Top Democratic donors skeptical of Joe Biden

Biden-Sanders-O'Rourke

Bernie Sanders raised $10 million in the first week of his campaign. Beto O'Rourke raised $6.1 million on his first day. Joe Biden hasn't released any figures yet. That fact may be moot since skeptical Democratic donors have told him they won't raise any funds for him at the start of the 2020 campaign. Considering how many Democratic candidates have already declared, I'd say that is very bad news. I would be all out for the Bern by now but at this point, he hasn't shown enough support for gun control for me. It appears all the candidates are afraid to forcefully get behind this issue. Until then, there is a huge void for the Dems in 2020.

Democratic Socialists are here to stay

Bernie Sanders v. Koch Bros.

It won't go away. Bernie Sanders was the first to use it in a political campaign,  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has shown it can win an election. "It" is Democratic Socialism and this conviction has been sweeping the country since the 2016 Presidential election. A certain group, namely Progressives, have decided that the inequality that exists across the U.S is not good for the country,,,and it isn't. There's wage inequality, homelessness, gender pay and seventeen more listed and explained in the Stanford Center on Poverty & Equality study. The Democratic Socialists of America do a good job of explaining their mission. It is beyond me how anyone, especially the wealthy, can stand by and let this inequality flourish.

What is Joe Biden waiting for?

Joe Biden

He was Vice President under Barack Obama, was in the Senate for years and had a shot in 2016, but declined for personal reasons. The man is Joe Biden and he continues in a mysterious way to run for the Democratic nomination in 2020. But he hasn't declared. In my opinion Biden is another Harry Truman who says just what he thinks, sometimes getting him in trouble. How would he fare against Donald Trump? With Joe's experience in politics, he could bury T-rump on the issues, currently out in front of the polls at 28%, with Bernie Sanders at 20%. Kamala Harris seems to be edging up and there is the guy from Texas, Beto O'Rourke. If Biden has a plan, he'd better execute it soon, considering the amount of money Bernie and Beto have already raised.

Bernie Sanders or Beto O'Rourke

This is a decision that progressives must face in the near future: Will it be the Bern or newbie Beto? In health care O'Rourke supports the Medicare for America plan, Sanders the Single-payer Medicare-for-all America. Just recently there were articles exclaiming that Bernie Sanders would not be able to get rid of insurance companies, a part of the latter plan. The two are very similar on other Progressive issues and while we know exactly what Bernie stands for, Beto will have to better qualify some of his policies. 2020 will be a race for the ages, at least for Democrats. They know they must beat Trump, but what left candidate is best qualified to do it?

Most agree Medicare for All is NOW

FactCheck.org has probed the recent study published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University that says the "Medicare-for-all plan laid out by Bernie Sanders will save American people $2 trillion over a 10-year period. The author of the study, Charles Blahous, says 'wait a minute, maybe I didn't say that.' First of all, I have to tell you that Blahous' paper was sponsored by the Koch Bros., who contribute heavily to George Mason U. And Bernie's $2 trillion savings have a lot to do with his projected savings on medical care and prescriptions that seem to me perfectly logical.

Blahous doesn't disagree with Sanders, just prefers to believe his figures instead, which are less optimistic. Bernie counters with, of course Medicare for all will cost more overall but with its collective savings in purchasing power, plus cutting back on health care needs by helping those who need it, resulting in more general wellness. As before, Sanders presents other major companies who do have universal health care like Canada, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, plus several more smaller and even third-world countries.

The real question is, one Bernie Sanders has been asking for years, is, can we really afford not to have UHC in such a rich country like the U.S., especially when you see so many homeless on the streets, many of which are suffering from mental illness?

Time for Obama to teach Mitch McConnell something

I get it...I'm back

Barack Obama has been relatively quiet since leaving office after eight years of dealing with Republicans led by Mitch McConnell with only one intent: to sabotage anything that President Obama presented. Not to consider what was best for the country, just to subvert whatever he advanced. We'll never know just how much could have been accomplished for the good of the American people in those eight years, but we could find out soon how effective Barack Obama can be as a former president, who still heads his party, and who wants to fight the GOP plague.

As one Democratic pundit put it...

“He’s been way too quiet. There are a lot of people who think he’s played too little a role or almost no role in endorsing or fundraising and he’s done jack shit in getting people to donate to the party.”

Maybe the man wasn't really sure how much of his participation was wanted since he received so little support when in office, even by his own party. Bernie Sanders, who may run in 2020, cannot carry the banner because he is an Independent. Other possible 2020 candidates are former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), but it is Barack Obama in 2008 who trounced John McCain in the popular vote and the Electoral College. The key will be to resurrect the magic of Obama's 2008 campaign and turn it into a win for Democrats in November.

Another point of view on the former president's hushed approach was...

"Former aides and Democratic strategists said Obama has sought to maintain a lower profile not only for his party to find new life, but also to avoid playing a foil to President Trump and Republicans."

Obama's two top priorities are, “recapturing the House and helping Democrats gain more influence in the redistricting process.”

