A Shameless Stooge -- What Trump Looks For in a Judge

 

Remember when that old comedian Mitch McConnell voted against convicting Trump for his January 6 coup attempt and explained his vote as logical, because there was no need for Congress to act: "We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one." We didn't know that was a laugh-line. We know it now.

In July of 2024, Chief Justice John Roberts, in his notorious "presidential immunity" ruling, declared that a president, any president, enjoys “absolute” or “qualified” immunity from criminal prosecution for any action taken in his “official” capacity. An appellate judge who heard the immunity argument ahead of the Supreme Court summed up the Trump position with a hypothetical: Absolute immunity means that Trump could well avoid criminal consequences for using SEAL Team Six to murder opponents. 

The Roberts Court swallowed that hypothetical like a guppy.

Roberts and the other court conservatives guaranteed our current constitutional crisis: Trump won. He's indulging himself with power-grabs and entrepreneurial corruption, secure in the assurance that he will never face criminal accountability. (Goddamn! What a country to pull that off!) As Justice Sotomayor put it in her dissent, the Court made the president into a "king above the law.” 

So far the balance of judges who've ruled on Trump 2.0 have not been stooges. Quit the contrary. There are courageous men and women wearing the robes, and we have historically respected their independence (if cussing them sometimes/always anyway), and thanked Gawd that the judiciary was there to protect us from tyranny.

But of course the district court judges are only the bottom rung of the judicial ladder, and we know it always ends with Roberts and his conservatives. They've already proven themselves stooges. Will they stooge again?

To bluff and bluster and keep those and other judges in line, Trump has called for impeachment (with maybe hanging thrown in) of federal judges who rule against him. His mean girl spokesblond proclaims that judges are usurping the powers and prerogatives of the popularly elected president, essentially unleashing the dogs to harass, to stalk, to hunt. Trump dares to skirt. Is there any doubt that he's lied and defied the court in that abduction case of immigrants with tattoos? This is a constitutional crisis of the highest order. Will the system hold? Will the Roberts Court repent?

There's a General Election coming up. Time is actually short. Just eight months to find Democratic candidates at all levels. The filing period for '26 candidates in both parties is the first two weeks of December 2025.

The Confounding Stupidity of Trump 2.0

 

Duke University, Durham, NC:

Laurie H. Sanders, PhD, associate professor in neurology and pathology, conducts research on Parkinson’s disease. Her lab has developed a method, based on mitochondrial DNA damage, that can detect Parkinson’s disease in its early stages with a simple blood test. Her research has the potential not only to enable early diagnosis and intervention before significant neurological damage occurs, but also to help identify therapeutic targets to reverse or halt damaged mitochondrial DNA and the disease process.  

The Sanders test can distinguish people with Parkinson's from people without it, but there's much more to understand before clinical trials, like how the "biomarkers" change with aging. Said Sanders, "And we want to understand what’s driving DNA damage in the first place, because then we might be able to target that process with new therapeutics." (Duke Univ. School of Medicine)  

Sanders’ research break-through came about supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her laboratory staff includes one postdoctoral scholar, three graduate students, three visiting scholars, three technicians, and 13 undergraduates. On February 7, 2025, Trump's new hit-men at NIH announced a cap of 15% on reimbursement of Facilities & Administration (F&A) research grant costs, which cover equipment and facilities, maintenance and compliance, data processing, and many other essential needs that make research possible. 

"The proposed cap could mean an estimated loss of almost $200 million annually in research funding at Duke alone and significantly hinder or halt scientific and biomedical research in many critical areas." Trump 2.0 threatens to extinguish a whole generation of rising scientists, like the assistants in Sanders' lab, let alone put a damper on the advancement of basic science. (The funding-cap order from NIH is currently on judicial hold, with the future very cloudy.)

Dr. Sanders' current grant ends in August. She said, "I’ve submitted a grant proposal to continue our work, but right now [NIH] is not even reviewing grants, much less approving them."

The MAGA crowd who chortle at any pain felt by egg-heads might want to consider how your laughter sounds to the millions who could be saved by Dr. Sanders' breakthrough. My own mother was diagnosed in her 60s with Parkinson's, and the spiraling deterioration took us all down, especially my father. "We do this because there are real people living with the disease right now,” said Dr. Sanders. "Our work is always with an eye toward translation [into practical tests] and ultimately to benefit patients."

Jethro Thinks He Can Control Who Votes. He Can't

 

You wake up every blessed morning in Trump 2.0, check your pulse for a beat, and dial up the news. The news -- despite which nipple you suck from -- always proves pulse-quickening, like you've inadvertently ingested some hallucinatory mushroom. Jaw-dropping developments in government, or lack thereof, prompting out-loud profanity. Today the outrage was John F. Kennedy Junior's forcing the resignation of Dr. Peter Marks from the Food and Drug Administration. Marks is credited as the real architect behind the rapid development of the coronavirus vaccines (plural), and his resignation letter is a classic (also a doozy in the annals of fuck-you resignation letters).

