jobs will be in Brazil, Canada, Japan and other parts of Asia. Whoo! MAGA.

    tl;dr version: Yep. Our economy is unsustainable w/ Trump & GOP.

  11. 11.

    Doug!

    @rikyrah:

    That’s my thinking too. I understand the political rationale for him resigning or being forced to resign. But it would be a stunt that ends up discrediting the #metoo movement a bit.

  12. 12.

    Doug!

    @MoxieM:

    I would try contacting Forward Majority and see if they have something for you. Or contact your country Democratic party.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    Things are likely to get worse for Republicans. They’re either going to fail at all attempts at major legislation or, much worse, pass wildly unpopular legislation.

    I’m missing something here. The GOP is close to passing their insane tax plan, one that will get them closer to an all out assault on Social Security. And they don’t seem to care if their plans are unpopular. They see their opportunity and they are taking it.

    A good chunk of voters are complacent or actively in support of the GOP. They’ve bought into the lies. The recent Tuesday election victories are a great sign of potential resistance, but there will be more to fight against to undo the damage done.

    There will mostly likely be more indictments. Trump will probably pardon several people and/or fire Mueller.

    I certainly hope there will be more indictments. Let’s see if this touches Trump.

    The economy is unlikely to keep going like this for another year.

    Nobody knows, and the impact of tax reform, if passed, adds more uncertainty, apart from the fact that the rich will get richer.

  15. 15.

    martian

    @rikyrah:
    The more time that passes with no more women coming forward than the one Fox dug up to complain about Al calling to argue budgets (come the fuck on now…), the more freely I’m breathing.

  17. 17.

    sharl

    we are having a baby next month.

    Awesome; congratulations!
    Pass along your legendary trolling skills to her/him early on, to gain an advantage in getting into Social Media University down the road. ?

    ETA: Good post overall. I wish we could do something more directly about the long term pernicious things going on, e.g., the Supreme Court and its evil farm teams like The Federalist Society. But gotta start with what we CAN reasonably do…

  20. 20.

    Doug!

    @Brachiator:

    The tax bill is very unpopular, the second most unpopular piece of major legislation ever polled. That’s going to hurt Republicans politically, make no mistake.

  21. 21.

    CaseyL

    Ooh, congrats on the baby! And congrats on being so busy professionally, which I hope is a good thing.

    I’m trying to be optimistic about 2018. But I’m also wondering, if there is a Democratic Wave, if it will be soon enough and big enough to undo what’s been done.

    I can say that I went to my Legislative District monthly meeting last night, and the guest speakers were very energized and hopeful about turning parts of Eastern Washington blue. (Seattle gets all the attention, and is the bluest of blues, but east of the Cascades it’s another story; almost another state.)

  23. 23.

    Emma

    @MoxieM: I would say reach out to local Democratic candidates. They’re usually on a shoestring and need all the help they can get. Office work seems to be especially needed.

  24. 24.

    James E. Powell

    @Brachiator:

    If the Republicans simply stated, “Our tax plan will make it almost impossible for the federal government to function, but everybody is going to get at least $500,” their tax plan would have about 60% support. We live in a nation of greedy, self-absorbed assholes who only notice the suffering of others when they find humor in it.

  26. 26.

    Doug!

    @CaseyL:

    And congrats on being so busy professionally, which I hope is a good thing.

    Not completely a good thing. I’ve agreed to take on duties I didn’t want that much in order to make more money since we having a baby.

  27. 27.

    Raoul

    @Brachiator: Not to pick on you, and I will caveat that I was more pessimistic about 2017 (in terms of stock prices as well as employment figures) than these 11 months have borne out, but I think there is a fair bit more confidence that the economy will stall than a ‘nobody knows’ or that tax cuts just equal uncertainty.
    Plenty of reputable economists are worried. There is solid data on what past tax cuts have done to damage wages, transfer more wealth uphill, etc.
    Even my nationally recognized mega-brokerage firm is putting out comments on how to invest in a ‘late cycle’ economy. That’s investor speak for oversold, overinflated, heading for a correction.
    What I will say that nobody knows is the depth of the correction (aka market tumble, but that sounds bad so Streeters say correction – as in rectifying the irrational exuberance, I suppose).
    I am finance chair for a small, queer, community foundation. I told our E.D. the other day (and again, with caveat above about my prognosticating skillz) I’m at 90% confidence of a 10% drop in the markets. Maybe 50/50 for a 20 to 25% major sag. I have non-zero worries of a 40% or worse collapse.
    I’ve been an investor for 30+ years. I’ll gut it out and make money the old fashioned way (aka value investing, not the bullshit predatory bet-on-loser way that the Wall Street vultures do). But it may take a decade, and a solid Dem in the WH, to get past the coming American economic reckoning.

