An Open Letter To President Joe Biden

 Dear Mr. President

I cannot express how deeply I regret your exit from the presidential race. Frankly, I have long believed that you could have beaten Trump, and, moreover, that you could have led the country with wisdom and strength for another four years.

Again speaking frankly, I am certain that you are among the greatest presidents this country has known for the last fifty years. Indeed, as I look at your accomplishments--at the way that you took a shattered economy and a divided nation after Donald Trump’s disastrous term in the White House--I am convinced that you worked wonders. I am certain that historians will regard you as among the last great disciples of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and that you, like him, worked tirelessly for the well-being of all Americans.

Alas, those same historians will record that you were brought down by those who could not understand you, and, even if they could, were not worthy of your leadership. 

Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Michael Jay Tucker 

An American Hero

July 21, 2024

Like many other Democrats, I was appalled and ashamed when I heard this morning that Joe Biden had withdrawn. First, I was appalled because I think he is a good and a noble man, and I believe he could have easily won against Donald Trump.

Second, I was ashamed because I know that his withdrawal had nothing with his own performance in office -- which, let’s face it, was stellar -- but because the party elite and several hugely wealthy individuals had united against him, and used means both fair and foul to force his hand. 

I will, of course, support whoever is the Democratic nominee in November--which looks to be Kamala Harris. Donald Trump is simply too dangerous for me to do otherwise. I will, therefore, be on Team Blue without reservation. I will volunteer, I will donate money, I will text other democrats, I will canvas...

But, there is also a part of me that will always be aware that the will of the Party Faithful, of the men and women who went to the polls and selected Biden, was simply disregarded by Those Who Think They Know Best.

And, I will know that such people cannot be allowed to remain in charge of the Party...if only because the party of democracy must not be governed by autocrats.

So, yes...I will do everything I can to defeat Trump.

But after that...?

I must take stock. And think long.

And hard.

Once again, from one of the wisest people I know...

 About today's news, my wise wife, Martha, writes as follows:

"I am deeply saddened by President Biden's decision to not seek re-election. He has had my utmost respect and support. The process by which it was done also disturbs me because it was disrespectful toward the president, created uncertainty among Democratic voters, played into Trump's hand, and was a public bullying. If the elitist players are truly concerned about Biden's health & mental capacity, they should have acted in private rather than via social media. Further, I'm afraid, because I have little confidence in the Democratic Party to move forward in a unified and responsible way to select another candidate and VP candidate and to conduct the massive organization that will be required before the convention occurs. I still feel that the emphasis should be on how to defeat Trump and ramping up the extreme danger he presents to us all. Emphasizing the various parties that will be in danger, itemizing the rights that will be lost, rather than just saying that democracy will be jeopardized, should be a large focus of the remaining time. Also, a focus on Trump's mental incompetence, is inability to build and describe policy, and his choice of a VP candidate who is himself very dangerous to our rights and well-being is desperately needed."

I see no way I could improve on her text. She says what we all should be thinking. 

Joe Manchin

 Joe Manchin...the man without a future.

Once more, Billy Blue...the Big Friendly Dragon

As you know, some time back I invented a character, Billy Blue, the Big Friendly Dragon (BFD...from Joe Biden's Big F**king Deal comment when the AHC came in). Billy is a cartoon dragon who urges Democrats to vote. 

Here's some more Billy Blues. Feel free to forward if you know of anyone would could use a little encouragement to get to the polls.

cheers

mjt

About Clooney

I don’t have any particular ill-will toward George Clooney. He has the right to his opinion. He can say what he wants about Biden and the election.

And yet...

As I look at his mansions and his private planes, I wonder.

What has this man to say to me?

A Media Mystery

I’m writing this on July 12, 2024. Yesterday, Joe Biden gave what was, according to all reports, a killer press conference in which he was calm, cool, knowledgeable, and in-charge. He certainly looked that way when I watched clips of the event. 

Yet, when I glanced at the news this morning, I found that almost every mainstream media outlet reported the press conference as a tragic failure. It was as though we had seen completely different incidents. 

