Democrats

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Can a socialist ex-marine fill Joe Manchin’s seat in West Virginia?

      by

      To launch his campaign for US Senate, Zach Shrewsbury chose the site of one of America’s most famous hangings.Charles Town, West Virginia, was where state authorities executed the abolitionist John Brown after he led an attack on a federal armory a few miles down the road in Harpers Ferry, a pivotal moment in the lead-up to the civil war. One hundred and sixty four years later, Shrewsbury – who decided against attempting to get a permit for the event at the site of the insurrection, which is now a national park – stood on the courthouse grounds where Brown’s hanging took place to announce that he would be the only “real Democrat” running to represent West Virginia in the Senate next year.“We need leaders that are cut from the working-class cloth. We need representation that will go toe to toe with corporate parasites and their bought politicians. We need a leader who will not waver in the face of these powers that keep the boot on our neck,” Shrewsbury said to applause from the small group of supporters gathered behind him.“So, as John Brown said, ‘These men are all talk. What we need is action.’ I’m taking action right now to stand up to these bought bureaucrats.”The remarks were a swipe at Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator who for the past 13 years had managed to represent what has become one of the most Republican states in the nation. In recent years he has used his power as a swing vote in Congress to stop several of Joe Biden’s legislative priorities – attracting the ire of progressives and prompting Shrewsbury to mount a primary challenge.A few weeks after Shrewsbury began campaigning, he was showing a friend around an abandoned mining town when his phone rang with news: Manchin had decided not to seek re-election, leaving Shrewsbury as the only Democrat in the race.By all indications, Shrewsbury, a 32-year-old Marine Corps veteran and community organizer, faces a difficult, if not impossible, road to victory. West Virginia gave Donald Trump his second-biggest margin of support of any state in the nation three years ago, and Manchin is the last Democrat holding a statewide office. Political analysts do not expect voters to elect the Democratic candidate – whoever that turns out to be – and predict Manchin will be replaced by either Governor Jim Justice or Congressman Alex Mooney, the two leading Republicans in the Senate race.Shrewsbury’s message to them is: not so fast.“People were really sold on the fact that Joe Manchin could be the only Democrat that could win in West Virginia, and I very much disagree,” Shrewsbury told the Guardian a week after the senator made his announcement.Also a former governor, Manchin is considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, and when the party took the majority by a single vote in the chamber in 2021, Manchin stopped the Biden administration from passing policies that would have made permanent a program to reduce child poverty, and more forcefully fight climate change.Sitting in a conference room at the Fayette county Democratic party’s headquarters in Oak Hill, where visitors pass a lobby displaying an American flag, a pride flag, and a stack of Narcan, the opioid-overdose reversal medication, Shrewsbury outlined his plans to run a campaign distinctly to the left of Manchin’s policies – and one he believes can win.“People want someone who’s genuine. They don’t want a politician. They want someone who actually looks like them. I mean, hell, you can’t get much more West Virginia than this,” said Shrewsbury, fond of wearing flannel shirts and hunting caps.Among his priorities are creating universal healthcare and childcare programs, and reducing the role of incarceration in fighting the opioid epidemic ravaging West Virginia.“Everyone here just is thankful for the scraps or crumbs that we get from whoever we elect. And that’s who we keep electing – whoever can keep the little crumbs coming along. I’m trying to say there is a better way,” Shrewsbury said.He also doesn’t shy away from identifying as a socialist, arguing the term may be less politically damaging than it appears – West Virginia Democrats voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary, and the independent senator, he argues, is popular even with the state’s Republicans.“If caring about working-class people, caring about people having bodily autonomy, water rights, workers’ rights, makes you a socialist, then call me whatever you want. Doesn’t bother me,” Shrewsbury said.Raised on a farm by a Republican family in rural Monroe county, Shrewsbury dropped out of college after a semester and joined the marines. In the years that followed, he guarded the perimeter at the US base in Guantánamo Bay, and was deployed to Japan, Malaysia and South Korea before eventually moving to Seattle and then returning to West Virginia, where he realized how bereft his home state was of the prosperity he saw elsewhere in the country and overseas.“Why can’t my home be as economically profitable as the rest?” Shrewsbury recalls thinking. “It woke me up in the Marine Corps a little bit, and once I got back home, I really just kind of put the nail in the coffin there for what I was gonna be for work. I want to help people.”He turned to community organizing, seeing it as a way to help a state with the fourth-highest poverty rate in the nation, which is struggling to transition from the declining coal and logging industries that have historically undergirded its economy.“I know Zach’s a long shot. It’s like David against three Goliaths,” said Pam Garrison, a fellow community organizer. “Zach is able to be hardline when he needs to be. I’ve seen him being forceful and steadfast in his principles and what things are. And then I’ve seen the compassionate and empathy side of Zach too, And that’s what makes a good politician.”Since 2020, Shrewsbury has helped towns dig out from flooding, door-knocked in the narrow Appalachian valleys – known as hollers – to find out what residents were looking for from the state legislature, and talked to mayors and city councils about the opportunities presented by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which incentivizes consumer usage of renewable energy, including home solar panels.Though Manchin played a key role in authoring the IRA, he also nixed the expanded child tax credit, which has been credited with cutting the child poverty rate by half in 2021, the sole year it was in effect. Shrewsbury was outraged by reports that later emerged of the senator privately expressing worries that people would use the program’s money to buy drugs, and jumped into the race.Despite the state’s conservative leanings, Sam Workman, the director of the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs at West Virginia University, believed Manchin may have had a path to victory had he decided to run. But he said the same cannot be said for Shrewsbury or any other Democrat.“It’s kind of a fall-on-your-sword moment,” Workman said. “Politics is like sports: you should never say never, but I do not see the Democrats winning the Senate seat, no matter who runs.”Shrewsbury may be alone in the Democratic primary at the moment, but he expects other candidates to enter. Since launching his campaign, he has not heard from the state Democratic party, nor the national party’s senate campaign arm.“I’m not exactly what the party wants, because I speak my mind. You know, I’m not going to toe the party line,” he said. “I wish the party would get back in more touch with the workers. But like I said, I have the message that many people aren’t saying.” More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      He’s correctly predicting the US’s most critical elections. He’s still in college