  28. 28.

    feebog

    First, congratulations Doug, start sleeping now, cause you ain’t gonna get any once the new bundle of joy arrives. Second, I think Republicans are in a world of hurt either way this tax bill goes. If they get it passed it is going to hurt a lot of people, including some of their base. If they don’t get it passed, the big donors don’t open the money floodgates, and they actually have to go out and work for the money for next year’s campaign. Looking for the popcorn popper right now…

  29. 29.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    I could really do without the excitement. It’s crazy enough as it is. I don’t see how the GOP or the Trump can see this situation as sustainable.

  30. 30.

    rikyrah

    Eric Boehlert‏Verified account @EricBoehlert

    Eric Boehlert Retweeted The New Yorker

    I’m glad everyone is mocking this ridiculous @newyorker premise that nobody knew abt Trump and Wikileaks last year–only people in the dark were journalists

  33. 33.

    Raoul

    @CaseyL: “I’m trying to be optimistic about 2018. But I’m also wondering, if there is a Democratic Wave, if it will be soon enough and big enough to undo what’s been done.”

    My worry, tied in to my concerns about our moment in the economic cycle (plus Trump-Ryan’s laffer-ably bad econ policy stance) is that Dems win big in 2018 and then get caught holding the bag for a big economic crisis. It’s what happened to Obama. And Clinton. Longer back that than, too.

    We never f*king get credit for doing the actual hard work of running the country, and for example Bush the Lesser’s hand in the last collapse is being written out of history. It’s a crime how the two parties real v perceived functions work.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator:

    I’m missing something here. The GOP is close to passing their insane tax plan, one that will get them closer to an all out assault on Social Security. And they don’t seem to care if their plans are unpopular. They see their opportunity and they are taking it.

    They don’t care because they think they’ve mastered the minoritarian features within US federalism allowing them to acquire, retain, and maintain control of the Federal government and a majority of the states without actually having, or having to have, the popular, majority support of Americans over all or the Americans within each state they control. As Norm Ornstein tweeted the other day we are fast approaching 30% of the US population permanently controlling the US Senate. Gerrymandering and voter suppression presented as election security after the 2010 midterm wave has produced something similar for the House and for many state legislatures.

    The question is whether or not they are 1) right that they’ve mastered it and can continue to leverage it and 2) how long everyone else is willing to put up with government by and governance for smaller and smaller minorities of Americans. Imagine what happens if a Federal income tax revolt was staged in NY, California, and NJ in response to Congress removing the state and local tax exemption and the mortgage deduction exemption. Specifically an organized civil disobedience action of the residents of these states refusing to file their Federal income taxes. The IRS doesn’t have the ability or the capability now to properly audit tax cheats. While not all 70 million New Yorkers, Californians, and New Jersey residents would go along, if even a 1/4 of the citizens of those three states could be organize to conduct this type of civil disobedience protest it would quickly destroy the Federal government, as well all the red states that depend on the largess passed from NY, CA, NJ, and a few other states to places like Texas or Alabama, or Arizona, Kentucky. Take it from someone who has helped to plan a couple (you don’t need to know), rebellions and insurgencies don’t need to be violent to be effective.

  37. 37.

    martian

    You know, 2006-2008 was a viciously contentious time in the blogosphere. After all the talk about Stoller and company in previous threads, I went down a couple of rabbit holes looking up what some of the old blog characters were up to and, I don’t know, it’s like a lot of people were running in place. People still recount and rehash arguments with Moulitsas from the mid-aughts for crissake, and seem to be splitting into ever smaller factions of the People’s Front of Judea.

    Is there some way around the bitter factionalism and infighting or is it a necessary, inevitable part of the process? It seems like such a waste of energy. Is it a good thing in some way I’m not seeing?

  40. 40.

    Eljai

    Congratulations! And the baby is due next month? That’s December. I was born in December, but in the early part, so I would never allow people to get away with combining my birthday and Christmas present. Now, I don’t care, but it was important to me when I was 7. Two separate presents, cheapskates!

  41. 41.

    bemused

    @rikyrah:

    I can’t be the only one who has watched Franken’s accuser on numerous interviews in last two days and after felt more skeptical about her traumatization than before.

  43. 43.

