Well, the champagne stayed in the cupboard. We had good turnout anyway.

I reviewed data from the election. Harris did about 3 points better in the battleground states where we put our money and efforts. But the national trend was about 6 points against us.

I have begun a Substack. My first posts will be on Why Harris Lost, or, perhaps, These Weren’t the Reasons Harris Lost. (Only one post is up, on Harris and Gaza.) I won’t repeat them here.

Naomi handed out copies of the Indivisible 2.0 Guide. We also distributed a list of our personal media subscriptions, which will grow and shrink and a worksheet, Helping Everyone Find a Home in the Opposition/Resistance. Please distribute to your friends, or link.

We have decided to reduce our commitment to hosting future meetings. Janice Weingrod is picking up the baton and will host our next meeting, which will be Sunday, January 12. We will avoid scheduling meetings on the same days as other local Indivisible groups, so that people can attend as many as needed. “My name is Andy L., and I have been a Resistance member for seven years and eleven months.”

There was widespread feeling that these meetings help us stay sane as we prepare for the next battles. Please contact one of us, or Janice, for her address, which will not be published here. In the meantime, she has an exhibit at the local knitting store.

1. CALL Schiff’s office. TELL him to VOTE NO ON H.R. 9495: PROTECT NONPROFITS & COMMUNITIES. (202)224-3121. He voted yes on the first run and it is a bad bill.
2. To prep for Sunday’s meeting, watch this video from Indivisible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db-Pvqa5SQE
3. For thoughtful analysis on down ballot races from Sister District watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWumbR-v67c
4. Finally, please RSVP if you are coming on Sunday. All welcome so bring a friend.

(This Sunday I am checking out another Indivisible Group, and I will see who has better snacks.)

Well, it certainly was not the election we wanted, and the world will be worse for it. Many liberals and Democrats are assigning blame in ways that coincidentally agree with their priors. I’m still thinking about what happened, but I will say there are two numbers whose importance I underestimated. Biden’s approval is still 20 points underwater, and two thirds of the electorate thinks the country is on the wrong track. I will write more on this, once I can bear it.

When we look back the the Obama Administration, we see his great health care achievements. We also look back on his failure to punish either the bankers who wrecked the economy at our expense, or the torturers who defiled us. When we look back on the Biden Administration, we will see his economic miracle. We will also see Merrick Garland’s epic cowardice disguised as personal rectitude, the moral collapse on Israel and Palestine, and perhaps worst of all, the failure to warn the people up front what exiting the pandemic era was going to mean economically.

We can play the long game. Others have.

Besides getting over the shock, we have other meetings.

Writing an After Action Report on a failure as catastrophic as this takes some time and will be the product of many hands. The clue that I feel I overlooked is that whatever the economy looks like to us, Biden’s approval rating is 20 points underwater.

Meanwhile: Some of the Never Trumpers helped get us into this mess, but it can not be denied that good writers walk among them. For example, Bill Kristol, who sabotaged the Clinton Health Care plan, now writes

And of course there is no guarantee that the American people will turn against Trump and his agenda. They knew fully well who it was they were choosing this time. Their support may well be more stubborn than one would like. It certainly has been over the last four years.

So: We can lament our situation. We can analyze how we got here. We can try to learn lessons from what has happened. We have to do all these things. But we can’t only do those things.

As Churchill put it: “In Defeat: Defiance.” We’ll have to keep our nerve and our principles against all the pressure to abandon them. We’ll have to fight politically and to resist lawfully. We’ll have to do our best to limit the damage from Trump. And we’ll have to lay the groundwork for future recovery.

And Charlie Sykes, one of the most repentant, contributes

But I would suggest taking a very deep breath. And another one. Because the fights ahead will be even tougher and more dangerous than the ones we’ve been through. 

How sad and how true.

Meanwhile, the New York Times, which at least made an endorsement, ran this to show they have finally understood where the electorate is at:

Stop Pretending Trump Is Not Who We Are

We don’t know yet how the opposition to autocracy best continues. Remember, as William the Silent said, “One need not hope in order to undertake, nor succeed in order to persevere”. And unlike so many, don’t obey in advance.

Work more, worry less.

Leave it all on the field.

Yes, the Iowa Selzer poll is good news. We don’t want overconfidence. But we don’t want the inanition of despair either.

As for Tuesday: if we win both NC and Georgia, which have early closing times and relatively quick counts, you can open the champagne. But even if we take neither, we can still win with the Northern Blue Wall (MI, WI, PA). Just have to wait, and, yes, worry, longer.

We are opening our house today from 3:00-5:00 to finish off some remaining postcards and letters, review ballot curing options and do some phone banking. If you want to do phone banking or learn about ballot curing, please bring your computer. Last minutes donations will also be discussed.

I am in the field. The exurbs are heavy MAGA. Reno proper is mostly ours. At least that’s how it feels from two days.

I’m going to Reno this weekend to canvass. This seems to be an official Democratic Party program. There is a bus leaving Berkeley early (🤨) Saturday morning and returning Sunday night. Your Saturday night hotel room is paid for, plus some meals. (I am going to impose on Karen Laws and stay in Nevada to canvass longer.) It appears there are other days available. Sign-up link.

Daily Kos reports on Q3 fundraising as reported to the FEC. Amounts in millions.

State	Dem/Indep. candidate	Dem/Indep. $	GOP/Fascist candidate	GOP $
FL	Mucarsel-Powell	12.9	Rick Scott	4.2
MT	Tester	32.0	Sheehy	9.8
Neb	Osborn (Indep.)	3.3	Fischer	1.2
TX	Allred	30.3	Cruz	17.2

Conclusion: our candidates (especially Tester) will not be losing for lack of money. Lack of voters is a different problem.