      by

      In the days after Democrats won control of Virginia’s state legislature, Charles “Chaz” Nuttycombe was focused on the results in house of delegates districts 41 and 82, both of which you’ve probably never heard of.Neither of the competitive races would determine which party controlled the Virginia legislature, but it was one of a handful where votes were still being counted and the results too close to call. In the lead-up to election day, Nuttycombe, a 24-year-old senior at Virginia Tech, had predicted that the Republican candidates would win both. But his final forecast in Virginia gave Democrats a 61% chance of winning control of the house of delegates and a 71% chance of holding control in the state senate.When he spoke with the Guardian the day after the election, he had already correctly predicted 100% of the results in every other Virginia state legislative race – 98 other house of delegates seats and 40 in the state senate. Eventually, both races were called for Nuttycombe, giving him a perfect forecast.It was an astonishing feat that underscored the niche Nuttycombe has carved out predicting races at the state legislative level.Nuttycombe runs the forecasting site cnalysis.com, and these little-known legislative races are his expertise. While the science of forecasting presidential, gubernatorial, congressional and senatorial races has exploded in recent years, Nuttycombe is one of the only forecasters focused on the 7,383 state legislative districts across the country.His focus underscores the rising awareness of the importance of state legislatures in US politics. Long overlooked by parties and reporters, there has been a much greater understanding of the consequential power state legislatures have to set policies on issues like abortion, gun rights, education and voting. Just a handful of races in a single chamber can determine which party has control.“Your state legislature is going to affect your day-to-day life a lot more than Congress is,” Nuttycombe said. “State legislative elections are a million times more important than congressional elections, but I’m obviously biased on that front.”The effort can be much more difficult than forecasting a congressional race. Many of the candidates who run for the seats have no national profile. Polling, if it exists at all, is sparse. The site’s GIS team also breaks down data to figure out how state legislative districts voted in prior elections. Tracking down data from states can be a nightmare, since every state formats their information differently and some charge for it (the site also relies on precinct-level election data collected by the non-profit Voting and Election Science Team at the University of Florida).“It’s a monster endeavor to cover legislative races in multiple states, so most analysts don’t even attempt it,” said Dave Wasserman, a well-respected forecaster and election analyst at the Cook Political Report. “Big credit to Chaz Nuttycombe for having his finger on the pulse of every race in Virginia on Tuesday. He’s a rising star in our field.”Nuttycombe’s interest in state legislatures started in 2017, when he was starting his senior year in high school. He saw both professionals and amateurs posting their predictions on Twitter. He began offering his own, just for fun, and began doing some volunteer work with Decision Desk HQ, an online election forecasting website.He immediately caught the attention of J Miles Coleman, who was working for the site and is now a forecaster for Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia. Going into the election that year, Republicans held a 66-34 advantage in the house of delegates, and the conventional wisdom was that Democrats could pick up 10 or so seats on a good night. Nuttycombe was much more bullish on their prospects and thought they had a chance to get a majority, and he was right. Republicans came away from the election with a 51-49 majority in the legislature, only winning the 51st seat after a tied race was determined by picking the winner from a hat.“He must have been like 17 or 18. I tell you, he was into every race, he knew all the candidates. And just had this kind of hustle to him that was hard to find,” Coleman said. “Basically Chaz will spend his weekend going through campaign finance reports for legislative races. I don’t know anyone else who does that to that extent.”Nuttycombe decided to turn his predictions into a full-blown website in 2019. He reached out to other people who were analyzing nitty-gritty election data to forecast results in an online community called #electiontwitter.“There are some of us sickos who stay up all night talking about poll numbers or precincts. I think that’s probably been good for him too,” Coleman said.In 2021, at a chance hangout watching fireworks on the Fourth of July, he met Aidan Howard, then a rising junior studying geographic systems at Virginia Tech. Afterwards, Nuttycombe asked him if he would be interested in joining the site and working on political maps though Howard had no political experience. He sent Nuttycombe samples of his work – fire prevention and flood maps – and joined the site.Some of the people on the cnalysis team – there are nine in total – have never met in person. They coordinate over Twitter, Slack and Discord. Nuttycombe relies on donations, Substack subscriptions, a small amount of ad revenue and some work for clients to pay a few a modest hourly wage (he declined to share the hourly rate, but said it was above the minimum wage anywhere in the country).Another member of the cnalysis team – someone who goes by the X handle @cinyc9 – helped Nuttycombe understand how to break down electoral data to the most granular level possible, and then reallocate it to current precinct boundaries.“Work-wise it’s cool that I assisted in it. But to me its a bigger win on a personal level because Charles is a good friend and knowing that I got to help him do something that’s been his dream for years … it means a lot to me knowing that I helped my friend achieve something he really wanted to achieve,” said Howard, who is now the site’s GIS technician.One of the people Nuttycombe got in touch with was Jack Kersting, then a college student at the University of Alabama, who had been making his own maps focused on congressional, presidential and Senate maps.Kersting, 22, is now the site’s chief oddsmaker, and builds the model that forecasts the chances of legislative control in each chamber. This year he built a live model for the forecast that ingested results from Virginia’s department of elections and provided real-time updates on election odds. He spent 50 to 60 hours on it over the last month.“This was the first thing I’ve ever done like this. It was very satisfying in the end,” said Kersting, who is now getting a masters in finance.Nuttycombe bases his predictions on a combination of previous election results in a district, campaign finance reports and internal campaign and party data he gets “through the grapevine”. He uses that information to assign each race a rating – toss-up, tilt, lean, likely, very likely and solid. The team at cnalysis feeds that information into a model that does 35,000 simulated election outcomes to predict a chamber’s outcome.There have been learning moments since he began forecasting. In 2018, he overestimated Democrats in rural areas and underestimated them in the suburbs, he wrote in a blogpost on Tuesday titled “The 2023 Virginia election was easy to predict.” In 2020, he said he paid too much attention to campaign finance data and polling.In 2022, Nuttycombe and cnalysis made forecasts in 83 of the 88 chambers. He made predictions in 3,380 races and was wrong in just 190 of them, a nearly 95% accuracy rate, according to his tally. His error rate, he said, was in part because he didn’t give his team enough time to analyze election data for new state legislative districts. He keeps a spreadsheet tracking the biggest missed prediction with an explanation of why the forecast was off.Nuttycombe said he usually works on the site in the evenings, after classes, the gym and dinner, and balances it with a full course load (he’s taking 18 credits both this semester and next as he finishes his degree in political science).The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which focuses on state legislative races, is aware of Nuttycombe and was following his work this year. The group relies on its own in-house data for forecasts, but they were watching Nuttycombe’s as well and could see it was consistent with internal projections.“It’s hard to not take him seriously when what we were tracking internally was very similar to what he was tracking with his analysis,” said Abhi Rahman, a DLCC spokesman. “He’s definitely a very talented forecaster.”Nuttycombe hasn’t been shy about his success, but acknowledges that he’s learned a lot since he began forecasting.“There will be races in even-numbered years where I’m dead wrong. Maybe upwards of 10 races where I’m dead wrong. It’s just a resource thing. I maybe missed a scandal or some sort of development. Or a candidate does really, really well,” Nuttycombe said.He’s also learned how to factor things into his forecast that can be difficult to quantify. In Virginia, for example, a Democrat in a competitive race this year had a scandal involving allegations she and her husband livestreamed sex acts. After the Washington Post broke the story on 11 September, Nuttycombe moved the state from a “toss up” to “tilt R”. In October, he moved the seat even more safely in the Republican column. The Republican candidate wound up winning by two points.Nuttycombe plans to work on the site full-time after he graduates in the spring and is already planning out ways to grow his effort. While most of the country will be focused on the high-stakes presidential race next year, there will be thousands of state legislative races to analyze and predict.“I’ll do this until they put dirt over me,” he said. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Rosalynn Carter, wife of Jimmy Carter, joins husband in hospice care

