While Trump’s approval is floundering, a Latino vote summit in Washington laid out the stakes of engaging Latino voters who have blanched at his mass deportation program.
I cannot for the life of me understand why elected dems in congress aren't going after Marco right now, who has basically sat out his job as SecState during Operation: Epic Stupidity. The man is responsible for promoting peace and negotiating with other countries as head of the ambassador wing of the government. That is literally his job and he was confirmed by congress to do it. Where the fuck has he been during the Iran negotiations? Why is he delegating his job to unappointed/walking-conflict-of-interest Jared Kushner? Why are dems letting him get away with this?
The GOP understood that they needed to tar and feather the next likely candidate for president when they hammered HRC to the wall for Benghazi and her emails. The dems should be giving Marco and JD Vance this exact kind of treatment. They need to tie both of them to Trump's unpopularity, especially around the Iran war and the economy where possible. They should also be calling Marco and JD Vance anti-free speech and citing Marco's revoking of status for legal residents for saying the wrong thing about Israel (Israel being another very unpopular thing at the moment). Call Marco an anti-free speech bootlicker to Israel who will punish Americans and legal residents alike for being critical of Israel or Charlie Kirk if elected to higher office.
My guess is part of the ‘deal’ for Marco is Trump has promised him he will be branded as the, “Co-Liberator” of Cuba. That’s Marco’s baby and one of the next things on the agenda, along with election integrity/significant voter suppression. Marco has real support in FL, and real Cuban money from old, monied, Cuban Exile families and a lot of promises to keep with that small but influential bloc vis-a-vie restoration of land and assets, or whatever remains of that. But this whole endeavor is reliant on Trump keeping his promises to both Marco and wealthy Cuban exiles, which seems to me to be somewhere between, ‘very unlikely’ and, ‘you gotta be f’n kidding me’!
Marco does have access to that Cuban money, but liberating Cuba, and who knows what that will mean beyond a Venezuela style capture, doesn’t grab the average voter outside of Florida, and I’ve seen nothing from this administration that improves the lives of anyone, anywhere. Given that Trump still has two and a half years to descend into madness, the taint of Trump may tarnish anyone who has worked alongside him. Maybe it’ll be a regular Republican next time. Sigh. I can dream, and meanwhile the Supreme Court continues to tear down due process for immigrants.
I agree with all your points, Sherri. But I’ve come to believe a few other things; 1. A significant majority of the electorate has the institutional memory (and understanding of process) of an average gnat (there’s a “g” there! Who knew?). 2. A picture of a Democrat advocating for human decency will be vilified by what’s left of the media sphere and immediately tighten up any electoral race towards tribalism. And (redundancy alert!), 3. Americans are growing more ignorant at an exponential rate.
Oh, most important, Adrian is absolutely right. A huge swath of the Latino/Hispanic electorate is more conservative on social issues than most folks believe. They’re not monotheistic. But as a group, they do lean conservative. A smart politician would recognize that. But most politicians, like most Americans, just aren’t that smart.
As to #3, how you view that ignorance and its causes is critical. James Marriott (which see) argues that the ignorance we see around us is in significant measure generated by our new technologies (e.g. cell phones, social media, fake news (I'm talking here about then likes of Fox), etc. It is not willful on people's parts or because of generic stupidity, but it certainly dims down humans' ability to entertain close argument or complex explanations. When all we're allowed, you know, to egt on line is 142 character posts, how can one hope to address the complexities of the Constitution, or the weaknesses in it that allow a Trump or a Miller to run roughshod over our rights, or what the necessary fixes are to get past the flaws and perform the functions of the demos. I hear too many instances of otherwise-well-intentioned people treating their political opponents as stupid, or arrogant, or 'throwbacks, or evil, and so on. Such assessments will never let us get past where we find ourselves or sustain the hard work of making the changes over the next 15 years that will enable a second 250 years to an improved American experiment.
I accept that criticism, but since I can’t help myself, here goes: we can blame technology, but technology isn’t to blame for incuriousness. Technology offers (click) bait. But as daddy used to say, ‘even a fish wouldn’t get in trouble if he just kept his mouth shut’. We (the big We) take the bait. We don’t question. We just take the big scoop of shit, stuff it down our throat, and then we beg for more. It’s us. We are the problem. I am sorry. But as Uncle Jed (Clampett) would say, ‘there ain’t no cure for stupid’.
Aw, hell, I can't help myself either. I take your point. What deeply concerns me is the number of people on both sides of the political divide talk (or refuse to . . .) in ways that are as hostile and insulting to one another as the buildup to the Civil War, which has been re-emerging ever since unto the present. There' s a guy two doors down from me in the dormitory for seniors we live in. Other old style R's (hey, my Dad turned into one) one could engage in over the stone wall or the fence and jaw about the Nation. But others adamantly refuse to talk about anything political. In a way, I'm glad of that because the anger is so deep for many that I don't want their participation because it's so unbalanced and hateful. Nothing good can come from it.
Our politics are out of hand, money is speech, the founders overtly contemplated not at all the prospect of oligarchs of a small number but immense financial power, nor, for that matter, did they address at all political parties which, have come ever, ever closer to the thumb of the President rather than exercising their own independent judgment.
I don't know where it ends up. At 90 I don't have much more time to play in the sandbox but I look forward to November at least and casting ballots for three much younger folks running in Maine two of whom I worked with when they were in the legislature and I came to know them in my second retirement..
My fears for my young granddaughters' futures, though, are almost unbearable . . .
There is a myth among Democrats that hispanics are appalled by Trump's persecution of hispanic illegals. They aren't. They don't like the in-your-face tactics, which the Admin has toned down quite a bit. A friend of mine was a teacher in south Texas for ten years. He told me that his school was probably 80% hispanic. The parents of those children were nearly 100% on board with deporting hispanic illegals - who they feel are cheating the system they suffered through. Granted, this is one anecdote, but it demonstrates why Trump was successful in 2024.
Also, young men in general (and I have three sons between 24-33, and all their friends as examples) are extremely influenced by the manosphere bros on the internet. They absolutely HATE "woke". They see it as a threat to their privilege (though I doubt they'd express it that way). Even black and hispanic young men feel that way - which is why Kamala lost every swing state. They may never get any of that sweet white privilege, but they sure like their male privilege, and don't want that going away.
Excellent point. I'm convinced in this day and age Cuba Libre is just a drink for 98% percent of the country and about as relevant an issue as rent control is in Cheyenne or Tulsa.
Let’s see how the publicity goes if Trump tries to deport 300K TPS holders. That’s not going to look good. They seem to be trying to deport without drawing attention, is my guess.
Gotta tell ya I don't think Trump cares about this. Immigration issues get him plaudits from his base and right wing media and that's all he cares about other than getting gas prices down so he can trash Biden.
