Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Primaries This Week: Crucial State In 2022 Midterm Elections

Pennsylvania, the “Keystone” State, is crucial in the 2022 Midterm Elections, both Senate and Governorship, and the primaries are this Tuesday.

The Republicans are running lunatic MAGA candidates for the Senate, some more extreme than others, a nightmare in the making! They include Dr. Mehmet Oz, Hedge Fund executive David McCormick, and Kathy Barnette.

The Senate race is three way for the Democrats, with Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman in the lead in public opinion polls, but over the weekend suffering a stroke, which could upend the race, and make it more difficult for the Democrats to gain that Senate seat, crucial to a Democratic majority. His opponents are Congressman Conor Lamb, and State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta.

The Republicans have State Senator Doug Mastriano endorsed by Donald Trump running for Governor, while the Democrats have a very reputable, well regarded Attorney General of the state vying for the Governorship, Josh Shapiro.

Horrendous Trump Endorsed Nominees For Senate: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio

Donald Trump has been endorsing Senate nominees, trying to have an impact on the upcoming Senate races, with the US Senate presently evenly divided 50-50.

With this unusual tie situation, even one Democratic seat switching with Trump support would put the Senate into Republican hands, and the horrors of Mitch McConnell again becoming Senate Majority Leader.

Trump has chosen horrendous nominees, as in Pennsylvania with Dr. Mehmet Oz; in Georgia with former football player Herschel Walker; and in Ohio with author JD Vance.

All three are lacking in decent credentials, and all three would be an embarrassment if elected to the US Senate.

Democrats need to work hard to defeat these three nominees, and keep the Georgia seat, and gain the Pennsylvania and Ohio seats.

Georgia has the Reverend Raphael Warnock trying to keep his seat; while in Pennsylvania, there are three contending Democrats running for the open seat; and in Ohio, Congressman Tim Ryan is the favored Democrat.

Republicans Will Rue Continuing Loyalty To Donald Trump, As It Will Destroy Their Party!

The Republican Party is in its death knells, and seems not to realize it.

The continuing loyalty of many sycophantic Republicans to a man who lost the popular vote massively two times, who was impeached twice, and had the only bipartisan impeachment in American history, is stunning.

The Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives in 2018 during the Presidency of Donald Trump, and then lost the Senate in 2020-2021, and lost five states Trump won in 2016—Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.

139 House members and 8 Senators in the party voted to refuse to accept the victory of President Joe Biden in the Presidential Election of 2020, and in effect, incited and encouraged the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, causing the death of five people, including Capitol police officers.

And these traitors, seditionists, white supremacists, racists, nativists, misogynists continue to undermine American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law four months later, and insist on promoting the “Big Lie” that Donald Trump won, and they refuse to accept the truth of Russian collusion in the Presidential Election of 2016.

They continue to back a Fascist authoritarian who has no interest in issues facing the nation, as a result of his failure to deal with the COVID 19 Crisis, and still has one third of the nation defying science, and promoting lawlessness, violence, and repudiation of common sense and facts!

There is a movement developing among responsible conservatives, including former office holders, some courageous members of Congress, and conservative spokesmen, who understand that Donald Trump and his extremist right wing movement is poisoning the atmosphere, promoting division and hatred, and threatening the political, economic, and social stability of the nation as it faces a multitude of challenges, both domestic and foreign.

So the “crazy” Trump followers in the Republican Party will rue the day they gave their loyalty to the madman in Mar A Lago, as it is in process of being destroyed!

Donald Trump, The Republican Party, And Two “Big Lies”!

Donald Trump lost the national popular vote twice, by massive margins, much more than George W. Bush in 2000, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and John Quincy Adams in 1824.

Together, he lost by nearly 10 million votes–2.85 million in 2016, and 7.1 million in 2020.

The “Big Lie” is that Donald Trump won EITHER time, 2016 and 2020.

It is clear that the Russians and Vladimir Putin helped to fix the election in 2016 in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, giving Trump the victory by a combined total of about 78,000 votes.

In 2020, Trump lost much more massively, even in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, along with Georgia and Arizona, but his party is perpetuating a myth that helped to provoke the Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021, for which Donald Trump should be held accountable and be in prison!

