If Republicans still trust Republicans, this country will never get ahead.
And if this didn't wake them up to their corruption over the decades, there's no hope for them, and the rest of us MUST just move on and leave them be.
I don't believe that there is as many as we are to believe, if people just stop and step back and crush the numbers,more people didn't vote for this and will make sure it never happens again.
We need to understand and talk to the people who decided to stay home and not vote. 36% didn't vote, if just 1 % of them had voted, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
The poll, which was conducted from Feb. 20 to Feb. 27, found that 53% of voters disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president compared to only 44% of voters who approve of his job so far.
If we see more polling like that, it might turn out that the pro-republican snapback in Texas last year was an aberration and the slow but steady trend towards competitive is still real. Would be great if that's the case — putting Texas on the board in the 2030s would be a huge benefit for us.
It can be real competitive in 2026 with a blue wave. Even more if Democrats can get James Talarico, a Christian Democrat firebrand to run against Ken Paxton in the Senate race. I bet that Ken wins against Thune easily with a Trump endorsement. He would easy to brand as an extremist with swing voters.
Do you buy it? Remember the polls before the election were showing Texas to be a five-point race. Trump won by 14. My skepticism about polls ticked up another notch after this cycle...especially Sun Belt State polls.
Yeah I'd take this poll with a humongous grain of salt. At best national polling is showing him underwater by a few points . . no way is Texas currently to the left of the country.
I'm always skeptical of the polls! Turned out there was a huge gap last year between the big online polls heavily weighted to partisanship and recalled vote, who unsurprisingly found a pretty similar 2020 result in most states, versus pollsters like NYT/Siena who allowed their samples to diverge and correctly saw the looming double digit shifts in states like TX, FL, and NY.
UT Tyler unfortunately looked more like the former than the latter in 2024, finding Harris only down 5 points in TX a couple weeks before the election. Totality of polling today (what little is still being conducted at a rigorous level) shows results more or less unchanged from last November. No surprise, most new presidents don't see their numbers sink until the end of summer. Although Trump is doing his best to speed up that process.
What a strange poll. Trump is underwater, but voters approve of him on the economy and the border.
Also, more Dems were born in the state than Republicans. 62% vs 50%. Looks like all the recent migration to Texas has helped Republicans maintain their hold on the state.
Someone noted awhile ago that Texas polls struggle with accurately describing the born in TX vs transplant thing. A better estimate of what's going on is that people who moved to TX in the 80's through 2000's tend to lean pretty red, but recent transplants to TX (who are of course really outnumbered by the former group in poll samples) are much bluer. It is not a good assumption to make that if TX had barred all new transplants over the past 15 years that it would somehow be a bluer state.
Interesting. The poll seems to suggest the opposite, with a higher percentage of Republicans having moved to the state for the first time in the past 10 years than Dems (15% vs 8%). Not really sure what to make of it.
If polarization in movers caused TX and FL to surge to the right, then I'm trying to figure out why IL, NY, NJ, MA, CA, etc., also moved pretty far right, some in the same ballpark as the first two. I don't deny that partisanship drives some domestic migration but it seems like it must play a pretty small role given that we're generally not seeing red states get redder and blue states bluer, at least in recent years (there is a longer running trend back to the 1960s/1970s of the number of swing states reducing and safe states increasing but there's other reasons for that than migration).
https://archive.ph/nDa4p : Millions of Movers Reveal American Polarization in Action, NYT Upshot Voter analysis 2020-2024
Texas movers leaned +20R and Florida +40R. Blue states movers leaned democrat and vice versa.
Also, where do we think folks move from Arkansas, Louisiana, Missisippi, Oklahoma etc? It's Texas and Florida. These states have declining or stagnant populations despite having a high fertility rate 20-30 years ago whose effects would have been seen today. In addition, the article says that California has mass exported republicans to Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
I really can't buy that Trump is that low in Texas, at least not yet. That's actually worse than his average national numbers.
I can see Dems making gains in the state in 2026, particularly at the state and local levels (not sure if any GOP congressional districts are flippable yet).
I recall listening to NPR interviews with Paul "Flintstone" LePage. Never – not on a single occasion – have I heard LePage utter more than three consecutive sentences without saying something truly deranged or bizarre.
There is a reason Janet Mills trounced LePage by 13 points when he attempted a comeback in 2022. Legions of sane Mainers celebrated and hoped LePage would extend his retirement in Florida, never to be heard from again.
