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Republican contender in Virginia avoids Trump’s campaign event
VirginiaRepublican contender in Virginia avoids Trump’s campaign event
Glenn Youngkin to give Trump’s ‘tele rally’ a wide berth
Opinion: Republican racial culture war reaches new heights
Martin Pengelly@MartinPengellyMon 1 Nov 2021 14.36 EDTFirst published on Mon 1 Nov 2021 10.39 EDTDonald Trump was to host a Virginia campaign event on Monday for Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate for governor in a race headed down to the wire. But Youngkin was not planning to participate, as he attempted to balance appeals to the former president’s supporters with a semblance of independence.Why this governor’s race is shaping up as a referendum on the Biden presidencyRead moreTrump hoped a phone-in “tele rally” would hoist Youngkin past his Democratic opponent, the former governor Terry McAuliffe.The contest is seen by many as a referendum on the Biden presidency and a bellwether for midterm elections next year. On the day before polling day, the realclearpolitics.com polling average had Youngkin ahead by less than two points. Fivethirtyeight.com put the Republican up by one.McAuliffe had scheduled rallies in Roanoke, Virginia Beach and Richmond and in northern Virginia. Youngkin was to rally in Roanoke, Richmond, Virginia Beach and Loudon county.In Richmond, Youngkin addressed “an energetic crowd of what his campaign said was around 800 people” at a small airport, the Associated Press reported.“This is a moment for Virginians to push back on this left, liberal progressive agenda and take our commonwealth back,” he said.McAuliffe, who has called himself a “pro-business pro-progressive”, is a close ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton and has campaigned with President Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris, former president Barack Obama and other high-profile Democrats. Nonetheless he has struggled to generate enthusiasm in a state Biden won by 10 points.Youngkin, a businessman, has not appeared with Trump. On Saturday, he told reporters: “I’m not going to be engaged in the tele-town hall. The teams are talking, I’m sure.”Youngkin has however comfortably dealt in Trump-esque attack lines, most prominently and potentially fruitfully focusing on how race is taught in schools. In return McAuliffe has sought to tie Youngkin firmly to Trump, not a tough task in the debate over education.Youngkin has repeatedly raised the subject of critical race theory, an academic discipline turned into a bogeyman by Republicans nationwide. CRT examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society. It is not taught in Virginia public schools. Regardless, Youngkin has treated it as a genuine threat, stoking anger on the right, and has promised to ban it.Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, McAuliffe said Youngkin had gone too far. Citing a meeting with a voter in Hampton, he said the former school board member told him “our school boards were fine. Soon as Glenn Youngkin got nominated, all of a sudden, these people started showing up, creating such a ruckus, calling such obscene things”.“This was an African American woman,” McAuliffe said. “I can’t repeat on air what they’ve said about her. This was last night, up here in northern Virginia … we just lost a school board member … She said, ‘I was getting death threats. But when they said they were going to rape my children, I can’t take it anymore.’“That’s what Glenn Youngkin has done here in Virginia. He’s created hatred and division just like Donald Trump, and that’s why Donald Trump, his final campaign is going to be for Glenn Youngkin here in Virginia.“We don’t want Trump. We don’t want Youngkin. We don’t want the hatred and division.”In a statement on Monday, Trump freely demonstrated his willingness to exploit hatred and division.Lincoln Project members pose as white supremacists at Virginia GOP eventRead moreTaking barely veiled shots at the Lincoln Project – anti-Trump Republicans who have campaigned against him in Virginia, sometimes controversially, and who Trump referred to only as “perverts” – the former president said his enemies were “trying to create an impression that Glenn Youngkin and I are at odds and don’t like each other.“Importantly, this is not true. We get along very well together and strongly believe in many of the same policies, especially when it comes to the important subject of education.”Trump reiterated the need for Republicans to vote. He also sought to thread the needle between his insistence on mass voter fraud against him and the need for high Republican turnout – a trick he failed to pull off in Georgia in January, when Democrats won two Senate runoffs.If enough of his supporters voted, Trump said, they would overcome the fact that he was “not a believer in the integrity of Virginia’s elections”.TopicsVirginiaUS politicsRepublicansDemocratsRaceUS educationnewsReuse this content More - in US Politics
Joe Biden dismisses bad polling and says domestic agenda set to pass
Joe BidenJoe Biden dismisses bad polling and says domestic agenda set to pass
President speaks to reporters at end of G20 summit in Rome
Progressives Sanders and Khanna optimistic on spending plan
Virginia: governor race becomes referendum on Biden
