I know this post will incur a lot of wrath. Believe me, if Joe does decide to run, I will support him all the way and will, of course, vote for him. But we have to be realistic. We have to win the presidency in 2024 or our democracy is all but doomed.

For people like us on DU, we KNOW that Joe rescued our country from disaster following Traitor Trump and the pandemic, we KNOW all of his amazing achievements, we KNOW that during his administration millions of jobs were created and that unemployment is at a 50-year low and that the economy is booming.

But waaaaay too many voters don't pay any attention to politics until Election Day. They could not tell you what ARPA stands for, let alone any of the wonderful things that came out of ARPA, or that Joe Biden was responsible for it. I hate to say it, but I think Joe's age will be a deciding factor in the way they vote. Especially the independent voters and the disgruntled Republican voters that we need to vote Democratic in 2024.

Okay, so about Jon Tester, senator from Montana. First of all, Rachel Maddow adores Jon. How's that for a credential? Second, Jon has managed to win and hold his Senate seat three times in our ruby-red state. These days, that's nothing short of miraculous. Third, Jon is a farmer with broad appeal. He is the real deal whose down-to-earth, common-sense approach to politics and his refreshing no-bullshit demeanor would highlight DeSantis's slick, suck-up-to-the-MAGA-crowd phoniness (or the phoniness of any other Republican who wins the Republican primary).

Here's a sample of Joe's straightforward style:

[link:|

And here is the Rachel Maddow interview with Jon Tester in which he shows his devotion to helping veterans. At the very end, Rachel says she's going to ask Jon after the break about his plans for running for the presidency, but unfortunately they don't show that part! But she did indeed encourage Jon to run.

[link:|

So I know this post will piss off many, but seriously, I'm just being pragmatic. I still adore Joe Biden and will back him for president if he does run, but I'm terrified that his age will lose us the election.

(And, I'll be away from home and off DU the rest of the day, so won't be able to respond to any responses for a day or two. Please don't hate on me too bad!!!!!)

Can you imagine Trump's reaction to the Chinese surveillance balloon? He would have been torn!

Traitor Trump would have wanted to assist the Chinese with whatever intelligence gathering they were attempting, maybe even providing a fighter jet escort for the balloon as it floated across the US.

But Toddler Trump would have been gripped by an overwhelming urge to do something exciting and "presidential" and shoot, shoot, SHOOT the thing down, maybe even nuke it, because, after all, what good are the nukes if you can't use them?!

And of course, neither Traitor Trump NOR Toddler Trump would have listened to the top military advisers not to shoot the balloon down over populated areas. What the hell would Trump care if a few hundred or thousands of Americans got injured or killed by falling debris???

Again, thank God Joe Biden, a caring human being, a rational adult, and an actual American, is in the White House.

I thought he was the main Repube puppet master who got all the others to fall into line.

Has Mitch lost his grip on the party? Is he himself afraid of the radical rightwing Trump-humper Repubes?

becoming naturalized American citizens. And throughout the process, they should be reminded over and over again that it is Democrats welcoming them with open arms to this country, not the Republicans who shipped them around like cattle.

Do extensive background checks, of course.

And I know that the Repubes will jump up and down screaming, "See?! See????!!!! Open-border Democrats! Open-border Democrats!" But I say let 'em. We will have recruited thousands of newly hatched proud American Democrat voters.

government on January 6 should be put on the DHS/FBI "No Fly List." This should especially include all Republican Congress members found to have helped in the planning of that act of domestic terrorism.

Not being allowed to fly within the US or internationally would put a bit of a crimp in their campaigning next time they are up for reelection.

the US House of Representatives! Thank you, Monica, and thank you to all those who worked on Monica's campaign and who donated to her campaign.

Monica is EVERYTHING her opponent Ryan Zinke is not: hardworking (she campaigned in every county, while Zinke kicked back, smugly confident he would win in deep-red Montana); honest (unlike Zinke with his 18 federal investigations and ultimate resignation as US secretary of the interior); and dedicated to serving all Montanans (unlike Zinke who will, undoubtedly, now find new and creative ways to enrich himself and his ultra-rich donors at the expense of taxpayers and to shape policies in Montana to benefit rich, out-of-state property owners).

She fought the good fight and has given us all the hope of flipping Montana blue in the not-too-distant future!

Thank you SO MUCH, Monica!

Here is Monica's truly moving concession speech in which she does not pull any punches about Ryan Zinke and his shameful record of abuse of power and his betrayal of public trust:

[link:|

I recently attended a fundraising event for Democratic candidate Monica Tranel, who is running for Montana's brand new seat in the US House of Representatives. In short, she is wonderful: intelligent and articulate, warm and kind, a strong woman of great integrity and character. Tranel is a Montana-born-and-raised attorney with experience taking on huge corporations. (She is also a two-time Olympian.)

Monica is running against the truly evil Ryan Zinke, who was forced to resign from the Trump administration—for ethics violations!!! I mean, how bad do you have to be to have to resign from the Trump administration?!

To cut to the chase, here is the link to her website's ActBlue donations page:

[link:https://secure.actblue.com/donate/Tranel4MT|

She really needs all the help she can get! The DNC is doing political triage, apparently, and has written off Montana as unwinnable. They have contributed NOTHING to her campaign. About 78 percent (I think that's the number) of her fundraising has been from Montana citizens. Only 8 percent (again, I think that's the number) of Ryan Zinke's campaign funds, on the other hand, have come from Montana citizens. The other 92 percent has come from corporate donors, such as the oil industry.

Please help if you can! Thank you for reading! The rest of my post explains a bit why Zinke must be defeated. And by the way, I am not in any way affiliated with Monica's campaign. I am just a Montana voter who is over-the-top impressed with Monica and who wants very badly to see Zinke soundly defeated.

Here is one of Monica's youtube ads:

[link:|


To refresh your memory, Ryan Zinke is the jackass who first embarrassed all Montanans by riding a horse named "Tonto" to his first day of work as interior secretary.

On his first full day in office, Zinke lifted the ban on using lead in ammunition for hunting, which President Obama had put in place. And he continued his assault on environmental for the duration of his time in office, prompting Nancy Pelosi to say:



[link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/15/ryan-zinke-interior-secretary-steps-down|

In his short time in office, eighteen federal investigations were opened on Zinke! When the Inspector General of the Interior Department (Zinke's own department!) referred one of these investigations to the Department of Justice, Zinke was forced to resign:



[link:https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/16/zinke-ethics-violation-real-estate-halliburton-00009389|



Zinke was also investigated for blocking two native tribes from constructing a casino in Connecticut after he was lobbied by MGM Resorts International.

Don't know how the law works, but a quick googling showed that a conviction could lead to up to seven years in prison.

Plenty of codefendants to throw into the mix, too: Fox News, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Facebook, Twitter . . . too many to list.

Would also love to see her punch him in the face, too.