What was the outrage yesterday? You're forgiven if you can't remember. The outrages come at us relentlessly, daily. I'm just coming to understand the Trump outrage of last Tuesday (March 25), when he signed ExecOrder "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections." Among several other provisions in the order, Trump demanded that henceforth voter registration requires proof of citizenship. Under Sec.2(a)(ii), “documentary proof of United States citizenship” shall include a copy of: 

(A) a United States passport;

(B) an identification document compliant with the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-13, Div. B) that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States;

(C) an official military identification card that indicates the applicant is a citizen of the United States; or

(D) a valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification if such identification indicates that the applicant is a United States citizen or if such identification is otherwise accompanied by proof of United States citizenship.

Do you see any mention of a birth certificate -- proof of birth, say, in a document filed by the Florence Nightingale Hospital, Dallas, Texas, or anywhere else earthly? No birth certificate allowed? He lists passports first, as though any Tom, Dick, or Harry has a passport for foreign travel and exotic adventures, and how many rural and working-class Americans lack any of those listed documents?

According to analysis by Dr. Andy Jackson, Director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, the proof of citizenship order applies only when people use the national mail voter registration form (a mail-in postcard). How many voters register via that postcard in North Carolina? Dunno. But according to Jackson, any voter may still register to vote via their own state Board of Elections forms, which aren't as preposterous as the Trump order. Jackson makes a revealing comment when pointing out that Trump's order can't affect people who register using the SBOE form: "If Trump had attempted that in his order, he would have been well outside his authority."

Well Outside His Authority

Trump's whole "Preserve and Protect" order is a joke of unconstitutional hilarities.

The U.S. Constitution is clear: Article 1, Section 4 dictates that only states and Congress can make or alter the “time, place, and manner” of holding federal elections. The president is bestowed with no such power. He isn't even mentioned in the chain of command. On its face, his order is shit fantasy. But it'll take courts to say so.

In the meantime, I'm indebted to Andy Jackson for his approximation of just how much of North Carolina's voting practice might end up impacted by Trump's attempt to control access:

What is the bottom line for North Carolina?

To comply with Trump’s executive order, North Carolina may have to:

• Require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote with a national mail voter registration form or a Federal Post Card Application.
• Stop using ballot marking devices, except as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Comply with voter registration list maintenance practices in the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act (there is debate over how well North Carolina does that).
• Only accept ballots received by election day.

There will be numerous lawsuits over some provisions of this order, so its final impact is unclear.

Bellwether in Pennsylvania?

 

The tides may be turning faster than we thought. It's either the tides or the omen in the large number of crows I just saw picking through my compost.

Lifted from coverage by The DownBallot:

Democrats pulled off an astonishing upset in a special election for the Pennsylvania Senate on Tuesday night, as East Petersburg Mayor James Andrew Malone defeated Republican Josh Parsons by a 50-49 margin to flip a district Donald Trump carried by 15 points last year.

Those toplines, however, don't tell the complete story of just how ancestrally Republican Pennsylvania's 36th District is. Since taking its present form in Lancaster County 40 years ago, the district has always been held by the GOP, and the county as a whole has gone for a Democrat at the presidential level just once since 1856 (Lyndon Johnson just barely won it in 1964).

Local Democrats, however, were undeterred, taking heart—and advice—from their counterparts in Iowa, who flipped a comparably conservative legislative seat in January. That district, though, had gone blue as recently as 2018; the 36th never had.

 

Failing Upward

 

Kate Barr has become a force in North Carolina grassroots organizing. I had no idea.

Remember Kate Barr? I first knew her as Kate Compton Barr. She was the fireplug entrepreneur from Davidson, NC, who mounted a "Can't Win But Fuck It!" campaign for the NC Senate in '24 in District 37, which includes red Iredell. She didn't want to raise money, she announced, so she requested that people not contribute. In other words, with wit and a cheerful demeanor, she dramatized political hopelessness as positive energy, which (ironically?) inspired hope in all sorts of people, and Kate Barr knew how to network, and though she had not asked for money, money came in. I contributed to the Kate Barr campaign. Running-to-lose in that Senate race -- and she did lose as expected by 30 points -- was performance art, a satire of gerrymandering and a display of personal sacrifice that has actually produced something of a movement. The left's favorite podcaster Heather Cox Richardson named Kate Barr as a Democratic force to watch nationally. 

She's successfully launched the Can't Win Victory Fund, to make losing into a political investment. The entrepreneur in Kate Barr saw losing as an opportunity to network and build communities that grow their clout. Of particular note is her team's creation of an A.I. intelligence, MOXIE, that can channel the opinion (and mood?) of "targeted voters" (you pick the parameters). Message testing and innovation. That's intense.

Take a look at everything that she and her partners are doing. Full disclosure: I made a new contribution. This is energy I like. This is energy we need in heavily gerrymandered communities.

 

Turns Out, Trump Is Touching Social Security

 

The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts because the servers were overloaded. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones at the front desk as receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. But the agency no longer has a system to monitor customers’ experience with these services, because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk.

And the phones keep ringing. And ringing.

