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USA was founded as a slave state, which has slavery in its constitution. Every time I hear a Supreme Court justice say what the founding fathers meant, I remember how many founding fathers were slave owners. Women fared better than the slaves but were considered property of their fathers and husbands for the most part. Saudi Arabia not the first. USA close to a neo-fascist state with old white christian men only interested in white supremacy. Literally half of the USA citizens only care that white men keep the power and keep people of colour disadvantaged. I was recently discussing Columbus on Columbus Day with another farang. When I pointed out what a curse Columbus was, bringing disease, stealing land, enslaving native people, my acquaintance said, what’s the problem, we’re white aren’t we. We have a reprieve now but it’s only temporary and tenuous at best. The struggle continues!

given how many people voted by mail for the first time it's not a surprise that it is taking so long to count the ballots. The system isn't really set up to conduct elections this way in most places. In states like PA the Republican legislature wouldn't allow the local election officials to even open the ballots until election day while others like Florida sensibly allow for the mail ballots to be counted in advance of election day as they arrive. Trump got so many votes for a variety of reasons. There is so much brainwashing going on all over the world right now. Social media is turning a lot of us into idiots and the craziest voices get amplified. Add in the propaganda TV networks. Poor educational system. And for sure plenty of racism, but also the wealthy class has set the poor people against each other so they're distracted while they're all being robbed. Sadly our whole system has been corrupted, primarily by the Republicans. Reagan was the beginning of the end. But the unrepresentative Senate and gerrymandered House (and state legislatures) have created a dynamic where minoritarian rule is in place in a feedback loop so it will just continue to get worse. I saw an estimate the other day that by 2040 the Republicans will probably have 80 Senators due to the way populations are shifting. Essentially what needs to happen is masses of progressives moving to the rural states. But we all live in the blue states for good reasons. So getting enough of us out to the red hinterlands will be difficult. Maybe the crazies will all kill each other off with the virus. At least we appear to averted disaster for the moment. There's plenty of work to be done.

Remember back in 2016 when the Trumpies told US...... So NOW Donnie Boy.....

Now the fun thing is going to be watching the state-level, and maybe even SDNY, legal prosecutions continue to play out. I think the courts would kick this notion of ‘self-pardon’ straight into the toilet.

There was a street party tonight in Boyztown. A couple of singers and some sexy male dancers entertained the mostly Thai audience. There was free Thai food and the entertainment was sponsored by a sex workers right organization. It was loud and most of the audience were employees of the Boyztown bars and clubs. One surprise was the reopening of Toy Boys. I went in and it was delightfully air conditioned. Only a few boys but all were energetic. They were clothed but I remembered several and their gorgeous bodies. I tipped all including the doorman who, I’ve known for years and is a favorite of a good farang friend of mine. It was the a good night in Boyztown. I also ventured over to Pattayaland soi 1. Xboys was fun and had a sexy show. One veteran named Art has returned and has a great body and is in the bigcock show. The boys swarm me as I’m appreciative of their assets and tip. My last stop was Dream Boys with three boys on stage. Each was tipped and they showed their appreciation. It’s hard times for the boys and tips are appreciated.

