Our Wins of the Week piece is usually open to our paid subscribers only, but after this week we wanted to make sure everyone had a least a little glimmer of positivity in their inbox.
These wins kind of mirror Heather Cox Richardson's point on Jon Stewart's podcast that the states are holding their own in our federalist system of government. Seems like strong state and local entities will be the bulwark against tfg shenanigans. But sadly a good portion of voters don't understand what they've dealt themselves - and the rest of us.
Trump’s win isn’t 'political vindication.' It results from saturating the system with disinformation, feeding grievances, and twisting reality until voters saw a false picture. Winning this way doesn’t erase his record of fraud and lies; he remains a criminal felon.
What the country needed right after Joe Biden was elected were tribunals that punished ALL of the MAGA coup actors with either prison, fines and expulsion from politics. That would have set the necessary precedent about what political behavior was acceptable and what wasn’t. But that’s not Joe. Biden believes in the goodness of Americans. He bet on the love of goodness and fairness to beat MAGA at the ballot box. But the plan did not work and now we are facing the consequences!
Time to dig out all my “RESIST!” stickers and clothing from 2017.
How about wearing these kinds of shirts in front of your MAGA neighbors? 👇 🤔
Yes Mariann it is perplexing. I try to understand it, even the minimum wage issue & tRump doesn’t even believe in paying workers never mind overtime which he has said at rallies that he hates paying. I was listening to the ACLU podcast this morning & they are already preparing for the fight, also Americans United & our great blue state Governors who are ready to stand up to tRump. At least this time around we already know who he is & we know about Project 2025. We will prevail! Believe I have cried so much but I think we will be better prepared in 2025 than in 2017!
It's not that they voted Trump and then Dem down ballot. It is that they did not vote for any candidate for President. Or maybe voted for a minority party candidate. See my comment further down about Kamala receiving 10M votes fewer than Biden in 2020 and possible reasons why.
Thank you. That makes sense (unless the fascists stole the election). I never thought of your explanation. Somehow, what you said is relieving, though the results are awful, of course.
Thank you for opening the substack to non subscribers. Im on a very tight budget so although I would love to subscribe unfortunately my budget doesn't allow it.
Do you think the election should be investigated since so many down ballots elected dems but republicans took the presidency? It just doesnt add up!
I have a long-time friend, nearly 60 years of friendship. He lives in Northern California and I live in Venice, CA. He is freaking out, envisioning MAGA stormtroopers marching up his street any day. I managed to talk him off the ledge with this:
With all the comparisons between today and 1930s Germany miss one key point. The US isn’t one homogeneous country like Germany. We are a federal republic of 50 different states. As been noted, the strong blue states are already taking steps to resist. As I told my wife, we will be okay here in California. But my heart breaks for the millions who will not be okay.
Tuesday was a huge body blow to this country, but there are at least 70 million people here who voted for her and we won’t go gently into that awful night.
YES! We form a huge, heterogeneous, non-cancerous mass of compassionate, furious, democracy-loving people! And we have two allies flanking us: Canada (unless Poilievre wins, but I doubt he’s anywhere nearly as bad as Trump) and Mexico. However, fascists can overpower democratically-elected leaders….
Thank you for showing a rainbow at the end of that thunderstorm. I still find it puzzling that the states that elected women Senators and Governers, and supported abortion rights, still elected Trump. Is it just me? It couldn't be there that it's because Kamala Harris is a woman, could it?
And paid sick leave? Strange. I also find the whole Michigan outcome to be utterly baffling. He insulted Detroit. He didn’t bring jobs back in his last term. He said he hates overtime. He hates unions. Michigan has a Democratic governor. NC made strides and Harris did lose by a tremendous margin, and they recognized the Nazi running for governor as a problem, but not Trump. This can’t be sorted out to make any sense of it.
I think it absolutely could be because she is a woman, and Black and Asian. I believe some people might be ready to see more women as governors or senators, but still not be able bring themselves to vote for her for President.
All those democratic wins are noteworthy but ALL will be negated by the new fascist regime. How ironic that women voted in favor for rights to their own bodies and then in the same breath voted for the man who bragged about taking those same rights away, and he didn't stop there, he actually said there should be punishment for women! And the VP said women who have no children should be considered less than and perhaps should not that the same rights. THIS is where we are now, so forgive me for not seeing much room for optimism. All I see is a country seeped in bigotry and misogyny!
Sadly, many people were uninformed. Or deliberately misinformed about the details of his plans. There are so many who still insist Project 2025 is not real - or don’t believe he will actually do all the things outlined in that playbook.
But then, we Americans are great at passing great ballots for wonderful measures that will help our citizens, but then at the same time, elect the people most likely to overturn those measures.
You didn't mention that, for the first time, 2 Black women will serve in the Senate together: Maryland's Angela Alsobrooks and Delaware's Lisa Blunt Rochester.
