I love my Minnesota Governor. However, I will apologize for Michele Fischbach and Tom Emmer. I did call Fischbach and asked her, "how much does a Russian Asset make these days?"
Governor Walz is as pragmatic as they come. As are most people in this state. The man cannot tolerate a bully. He was a great teacher and coach which only adds to his "let's do this" mindset. His compassion for humanity is remarkable. He is approachable and humble. He's a no bullshit guy. What you see is what you get. He also doesn't have baggage. He's a good man. He's a good man who really cares about us all.
The right will rip him apart. As they do calling him a socialist. We need some serious socialism in this country right now. The American Oligarchs have way too much power. They are tearing this country apart. We need to take it from them. We need healing. Governor Walz is a healer for the people.
The Dems need to start schooling people on what Socialist and the Left is. They have left that alone for too long. I don't agree with the use of left in this article for example. I know people who are Left and have most of my life. Walking to the bank with my mom while she stopped and talked with people in the Spartacus Youth League who were selling their papers, and then inviting them to make their case over dinner. My US neighbor who told me the Left is armed too, and who home schools her son because the Public School curriculum is too racist and sexist. My mom's 90-year-old friend in Germany who, along with her somewhat younger partner is an official and active member of Die Linke, the leftist party in Germany. I have coffee with her about 4 times a year and get a dose each time of what they think of US imperialism, which she stands for 2 hours demonstrating against each Saturday in the market place of whichever city she happens to be in. The Left is not part of the Democratic party. They do not support our involvement in Ukraine. In fact, the Left might have some feelings for Russia. They do in Germany. That is their partner from ages ago. They do not believe in the current government, they, like the Right, would like to get rid of it and start anew. However, I am less worried about the Right ripping Walz apart than I might have been a few weeks ago. When you have the narrative momentum you should run with it. The Dems are starting to feel less afraid and as such, their fearlessness is contagious. Trump and his party are about fear. I think the Dems are offering something better. Freedom or Fear, which do you prefer? Project 2025 gives us a whole list of things Freedoms that Harris represents and whomever is her running mate will be representing along with her.
I don't know what sort of folks you're talking to if you think that any substantial number of US leftists see the far-right, Christian nationalist, explicitly expansionist government of Russia as an ally. I'm not deep in organizing spaces, but nobody I know who identifies as socialist or left of the democratic party is pro-Russia.
Alan, die Linke, which is the official leftist party in Germany support Putin, and thinks that there is a war in Ukraine because of the USA and NATO, not because of Putin. In fact, I have been told that Putin was pushed to defend the Russian speakers in the Donbas region so that is why he had to go in there. Hungary is cool too. That is German leftists, and it is what they think. If you look at the position of Sarah Wagenknechts new break off from Die Linke party, Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW) they also want to stop Germany's support of Ukraine and want to go back to buying oil from the Russians. They do not have what I would call a progressive energy policy at all. Their belief is that the government is supposed to be helping the people to have lower bills, nothing about global warming or anything like that. Where her party is like the Right wing party is that it is also anti-immigrant. In the USA, the Left is also not supporting Ukraine. Have you followed John Mersheimer's talks. The view is that the USA and NATO are imperialists who forced Putin's hand by expanding NATO. While there may be some individuals who think differently, I would say the Left is still traditionally against the government. https://www.counterextremism.com/content/far-left-extremist-groups-united-states
An observation and a request: This column identifies "progressive" with Bernie Sanders. It never mentions, e.g., Elizabeth Warren, whom I supported in the 2020 primary (and who is also my home state senior senator). This, unfortunately, is pretty typical of progressive-leaning male journalists and pundits. Sanders, like the New Left from which he came, is long on rhetoric and short on substance. (True, he seems to have done a good job as mayor of Brattleboro, Vermont, in the 1980s, but Brattleboro is a small, mostly white city with no need of a foreign policy.) What many of you all are missing is that "women's issues" -- i.e., women's perspectives on *all* issues -- don't fit neatly on the right-left continuum. Neither do the perspectives of people of color, among others. No surprise there: the right-left continuum is rooted in the political thinking of mostly white mostly men.