Victoria Bekiempis and Martin PengellySun 31 Oct 2021 16.35 EDTFirst published on Sun 31 Oct 2021 11.53 EDTJoe Biden sought to brush off concerns about bad polling on Sunday, telling reporters he expected Democrats to overcome internal differences and pass both his domestic spending plan and a bipartisan infrastructure deal in the week to come.Republican Adam Kinzinger: I’ll fight Trumpism ‘cancer’ outside CongressRead moreEarlier, an NBC News poll found that 54% of US adults disapproved of Biden’s performance, down six points since August, a period in which the president’s domestic agenda has stalled amid intra-party division.Biden spoke to reporters in Rome at the end of the G20, before traveling to Glasgow for the Cop26 climate summit.He said: “I didn’t run to determine how well I’m going to do in the polls. I ran to make sure that I follow through on what I said I would do as president of the United States.“I said that I would make sure that we were in a position where we dealt with climate change, where we moved in a direction that would significantly improve the prospects of American workers having good jobs and good pay. And further that I would make sure that we dealt with the crisis that was caused by Covid.“… I believe we will pass my Build Back Better plan. I believe we will pass the infrastructure bill. Combined, they have $900bn in dealing with climate resilience, the largest investment in the history of the world that’s ever occurred. And it’s going to pass in my view, but we’ll see. We’ll see.”Biden has staked his presidency on his spending plans but Democrats in Congress have been split between progressives and moderates led by two senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Biden delayed his departure to Rome to plead with Democrats to pass his spending agenda.“We are at an inflection point,” he reportedly told House members. “The rest of the world wonders whether we can function.”Whether Democrats can deliver could also have significant implications for the midterm elections next year. Historically, parties holding the presidency fail to keep the House.Top Democrats reportedly want a final version of Biden’s $1.75tn spending plan drafted by Sunday and passed by Tuesday. The price tag has come down dramatically, from $3.5tn, with concessions to Manchin and Sinema. The infrastructure deal is valued at $1tn.Discussions continued throughout the weekend. Bernie Sanders, the chair of the Senate budget committee, told CNN’s State of the Union: “I can tell you, we are working right now. I spent all of yesterday on the telephone … as soon as I leave the studio, I’m going to be going back home to get on the phone.”Sanders said he was optimistic and added: “This is not easy stuff, but what we are trying to do is put together the most consequential piece of legislation in the modern history of this country, which will transform the role of government in protecting the needs of working families.”Sanders said he was fighting for action on prescription drugs costs to be included in the spending bill, an issue on which he and Sinema are in very evident opposition.In a 50-50 Senate, and with no Republican support on spending, Manchin and Sinema are key. Democrats must use reconciliation, a way to pass budgetary initiatives via a simple majority rather than 60 votes. The vice-president, Kamala Harris, has the decisive vote.The Senate did pass the infrastructure bill in August via a bipartisan vote but House progressives stymied it in an attempt to win concessions on the spending plan. On Sunday Ro Khanna of California, a prominent House progressive, told CBS’s Face the Nation he expected success.“We are working to add things in,” he said. “The negotiations are taking place. I’m going to be a yes. I think we can have the vote by Tuesday … I’m yes on the framework.”Cabinet members also expressed optimism. The transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, told Fox News Sunday: “We are teed up for major action soon.”Asked if Congress would pass both pieces of legislation this week, he said: “We are the closest we have ever been.”Buttigieg also made a point sure to surface in the midterms if Biden is successful, telling ABC’s This Week he “wouldn’t let Republicans off the hook on voting for the family provisions too.“I know they probably won’t but it’s not too late for some of them to join Democrats who are united in believing that the time has come for us to actually put our money where our mouth is [and] support American families.”A Republican senator, Rick Scott of Florida, told Fox News Sunday Biden’s spending had “to end” as it was “causing inflation” and “hurting the poor families”.“We gotta live within our means like every family does,” Scott said.Huma Abedin says kiss from unnamed senator was not sexual assaultRead moreAsked if that meant Republicans should support repeal of tax cuts they passed under Donald Trump which are projected to add $2tn to the national debt, Scott said both taxes and spending should be cut.On NBC’s Meet the Press the energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, suggested Biden’s polling would be boosted when Americans see his spending bill.“They’ll see that they’re going to get a continuation of that child tax credit,” Granholm said. “They’ll see people being put to work in clean energy all across this country.“They’re going to see the ability to have senior citizens and people with disabilities being cared for in their homes. They’ll see their costs of living come down as a result of having children. This bill and the real impacts that people will see will have an impact on those ratings.”In Rome, Biden told reporters: “You know, you all believed [the spending bill] wouldn’t happen from the very beginning, the moment I announced it, and you always seem amazed when it’s alive again. Maybe it won’t work. But I believe we’ll see by the end of next week at home that the bills have passed.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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Al Franken rules out Senate run against Gillibrand, who led push to remove him
