Ron Brownstein

 The Challengers by Nancy OhanianEstablishment conservative Democrats fear-- and in many cases, loathe-- the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. Bill Clinton did all he could do-- which was a lot-- to bury the idea that the Democrats are a working class party.

  Audrey Denney is running for Congress in the northeast corner of California (CA-01), where the state meets Oregon and Nevada. It's a largely rural district with the most exposure to Climate Change-induced wildfires anywhere in the state. She told me yesterday that the Trumpist incumbent, Doug LaMalfa "does not believe in human induced climate change. He has recently called climate change policies 'radical.' He either has been bought and paid for by the oil and gas industry (as his FEC reports show)-- or he doesn’t have the capacity to wrap his mind around science.

Slimeball by Nancy OhanianEveryone I know is having psychological problems right now-- some very mildly and some... well, at least one person I know committed suicide. In the middle of an out-of-contril, deadly pandemic, we have enough to worry about without a narcissistic madman threatening to destroy our democracy and the nation itself.

A new Ipsos poll released by Reuters shows Trump losing badly, with just 38% of registered voters saying they intend to back him in November. Not exactly newsworthy. But what is is how undecideds and third-party backers split.

Some of the best members of Congress are freshmen who were elected in 2018-- AOC (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Andy Levin (MI), Joe Neguse (CO), Chuy Garcia (IL), Veronica Escobar (TX), Sylvia Garcia, Debra Haaland. Those 10 are the only freshmen whose voting records have earned them "A" grades from ProgressivePunch.Last cycle, Democrats netted 41 House seats but none of those 10 listed above are included in that count. Each of them won a blue seat that had already been occupied by a Democrat.

Next month Anne Applebaum's new book, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism will be available. I can't wait, but until then, we'll have to satisfy ourselves with a long, learned essay she wrote for The Atlantic this weekend, The Collaborators-- History Will Judge The Complicit.

Trumpists are on the march. Members of the GOP Death Cult have been holding noisy organized protests in Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Kentucky, demanding businesses be opened so they get to escape their horrid spouses and get back to their dull, unfulfilling meaningless jobs.

According to the corporate media, Bernie is moving up and is now ready to win. That is a warning in their establishment universe and, as Norman Solomon noted in his own warning, Here It Comes: Get Ready for a Stop-Bernie Onslaught Like You've Never Seen.

Auschwitz Revisited by Nancy OhanianLast night the House voted on this Resolution of Disapproval, condemning Trump's racist comments (though not condemning Señor Trumpanzee himself-- nor even referring to him as a racist-- since Pelosi is still absolutely determined to continue protecting him from any such thing):

Yesterday, Ron Brownstein, writing for The Atlantic, had his corporate, anti-Bernie slant on full display. He wrote that Bernie's "entry into the 2020 race amounts to a big stone in a lake: It will generate ripples that touch every other candidate. But his own path to the nomination remains rocky unless he can attract a broader coalition than he did in 2016.