17 Comments

I'm taking great comfort from your analysis, Dan. Between Message Box and the analysis you do with Jon, Jon, and Tommy I feel less sucked into the doom loop. I am incredibly nervous about the many issues that are shaping the 2024 elections, but I will keep breathing, hope for the best, and work for good election results.

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Thank you for saying what needs said. These things are basic truths, and it’s exasperating that they’re not stated. Especially in light of what the press are doing to Biden.

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As hard as it is to practice what I preach I keep training myself ( every goddamn day) to not give a shit what drama the corporate media wants to pump out. Polls don't vote people do. Trump exhausts people, and I hope his presence on the national stage remind people how much of a soul- sucking, gaslighting mind fuck he is. I hope all pro democracy Anti-Trump organizations can stay as focused as they were 4 years ago (Crooked Media, Daily Beans, Lincoln Project, Conway's new organization etc). I think the abortion ballot initiative move for multiple states is a great idea, and maybe I'm taking too much from this BUT I hope those anti Trump Republicans are further inspired to vote Biden by Mitt Romney's "any Democrat over Trump" comments. Of course I'd also like to go into cryogenic stasis for a year but - you know

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I don't understand what Dems who are upset about the Israel debacle expect Biden to do. I just wish while all these people are out trashing Biden, someone would ask them, "How would you solve these issues if you were the president?"

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Nov 27, 2023·edited Nov 27, 2023

I am probably wrong, but I see the Israeli—Palestinian squabble among Dems as this: years of frustrations of Progressives and younger voters. Both groups have felt underserved (over different issues) yet have remained loyal to the Dem caucus. This was the issue that took tensions from a simmer to a boil.

I hope that they finally see that Biden taking a path that tries to protect the innocent Palestinians and supporting an old ally (while tempering their response)—and getting rid of Netanyahu would be a bonus—is really the best answer. Will they see it in time for the election? I hope so. I have seen a little coverage that acknowledges Biden as finding the best options open to him.

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Yes, all this.

But I'm still gobsmacked that Trump, or any Republican, has any positive polling at all. I remember waking up on November 3, 2004, vowing to myself that I would never again underestimate the stupidity of the American electorate, but they make it harder and harder with each subsequent election cycle.

And while I firmly adhere to Dan's "worry about everything, panic about nothing", this really jacks up my worry level about flipping the House, flipping red statehouses, and holding the Senate, which is already a big lift.

Sorry for the whining. I try not to do this in front of friends/family that I'm trying to get motivated to get to work on GOTV starting yesterday. Message Box feels like a safe space for my angst on this.

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Yes--the worst thing anyone can do is to consistently speak in terms of strength and invulnerability when referring to Trump. He is a magnet for garbage, chaos and failure. Let's not forget that. Thanks Dan--but that Monmouth poll still bothers me! I can't figure how 42% can remain election deniers? I know--any question in this context that begins with "Why" or "How" means that I have entered the rabbit hole. Even so--it is a frustrating and dangerous problem.

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I appreciate you laying the analysis out. Please submit Op Ed's to The Post and Times. I'm sick of their polling #@! and emphasis on Biden's weakness. I've been writing to editorial staff at both papers and calling them on poorly constructed arguments/headlines. We all need to share our frustration. I keep reminding them to consider who actually subscribes to their papers and take heed of the frustration.

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Thanks for this, Dan. It's a message we should all share on the socials, in the hope that readers who don't agree with us politically get to see the list of damning facts about DT. [Naturally those readers aren't friends of ours : ) , but you never know how long your reach is.]

What I'm less sure of is DTs being tried before the election, much less found guilty. Judge Aileen Cannon's holding of her May 2024 trial date, even as it appears more clear she won't move things forward fast enough to hold to that date, denies the other indictments of being tried early enough to happen before November 2024. However much the law is our protector in many ways, we're seeing how it can be twisted in entirely political ways.

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Judges like Aileen Cannon show long the arm of corruption is in this country. Indeed, corruption is like an octopus combined with a boa constrictor to choke the life out of our country.

Apologies to those aforementioned animals.

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Yes--it is worrisome. And knowing of the money and effort of The Federalist Society and Leonard Leo keeps me up at night--forever.

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I am hoping the trial in D. C. And Atlanta are complete by the Fall of next year. I am pretty sure about the D. C. trial, though the trial in Atlanta may take months if there are still even six or so defendants who haven’t pleaded.

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Thanks, Dan, this is great. I have a perverse but (I think) interesting question - theoretically, what if anything could Trump do to strengthen his candidacy? I mean he would have to be a rational actor, able to see the world as others do, able to imagine interests besides his own, and other insurmountable feats, to do anything besides what he’s doing, but if that were possible, is there anything he could do to overcome his political and practical problems?

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Well--perverse is right. Let's not give him any advice!! Ha!

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His inability to heed advice will overcome any advantage - because as we know, he never misses a Message Box! 😉

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Thanks Dan....hoping Dems get real and transformational and instructive with voters...name what voters want: humane treatment of Palestinians and Jews, peace, gun control, abortion access, climate, student loan forgiveness, voting rights etc. and name the pathway to make these policies into law: supermajorities of real Dems (ie not Manchin or Sinema) in the Senate, and at least a majority in the House, and WH, and increases in Dem reps in state offices/legislative and executive, with overwhelming landslides to deliver message to elected Dem leaders that we the people mean business....people power means good people who want a functional and sane government/country need to VOTE in massive numbers for Dems. Dems need to earn the trust of voters. They need to be radically and refreshingly honest, trustworthy, humble, and they need to make the case for democracy and all it delivers. They need to connect the dots for voters...they need to be explicit and leave NOTHING to chance...they need state parties like Wisconsin and apparently No Carolina that are well funded and organized to reach out in meaningful ways to voters and GOTV in the final weeks....Dems need to make Americans think, think, think about our future and why we, the American people, have the power to save our nation, humanity and planet earth....by voting, by volunteering and by donating to Dems now and all through 2024!

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Mainstream media (eg, NYT!!!) is a large part of this problem and the main reason that Biden's accomplishments are not better know by so many. Not sure what those folks are thinking if we have authoritarian president. They will be the first ones out of a job. I'm so damned sick of the lopsided, unfair, insulting coverage and underreporting of the issues. Wish I could move.

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