--WashPost, "Social Security Is Breaking Down" 

Musk's DOGE has pushed out more than 12 percent of the SSA staff of 57,000. No wonder phones go unanswered. (I've personally been on hold for more than an hour at a time; leaving a call-back request took more than 3 hours, but it did come, and the woman who helped me was super helpful. I said at the end of our business, "I know you guys are under incredible duress and strain in your job--" She laughed "yeah!" Musk and Trump don't deserve her or any of the other good people summarily fired.)

Social Security is the primary source of income for about 40 percent of older Americans. The agency has been underfunded and understaffed for years already, before Musk brought his chainsaw to the party. Following COVID and even right now, review of an initial claim for two disability programs takes 233 days on average. Musk makes it worse. Ten regional Social Security offices have been slashed to four.

"DOGE's obsession with false claims that millions of deceased people were fraudulently receiving benefits consumed [them] at first. Then came new mandates designed to address alleged fraud: Direct deposit transactions and identity authentication that affect almost everyone receiving benefits will no longer be able to be done by phone. Customers with computers will be directed to go through the process online — and those without computers, to wait in line at their local field office." If they can find one within a day's drive.

This is recent polling:

Strange As the Weather Has Been

 

Watauga County's Hospitality House, "a western North Carolina housing nonprofit that provides 'critical' services" to Watauga, Wilkes, Ashe, Avery, Alleghany, Mitchell, and Yancey counties, is now able to mobilize for action ahead of storms -- early -- because Hospitality House has equipment (radios) to receive emergency alerts through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They were gifted the radios by the National Weather Service (NWS) during Hurricane Helene, when the storm knocked out cell service. NWS is a vital and wholly practical sub-unit of NOAA.

DOGE and Musk couldn't care less. They are putting at risk Hospitality House's current ability to plan ahead for weather disasters, of which the mountains of Western North Carolina are well supplied. DOGE is trying to slash more than 2,000 NOAA jobs, many of those stationed in Western NC as analysts and forecasters who write the weather alerts that Hospitality House relies on.

Todd Carter, development director for Hospitality House, spoke about the potential for "lives being lost" in a YouTube panel discussion yesterday, "Forecasting Disaster: How DOGE’s Cuts to NOAA Will Affect Weather Awareness and Well-Being," sponsored by the Center for American Progress. Elon Musk has a chainsaw and the license to slash. Musk has his own weather department; what does he need with NOAA and NWS? 

"Not everything should be for sale, not everything should be for profit,” Carter told the panel.

 

 

 

The Yard Signs for This Campaign Present a Design Challenge, But the Candidate's a Good-un

 

A whole new world of Democratic candidates is sprouting, budding, blossoming into some real alternatives to the establishment mold.

Meet Kat Abughazelah, running for Congress in the Illinois 9th:

According to Dave's, the Illinois 9th on the north side of Chicago was heavily gerrymandered to favor a Democrat. The current Democratic incumbent is Jan Schakowsky, and according to Ballotpedia, she's already considered a candidate for reelection in 2026. She's 80 years old, has served since 1998.

Kat Abughazaleh may be that butterfly, wing-flapping a hurricane into life.

Why Is Elon Musk So Invested in the Wisconsin Supreme Court Race?

Schimel/Musk

A Wisconsin state law prohibits automobile manufacturers from also owning dealerships. Nevertheless, in 2024 Tesla applied for dealer licenses to sell its vehicles. The state denied the request in December 2024. Tesla's appeal is now in the courts and working its way up the ladder to the state Supreme Court.

A conservative-controlled court would naturally be in a position to issue a Musk-friendly decision, so Elon has become quite enamored with conservative Brad Schimel, who's locked in a death race for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court against Democrat-backed Susan Crawford. The Court is currently 5-4 liberal, and Musk and his boy want to flip it the other way.

So, yeah, Musk has been shoveling money into a Wisconsin operation to take over the Wisconsin court system, and Trump joined him endorsing Schimel last Friday. So what has happened is that the race is now Susan Crawford v. Elon Musk and Trumpism, which is not necessarily good for Brad Schimel.

Musk "barely knows" Brad Schimel, according to the NYTimes, and it wouldn't matter to Musk if he were a stickhorse so long as he will be a loyal tool on the state's highest court, a craven and careless self-interest that might make Schimel look worse than merely beholden. Musk is now trying public bribery as a way to win:

Musk dialed up his focus on Wisconsin on Thursday when his America PAC offered registered voters in the state $100 if they provided contact information and signed a petition opposing activist judges. The PAC also offered them $100 for each registered Wisconsin voter they referred to sign the petition — but the fine print of the offer said the PAC would determine whom to pay and noted payments may not be made for months. (WashPost)

That maniac needs to be stopped.

Bernie and AOC

 

Whether you supported Bernie Sanders or AOC in the past is largely irrelevant. What they are doing right now matters. They are giving voice to the frustration felt by Democrats across the country. They are providing an outlet to that frustration at rallies that bring people together.

