Yesterday, former Vice President Joe Biden addressed the nation. I found myself nodding in agreement. Joe Biden is not a perfect candidate, but he is the candidate who will oppose Trump in November (unless Trump goes full-fascist and cancels the elections indefinitely). I don’t know of anyone who is perfect, let alone a “perfect candidate.” He is the one we have and I will work for his election.
Here are the remarks as prepared for delivery:
“I can’t breathe.” “I can’t breathe.”
George Floyd’s last words. But they didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard. They’re echoing across this nation.
They speak to a nation where too often just the color of your skin puts your life at risk.
They speak to a nation where more than 100,000 people have lost their lives to a virus — and 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment — with a disproportionate number of these deaths and job losses concentrated in black and brown communities.
And they speak to a nation where every day millions of people — not at the moment of losing their life — but in the course of living their life — are saying to themselves, “I can’t breathe.”
It’s a wake-up call for our nation. For all of us.
And I mean all of us. It’s not the first time we’ve heard these words — they’re the same words we heard from Eric Garner when his life was taken six years ago.
But it’s time to listen to these words. Understand them. And respond to them — with real action.
The country is crying out for leadership. Leadership that can unite us. Leadership that can bring us together. Leadership that can recognize the pain and deep grief of communities that have had a knee on their neck for too long.
But there is no place for violence.
No place for looting or destroying property or burning churches, or destroying businesses — many of them built by people of color who for the first time were beginning to realize their dreams and build wealth for their families.
Nor is it acceptable for our police — sworn to protect and serve all people — to escalate tensions or resort to excessive violence.
We need to distinguish between legitimate peaceful protest — and opportunistic violent destruction.
And we must be vigilant about the violence that’s being done by the incumbent president to our democracy and to the pursuit of justice.
When peaceful protestors are dispersed by the order of the President from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House — using tear gas and flash grenades — in order to stage a photo op at a noble church, we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle.
More interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care.
For that’s what the presidency is: a duty of care — to all of us, not just our voters, not just our donors, but all of us.
The President held up a bible at St. John’s church yesterday.
If he opened it instead of brandishing it, he could have learned something: That we are all called to love one another as we love ourselves.
That’s hard work. But it’s the work of America.
Donald Trump isn’t interested in doing that work.
Instead he’s preening and sweeping away all the guardrails that have long protected our democracy.
Guardrails that have helped make possible this nation’s path to a more perfect union.
A union that constantly requires reform and rededication — and yes the protests from voices of those mistreated, ignored, left out and left behind.
But it’s a union worth fighting for and that’s why I’m running for President.
In addition to the Bible, he might also want to open the U.S. Constitution.
If he did, he’d find the First Amendment. It protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Mr. President: That is America.
Not horses rising up on their hind legs to push back a peaceful protest. Not using the American military to move against the American people.
This nation is a nation of values. Our freedom to speak is the cherished knowledge that lives inside every American.
We will not allow any President to quiet our voice.
We won’t let those who see this as an opportunity to sow chaos throw up a smokescreen to distract us from the very real and legitimate grievances at the heart of these protests.
And we can’t leave this moment thinking we can once again turn away and do nothing. We can’t.
The moment has come for our nation to deal with systemic racism. To deal with the growing economic inequality in our nation. And to deal with the denial of the promise of this nation — to so many.
I’ve said from the outset of this election that we are in a battle for the soul of this nation. Who we are. What we believe. And maybe most important — who we want to be.
It’s all at stake. That is truer today than ever. And it’s in this urgency we can find the path forward.
The history of this nation teaches us that it’s in some of our darkest moments of despair that we’ve made some of our greatest progress.
The 13th and 14th and 15th Amendments followed the Civil War. The greatest economy in the history of the world grew out of the Great Depression. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 came in the tracks of Bull Connor’s vicious dogs.
To paraphrase Reverend Barber — it’s in the mourning we find hope.
It will take more than talk. We’ve had talk before. We’ve had protests before.
Let us vow to make this, at last, an era of action to reverse systemic racism with long overdue and concrete changes.
That action will not be completed in the first 100 days of my Presidency — or even an entire term.
It is the work of a generation.
But if this agenda will take time to complete, it should not wait for the first 100 days of my Presidency to get started.
A down payment on what is long overdue should come now. Immediately.
I call on Congress to act this month on measures that would be a first step in this direction. Starting with real police reform.
Congressman Jeffries has a bill to outlaw choke holds. Congress should put it on President Trump’s desk in the next few days.
There are other measures: to stop transferring weapons of war to police forces, to improve oversight and accountability, to create a model use of force standard — that also should be made law this month.
No more excuses. No more delays.