Conservatism and the Republican Party are being destroyed, and the idea that nearly 70 percent of Republicans in polls believe the “Big Lie”, and refuse to acknowledge Joe Biden won the Presidency is beyond any sense of reality. This undermines American democracy, rule of law, and respect for the Constitution.

The Republican Party officeholders, with the exception of a small group, including Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Adam Kinzinger, Lisa Murkowski, and a few others, has become a Fascist Party, a right wing Populist Party, a worshipper of Donald Trump, as if he is their Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini, unwilling or unable to accept the truth, and living in an alternate reality!

The 2020 US Census Has Surprises, As Announced Today

It is ironic that this author wrote about the 2020 Census yesterday, not aware that precise information would be given out today, Monday.

And there are a few surprises.

The total population of the US is over 331 million people, up from about 309 million in 2010.

Texas will gain only two seats, not three, and Florida will gain one seat, not two.

Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon and Montana will gain one seat each.

Arizona, thought to be likely to gain a seat, will not do so.

New York loses one seat, but only because of a shortage of population by the small total of 89 people!

Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, and West Virginia will lose one seat for each state, with California losing representation for the first time ever!

Minnesota and Rhode Island, expected to lose one seat each, avoided such a loss.

So now, with Montana gaining a seat, there will only be 6 states with one statewide House member—Alaska, Delaware, Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

This is the second slowest population growth in US history, after the 1930s.

And the trend of the South and West gaining at the expense of the Northeast and Midwest continues as it has for many decades.

When Census Figures Come Out Later This Year, It Will Affect Multiple States

The 2020 Census figures will come out in a few months, and will affect multiple states in Congressional representation in 2022 and beyond, as well as the Electoral College.

A number of the larger populated states will continue to lose representation and electoral votes, as they have faced for several decades.

This includes New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, but also California is likely to lose a Congressional seat and an electoral vote for the first time ever in America history. Also, West Virginia, Rhode Island and Minnesota are likely to lose a seat and an electoral vote.

The states which will gain include Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Montana, with Texas and Florida gaining the most.

Montana will move from one statewide House seat to two, while Rhode Island will move from two seats to one, so Rhode Island will join Vermont, Delaware, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming as the seven states that have only one House member for each state.

Presidential Nomination Contest Should Have Representative States In Each Section In First Month Of Primaries

It seems likely that the whole process of nomination of Presidential candidates based on primaries will undergo dramatic change in 2024 and after.

It is time to stop Iowa and New Hampshire from having the first contests, as neither state is at all representative of the nation, as both are primarily white, rural, and small in population.

Diversity is needed, and the larger states in population should have a greater impact than smaller states in timing of primaries.

And caucuses, now in very few states, need to be abandoned completely.

Regional primaries makes the most sense, with the five major regions rotating in order of timing, but other states in each region given the opportunity to join the representative states if they choose, or else have their later primaries after the first five weeks of the primary season.

So we would have the Atlantic Coast be represented by Pennsylvania; the South represented by Florida; the Midwest represented by Wisconsin; the Mountain and Plains area represented by Colorado; and the Pacific Coast represented by Washington State in the first five weeks, with other states in each region able to add on if they wish, or else come after the first five weeks of primaries, starting in Mid March of the Presidential election year.

Joe Biden Victory Looking More Impressive As Vote Count Has Reached 99 Percent!

Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the Presidential Election of 2020 looks more impressive by the day, and now, 99 percent of the vote is in, and Biden has 80.1 million votes to Trump’s 73.9 million votes, so a lead in popular votes of 6.2 million!

Assuming the same division of votes in the remaining one percent not yet tabulated, the final vote should be 80.9 million votes for Biden, and 74.6 million votes for Trump, a margin of 6.3 million votes.

This is nearly two and a half times the popular vote lead of 2.85 million that Hillary Clinton had over Donald Trump in 2016, and it makes Trump on the losing side of the popular vote in the two elections by a total of 9.1 million!

