There’s little chance that the Democratic Party’s candidate will be anybody other than Kamala Harris, and she’s certainly earned it. President Biden put her in charge of the southern border and, Republican lies aside, illegal crossings are down dramatically ( over 54% down, according to CBS News) and violent crime is at lows we haven’t seen in decades (it peaked with Trump ). She’s met with world leaders and represented America brilliantly during a time when China, Russia, and Iran are moving aggressively against nearby democracies and here in America the GOP has embraced naked authoritarianism.
She’s helped shepherd through Congress some of the most consequential legislation in our lifetimes to backstop the middle class, fight climate change, and revitalize the American economy. She’s been beside Biden at most of history’s hinge-points and honorably elevated her office, something nobody could say about, for example, Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, or Mike Pence (with one single exception). Vice President Harris has been an outspoken advocate of women’s reproductive rights in the face of Republican efforts to turn the clock back to the 1950s; she’s been a champion for voting rights (particularly the John Lewis Freedom To Vote Act); and has a solid law-and-order background as San Francisco District Attorney and California’s elected Attorney General.
She worked side-by-side with President Biden to bring our economy back from the worst collapse since the Republican Great Depression, rebuild our infrastructure, support democracies around the world, extend affordable healthcare to millions more Americans, lower prescription drug prices, pass the first consequential gun safety law in three decades, and appoint the first African American woman to the Supreme Court . And the two of them brought us out of the worst pandemic since 1918; Covid is also now well under control, thanks in no small part to their efforts. And she’s electable: imagine the debate between a former sex crimes prosecutor and a man a jury found had raped one woman and who’s been accused of sexual assault by another 23 women (including one 13 years old).
Trump can imagine that and it terrifies him; he’s already talking about changing the terms of the debate, saying yesterday he may refuse to show up if it’s carried on “biased” CBS as planned. Vice President Kamala Harris has earned both Joe Biden’s trust and his endorsement for President of the United States. I believe she’s also earned the support of most American voters, and the Party needs to solidify the ticket fast .
The GOP attacks have already started: the first Republican hit against this process came from House Speaker Mike Johnson, saying that the Democratic Party will now revert to “smoke-filled rooms” to decide our 2024 ticket because the Party has “abandoned democracy” in favor of appointment. In fact, America is a “representative democracy” and always has been; we elect people to represent us and do the work of governing and decision-making on our behalf. Along those lines, the delegates who will be deciding and ratifying the decision of this year’s ticket are almost all elected officials representing their constituents, and the few who are party insiders were mostly selected by people who we’ve elected.
Nobody smokes any more (at least in public), and the rooms where these decisions will be made are, by and large, filled with people we put there through elections to act on our behalf. Transparently. Publicly.
That is democracy. With regard to President Biden and his decision to step down from the race, this is an historic example of a man putting his country ahead of his ego. Like George Washington voluntarily stepping down after his second term when no law or amendment required it and the majority of Americans wanted him to stay on, it shows the patriotism and integrity of the man.
I’ve known or met a lot of politicians (including Joe Biden) and an absolute truism is how addictive power can be; just ask the families of the five civilians and three police officers Donald Trump let die as he gleefully watched on TV the violence that he’d provoked trying to hang onto his own power. Joe Biden stepping aside is a rarity, and an extraordinarily honorable one. President Biden stepping out of the race will also make it much easier for Democrats to point out Trump’s often-incoherent rambling, obsession with sharks and Hannibal Lecter, and advanced age.
On his CNN program yesterday, Fareed Zacharia pointed out that the parties had selected their candidates (like Democrats must do now) from the earliest days of our republic right up until the 1970s; in the last century-plus it happened at the nominating conventions. Moving from the “smoke filled rooms” to a primary system in the 1970s may have seemed like a more small-d democratic option than having elected delegates make the decision, but the reality we all see now is that it was precisely that decision that removed the guard-rails of each party’s elders and let Democrat Donald Trump strut in and eat the GOP alive. Going forward, hopefully both parties will reconsider the decision to hand the process over to voters without any sort of pre-selection process by the party itself.
Both parties need to find and institute a middle ground between “smoke-filled rooms” and simple primaries. The Republican Party’s senior-most people should have had the power to prevent a lifetime-registered-Democrat and notorious racist from even entering their primary race; that Trump even got into the debates was a huge failure of this new post-1970s system which has now destroyed that once-storied party. That said, I well remember how, in 2016, Democratic Party insiders screwed Bernie Sanders so badly that DNC Acting Chair Donna Brazile wrote a chapter in her autobiography apologizing to him (and, yes, his progressive populist message could have easily beat Trump that year).
