It is worth mentioning also that in addition to leaving us poorly prepared for the next pandemic, cutting funding for mRNA vaccines will hugely impact their development in cancer treatments, which have shown great promise in both early and late-stage clinical trials. It is the exact opposite of “making America healthy again.”
I agree. The only solace I have is that the research can continue in other places. I don’t know if it can be at the same level as it was here, maybe it could be better (?). I also wonder if Americans would be able to have access to those treatments if and when they are ready. Other countries will become the scientific bastion that America once was regardless.
I’m glad other countries have leaders who care about scientific research 🫶🏻 if I could move to one of those countries, I would! 😉 but I can’t, so my only option is to stay and fight. My fear is that even if vaccines developed in other countries are accessible, they will only be accessible for the wealthy/will be cost prohibitive bc of our failed healthcare system & this admin’s lack of concern for public health. Without vaccine equity, lower income families and vulnerable populations will suffer the most.
Oh I know and am in the same boat. It seems tempting to think if we move it would be better. But I also love America. And have no pathway to leave! I have read that in the past the wealthy would send their daughters to Europe for abortions because they were not legal here. If things really get bad are we going to see people going on vaccine trips to other countries? I’ve already seen people traveling to Turkey to get healthcare screenings because it’s so much cheaper than here if you don’t have insurance. It’s truly a wild time we are living in.
Absolutely - I’m sure vaccine tourism will become a thing. I try to appeal to the humanity of my elected officials/encourage them to invest in public health measures, & when that fails bc they clearly don’t care about human suffering, I remind them that we will be faced with an economic & financial disaster if we experience outbreaks of vaccine preventable illness/death.
It makes me ill- this is such promising research for a cure for cancer. I struggle with so much of this news being so evil. Such terrible actions. We are all paying for this disgusting administration.
They don’t see what we see. Everyday I think surely this will move the needle for some in my family. Nope. I don’t think things will change until it impacts them directly. Right now they’re not impacted enough.
This drives me insane. We had a Christian nationalist school board takeover, and so many people chose not to care until their beloved librarians were cut and their bus routes were removed due to budget cuts. Then they were all up in arms about the school board. I found myself bitter that they didn’t care before because their own children weren’t impacted. And I don’t think they’ll stick around for the fight long term because their lives will go back to being virtually not impacted. They don’t seem to care about the greater good of our students and staff.
That's what I think about quite often. I read so much about people who are impacted, but often it doesn't seem like it impacts many (or enough) of the MAGA folks. When will they feel the squeeze enough to rethink their vote? Or will they be able to rationalize anything terrible that happens as not Trumps fault?
Took me a minute reading that to realize what the voice in the back of my head was trying to tell me. It does feels like another lifetime when she was governor. You know who I miss? Her ALS interpreter!
I’ve read that House bill HR1 called “For the People Act” would’ve ended partisan gerrymandering. It passed the House with only Democrats supporting it. The Senate version of the bill (S. 1) was introduced on March 17, 2021. However, a cloture motion to allow debate on the bill failed in the Senate with a 50-50 vote on June 22, 2021, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. This effectively blocked the bill from moving forward. Is it accurate this bill would’ve ended gerrymandering, and if so why did only the Democrats support it? Why are we not talking about this? It feels similar to the immigration bill that didn’t pass, so we now use force to harm people (when we could have gone upstream to solve immigration months ago).
Exactly. I don’t think both-sides-ing the issue of gerrymandering is helpful today. Most Blue states have an Independent Redistricting Committee to draw districts. Red states are continually gerrymandering to the extreme to where they end up in court repeatedly. Missing info from this piece: Texas was sued for its last redistricting in 2021 and it was already in court for it when Trump requested mid-decade redistricting. It absolutely promotes Republican extremism, just look who’s in the White House and all those who still support the fascist dictator.