      by

      Jimmy Carter’s wife Rosalynn has entered hospice treatment at home, the former first lady joining the 99-year-old ex-president in end-of-life care at the couple’s Georgia residence, her family said on Friday.The news came in a brief statement released by the human rights non-profit Carter Center, on behalf of Jason Carter, the grandson of the 39th president and his 96-year-old wife.“Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has entered hospice care at home,” the statement said. “She and President Carter are spending time with each other and their family. The Carter family continues to ask for privacy and remains grateful for the outpouring of love and support.”Rosalynn Carter – who married her husband in 1946, more than three decades before they entered the White House after the Democrat won the 1976 general election – was diagnosed with dementia in May, the Carter Center announced at the time.Jimmy Carter, a one-term president and former Georgia governor who became a respected international diplomat after leaving office, himself entered home hospice care in February after declining further medical intervention for a number of health issues.He had a mass removed from his liver in 2015, later declaring he had melanoma that had also spread to his brain. He announced he was cancer-free later that year after radiation and immunotherapy but suffered a series of falls, resulting in hospital care for bleeding on the brain, and had a hip replacement aged 94.Carter – a keen painter and peanut farmer before his political career took off – had three younger siblings, two sisters and a brother, who all died of pancreatic cancer between 1983 and 1990.Their father, James Earl Carter Sr, died of the same disease in 1953. And their mother, Bessie, died of breast cancer in 1983.Jason Carter paid tribute to his grandparents’ longevity and accomplishments at Jimmy Carter’s 99th birthday party last month, at the same one-story house in Plains the couple lived in since before he was elected to the Georgia senate in 1962.“The remarkable piece to me and I think to my family is that while my grandparents have accomplished so much, they have really remained the same sort of south Georgia couple that lives in a 600-person village where they were born,” he said.Political allies were also complimentary. “If Jimmy Carter were a tree, he’d be a towering, old southern oak. He’s as good and tough as they come,” Donna Brazile, a former Democratic party national chair, said.The Carter Center has been silent on Rosalynn Carter’s health since its May statement, in which it paid tribute to her renowned mental health advocacy.“Mrs Carter has been the nation’s leading mental health advocate for much of her life. We recognize, as she did more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support,” it said.“We hope sharing our family’s news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country.”As the founder of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, the May statement added, she “often noted that there are only four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers; those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.“The universality of caregiving is clear in our family, and we are experiencing the joy and the challenges of this journey. We do not expect to comment further and ask for understanding for our family and for everyone across the country serving in a caregiver role.” More