At the same time, Democrats plan to make Washington corruption the focus of their campaign in 2020. They had earlier announced targeting their economic agenda to combat big money through campaign finance reform. Without a Democratic Congress this will be an uphill battle, but the odds are still out that Dems can take over the House and Senate. Nancy Pelosi, former House leader said, “President Trump has become the swamp and Americans are paying the price. The American people deserve better.”

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer added, “The swamp has never been more foul than under this president.” And targeting corruption did work in the 2006 elections when Democrats took control of the House and Senate from Republicans. They hammered away at the GOP’s “culture of corruption, cronyism and incompetence.” Pelosi is testing the corruption theme on Scott Pruitt who "repeatedly used his position to seek employment and business opportunities for his wife, and had agency staffers doing personal errands on his behalf."

If ever there was an administration where corruption would be the central problem, and one to explore by the opposition, it would be Donald Trump's.

Read more: Dems say Obama return from sidelines is overdue

                   Democrats Plan Big Anti-Corruption Theme For Midterms

                   As The Scandals Mount, Conservatives Turn On Scott Pruitt

Trump to beat in 2020...if he's still around

And here is the left's voting problem

Now these are opinions based on the statements of political experts that were involved in past and current elections. They take into consideration the election of Barack Obama in 2012, and the fact that in 2016, "Voters were looking for something more "strident" than Obama’s "incrementalist agenda." In other words, they wanted a faster track than Clinton was exhibiting. Something like Bernie Sanders. Not sure, though, they wanted the ignorant bluster of a Donald Trump, but he was elected; they wanted action not promises. Trump was a mover and shaker and he excited people.

That's all proven to be big mouthed bullshit, but those who still support the Oval Office lunatic are solid in their backing. The last I heard they were around 30%, an easily beatable figure. The Democratic candidate was all wrong in 2016; it should have been Bernie Sanders but the fraud of DNC head, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, nominated Hillary Clinton. Maybe Sanders will run again, or perhaps the left could convince someone like James Comey, former FBI Director, to run as a Democrat. Think about that...James Comey running against Donald Trump. More on this later.

One of the main items on the Progressives/Democrats agenda is getting out the vote. According to Nate Silver's 538, the Republicans were able to get their voters to the polls much more aggressively than Democrats. Progressives naturally rejected Hillary Clinton because of the DNC fiasco, and the fact that it was this that beat their candidate, Bernie Sanders. If Sanders plans to run in 2020, and his age will be a factor, he must throw his hat in now. We also cannot rule out Joe Biden, or Elizabeth Warren or New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. Whoever it is, the youth vote must be considered.

The Progressive/Democratic candidate must enthusiastically go after social media to spread its message to all ages and over all political persuasions. The Russia probe of Donald Trump should be a great handle for the left. If a Progressive candidate is nominated, the Democrats must get behind him or her. Many political pundits talk of the potential success of a Sanders/Warren ticket in 2020 winning big on the Progressive side, combining experience with youth, two people who seem to excite their followers to action, meaning voting.

If Trump does last, the candidates on the left will have the most corrupt administration that this country has ever experienced to run against. There are the Donald Trump daily lies, his Stormy Daniels and similar escapades, firing of FBI Director Jim Comey in obvious obstruction of justice in the Russian investigation, the scandal over Michael Cohen's consulting, more obstruction of justice, again, involving Comey, in defending Michael Flynn, and the list goes on and on. Never in the history of American elections has there been this kind of ammunition for a political party.

But...will the Progressives/Democrats be able to pull it off???

Read more: How Hillary Clinton blew it
                   How Trump won the election: volatility and a common touch
                   How did Trump win? Here are 24 theories

When Republicans back gun control you know you've won

VOTE NOVEMBER 6

We may not be all the way there yet but when six out of eleven incumbent Republican congressmen are running scared for November, you know your momentum is building. I am talking gun control, and I am referring to Republicans who have publicly embraced new gun control to save their butts in an upcoming election shaping up to be all about gun violence in this country. Gun control tops the list of public voter priorities for November, alongside immigration reform. Support for the issue is the highest ever at 70 percent.

Since the GOP will have to depend on moderates and Independents to win this Fall, it is expected that the Democrats will swoop right in with a renewed drive to take away these seats handily, considering they are so vulnerable after the Parkland, Fla. gun massacre. Yeah...sure. The Dems have completely forgotten how to swoop and they sure as hell don't have any drive. Now is the time for Bernie Sanders to get solidly behind gun control and bring all Progressives to the voting booth in November. If he doesn't, I will be very disappointed in the man and sorry I voted for him in 2016.

Has America finally caught on to Donald Trump's bullshit?

Ralph Northam Virginia win

The New York Times says, "Suburbs rebel against Trump," in the Virginia and New Jersey elections. Real Clear Politics shows Democrat Ralph Northam with a solid 8.9-point lead over Republican Ed Gillespie in the Virginia race for Governor. Former Trump supporters have finally turned their backs on Trump, with Northam winning big with women and younger voters in Virginia, and Democrat Phil Murphy winning over Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, by 14 points. This all happened because of grass roots efforts, something Bernie Sanders perfected in the 2016 Dem Primary and has continued recently in local races. With this new momentum, the left moves closer to taking back the House in 2018.