Big sigh. Currently, studying on both cult behavior and radical extremism and how to break through the wall with people. The description of these women setting up their campaign strategy by likening themselves to Trump is gross/unoriginal but it’s also unfortunately a likely winning strategy. In my mind though, a lot of this is a cult of personality, Trump, not any set of ideals (other than anything liberal is dangerous and cheating is needed to stop the blue from erasing us). They change their values and commitments based on whatever is his whim. Some of his followers are starting to notice. But I don’t think it’s enough. It won’t be until there’s mass suffering for an extended amount of time (no one to blame for it) that people will wake up. It may be too late by then. It makes it hard to not feel resentful to everyone who voted for him, even though I know that isn’t fair.
Biiig sigh indeed. Thanks for this perspective, Joy. Do you have any recommendations for someone like myself who is looking for resources on successful tactics in piercing the cult bubble?
My hopeful prediction using recent history: by the end of Trump’s first term you had him not only lose an election to Biden even though the Biden campaign was the opposite of a personality cult, but then you had many Republicans distancing themselves from him by the 2022 midterms. After those midterms, when Trump seemed responsible for the Red Wave that never happened despite the unpopularity of the incumbent president’s party, he was becoming less and less relevant. DeSantis and Haley seemed poised to be deciding where the party was heading next. Yes, of course Trump ended up turning his political power around, I think mostly due to successfully branding his criminal prosecutions as persecution, but here’s why I have some slight optimism now. He doesn’t have the benefit of 4 years out of power for people to start to feel nostalgic for 2019 like they were feeling in November of last year. The backlash therefore could be a lot faster than what we saw in his first term. The fallout from the Epstein controversies have already cleaved off a lot of his new enthusiastic supporters into apathy. His Project 2025 policies - which he denied any knowledge of during the election - have become a much more extremist platform than what people voted for, and the pain of things like tariffs and mass deportations haven’t yet been felt by people who don’t pay attention to the news, but will soon. All those quotes about lowering costs in 2024 will be painfully easy to campaign on for Democrats once these prices start to rise for no reason other than Trump policies. This effect won’t happen on its own, but thanks to the hard work people are starting to do now, I’m cautiously hoping that we will be able to remind voters of who he is and what harm he’s done over the past decade, and then those quotes about being “Trump in high heels” (🤮) will be a liability. Maybe not in a race for governor of SC, but for anyone whose race is competitive.
And yes, I do realize now that “competitive” is going to describe a lot fewer races than it should, thanks to Republican corruption, but who knows… like a previous article mentioned, a gerrymander can turn into a dummymander especially in a blue wave… if you spread out all of your Republican voters into thinner margins, that could make more of your districts competitive than before. It just depends on the size of that Blue Wave. Let’s do everything we can to make that wave felt in every district.
In the flowchart of possibilities, I can see gerrymandering backfiring, but I live in NC and have seen it work for them more than hurt them. It may take time for it to backfire, which isn’t fast enough to stop the bleeding from the wound to our democracy. I’ve been watching approval ratings. I see independent voters turning away, but Trump/Republicans still largely approve of his performance in office. Books I’ve thought were helpful include - Kingdom of Rage by Elizabeth Neumann, — Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steven Hassan, and The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. I think these books offer advice and help rather than just observation/explanations. I’m seeing family members be radicalized and turning from long held values and beliefs. It’s alarming to say the least.
We have become a joke of a country. We have politicians cheating with gerrymandering and we have a lawyer running our health and human services agency. I mean, with a felon and rapist as president, no one should be surprised. Yet it’s a low I did not expect within the first 7 months.
With regard to gerrymandering, I have yet to hear/see anyone suggest an increase to the total number of House representatives as a way to--maybe not 'solve', but mitigate the impact of this practice.
When the Constitution was ratified in 1789, the H.O.R. consisted of 65 members. Based on a population of approximately 4M, that equates to 1-rep. per 60K people. After the following year's census in 1790, the House added 40 to their membership--bringing the average constituency per representative to a more-manageable 40K.