Bluntly, what the hell is going on? What accounts for the negativity, and the unanimity, of these reports? Why has the mainstream decided to provide only this (false) narrative? A story of Biden’s incapacity even when the evidence so obviously demonstrates that he is vital and strong.

I can only assume that powerful forces are at work here. Somewhere, somehow, important people have decided that this story that shall be told, regardless of the truth or the consequences--consequences that might include putting Trump back into the White House, and the end of American democracy.

And I’m guessing the motive is economic. Biden’s policies have not favored the favored the rich powerful, and have been to the advantage of everyone else. I’m guessing that doesn’t sit well with certain member of our elite...who also own the news media.

Which means...which means...

If we get out of this...somehow...with something like our freedom intact...then we are going to have to take a very close look at who was behind all of this. Why they acted as they did.

And what we shall do about them...

Before they can strike again.

The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

In 1995, Hilary Clinton referenced the “vast right wing conspiracy” that had targeted herself and her husband. For this, she was roundly mocked and ridiculed.

Yet, here we are, just about 30 years later, and what have we discovered? Well, that there really was and is now a vast network of right wing think tanks, PACs, activists, politicized churches, schools, and organizations all of them directed and funded by a small coterie of extremely wealthy, extremely right-wing individuals. 

And moreover, this group is within a hair’s breadth of imposing an entirely new form of government on the United States--the plutocratic, theocratic, oligarchy envisioned in Project 2025 and embodied in Donald Trump.

So what do we do about it? Honestly, I don’t know. I do know that we have to keep fighting. And we have to make absolutely certain that never again does the GOP control all three branches of the government. Or, if possible, any of them.

And I also know this. Our Republic will not again be safe until we have confronted “the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.” And the people who created it.

The people who for some reason believed that their right to obscenely great wealth, and enormous power...outweighed our right to truth, justice, well-being, and, indeed...

To life itself.

The vast right wing conspiracy...is real. 

Anthony Fauci, American Hero

 So I’m reading Dr. Anthony Fauci’s new book, On Call. It is fascinating, and reading it makes you realize that Fauci has quietly labored for decades, often against impossible odds, to keep people healthy and well all over the world. 

He’s fought against, AIDS, Zika, Ebola, flus of a hundred kinds, and, of course, Covid.

You would think that no one could object to that, yet, somehow, the Right tried to make him public enemy #1, and did their best to frustrate his work. 

That’s distressing, particularly when you compare him, and all that he has done, with his chief tormentors, such as Rand Paul and Marjorie Taylor Greene. You look at the lives and careers of people like Paul and Greene, and you know that they have done basically nothing.

They’ve feathered their own nests. They’ve gained power and used it, sometimes ruthlessly. They’ve hurt others when they could. And they’ve blocked progress wherever they could.

But otherwise, nothing. They’ve done absolutely nothing. They have helped no one. They have barely noticed their constituents, much less served them. They have introduced no important legislation.

For all that they have actually achieved, they might as well have never been born at all. 

And maybe that’s really why they hate Fauci with such passion. For they know, to their shame, that in his quiet way, he has achieved greatness.

Where-as they...are nothing. Mere voids in a vacuum. Just shadows in the dark.

J.D. Vance...

 So now we know 45's pick for VP.

We also know he can't get anywhere near real power.

Feel free to forward this image to others.

The Chicken and The Times

So I saw the other day that the New York Times had shut down its account on Threads, the Twitter-alternative owned by Meta. The account’s been turned back on, and Times’ people are implying that it was removed “by accident.” But, the general betting is that was a little white lie and that the account was shut down because they did not like the way they were being treated by the other Threads-users, many of whom objected fiercely to the editorial board’s fantastically stupid and irresponsible idea of dumping Joe Biden a mere few months ahead of the election--a move which would almost certainly put Trump back in the White House.

But, rather than read the comments on Threads, and perhaps learn from them, or at the very least, crafting counter-arguments, the Times just left the platform.

This is either cowardice of the highest order, or pure arrogance. The Times Editorial Board does not, you see, deign to debate with little people.

Either way, I wonder what happened to “without fear or favor.” Or, in other words, the Times seems to have lost the courage and the humility required for true journalism.

That is terrifically sad, both for the Times, which was once a great newspaper, and for our nation, which desperately needs a bit more hard-hitting journalism, instead of pomposity, spinelessness, and inanity. 