If the Senate has time to confirm Trump’s unqualified judicial nominees who will run roughshod over our Constitution, it has time to pass legislation that will give true meaning to our Constitution’s promise of “equal protection of the laws.”
Looking ahead, in the first 100 days of my presidency, I have committed to creating a national police oversight commission.
I’ve long believed we need real community policing.
And we need each and every police department in the country to undertake a comprehensive review of their hiring, their training, and their de-escalation practices.
And the federal government should give them the tools and resources they need to implement reforms.
Most cops meet the highest standards of their profession. All the more reason that bad cops should be dealt with severely and swiftly. We all need to take a hard look at the culture that allows for these senseless tragedies to keep happening.
And we need to learn from the cities and precincts that are getting it right.
We know, though, that to have true justice in America, we need economic justice, too.
Here, too, there is much to be done.
As an immediate step, Congress should act to rectify racial inequities in the allocation of COVID-19 recovery funds.
I will be setting forth more of my agenda on economic justice and opportunity in the weeks and months ahead.
But it begins with health care. It should be a right not a privilege. The quickest route to universal coverage in this country is to expand Obamacare.
We could do it. We should do it.
But this president — even now — in the midst of a public health crisis with massive unemployment wants to destroy it.
He doesn’t care how many millions of Americans will be hurt— because he is consumed with his blinding ego when it comes to President Obama.
The President should withdraw his lawsuit to strike down Obamacare, and the Congress should prepare to act on my proposal to expand Obamacare to millions more.
These last few months we have seen America’s true heroes. The health care workers, the nurses, delivery truck drivers, grocery store workers.
We have a new phrase for them: Essential workers.
But we need to do more than praise them. We need to pay them.
Because if it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now. This country wasn’t built by Wall Street bankers and CEOs. It was built by America’s great middle class — by our essential workers.
I know there is enormous fear and uncertainty and anger in the country. I understand.
And I know so many Americans are suffering. Suffering the loss of a loved one. Suffering economic hardships. Suffering under the weight of generation after generation after generation of hurt inflicted on people of color — and on black and Native communities in particular.
I know what it means to grieve. My losses are not the same as the losses felt by so many. But I know what it is to feel like you cannot go on.
I know what it means to have a black hole of grief sucking at your chest.
Just a few days ago marked the fifth anniversary of my son Beau’s passing from cancer. There are still moments when the pain is so great it feels no different from the day he died. But I also know that the best way to bear loss and pain is to turn all that anger and anguish to purpose.
And, Americans know what our purpose is as a nation. It has guided us from the very beginning.
It’s been reported That on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, little Yolanda King came home from school in Atlanta and jumped in her father’s arms.
“Oh, Daddy,” she said, “now we will never get our freedom.”
Her daddy was reassuring, strong, and brave.
“Now don’t you worry, baby,” said Martin Luther King, Jr. “It’s going to be all right.”
Amid violence and fear, Dr. King persevered.
He was driven by his dream of a nation where “justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Then, in 1968 hate would cut him down in Memphis.
A few days before Dr. King was murdered, he gave a final Sunday sermon in Washington.
He told us that though the arc of a moral universe is long, it bends toward justice.
And we know we can bend it — because we have.
We have to believe that still. That is our purpose. It’s been our purpose from the beginning.
To become the nation where all men and women are not only created equal — but treated equally.
To become the nation defined — in Dr. King’s words — not only by the absence of tension, but by the presence of justice.
Today in America it’s hard to keep faith that justice is at hand. I know that. You know that.
The pain is raw. The pain is real.
A president of the United States must be part of the solution, not the problem. But our president today is part of the problem.
When he tweeted the words “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” — those weren’t the words of a president. They were the words of a racist Miami police chief from the 1960s.
When he tweeted that protesters “would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs … that’s when people would have been really badly hurt.” Those weren’t the words of a president — those were the kind of words a Bull Connor would have used unleashing his dogs.
The American story is about action and reaction. That’s the way history works. We can’t be naïve about that.
I wish I could say this hate began with Donald Trump and will end with him. It didn’t and it won’t. American history isn’t a fairytale with a guaranteed happy ending.
The battle for the soul of this nation has been a constant push-and-pull for more than 240 years.
A tug of war between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart. The honest truth is both elements are part of the American character.
At our best, the American ideal wins out.
It’s never a rout. It’s always a fight. And the battle is never finally won.
But we can’t ignore the truth that we are at our best when we open our hearts, not when we clench our fists.
Donald Trump has turned our country into a battlefield riven by old resentments and fresh fears.
He thinks division helps him.
His narcissism has become more important than the nation’s well-being he leads.