    • 175 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      Thirteen Republicans support resolution to expel George Santos from Congress – as it happened

      by

      It is 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
      The House speaker, Mike Johnson, has pledged that he is going to make “all the January 6th tapes available to all Americans.” “Today, I am keeping my promise to the American people and making all the January 6th tapes available to ALL Americans,” he tweeted on Friday.
      Rosalynn Carter, the 96-year-old former first lady, is in hospice care at home in Plains, Georgia. A statement released by her office on Friday afternoon said: “She and President Carter are spending time with each other and their family. The Carter family continues to ask for privacy and remains grateful for the outpouring of love and support.”
      The Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has criticized San Francisco over its street cleanup for the Apec summit and Joe Biden’s bilateral meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping earlier this week. “Xi Jinping’s coming to town, and what do they do? They get the poop off the sidewalk, they … clear the homeless, they stop the drugs, they stop the crime,” said DeSantis.
      Thirteen Republicans have supported a resolution to expel George Santos from the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, Santos, who has been charged with fraud, said: “The one thing I never knew was that the process in Congress was dirty. I will continue to fight for what I believe in and I will never back down.”
      Democrats in New Hampshire still see Joe Biden as the party’s best shot to hold the White House, according to a new poll from CNN. Although Biden’s name will not appear on the state’s primary ballots, 65% of New Hampshire Democrats said they will write in Biden’s name, while 10% said they will vote for Minnesota’s Democratic representative Dean Phillips.
      The White House has condemned a tweet from Elon Musk that endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jewish communities “push hatred against whites”. “We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans,” the White House said.
      Following the suspension of Donald Trump’s gag order in his ongoing New York fraud trial, Trump’s team resumed its attacks against the trial’s presiding judge Arthur Engoron’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield. Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, went after Greenfield on X, denouncing her as a “Democrat operative and hack”.
      Donald Trump himself has also gone after Allison Greenfield following the gag order’s suspension. In a post on Truth Social, Trump denounced Greenfield as “politically biased and out of control”.
      That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for following along.House speaker Mike Johnson has pledged that he is going to make “all the January 6th tapes available to all Americans”.
      “Today, I am keeping my promise to the American people and making all the January 6th tapes available to ALL Americans,” he tweeted on Friday.
      Rosalynn Carter, the 96-year-old former first lady, is in hospice care at home in Plains, Georgia. A statement released by her office on Friday afternoon said:
      “Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has entered hospice care at home. She and President Carter are spending time with each other and their family. The Carter family continues to ask for privacy and remains grateful for the outpouring of love and support.”
      Several pro-ceasefire demonstrators were arrested at Fox News’s headquarters in New York City as Gaza protests spread.The Guardian’s Gloria Oladipo reports:More protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza were under way in the US on Friday morning, with police breaking up crowds and arresting demonstrators in various locations.Such demonstrations come as recent polling shows that US public support for Israel is dropping, while the Hamas authorities in Gaza reported on Friday that more than 12,000 Palestinians, overwhelmingly civilians and mostly women and children, had now been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas in October.New York police on Friday arrested pro-Palestine supporters who occupied the headquarters of News Corp, the media company that owns the Fox News channel and the Wall Street Journal and New York Post newspapers, according to clips posted on social media.Dozens of demonstrators gathered in the News Corp lobby, chanting, “Shame” and “Fox News … you can’t hide. Your lies cover up genocide.”For the further details, click here:Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has criticized San Francisco over its street cleanup for the Apec summit and Joe Biden’s bilateral meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping earlier this week.
      “I look to see what’s going on in San Francisco the last couple of days. The city is in squalor, there’s poop on the streets, there’s people using drugs, people getting mugged …
      But then Xi Jinping’s coming to town, and what do they do? They get the poop off the sidewalk, they … clear the homeless, they stop the drugs, they stop the crime,” said DeSantis.
      Joe Biden has issued high praise towards Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador during their meeting amid Apec in San Francisco.Speaking to Obrador in English, Biden said:
      “We had dinner last night. I told you, you sat next to my wife. You were so captivating, I was worried she liked you more than she likes me now.”
      George Santos has announced a press conference on 30 November at 8am.In a tweet on Friday, Santos, who has been charged with fraud and is facing expulsion by several of his Republican colleagues, wrote:
      My year from Hell. Running for office was never a dream or goal, but when the opportunity to do so came I felt the time to serve my country was now. Looking back today I know one thing, politics is indeed dirty, dirty from the very bottom up.
      Consultants, operatives, the opposition, the party and more … the one thing I never knew was that the process in Congress was dirty. I will continue to fight for what I believe in and I will never back down. What the ‘ethics committee’ did today was not part of due process, what they did was poison a the jury pool on my on going investigation with the DoJ. This was a dirty biased act and one that tramples all over my rights.
      Press conference November 30th at 8am on The Capitol steps, I encourage ALL members of the press to attend.
      Meanwhile, Representative George Santos has not made a public statement about his fellow party members calling for his expulsion.Instead, the New York congressman published a post on X about the need for Congress to “grow a spine” and ban Tik Tok.Tik Tok has faced backlash in recent days from Jewish public figures over antisemitism on the app.Here is an updated list of Republicans who support the resolution to expel Santos, from CNN:Iowa representative Randy Feenstra publically said he will support a resolution to expel George Santos, another Republican joining the call for Santos’s removal.In a post to X, formally known as Twitter, Feenstra said that he will support the resolution in light of Santos’ “illegal and unethical behavior” if Santos does not “do the right thing and resign”.“Rep. George Santos has proven that his ethics do not align with what we expect from our leaders,” Feenstra said in a statement on X.Democrats in New Hampshire still see Joe Biden as the party’s best shot to hold the White House, according to a new poll from CNN.Although Biden’s name will not appear on the state’s primary ballots, 65% of New Hampshire Democrats said they will write in Biden’s name, while 10% said they will vote for Minnesota’s Democratic representative Dean Phillips. Nine per cent said they will vote for author Marianne Williamson.CNN also reports, “Among adults in New Hampshire, Biden’s job approval rating (44% approve to 55% disapprove) and favorability (34% favorable, 53% unfavorable) remain in negative territory, and about two-thirds see the country as heading off on the wrong track.”Moreover, only 42% approve of Biden’s handling of the economy while 40% approve of his handling of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.The trial surrounding Donald Trump’s classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort is running about four months behind schedule.The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports:The US district judge Aileen Cannon put off setting a deadline for Trump to submit a notice about what classified information he intends to use at trial – currently set for May – until after a hearing next year that almost certainly precludes the pre-trial process from finishing in time.Trump was indicted this summer with violating the Espionage Act when he illegally retained classified documents after he left office and conspiring to obstruct the government’s efforts to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago club, including defying a grand jury subpoena.But the fact that Trump was charged with retaining national defense information means his case will be tried under the complex rules laid out in the Classified Information Procedures Act, or Cipa, which governs how those documents can be used in court.At issue is the fact that the seven-stage Cipa process is sequential, meaning each previous section has to be completed before the case can proceed to the next section. A delay halfway through the process invariably has the net effect of delaying the entire schedule leading to trial.For the full story, click here:Donald Trump said that he wanted to go to the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection claiming that he would have been “very well recieved.”According to new audio released from an interview between Donald Trump and political journalist and author Jonathan Karl two months after the insurrection, Trump said:
      I was going to [go up to the Capitol] and then Secret Service said you can’t … I wanted to go back. I was thinking about going back during the problem to stop the problem, doing it myself. Secret Service didn’t like that idea too much … I would have been very well received. More