Trump IS Project 2025

 Project 2025 is, of course, the blueprint for an authoritarian America crafted by, among others, the Heritage Foundation. Donald Trump has denied any involvement with it. But, of course, we know that to be one of his more creative untruths. As such, I am constructing little AI cartoons to stress his relationship to it. Here are some of them.

Probably more to come.

In the meantime, remember, 45 = 25.

Staining The Enemy

In biology, "staining" means adding color to a sample, such as a piece of tissue or cells, to make certain parts of it easier to see under a microscope. Here in America, we’ve just had a political version of that. Specifically, we have had a number of highly placed, “elite” Democrats in the House, the Senate, the Party, and the media attempt to remove Joe Biden as the party’s candidate.

Such a thing is either a) incredibly stupid, because none of the alternatives on offer would have time to gather the resources or the votes to defeat Trump, or, b) willful sabotage by which Trump’s and/or Putin’s Fifth Column tries to derail Biden at the last minute, or, c) all these things at once.

However, these people have also done us a favor in that they have “stained” themselves. That is, they have made it easier for us to see who among the Democratic elite is actually treasonous or dim as a brick, and either way should be removed from their positions as quickly as possible.

So, as we prepare for the election, let’s take a moment to be grateful. They have identified themselves as threats to our Republic and our safety far more effectively than we could have done it ourselves.

Staining The Enemy

copyright©2024 Michael Jay Tucker

Billy Blue, the Big Friendly Dragon (BFD)

Hello, Everyone!

I try to encourage Democrats to get to the polls with little AI generated cartoons showing "Billy Blue, the Big Friendly Dragon (BFD)."

So here are some Billy Blues below! Free free to forward to any blue voter you know!

cheers

mjt

Letter From A Wise Woman

Today a guest offers some important thoughts on the current attempt by Those Who Know Best (they're so sure they do) to force Joe Biden to withdraw from the race. The guest is my own dear wife, Martha Tucker, and she has some important things to say. In this, a reduced version of a letter she sent out to all her friends and readers, she quotes from an article by Robert Hubble, who in turn quotes from a piece in the Guardian on "Why Is The Pundit Class so desperate to push Biden out of the race?"

Dear all,

The entire article can be found here:  https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/person-woman-man-camera-tv-double. I've excerpted Rebecca Solnik quoted material, because I'm not sure you can get into the full link, which is a subscription. Hubble writes:

 

And, finally, Rebecca Solnit wrote what I wish I had written. See her essay in The Guardian: Why is the pundit class so desperate to push Biden out of the race?

Solnit begins:

   I am not usually one to offer diagnoses of people I’ve never met, but it does seem like the pundit class of the American media is suffering from severe memory loss. Because they’re doing exactly what they did in the 2016 presidential race – providing wildly asymmetrical and inflammatory coverage of the one candidate running against Donald J Trump.

    They have become a stampeding herd producing an avalanche of stories suggesting Biden is unfit, will lose and should go away, at a point in the campaign in which replacing him would likely be somewhere between extremely difficult and utterly catastrophic.

    They do this while ignoring something every scholar and critic of journalism knows well and every journalist should. As Nikole Hannah-Jones put it: “As media we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it. What we cover, how we cover it, determines often what Americans think is important and how they perceive these issues yet we keep pretending it’s not so.” They are not reporting that he is a loser; they are making him one.

    And so it goes with what appears to be a journalistic competition to outdo each other in the aggressiveness of the attacks and the unreality of the proposals. It’s a dogpile and a panic, and there is no one more unable to understand their own emotional life, biases and motives than people who are utterly convinced of their own ironclad rationality and objectivity, [also known as] pundits.

Here's my advice to everyone—regardless of what side of the issue you take regarding Joe Biden’s continued candidacy. The issue is Trump, not Biden. Whether Biden drops out is not something you or I have control over. (Readers frequently write to me and say, “Please tell Joe Biden . . . .” The only thing Joe Biden knows about me is my credit card number.)

