We Need Manchin and Bredesen

This was a mistake:

MoveOn, a progressive outside group, said on Friday that it is cutting support for Democrats in two key Senate races because they are supporting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. 

"We're cancelling a planned six-figure digital video ad expenditure for Phil Bredesen in Tennessee due to his Kavanaugh position," the group said in a tweet. 

They added that "similarly [we] will be pulling all planned campaigning on behalf of Joe Manchin in West Virginia if he votes yes. Kavanaugh is unfit for the Court."

This makes sense politically --- why reward two guys who would a support serial liar and likely sexual predator for the Supreme Court?  But it exactly wrong strategically.

There are two reasons why we need Joe Manchin and Phil Bredesen in the U.S. Senate.  The first is: No matter how far they may be from our 'ideal' Democrat, they're still going to be one hell of a lot better than their Republican alternatives.  Manchin, for example, has voted with Trump 61.5% percent of the time, which makes him a terrible Democrat.

But if his Republican challenger wins his seat, that person will be voting for Trump nearly 100% of the time.  It's important to remember that we're talking about West Virginia, a state trump carried by 42 points.  The story is similar with Bredesen.

The second, and most important reason to continue supporting these guys is that the Senate is at stake.  The Republicans seated Kavanaugh with a 51-49 margin.  Just think who they'll seat next if Justice Ginsburg or Justice Breyer die in the next two years.

The ONLY way to prevent the situation from deteriorating is to hope that the Democrats manage to win at least 51 seats next month.  If that happens, Chuck Schumer likely replaces Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader, and it's almost certain that freezes out any more Trump SCOTUS appointments for the next 2 years.

The Kavanugh fight is over, and we lost.  Don't allow that to set ourselves up to lose the next fight.

Report from Planet Xorgax

For those who have had enough with the battle over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, I thought I would update you about what's happening on Planet Gorgax where, by coincidence, a similar debate is going on.

The politics on Planet Gorgax is similar to our own, with power more or less evenly divided between two political parties, the Thoogs and the Gurphs.  Thoog Emporer Biggott has nominated a new judge to serve on the Imperial High Court.  Judge Klorphan requires confirmation by the Imperial Senate before he can be seated.

The process was problematic from the beginning.  Even when Judge Klorphan was nominated three months ago, Emporer Biggott was under investigation for crimes against the Empire.  It didn't help matters any when, a month later, the Emporer's former lawyer implicated him him in a criminal act.  The following month, the Emporer's former campaign manager, who himself had been convicted on 8 felony charges earlier, agreed to cooperate with the team investigating the Emporer.

Given that the Emporer had been implicated in a crime, and was under active investigation for crimes against the Empire, it would be fair to assume that the Senate wouldn't consider any nomination made by the Emporer.  Instead, the Thoog-controlled Imperial Senate proceeded with the confirmation process in what can only be described as an act of sheer partisanship.

The next major development occurred about a month ago, when it was discovered that Judge Klorphan had lied under oath during his previous confirmation hearings, lies that he repeated again to the Imperial Senate.  The Imperial High Court has a long tradition of its members upholding the highest ethical standards, and it's hard to imagine that these lies themselves didn't end Judge Klorphan's ambitions then and there.  But again, this discovery went largely ignored by the highly-partisan Thoogs in the Imperial Senate.

Then, just about a week later, a bombshell news release detailed a female Xorgaxian's claims that when Judge Klorphan was an adolescent, he consumed too much kluuk and attacked her, climbed on top of her, and tried to take her clothes off --- presumably in an attempt to rape her.  A week later, a different female alleged that Judge Klorphan had sexually assaulted her as well, this time when he was a young man.  Three days later, a third woman came forward with a sworn oath that, while not accusing Judge Klorphan of sexually assaulting her personally, stated that as a young Xorgaxian he had regularly engaged in sexually aggressive behavior, likely but not definitely including gang rape.

These allegations understandably threw the confirmation process into chaos.

Judge Klorphan naturally denied the allegations, but they weren't easy to sweep aside.  Independent analysts have declared all three women's stories credible for a number of reasons.  What's puzzling is the way Judge Klorphan and his Thoog supporters are reacting.

One might choose to avoid a discussion of Klorphan's guilt or innocence by ending the nomination process entirely, and requesting that Emporer Biggott simply choose another judge with less baggage.  But failing that, one would expect that all parties would welcome a full investigation into the allegations by law enforcement --- either to verify the allegations of the women (and thus avoid seating a sexual predator and possible rapist on the Imperial High Court), or to clear the judge's name.  This is what all Xorgaxians should want.

