Alec Berman

Husband, father, ham radio operator (W2JU), retired attorney, concerned citizen

[Arnold Schwarzenegger @Schwarzenegger]

I don’t really do endorsements. I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians.

I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor.

My time as Governor taught me to love policy and ignore politics. I’m proud of the work I did to help clean up our air, create jobs, balance the budget, make the biggest infrastructure investment in state history, and take power from the politicians and give it back to the people when it comes to our redistricting process and our primaries in California.

That’s policy. It requires working with the other side, not insulting them to win your next election, and I know it isn’t sexy to most people, but I love it when I can help make people’s lives better with policies, like I still do through my institute at USC, where we fight for clean air and stripping the power from the politicians who rig the system against the people.

Let me be honest with you: I don’t like either party right now. My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime.

It is probably not a surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which, if you are a normal person who isn’t addicted to this crap, you probably understand.

I want to tune out.

But I can’t. Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets. To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America is a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious.

And I will always be an American before I am a Republican.

That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

I’m sharing it with all of you because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious.

For decades, we’ve talked about the national debt. For decades, we’ve talked about comprehensive immigration reform that secures the border while fixing our broken immigration system. And Washington does nothing.

The problems just keep rolling, and we all keep getting angrier, because the only people that benefit from problems aren’t you, the people. The only people that benefit from this crap are the politicians who prefer having talking points to win elections to the public service that will make Americans’ lives better.

It is a just game to them. But it is life for my fellow Americans. We should be pissed!

But a candidate who won’t respect your vote unless it is for him, a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke, a candidate who has shown no ability to work to pass any policy besides a tax cut that helped his donors and other rich people like me but helped no one else else, a candidate who thinks Americans who disagree with him are the bigger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea - that won’t solve our problems.

It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful.

We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that. He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger.

That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you. I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz.

Vote this week. Turn the page and put this junk behind us.

And even if you disagree with me, vote, because that’s what we do as Americans. https://t.co/eHFZ723I4H

[Wajahat Ali @WajahatAli]

We always asked: "How did Hitler [insert any fascist leader] come to power? How come people didn't step up to stop him? Why did the institutions bend the knee?"

Well, America is giving you the answer in 2024.

Vote, people. Trump AND Republicans must lose everything.

[Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆 @RachelBitecofer]

Hitler didn't start off by murdering 6 million Jews, he ended there.

He started by suspending the constitution, made all the other parties illegal, made it illegal to "insult" the regime, and by rounding up all his political opponents.

All things Donald Trump has said. 👆

[Orin Kerr @OrinKerr]

I don't know who will win the election. But it's a sad statement about America that there's about an even chance that Donald Trump will be reelected. If you're in a swing state, I hope you will vote for the only candidate who stands between him and four more years—VP Harris.

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

There is literally only one Bible sold in America that meets this criteria & that is Trump’s Bible. So Ryan Walters is trying to send millions in tax dollars intended for school kids into Trump’s pocket. MAGA is an organized crime syndicate where they all kick up to the boss.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Reporter: Trump has accused you of ignoring—

Biden: He's lying and the governor told him he was lying. I've spoken to the governor.. I don't know why he does this and the reason I get so angry about it, I don't care about what he says about me, but I care what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we're not doing everything possible. We are. I assume you heard the Republican Governor of Georgia talk about that. He was on the phone with me more than once. So that's simply not true.
And it's irresponsible.

[Al Franken @alfranken]

As a Jew that hates Trump, I will be happy to have a lot to do with his loss this November!

[Judd Legum @JuddLegum]

20. Thus far, the three major outlets that have acknowledged they also received stolen Trump campaign materials from Robert — Politico, the Washington Post, and the New York Times — have also declined to publish them. None of these outlets have explained why their approach to stolen Trump campaign materials is so different from their approach to stolen Clinton campaign documents.

They should be transparent about their decision-making and explain why it has changed dramatically over the last eight years.

[Jason Kander @JasonKander]

Memo to the Trump campaign:

The Swift Boat BS is a trick play run in the Super Bowl. Everyone knows about it now. You can’t just bust it out again and expect it to work the same way.

I’ll tell you why.

1.    9/11 was 23 years ago, and the fear of a 9/11 world that existed in 2004 doesn’t bleed into everything anymore. As much as I wish national security motivated voter behavior like it once did, it doesn’t. (And if it did it would be muey bad for the guy who saluted the North Koreans and will do anything to sit next to Putin in the school cafeteria, but I digress.)

2.    John Kerry’s campaign was substantially reliant on his strength as a decorated Vietnam Veteran, and therefore his credibility to take on W was vulnerable to any attack – no matter how unfair and slanderous – on his military record.