Effective communication from Liberals & Moderate Conservatives and most other political categories can convince intelligent sane people of all groups, including Cuban Americans, that allowing trump - the terrible terrorizer/Dick-tater-wannabe - to stay in office one more month or one more day would be a very irresponsible, and irrational thing for anyone to do, if it can be prevented, and it can be. We must all unite and support indictment & trial & conviction of trump-the terrible & all of his accomplices!
I'm not finding it that unlikely. Trump really needs a win. Maybe the biggest thing against it would be the GOP's terror that a great sucking flood of Cubans from Fla back to the newly freed homeland would put the Sunshine State back in play for Democrats. Though I'm sure the repatriates will keep the family offices open in their adopted Motherland. Hell, they'll probably start working on statehood.
Isn't it more probable that they flood the island with money and start building hotels and casinos and golf courses? The way they're throwing billion$ around I'd guess there will be some American taxpayer largesse for the new MAGAAC (After Cuba), pumping an economic surge, and some fresh new oil and gas into new storage tanks. Plus, you know Trump would have to demand some Corporate America investment (donations?) for Marco's Motherland; maybe 50% would actually get there. Make Cuba Great Again fits in perfectly with MAGA. Just don't ask them until Trump tells them their new beliefs.
Oh please, please Benghazi both Rubio and Vance starting right now. And in congress should D's occupy positions of power in 27. Especially Rubio, Vance seems be doing a pretty good self-Benghazi-ing, but could always use more.
If Trump and Mike Johnson do not succeed in preventing election certification and actual seating of new House members, I expect Benghazi-ing this regime's criminals will happen. This is why Trump wants Congress to pass the "SAVE our asses" act.
If I were to guess? Dems can be overcautious, in the sense that Rubio may actually prefer the fight. It gets him attention and he probably thinks he's clever enough to push back in a way that gains him support. Maybe he's right? I don't know. I would prefer that Dems go after a lot more in the administration, but if they manage that poorly, we're going to be even more angry with them. It's easy for us to judge from the peanut gallery.
None of the hammering to the wall treatments you suggest would work because corruption, hypocrisy etc. are all acceptable to those who voted for Trump as long as their bigotry is supported. What predicted voting for Trump? The polls consistently showed no effect of income; they did show effects of education and a rural vs urban difference, but these accounted for about 1 to 4% of the variance in voting for Trump. Very tiny effects. The strongest predictor demographically is race; being Black vs White, which accounts for about 7-10%. Polls only measure demographics, so they can't explain why people vote the way they do.
Based on national representative surveys of American voters using validated standardized measures of attitudes, strong predictors of voting for Trump are hostile sexism, homophobia, racism, and xenophobia, which individually account for between 25% & 40% of the variance; opposition to universal equality, endorsement of autocratic violence, and male dominance also individually predict more strongly than education (Buyuker et al., 2021; Doherty et al, 2024; Vescio et al. 2020; Hartig et al, 2025; Jones et al, 2017; Watson et al. 2022; Winter, 2023; Womick et al. 2019). Not all Trump voters are bigots because the predictors aren't perfectly correlated with voting, but in total these attitudinal measures account for over 50-60% and swamp any demographic variable.
Few Trump voters are going to overtly express their dislike of out-groups, even if that is an underlying motive for their vote. The critical thing is that these voters endorse a social hierarchy where they are elevated above some out-groups who are different from themselves in some way. Based on a meta-analysis of 88 studies around the world, the strongest predictors of voting conservative are authoritarianism, fascism, dogmatism, intolerance, inflexibility, less openness to new ideas, and social dominance (Jost et al., 2003).
> "The GOP understood that they needed to tar and feather the next likely candidate for president when they hammered HRC to the wall for Benghazi and her emails. The dems should be giving Marco and JD Vance this exact kind of treatment."
Yes Yes Yes, a thousand times YES!!
As an arm-chair psychologist who's been trying for years to figure out Fox News' and our Corruptionmaxzxxxer-in-Chief's appeal, it's becoming clear that it's the Rs "Bengazi-ing" of Dems - their terrifying lies, focus on Negativity, and the resultant appeal to our deeply innate, most primitive emotions: Conflict and Fear.
Taking the "high road" is a sweet idea - especially when it comes to people we see in our day-to-day personal lives - but when it comes to politics in general, and the asymmetric war we are fighting online in particular, these people are not going to agree with anything the Ds say. Could D-man Obama have gotten away with 1% of the crap that R-man Trump does daily? No, and the reason is decades of conditioning done by the propaganda and outright lies Fox, Limbaugh, Bannon, Shapiro, etc. ad nauseum put out daily.
The Beatitudes are not the reason these Maga sh*ts go to church! They're sitting in those pews cos they love to hear about the Fire and Brimstone!!
The non-citizens Rubio's State Dept. is deporting are not just pro-Palestinian. They're pro Hamas or pro Hezbollah, which are designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations in the US.
And? We're gonna have Marco be the thought police now too?
You're allowed to be pro-whateverthefuck--up to and including terror orgs. It's when you start materially supporting and/or committing acts of violence that make you subject to the prosecution of the state, not your beliefs or protected speech.
Not so. Non-citizens can be deported (with due process hearing) if they support designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Check it out on your own. Why allow Hamas or Hezbollah or supporters of Radical Islam into the country in the first place.?
Marco is naturally charismatic and likeable and hard to attack. Attacking Vance is like picking on the learning disabled kid. It's too easy and almost unsportsmanlike, and eventually not much fun. Plus, he couldn't care less what anybody thinks of him but Trump.
HRC had decades of scandals and vulnerabilities to exploit when they took her down and made her the devil.
“A March poll of 1,054 Latino adults by Florida International University’s Latino Public Opinion Forum showed 67 percent of those surveyed disapproved of Trump, with cost of living, immigration, and health care as respondents’ top issues. In April, the Pew Research Center showed that Trump had reached a second-term low approval rating among Latino voters who backed him in 2024, with a 27-point drop in approval since his inauguration.”
Wait until the mass immigration expulsion crisis occurs and then I’d say it’s game over—Rubio—I mean Little Marco won’t be able to hide! They’ll need a much bigger propaganda and efficient machine to even compete. And that’s only if we still have elections in 28’—don’t be so sure, I’m definitely not! IMHO…:)
Meant mass expulsion…with the SCOTUS ruling watch for them to start rounding up temporary asylum holders in mass—it’s going to have a major negative impact on the economy as well.
I have read that Rubio is a birthright citizenship baby because his parents were not citizens when he was born. Does anyone know whether or not this is factual? If so, where would he be if SCOTUS cancels that right. And the fact that his boss hates the concept, would that make Rubio vulnerable regardless. Assuming it's true, of course.
