GOP strategist: Democrats are destroying themselves

President Donald Trump is so weak that political experts anticipate potentially Democrats flipping the House of Representatives, Senate or both — and yet an anti-Trump Republican strategist warns they may be undone by incompetence at the top of their organization. “The Democratic National Committee is failing every person reading these words,” Steve Schmidt, who advised President George W. Bush, wrote for his Substack on Sunday. “You should be very angry about it because that failure is neither providential nor pre-ordained. It’s a choice — like Trump — and it’s killing the United States of America.”Schmidt reviewed the party’s financial travails, writing that “the MAGA Republicans have more than $128.5 million cash on hand compared to the Democratic National Committee, which is more than $2 million in debt. It’s also on track to spend exponentially more money on politics in Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Marianas, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa than across Mississippi and Louisiana, both of which have great US Senate candidates.”He added, “It’s unacceptable. The DNC is terribly led by Chairman Ken Martin. A sign of the political ineptitude of both [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries is their inability to deal with what must be dealt with.”He went on to quote The New York Times story that shed light on these travails. The report found that when it came to Democrats’ troubles “at the center is Ken Martin, the 53-year-old party chairman, who has found himself increasingly isolated, gripped by the fear that he will lose his job and relying on a vanishingly small circle of people he trusts, according to interviews with more than two dozen Democrats, including current and former D.N.C. officials and members. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s troubled state of affairs.”The Times added, “Mr. Martin’s fraying nerves are showing. In a pique of frustration in early July, he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the D.N.C.’s human resources department.”Schmidt condemned Martin’s reported behavior, writing that “personally, I’m sick of the tolerance for losing and the Democratic Party mediocrities, careerists and hustlers who can’t, won’t, and will never stop losing because deep down they’re simply doing what they’re good at: losing.”He continued, “The problem is that we’re losing the country because it isn’t being properly defended by the institution that’s built to stand up to MAGA and be for something better. It’s one of the foremost tragedies of this whole era. It’s deeply true and very real.”AlterNet previously reported on criticisms of Martin’s performance. In June anonymous high-ranking DNC sources told AlterNet that Martin has failed to prepare for Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting, mishandled releasing an autopsy of its failed 2024 presidential campaign and refused to adequately address threats to voting security on electronic machines, even though it admitted that "any assessment of the state of technology in the Democratic party would be incomplete without an acknowledgement that comprehensive data warehouses like Phoenix represent an irresistible target for hackers and other bad actors seeking to undermine the integrity of the modern political process."

Sanders says he does not regret supporting Graham Platner in Maine Senate race

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday said he did not regret supporting former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D) after a former girlfriend’s accusations of sexual assault came to light and led the progressive candidate to drop his bid. CBS News’s Margaret Brennan asked Sanders about his support for Platner on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,”…

Top NYT journo calls on reporters to ‘rethink’ White House Correspondents Dinner after Trump dares to clap back

During the ritzy WHCD redo Friday, the back-patting association doled out awards to reporters for stories fiercely critical of Trump, including his past association with late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein

Trump spurs GOP panic with one 'scary number': Report

It's not the number of service members who've been killed in the war with Iran. It's not the number of people who have died in ICE custody. It's not the millions of people imperiled by the Trump administration's decision to dismantle USAID.The number terrifying Republicans, according to a new Washington Post report, is the amount of voters worried about the economy. “This is a big chunk,” Nathan Nascimento told the Post. “This is a scary number.”Nascimento, executive director of the conservative super PAC Americans for Prosperity Action, told the Post Sunday that he's disturbed by polling that shows even loyal Republicans and consistent voters are losing enthusiasm for President Donald Trump.About 1 in 5 of those voters in swing states such as Ohio and New Hampshire told the PAC they think they'll either stay home of vote blue in November, the Post reported. There is however enthusiasm on the left, Mitchell Brown, a Republican pollster, told the Post. "Democrats are as enthusiastic about voting as they were at the same time ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, when they swept back into power in the House," Brown said. "But Republicans are far less excited to vote at this point than they were then, posing an issue for the party." In particular, men under 40 represent the greatest risk as they are most likely to have concerns about the economy and prices. "This group proved pivotal to Trump’s 2024 electoral victory," the Post reported, "which included a sweep of some of the same battleground states holding critical elections this year."Natalie Baldassarre, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, denied a dour state of affairs within her party. “Republicans are united, on offense, and armed with our largest war chest in party history because voters are energized and understand what’s at stake in November’s election,” said Baldassarre. As of Sunday, the number of service members who've been killed in the war with Iran is 18. The number of people who have died in ICE custody is 19. The number of people imperiled by the Trump administration's decision to dismantle USAID is 14 million.

