As you know, I worry about irrational exuberance, but I may have picked a bad year to quit chuffing hopium. Because damn. (BTW: Scroll down for a special midterm election offer.)
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Researchfinds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of the Republican president’s handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.
The numbers are bad: Trump’s approval rating dropped to 37 percent in a new Wall Street Journal poll this week, marking the lowest rating in that poll since 1990 for an incumbent president heading into a midterm election. He’s even lower in other polls.
The president, the most dominant figure in the GOP in generations, will soon hit the campaign trail for his party—but he is beginning in deep-red states, an eyebrow-raising bit of scheduling that suggests acknowledgment of his weak political standing.
More and more Republicans are starting to worry about a blue wave, one that seems certain to secure the House for Democrats but could very well, in an outcome unthinkable even a few months ago, yield a Democratic Senate as well.
With barely a month until Election Day, and with early voting already under way in a number of states, Trump and his party are flailing.
“Yeah, sure, I’d do that,” the president answered when asked by TIME magazine if he was “considering pardoning members of your administration prior to the end of your term?”
The "morally binding" accord on developing the technology safely, signed by the president and leading tech executives at the White House on Sept. 29, includes a misspelling under the president's signature with “United States” written as "Unites States."
Happy Thursday.
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“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness….Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? —Attorney Jose…
When “On Tyranny.” was first published in 2017, it was a huge best-seller. But some of the smart kids were skeptical of Timothy Snyder’s warnings. This was America, they assured us, and it could never happen here.
But, nine years later, the book seems more prophetic than ever. Institutions we thought would be firewalls cracked; universities, media companies, law firms, and billionaires “obeyed in advance.” The Supreme Court effectively placed the presidency above the law…
So, this seems like a good time to catch up with the historian who tried to warn us. I asked Snyder: How are we doing? And what happens next?
NOTE: If you enjoy conversations like this one, or just want to hang around with smart, sane people, please consider joining us. As you know, we depend on the kindness of strangers to keep doing this work. And the dogs and I are immensely grateful for your generous support.
The Kremlin’s fondness for international assassinations of its critics and enemies has a long history. This year, Moscow has ramped up its covert actions and sabotage campaign across Europe. So today’s news naming me and my long-time associate and Free Russia Forum co-founder Ivan Tyutrin as assassination targets cannot be called a surprise—but it’s still a shock.
Neither I nor Ivan have been told explicitly that we were the targets whose names are redacted in the indictment of the assassins. We were, however, warned by security services in Lithuania and the US that our lives were in danger and that we should take precautions, which I did and will continue to do.
But I will not stop and I will not hide, even if I thought it was possible to do so. I believe that the best defense is a good offense. My family and I will not truly be safe as long as Putin is in power in Russia—a circumstance shared by millions. And so I will continue to do everything I can to rally the free world against Putin’s murderous dictatorship, especially by supporting Ukraine militarily and economically—and punishing Russia in similar fashion.
“New Marquette Law School Poll of Wisconsin finds that in the race for governor, Democrat David Crowley is supported by 49% of likely voters and Republican Tom Tiffany is supported by 46%, with 5% undecided.”
Given a choice between being Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, you would definitely want to be Crowley right now.
But..
The negative advertising by Tiffany and his billionaire backers has taken a toll on Crowley. Where Crowley had a net positive approval rating in the previous Marquette University Law School Poll, he is now at 31% favorable and 44% unfavorable, a net favorability of -13 points. That’s down from a net favorability of +4 points in August. Most of the growth of the negative opinion of Crowley has occurred among Republican voters (50% to 75% unfavorable) but it has also grown among independent voters (25% to 39% unfavorable) while his favorability has dropped among independents from 26% to 18%.
While 42% of independents still claim they don’t know enough about Crowley to have an opinion, that opinion is being formed in the air war that is being fought right now on televisions and streaming services across Wisconsin.
Tom Tiffany raised $26.3 million over the past two months for his gubernatorial campaign, thanks largely to transfers from the state GOP after the party received $27.6 million from billionaires Diane Hendricks, Dick Uihlein and Liz Uihlein.
The $24.2 million the state GOP transferred to Tiffany’s campaign helped him outraise Dem rival David Crowley more than 2-to-1 during the reporting period.
The Uihleins, Illinois business owners and GOP mega donors, each gave the state GOP $11 million during the period, which covered July 28-Sept. 23. Meanwhile, Hendricks, the owner of ABC Supply in Beloit, gave the party $5.6 million.
Hendricks and the Uihleins have collectively given the state GOP $39.2 million since Jan. 1, and the party has turned around to transfer nearly $34.4 million to Tiffany while doing another $206,862 worth of in-kind contributions for his campaign.
Thursday dogs
Flashback: Grandson Elliot bonds with Auggie.
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The disgusting amount of money being donated by individuals like the Uihleins makes it VERY hard to argue against a wealth tax. If those mega rich folks can afford to buy elections, then they can certainly afford to fund USAID.
One more Schmitt hit. Who the H is he defending? An adjudicated rapist and business fraudster, and a felon. And two grand juries indicted Trump for J6. What the H are these Rs doing but NOT upholding their duty to support and defend the Constitution. The only hawks involved are not BB teams but chicken-hawks like Schmitt.
OK, some catharsis. Of course, we all should believe Snyder's warnings and Kasparov's assassination threats. And, we should believe the plain to see pernicious effects of Citizens United v FEC. What the H were those conservatives thinking? Money is NOT speech. It corrupts politics and leads to plutocracy and oligarchiy.
The disgusting amount of money being donated by individuals like the Uihleins makes it VERY hard to argue against a wealth tax. If those mega rich folks can afford to buy elections, then they can certainly afford to fund USAID.
One more Schmitt hit. Who the H is he defending? An adjudicated rapist and business fraudster, and a felon. And two grand juries indicted Trump for J6. What the H are these Rs doing but NOT upholding their duty to support and defend the Constitution. The only hawks involved are not BB teams but chicken-hawks like Schmitt.
OK, some catharsis. Of course, we all should believe Snyder's warnings and Kasparov's assassination threats. And, we should believe the plain to see pernicious effects of Citizens United v FEC. What the H were those conservatives thinking? Money is NOT speech. It corrupts politics and leads to plutocracy and oligarchiy.