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As a political reporter, I consider my two main responsibilities to hold all powerful interests responsible to the public interest and to tell the stories of the aspirations and concerns of the American people through the prism of our politics and government.
From 2011 to 2016, I saw there were tens of millions of Americans who were unequivocally fed up with the elite status quo and wanted to fundamentally change the leadership of the nation. I also saw in that period that the unlikely figure of Donald Trump had as good a feel as anyone else for the policy and stylistic revolution that group was demanding.
My job was to chronicle this cohort and Trump, understanding their aspirations and concerns and, as they gained influence, holding them accountable (along with other powerful groups and individuals during that time, of course.). That included trying to appreciate them as human beings and not assume bad faith or malevolence on their part beyond what the facts warranted.
While many around me explicitly or implicitly deemed these folks “deplorable,” I considered them fellow Americans who hoped for a better future for their families, communities, and nation. When their words or actions went beyond the norm or the acceptable (xenophobia, race baiting, racism, harmful conspiracy theories, anti-civil liberties, public lying, etc.) that was a part of my chronicling.
After Trump won, among the groups I took the same attitude towards were those sometimes described as having Trump Derangement Syndrome. That phrase, I think, has its purposes, but more broadly I speak of the tens of millions for whom Donald Trump’s presidency falls someone between the greatest public sphere nightmare they have experienced and the worst thing that has ever happened to them in their own lives.
I communicate with people in both groups literally every day, and while that doesn’t make me unique by any means, my sense is it makes me unusual, especially if one takes into account that I treat them all with the respect their views deserve and that they are entitled to as human beings. It has been a trying time in many ways for this country over the last few decades and, especially, for people of color and people of less means.
I find the hostility and lack of concern towards the first (pro-Trump) group by most in the dominant media to be one of the great mysteries of the last decade and one of the main reasons Donald Trump was elected.
And I find the coddling of the second (anti-Trump) group by most in the dominant media to be one of the great insanities of the last four years and one of the main reasons that Donald Trump might be reelected.
I’ve never seen so many smart, public-minded people (both content providers and content consumers) make choices that clearly contribute to the more likely outcome of the event they most want to stop from occurring.
The following is not advice; these are observations about those in the media and those in the public who obviously want to do everything possible to help Joe Biden win – but are ironically (from my point of view) and tragically (from theirs) actually not doing that at all.
In fact, they are doing the opposite.
Some of these examples are long-running, some are from the latest news cycles.
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A. The New Times cast its new polls showing Trump seeming to move towards competitive, within-the-margin-of-error positions in some key battleground states (Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Nevada) as good news for Biden. It seems to me that these numbers, in the context of the direction of the movement, the comparison to 2016, and the realities of the Electoral College, should be bracing for the president’s opponents, not a cause for relief.
B. I took some mild criticism on Twitter and by email for publishing a hypothetical (but plausible) Electoral College map demonstrating a scenario in which Trump’s chances of winning are higher than are typically described. I included the proper caveats (the map was not a prediction any more than polls are; I was not rooting for the outcome; Biden is ahead now based on some pretty significant fundamentals, etc). And yet the main reaction I got was that I was bogusly titling everything in the Republican’s favor, the same “feedback” that occurred in 2016 when I cautioned that Trump might win.
C. This group continues to look at the MAGA rallies as disgusting, frenzied lie-fests, rather than (also) as signals of the intensity and breath of Trump’s following, and as sources of clues to the issues (some very genuine) of concern of their fellow Americans.
Check out the New York Post’s write-up of the incumbent’s Saturday night Nevada jamboree (about which, yes, even the Murdoch paper noted that in at least one case, “as typical for the president, scant evidence was offered to back the claim”). Sure, be peeved at the falsehoods, hypocrisies, and negativity. But why be blind to the clues?
D. Something else that seems to be counterproductive: being in flat-out denial that Joe Biden is not the public presence he was just a few years ago (read this); that he has limited his interactions with the press and public by often staying in his home and being mostly shielded from unwanted interactions when he has gone on the road; that he sometimes uses a teleprompter in situations that are not particularly common; that Saturday and Sunday are yet two more days when Trump is outworking Biden on the battleground state campaign trail (as he did against Hillary in 2016); and that large segments of the public (including Democrats) are aware of these facts and often bring them up in conversations and focus groups.
E. Rather than indignantly point out that Biden has been clear that he does not support “defunding” the police as it is most honestly defined and that he opposes violence of any sort, why not accept that the words and actions of some of his allies on these matters continue to represent a threat to his candidacy and contribute to minimizing the prospect that he will win? And that some voters are troubled by how little was done at the Democratic convention to address these matters?
F. Rather than deny that some in the center are uncomfortable with the former VP’s moves to the left on economic and social issues, why not grapple with how to manage that?
G. Rather than pretend that Biden has never made a foreign policy misjudgment, why not figure out how to put that in context for wavering neighbors?