--Thomas Mills, "The Resistance Is Rising" 

My household voted for Bernie Sanders in the North Carolina Democratic primary of 2016. Bernie won every single precinct in Watauga County in that primary, taking the whole county from Hillary Clinton by over 69% of the vote. I heard my share of "shame! You Socialist!" from certain quarters for supporting Bernie. Some Hillary supporters still bitterly blame Bernie for her defeat that fall.

Bernie's star, especially among the young and the unaffiliated, has diminished not at all, and though he's not going to run -- at 83 -- for president again, he's made himself the spearpoint of organized protest and a rallying point for all Democrats (especially those who need to get over their previous spite).

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been a favorite object for mockery and satire among Republicans, but it just rolls off her. She has a joyful manner of shrugging off the slings and arrows, and she talks a plain language both familiar and electrifying. But some moderate-to-conservative Democrats, who are regularly spooked by thoughts that someone might think them "radical" or "extremely liberal" -- the perennial debilitating self-consciousness of old liberals who've lost touch with their ancient values -- those Democrats get the political "willies" at the thought of pushing AOC to the front of the stage.

Caution is not the tonic we need right now.

The Arguments in Jefferson Griffin v. Allison Riggs before the Ct of Appeals

 

Jefferson Griffin.
He's had that pat of butter in his mouth
for months.

Yesterday before a 3-judge panel of Court of Appeals judges -- two Republicans and one Democrat -- sore-loser Jefferson Griffin's attorney argued that "the right to vote is not absolute,” especially when a margin of 700-odd votes separate his client from his stubborn goal. Griffin's side came up with the wild theory that over 66,000 voters should have their rights axxed to suit the needs of ambition. Jefferson Griffin, acting wildly outside the law of logic and fairness, evidently thinks his fellow Republicans at the highest echelons of the North Carolina judiciary will save his sorry ass out of pure and utter partisan loyalty.

Raymond Bennett, the attorney representing Allison Riggs, boiled the defense down to essentials: “For more than 200 years, elections have proceeded in this country under a principle so basic that it is known on every elementary school playground: You cannot change the rules after the game has been played,” he said. “If you lose, you accept defeat graciously.”

Griffin won't, and he's evidently depending on tribal allegiances to further corrupt the very structure of justice in North Carolina.

Hattip to Democracy Docket for the direct quotes.

Signs of the Times

 

Sen. Thom Tillis held a big fundraiser at the Raleigh Country Club yesterday, but it looks like the protestors outside may have outnumbered the pooh-bahs handing over checks inside.

Elon Musk Called Us "Parasites"

 

 "Why 90% of Americans love DOGE: Watching Trump slash federal programs knowing it doesn't affect you because you're not a member of the Parasite Class."

--Elon Musk, February 2025, reposting and commenting on Twitter 

By "Parasite Class," Elon evidently means anyone on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or any other form of Federal assistance -- especially food stamps. I'm a recipient of both Social Security and Medicare. I am not a parasite.

You wanna see a parasite? Elon Musk and his various businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits -- nearly two-thirds of that grand amount contracted in the last five years (according to analysis by the Washington Post). He's now maneuvering despite notable conflicts of interest to make himself considerably richer via his BFF Donald Trump's illegal and frankly just plain dumb dismantling of government.

The icing on this cake is how little Musk cares that we know these things. He doesn't care that we care. And he sneers at the very concept of "empathy." “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit,” Musk told podcaster Joe Rogan in a 3-hour interview. “[T]hey’re exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.” He doesn't feel for us. He doesn't feel for much outside his own meat. I imagine his thanking whatever god he acknowledges for saving him from the bother of caring.

Celia Rivenbark, whose tart opinions I enjoyed reading once a week over at NCNewsline, has jumped to a Substack platform (hasn't everyone?), and she's now officially a replacement for my favorite Texas spitfire, the killingly sarcastic "Juanita Jean" of The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon Inc.  (real name Susan DuQuesnay Bankston. She lost her husband and announced in January of this year that she was retiring from the blog business -- and I gather from writing altogether -- after so many years of beating politicians about the head and shoulders. We miss Juanita Jean!)

But we have now the always quotable Celia Rivenbark. She posted about Musk (on "Celia Dishes"):

Elon Musk, who has frequently and nauseatingly spoken out on the “dangers” of being empathetic to others this week, whined about his mistreatment by Democrats whom he always thought were the nice guys.

After a tough week of having his Teslas set on fire and dealerships clogged with protesters, Elon petulantly told Fox News he thought the Democrats were supposed to show empathy.

“I thought the left, you know, the Democrats, were supposed to be the party of empathy and caring. And yet they are burning down cars…” That was the real quote.

But what I think he meant to say was: “I thought the left, you know, the Democrats, would always let me tear off their heads and pee down their bloody neck-stumps. I mean there really should be some things you can depend on in this life.”

The stones on this guy, am I right?

Elon, you thought all the heinous, illegal, wildly unjust, deeply disruptive, greed-monster shit you’ve been pulling since the inauguration of President Donald Jimpeachment Trump should go unnoticed? Hmmmm?

Because we, the Democrats, are empathetic???

And now YOU are disappointed in US?

That’s rich as 2 feet up a bull’s ass is what that is.

