Weekend Tangents:

Some of the Stories We Are Missing in the Midst of the 2024 Election Cycle. Plus, Thoughts On Our Lives In the Parallel Universes.

Feel free to check the entire blog archives from “Political Pulse” & “Salzillo Report” on the 2024 primary cycle, rural outreach, redistricting litigation, base dynamics, campaign organization, the current media landscape, the issues at stake, Project 2025, Build Back Better, the progressive movement, the true story about former 2024 VP contender Gina Raimondo, and much more.

2024 Election Voting Records via poorpeoplescampaign.org

Via wdio.com, RIP MN Congressman Rick Nolan (1943-2024)

First off, it was a pleasure coming on State of the State RI this past week to discuss Question 1 & the possibility of a Constitutional Convention with Democratic State Rep. Mike Marcello and host Richard August. You can watch it right now on YouTube & stateofthestateri.com. For more of my personal takes, feel free to visit previous posts this past year on ConCon.

Otherwise, on October 11, 3 US Senators (Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ed Markey) released a letter urging the US Commerce Department to be “more transparent regarding the terms of agreement made under the CHIPS & Science Act.”

They requested that US Commerce Secretary Raimondo “ensure that the US semiconductor industry is safe and sustainable, creates high-quality jobs, and does not simply enrich shareholders and executives through stock buybacks.”

I commend this initial first step of action by these Democratic Senators, though there is more work to do and clearly more oversight still needed. I do not believe my October 6 commentary on the CHIPS Act was the ultimate catalyst behind such action. Though it goes to show that taking action into your own hands may be the thing that starts to move the needle, especially in the absence of fully functional institutions to do the job (like a non-corporate media).

And who wouldn’t be delighted even by a small step in the name of progress?

Speaking of progress, New Jersey is seeing a little of it, even though the political establishment is very much irked by it. NJ Attorney General Matt Platkin has been a leader for electoral reform by ridding the ballot lines that empowered party kingmakers and machines in the style of Tammany Hall. One of those powerbrokers, George Norcross, has been indicted on corruption charges.

There is also the story of NJ Comptroller Kevin Walsh, who is the fiercest hunter for waste, abuse, and fraud the state has seen in recent memory. Read the Politico profile here.

I also have to commend Sarah Longwell for her class act. After receiving the ol' sarcastic country club smirk and eye roll treatment from CNN pro-Trump commentator Scott Jennings, Longwell reminded all of us of the time when Scott Jennings once blasted Trump on the night after the January 6th insurrection (when 150+ GOP members of Congress still refused to certify the 2020 elections).

“He’s clearly violated his office,” said Scott Jennings on January 6th, 2021 regarding Trump’s ability to remain in office for two more weeks. “He didn’t learn anything.” He even called Trump a stain on our country.

And that smug hypocrite says the Vice President is a flip-flopper, like consistency is in much supply in Trumpworld these days?

The night after January 6th, Scott proclaimed we have “learned the limits of Trumpism.” Well, we did, but he certainly didn’t.

Then, there is another clip circulating on the web from November 2020 from…none other than Scott “Consistency Matters” Jennings (3:16:30-3:23:55), in which he questioned Trump’s judgment in denigrating mail-in voting and early voting. He said the Georgia overseas ballots should be counted in another interview that fateful November week (4:42:56-4:43:37). Actually, he technically argued that every single ballot should be counted.

I agree, Scott. Especially when it comes to 2024.

And here is Scott Jennings’s nasty Trump tweet in 2022 (27:05-29:30).

Between all of that, the “asshole” insult earlier this year, and the calling out of Trump’s demented post in 2022 will surely endear Scott Jennings to the Trump faithful should he ever consider replacing his old boss as the next US Senator from Kentucky. The odds don’t look too good, God forbid we get to that point.

But you get the idea. How many Republican Party politicians and elites truly believe what Trump is saying? What to take away the most from this is the GOP establishment is not telling the truth to its own voters. They are deceiving the public intentionally for political self-preservation, whether it is JD Vance, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Fox News, Newsmax, or Scott Jennings.

You know it’s bad when staffers at “The Apprentice” have to admit publicly that the Trump Fantasy created has descended into a full-blown monster.

So what are some other takeaways this week?

• Is Trump really a truth teller? We all know the answer in some way; obviously, NO! But that is not why I asked. Clearly, those who support Trump do trust him. One thing to notice from Trump is how he says everyone else doesn’t know anything, outside of the personal flatterers of course. So whenever you hear him, think of this question. Do you trust the single tale of Donald Trump and all he has to say, or would you rather take into account not just Democratic Party criticism, but also Republican Party criticism? People who worked for Reagan and the Bushes? People who volunteered on the McCain and Romney presidential campaigns? People who worked for Trump himself in his own campaign and administration? Trump’s own family? Who has more of a motive to lie and less credibility to tell the truth, all of these people who are rather consistent in what we know of Trump, or Trump himself, otherwise known as the greatest pathological liar in politics?

