AOC, Bernie storm the country vs Trump

[reader]

From CNBC

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised $9.6 million during the first quarter of 2025, the strongest ever quarter for the New York Democrat, a campaign finance filing showed Tuesday.

AOC’s huge money haul — more than five times her tally in the first quarter of 2024 — comes as she and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., draw big crowds at “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies around the U.S.

The two progressives at those events criticize President Donald Trump’s policies and highlight the role that billionaires, including DOGE chief Elon Musk, have in the Trump administration. Turnout at the rallies has been strong even in red states.

Ocasio-Cortez is also being touted as a possible primary opponent against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in 2028. Schumer raised just $144,742 during the first quarter of 2025, according to his public filing.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/15/aoc-trump-fundraising-bernie-sanders-musk.html

[Suckrates]

29 minutes ago, reader said:

From CNBC

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised $9.6 million during the first quarter of 2025, the strongest ever quarter for the New York Democrat, a campaign finance filing showed Tuesday.

AOC’s huge money haul — more than five times her tally in the first quarter of 2024 — comes as she and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., draw big crowds at “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies around the U.S.

The two progressives at those events criticize President Donald Trump’s policies and highlight the role that billionaires, including DOGE chief Elon Musk, have in the Trump administration. Turnout at the rallies has been strong even in red states.

Ocasio-Cortez is also being touted as a possible primary opponent against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in 2028. Schumer raised just $144,742 during the first quarter of 2025, according to his public filing.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/15/aoc-trump-fundraising-bernie-sanders-musk.html

Great for headlines, but in practicality, WHAT is it actually accomplishing.   If the Supreme Court is UNABLE to STOP Trump,  AOC and Bernies success is more than doubtful.

But at least they are voices from the liberal side, the rest of who, for the most part seem Frozen in Silence !   

[reader]

20 minutes ago, Suckrates said:

 If the Supreme Court is UNABLE to STOP Trump...

... or UN-willing. 😠

[stevenkesslar]

1 hour ago, reader said:

From CNBC

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised $9.6 million during the first quarter of 2025, the strongest ever quarter for the New York Democrat, a campaign finance filing showed Tuesday.

AOC’s huge money haul — more than five times her tally in the first quarter of 2024 — comes as she and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., draw big crowds at “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies around the U.S.

The two progressives at those events criticize President Donald Trump’s policies and highlight the role that billionaires, including DOGE chief Elon Musk, have in the Trump administration. Turnout at the rallies has been strong even in red states.

Ocasio-Cortez is also being touted as a possible primary opponent against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in 2028. Schumer raised just $144,742 during the first quarter of 2025, according to his public filing.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/15/aoc-trump-fundraising-bernie-sanders-musk.html

 

There's a new poll that says, among Democrats, the progressives are "winning".   The popularity of the Bernie/AOC tour no doubt speaks to that.

Polls Find Democrats Want a More Progressive Party

50 % want the Democratic Party to be "more progressive", compared to 24 % who want it to be more moderate.

But here's the problem:

Quote

Among independents, 56% said they would support the moderate, compromise-oriented Democrats over hardliners.

I embody this challenge, which is kind of a fatal flaw.   In 2016 I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, even though my heart was with Bernie.   In 2020 I voted for Bernie, but only because I knew Biden was going to win the primary and I wanted to send him a message to lean left.  I think I was successful.  He did win, and he did lean left.  But somehow that didn't build a populist majority.  In 2024 I just badly did not want Trump back.  Even a decomposed Biden would have been way better than this horror show.   So Democrats lost 2 out of 3, and Trump won 2 out of 3.

It's not completely clear why the populist right has beaten the populist left - albeit barely.  And it's not clear that Bernie or Young Bernie - aka AOC - are the ticket to Democrats winning, other than in very blue places.  Andy Beshear can win in Kentucky.  Bernie can attract crowds there, but can't win a contest for dog catcher.  But Beshear puts progressive Democrats to sleep.

I think Ruy Teixeira has his finger on the pulse in his endless but wise rants.  He is a liberal who yearned for, and actually predicted, an Emerging Democratic Majority decades ago.  He thinks Democrats need to push the economic populism of Bernie without all the unpopular "woke" stuff.   Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the most recent two term Democratic Presidents, have pretty much said the same.

There's a line I heard from Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego recently that in a weird way summed it up.  I have my eyes on him because he did the best job in 2024 of winning a swing state that Biden lost by a higher margin than any other swing state.  Gallego said something like, "Every Latino man wants to own a big ass truck."  Which is why tariffs on big ass trucks won't endear Trump to Latino men.   Fight for that!  Not for "Latinx".