So, short version: "Progressive" is loosely defined these days, and seems to be claimed by, among others, liberals who see the liberal label as passé. It should absolutely include the likes of Elizabeth Warren and those of us who support her. It shouldn't be used as a synonym for "leftist," which comes from a male-dominated tradition and hasn't really tried to shake off the influence of its origins. You all can keep "leftist" but please be more careful with "progressive."
Fair point. Warren is more in the Walz camp in that she's worked within the party instead of taking to exert influence from the outside, which was why we focused on Sanders.
OK, but there are several bona fide progressives in Congress -- including some originally inspired by Sanders -- also working within the party. I believe "progressive" fits within the Democratic big tent, but I'm not sure about "leftist." OTOH, the way "leftist" and "far leftist" get tossed around by the right, it's hard to tell what they mean in contemporary U.S. politics. Thanks to the long shadow of McCarthyism and its predecessors, "socialist" and even "social democratic" are still risky labels -- but a few politicians *are* taking that risk and getting elected. I'm wondering how things are going to develop going forward, now that the "capitalism über alles" crowd has revealed just how anti-democratic they are. Interesting times!
fwiw, I supported Warren in 2020. She just never caught fire with left influencers, in part because Sanders was in the race. (I liked Castro a lot too, who was similarly boxed out.)
I think the thing about Walz is that he's got the support of the (small number of) Warren supporters, and of the (larger) Sanders wing, and is also just generally acceptable/liked by many center-y dems who don't consider themselves progressive or who are leery of leftists/progressives (including Warren and Sanders.)
Castro was my 2nd choice in 2020! I especially like Walz this time around because as a governor he's been able to get real things done on the ground. The achievements of senators and reps are usually less tangible, e.g., they secure the funding that makes things happen, but they're a couple of steps removed from the results. All of which is crucial, but it's harder to sell to an electorate that often isn't up on what it takes to make things happen.
Thanks for the educational read about Tim Walz. He's definitely someone to keep an eye on, has much better credentials than Bernie Sanders and is an inspiring story of 'going big' in government and succeeding. Any of the front runners would look GREAT standing next to Vance but my guess is that concentrating on the tipping state of Pennslyvannia by selecting Shapiro is too strong an argument. Defeating Trump is the key goal and discipline in pursuing it is what the Democrats need.
It was an amusing read about Trump's outreach efforts to Afro Americans. I'd like to believe it was desperation (pressure and stress do NOT bring out the best in Trump) but my guess is that he's so ego centric he just doesn't think about is audience and how what he says will go down. He may have had that sort of self discipline in 2016 but he's become a declining political talent and even more self obsessed and self indulgent with age. Years of being fawned on by his cult members has had a role too, I'd guess.
By the way Aaron are you sure that dealing with black women 'brings out the worst" in Trump? There's an awful lot of worsts jostling for the title of 'absolute worse'. I know you've followed him closer than I have but I'd be overwhelmed by choices if I had to decide on his nadir.
Michael -- I do agree that deciding when Trump has hit rock bottom is a difficult exercise, but his appearance at NABJ was perhaps the most unhinged I've seen him in a public setting like that. I do think there's something about the combination of running against a woman who's Black AND who is on a trajectory to beat him that seems to be really hard for him to handle, but it's certainly possible that Trump has even lower depths to plumb.
We also got to see his meltdown *live* as opposed to reading/seeing it in the mainstream media. Their coverage of Trump's RNC speech was a nadir, but it wasn't atypical. Most of them bend over backwards to make him seem rational, for reasons I don't fully grasp.
I will neither forget nor forgive Sanders for sandbagging Clinton nor Nader for doing the same to Gore for that matter. Every bit of good they did in their careers was destroyed by those arrogant pricks.
I'd have put it more gently but your basic point is stop on Runfastandwin. Especially Nader. If 1% of the people who voted for Nader in Florida would have voted for Gore we'd have had no President Bush and no Iraq disaster.