3.    While I and many others admire John Kerry for his courage to come home and speak out against the Vietnam War, it was deeply polarizing to his own generation of veterans, and that resentment among some of his fellow veterans had been building toward him for decades by the time he ran in 2004.

4.    Kerry had been reluctant to release his military records. Tim Walz has been totally forthcoming and honestly I bet the dude would turn over his dental records, his step counter, and his screen time metrics if you asked.

5.    2004 was a different world, man. Anyone who questioned whether we should be in Iraq was said to be against the troops and even though W avoided Vietnam and had less than stellar attendance at his Air Guard unit, even an icon like Dan Rather had to resign after pursuing that story. I mean, the Dixie Chicks got canceled, and the Dixie Chicks are incredible!

6.    Tim Walz has released all his records, been very candid about what he did and didn’t do in the military, and has broad support from those he served with. Also, he’s running for Vice-President, not President, and it seems to me his time as a teacher, a coach, and a Governor is more central to his political identity and qualifications than his 24 years of service in the National Guard (which is admirable and impressive in and of itself by the way).

7.    Kerry was actively criticizing his opponent’s military record and inviting the world to decide the campaign at least in part based on the comparison. I have never heard either Kamala Harris or Tim Walz or any Democrat for that matter attack JD Vance’s military record. I served in Afghanistan with the Army, and it would never occur to me to criticize JD Vance’s service. Nor would Tim Walz ever do so. Vance served for 4 years and deployed to Iraq. Walz served for 24 years and was deployed to Europe to support active duty units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan (back then, prior to the optempo taking a toll on the active component, this is what the Guard was mostly doing at first). They should both be proud, and I’m sure that’s exactly how Tim Walz feels about it.

8.    We’ve learned a lot since 9/11, and one of the things we’ve learned is the danger of “gatekeeping” military service. At a time when suicide among veterans who served in combat zones and veterans or active duty troops who didn’t are both far too high, we’ve learned that reenforcing the inclination veterans have to compare their service to others and then think less of themselves … is dangerously harmful. I’m not kidding when I say we’ve learned that talking about Tim Walz the way JD Vance has been doing might actually do a lot of harm to the millions of servicemembers who completed their service without being deployed to a combat zone. It’s a dangerously cynical game and JD Vance knows better. 

In conclusion: This attack isn’t about directly hurting the Harris/Walz ticket with actual voters. It’s a decoy, a running back throwing a pass or a punter throwing to a lineman. They’re counting on the media’s limited knowledge of how the military works to slow momentum and indirectly make voters think there’s a scandal.

There isn’t.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is donating $45 million a month to the Trump campaign.

If democracy is to survive in the US, we need to overturn Citizens United and move to public funding of elections.

We need a government that represents all, not just billionaires.

[Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @RepAOC]

Today, I introduced articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Read my full statement: https://t.co/is5EiLXw56

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

One of the first House Democrats to come out for a ceasefire last year... is defeated. Replaced by a new House Democrat, backed by AIPAC, who deploys racist dogwhistles and refuses to criticize Benjamin Netanyahu.

Congress just got worse than it already is.

[Judd Legum @JuddLegum]

UPDATE: The exposé of @WeAreSinclair that I put together with @atrupar has garnered millions of views online and on cable TV

Sinclair is NOT HAPPY

In a statement, Sinclair called our reporting "outrageous and offensive."

I call it "accurate"

[Norm Eisen @NormEisen]

Whoever Michael Anderson is, they are probably under investigation right now because making false reports is a crime in New York State (as it is pretty much everywhere) 7/x

[Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports]

Trump criminal trial VERDICT:

The jury finds the defendant GUILTY on the first count.

The remaining counts are being recited.

[Alec Berman @alec_berman]

@joncoopertweets Herbie and friend

[Alec Berman @alec_berman]

@emptywheel Not “otherwise”; just “frivolous”

[Alec Berman @alec_berman]

@BrotiGupta Herbie’s favorite pillow

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

Did you mention it's just for unaccompanied children?

You know, 8 year old kids fleeing violence or certain death, who arrive at our border alone, shivering and frightened, traumatized from the journey, not able to speak the language.

We aren't monsters. We should help them.

[Mark S. Zaid @MarkSZaidEsq]

1/THREAD - Defend Democracy Against MAGA Lawsuits

We (@JohnPhillips/@BradMossEsq) are now rep'ing Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) who has been sued for defamation by President Trump's 1st National Security Advisor #MichaelFlynn.

Please rt this widely to help.

https://t.co/4hZlbKQz95