I'm posting a few very long, data-filled, and thoughtful articles recently written by two of my favorite political pundits: Ron Brownstein and Stan Greenberg. The themes of the two are similar. Mostly, it's very good news for Democrats. I'm not very worried about the Democrats losing, like I was in 2012 and 2016. This is going to be more like 2008, I think. That said, I feel none of the joy that I did in 2008. Maybe COVID-19 and a recession and death has something to do with it. But this does not feel like it is going to be a fresh beginning. It feels more like survival. Like we escaped a close brush with death. If anything, what I'm worried about now is what happens if Biden wins. Which is essentially the topic of both of these excellent articles. This first one is by Ron Brownstein: Why the 2020s Could Be as Dangerous as the 1850s As my thread title says, I think a Biden victory will quickly enough serve as a reminder that Trump was more the symptom than the disease. I agree with The Economist Biden endorsement @AdamSmithposted. We'll be living with "Trumpism" for years to come. That said, we were living with "Trumpism" before anyone imagined Trump would run for President - let alone win! Hindsight being 20/20, it is clear that all those "moderate" Republicans that really didn't like Obama and by 2014 were calling him and Obamacare "evil" - or worse - just needed some dark-souled asshole scammer like President Toxic to come along and make all their worst fears, hatreds, and paranoia seem not only legitimate, but noble and patriotic. The likely scenario tomorrow is that just like in 2017 and 2018 and 2019 the part of the Republican Party, and the Independents, that can't stand any more of this hate and horror will vote for Biden and Democrats. That said, that just makes Trump go away. Not the disease itself. Brownstein is more generous with his language than me. As much as anyone, he's had his finger on the pulse for a long time. He calls Trumpism "the coalition of restoration". As opposed to the ascendant "coalition of transformation" that is likely to win tomorrow. If Biden does actually win North Carolina or Georgia or both, it will be a signal that the old politics of The South really has changed. Both states could be part of a Democratic majority for a generation. If Trump wins Iowa, which used to be a solid blue state in Presidential elections, it's more proof that places with few big cities and loads of Whites are shifting into the "coalition of restoration". But as Brownstein says, the losers will be indignant and angry. Even more than they are today. 2020, meet 1850. In this article published Nov. 2, 2016 Brownstein came closer than anyone I read in 2016 in describing how Clinton could lose - and, in fact, did lose. She was focused on the Democratic Party of the future (Georgia, Arizona, Orange County) enough that she overlooked the Democratic Party of the past. Brownstein named "Colorado, Wisconsin, and Michigan" as the states she needed that Hillary could lose in 2016. So had he written "Pennsylvania" instead of "Colorado" he would have nailed it perfectly. 2020 will revisit this battle between past and future. But after four years of President Toxic, it now seems like the future is ready to win. Just don't tell that to the past. Because they don't believe it. And it is really going to piss them off. After Trump, the Republican Party May Become More Extreme If Biden wins, Democrats will face a harsh political landscape. That article by Stan Greenberg hits many of the same positives and negatives. If Brownstein and Greenberg are essentially saying the same things, I think there's a good chance they are right. Add lots of other smart voices to that mix - like Axelrod, Carville, the Morning Joe crowd. The good news for Democrats is the Democrats are going to win. The bad news for Democrats is the Democrats are going to win. It will make the obstructionism and resistance that greeted Obama in 2008 look like child's play. It was amusing and sad that while I was typing this I got a call from an escort buddy, a strong Biden supporter, telling me about the vitriolic texts going back and forth today between his family members - some of whom support Biden, and some of whom support Trump. Is anyone surprised? Like me, he doesn't believe for a minute this will end after Election Day. I'm going to throw yet a third article into this mix. Because I think it touches on another important aspect of the problem of victory going forward for Democrats. This article, unlike the first two, is not particularly thoughtful in my mind. But I think it is important because it accurately reflects how a lot of Independents will feel if Biden wins. Post-Election Choice for Dems: Retaliation or Reconciliation There's a few things about this article I genuinely like. I agree with the implicit standard that reconciliation is better than retaliation. I agree the idea of governing should be you at least try to bring everyone along. And you reach out to the other side. And reaching out to the losers of course involves compromise. In the run up to 2016, and for decades prior, polls consistently showed that a majority of Democrats favored compromise. Meanwhile, a majority of Republicans favored sticking to their principles rather than compromising. Now, after four years of Trumpism, a majority of both parties see compromise as a bad word. So it's a good thing if there are people willing to speak up for compromise. That said, some of what is being proposed here is wrong, and just plain dumb. Silly me. I apparently had the very misinformed idea that my favorite 2020 candidate, Elizabeth Warren, would make a great Treasury Secretary under Biden. Not because she'll usher in socialism. But because had she been Treasury Secretary in 2005 or 2006 she would have done everything in her power to crush the balls of the rich white male predatory lenders. We wouldn't want that kind of radicalism, would we? In fact, what real American would even seriously consider "confiscating" the hard earned wealth of the "job producers" through higher taxes on the very rich, like Biden himself proposes? If that's not socialism, then what is? Needless to say, if I'm wrong and Trump wins it is of course certain that within 24 hours Ricj Mitch will resign as Senate Majority Leader and ask Joe Manchin or Mark Kelly to take his place. Not that Mitch isn't the greatest guy in the world. But somehow Democrats have this silly idea that he is a roadblock to compromise. It's just ridiculous to suggest that the standard for a Democratic win should be hiring Romney and McSally, and firing Pelosi and Schumer. Just like when we won wars before, we made sure generals like General Grant and General Eisenhower got nowhere near power, right? It's important to make the winners suffer, right? The reason this article still rings very true to me is that I was hired by people like this for years. At least the ones I know are smart, powerful, and driven. There is absolutely no way in hell they would take their own political advice when it came to doing things like running their own businesses. They don't view competitors as people you make Chair of the Board. They view them as people you grind into dust, and annihilate if possible. Maybe that's why they have such an unrealistic view of how politics really works. What they suggest is good for Washington DC has little to do with how they actually operate in the real worlds they live in - at least in my experience. That said, I posted the article because it rings true. Biden and Democrats will be greeted with total obstruction and resistance by the losers. And many of the people in the middle, like this author, will have standards like the ones he describes. Meaning standards Biden can't possibly meet. My read of it is that they are already predisposed to be disappointed. And vote against Biden in 2022, just like they voted against Obama in 2010. And Rich Mitch will play to them. His argument will be that he wakes up every morning with only one goal: to seek compromise with Democrats. At least the very few Democrats who don't wake up every morning with horrific new plans to turn America into a socialist hell. Had I gotten my wish, and we were about to elect President Warren, I think she would have won. I think Allan Lichtman will prove to be right again. This election is a referendum on President Toxic. Which he will lose . Period. Almost any Democrat, including Warren, could have won, I believe. Had she won, what I would worry about is how Warren (or Sanders) could get 50 votes, even with a Democratic Senate, for anything she really viewed as good policy. So that may be the saving grace of Joe Biden, which I understand and appreciate. He won't be overly concerned with good policy. I think he will be smart enough to be overly concerned with getting shit done. And getting the 50 votes to get it done. Biden will at least try to create the impression that he genuinely wants to bring everyone along. And reach out to the other side. I think that may be one of the best explanations for why Biden flopped in his past races for President, and hit it right in 2020. You can't bullshit a sincere and lifelong interest in compromise and civility. With Biden it appears to be the way he has lived, and legislated. That may be one of the best things going for Democrats as we face the obstruction and resistance and rage that is going to greet us in victory.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s5X0HqBPcCQ