Al FrankenAl Franken rules out Senate run against Gillibrand, who led push to remove himNew York senator led moves to push Franken out as Minnesota senator over allegations of sexual misconduct Martin Pengelly in New York@MartinPengellySun 31 Oct 2021 12.44 EDTLast modified on Sun 31 Oct 2021 12.45 EDTAl Franken on Sunday ruled out mounting a primary challenge to Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York senator who four years ago led calls for his resignation as a senator from Minnesota over allegations of sexual misconduct.Huma Abedin says kiss from unnamed senator was not sexual assaultRead moreIn a statement to Politico, Franken said: “Yes, I miss the Senate but I’m not going to run against Kirsten Gillibrand.”A writer, comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member, Franken was narrowly elected as a Democrat in Minnesota in 2008 and returned to Washington much more comfortably six years later.He achieved national prominence, particularly as an acerbic critic of Republicans and Donald Trump. His last book before his resignation was titled Al Franken: Giant of the Senate.He was forced to quit in December 2017, amid the first stirrings of the #MeToo movement and over allegations that he touched women inappropriately or forcibly kissed them.Gillibrand led moves to push Franken out, writing: “Enough is enough. As elected officials, we should be held to the highest standards – not the lowest.”Franken did not face investigation by the Senate ethics committee.In his resignation speech, he said “all women deserve to be heard and their experiences taken seriously” but added: “Some of the allegations against me are simply not true. Others I remember differently.”01:14He was replaced in the Senate by Tina Smith, a former lieutenant governor of Minnesota. In 2019, seven serving or retired senators told the New Yorker they regretted forcing Franken out.Franken told the magazine he regretted resigning and added: “I’m angry at my colleagues who did this. I think they were just trying to get past one bad news cycle.”Writing for the Guardian, the academic and feminist author Laura Kipnis said: “I myself thought at the time that if Franken had actually groped women during photo ops, as was alleged, he was right to resign.“… In late 2017, we were all pretty on edge, I think, combing our pasts for dormant memories of assaults and affronts, and there were so many stories – too many to make sense of. It was an off-with-their-heads moment, and for a while that felt great.“But there were also opportunists ‘telling their truths’. There was failed distinction-making and political expediency, and the impossibility of sorting motives from facts. That’s what’s starting to get unraveled now.”Republican Adam Kinzinger: I’ll fight Trumpism ‘cancer’ outside CongressRead moreAfter moving to New York City, Franken, now 70, has returned to national politics as a commentator, with a podcast and a venture into stand-up comedy, The Only Former US Senator Currently on Tour Tour. Prior to Sunday, he had done little to scotch rumours of a political comeback.Politico quoted an anonymous source as saying Gillibrand, New York’s junior senator since 2009 and a failed candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, had been “not exactly cool as a cucumber about” a possible challenge from Franken.Gillibrand’s chief of staff, Jess Fassler, told the website: “The only thing she’s worried about right now is getting family leave into the Build Back Better package.”In his statement to Politico, Franken only ruled out a run against Gillibrand.TopicsAl FrankenKirsten GillibrandUS SenateDemocratsUS politicsUS CongressUS midterm elections 2022newsReuse this content More
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Huma Abedin says kiss from unnamed senator was not sexual assault
BooksHuma Abedin says kiss from unnamed senator was not sexual assaultClinton aide gives first interview for memoir Both/AndAbedin also discusses 2016 election and Anthony Weiner Martin Pengelly in New York@MartinPengellySun 31 Oct 2021 10.13 EDTFirst published on Sun 31 Oct 2021 08.11 EDTIn her first interview to promote her new book, Huma Abedin said she did not think an unnamed senator sexually assaulted her when he kissed her at his apartment, some time in the mid-2000s.Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin describes sexual assault by US senatorRead moreShe also said she would “take to her grave” her part in the emails investigation which cost Hillary Clinton dearly in the 2016 presidential election, which the candidate lost to Donald Trump, though she knew it was not all her fault.Abedin describes the incident with the senator in Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds, which will be published on Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy and reported Abedin’s description of the kiss.After making coffee, Abedin writes, the senator sat next to her on the couch, “put his left arm around my shoulder, and kissed me, pushing his tongue into my mouth, pressing me back on the sofa.