While the Democratic Party hasn’t yet had to deal with a Trump type of demagogue (certainly Bernie doesn’t qualify!), I hope that whatever changes or tweaks that emerge from a reevaluation of our current primary system (if it happens) would respect voters and democracy, prevent a repeat of “Berniecide,” and also prevent an ultimately destructive person from ever again seizing a presidential candidacy. There are many lessons to be learned from this year’s election. The main one right now, though, is that because the RNC failed three times to protect America from a dictatorial madman that job now falls to us.
We must unite quickly around our candidate and her and our Party’s pick for VP and hit the ground running by the end of this week. Major Democratic donor John Morgan , who gave $1 million to Joe Biden’s now-folded bid for president, says he plans to take his money back after party leadership rallied behind Kamala Harris ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Morgan, a Florida personal injury lawyer known for making big contributions for Democrats, appeared on Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show Monday revealing the thought process behind his decision to snub Harris.
“What’s next for me is, I’m out,” Morgan said. “What I didn’t like was a coronation instead of a convention.” Harris has raised $81 million in less than 24 hours after Joe Biden dropped out of the race – making Morgan seemingly an outlier among Democrats with big coffers.
“I believe a convention would have provided a stronger candidate or it would have made her stronger. That didn’t happen,” Morgan said. “I’m just going to take my money and go home.
” “They are not going to need me one bit,” he added. Read also ' You morons': Trump campaign busted for attack on Kamala Harris' disability outreach Morgan explained he would have preferred a convention to vet party leaders he sees as stronger –suggesting that Democrats could have tested out a combination of candidates such as West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Kentucky Gov.
Andy Beshear, who have both been floated as potential running mates for Harris. “I don’t think she can win,” Morgan said. “I got a thousand different scenarios that I think make more sense to win.
” “That Democrat party has sailed,” Ingraham retorted, going on to muse that any candidate who hopes for a viable political future in 2028 should, “run from the invitation to be on Kamala’s ticket.” “I would run as fast as they could,” Ingraham said. “If you can’t beat Trump with everything they’ve thrown at Trump and you go down in flames against Trump, you’re going to be the next roadkill for the Democratic party.
” Watch the clip below or at this link . CONTINUE READING Show less Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington to speak at the United States Congress this week in a context of tense relations between the two countries over the Gaza war His visit comes just after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. US officials have criticised the toll that Israel's war against Hamas militants in Gaza has had on Palestinian civilians.
But experts interviewed by AFP said American support for Israel remains steadfast, as suggested by words of the US invitation for Netanyahu to "highlight America's solidarity with Israel". Invited despite the war? Across United States campuses and on the Democrats' left wing, calls to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza have reached unprecedented levels. Such appeals have not, however, convinced establishment Democrats to apply significant pressure to bring the war to an end, the analysts told AFP.
Netanyahu was invited by both Republican and Democratic congressional leaders. Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli national security adviser, told AFP that the idea came from Republicans, and "Biden and the Democrats had to go along with it". Michael Horowitz, a geopolitical analyst for Le Beck International, a Middle East-based security consultancy, said the visit will force Democrats "to find a complicated balance" between opposition to war casualties and historic support for Israel.
Mairav Zonzsein, an International Crisis Group analyst, said Netanyahu's invitation despite popular protests "shows that there's a lot of gaps and contradictions in the American positioning on the war in Gaza right now." How are US-Israel relations now? "There's a lot of rhetoric, there's been a lot of pushback throughout this war on the humanitarian issue," said Zonzsein, citing the stalling of arms shipments and sanctions on Israeli settlers, which the academic says are unprecedented. But, she added, it would take more to change the diplomatic status quo between the two countries.
"I don't think you can say there's a crisis in the US-Israeli relationship because that's something that is so ingrained in both American and Israeli politics". Freilich had a similar view. "I wouldn't say at the moment there's a crisis, but there's a lot of tension there, and the next few months will have an important impact on where it goes.
" What about weapons to Israel? After initial delay the US eventually approved a 500-pound bomb shipment to Israel, but the Biden government is still withholding a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, over concerns for civilian casualties. The mere mention of arms supply restrictions is unprecedented. "In the past, no one ever raised the issue of arms supply.