H. Know what was in the Clinton-era crime law and why Biden backed it.
I. Don’t punish messengers such as Michael Moore and Bill Maher who express concern about Trump winning again; instead try to understand why they think it is possible.
J. Why put heads in sand about the basis for Biden’s lack of obvious and passionate appeal to central demographic groups such as younger and Hispanic voters, including males?
K. Why pretend that there are zero people in America who didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 who will cast a ballot for him this time in battleground states, when (1) Team Trump has made it clear from the beginning that finding and motivating such people was one of its top electoral priorities; (2) it’s been doing just this; (3) if they succeed, this group is potentially large enough to literally determine the outcome; and (4) this theory of the case is backed by many independent, non-partisan election analysts; (5) I know of many such people.
Consume an essential reading New York Times piece that fleshes a bit of this out for Pennsylvania here but know it is true for other key states.
L Tragic and violent episodes against law enforcement like what happened late Saturday night in California are potential game changing surprises about which Democrats must not be passive.
M. While the president is playing a cynical game of lying when it comes to his frequent talk of the challenges states will face processing an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots (including his apparent unwillingness to help get election officials the funds they need to prepare), he is making a central point that Biden supporters should be figuring out how to address with lots of candles and minimal darkness (and anti-Trump) cursing.
N. Understand that tens of millions of Americans think the shutdown of the economy has gone on long enough, that schools must reopen for in-person learning, and that (whatever their motives are said to be) that the Party of Biden is destroying the American way of life by simply calling for caution and safety without a true set of plans for getting our small businesses and education systems working again. MAGAers think the Democrats are afraid to stand up to the teachers unions. And these same folks think the double standard on masks and distancing for racial justice protests (on the one hand) and most everything else, including places of worship (on the other) is equally outrageous.
O. Why do Democrats assume that their favorite, liberally-biased, ostensibly math/science-based online election forecasters (most of whom have never covered a flesh-and-blood presidential campaign or spent much time talking to Trump supporters) have magically fixed the flawed “models” that assured them that Hillary Clinton would win four years ago? Instead of using this “data” as a crutch for emotional support and marveling at the alleged brilliance of its purveyors, why not constantly study and challenge the “methodologies” involved – and consider other, separate variables as well?
P. Why think of all of your fellow Americans who plan to vote for Trump as deplorables, and treat them as such?
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ADDITIONAL ESSENTIAL READINGS
* Turn on the siren and open the wallet: “Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg plans to spend at least $100 million in Florida to help elect Democrat Joe Biden, a massive late-stage infusion of cash that could reshape the presidential contest in a costly toss-up state central to President Trump’s reelection hopes.” (Washington Post)
* ABC News: “Most Americans are skeptical of President Donald Trump's performance on the coronavirus pandemic -- disapproving of his response, disbelieving of his rhetoric on the virus and critical of what they view as his lagging approach to containing it, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday finds.”
* The New York Times on more apparent political pressure put by the White House and the president himself on the public health agencies to find good news before Election Day. This one involves cupcakes.
* Heather Cox Richardson on the above theme, plus the Department of Homeland Security, and the games the White House plays to avoid accountability on these and other deadly serious matters.
* Dan Balz with just pure mastery explaining what Trump has done with his advantages of incumbency.
* Maureen Dowd with just pure mastery explaining why Trump’s obsession with the gaudiest names in Establishment media is a real thing.
* The Washington Post and New York Times on Bernie Sanders’ open concern that Biden needs to talk more about (left-wing positions about) health care, jobs, and the economy or he could lose.
*
[Read the whole thread…]
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The Big 4.2 - by Brian P. Nadeau
Arizona - Early Voting Begins October 7th
* Surge of UA COVID cases intimates Pima County in for 'bit of a rough patch.' (Arizona Daily Star)
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Michigan - Early Voting Begins September 19th
* Unlock Michigan attains over 400K signatures to repeal Gov. Whitmer’s emergency powers. (Detroit Free Press)
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Nebraska-2 - Early Voting Begins October 5th
* Cornhusker State, save for Lancaster County, moving to phase-4 reopening Monday as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations uptick. (Lincoln Journal Star)
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Pennsylvania - Early Voting Begins September 15th
* Kutztown borough enacts temp. emergency ordinance, no more than 10 per home gathering. (WPVI ABC6)
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Wisconsin - Early Voting Begins October 15th
* Packers curious how team’s racial inequality protest actions will be received after KC fan boos. (Wisconsin State Journal)
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TOP STORIES – by Brian P. Nadeau
Sports: Naomi Osaka swings back from 1st set defeat, claiming 2nd U.S. Open title in just 3 years.
Business: United sued by 2 veteran flight attendants claiming NFL charters staffed only with young, blonde crew.
Entertainment: Chris Hemsworth maintaining grip on Marvel’s character beyond 'Thor: Love and Thunder,' set for Feb. 11, 2022 release.
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