Elon Musk is Jethro's bronze monkey, the current curio in Trump's other cabinet, a monkey so shiny and strokeable, yet whose shine is already diminished among many. It will take at least one election cycle -- the midterms of 2026, say -- to prove just how short a shelf-life Elon has.

Every Republican Deserves This Heavy Anchor

 

This Democratic attack ad from Wisconsin makes Elon Musk the surrogate for every Republican everywhere. In this particular instance, it's Republican Brad Schimel, running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The election is April 1st (Fool's Day). Musk is the biggest spender in this race and truly deserves taking center stage for what's wrong in the U.S. this year. Depending on the outcome of this special election, Elon Musk may become the poster child in every Democratic campaign everywhere.

My Nominee for FAFO Champ

 

I Can't Be the First To Think, "Jason Crow for President"

 

Photo Thalassa Raasch for The New York Times

I bet being interviewed by Jason Crow could make a weak person shit his pants. Maybe a strong person too. And Jason Crow, who has represented the Colorado 6th District since 2018, is on course to interview a whole squirming bunch of fresh-faced Democrats who might be thinking they're potential House candidates next year, or Democrats successful in other lines of work who haven't given running for high office a first thought -- for Jason Crow, as of ten days ago, is the new co-chair for candidate recruitment for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

Representative Crow can flat-out stare down a camera. He projects granite -- integrity that ain't messing around, a high intelligence, a b.s. detection system unimpressed by status, wealth, or pure cussedness.  Crow earned that mensch character growing up in a working-class family. He did construction to afford college, joined the National Guard and R.O.T.C. programs, became a paratrooper and Army Ranger, completing three combat tours (with a Bronze Star to his credit). He's a man of honor. In 2018 he unseated a five-term Republican congressman in the Colorado 6th CD.

January 6, 2021: Jason Crow comforts a
hyper-ventilating Rep. Susan Wild

When Crow arrived in the House in 2019, his very first vote was against Nancy Pelosi as speaker, on the grounds that it was time for a new generation. A maverick from the get-go and even now Pelosi praises him as an outstanding representative for the working class, "the center" of what Democrats are supposed to represent. Pelosi cited

his work as a House manager for Trump’s first impeachment and as a member of the intelligence committee, along with his bravery during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Trapped on the House floor after most members had been evacuated, Crow, "shifting into battle mode, coached his colleagues on what to do if the chamber was breached, including little things like removing their member pins so they wouldn’t be as easily identifiable by the mob."

He tested Pelosi as a raw freshman, and last July, as a seasoned statesman who's won reelection in a reddish district twice, he confronted Joe Biden about the coming election disaster on a Zoom call with moderate House members, warning the president that “without a major change,” the party was headed for defeat. He questioned Biden’s age (yes, he did), which got Biden testy. “I don’t want to hear that crap,” Biden barked, according to Politico. But he did hear it, for eight days later, Biden dropped his re-election bid.

In his first three terms in the House, Crow earned the ranking as fifth-most-effective House Democrat by the Center for Effective Lawmaking. All 10 bills he co-sponsored became law.

He projects blue-collar, heartland sensibilities and values that AOC, a master in her own right, understands as essential for growing the party. “Leaning into working-class politics is deeply, deeply important,” Ocasio-Cortez told the NYTimes.

BONUS for your Bingo Card: Crow grew up hunting “everything that flies or walks or runs through the woods,” and he recognizes the importance of hunting in many people’s lives. “For us to ignore that and to write that off or to malign it — and for some Democrats it’s literally not to know what the hell they’re talking about,” he said, “is unforgivable.” He knows guns. He owns guns. He defends gun ownership and also wants the weapons of war off the streets.

Michelle Cottle called him a "good talker." "He has a gift for explaining things in a way that sounds so straightforward and common-sensical that even his ideological opponents seem impressed."

Crow has been a recurring guest on conservative shows on Fox News and elsewhere: "He believes Democrats must go everywhere and talk to everyone — especially those who disagree with them. 'Maybe I’m not reaching the grumpy guy watching Fox News, but maybe I’m reaching the spouse who’s in the same room. Maybe I’m reaching the children,” he said. “I’m sure as hell not ceding the ground. I’m not allowing these echo chambers to go uncontested.”

I like this guy. I like the fight in him, the obvious courage to buck his own tribe. I know we wouldn't agree on everything, but I want character like that to lead the nation.

Jason Crow Is Looking for a Few Good People

As co-chair of recruitment for the DCCC, Crow has outlined the qualities that he's most interested in: 

“people of integrity, servant leaders who understand their communities, who are respected by their communities." Crow talks a lot about "servant leadership," a sincere middle American idea that “every leader needs to consider themselves a servant of the people that they are leading” -- a concept with biblical roots. Crow looks for prior service. What has that person done with their life before politics? Have they built a business? Have they served in the military or Peace Corps? "What have you done outside of politics that shows that you know how to work with a broad swath of people?"

