103 Comments
Jul 22Liked by Steve Schmidt

Exactly Steve, this is a great day for America and the Democratic Party. The GQP response speaks volumes. It’s the typical republican meltdown when they don’t get their way. As far as being fit to serve, perhaps we should have the same debate about many Republican members of Congress and their presidential nominee; starting with Trump, Speaker Johnson and MTG.

Trump: convicted felon and sexual assaulter. And now the oldest candidate to run for president. Can we get a cognitive test, and IQ test for him?

Speaker Johnson: believes the earth is six thousand years old, and dinosaurs roamed the earth with man. And he’s second in line to the presidency.

MTG: Tin-foil hat and Jewish space laser nut job from hell. And those are her best attributes.

It’s time to flip the script. We have a major opportunity to reset the narrative, and send the entire GQP into a tailspin of conspiracy theories; including misogynistic and racist rhetoric.

Let the GQP brain trust do the work for us, and I’m positive the American electorate will conclude that the only party unfit to serve, is the MAGA cult!

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Thank you Robert Jaffee. I agree 💯.

My choice for VP is Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona. He is a true American hero and his wife Gabby Gifford is a survivor of an assassin attempt. And what a survivor she is! She personifies all that is good and noble and Senator Kelly reflects those ideals as well. In my opinion he could pull the Midwest and all of America together for a Democratic win.

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I'm afraid AZ has been red long enough that they don't have a deep bench of Democrats to vie for 2 open Senate seats. On the other hand, there seems to be an abundance of GOP nutters to compete for the Senate. All of these are critical factors in making a decision.

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Robert, as usual, you are spot on.

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Thank you..:)

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You forgot to mention the wonderful, gun toting, public blow job giver, from Colorado-Lauren Boebert! She knew that she was loosing in her District 3, so she moved to my District! Because of gerrymandering, we went from having Jason Crow, as our Rep, to Ken Buck, and now, since my District is so "ruby red", we will probably get stuck w/Boebert! Heaven help us!

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I feel your pain. I live in a state that elected a MAGA guy as Lieutenant Governor who has referred to women as skanks and said we have an abortion problem in this country because women cannot keep their skirts down. It is an absolute abomination that he is the second highest ranking public official in a state of 12 million people. The people here who support him need counseling.

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Fair enough, but I have only so much time in the day to devote to the comments section…:)

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Trump: convicted felon and sexual assaulter.

Short list?

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It is a good day and I look forward to helping send MAGA to the ash heap of history, littered as it is with the relics of terrible ideas and nefarious intentions.

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Jul 22·edited Jul 23

I would LOVE to see one podcast (just one) were Chris Cillizza, Steve Schmidt, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Heather Cox-Richardson discussed what the next 100 or so days MAY be like and maybe a panel on Project 2025. I’ll be posting this on their comments too. Who’s with me?

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Include Joyce Vance on that list as well.

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Good call, forgot Joyce.

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I am an independent and in 2020 I thought Biden too old to run. I would have preferred either Pete Buttigieg or Elizabeth Warren. That said, I never hesitated to vote for Biden and would have done so again given the choice.

In 2020 many voters of all persuasions voted for Biden, because he was the lesser of two evils. The circumstances that instigated that vote has not changed and the Democrats should not forget who won them the presidency in 2020.

The victory was made possible because Trump was completely visible as the fraud he was, verified by his disgraceful and chaotic term in office. Since that time he has doubled and tripled down on that image.

In the meantime Biden has proven himself the better choice by far. There are more people better off, and those who are not and afraid they will not be, are the House Republicans, the 1%, the Union busting operatives, and Big Pharma to mention just a few.

The Democrats have to re-expose Trump to everyone once again for a good long look. Trump is dragging a lot more baggage and will once again lose the lesser of two evils vote, if it again comes to that. With the failure to pick up any new voters, Trump is ripe for the picking. It is time to hammer this self proclaimed Jesus to a cross of shame, and hang him on Hell’s door, marking his place in history.

Jerry

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That's the challenge. A big chunk of Americans have been afflicted with amnesia about the horror of the Trump years. In what has become chronic discontent in this country many are looking at Trump as the change candidate, a characterization Biden owned in 2020. While Biden was surely on a path to failure this year, the question is whether Ms. Harris can reclaim that change/challenger position. It's a big task, but at least this shakeup opens the door of historic possibility.

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Jul 22Liked by Steve Schmidt

Margaret Chase Smith, R-Maine, in admonishing her party’s support of Joseph McCarthy, R-Wisconsin, asked her fellow Republicans not to ride to political victory on the “Four Horsemen of Calumny–Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.” Her admonition is as salient today in addressing Donald Trump as it was challenging McCarthy.

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Now that Liz Cheney has left the party there are no Margaret Chase Smith’s or Nelson Rockefeller left in the Republican Party anymore. In fact, it is really not a political party anymore…it is a cult. They need to rebrand themselves.

