I would love for him to flip Arkansas. If Asa and the Clinton’s joined teams and canvassed rural Arkansas, they could flip Arkansas. Little Rock, Ft. Smith and Fayetteville turned out strong for Biden in 2020; The new Governor, is running hard for Trump, on Public Education; religion and conservative policies.
I respected Asa more than I respected Christie during this primary, but both do not want another 4 years with Trump, how do we get their help!? If Cheney And Kinziger could help it would be to bring strong Republicans against Trump together with moderates to flip small states! 6 delegates in AR need to turn blue this year! 🧢🧢
First, sorry about the comments that were made about your daughter, Steve. She has as much right as anyone else to make her own choice about who she voted for.
I have struggled with the DNC for a few years and am not a fan of Jamie Harrison. Arrogant and entitled are the two words that always come to mind.
For a VP, running for reelection to say she is scared, would seem to be such a mistake. There are so many unity statements that could have been said, so many soul of the nation type comments. Most certainly not saying one is scared. Many of us fear Trump winning again, but she is one of the two who should be speaking not to our fears, but to our hearts.
In a word...Wow. Regarding the amazing Schmidt daughter. That she is so engaged as to participate in the caucus is praiseworthy. That she has taken a stand for her candidate is also exactly what we would hope for our children. For the commentary about her choice to be a Republican in favor of Haley and that being " blue" is the only way to go? To the writer...have you been missing the point lo, these past few years? This is a two party system and it has remained that way because indeed and I hate to use this phrase, but yes, there have been "good" people from both parties. I am a dyed in the wool Democrat. As a baby, I sat on my mother's lap as she gathered signatures for Adlai Stevenson. But please don't disparage a choice to be a Republican. It insults the democracy we are desperately trying to salvage.
And as for the Asa Hutchinson comment from that DNC person. What?!!! How does the DNC employ someone so clueless and snarky? Whoever he/she is should be separated in some way from any position where they communicate as a person having anything to do with the DNC. As if Democrats don't have enough problems with " optics" at this point Seriously.
What the Republican party has become is awful. I agree. But that is a relatively new development. When you say you would " never" vote for a Republican it feels as if you are voting " party" as opposed to the person running. And yes, most of my life I have voted Democrat but in a New York election a while back I voted for a Republican candidate. It was the best person. I have always voted the candidate and not the party. And I hope my children..and all our kids.... will do the same.
You said, “Sounds like your daughter’s brain is also frozen." You are insulting both Steve AND his 20 year old daughter. " This is rude and unacceptable on this forum, or anywhere in a society where the goal is to restore bipartisanship. Your put-down sounds like something Trump would say. This is Steve's point -no good will come of this.
You said, "If it were my daughter, I would tell her that she has to take a photo of her ballot vote in the Nov. election and that if it isn’t for Biden, then she is disinherited." This is a country of FREEDOM to vote for who one chooses. Do you think a threat to a 20 year old by their parent is a constructive way to proceed? No, youth often rebels!
You said, "Glad to say that my intelligent daughter always votes BLLUE. I must have done something right.” This is another insult to Steve, and to his daughter. You offer no apologies here, just more polarized righteous blathering that is tearing our country apart.
I'm not speaking for the daughter's intentions, but caucusing as a Republican for Trump's most plausible opponent is a valid strategy for fighting against the fascist.
I totally agree. How I would feel if my kid were voting Republican at this point is another issue. No, I would not be happy! I would be horrified. But greeting that choice with the anger of retribution for such a stand is, I feel, defeating the purpose which is to steer those we know into supporting people who support human rights and political decency.
Also, we cannot assume Steve's daughter, or many other youth, are going to vote red in the presidential election. We need to have wise and informed discourse with all people about the current state of our Democracy. We have intentionally been polarized by those who want power. I refuse to play into that game. Truth is what must be shared. We must rise above the toxicity of MAGA. We need BETTER. We must be role models for our youth.
Steve writes, about his daughter after her involvement in her caucus for Haley: "After the event, she was filled with questions, including ones about the overt and blatant religiosity entwined with the event. It was a shocking and bewildering experience for someone who was raised in the western United States in a thoroughly secular household. The experience opened a floodgate of questions about the separation of church and state, and how it came to be that there are so many people who completely disregard the concept."
"The experience opened a floodgate of questions ..." This is critical thinking on the part of Steve's daughter, INQUIRY...this is what is needed in our youth! This is part of an important process of people asking questions about the foundations of our government. This is what we need. Not threats or put downs.