Joe Biden has control over his choices; his close advisors and family have influence; some senior leaders in the Democratic Party have some influence. They are talking amongst themselves. Let them have a rational, private conversation not played out on the front pages of the NYTimes and WaPo minutes after the latest exchange of views.

However, the one institution that has demonstrated it cannot be trusted to deal with this question is the media. They have a perverse financial incentive: Chaos = profit. They are agents of chaos at this moment in pursuit of the mighty dollar.

I believe that Joe Biden is the best candidate to defeat Trump, that replacing him at this point poses unacknowledged and unknowable risks, and that those who advocate a different path have the burden of identifying and funding an alternative candidate.

Our task has not changed. It is our moral and patriotic duty to alert all Americans about the threat posed by Trump and his fascist plan to undermine democracy. We have plenty of work and precious little time left to accomplish our task.

Let us channel all our energy away from debating Joe Biden’s age and health into defeating Trump. In that task, we must speak with one voice.

This title is  the question of the day, I think, with the most lucid comments I've seen to date. The frenzy to ditch Biden is most disturbing, especially I think because it seems to lead directly into electing Trump unless he is somehow (most likely not) disqualified.  

 Seemingly, the pundits are not too swift: how exactly do they propose to put the consequences of such an oust into operation in 4 months (or less if they wait until the August convention), choose a candidate (that would make an interesting bloodbath), drag the individuals out of their substantial responsibilities in the government, restructure the entire campaign structure, fund the candidate, foster confidence in the public that they know what they're doing, prep the candidate for both domestic & foreign issues sufficient to debate Trump and speak at rallies & town halls with adequate skills, details, and some bit of charm & charisma? (I know, I'm vying for the longest sentence to enter into the Guiness Book of World records (even though it's not a run-on) but desperate times call for intensive measures).

In my view, Biden is the man, the only individual who has the stature, experience, credibilty, and the ability to talk Trump under the table (admittedly he was off his game at the debate) to pull off the election. He has made his mistakes, like any other president, but he has accomplished a great deal and is being treated with so much disrespect while Trump gets a pass from most of the media. What's wrong with this picture??

The Times, the Atlantic, and numerous other publications and congresspeople are playing an insane game of "Name that Candidate" without considering the outcome, not even recognizing the enormous, perhaps impossible effect to pull off the success of another candidate. They're beginning to look like the Republicans ousting Kevin McCarthy. I think they need to stop playing this game of killer chess and figure out how they can report and discuss Biden's accomplishment and policies, his vast experience, his lack of criminal convictions and suits rather than trying to manipulate the choice without acknowledging the potential chaos that will ensue if we follow their blithe advice.

I know I don't usually write polemics, but I'm very distressed with this situation and the fact that our three areas of government seem to be crumbling before our eyes. We are in dangerous times, as you all are aware. So, with my apologies for ranting, please consider these ideas and do all that you are willing and able to do to see that Trump does not take our freedoms away.

All the best,

Martha

Irresponsible Adults

 Here’s the situation. If Trump gets back into the White House, we’re in deep trouble. That’s inescapable. We either vote blue or endure fascism. 

We also only have a short time between now and November. The only candidate who already has the necessary organization in place, who has the volunteers, who has the funding, and most of all, who has the name recognition to win against Trump is Joe Biden. That is a simple fact.

Yet, some powerful people in the Democratic Party, and in the media, called for Biden to step down. Given the reality of the situation, this is a perfect blue print for defeat.

When I was a boy, I remember my father talking about “irresponsibility” and the Vietnam war. He was no fan of the war, but he became incensed when critics would suggest that the war was being mis-managed (which it was, admittedly) and then demanded that the military do everything differently. They had, of course, some elaborate plan that was to be put in place.

But the reality was that such vast changes in strategy and tactics could only be managed with enormous effort. While the changes were underway, the other side would have simply won without breaking a sweat.

Thus the critics’ were irresponsible. 

And I fear that’s exactly what Biden’s critics are at the moment--irresponsible. They are calling for changes which cannot be made without losing the war entirely.

That’s something to be thought about after the election if Biden wins.

If he doesn’t win, it will be because of these same Elites and Pundits, and our only consolation is that under a Fascist dictatorship,  they will be the first into the camps, and in front of the firing squads.

It awaits them.