November 30, 2016 Garrison Keillor’s take on Trump. A Goldman Sachs partner’s take on Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s pick for Treasury: “Not a bad guy at all. But I don’t know anyone at Goldman who would tell you he has the gravitas to be Secretary of Treasury.” Being the change candidate, Trump has apparently chosen a Goldman partner without gravitas for the spot. Gravitas may not have a place in the administration of a man who will say of his ex-wife — on the radio, with millions listening — “nice tits, no brains.” And what are we to make of a president who everyone more or less assumes by now routinely lies? (“I wouldn’t believe Donald Trump if his tongue were notarized,” a Deputy New York City Mayor once famously said of a much younger Trump.) He saw thousands of Muslims cheering the fall of the Twin Towers. (Didn’t.) Won the popular vote if you don’t count the millions of illegal Hillary voters. (Nope.) Can’t release his tax returns because they’re under audit. (Can; and they’re not.*) He’s been clocked at 71 Lies Per Hour. Not good. *At least not the most recent ones, or the many for which the audit must have been completed.
Sell? November 29, 2016November 28, 2016 On the remote chance you didn’t find things to give thanks for last Thursday, take four minutes to watch this man’s life and be thankful you weren’t born in Sierra Leone — and inspired by his mission. Things will surely be a thousand times better here in America than they are in Sierra Leone; but maybe not as “great again” as we’d like. In case you missed Paul Krugman in the indispensable New York Times (subscribe!): A lot of people in politics and the media are scrambling to normalize what just happened to us, saying that it will all be OK and we can work with Trump. No, it won’t, and no, we can’t. The next occupant of the White House will be a pathological liar with a loose grip on reality; he is already surrounding himself with racists, anti-Semites, and conspiracy theorists; his administration will be the most corrupt in America history. How did this happen? There were multiple causes, but you just can’t ignore the reality that key institutions and their leaders utterly failed. Every news organization that decided, for the sake of ratings, to ignore policy and barely cover Trump scandals while obsessing over Clinton emails, every reporter who, for whatever reason — often sheer pettiness — played up Wikileaks nonsense and talked about how various Clinton stuff “raised questions” and “cast shadows” is complicit in this disaster. And then there’s the FBI: it’s quite reasonable to argue that James Comey, whether it was careerism, cowardice, or something worse, tipped the scales and may have doomed the world. No, I’m not giving up hope. Maybe, just maybe, the sheer awfulness of what’s happening will sink in. Maybe the backlash will be big enough to constrain Trump from destroying democracy in the next few months, and/or sweep his gang from power in the next few years. But if that’s going to happen, enough people will have to be true patriots, which means taking a stand. And anyone who doesn’t — who plays along and plays it safe — is betraying America, and mankind. Arguably, it wasn’t Comey or Putin or the press that sealed the deal — it was a single statement, quickly walked back but immediately distorted and amplified — inadvisedly uttered when the candidate had pneumonia, as we would learn later — that, more than anything else, changed the course of history. As argued in this lovely, thoughtful — albeit heartbreaking — piece. And here is why my smart friend John Hook is bearish. (Written in a shorthand aimed at institutional investors, but you’ll get the gist.) The Reagan-election rally in November, 1980, [quickly turned into] a huge sell for 22 months. Stocks crashed 26%. New party presidents usually do the tough stuff first so that stocks correct and then rally into the next election. Trump has called stocks a “huge bubble.” Twelve Bearish Probabilities: 1) Emerging-market currencies are devaluing very rapidly — and have correlated or coincided with stock corrections; 2) Start of Fed rate increases; 3) Low productivity and monthly inflation equal to or exceeding income growth; 4) Record high combined stock and bond valuations and near record high leverage; 5) 7.5 years into an expansion, what can go wrong usually (always) has gone wrong; 6) Inflation spike is likely during winter, probably over the inflection level of 3.0%, led by medical, shelter, oil, and average hourly earnings by spring; 7) Oil probably up 50-80%+ Y/Y ($60-65 WTI) by February because of OPEC & non-OPEC 1-1.5 mb/d production cuts; 8) Core CPI trending higher for more than a year, as now, and the fed has not increased rates, but then does—probably fed behind the curve; 9) Two years of weak capital investment and Fed Labor Market Indicator trending weaker for more than a year; 10) Flat (+/-.2% points) unemployment rate for 11 months or more —often late or end of cycle; 11) Risk of CPI inflation exceeding increase in real disposable personal income starting in 2-4 months and lasting a year as costs increase more than structurally low productivity; and . . . 12) Very rapid increases in 10 YR TR yield, like now, have preceded corrections and large crashes. That said, bear markets, if we have one, are more or less routine — and have always been followed by bull markets. Have a great day.