Today, we expect a mere 435 House members to represent 341M people. That's nearly 800K per representative. We're talking 20x the ratio of 1790. This also makes 'gerrymandering' easier and easier as our population increases--without a comparable increase in the size of the House.
I would not suggest that we return to the 1790 ratio, however, I do believe that a tripling number would not only make gerrymandering more difficult--it would also make the Electoral College more fair, as low-population states would be more equally represented in that realm as well rather than the relative 'over-representation' that they currently enjoy--which is inherently unfair.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece. I’ve seen many comparisons of the current situation in the US with other countries that have descended into authoritarianism. What are some differences? Where are the systems holding up democracy?
I have read a bit about Germany and how they’ve created measures to ensure their democracy remains intact. I’m not sure it gives me hope, but it’s at least a blueprint for what measures could work for us. If you want inspiration I can say that you should follow Beto O’Rourke. As a Texan, he’s really put in the work and in a recent video with Kat from Howdy Politics (@howdypolitics on instagram) he basically lays out a roadmap for us to begin recovery. But really, it all starts with supporting Texas Democrats breaking quorum to avoid passing these maps. The entire country is in trouble if Texas does this, Dems will lose the House and there will be no check on Trump’s power. If they get these maps, we will be diving head first into the deep end of authoritarianism.
The exact same thing is happening in MO. Trump has also demanded our Gov. Kehoe redistrict our state.
So when you call out the crisis, please say TX and MO. You will help us put pressure on our governor not to capitulate. We need your support!
We cannot break quorum like TX bc our quorum is 50%. The MO R supermajority has already taken away so many ways for us to fight back, and now they’ve come for our representation, which will affect the whole country. That’s why we need the entire country’s support in this fight.
I have been aware of the unfortunate situation in MO, especially the Republicans trying to overturn ballot initiatives passed by a majority of your voters, but it looks like MO could only offer one extra R seat, and Texas would easily add 5. I’m sure that’s why Trump asked our governor first. Let’s hope they’re unsuccessful in both redistricting attempts. The reason why Texas Dems need support is also financial: they will be fined $500/day for breaking quorum. They only make like $600/month. They also faced a bomb threat at a hotel that a group of them are staying at in Chicago yesterday. I can assure you Texas Dems are not only fighting for Texans, but for those in MO too.
Thank you so much for drawing attention to each of these matters.
In regards to the defunding of mRNA vaccines Beth Allison Barr wrote a moving essay here on Substack in which she recounts her recent visit to a ghost town out west. As they walked through the wooden tombstones, marking multiple children and their early deaths, her daughter asked, “what is diphtheria?”
Barr finishes the article with this, “The ghosts I see aren’t the children who died in 1866. The ghosts I see are the children who will die because we have chosen to fear the cure more than the devastating reality of the disease.”
I highly recommend everyone read it.
And finally, as a Tennesseean… I just have to say uuuuuuughhh. I love Tennessee. I was born and raised here, we have great BBQ, moving music, inspiring nature, important history to learn from, and lots of kind folks. But most of us aren’t represented by our reps… and I dearly hope a change will come.
When they say "worst of the worst" they must actually just mean "not white". Because the majority of the people they're detaining have no criminal record.
I was coming here to say the same thing, Jennifer. Sharon interviewed her when Nikki was running for president. I was surprised at that mistake in the article.
It’s so upsetting to know this is what a majority of the voters wanted. I wonder if this is exactly what they wanted or if they got more than they bargained for. Regardless we are swiftly becoming an authoritarian country.
I don’t think this precise situation is what the majority wanted. We know by polls and voter participation. There were less people who voted— signaling a disinterest in the choices available— and I’ve anecdotally read and heard various reason of discontent with the choices. Polls showed that most people voted on economy and immigration, both of which were hyperbolically addressed by Trump and vaguely touched on by Harris. But More in Common shows that people across the spectrum feel we still need immigrants and not this extremist approach. At the moment, I’m being optimistic that most people do not support all that he’s doing, especially to the extremes. But he’s not running again and he’s old, so I get the feeling he doesn’t much care what people think.
