Don't forget Iran and North Korea.
"Teddy Goff, who served as Obama for America’s digital director, broadly described the ongoing organized efforts as the work of “a hodgepodge. It’s a bit of an unholy alliance.”
“There are state supporters and funders of this stuff. Russia. North Korea is believed to be one, Iran is another,” he said."
It looks to me like they may be getting an early start in preparing the political ground for an explanation on why they lost again.
Elizabeth Warren Warns of 'Demographic Realities, Births...Bearing Down on Israel'
https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/1099040485165940737
"Disgusting genocidal thinking and I hope 'progressives' won't let it pass just because the targets of her hatred are mere Palestinians."
For many it will make not a whit of difference, just as here in Canada 'progressives' continue to vote for the NDP despite their continuing support for Apartheid Israel.
Actually, the US was much more involved in bombing Syrian infrastructure than their 'controlled burn' of IS. It was Russia, Iran, Syria and Hezbollah that were most responsible for defeating ISIS. Not the US-led bombing coalition of which Canada was a member and which too many pretend didn't happen. All American presidents are monsters. Trump, like Obama before him, and Bush before him, is no exception...
Trump is Expanding the US Empire
https://youtu.be/gAmpD5MvDn8
"Abby Martin debunks the notion that Trump is an anti-interventionist president."
Freedom Rider: Phony Resistance Can't Beat Trump
https://blackagendareport.com/index.php/freedom-rider-phony-resistance-c...
"At the midway point of the Trump presidency, the Democrats have nothing to show in the way of meaningful resistance..."
'Putin Puppet' vs 'Assad Shill' (and vid)
https://on.rt.com/9m60
"Dems & Reps unite in panic over Gabbard challenging Trump in 2020..."
Big fan of the Butcher of Gujarat apparently.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/05/tulsi-gabbard-president-sanders-democratic-party
Tulsi Gabbard to run for president
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said Friday that she is running for president.
“I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week,” she said during an interview on CNN's "The Van Jones Show."
Gabbard, a 37-year old combat veteran, has done little to hide her presidential ambitions. She recently made stops in both Iowa and New Hampshire and looked into hiring digital staff and speechwriters. She has also authored a memoir set to be released in May.
Late Friday, in a fundraising email, Gabbard said the reason she was running "has to do with an issue that is central to the rest — war and peace."
She also cited healthcare, immigration reform, clean water and air, criminal justice and special interest influence in Washington.
The Hawaii Democrat's entrance into the presidential primary field comes before an expected wave of similar announcements from higher profile candidates.
A recent Democracy for America survey of the liberal group's members found that about 2 percent said Gabbard should run, behind better known potential 2020 contenders like Sen. Bernie Sanders or former Vice President Joe Biden.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/11/tulsi-gabbard-2020-president-r...
Oprah Winfrey to interview Beto O'Rourke as signs point toward possible 2020 presidential campaign
Democratic activists have begun to lay campaign groundwork for O'Rourke if he decides to throw his hat in the ring
https://www.salon.com/2019/01/12/oprah-winfrey-to-interview-beto-orourke...
It's getting crowded but probably time for a woman of colour
Castro launches 2020 bid with nod to party’s future
The Texan will be one of the youngest candidates in the Democratic presidential field and likely its only Latino.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/12/julian-castro-2020-election-de...
So who will Alex be backing or is she already VP material, eh!
This paragraph explains why everyone in politics is so scared of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Adam Serwer argues the reaction she has drawn is hardly surprising for a woman of color who is gaining in stature
https://www.salon.com/2019/01/11/this-paragraph-explains-perfectly-why-e...
She’s too young to be on a presidential ticket. Legally.
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1084190704816087042
I thought Gabbard would run in 2024 (or 2028 if dems win in 2020). She's quite popular with a lot of Trump's crowd. It'll be very interesting to watch how she runs for the nomination in 2020 - does she campaign against Trump or does she campaign in a non-partisan way pushing issues supported by the majority of Americans (like single-payer healthcare). I still think her chances in a general are better in 2024, but also she's very unlikely to win the nomination this time around so perhaps that doesn't matter.