At this time, poor @augustus is Hysterical, and on the verge of INSANITY.... You would almost think that HE is DJT ? Someone needs to tell him Biden WON and he should just "get over it" just like he has been telling US since Trump won in 2016.... Americans made a BIG mistake in 2016. Yes, Trump won then, but WE wont make that mistake again ! " Hey Rudy, maybe we can BUY the Election ? "

I guess racist will continue to exist as long as we have race. It happened not just in the US but almost everywhere. But seems to be encouraged and applauded by trump, hence we can see the ugly face of it in the news/soc media. I cant say its any better here too.

"I WON, I won, I really Won !"

Augustus is an example of why I quit that forum. He cites as fact widespread voter fraud in NV, yet does not cite a news source. False claims about the election are supposed to be removed, yet Daddy does nothing, while he punishes other members, usually on the Blue side of the arguments. I don't have time for Daddy's inconsistent and often questionable standards.

i've never met @augustus (luckily for him) AND i have never it and Hannity in the same place, so I suspect you are correct. but he is a good example of the ability of the crazies to pre-empt discussion and to re-set the focus of discourse. even though the man clearly long ago lost ALL of his marbles, he is still able -- iike a common schoolyard bully -- to control the "conversation" over there. (although i have noticed that he never either answers a question or responds to a point that anther poster makes - all he does is reproduce AgentOrange's tweets) gotta love 'em for showing the unabashed, uncensored, unfiltered ugly face of what trumpism really is.

If you are in the need of some comic relief, take a trip over to the daddy site, do a search for postings by some moron named augustus and get ready for either an endless belly laugh..... or performing an intervention to put this senile old fool out of his misery!

Countdown to Melania DIVORCE announcement !

