Then we move on to a talk about why Donald Trump hasn’t been indicted, considering all we now know about his presidency, and his attempts to overthrow our government.

And finally, we talk about the breaking news that Dominion, the voting machine manufacturer, has filed three $1.6 billion lawsuits against Newsmax, OAN and the former CEO of Overstock.com.

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In addition to his work on “Hunger Games,” Billy also wrote, directed, and executive-produced Showtime’s “The Comey Rule,” which had the biggest debut of any limited series in that network’s history. Ray’s films as writer, co-writer, or writer-director include “Richard Jewell,” “Shattered Glass,” and “Breach.” And Billy has a new mini-series coming out next year on Showtime about the January 6th attack on the US Capitol.

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Below is the Zoom version of the interview, and below that you can listen to the audio-only version as well.

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Carville talks about why Democrats aren’t as good as Republicans at messaging, how “woke” messaging is hurting us at the polls, why Democrats didn’t do better in the 2020 congressional elections, whether we should give Joe Manchin a harder time for opposing the elimination of the filibuster, how Donald Trump managed to win, and whether we should even care about Trump voters as we look to the future.

James is a fun, frank and fascinating guy to interview. I think you’ll really enjoy this chat, and learn something too.

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This is the Zoom video version of the interview, and below that is the audio-only podcast version:

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This isn’t just about the GOP being upset that Cheney was mean to Trump. When you look at this move, alongside the increased noise we’re hearing from Republicans defending the Insurrection, the Jim Crow 2.0 laws that GOP is passing in the states, and the fact that Republicans are currently favored to win the House back in 2022, it’s clear that Republicans are preparing to steal the 2022 congressional and 2024 presidential elections, and they won’t be afraid to use violence if they have to. It ain’t good news, but it’s important that we be ready for what’s coming.

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Cheney, you’ll recall, was kicked out of the #3 House leadership post because she refuses to falsely claim that Trump won the election.

At the same time, the House held a hearing this morning about the January 6th Insurrection, and it included Trump’s acting secretary of defense Christopher Miller, who refused to send help for a good couple of hours after the rioters had taken control of the US Capitol building, with Vice President Pence and practically every member of Congress on their own, barricaded inside.

At one point, Miller claimed that Trump’s speech on January 6th played no role in inciting the crowd. Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch angrily pointed out that Miller’s own written testimony for the hearing said that Trump’s speech did have an impact on the crowd. Oops. Miller also blamed “the media” for his failure to lift a finger to help stop the attempted violent overthrow of our government.

Jim Jordan, the Republican congressman from Ohio who stands accused of ignoring the ongoing sexual assault of college wrestlers under his purview while he was the coach at Ohio State in the 1990s, claimed that there was nothing wrong with Republican House members opposing certification of the election in the immediate aftermath of the attempted coup — a coup attempt that was based on opposition to such certification.

And a third GOP House member, I didn’t catch his name, claimed that the real villains that day were EVERYONE BUT the Trump supporters who violently took over the US Capitol building. As he sees it, “it was the Trump supporters who lost their lives” that day, so they were the good guys.

Another piece of related news that I stumbled on yesterday, and you may not have heard: 120 retired generals and admirals (Trump supporters, of course) wrote an open letter not only making excuses for the Insurrection, but justifying another. Think “Swift Boat,” but now using the military to justify the violent overthrow of our democracy. It doesn’t get any more dangerous than that.

We are dealing with an opposition party that is openly-fascist, and hostile to democracy. They are not only rewriting the history of the last Insurrection, they are laying the groundwork for the next, should their growing legislative efforts in the states fails to steal future elections via a corrupt ballot box.

2024 looks particularly perilous. Not only will we have to deal with a slew of Republican-passed state laws limiting voting rights, but Republicans are also shifting the responsibility for certifying the election from state secretaries of state to state legislatures. They learned their lesson in Georgia in 2020, when the local Republican secretary of state refused Lindsey Graham’s and Donald Trump’s entreaties for him to steal the election for Trump. In the future, a Republican state legislature can simply overrule the will of the voters, and certify the Republican the victor even if the GOP candidate clearly didn’t win.

There’s a second big problem. As I’ve written before, if there’s a conflict while certifying the electoral votes in Congress, the election could be thrown to the US House. And come 2022, the House may be run by Republicans. Today’s House GOP wouldn’t bat an eye at overruling the will of the American people in the 2024 presidential election. They were willing to overrule it in 2020, and they’re now defending the violent Insurrection. Why wouldn’t they support a simple vote to steal the presidency? They would.

READ MORE —> —> Read the rest of this story here.