    Raoul

    @Adam L Silverman: I think a lot of us in net tax exporter states like MN could be whipped up into a frenzy of basically, “Fvk off, moocher red states that suck us dry.” It would be a pyrrhic victory, since federalism and sub-national tax transfer payments have been the price of stability for a long time.
    But I think the argument is increasingly valid that we aren’t a fully stable, functioning polity anyway.
    The founders worried that small states would get piled on by big states, but I don’t think they envisioned the eventual power shift that would come from the Senate having two members from nation-state California (pop 39,250,000) and two from middling-rustbelt-midsize-city-equivalent Wyoming (pop +/- 590,000). The balance of power has shifted radically as the great sorting continues.
    CA, NJ, NY, MN etc saying ‘eat shit’ to the IRS is entirely conceivable in the coming debacles.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    @Doug!:

    The tax bill is very unpopular, the second most unpopular piece of major legislation ever polled. That’s going to hurt Republicans politically, make no mistake.

    I have argued that voter suppression, gerrymandering and relying on money from oligarchs has insulated the GOP from political consequences. Not made them invulnerable, but insulated them. I see little that refutes this.

    We are like a banana republic where the dictator is ready to flee with billions from the treasury. Even if he is deposed, incalculable damage will have been done.

    If we don’t dump Trump and the GOP soon we will still have crazy laws, insane tax reform and a wrecked economy, and bigots sitting on the federal bench and the Supreme Court for decades.

    And the GOP knows that the clock is ticking. That’s why they are doing as much as they can, as quickly as they can, and in secret and in darkness.

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    There will be war, and that will upend everything. The political benefits of war tend to be short-lived, so timing is everything. But Trump has to be remembering what war did for both Bushes for a little while.

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    @Raoul: OTOH, post-WWII recessions in the USA are usually caused by the Fed strangling the money supply because they fear inflation getting out of control. It’s hard to see inflation getting out of control in the current environment (where’s the over-heated demand in the real economy?).

    I keep an eye on CalculatedRiskBlog.com. Bill McBride tracks all kinds of economic indicators, with an emphasis on housing. Housing is huge and leads many other indicators. There’s almost nothing that indicates a recession is in the cards. (Of course, there’s always a chance that the world will blow up, but those things aren’t driven by economic fundamentals in the US.)

    Hang in there…

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who expects another few years of the economy muddling through.)

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Raoul: Economic crises get blamed on the President. Winning Congress doesn’t get you the association. I figure if the Dems win the White House in 2020 and the crash is after that, then they’ll have trouble. Not if it happens between 2018 and 2020.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Specifically an organized civil disobedience action of the residents of these states refusing to file their Federal income taxes. The IRS doesn’t have the ability or the capability now to properly audit tax cheats. While not all 70 million New Yorkers, Californians, and New Jersey residents would go along, if even a 1/4 of the citizens of those three states could be organize to conduct this type of civil disobedience protest it would quickly destroy the Federal government

    You don’t need an audit here. You flip a switch to attach the wages of people who do not comply, assess penalties based on paper trails, Forms 1099, etc. The California Franchise Tax Board calls out the media when they seize the businesses and assets of tax cheats. The IRS would have similar dog and pony shows.

    And the IRS Criminal Investigation Division is not just a bunch of folks in the audit division.

    Practically, the only people who might be able to get away with this would be the tiny number who could get themselves and their money out of the country.

    Also, under current rules the vast majority of people at certain income levels would have to attach a copy of their federal return to their state return, in California. The state would have to cooperate with your rebellion.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    Next month! We’re not ready! :)

    Sometimes people who don’t like to canvass on doors don’t mind voter registration tables. The people come to you, so you’re not bothering them and they are almost by definition nice and earnest. Be prepared though- you get complex voter scenarios- “I have no driver’s license AND I moved AND I reside in 2 states” – it’s never simple. They also never understand primaries – the whole concept, really :)

  53. 53.

    Kay

    I once campaigned for Judge O’Neill so I’m reexamining my whole life- where did I go wrong? :)

    It won’t take that long. I’m almost done.

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    plus we are having a baby next month.

    Whoa. Hearty congratulations! And seriously, this is a reason to be hopeful. We want to fight like he’ll to make the world better for those we love and those we nurture to go on after us.

  55. 55.

    Brachiator

    @Raoul:

    Not to pick on you, and I will caveat that I was more pessimistic about 2017 (in terms of stock prices as well as employment figures) than these 11 months have borne out, but I think there is a fair bit more confidence that the economy will stall

    No big deal. I try not to spend a lot of time going back and forth over fortune telling about the economy.

    We will see what happens and what impact it has on the political scene.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Matt McIrvin: There will not be war. At least not one that occurs intentionally.

