Robert Reich

According to the Trump Labor Depratment, here was bad economic news on Friday. 150,000 new jobs were expected. Instead "private payrolls rose just 96,000, a three-month low, after a downwardly revised 131,000 advance the prior month." Most economists blame Trump's senseless and disastrous trade wars and his tax cuts to the top 1%. But Trump blamed... the news media.

This morning Carolyn Maloney,vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee released a report, Retirement Insecurity, meant to coincide with the 84th anniversary of the signing of the Social Security Act. The report shows that, while Social Security has been successful in preventing millions of Americans from falling into poverty, the two other pillars of America's retirement system are in crisis: personal savings and pensions.

Many people still don't understand what Medicare-- let alone Medicare-for-All-- actually means. But, despite a barrage of propaganda against it from the Sickness-Industrial Complex, Fox News, Hate Talk Radio and the Republican Party, it polls very well.

I spend a lot of time on the phone with congressional candidates trying to figure out who to believe and who not to believe. How progressive are they? How courageous? How capable? It didn't take much of a discussion to figure out AOC was going to be a super-star if she ever beat Joe Crowley, which seemed impossible to everyone (but her and her posse). But she beat him-- and she's a superstar. Sometimes we get disappointed. I talked so much about how great Jared Golden (ME) would be... but did he ever turn out to be a dud! I got that all wrong.

A friendly congressman called me yesterday to complain about progressives-- particularly young ones-- not pulling together behind Pelosi and Biden. I reminded him what primaries are all about and he asked if I thought all the "energetic young people"-- who he doesn't think know anything (he said that)-- would accept Biden as the nominee if he wins the primary. I told him that most Democrats probably will, although I think Trump will be able to persuade many African-Americans to sit on their hands rather than vote for the racist Biden will be painted as.

On Sunday, Robert Reich’s column in The Guardian emphasized that we— the U.S, the world— need urgent action to defeat the would-be tyrant, but wonders of the Democrats are up to the task. He asks his readers to imagine an opposition political party in a land being taken over by an oligarchy, headed by a would-be tyrant.

The post-debate Morning Consult poll shook up the Democratic primary quite a bit— at least for Kamala Harris. She surged into 3rd place behind Biden and Bernie and tied with Elizabeth Warren, after beating up on Biden in a way that seemed effective for many in the audience. She gained 6 points and Biden lost 5.

Bernie's ideas seem very popular. Have you noticed? And that means Third Way, a major player among those who are part of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, is on the attack. Matt Bennett, Third Way’s senior vice president, when talking about senators running for president noted that "We’re open to everybody except for him." That was a year ago. The Republican wing of the party is putting all they've got into poisoning the well for Bernie.

That's McCarthy with Stella Li and Wang ChuanfuPeople who don't follow politics closely still don't know who California Rep. Kevin McCarthy is, even though he's the Republican House Leader and Trump's chief protagonist in Congress. The DCCC never runs a candidate against him-- even though CA-23 is now a minority-majority district-- and has been hostile towards local Democrats who have tried taking him on in the past.

A majority of registered voters (54%) agree with Republican Justin Amash (MI) that Trump committed impeachable offenses. Pelosi knows he's committed impeachable offenses as well, but doesn't want to start impeachment proceedings against him for partisan considerations and because she is an old coward who should retire.