As far back as 2014 I was supporting Warren for nominee in 2016, but there's no way she'll win the nomination or the general anymore. She's not the most progressive, not the most diverse, and certainly not the most or least establishment friendly. She's a great balance, but that doesn't win.
Bernie is too old to be considered by everyone, and has lost too much support for "selling out" to Hillary. He doesn't have any establishment or intersectional appeal, and already there are attacks putting him on the defensive (such as the sexual assault complaints over misconduct that took place during the 2016 campaign).
Biden is a name that keeps coming up, and he does have a couple of unique advantages in a general election (appeal to Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio), but I just can't see an old, establishment white guy winning a crowded democratic primary. So my guess is he'll eventually announce he's not running and put his support behind Kamala Harris, the establishment favourite.
There's a lot of big support behind Beto, including (from what I've heard) Obama's campaign team. He's got the most broad appeal across the various factions of the democratic party (the progressive/Bernie faction, the establishment, and the intersectional coalition). He's the one person everyone seems to be willing to get behind. So objectively, assuming he even runs, I can't see how any other names I've heard can beat him (AOC could if she was old enough to run). But, there is the issue that Ben Shapiro thinks he'll be the nominee, and Ben Shapiro is always wrong. So at this time, I'll predict the nominee will be Kamala Harris.
Here's an article from 538 which uses a similar approach, although they use 5 more specific categories than my 3: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-5-key-constituencies-of-the-202...
My predictions aren't that bold, considering the state of the betting market right now (Beto 21%, Harris 19%, Biden 17%, Bernie 12%):
https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/3633/Who-will-win-the-2020-Demo...
For what it's worth, I think any of these candidates stand a reasonable chance of beating Trump in 2020 (at least 40%), which is much more optimistic than what I was predicting in late 2017.
"It's clear to me that Gabbard is being caricatured by an intellectually dishonest element with ulterior motives. So I thought it would be useful to hear her in her own words. There may be legit criticisms here but I think her presence on the debate stage will be refreshing."
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1084351060091854848
https://youtu.be/74ciO5JzgCk
Run up to the big coin toss! That should be the thread title. Anyways, who cares about the democrats nomination pre game show? The real debate starts after the election and the new president twists contorts and transforms into a different holder of unpredictable beliefs that they want to put into practice. Making everyone believe that it really never mattered who whom the election. Sorry, I meant to say “who won the coin toss”
Ulterior motives? Does that include not wanting to support an ethno-nationalist fascist like Modi.
Obama and Modi: Best Broments
https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/25/politics/feat-india-visit-friendly-moment...
"In case anyone doubted the deep bond between Obama and Modi (and how could they?), Air Force One's arrival on Sunday put any questions to rest..."
Didn’t know Gabbard was President. Or that Obama was a Hindu nationalist.
Elizabeth Warren & the Military Industrial Complex (and vid)
https://twitter.com/MintPressNews/status/1081441329157165056
http://goo.gl/k5w7s1
"When it comes to foreign policy, Elizabeth Warren is a mixed bag."
Kamala Harris Destroyed Black Lives
https://blackagendareport.com/freedom-rider-kamala-harris-destroyed-blac...
"California Senator Kamala Harris shows all the signs of announcing her candidacy for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. Kamala Harris is no friend of black people..."
Kamala Harris, schooled in Montreal, announces bid to unseat Trump in 2020
'Tough road ahead' for Kamala Harris
Brett Bruen, former White House Director of Global Engagement, says Kamala Harris is already starting out well ahead of the pack.
Sen. Kamala Harris puts in presidential bid
Political science professor David Schultz says Sen. Kamala Harris is a very strong candidate within the Democratic field.
James McCarten, The Canadian Press
Published Monday, January 21, 2019 9:22AM EST
Last Updated Monday, January 21, 2019 12:09PM EST
WASHINGTON -- A suburban Montreal high school is leading the cheers north of the border for graduate Kamala Harris, the California senator and former prosecutor who confirmed Monday she's seeking to become the first black woman elected president of the United States.