As for "where would he be", the current case before the Supreme Court doesn't ask for any retroactive citizenship stripping of those who got birthright citizenship in the past. Though there are plenty of people worried that that may come down the road. If the Supreme Court sides with Trump though, it would put a large group of babies in limbo though, those who were born between when Trump signed the executive order and when the Supreme Court rules on the case.
I agree it leaves Rubio vulnerable regardless though. Not a great look to be the supposed acolyte of a guy who doesn't think you should be eligible for the presidency. But I don't think hypocrisy and gaps in logic have as big of an impact as they used to.
I learned at an early age to beware of those with no sense of irony or hypocrisy. That's the definition of our current "administration"! It would be a horrible, IMHO, decision if SCOTUS rules against the Constitution, but it would be a great talking point, one of thousands ready for the taking, for the Ds.
The tell here is that Gallego often eschewed the advice of the National Democratic Party when he ran his senate race. Democrats need to collectively be authentic and speak from their hearts. They need to be passionate about what they believe, even if it goes against what the consultants believe. That is the way to win. The way to lose is to focus group everything and give canned answers. That is inauthentic and the path to losing.
As an Arizonian, I have to respectfully disagree. Ruben won because he ran against a particularly bad candidate who was insane - and that too, by a very small margin. And he had a lot more $$ in comparison. Additionally, he has angered a lot of people here (who helped him win) by co-sponsoring the Laken Riley Act as the first thing he did when he entered the senate. This was soon followed by courting the crypto lobby. Amongst the democratic base in AZ, he is seen as someone who is corrupt and will go wherever the political wind is blowing. He is not seen as a genuine person but the lesser of two evils.
However, I do agree with your point that the democrats need to be better at communicating and not listen to consultants who get compensated win or lose. They need genuine candidates who believe in their message. Not candidates who can’t speak without first testing the message. And a leadership who is willing to fight back in a unified and loud fashion.
They also need to be audacious when it comes to doing what's right for the country. Mamdani is such a great model for being aggressive and on point while also being kind of nice. He's accessible; his words are accessible. He smiles. He's not silent when he's attacked. And he's action! He gets things, small and large, done! All the over-thinking and analysis ad nauseum is not where we need to be right now. Yes to authenticity. Yes to having big mouths. Yes to not being forced off track by nonsense. Yes to quick response times and not allowing the MSM to tell us we're a divided country. We're not! 60-70% of Americans agree on almost all the big issues we're facing. Let's act like the majority that we actually are. And a big yes to making the GOP and the MAGA cult accountable after all this is done.
And the trees voted for the axe because its handle was wooden, boy the lemmings would willfully follow the spineless creep in Florsheim clown shoes over the cliff, geez
If Latinos are like non-college whites in the last few elections who flocked to Trump, I'm afraid all Rubio will have to say is "I'm one of you" and get most of their votes.
Seems like politicians of all types wish to “lump” varying groups under one label. Easier, I suppose, for morons. Latinos, as a monolithic group do not exist. Pols lump togetherPuerto Rican Americans, Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans and folks from Central and South America. These folks do not have the same experience in coming to America or living here. Puerto Ricans are born Americans, Cubans largely came as refugees from the Castro revolution and Mexican Americans were here before there was a USA and more came to fill jobs in agriculture that “white” folks wouldn’t take. Treating them as a group is foolish. Marco is a Cuban American who holds views that no other “Latino” group may hold. Anyway, stop with the stupid. Rubio has witnessed the harassment of many Mexican Americans and said nothing. He isn’t a threat he is an asset to the Dems. Run on his “record”, his weakness and culpability for horrible policies.
A Cuban-American who would support his master's wish to end birthright citizenship? Beautiful. Explain that to all those proud Cuban Americans whose grandparents fled a "shithole" country what, 60 years ago? Send them all back, then.
As for Latinos being conservative and want border security—I get it, but I also remember how they reacted to Hillary—Sanders debate on Univision in Miami. She was decimated for her past hardcore positions on immigration deportations (Obama’s)—yet now the majority of Latino’s are conservative?
If it’s true, then it’s a messaging issue, not immigration itself. Republicans always find some catch phrase that gains steam and ends up biting democrats in the a**, and they need better messaging and marketing strategies to combat it.
A long time ago Republicans learned a trick. They decided to run on "values" not "policy". This is even more pronounced now in the social media age. It's more about vibes and style and posture. Reading off a laundry list of policy proscriptions is a loser. Biden passing a bunch of long overdue bi partisan legislation?...got Democrats nothing. Republicans cut Medicaid and spin a story about tough love and boot strapping and they get away with it.
I think we have Frank Lutz for this. He staring advising Republicans about how to sell the unsalable. Rich people weren’t simply rich, they were job creators, only the jobs they created were low paying with few benefits, or were off loaded to other countries. Of course, the driving engine in this, and every industrial country is a vibrant middle class. That’s really job creation.
ah yes....the job creators. Hannity says no poor man every created a job for him. As if another trophy home in the Rockies or Florida for a few is a great driver of the economic engine. The real driver is working and middle class people buying homes, appliances, cars and vacations. America used to understand that.
Before I retired I was talking to a maintenance worker. He said something about the economy so I asked him what would he do if he got a raise or bonus. He said he would have work done on his house. I then said that he was a job creators, and he was shocked. He never thought about what he did with his paycheck.
That’s perfect. Buyers have the power. They give it away, along with their money, to those who understand this. If you read “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller, he wrote about chocolate covered cotton balls that no one would eat.
This. The Rs are good at negative advertising. They get talking points from Fox “News.” Fox spends a lot of time on this as I’m learning from “Decoding Fox News.”
Then Dems better start preparing for it now, because Rubio will be the 2028 GOP nominee unless something happens to Trump before that and Vance becomes POTUS.
I tend to agree with you. Republican primaries will bring out the most rabid MAGA voters to keep up the legacy of Trump. Marco is a careful and seasoned liar, and will play up his MAGA service while simultaneously saying he was against the Iran War, but he thinks Iran is still a threat (we all know the Iran deal is nothing but Trump kicking the can down the road trying to bring oil prices down). JD doesn't have the political chops to take on Marco and beat him-he's clownish and goofy. JD will wind up in the Dan Quayle, Mike Pence school of "but I was VP! I deserve to be President next" school of also rans.
I think marco is probably right now the most likely gop candidate next round (if we get there) and then the next pres. I think this primarily because trump disapproval doesn't mean trump rejection of the main trumpian themes..
And so Rubio could say "he got bad advice I'm going to fix that... I'm firing his bad advisors everyone of them. It's they're fault not his fault."
