Spencer Boomhower

Animated computer graphics for places and spaces and how we move through them; excessive retweets

[S.V. Dáte @svdate]

More true today than ever.

[Victor Shi @Victorshi2020]

Never forget: Kevin McCarthy said, “I'll give you the truth why I'm not speaker. It's because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old.” That member is Matt Gaetz.

[Stuart Stevens @stuartpstevens]

I've been involved in winning presidential races and races that lost. One common thread is that everyone seems to have a reason why you won or lost which usually reflects a personal perspective or agenda.

So here's mine: I think VP Harris ran a very good campaign that operated at a high level. She had a great convention, crushed Trump in a debate, and put on a series of big event rallies that were the best I'd ever seen.

As a Republican operative, I spent years pointing out flaws in the Democratic Party and I'm not here to say it doesn't need to go through a period of questioning and self-reflection. Those are much larger questions than one election and one campaign. But the Republican party is an anti-democratic movement, attacking the pillars of American democracy from elections to the judicial system.

I understand those who say that if there had been a "normal" Democratic primary, the results would have been better. Maybe. But think about it. In modern political history, every time a sitting VP has run for the nomination, that VP has won. Perhaps it would have been different this time and the eventual nominee would have emerged stronger for the process. But more likely there would have been a bloody primary fight that left the nominee broke and trying to patch together a fractured party to face a Republican party that has become Donald Trump's party. In all probability, VP Harris would have won that primary and been in a weakened and vulnerable position when it was finally resolved in May or June.

I would say to my Democratic friends to go through this post-election process with open minds and hearts but never doubt that the Democratic party is the only pro-democracy party in America. No one will have a position in Trump's administration who is not an election denier adhering to the Big Lie. That's toxic to a country's sense of self and the damage will take a generation to repair, if it is possible to heal.

Losing an election does not mean that you were wrong and they were right. It means you lost an election. I grew up in Mississippi watching my parents back candidates opposed to segregation. When those candidates lost, and they did for a long time, my parents didn't question if they were on the right side. They didn't ask themselves if the majority who supported segregation had proven the justness of their cause by winning.

The mid-terms start after the Super Bowl. It will likely be a good election for Democrats and then the 2028 presidential race will be upon us. After a loss, the days seem long but the months will pass quickly. Reflect, rest up, but come back prepared to fight. Fight not because victory is assured but fight because not to fight is to give up. And if we do that, we no longer deserve to call ourselves Americans.

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[Tim Wise @timjacobwise]

2/ This is what makes me crazy about white libs/progressives. They do this thing where they get surprised whenever America (the noun) decides to America (the verb). But Black folks have been watching America America for 400+ years...

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

Lesson 3: Beware the one-party state.
#OnTyranny

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

Lesson 2: Defend institutions.
#OnTyranny

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

Lesson 1: Do not obey in advance.
Thread of lessons from my book #OnTyranny. Written in 2016.

[Mueller, She Wrote @MuellerSheWrote]

It’s hard for me to explain the depth of sadness I feel about Jack Smith moving to vacate the remaining schedule in the DC case. All that work. All those filings. And Donald gets to just walk away from accountability. It’s profoundly depressing for those of us who seek justice.

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

For the first time since WWII, every governing party facing election in a developed country this year lost vote share, via @jburnmurdoch

2024 Democrats are the red dot.

Absolutely critical context to any postmortem.

[Everything Price Sufferer (but especially eggs) @agraybee]

Biden's economic theory was that you can rapidly increase the wages of the poorest workers and the ensuing inflation could be mitigated with a soft landing. This proved correct, and voters hated it so much that no one will ever try it again.

[R🔅x 🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈 (Sun Cult Priestess) 🌹🖕🧊 @Staroxvia]

democrats fixed inflation and were punished for it by voters whose primary concern was inflation

how do you even begin to build a campaign in an environment like this

[Matthew D. Taylor @TaylorMatthewD]

I've tried to approach this election unflinchingly & w/ clear eyes, but this is the absolute worst case scenario.

We're in an epochal shift in American history of the worst sort, &, while it does not spell the absolute end of Amer liberal democracy, MAGA is a fatal illness. 1/

[Spencer Boomhower @SBoomhower]

What happened? Lies happened.

[jess 🏳️‍🌈💜🖤💫 @elsecaller_]

this is from a poll about a month ago but it really tells the story here i think

[Mikel Jollett @Mikel_Jollett]

If 1.1% of voters (175,000) across the 3 blue wall states had chosen Harris over Trump, she would be President.

I get that Trump won but this isn’t a “blowout” or a “landslide” and it’s certainly not a mandate.

1.1% across 3 states is all it was.

[Mikel Jollett @Mikel_Jollett]

I can’t get over the generals, the fucking generals, the most right wing, old timey conservative Republican people on Earth — they ALL said, “Trump is a dangerous fascist. Do not vote for him.”

And these dumbasses simply didn’t listen, didn’t care. And now we all have to pay.

[Mueller, She Wrote @MuellerSheWrote]

Biden should resign so Harris becomes 47 and Donald has to throw out all his 47 swag

[Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior]

The two go hand in hand. Many believed that Trump either really wasn’t a threat or that he was unjustly maligned. Because if it was that serious — surely DOJ and other institutions would act with urgency, right?

Corrupt institutions are where to put the blame: not each other.

[Hank Green @hankgreen]

If you’re on Twitter right now, you are not the kind of person who is going to miss out on big picture analysis long-term.

I think the thing to do today is focus on stuff that’s close, stuff you believe in, stuff you’ve gotta do, and stuff that brings you joy.

[Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior]

If Dems and other officials do not hold the perperators of past admin crimes accountable *and* tackle the structural issues that made the US vulnerable to mafia state rule, all the Biden admin will be is a brief interlude between aspiring autocracy and entrenched autocracy.