"Run Kamala Run!!" Westmount High School's social-media feeds gushed after Harris confirmed what much of the rest of the U.S. had assumed: she plans on being the Democrat who pries U.S. President Donald Trump out of the White House in 2020.
In a memoir Harris describes the heartache of moving from Oakland to chilly Montreal so her mother Shyamala Gopalan, a breast-cancer researcher, could take a job at McGill University.
RELATED STORIES
Multiple women eyeing 2020 Democratic presidential nomination
Multiple women eyeing 2020 Democratic presidential nomination
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Who will the Democrats pit against Trump in 2020?
PHOTOS
In this Jan. 9, 2019 photo, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., greets the audience at George Washington University in Washington, during an event kicking off her book tour. (AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz)
"The thought of moving away from sunny California in February, in the middle of the school year, to a French-speaking foreign city covered in 12 feet of snow was distressing, to say the least," she writes in "The Truth We Hold: an American Journey," released earlier this month.
Her initial foray into Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, a school for native French-speakers, was a challenge: "I used to joke that I felt like a duck, because all day long at our new school I'd be saying, 'Quoi? Quoi? Quoi?' "
By the time she was enrolled at Westmount, Harris had mostly adjusted to her life in Quebec, recalling fondly how her by-then divorced parents both attended her graduation, her mother resplendent in a bright red dress and heels.
"We're super happy, we're super proud -- we're always happy when a Westmount grad does well," said teacher Sabrina Jafralie, whose school counts songwriter Leonard Cohen, former Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day and prime ministerial spouse Mila Mulroney among its famous alumni.
"I think she's a role model for all of us. Coming from a great school like Westmount, possibly to the White House, is a great story to tell."
It's no accident that Harris, whose mother is from India and father from Jamaica, chose Martin Luther King Jr. Day to confirm her plans, which she did during an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America."
"My parents were very active in the civil-rights movement, and that's the language that I grew up hearing," she said.
"(King) was aspirational like our country is aspirational. We know that we've not yet reached those ideals. But our strength is that we fight to reach those ideals ... We are a country that, yes, we are flawed, we are not perfect, but we are a great country when we think about the principles upon which we are founded."
Harris was far from the only Democratic hopeful, declared or otherwise, who was out and about on what would have been the civil-rights leader's 90th birthday -- evidence that thorny issues of race, gender and ethnic tensions will be prominent in the coming primary battles among an already dense and growing field of candidates.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the 2016 challenger to eventual Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, attended a church service and a rally Monday in South Carolina, where he fell short two years ago and will need support from black voters to contend again.
"It gives me no pleasure to tell you that we now have a president of the United States who is a racist," Sanders told rallygoers.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, both in the race, also attended public MLK events, as did a number of other "maybe" names, including former vice-president and presumptive front-runner Joe Biden, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Gillibrand said "white women like me" must share the burden of fighting for equality. Warren offered a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to vote. And Biden, who lingered on his close relationship with former boss Barack Obama, lamented his support for a crime bill in 1994 that imposed harsher sentences for crack-cocaine possession.
Harris, too, faces tough questions on issues of justice.
As a California district attorney and later as the state's attorney general, Harris frequently opposed or ignored criminal justice reform measures aimed at levelling a playing field critics say is unfairly tilted against black defendants, the former director of the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent wrote last week in the New York Times.
During a question-and-answer session at Howard University in Washington, Harris acknowledged having regrets about some decisions during her tenure. But her office also introduced a number of initiatives to address racial profiling and bias in law enforcement, as well as sentencing reforms, she said.
"Instead of deciding either you're soft on crime or tough on crime, let's understand that if we're going to be smart with the taxpayer's dollars, let's get people out o
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/kamala-harris-schooled-in-montreal-announce...
The Jimmy Dore Show
https://youtu.be/n1pJm9Fall0
"Kamala Harris announces presidential run with platitudes."