. "Trump's secret power protection plan: a $500 million war chest"
Excerpts: Anyone who thinks President Trump's mesmerizing hold over the GOP will slip if his poll numbers slide is missing one of his biggest innovations in American politics:
The creation of a cash-flush political operation that has raked in around a half-billion dollars… It's unheard of for a president not running for reelection to raise that kind of money. The day after Election Day, Trump started calling major donors to start building an enforcement machine for his agenda.
"Right now, there's a huge price to pay by crossing Donald Trump," said Republican strategist Corry Bliss, who formerly led the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC. "When you combine a 92% approval rating among Republican voters with unlimited money, that equals: 'Yes, sir.'"
And to that half-billion war chest we can add Elon Musk, who is currently investing heavily in the upcoming election for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat.
Who else suspects that most of that money will end up in Trump's bank account and a much smaller amount will go to candidates that he supports. Everything is a grift with him.
In the Los Angeles TV market, homeland security secretary Noem is running a commercial thanking Trump on immigration that you can't turn on TV without seeing.
For once, I don’t think Senator Collins would be "concerned".
Edit: In election after election, Susan Collins has proven herself to be a survivor. In 2020, I was really hoping Sara Gideon would unseat her – but no such luck. I’m not a betting man, but I think there is Zero chance of LePage defeating Collins.
The article references how Dan Kelly, the GOP candidate in the 2023 race, didn’t openly campaign as a partisan MAGA candidate and Schimel was busted on camera talking to canvassers about how he’ll be a support network for Trump and was pushing 2020 BIG Lie conspiracies. I get that both candidates aren’t well known and Trump’s approval in WI, according to Marquette is 48/51, but it’s funny to me that Schimel thinks it’s better to be associated with Trump than with Musk and DOGE.
True. Trump’s still underwater but not as much as Musk. However, Trump not being on the ballot doesn’t guarantee that the MAGA base will show up in large numbers. Sure the traditional GOP base will but the folks who heavily came out in the rural and any of the gains he made with younger male voters are not a sure thing. Also, and this is the big one, Marquette showed Trump’s approval with Independent voters is at 39/60. That’s really terrible because they compared his approval with them to their March 2017 poll and he was at 42/32 approval back then. https://law.marquette.edu/poll/
i get your point but Trump is extremely popular with the MAGAs; and yes i know that doesnt translate to voter participation without his name on the ballot
We’re already seeing repeat signs from last time that they aren’t as enthused when he’s not on the ballot. Dems in the two VA State Senate special elections in blue districts earlier this year outperformed Harris’ numbers wile Rep in red district held on but underperformed Trump’s numbers. Plus the Iowa State Senate special election race in a Trump 20+ district flipping to the Dems. I still expect Reps to hold onto Stefanik and Waltz’s districts but to underperform and for Dems to tighten it up.
That and the fact that Marquette showed Trump’s numbers with Independent voters at a dismal 39/60 approval. They even compared it to his numbers with Independents in March of 2017. Back then he was at 42/32 with Indies. If he’s doing terribly with Independents, that’s an opportunity for Crawford and Dems to win them over if Schimel hooks himself onto the hope that MAGA alone will save him.
Thanks for the story and link. Everyone should do whatever they can to help Susan Crawford win this race. It's the most important election at least until November and its results will carry a lot of weight.
BTW, there is also a story on WPR about Susan Crawford, but the link to it will not work. Go here and you can read both stories. https://www.wpr.org/news
It is not uncommon for a governor to run for the U.S. Senate. However, the possibility that Paul LePage might run for the House demonstrates how rare it is for a former governor to attempt to be a mere Congressperson. An exception is Charlie Crist, who served as governor of Florida from 2007-2011 (as a Republican) and then as Congressman from Florida's 13th Congressional District (as a Democrat) from 2017-2022.
Thank you. That was quite enlightening. It is notable that many governors-turned-Congressman hailed from small states such as North Dakota, Vermont, Delaware, and Maine with so few members of Congress that running for the House is almost as prestigious as running for the Senate.
There is no end in sight for the turbulence at the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post. The once-trusted newspaper continues to bleed subscribers, while longtime journalists and editors are passing through the Exit door.
Today, Ruth Marcus, a longtime Opinion Editor and Columnist resigned from the Post. The reason? CEO Will Lewis killed her column wherein Marcus expressed concerns about Bezos' changes to the Post’s opinion section.
"With immense sadness I am writing to let you know that I have resigned from The Washington Post, in an email sent this morning to Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis and pasted below. I am taking this step, after more than 40 years at The Post, following Will's decision to spike a column that I wrote expressing a concern about the newly announced direction for the section and declined to discuss the decision with me.