And so he'd say "we keep the right tariffs, deport the real criminals, no for real more foreign wars, no more woke the work there is not done. [... more ...] and if we get back to all these things - inflation comes down, interest rates go down, more American jobbs... "
And I think it'll sell.
Because Dems he'll say ".. don't care about you they just care about Gaza. They want to defund the police ... again. And just make all their special interests happy. But not you."
So Dems. Prove me wrong. And laying awake at night wondering how to prevent this is I think time well spent right now at least.
It's hard to see Rubio inspiring large groups of voters. He has no charisma, no stage presence, and no personality. He also carries around a lot of failed ideas. How does he inspire swing voters after being at the front of this unpopular administration?
After listening to too many Sarah Longwell FG's, I've concluded swing voters are like unicorns or yetis-they may actually exist but if so they are small in #. Most "swing voters" are center right voters who will pull for R when they get into the voting booth. At the end of the day it's a choice between two people: if it's Rubio vs. a DSA type it's game over for Democrats in 2028 unless we are in an economic depression (which is certainly possible). In that case all bets are off. If it's Rubio vs. Harris, Rubio wins. If it's Rubio vs. another mainstream Democrat, my guess is the Electoral College bias for Republicans gives Marco the edge. I don't see another Obama on the Democratic horizon but we're still at least 18 months away from the circus beginning.
Definitely around "jan" before last pres election it seemed to me -- again ref this time an ongoing series the nyts was putting out of interviews with various kinds of voters...
The self identified "undecideds" had decided at that point on trump. But they called themselves undecided because they were open to the idea of have their minds changed. Several were awaiting debates n that kind of thing. That's when I thought "uh oh"..
And I still think that possibly with a dose of PTSD then
I have not seen and can't imagine any enthusiasm for Marco Rubio as a presidential candidate. I'd wager that half of the current electorate literally do not know who he is. He is working for the most unpopular president in recent history, has no charisma, and has shown no independence of mind--just a groveling servility to Trump, a man he publicly derided not long ago. I can see the MAGA base voting for him and some traditional republicans, but why would this man carry the banner in 2028 when the country is in such a tired state?
Well I'm not advocating but don't want to leave anything to chance or assumptions. And that's hard... I admit. But making Rubio a real possible contender early doesn't seem a bad thing.
i just think he seems most likely to convert the magafied gop right now (based mainly btw on trump voter comments from this very site) they don't seem to like vance at all. maybe it's the black-eyeliner. instead they seem to think Rubio is a "statesman" ... its like they want trump without the prickles as they see it.
anyway of course ... what do i know? but then what do the dems have to inspire swing voters? one can ask the same thing.
I agree. The DSAification for the Dems is bad for Dems and bad for America but it means we have two crazy parties that keep feeding off each other, in my view.
Those ads are in the can just waiting to be unleashed, as are the ads of AOC crying on the House floor and AOC in Munich looking like a high school student who failed to study for the social studies quiz. Another reason why my $ is on AOC running for the US Senate in 2028 (Schumer's seat) where those ads will endear her to the NY DSA voters and their fellow travelers in NYC, which is enough (probably) to win in NY but not enough to win in a national election.
Could be my first Republican US Senate vote as long as the Republican candidate isn't MAGA. Not that my vote matters much compared to the 8 million or so NYC voters. Either way Schumer is toast.
with respect to where the Party is as a whole, as my Jewish grandmother use to say: From your lips to G-d's ears. I hope you are right. I fear you are not.
its definitely a problem. to me the dems just dont get it. they may poll on a variety of issues tops and all that. yet people seem to more consistently pull the lever for gop. i'm talking nationally. something is wrong even if we account for all the propoganda and so forth. at least that's what i think. the dem brand is deeply damaged among voters. i'd suggest a name change even!
I fail to see Rubio’s charm. To me, he is a hawk who has been a part of an administration that raised prices, and that has gotten us into a conflict that they seem unable to end. How in the hell does he escape that resume?
I definitely see where they're coming from, but I think Rubio would be a bad candidate for the Republicans. In the first place, he's got the charisma of an empty wine bottle. In the second, his hawkishness would probably hurt Republican turnout. You might have noticed that MAGA influencers have ranged from disappointed in Trump for the Iran War to believing the Republicans need to lose the midterm elections to teach them a lesson. Without Trump's connection to rank-and-file MAGAs, Rubio will struggle to motivate them.
Wouldn't JD Vance have a similar problem, you ask, but it's the hawks he'd struggle to enthuse? Anti-anti-Trumpers have so far proven to be more malleable than true believers. I don't buy that Trump isn't a fundamentally right of center President, but I will concede that he got traditional conservatives to accept COVID stimulus and limited criminal justice reform. Unlike MAGAs, they demand nothing of their party accept that it try to beat Democrats, Not that we can ever expect them to admit this out loud.
Israel and the Iran War don't poll that well with Republicans as you'd think. That's a significant number of anti-war Republicans. I wasn't saying that they would vote Democratic, just maybe not at all if Rubio is the candidate. I realize a lot of Democrats haven't internalized that Republicans have become the low-propensity voter party, but they have. There is no other explanation for how well the Dems have been doing in special election in which hardly anyone votes. And yes, this started before Trump returned to power.
I cannot for the life of me understand why elected dems in congress aren't going after Marco right now, who has basically sat out his job as SecState during Operation: Epic Stupidity. The man is responsible for promoting peace and negotiating with other countries as head of the ambassador wing of the government. That is literally his job and he was confirmed by congress to do it. Where the fuck has he been during the Iran negotiations? Why is he delegating his job to unappointed/walking-conflict-of-interest Jared Kushner? Why are dems letting him get away with this?
The GOP understood that they needed to tar and feather the next likely candidate for president when they hammered HRC to the wall for Benghazi and her emails. The dems should be giving Marco and JD Vance this exact kind of treatment. They need to tie both of them to Trump's unpopularity, especially around the Iran war and the economy where possible. They should also be calling Marco and JD Vance anti-free speech and citing Marco's revoking of status for legal residents for saying the wrong thing about Israel (Israel being another very unpopular thing at the moment). Call Marco an anti-free speech bootlicker to Israel who will punish Americans and legal residents alike for being critical of Israel or Charlie Kirk if elected to higher office.
My guess is part of the ‘deal’ for Marco is Trump has promised him he will be branded as the, “Co-Liberator” of Cuba. That’s Marco’s baby and one of the next things on the agenda, along with election integrity/significant voter suppression. Marco has real support in FL, and real Cuban money from old, monied, Cuban Exile families and a lot of promises to keep with that small but influential bloc vis-a-vie restoration of land and assets, or whatever remains of that. But this whole endeavor is reliant on Trump keeping his promises to both Marco and wealthy Cuban exiles, which seems to me to be somewhere between, ‘very unlikely’ and, ‘you gotta be f’n kidding me’!