I ask every American to look at where we are now, and think anew: Is this who we are? Is this who we want to be? Is this what we pass on to our kids’ and grandkids’ lives? Fear and finger-pointing rather than hope and the pursuit of happiness? Incompetence and anxiety? Self-absorption and selfishness?
Or do we want to be the America we know we can be. The America we know in our hearts we could be and should be.
Look, the presidency is a big job. Nobody will get everything right. And I won’t either.
But I promise you this. I won’t traffic in fear and division. I won’t fan the flames of hate.
I will seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued this country — not use them for political gain.
I’ll do my job and take responsibility. I won’t blame others. I’ll never forget that the job isn’t about me.
It’s about you.
And I’ll work to not only rebuild this nation. But to build it better than it was.
To build a better future. That’s what America does.
We build the future. It may in fact be the most American thing to do.
We hunger for liberty the way Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass did.
We thirst for the vote the way Susan B. Anthony and Ella Baker and John Lewis did. We strive to explore the stars, to cure disease, to make this imperfect Union as perfect as we can.
We may come up short — but at our best we try.
We are facing formidable enemies.
They include not only the coronavirus and its terrible impact on our lives and livelihoods, but also the selfishness and fear that have loomed over our national life for the last three years.
Defeating those enemies requires us to do our duty — and that duty includes remembering who we should be.
We should be the America of FDR and Eisenhower, of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., of Jonas Salk and Neil Armstrong.
We should be the America that cherishes life and liberty and courage.
Above all, we should be the America that cherishes each other — each and every one.
We are a nation in pain, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us. We are a nation enraged, but we cannot allow our rage to consume us. We are a nation exhausted, but we will not allow our exhaustion to defeat us.
As President, it is my commitment to all of you to lead on these issues — to listen. Because I truly believe in my heart of hearts, that we can overcome. And when we stand together, finally, as One America, we will rise stronger than before.
So reach out to one another. Speak out for one another. And please, please take care of each other.
This is the United States of America. And there is nothing we can’t do. If we do it together.
Yes, I agree 100%. I thought Joe did a good job with his delivery for the portion of the speech which I viewed. He didn’t flub or falter or make a huge gaffe that I am aware of. It’s so obvious that we need to get rid of Trump ASAP and Joe is the only other realistic choice we have. The Green Party candidate has as much chance of winning as I do. I don’t even know the name of the Green Party candidate, that’s how invisible he is. Please, don’t waste a vote on some cockamamie 3rd party that polls at barely 2% or 3%. Take the advice of Diane Ravitch, Noam Chomsky, Cornel West and Bernie Sanders……….vote for Biden.
I finally have some hope that Biden isn’t just a vote against Trump. I hope that he wins and I hope that he starts on day 1 to repair the damage of the last 3 years. Not a word on education BUT……yes on expanding health care for those who need it and a recognition that this country wasn’t built by Wall St Bankers and CEO’s. I hope that he will “walk the walk” when he wins because “the talk” was pretty good.
I like to read presidential biographies. What virtually every president has in common–the Idiot excepted–is, regardless of how long their ambition to be president lasted, or not, upon taking the oath the realization of the duty that comes with the office changes them. Often for the better in the sense that they understand the gravity their words and actions will have not only in their times, but for posterity. I have a feeling the Joe Biden we all think we know will be very different from the one who will hopefully take the oath in January.
Trump changed for the worse in office. The power turned him full fascist.
Biden has long experience. I expect he will be humbled but purposeful. He knows he owes his success to black voters.
I finally have some HOPE. It’s been a long few months of dreary news and gloomy death talk. Yesterday was the perfect weather here in MD. Families were out walking and playing, kids were riding bikes and skateboards and there was still little traffic on the roads. I think there is a “sort of” silver lining of the pandemic. Life had gotten too complicated and business oriented and we weren’t able to look at the simplicity of “being” in the world and of what really matters (people, lives, kindness and respect). I know there are many who have lost income, jobs, and business, but we have all been given a chance to deeply acknowledge what really matters in life. Biden’s speech was the icing on my cake.
I fixed the errors. Read it again.
This is what a real President sounds like.
Trump sounds like a character in The Sopranos.
Thank you for Biden’s speech. You may want to change first sentence from “Hoe Biden”, I am not certain which end was hacked. Take care, Stay safe, Susan Garcia Sent from my iPhone
>
Thanks. I type fast and make errors.
Susan, fixed the error! Thank you.
I’m going to refrain my any juvenile humor here and spinning a pun out of this typo. Although, I am thankful for it because I got a hearty laugh out of it.
In all seriousness, we have to decide if “not perfect” is better than Trump. I will go with the “better than Trump” part with full 150% support.