The Recount November 27, 2016November 28, 2016 So Hillary will have won the popular vote by more than 2 million ballots — please, Trumpies, stop talking about “the will of the people,” let alone a “mandate”; if “the people have spoken,” they have spoken for Hillary even though, under the agreed-upon rules, their voice will not be heard. Marco Rubio told “Face the Nation” this morning Russia tried to interfere with our election but — he “wants to be clear” — those attempts had no effect on the outcome. Really? Massive “fake news” posts on social media? Wikileaks that led to FBI “bombshells”? How do Rubio and others know these Russian efforts were completely ineffective? Is it the same way the tobacco industry knew its massive advertising campaigns didn’t cause children to become smokers? It seems a stretch. With Putin’s aggressive help, bidden or unbidden, Trump came within two or three million votes of winning — and won. I am with those like the President (and Hillary), who acknowledge that, however much we might wish otherwise, he really did. We should support him when he proposes something good; fight when he proposes something bad; and hope he makes America proud. Although so far, in the words of Colin Powell, he has been a “national disgrace.” It is a strange time — to say the least. But on one piece of this, anyway, I think we now have some clarity. Here it is, from Marc Elias, our counsel: Listening And Responding To Calls For An Audit And Recount Over the last few days, officials in the Clinton campaign have received hundreds of messages, emails, and calls urging us to do something, anything, to investigate claims that the election results were hacked and altered in a way to disadvantage Secretary Clinton. The concerns have arisen, in particular, with respect to Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — three states that together proved decisive in this presidential election and where the combined margin of victory for Donald Trump was merely 107,000 votes. It should go without saying that we take these concerns extremely seriously. We certainly understand the heartbreak felt by so many who worked so hard to elect Hillary Clinton, and it is a fundamental principle of our democracy to ensure that every vote is properly counted. Moreover, this election cycle was unique in the degree of foreign interference witnessed throughout the campaign: the U.S. government concluded that Russian state actors were behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and the personal email accounts of Hillary for America campaign officials, and just yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the Russian government was behind much of the “fake news” propaganda that circulated online in the closing weeks of the election. For all these reasons, we have quietly taken a number of steps in the last two weeks to rule in or out any possibility of outside interference in the vote tally in these critical battleground states. First, since the day after the election we have had lawyers and data scientists and analysts combing over the results to spot anomalies that would suggest a hacked result. These have included analysts both from within the campaign and outside, with backgrounds in politics, technology and academia. Second, we have had numerous meetings and calls with various outside experts to hear their concerns and to discuss and review their data and findings. As a part of this, we have also shared our data and findings with them. Most of those discussions have remained private, while at least one has unfortunately been the subject of leaks. Third, we have attempted to systematically catalogue and investigate every theory that has been presented to us within our ability to do so. Fourth, we have examined the laws and practices as they pertain to recounts, contests and audits. Fifth, and most importantly, we have monitored and staffed the post-election canvasses — where voting machine tapes are compared to poll-books, provisional ballots are resolved, and all of the math is double checked from election night. During that process, we have seen Secretary Clinton’s vote total grow, so that, today, her national popular vote lead now exceeds more than 2 million votes. In the coming days, we will continue to perform our due diligence and actively follow all further activities that are to occur prior to the certification of any election results. For instance, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania conduct post-election audits using a sampling of precincts. Michigan and many other states still do not. This is unfortunate; it is our strong belief that, in addition to an election canvass, every state should do this basic audit to ensure accuracy and public confidence in the election. Beyond the post-election audit, Green Party candidate Jill Stein announced Friday that she will exercise her right as a candidate to pursue a recount in the state of Wisconsin. She has indicated plans to also seek recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides. If Jill Stein follows through as she has promised and pursues recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, we will take the same approach in those states as well. We do so fully aware that the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of these states — Michigan — well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount. But regardless of the potential to change the outcome in any of the states, we feel it is important, on principle, to ensure our campaign is legally represented in any court proceedings and represented on the ground in order to monitor the recount process itself. The campaign is grateful to all those who have expended time and effort to investigate various claims of abnormalities and irregularities. While that effort has not, in our view, resulted in evidence of manipulation of results, now that a recount is underway, we believe we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported. Needless to say (but when has that ever stopped me?), if those on the left who voted for Jill Stein had voted for Hillary Clinton, there would be no need of a recount; Hillary would have won the popular vote and the game. Have a great week.