Suburbs shun Trump in Virginia, New Jersey elections...

Democrats' strength in Virginia...

Republican Lt. Gov. loses to Democrat in New Jersey. Governor's race...

Real Clear Politics charts Northam Virginia win...

Dems surge spells trouble for GOP in 2018...

Democrats finally get back to grass roots...

Bernie Sanders would have trampled Trump in 2016

Donna Brazile would have replaced Hillary with Joe Biden

Bernie Sanders has his faults, like weak on gun control, soft on black issues, and light when it comes to women's rights. But his popularity soared in 2016, while Donald Trump struggled to maintain his position. Yet, Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the race for President. The Bern's campaign group says they now have proof that the DNC was favoring Clinton, and Donna Brazile said she seriously considered replacing Clinton with V.P. Joe Biden. Sanders says in Rolling Stone Dems should concentrate on bread and butter issues like healthcare and the economy, not Robert Mueller's investigation, but Bloomberg reports the Russia baggage will follow Republicans into 2018. In my earlier blog today, Half of America thinks Trump guilty of criminal acts, 53% convinced of broad wrongdoing in Trump Russia case, and 58% of public thinks Trump investigation is right on.

Bernie Sanders would have beat Trump in 2016...

Definitely proven the 2016 campaign was rigged against Bernie Sanders...

Donna Brazile almost replaced Hillary Clinton with Joe Biden...

Bernie Sanders not sure Robt. Mueller investigation Dems' focus for 2018...

Bloomberg says Russian baggage will follow Republicans into 2018...

Bernie Sanders being Bernie Sanders on Donald Trump

Have been busy trying to finish my animal novelette but could not resist this video I discovered on The Young Turks. It is an assessment by Bernie Sanders of Donald Trump's first 100 days and it is not pretty when it comes to accomplishments. There are none and what T-rump has done is to set this country up for a future where only the wealthy and corporations prosper while the 99% languish in the mediocrity of the leftovers. The Bern is right on when he talks about all the issues and promises of the Trump candidacy, with the reality of his failure to follow through with the working class.

The silver lining in all this as Bernie states is that it has brought Progressives together and we have realized the dangers too our country and what must be done. Now we have to do it. Listen to the video below and you'll see what has to be done.

Democratic Party last dinosaur of politics

The Democratic Party still does not understand that it is a has-been. Like John McCain. They are so far out of touch that they don't even realize that they almost won a recent election in a heavily red section of Kansas...and with a Progressive candidate. It was "Berniecrat," James Thompson, a guy who was formerly homeless, joined the army and went to college on the GI Bill and got his law degree. Thompson was inspired to run by Bernie Sanders and "... talked about 'progressive values' like universal healthcare, education, and a $15/hour minimum wage."

He beat an establishment Democrat in the primary to run against the seat vacated by Trump's new CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, against the GOP candidate, Ron Estes. When it became obvious that Thompson was gaining in the race, the National Republican Congressional Committee poured in money as did big business. Thompson struggled on his own to raise $292,000 without the Party's help, 95% from individuals. The Democratic National Committee finally kicked in a measly $3,000. "His campaign requested $20,000 from the state Democratic Party and was denied."

Tom Perez did as many flip-flops as Donald Trump has lately, first stating that the Kansas race was one that they could win, then refusing to back Thompson until the last minute, and then with a miniscule amount of money. And then there was the laughable statement from the DNC that, "...giving Thompson money would have actually hurt his chances of winning, because then everyone would have known he’s a Democrat, and Kansans hate Democrats." I thought the double-digit IQs were all in the Republican Party. Thompson lost by 7 percentage points.

Bernie Sanders and DNC chairman Tom Perez are on a multi-city tour to "...rally Democrats around building a stronger party." Maybe I am overreacting but that appears out of line with the Bern's earlier statements on the DNC, especially since Perez was selected on Progressive Keith Ellison. Here's what Sanders told The Hill about his hopes for the DNC and a new Party...

"The best formula, in my opinion, is an updated version of the Kennedys. Jack, Bobby and Ted all combined an insurgent style of mobilizing grassroots workers and voters behind a progressive agenda that appealed to both minority voters and white ethnic and working-class voters."

I did a post earlier to indicate a need to get rid of the Democratic Party: "We need to say goodbye to the Democratic Party." It pointed out that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Democratic Socialist, like Bernie Sanders and he is considered at the top of the list of great Presidents. I believe that Bernie Sanders should snub the Democratic Party, and make Our Revolution a movement that can't be ignored.

The blatant hypocrisy of white evangelicals

81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump for President of the United States. That is the most powerful position in the world and these poor souls helped put someone in it who represents racism, all kinds of bigotry, is an admitted womanizer, and collects people around him as advisers with close connections to white nationalists organizations. If this is Christianity, I am glad I broke with it years ago. On the other hand, those who don't profess any particular religious (68%) voted for Hillary Clinton. My bet is Trump is 1/10 the religious person that Clinton is.