But returning to “not perfect”, there are very rich discussions to be had, ones that produce controversy, disagreement, discourse, and, in theory, better results for society. The Suffragette movement was deeply divided, but ultimately, a few decades later, all women could note.
Our nation STILL suffers from the stains and venom of the antebellum economy. Between Puritanism and the slave economy, we Americans are still working more, producing more and more, and building less and less personal wealth to the point where we cannot make ends meet. Ironically, one of the causes of the American Revolution was the King’s outlawing of slavery in England and the founding fathers’ insistence upon keeping it alive and well in the colonies. Over the decades, the American propaganda machine has seen to it that this fact was pretty much omitted from public school curriculums.
Since this country’s birth, white people have ascended into the middle class, especially in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and part of the 80s. It was primarily a white American’s experience, this post WWII phenomenon that was typified by Levittown in Long Island, New York.
But now, we have a grown black middle class that still is smaller than it counterparts. We also have a growing “everyone” group made up of blacks, immigrants, and whites who cannot make ends meet. Identity politics is not going to help anyone until someone like Biden realizes and acts upon the reality that wealth must be redistributed, the public commons must be strengthened, and the rich need to pay their fair share of taxes.
We deserve and desperately need a single payer healthcare system. a comprehensive public transportation system that is nationwide and connects all states and regions, childcare, and higher education support. Other countries do it, and they are just as mercantile as the USA. The one difference is that they tax more evenly and redistribute wealth a lot more evenly.
Will someone like Joe Biden really understand this and push like hell for the structural changes needed? Will he surround himself with people who will do the same?
Black Lives Matter! All lives matter. This is not just about blacks and white and race, which MUST be addressed. This is about class differences and power, which are colorblind for the masses.The ruling class does not care about race; they care about money and who gets to keep it. If you were pink with purple polka dots and had three heads and smelled like a wedge of Stilton, they would welcome you with open arms as long as you have as much money as them and as long as you support their politics, which is all about keeping we the people down in order to serve THEM.
Others in the blog made an excellent point that voting does not stop at the ballot box, but continues with watchdog groups and keeping up with one’s elected officials by relentless civic participation Will Joe Biden be responsive to that? Will those he surrounds himself with be responsive to that?
I’m not saying yes or no.
But this idea of correcting the “less than perfect” is both our individual and collective responsibility. The fight will continue in that vain and in those venues. It will involve heavy lifting, but we are stronger in numbers, in unity, and this IS classic class warfare. Nothing wrong with that. Call it what it is.
George Floyd and his family deserve swift and robust justice. No amount of money can bring this poor man back to life for his child and family. I am downtrodden, infuriated, outraged, and depressed for them as I seek a legitimate organization who is collecting funds for his family.
But make no mistake: We are ALL George Floyd, at least 97% of us . . . . Most of us face oppression by the plutocrats from both parties, and it is up to US, WE, and OURS to correct this. This is not a ME pursuit by any means. We did this back in the 1930s with the labor movement, and so too will we do it again. We will honor Mr. Floyd. We will do him justice in many ways. He is a metaphor for a multitude of issues and people.
I wonder if those voices here or out there in muggle land that keep calling for perfection realize that Joe Biden is human and none of us Earthlings from that species are perfect.
Instead of judging Biden because he isn’t perfect, anyone that thinks he is not perfect may learn who Biden is from his long career as a Senator.
I think many of those that say Biden is not perfect and condemn him are lazy or they would take the time to learn who the real Job Biden is. There are six folders on Vote Smart for Joe Biden Jr. summarizing his political life. When he was vice president, there wasn’t much to judge him on. He wasn’t the president. I do not think anyone should judge Biden from what Obama did as President.
He was the vice president and one heartbeat away from the presidency. As VP, he spent most of his time in the wings.
But Biden was a United States Senator for thirty-six years from 1972 to 2008. As a Senator, his voting record is on display on Vote Smart. Heck, I was only a classroom teacher in the public schools for thirty years.
Do not judge Biden from a few votes but on all of them. Maybe keep two columns. One for the votes you agreed with and one for those you did not agree with. It takes hard work to become educated. I mean, I’m just one person and I spent at least 23 years going to school from kindergarten until I earned my MFA.
Trump is a lazy person and he is very ignorant. Trump would never take the time to learn who Biden is. Vote Smart lists Biden’s national key votes as a Senator on 31 pages. The first page starts with January 15, 2009 and goes backward. On January 20, 2009, Biden took the Oath of Office to become Vice President for eight years. Since he didn’t vote on Congressional legislation after that, there are no listings for those years.
I counted 24 or 25 votes listed on the first page. He voted NO on three, Yes on seventeen, and he was a cosponsor on one. He also did not vote three times.