Happy TG November 23, 2016 A site to monitor the national popular vote — here. Hillary now leads by more than 2 million. I wish there were captions, but you may enjoy some of these. Click on the photo or press the space bar to move to the next. (Thanks, Mel!) And don’t miss this two-minute tribute President Obama paid Ellen DeGeneres yesterday as he awarded her and 20 others the Presidential Medal of Freedom. How far we’ve come. Oh! And Happy Thanksgiving! We have hot water! And Barack Obama! And Advil! And all the world’s knowledge and music in our pocket! (Plus: it’s a flashlight!) (And an alarm clock and a computer and a tweet machine and an instant messenger and a GPS navigator!) (And a video phone!) And we have each other. And all that our parents and ancestors did to get us to this point, where most of us live better, in most respects, than any king, czar or emperor ever did before us. (So, please — let’s not f— it up.) Thanks for your readership. Don’t eat too much.
Ellen — And Thanks November 23, 2016November 23, 2016 A site to monitor the national popular vote — here. Hillary now leads by more than 2 million. I wish there were captions, but you may enjoy some of these. Click on the photo or press the space bar to move to the next. (Thanks, Mel!) And don’t miss this two-minute tribute President Obama paid Ellen DeGeneres yesterday as he awarded her and 20 others the Presidential Medal of Freedom. How far we’ve come. Oh! And Happy Thanksgiving! We have hot water! And Barack Obama! And Advil! And all the world’s knowledge and music in our pocket! (Plus: it’s a flashlight!) (And an alarm clock!) (And a computer and a tweet machine and an instant messenger and a GPS navigator!) (And a video phone!) And we have each other. And all that our parents and ancestors did to get us to this point, where most of us live better, in most respects, than any king, czar or emperor ever did before us. (So, please — let’s not f— it up.) Thanks for your readership. Don’t eat too much.
Why We Lost The Rust Belt November 22, 2016 Are you still reading the links from Monday (posted Sunday to give you extra time)? Here’s one more: “Rust Belt Dems broke for Trump because they thought Clinton cared more about bathrooms than jobs.” It has the ring of truth — though if you read to the end, you’ll see we really did try. We just needed to do it better. We got a couple million more votes than he did — always important to remember. And so many stayed home it was barely a quarter of the voting-age population who put him in power. But in power he is. So those of us among the 75% who didn’t vote for him . . . or among the 25% who did, but with trepidation . . . need to stay engaged to help get America through this, applauding anything good Trump might do and passionately resisting the rest. A huge voter turn-out in 2018 to sweep Congress and state legislatures blue may be unlikely but is absolutely possible — it’s legal to vote in mid-term elections! — and what, I would argue, we all need to work for. I promise something lighter tomorrow.
Listening — Really LISTENING — To The Opposition November 20, 2016 But first you have to look at this cartoon. And read Aaron Sorkin’s letter to his daughter. And follow Think Progress. My friend Paul Abrams writes: You may recall my article during the campaign about Trump seeking to become America’s Putin and how easy it will be. Here it begins. [“Donald Trump is leveraging his new position as president-elect to empower his business empire — and he’s doing it publicly.”] Gentlemen, our democracy is lost. We need to understand how to form an effective political opposition in a dictatorship. Mark my words: Trump will have his picture and name on every infrastructure project the Congress funds. Obama was forbidden to do that. No photo. No name. Trump may also be forbidden. He won’t care. He will just do it. Who is going to stop him? Here’s the near term picture: family brought into WH, informally if necessary. Pictures of Trump all over the place associated w work and improvements in your community. Continuous rallies. Constant attacks on whatever is left of the legitimate press. An AG hostile to civil rights. All US attorneys replaced by sycophants. Within a year, fascism will become our new way of life. If that leaves you even more eager to take to the streets, read this first — “The Right Way To Resist Trump” — in case you missed it in the Times. The protests, argues the author, are counterproductive. . . . There will be plenty of reasons to complain during the Trump presidency, when really awful decisions are made. Why complain now, when no decision has been made? It delegitimizes the future protests and exposes the bias of the opposition. . . . Meanwhile, my friend Nathaniel Frank posted this very thoughtful piece: “Bridging the Divide: Thoughts from a Conversation with a Trump Voter.” . . . I took the opportunity to listen—really listen—to what Conservative Stranger had to say. . . . “All we’d ask,” he pleaded, “is that you don’t thumb your nose at us, don’t make snide remarks about how we like our guns and our bibles, don’t congregate with your college-educated peers about how out of touch and insignificant we are just because we don’t possess those same higher degrees.” . . . In this context, Hillary Clinton’s dismissal of half of Trump’s supporters as “deplorables” was potentially