I find it bittersweet, from my position in Canada, to see the gains made in various states to achieve reproductive rights for women, sick pay, and other things that we in our country and many others take for granted. I wish for all the best in your fight against tyranny. I will no longer take them for granted and will fight any efforts to remove these rights, and I know they are coming.
And don't forget about Bob Ferguson, Washington's governor-elect, who as state AG sued the first Trump administration 97 times and lost only twice. (To be fair, 17 of the wins are being appealed and 56 await a judicial ruling.)
Happily, Nick Brown was elected to replace Ferguson as AG. The two have already started work to further bulletproof Washington's protections for abortion rights, immigrants, and LGBT folks, as well as prepare defenses against other Project 2025 depredations.
Biggest winner amongst a ton of loser Dems? Pete Buttigieg, and he's the guy in 2028...hands-down best surrogate for the Harris-Walz ticket, best in eloquence, best in elocution, and not particularly associated with Dem Party elite. Mayor Pete should start to build his campaign yesterday, as he gets my vote unconditionally.
Not sure Pete could do a lot better than Kamala did considering the mindset of the millions who voted for Trump and the millions who did not vote for Kamala. That said, I'd be very strongly inclined to support him - he has been excellent as transportation secretary and is extremely skilled in parsing his words to a degree that anyone who listens can understand, combined with having all pertinent facts and data at his fingertips. A most impressive man.
However... as an example of some Americans' perspectives: I had a conversation with an acquaintance who complained that Buttigieg had never done anything for San Diego. She had no comprehension of the job of Sec'y of Transportation and seemed to think that the Secretary made every decision affecting transportation at any level of government. I hope she got it when I explained that local governments made decisions about local transportation issues and provided funding which the federal government, through the Dept. of Transportation, often matched with federal funds. But... she's just one person.
May I also please bring to your attention Congresswoman Janelle Bynum, 5th CD in Oregon. She flipped an R seat to become the first African American to represent the State of Oregon in Congress. Oregon now has 5 Democratic Congresswomen and one (lone) Republican Congressman.
Is anyone looking into all these split results? How could so many democratic senators and governors be elected in states that went for Trump? Does not seem right at all.
These wins kind of mirror Heather Cox Richardson's point on Jon Stewart's podcast that the states are holding their own in our federalist system of government. Seems like strong state and local entities will be the bulwark against tfg shenanigans. But sadly a good portion of voters don't understand what they've dealt themselves - and the rest of us.
Thank you for this and Congratulations to all mentioned, especially pleased about the defeat of Kari Lake in Az. Thank you AZ!!! 💙
👏👏👏
You and me both regarding Lake.
Kari Fake
Kari Flake;)
Jay, how do you explain this? Why vote Trump and for abortion rights, yet down ballot vote Dem?
Trump’s win isn’t 'political vindication.' It results from saturating the system with disinformation, feeding grievances, and twisting reality until voters saw a false picture. Winning this way doesn’t erase his record of fraud and lies; he remains a criminal felon.
What the country needed right after Joe Biden was elected were tribunals that punished ALL of the MAGA coup actors with either prison, fines and expulsion from politics. That would have set the necessary precedent about what political behavior was acceptable and what wasn’t. But that’s not Joe. Biden believes in the goodness of Americans. He bet on the love of goodness and fairness to beat MAGA at the ballot box. But the plan did not work and now we are facing the consequences!
Time to dig out all my “RESIST!” stickers and clothing from 2017.
How about wearing these kinds of shirts in front of your MAGA neighbors? 👇 🤔
https://libtees-2.creator-spring.com
Thanks for the link I plan to get a few of these t-shirts & they are well priced. 💙👍
You’re welcome! 😉
Trump did say, "We don't need votes."
Yes Mariann it is perplexing. I try to understand it, even the minimum wage issue & tRump doesn’t even believe in paying workers never mind overtime which he has said at rallies that he hates paying. I was listening to the ACLU podcast this morning & they are already preparing for the fight, also Americans United & our great blue state Governors who are ready to stand up to tRump. At least this time around we already know who he is & we know about Project 2025. We will prevail! Believe I have cried so much but I think we will be better prepared in 2025 than in 2017!
It's not that they voted Trump and then Dem down ballot. It is that they did not vote for any candidate for President. Or maybe voted for a minority party candidate. See my comment further down about Kamala receiving 10M votes fewer than Biden in 2020 and possible reasons why.
Thank you. That makes sense (unless the fascists stole the election). I never thought of your explanation. Somehow, what you said is relieving, though the results are awful, of course.
Thank you for opening the substack to non subscribers. Im on a very tight budget so although I would love to subscribe unfortunately my budget doesn't allow it.
Do you think the election should be investigated since so many down ballots elected dems but republicans took the presidency? It just doesnt add up!
Some one said on another site
“ the numbers don’t number””
For some reason I really like that quote
I have a long-time friend, nearly 60 years of friendship. He lives in Northern California and I live in Venice, CA. He is freaking out, envisioning MAGA stormtroopers marching up his street any day. I managed to talk him off the ledge with this:
With all the comparisons between today and 1930s Germany miss one key point. The US isn’t one homogeneous country like Germany. We are a federal republic of 50 different states. As been noted, the strong blue states are already taking steps to resist. As I told my wife, we will be okay here in California. But my heart breaks for the millions who will not be okay.