    We barely have the resources in place to conduct current operations. We do not have enough to expand them, to add additional combat operations, let alone a full scale war, and we have neither the political will, nor any reasonable path to get the resources we would need to do so. The US Navy just destroyed almost all of its air combat capability for the next six months to a year not because they engaged in air combat, but because someone decided it would be a good idea to float 3 carrier groups in the western Pacific as a show of resolve to the DPRK.

    Here’s what that entailed: 3 carrier air groups had to be made available, but we don’t have 3 carrier air groups that are green across the board and ready to deploy. So fighters were pulled from all over the country. From other carrier air groups. From training commands. And the pilots and maintainers and armaments and fuel that go with them. Deployment schedules and force generation plans are now having to be reworked as two of those three carrier groups steam back to port and the third resumes its regular deployment. Training schedules are being redrawn. Personnel are being rerouted to the school houses they were pulled out of, where possible, others are moving on to their next assignments, their careers permanently altered and in some cases shortened because they were unable to finish their training and educational rotations because of this urgent operational need. So boxes necessary for promotion aren’t going to get checked. Parts were cannabilized off of other equipment. Right now precious time, money, and manpower is being wasted trying to either get that equipment back to where it came from, or if it was expended, trying to figure out how to replace it.

    And all of that happened because of a little more than two weeks of showing the flag in force to demonstrate our resolve to Kim. That’s how little resourcing we actually have left after sixteen years of war overall, and 26 years of ongoing combat operations for our air components. The DPRK and its nuclear weapons facilities cannot be taken, let alone secured from the air. The only way to effectively make war on the Korean peninsula is on the ground. It will be horrific. It will eat up so much resources it will take decades to recover them. It will be bloody the numbers of casualties, killed in action, and collateral dead among the North and South Korean citizenry will be beyond anything seen since World War II. We are in no way, shape, or form prepared now for more combat operations, let alone war on the Korean peninsula. Even with a sustained and prolonged buildup it will take several years before we are. The same GOP and conservative ideologues who have decided the US government should never be resourced properly again because they don’t believe it should be resourced properly have also made it impossible for the US military and intelligence and diplomatic communities to do their jobs properly during times of relative peace. There is no way they can do their jobs effectively, given current and projected Federal budgetary conditions during a time of actual war.

  59. 59.

    H.E.Wolf

    @MoxieM:
    Lots of ways to help out, especially with your data skills – those will make you super valuable to any campaign. I agree with the commenter who suggested the local branch of your State or County Democrats. A local candidate or an issue campaign might also be a possibility.

    The biggest barrier is getting through to someone who will put you to work. It can take a combination of multiple emails/phone calls/texts (plus a patient attitude with staffers who have a lot on their plates) before someone actually says, “Come on in!” Once that happens, you’re probably home free.

  60. 60.

    Adam L Silverman

    @BBA: Correct. But not understanding it doesn’t make it any less real. Just like refusing to accept gravity doesn’t nullify gravity and its effects.

  61. 61.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The state would have to cooperate with your rebellion.

    Then you best get to work.

    I don’t work for the state, but I would definitely be in the loop if anything happened.

  62. 62.

    BBA

    @Adam L Silverman: You said there would not be war. I’m saying, all of those things you mention have no bearing on whether there will be a war or not. The people who understand them aren’t going to be making the decision.

  63. 63.

    low-tech cyclist

    Congrats, Doug! Hope the delivery goes smoothly.

    And yeah, this is a time for you to let others do the heavy lifting politically. You’ll be wanting to spend as much time as you can at home. You’ll want to be there for every little new thing that happens in that kid’s life.

    We adopted, and I all but disappeared from the Web for the first six months or so afterwards, and came back pretty slowly after that. The kid was far more important than the outside world. (Still is, but he’s a bit less all-consuming now.)

    Being a parent changes everything. It’s a wild ride, but it’s the best ride there is.

  64. 64.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeahbut…

    To the extent that Javanka and Donnie have actually thought about how this would work, I don’t think that they’re thinking of some huge on-the-ground presence. Before the Iraq invasion (as you know) there were lots of news reports about pre-positioning troops and materiel. Nothing similar is in the news now.

    If I were to bet on them doing something, I would expect it to be a variation on the Syria cruise missile attack with B1s dropping ordnance for show as well. They would claim great success with THAAD. They would blast any artillery sites. And presumably the ROK forces would be heavily involved on the ground. And it would be a disaster and a conflagration that could easily spin out of control for all Koreans and for sites within range of Kim’s missiles and the rest.