Well, Mr Trump, I guess BLM (Black Lives Really DO Matter) ? THEY sure as hell sent your sorry, saggy Orange ass packin... Now maybe you'll learn to SAY it ? Black Lives MATTER ! (you listenin Jared ?)

I liked all posts above because this is how civilized people should discuss and agree to disagree, by stating their cause and explaining why without throwing labels. KhorTose has some valid points but as non-American i need to say that nobody mentioned damage Trump presidency made to America's standing in the world, I can't see how he made "America great again" which was his main promise 4 years ago. People who rightly complain about being losers of globalization need to realize that the also contributed to their misery by choosing in masse to buy 30$ Chinese trousers instead of $ 100 "made in USA ' ones. Not only corporations but also consumers shipped American jobs to China and other countries

It's funny. I have less faith in Kamala than Joe, not more. And that's coming from a California liberal who was very excited when she won her Senate race in 2016. To clarify that, what is being talked about a lot on TV right now, especially among Blacks and women, is how exciting and empowering it will be to see a Black woman speaking to America, tonight perhaps, as Vice President elect. So I strongly agree with all that. She does not look, think, or vote like Mike Pence. This is a huge fucking deal, to quote Joe Biden. Democrats should feel very excited about that. I do. We now know that even if Warnock and Ossoff win we can forget about a bold progressive agenda, Labor Secretary Sanders, or Treasury Secretary Warren. We need them in the Senate. And Warren or Sanders would never be confirmed by Rich Mitch. This actually solves some internal political problems for Biden. I'm both progressive and pragmatist, I think. I get the fact that Democrats will now have to fight hard for relatively small victories, on things like jobs and the pandemic and voting rights and climate change. There will be more young voters in 2024. And they just crushed Trump. There is no reason to think they will convert to Trumpism in 2024. So Democrats did not really settle this internal battle between progressives and moderates in 2020. And we now have Kamala as a possible presumptive heir in 2024. I have mixed feelings about that. She kind of flopped in 2020. She didn't have much time in the Senate. But she isn't a Joe Biden, meaning someone who can clearly win elections outside California, or gets laws passed. We just don't know. Joe Scarborough said today that he is convinced now that Joe Biden is the only Democrat that could have won in 2020. I think that is worth thinking about, both in terms of present and future. I tend to disagree with Morning Joe and agree with Alan Lichtman. This was a referendum on Trump and Trumpism. Period. Trump lost the referendum. Period. In January, Biden will be President. Period. Lichtman's basic argument is that who the Democrats nominate doesn't matter so much, or even at all, if the conditions are right to remove the party in power. Here's how my bias plays out. I think Sanders might have made a negative difference, certainly in very close states like Georgia and Arizona. It's not logical to argue that making it easier to attach the label "socialist" to our candidate would have made it easier to win. Especially given that we now know the "socialism" label had traction in Florida, and probably with some moderate suburban women as well. I will go to the grave thinking my preferred candidate, Elizabeth Warren, would have won. You can argue she's too liberal, or even too female. But she would have thrown this shit right back at Trump. "I'm not a socialist. I was a Republican capitalist who saw how corporate greed crushed people by taking their homes, or taking their jobs to China. I'm the one who fought predatory Wall Street lenders, Donald. You're just the predator." I think you can make a good argument that Warren could have done a very good job inspiring the base without freaking out moderate women who grew up and look a lot like her. She would have had a logical and powerful argument that she is fighting for these women, and guys like Donald Trump simply are not. Regardless, none of that really matters now. Warren and Sanders won't be in play for 2024. And now Biden has the perfect reason to say we need their votes and their passion in the US Senate. And I'm not against the idea of Kamala being heir in 2024 or 2028. But I'm not convinced. While I know Independents in Iowa who kind of do view her as "The Dark One" who may have questionable and excessively liberal views, I view her the way progressives do. I'm not sure she's the one I'd want leading the ticket in 2024 or 2028. Being a pragmatist, I'm getting used to what the voters just did. It is clear now that there is zero mandate for moving directly from Trumpism to a full-on progressive agenda. There are not votes for that. Again, that's true even if Democrats have 50 Senators in January. It may have been true even if we had 51 or 52. Did we really think Joe Manchin was on board for the kind of Green New Deal AOC would support? The main lesson I am taking out of this is that if we build power, we will win. I sent a lot of money to people like Harrison and Warnock and Ossoff. What just happened suggests Stacey Abrams can be and should be elected Governor of Georgia in 2022. Some Latina Democrat should run in Arizona for Governor, because what happened suggests she could win. We again lost a chance to get ahead of the redistricting fight for an entire decade. But we won big in 2018, anyway. So if we figure out how to build a majority, Republicans simply can't stop us. We just proved that. Biden is winning over 50 % of the vote. They can not stop him from kicking Trump's sorry ass out of The White House. That itself feels like a huge victory. I think history just answered some questions. This was not 2008, or 1992. It was not a Democratic version of 1980. It was not 1932. Again, I think 1960 may be a pretty good year to think about. Kennedy won, but barely. It opened the door for things that had already been bubbling for years - like the civil rights movement - to gain a bully pulpit, legitimacy, and stature. It means we need to feel like we won, to feel proud, and to keep donating and voting and organizing. I'm not 100 % convinced Kamala is the right leader. That said, we now get to give her a test ride. And she will have a great chance to show America her leadership skills.