“I see so many people who fake working class in this business," Crow told Michelle Cottle. "You can’t put on a Carhartt jacket and brand-new boots and then walk into a construction site and have anyone think you’re going to be legitimate .... you can tell instantly by somebody’s hands who they are and whether they’re a working person or not. You do a callus check. Does the person have calluses, or do they have soft hands? You can’t fake that.”

His advice (via Michelle Cottle) to Democratic candidates: "Get personal": 

“You have to show a genuine interest in people, and you have to be curious about them,” he said. “You just can’t come right in and start a policy discussion and start beating people over the heads with your policy prescriptions. That’s not the way you build trust — you know, start waving around our 21-point plans. You’ll immediately be shut out. You have to sit down and ask about people’s lives.” He added, “Once you build a relationship, then you can actually have tough discussions.”

The Historical Record: Virginia Foxx's One Town Hall in Boone in 2006 Was a Disaster For Her

 

At a recent closed-door meeting with Congressional Republicans, North Carolina's Rep. Richard Hudson (9th CD), chair of the House GOP’s campaign arm, famously warned his fellow lawmakers not to hold any more town halls with constituents, because they were making the tribe look bad.

He didn't have to tell Rep. Virginia Foxx. She already eschewed standing before constituents and answering their questions or responding to their complaints. In 2006, Foxx did hold a town hall in Boone (which, let's face it, despises her), though for her own reasons she preferred calling it "a listening tour" (and who was supposed to be listening may come as a surprise, so read to the end). This blow-by-blow account was published on WataugaWatch on January 25, 2006:

From a correspondent who was there

The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a Virginia Foxx "listening tour." The meeting began at 8:30 am and lasted until 9:45 am [at the Mountain House Restaurant in Boone]. The Chamber advertised the "tour" thusly:

"The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to host a Listening Tour for the Honorable Virginia Foxx on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at the Mountain House Restaurant in Boone. This is an opportunity for the Congresswoman to hear from her local constituents in a social setting. You are invited to join us beginning at 8:00 a.m. for a Dutch Treat breakfast. The program will start at 8:30 a.m. Come prepared to share your priorities and concerns with Virginia Foxx."

Ron Hester, as Chamber host (and hard-core Republican), began the meeting by announcing that Virginia had come to hear from various agencies and town and county officials and this was NOT a Town Hall meeting. He suggested that there would be 15 minutes at the end of the "listening tour" for Virginia to answer constituent questions.

WHAT THE AGENCIES SAID

In a nutshell, the Workforce Development Volunteer Career Services agency told Virginia that this year the federal government has cut them back by 15 percent, that this is "very painful," that they have had to cut back on services to people looking for work, and that they are "desperate."

The County, the Town of Boone, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Town of Blowing Rock said they were desperate for some help in water/sewer services and that there was not enough tax base to fund the astronomical costs. The County added that President Bush has eliminated Community Block Grants. This has caused a "severe impact" and "makes a difference in the lives of ordinary people" in that the Grant created 200 jobs and helped renovate homes for those with no money.

The Watauga County Board of Education said it is desperate for a new school and didn't have the money. They asked for help.

A representative for the Chamber of Commerce, spinning for Foxx's benefit, said, "taxes were a burden to small business owners."

Ken Peacock, representing ASU, was the only major pooh-bah who appeared willing to insert his tongue all the way up Foxx's alimentary canal. He thanked the congresswoman effusively for all the money she's getting for him -- $4.5 million last year alone.

WHAT FOXX SAID

She said her "time was limited," and she "was not on vacation." She said traffic was bad, and she had another meeting at the university. She blasted the Governor and took credit for all the transportation money that had come to the area, saying if it weren't for her it would have gone to Raleigh. She told the towns and county there wasn't anything she could do for them on the water/sewer crisis. She reminded us a couple of times that she grew up poor, and she told the water-seekers they needed to be more efficient, that they needed to conserve more, and that they needed to approach this regionally. She said she went to Israel and that those folks really knew how to manage water. She told us she was getting the Bamboo Road paved and that she was big on a National Heritage Area. She said that 70 percent of the federal budget in 10 years was going to be used to pay for Medicare, social security, and Medicaid, and we couldn't afford it anymore and that we would have to cut these back. She reminded us that she grew up poor and could afford health care even then. She said the problems with affordable health care were that the federal government was formed for national defense, not these social welfare things.

Constituents began raising their hands and keeping them up. Virginia ignored them all and instead called on the press.

Kathleen McFadden (High Country News) said that polls showed people were losing faith and support in the war. What were Virginia's comments in that regard?

Virginia said we were attacked on 9/11, that we are not an aggressive nation, that she didn't want to see us attacked again, that there were fascist nations in the world, that the military had an 87 percent reenlistment rate, that the war was a "tremendous success," that she was appalled at the way the media portrayed the war, that when Hitler was a factor, we were silent, and that "We are guided by the hand of God."

Christy James (WATA Radio) asked a question regarding energy -- its high cost, solutions.

Virginia responded, "The best kept secret in the world is that the economy is great. That's why gas is high." She blamed China for driving up the cost of gas. She said the good thing about gas going up is that people would be forced to look for alternative energy.