But strangely, although the Gurph Senators requested exactly such an investigation, the Thoog Senators refused to ask for one, and Emporer Biggott refused to order one.  Even more strangely, Judge Klorphan repeatedly refused to demand an investigation --- preferring, it seems, to live the rest of his life under a cloud rather than demand the one thing that could prove him innocent.

This stonewalling seemed for all the world like a partisan power-play on the part of Emporer Biggott and the Thoogs, and it made Judge Klorphan look like a Xorgaxian with something to hide.

The stench of partisanship became more pungent when the Thoogs who control the Imperial Senate chose to hear additional testimony from only one of Klorphan's three accusers, as well as from Klorphan himself.  They refused to hear testimony from the only other person in the room when the alleged attack occurred, who also happened to be Klorphan's best friend at the time.  Nor did they make any attempt to seek out any of the other Xorgaxians alleged to be at the party where the attack occurred.

And the testimony of Klorphan was simply bizarre.  In the only public forum he had to prove his innocence, he continued to lie repeatedly under oath.  Again, this is completely inappropriate for a sitting judge, much less someone who aspires to the highest court in the land.  But beyond that, it completely destroys his credibility when he denies the allegations against him.

But rather than end the nomination process then and there --- or even slow it down for further investigation, the Thoog leaders in the Senate actually planned to ram through Klorphan's nomination immediately!  Such a thing is 100% incompatible with Xorgaxian principles of justice or ethics, and can only be attributed to Thoog hyper-partisanship.  It looked like Xorgax was on the brink of a true travesty of justice, until two Xorgaxian survivors of sexual assault confronted a Thoog Senator, and got him to hold up the vote until law enforcement actually conducted an investigation into the allegations against Klorphan.

The investigation just concluded, although it was clearly not a thorough investigation, and it seems quite likely that Emporer Biggott and/or Klorphan's Thoog supporters deliberately impeded the investigation.  In short, the investigation was a sham, designed to give cover to wavering Thoog Senators so they can justify their vote for the lying (and likely sexual predator) Klorphan.

If Emporer Biggott and the Thoogs were interested in the integrity of the Imperial High Court, wouldn't they want a thorough investigation, to find the truth, whatever it may be?  And if Judge Klorphan is truly innocent, wouldn't he want such an investigation?  There is no good explanation for the Thoog party interference, and it is clearly a politically-motivated abuse of power.

Yet in spite of all this, the Thoogs have convinced a substantial portion of the Xorgaxian population that these allegations, and the desire to investigate them fully, is a partisan smear on the part of the Gurphs!

Think about the mental gymnastics required to believe such a thing.  One would need to:

1. Believe that all three women had decided independently to make fabricated claims against Klorphan --- two of them making sworn statements under penalty of perjury and criminal prosecution.
2. Believe that all of the corroborating witnesses (people who had heard these stories either directly from the women or second-hand months or years before Klorphan was ever nominated) are also lying.
3. That the independent experts who have examined the women's claims and found them credible are somehow wrong --- or are also part of the 'smear'.
4. That Thoog politicians believe that all of this is a hyper-partisan and criminal smear on the part of the Gurphs --- but for some reason they don't want the 'smear' to be investigated.
5. Ignore Klorphan's repeated, obvious lies on a range of topics.
6. Ignore the repeated, obvious partisanship of Emporer Biggott and the Thoogs --- and accept their obviously nonsensical claims that the Gurphs are the ones acting with partisan bias.
7. Believe that the Gurphs would orchestrate --- and successfully conceal --- this vast conspiracy to defeat Klorphan's nomination, only so that Emporer Biggott could nominate (and likely get seated) a different judge who will rule in a way that pleases the Thoogs.

They're not the sharpest bunch, the Xorgaxians who support the Thoogs.

Anyway, Judge Klorphan's ultimate fate is still anyone's guess.  It seems likely the Thoogs are still going to put him on the court, in spite of everything.

But maybe not!  If you've read this far and agree that putting Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court would be a hideous mistake, you need to call your Senator immediately (especially if that Senator is a Thoog Republican), and tell them to vote NO on Kavanaugh!  Call:

(202) 224-3121

The Inverted Morality of Republicans

With two new allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh --- one public, one private so far --- it's even more obvious today that he is unfit for a Supreme Court appointment than it was yesterday.