But in my book, religion doesn't make a damn bit of difference when running this country. There is, of course, the separation of church and state, which has been trampled over in recent years, but the values a President needs don't stem from the Bible, they come from the realization of what is right for this country and its people. Bernie Sanders had what it takes to do what is right for all the people, evening up the injustices bestowed on the poor and needy, even up to the middle class, by the wealthy and the Republican administration. Even some Democrats helped out.

Here's how Paul Djupe, of the Washington Post explains it...

"How did we get here? One answer is sorting. That is, people may reevaluate their religious membership when they sense political (or other) disagreement, leaving their houses of worship more homogeneous organizations. While this happens across the religious spectrum, here we highlight new evidence that disagreement over Trump’s candidacy actually led some evangelicals to leave their church."

In the latter, above, it was around 15% who felt that politics had become too divisive and left their houses of worship in the study done. Agreed, Donald Trump is the most divisive issue to drive politics in many years and the results weren't really that conclusive with Trump's support on a scale of 0-100, coming in at an average of 48. But then Clinton's was only 25, indicating once again that the wrong Democrat was nominated to run. But the big question is, what in the world could have driven that 81% to vote for a man that is so non-Christian in his values?

According to several surveys, Trump attracted the white, uneducated vote, which must have included at least some of those white evangelicals, perhaps like many others who voted Republican and were highly uninformed. The WP report also found that the evangelical clergy had very little to say about Trump in church, perhaps to keep from alienating the believers. And this no doubt is a rebuilding effort for the liberal and moderate church-goers who are fed up with the religious right. They come to church for the God experience, not the Donald John show.

Pew Research says that one-third of those who attend evangelical churches have less than a high school education and although this includes blacks, the latter is still a small amount of this population. I do not remember a hell of a lot about the specifics of my college education, but the one thing that higher learning taught me was how to find what I wished to know. Even before the Internet, I spent time in libraries when I was curious about something, not realizing at the time that I was actually doing research. And there is nothing more important than research in blogging

The downside of all this is that if we continue to have uninformed people going to the polls in each election, we will end up with results like a Donald Trump. A Mitch McConnell. A Paul Ryan. A Trey Gowdy. A Sarah Palin. A Ted Cruz. A John McCain. A John Boehner. A Jan Brewer. A Marco Rubio. A Newt Gingrich. A Darrell Isssa. A Steve King. A Michele Bachmann. A Joni Ernst. A Jeff Flake. I could go on all day but would just end up talking about a Republican Congress that has been a stumbling block to the good of this country since it took office. We need a change in 2018.

Bernie Sanders "TV exploding online"

Those are the words of Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, on the video below that goes into detail on how Bernie Sanders is getting out the Progressive word. This is a must see.

Bernie Sanders is back and this time he plans to win

Elizabeth Warren-Bernie Sanders

When I say win, Bernie Sanders is already in overdrive to elect more Progressives in the 2018 midterms and, yes, I think he is shooting for the presidency again in 2020. But I hope that Elizabeth Warren will see the light and support his candidacy this time, no matter who the Democratic Party plans to run. And there is a definite difference between Democrats and Progressives, a point that is confirmed by the fact that Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, lost the election to an incompetent candidate who is also defined as a pathological liar by Sanders. The new Republican president, Donald Trump.

Just yesterday Elizabeth Warren  with Bernie Sanders introduced a new tuition bill that would make college education available to all,regardless of who they are. "Education should be a right, not a privilege," according to the Bern, an issue he has been promoting since first starting his 2016 presidential race. "The legislation includes a joint-bill in the House which would be introduced Wednesday by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.," according to a statement provided to International Business Times.

This should arouse the Progressives out there who have been on the sidelines wanting something to happen. That includes me, and I am now ready to roll on to upending a Republican Congress to putting Bernie sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the White House in 2020. Don't laugh, conservatives, it has been some time now since the left has had this much reason for the momentum to get the right job done. With Hillary history, and Sanders as the most popular political candidate in the U.S. the cross-country fight for legislative and governor's seats will now be easier.

And the Sanders/Warren people aren't alone. Not satisfied that enough was being done, two major groups have formed to elect Progressives in 2018 and 2020. The first is Justice Democrats, started by the founder of the Young Turks, Cenk Uygur, who said that he was starting the organization because it needed to be done and no one else was doing it. The second is Brand New Congress which was originally started by a group of volunteers and staffers from the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. They want, "...to be a big tent for anyone who is tired of partisan politics."

The latest information is that these two groups recently merged, which is a good start for the new aggregation.

Somewhere in the future it will be necessary to galvanize all these efforts into one cohesive group that supports Progressivism in order to move ahead as a collective organization. NBC News takes us back to the 2016 convention to point out where the left might take us...

"But the more radical strain, which led hundreds of Sanders delegates to walk out of the Democratic National Convention in protest last summer, is still present on the left and emboldened by the loss of Hillary Clinton and their belief that Bernie would have won."

"Some are betting that the disaffected left is as or more interested in remaking the Democratic Party as it is in fighting President Donald Trump."

