President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

If the Republicans are so dumb that they can't see hundreds of thousands of people taking the time to hit the streets and express their dissatisfaction, they deserve to get flattened in 2018.

That sign makes a lot more sense to me than 95% of the others they'll publish. "Change" in this case seems to mean more political activism, more working for candidates and to GOTV. Doug Jones won in Alabama in part because of this. (And yes, because Roy Moore had flaws as big as the Grand Canyon.)

 

You're right! She's such a sap for thinking she can really change anything. What a bunch of silly ladies in dopey hats thinking that they have any real power.

The Deep State laughs at her impotence.

 

I am sure they are quite concerned about the dissatisfaction evident in Chicago and San Francisco.

 

They are looking nervously at the crowd size in Austin. But then check the gerrymandering and relax a smidge.

 

I share the good Doctor’s cynicism re: the Million Selfie March. Not because I doubt the selfie-takers’ sincerity or desire. But because I think they largely seem to consist of politically active people from left-leaning districts. Maybe it signals that their spiritual sisters in purple districts are similarly energized to make calls, knock on doors, run for office. We’ll see. I would be thrilled to be wrong.

 

Another reason my fire is but an ember.

 

I like that. May have to steal it.

By far the most active one on my Facebook feed is from a blue state but a red district.

Her husband's $11,000-per-month leukemia medicine plays a large part in her activism.

 

Politically activated folks from left-leaning districts can make calls, knock on doors, and register voters in purple districts, too.

I agree that those steps, which are harder and take more time/effort than showing up for an annual one-day march, are much more likely to effect real change. However I was simply annoyed at the level of ha-ha cynicism in doc's post. How does he or anyone else know that the woman holding that sign hasn't registered voters, knocked, called, etc?

It was very dismissive. I know it was supposed to be a joke, but I didn't find it that funny. Not that I'm some comedy expert, of course.

 

There were demonstrations in many smaller cities around the country, places like Fargo, Sioux Falls and the like. Poli sci research, BTW, shows that people who participate in demonstrations are more likely also to engage in other forms of political action, voting, volunteering, donating, etc. That this year's demos were larger than last year's strikes me as having some significance. How much, I don't know. I do know that Tea Party demonstrations which were many many times smaller were an indication of big trouble for the Democrats in 2010.

 

A White House out-of-office message blames Democrats for holding the government “hostage”

 

No one here is a comedy expert. No political experts either.

 

A friend of a friend, Joseph Kopser, is running for Congress as a Democrat in that district, TX-21. It seemed quixotic at first because it was Lamar Smith's seat for the past 30ish years. But now Smith has announced he isn't running again.

Kopser is a West Point grad and veteran who then founded (and later sold) a startup. It's still an uphill battle for him, but some polls have him within single digits. I get all his emails so I'm following it from afar.

If there's a blue wave in 2018, it will need Dem candidates like him to run and win in districts where such a thing seemed highly unlikely a year ago.