The total could be close to 800. After learning all that, how could anyone be ignorant about the real Joe Biden? A lazy person would base what they think of Biden from what someone else told them like listening to Rush Limbaugh or someone else with an ignorant opinion based on what?
https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/53279/joe-biden-jr
Cx: . . . refrain FROM any juvenile humor . . . .
Now it’s my turn for typos . . . .
Nice comment, Robert. Boy, do I get your frustration with editing on WordPress! Whether we like it or not, Joe is our last best hope. The alternative is the end of the nation, isolation to the extreme. I am ready to start fighting him and his (hopefully) administration the minute after the election is (hopefully) called in his favor.
I agree. His voice and those words felt good. THIS is what our country sounds like.
I really find it inconceivable that Trump would be able to alter the scheduled election in November. He simply would be unable to do so, even if he wanted to. He has no mechanism available to him for that. The elections are run by the state governments.
That’s the thing about extreme crises, they were all inconceivable until they happened.
Nope. Not gonna happen, Greg. What’s he going to do, send in the National Guard to close down polling places? It can’t happen in this country. The national guardsmen themselves simply wouldn’t do that. There is simply no available logistical mechanism at hand for Trump to do that.
@ Brian….Oh really? Then why was peaceful protest disrupted by military tactics so that Trump could have a photo op with a Bible in front of a church? There was NO reason that military tactics should have been used to move the crowd of protesters in DC except that they were told to do it by the administration.
Great minds, Lisa, great minds. 🧐😂
Brian,
Trump said that the President can do “whatever he wants.”
Bill Barr has probably dug up an obscure statute from a wartime era that gives the president extraordinary powers. Just because no one has ever canceled a presidential election in US history…does not assure that Trump won’t try it, with the approval of the Senate.
One possible scenario where Trump stops the election and/or throws it into chaos:
The Republican Party controls the state-government trifecta in 21 states.
The Democratic Party controls the state-government trifecta in 15 states.
Thirteen states are divided and are not controlled by either party.
Twenty-four states have Democratic governors.
Twenty-six have Republican governors.
If Trump signed an executive order to stop the November election and most if not all of the 21 GOP controlled states and or 26 states that have GOP governors obeyed, how could the country have an election with only 15 to 28 states participating?
Who wins if the country is divided like that?
https://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/partisan-composition.aspx
It’s not up to the unilateral decision of the governors.
I hope you are right, that the Republican governors and the state governments controlled by the GOP cannot stop the elections in their states.
I will be surprised if Trump doesn’t try to order the governors and states to stop the election. Trump will allege that the voting by mail will be corrupted and must be stopped, so he will order them to stop the election.
How many times has he already said he can tell the governors and states what to do?
What will they do?
Well, there absolute is not a legal basis for the US president issuing orders to governors. That I am sure of. Only during a time of civil war, and even then it would not be strictly legal.
Trump is super ignorant. It is obvious he knows nothing about the Constitution and the laws linked to the Constitution. He doesn’t know he is breaking the law, and he doesn’t care. Trump’s malignant narcissism drives him to create his own rules and change and/or break them when needed if he thinks it will benefit him and help him win.
That is all Trump cares for, winning no matter who else loses.
Who will stand up and stop Trump when he does it because the odds are that he will try?
Lloyd,
Are you watching the militarization of the streets of DC. Barr is in charge. They are creating the “American Carnage” that Trump whined about in his Inaugural.
I have. Barr has a history of supporting what he calls an “Imperial Presidency”.
I have never been happy with having to vote for Biden, but yesterday’s speech makes me feel a lot better about voting for him. He at least is saying the right things. I hope he makes an excellent VP choice and chooses good advisors.
The Senate also HAS to go Democratic. Nothing will be accomplished if that doesn’t also happen.
In a previous post, Diane Ravitch referred to President Trump as a “phony strongman,” as in, “I am not a strong man, but I play one on TV.” But the one in the orange clown makeup doesn’t even give anything near a convincing performance. He is a BAD ACTOR in more ways than one.
Biden’s speech remind us of what it means to be presidential.
Oh, and Donnie Do-Nothing, our Absent, Adderall-crazed Orange One, you want to see what a strong person looks like? Look in the face of the migrant working in the hot sun all day picking crops and going back at the end of this back-breaking day to sleep in a room with eight others so he can send a few dollars back to keep his family in Central America from starving. Look at the immigrant mother working the ten-hour shifts in the nail and pedicure salon, breathing noxious fumes, cleaning people’s feet, so she can feed her kid. Look in the face of the black father or mother in America explaining to his or her kid, when that kid gets a driver’s license, how not to get killed by a cop when pulled over for a minor traffic violation.