Marco does have access to that Cuban money, but liberating Cuba, and who knows what that will mean beyond a Venezuela style capture, doesn’t grab the average voter outside of Florida, and I’ve seen nothing from this administration that improves the lives of anyone, anywhere. Given that Trump still has two and a half years to descend into madness, the taint of Trump may tarnish anyone who has worked alongside him. Maybe it’ll be a regular Republican next time. Sigh. I can dream, and meanwhile the Supreme Court continues to tear down due process for immigrants.
I agree with all your points, Sherri. But I’ve come to believe a few other things; 1. A significant majority of the electorate has the institutional memory (and understanding of process) of an average gnat (there’s a “g” there! Who knew?). 2. A picture of a Democrat advocating for human decency will be vilified by what’s left of the media sphere and immediately tighten up any electoral race towards tribalism. And (redundancy alert!), 3. Americans are growing more ignorant at an exponential rate.
Oh, most important, Adrian is absolutely right. A huge swath of the Latino/Hispanic electorate is more conservative on social issues than most folks believe. They’re not monotheistic. But as a group, they do lean conservative. A smart politician would recognize that. But most politicians, like most Americans, just aren’t that smart.
As to #3, how you view that ignorance and its causes is critical. James Marriott (which see) argues that the ignorance we see around us is in significant measure generated by our new technologies (e.g. cell phones, social media, fake news (I'm talking here about then likes of Fox), etc. It is not willful on people's parts or because of generic stupidity, but it certainly dims down humans' ability to entertain close argument or complex explanations. When all we're allowed, you know, to egt on line is 142 character posts, how can one hope to address the complexities of the Constitution, or the weaknesses in it that allow a Trump or a Miller to run roughshod over our rights, or what the necessary fixes are to get past the flaws and perform the functions of the demos. I hear too many instances of otherwise-well-intentioned people treating their political opponents as stupid, or arrogant, or 'throwbacks, or evil, and so on. Such assessments will never let us get past where we find ourselves or sustain the hard work of making the changes over the next 15 years that will enable a second 250 years to an improved American experiment.
I accept that criticism, but since I can’t help myself, here goes: we can blame technology, but technology isn’t to blame for incuriousness. Technology offers (click) bait. But as daddy used to say, ‘even a fish wouldn’t get in trouble if he just kept his mouth shut’. We (the big We) take the bait. We don’t question. We just take the big scoop of shit, stuff it down our throat, and then we beg for more. It’s us. We are the problem. I am sorry. But as Uncle Jed (Clampett) would say, ‘there ain’t no cure for stupid’.
Aw, hell, I can't help myself either. I take your point. What deeply concerns me is the number of people on both sides of the political divide talk (or refuse to . . .) in ways that are as hostile and insulting to one another as the buildup to the Civil War, which has been re-emerging ever since unto the present. There' s a guy two doors down from me in the dormitory for seniors we live in. Other old style R's (hey, my Dad turned into one) one could engage in over the stone wall or the fence and jaw about the Nation. But others adamantly refuse to talk about anything political. In a way, I'm glad of that because the anger is so deep for many that I don't want their participation because it's so unbalanced and hateful. Nothing good can come from it.
Our politics are out of hand, money is speech, the founders overtly contemplated not at all the prospect of oligarchs of a small number but immense financial power, nor, for that matter, did they address at all political parties which, have come ever, ever closer to the thumb of the President rather than exercising their own independent judgment.
I don't know where it ends up. At 90 I don't have much more time to play in the sandbox but I look forward to November at least and casting ballots for three much younger folks running in Maine two of whom I worked with when they were in the legislature and I came to know them in my second retirement..
My fears for my young granddaughters' futures, though, are almost unbearable . . .
Young hispanic men are basically Republicans in everything but actual party registration.
Yah! We just have to convince them that the republicans are no longer republicans.
There is a myth among Democrats that hispanics are appalled by Trump's persecution of hispanic illegals. They aren't. They don't like the in-your-face tactics, which the Admin has toned down quite a bit. A friend of mine was a teacher in south Texas for ten years. He told me that his school was probably 80% hispanic. The parents of those children were nearly 100% on board with deporting hispanic illegals - who they feel are cheating the system they suffered through. Granted, this is one anecdote, but it demonstrates why Trump was successful in 2024.
Also, young men in general (and I have three sons between 24-33, and all their friends as examples) are extremely influenced by the manosphere bros on the internet. They absolutely HATE "woke". They see it as a threat to their privilege (though I doubt they'd express it that way). Even black and hispanic young men feel that way - which is why Kamala lost every swing state. They may never get any of that sweet white privilege, but they sure like their male privilege, and don't want that going away.
Excellent point. I'm convinced in this day and age Cuba Libre is just a drink for 98% percent of the country and about as relevant an issue as rent control is in Cheyenne or Tulsa.
Sure Peter, but $$$$$ talks
Let’s see how the publicity goes if Trump tries to deport 300K TPS holders. That’s not going to look good. They seem to be trying to deport without drawing attention, is my guess.
Gotta tell ya I don't think Trump cares about this. Immigration issues get him plaudits from his base and right wing media and that's all he cares about other than getting gas prices down so he can trash Biden.
It’s Stephen Miller who’s pushing mass deportation.
As long as Trump gets cheers when he talks about deporting people it doesn't matter who is pushing it behind the scenes.
Effective communication from Liberals & Moderate Conservatives and most other political categories can convince intelligent sane people of all groups, including Cuban Americans, that allowing trump - the terrible terrorizer/Dick-tater-wannabe - to stay in office one more month or one more day would be a very irresponsible, and irrational thing for anyone to do, if it can be prevented, and it can be. We must all unite and support indictment & trial & conviction of trump-the terrible & all of his accomplices!
I'm not finding it that unlikely. Trump really needs a win. Maybe the biggest thing against it would be the GOP's terror that a great sucking flood of Cubans from Fla back to the newly freed homeland would put the Sunshine State back in play for Democrats. Though I'm sure the repatriates will keep the family offices open in their adopted Motherland. Hell, they'll probably start working on statehood.
The great sucking flood of Cubans will be from the island to Miami. The Mariel boatlift will be nothing compared to what’s coming.
Isn't it more probable that they flood the island with money and start building hotels and casinos and golf courses? The way they're throwing billion$ around I'd guess there will be some American taxpayer largesse for the new MAGAAC (After Cuba), pumping an economic surge, and some fresh new oil and gas into new storage tanks. Plus, you know Trump would have to demand some Corporate America investment (donations?) for Marco's Motherland; maybe 50% would actually get there. Make Cuba Great Again fits in perfectly with MAGA. Just don't ask them until Trump tells them their new beliefs.