Some people voted against issues, as opposed to for issues. Or some combination of the two. I don't see people changing parties over this presidency, and it seems odd to me that it is expected. Many times, comments here seem to almost demand it.
@Amy Mc. You’re right. Some people chose specific issues. I was speaking in trends. In regards to people changing parties, elections are often times won by support from independent voters, who deliberately choose not to align to a party. I wouldn’t presume to demand anyone change parties, but as an independent myself, I often appeal to other independents who vote based on policy alignment of a candidate. I can’t speak to other commenters, but I definitely do expect voters to see that empirically we are in disastrously unprecedented state and something needs to be done differently.
I changed parties over this President, but it was many years ago. It can happen. What changed me? Working in medicine. Holding the hands of patients and families from every walk of life. Listening to their stories and for just a moment feeling what it was like to walk a day in their shoes. Seeing how policies negatively impacted them. Who was really helping vs who was hurting or making it harder.
I changed parties, too. I have found my new party actually more aligned with who I am socially. I was all about fiscal conservatism (I don’t think I really understood what that meant though). Now I see that we need to invest properly into our society for it to function wells for everyone. What the Republican Party is now is not anything resembling what it was a decade ago, when I left. They are spending so much money but on things that really won’t benefit society. That said, no one needs to change their party to vote for a different candidate.
I read somewhere that most swing voters are actually more extreme in their views. This info was from someone who polls swing voters for a living. I think most Americans don’t follow the political news at all and vote for “change”.
Thank you for sharing all of this info. I appreciate your research! I would like to suggest that there are millions of Americans who would like to opt out of vaccines. And prefer other avenues of preventative health. And a lot see moral issues with the mRNA. So it’s actually really good news to a lot of Americans for them to get rid of it. I just wanted to say that b/c I feel people forget that there are millions who do not want to ever get vaccines and that should be 100% ok for them to choose to say no. And not be ousted from society. Freedom of bodily choice and health choices should be top priority…… with that said, I suppose as long as people remain free to deny vaccines then I don’t see an issue with the continued research of mRNA and the use of it for those who feel it’s a good choice for them……
The last part of your comment is the point. Just because some people would choose not to get vaccinated or would choose to not use any kind of potential medical intervention using mRNA technology in the future does not mean that the whole country shouldn’t get the opportunity to do so. We don’t deny everyone certain medical interventions because it goes against a certain religion’s beliefs. We shouldn’t stop scientific and medical innovation based on the whims of a non-medical professional and the opinion of a small fraction of the country’s population.
I think there’s been a rise in people being afraid of vaccines. It used to be that the people choosing not to vaccinate were the fringes. It was usually due to religious doctrine, fear of medical establishment, or personal negativity experiences. When I was a kid in the nineties most schools required kids to get vaccinated and never really heard about people not getting their kids vaccinated.
It is worth mentioning also that in addition to leaving us poorly prepared for the next pandemic, cutting funding for mRNA vaccines will hugely impact their development in cancer treatments, which have shown great promise in both early and late-stage clinical trials. It is the exact opposite of “making America healthy again.”
RFKJr is my worst nightmare & a threat to public health. His actions will have consequences that last decades.
Yes, so many research projects for cancer vaccines, including a promising one for skin cancer.
I agree. The only solace I have is that the research can continue in other places. I don’t know if it can be at the same level as it was here, maybe it could be better (?). I also wonder if Americans would be able to have access to those treatments if and when they are ready. Other countries will become the scientific bastion that America once was regardless.
I’m glad other countries have leaders who care about scientific research 🫶🏻 if I could move to one of those countries, I would! 😉 but I can’t, so my only option is to stay and fight. My fear is that even if vaccines developed in other countries are accessible, they will only be accessible for the wealthy/will be cost prohibitive bc of our failed healthcare system & this admin’s lack of concern for public health. Without vaccine equity, lower income families and vulnerable populations will suffer the most.