What is needed now is a defined structure to get there. And that is why all these splinter groups will have to bite the bullet and find one common denominator that will rebuild, or replace, if necessary, the Democratic Party with one that will serve the people and not a political clique. Corbin Trent of Brand New Congress said...

"The point is we've watched this party over the last decade lose over 1,000 seats, lose a national election to least popular nominee in history, Donald Trump, and now we've seen poll after poll showing the Democratic Party less popular since election day. What we think is the American people are ready for a new direction."

The American people were ready for a new direction in 2016, namely Bernie Sanders, proven by the fact that he won 23 primaries with 1,865 delegates, winning just one-hundred less votes in the Democratic Primary than Donald Trump did in the Republican Primary. But he didn't win because of the shenanigans of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which has now resulted in the firing of two top politicos. Unfortunately, Tom Perez heads the DNC now, instead of Keith Ellison, which is another result of Party hardliners. See, they will never learn.

Although Republicans profess not to be worried, they should take note of the fact that the Tea Party almost upended the Party in 2009 and 2010, proving that a grassroots kind of movement can be effective. But this will require the passion of all liberals, including those who regularly rally around the Party. Just after the 2016 election, I did a post, "What do Republicans have that Democrats don't?" and the answer was passion. Some of those that didn't like Hillary Clinton either didn't vote or for some stupid reason, voted for Donald Trump.

In that case the "Party" would have been better than what we ended up with. We are not in that position approaching 2018 and 2020, and there is plenty of time to build on your passion by looking at the daily antics of the Oval Office maniac. If this isn't enough to make you crave for a change to the kind of government you would get from Bernie Sanders, then you don't want to live in the kind of country I do. That, of course, is your choice.

Time to dump the Democratic Party...as we know it

The Democratic National Committee fired its entire staff. That even includes longtime Dem pundit, Donna Brazile, who just recently owned up to the fact that she had slipped Hillary Clinton debate questions based on her connections with CNN. Brazile had earlier fired Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was responsible for the Party being in the shape it is today. She stood by with her finger in her nose while Republicans took over political seats starting with city, county and state, all the way to the House and Senate, resulting in a loss of the White House. These people are a disgrace to the Party.

As The Blaze put it, "... a humiliating rout in an election that pundits widely believed would fall their [Democrats] way..." I am not sure just what good this will do, considering the guy doing the firing is a Dem hardliner. The Party couldn't see past their noses when Bernie Sanders tried to tell them that Keith Ellison was the man for the DNC job. They are, of course, both Progressives. And that brings me to the title of this blog, "Time to dump the Democratic Party...as we know it." As Kenny Rogers put it, "ygot to know when to hold 'em / Know when to fold 'em." Now's the time to fold 'em."

We need to revive the Progressive Party in the format of Bernie Sanders Our Revolution and make it a viable political movement that will give disillusioned Democrats/liberals a place to organize and establish a platform that makes sense to the modern day left. That said, did you know the Progressive Party was first organized in 1912 by Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the nomination of the Republican Party to his former protégé, President William Howard Taft. The Bull Moose version of the Party was dissolved in 1916. No more real activity until 2016 when the Bern came on the scene.

An early attempt at continuing the political positions of Bernie Sanders is by Cenk Uygur, founder of the Young Turks, who has started a movement called, Justice Democrats, whose goal is to put a significant number of Justice Democrats in the Congress. You can see their platform here. And to show how grave the situation was, here is Uygur's comment, "I was hoping someone else would do this, but when no one else was, somebody had to do it.” And of course there are the Progressive Democrats of America, who also mirror the Bern's movement. But so far, we're disjointed.

To correct this there must be a coordinated effort to officially structure a party apparatus that will withstand the organizational challenges of the developing members and the constituents. It will take a strong leader, and, of course, who better than Bernie Sanders? I do not think Sanders is too old to run in 2020, but if the consensus is that he is, there is Elizabeth Warren, and as a dark horse, how about Chuck Schumer? The Senate minority head even supported the Bern's pick of Keith Ellison to head up the DNC, who, unfortunately lost.

If we are to be ready for 2020, things must get moving pretty soon and it will take Bernie's organizational skills to ramp it all up. I will be a constant supporter from my blog and am sure there are many others like me, including the Young Turks. The cry is out there senator Sanders and only you can answer the call.

Is Bernie Sanders running for Trump resignation/impeachment?

Bernie Sanders-Chris Hayes MSNBC

Bernie Sanders has been everywhere recently talking about everything from how the Republicans are screwing up to how the Democrats are twiddling their thumbs. As recently as Thursday, he said Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, "...brought the Supreme Court confirmation process to a new low during this week's confirmation hearings." And it was only mid-March that headlines were screaming, "Everyone loves Bernie Sanders. Except, it seems, the Democratic party," headline from The Guardian. It is certain that The Bern is well versed on both sides.