Trump won’t let them in.
Trump wouldn’t permit them. He’s changed that custom where a Cuban is always accepted, or so I’ve heard. I just checked, it’s true.
Oh please, please Benghazi both Rubio and Vance starting right now. And in congress should D's occupy positions of power in 27. Especially Rubio, Vance seems be doing a pretty good self-Benghazi-ing, but could always use more.
Verb-izing Bengazi, I love it, and have stolen it for my little 2-cent missive here!
Thanks!!
If Trump and Mike Johnson do not succeed in preventing election certification and actual seating of new House members, I expect Benghazi-ing this regime's criminals will happen. This is why Trump wants Congress to pass the "SAVE our asses" act.
If I were to guess? Dems can be overcautious, in the sense that Rubio may actually prefer the fight. It gets him attention and he probably thinks he's clever enough to push back in a way that gains him support. Maybe he's right? I don't know. I would prefer that Dems go after a lot more in the administration, but if they manage that poorly, we're going to be even more angry with them. It's easy for us to judge from the peanut gallery.
None of the hammering to the wall treatments you suggest would work because corruption, hypocrisy etc. are all acceptable to those who voted for Trump as long as their bigotry is supported. What predicted voting for Trump? The polls consistently showed no effect of income; they did show effects of education and a rural vs urban difference, but these accounted for about 1 to 4% of the variance in voting for Trump. Very tiny effects. The strongest predictor demographically is race; being Black vs White, which accounts for about 7-10%. Polls only measure demographics, so they can't explain why people vote the way they do.
Based on national representative surveys of American voters using validated standardized measures of attitudes, strong predictors of voting for Trump are hostile sexism, homophobia, racism, and xenophobia, which individually account for between 25% & 40% of the variance; opposition to universal equality, endorsement of autocratic violence, and male dominance also individually predict more strongly than education (Buyuker et al., 2021; Doherty et al, 2024; Vescio et al. 2020; Hartig et al, 2025; Jones et al, 2017; Watson et al. 2022; Winter, 2023; Womick et al. 2019). Not all Trump voters are bigots because the predictors aren't perfectly correlated with voting, but in total these attitudinal measures account for over 50-60% and swamp any demographic variable.
Few Trump voters are going to overtly express their dislike of out-groups, even if that is an underlying motive for their vote. The critical thing is that these voters endorse a social hierarchy where they are elevated above some out-groups who are different from themselves in some way. Based on a meta-analysis of 88 studies around the world, the strongest predictors of voting conservative are authoritarianism, fascism, dogmatism, intolerance, inflexibility, less openness to new ideas, and social dominance (Jost et al., 2003).
> "The GOP understood that they needed to tar and feather the next likely candidate for president when they hammered HRC to the wall for Benghazi and her emails. The dems should be giving Marco and JD Vance this exact kind of treatment."
Yes Yes Yes, a thousand times YES!!
As an arm-chair psychologist who's been trying for years to figure out Fox News' and our Corruptionmaxzxxxer-in-Chief's appeal, it's becoming clear that it's the Rs "Bengazi-ing" of Dems - their terrifying lies, focus on Negativity, and the resultant appeal to our deeply innate, most primitive emotions: Conflict and Fear.
Taking the "high road" is a sweet idea - especially when it comes to people we see in our day-to-day personal lives - but when it comes to politics in general, and the asymmetric war we are fighting online in particular, these people are not going to agree with anything the Ds say. Could D-man Obama have gotten away with 1% of the crap that R-man Trump does daily? No, and the reason is decades of conditioning done by the propaganda and outright lies Fox, Limbaugh, Bannon, Shapiro, etc. ad nauseum put out daily.
The Beatitudes are not the reason these Maga sh*ts go to church! They're sitting in those pews cos they love to hear about the Fire and Brimstone!!
🎯💯
The non-citizens Rubio's State Dept. is deporting are not just pro-Palestinian. They're pro Hamas or pro Hezbollah, which are designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations in the US.
And? We're gonna have Marco be the thought police now too?
You're allowed to be pro-whateverthefuck--up to and including terror orgs. It's when you start materially supporting and/or committing acts of violence that make you subject to the prosecution of the state, not your beliefs or protected speech.
Not so. Non-citizens can be deported (with due process hearing) if they support designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Check it out on your own. Why allow Hamas or Hezbollah or supporters of Radical Islam into the country in the first place.?
Thank you for reminding me that Bulwark was originally a home for anti-Trump Republicans and not just a feistier version of HuffPo!
Rubio is more dangerous than Vance, who has anti-charisma.
Marco is naturally charismatic and likeable and hard to attack. Attacking Vance is like picking on the learning disabled kid. It's too easy and almost unsportsmanlike, and eventually not much fun. Plus, he couldn't care less what anybody thinks of him but Trump.
HRC had decades of scandals and vulnerabilities to exploit when they took her down and made her the devil.
What the heck is going on with the Dems? We only hear hear solo, quiet voices from behind the curtain. This just ain't working right.
“A March poll of 1,054 Latino adults by Florida International University’s Latino Public Opinion Forum showed 67 percent of those surveyed disapproved of Trump, with cost of living, immigration, and health care as respondents’ top issues. In April, the Pew Research Center showed that Trump had reached a second-term low approval rating among Latino voters who backed him in 2024, with a 27-point drop in approval since his inauguration.”
Wait until the mass immigration expulsion crisis occurs and then I’d say it’s game over—Rubio—I mean Little Marco won’t be able to hide! They’ll need a much bigger propaganda and efficient machine to even compete. And that’s only if we still have elections in 28’—don’t be so sure, I’m definitely not! IMHO…:)
What mass immigration crisis? Trump has the border pretty much sealed.
Meant mass expulsion…with the SCOTUS ruling watch for them to start rounding up temporary asylum holders in mass—it’s going to have a major negative impact on the economy as well.
I thought you were talking more people coming in.
Definitely the mass deportations are bad news.
My bad…:)
There is literally nothing inside Rubio but ambition and ego. I’m anxiously waiting for the moment Trump dumps him.
I have read that Rubio is a birthright citizenship baby because his parents were not citizens when he was born. Does anyone know whether or not this is factual? If so, where would he be if SCOTUS cancels that right. And the fact that his boss hates the concept, would that make Rubio vulnerable regardless. Assuming it's true, of course.
Google says 'yes,' he is a Birthright Baby. At his birth his parents were legal immigrants with green cards, who later became naturalized US citizens.
As for "where would he be", the current case before the Supreme Court doesn't ask for any retroactive citizenship stripping of those who got birthright citizenship in the past. Though there are plenty of people worried that that may come down the road. If the Supreme Court sides with Trump though, it would put a large group of babies in limbo though, those who were born between when Trump signed the executive order and when the Supreme Court rules on the case.