Along with that, I'll never forgive him for encouraging the misogynist "Bernie Bros" in 2016. I came of political age during the fading years of the New Left. It was male-dominated and long on rhetoric -- and that's exactly where Sanders comes from. Well, actually he comes from New York, but he ran off to lily-white Vermont so he could be a big fish in a small pond. He was indeed mayor of Brattleboro in the 1980s, but heading a small city in a mostly white state is a far cry from being chief executive of a diverse country in an even more diverse world.
At this point, you might think that the MSM personalities/reporters would realize that there are turds in all the punch bowls at the party they've been attending. But I wouldn't hold my breath for a change of venue or content. Their corporate hosts/bosses may not let them leave or change their tune.
It is the format , and the tough questions from people who disagree with him. So it’s more that racism and misogyny - he flailed and completely bombed the libertarian convention speech - and that was a speech with him standing at the front of a room. I think we’ve figured this out….
Have him seated and not standing - so he is on the same level as audience and cannot move around at all.
Have a question and answer format with people asking ?s on the same stage as he is- don’t allow him to call or zoom in.
Have the questioners ask tough but legitimate ?s
Have more than one questioner, no one on ones.
Provide a tech glitch and a delay - make that happen at the beginning, bc waiting like all of us have to do routinely , really pisses him off.
Have an audience that is not in agreement with with - doesn’t have to be completely in disagreement like speaking to only Dems , but not a Trump rally
He could not handle a room full of mostly white people who disagreed with him, mostly men.
I would love to see him with the libertarians with the same format as the NBJA- because you’d have the same type of supercut
He is not a God — and these speaking engagements can be managed to get him to perform horribly . I just got done reading the book The Apprentice in Wonderland . All the tv program was pretty well managed - don’t let him and his campaign manage/script the appearance .
I always thought he could be taken down - even felt Biden would win- I don’t even know why the RNC thought he was a shoo in during the convention , bc that whole thing was a joke, and that was SCRIPTED appearances.
More of this -> libertarian conv , NBJA appearances … don’t limit to blacks and or women , he’ll flail if you follow the recipe, even if not all ingredients are present. If you get all of them - he’ll fail gloriously
I suspect that as is tfg's habit of hiring only the most groveling of loyalists no matter how incompetent, his 'campaign' apparatus will fail him bigly.
Noah: thanks for this great analysis and promotion of Tim Walz. I think he’d be an excellent choice for VP.
I had the opportunity to see/hear him speak during a plenary session at the Esri GIS (geographic info systems) conference two weeks ago in San Diego. Wow!
Everything you said about him, I and 20,000 other people saw firsthand. Commanding, humble, no nonsense, compelling, empathetic, down-to-earth, engaging, data savvy…and his rural Nebraska roots are also very helpful (he quipped that his high school graduating class was 24 kids, and 12 of them were cousins).
No big surprise, after his presentation, a buzz among friends and colleagues started: Walz for president. For now, I’d settle for Vice President.
I read the bios of all the short-listed candidates. I waffled some from one to another, but I felt comfortable with all of them. I finally just decided that, even if I picked a favorite, it wasn't up to me, and stopped worrying. I think Gov. Walz is a great choice. He has humor, smarts, plenty of experience, and a cool head.
I think that it's important to underscore that working "within the Democratic Party" can mean different things to different people, and places. Walz is an establishment DFLer, and the DFL is not the DNC, or the NY or CA Democratic parties. I'm not here caping for any political machine, but there's a reason our majority can push policy further in a month than a coastal state can in a year, and it has a lot to do with not having Wall Street or Silicon Valley hamstringing every progressive to protect their bag. There are parties worth putting effort into, and parties which are built in opposition to progressivism, and calling them all "Democratic" is reductive.
Usually, when somebody uses "Left" that many times in a piece, I get suspicious that they're trying to jam Republican-with-a-"D"-after-Her-Name Hillary Rodham Clinton down my throat again....
I encourage everyone to listen to the supercut. However bad you thought Trump was after just reading his words, it's 1000 times worse when you listen. It's beyond appalling that he was once president and might be again.
I love my Minnesota Governor. However, I will apologize for Michele Fischbach and Tom Emmer. I did call Fischbach and asked her, "how much does a Russian Asset make these days?"