Here's the latest figures on Sanders who is being given the national spotlight regularly these days. 61% favorable, 32% unfavorable. When you look at Donald Trump, who sits in the Oval Office today, DT is only 44% favorable, with an unfavorable rating of 53%. When you take the comparisons even further, Barack Obama had a job approval rating of 69% during his first days in office in 2009. Considering the chaos of the Trump administration, the screw ups they have pulled to date, and the fact that Donald John is incapable of getting any of his programs approved, it can only get worse.

These are Fox News polls and although I do have reservations about anything Fox says or does, I take some comfort in the fact that these numbers are being reported by The Hill, a highly reputable publication. They even mention that Trump's unfavorable ratings have been even worse, rising above 55% at times. Here's The Hill's take...

"The huge popularity of Sanders in the Fox poll tracks virtually all other polling that shows Sanders to be, by a large margin, the most popular political leader in America, and far ahead of Trump, the most unpopular new president in the history of presidential polling."

Bernie Sanders has been rallying against the GOP healthcare bill and the repeal of Obamacare since it was introduced by Paul Ryan and endorsed by Donald Trump. The Bern has his own healthcare plan that is even more universal than The Affordable Care Act, but agrees with The Hill that, "...TrumpCare's unpopularity creates a grave danger of disaster for Republicans in 2018 and 2020." And here are some results of Bernie's efforts...

"...a shocking new poll from Quinnipiac University found American voters opposing the pending Republican healthcare bill by a three to one margin. Fifty-six percent of voters disapprove of TrumpCare (or "RyanCare," or whatever name is attached to the disastrous GOP bill), while only 17 percent support it."

With Sanders popularity today, there is no doubt that he would beat Trump in an election, a point I have made several times recently in an effort to keep Progressives active, with an eye toward the day that Donald Trump implodes and brings the Republican Party down around him. The Hill agrees...

"The consistently high ratings for Sanders, and the consistently low ratings for Trump, show that the real majority in America is the genuinely progressive and genuinely populist view of Sanders, not the phony populism or warped conservatism represented by Trump."

 "If Sanders were running against Trump for president today, he would win by a gigantic popular vote margin and a strong electoral vote margin."

Even across the pond, Bernie Sanders' popularity shines above all other American politicians. Here's the tragic analysis of The Guardian from Great Britain...

"If you look at the numbers, Bernie Sanders is the most popular politician in America – and it’s not even close. Yet bizarrely, the Democratic party – out of power across the country and increasingly irrelevant – still refuses to embrace him and his message. It’s increasingly clear they do so at their own peril."

Here's a Party, the Dems I'm talking about, who should have learned their lesson in the DNC fiasco with Debbie Wasserman Schultz; the fact that she unethically ramrodded Cliinton to the Democratic nomination, when Bernie Sanders was clearly the choice of the public. But that wasn't even enough. Again, there was Keith Ellison who was a natural to lead charged up Progressives on the left, but the old guard of the Party felt more complacent with a hard-liner, Tom Perez. Here's another startling fact from The Guardian; with U.S. Independents, Sanders has an astonishing +41 net favorability.

Progressives are asking for more--they want the adoption of Sanders' populist policies in retaking governor's offices with good support in the defined areas--but Democrats have their own ideas. The proof in the pudding came in a recent town hall meeting hosted by MSNC's Chris Hayes, and it applied directly to Trump voters. In "Trump country" West Virginia...

...the crowd ended up giving him [Bernie Sanders] a rousing ovation after he talked about healthcare being a right of all people and that we are the only industrialized nation in the world who doesn’t provide healthcare as a right to all its people.

The Guardian chastises the Democratic Party for its past lack of attention to houses of Congress, governorships and state houses across the country [thanks to Debbie Wasserman Schultz], instead concentrating on just a White House loss by Hillary Clinton, blamed on James Comey and the Russian intervention in the election. The ostrich effect, they [the Dems] either have their head in the sand or...up their ass. I go for the latter. Politico reports eventual attention to a positive economic message by the Democrats but...

“For now, aides say, the focus is on slaying the giant and proving to the voters who sent Trump into the White House why his policies will fail.”

Same old, same old, which Clinton tried at the end of her campaign and failed miserably. Bernie's comment...

“There are some people in the Democratic Party who want to maintain the status quo. They would rather go down with the Titanic so long as they have first-class seats.”

Looks like the Dems plan to stay on the bottom of the first-class heap. 

We need to say goodbye to the Democratic Party

I have been a Democrat all my life; yes, even as a very young boy I remember my father talking about the Democrats and FDR, his New Deal. My dad came from a well-off family in the South, a family at one time I am almost sure had slaves. But the South was Democratic then, all the way, and it was just the right thing to be left leaning. That's changed in the last few years and the Republicans have taken over the South and turned the people there into a conservative stronghold that had a major effect on the 2016 Democratic Primary, particularly for Bernie Sanders.

Did you know Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Democratic Socialist?

But the Democrats today hardly resemble those of FDR's era; in fact you can't even draw a close parallel these days between what they call the Party and what the Dems started out to be. FDR wasn't a Party starter for Democrats, Andrew Jackson has that honor, but Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the epitome of the Democratic Party, having served four terms in office until his death in 1945. This man set the tone for what the term liberal meant, and followed through with actions that give him a place in history as one of the greatest Presidents of all time.