Then, Mr. “President,” look in the mirror at your bloated, pampered, clueless self.
We need a president. Not a conniving, predatory, traitorous, profoundly ignorant, self-obsessed, criminal reality television “star” who stuffs himself with cheeseburgers, strikes poses for cameras, tweets hate, and watches propagandistic sycophants praise him on TV. The only person interested, anymore, in the Donald Trump Clown Show, Mr. President, is Donald Trump. We need a president. Not someone who plays one on TV.
It’s going to take a long time to get the stench off the office. The next real president is going to have a job to do there.
The next real President will have to bring in a pretty strong cleaning crew to clean up the mess from this administration. I hope a VP is chosen very wisely…..no wack-a-doodle Sarah Palins please!!!
Indeed!!!
Or Michelle Rhee . . .
And Donald Trump playing a Christian. Oh. My. Lord. That’s rich!!! What on Earth were the toadies around him thinking? No one buys that except someone so stupid as to be already willing to vote for the Orange One again in November.
In search of a church he ever attended before he ran for president….
Quite a few of the toadies standing around him looked very uncomfortable with the whole scene….except for Jared and the new blonde mouthpiece. Barr looked like he was pre-heart attack! He was ashen gray with his tie off and shirt collar unbuttoned. I think they are crumbling under the pressure….or tired of having to change Trump’s Depends because he is wetting his pants in fear down in the WH bunker.
Well I sure HOPE those people were uncomfortable. They SHOULD be–they are enabling and encouraging this catastrophe.
NONE of them deserve to call themselves religious, spiritual, or believers. NO god or gods of ANY faith encourage the kind of garbage that is being done in the name of Christianity and the U.S. Constitution.
God help us all.
It didn’t help that peaceful protesters were routed by a hail of rubber bullets and tear gas so Don the con could get his phony photo op.
Exactly. It was so ironic that you could hear the tear gas being fired as he was saying that he supported peaceful protest. I suppose that his speechwriters told him he had to say that.
The election is 5 months from today….we need to be USA Strong to get through these months and, as my grandfather used to say, “the good Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise”, we may be able to really see the light at the end of the tunnel.
We are America…we can do this.
The Republicans will be running on a law and order platform with a promise of using force to “keep your neighborhoods safe.”
That theme is being promoted on Fox News and it is here in this Tweet from the Commander in Chief a day or two ago. @realDonaldTrump at 12:29 a.m.: “So pathetic to watch the Fake News Lamestream Media playing down the gravity and depravity of the Radical Left, looters and thugs, ripping up our Liberal Democrat run (only) cities. It is almost like they are all working together?”
There is too little criticism of Trump by Republicans. They are eager to win, no matter the dollar cost or destruction of institutions that we have depended on for justice, including the Department of Justice and Supreme Court.
According to Politico, Trump’s reelection campaign has raised $262 million. Biden’s campaign has raised nearly $174 million. The IRS recently moved to weaken rules governing tax reports, adding fuel to efforts to keep dark money hidden.
President Trump’s persistent attacks on mail-in voting have fueled an unprecedented effort by conservatives to limit expansion of voting-by-mail before the November election. The strategy reflects the recognition by both parties that voting rules could decide the outcome of the 2020 White House race amid the electoral challenges posed by the pandemic. Trump is also relentless in condemning mail-in voting with fictional imagery of massive fraud aided by children raiding mailboxes and getting paid for voting information they find.
In a brief exercise, David Sirota formerly with the Sanders campaign named “10 Things Dems Could Do Right Now — If They Actually Wanted To Stop Trump’s Power Grab” He begins by reminding Democrats of the legislative power they have, in Congress and state legislatures, and other elected positions.
Here are three edited versions of his list, followed by the headings of his ten things to do.“
Do not join with Republicans in reauthorizing the Patriot Act, because that could enhance Trump’s warrantless surveillance power. That reauthorization was in a government funding bill.
Do not give the Pentagon money for Trumps vision of a military invasion of American cities. Congress should also amend the Insurrection Act to limit the prospect of that being invoked by Trump or another roque president with some risk of enabling a civil war.
Conduct an all-out media campaign to expose Trump’s intended budget cuts to local police departments…with televised hearings in Congress and in statehouses and municipal offices. Expose his plan to defund local police while increasing federal policing and sidestepping issues in the abuses of police power driving national and international demonstrations.
“Stop giving military-grade weapons to local police departments.”
“Fire the bad police chiefs and deescalate.”
“Prosecute the bad cops.”
“Restrict the National Guard.”
“Pass legislation restricting the police and ending immunity.”
