Progressives (Liberals)

Michael Moore
@MMFlint
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I’m afraid many have given up

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Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

The 2008 financial crisis was brought on by the collapse of an immense housing bubble. But many on the right denied that there was anything amiss. Larry Kudlow, now Trump’s chief economist, ridiculed “bubbleheads” who suggested that housing prices were out of line.

And I can tell you from personal experience that when I began writing about the housing bubble I was relentlessly accused of playing politics: “You only say there’s a bubble because you hate President Bush.”

When the economy began to slide, mainstream Republicans remained deeply in denial. Phil Gramm, John McCain’s senior economic adviser during the 2008 presidential campaign, declared that America was only suffering a “mental recession” and had become a “nation of whiners.”

Even the failure of Lehman Brothers, which sent the economy into a full meltdown, initially didn’t put a dent in conservative denial. Kudlow hailed the failure as good news, because it signaled an end to bailouts, and predicted housing and financial recovery in “months, not years.”

Wait, there’s more. After the economic crisis helped Barack Obama win the 2008 election, right-wing pundits declared that it was all a left-wing conspiracy. Karl Rove and Bill O’Reilly accused the news media of hyping bad news to enable Obama’s socialist agenda, while Rush Limbaugh asserted that Senator Chuck Schumer personally caused the crisis (don’t ask).

The point is that Trump’s luridly delusional response to the coronavirus and his conspiracy theorizing about Democrats and the news media aren’t really that different from the way the right dealt with the financial crisis a dozen years ago. True, last time the crazy talk wasn’t coming directly from the president of the United States. But that’s not the important distinction between then and now.

No, what’s different now is that denial and the resulting delay are likely to have deadly consequences.

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I can't think of any other candidates.

the name alone might attract some of the more sentimental Sanders voters..

How about Castro — the name alone might attract some of the more sentimental Sanders voters...

Russians Seek To Influence Extremist Groups To Sow 2020 Election Division

Russian intelligence services have attempted to sow division in the United States ahead of the 2020 election by fueling racial division, including by influencing extremist groups, American officials told The New York Times.

The Russian government’s methods to divide Americans are broader than what the country used 2016, the Times reported, citing multiple unnamed American officials briefed on recent intelligence.

In 2016, Russian activity was meant to reach a wide number of Americans and included spreading disinformation to suppress voter turnout and creating fake Black Lives Matter Facebook pages.

In 2020, things have changed, per the Times. Efforts reportedly include pushing extremist groups to spread hate messages and inciting violence. Unlike in 2016, unnamed intelligence officials told the Times, Russian operatives have taken to using private Facebook groups and message boards like 4chan.