But at this point, discussing Kavanugh's problems is redundant.  Instead, I want to focus on one point of the New Yorker story by Jayne Mayer and Ronan Farrow:

Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote.

Kavanaugh has already disqualified himself by lying to Congress, and one very brave woman has come forward to tell her story of Kavanaugh attempting to rape her in high school.  Under such circumstances, a person with ANY sense of propriety, ethics or common sense would, upon seeing a second woman come forward, realize that the Kavanaugh nomination must come to an immediate end.

But the Senate Republicans saw this, and immediately sought to 'accelerate the timing of a committee vote' --- as if confirming him would somehow change the fact that he's clearly a serial sexual predator.

It's not just Trump; it's the whole Republican party.  They are, without exception, rotten to the core.

Kavanaugh

Brett Kavanaugh is, quite simply, unfit to serve on the Supreme Court.  The fact that Trump hasn't pulled his nomination demonstrates Trump's utter lack of integrity (try to contain your surprise).  The fact that McConnell and other Senate Republicans haven't publicly expressed their intention to reject his nomination demonstrates theirs.

Again, try to contain your surprise.

What MAY surprise you is that I'm not (yet) talking about the allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Kavanaugh.  No, I'm talking about the multiple instances where Kavanaugh committed perjury --- something it seems that no one is discussing.  In particular, when the Bush administration was working to confirm judicial nominees early this century, a Republican aide named Manuel Miranda stole some strategy memos from Democrats, and

. . . [Kavanaugh] was repeatedly asked under oath as part of his 2004 and 2006 confirmation hearings for his position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit about whether he had received such information from Miranda, and each time he falsely denied it.

He repeated these lies during his recent Supreme Court confirmation hearings.  Perjury is a felony, and while it seems that legal experts agree Kavanaugh's lies don't meet the high bar for actual prosecution, it's a slam dunk that no one who brazenly commits perjury multiple times has any business serving as a judge, much less sitting on the Supreme Court.

Note: But the Republicans don't care.  Not even one out of 51, apparently.

Now the allegations of attempted rape made by Dr. Ford are an entirely separate matter, but Kavanaugh's checkered history with the truth puts him at a disadvantage in terms of credibility.  While Dr. Ford has passed a polygraph, and experts in sexual assault deem her story credible, there is no reason to give much weight to Kavanaugh's denials.

Note: But the Republicans don't care.  Not even one out of 51, apparently.

Kavanaugh's Republican supporters aren't doing themselves any favors, either.  While they correctly point out that the concept that one is 'innocent until proven guilty' is the bedrock of our legal system, they are also blocking an FBI investigation that might exonerate Kavanaugh.  This is a neat trick to make sure Kavanaugh is never proven guilty, even if he is.

Or maybe they're blocking such an investigation precisely because they're concerned it might incriminate him instead.  Or quite possibly, they don't want anyone looking too closely at Kavanaugh's formative years because he might have still other skeletons in his closet.

In the end, it's clear that Kavanaugh doesn't belong on the Supreme Court, and it looks like even the Senate Republicans recognize that fact.

Note: But they seem determined to put him there anyway.

Donate

I've donated to some of these candidates --- I wish I could donate to all of them.

In an effort to support a 'blue wave', I've identified a number of close races where a few extra dollars might help push the Democrat over the top.  ALL RACES BASED ON UPDATED FIVETHIRTYEIGHT ANALYSIS AS OF 10/22/2018!

I'll make an effort to keep this page up to date, but as always with stuff you read on the internet, caveat emptor.

Senate
Like most people (with a conscience, anyway), I'm both angry and upset about Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court.  The good news is, we have a real chance in the next month to re-take the Senate.  If we manage to get 51 Democrats elected, it will guarantee that Trump can't seat any more Supreme Court justices until at least 2021.  So we need to do everything we can to elect Democrats to the Senate, even Democrats with views we strongly disagree with.

Here are the Senate races which are still in play, listed from most GOP-leaning to most Democrat-leaning, according to FiveThirtyEight as of October 22:

• Beto O'Rourke (TX).  Trailing incumbent Ted Cruz by 5.0%.
• Phil Bredesen (TN).  Trailing Marsha Blackburn by 4.1% in the race to fill the seat vacated by Bob Corker.  MoveOn has pulled its funding from Bredesen for saying he supports Brett Kavanaugh, but that was a mistake.
• Heidi Heitkamp (ND).  Trailing challenger Kevin Cramer by 4.2%.  Cramer who recently said that even if Brett Kavanaugh DID attempt to rape Christine Blasey Ford, it's 'nothing' because it 'never went anywhere'.
• Jacky Rosen (NV).  Trailing incumbent Dean Heller by 0.1%.
• Claire McCaskill (MO).  Leading her challenger by 1.7%.
• Kyrsten Sinema (AZ).  Has a 1.9% lead in the race to replace retiring Senator Jeff Flake.
• Bill Nelson (FL).  Leading Florida governor Rick Scott by 2.6%.
• Joe Donnelly (IN).  Has a 3.7% lead in his race for re-election.

