General Discussion

the Mamdani Trump meeting, and criticism of Harris campaigning with Cheney.

My position is this is an apples to earthworms comparison.

I agree that politics has to ultimately produce outcomes. We don't know the future, but we can see what the media is saying (and my own eyes). We don't know what will come of the Mamdani-Trump meeting. The question is, I think, did Mamdani sell his soul by meeting with Trump. I understand that position, and am sympathetic to it, but Biden met with Trump, Schumer met with Trump, Pelosi, etc. It is a fact that in his office, he has to be dealt with. Plus, Mamdani did not apologize for calling him a fascist and them doubled down on next day morning shows.

We do know, however, that campaigning with Liz Cheney *did not* result in the advancement of VP Harris policy agenda. The closest analogy I can arrive at in my head is the Mamdani-Trump meeting built potential energy and the Harris-Cheney campaign expended kinetic energy. That is a crap analogy, but just trying to give you an idea of how my mind is framing this.

And everyone will agree utilities are too high. I want Republicans talking about it on the record. They are in power. Anything that gets done or doesn't get done, they own it.


In re: the handshake, I think optics matter. To my eye, Trump did not look strong. He looked weak and was lucidly articulating his support for Mayor-Elect Mamdani. That is a tough thing to spin.

I don't know the future, and I may be wrong. I acknowledge this. What I saw, though, was a diminished President and an ascendant social democrat.