The minor mystery is why the media and even Democrats are ignoring the fact that Mexico, which for most of my life was a de facto one party state, had all the same inflation problems the US and Canada had.  But somehow Mexico elected a progressive Jewish woman running for the incumbent party in a landslide.  I think the core thing was that AMLO fought like hell every fucking day for the Mexican working class.  And men who wanted to own big ass trucks.  Even as he rode the subway.  He literally put money in the hands of the poor and the working class.  There's a lesson there for Democrats.

[Suckrates]

3 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

 

There's a new poll that says, among Democrats, the progressives are "winning".   The popularity of the Bernie/AOC tour no doubt speaks to that.

Polls Find Democrats Want a More Progressive Party

50 % want the Democratic Party to be "more progressive", compared to 24 % who want it to be more moderate.

But here's the problem:

I embody this challenge, which is kind of a fatal flaw.   In 2016 I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, even though my heart was with Bernie.   In 2020 I voted for Bernie, but only because I knew Biden was going to win the primary and I wanted to send him a message to lean left.  I think I was successful.  He did win, and he did lean left.  But somehow that didn't build a populist majority.  In 2024 I just badly did not want Trump back.  Even a decomposed Biden would have been way better than this horror show.   So Democrats lost 2 out of 3, and Trump won 2 out of 3.

It's not completely clear why the populist right has beaten the populist left - albeit barely.  And it's not clear that Bernie or Young Bernie - aka AOC - are the ticket to Democrats winning other in very blue places.

I think Ruy Teixeira has his finger on the pulse in his endless but wise rants.  He is a liberal who yearned for, and actually predicted, an Emerging Democratic Majority decades ago.  He thinks Democrats need to push the economic populism of Bernie without all the unpopular "woke" stuff.   Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the most recent two term Democratic Presidents, have pretty much said the same.

There's a line I heard from Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego recently that in a weird way summed it up.  I have my eyes on him because he did the best job in 2024 of winning a swing state that Biden lost by a higher margin than any other swing state.  Gallego said something like, "Every Latino man wants to own a big ass truck."  Which is why tariffs on big ass trucks won't endear Trump to Latino men.   Fight for that!  Not for "Latinx".

The minor mystery is why the media and even Democrats are ignoring the fact that Mexico, which for most of my life was a de facto one party state, had all the same inflation problems the US and Canada had.  But somehow Mexico elected a progressive Jewish woman running for the incumbent party in a landslide.  I think the core thing was that AMLO fought like hell every fucking day for the Mexican middle class.  And men who wanted to own big ass trucks.  Even as he rode the subway.  He literally put money in the hands of the poor and the working class.  There's a lesson there for Democrats.

Oh Sis,  its the polls stupid.....   Polls, polls, polls,,,,  didnt the polls let you down in the 2024 ?     And your pollsters got it so wrong......  Yet here we are with the polls again. 

Yet with each poll saying one thing, we get another REALITY.    So whats the point of citing polls ?    To take America's temperature ?    My diagnosis, America needs to take 2 aspirin, and call a doctor in the morning.  

Until I see SOMEONE actually doing something about Trump,  I will remain a Poll-a-phobe,  and just go by what I see, and not what I hear.   We are in a crisis now where you cant even speak out for fear of being "disappeared" by OUR govt.....  That's SCARY shit bro !    Too many Liars out there to be able to put any TRUST in polls.    

[stevenkesslar]

13 minutes ago, Suckrates said:

Polls, polls, polls,,,,  didnt the polls let you down in the 2024 ?     And your pollsters got it so wrong......

Actually, the polls got it mostly right.

In 2024 RCP's poll average showed a tie.   The last average showed Harris winning by a whopping 0.1 %.  Trump won the popular vote by 1.5 %.   Well within the margin of error.

In 2016 RCP's poll average showed Hillary winning by 3.2 %.   She won the popular vote by 2.1 %.  Again, very close.   2016 was when this stuff about the polls being wrong started.   The predictions were wrong.  But the polls, which measured popular vote,  were very close to the actual results.

One thing that has been reliable is that Trump, when he runs, will exceed what the polls say by a bit.  And the reason is now well understood.  He tends to attract unreliable voters who don't pay much attention to politics and like an asshole who will ............you know ................. just burn the fucking building down.  Just fucking burn it down.  Burn it down.  Nuke it.  Blow the whole fucking thing up, okay?  That is what got Trump his slim winning non-majority (49.8 %) in 2024.  And now the whole world is paying the price for it.

I think it all confirms my point.  Bernie and AOC have not come close to figuring out how you win 50.1 % of the vote in a pissed off and turned off country.