I've taken Joe Manchin (WV) off this list, because FiveThirtyEight currently favors him by nearly 10 points.  Since my last update, the Republicans have gained ground in Texas, North Dakota, Nevada and Indiana.  Sinema's lead remains constant, and Democrats have gained ground everywhere else.  If the current polling holds, Democrats will lose one seat (Heitkamp) and pick up one other (Sinema), leaving Republicans with the same 51-49 advantage they currently hold.

So we need to get Jacky Rosen back ahead in Nevada, and hope that O'Rourke, Bredesen or Heitkamp pull off an upset.  Those four races are probably the best ones to put money into.

U.S. House

• Of course I need to mention the Democratic challenger Angie Craig right here in my home district of MN-02.  This district has been red for a very long time, but Angie has a real chance of bringing home the win for team D.  Leading by 6.8%.
• Dan Feehan is gaining on Republican Jim Hagedorn in the open DEMOCRATIC seat in MN-01 which Tim Walz vacated to run for governor.  Trailing by 0.2%.
• Joe Radinovich is the Democrat running to replace retiring Democrat Rick Nolan in MN-08. The GOP is running attack ads against him because, it seems --- he has a lot of parking tickets, speeding tickets, and so forth.  Trailing by 5.2%.
• Amy McGrath has a real shot to flip a seat in ruby-red Kentucky (KY-06).  She also has some amazing campaign ads.  Leading by 0.7%.
• Katie Porter is on track to flip a seat in CA-45.  Leading by 3.6%.
• NEW!  Josh Harder is likely to flip CA-10.  Leading by 4.0%.
• NEW!  Katie Hill is likely to flip CA-25.  Leading by 3.2%.
• HOLY SMOKE!!!  Harley Rouda is currently ahead of the repugnant Dana Rohrabacher, considered the member of Congress most compromised by Russia.  We need to win this one, folks!  Leading by 3.0%!
• Xochitl Torres Small is in a dead heat to fill another open Republican seat in NM-02.  Leading by 0.2%.
• FiveThirtyEight still has this race as 'Lean Republican', but Cook Political Report has just moved UT-04 to a tossup between Democratic challenger Ben McAdams and incumbent Republican Mia Love.  Trailing by 1.8%.
• Lizzie Fletcher is positioned to defeat incumbent Republican John Culberson in TX-07.  Trailing by 0.2%.
• Gina Ortiz Jones is falling behind incumbent Republican Will Hurd in TX-23.  Trailing by 5.8%.
• NEW!  Colin Allred is within striking distance of current House Rules Committee chair Pete Sessions in TX-32.  Trailing by 1.6%.
• Paul Davis is in a tossup race for an open GOP seat in KS-02.  Leading by 0.9%.
• Sharice Davids has pulled into the lead over incumbent Republican Kevin Yoder in KS-03.  Leading by 5.9%.
• Sean Casten is close behind incumbent Republican Peter Roskam in IL-06.  Leading by 2.0%.
• Brendan Kelly is close on the heels of incumbent Mike Bost in IL-12.  Trailing by 2.2%.
• Elissa Slotkin is tied with incumbent Mike Bishop in MI-8 (Cook Political Report just changed the race to 'Lean Democrat').  Leading by 0.7%.
• Kara Eastman is neck-and-neck with incumbent Republican Don Bacon in NE-02.  Trailing by 3.0%.
• Cindy Axne is statistically tied with Republican incumbent David Young in IA-03.  Leading by 1.9%.
• Aftab Pureval has slipped behind incumbent Republican Steve Chabot in OH-01.  Trailing by 4.0%.
• NEW!  Danny O'Connor is closing on an incumbent Republican in OH-12.  Trailing by 2.0%.
• Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has a shot at unseating incumbent Republican Carlos Curbelo in FL-26.  Trailing by 0.4%.
• NEW!  Kristen Carlson has a chance to flip FL-15.  Trailing by 3.0%.
• Kathy Manning is in a tossup race against incumbent Republican Ted Budd in NC-13.  Trailing by 1.4%.
• Dan McCready has moved NC-09 to a tossup.  Leading by 0.9%.
• NEW!  Linda Coleman is within striking distance in NC-02.  Trailing by 2.4%.
• Leslie Cockburn is poised to pick up an open GOP seat in VA-05.  Trailing by 2.0%.
• Abigail Spanberger is a bit more than one point behind the odious Dave Brat in VA-07.  Trailing by 0.2%.
• NEW!  Elaine Luria is within striking distance in VA-02.  Trailing by 2.0%.
• Andy Kim is neck-and-neck with incumbent Republican Tom McArthur in NJ-03.  Leading by 2.5%.
• Tom Malinowski is a slight favorite over incumbent Republican Leonard Lance in NJ-07.  Leading by 1.8%.
• Antonio Delgado is slightly favored over incumbent Republican John Faso in NY-19.  Leading by 1.7%.
• NEW!  Anthony Brindisi is favored to flip NY-22.  Leading by 2.2%.
• NEW!  Nate McMurray is within striking distance of incumbent Republican Chris Collins, who has been indicted for insider trading.  Trailing by 4.3%.
• Scott Wallace is in a dead heat with incumbent Republican Brian Fitzpatrick in PA-01.  Leading by 0.6%.
• NEW!  George Scott has a chance to flip PA-10.  Trailing by 3.2%.
• Jared Golden is within striking distance of flipping ME-02.  Leading by 2.0%.
• Kim Schrier has a narrow lead in the race to fill an open (Republican) seat in WA-08.  Leading by 1.4%.