"As I leave, I'd like to emphasize two things. First, how much affection and respect I have for you all, and the terrific, innovative, probing coverage you produce. Second, that my decision reflects what is the right step for me and me alone and does not suggest what anyone else should do in the circumstances in which we find ourselves."
Uh, Ruth Marcus is a she, but that’s a minor point.
The previous owners of the Washington Post went wrong when they sold it. Bezos went wrong not when he bought it, but 1) when he installed tainted editors who came from Murdoch’s UK newspapers, and 2) when he interfered with WaPo’s editorial operations.
time for some pols with guts ( if there are any) to really stir the pot and start making calls for trump and vance to resign...like I say, to stir things up
If Republicans still trust Republicans, this country will never get ahead.
And if this didn't wake them up to their corruption over the decades, there's no hope for them, and the rest of us MUST just move on and leave them be.
I don't believe that there is as many as we are to believe, if people just stop and step back and crush the numbers,more people didn't vote for this and will make sure it never happens again.
they won the election; we need to understand why, and counter them strategically
More Americans voted against Trump.
We need to understand and talk to the people who decided to stay home and not vote. 36% didn't vote, if just 1 % of them had voted, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
that is exactly what i posted
UTyler Texas poll:
The poll, which was conducted from Feb. 20 to Feb. 27, found that 53% of voters disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president compared to only 44% of voters who approve of his job so far.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ut-tyler-poll-measures-voters-020718617.html
A mere 44-percent approval of Trump in Texas is very good for Democrats and pro-democracy Texans – and the country.
Given that Trump is trying to speedrun us into a recession I imagine that those numbers would be even worse for him today. Nice to see.
Whoa, in Texas? During an ostensible political honeymoon?
If we see more polling like that, it might turn out that the pro-republican snapback in Texas last year was an aberration and the slow but steady trend towards competitive is still real. Would be great if that's the case — putting Texas on the board in the 2030s would be a huge benefit for us.
We’re gonna need it if certain census projections from 2020-24 wind up being correct about reapportionment
It can be real competitive in 2026 with a blue wave. Even more if Democrats can get James Talarico, a Christian Democrat firebrand to run against Ken Paxton in the Senate race. I bet that Ken wins against Thune easily with a Trump endorsement. He would easy to brand as an extremist with swing voters.
Do you buy it? Remember the polls before the election were showing Texas to be a five-point race. Trump won by 14. My skepticism about polls ticked up another notch after this cycle...especially Sun Belt State polls.
Yeah I'd take this poll with a humongous grain of salt. At best national polling is showing him underwater by a few points . . no way is Texas currently to the left of the country.
I'm always skeptical of the polls! Turned out there was a huge gap last year between the big online polls heavily weighted to partisanship and recalled vote, who unsurprisingly found a pretty similar 2020 result in most states, versus pollsters like NYT/Siena who allowed their samples to diverge and correctly saw the looming double digit shifts in states like TX, FL, and NY.
UT Tyler unfortunately looked more like the former than the latter in 2024, finding Harris only down 5 points in TX a couple weeks before the election. Totality of polling today (what little is still being conducted at a rigorous level) shows results more or less unchanged from last November. No surprise, most new presidents don't see their numbers sink until the end of summer. Although Trump is doing his best to speed up that process.
What a strange poll. Trump is underwater, but voters approve of him on the economy and the border.
Also, more Dems were born in the state than Republicans. 62% vs 50%. Looks like all the recent migration to Texas has helped Republicans maintain their hold on the state.
Someone noted awhile ago that Texas polls struggle with accurately describing the born in TX vs transplant thing. A better estimate of what's going on is that people who moved to TX in the 80's through 2000's tend to lean pretty red, but recent transplants to TX (who are of course really outnumbered by the former group in poll samples) are much bluer. It is not a good assumption to make that if TX had barred all new transplants over the past 15 years that it would somehow be a bluer state.
Interesting. The poll seems to suggest the opposite, with a higher percentage of Republicans having moved to the state for the first time in the past 10 years than Dems (15% vs 8%). Not really sure what to make of it.
https://archive.ph/nDa4p : Millions of Movers Reveal American Polarization in Action, NYT Upshot Voter analysis 2020-24.
Texas movers leaned +20R and Florida +40R. Blue states movers leaned democrat and vice versa.
If polarization in movers caused TX and FL to surge to the right, then I'm trying to figure out why IL, NY, NJ, MA, CA, etc., also moved pretty far right, some in the same ballpark as the first two. I don't deny that partisanship drives some domestic migration but it seems like it must play a pretty small role given that we're generally not seeing red states get redder and blue states bluer, at least in recent years (there is a longer running trend back to the 1960s/1970s of the number of swing states reducing and safe states increasing but there's other reasons for that than migration).
https://archive.ph/nDa4p : Millions of Movers Reveal American Polarization in Action, NYT Upshot Voter analysis 2020-2024
Texas movers leaned +20R and Florida +40R. Blue states movers leaned democrat and vice versa.
