Democratically: 2020

This week, after a quick news roundup, Karin talks through the abundant reasons Democrats have to be cheerful and optimistic about the election so far, based on the current polling and based on the data we do have about early voting. But then, after a warning for those who don't want to hear it, she touches on a few things that might be sources of concern for Democrats. 

Karin talks to Journalist and @TrumpsAlert creator James O'Malley about President being ill with Covid, the unreliable and contradictory information that the White House put out about the President's health, the high number of other Republican officials who have now tested positive for the virus, the impact this could have on Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings and much more. 

Click here to donate to the Democratically 2020 election fund: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/democratically

Karin talks to Political Scientist Seth Masket about his new book Learning from Loss: The Democrats 2016-2020. They discuss the different narratives Democrats used to explain their loss in 2016 and how that affected the 2020 Primary race. His findings show that electability and identity featured highly in people's calculations and that views on electability often coloured how Party leaders and activists thought about the selection of their nominee. 

She also briefly covers the news about Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, and the bombshell New York Times story unveiling 20 years worth of Trump's tax returns: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Seth's book can be found here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/learning-from-loss/84FBCDB9534B3F80C26C2CAE672951CE

Karin speaks to Marcela Mulholland, Deputy Director of Climate at Data for Progress to get an update on what the state of polling says about the Presidential race, but also about how voters think about big issues like Climate change more broadly and what are the opportunities to move our politics in a more progressive direction. Obviously, we touch on the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the dire consequences that could have for the Supreme court, as well as the wider structural challenges that progressives face in what has become a very unequal and unfair political system. And we talk about the generational differences between idealistic younger voter (like Marcela) who are passionate about issues but may not align with a political party, and an older generation (like me?) who may see their politics more through a Party lens. 

THe Democratically: 2020 campaign fundraising page is now more than halfway to it's goal - please give if you can. The page is designed to funnel your money toward the most vital races: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/democratically 

Karin is joined by Emma Burnell to discuss the recent Atlantic Article exploring Trump's contempt for those who serve in uniform (why does he keep calling them "losers"?), Biden's steadily strong poll number nationally as well as the state by state perspective (whisper it, but increasingly Biden looks like a winner), and the Democrats' exceptionally strong fundraising in August ($384Million dollars!?).

We also play the Gut Check Game, reacting to Trump's insistence he did not have a series of small strokes, Trump and BIden's visits to Kenosha Wisconsin and much more.