“Repeal and block anti-protester laws, and pass state restrictions.”
“Stop taking money from police association.”
https://sirota.substack.com/about?utm_source=subscribe_email&utm_content=learn_more
Finally, if you want to know the tone and substance of Trump’s effort to get all governors to comply with his orders, backed by Bill Barr, listen to his conference call and reference to others present, including Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Trump said he had “‘just put him in charge’ of managing the unrest in dozens of cities nationwide.”
See this link for the audio and for a text version https://www.c-span.org/video/?472683-1/president-trump-call-governors
You may want to add to the list of things Democrats could do, ASAP at the local and state officials, and to move some of the sludge in Congress.
And an ad that ran locally, which I unfortunately saw before I reach the remote, starts with “He’s a bull in a china shop.” As a positive trait. Chaos in leadership as a civic virtue!
Sorry, Dienne, I am not posting any attacks on Biden on my blog. I told you that before. You bashed Hillary repeated in the fall of 2016. How did that work out? I’m sure you can find some other blog on which to attack the presumptive Democratic nominee and the only hope to oust Trump. Sounds like four more years of Trump would make you happy. Not me.
I’ve spent many dollars, weekends and holidays helping the Bernie 2020 campaign. This summer, it will be time for me to invest my time and money in the Biden campaign. I’ll donate my stimulus check with Trump’s name on it, and my time. I didn’t think I would get to this point; I thought I would just vote blue no matter who and not volunteer, but Trump must go at any cost. He is more dangerous than I thought four years ago. He is more dangerous than I thought four months ago.
Your comment choked me up.
You know, Mitch McConnell’s approval rating is plummeting and he’s up for reelection too.
The forces behind Trump are indeed dangerous and, they are now in better focus. Drew Brees’ recent comments help to solidify for us who the backers of colonialism are. The racist wealthy of the NFL spread the false link between demands for racial justice and military disrespect.
Brees is a figurehead for charter schools (racist Gov. Talmadge first proposed privatization). And, the following headline from 2019, describes a 3rd pillar, “Drew Brees Supported the Bigots at Focus on the Family….” The occasion of the news coverage was Brees’ promotion of, “Bring Your Bible to School Day”.
The DeVos family (her mother’s foundation, on which Betsy was a member of the board) gave large sums to Focus on the Family and Family Research Council, both anti-LGBT groups
I’m a die-hard life long Saints fan. Or was until this. He should retire now and start making amends.
When I worked in the Senate, one of the more odious things I had to endure was meeting Focus on the Family and Concerned Women of America representatives. I still vividly remember them coming in to oppose funding school health programs because the lied that the money would be used to open abortion clinics in schools. Horrible people.
Biden is another sign of the times – a broken system. C’mon, folks, really… an old, white guy that will be in his 80s during his first term?! And don’t argue that he is the only choice. No, we can do better… a lot better.
Biden is the only choice. If you aren’t voting for Biden, you must be voting for Trump.
No, I am no longer voting for POTUS. It saddens me to say so after serving this country for nearly 21 years. I will participate at state level… where a real difference can be made. The country is headed for balkanization…. get ready for it.
Not voting is a vote for Trump, the dotard.
If that is true then you are only confirming my stance… that the system is broken. The silver lining is that his off-the-rails presidency will be the catalyst for what comes next…. good or bad. Me thinks, bad.
It’s people like you who elected Trump. You were too pure to vote for Hillary because she wasn’t perfect. When you find a perfect candidate, let me know. Perfect or imperfect, whoever wins the primaries is the nominee. Biden will be the nominee. No one else. Clearly you prefer Trump.
Terrible assumptions. Oh well, enjoy the Kool-Aid. https://sitrepsnafu.wordpress.com/
Really? Is there a third candidate that you recommend instead of Biden or Trump? If not, your decision not to vote is a vote for Trump.
Same old argument. Give it up.
I am so tired of people like you, SARGE, with your closed mind. Go away! Find another site with others that think like you, that means they live in a confirmation bias bubble with others that prefer to stay ignorant.
Stop wasting our time with your stuck in the mud ignorance.
Don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s funny how people see “Sarge” and they think I am a Trump supporter. You’d do well to realize that you are the one with the narrow view. As for wasting your time…. that is your fault for reading my comments. Best of luck!
SARGE, people that think like you are the problem, not the fix.
Well, Lloyd, accusations sure are not helpful. Therein lies the problem…. divisiveness. An immediate desire to lash out. It’s not a good look. All I see are a lot of echo chambers such as this blog… and no one wanting to look at other options. I sure don’t see any “fix” in our future that involves voting along right or left lines. And thanks for your service… late 60s was a rough time to serve.