Governor

• Laura Kelly has a good shot to claim the governor's mansion in Kansas, and it's vital that she does.  Her opponent is Trump's voter-suppression guru Kris Kobach, who is such a clown a judge recently ordered him to take classes to gain a better understanding of the law (no, really).  Kelly would likely have a decent lead over Kobach if it weren't for the fact that some third-party wanker has decided to try to screw things up for her.  I just made a donation to Kelly myself.  Trailing by 2.3%.
• Stacey Abrams has a good chance to claim the governor's mansion in Georgia.  If she manages to win, it will happen in spite of massive voter suppression on the part of her opponent.  Trailing by 0.4%.
• Andrew Gillum is consistently polling ahead of Trump's hand-picked candidate for governor of Florida, a position which has been held by the odious Rick Scott for the past 8 years.  Leading by 4.1%.
• Recent polls actually show Democrat Tony Evers pulling away from odious Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, but it might be a good idea to throw Evers a few bucks to make sure he keeps his lead.  Leading by 2.0%.
• NEW!  Richard Cordray is keeping it close in Ohio.  Trailing by 0.8%.
• NEW!  Steve Sisolak is neck-and-neck with his Republican opponent in Nevada.  Leading by 0.4%.
• NEW!  In Alaska's crazy governor's race, Mark Begich is trailing by 3.8%.

That's all for now.  I'm sure I'll come up with others before election day, so bookmark this post and keep checking in for updates!

A Kaepernick v Trump election

I want to make it clear up front: This is NOT a post suggesting that Colin Kaepernick should run for president in 2020.  Rather, it's to call out the utter moral decay of the Republican party based on a recent article in the National Review.

As one should expect from the National Review, the article is both one-sided and dishonest, and I've dissected it in some detail here.  But the upshot is that the author, Kyle Smith, has decided that the Democratic party is the 'party of Kaepernick', and he seems to believe this will be simply devastating for Democrats' electoral chances.

Well, since the Republicans are unquestionably the party of Trump, let's spend a bit of time thinking about who comes out looking better in this comparison.

To start with, let's try doing something that very few people have done since Kaepernick first knelt during the national anthem.  Let's read what he has to say about his reasons for doing it:

"I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there's significant change and I feel that flag represents what it's supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way that it's supposed to, I'll stand."

"This stand wasn’t for me. This is because I’m seeing things happen to people that don’t have a voice, people that don’t have a platform to talk and have their voices heard, and effect change. So I’m in the position where I can do that and I’m going to do that for people that can’t."

"It's something that can unify this team. It's something that can unify this country. If we have these real conversations that are uncomfortable for a lot of people. If we have these conversations, there's a better understanding of where both sides are coming from."

