October 1, 2021

Rockefellers have a message for Joe Manchin

Rockefellers have a message for Joe Manchin
Opinion by John D. Rockefeller V, Justin Rockefeller and Valerie Rockefeller
Editors Note: John D. Rockefeller V, Justin Rockefeller and Valerie Rockefeller are the adult children of former West Virginia Governor and Senator Jay Rockefeller. They are fifth generation members of the Rockefeller family. The views expressed in this commentary belong to the authors
Updated 9:21 PM ET, Thu September 30, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/26/opinions/manchin-reconciliation-climate-change-rockefeller/index.html

"We were raised in coal country, about two hours south of Sen. Joe Manchin's hometown, with a commitment to public service. Like Sen. Manchin, our father, five-term Sen. Jay Rockefeller, served as secretary of state and governor before being elected to the US Senate. And like Sen. Manchin, our father, who is now retired, has deep respect for the state's legacy of hard work and grit.

Manchin has served our state well. He is a caring and determined leader who we've been honored to know as our father's colleague and friend. Unfortunately, when it comes to our state's future (whether it's the jobs West Virginians will hold or the energy they'll consume), Manchin is sticking with a problematic past by opposing the Senate's $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Only by supporting that bill can Manchin lead West Virginia boldly into the clean-energy future that will help the people he has been elected to serve.

Manchin could be the deciding vote on the reconciliation bill that would help fund infrastructure projects and a wide array of social programs. The senator expressed his concerns about the bill's price tag in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, yet failed to acknowledge that delaying the reconciliation bill and jeopardizing the infrastructure bill is a dangerous move that could end up costing the entire country, as well as the people of West Virginia.

...snip....

Likewise, our family, known to many for its legacy of oil wealth, has acknowledged and acted upon the undeniable science that documents the destructive impact fossil fuels have on our climate. We consider it our moral imperative to divest from fossil fuels and invest sustainably. Many Rockefeller-affiliated nonprofits are also putting their endowments, which originated from oil wealth, towards clean and inclusive economic development. West Virginians should share in the prosperity and promise that the renewable energy boom will bring. The federal support the reconciliation and infrastructure bills offer will be critical to making it possible."
...more at the link above...
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They then ask Joe Manchin to support the reconciliation bill for the good of WV and the USA.

September 16, 2021

Trump's Big Lie is changing the face of American politics

Trump's Big Lie is changing the face of American politics
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 9:43 AM ET, Thu September 16, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/politics/trump-big-lie-gop-election/index.html
....
"Relentless efforts by former President Donald Trump and his true believers in politics and the media have convinced millions of Americans that Joe Biden is a fraudulent President who seized power in a stolen election.

This deep-seated suspicion of last November's vote, which threatens to corrode the foundation of US democracy, mirrors the message adopted by the ex-President months before he clearly lost a free and fair election to Biden.

It has immediate political implications -- the lie that the last election was a fix is already shaping the terrain in which candidates, especially Republicans, are running in midterm elections in 2022. And the widespread belief that Trump was cheated out of power is building the former President a 2024 platform to mount a GOP presidential primary bid if he wishes.

Longer term, the fact that tens of millions of Americans were seduced by Trump's lies about election fraud poses grave questions about the future of America's democratic political architecture itself. Ultimately, if a large minority of the population no longer has faith in rule by the people for the people, how long can that system survive? And if the will of millions of people is no longer expressed through voting, what other outlets are there? Already, the January 6 insurrection has shown what happens when aggrieved groups -- in this case incited by a massive lie -- take matters into their own hands."
snip...

more at link
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MUCH MORE in the Article about democracy being on trial in America with great quotes from Gavin Newsom ""Democracy is not a football. You don't throw it around, it's more like a, I don't know, antique vase. You can drop it and smash it in a million different pieces." and Eric Holder "I think about ... those democracies that were lost in the middle part, the early part of the 20th century where democracy was not adequately defended and authoritarian regimes rose, And it wasn't because democracy was unpopular. You know, democracy was strong. But the reality is the defense of democracy was weak, and we cannot allow that to happen in this country."

Collinson also suggests that Trump would almost certainly be renominated if he decides to run and that ambitious Republicans will support his Big Lie to maintain their standing with Trump supporters. Basically the danger of Trump's Big Lie threatens American democracy itself, and once it falls apart it will not be easy to reconstruct it.

September 15, 2021

The peril of Trump keeps growing nearly 8 months after he left the White House

The peril of Trump keeps growing nearly 8 months after he left the White House
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 1:40 AM ET, Wed September 15, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/15/politics/donald-trump-bob-woodward-nuclear-military-california/index.html

"Add another evidence dump to the growing case that a second Donald Trump presidency would be more extreme and dangerous than the first.
...snip...
As Trump teases another run at the White House, his behavior and new accounts of his wild final days in office are becoming too outlandish to ignore, given that he's already the prohibitive favorite for the Republican nomination. Before that, he's the tip of the spear of the GOP bid to retake the House in midterm elections next year. The price for entry for any party candidate is fealty to the flagrant lie sold to millions that Trump is still the rightful President. And he's undoubtedly the dominant force in Republican politics -- even if his ever more radical conduct may make his appeal in a national election more doubtful. At least in an election that is free and fair.

The disclosures in Woodward and Costa's "Peril" are among the most serious and alarming yet. If they are borne out, they would not just be a case of a President tearing at the structures of US democracy -- as he did with the US Capitol insurrection on January 6, designed to disrupt Biden's certification as the winner of November's election. But they also would represent a sign that the nation's most senior military officer believed Trump was a grave danger to the world in the fevered days when he was trying to cling to power.

..snip...
There is a definite sense -- borne out by five years of scandals, crushing of presidential norms and evidence of the political damage that an out-of-control President can do -- that what doesn't kill Trump's political career makes it stronger."

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more at the link-- a good article discussing the danger that Trump and his enablers in the GOP pose to the nation. This goes beyond political differences to a threat to the American political system itself.