“I was so utterly shocked, I pushed him away. All I wanted was for the last 10 seconds to be erased.”Abedin does not give clues to the senator’s identity.She also writes that memories of the kiss came back in 2018, during Brett Kavanaugh’s supreme court confirmation hearings, when the judge was accused of sexual assault. In Abedin’s description, Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, was accused of “conveniently remembering” details. Kavanaugh denied the accusations and was confirmed to the court.The pressure group Rainn (the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) defines sexual assault as “sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the victim”.Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning, Abedin said: “I did go back to a senator’s apartment, a senator who I knew and I was very comfortable with, and he kissed me in a very shocking way because it was somebody who I’d known and frankly trusted.”Her interviewer, Norah O’Donnell, asked: “Are you suggesting that senator assaulted you?”Abedin paused, and said: “I’m suggesting that I was in an uncomfortable situation with … I was in an uncomfortable situation with a senator and I didn’t know how to deal with it and I buried the whole experience.“But in my my own personal opinion, no, did I feel like he was assaulting me in that moment? I didn’t, it didn’t feel that way. It felt like I needed to extricate myself from the situation. And he also spent a lot of time apologising and making sure I was OK and we were actually able to rebalance our relationship.”Earlier this week, Business Insider reported that senators from both parties expressed concern that the unnamed senator may have assaulted others.On CBS, Abedin was also asked what she thought Clinton most valued about her.“I think she would say her loyalty,” she said. “And I would say the same about her. I have tested that. Not intentionally, but I have tested it … I’ve made her life difficult with things that have happened in my personal life.”Abedin is estranged from her husband, the former congressman and New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, who served time in prison for sending explicit text messages to a teenage girl.A laptop belonging to Weiner and Abedin became part of Clinton’s 2016 presidential election defeat, when the FBI seized it as part of investigations into Clinton’s use of private email while secretary of state.“I think I’m going to take it to my grave,” Abedin told CBS. “It took me a while to reconcile that it was not all my fault.”She added: “I have reconciled – and it took me a while to reconcile – that it was not all my fault. I lived with that. I did. I don’t believe that anymore.“It’s more a sense of an ache in the heart, that it didn’t have to be. And also, my belief that [Clinton] would have been an extraordinary president, that she really would have, and what it meant for women and girls, not just in this country but around the world.”Asked why she wrote her book, Abedin said: “I think for most of my adult life, certainly in the last 25 years that I’ve been in public service or in the public eye, I have been the invisible person behind the primary people in my life. But what I realise is that if you don’t tell your story, somebody else is writing your history.”She also discussed Weiner and how she discovered his various infidelities. She and her husband, she said, were “just two severely broken, traumatised people”.Asked how their relationship was now, she said: “We’re good. He is my co-parent. And I learned the full truth, I processed it and moved on. I wish him well. He, I hope, wishes me well. I think he does.”Asked if she was still angry with Weiner, Abedin said: “I can’t live in that space anymore. I tried that. It almost killed me.”TopicsBooksHuma AbedinHillary ClintonAnthony WeinerUS politicsDemocratsUS SenatenewsReuse this content More
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Why this governor’s race is shaping up as a referendum on the Biden presidency
The ObserverVirginiaWhy this governor’s race is shaping up as a referendum on the Biden presidency The president won the state by 10 points but Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe has acknowledged Washington politics could hurt his campaignDavid Smith in Arlington, Virginia@smithinamericaSun 31 Oct 2021 02.00 EDTScott Knuth was dwarfed by the 16ft x 10ft flag that he waved to and fro on a street corner in Arlington, Virginia. “Trump won,” it falsely proclaimed, “Save America.”But Donald Trump was not coming to town. Instead his successor, Joe Biden, was about to take the stage in a campaign rally at a dangerous inflection point in his young presidency.Biden’s agenda remains unrealized as Democrats fail to close deal againRead moreBiden was speaking on behalf of Democrat Terry McAuliffe who this Tuesday takes on Republican Glenn Youngkin to become governor of Virginia. But he was keenly aware that the race will represent the first referendum on his White House tenure and a potential preview of next year’s