The Trump Snowball Effect by Nancy OhanianThe new Gallup poll-- which was in the field before the gravity of the Ukraine scandal and impeachment hit the mass media-- is pretty devastating for Trump. It isn't just his job approval that is underwater either. Don't get me wrong. His job approval is in the toilet-- just 40% of adults approve. But far worse is what Americans think of Trump as a human being. His approval as a person is 6 points lower-- 34%.Interestingly, the worst fall-off is among Republicans and self-described weekly church goers. 87% of Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing. But just 76%-- 11 points lower-- say they approve of him as a person. Similarly, among weekly church goers, 54% approve of the job he's doing but just 44% approve of him as a person.Gallup reputed that the "ratings of Trump as a person are similar to those of Clinton in the final 16 months of his presidency, during a period when Clinton's personal behavior was being heavily criticized by both parties." The big difference, however is that even though Americans didn't like Clinton the man, they approved of the job he was doing for the country. His job approval remained high, very much unlike Trump's, which remains historically low.Republicans continue-- with less and less success-- trying to bolster Trump's image with false narratives cooked up in a White House few people outside of the GOP/Fox News base lend any credence at all. Take Liz Peek, a wealthy right-wing propagandist from Wall Street and the first woman elected president of the National Association of Petroleum Investment Analysts. She's all over right-wing media spreading Trumpist talking points. Last week she was spewing her ridiculous poison for The Hill: Trump scores political win with vow to protect Medicare. Her point doesn't hold up because no one believes anything Trump says, except the 30-some-odd percent of brain-washed Republicans who believe everything he says. He's destroying Medicare and allowing pharmaceutical companies to raise prices while painting himself as a hero of the elderly. Peek knows that. But Peek's as much a liar as Trump is. "Trump," she gushed moronically, "promised to defend Medicare against Medicare for All and issued an executive order detailing numerous changes aimed at strengthening the program, increasing choice and combatting fraud. Sheer political genius. First, the optics are excellent. Trump is out talking to Americans about real problems while Speaker Nancy Pelosi is busily orchestrating the six House committees beavering away at impeaching the president. She refuses to sanctify this latest attack on the president by taking a floor vote on the measure, but vouches for its importance, all the while fending off critics who say Congress is not producing for the American people. Do-Nothing Congress has been a favorite refrain of the president lately, and the hashtag has trended on Twitter." Everyday-- despite 24 hours of this kind of Trumpist nonsense on Fox and Hate Talk radio and from propadanda writers like Peek, the number of Americans who want Trump impeached and removed increases. Public support for Trump's impeachment is already higher than it was for Nixon and Bill Clinton when the House launched impeachment inquiries against them. Worse still, "The change since May has largely come among independents and Republicans... [S]upport for impeachment and removal has risen 11 points to 46% among independents and 8 points to 14% among Republicans. A majority of the public didn't support impeaching Nixon until a few weeks before he resigned."Meanwhile, even though all the Blue America-endorsed candidates favor impeachment, few of them have moved it front and center in their campaigns. What they prefer to talk about is what they hope to accomplish when they're elected. And in 2021 Trump is likely to be long gone, his fate in the hands of law enforcement and the judicial branch. Example, Milwaukie, Oregon mayor Mark Gamba, is no fan of Trump's, but he's running for a seat held by a conservative Blue Dog, Kurt Schrader. "There is nothing sustainable about our current economic system," he told me a few days ago, a rebuke to both Trump and Schrader. "It is not sustainable environmentally and it’s certainly not sustainable economically. Strong economies are based on a strong middle class. In this country, for the last 40 years, the middle class has been getting poorer relative to the cost of everything, and the poor are becoming homeless in record numbers. The status quo politicians live to serve their billionaire masters, not the average hard-working American. It is long past time to elect leaders who are not beholden to the billionaires and the corporations. I look forward to serving under President Sanders and to fixing our unsustainable economy by taxing the rich and making sure that everyone else is living the dignified life they deserve for their hard work."Marie Newman, the Chicago progressive running for the congressional seat occupied by reactionary Blue Dog Dan Lipinski, hit the name right on the head: "Impeachment is important. We must address this president’s crimes, however, everybody’s everyday is important too which is why my whole campaign is centered around making life more affordable with Medicare For All, paid leave, universal childcare, raising wages, empowering unions and job creation in green infrastructure and transportation."Rachel Ventura, the Chicagoland candidate taking on multimillionaire out-of-touch New Dem Bill Foster, would much rather talk about the Green New Deal than Trump's problems. Last week she said that "The best way to close the wealth gap is to pass the Green New Deal. This 16 Trillion dollar job package will put Americans back to work at living wages complete with healthcare by rebuilding our infrastructure to be fossil fuel free. Fighting the climate crisis will create opportunities so our economy and government can work for everyone."
Passing bills like Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will give workers a say in their workplace, and make it easier for them to form a union and collectively bargain for fair wages and benefits. Passing H.R. 1384 Bill Medicare for All, would provide relief for both the business and the employee by cutting out an unnecessary middle-man insurance company, lowing costs and saving tax payers hundreds of dollars plus preventing bankruptcies from healthcare costs.Yesterday I took my fifth trip to the strike line in Bolingbrook, IL where workers are entering their third week of the strike. One striking worker let me know how much the CEO of GM made-- $22 million. I used Ecosia.org instead of Google to confirm the figure. Ecosia is the environmentally friendly search engine that plants a tree when you enter a search. Indeed, Mary Berra made just under $22M as her entire compensation package in 2018. UAW workers are striking because they want to do away with the two-tiered system that pays some employees less than what their counterparts are making, even though both employees are doing the same work. I suppose that paying workers more might cut into Ms. Berra's $22M.As long as the system works for Wall Street speculators and wealthy CEO's like Mary Berra, workers will continue to struggle and the wealth divide in America will only grow. My opponent is a pro-Wall Street guy who sits on Financial Services Committee and takes money from investors and bankers. I will be a fighter for workers who want a better life, for those who want to change the system, and for those who are willing to strike. We need a leader who understands we all deserve a shot at the full American dream.
Cathy Ellis' southeast Missouri district is very red. She's all in on impeachment but appealing to voters there has much more to do with a progressive economic agenda that she talks about when she meets the voters. "Working for change in rural areas is tough," she told us this morning, "but it's possible. In my own District, Missouri's 8th, I've seen first-hand the positive impact that simply 'showing up' has in our communities. Just last week, our campaign organized a Healthcare Community Forum in Ironton, one of the smaller cities in the District. We anticipated 25 or so people would attend. We had 50+ people, and it was standing room only. People are concerned about their healthcare, and they're ready to do something about it. People in rural areas are ready for change, but they haven't been given choices for so long. For too long, the Democratic party and progressives have ignored rural areas, and they haven't run candidates in them. They've viewed them as too difficult to win, and too difficult to work in. Because of this, they haven't showed up and listened to the concerns of rural residents. My experience shows that when candidates show up and listen-- truly listen-- people are receptive to what they have to say. Just last cycle, many progressive ballot initiatives passed in the 8th District because people actually began to organize there. The future of rural areas depends on the investment by candidates, legislators, and presidential candidates. We need people to show up and listen. The Republican party isn't abandoning rural areas, and neither should we. Flipping a rural District is a marathon, not a sprint, but it's a race we're finding is winnable."