That too perhaps. Then there are 70mil racist moron in america. Scary thought.

Or, they are just racist morons?

Yes, @Lucky, there’s truly no comparison. I guess a lot of us, being unable to travel, are living vicariously through the exciting posts of @numazu

I believe nothing I read, see, hear or get confirmed. Trump will contest every vote cast against him. America has lost its way. Regardless, there are over 60 million people that votes for him. I don't understand that at all. Sadly, I agree with with Keith Olbermann, anyone who voted for him is a moron. Period.

The big problem in America remains that close to 50% of the country were willing to overlook ALL of Trumps mis-deeds, rants, and corruption. How you you justify THAT ? I dont believe these are all BAD people, but misguided perhaps, broken, or simply just not able to comprehend that they were simply used as props for the current President for his re-election, and beyond that, he doesnt give a single Fuck about them, their lives or livelihoods.... They are the epitome of cult members, blindly following a sick and corrupt leader who only wants Power and admiration. Even if Trump loses, the mark he left on America and this segment of the country will not fade easily. With Trump, they were birds that were set free and allowed to demonstrate with HIS support everything that is wrong and inhumane without consequence. His MAGA cry should be a MAWA cry (Make America WHITE again) , because in essence that seems the real goal here. And I do believe that ANY person of color that supports Trumps rhetoric and agenda is seriously flawed and misguided and is doing an injustice to their race. If Biden wins, he is faced with an almost impossible task of winning over 50% of Americans that cant, wont or refuse to give up their new found freedoms. This election has shown us the TRUE face of America.