    • 238 Shares109 Views

      in US Politics

      Democratic leadership says ceasefire protest ‘exceeded a peaceful demonstration’ and commends police amid activist criticism – as it happened

      by

      In language similar to that of the Capitol police’s statement from earlier today, Democratic leadership has released a statement on last night’s ceasefire demonstrations – with zero mention of the words “ceasefire,” “Israel” or the 11,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes who demonstrators were mourning last night.The statement, released by House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic whip Katherine Clark, Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar and DCCC chair Suzan DelBene, said:
      Last night, Members of the House Democratic Caucus, hardworking staffers and dozens of guests from throughout the country were participating in an event inside the Democratic National Committee building when some protesters escalated their activity in a manner that exceeded a peaceful demonstration.
      We are thankful for the service and professionalism of the U.S. Capitol Police officers who worked to ensure that Members, staff and visitors were able to safely exit. We strongly support the First Amendment right to freedom of expression and encourage anyone exercising that right to do so peacefully.
      Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
      Capitol police is facing criticism from activists after clashing with dozens of demonstators outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC on Wednesday evening. The violence broke out during a demonstration for a ceasefire in Gaza where Israeli forces have killed over 11,000 Palestinians in the last five weeks.
      Organizers of last night’s ceasefire demonstrations has released a statement on the “violent police response,” saying that over 90 no-nviolent protesters were injured by Capitol police. “Protestors were choked and violently handled by multiple office[r]s at once, thrown against the wall, then grabbed and picked up and thrown down the front stairs. At least two protestors’ glasses were smashed by the police. Dozen of people were kicked, kneed and punched in the face by police officers,” organizers said.
      Pictures and videos posted online of yesterday’s ceasefire protests showed Capitol police scattering candles, which were originally laid out to mourn the 11,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes. “This is a reflection of what our gov thinks of Palestinians. 11,000 candles representing the Palestinian lives murdered by Israel with US funding. The cops just stepped on them,” said Sumaya Awad, a member of New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America.
      American Muslim writer and civil rights scholar Omar Suleiman has joined numerous activists in condemning Capitol police officers over their actions during last night’s ceasefire demonstrations. Suleiman tweeted: “Unbelievable. Capitol police throwing Jewish protestors shouting not in our name and calling for a ceasefire down the steps of the Democratic National Headquarters. Good luck in 2024 y’all.”
      The Capitol police said in a statement on Thursday that its officers ‘pulled people off the DNC building, pushed them back and cleared them from the area’ during last night’s ceasefire demonstrations. In its statement, the Capitol police made no mention of pepper-spraying protestors, despite images posted online that appeared to show them doing so.
      In language similar to that of the Capitol police’s statement, Democratic leadership released a statement on last night’s ceasefire demonstrations. The statement said, “Some protesters escalated their activity in a manner that exceeded a peaceful demonstration.”
      The Jewish peace advocacy organization If Not Now has issued a list of FAQs following last night’s ceasefire demonstrations, saying, “Our protest was nonviolent. Capitol police brutally attacked us with no warning.” In its series of FAQs, the organization said that there was a police liaison “who asked to speak with officers but the police refused to speak with them.”
      Meanwhile, ceasefire protesters shut down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco during morning rush hour on Thursday. Images on the news wires show scores of people holding banners calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and protesting against military aid for Israel. All westbound lanes were shut at the time.
      That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap the blog for today. Thank you for following along.Alec Karakatsanis, founder of the nonprofit organization Civil Rights Corps, has also condemned Capitol police over their response to last night’s ceasefire demonstrations.In a post on X, Karakatsanis wrote:
      “After the attack by Capitol Police last night on Jewish progressives singing songs and locking arms for ceasefire, recall how Democrats forced through budget increases for one of the most incompetent and unaccountable institutions in federal bureaucracy.”
      The Jewish peace advocacy organization If Not Now has issued a list of FAQs following last night’s ceasefire demonstrations, saying, “Our protest was nonviolent. Capitol police brutally attacked us with no warning.”In its series of FAQs, the organization said that there was a police liaison “who asked to speak with officers but the police refused to speak with them.”“Instead, police arrived on the scene and immediately ran at protestors, shoving many down the stairs,” the organization said, calling the police response “brutal and reckless.”It added that Capitol police “did not give any warnings or requests to disperse.”The organization also said that approximately 90 protestors were injured last night.It also called the demonstrations a “nonviolent act of civil disobedience”and said that “at no point did anyone trying to enter the building” of the Democratic National Committee.