Asa Hutchinson is an honorable Republican and statesman. His only mistake was to run against a man who has no moral code or ethics. Furthermore, he ran an honorable campaign in a corrupt political party. Those are his only mistakes. I listened and read his vision for our country and his ideas are not radical or right leaning, they were centrist policies and would have benefited all of us. Have we become so Trump like that we lost all respect for others. If so, then it is time I move on from the restraints of the democratic party and become an independent. I joined the democratic party after the disaster of the George W Bush and the invasion of Iraq. It was a difficult decision and I have endured much grief for my decision from family and friends. What becomes of our country is up to everyone and every vote is important to uphold our democracy. You don't have to agree with the opponents but you have to respect the process and the results. If Trump is elected again it is everyone's fault. No matter which political party you associate with. We are in this together and it is up to each of us to you your best to see that Trump is never elected to any public office. Vote Blue and ring doorbells and make sure everyone hears their vote counts.
Great writing as usual. You have a real gift. I hope you can continue to expand your scope so that you can inspire people to start paying attention before it is too late.
Your kid is engaged in an important part of life. Mazel Tov! No sarcasm. We need more like her who are involved, curious, interested and will to question their own assumptions. Especially young women because if there is one thing l know, all these speeches that get quoted are written and spoken by men men men men 🤦🏻♀️
Thank you Steve for being one of the fighters trying to preserve our democracy. There are not enough of you to stem this tsunami of stupidity, greed, and corruption.
This has been festering for some time. It is now door to door urban warfare for the soul of this country.
Trump is a disease. It is pure evil that corrupts all that it touches. Does anyone notice how the people around Trump end up fined, jailed or disbarred? It has to be a disease . Here is a man so vile that even his charity has been found to be a fraud. His university was a fraud. His business practices a fraud. He cheats at everything. He is not 6’3” nor 215 pounds.
He has been shown to be an idiot (inject bleach, windmill noise causes cancer etal).
Yet he has been aloud to control the media.
Why doesn’t the FCC fine Fox and other networks for disseminating false information? Why are they even allowed to use the News in their name?
We have grown lazy as a nation. People believe we will always have democracy and freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution.
Those freedoms are in jeopardy yet there is complacency, a failure to address the danger by those who are in a position to stop it (as you’ve pointed out).
Some churches are calling Trump a gift from God. Our schools have failed. Our churches have failed. As parents we have failed to teach humility, civility, tolerance, and integrity. We have elected in competent people to office and have scared away the best and the brightest from serving. How could a George Santos ever get elected?
Ignorance can be cured with information but stupidity is incurable. A corrupt institution attracts corrupt people (Klaas).
It’s all about loyalty over competence that has made the Congress and Supreme Court nothing more than a clown show.
I heard about this stupidity coming out of the DNC... I had been an independent for a long while, registered as a democrat in December to vote in the primaries.. However, I had forgotten that it wasn’t necessary, but remained as a democrat..today I will be registering back as an independent voter..
You have in your daughter a smart critical thinking intelligent young person who is curious, opinionated, interested and willing to engage in an important process made available to her..Just consider how many of her peers who did not..Who among this community can honestly say the same of their kid at that age? I wish I could say the same of my kid at 20..Hearing about your daughter and her friend is encouraging to me.. If we have engagement by such young people at scale I think it bodes well for our future..The fact that they could see religion being so wrapped up in it, and its incongruity is an indication of how well educated they are in our way of government..This again is encouraging..
Hi, Steve: You are absolut4ely right about Asa Hutchinson. He is one of the very few higher ranking Republicans who spoke the truth. Unfortunately, he could not drive any common sense into the great unwashed maga crowd. What Biden and the dems need to do, in my opinion, is to provide a warm and wide welcome to those republicans such as Hutchinson, Christie, Kinsinger and Cheney, and others like them, and persuade them to vote democrat up and down the ticket. The dems and its incompetent dnc must come up with a simple straightforward message which should be repeated over and over and over, ad nauseum, on all networks and social media and print, heralding the dem's and Biden's accomplishments, and showing the American public how better off they are and would be under democratic rule! What are they waiting for?