crucial midterm elections for Congress.The Virginia contest also takes place against the backdrop of Biden’s ambitious, would-be historic legislative agenda stalling in Washington as his Democratic party goes to bitter war with itself over a huge social and environmental spending bill.The president reportedly told Democratic members of Congress on Thursday: “I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week.”With his approval rating sagging after a coronavirus surge and chaotic retreat from Afghanistan, Biden is badly in need of a win or two. Failure in Virginia, where no Democrat has lost a statewide election for 12 years, and continued paralysis on Capitol Hill would represent a crushing double blow.Protesting outside last Tuesday’s McAuliffe rally in Arlington, Trump supporters were eager for signs of weakness and confident of a Republican fightback.Carrie Johnson, 45, a merchandiser clutching a Stars and Stripes flag, said: “The Biden presidency has been an absolute dumpster fire. Our borders are wide open. Inflation is running wild. He’s trying to strip us of our freedoms. His approval rating is falling by the day.”About 2,500 people attended the rally, according to the White House, far fewer than a typical Trump event. Supporters of McAuliffe, 64, were aware that the closely and bitterly contested race has national implications.Lisa Soronen, 46, a lawyer who brought with her eight-year-old daughter Sasha despite the evening chill, said: “If McAuliffe loses, it will be seen as a victory for Donald Trump, whether it is or not. A lot can happen between now and the midterms but this is seen as the bellwether.”Evidently aware of this, Biden used an 18-minute speech to directly compare his record against that of his predecessor on coronavirus vaccinations, the stock market and jobs growth. Then he sought to tie Trump to Youngkin, a 54-year-old businessman and political neophyte.“Terry’s opponent has made all of his private pledges of loyalty to Donald Trump,” Biden told the crowd. “But what’s really interesting to me: he won’t stand next to Donald Trump now that the campaign is on. Think about it. He won’t allow Donald Trump to campaign for him in this state. And he’s willing to pledge his loyalty to Trump in private, why not in public? What’s he trying to hide? Is there a problem with Trump being here? Is he embarrassed?”Indeed, if the McAuliffe campaign has one message in this race, it is that Youngkin, for all his his fleece jacket suburban dad demeanor, is a mini-Trump and therefore anathema to the most liberal state in the south. In one of the Democrat’s ads, Trump is heard endorsing the candidate, then Youngkin says Trump “represents so much of why I’m running”; no further comment is required.Republicans insist the effort is doomed. Patti Hidalgo Menders, president of the Loudoun County Republican Women’s Club in Ashburn, said: “Donald Trump is no longer in office. I think that’s a lost cause for McAuliffe.”For his part, Youngkin has relentlessly pushed a culture wars message that Virginia’s schools are under existential threat from “critical race theory”. The fact that critical race theory – an analytic framework through which academics discern the ways that racial disparities are reproduced by the law – is not taught in Virginia does not seem to matter to him.One Youngkin ad features a mother who once sought to ban Beloved, a classic novel by the African American author Toni Morrison, from classrooms. Her effort led to state legislation that would have let parents opt out of their children studying classroom materials with sexually explicit content; it was vetoed by McAuliffe when he was governor. Democrats seized on the issue to accuse Youngkin of trying to ban books and “silence” Black authors.What these very different campaign pitches have in common is a laser focus on the suburbs, where Trump fared poorly against Biden in last year’s presidential election but where parental anxiety over school curriculums and virus precautions is seen as ripe for exploitation. Both parties are monitoring closely which message will prevail as they prepare to campaign for the November 2022 midterms.The Virginia election may well be won and lost in the suburbs of the state capital, Richmond, once the seat of the slave-owning Confederacy where a statue of Gen Robert E Lee was last month removed after 131 years. Yard signs for both McAuliffe and Youngkin are visible in the suburb of Short Pump, which has a lively shopping mall, well-regarded restaurants and excellent government schools.Resident Beth O’Hara, 46, a lawyer, said: “I think the suburbs are really going to make the difference and there are people I know who really distrusted Trump and did not vote for his re-election but are planning to vote for Youngkin. That tells me people view him in a much more moderate way.”But O’Hara will vote for McAuliffe. “It’s difficult for me to imagine, after some progress over the last couple of years in Virginia, going back to a place where we have a Republican governor who has at least suggested further restrictions of abortion. I’m kind of done seeing us backslide on that particular issue.”Seventy miles away is Charlottesville, where a white supremacist march in 2017 galvanised Biden to run for president in what he called a battle for the soul of the nation. Now Charlottesville will render its own verdict: McAuliffe has acknowledged that Biden’s dip in the polls, and Democrats’ inertia in Washington, could hurt his campaign.Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said: “This is going to be a test case that Republicans will use in 2022, whether Youngkin wins or not, because it’s clearly going to be close. The fact that he could turn a +10 Biden state, with Biden’s help and the congressional Democrats’ help, into a close contest tells you that some of the social and cultural issues, however outrageous they are, are working.”Sabato added: “Critical race theory doesn’t even exist in this state. We don’t teach it. I just can’t tell you how many people come up to me, in stores and gas stations and so on, and say, ‘Why are we teaching this race thing?’ I tell them it’s not taught. They say, ‘Well, that can’t be because I heard Mr Youngkin talk about it.’ He talks about it every day about 10 times. You can create an issue out of nothing.”Democratic voters in Charlottesville are appalled by Youngkin’s reversion to dog-whistle politics in a state that has been trending Democratic in recent years with strict gun laws, loose abortion restrictions, protections for LGBTQ+ people, the abolition of the death penalty and the legalisation of marijuana for adult recreational use.Andrea Douglas, executive director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, said: “If Virginia becomes a Republican state, all of the work that we have done over the course of the last few years in Charlottesville and just generally trying to move Virginia towards being a progressive state, all of that will be turned back.“Seeing the kind of work that has been done in the state to re-engage our students with African American history in the face of critical race theory backlash, the last thing we need is a Republican governor. From the perspective of not just being a person of color, but being a woman of color, he is a dangerous, dangerous person. His positions on abortion, his positions on education.”Youngkin has been walking a political tightrope, seeking to play down his links to Trump in Democratic-held cities while embracing the former president in his old strongholds in the hope of reactivating his base of support.Meanwhile, McAuliffe has rallied with Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Barack Obama in an attempt to whip up enthusiasm in an election-weary electorate. One of the biggest challenges facing Democrats is apathy from young voters, and voters of color, disenchanted by Biden’s failure to deliver on promises on the climate crisis, immigration reform, racial justice in policing and voting rights.There is also frustration over his stalled legislative agenda. This week Biden announced a pared down social and environmental spending package worth $1.75tn, which was half his original proposal and dropped paid family leave, lower prescription drug prices and free community college.As.the president flew off to Europe for Cop26 and meetings with Boris Johnson and other world leaders, it remained unclear whether progressives in the House, or the conservative Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, would explicitly back the new framework.This could leave Biden in a damaging limbo, with Republicans likely to claim a moral victory even if they narrowly lose Virginia, paving the way for success in the midterms and then for another Trump presidential run in 2024.Democrat Juli Briskman, a district supervisor in Loudon county who is campaigning for McAuliffe, said: “If we don’t win, unfortunately, that will give the right their playbook because they have been trying hard to confuse parents and confuse voters with false narratives over our school system and false narratives over our voting system. If those false narratives succeed then that gives them a playbook for the ’22 and ’24 elections.”She warned: “We are the testing ground, we are the proving ground, and we just simply have to hold the line.”TopicsVirginiaThe ObserverUS politicsDemocratsRepublicansJoe BidenfeaturesReuse this content More
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Resilience: the one word progressives need in the face of Trump, Covid and more | Robert Reich
OpinionUS politicsResilience: the one word progressives need in the face of Trump, Covid and moreRobert ReichThe climate crisis, the economy, Biden’s struggle to enact his spending agenda. The list goes on. The lesson? Be strong Sun 31 Oct 2021 01.00 EDTLast modified on Sun 31 Oct 2021 01.09 EDTI often tell my students that if they strive to achieve full and meaningful lives, they should expect failures and disappointments. We learn to walk by falling down again and again. We learn to ride a bicycle by crashing into things. We learn to make good friends by being disappointed in friendship. Failure and disappointment are prerequisites to growth.