disastrous to her campaign. Liberals will do no better in bringing about the world they want to see if they continue to convey the kind of contempt that helped derail her win. . . . Too many progressives fail to engage with the people they most need to persuade, opting instead for the comforting but counterproductive narrative that conservative voters are irredeemable. . . . It Could Be Worse, argues Ron Elving, at NPR.com. Yet the one bright spot a lot of us see — a chance finally to begin a major infrastructure revitalization — is a trap. It sounds like what we’ve all been wanting for so long, that President Obama called on a joint session of Congress to pass “right away” in 2011. But in Trump’s version, it’s “a tax-cut plan for [wealthy] investors, and a massive corporate welfare plan for contractors.” Read it here in the Washington Post. And then subscribe, to help keep it strong. And to the New York Times, as well. We’re going to need them.
Three Donor Emails November 18, 2016November 17, 2016 Most of you are not DNC “major donors” and as such are not subjected to my annoying emails. (You get my annoying columns instead — and the perhaps even more annoying emails asking for $3.) Well: your luck just ran out. Herewith two sent hours before and after the election . . . and one ridiculously long one sent yesterday. Free emails being worth what you pay for them, don’t feel bad stopping right here and watching John Oliver again instead. THE FIRST: Sent: Monday, November 7, 2016 6:51 PM Subject: ok, kids . . . However tomorrow turns out, I wanted to say thanks. So many of you on this list have done all you reasonably could to save mankind . . . (well: one thing leads to another when you have a thin-skinned nut job with nuclear weapons) . . . and to tilt the Court toward progress (my own hope: a 5-4 +female+ majority for a decade or two, after 236 years skewed almost entirely male) . . . and to put Americans back to work revitalizing our crumbling infrastructure; raise wages for the least among us; enact the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform the Senate passed 68-32, allow refinancing of federal student debt at today’s low rates; confront climate change – all measures economists agree would boost our economy (and thereby help at least a LITTLE to diminish the – justified! – frustration and anger so many feel toward a government the Republicans have purposely kept from solving their problems) . . . and to advance equal rights on every front, but especially for LGBT Americans (an effort begun at the Presidential level by the Clintons — resisted every step of the way by Republicans — and now 80% of the way home thanks to the Obamas and Democrats up and down the ticket). THANK YOU FOR THE INDISPENSABLE ROLE SO MANY OF YOU HAVE PLAYED. And now I will commence to hold my breath. Good luck to us all. The whole world is watching. Only the National Enquirer, the Ku Klux Klan Crusader, and the Russian press are hoping for anything other than a good night for us Dems. Andy THE SECOND: Sent: Wednesday, November 9, 2016 6:56 PM Subject: now what? I assumed we were going to win last night so decided to wear my Charles Nolan suit. I thought he should be at the Javits Center, never mind that this hand-tailored suit cost literally 20 times as much as the Zara suit I bought off the rack that – inexplicably — fits me better. Charles would have been so happy to see Hillary win. And while I was feeling sentimental, it occurred to me what last night would have meant to my mom, born the year before women got the vote, who loved Hillary and was very much part of the project to see a woman in the White House – and whose birthday would have been today – and I realized, Hey! This is the perfect way to zero out the last few dollars remaining in her estate: write a check to the Inauguration. The perfect final act in her name. So around 7pm, Charles Nolan suit on my back and check in hand, I was feeling pretty good. Needless to say, not for long. At 4am I posted a brief column, titled, simply, Ugh, wherein I quoted Ted Kennedy’s appropriate dictum* (and predicted a market crash). A few hours later: Ways He Could Surprise On The Upside, wherein I linked to the magnificent way Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama conducted themselves today (and acknowledged the spectacular inaccuracy of my market prediction). Better than either of mine is this one, from Garrison Keillor: Trump Voters Will Not Like What Happens Next. Some of you have written or texted to ask what DOES happen next. The short answer, simply is Ted Kennedy’s from 1980, or Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s from today. We keep at it. Thanks one more time to all of you who did so much this cycle – and to all of you committed to keep at it. You’ll be hearing a lot more from us in the next few weeks as we regroup. All suggestions welcome. Andy * “Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw out our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference. . . . For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on. The work continues, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.” THE THIRD, ENDLESSLY LONG ONE: Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 11:27 AM Subject: NOW what? Executive summary: We got more votes. This despite Putin’s interference, Comey’s interference, and