Like Wisconsin, Texas does not have a ballot initiative. Texas has a governor who is calling session after session to get vouchers for private education. We have a state legislator named James Talerio, a former public school teacher, who is leading the opposition to this.
I subscribed today because Robert Hubbell and other similar newsletter writers are frequently quoting you and compliment your perspective. They’re referral to your analysis of our current political dilemma is right on. Thanks. I look forward to reading more. Thanks for all you do to help demystify what our representatives are which can many times be confusing and mind boggling.
I really appreciate all these posts about polling. It’s so hard to not pay attention to them. If I read you correctly, the bottomline message is that Dems need to focus on getting out the vote, especially in swing states. I’m curious to hear your analysis of the effect of 3rd-party candidates. I don’t think it’s possible for one to win, but I believe they can tip the election. One scenario I fear is where one or more 3rd party candidate actually gets a few electoral votes, which then prevents either Biden or Trump from getting the requisite 270. In that scenario the election would be decided by the House of Representatives, 1 vote per state. Almost certainly Trump would win because there are more ‘red’ states.
Michael, I know you've taken some (justified!) jabs here and there at Ruy Teixeira's recent perspectives. Any plans to post about he and John Judis' new book?
Michael, the usefulness of MAGA vs anti-MAGA in analyzing politics is not obvious. Or perhaps I don't understand what you mean by the term. If MAGA means Trump loyalists, your Michigan chart crediting the movement back in 2012 is puzzling. If MAGA means Republicans, that's hard to square with the observable GOP civil war between the never-Trump establishmentarians and the Freedom Caucus reformers.
I tend to think of MAGA as a movement to cut back the swollen, ethics-free and scandal-ridden administrative state and restore civil liberties at an individual level and America's competence and competitiveness at a national level. But then what is anti-MAGA? It's hard to imagine millions of Democratic voters simply can't stand competence and ethics and therefore draw deep inspiration from Joe Biden. So I'm struggling to understand this group you describe.
You make an interesting point. It seems to me that your description of the MAGA movement well describes Trump's appeal in 2016, i.e. "drain the swamp." It was an anti-establishment pitch: MAGA 1.0. In actuality, MAGA 1.0 never took action and instead granted a gigantic tax break to the 1% and did nothing about the swamp. His administration was hugely corrupt. And thanks to justice tampering, ushered in the Supremes who took away personal freedom. So much for MAGA 1.0. The new version, MAGA 2.0, builds on the legacy of the prior version, which is frightening. MAGA followers can wish for the ideals of MAGA (which is really another version of Tea Party) but you're stuck with MAGA 2.0 - a horror show of deceit, fraud, criminal intent, nihilistic bullying, self-enrichment, and cronyism. Take your ideals to support someone who is worthy of them. You can do better than MAGA 2.0.
Like Wisconsin, Texas does not have a ballot initiative. Texas has a governor who is calling session after session to get vouchers for private education. We have a state legislator named James Talerio, a former public school teacher, who is leading the opposition to this.
I subscribed today because Robert Hubbell and other similar newsletter writers are frequently quoting you and compliment your perspective. They’re referral to your analysis of our current political dilemma is right on. Thanks. I look forward to reading more. Thanks for all you do to help demystify what our representatives are which can many times be confusing and mind boggling.
I really appreciate all these posts about polling. It’s so hard to not pay attention to them. If I read you correctly, the bottomline message is that Dems need to focus on getting out the vote, especially in swing states. I’m curious to hear your analysis of the effect of 3rd-party candidates. I don’t think it’s possible for one to win, but I believe they can tip the election. One scenario I fear is where one or more 3rd party candidate actually gets a few electoral votes, which then prevents either Biden or Trump from getting the requisite 270. In that scenario the election would be decided by the House of Representatives, 1 vote per state. Almost certainly Trump would win because there are more ‘red’ states.
Michael, I know you've taken some (justified!) jabs here and there at Ruy Teixeira's recent perspectives. Any plans to post about he and John Judis' new book?
Michael, the usefulness of MAGA vs anti-MAGA in analyzing politics is not obvious. Or perhaps I don't understand what you mean by the term. If MAGA means Trump loyalists, your Michigan chart crediting the movement back in 2012 is puzzling. If MAGA means Republicans, that's hard to square with the observable GOP civil war between the never-Trump establishmentarians and the Freedom Caucus reformers.
I tend to think of MAGA as a movement to cut back the swollen, ethics-free and scandal-ridden administrative state and restore civil liberties at an individual level and America's competence and competitiveness at a national level. But then what is anti-MAGA? It's hard to imagine millions of Democratic voters simply can't stand competence and ethics and therefore draw deep inspiration from Joe Biden. So I'm struggling to understand this group you describe.
You make an interesting point. It seems to me that your description of the MAGA movement well describes Trump's appeal in 2016, i.e. "drain the swamp." It was an anti-establishment pitch: MAGA 1.0. In actuality, MAGA 1.0 never took action and instead granted a gigantic tax break to the 1% and did nothing about the swamp. His administration was hugely corrupt. And thanks to justice tampering, ushered in the Supremes who took away personal freedom. So much for MAGA 1.0. The new version, MAGA 2.0, builds on the legacy of the prior version, which is frightening. MAGA followers can wish for the ideals of MAGA (which is really another version of Tea Party) but you're stuck with MAGA 2.0 - a horror show of deceit, fraud, criminal intent, nihilistic bullying, self-enrichment, and cronyism. Take your ideals to support someone who is worthy of them. You can do better than MAGA 2.0.
I really appreciate your sane approach to this fraught issue.
James Talarico