
May 31, 2024:
Thirty-four criminal counts have not changed the polls in the Trump v Biden all-or-nothing showdown still due in November – five months away.
It seems crazy that being a convicted criminal is not changing things much for GOP voters, but if you tune in to Fox News, you will realize his voters are tuned into a lying propaganda channel and they don’t even hear that he is guilty. They hear Biden is the criminal for rigging the system.
Your Country, Your Voice
What is glaringly apparent is that Joe Biden is not very popular or well-liked in America. That’s what he has to fix. He has about 120 days to do that. I am suggesting a “show” put on twice a month. I call it: Your Country, Your Voice. The show is about addressing issues that weigh on Americans today -on both sides. The border. Healthcare. Gun laws. Tax reform. Education. Climate change. Inflation. Overseas wars. There’s more.
Start with “the border”. Invite Americans to email in ideas on how they they their government should address these issues. Air the top few responses. Make sure some come from red states. Zoom live with the senders! ( This becomes a perk for the sender, and when they come from red states people will notice that there are people thinking for the greater good in those states as well. )
MAKE IT FUN! I think Biden can give a gift to those that send in the best ideas. Maybe he airs three ways to solve and people can vote for the best solutions. And then start doing something in the manner requested by the email chosen to air, on the issue the show is dedicated too. He can even put up a polls which “caller” presented the best idea to solve the issue and air the results next show.
Making a president more popular via engaging in media is not a new idea. FDR had many of the same issues Biden has today. ( What follows is a post from early 2023. )
In 1933, Franklyn Delano Roosevelt, aka FDR, began a historic series of Fireside Chats via radio to all the American people. You can view the topics of the Fireside Chats and even listen to them here. ( I highly recommended that you, at least, peek in. )
They were about 30 minutes long with focus on subjects of national interest to all Americans – the New Deal, drought, unemployment, judiciary crisis and war in Europe were among the topics.
Right now, Joe Biden has the unique opportunity to do this better than FDR ever imagined. With live TV and social media Biden can not only inform Americans about what his administration is doing, he can address a few questions directly from Americans on “both sides” at the end of every presentation, being careful questions from right and left leaning voters. He can even get back directly to the person asking, and televise the repsonse. He’s going to look very engaged, caring and not sleepy at all – all directly opposite to the GOP way of addressing their base.
Since it is clear Biden’s administration is not going to stop congresspeople who aided and comforted insurrectionists from serving, as per 14th, something I have long advocated for, the only life line left for democracy to prevail resides with the voters. I don’t favor this passive strategy against a force I consider to be a greater menace to democracy than Bin Laden’s 911 attack ever was.
But if Dems are committed to let the voters have the option to vote for fascism, then by god, they need to start convincing MAGA voters – not their own – they are voting against their own interests. He can do that best by asking Americans “what can my administration do to make your day-to-day life better”.
I suggest these “Presidential Chats”, which should be carried by all news broadcasters*, be held every three weeks, about the pace of FDR’s btw, and on Tuesday evenings to instill a sense of civic duty and voting on Tuesdays.
FDR had it harder than Biden. He became the most popular president ever because of these chats with the American people. For Biden to not learn from history would be a huge error. I can imagine him asking for americans to talk about solutions for gun violence, taxes for billionaires, our proxy wars, the border, healthcare and abortion, police violence, voting, gerrymandering – the list goes on.
And this is something no GOP candidate can do. This would be excellent use of the bully pulpit, especially since Biden seems to be allowing the public to vote for insurectionists instead of removing them from office as per the 14th.
If you have connections to Joe Biden, or know those that do, please pass this upwards. Presidential Chats will make the difference. It’s going to be harder to paint Biden as a sleepy bad guy if the public sees him in action twice a month. The fireside chats averaged two per month. Once week was deemed too much, once a month too little. Roosevelt was a very smart person. Follow in his footsteps. The times are not that different.
*The chats will be groundbreaking. I would insist that any so-called new station be forced to air the presidential chats. If they worry about advertisers, there’s no need to worry. There will be plenty wanting to advertise in those spots, even if they are on Fox, etc.
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January 6th was the Biggest Present Ever Given to a Democracy Under Attack from Within
Democracy was more or less invented by the United States in 1776. Iceland had a rudimentary but effective democracy long before the USA. Read this a bit to catch up on Iceland’s 1100 year-old democracy.
But in the recorded history of mankind, going back to Egypt, democracy is both new and an outlier among the forms of governance. Autocracy or dicatorship and kingdoms have been the main way countries have been ruled since civilization began. Look at the map. Yellow is democracy. Red is autocracy. Orange is democracy challenged or under attack, which any student of history would use to describe the USA today. Ukraine is under physical attack, not from inside their government. Brazil is a lighter orange than the USA, as they have actually rejected their facsict party. The USA has not used its constitutional amendment to bar insurrectionists from holding office. If they do not, democracy is not the favorite to prevail in this struggle.