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Let me take you back to 2009. In the early months of the Obama administration, I raised quite a fuss about President Obama slow-walking his gay rights promises, on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in particular.

The problem wasn’t that Obama was bad on the issues — he was great! The problem was that a lot of us (rightly, in hindsight) thought Democrats would lose the House in 2010, and thus any chance to enact Obama’s legislative agenda. And we did lose the House.

But fortunately for us, after some considerable pressure, President Obama worked with Congress in 2010 to lift the ban on gays serving in the military, all before the House changed hands.

Fast forward to 2021.

So far, so good for Biden. The economy is soaring, the virus is increasingly at bay. But most of Biden’s biggest, sexiest legislative initiatives, are still on the horizon: e.g., infrastructure, expanding Obamacare, voting rights, climate change, and replacing new Supreme Court justices (which requires Senate confirmation.

And there is real concern that we could lose the House in 2022, or even the Senate. And that won’t just kill Biden’s legislative agenda, but it also affects Biden’s ability to appoint any nominees at all.

We interviewed Democratic strategist Paul Begala yesterday on our podcast. Paul is brilliant, and a great guy — you always learn something talking to him. We get into this issue in our talk. I highly recommend you check out the podcast.

During our chat, Paul said he thinks Biden has until August to get the big legislative stuff done, because after August people start focusing on next year’s mid-term election, and legislating grinds to a halt as partisan tempers flare, and individual members start worrying about their (re)elections.

READ MORE —> —> Read the rest of this story over at my newsletter, thanks.

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Why Democrats didn’t do better in the 2020 elections, both presidential and congressional?

How Biden won the Democratic primary?

Biden’s great new polls, and whether they help Democrats in 2022.

Hillary Clinton’s “responsibility gene” and whether it handicaps Democrats.

What role the Insurrection should play in our messaging?

Is the GOP civil war a bigger threat to them or us?

How do we stop Republicans from stealing the presidency in 2024?

How do we deal with Joe Manchin?

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Joe thinks it IS too late for both Cheney and the party, and that a third party will be formed of centrists. But in the meantime, we’ll have an increasingly neo-fascist Republican party to deal with, and they may just take back the House in 2022, and the White House in 2024.

Joe also calls out the other 9 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump — where they have been the last two weeks when Cheney needed their support? They’ve been silent.

That’s the heavy and heady stuff we discuss in today’s episode. It was really interesting, hope you enjoy.

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On January 7, 2021, Facebook banned Trump “indefinitely” after he used the social media platform to cheer on the deadly Insurrection against the US Capitol building the day before. Facebook has an Oversight Board that can review such decisions, and later in January, Facebook asked the board to review Trump’s indefinite suspension.

The Oversight Board issued its ruling this morning, and it’s complicated, but also justly nuanced. Overall, the Board says that action against Trump was merited, but that the specific action Facebook took, to suspend Trump “indefinitely” — meaning, maybe for a short while, maybe forever — is too vague. Facebook either needs to ban Trump permanently, or suspend his account for a set and publicly-declared period of time (and then, renew the suspension if they believe he will continue the offending behavior that got him suspended in the first place).

Facebook was likely hoping the Board would make a final decision for them, so that Mark Zuckerberg et. al., could deflect any blame, from left or right, back to the Board members. Alas, that didn’t happen.

The Board ruled that the ban — suspension, really — stays in place for now, and Facebook has six months to review its decision, and either make it a temporary suspension that lifts or is renewed after a time certain, or a permanent ban. The Board also said that if Facebook does not reach a decision within six months, the ban will become permanent on its own (kind of like a pocket veto in reverse).

In addition to its decision, Facebook’s Oversight Board posted a history of what happened on January 6th, and it’s clear the Board is none-too-thrilled with what Trump did. This language should make it harder for Facebook to simply let Trump back on.

BEGIN QUOTE

Elections are a crucial part of democracy. On January 6, 2021, during the counting of the 2020 electoral votes, a mob forcibly entered the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. This violence threatened the constitutional process. Five people died and many more were injured during the violence. During these events, then-President Donald Trump posted two pieces of content.

At 4:21 pm Eastern Standard Time, as the riot continued, Mr. Trump posted a video on Facebook and Instagram:

I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt. It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace.

At 5:41 pm Eastern Standard Time, Facebook removed this post for violating its Community Standard on Dangerous Individuals and Organizations.

At 6:07 pm Eastern Standard Time, as police were securing the Capitol, Mr. Trump posted a written statement on Facebook:

These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love in peace. Remember this day forever!