Oh I know and am in the same boat. It seems tempting to think if we move it would be better. But I also love America. And have no pathway to leave! I have read that in the past the wealthy would send their daughters to Europe for abortions because they were not legal here. If things really get bad are we going to see people going on vaccine trips to other countries? I’ve already seen people traveling to Turkey to get healthcare screenings because it’s so much cheaper than here if you don’t have insurance. It’s truly a wild time we are living in.
Absolutely - I’m sure vaccine tourism will become a thing. I try to appeal to the humanity of my elected officials/encourage them to invest in public health measures, & when that fails bc they clearly don’t care about human suffering, I remind them that we will be faced with an economic & financial disaster if we experience outbreaks of vaccine preventable illness/death.
It makes me ill- this is such promising research for a cure for cancer. I struggle with so much of this news being so evil. Such terrible actions. We are all paying for this disgusting administration.
And the world has already watched how we reacted to the last pandemic and this just adds a new level of terror.
I could not agree more. We are often around poultry - the lack of a bird flu vaccine is truly so terrifying.
The deeper we get into this authoritarian regime, the more I feel like I will not be able to forgive the people who voted for it.
They don’t see what we see. Everyday I think surely this will move the needle for some in my family. Nope. I don’t think things will change until it impacts them directly. Right now they’re not impacted enough.
This drives me insane. We had a Christian nationalist school board takeover, and so many people chose not to care until their beloved librarians were cut and their bus routes were removed due to budget cuts. Then they were all up in arms about the school board. I found myself bitter that they didn’t care before because their own children weren’t impacted. And I don’t think they’ll stick around for the fight long term because their lives will go back to being virtually not impacted. They don’t seem to care about the greater good of our students and staff.
That's what I think about quite often. I read so much about people who are impacted, but often it doesn't seem like it impacts many (or enough) of the MAGA folks. When will they feel the squeeze enough to rethink their vote? Or will they be able to rationalize anything terrible that happens as not Trumps fault?
Me too, sadly. I’m almost more mad at them than who is in charge right now. It’s not a good feeling and I’m trying not to blame them.
Slight correction to the piece about Blackburn and Mace. South Carolina has had a female governor: Nikki Haley.
Came here to say just this!
Took me a minute reading that to realize what the voice in the back of my head was trying to tell me. It does feels like another lifetime when she was governor. You know who I miss? Her ALS interpreter!
I was going to say the same thing, Jenna.
I’ve read that House bill HR1 called “For the People Act” would’ve ended partisan gerrymandering. It passed the House with only Democrats supporting it. The Senate version of the bill (S. 1) was introduced on March 17, 2021. However, a cloture motion to allow debate on the bill failed in the Senate with a 50-50 vote on June 22, 2021, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. This effectively blocked the bill from moving forward. Is it accurate this bill would’ve ended gerrymandering, and if so why did only the Democrats support it? Why are we not talking about this? It feels similar to the immigration bill that didn’t pass, so we now use force to harm people (when we could have gone upstream to solve immigration months ago).
Exactly. I don’t think both-sides-ing the issue of gerrymandering is helpful today. Most Blue states have an Independent Redistricting Committee to draw districts. Red states are continually gerrymandering to the extreme to where they end up in court repeatedly. Missing info from this piece: Texas was sued for its last redistricting in 2021 and it was already in court for it when Trump requested mid-decade redistricting. It absolutely promotes Republican extremism, just look who’s in the White House and all those who still support the fascist dictator.