Also, where do we think folks move from Arkansas, Louisiana, Missisippi, Oklahoma etc? It's Texas and Florida. These states have declining or stagnant populations despite having a high fertility rate 20-30 years ago whose effects would have been seen today. In addition, the article says that California has mass exported republicans to Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
I really can't buy that Trump is that low in Texas, at least not yet. That's actually worse than his average national numbers.
I can see Dems making gains in the state in 2026, particularly at the state and local levels (not sure if any GOP congressional districts are flippable yet).
I recall listening to NPR interviews with Paul "Flintstone" LePage. Never – not on a single occasion – have I heard LePage utter more than three consecutive sentences without saying something truly deranged or bizarre.
There is a reason Janet Mills trounced LePage by 13 points when he attempted a comeback in 2022. Legions of sane Mainers celebrated and hoped LePage would extend his retirement in Florida, never to be heard from again.
Hopefully he runs again so he can be used to help Democrats win in ME more easily.
Also, how is LePage exactly Fred Flintstone? John Goodman could wipe the mat with him as Mr. Flintstone any day.
Interesting article on Axios this morning.
. "Trump's secret power protection plan: a $500 million war chest"
Excerpts: Anyone who thinks President Trump's mesmerizing hold over the GOP will slip if his poll numbers slide is missing one of his biggest innovations in American politics:
The creation of a cash-flush political operation that has raked in around a half-billion dollars… It's unheard of for a president not running for reelection to raise that kind of money. The day after Election Day, Trump started calling major donors to start building an enforcement machine for his agenda.
"Right now, there's a huge price to pay by crossing Donald Trump," said Republican strategist Corry Bliss, who formerly led the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC. "When you combine a 92% approval rating among Republican voters with unlimited money, that equals: 'Yes, sir.'"
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/10/trump-maga-inc-power-fundraising
And to that half-billion war chest we can add Elon Musk, who is currently investing heavily in the upcoming election for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat.
Who else suspects that most of that money will end up in Trump's bank account and a much smaller amount will go to candidates that he supports. Everything is a grift with him.
Bingo!
In the Los Angeles TV market, homeland security secretary Noem is running a commercial thanking Trump on immigration that you can't turn on TV without seeing.
https://youtu.be/vHV73nsnQBU?feature=shared
I suspect they will flood media on every issue.
Let me guess - Noem isn't actually serving as Secretary of Homeland Security?
i, for one, welcome a LePage run
Would be interesting if he gave a primary challenge to Susan Collins.
For once, I don’t think Senator Collins would be "concerned".
Edit: In election after election, Susan Collins has proven herself to be a survivor. In 2020, I was really hoping Sara Gideon would unseat her – but no such luck. I’m not a betting man, but I think there is Zero chance of LePage defeating Collins.
She will be concerned when she loses her job in 2026.
It would be great if somehow there was a sophisticated GOTV and fundraising machine on MAGA's side to get LePage to unseat Collins in the primary.
Oh please, MAGA, do it. We need your help in this primary race! /s
I would agree if it were for any race but this one.
WI-Supreme Court: Schimel is giving up on trying to come off as an impartial jurist and is now blatantly trying to excite the MAGA base: https://www.wpr.org/news/brad-schimel-republicans-trump-voters-wisconsin-supreme-court-race
The article references how Dan Kelly, the GOP candidate in the 2023 race, didn’t openly campaign as a partisan MAGA candidate and Schimel was busted on camera talking to canvassers about how he’ll be a support network for Trump and was pushing 2020 BIG Lie conspiracies. I get that both candidates aren’t well known and Trump’s approval in WI, according to Marquette is 48/51, but it’s funny to me that Schimel thinks it’s better to be associated with Trump than with Musk and DOGE.
Trump is more popular than Musk with the MAGAs; dude is going all in with Trump here
True. Trump’s still underwater but not as much as Musk. However, Trump not being on the ballot doesn’t guarantee that the MAGA base will show up in large numbers. Sure the traditional GOP base will but the folks who heavily came out in the rural and any of the gains he made with younger male voters are not a sure thing. Also, and this is the big one, Marquette showed Trump’s approval with Independent voters is at 39/60. That’s really terrible because they compared his approval with them to their March 2017 poll and he was at 42/32 approval back then. https://law.marquette.edu/poll/
i get your point but Trump is extremely popular with the MAGAs; and yes i know that doesnt translate to voter participation without his name on the ballot
We’re already seeing repeat signs from last time that they aren’t as enthused when he’s not on the ballot. Dems in the two VA State Senate special elections in blue districts earlier this year outperformed Harris’ numbers wile Rep in red district held on but underperformed Trump’s numbers. Plus the Iowa State Senate special election race in a Trump 20+ district flipping to the Dems. I still expect Reps to hold onto Stefanik and Waltz’s districts but to underperform and for Dems to tighten it up.