a whole lot else taken straight from a book of speeches Trump kept by his bedside. Also: more than half the country views our current Democratic president favorably. In other words: There’s been no wholesale repudiation of what most of us believe. Even so, obviously, it’s horrible. We need to put tremendous effort and resources into driving presidential-scale turn-out in 2018 to take back Congress, state legislative chambers, and governors’ mansions. Instead of the 36% or so who turned out in 2014, what if we got more like the 58% who turned out in 2012? These folks know how to vote; we just need them to do it every two years instead of every four. That’s a huge “just” – but we have an equally huge incentive to plan and build toward that. Or as close to it as we can come. If our 2018 turn-out could exceed Republican turn out by 5 percentage points (45% to 40%, say), the whole world would change. In the meantime, we should applaud when he does something good and fight and scream like crazy when he is poised to do something awful. Which looks to be more or less non-stop. I so admire the way President Obama and Secretary Clinton fulfilled their roles in wishing Trump success. And a good cop, bad cop strategy may work best. If he’s smart, Trump will quietly call on President Obama (the good cop) every few minutes to find out what the hell he should do – as he obviously has no clue. The DNC needs new leadership and to step up its game. Much healthy, urgent discussion is underway. But the party itself does not have to change that much. There ends the executive summary. For those with an interest in elaboration on that last point – #6 – here’s what I told a delegation of Chinese Communist Party officials Monday morning as part of a regular dialog they have with Republican and Democratic Party officials. It is an honor to be here with you. My visit to China three years ago — what I learned and the hospitality you afforded us — were extraordinary. Please let me take this opportunity to thank you again. Last week, more than 61 million Americans voted to elect the most qualified person ever to run for President. A million fewer voted to elect the LEAST qualified person ever to run. Given the quirks of our system – and just as happened 16 years ago — the candidate with fewer votes will soon be sworn in as our President. I was proud of the exceptionally thoughtful way Secretary Clinton and President Obama congratulated the President-Elect and urged us all to keep an open mind and root for his success. I share those views. But like all Democrats, I also share the world’s deep concern. That is not the light-hearted way I had planned to lead off today when I began drafting these thoughts a week ago. I had planned to playfully rib my friend, college classmate, and counterpart Tony Parker, Treasurer of the Republican National Committee . . . and offer to cede my time to him, because I am very interested to hear his thoughts on the future of the Republican Party. And still am. Even though it will soon control both houses of Congress and the White House, I think the future of the Republican Party is not entirely clear. The future of the Democratic Party, I think, is. We will remain the party of the people, where we’ve been for a long time, one click left of center. Some of our members will be two or three clicks left of center and some dead center or a click to the right. But broadly speaking, we’ve been the party of labor — and will continue to be. We’ve been the party fighting for the rights of those who lack full equality . . . be they women, African Americans, LGBT Americans, the disabled or others — and will continue to be. When I was first elected Treasurer in 1999, our then Chairman said the same thing wherever he went. He said: “We don’t care whether you’re white or black or brown or purple – you are welcome in the Democratic Party. We don’t care what religion you are or how big your bank account is – you are welcome in the Democratic Party. We don’t care whether you walked in here or rolled in here, what gender you are or what gender you like to hold hands with. So long as you like to hold hands, you are welcome in the Democratic Party.” That’s the party I think we will continue to be. And on that last issue alone – who you like to hold hands with – there’s been amazing progress at absolutely no cost. It cost nothing for Secretary Clinton to declare in Geneva in 2011 that “gay rights are human rights” or for President Obama to say in his Second Inaugural Address that “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law” or for the Supreme Court to grant people like me the right to marry the person we love. But to millions of us seeking to lead happy, constructive lives, it has made all the difference in the world. That’s the kind of progress the Democratic Party believes in and will continue to strive for.