Big sigh. Currently, studying on both cult behavior and radical extremism and how to break through the wall with people. The description of these women setting up their campaign strategy by likening themselves to Trump is gross/unoriginal but it’s also unfortunately a likely winning strategy. In my mind though, a lot of this is a cult of personality, Trump, not any set of ideals (other than anything liberal is dangerous and cheating is needed to stop the blue from erasing us). They change their values and commitments based on whatever is his whim. Some of his followers are starting to notice. But I don’t think it’s enough. It won’t be until there’s mass suffering for an extended amount of time (no one to blame for it) that people will wake up. It may be too late by then. It makes it hard to not feel resentful to everyone who voted for him, even though I know that isn’t fair.
I don’t know if it will work for the women. Kari Lake tried that here in AZ and it did not work. It’s the misogyny maybe?
Biiig sigh indeed. Thanks for this perspective, Joy. Do you have any recommendations for someone like myself who is looking for resources on successful tactics in piercing the cult bubble?
My hopeful prediction using recent history: by the end of Trump’s first term you had him not only lose an election to Biden even though the Biden campaign was the opposite of a personality cult, but then you had many Republicans distancing themselves from him by the 2022 midterms. After those midterms, when Trump seemed responsible for the Red Wave that never happened despite the unpopularity of the incumbent president’s party, he was becoming less and less relevant. DeSantis and Haley seemed poised to be deciding where the party was heading next. Yes, of course Trump ended up turning his political power around, I think mostly due to successfully branding his criminal prosecutions as persecution, but here’s why I have some slight optimism now. He doesn’t have the benefit of 4 years out of power for people to start to feel nostalgic for 2019 like they were feeling in November of last year. The backlash therefore could be a lot faster than what we saw in his first term. The fallout from the Epstein controversies have already cleaved off a lot of his new enthusiastic supporters into apathy. His Project 2025 policies - which he denied any knowledge of during the election - have become a much more extremist platform than what people voted for, and the pain of things like tariffs and mass deportations haven’t yet been felt by people who don’t pay attention to the news, but will soon. All those quotes about lowering costs in 2024 will be painfully easy to campaign on for Democrats once these prices start to rise for no reason other than Trump policies. This effect won’t happen on its own, but thanks to the hard work people are starting to do now, I’m cautiously hoping that we will be able to remind voters of who he is and what harm he’s done over the past decade, and then those quotes about being “Trump in high heels” (🤮) will be a liability. Maybe not in a race for governor of SC, but for anyone whose race is competitive.
And yes, I do realize now that “competitive” is going to describe a lot fewer races than it should, thanks to Republican corruption, but who knows… like a previous article mentioned, a gerrymander can turn into a dummymander especially in a blue wave… if you spread out all of your Republican voters into thinner margins, that could make more of your districts competitive than before. It just depends on the size of that Blue Wave. Let’s do everything we can to make that wave felt in every district.
In the flowchart of possibilities, I can see gerrymandering backfiring, but I live in NC and have seen it work for them more than hurt them. It may take time for it to backfire, which isn’t fast enough to stop the bleeding from the wound to our democracy. I’ve been watching approval ratings. I see independent voters turning away, but Trump/Republicans still largely approve of his performance in office. Books I’ve thought were helpful include - Kingdom of Rage by Elizabeth Neumann, — Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steven Hassan, and The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. I think these books offer advice and help rather than just observation/explanations. I’m seeing family members be radicalized and turning from long held values and beliefs. It’s alarming to say the least.
I’m almost 70 years old, and although I refuse to stop fighting the insanity, I’m weary.
Nancy, I am 70. I feel the same way. I worry for the future for my grandchildren and others grandchildren.
Me too Nancy. So worried about how much time it will take to undo this madness.
We have become a joke of a country. We have politicians cheating with gerrymandering and we have a lawyer running our health and human services agency. I mean, with a felon and rapist as president, no one should be surprised. Yet it’s a low I did not expect within the first 7 months.
With regard to gerrymandering, I have yet to hear/see anyone suggest an increase to the total number of House representatives as a way to--maybe not 'solve', but mitigate the impact of this practice.
When the Constitution was ratified in 1789, the H.O.R. consisted of 65 members. Based on a population of approximately 4M, that equates to 1-rep. per 60K people. After the following year's census in 1790, the House added 40 to their membership--bringing the average constituency per representative to a more-manageable 40K.
