BACK ON THE ROAD TO 1776!

A lot of you are discouraged, disheartened, and may I say scared?

I get it.

The tyrant has engineered a bloodless coup on our checks and balances democracy. He began by demonizing the free press. He has silenced Congress and enlisted their leaders in his takeover. He continues his move on the Supreme Court, putting settled law in jeopardy. He has alienated our allies and given shelter to our number one sworn enemy.

There is nothing he will not do or say.

And every day he begins to appear more unstoppable.

There is something I would like tell you before I go any further. I am an optimist. But I am not a foolish optimist. I will not tell you that Democrats will take the Senate in November. I believe it is possible, but unlikely. The map to victory favors the Republicans. There is no polling that I can find which suggests that the Senate might go Democratic.

But polling told us that Hilary would win the election. Polls are not infallible. We are learning that people are less likely to tell pollsters who they plan to vote for, but they will answer general questions that give us strong clues as to what kind of a candidate they are inclined to vote for.

So it might be worth reminding ourselves that just because 43% of all registered voters tell us that they approve of Donald Trump, that response does not mean that all of those 43% approve of him so much that they will dutifully vote for a Republican this November.

When pollsters asked:

Do you prefer that this year’s congressional candidates be MORE or LESS like Donald Trump? Only 32% answered: MORE like Donald Trump.

When pollsters asked:

Are you proud of having Donald Trump as your president? Only 31% answered YES.

So, the reasonable optimist in me believes that Donald Trump has a hardcore base of about 30% that will stay with him no matter what. These include some of our friends and neighbors. We may still like them, but not nearly as much as we used to.

And that reasonable optimist in me believes that the remaining 10% to 15% of Trump supporters have become kind of squishy about riding his wagon into the insane asylum of history.

But let’s not argue numbers, which can be questioned and manipulated to support opposite sides of any debate. Instead let’s focus on what we witness, but may not believe what our eyes are telling us.

Please do not feel insulted by the simplistic bumper sticker messages that I am about to offer you. This president has created an alternative reality based completely on bumper sticker messages that are taken as gospel by his hardcore followers.

Here are a few of the classics:

Without strong borders, we don’t have a country!

Our allies have been treating us like a piggy bank!

The mainstream media is Fake News!

Democrats are soft on crime!

There is no collusion!

They are simple, strong, easily parroted, and slightly nauseating.

So for us – the 52% of registered voters who tell pollsters that they view this president “unfavorably,” and for that 10% to 15% of the “favorable” group, who sound squishy, I hereby offer you these GREAT LAWS OF REALITY, HUMANITY, and PLAIN OLD HUMAN NATURE to reassure us that Democrats will at least take back the House of Representatives in November.

I hope you are okay with my heavy handed alliteration.

Drum roll:

Marches magnify messages and messengers!

Tariffs turn terrified tycoons!

Chainlinking children chills cheerleaders!

Cool candidates clobber the clueless, comfortable, and corrupt!

Pissing-off prosecutors puts pals in prison!

These two minutes will not allow for elaboration, but my next two minutes will. Today is the Fourth of July. I will not tell you to enjoy the day. Instead I will ask you to feel the revolution, and help someone else feel it too.