I have both respect and affection for dear friends who find both comfort and order in organized religion. I went to a church private school and thus attended, by age 18, more services than most Christians attend in a lifetime. So I know what it is to have someone, collar backwards, telling me what is true and how to behave. What I learned was that, for me, the GOLDEN RULE was enough. Steve’s daughter and her friend were surrounded by people for whom the church is their world. These folks have already bought into virgin birth, walking on water, when not otherwise being turned into wine, ( oh how I wish THAT were true). Not to mention the Garden of Eden screenplay with ADAM, EVE AND THE SERPENT. In other words, not a whole lot of critical thinking going on. These people are used to someone at a pulpit or lecturn spinning things and there is an inclination to accept what they say. This time they got THE SERPENT from the original cast. They might have preferred Adam but you take what you can. The Serpent, now in the form of the Donald is telling them stuff that is so bogus, so absurd, but they are eating it up. The Serpent, dripping in vulgar criminality, incapable of making a true statement, determined to corrupt every last one of them is holding sway and they have mistaken this as a religious experience. How else could a totally evil pillar of crap win over so many? Now, Iowa, nothwithstanding its traditional pre-eminent role, is but a blip. 100,000 people in a country of 350 million or more should not get the endless hours of punditry accorded, but the media wants a horse race, any horse race even if 2 or 3 or more horses are killed off at race’s end. All this would be nothing to worry about if the Democrats, so worthy, weren’t also so stupid. They have failed for 8 years to identify Trump for who he is even though their greatest ally is Trump. He has managed to disgrace himself in ways never before seen, piles of indictments, charges, negative rulings, lost lawsuits, fines and a mouth than runs like a sewer. Even those who are mistaking the Serpent for Jesus are going to find the last straw, the one that broke the camel, because there is no end to Trump. He believes he is above everything. The Democrats just need to chronicle this and keep telling folks about it while reminding them of all the accomplishments, and there are many, of the Biden administration, starting yesterday. As Joe Scarborough has effectively pointed out, save for the aberration of 2016, Trump has lost every election since whenever the public has taken his or his surrogate’s measure. It will likely happen again but let’s not take any chances.
How very insulting to all of us here that people would be so unkind to your young daughter. She is just that, young. She will grow and learn. As that happens, she will evolve because she has amazing parents. I regret the unkindness that you reference. Opening up your mind, your knowledge, yourself and your family should not open the door to gratuitous (and not well expressed) contemptuous comment.
But alas, that is where electing a uncouth bully to the revered White House has led us: pretty much anyone feels the right to say anything in any way that they choose, without fear of looking like a dunce.
How great is it to think your daughter’s one vote denied Trump winning a county, even if the only one he didn’t win.
Such a very good article and your points are all well taken. I do hope there is an appropriate place for Asa Hutchinson and those very few like him.
I would love for him to flip Arkansas. If Asa and the Clinton’s joined teams and canvassed rural Arkansas, they could flip Arkansas. Little Rock, Ft. Smith and Fayetteville turned out strong for Biden in 2020; The new Governor, is running hard for Trump, on Public Education; religion and conservative policies.
I respected Asa more than I respected Christie during this primary, but both do not want another 4 years with Trump, how do we get their help!? If Cheney And Kinziger could help it would be to bring strong Republicans against Trump together with moderates to flip small states! 6 delegates in AR need to turn blue this year! 🧢🧢
First, sorry about the comments that were made about your daughter, Steve. She has as much right as anyone else to make her own choice about who she voted for.
I have struggled with the DNC for a few years and am not a fan of Jamie Harrison. Arrogant and entitled are the two words that always come to mind.
For a VP, running for reelection to say she is scared, would seem to be such a mistake. There are so many unity statements that could have been said, so many soul of the nation type comments. Most certainly not saying one is scared. Many of us fear Trump winning again, but she is one of the two who should be speaking not to our fears, but to our hearts.
In a word...Wow. Regarding the amazing Schmidt daughter. That she is so engaged as to participate in the caucus is praiseworthy. That she has taken a stand for her candidate is also exactly what we would hope for our children. For the commentary about her choice to be a Republican in favor of Haley and that being " blue" is the only way to go? To the writer...have you been missing the point lo, these past few years? This is a two party system and it has remained that way because indeed and I hate to use this phrase, but yes, there have been "good" people from both parties. I am a dyed in the wool Democrat. As a baby, I sat on my mother's lap as she gathered signatures for Adlai Stevenson. But please don't disparage a choice to be a Republican. It insults the democracy we are desperately trying to salvage.
And as for the Asa Hutchinson comment from that DNC person. What?!!! How does the DNC employ someone so clueless and snarky? Whoever he/she is should be separated in some way from any position where they communicate as a person having anything to do with the DNC. As if Democrats don't have enough problems with " optics" at this point Seriously.
What the Republican party has become is awful. I agree. But that is a relatively new development. When you say you would " never" vote for a Republican it feels as if you are voting " party" as opposed to the person running. And yes, most of my life I have voted Democrat but in a New York election a while back I voted for a Republican candidate. It was the best person. I have always voted the candidate and not the party. And I hope my children..and all our kids.... will do the same.