See also #118
'Religious Bigotry is Un-American'
https://on.rt.com/9n5o
"Tulsi Gabbard pushes back against 'Hindu Nationalist' smear. Curiously, her most fervent critics come from within her own party..."
"The Intercept has rescinded and apologized for a claim in its recent article on Tulsi Gabbard which cast as nefarious the fact that many of her donors had 'names that are of Hindu origin..."
https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1089526718199668736
dp
Don’t know who this Harris character is and about? Due to her heritage, by default, typical progressives will gravitate to her.
So far, the democratic nomination process candidates looks promising. Wonder how long it’ll be before I retract this comment?
How Tulsi Gabbard could win the 2020 Democratic Nomination
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-tulsi-gabbard-could-win-the-2020-democratic-nomination/
The Republicans are toast in 2020. Trump is DESPISED in the US and the whole planet. He will surely get his ass handed to him by almost any Democratic Presidential candidate.
If the Republicans kick out that orange bastard begore 2020 maybe they'll stand a chance but not likely.
All the government shutdowns is enough for former Obama voters, Independists and small c tradotional conservatives will seal a Democrat victory..
The best thing happenong right now is that the US has a vapid moron as President who takes every American as fools, he's an arrogant pathological liar who doesn't give a fuck the 60-70% of Americans who want him out of the White House toute suite. He only caters to his base. That's what is going to kill this extreme right wing Administation.
Trump is destroying the Republican party and his term is only 2 years old. Ha ha
Voters are most certainly doing to vote for a Democratic Administration UNLESS the Democrats sre stupid enough to nominate someone like Biden.
America is on its way to Democratic Socialist state. Sooner or later. And that would be excellent for the world.
Meanwhile Canada may be right wing with that fucking wiener Andrew Sheer as PM.
All the clinicly insane right wingers, the solid 25% in the US and probably 30% in Canada. may come together and bolt on over to Alberta or Saskatchewan, Their new 'Conservative" Utopian paradise. A new country called the Republic of Mental Wardia
That’s like saying anti-Zionism is religious bigotry.
Modi thanks you.
Kamala Harris and Israel: Towing the AIPAC Line
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/31/kamala-harris-and-israel-taking-...
"More AIPAC than J-Street."
The US is A Political Prison, Kamala Harris is a Prison Guard
https://blackagendareport.com/us-political-prison-kamala-harris-prison-g...
"Kamala Harris' bid to become the commanding prison guard of the US comes amid a crisis within the entire prison system..."
The Jimmy Dore Show
https://youtu.be/W-0azixYbx8
"NBC's jaw-dropping McCarthyite smear of Tulsi Gabbard."
It seems that Jimmy's heart is in the right place, and he's also pretty well informed on what th hell the establishment, both D and R, are up to. But he's a bit naive if he doesn't get what a candidate is talking when he/she mentions national security.
Those candidates are all Americans and no candidate that is un-American and completely antiwar with no excuses or exceptions, is ever going to get elected to even the high office of dogcatcher.
So we need to wait patiently until Tulsi blows it all for us. It likely won't take long.
Morning Joe Attacks Tulsi For Opposing War (and vid)
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1094313470428880896
"What NBC and MSNBC did the whole week in smearing Gabbard (an Iraq War veteran, for those of you who think that matters) as a 'Kremlin asset' was obviously disgraceful but mostly just embarrassing - 2 good videos laying that out..."
Amy Klobuchar may well be the best choice for the Democrats in 2020
The Democrats may not being doing this on purpose but they are putting Trump in an extremely difficult position. With the number of potential candidates, Trump will have difficulty producing an effective smear for all of them. There is a good chance someone will get through relatively unscathed to the final part of the race. By then, people may have become weary of the smearing which may have lost much credability. Due to the attention, any substantive scandals should expose most compromised canddiates before the last lap. Due to the number, the Democrats will likely have a strong uncompromised canddiate emerge.
Trump is also in a difficult position since while Presidents normally win re-election, they also normally grow their stature in office and consolidate their support with enough independents to secure a second victory. Whether or not Trump's base crumbles, his support among independents has making a repeat victory for him extremely unlikely.