There's one other subject I want to post about now as a separate point. Directly above was a diatribe about race and the racism of Trump. But this post is about "it's the economy, stupid." That is what the polls are saying to me explains what happened - or didn't happen - on Tuesday. Here's a NYT national exit poll, and a Fox News Pennsylvania exit poll. I'd strongly suggest everybody take 15 minutes to look over both. There will be even more protests about the validity of polling after Tuesday. The reality is that pollsters did overestimate how well TRUMP would do - if you refer to Trafalgar. Their polls said Trump would win Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania handily. Oops! Of course, most polls said BIDEN would do better than he did. But everybody was obviously guessing about how big turnout would be and who would actually vote. So what everybody should now get is that polls are not crystal balls. They are based on a set of assumptions made by imperfect people. This election again vindicated Allan Lichtman's view that people vote based on fundamentals, not stupid ads. And the two fundamentals he pointed to in predicting why Trump would lose were: 1) the economy, stupid, and 2) the social unrest which more than anything was a reaction to the racism of Trump's America. All the evidence from both polls suggest that this is at the core of what drove voting in Pennsylvania and nationally. It is likely why Biden will win Georgia and Arizona, I think. I'll bring up these polls and other better exit polls that will likely emerge in the weeks and months ahead in future posts. There's a lot of great data in them. But for now I'll just focus on the economy in these two polls. That NYT exit poll says that when asked the "are you better off?" question, 41 % of Americans who just voted said they are "better off" than they were four years ago. They voted for Trump overwhelmingly, 72 to 25. By comparison, the 20 % of Americans who said they are "worse off" than four years ago voted against Trump and for Biden 74 to 23. The 38 % who said "the same" voted against Trump and for Biden 64 to 33. I think it's helpful to do a comparison to the exact same question in 2016 from this CNN exit poll. 31 % of Americans said they were better off than four years ago in 2016. And they voted for CLINTON and against Trump 72 to 23. The 27 % who said they were worse off voted for TRUMP and against Clinton 77 to 19. And the 25 % who said "the same" voted for CLINTON, 54 to 38. So it's clear, people who said they were worse off voted overwhelmingly against the incumbent party in both 2016 and 2020. People who felt better off voted overwhelmingly for the incumbent party in both 2016 and 2020. The one difference between 2016 and 2020 is that people who said things were the same as four years ago were a much larger group in 2020 than 2016. Unlike in 2016, they voted against the incumbent in 2020. Since 2016 and 2020 both involved Trump, they essentially seemed to decide, "You promised to make the economy better, and you didn't - for me at least. So you lose." This all goes to the core of Allan Lichtman's (and Jim Carville's) theories. It's the economy, stupid. People vote on that, not stupid ads. So there is no surprise that people who feel better off voted overwhelmingly for the incumbent party in both 2016 and 2020. That may explain why people who are relatively affluent, or seniors who are sitting on a nice nest egg in a nice home, didn't end up repudiating Trump in the way some Democrats hoped. But young people - who by the way are mostly not big fans of Joe Biden but are struggling - did vote against Trump in a way that has assured the end of his Presidency. What is a bit surprising is that in the middle of a pandemic and recession there are MORE people that fell better off than four years ago in 2020 (41 % of Americans) than in 2016 (31 %). Based on that alone, it suggests Trump should have won - not lost. I question whether all these people that say they are better off really could prove that with bank statements, paychecks, and net worth. But whether they are really better off or not, that goes to my point. We've known all through the pandemic that polls suggested that the one thing Trump had going for him was this view that he was good for the economy. At the end of the day, that's probably what helped him almost pull through. That's what these polls say to me. Combine that with a wildly inflammatory message that Harris is a surrogate warrior for Black socialist America that will turn the US into the next Cuba, and you may do better in places like Miami Dade than expected. Again, it doesn't seem to win you Arizona or Georgia, though. It will win you Montana and Iowa. But if you understand that old White people from rural and small town America like their Trumpism red and raw, who could possibly be surprised by that anymore? I sent money to Bullock and Greenfield knowing that Iowa and Montana were almost certainly lost causes. This election confirmed I was right. You can now perhaps add them to the list of states that will vote for Trump's vision of America moving backward for a long time. Oh, and Biden cut Clinton's 2016 margin of defeat in Texas by almost half. Jeff Flake endorsed Biden saying that as a conservative Republican he worries that by 2024 Texas could go blue due to Trumpism. 