An effect of the Kavanaugh Hearings seems to be that the heat of the Mueller Investigation has lessened and Trump is under less pressure. Is there a way to block Kavanaugh while putting the focus back on Trump's crimes? What do you think?

A good sign for Europe and the World, the Right Wing Le Pen was defeated decisively by Macron, a Centrist. Hopefully the tide is turning against the new Right Wing. I am looking forward to Trump's Impeachment or defeat in 2020.

If Trump is still in office in 2020, we should hope to see John Kasich, the Republican Governor of Ohio, run a Primary Challenge against Trump.

Moderate Republicans might rally to Kasich, and Trump may have done some more terrible sh!t to own up to by then that alienates him from more Republicans.

Hopefully we can get Republicans to abandon Trump. Not that I want Kasich over a Democrat in the White House. Still, I would rather risk losing to a Moderate Republican like Kasich than four more years of this incompetent narcissist and his awful enablers (Pence, Bannon, Spicer, etc.).

Kasich was just on Real Time with Bill Maher and said a lot of sane and smart things about Medicaid and Health Care.



I hope that Trump is out of office before 2020, by Impeachment or Removal through the 25th Amendment. Barring that, hopefully someone like Kasich will knock Trump out in a Primary, and then we will have a real choice between a sane Republican and a good Democrat. Then our National Nightmare would be over.

A lot of these Russian Cyber Attacks seem to have been designed to divide Dems and cause hostility between Sanders and Clinton People. The Russian Hackers generated a bunch of bots to flood social media with harassing posts that pretended to come from Bernie Supporters, insulting Hillary Supporters. This was an attempt to divide the Dems and create hostility within the Party.

Now, every Democratic Politician and Candidate should have Counter-Intelligence and Cyber-Intelligence specialists on their Staffs to fight these sort of Hacks in the future. The DNC should have their own Cyber Teams to do Counter Ops against Russians. Also to oppose other Cyber forces (alt-Right, etc.) seeking to undermine our Party and our Political Processes. High profile Senators, Governors, and House Members should have co-ordinated Teams of Cyber Security Specialists. This is the new face of Cyber Warfare in the 21st Century.

As Dems, we need to unite and recognize that a lot of the bad blood stirred up between Sanders Folks and Clinton Supporters was artificial and arose from Russian bots creating artificial conflict. As Democrats and Americans, in and out of Government, we must build Teams and Resources specifically to Counter these sort of Political Cyber Operations. We need to build multiple Teams of Cyber Operatives to Counter these sort of Foreign and Domestic Hackers and get them out of our Media, Politics, and Government.

Sanders People, Hillary People, the DNC, and Others should unite in this, I think.

The Republican Health Care Failure has revealed internal divisions in the Republican Party. The Republicans nominally control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and yet they could not even bring a "Health Care Bill" up for a vote.

The Republicans are divided amongst themselves. The divisions in Congress are between the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus Right-Wingers and more Moderate Center-Right Republicans. The White House faction is an incoherent mix of Alt-Right amateurs and confused "populists".

The failed Republican Health Care bill was "dead on arrival" because it wasn't conservative enough for the radical Right Freedom Caucus, and because it was too conservative for Moderate Republicans who are at risk in the next election cycles. The Bill also failed because the People in the White House are by and large a bunch of amateurs who understand little to nothing about governing and how the American System of Government works.

Some questions I have for DUers: How can we capitalize on these fault-lines and divisions in the Republican Party? Should we encourage Republican Moderates and Center Right types to run a Primary against Trump for 2020? Would a Primary run by Kasich (or someone like him) against Trump be in our interests? Would it weaken Trump, or even defeat him at the Primary stage? Would we not prefer a more conventional opponent like Kasich over the unhinged incompetent Trump?

I am curious to know the views of folks here on DU about these issues.

Treason and Sedition. The destruction of our Government from within. Putin and his Cronies must be jubilant at this prospect. Trump is Putin's useful idiot. Tillerson is an oil junkie and Putin Stooge. Try them for Treason. Traitors! Rachael Maddow is doing the best reporting on this stuff. Her broadcasts need to be disseminated far and wide. Watch them if you have not seen them yet. Oppose, Impeach, Resist!

Regarding the Wire Tap allegations: Is it possible that some element in the U.S. Government had Russians like Sergey Kislyak under surveillance and that a Russian Agent contacted actors in the Trump Campaign via phone? By which I mean, maybe Russian Agents were being observed and these Russians made contact with the Trump Campaign. Might this explain the Wire Tap allegations?

If so, Trump was not under surveillance, but a Russian that contacted him or his People was. So, there might have been a legitimate investigation that had recorded something out of Trump Tower. I realize this is a remote possibility, but it is something I have not seen mentioned. It is my understanding that our Intelligence Services regularly have Russians under observation.

Regarding the Wire Tap allegations: Is it possible that some element in the U.S. Government had Russians like Sergey Kislyak under surveillance and that a Russian Agent contacted actors in the Trump Campaign via phone? By which I mean, maybe Russian Agents were being observed and these Russians made contact with the Trump Campaign. Might this explain the Wire Tap allegations?

If so, Trump was not under surveillance, but a Russian that contacted him or his People was. So, there might have been a legitimate investigation that had recorded something out of Trump Tower. I realize this is a remote possibility, but it is something I have not seen mentioned. It is my understanding that our Intelligence Services regularly have Russians under observation.

I think that it is still a valid topic to discuss why we lost the General Election as a way of developing new strategies for winning elections in 2018 and beyond. We need to learn from our mistakes. That means we have to determine what those mistakes were by looking back at the recent past.

I know there is some controversy about what those mistakes might be, but I hope that we can have a healthy discussion about this. We need a winning strategy for 2018, and that means we need to have an honest assessment of our strengths and weaknesses. We need a strong opposition to Trump right now. That means a reality based strategy that understands why Trump won and how to counter that.

There is an article on Politico that speaks to why Hillary might have lost Michigan. I think that it is a good place to start. We need to speak directly to voters and citizens, and not be remote from them using polls and analytics. "People, Not Polls". I think we relied too much on numbers and assumptions this election, when speaking directly to the voters is a sounder strategy.

This is the Politico Article: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michigan-hillary-clinton-trump-232547

We of course need to look towards the 2018 mid-term elections to regain control in the Congress, but I also think we should start discussions about who should run for the Presidency in 2020.

I also think we should be discussing Democratic Strategy, not just "who" should run, but also "how". As Democrats, we need to learn from our mistakes and develop strong winning strategies and tactics.

We do need to work every day to oppose the radical Fascist policies of the Trump Regime. Part of that is identifying who we might want to lead us and what sort of strategies we need to develop and deploy, right now, and in the near future.

I would hope for a productive discussion on these topics. What do you think?