Governor Walz is as pragmatic as they come. As are most people in this state. The man cannot tolerate a bully. He was a great teacher and coach which only adds to his "let's do this" mindset. His compassion for humanity is remarkable. He is approachable and humble. He's a no bullshit guy. What you see is what you get. He also doesn't have baggage. He's a good man. He's a good man who really cares about us all.
The right will rip him apart. As they do calling him a socialist. We need some serious socialism in this country right now. The American Oligarchs have way too much power. They are tearing this country apart. We need to take it from them. We need healing. Governor Walz is a healer for the people.
The Dems need to start schooling people on what Socialist and the Left is. They have left that alone for too long. I don't agree with the use of left in this article for example. I know people who are Left and have most of my life. Walking to the bank with my mom while she stopped and talked with people in the Spartacus Youth League who were selling their papers, and then inviting them to make their case over dinner. My US neighbor who told me the Left is armed too, and who home schools her son because the Public School curriculum is too racist and sexist. My mom's 90-year-old friend in Germany who, along with her somewhat younger partner is an official and active member of Die Linke, the leftist party in Germany. I have coffee with her about 4 times a year and get a dose each time of what they think of US imperialism, which she stands for 2 hours demonstrating against each Saturday in the market place of whichever city she happens to be in. The Left is not part of the Democratic party. They do not support our involvement in Ukraine. In fact, the Left might have some feelings for Russia. They do in Germany. That is their partner from ages ago. They do not believe in the current government, they, like the Right, would like to get rid of it and start anew. However, I am less worried about the Right ripping Walz apart than I might have been a few weeks ago. When you have the narrative momentum you should run with it. The Dems are starting to feel less afraid and as such, their fearlessness is contagious. Trump and his party are about fear. I think the Dems are offering something better. Freedom or Fear, which do you prefer? Project 2025 gives us a whole list of things Freedoms that Harris represents and whomever is her running mate will be representing along with her.
I don't know what sort of folks you're talking to if you think that any substantial number of US leftists see the far-right, Christian nationalist, explicitly expansionist government of Russia as an ally. I'm not deep in organizing spaces, but nobody I know who identifies as socialist or left of the democratic party is pro-Russia.
Alan, die Linke, which is the official leftist party in Germany support Putin, and thinks that there is a war in Ukraine because of the USA and NATO, not because of Putin. In fact, I have been told that Putin was pushed to defend the Russian speakers in the Donbas region so that is why he had to go in there. Hungary is cool too. That is German leftists, and it is what they think. If you look at the position of Sarah Wagenknechts new break off from Die Linke party, Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW) they also want to stop Germany's support of Ukraine and want to go back to buying oil from the Russians. They do not have what I would call a progressive energy policy at all. Their belief is that the government is supposed to be helping the people to have lower bills, nothing about global warming or anything like that. Where her party is like the Right wing party is that it is also anti-immigrant. In the USA, the Left is also not supporting Ukraine. Have you followed John Mersheimer's talks. The view is that the USA and NATO are imperialists who forced Putin's hand by expanding NATO. While there may be some individuals who think differently, I would say the Left is still traditionally against the government. https://www.counterextremism.com/content/far-left-extremist-groups-united-states
Thank you for the Conference Video. Trump is Unhinged. Must be kept out of Washington DC unless it’s to attend his federal trials.
Right you are Jeanine, but I wouldn't say no to him spending years in a DC correctional inst
An observation and a request: This column identifies "progressive" with Bernie Sanders. It never mentions, e.g., Elizabeth Warren, whom I supported in the 2020 primary (and who is also my home state senior senator). This, unfortunately, is pretty typical of progressive-leaning male journalists and pundits. Sanders, like the New Left from which he came, is long on rhetoric and short on substance. (True, he seems to have done a good job as mayor of Brattleboro, Vermont, in the 1980s, but Brattleboro is a small, mostly white city with no need of a foreign policy.) What many of you all are missing is that "women's issues" -- i.e., women's perspectives on *all* issues -- don't fit neatly on the right-left continuum. Neither do the perspectives of people of color, among others. No surprise there: the right-left continuum is rooted in the political thinking of mostly white mostly men.
