John Dean: NOTHING is more important in 2018 than Dems retaking House to STOP TRUMP

[highplainsdem]

Tweeted minutes ago:

Link to tweet

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, is more important in 2018 than taking the US House from the GOP, and beginning the end of Trump’s horrific presidency. The well being of the nation depends on it. Don’t let a day pass without doing some act to help Democrats win control. STOP TRUMP!

[mcar]

1. K&R

[Hortensis]

2. "Dont let a day pass without...some act to help...win control."

Yes!

John Dean understands "Conservatives Without Conscience" as if he wrote the book on them. And he clearly is using "Trump" as shorthand for them.

[lastlib]

16. Count. Me. IN!!

My New Year's resolution is to make the Blue Tsunami happen. I hope all of you will make the same one. With gerrymandering, vote suppression/rigging, Russian interference, etc., it will take ALL of us!

[longship]

27. Uhmmm! John W. Dean DID write "Conservatives without Conscience"

So he did write the book about them. It is a revelation of a book, outlining the GOP's authoritarian strategy using Robert Altemeyer's research on the authoritarian personality.

It is a densely scholarly tome. Highly recommended.

Conservatives without Conscience

[Hortensis]

28. :) A good lay read based on findings of professional studies.

Some of the names he mentioned so damningly then are still active in politics.

[spanone]

3. K&R...

[lark]

4. We win unless Russia steal this election too.

with malice and deliberation, absolutely nothing has been done to stop them hacking the vote, spending billions in ads on all media and getting/keeping russian repugs in office.

[bluestarone]

7. yes to this

[iluvtennis]

11. +2

[RandomAccess]

10. Or the voter suppression, or the outright disenfranchisement

via unverifiable voting machines. Reublicans have been "winning" for nearly 2 decades now elections they wouldn't have won without the ever-reliably hackable electronic voting machines. PAPER BALLOTS, hand-counted in full public view. (Notice what happened in VA once they went back to paper ballots?? Yes, huge turnout was part of it, but only a part.)

The Russians are quite bad enough, but they're not the only threat.

[lark]

12. It's Russians and Repugs conspiring together that's new,

as far as I know. Repugs are totally awful all by themselves, but add in the facist, racist, greedy Russians and they are 100 times worse.

[RandomAccess]

18. Well, Russians have been working on this cooperation and camaraderie

with RepubliCONs for quite a few years now -- only recently have they been succeeding rather spectacularly, thanks to their years and years of Active Measure efforts -- plus susceptible targets, of course.

[questionseverything]

15. yes since electronic vote counting was introduced in the mid 60s

even tho everything we see in our daily lives shows the public to be more and more liberal ,somehow the "results" the machines spit out at us say we vote more and more conservatively

who owns the machines and the super secret software?

1%ers that's who

I have read even here at du that the constitution has failed us but honestly we the people failed to exercise our check on power by giving up the RIGHT to count our own votes in a transparent and open manner

thank you for mentioning this most important point

[Yavin4]

5. Hear! Hear! Stop looking to 2020.

If the Dems don't take congress in 2018, there may not even be a 2020.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. THIS THIS THIS

[bluestarone]

8. yes to this

[oasis]

9. A solid Democratic majority congress. nt

[onetexan]

31. second that

[David__77]

13. What about the Senate?

We need to be able to stop judicial and other nominees.

[Jim Lane]

23. I agree. If I could wave a magic wand and flip one chamber, it'd be the Senate.

Of course, a mere Democratic majority is no guarantee that we can stop bad nominees. Gorsuch got some Democratic votes. We need a Democratic majority plus a tougher attitude by the Democratic caucus.

The map is so bad that there's no realistic chance of a big Democratic win. The most wildly optimistic but still not ludicrous forecast would be that we hold all current seats and flip NV, AZ, TX, and TN. That requires a lot of things to go right and still gives us only 53 seats, so we couldn't afford many defections. Some of Trump's bad nominees probably would attract defectors, who are trying too hard to appear bipartisan.

[NewJeffCT]

37. It would take a near miracle for Democrats to retake the Senate

Just keeping it even should be considered a huge win for Democrats, though the media won't play it like that.

Democrats have to defend 25 seats in the Senate, including 10 in states that Trump won. Republicans only have to defend 8 seats, with at least several in reliably red states. (Granted, Alabama is reliably red, but they nominated a toxic candidate...)

With McCain and Cochran healthy, Republicans have a 51-47 advantage, with 2 independents caucusing with the Democrats for a 51-49 Republican advantage.

Democrats would need to hold every single seat, beat Heller in Nevada (realistic) and get one or two surprise upsets.

If Democrats do that, I would put a hold on every single judicial nominee, not just anybody for SCOTUS, but every federal slot

[BigmanPigman]

14. I made my New Year's Resolution on DU last night...

What are your New Year's Resolutions for 2018
or are you saying, "What's the point...we are doomed?".
Mine is to do whatever I can legally to get the fake prez, his GOP rep supporters, Fux Propaganda and his base/cult out of the US and my life permanently.