In his favour may be
1) disproportionate power of less populous states
2) gerrymandered districts
3) potential cheating in a number of respects
4) simplicity of message, lack of knowledge and critical thinking of the public
5) Manipulation of the election through social media (it seems as if elections are extremely vulnerable to this due to the technology as such manipultation is not expensive).
I wish to explain the last a little more. Here some claim that there is no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans but this is not accurate. There may not be much when it comes to foreign policy but there is in many other respects. There are three significant categories of differences where there is substantial money and likely willingness to distort the election. First with respect to human equality and human rights, particularly driven by a religious agenda. Second, with respect to income class, wealthy people have a lot to lose if the Republicans lose to even a slightly more progressive version of the Democrats than they are used to. Third, there are powerful corporate intereest lined up against key promises being offered by Democrats in healthcare, pharma, and labour.
The delusion that interference in the US election could only come from outside makes these vulnerabilites much more significant.
It is my opinions that there are also significant differences between party positions in Canada that could also form the basis of a threat to the Canadian eleciton as well. I know that is not for this thread but while the left is incapable of seeing differences between the more right parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, they may be blind to the fact that those differences are actually potentiall significant when it comes to monied interests here. As well Canada, due to the level of foreign participation in our economy does actually have a significant threat from outside -- particularly private and religious interests in the US. Canada should recognize that due to Trump's conflicts with Canada, our country has been exposed as a threat to some in the US who might previously have struggled to know anything about us. Canada and our PM have become symbols of opposition to trump within the US and likely have picked up some extreme attention there. It is my opinion that the relative low cost of social media interference in our election means that many of this more marginal elements in the US could work to influence our eleciton. The fact that they do not need to cooperate formally or work together to be effective makes this a significant threat.
Sorry no, he's getting re-elected. True people hate him, but that doesn't mean they will be motivated to vote for the Democrats. It's also not clear exactly what public policy the Democrats will be offering. Furthermore, after the DNC cheats and installs another corporatist, many on the left of the Democratic Party will be so outraged that they will not want to support him, simlar to what happened in 2016.
No meaningful difference between the 2 parties. The Democrats are bought by the same special interests as the Republicans, they are just more polite about it. Green Party or Bust in 2020.
Me meaningful difference between the two parties? Depends on what you consider to be meaningful.
People were certainly motivated to vote for the Democrats in 2018.
I doubt Trump will even be the Republican candidate in 2020.
Multiple states are already talking about canceling primaries in 2020, and the RNC may do that nationwide. He's the one bringing in the money and the votes. I predict he'll be the nominee even if there's video of him shooting a toddler in the face.
Sure, but is he enjoying himself as president?
It's his best protection against indictment at the moment, and comes with the bonus ability to pardon anybody he might want to keep from flipping on him. So I'd say he's certainly enjoying it enough not to quit, much like Berlusconi stayed Italian PM primarily because it kept him from going to jail.
Ok, but if Trump has committed crimes and really is worried about indictment, that means there is almost two years still for the story to come out and for impeachment to be a possibility.
It was actually 2011, and it was fucking devastating.
..i suspect trump is making money, developing business opportunities and contacts as president. he also has an influence he never had to sway things in his own interest. he won't leave voluntarily.
What if he stands to look like a loser?
Is it really that unusual for an incumbent President to not face a primary challenger anyways?
..in his eyes that's just not possible
Internet disinformation campaign targeting Democrats.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/2020-candidates-social-media-attack-1176018
That article is hilarious.
"Since the beginning of the year, those accounts began specifically directing their output at Harris, O’Rourke, Sanders and Warren, and were amplified by an even wider grouping of accounts. Over a recent 30-day period, between 2 percent and 15 percent of all Twitter mentions of the four candidates emanated in some way from within that cluster of accounts, according to the Guardians.ai findings. In that time frame, all four candidates collectively had 6.8 million mentions on Twitter."
Please save us from disinformation, oh technolords at Guardian.ai! Without your efforts to protect American democracy, Americans may be divided 2 to 15% greater than before!