Today, we expect a mere 435 House members to represent 341M people. That's nearly 800K per representative. We're talking 20x the ratio of 1790. This also makes 'gerrymandering' easier and easier as our population increases--without a comparable increase in the size of the House.
I would not suggest that we return to the 1790 ratio, however, I do believe that a tripling number would not only make gerrymandering more difficult--it would also make the Electoral College more fair, as low-population states would be more equally represented in that realm as well rather than the relative 'over-representation' that they currently enjoy--which is inherently unfair.
Thank you for this thoughtful piece. I’ve seen many comparisons of the current situation in the US with other countries that have descended into authoritarianism. What are some differences? Where are the systems holding up democracy?
I have read a bit about Germany and how they’ve created measures to ensure their democracy remains intact. I’m not sure it gives me hope, but it’s at least a blueprint for what measures could work for us. If you want inspiration I can say that you should follow Beto O’Rourke. As a Texan, he’s really put in the work and in a recent video with Kat from Howdy Politics (@howdypolitics on instagram) he basically lays out a roadmap for us to begin recovery. But really, it all starts with supporting Texas Democrats breaking quorum to avoid passing these maps. The entire country is in trouble if Texas does this, Dems will lose the House and there will be no check on Trump’s power. If they get these maps, we will be diving head first into the deep end of authoritarianism.
Thank you, Maria.
May I add MO?
The exact same thing is happening in MO. Trump has also demanded our Gov. Kehoe redistrict our state.
So when you call out the crisis, please say TX and MO. You will help us put pressure on our governor not to capitulate. We need your support!
We cannot break quorum like TX bc our quorum is 50%. The MO R supermajority has already taken away so many ways for us to fight back, and now they’ve come for our representation, which will affect the whole country. That’s why we need the entire country’s support in this fight.
I have been aware of the unfortunate situation in MO, especially the Republicans trying to overturn ballot initiatives passed by a majority of your voters, but it looks like MO could only offer one extra R seat, and Texas would easily add 5. I’m sure that’s why Trump asked our governor first. Let’s hope they’re unsuccessful in both redistricting attempts. The reason why Texas Dems need support is also financial: they will be fined $500/day for breaking quorum. They only make like $600/month. They also faced a bomb threat at a hotel that a group of them are staying at in Chicago yesterday. I can assure you Texas Dems are not only fighting for Texans, but for those in MO too.
Maria, yes! And we appreciate it.
We only have 2 D seats. If we lose one, we lose half of what little we have.
Beto was here this week, and I went to see him. I also contributed to raise money for the TX reps by texting FIGHT to 20377.
Tori Jo, the systems holding up democracy are complicit.
Look at Margaux’s comment about House bill HR1 “For the People Act” only being supported by D’s and defeated by R’s.
Look at the Supreme Court granting presidential immunity.
The systems are there, but they are both holding down democracy, and being defied by the Trump administration.
It is now up to us. We are the system that must hold up democracy.
But my arms are getting tired 😉
Tori Jo, that’s why it takes all of us together.
Thank you so much for drawing attention to each of these matters.
In regards to the defunding of mRNA vaccines Beth Allison Barr wrote a moving essay here on Substack in which she recounts her recent visit to a ghost town out west. As they walked through the wooden tombstones, marking multiple children and their early deaths, her daughter asked, “what is diphtheria?”
Barr finishes the article with this, “The ghosts I see aren’t the children who died in 1866. The ghosts I see are the children who will die because we have chosen to fear the cure more than the devastating reality of the disease.”
I highly recommend everyone read it.
And finally, as a Tennesseean… I just have to say uuuuuuughhh. I love Tennessee. I was born and raised here, we have great BBQ, moving music, inspiring nature, important history to learn from, and lots of kind folks. But most of us aren’t represented by our reps… and I dearly hope a change will come.