You said, “Sounds like your daughter’s brain is also frozen." You are insulting both Steve AND his 20 year old daughter. " This is rude and unacceptable on this forum, or anywhere in a society where the goal is to restore bipartisanship. Your put-down sounds like something Trump would say. This is Steve's point -no good will come of this.
You said, "If it were my daughter, I would tell her that she has to take a photo of her ballot vote in the Nov. election and that if it isn’t for Biden, then she is disinherited." This is a country of FREEDOM to vote for who one chooses. Do you think a threat to a 20 year old by their parent is a constructive way to proceed? No, youth often rebels!
You said, "Glad to say that my intelligent daughter always votes BLLUE. I must have done something right.” This is another insult to Steve, and to his daughter. You offer no apologies here, just more polarized righteous blathering that is tearing our country apart.
I'm not speaking for the daughter's intentions, but caucusing as a Republican for Trump's most plausible opponent is a valid strategy for fighting against the fascist.
I totally agree. How I would feel if my kid were voting Republican at this point is another issue. No, I would not be happy! I would be horrified. But greeting that choice with the anger of retribution for such a stand is, I feel, defeating the purpose which is to steer those we know into supporting people who support human rights and political decency.
Right on!! Thanks.
Also, we cannot assume Steve's daughter, or many other youth, are going to vote red in the presidential election. We need to have wise and informed discourse with all people about the current state of our Democracy. We have intentionally been polarized by those who want power. I refuse to play into that game. Truth is what must be shared. We must rise above the toxicity of MAGA. We need BETTER. We must be role models for our youth.
Thank you, Lisa.
Steve writes, about his daughter after her involvement in her caucus for Haley: "After the event, she was filled with questions, including ones about the overt and blatant religiosity entwined with the event. It was a shocking and bewildering experience for someone who was raised in the western United States in a thoroughly secular household. The experience opened a floodgate of questions about the separation of church and state, and how it came to be that there are so many people who completely disregard the concept."
"The experience opened a floodgate of questions ..." This is critical thinking on the part of Steve's daughter, INQUIRY...this is what is needed in our youth! This is part of an important process of people asking questions about the foundations of our government. This is what we need. Not threats or put downs.
Asa Hutchinson is an honorable Republican and statesman. His only mistake was to run against a man who has no moral code or ethics. Furthermore, he ran an honorable campaign in a corrupt political party. Those are his only mistakes. I listened and read his vision for our country and his ideas are not radical or right leaning, they were centrist policies and would have benefited all of us. Have we become so Trump like that we lost all respect for others. If so, then it is time I move on from the restraints of the democratic party and become an independent. I joined the democratic party after the disaster of the George W Bush and the invasion of Iraq. It was a difficult decision and I have endured much grief for my decision from family and friends. What becomes of our country is up to everyone and every vote is important to uphold our democracy. You don't have to agree with the opponents but you have to respect the process and the results. If Trump is elected again it is everyone's fault. No matter which political party you associate with. We are in this together and it is up to each of us to you your best to see that Trump is never elected to any public office. Vote Blue and ring doorbells and make sure everyone hears their vote counts.
Registered! see you tonight
Thank you for finding these inspirational historic addresses. You succeed in setting the tone each time you do.
People in this group criticized your daughter? That’s completely shameful.
Great writing as usual. You have a real gift. I hope you can continue to expand your scope so that you can inspire people to start paying attention before it is too late.
Your kid is engaged in an important part of life. Mazel Tov! No sarcasm. We need more like her who are involved, curious, interested and will to question their own assumptions. Especially young women because if there is one thing l know, all these speeches that get quoted are written and spoken by men men men men 🤦🏻♀️
Thank you Steve for being one of the fighters trying to preserve our democracy. There are not enough of you to stem this tsunami of stupidity, greed, and corruption.
This has been festering for some time. It is now door to door urban warfare for the soul of this country.
Trump is a disease. It is pure evil that corrupts all that it touches. Does anyone notice how the people around Trump end up fined, jailed or disbarred? It has to be a disease . Here is a man so vile that even his charity has been found to be a fraud. His university was a fraud. His business practices a fraud. He cheats at everything. He is not 6’3” nor 215 pounds.
He has been shown to be an idiot (inject bleach, windmill noise causes cancer etal).
Yet he has been aloud to control the media.
Why doesn’t the FCC fine Fox and other networks for disseminating false information? Why are they even allowed to use the News in their name?
We have grown lazy as a nation. People believe we will always have democracy and freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution.
Those freedoms are in jeopardy yet there is complacency, a failure to address the danger by those who are in a position to stop it (as you’ve pointed out).