• Trump still says the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him. If that is the case, why did the 2020 election results largely mirror what happened in 2016? And why did Congressional Republicans do better than Trump? Which actually leads to the more fundamental question of are those down ballot elections fair, but Trump’s wasn’t? What was fair and what was unfair? The GOP elite can’t have it both ways here.

• There is also a common talking point that the Democratic Party has veered “too far to the left,” while the Republican Party is still normal (just kidding!). I am sure many people have heard the common moniker of “the Kennedy Democrat.” No question John F. Kennedy embodied hope, youth, and energy. No question he has a presidential legacy of his own. But was John F. Kennedy really that “conservative”? He did cut taxes, but do you know what the top income bracket paid in taxes pre-Kennedy and immediately post-Kennedy? Let’s put it this way: the income tax percentages for the top income bracket decreased from 91% in 1962 to 70% by 1965. That is a much higher number than today’s rate (26%). Interesting, isn’t it? Are the Republicans going to call Jack Kennedy a Communist now?

• That’s not all. You may think back to Franklin Roosevelt, or Lyndon B. Johnson, the leaders of two of the most famous and successful domestic legislative programs of American history (spoiler alert: not conservatives either). In fact, many conservatives today might call FDR and Lyndon Johnson “communists.” For example, besides establishing Social Security and many other pieces of landmark legislation, FDR in his New Deal wanted to also establish a national health insurance program. The Great Society had a similar vision with national health insurance, partially responsible for Medicare and Medicaid. I have said it before, and will say it again: Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren are now pretty much what the Democratic Party used to be. We should continue to embrace true core Democratic values, and we should continue to build on the great work of President Joe Biden.

Which leads to a summary of what you might not have heard about the Harris-Walz 2024 campaign vision. Because the truth is Harris-Walz isn’t just anti-Trump. They have an agenda that they need to talk about much more.

Over the past year on this blog, we have outlined what the Build Back Better Agenda is. We have also given you a clear glimpse into the horrors of Project 2025—and even of Trump’s past term.

But let’s get a little more hands-on on what you might not have heard on TV, in the newspapers, or on the radio about the Harris-Walz legislative agenda at hand, if you elect the presidential ticket with a Democratic Congress this November:

1. This past week, Governor Tim Walz unveiled “The Harris-Walz Rural Agenda.” Farmprogress.com lays out an agenda overview, and the full text will hopefully be incorporated on the kamalaharris.com “Issues” page soon enough.

2. Vice President Kamala Harris also rolled out a Medicare home care expansion proposal she will vouch for.

3. There could be a middle class tax cut at stake, and tax provisions making the elites pay more of their fair share.

4. We can protect & expand the right to organize with the PRO Act, pass paid leave, and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, an actual living wage.

5. We can finally tackle corporate price-gouging accounting for greedflation and shrinkflation pain today, using bans based upon state laws already in place.

6. We can hold corporate landlords accountable for rising prices and rent instability that account for rising costs and greedy housing practices pre-2008.

7. We can invest in small businesses and entrepreneurs, especially those in undeserving communities with the support, tools, and resources they need.

8. We can continue to lower the cost of insulin and make prescription drug prices more affordable by having Medicare negotiate them.

9. We can ensure Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are protected, expanded, and made more financially solvent, instead of austerity cutting.

10. We can bolster food security and housing programs, so that no child goes to school hungry and no adult is left on the streets.

11. We can not only make community college more affordable and relieve excessive student debt, but also support vocational training and trade schools.

12. We can reshore supply chains with emerging 21st century manufacturing sectors and level the market playing field in American agriculture.

13. We can guarantee long term energy independence with a renewable energy economy & conservation efforts that address the climate crisis.

14. We can codify the right to reproductive access so no woman bleeds to death, including to fertility treatments, birth control, & contraceptives.

15. We can make sure common sense gun safety laws are in place so children don’t have to be shot in school, just as law-abiding individuals can still have a right to bear arms.

16. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, passing real border security legislation while offering a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers & DACA children.

17. And we can strengthen the Voting Rights Act so we don’t allow voter suppression & racial gerrymandering ever again.

18. Plus, you won’t have to worry about stop-and-frisk or the use of the death penalty on innocent people if we finally turn the page on Trumpism.

If all of this (and more) is the agenda you want, spread the word to your friends and neighbors and tell them to vote on November 5, OR EARLIER.