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The 1952 Republican presidential platform, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/republican-party-platform-1952. You are correct, the MAGAcytes are a cult. Hopefully, this election will be a referendum to reject the Trump psychosis. Countering the Council for National Policy, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_for_National_Policy, will be a continuous challenge.

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One of my favorite historical references. The woman had incredible insight and prescience. How much have we really changed in 70+ years?

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If Kamala takes it to Tr*mp the way she took it to Bill Barr, and I’m sure she will, the “California problem” will evaporate with his candidacy. There has never been a better time for a woman candidate; Kamala can more than handle the job. And she needn’t be burdened with a “safe” VP pick.

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There should be long repeats of her eviserating Barr included in her campaign ads. Barr, until that point, was slimey slick and successful in lawyerly evasions and smugly confident posturings. Kamala, with a confidence that was clearly different and evidenced by simple clear cross took Barr by surprise and left him mumbling, never able to coffer up a word, let alone a defense

She simply, confidently unlaced him. There are other examples of her take down skills. My guess is, should the mention of a debate with Trump come up, he will run for the hills. Finally, someone eminently capable of meeting Trump on his own ground.

.

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trump the chump would normally have no problem playing the role of a coward who weasels out of a debate. Coward is in his DNA. But he’ll be forced to, due to massive shame that he won’t “fight.”Having said that his worst night EVER will be his debate against Harris.

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I love Senator Duckworths description of Trump as “Cadet Bone Spur.”

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Good points Tom. I just listened to James Carville & Tim Miller. My hope is that VP Harris gets to the point & gets her “message” out there, quickly. Definition will be everything. Sadly because of the way women are treated & portrayed at times, we tend to try harder, maybe KH can pull back a teeny bit on that. As for her VP, we’ve got Kelly, Shapiro, etc. but you also have Chris Murphy from CT, & though he’s not front & center you have a great guy in Mitch Landrieu, a stalwart for the Dems. Anyway, just a few thoughts.

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Hoping the Dems hire you, Steve! Strategy is key going forward!

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That would be the best decision the Harris 24 campaign could make.

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I love Matthew Dowd as well.

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It’s morning in America.

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Flipped script and GOP convention momentum extinguished in a Xweet. It’s actually better to have this become reality now instead of right after the debate. It plays like a major chess move, even if it was dumb luck. And, who knows, maybe the old politician and his just-in-time sense of timing did it one more time.

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Does anyone doubt that Biden deliberately left his announcement until after Trump chose his running mate and the Republicans spent their convention bad-mouthing him not Kamala?

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I don’t doubt it much, but I do think this was an up-and-down and distressing 3 weeks for President Biden, and I’m not convinced he knew exactly what he was going to do until he did it. But it’s not mine to know.

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Don’t think the decision was made till last week, but at that point, it made sense not to announce till after the GOP convention was over. Pretty clear that’s what they did.

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I agree Sharon; the old boy has a few moves that always trumped Trump. Joe's legacy is that he will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents. For all that he has done for the country and for all that he didn't do out of his own selfishness.

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Timing is everything!

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Also, after Sunday morning political shows, and in a written statement, not a prime time address. Perfect timing in my view. Plus, there had obviously been a lot of coordination these past few weeks with the quick endorsements.

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Harris all the way. It's time to punch back at Trump/MAGA. Time to articulate a clear vision for the future of our democracy.

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It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life and I’m feeling GOOD!!!!

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Thanks Steve. Although it is not new, "NEVER TRUMP" will be my call to arms, for sure, forever.

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Hi Steve, you mentioned a Harris/Ryan ticket last week which I really liked and commented on here at The Warning. I just saw Andy Beshear of Kentucky speak on MJ and he was quite impressive and effusive in his compliments of Harris. I think he would be a great choice too! Thoughts?

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If Steve has any connections to get Ryan's name thrown into the mix, I wish he would. Beshear does present well, but I'm not convinced a southerner is as effective as someone from the midwest to carry out this mission. And he doesn't have an important political office to give up.

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I agree completely Nancee. Would love to see Tim Ryan in the mix!

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She has a long history of professionalism and toughness The public doesnt know her that well / so now is her time to show us what she's made of

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A freshening breeze

and a following sea.

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I too was visited yesterday by an unfamiliar emotion: hope. I am deeply inspired by Joe's selflessness and heartened by Kamala's energy.

One cautionary note though. For all their idiocy and ugliness, the 2019 MAGA cult sensed a potential vulnerability in our electoral system - the alternate elector plot - that no one on our side that I know of had taken seriously before. The element of surprise was on their side and as we all know they nearly prevailed. The MAGA scheme was defeated largely because judges and elected officials (Republican and Democrat) at the state and federal level smelled the rat and (courageously) refused to go along.

Are there remaining unanticipated vulnerabilities in our electoral system that the Stephen Millers and Steve Bannons of the MAGA netherworld are sniffing around at this time around?

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I'm sure there are, but we have the benefit of knowing the scope and shamelessness of their underhanded tactics now. If we're not prepared, it's political malpractice. I also think that if the courts assist in effecting a coup, there will be no rest in resisting.

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