One thing I haven't seen discussed anywhere is the actual pressure being put on Manchin & Sinema by the WH and Dem leadership. Have they given up? What did they attempt? It's not hard to envision a campaign of, effectively, harassment by senior leadership of M&S to get them to yield (endless series of late-night phone calls, organized protests outside of their houses, threats of cuts to their states, coupled with the offer of billions if they say yes). While a bit of a fantasy that Dem leaders would do this, why is it not being discussed? (Other fantastical topics regularly find themselves taken seriously in editorial columns, cf. bipartisanship.)
I think the best hope for Dem's is that Trump goes away somehow (gets indicted, too sick, or too mentally incapacitated) and there are no Republicans with the right charisma to capture enough of Trump's constituency to make cheating a viable option. They would still likely control Congress so "hope" here means avoiding the worst case scenario
"The senior White House official told me Biden aides believe that the best way to overcome Republicans’ undermining of upcoming elections is to maintain Democratic control of the House and Senate. And the best way to achieve that is for Biden to pass the agenda he ran on, which includes working to mitigate political conflict and compromising with Republicans where possible."
there is a clear way to stop it but nobody can see it because it lies right in front of their nose / a grass roots revolution of personal awareness is the only thing that can stop the devolution of our political system IMHO / how are we going to do that ?? person by person / starting with yourself / live your life consciously - know yourself - have a heart full of gratitude is a pretty good formula
Another wild card is whether Trump is charged with crimes between now and 2024 - financial or otherwise. If there's a powerful indictment with lots of evidence, that increases the chance of GOP fracture - would these Trump GOP legislators be willing to coup for someone other than DJT?
One thing I haven't seen discussed anywhere is the actual pressure being put on Manchin & Sinema by the WH and Dem leadership. Have they given up? What did they attempt? It's not hard to envision a campaign of, effectively, harassment by senior leadership of M&S to get them to yield (endless series of late-night phone calls, organized protests outside of their houses, threats of cuts to their states, coupled with the offer of billions if they say yes). While a bit of a fantasy that Dem leaders would do this, why is it not being discussed? (Other fantastical topics regularly find themselves taken seriously in editorial columns, cf. bipartisanship.)
I think the best hope for Dem's is that Trump goes away somehow (gets indicted, too sick, or too mentally incapacitated) and there are no Republicans with the right charisma to capture enough of Trump's constituency to make cheating a viable option. They would still likely control Congress so "hope" here means avoiding the worst case scenario
"In his New York Times column, Ross Douthat outlines..." Dems listening to these neocon former R's will be why they lose astoundingly.
"The senior White House official told me Biden aides believe that the best way to overcome Republicans’ undermining of upcoming elections is to maintain Democratic control of the House and Senate. And the best way to achieve that is for Biden to pass the agenda he ran on, which includes working to mitigate political conflict and compromising with Republicans where possible."
We are doomed.
there is a clear way to stop it but nobody can see it because it lies right in front of their nose / a grass roots revolution of personal awareness is the only thing that can stop the devolution of our political system IMHO / how are we going to do that ?? person by person / starting with yourself / live your life consciously - know yourself - have a heart full of gratitude is a pretty good formula
"In sum, we can all see the disaster that is coming. "
Help me out here...I'm not as prescient as you guys. What exactly is this disaster that you all see coming?
Another wild card is whether Trump is charged with crimes between now and 2024 - financial or otherwise. If there's a powerful indictment with lots of evidence, that increases the chance of GOP fracture - would these Trump GOP legislators be willing to coup for someone other than DJT?