‘A deliberate, orchestrated campaign’: the real story behind Trump’s attempted coupRead moreThe real test of character comes after failures and disappointments. It is resilience: how easily you take failures, what you learn from them, how you bounce back.This is a hard lesson for high-achievers used to jumping over every hoop put in front of them. It’s also a hard lesson for people who haven’t had all the support and love they might have needed when growing up. In fact, it’s a hard lesson for almost everyone in a culture such as ours, that worships success and is embarrassed by failure and is inherently impatient.Why am I telling you this now? Because we have gone through a few very difficult years: Donald Trump’s racist nationalism and his attacks on our democracy, a painful reckoning with systemic racism, angry political divisions, a deadly pandemic accompanied by a recession, and climate hazards such as floods and wildfires.We assumed everything would be fine again once these were behind us. But we now find ourselves in a disorienting limbo. There is no clearly demarcated “behind us”. The pandemic still lurks. The economy is still worrisome. Americans continue to be deeply angry with each other. The climate crisis still poses an existential threat. Trump and other insurrectionists have not yet been brought to justice. Democracy is still threatened.And Biden and the Democrats have been unable to achieve the scale of change many of us wanted and expected.If you’re not at least a bit disappointed, you’re not human. To some, it feels like America is failing.But bear with me. I’ve learned a few things in my half-century in and around politics, and my many years teaching young people. One is that things often look worse than they really are. The media (including social media) sells subscriptions and advertising with stories that generate anger and disappointment. The same goes for the views of pundits and commentators. Pessimists always appear wiser than optimists.Another thing I’ve learned is that expectations for a new president and administration are always much higher than they can possibly deliver. Our political system was designed to make it difficult to get much done, at least in the short run. So the elation that comes with the election of someone we admire almost inevitably gives way to disappointment.A third thing: in addition to normal political constraints, positive social change comes painfully slowly. It can take years, decades, sometimes a century or longer for a society to become more inclusive, more just, more democratic, more aware of its shortcomings and more determined to remedy them. And such positive changes are often punctuated by lurches backward. I believe in progress because I’ve seen so much of it in my lifetime, but I’m also aware of the regressive forces that constantly threaten it. The lesson here is tenacity – playing the long game.The US should cut the Pentagon budget to fund social | Emma Claire FoleyRead moreWhich brings me back to resilience. We have been through a difficult time. We wanted and expected it to be over: challenges overcome, perpetrators brought to justice, pandemic ended, nation healed, climate saved, politics transformed. But none of it is over. The larger goals we are fighting for continue to elude us.Yet we must continue the fight. If we allow ourselves to fall into fatalism, or wallow in disappointment, or become resigned to what is rather than what should be, we will lose the long game. The greatest enemy of positive social change is cynicism about what can be changed.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com
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Democratic leaders want House votes on Biden domestic agenda by Tuesday
Biden administrationDemocratic leaders want House votes on Biden domestic agenda by TuesdayAnonymous sources outline ambitious timetable for spending plan so far stymied by centrist senators Associated Press in WashingtonSat 30 Oct 2021 16.01 EDTDemocratic leaders are hoping for House votes as soon as Tuesday on the two pillars of Joe Biden’s domestic spending agenda, two Democrats said Saturday, as the party mounted its latest push to get the long-delayed legislation through Congress.Joe Manchin single-handedly denied US families paid leave. That’s just cruel | Jill FilipovicRead moreTop Democrats would like a final House-Senate compromise on Biden’s now $1.75tn, 10-year social and environment plan to be written by Sunday, the Democrats said.Talks among White House, House and Senate officials were being held over the weekend, said the Democrats, who described the plans on condition of anonymity.An accord could clear the way for House passage of that bill and a separate $1tn measure funding road, rail and other infrastructure projects, the Democrats said.It remains unclear whether the ambitious timetable can be met. To clear the Senate, any agreement will need the backing of centrist Democrats Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona.The two senators have forced Biden to retreat from his plan for a $3.5tn social and environment bill and to remove some initiatives from the measure.Republican opposition to the social and environmental bill is unanimous. Democrats hold the House and Senate but in the latter are 10 votes short of the necessary super-majority to pass legislation.They must therefore use reconciliation, a process for budgetary measures which allows for a simple majority. As the Senate is split 50-50 and controlled via the casting vote of Vice-President Kamala Harris, Manchin and Sinema have a tremendous amount of power.The Senate approved the infrastructure bill in August on a bipartisan vote. House progressives have since sidetracked that bill, in an effort to pressure moderates to back the larger social and environment bill.TopicsBiden administrationJoe BidenUS domestic policyUS politicsDemocratsJoe ManchinUS CongressnewsReuse this content More
