In England there are signs everywhere to “mind the gap.” If we translate that into English we would discover they are talking about the gap between the platform and the train. Since public transportation really isn’t a thing here in Texas, we can certainly borrow that term and apply it to our politics.

We see two gaps that threaten long-term stability in our country. The first gap is the gap between how many people consider themselves to be moderate, liberal, progressive, or leftist and how many of those politicians actually end up representing us in Congress. Yet, the percentage of total voters registering as Democrats is growing. So, there is a gap between the number of representatives that are Democrats and the number that should be Democrats.

That’s a problem that’s not easily fixed. As we have seen in Texas, the GOP has a stranglehold on the state. Very few particularly like any of the Republicans that occupy state offices and yet they continue to vote for them. This has been a two decade tradition. They have rigged the game to make it easier for them to win. It will take a doubling of efforts to get that turned around and we see the same thing nationwide.

The second gap is one Democrats can address and address immediately. This is the gap between what gets done in Washington, Austin, and any other government center and what people actually think on the issues. Take any issue and you can see clear fault lines of where the public actually is on the issue. You could talk abortion, gun control, health care, public safety, education, or any other issue.

What Americans think on these issues is pretty clear. Overwhelming majorities agree on numerous planks on all of those issues. Yet, we are told America is a center-right country with center-right values. The problem is that this statement has no basis in fact when you actually look at public opinion polling on each of those issues individually. The GOP is on the wrong side of each issue and it isn’t even particularly close.

Democrats collectively make the mistake of getting off message. Either they overshoot these widespread popular opinions by suggesting things beyond what the general public want or they bungle up the messaging with slogans that don’t reflect the will of the people. These things are simple. Let’s keep them simple.

For instance, Americans want background checks on gun sales, don’t want guns in the hands of dangerous criminals, and generally don’t want automatic weapons in anyone’s hands. These are easy things to keep hitting over and over again. Yet, Beto O’Rourke introduced the idea of gun confiscation. That pushed the envelope too far and made him seem extreme. So, stick to background checks, keeping guns away from criminals, and an assault weapons ban. That’s easy messaging that will resonate with the majority.

It’s about simple messaging. When people understand what you are for and they are for the same things they vote for you. When they think you are an extremist or if they don’t understand what you are for they don’t vote for you. It’s really as simple as that. You find out what they like and then keep repeating that you are for that and the other side is against that. You keep repeating that until they understand. You keep repeating it. That is how you close the gap.

This week the NY Times published an excellent analysis of US response to the COVID 19 epidemic by compiling data from Johns Hopkins, the World Bank, and the US Census Bureau.  What the data show is a stark picture of just how badly the US responded to the pandemic compared to other developed countries.  The stupidity of the response is well illustrated in just two graphs:

The left graph is cumulative deaths per 100,000 since the pandemic began. The right graph is cumulative deaths from only the Omicron wave.  Notice that the US “wins” the death race over other wealthy countries by a LOT, and that failure stems from stupid public policy that is engrained in the US; the failure is worsened as a result of the stupidity of millions of Americans who chose to believe bullshit and have participated in politicizing science, vilifying of scientists  and doctors, and spreading nonsensical conspiracy theories about vaccines.

At the beginning of the pandemic, most wealthy countries locked down quickly, including the US.  The difference, though, was how the US did that compared to other countries.  Unlike the US, other wealthy countries, especially in Europe, took over the paychecks of their citizens, keeping them financially secure, which encouraged them to stay home and safe.  Characteristically, the US did it wrong.  First the US government stupidly poured a TRILLION dollars into companies with the stated goal of keeping people on the payroll, but the program was botched, and much of that money went into the pockets of the wealthy with little reaching  those who actually needed the money.  Second, GOP lead states like Texas started the misinformation campaign that developed into what is now a death cult among conservatives.  Recall that during this time, Dan Patrick, retired talk show host and bar owner, actually suggested that we should sacrifice the old and weak in favor of saving the economy.

Red states like Texas did extend unemployment benefits for a time, but that support was nowhere near livable, forcing millions of people to choose between risking the lives of themselves and their families and putting food on the table.  We all know how that turned out.  Add that to bullshit coming out of TFG’s mouth, his shutdown of all pandemic response that Bush II and Obama had put in place, and putting PPE response into the hands of that idiot Jared Kushner, and the perfect storm of stupidity flooded the entire country driving the US to the highest case and death rate in the developed world.