I agree it leaves Rubio vulnerable regardless though. Not a great look to be the supposed acolyte of a guy who doesn't think you should be eligible for the presidency. But I don't think hypocrisy and gaps in logic have as big of an impact as they used to.
I learned at an early age to beware of those with no sense of irony or hypocrisy. That's the definition of our current "administration"! It would be a horrible, IMHO, decision if SCOTUS rules against the Constitution, but it would be a great talking point, one of thousands ready for the taking, for the Ds.
The tell here is that Gallego often eschewed the advice of the National Democratic Party when he ran his senate race. Democrats need to collectively be authentic and speak from their hearts. They need to be passionate about what they believe, even if it goes against what the consultants believe. That is the way to win. The way to lose is to focus group everything and give canned answers. That is inauthentic and the path to losing.
As an Arizonian, I have to respectfully disagree. Ruben won because he ran against a particularly bad candidate who was insane - and that too, by a very small margin. And he had a lot more $$ in comparison. Additionally, he has angered a lot of people here (who helped him win) by co-sponsoring the Laken Riley Act as the first thing he did when he entered the senate. This was soon followed by courting the crypto lobby. Amongst the democratic base in AZ, he is seen as someone who is corrupt and will go wherever the political wind is blowing. He is not seen as a genuine person but the lesser of two evils.
However, I do agree with your point that the democrats need to be better at communicating and not listen to consultants who get compensated win or lose. They need genuine candidates who believe in their message. Not candidates who can’t speak without first testing the message. And a leadership who is willing to fight back in a unified and loud fashion.
Good point. Kari Lake is a totally incompetent whack job.
They also need to be audacious when it comes to doing what's right for the country. Mamdani is such a great model for being aggressive and on point while also being kind of nice. He's accessible; his words are accessible. He smiles. He's not silent when he's attacked. And he's action! He gets things, small and large, done! All the over-thinking and analysis ad nauseum is not where we need to be right now. Yes to authenticity. Yes to having big mouths. Yes to not being forced off track by nonsense. Yes to quick response times and not allowing the MSM to tell us we're a divided country. We're not! 60-70% of Americans agree on almost all the big issues we're facing. Let's act like the majority that we actually are. And a big yes to making the GOP and the MAGA cult accountable after all this is done.
And the trees voted for the axe because its handle was wooden, boy the lemmings would willfully follow the spineless creep in Florsheim clown shoes over the cliff, geez
If Latinos are like non-college whites in the last few elections who flocked to Trump, I'm afraid all Rubio will have to say is "I'm one of you" and get most of their votes.
Seems like politicians of all types wish to “lump” varying groups under one label. Easier, I suppose, for morons. Latinos, as a monolithic group do not exist. Pols lump togetherPuerto Rican Americans, Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans and folks from Central and South America. These folks do not have the same experience in coming to America or living here. Puerto Ricans are born Americans, Cubans largely came as refugees from the Castro revolution and Mexican Americans were here before there was a USA and more came to fill jobs in agriculture that “white” folks wouldn’t take. Treating them as a group is foolish. Marco is a Cuban American who holds views that no other “Latino” group may hold. Anyway, stop with the stupid. Rubio has witnessed the harassment of many Mexican Americans and said nothing. He isn’t a threat he is an asset to the Dems. Run on his “record”, his weakness and culpability for horrible policies.
A Cuban-American who would support his master's wish to end birthright citizenship? Beautiful. Explain that to all those proud Cuban Americans whose grandparents fled a "shithole" country what, 60 years ago? Send them all back, then.
He’s a birthright baby himself. I don’t think his parents were citizens when he was born.
As for Latinos being conservative and want border security—I get it, but I also remember how they reacted to Hillary—Sanders debate on Univision in Miami. She was decimated for her past hardcore positions on immigration deportations (Obama’s)—yet now the majority of Latino’s are conservative?
If it’s true, then it’s a messaging issue, not immigration itself. Republicans always find some catch phrase that gains steam and ends up biting democrats in the a**, and they need better messaging and marketing strategies to combat it.
A long time ago Republicans learned a trick. They decided to run on "values" not "policy". This is even more pronounced now in the social media age. It's more about vibes and style and posture. Reading off a laundry list of policy proscriptions is a loser. Biden passing a bunch of long overdue bi partisan legislation?...got Democrats nothing. Republicans cut Medicaid and spin a story about tough love and boot strapping and they get away with it.
I think we have Frank Lutz for this. He staring advising Republicans about how to sell the unsalable. Rich people weren’t simply rich, they were job creators, only the jobs they created were low paying with few benefits, or were off loaded to other countries. Of course, the driving engine in this, and every industrial country is a vibrant middle class. That’s really job creation.
ah yes....the job creators. Hannity says no poor man every created a job for him. As if another trophy home in the Rockies or Florida for a few is a great driver of the economic engine. The real driver is working and middle class people buying homes, appliances, cars and vacations. America used to understand that.
Before I retired I was talking to a maintenance worker. He said something about the economy so I asked him what would he do if he got a raise or bonus. He said he would have work done on his house. I then said that he was a job creators, and he was shocked. He never thought about what he did with his paycheck.
Rich people don’t create jobs. Jobs create rich people.
That’s perfect. Buyers have the power. They give it away, along with their money, to those who understand this. If you read “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller, he wrote about chocolate covered cotton balls that no one would eat.
Excellent point! And I believe he now regrets what he helped create!…:)
Exactly, democrats need to fight fire with fire—I bet half the country thinks republicans were responsible for all of Biden’s gains.
I remember many of them who voted against Biden’s Build Back America Bill trying to take credit for its passage and the benefits.
These people have no shame—it’s time we start doing the same!…:)
Republicans fire up their base by talking about free loaders on Medicaid. Doesn’t matter if it’s not true. MAGA believes.
This. The Rs are good at negative advertising. They get talking points from Fox “News.” Fox spends a lot of time on this as I’m learning from “Decoding Fox News.”
Very true, but is it Fox giving the administration talking points, or the other way around: chicken—egg paradox…:)
I don’t know. But the left doesn’t have the equivalent of Fox
Exactly, or the rest of the right-wing ecosystem—am radio, cable, social media and now CBS and maybe CNN….:)
Indeed.
Then Dems better start preparing for it now, because Rubio will be the 2028 GOP nominee unless something happens to Trump before that and Vance becomes POTUS.