Frank Ruggiero (Mountain Times/Watauga Democrat) said that there were a lot people here today who wanted to ask questions of their congresswoman, and if she wasn't going to answer them today, when would she be having an event where they could be heard?

Foxx said she had had several "listening tours" and there would be others, but she wasn't sure when or what the topics would be.

Foxx then announced (looking at her watch) that, "Whoops -- oh, my! -- there's only six minutes left for constituent comment."

WHAT THE PEOPLE SAID

Hands were up all over the place. Foxx took a question from Perry Mixter, calling him by name and apparently because he didn't have his hand up. Perry said that a lot of the people in the room were frustrated with the direction the country had taken. Virginia responded that she didn't see any people trying to leave the country -- that, in fact, lots of people were trying to get in.

Dorothy Sagel was called on next. She talked of the draconian cuts for the poor and in Medicare and student loans, etc. Virginia said "nothing's been cut from Medicaid (we are just cutting the increases)," that "we are not hurting people," that there are "no old ladies on the streets," and that "I challenge you to show me a cut."

Then Foxx said she had to leave -- "Sorry! So sorry!"

A woman stood up immediately and complained that constituents were invited to this meeting to have their voices heard and to ask questions of their representative. She said that this "listening tour" was "a sham," that Foxx had only allowed six minutes for questions," and that she wanted to know why Rep. Foxx was afraid to answer questions from her constituents. A fellow in the back rocking a baby said, "Yeah, we can stay if you will."

Foxx turned her back on the woman. There was no answer, and the meeting ended.

People who were there to ask questions began handing in their written questions to the press. They also granted interviews to the press, primarily complaining that Foxx would not take questions from her constituents. Foxx's paid assistant told one constituent that it was called a "listening tour" because the public was invited to listen to Foxx, not the other way around. Even though Foxx stated that she had another meeting to rush off to, she granted an interview to Mountain Television Network. Anna Sagel stood right there at Foxx's elbow and on camera, refuting every single thing Foxx said.

End of Story.

 

Trump Admin Directly Hurting Small Farmers in North Carolina

 

The State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services received a letter from the United States Department of Agriculture earlier this month stating it will no longer receive funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program.

--WUNC 

Bottomline in this particular instance of the Trump dictatorship: Some $11 million in Federal money will be lost for North Carolina farmers -- not the poor, not the hungry -- but the farmers whose vegetable crops get purchased for the seven recognized non-profit food banks across the state. It's government charity that helps sustain good struggling small farmers. There's nothing evil about it. Nothing that isn't a practical benefit for the types of entrepreneurs that life itself depends on. It's what government should do. Unless compassion itself is evil to you.

Thom Tillis, Act Three

 

Few Republican senators give a better floor speech than Thom Tillis of North Carolina does. He’s the Daniel Day-Lewis of moral outrage.

--Frank Bruni

Tillis "seems to be at war with himself," Bruni wrote yesterday in the NYTimes, detailing the moral outrage he recently expressed, challenging President Trump’s "revisionist history of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calling Vladimir Putin 'a liar, a murderer' and 'the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.' ” Compare that to his vote to confirm Putin pal Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.

Moral outrage: His impassioned remarks in the Senate disagreeing with Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters who bloodied law enforcement officers.

Compared to: He voted to confirm Kash Patel, "who has peddled the kinds of fictions that fueled that violence," as director of the FBI.

And so forth.

Too bad, actually, Bruni argues, because underneath the craven subservience to Trump lurks a pretty respectable mensch with ideas and ethical standards. Cal Cunningham, who ran against Tillis and remains a friend, says that Tillis is "a practical, progress-minded lawmaker at heart." It's just short of tragic that this man who "could have been a good and maybe even great senator in an earlier age, when bipartisan deal making was rewarded. ... but in an age when loyalty is the only thing, he has to shrink away from greatness — or at least the type of greatness he may have imagined when he took the job,” said Asher Hildebrand, Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy (where Frank Bruni also teaches). 

We Need More Democrats Who've Been in Battle

 

Photo Starr Sariego, Asheville Watchdog

Jay Carey, the 20+ year Army veteran who was famously thrown out of Congressman Chuck Edwards' townhall in Asheville last Friday, served in the tank corps in Desert Storm and also in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He won a bronze star for his service. In Asheville he was agitated about cuts the Trump administration has made to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He and his wife also lost their home in Hurricane Helene, think that Congressman Edwards has been less sympathetic and less helpful than a fistful of spit, so it's not a surprise that Carey’s also concerned about potential cuts to Medicare and HUD (Housing and Urban Development). 

He told the Asheville Watchdog that he has no regrets about "the expletive-laden tirade he delivered in front of a packed house at A-B Tech’s Ferguson Auditorium": “I think it was necessary. I think it was the only way to really get his attention, and it was the energy that I want to see from everyone — to stand up and to speak back to the representatives that aren’t serving us, as is their duty.”

“I do feel that the days of being cordial and respectful are over, because we’re not being respected,” Carey said. “[Congressman Edwards] is disrespecting us by doing what he’s doing to our community as a whole.”