Good flag. If Schimel thinks he can win by juicing base turnout, that's a lot of ground for him to make up.
That and the fact that Marquette showed Trump’s numbers with Independent voters at a dismal 39/60 approval. They even compared it to his numbers with Independents in March of 2017. Back then he was at 42/32 with Indies. If he’s doing terribly with Independents, that’s an opportunity for Crawford and Dems to win them over if Schimel hooks himself onto the hope that MAGA alone will save him.
That's at least one thing I will give Independents credit for - They do not have any loyalty to Trump.
Thanks for the story and link. Everyone should do whatever they can to help Susan Crawford win this race. It's the most important election at least until November and its results will carry a lot of weight.
BTW, there is also a story on WPR about Susan Crawford, but the link to it will not work. Go here and you can read both stories. https://www.wpr.org/news
It is not uncommon for a governor to run for the U.S. Senate. However, the possibility that Paul LePage might run for the House demonstrates how rare it is for a former governor to attempt to be a mere Congressperson. An exception is Charlie Crist, who served as governor of Florida from 2007-2011 (as a Republican) and then as Congressman from Florida's 13th Congressional District (as a Democrat) from 2017-2022.
Mark Sanford of "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" fame also made a similar transition.
According to this article it was more common in the first half of the 20th century for governors to run for House seats:
https://smartpolitics.lib.umn.edu/2015/10/19/demoted-charlie-crist-and-governors-elected-to-the-us-house/
Thank you. That was quite enlightening. It is notable that many governors-turned-Congressman hailed from small states such as North Dakota, Vermont, Delaware, and Maine with so few members of Congress that running for the House is almost as prestigious as running for the Senate.
Yeah but even if LePage were to be miraculously elected in the House to represent ME-02, he'll still take a crack at running for Governor again.
I don't think he wants to be in the House to serve.
LePage is eager to get his nose browner – and to publicly cheer doing so.
ANOTHER WaPo DEPARTURE
There is no end in sight for the turbulence at the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post. The once-trusted newspaper continues to bleed subscribers, while longtime journalists and editors are passing through the Exit door.
Today, Ruth Marcus, a longtime Opinion Editor and Columnist resigned from the Post. The reason? CEO Will Lewis killed her column wherein Marcus expressed concerns about Bezos' changes to the Post’s opinion section.
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/10/washington-post-to-overhaul-newsroom-structure
Last week, former Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron penned a scathing piece about the radical changes being made by Jeff Bezos:
. "Where Jeff Bezos Went Wrong With The Washington Post"
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/bezos-appease-trump-administration/681899/
(Sorry, I don’t have a gift link.)
RUTH MARCUS’ statement:
"With immense sadness I am writing to let you know that I have resigned from The Washington Post, in an email sent this morning to Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis and pasted below. I am taking this step, after more than 40 years at The Post, following Will's decision to spike a column that I wrote expressing a concern about the newly announced direction for the section and declined to discuss the decision with me.
"As I leave, I'd like to emphasize two things. First, how much affection and respect I have for you all, and the terrific, innovative, probing coverage you produce. Second, that my decision reflects what is the right step for me and me alone and does not suggest what anyone else should do in the circumstances in which we find ourselves."
– Ruth Marcus
The fact that he's had to send a letter to Jeff Bezos illustrates why this is a problem.
Where did Jeff Bezos went wrong with the Washington Post? He bought it, that's why.
Uh, Ruth Marcus is a she, but that’s a minor point.
The previous owners of the Washington Post went wrong when they sold it. Bezos went wrong not when he bought it, but 1) when he installed tainted editors who came from Murdoch’s UK newspapers, and 2) when he interfered with WaPo’s editorial operations.
Florida Gov
Donalds 34%
Casey DeSantis 30%
Fabrizio #B - 600 LV - 2/27
Pls pls fight to the political death
A bloody GOP primary would be brilliant to watch. Who do Democrats actually have to run for anything in Florida though, to compete?
time for some pols with guts ( if there are any) to really stir the pot and start making calls for trump and vance to resign...like I say, to stir things up