    I see that the US had ~ 110,000 casualties (killed and wounded) in the Korean War (with 8 Army Divisions participating). The US has 10 active and 10 reserve Divisions now (total personnel – 1.3M active duty, 0.8M reserve). We fought for 3 years and only got something like the status quo as a result. It’s insane for anyone to think that we would deploy similar levels of manpower to Korea again – and likely much more would be needed to try to conquer Kim now. (The ROK apparently has 625,000 active duty and 3.1M reserve.)

    Donnie is big on bluster. He’s a bully that feels no compunction in punching down when there can’t be any effective punch-back (as he did in Syria). The DPRK is different.

    So, basically, I agree with you that there’s won’t be a “war” in the DPRK that involves the USA trying to secure territory. We don’t have the people and all the rest that have the ability to even to try to do such a thing.

    But I don’t discount the possibility that Trump might try some sort of “air war” to try to teach Kim a lesson for not bucking to Donnie’s demands. He’s brain damaged enough, and stupid enough, and spiteful enough, to try it.

    :-(

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  65. 65.

    No Drought No More

    You sure don’t have my my number, leastwise per the criteria of your lead paragraph. And my initial reaction to your gloomy prognosis is to advise: stop doing the arithmetic. Lift your eyes to the heavens and thank a merciful spaghetti monster that’s seen fit to deliver unto the democratic party the mortal enemies of their rank and file. That is, if the party shot callers have guts enough to kill the discredited poltroons as they deserve to be smitten, and render todays republican party racketeers a spent force in national politics. I’m not kidding myself, either. I know the bastards will coalesce in other forms that are bound to infect our politics. But I think it’s do-able, and pray I witness it happen before I kick.

    Digby used to say, “republicans always go too far”. I think she stopped saying that before the last Bush administration ended. But I also think it does apply today, given the scale and crimes of the Trump administration, and republican party that enabled him. In other words, cheer up!

  66. 66.

    randy khan

    There are several lessons from Virginia in 2017, but one of them is that it’s worth working hard for all Democratic candidates. The stories here about how many doors were knocked, how many calls were made, etc., are incredible, and they definitely made a difference.

    We have a chance for a wave election, and you want to ride the wave as hard as you can to maximize your advantage.

  67. 67.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Adam,

    How much I hope your words about a tax revolt are true – but the Federal government actually takes most of it’s income tax haul from mandatory withholding. The return is just to trim the edges. We always get a small refund because years ago we told the CPA to be very conservative (in the real sense of that word, not the modern Republican perversion of the word) with our taxes because neither of us could afford to show up as tax cheats.

    So not filing a return would hurt us and profit the IRS. Don’t most folks get a small refund? This being why there are ads for how you should spend that refund starting in early March!

  68. 68.

    Adam L Silverman

    @BBA: I’m saying that the people that actually have to make war understand the reality. Understand we are not capable of it right now. And therefore we are not able to do so. Regardless of what the President wants, reality is not going to bend to his will.

  69. 69.

    SiubhanDuinne

    plus we are having a baby next month.

    This news makes me very happy. Congratulations to you and Mrs J.

    Please post photos when the new one arrives. “Babies come in hats,” you know, so one of those would be lovely.

  71. 71.

    laura

    @MoxieM: contact your local party or the League of Women Voters. There is so much work to do in addition to knock and talk, phone banking, etc., and if you are open to proving child care for younger activists, it really makes a huge difference in increasing young voters participation.
    There’s always work, and much of it is behind the scenes. And you will be made to feel welcome. And you get up close contact with your community and it’s power centers.

  72. 72.

    Kathleen

    @rikyrah: Thank. You. That has been my opinion since November 8, 2016. It certainly would explain, among other things, media’s coverage, Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, Rethuglican snarling rabid jackal approach to gutting the safety net.

    ETA: That does not mean we do not have agency and are powerless. Quite the opposite. I think to effectively resist one has to comprehend the totality of what is being resisted.

  73. 73.

    Duane

    Trump and his group of grifters inherited a stable growing economy and are hell-bent on screwing it up with their supply- side stupidity and Randian fantasies.
    Trump is so greedy he wants tax changes that benefit him, and couldn’t care less about the rest.
    Republicans will fail, and voters will turn to Democrats. As always. Insanity controls our democracy.

  74. 74.

    Duane

    @rikyrah: Gerson’s another that helped create Frankenstein and can’t believe it’s now out of control. The Republican party has never been “tethered” to morality and religion. They use those values to con the suckers, that’s all.
    Gerson’s up to his neck in the conservative’s crap. Fuckem.

  75. 75.

    mai naem mobile

    Doug, congrats on the baby. I certainly hope you’re right about the future of the Dems. It’s depressing to watch Dolt45 do all this damage to this country . I am not as optimistic but I tend to be more pessimistic anyway. .

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