THIS is how I fight depression and anxiety!
This is positive energy directed at particular people and issues and a time frame. I will do what I did last year but with more knowledge and experiences under my belt. This is my 2017 resolution kicked up a notch and fine tuned for 2018. I am more determined than ever and my goals will benefit me and my country. 2018 will be our year!

[RestoreAmerica2020]

17. Yes. I'm committed to do my part..voter registration,get

Last edited Tue Jan 2, 2018, 06:54 AM - Edit history (1)

..out the vote and I'm just promoting, voting for only democratic candidates...not helping repubs with voter drive, they can do their own leg work.

Of recent I' ve heard fair-minded dems (cus that's who we are) say ' it doesn't matter who you vote, just vote. That is Bullshite! Hell yes it matters who you vote for..look at the racist lying pervert now sitting in our house.

It sure as hell matters! Trumpf is the poster image of what happens when the voters dont stop and consider the consequences that their individual vote carries.

[calimary]

32. YES. Damn right it sure as Hell matters!

Vote, Dammit!!!

[NewJeffCT]

38. Between 2012 and 2016

there was a huge upsurge in the number of registered voters - around 150 million in 2012 to around 200 million in 2016. However, turnout only went up slightly. GOTV is so important.

[Initech]

19. Yes! The patriotic thing to do this year is to kick these motherfuckers to the curb!

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. Fuck Mueller?

[radhika]

21. My only fear is Democratic Party self-sabotage...

Remember when Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the house?

In the midst of so many Bush impeachment drives ongoing nationwide, and so many sketchy/corrupt issues related to Bush/Cheney and Iraq? She famously refused to go forward on any of them, even to the rather modest point of allowing a vigorous (and public) series of hearings to help the American people make sense of it all? IMPEACHMENT IS OFF THE TABLE!

Obama refused to hold the banksters accountable (I'm talking JAIL) in a clear and cogent way as Americans were losing homes, jobs and fortunes. He also was tepid in alerting Americans to what he knew of Russian influence in the 2016 election. AMERICANS WANT TO GO FORWARD, NOT LOOK BACK! DON'T WANT TO SEEM TO HAVE MY HAND ON THE SCALE. See how well that worked!

I agree with John Dean. Yes, I will work and donate to the 2018 effort. But I am not blind to the way current Democratic Party leaders are wired, and how gutless and atrophied they are.

[NewJeffCT]

39. I was very upset when Pelosi took impeachment off the table

I had given regularly to Democrats between 2004 and 2006, but when she took impeachment off the table, I was so pissed I stopped donating for several years. Even if you don't intend to impeach, you don't say that - keep it there as an option to put fear into the other side. (Just like Obama pre-negotiating with Republicans by giving them some of what they want with the stimulus package or by taking the public option off the table)

[IronLionZion]

22. DU's finest ratfuckers will tell us otherwise

be wary of DUers telling us some Dem running for office somewhere isn't quite liberal enough.

[David__77]

24. Theres a place for struggle during the primaries.

It makes sense to discuss the issues and candidates’ positions, in my opinion.

[PDittie]

35. I hope I'm not misunderstanding this

If I vote for the most progressive Democrat in my Congressional primary -- and encourage others to do the same -- am I a "DU ratfucker"?

[IronLionZion]

36. Vote for the most progressive Democrat in any primary.

Vote for the Democrat in any general election.

Be wary of anyone telling you to not vote for the Democrat in any general election for any reason. The worst Democrats are still better than the best Republicans on the most important issues.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

25. K&R nt

[Dorn]

29. It is not about stopping DT per sey -- its about a positive people first message

++ People / -- Billion dollar businesses
++ Unions / -- Right to Steal (aka RTW)
++ Peace / -- Billion dollar arms businesses
++ Free speech / -- corporate media
++ Tom, Diane, and Harry / -- Billionaire Bonus Bill (aka so called tax reform)

etc, etc, and so forth

[Heartstrings]

30. Midterms, Midterms, Midterms!

Should be our first and foremost focus!

[calimary]

33. THIS!!!

Vote, Dammit!

[PDittie]

34. Dean has nailed it

Nothing else matters. All else is white noise.

[MrPurple]

40. The 2017 elections (VA, NJ) weren't in states that had been voter suppressed gerrymandered

The elections in 2017 were ecouraging, but they were in Democratic run states that hadn't been affected much by the post 2010 gerrymandering and voter suppression (voter ID, Crosscheck) efforts. The real test of 2018 will be how much the unquestionable blue wave will be able to overcome those barriers. If the Alabama election had been selected by who won each of the state's gerrymandered Congressional districts, Roy Moore would have beaten Doug Jones 7 districts to 1.

[YessirAtsaFact]

41. Virginia house districts are most certainly gerrymandered

That’s how they got a 2:1 House of Delegates majority in 2015 when all of the statewide elections were won by Democratics

[Scurrilous]

42. K&R