Robert Reich

In his latest public service announcement, Robert Reich begins by saying he's hearing a lot about socialism lately, "mainly from Donald Trump and Fox News." I guess he doesn't get out much. The "menace of socialism" is in every GOP message, from every Reoublican candidate running anywhere and everywhere-- and from the rotgut Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Did you hear the booing when former Colorado Governor Frackenlooper tried using socialism as a punching bag last weekend at the California Democratic Party convention?

In this MSNBC promo-video, Chris Hayes says something worth remembering when you decide who to vote for: "Who will they fight for? What will they fight for? Can they be trusted to do what they say? Everything else is noise." A few days ago, writing for CNN.com, Jill Filipovic asserted that the biggest 2020 mistake the Democrats could make would be to nominate Status Quo Joe.

Rep. X is in this photo of Republicans pretending to be DemocratsI was invited to join a conference call yesterday with a group of committed activists in a red district with an ultra-right-wing Democratic congressmember, who I will refer to as X, so as not to give anything away I was asked to not write about yet. X, a freshman, immediately joined the Blue Dog and New Dems and has a ghastly (F) voting record already.

Trump is so disgusting. Reich is so right about him-- and his enablers in Congress. It seems impossible the Democratic Party could lose against them even if they try. How about if they try really, really hard? Ah... so we're talking about the DCCC. Did you see that piece by Elaine Godfrey in The Atlantic on Monday: The Democratic Party Just Ticked Off Its Youngest Organizers? Pelosi really should get rid of Bustos before it's too late.

The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss triggered Democrat calls to arrest US Attorney General William Barr for contempt, after Barr refused to show up for a House hearing.
Democrat Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler cried out that “Barr’s defiance of the committee isn’t happening in a vacuum: It’s part of a sweeping effort by President Trump’s administration to defy nearly all oversight by Congress.”

In a column published by The Guardian this morning, Robert Reich noted that In fighting all oversight, Trump has made his most dictatorial move. He worries that Trump has gone off the deep end to make sure there would be "no congressional oversight of this administration: no questioning officials who played a role in putting a citizenship question on the 2020 census. No questioning a former White House counsel about the Mueller report.

Robert Reich released this video above before the new Morning Consult weekly poll came out. But it seems to back up what Reich said. "Trump's net approval sank to its lowest point since Putin handed him the key to the White House following the release of a redacted version of Mueller’s report. While 57% of registered voters disapproved of his job performance, only 39% approved.

Some people do it right-- and some don't. Three that came in early that demonstrate how to do it are by a progressive candidate in Georgia, Marqus Cole, a progressive Northern California candidate, Audrey Denney, and a new progressive action committee run by Randy Bryce. Let's start with Cole, who's running to flip a Republican seat in the suburbs northwest of Atlanta.

This is good Robert Reich clip. "To the conservative mind," he explained, "the specter of socialism conjures up a society in which no one is held accountable and no one has to work for what they receive. Yet, that's exactly the society Trump and the Republicans are promoting for the rich. Meanwhile, most Americans are subject to an increasingly harsh and arbitrary capitalism.

The answer to the question in the title is simple: a change in political power dynamics in this country in favor of conservatives, primarily Republicans, but also the Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.