Here are snippets from the democratic Platform of 1936, three years into FDR's presidency...

• Protection of the family and the home.
• Establishment of a democracy of opportunity for all the people
• Aid to those overtaken by disaster
• Safeguard the thrift of our citizens by restraining those who would gamble with other peoples savings
• Early formation of the Social Security concept
• Expansion of consumer electricity through creation of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• Making homes available to people of meagre incomes 
• Just treatment of war veterans and their dependents

There are other issues like taking farmers off the road to ruin, worker's pay was increased and hours shortened, actually saved banks and paved the way for a better financial foundation, gave youth the opportunity to stay in school and get an education, which 12 years of Republican neglect had closed, and help for the unemployed. There's more and you can read the complete 1936 Democratic Party Platform here. I want to point out that in every case but one, above, the programs are for the average person, not corporations or the wealthy.

FDR, although born into a wealthy New York family, was a president of the people and his programs substantiated this, but considering the 1929 stock-market crash, some feel he could have paid more attention to a struggling economy; The Great depression lasted until 1939. It is worth noting that the Dow Jones industrial average didn't return to its summer 1929 high until 1954. But as a catalyst, Roosevelt combined a stimulus project with his goals for social equity and created the Rural Electrification Administration to wire the countryside. Perhaps FDR could have used Janet Yellen.

And why take you back all these years down the reminiscing trail to a time some 84 years ago when many of you weren't born or were too young to care what politics was all about? Well, dang it, to illustrate the stark differences in that period, that I might remind you was closer in time to that of the Founding Fathers of this country, that FDR based a lot of his concepts on. As an example, when it comes to corporations...

"To say that the founding fathers supported corporations is very absurd. Its quite the opposite in fact. Corporations like the East India Trading Company were despised by the founding fathers and they were just one reason why they chose to revolt against England. Corporations represented the moneyed interests much like they do today and they often wielded political power, sometimes to the point of governing a colony all by themselves like the Massachusetts Bay Company did."

We've come a long way from Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the journey has ended in a disjointed, confused, and divided Democratic Party that seems not to know how to repair itself. Well, it is my opinion that the Democratic Party is irreparable, therefore, dump it and start over. Progressives, in number, passed liberals a few years ago and seems to be the real new face of the Party. It appears that hard party liners like the Clintons, even Obama, do not want to accept this fact and continue to stick to ideology that just doesn't work anymore with a new generation.

It is a fact that Democrats lost more than 1,030 seats in state legislatures, governor's mansions and Congress during Barack Obama's presidency. It can't all be blamed on the man because it was Debbie Wasserman Schultz who neglected the Party as DNC head for five years, until she was recently fired, and these losses finally added up to a catastrophe for Democrats. But it is still hard to understand how the upper echelons of the Party could sit by and watch over 1,000 of their legislative and governor's seats just evaporate. To me, this is the ultimate of political incompetence.

Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, ran for President as a Democrat in 2016, but lost in the Primary due to the killing machine of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as DNC chair. There were many of us who were supporters of the Bern, and many of us believe today that, until he is given the reins of the Democratic Party, it will remain in its quagmire. Bernie was asked by New York Times Magazine what the Party stands for. His response...

"You’re asking a good question, and I can’t give you a definitive answer. Certainly there are some people in the Democratic Party who want to maintain the status quo. They would rather go down with the Titanic so long as they have first-class seats."

The article indicates that his answer is partially for effect, since he does have his own liberal values for what he thinks the left should stand for. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren joins Sanders in a call for revamping the Party, but one still wonders why she didn't swallow what establishment pride she had during the Primary and throw her backing behind the Bern. It could have turned everything around, but she didn't and it didn't. And the 2018 midterms will only be a fight against the Trump administration and for congressional seats to block his legislation. First things first.

Steve Bannon repeatedly endorses extreme racism...again

This is like talking about gun violence; no one seems to care anymore, or something would be done. The "this" I am talking about is Donald Trump's top White House adviser Steve Bannon, who continues to espouse white nationalism and racist beliefs. He is now joined by Steve King, House representative from Iowa, who makes me sorry I ever called the state full of common sense. If he is any example, it has just become feudal. The two of them have recently endorsed the highly racist book, The Camp of the Saints, the "favorite racist fantasy of the anti-immigrant movement."

That's what the Southern Poverty Law Center says, a non-profit that tracks hate organizations across the country. Steve King probably can't do much harm, his Iowa district is losing population anyway...understandable. But Steve Bannon? Everyday he remains in office is a threat to what the United States of America stands for.

Bernie Sanders nails it in this video...

Have we been conditioned to accept T-rump's stupidity?

Without even having read Radley Balko's opinion in the Washington Post, I have hinted at the fact in my blog posts that the American public has become accustomed to the rantings of a psychopathic liar that has somehow taken over the White House. Here's what Balko had to say...

"...Tuesday night’s fit of demagoguery masquerading as a presidential address is a frightening demonstration of how his first month in office has left those of who are supposed to hold him accountable timid and shell-shocked."