So Trump in the popular vote was twice a massive loser, with George W. Bush the loser in 2000 by 540,000; Rutherford Hayes in 1876 the loser by about 250,000; Benjamin Harrison the loser in 1888 by about 90,000; and John Quincy Adams the loser in 1824 by about 38,000.

And Joe Biden won the Sun Belt states of Arizona and Georgia, and retook the Midwest states that Hillary Clinton lost by small margins in 2016—Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin!

When Donald Trump won in 2016, he declared it a landslide with 306-232 in the Electoral College, but now that Joe Biden has accomplished the same electoral vote by taking five states from Biden, suddenly it is sore loser behavior, very infantile, on the part of Donald Trump, but the plans for the inauguration and setting up of the government over the next 53 days will continue to move forward!

Trump may never concede, but it does not matter, and only makes him look terrible in the eyes of history. And he may not show up at the Inauguration, which only John Adams in 1801, John Quincy Adams in 1829, and Andrew Johnson in 1869 failed to do!

And let us be honest, who cares if Trump shows up or acts civil, since that is NOT his nature, and his presence would actually besmirch the festivities, as we finally have dignity, decency, competence, knowledge, compassion and empathy back in the White House, which is sorely needed after the nightmare disaster of the corrupt Trump regime!

Joe Biden Victory As 46th President More Impressive By The Day As The Final Two Percent Is Tabulated

With votes still being counted in the Presidential Election of 2020, it is clear that the Joe Biden victory is more impressive by the day.

Biden has now twice as large a popular vote lead over Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton had in 2016, and gained the exact same result in the Electoral College that Donald Trump had four years ago, 306-232.

Biden will end up winning 80 million votes, in an election where it seems 18 million more people will have voted than in 2016. He has a 3.6 percentage point lead over Donald Trump as the final two percent is tabulated.

The fact that Biden won back the Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania) that Hillary Clinton narrowly lost in 2016 is a massive accomplishment.

Winning two Sun Belt States (Georgia and Arizona) is also a major event, and shows signs that the Sun Belt will move toward the Democratic Party as the 2020s go by, and once that happens, the Republican Party, unless it changes its racist and nativist agenda, will never win the Presidency again!

“Socialism” And “Defund The Police” Killed Democratic House Numbers, Endangering Majority In 2022

The Democratic Party needs to realize that if it goes too far to the Left, it will doom President Joe Biden’s efforts for success!

Unfortunately, the Congressional Elections of 2020 demonstrated that the nation is still very split on what is desirable to accomplish, as the Republican opposition and Donald Trump utilized fear of the word “Socialism”, as if Joe Biden and the Democrats are equivalent of Communist leaders in Cuba, China, the Russian Federation, and other left wing regimes, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua!

This shows total ignorance of the term “Socialism”, and the reality that America is a mixed Capitalist-Socialist nation, with the Socialist party of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas in the first half of the 20th century contributing many ideas, which over time, were part of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, and many other progressive reform since then.

But it is clear that had Bernie Sanders somehow been the Democratic nominee for President, he would NOT have been able to win, as only a moderate centrist with a tip to the Left, as Joe Biden has been his whole life, could possibly have won back the Midwest states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, along with the Sun Belt states of Georgia and Arizona, and not lose any of the 20 states that Hillary Clinton won in 2016.

Also, while there have been too many outrageous examples of police abuse and brutality, and particularly against African American males and Latino males, and really even females, the answer is police reform and accountability, not “Defund the Police”, as they are still essential.

Sadly, the Senate only saw two Democrats elected (Mark Kelly, John Hickenlooper), while one (Doug Jones) was defeated, gaining only one seat, to 48, although Georgia creates an opportunity in its runoff election for the chance to have a 50-50 Senate, that Vice President Kamala Harris could organize as a Democratic Senate, with Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader, instead of the horrible Mitch McConnell.

But there is danger of the House of Representatives, in a midterm election, going back to the Republicans, since they have gained at least 5-7 seats in the 117th Congress, and with the reality, that the party in the White House usually loses seats in the following midterm election.

The Senate will have, again, twice as many Republican seats up for election in 2022, but this scenario did not work out in 2020, so no assurance there either of retaining or gaining a Democratic Senate majority, which is so urgent to make Joe Biden a successful President!