And it continues.  Playing to their base in an election year, Republicans all over the country are trying to out crazy one another doubling down on anti-vaxxer fears,  goofy conspiracy theories, and trying to to distract them with wild rhetoric about critical race theory and banning books.  And while they’re doing everything but their damn jobs, people continue to die.

Texas in the national news yesterday:

• Ken Paxton’s lawsuit to attempt ONCE AGAIN to repeal the ACA was tossed by Scotus.
• Greg Abbott commits $250 million of Texans’ money and then begs for donations to build Trump’s wall that takes private land to create a solution that doesn’t work.  Ask the Chinese about that.
• Abbott signs SEVEN bills that unravel 150 years of gun safety laws allowing any idiot to carry a firearm in public with no license, no background check, and no training.
• ERCOT asks us to reduce power usage due to normal summer weather.  This is after Abbott smugly announced that laws that he signed that will do nothing to fix our state power grid has fixed our power grid.

Like one person posted on social media yesterday:

“We are flying electric helicopters on Mars, but Texans can’t run their dryers.  That’s because scientists are in charge of Mars and Republicans are in charge of Texas.”

Biden’s speech last night was like a breath of fresh air after we all endured the verbal manure that flowed so freely from Trump’s mouth and Twitterfingers for 4 years.  Biden spoke of a rising America and introduced his trillion dollar American Families Plan that, after decades of decline and neglect, will attempt to make our lives better.

Predictably, the Republicans hate it, all of it, and it’s all predictable.  This morning on CBS News, Rick Scott was given a remarkable 5 minutes of national airtime to spew nonsense and childish attacks against  Biden and the GOP’s other favorite targets.  His lies came fast and furious, blaming Biden for all the ills HIS side caused.

Why are Republicans so opposed to anything that makes Americans’ lives better?  Because if people are happy, they won’t keep them in power.  The GOP has raised hatemongering to an art form because they know that if they can keep millions of Americans miserable and pissed off, they can then blame Dems for that misery and drive angry people to the polls.  And it works like a charm.  The GOP base is driven by adrenaline fueled anger, fomented by hate radio, Newsmax, OAN, Fox Noise, and the NY Post where the blame is regularly placed on “socialists, gays, Satanists, Pelosi, AOC, and Bernie.” Instead of focusing on real issues like education, income inequality, job security, and healthcare, they focus on bathroom bills, gay wedding cakes, and now the new target “boys pretending to be girls leering at your daughters in the locker room” accusing trans kids of trying to take advantage by posing as the opposite sex.

If the GOP had to actually face voters over their piss poor performance they would lose every time.  THAT’s why they are willing to inflict generational misery to the populace so they can keep everyone pissed off and insecure so their base will blame the rest of us.  That’s also why they are trying to push through voter suppression bills to make it harder to vote.  They know the truth and are really worried now because Biden rammed through the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that helped to relieve some of that misery.  If we follow that with making airports, roads, and other public infrastructure once again usable, the GOP is terrified that their supporters will like their lives made better and the veil finally lifted on their scam.

And that’s why they have zero interest in doing their jobs and making Americans’ lives better.

MUST READ.  LONG, BUT MUST READ.

The Atlantic is reporting that the Trump campaign has been conspiring for MONTHS to steal the election, no matter what the will of the voters.  The plan is much like we’ve talked about before, but even worse. Trump’s nonsense is now starting actually make sense; his continuous ranting about mail in voter fraud has been a signal for loyalists to vote in person, because millions of mail in ballots will be declared fraudulent, justifying his refusal to concede an election he’ll clearly lose.  Trump has been coordinating with Republican lawyers and legislatures in the battleground states to ignore the popular vote (citing said alleged fraud) and appoint electors to vote for Trump no matter the actual vote in those states.

This report is bone chilling, but connects all the dots.  Michael Cohen was right; Trump will never leave office willingly, and is depending on corrupt politicians in the battleground states to violate their oaths to the Constitution and the people to keep him in office.

Spread this far and wide.

The Narcissist in Chief (you know the name) just couldn’t stand it – four nights of national prime time television during the Trump National Convention?  Irresistible.  Trump has decided to speak all four nights of the prime time convention.  That’s right, every night.  Trump’s advisors are afraid that he’s over exposed, especially after he has resumed his nightly soliloquy’s masquerading as a COVID briefings, so Trump’s solution is MORE exposure.  Add this to nut jobs like the St. Louis gun toting couple and Scott Baio, combined with the banishment of the few Republicans left with a shred of credibility, and it should be a hell of a show.  I won’t be watching, of course, because I don’t want to put my shoe through the screen, but I can’t wait for the video of his gaffs and childish insults the following mornings.