So, short version: "Progressive" is loosely defined these days, and seems to be claimed by, among others, liberals who see the liberal label as passé. It should absolutely include the likes of Elizabeth Warren and those of us who support her. It shouldn't be used as a synonym for "leftist," which comes from a male-dominated tradition and hasn't really tried to shake off the influence of its origins. You all can keep "leftist" but please be more careful with "progressive."
Fair point. Warren is more in the Walz camp in that she's worked within the party instead of taking to exert influence from the outside, which was why we focused on Sanders.
OK, but there are several bona fide progressives in Congress -- including some originally inspired by Sanders -- also working within the party. I believe "progressive" fits within the Democratic big tent, but I'm not sure about "leftist." OTOH, the way "leftist" and "far leftist" get tossed around by the right, it's hard to tell what they mean in contemporary U.S. politics. Thanks to the long shadow of McCarthyism and its predecessors, "socialist" and even "social democratic" are still risky labels -- but a few politicians *are* taking that risk and getting elected. I'm wondering how things are going to develop going forward, now that the "capitalism über alles" crowd has revealed just how anti-democratic they are. Interesting times!
fwiw, I supported Warren in 2020. She just never caught fire with left influencers, in part because Sanders was in the race. (I liked Castro a lot too, who was similarly boxed out.)
I think the thing about Walz is that he's got the support of the (small number of) Warren supporters, and of the (larger) Sanders wing, and is also just generally acceptable/liked by many center-y dems who don't consider themselves progressive or who are leery of leftists/progressives (including Warren and Sanders.)
Castro was my 2nd choice in 2020! I especially like Walz this time around because as a governor he's been able to get real things done on the ground. The achievements of senators and reps are usually less tangible, e.g., they secure the funding that makes things happen, but they're a couple of steps removed from the results. All of which is crucial, but it's harder to sell to an electorate that often isn't up on what it takes to make things happen.
Thanks for the educational read about Tim Walz. He's definitely someone to keep an eye on, has much better credentials than Bernie Sanders and is an inspiring story of 'going big' in government and succeeding. Any of the front runners would look GREAT standing next to Vance but my guess is that concentrating on the tipping state of Pennslyvannia by selecting Shapiro is too strong an argument. Defeating Trump is the key goal and discipline in pursuing it is what the Democrats need.
It was an amusing read about Trump's outreach efforts to Afro Americans. I'd like to believe it was desperation (pressure and stress do NOT bring out the best in Trump) but my guess is that he's so ego centric he just doesn't think about is audience and how what he says will go down. He may have had that sort of self discipline in 2016 but he's become a declining political talent and even more self obsessed and self indulgent with age. Years of being fawned on by his cult members has had a role too, I'd guess.
By the way Aaron are you sure that dealing with black women 'brings out the worst" in Trump? There's an awful lot of worsts jostling for the title of 'absolute worse'. I know you've followed him closer than I have but I'd be overwhelmed by choices if I had to decide on his nadir.
Michael -- I do agree that deciding when Trump has hit rock bottom is a difficult exercise, but his appearance at NABJ was perhaps the most unhinged I've seen him in a public setting like that. I do think there's something about the combination of running against a woman who's Black AND who is on a trajectory to beat him that seems to be really hard for him to handle, but it's certainly possible that Trump has even lower depths to plumb.
We also got to see his meltdown *live* as opposed to reading/seeing it in the mainstream media. Their coverage of Trump's RNC speech was a nadir, but it wasn't atypical. Most of them bend over backwards to make him seem rational, for reasons I don't fully grasp.
When TFG sees Harris he also sees Willis, James and Chutkan which causes him to glitch and glitch and glitch.....
I will neither forget nor forgive Sanders for sandbagging Clinton nor Nader for doing the same to Gore for that matter. Every bit of good they did in their careers was destroyed by those arrogant pricks.
I'd have put it more gently but your basic point is stop on Runfastandwin. Especially Nader. If 1% of the people who voted for Nader in Florida would have voted for Gore we'd have had no President Bush and no Iraq disaster.