At 6:15 pm Eastern Standard Time, Facebook removed this post for violating its Community Standard on Dangerous Individuals and Organizations. It also blocked Mr. Trump from posting on Facebook or Instagram for 24 hours.

On January 7, after further reviewing Mr. Trump’s posts, his recent communications off Facebook, and additional information about the severity of the violence at the Capitol, Facebook extended the block “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

On January 7, after further reviewing Mr. Trump’s posts, his recent communications off Facebook, and additional information about the severity of the violence at the Capitol, Facebook extended the block “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

END QUOTE

The timeline reminds us that Trump posted his comments, egging the violent insurrectionists on, late in the day, after everyone was aware of how violent the day had become. From 4pm to 6pm ET, the Insurrection had already been going on for three to five hours. Here are some additional time markers, courtesy of Bill Moyers, so that you can fully appreciate just how bad Trump’s Facebook posts were in the context of the day’s events. These were not comments Trump made during the fog of war, when no one even realized how bad the assault on the Capitol really was. They’re things he said after everyone knew lives were at risk.

12:30 pm: Josh Hawley gives soon-to-be rioters the thumbs up.

1 pm: Trump supporters begin to storm the police barricades outside the US Capitol building.

1:11 pm: Trump urges his supporters to march to the Capitol.

1:26 pm: The US Capitol Police order the evacuation of the Capitol.

1:30 pm: Insurrectionists overrun the police barricades and make their way up the Capitol steps.

1:49 pm: The Capitol Police Chief asks the National Guard for help.

At this point, not only is the Insurrection all over television, but the fact that the National Guard has been asked to intervene means surely someone thought to notify the President of this fact — after all, his own Vice President was there! Trump knew exactly how dire the situation was over two hours before his first Facebook post egging the rioters on.

1:59 pm: Rioters have reached the Capitol doors, and are breaking windows in an attempt to enter.

2:11 pm: Still more than two hours BEFORE Trump’s Facebook posts, the US Capitol building is breached by rioters.

2:13 pm: VP Pence is rushed off the US Senate floor. Trump was absolutely informed of this fact.

2:20pm: Members of Congress are trapped, pleading for help by phone to anyone in Washington who will listen. We are still two hours away from Trump publicly urging the rioters on.

2:24pm: Knowing his Vice President is under siege from a violent mob threatening to lynch him, Trump publicly criticizes Pence on Twitter:

“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”

2:28pm: Rioters storm Pelosi’s office.

2:52pm: SWAT teams enter the Capitol building.

4:17pm: An hour and 25 minutes later, Trump posts his Facebook video lauding and defending the rioters.

It’s bad enough what Trump did to aid and abet the violent insurrection on Facebook, but when you look at the timeline of events that day, Trump’s actions are far worse in context. After the entire country had already spent three hours in shock at the unfolding violence, Trump weighed in, using Facebook to support the terrorist attack on our government.

It doesn’t get any worse than that.

READ MORE —> Read the rest of my story over at CyberDisobedience.

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The survey found that 67% of Democrats have already received at least one vaccine dose, compared to only 36% of Republicans.

And nearly half of Republicans say they don’t ever plan on getting vaccinated.

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Below, Benjy Renton takes a look at county-by-county Covid-vaccine hesitancy across the country. The darker the blue, the more hesitant the citizenry. It’s easy to see that hesitancy is greatest in Republican strongholds in the south and the near northwest.

Charles Gaba then took this data and directly compared it to his own county data looking at hesitancy and voting patterns. The result? The most anti-vaccine counties are also the most pro-Trump:

And, unsurprisingly, the least hesitant counties voted for Biden:

The question arises: Why is there such a disparity between Democrats and Republicans? And should we even care?

Let’s start with the latter. While I consider myself a good person, it’s not lost on me that my political enemy seems intent on killing itself, or at least its political base. But since we’re the good guys, we don’t actually want to see our political opponents die. GOP leaders, however, don’t seem to share our concern. It’s weird. It’s simple electoral math. You want your voters to survive until the next election. But with Republican leaders, not so much.

Putting aside our magnanimity, there’s a practical reason that we should care about Republican vaccine hesitancy: It’s going to be extremely difficult to reach herd immunity without the GOP on board. The longer Covid continues, the greater the chance that the virus not only infects and harms the unvaccinated, but the unvaccinated Americans provide a perfect petri dish for new Covid variants to arise and spread, putting the rest of us at risk of a new strain less susceptible to existing vaccines.

Now to the question of what is going on in the mind of Republican voters….

READ MORE —> —> You can read the rest of this story here, thanks.

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