Democrats May Be in Big Trouble in Their Maine Senate Do-Over

Trump escalates attacks on Kaitlan Collins with new AI-slop jab

President Donald Trump escalated his multi-day spat with CNN's Kaitlan Collins Sunday, sharing an edited image depicting her as Dylan Mulvaney – building on his earlier claim that the anchor resembles the transgender influencer.On Friday at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Trump said that Collins bore a resemblance to Mulvaney, who was subjected to a right-wing fury over a 2023 Bud Light promotional partnership.“I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship," he said. "but then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney.”Trump also told Collins to smile more. "She's a young, attractive woman," Trump told the crowd. "She never smiles. I said, 'Kaitlan do you ever smile? Smile!' You have a nice position; you're at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan! Just smile."On Saturday, Collins appeared to indirectly address Trump on social media, sharing the following quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”While it’s unclear if Trump had seen Collins' post, the CNN anchor was clearly still on Trump’s mind.On Sunday shared an image that appears to be a screengrab from Mulvaney’s Bud Light promotional video, only with Mulvaney digitally replaced with a depiction of Collins, potentially with generative artificial intelligence.

Democrats favored to win House, underdogs in Senate 100 days out

Democrats are favored to win the House but are slight underdogs in the fight for the Senate with 100 days to go before the midterms, according to the latest forecast from Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).  Both parties are dealing with headwinds as they head into the home stretch of the high-stakes election. Republicans are worried…

Trump's becoming 'more erratic' — 'even by Trumpian standards': Aides

President Donald Trump’s own aides say he’s become “more erratic” in recent weeks as he’s forced to confront the “limits on his power,” The New York Times reported Sunday.Those “limits,” according to the Times, were exposed by the president’s inability to achieve his stated objectives in his deeply unpopular war against Iran, despite the overwhelming superiority of the U.S. military.“In recent weeks, he has seemed trapped, his presidency gradually consumed by a war he cannot find his way out of,” the Times’ report reads.“He has discovered limits on his power that he could have scarcely imagined when he began full combat operations on Feb. 28, when he set out goals for a swift end to Iran’s nuclear program and the overthrow of the country’s government. Five months later, those goals remain almost entirely unaccomplished.”Despite his efforts, Trump and his administration have failed to not only achieve their objectives in the war against Iran, but have been unable to combat surging oil prices and inflation. And those failures, according to his own aides, have left him rattled.“Those limits have left him deeply frustrated, his aides say, and have made him more erratic, even by Trumpian standards,” the Times’ report reads.“Not all of Mr. Trump’s frustrations, people close to the president say, are driven by the war, now so unpopular that only 29 percent of Americans polled by the Washington Post and Ipsos approved of his handling of the conflict. But much of it is. And the angst is clear as he promises to stop Iran’s nuclear program at any cost, while his allies at home want out.”As noted by the Times, Trump only has three options at his disposal: escalate his military campaign against Tehran, which has already shown little success, rely on sanctions, which similarly have failed to topple Iran’s government, or “declare victory and go home,” which Trump appeared receptive to last month after agreeing to a tentative peace deal that quickly fell apart.Pulling out of the war entirely, the Times noted, however, would “define his legacy,” and “make clear that there are more constraints on his power than he believed in January, when he declared that his reach was limitless.”