Carey ran as a political novice in the crowded 2022 Democratic primary for the 11th Congressional District, hoping to take on punk Madison Cawthorn (who got himself knocked out of contention in the Republican primary). Carey took the photo of Cawthorn testifying at a meeting of the Henderson County School Board which revealed the partially concealed sheaf knife that Cawthorn had with him on his wheelchair. That photo caused a stir because coming armed to a school board meeting is actually unlawful.

You can see an unedited video of Carey's outburst here: https://youtube.com/shorts/Md8fDGeK2dQ?si=DxaMPrEoaRMN1Hwg. His challenge to Congressman Edwards starts about a minute in.

And incidentally, I'm not totally sold on this theory yet, but I think Edwards did a cool thing holding that town hall. He knew exactly what he was going to see and hear (in Asheville, of all places! He deliberately chose downtown Ashevagus, the liberal playground of the mountains). You can see in the video linked above the sly little Edwards smile when the crowd boos his statement that he thinks Trump respects the Constitution. He's going to use his treatment as a fundraising tool, and you've got to hand it to him that he never lost his cool. After 90 minutes, Edwards called a halt with these words: “Hey, this has been fun. I really appreciate the energy that you brought, the contradiction of opinions from time to time, the passion that I hear, the patriotism that I sense in this room.” Insincere, but classy.

"Generation Now" Needs To Saddle Up

 

Younger Democrats are chafing at and increasingly complaining about what they see as the feebleness of the old guard’s efforts to push back against President Trump .... In other words, the younger generation is done with deference.

 --Shane Goldmacher

The truth of that last sentence will be proven when candidate filing for 2026 opens in North Carolina less than nine months from now (on December 1st). I want to see younger Democrats filing for offices up and down the ballot, but wait! I intend they be young Democrats smart enough to gather a team and a strategic plan for raising unholy hell, which will include raising unholy money. 

I don't mean starry-eyed moon children who've never been involved in any political activity and who all-too-often think too much and do too little, who in fact sometimes mistake thought for action. I want the young Democrats who've participated already in the trenches, as campaign operatives or volunteers, who understand what's involved and have innovative ideas about thinking outta the box. That's actually a respectable number of young people in North Carolina, experienced political operatives under the age of 30. That's who I'm talking about.

Here's the catch: Sometimes the talented ranks of young organizers aren't always also gifted with speaking abilities and a talent for connecting with people.

Here's the other catch (aside from lack of money, which is a killer catch): Young Democrats experienced in the political arts, particularly in gerrymandered districts where Democrats don't win -- their knowledge of local reality makes the very thought of running a joke. 

Totally understandable. And forgivable. I'm a realist (at least on Saturdays).

But there are districts on the cusp, not necessarily in Western North Carolina -- those semi-urban and suburban NCHouse and Senate districts all over the state that I've written about since 2018. Those districts might be rated R+5, but in a backlash year -- anger/disappointment/indifference for the whole of the NCGOP and their caesar(s) --that +5 can turn mirage very quickly.

Democrats Better Beware of FAFO

 

It’s really tempting right now to fall into the trap of hating people who voted for Trump and enjoy their suffering as a result of his policies. There’s a term going around on the internet for this ... “FAFO” or “Fuck Around, Find Out.” 

The admonishment that follows those sentences for a needful attitude adjustment for Democrats was written by Watauga County's own Jack Yordy, a recent college graduate and an accomplished political organizer. He's on Substack:

Are there people who voted for Trump because they are hateful? Yes. But I don’t believe 74 million Americans base their political decisions on hate. For many, if not most Trump voters, it was our failure to convince them he was bad for the country which left the door open for them to vote for him .... we didn’t communicate the gravity of Trump’s impact on their lives effectively enough, and even we couldn’t imagine he’d freeze all federal funding or intentionally try to collapse the economy.

It was our responsibility to get that message through and for whatever reason, we failed.

Jack's understanding and empathy for people with very different ideas is rooted in dedicated door-knocking, and not the kind of door-knocking that involves shoving a leaflet into a stranger's hands. It's an understanding based on listening, on actually hearing and understanding the fears and anxieties that flesh is heir to. Jack ran canvassing for the Watauga Democratic Party and got his education listening to people who worry, who grow restive, whose uneasiness can ripen into anger.

Also people who never had an opportunity for much education, so their grammar may waver, and when they post on their Facebook pages, they may misspell or misuse words. I've seen those people mocked by my political allies, and it always grates on my nerves. No wonder the people being mocked hate liberals, the over-educated, the snobs.

Jack's conclusion:

The fight isn’t reserved for Democrats in blue states. We’re also fighting for those Nebraskan farmers, and Appalachian coal miners, blue collar Trump supporters and disabled Florida retirees.

Our mandate is to care about these people, not just to win political points but because it’s the right damn thing to do. Laughing at people who are suffering is not productive or good. It will accomplish nothing but the further entrenchment of Trump voters rather than their openness to crossing over to our side. If that’s what you plan to do for the next for years, to revel in the misfortune of people who made one bad and likely uninformed choice, you’re Fucking Around, and you’re going to be part of the next group that has the misfortune of Finding Out.