“The purpose of the protest was to speak peacefully to members of Congress as they exited the building and share that 80% of Democrats – their base – want to see a ceasefire,” it said.Here are some images coming through the newswires of ceasefire protestors on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge:Protestors on the San Francisco Bay Bridge have thrown their car keys into the bay and chained themselves together and to the bridge in calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US military aid to Israel, according to local media outets.KRON4 reports:All lanes remain blocked on the Bay Bridge after protesters shut down all lanes of westbound Interstate 80 traffic on the bridge during the Thursday morning commute. The protesters stopped their cars on the bridge, east of Treasure Island Road, and threw their keys into the Bay before chaining themselves together and to the bridge, according to California Highway Patrol.Around 50 to 60 protesters on the bridge were arrested and processed by responding CHP officers before being led to awaiting buses, according to KRON4’s Will Tran. Approximately 250 officers are on scene, according to CHP.As of 10 a.m., a far-right lane of westbound traffic reopened on the Bay Bridge for motorists already on the bridge. Drivers who were backed up before the toll plaza were being guided by CHP to turn around back into Oakland. There is no estimated time for when all lanes will reopen across the Bay Bridge.In language similar to that of the Capitol police’s statement from earlier today, Democratic leadership has released a statement on last night’s ceasefire demonstrations – with zero mention of the words “ceasefire,” “Israel” or the 11,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes who demonstrators were mourning last night.The statement, released by House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic whip Katherine Clark, Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar and DCCC chair Suzan DelBene, said:
      Last night, Members of the House Democratic Caucus, hardworking staffers and dozens of guests from throughout the country were participating in an event inside the Democratic National Committee building when some protesters escalated their activity in a manner that exceeded a peaceful demonstration.
      We are thankful for the service and professionalism of the U.S. Capitol Police officers who worked to ensure that Members, staff and visitors were able to safely exit. We strongly support the First Amendment right to freedom of expression and encourage anyone exercising that right to do so peacefully.
      Protesters shut down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco during morning rush hour. Images on the news wires show scores of people holding banners calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and protesting against military aid for Israel.All westbound lanes were shut at the time.Local media reported around 50 to 60 protesters were arrested before being led to buses. There were 250 officers on the scene, reports said.Here are more images coming through the newswires of last night’s ceasefire demonstrations outside the Democratic National Committee building:American Muslim writer and civil rights scholar Omar Suleiman has joined numerous activists in condemning Capitol police officers over their actions during last night’s ceasefire demonstrations.In a post on X, Suleiman said:
      “Unbelievable. Capitol police throwing Jewish protestors shouting not in our name and calling for a ceasefire down the steps of the Democratic National Headquarters. Good luck in 2024 y’all.”
      The Jewish peace advocacy organization If Not Now has pushed back against California’s Democratic representative Brad Sherman who said that yesterday’s demonstrators “grew violent” and pepper sprayed Capitol police.The organization tweeted a video that showed protestors in locked arms singing, “Which side are you on.” At one point, the video showed Capitol police pulling and shoving protestors outside the DNC building.Capitol police then appears to throw a protestor down the stairs. Someone behind the camera yelled, “Oh shit! Someone just got thrown. People getting thrown down the stairs!”In its caption, If Not Now addressed Sherman’s comments, saying:
      “This is dangerous & reckless disinformation, Congressman. We were peacefully linking arms, singing, and calling for a ceasefire. As you can see with your own eyes in this video. Then Capitol Police rushed in, threw us down the stairs, and pepper sprayed us. Retract this now.”
      A Capitol police officer was captured on video snatching a Palestinian flag out of the hands of a protester who was waving the flag and chanting “Ceasefire now!” during last night’s ceasefire demonstrations.Video posted online showed the officer reaching for the flag as an onlooker shouted, “Hey hey hey! What the fuck?” Other Capitol police officers standing behind their bikes appeared to then grab the flag and throw it aside.The Capitol police said in a statement on Thursday that its officers ‘pulled people off the DNC building, pushed them back and cleared them from the area’ during last night’s ceasefire demonstrations – using language vastly different from the demonstration’s organizers who said protestors were choked, thrown against walls and pepper sprayed.In its statement, the Capitol police made no mention of pepper-spraying protestors, despite images posted online that appeared to show them doing so.Instead, the statement said:
      “When the group moved dumpsters in front of the exits, pepper sprayed our officers and attempted to pick up the bike rack, our teams quickly introduced consequences – pulling people off the building, pushing them back, and clearing them from the area, so we could safely evacuate the Members and staff.
      Six officers were treated for injuries, from minor cuts to being pepper sprayed to being punched.”
      In a video posted to Youtube, a Capitol police officer can be seen pepper-spraying a protestor in the face as she held onto another protestor. More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Protesters urging Gaza ceasefire accuse Washington police of violence