2020 does not suggest Flake is wrong. It simply suggests that 2020 is not yet 2024. There is no way you can read the results of Texas as saying that Texas is moving in the direction of Trump and Trumpism. I'd read it as saying that Texas may be the next Georgia or Arizona. The same trends are pulling it towards Democrats - not Republicans. Just like they are pulling Iowa and Montana toward Trumpism. As a Democrat, I'd rather have Georgia and Arizona and Texas than Iowa and Montana. Nothing against "Iowa nice", of course. But there's a reason Steve King did well in Iowa for a very long time. Even in bluer Georgia, they just managed to create a House Q Anon caucus. Back to the polls, there's one other economic question that I think should be elevated, dealing with class. The 28 % of Americans who make over $100,000 a year voted for Trump 54 to 43, according to the Times survey. A majority of the other 72 % of Americans voted for Biden, by a roughly 57 to 43 margin. So that is incredibly clear. If you are the relatively well off, you voted for Trump. If you are "the little guy" or "the little girl", you voted for Biden. If you are a member of a union, more likely than not you voted for Biden, the polls say. So there will be all this rhetoric about how Trump is the blue collar billionaire. And how Democrats are the party of the elite and filthy rich. And how the Trump tax cuts and the stock market really benefit the have nots more than the rich. But it is total bullshit. And most voters know that. I included that Pennsylvania poll because it is a Fox poll. And it's of THE key swing state. I think it backs up everything in the NYT poll of all America. The one very important thing Trump pushed that clearly helped him was this view that he is better for "the economy". When asked directly in the Fox poll who they thought would handle "the economy" better, 50 % of Pennsylvania voters said Trump, 40 % said Biden, and the rest said both or neither. If they were ONLY voting on "the economy", I have to believe Trump would be about to win Pennsylvania and The Presidency. Not about to lose it. To understand why he is about to lose, read both polls. He loses on almost everything else. Handling the coronavirus. Health care. Support for extremist groups. Racism. An inability to unify Americans. A drive to divide Americans. Abortion. Global warming. People are basically with Biden and Democrats on all those issues. The Democrats are going to have to have a long debate about "economic populism". Or it might be better to call it by a name it had in US history: "prairie populism". I say that because the "prairie populist" tradition is how Democrats did well before, and maybe could do well in the future, in places like Minnesota and Iowa and Montana. It involves a relentless economic focus on the economic well being of the little guy and little girl. Which is what Trump says he is all about. The reality is that Trump is all about tax cuts to the rich and his own ego and power. The polls suggest most of America gets that. The well off vote for him. The people who are truly hurting voted against him. If Democrats want to peel off parts of the Trump coalition, that is where Democrats need to go. This should not be a surprise. It has been the # 1 weapon of Democrats ever since there was a Democratic Party. It is why a decade of trying to take out Reagan Republican Senators in Minnesota in the 1980's failed. I watched it while I was a college student, and while my friends who stayed in Minnesota after college climbed the ranks of liberal activist organizations. Nothing worked, until a populist like Paul Wellstone came along and convinced a majority of Minnesotans that Rudy Boschwitz wasn't really a blue collar millionaire. He was just a rich White guy that voted for the interests of other rich White guys like him. Amy Klobuchar is not what I would call a Wellstone Democrat. But she is smart to always mention Paul and his legacy. While she may not be the biggest populist in America, she is good at using populist language. I think it helps to explain her political success in Minnesota. For me, that is where the Democratic Party needs to go if we want to win a majority. I think this election confirmed it. We have won the culture wars. We are winning on most issues - like health care, abortion, Gay marriage, global warming. Biden gets that. He does laugh out loud when a reporter asks him about wealth taxes. I get it. As a guy who came to power in the Reagan Era, that's political suicide. Even though today getting Jeff Bezos and Amazon to pay more taxes is a wildly popular idea - even with Republicans. Biden is pushing for higher income taxes on the very well off. If Rich Mitch is Senate Majority Leader, even that may be off the table until at least 2022. The battle moving forward will be to deprive Trump and Trumpism of the opportunity to claim that they stand economically for the little guy or the little girl - whether they are Black or White or Latina. That is what the election results say to me. That is what Claire McCaskill has been shouting on social media. She should know. This is why she lost in 2018, and why Missouri is now a red state. If we Democrats ever hope to take back Missouri or now Iowa or Montana, that is where we will need to go, I believe. The very important thing that just happened is that we decapitated the snake. Unlike in a horror film, it will not just grow back. Even Trump himself gets that, which is why he slithered into the White House residence his sorry ass will soon have to vacate. He is hiding and pouting and saying epically stupid shit that will send him straight to the hell section of all the history books to be written for centuries. He is a bad loser. He is a bad person. That is why he just lost.

The only places I have heard talk of Democratic mis-deeds such as stealing the election are the snippets from FOX NEWS posted on progressive news sites and on the conduit for Trump press releases, the Daddy's site. Both irrelevant, both ridiculous, both dedicated to the destruction of a functioning democratic process.

LOL I have and they were great fun. But, a true drag queen brings a whole different level of fun to any dinner, party, or event. I know they are not for everyone! But, I adore and respect them a great deal. I have also done tons of charity events in the USA and the hardest workers were always those drag queens. I realize Thailand is different but my love is my love and I share it with drag queens around the world.

From Khaosod English Facebook Page Live video is currently being broadcast from scene of protest in Bangkok. Water cannons are being used in attempt to drive back demonstrators.