Demagoguery, let's examine it historically along with the prevailing example. Salon was profiling Donald Trump as a modern-day demagogue back in June of 2016, five months before the election that made history and put America on a track to a sure eventual collapse. In an elaborate use of adjectives and adverbs, the website talked of the "virus infecting our politics," which had its contemporary kickoff during the George W. Bush/Karl Rove era. There are other bad actors and the whole conglomeration worked tediously together to give us what's known today as President Donald Trump.

Here's how Salon describes it...

"There have been stretches of history when this virus lay dormant. Sometimes it would flare up here and there, then fade away after a brief but fierce burst of fever. At other moments, it has spread with the speed of a firestorm, a pandemic consuming everything in its path, sucking away the oxygen of democracy and freedom."

 There were others early-on who developed a formula and format for those to use in later years. Men like ...

“'Pitchfork Ben' Tillman, the South Carolina governor and senator who led vigilante terror attacks with a gang called the Red Shirts and praised the efficiency of lynch mobs."

"Mississippi’s Theodore Bilbo, a member of the Ku Klux Klan who vilified ethnic minorities and deplored the 'mongrelization' of the white race."

"Louisiana’s corrupt and dictatorial Huey Long, who promised to make 'Every Man a King.'"

"George Wallace, the governor of Alabama and four-time presidential candidate who vowed, 'Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.'"

The demagogue that stands out in U.S. history is Joseph McCarthy, US senator from Wisconsin, that Salon describes, "...until now perhaps our most destructive demagogue." Until now. McCarthyism was another psychopathic lunatic's way of drawing attention to himself by terrorizing the country into believing there was a Communist under every rock. There weren't, and several lives were ruined in the process. I had a close friend in Los Angeles who was a movie screenwriter who knew a few fellow writers whose lives were affected. And tailgunner Joe didn't even have a bully pulpit.

Remember Roy Cohn, he was chief counsel to McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee and wouldn't you know it, the bad seed is back. As Salon put it, "Cohn was McCarthy’s henchman, a master of dark deeds and dirty tricks. "Cohn didn't go down with McCarthy when Edward R. Murrow exposed him on his CBS show, "See it Now." But not Cohn, who continued his operations in New York where he ended up working for mob bosses and, yes, Donald Trump's father, Fred, until later years when he made his McCarthy-like methods of strong-arm manipulation available to Donald.

Bernie Sanders on what Donald Trump did not say in his speech to Congress:

Cohn also introduced Trump to the man who was his campaign chair, Paul Manafort, someone who made a fortune representing dictators. Salon has an interesting analogy between Joseph McCarthy and Donald Trump...

"So the ghost of Joseph McCarthy lives on in Donald Trump as he accuses President Obama of treason, slanders women, mocks people with disabilities and impugns every politician or journalist who dares call him out for the liar and bamboozler he is. The ghosts of all the past American demagogues live on in him as well, although none of them have ever been so dangerous."

Returning to the present and Balko's charge that Donald John has conditioned us to just accept him the way he is and go on with our business, letting him run the country in the ground. Balko says, "We need to be better than that." And we should. The writer comments...

"We’ve been conditioned to accept behavior from the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth that we’d never have accepted from his predecessors (and I have pretty low expectations of presidents) — that we’d never accept from a friend, relative, pastor or community leader — as long as he spares us and our group from his attacks."

Trump's speech to Congress included the same lies that we have heard over and over, except that this time he delivered them in a toned-down rhetoric that is as much like the normal Trump as Scotch is like bourbon. Where it came from I do not know, but I suspect it is another of his underhanded tactics to appease a few concerned Republicans along the way who get their skivvies in a dither when he's too much the bad boy. Balko is really up in arms over the bi-partisan praise when this wasn't the man talking who has been ranting and raving such absurdities for his first month in office.

Balko disparages Trump's speech grammar, saying it was "terribly written," and "full of his typical doom-and-gloom pronouncements about America," quoting one of his most egregious passages...

"Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms."

Just hours before the speech Donald John had indicated that some of the attacks, above, had been perpetrated by Jews themselves. More extreme exaggeration almost to the point of lying...

"We’ve defended the borders of other nations, while leaving our own borders wide open, for anyone to cross — and for drugs to pour in at a now unprecedented rate."

At best, this statement is borderline bogus. More on drugs...

"I have further ordered the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, along with the Department of State and the Director of National Intelligence, to coordinate an aggressive strategy to dismantle the criminal cartels that have spread across our nation."

Balko documents that when George W. Bush attempted the same thing, by coercing the Mexican

Mexican drug casualties

government into militarizing its drug war, the country’s homicide rate jumped by nearly 250 percent. Regarding Trump's "banned" list...

"It is not compassionate, but reckless, to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur. Those given the high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values. We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America — we cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists."

Now here's a refuting fact, "The odds of your average American being killed by a terrorist attack committed by a refugee are astronomical, about one in 3.6 billion."

There is more and Radley Balko's opinion is chock full of solid facts and a good reasoning where the United States stands after only a month of the reign of Donald Trump you can read here. It's up to us where we go from there.