Well, SARGE, you just played another card from the same deck that the ignorant fascists that worship Trump use, too. What they do is ignore the substance and find one or two words to focus on and change the subject.
When someone accuses a Trumpist of being unwilling to learn, the Trumpist always counterattacks focusing on what they call ‘accusations’ instead of focusing on the evidence and links provided to disprove “your” thinking.
That is evidence of an individual, like you, that lives in a confirmation-bias bubble, refusing to learn from the real facts.
Therefore, accusations that your opinions are based on ignorance are valid.
Why are you here? If you are unwilling to stop repeating the same script based on ignorance, then go someplace else.
Again, you are the ignorant one. I am a 20-year U.S. Army Intel and Infantry Veteran and not a Trump supporter. Get it through your thick skull, not everyone who opposes Biden supports Trump. It’s not a black and white world, wise guy.
So, you were allegedly a lifer in the military (what branch to you claim you served in and for what army, Russia’s?) that had to leave at 20 years because that’s what happens when you get stuck in a rank without a promotion for a certain amount of time.
Did you get stuck in one rank and time out and have to leave, or was it your choice because you couldn’t take it anymore?
Under this system your retired pay is computed by multiplying your final monthly base pay when you retire by 2.5% for every year of your service. That means you get 50% of your base pay if you retire with 20 years of service or 100% of your base pay if you retire after 40 years.
Base Pay. After 20 years in the Army, your pay is $3,310 per month, or $39,726 per year as a basic, three-stripe sergeant.
Calling yourself SARGE and hiding behind that name does not prove that you are who you claim to be. You could be a Russian agent or someone working for the GOp or the Trump’s re-election machine.
Man, you have issues. I’d pay good money to see you spontaneously combust if Trump is reelected. Thankfully, it probably won’t happen… and you’ll go on being an angry, old man. Head on over to my blog and get yourself educated. You can even find a photo of me, a retired Sergeant First Class who now works for the U.S. Forest Service. Who knows, maybe you’ll open your mind and see things a bit differently in your old age. Doubtful… you’ll likely just troll me some more since you seem to have an ego like Trump. https://sitrepsnafu.wordpress.com/
I do not waste my time visiting sites hosted by individuals that think as “SARGE” does. I had my fill of that level of biased, ignorance a long time ago when I stopped listening to Rush Limbaugh (RL) back in the 1970s. I do not know if RL still calls his lemming follower’s ditto heads and tells them he will do their thinking for them. RL’s mistake with me was always saying we could check what he told us if we wanted to see how right he was and then I did and discovered what a li9ear and manipulated RL was.
I also stopped voting for Republicans after Ronald Reagan won his first governorship in California based on more lies and manipulation.
If Trump gets the Civil War he wants so he can stay in power for the rest of his life, maybe we will meet on the battlefield. What side will you be on? Will you be serving under a General like Mattis or someone serving Trump. Mattis is my choice if he leads the army to defeat Trump and save the US Constitution.
I’ll be serving under Mattis. You’ll be on the sidelines, Lloyd. Once it’s over, I’ll start in on the commies.
What commies are you talking about? There are no commies anymore. They died when the Soviet Union did and when China and Vietnam opened to the world and became hybrid socialist-capitalist states.
Do you even know if there are any pure socialist countries on this planet?
You know the saying, “when I see a bird that quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, has feathers and webbed feet and associates with ducks — I’m certainly going to assume that he is a duck.”
Sarge,
I think you are posting on the wrong blog.
We talk about education here, most of the time.
Sometimes politics because politics affects the future of our country.
I do not tolerate conspiracy theories.
Diane, correct me if I am wrong but SARGE claimed he was a First Sergeant. The insignia he added to his autonomous name indicates a Sergeant First Class in the Army. That is an E-7, not a First Sergeant, an E-8. In the Marines, a similar rank for an E-7 is called a Gunnery Sergeant.
https://www.defense.gov/Resources/Insignia/
I served in the Marines from 1965 to 1968, fought in Vietnam as a field radio operator, and was honorably discharged as a corporal, an E-4.
For SARGE to only advance three more ranks beyond an E-4 in 16 more years of service to reach an E-7 after 20 years during a time when the U.S has troops fighting in long wars in the Middle East and smaller conflicts in other countries set off alarms that he was held back and forced to retire early because of his outspoken political thinking and possible racism that the military does not condone or support.
I’d like to know what type of job he had in the Army. Was he a REMF or in the front lines where the fighting takes place?
Sarge can answer your question, if he so desires, but given his other disparaging comments, I won’t welcome his return.
To SARGE from a US Marine that was an E4 when he was honorably discharged in 1968.
BS!