      by

      Protesters against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza were locked in a battle of words with Washington police on Thursday after accusing officers of violently breaking up a demonstration on Capitol Hill that organisers insist was peaceful.Leaders of the Ceasefire Now Coalition said 90 of their activists were injured in confrontations that took place after they staged a candlelit vigil outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on Wednesday evening.The coalition said volunteers were pepper-sprayed, kicked, pulled by the hair and dragged down flights of stairs by officers in riot gear, who they accused of ignoring longstanding protocols for non-violent protest by failing to issue dispersal notices or engage with the rally’s specially designated police liaison representative.But in a rebuttal, police said the group was “not peaceful” and said six officers had to be treated for injuries after being pepper-sprayed and punched. One 24-year-old protester was arrested for allegedly slamming a female officer into a garage door and punching her in the face, police said in a statement.They also accused the protesters of moving dumpsters to block entrances.“We have handled hundreds of peaceful protests, but last night’s group was not peaceful,” the police statement said. “The crowd failed to obey our lawful orders to move back from the DNC, where members of Congress were in the building.“When the group moved dumpsters in front of the exits, pepper sprayed our officers and attempted to pick up the bike rack, our teams quickly introduced consequences – pulling people off the building, pushing them back, and clearing them from the area, so we could safely evacuate the members and staff.”Organisers said the event – jointly staged by three leftist groups, Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now and the Democratic Socialists of America – followed the traditions of non-violence pioneered by the US civil rights movement.But Wednesday’s clashes was one of the most graphic signs yet of the dissension arising from Israel’s military response to last month’s attack by Hamas, when more than 1,200 people were killed and another 240 taken hostage.In a video news conference, the coalition denied the accusations of aggression against police and pointed to video footage which it said showed only officers committing acts of violence.They also accused congressmen of spreading disinformation about the group by claiming it was pro-Hamas – the group has condemned the Hamas attack and antisemitism – singling out the Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio, and Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California. Sherman tweeted that he had been evacuated after “pro-terrorist” demonstrators tried to “break into the building”.“Congressman Sherman and Senator Rubio are spreading extremely dangerous and reckless disinformation about our non-violent movement,” said Eva Borgwardt, national spokeswoman for If Not Now. “The only people I saw using violence at that protest was the police.”Dani Noble, of Jewish Voice for Peace, said the vigil had been organised to lobby Democratic congressmen attending a function at the headquarters to respond to the sentiments of 80% of the party’s supporters across the country, who she said supported a ceasefire in Israel’s Gaza onslaught, which has so far killed more than 11,000 people, about 40% of them children.She denied that activists tried to storm the building but said they were attempting to create a path for elected officials entering and leaving the building to talk to demonstrators.“In absolutely no instance did anyone try to enter the building,” she told journalists. “We were singing and chanting and waiting for Democratic officials to show up.”The coalition has organised several other civil disobedience events in Washington in recent weeks urging the Biden administration to call for a ceasefire, notably outside the White House and on Capitol Hill, where demonstrators staged a mass sit-in inside the oldest congressional office facility, the Cannon Building.Both events saw police carry out multiple arrests but otherwise passed without violence.“We were so clear why we were there [last night],” said Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, of the Jewish Voice for Peace rabbinical council. “Every person was wearing a T-shirt that said ‘Ceasefire Now’. We have been singing these songs for a month. They knew very well why we were there.“We were seated, linked arms with banners and the moment a dispersal order was given, the police had all the tools that they needed to non-violently and safely remove protesters. Instead they chose to push and shove people, and hit and pepper-spray. The police have tools to deal with non-violent civil disobedience, and last night they chose not to use them. And I want to know why.” More

    • 150 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Marjorie Taylor Greene claims Democrats failed to defend House from Capitol rioters