[Suckrates]

Let us remember, Harris and Walz had HUGE crowds on the campaign trail,  the HUGEST crowds anyone has ever seen, BUT their message didnt resonate and THEY LOST !

So, the takeaway here is, dont be fooled by SIZE.....  I am usually guilty of THAT.  😏    But I am learning......

A huge turnout DOES NOT signal a WIN.....

I have not yet heard a viable message from Bernie, AOC or anyone on the side for moving forward....   Its just alot of Blah, blah, blah, but nothing you can take to the ballot box

Trump still has a lot more Damage he can do, so Dems better get their shit together.  

[stevenkesslar]

2 hours ago, Suckrates said:

I have not yet heard a viable message from Bernie, AOC or anyone on the side for moving forward....

I have:

Republicans look to blunt Dems’ advantage on family tax credit

Quote

Any significant expansion of the child credit would amount to going on the offensive on an issue Democrats have owned lately, thanks to sweeping changes they temporarily pushed through during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Quote

 

They supersized the credit, stripped away long-standing work requirements and allowed millions to claim it piecemeal in the form of monthly checks, in what many Democrats consider one of the seminal achievements of the Biden administration. They were unable to extend it though, thanks in part to opposition from then-Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

 

Oh, wait!   There's a problem.   THE REPUBLICANS are the ones saying it now.

Quote

Some Republicans see other benefits in taking up the issue, beyond politics and the boost to family finances.

 

I will go to the grave believing in the close race we had this one thing could have put Harris over the top.

One poll I don't particularly believe is one I read a few years ago when inflation was raging, and the tax credits expired, thanks in part due to Manchin.  The poll claimed that after the tax credits expired, parents who were no longer getting them shifted seven points toward the Republicans.  If such a shift even happened, I don't know that it was directly cause and effect.  But we know that Trump won in 2024, narrowly, with 49.8 % of the vote, thanks to inflation.  And the perceived failure of Democrats to do anything about it.

At the time this went down, the chief advocate of the expanded child tax credits in the House, Rosa DeLauro, said Democrats were making a big mistake.   Her husband is Clinton era economic populist pollster Stan Greenberg.  He has done endless polls showing raising taxes on billionaires like Elon Musk and extending help to the working class with things like child tax credits are among the most popular issues Democrats have. 

If you don't believe me, ask Josh Hawley, or other Republicans, who are stealing these populist ideas.

Or ask AMLO in Mexico.  His chosen successor, who makes Harris look a bit conservative, won in a landslide even as Kamala lost.  The simple but true explanation I buy is that AMLO literally put money in the hands of the working class and seniors, despite inflation that was just as bad as in the US.  It worked.  He got shit done in the eyes of the Hispanic working class.

Harris got slammed hard, and to some degree rightfully, because she couldn't point clearly and emphatically to how she had already fought hard for the working class on kitchen table issues.  But what if she had ranted for months about how Trump will fight like hell for tax breaks for Elon Musk.  And Trump will fight like hell to give Elon Musk the government he bought and deserves.  And Trump will work tirelessly to fire veterans and take their health care away.   But I already fought like hell for the children of working class parents.  I already fought like hell to cut child poverty in half.   And, frankly, I don't care if some Hispanic Dad in Michigan uses his kids' tax credits to buy a big ass truck to take his kids to school.  This is America.  Everyone deserves to drive a big ass truck!

That's how I think Kamala could have won.  That is how Ruben Gallego won by over 3.4 % in Arizona, even as Harris lost the state by 5.5 %.   Instead of helping Hispanic Dads, we got democracy and Liz Cheney.

 

[Suckrates]

56 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

I have:

Republicans look to blunt Dems’ advantage on family tax credit

I will go to the grave believing in the close race we had this one thing could have put Harris over the top.

 

If she was WHITE, and if she was a MAN ?    Other than that, I will go to MY grave Believing she LOST because she was a BLACK WOMAN !!!!!

As for child tax credit,  it may be important in SOME households,  those with kids,  but there are countless households that are single occupant, or childless occupants, in which case child tax credit is a throwaway, like it is for ME.....

So I am really NOT sure what the Dems UNIFYING message will be.  Perhaps it should be our loss of Freedom of speech, which seems to be a road Trump is cautiously traveling ....  But the fact that you can now be "disappeared" by your govt if Trump doesnt approve of what you say is terrifying, and should be given more attention.  When you try to address EVERYTHING Trump throws at you, it ALL gets lost and has little meaning..   Pick your battles carefully I say, and then be ready to stand up and FIGHT for your position !