"I have great respect for the men and women that have fought for this country. I have family, I have friends that have gone and fought for this country. And they fight for freedom, they fight for the people, they fight for liberty and justice, for everyone. That’s not happening. People are dying in vain because this country isn’t holding their end of the bargain up, as far as giving freedom and justice, liberty to everybody. That’s something that’s not happening. I’ve seen videos, I’ve seen circumstances where men and women that have been in the military have come back and been treated unjustly by the country they fought have for, and have been murdered by the country they fought for, on our land. That’s not right."

Whether one agrees with his methods, his purpose is honorable: using his platform as an NFL player to give voice to the oppressed whose voices cannot be heard.  And this one small action was so threatening to people in power (the NFL owners, the Republican party, and Trump) that they took away his platform, and with it, his career.

There is no question that Kaepernick would still be playing in the NFL if he had never taken this stand.  One could argue about whether he'd be a starter, but it's probably fair to assume that he would be earning as much as Teddy Bridgewater, the backup to Drew Brees.  That's $5 million both for the 2017 season he missed, and the current 2018 season.

So at a minimum, he's sacrificed his NFL playing career and $10 milliion in career earnings to take this stand.  And since leaving the NFL, he has helped to raise more than $1 million for charity.

How does this compare to Donald Trump?  How much time do you have?

Well, like Kaepernick, Trump also set up a charity to collect money.  But unlike Kaepernick, Trump's charity was actually a self-dealing sham.  Trump really only cares about giving to Trump.  During the 2016 campaign, he pledged $1 million to veterans organizations, but didn't actually come through with the money until he was shamed into it.  And of course, that's really the least of his sins.

He lies with shameless abandon.  He's racist.  He obviously conspired with Russia to rig the election in his favor.  He's still acting as Putin's lapdog, probably because Putin has compromising information on him.

He jeopardizes our national security on a daily basis, both actively and passively.  He uses the office of the president as his own personal ATM machine (in violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause).  He's shredding our global alliances, and he's putting children in cages.

It's late, and I have to get up for work in the morning.  Suffice to say that the pit of Trump's evil and corruption is practically bottomless.

But the big brains over at the National Review, they think the real problem is that Democrats are failing to criticize a guy who gave up a career millions of young men dream about in order to speak out for the oppressed.

That tells you everything you need to know about the complete and utter moral bankruptcy of the American conservative movement.

Kaepernick

So, Kyle Smith of the National Review (a right-wing publication, but one which occasionally tut-tuts Donald Trump) has decided that the Democrats are the party of Kaepernick:

Last week, left-wing Democrat Ayanna Pressley ousted long-term incumbent Michael Capuano from the John F. Kennedy/Tip O’Neill House seat in the Democratic primary while praising the NFL anti-flag protests, which her opponent called “wrong.” Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke says — in Texas! — that there is “nothing more American” than kneeling for the national anthem. The judicious center-left New York Times columnist David Leonhardt notes in his daily newsletter that “the anthem is a trap for Democrats.”

Of course, I doubt that anyone is actually holding 'anti-flag protests', especially not anyone running for Congress as a Democrat.  Ayanna Pressley has said she supports "both the cause and the tactics" of NFL players taking a knee to "elevate the issue of police brutality", while Beto O'Rourke gave an articulate and powerful explanation of his support for peaceful protests, one which his opponent Ted Cruz is similarly distorting.

From this laughably biased start, Smith keeps rolling to the right, claiming that "The Left and its base of activists, pundits, and (increasingly) woke capitalists simply can’t let this issue go".  But of course, if the right had allowed the country to come together and try to address police brutality, then Kaepernick would still be playing football and the protests and this article wouldn't exist.  Instead, the right and outlets like NR have followed the lead of the whiner-in-chief, using alleged 'anti-flag protests' for more than a year to distract from the fact that Trump is destroying the country.

Smith goes on to note that "Demonizing a huge population based on stereotypes derived from the actions of a few of its members is exactly the kind of anti-American impulse that liberals once stood so valiantly against."  Indeed, liberals still do stand against such demonization based on stereotypes --- such as when a right-wing publication demonizes the entire Democratic party based on some made-up allegations of 'anti-flag protests'.

After further distorting the motivation for the protests, Smith veers briefly back into rationality --- "Do the anthem protests matter when it comes to deciding which political party to vote for? It’s hard to see how they do" --- before divesting himself of all self-awareness: "Thanks to the Trumpification of national discourse --- voters appear to be growing less rational by the hour."

At least, that seems to be what Smith and the National Review are hoping.