      by

      In a new book, the extremist Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claims no Democrats stayed in the House chamber on January 6 to help defend it against rioters sent by Donald Trump to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election win – a claim one Democrat who did stay labeled “patently false”.Greene’s book, MTG, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.Describing January 6, Greene writes: “Several of the Republican congressmen said, ‘We’re going to stay right here and defend the House chamber.’ As they began barricading the door with furniture, I noticed not one Democrat was willing to stay to defend the chamber.”But that version of events sits in stark contrast to others prominently including that of Jason Crow of Colorado, a Democratic congressman and former US army ranger who worked to help fellow representatives before being, by his own description, the last politician to leave.Speaking to the Denver Post after the riot, Crow said: “They evacuated the folks on the floor but those of us in the gallery actually got trapped for like 20 minutes as the rioters stormed the stairwells and the doors.“So, Capitol police actually locked the doors of the chamber and started piling furniture up on the doors to barricade them, while holding their guns out.“I got into ranger mode a little bit. Most of the members didn’t know how to use the emergency masks, so I was helping them get their emergency masks out of the bags and helped instruct a bunch of folks on how to put it on and how to use it. I wasn’t going to leave the House floor until every member was gone, so I waited until we were able to get everybody out.”On Wednesday, Crow told the Guardian: “Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn’t exist in the same reality as the rest of us. For those of us who were there on January 6 and actually defended the chamber from violent insurrectionists, her view is patently false. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”Other Democrats have described how they tried to help.In an oral history of January 6 by Business Insider, Raúl Grijalva, of Arizona, said: “You also saw members doing their part to facilitate our evacuation – Seth Moulton [of Massachusetts, a marines veteran], Ruben Gallego, and four or five others … who assumed a role of helping us to get out of there and working with the Capitol police to make sure that we were all safe.”Gallego, also of Arizona and a former marine, told the same site: “Eventually what I did was I jumped up on a table and started giving instructions to people about how to open up the gas mask. We start seeing the doors being barricaded with furniture. We start hearing the noise of people – the insurrectionists – pounding on doors. Especially in the gallery.”Greene’s book pursues her familiar conspiracy theory-laced invective, taking shots at targets including Democrats, the media and Lauren Boebert, another Republican extremist with whom Greene has fallen out.Discussing January 6, three days after her swearing-in, Greene claims to have worked “tirelessly” on objections to key state results but to have been “utterly shocked” when rioters breached the Capitol.Some Republicans, she says “carried concealed weapons and were ready to be good guys with guns, defending themselves and others if need be” – despite guns being banned in the House chamber. Greene says she tried to stay close to Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a former law enforcement officer who was “one of the armed Republican members of Congress exercising his second amendment rights that day”.Describing instructions to put on hoods against possible exposure to teargas, Greene says she did not do so as she would not have been able to clearly hear or see.“Many of the Democrats obligingly put theirs on and some were lying on the floor, hysterical,” she writes, describing a chamber “in complete and utter disarray”.Pictures of the House on January 6 show Crow comforting Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, a Republican lying on the gallery floor. Other pictures show Republicans including Troy Nehls of Texas and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma helping to barricade doors.According to the House January 6 committee, evacuation happened in stages. Democratic leaders including the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, were removed at the same time as Mike Pence, the vice-president. Kevin McCarthy, then Republican minority leader, soon followed. Evacuation of the rest of the House began at 2.38pm, members escaping as a rioter, Ashli Babbitt, was fatally shot by police.“Members in the House gallery were evacuated after the members on the House floor,” the report says. “Congressional members in the gallery had to wait to be evacuated because rioters were still roaming the hallways right outside the chamber.“At 2.49pm, as members were trying to evacuate the House gallery, the [Capitol police] … cleared the hallways with long rifles so that the members could be escorted to safety … surveillance footage shows several rioters lying on the ground, with long rifles pointed at them, as members evacuate. By 3pm, the area had been cleared and members were evacuated … to a secure location.”Greene claims rioters have since been mistreated. But she is not finished. A noted fitness enthusiast, she chooses to mock another Democrat, Jerry Nadler of New York, then the 73-year-old chair of the House judiciary committee.“I saw that it was a problem that so many of our representatives were older and physically unable to run,” Greene writes. “How do you get them to safety when they cannot move quickly because of age, physical ailments or lack of physical fitness?“Oh, and many were hysterical, with the plastic bags over their heads in fear of teargas and the little electric fans running so they couldn’t hear, either. Just imagine Jerry Nadler trying to run for safety!” More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      The shadow of Trump: inside the 17 November Guardian Weekly

      by

      It couldn’t happen again … could it? With less than a year to the next US presidential election, polls suggest the presumed Republican nominee Donald Trump would beat the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden in a clutch of key swing states. David Smith weighs up how a Trump return to the White House might look. Lloyd Green considers how a strong pro-abortion rights vote in state elections last week could yet signal a significant twist. And, amid growing Democratic party jitters over Biden’s low ratings, Richard Luscombe asks if the California governor Gavin Newsom is running a shadow campaign.British politics was stunned this week by the return of former prime minister David Cameron, parachuted back into government as the new foreign secretary. Pippa Crerar and Patrick Wintour weigh up what it says about the direction of the Tory government, home and abroad. And in Opinion, Polly Toynbee bids a not-so fond farewell to Suella Braverman, the deeply divisive home secretary who was sacked by Rishi Sunak on the same day.As fierce fighting between Hamas militants and the Israeli army encroached on Gaza hospitals this week, Ruth Michaelson reports on the dire situation at Dar al-Shifa hospital, where patients are dying due to energy shortages and dwindling supplies. And as Benjamin Netanyahu’s reputation plummets in Israel, Peter Beaumont asks who – or what – might succeed the controversial prime minister.Sweden has some of the world’s most progressive policies around work and wellbeing, with generous parental leave and bonuses for taking breaks the norm. Leah Harper settles down for a spot of fika and asks what the rest of us could learn from such practices.Features include an extract from Barbra Streisand’s new memoir where, among other things, the American singer and actor recounts meeting the then Prince Charles and what happened when she cloned her pet dog.In Culture, our man Rhik Samadder tries staying alive in the new reality version of the hit Netflix show Squid Game. And, from Eddie Izzard to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, there’s a look at the comedians who’ve moved from the world of standup to politics.Get the Guardian Weekly magazine delivered to your home address More