Along with that, I'll never forgive him for encouraging the misogynist "Bernie Bros" in 2016. I came of political age during the fading years of the New Left. It was male-dominated and long on rhetoric -- and that's exactly where Sanders comes from. Well, actually he comes from New York, but he ran off to lily-white Vermont so he could be a big fish in a small pond. He was indeed mayor of Brattleboro in the 1980s, but heading a small city in a mostly white state is a far cry from being chief executive of a diverse country in an even more diverse world.
At this point, you might think that the MSM personalities/reporters would realize that there are turds in all the punch bowls at the party they've been attending. But I wouldn't hold my breath for a change of venue or content. Their corporate hosts/bosses may not let them leave or change their tune.
It is the format , and the tough questions from people who disagree with him. So it’s more that racism and misogyny - he flailed and completely bombed the libertarian convention speech - and that was a speech with him standing at the front of a room. I think we’ve figured this out….
Have him seated and not standing - so he is on the same level as audience and cannot move around at all.
Have a question and answer format with people asking ?s on the same stage as he is- don’t allow him to call or zoom in.
Have the questioners ask tough but legitimate ?s
Have more than one questioner, no one on ones.
Provide a tech glitch and a delay - make that happen at the beginning, bc waiting like all of us have to do routinely , really pisses him off.
Have an audience that is not in agreement with with - doesn’t have to be completely in disagreement like speaking to only Dems , but not a Trump rally
He could not handle a room full of mostly white people who disagreed with him, mostly men.
I would love to see him with the libertarians with the same format as the NBJA- because you’d have the same type of supercut
He is not a God — and these speaking engagements can be managed to get him to perform horribly . I just got done reading the book The Apprentice in Wonderland . All the tv program was pretty well managed - don’t let him and his campaign manage/script the appearance .
I always thought he could be taken down - even felt Biden would win- I don’t even know why the RNC thought he was a shoo in during the convention , bc that whole thing was a joke, and that was SCRIPTED appearances.
More of this -> libertarian conv , NBJA appearances … don’t limit to blacks and or women , he’ll flail if you follow the recipe, even if not all ingredients are present. If you get all of them - he’ll fail gloriously
I suspect that as is tfg's habit of hiring only the most groveling of loyalists no matter how incompetent, his 'campaign' apparatus will fail him bigly.
Noah: thanks for this great analysis and promotion of Tim Walz. I think he’d be an excellent choice for VP.
I had the opportunity to see/hear him speak during a plenary session at the Esri GIS (geographic info systems) conference two weeks ago in San Diego. Wow!
Everything you said about him, I and 20,000 other people saw firsthand. Commanding, humble, no nonsense, compelling, empathetic, down-to-earth, engaging, data savvy…and his rural Nebraska roots are also very helpful (he quipped that his high school graduating class was 24 kids, and 12 of them were cousins).
No big surprise, after his presentation, a buzz among friends and colleagues started: Walz for president. For now, I’d settle for Vice President.
Would love to read your take on Shapiro.....
I read the bios of all the short-listed candidates. I waffled some from one to another, but I felt comfortable with all of them. I finally just decided that, even if I picked a favorite, it wasn't up to me, and stopped worrying. I think Gov. Walz is a great choice. He has humor, smarts, plenty of experience, and a cool head.
Gov Walz sounds like the Taylor Swift of politicians.
I think that it's important to underscore that working "within the Democratic Party" can mean different things to different people, and places. Walz is an establishment DFLer, and the DFL is not the DNC, or the NY or CA Democratic parties. I'm not here caping for any political machine, but there's a reason our majority can push policy further in a month than a coastal state can in a year, and it has a lot to do with not having Wall Street or Silicon Valley hamstringing every progressive to protect their bag. There are parties worth putting effort into, and parties which are built in opposition to progressivism, and calling them all "Democratic" is reductive.
Usually, when somebody uses "Left" that many times in a piece, I get suspicious that they're trying to jam Republican-with-a-"D"-after-Her-Name Hillary Rodham Clinton down my throat again....
Watching the compilation of clips of Donald's performance yesterday (thanks Aaron!), the first word comes to mind is he is a PRICK.
I encourage everyone to listen to the supercut. However bad you thought Trump was after just reading his words, it's 1000 times worse when you listen. It's beyond appalling that he was once president and might be again.