It was self-evident, the arms relationship, and almost sacred, so to speak," said Freilich. He said though the embargo on 2,000-pound bombs could have been lifted during Netanyahu's visit, "it's harder for the US now after the attack on (Mohammed) Deif, where I think it was four 2,000-pound bombs used". On July 13, an Israeli bombing operation in Gaza aimed at Deif, the Hamas military commander, in the southern area of Al-Mawasi killed more than 90 people, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
"I don't think the Biden administration will change its mind during Netanyahu's visit", said Horowitz of the 2,000 pound bombs. What effect of Biden's withdrawal? Biden's announcement Sunday that he would not seek re-election in November and his support for his Vice-President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee changes the terms of Netanyahu's visit, but not of the fundamental relationship, analysts said. "He's in an even more difficult position now to appease the Democrats", said Freilich, making the visit "even more unnecessary" in his view.
Zonszein concurred, arguing that Biden's withdrawal ahead of the meeting showed that "this trip was in many ways quite meaningless, both for the Israeli public and for the American public." She added that Biden's withdrawal makes Netanyahu's incentive to meet Donald Trump all the more urgent. Though the experts AFP spoke with agreed on this, none could tell whether Netanyahu would manage to meet the former Republican president.
CONTINUE READING Show less WASHINGTON – Accused of sexual misconduct and affairs spanning decades, blamed for strict abortion curbs and criticized for sexism, Donald Trump has a women problem -- and Democrats are gambling that Kamala Harris can use it as a cudgel. Trump was accused of misogyny by his Democratic 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton -- the only woman ever nominated for a White House run by a major party -- and is facing similar attacks from a vice president looking increasingly likely to be the second. Broadening Trump's appeal to women is seen as key to the Republican's electoral success in November, after he won just 42 percent of the female vote on his way to defeat in 2020, against Joe Biden's 57 percent.
There was an coordinated push at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week to soften the 78-year-old billionaire's rougher edges, with former and current associates effusive in their praise. Several female family members also weighed in, with Kai Trump, his oldest grandchild, sharing stories of "a normal grandpa" who "gives us candy and soda when our parents aren't looking." The praise was at odds with his public persona as an adjudicated sexual predator who has bragged about groping women and has a reputation for being unfaithful, allegedly cheating on third wife Melania Trump with a Playboy model and a porn star.
'Fat pigs, dogs, slobs' Trump was found liable last year for a mid-1990s sex attack on writer E. Jean Carroll -- the judge called it "rape" -- and ordered to pay $88 million in damages for the assault itself and for defaming her. During his first primary campaign, he criticized the looks of his only female Republican rival and implied that the wife of another opponent-- Senator Ted Cruz of Texas -- was ugly.
Then the "Access Hollywood" footage of him boasting about being able to grab women by their genitals almost brought a swift end to his campaign. Years earlier he had boasted on Howard Stern's show about entering beauty pageant changing rooms with "incredible-looking women" in various states of undress. Voters were reminded of Trump's controversial statements during one of the primary debates in 2015, when moderator Megyn Kelly brought up his descriptions of women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.
" He later criticized the questioning, saying Kelly had "blood coming out of her wherever." Clinton accused Trump of "stalking" her during their debate in October 2016, after a bizarre performance during which he often stood closely behind her glowering. After he won that election, more than 500 Women's March protests were held in America and scores of foreign cities.
Trump has denied more than a dozen sexual misconduct allegations, from groping and harassment to rape. The official Trump White House position in 2017 was that the women were all lying. 'Formidable female contender' He avoided jail in the Carroll case because it was a civil trial, but incarceration has not been ruled out in his September sentencing for falsifying business records to cover up an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP the media's portrayal of his treatment of women was "entirely false," pointing to his efforts to expand access to paid family leave and child care in his first term. Meanwhile, reproductive rights have become a hot-button 2024 election issue after Trump's appointment of three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn federal abortion protections. Harris, as well as being a former prosecutor who used to put men away for fraud and rape, is a leading proponent of abortion access.
A coalition of 22 progressive and women's groups released a statement calling Harris "the leading voice in the Biden administration to restore abortion rights -- the issue galvanizing voters in red states and blue." Political strategist Sergio Jose Gutierrez says that while Harris might struggle with moderate and older women, the 2020 Democratic coalition of suburban women and working moms could help her across the line. "Trump's stronghold remains among small-town voters, seniors, and economic conservatives," said Gutierrez, the CEO of consultancy Espora.
"But he must adapt to the dynamics of running against a formidable female contender." CONTINUE READING Show less.
