A favorite chant from decades of street protests: "The People, United, Will Never Be Defeated"

[Tom Rinaldo]

Last edited Sat Sep 26, 2020, 10:36 AM - Edit history (1)

It's a favorite of mine because, quite simply, it is true. By "The People", of course, I mean the clear majority of the public.There will always be a small minority of people who will sell out the legitimate interests of their neighbors, their community, their nation, their children or their mother for their own selfish benefit. There will always be others, many more others, who start off deluded about where their true self interests lie. But whenever an enlightened majority begins to take shape, and when what is truly at stake becomes daily more apparent, a momentum starts to grow that sweeps away both apathy, and ultimately resistance, to the will of "The People." The decisive variable is always whether that enlightened majority will reach the point of "jelling", but when it does: "The People, United, Will Never Be Defeated!"

John Lewis understood that. So did Ruth Beta Ginsberg. I say this now with as much confidence as I have ever had about anything. One way or another, Donald Trump will be stopped from stealing this election. Too many Americans, "The People" that I refer to, understand what is happening, and what is at stake. When "The People" are "United" pressure builds in often unpredictable ways, and routes to victory previously unrecognizable suddenly appear in bold relief, and seemingly impenetrable barriers opposing the "Will of the People" crumble under the onslaught. The Berlin Wall was formidable until the day when it wasn't.

Joe Biden will be our next President.

"One way or another, this darkness has got to give,"
Robert Hunter

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. I have been heartened watching "The People United" coalesce. The signs are unmistakable.

It is not just the amazing degree of unity, common purpose, and urgency expressed by all elements of the Democratic Coalition, from progressive independents to mainstream institutional centrists. It is not just the virtually total eclipse of voices who in the past have argued from the left with some traction that there is no meaningful difference between electing a Democrat or Republican president. Some still exist, but they are shouting in the wilderness.

It is also the staggering number of defections of Republicans who have served in the Trump Administration, of retired military leaders who traditionally were loathe to embrace a starkly partisan position opposed to a sitting President,and of many top level Republican political operatives who formed The Lincoln Project to an undreamed of level of public support. It is having the widow of the 2008 Republican candidate for President endorse Joe Biden, of having had the 2012 Republican candidate for President vote to remove Trump from office at his Senate trial, of having the 2016 Republican runner up for the Presidential nomination endorse Joe Biden at the 2020 Democratic Convention.

It is having suburban voters increasingly flee from Trump like the plague, and having more and more women view him like a stalker. It is having every Republican member of the U.S. Senate feeling a need to vote in favor of a resolution declaring that they are committed to the peaceful transfer of power after this November's election (whether they wanted to or not.)

This is what makes an unstoppable force unstoppable. How we will ultimately prevail still carries a degree of uncertainty. Most likely it will be via the conventional route, with votes being tabulated and Biden simply being declared the winner. But even if an actual constitutional crisis somehow flares up, we will prevail. The system will bend to our will because far too many with too much privilege and wealth to knowingly put at risk will make sure of that: The People United Will Never Be Defeated.

[dalton99a]

2. Take Out the Trash Day is coming.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. He's going to pull down a whole lot Republicans with him

The redist of States and districts may trend slightly redder, but overall Trump is causing a nation wide Blue Shift. That could have major implications for State Legislatures, which could have major implications for how future district lines are drawn.