Some churches are calling Trump a gift from God. Our schools have failed. Our churches have failed. As parents we have failed to teach humility, civility, tolerance, and integrity. We have elected in competent people to office and have scared away the best and the brightest from serving. How could a George Santos ever get elected?
Ignorance can be cured with information but stupidity is incurable. A corrupt institution attracts corrupt people (Klaas).
It’s all about loyalty over competence that has made the Congress and Supreme Court nothing more than a clown show.
I heard about this stupidity coming out of the DNC... I had been an independent for a long while, registered as a democrat in December to vote in the primaries.. However, I had forgotten that it wasn’t necessary, but remained as a democrat..today I will be registering back as an independent voter..
You have in your daughter a smart critical thinking intelligent young person who is curious, opinionated, interested and willing to engage in an important process made available to her..Just consider how many of her peers who did not..Who among this community can honestly say the same of their kid at that age? I wish I could say the same of my kid at 20..Hearing about your daughter and her friend is encouraging to me.. If we have engagement by such young people at scale I think it bodes well for our future..The fact that they could see religion being so wrapped up in it, and its incongruity is an indication of how well educated they are in our way of government..This again is encouraging..
Hi, Steve: You are absolut4ely right about Asa Hutchinson. He is one of the very few higher ranking Republicans who spoke the truth. Unfortunately, he could not drive any common sense into the great unwashed maga crowd. What Biden and the dems need to do, in my opinion, is to provide a warm and wide welcome to those republicans such as Hutchinson, Christie, Kinsinger and Cheney, and others like them, and persuade them to vote democrat up and down the ticket. The dems and its incompetent dnc must come up with a simple straightforward message which should be repeated over and over and over, ad nauseum, on all networks and social media and print, heralding the dem's and Biden's accomplishments, and showing the American public how better off they are and would be under democratic rule! What are they waiting for?
I have both respect and affection for dear friends who find both comfort and order in organized religion. I went to a church private school and thus attended, by age 18, more services than most Christians attend in a lifetime. So I know what it is to have someone, collar backwards, telling me what is true and how to behave. What I learned was that, for me, the GOLDEN RULE was enough. Steve’s daughter and her friend were surrounded by people for whom the church is their world. These folks have already bought into virgin birth, walking on water, when not otherwise being turned into wine, ( oh how I wish THAT were true). Not to mention the Garden of Eden screenplay with ADAM, EVE AND THE SERPENT. In other words, not a whole lot of critical thinking going on. These people are used to someone at a pulpit or lecturn spinning things and there is an inclination to accept what they say. This time they got THE SERPENT from the original cast. They might have preferred Adam but you take what you can. The Serpent, now in the form of the Donald is telling them stuff that is so bogus, so absurd, but they are eating it up. The Serpent, dripping in vulgar criminality, incapable of making a true statement, determined to corrupt every last one of them is holding sway and they have mistaken this as a religious experience. How else could a totally evil pillar of crap win over so many? Now, Iowa, nothwithstanding its traditional pre-eminent role, is but a blip. 100,000 people in a country of 350 million or more should not get the endless hours of punditry accorded, but the media wants a horse race, any horse race even if 2 or 3 or more horses are killed off at race’s end. All this would be nothing to worry about if the Democrats, so worthy, weren’t also so stupid. They have failed for 8 years to identify Trump for who he is even though their greatest ally is Trump. He has managed to disgrace himself in ways never before seen, piles of indictments, charges, negative rulings, lost lawsuits, fines and a mouth than runs like a sewer. Even those who are mistaking the Serpent for Jesus are going to find the last straw, the one that broke the camel, because there is no end to Trump. He believes he is above everything. The Democrats just need to chronicle this and keep telling folks about it while reminding them of all the accomplishments, and there are many, of the Biden administration, starting yesterday. As Joe Scarborough has effectively pointed out, save for the aberration of 2016, Trump has lost every election since whenever the public has taken his or his surrogate’s measure. It will likely happen again but let’s not take any chances.
How very insulting to all of us here that people would be so unkind to your young daughter. She is just that, young. She will grow and learn. As that happens, she will evolve because she has amazing parents. I regret the unkindness that you reference. Opening up your mind, your knowledge, yourself and your family should not open the door to gratuitous (and not well expressed) contemptuous comment.
But alas, that is where electing a uncouth bully to the revered White House has led us: pretty much anyone feels the right to say anything in any way that they choose, without fear of looking like a dunce.
If only we could get back to a bipartisan government! I have a great deal of respect for non Trump Republicans and pray they prevail in the future.