When the other shoe drops…follow it.
Are you remembering to breathe?
I heard your heads exploding from all the way out here. Look at me, look at me — nothing has changed. We have two points of focus:
Beat Trump
Hold the Senate and re-take the House
There’s a lot we don’t know and even more that we’re powerless over. We’re at the back of the rollercoaster. We can’t see where it’s going. But the back end always has a wilder ride. Same is true in planes. So of course we’re rattled.
President Biden and the people around him are not impulsive like Donald Trump and his people. We can trust that a great deal of thought and even more planning went into this. They (whomever “they” are) pored over election data. They considered the stakes. They probably considered the geopolitics of it all. Perhaps they even talked to some trusted foreign leaders. In any case, we don’t know what they did — what we DO know is that the Democrats are mobilized. Which we desperately need.
If you’re like me at all, you probably have a million things racing through your head. Everyone has those voices in their heads. The trick is knowing how to speak back to them and settle them down. I have an antidote for that and to illustrate I’ve made for you this handy chart:
The Democrats aren’t the only ones who have thought this through and prepared for it. The Republicans have been getting ready to run against Kamala Harris, just in case they had to. Hold on to your shoulder bars because they’re not going to play nice. They’re going to throw everything they possibly can in the road to trip us up or slow us down. It’s already begun, so I’ve made you this handy chart to help you deal with it:
Remember to pay no attention to statements like these.
Other things to watch out for
The Democrats…bless their hearts. They are process freaks. They will now begin to thrash amongst themselves over how to select a nominee. Some will be working backstage to discourage any challengers from running against the Vice President. Others will be clamoring for an open convention. Some will be quacking about having a “mini-primary” — a thought that makes my head spin, but I guess it’s an option.
There will be bickering. Where there’s no bickering, it’s not the Democrats. Ignore it as best you can.
In almost every other case, I’ve been a process freak too because bad process leads to bad outcomes. But these are not normal times. I hope — and frankly, I expect — the Democrats will pick a process and run with it because we don’t have time to fiddle around. We have 107 days to take Trump and his evil minions and blast them into outer space. Let’s not just beat Trump — let’s crush him.
Perspective
Whatever you’ve been doing to get out the vote and educate people on Project 2025 (which is now going under the cover of “Agenda 47,”) keep doing it and amp it up any way you can. We’re clear on the mission, right?
• Beat Trump
• Hold the Senate and re-take the House
Everything else is chatter.
I keep thinking about the Supreme Court’s appalling ruling on presidential immunity. They are not even pretending to honor stare decisis anymore. Precedent? HA!
Think about what it will take for this president and the next (and probably the next one after that), to fix this. It won’t come fast enough if we simply wait for the Supreme Court to turn over. It will take a constitutional amendment and you know how much effort and time those take. But Biden was clear about this and I hope his successor will be as well: we cannot allow our presidents to be above the law.
Sometimes I feel a whiff of despair over all the wreckage Donald Trump has left us so far. But mostly, I don’t have time for despair and neither do you. We have to get him out of here. After we do that, we’ve got to enact whatever legislation it will take to protect us from the likes of him again.
When you listen to Trump, it might help if you stop focusing on his words and look instead for the feeling he’s trying to create amongst the voters. So far, as I see it, it’s fear. To overtake this democracy and for Trump to seize power again, they need the American people to be afraid. As a treat, here is a clip from one of my favorite movies, “The American President,” with a speech that is strangely fitting:
We as Americans have a mountain of work to do, but before we can begin, we have to survive. That is what we are doing right now — surviving. I overheard my wife say on the telephone that she’d vote for a corpse over Donald Trump and that pretty much says it. We won’t always be in crisis mode, but today we are, so your job is to waste no time. Make the pivot in your mind and KEEP MOVING.
Look at me, look at me
This too shall pass, really it will. We are in but one bit of something that is bound to transform America in the end. That can be good or bad, but we can make it good. Yes, right now, the only objective is to survive — which is why I liken it to a rollercoaster ride. Unless you are an adrenaline junkie, you just want the damn ride to end. It will.
Do people ever die on rollercoasters? Sure, sometimes they do, but the odds are in our favor that we will prevail. Truly. We need to stay in our seats and keep the shoulder bars down over our chests. Breathe, people, and take heart.
Song of the Day
“Hot Rod Lincoln” — Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen
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Keep on keepin’ on,
Cindy
I will confess, Cindy: I haven't read your brilliant articles for the past month or so, because everything I read about the election gave me feelings of existential dread. In the words of Michael Moore, "What a difference a day makes". Thank you for once again for getting right to the heart of the matter. We can, we will, beat the big orange menace. If Kamala talks about abortion, we win.
Spot on, Cindy. Let's mobilize and unite on democracy. Harris!!!