I tend to agree with you. Republican primaries will bring out the most rabid MAGA voters to keep up the legacy of Trump. Marco is a careful and seasoned liar, and will play up his MAGA service while simultaneously saying he was against the Iran War, but he thinks Iran is still a threat (we all know the Iran deal is nothing but Trump kicking the can down the road trying to bring oil prices down). JD doesn't have the political chops to take on Marco and beat him-he's clownish and goofy. JD will wind up in the Dan Quayle, Mike Pence school of "but I was VP! I deserve to be President next" school of also rans.
I think marco is probably right now the most likely gop candidate next round (if we get there) and then the next pres. I think this primarily because trump disapproval doesn't mean trump rejection of the main trumpian themes..
And so Rubio could say "he got bad advice I'm going to fix that... I'm firing his bad advisors everyone of them. It's they're fault not his fault."
And so he'd say "we keep the right tariffs, deport the real criminals, no for real more foreign wars, no more woke the work there is not done. [... more ...] and if we get back to all these things - inflation comes down, interest rates go down, more American jobbs... "
And I think it'll sell.
Because Dems he'll say ".. don't care about you they just care about Gaza. They want to defund the police ... again. And just make all their special interests happy. But not you."
So Dems. Prove me wrong. And laying awake at night wondering how to prevent this is I think time well spent right now at least.
They’re going to grab those NYC DSA platform statements. They’re unbelievable (many of them).
It's hard to see Rubio inspiring large groups of voters. He has no charisma, no stage presence, and no personality. He also carries around a lot of failed ideas. How does he inspire swing voters after being at the front of this unpopular administration?
After listening to too many Sarah Longwell FG's, I've concluded swing voters are like unicorns or yetis-they may actually exist but if so they are small in #. Most "swing voters" are center right voters who will pull for R when they get into the voting booth. At the end of the day it's a choice between two people: if it's Rubio vs. a DSA type it's game over for Democrats in 2028 unless we are in an economic depression (which is certainly possible). In that case all bets are off. If it's Rubio vs. Harris, Rubio wins. If it's Rubio vs. another mainstream Democrat, my guess is the Electoral College bias for Republicans gives Marco the edge. I don't see another Obama on the Democratic horizon but we're still at least 18 months away from the circus beginning.
Definitely around "jan" before last pres election it seemed to me -- again ref this time an ongoing series the nyts was putting out of interviews with various kinds of voters...
The self identified "undecideds" had decided at that point on trump. But they called themselves undecided because they were open to the idea of have their minds changed. Several were awaiting debates n that kind of thing. That's when I thought "uh oh"..
And I still think that possibly with a dose of PTSD then
I have not seen and can't imagine any enthusiasm for Marco Rubio as a presidential candidate. I'd wager that half of the current electorate literally do not know who he is. He is working for the most unpopular president in recent history, has no charisma, and has shown no independence of mind--just a groveling servility to Trump, a man he publicly derided not long ago. I can see the MAGA base voting for him and some traditional republicans, but why would this man carry the banner in 2028 when the country is in such a tired state?
Well I'm not advocating but don't want to leave anything to chance or assumptions. And that's hard... I admit. But making Rubio a real possible contender early doesn't seem a bad thing.
i just think he seems most likely to convert the magafied gop right now (based mainly btw on trump voter comments from this very site) they don't seem to like vance at all. maybe it's the black-eyeliner. instead they seem to think Rubio is a "statesman" ... its like they want trump without the prickles as they see it.
anyway of course ... what do i know? but then what do the dems have to inspire swing voters? one can ask the same thing.
I agree. The DSAification for the Dems is bad for Dems and bad for America but it means we have two crazy parties that keep feeding off each other, in my view.
Maybe in that one district they run an index against. Not sure how realistic that is. Or ... Maybe excommunicate the candidate from the party.
My thinking being. Not really where the party is on the whole. But not enough people vote in primaries n the extremists get in
..
But the Rs are studying the DSA platform right now, to plan negative advertising against every Dem in the country.
Those ads are in the can just waiting to be unleashed, as are the ads of AOC crying on the House floor and AOC in Munich looking like a high school student who failed to study for the social studies quiz. Another reason why my $ is on AOC running for the US Senate in 2028 (Schumer's seat) where those ads will endear her to the NY DSA voters and their fellow travelers in NYC, which is enough (probably) to win in NY but not enough to win in a national election.
Who do you vote for if she runs? No one?
Could be my first Republican US Senate vote as long as the Republican candidate isn't MAGA. Not that my vote matters much compared to the 8 million or so NYC voters. Either way Schumer is toast.
with respect to where the Party is as a whole, as my Jewish grandmother use to say: From your lips to G-d's ears. I hope you are right. I fear you are not.
its definitely a problem. to me the dems just dont get it. they may poll on a variety of issues tops and all that. yet people seem to more consistently pull the lever for gop. i'm talking nationally. something is wrong even if we account for all the propoganda and so forth. at least that's what i think. the dem brand is deeply damaged among voters. i'd suggest a name change even!
Rubio has said nothing against ICE. NADA. How could anyone excuse him?
I fail to see Rubio’s charm. To me, he is a hawk who has been a part of an administration that raised prices, and that has gotten us into a conflict that they seem unable to end. How in the hell does he escape that resume?
I definitely see where they're coming from, but I think Rubio would be a bad candidate for the Republicans. In the first place, he's got the charisma of an empty wine bottle. In the second, his hawkishness would probably hurt Republican turnout. You might have noticed that MAGA influencers have ranged from disappointed in Trump for the Iran War to believing the Republicans need to lose the midterm elections to teach them a lesson. Without Trump's connection to rank-and-file MAGAs, Rubio will struggle to motivate them.
Wouldn't JD Vance have a similar problem, you ask, but it's the hawks he'd struggle to enthuse? Anti-anti-Trumpers have so far proven to be more malleable than true believers. I don't buy that Trump isn't a fundamentally right of center President, but I will concede that he got traditional conservatives to accept COVID stimulus and limited criminal justice reform. Unlike MAGAs, they demand nothing of their party accept that it try to beat Democrats, Not that we can ever expect them to admit this out loud.
There aren’t that many antiwar Republicans. There’s the isolationist Tucker Carlson wing but they’re a minority. Plus that wing would never vote Dem.
Israel and the Iran War don't poll that well with Republicans as you'd think. That's a significant number of anti-war Republicans. I wasn't saying that they would vote Democratic, just maybe not at all if Rubio is the candidate. I realize a lot of Democrats haven't internalized that Republicans have become the low-propensity voter party, but they have. There is no other explanation for how well the Dems have been doing in special election in which hardly anyone votes. And yes, this started before Trump returned to power.
I agree with you that even many Republicans don’t care much for the Iran war.
Interesting take on recent Dem successes.
I have maintained over all the Trump years, if Hillary Clinton had picked Julian Castro as her vice-president, she would have won.