When they say "worst of the worst" they must actually just mean "not white". Because the majority of the people they're detaining have no criminal record.
South Carolina has certainly had a female governor before: Nikki Haley!
I was coming here to say the same thing, Jennifer. Sharon interviewed her when Nikki was running for president. I was surprised at that mistake in the article.
Can you make this public??
This is a public post 🙂
It’s so upsetting to know this is what a majority of the voters wanted. I wonder if this is exactly what they wanted or if they got more than they bargained for. Regardless we are swiftly becoming an authoritarian country.
I don’t think this precise situation is what the majority wanted. We know by polls and voter participation. There were less people who voted— signaling a disinterest in the choices available— and I’ve anecdotally read and heard various reason of discontent with the choices. Polls showed that most people voted on economy and immigration, both of which were hyperbolically addressed by Trump and vaguely touched on by Harris. But More in Common shows that people across the spectrum feel we still need immigrants and not this extremist approach. At the moment, I’m being optimistic that most people do not support all that he’s doing, especially to the extremes. But he’s not running again and he’s old, so I get the feeling he doesn’t much care what people think.
Some people voted against issues, as opposed to for issues. Or some combination of the two. I don't see people changing parties over this presidency, and it seems odd to me that it is expected. Many times, comments here seem to almost demand it.
@Amy Mc. You’re right. Some people chose specific issues. I was speaking in trends. In regards to people changing parties, elections are often times won by support from independent voters, who deliberately choose not to align to a party. I wouldn’t presume to demand anyone change parties, but as an independent myself, I often appeal to other independents who vote based on policy alignment of a candidate. I can’t speak to other commenters, but I definitely do expect voters to see that empirically we are in disastrously unprecedented state and something needs to be done differently.
I changed parties over this President, but it was many years ago. It can happen. What changed me? Working in medicine. Holding the hands of patients and families from every walk of life. Listening to their stories and for just a moment feeling what it was like to walk a day in their shoes. Seeing how policies negatively impacted them. Who was really helping vs who was hurting or making it harder.
I changed parties, too. I have found my new party actually more aligned with who I am socially. I was all about fiscal conservatism (I don’t think I really understood what that meant though). Now I see that we need to invest properly into our society for it to function wells for everyone. What the Republican Party is now is not anything resembling what it was a decade ago, when I left. They are spending so much money but on things that really won’t benefit society. That said, no one needs to change their party to vote for a different candidate.
I read somewhere that most swing voters are actually more extreme in their views. This info was from someone who polls swing voters for a living. I think most Americans don’t follow the political news at all and vote for “change”.
Thank you for sharing all of this info. I appreciate your research! I would like to suggest that there are millions of Americans who would like to opt out of vaccines. And prefer other avenues of preventative health. And a lot see moral issues with the mRNA. So it’s actually really good news to a lot of Americans for them to get rid of it. I just wanted to say that b/c I feel people forget that there are millions who do not want to ever get vaccines and that should be 100% ok for them to choose to say no. And not be ousted from society. Freedom of bodily choice and health choices should be top priority…… with that said, I suppose as long as people remain free to deny vaccines then I don’t see an issue with the continued research of mRNA and the use of it for those who feel it’s a good choice for them……
The last part of your comment is the point. Just because some people would choose not to get vaccinated or would choose to not use any kind of potential medical intervention using mRNA technology in the future does not mean that the whole country shouldn’t get the opportunity to do so. We don’t deny everyone certain medical interventions because it goes against a certain religion’s beliefs. We shouldn’t stop scientific and medical innovation based on the whims of a non-medical professional and the opinion of a small fraction of the country’s population.
I think there’s been a rise in people being afraid of vaccines. It used to be that the people choosing not to vaccinate were the fringes. It was usually due to religious doctrine, fear of medical establishment, or personal negativity experiences. When I was a kid in the nineties most schools required kids to get vaccinated and never really heard about people not getting their kids vaccinated.