Tuesday was a huge body blow to this country, but there are at least 70 million people here who voted for her and we won’t go gently into that awful night.
YES! We form a huge, heterogeneous, non-cancerous mass of compassionate, furious, democracy-loving people! And we have two allies flanking us: Canada (unless Poilievre wins, but I doubt he’s anywhere nearly as bad as Trump) and Mexico. However, fascists can overpower democratically-elected leaders….
Thank you for showing a rainbow at the end of that thunderstorm. I still find it puzzling that the states that elected women Senators and Governers, and supported abortion rights, still elected Trump. Is it just me? It couldn't be there that it's because Kamala Harris is a woman, could it?
And paid sick leave? Strange. I also find the whole Michigan outcome to be utterly baffling. He insulted Detroit. He didn’t bring jobs back in his last term. He said he hates overtime. He hates unions. Michigan has a Democratic governor. NC made strides and Harris did lose by a tremendous margin, and they recognized the Nazi running for governor as a problem, but not Trump. This can’t be sorted out to make any sense of it.
I think it absolutely could be because she is a woman, and Black and Asian. I believe some people might be ready to see more women as governors or senators, but still not be able bring themselves to vote for her for President.
All those democratic wins are noteworthy but ALL will be negated by the new fascist regime. How ironic that women voted in favor for rights to their own bodies and then in the same breath voted for the man who bragged about taking those same rights away, and he didn't stop there, he actually said there should be punishment for women! And the VP said women who have no children should be considered less than and perhaps should not that the same rights. THIS is where we are now, so forgive me for not seeing much room for optimism. All I see is a country seeped in bigotry and misogyny!
Sadly, many people were uninformed. Or deliberately misinformed about the details of his plans. There are so many who still insist Project 2025 is not real - or don’t believe he will actually do all the things outlined in that playbook.
And yet we still lost the Senate and House...
.
But then, we Americans are great at passing great ballots for wonderful measures that will help our citizens, but then at the same time, elect the people most likely to overturn those measures.
.
God, we're dumb.
You didn't mention that, for the first time, 2 Black women will serve in the Senate together: Maryland's Angela Alsobrooks and Delaware's Lisa Blunt Rochester.
Yet another huge set of wins to celebrate!
I missed that too. This a tremendous win.
Thanks for opening this up for non-subscribers.
I find it bittersweet, from my position in Canada, to see the gains made in various states to achieve reproductive rights for women, sick pay, and other things that we in our country and many others take for granted. I wish for all the best in your fight against tyranny. I will no longer take them for granted and will fight any efforts to remove these rights, and I know they are coming.
That about 43 percent of North Carolina voters would support a "black Nazi" is in no way a victory in my mind. It is a horror.
I totally agree, I was astounded by those numbers. Plus Mark Robinson is a disgusting pervert.
And don't forget about Bob Ferguson, Washington's governor-elect, who as state AG sued the first Trump administration 97 times and lost only twice. (To be fair, 17 of the wins are being appealed and 56 await a judicial ruling.)
Happily, Nick Brown was elected to replace Ferguson as AG. The two have already started work to further bulletproof Washington's protections for abortion rights, immigrants, and LGBT folks, as well as prepare defenses against other Project 2025 depredations.
Biggest winner amongst a ton of loser Dems? Pete Buttigieg, and he's the guy in 2028...hands-down best surrogate for the Harris-Walz ticket, best in eloquence, best in elocution, and not particularly associated with Dem Party elite. Mayor Pete should start to build his campaign yesterday, as he gets my vote unconditionally.
Not sure Pete could do a lot better than Kamala did considering the mindset of the millions who voted for Trump and the millions who did not vote for Kamala. That said, I'd be very strongly inclined to support him - he has been excellent as transportation secretary and is extremely skilled in parsing his words to a degree that anyone who listens can understand, combined with having all pertinent facts and data at his fingertips. A most impressive man.
However... as an example of some Americans' perspectives: I had a conversation with an acquaintance who complained that Buttigieg had never done anything for San Diego. She had no comprehension of the job of Sec'y of Transportation and seemed to think that the Secretary made every decision affecting transportation at any level of government. I hope she got it when I explained that local governments made decisions about local transportation issues and provided funding which the federal government, through the Dept. of Transportation, often matched with federal funds. But... she's just one person.
May I also please bring to your attention Congresswoman Janelle Bynum, 5th CD in Oregon. She flipped an R seat to become the first African American to represent the State of Oregon in Congress. Oregon now has 5 Democratic Congresswomen and one (lone) Republican Congressman.
And all these wins I can't help but think there's something nefarious that happened. Not needing votes, some App from Elon, voter roll purges......
Is anyone looking into all these split results? How could so many democratic senators and governors be elected in states that went for Trump? Does not seem right at all.