* We’ve been the party trying to shift the balance of wealth and power, now so tilted to the wealthy and powerful, back toward the middle class. And will continue to be. When I was growing up, the top tax the wealthy paid on their last few million dollars of dividends was 90% until John Kennedy lowered it to 70%. That was still too high, in my view; but George W. Bush brought it down to 15%, which – again, in my view – was too low. Their party wants to cut the tax on the wealth that billionaires like the President Elect leave to their children from 45% to zero. We are the party that typically puts bold investment in the future ahead of tax cuts and budget cutting. And will continue to be. I am heartened to think that the President Elect may persuade the Republican Congress to put millions of Americans to work revitalizing our crumbling national infrastructure – something President Obama urgently proposed in September 2011 that the Republican Congress blocked. We’ve been the party that seeks to protect the environment – and will continue to be. We’ve been the party that tries to make voting easier, not harder – and will continue to be. We’ve been the party that, over the last few decades, typically wins the popular vote in presidential elections. I think that will continue as well. So what will change? For starters, obviously, the formal party leadership will change in February, as it does every four years. There will be a new chair – possibly Keith Ellison, possibly Howard Dean, possibly Martin O’Malley, possibly a vibrant young Hispanic leader – there are a great many exciting possibilities. And there will likely be changes among the other nine elected officers as well (all of whom, by the way, are unpaid for their work). Whoever the new chair and officers may be, they will continue to promote the party’s progressive platform, and look to do better in two broad areas: First, to better connect with tens of millions of fine working class Americans who vote Republican even though we believe their personal prosperity would improve if they voted with us. Second, to better use our resources in turning out voters in both mid-term and presidential years. There will also be a look at how the primary process might be improved. For this purpose, a Unity Commission has been established, with 6 members named by Secretary Clinton, 5 by Senator Sanders, and 3 by the DNC chair. My own guess is that whatever changes are recommended to the Rules Committee will be fairly minor. Three larger electoral changes I’d like to see are outside the purview of either party, but perhaps worth mention. One is so-called Instant Run-Off Voting, where voters get to vote for both their first-choice, who might be a third-party candidate like Ralph Nader or Ross Perot, but also their second-choice, who might be Al Gore or George H.W. Bush. That could inspire more people to engage in the political process – while also better reflecting the preference of the electorate. Second is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which has been adopted by 10 states and the District of Columbia, accounting for 165 of the necessary 270 electoral votes. In the somewhat unlikely event enough other states joined, pledging to cast their electoral votes in accordance with the national popular vote, the candidate with the votes would always become president. What a concept. The third are movements like Florida’s “Fair Districts” initiative. Florida is a state that leans slightly Democratic but whose state legislature and whose Congressional delegation, because the way voting districts have been drawn, has been overwhelmingly Republican. A few years ago, more than 60% of Florida voters approved a referendum mandating that districts be drawn more fairly. Republicans fought it in court and the legislature, but it has now finally gone into effect. The result, I hope – in Florida and wherever else this sort of reform can succeed – will be not only to more fairly represent the voters, but also to make districts more competitive. Meaning that moderate candidates will stand a better chance against extreme hardliners than they do now. In my view, America NEEDS more moderate Republicans like my friend Tony Parker and [his Republican colleagues there with us Monday, a former Bush cabinet secretary, and a former RNC chair]. We disagree on a great many things, but in a good-humored and constructive way. I look forward to hearing what he has to say, and to finding common ground wherever possible. If any of you are still with me after all that: thank you for your passion, your commitment, your resources, your suggestions, and your continued help, all of which we need and greatly value. Andy *Later in the day I got to remind them that 3 of our 9 DNC officers are openly LGBT, that there are probably 100 million or so LGBT Chinese (I asked gently and respectfully whether they knew how many of their 88 million party members were LGBT; they did not), and that religion – such a motivator of our opposition here – is not an issue in China. And that the Old Testament basis for condemning us probably stemmed from the need for population growth – again, not something China currently needs to promote. (In short: I had fun.) Can you imagine having to read endless stuff like this and give the DNC $10,000 or $100,000? That’s patriotism. Have a great weekend.
Flooding The Swamp November 16, 2016November 17, 2016 You can’t watch this at work; and you can’t watch it if easily offended; and you’ve almost surely already watched it. But if not: John Oliver urging us to fight back. The Washington Post argues he’s not draining the swamp, he’s flooding it.
I Predict A Bright Future For This Little Girl November 15, 2016 A brief upbeat interruption in our regularly scheduled bewailing: how one dad helps his daughter start each day — 78 seconds you can’t fail to love.