Primarily Speaking

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, May 20, 2019
image of a cartoon version of me sliding across a patriotic stars-and-stripes graphic, to which I've added text reading: 'The Democratic Primary 2020: Let's do this thing.'

Welcome to another edition of Primarily Speaking, because presidential primaries now begin fully one million years before the election!

So, in the one week that I was away, two more white men have announced that they are running for president, bringing the total number of folks seeking the Democratic nomination to — I shit you not — 24.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock announced he is running, to a resounding chorus of "What" and "No." Despite the fact that everything about our current political situation underlines the import of a Democratic Senate majority, Bullock is rebuffing pleas to run for a Montana Senate seat and instead decided that he has to run for president, because apparently none of the other two dozen people running are qualified and/or capable of defeating Donald Trump.

Honestly, I consider jumping into the race at this point itself a disqualifying decision.

Which brings us to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has also announced he is running and immediately marked himself as the guy who wants to try to out-Trump Trump by "calling him 'Con Don' and urging everyone in attendance to use the pejorative title." Oof.

As I have said many times before: Democrats cannot beat Trump at his own game and they should not even try. There are many reasons for that, but chief among them is this: When you're dealing with an abuser, you can't "fight fire with fire." All you can do is replicate the abuser's mechanisms of abuse, and that doesn't weaken them. It empowers them.


And, for fuck's sake, be more decent than Donald Trump. Even if de Blasio could out-bully Trump, he shouldn't.

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Senator Cory Booker not only challenged this ubiquitous and infuriating turn of phrase in his tweet; he reiterated it in a piece he penned for GQ urging men to join the fight for abortion access. FUCK YEAH.

The other male candidates in the race had varying degrees of success in addressing the legislative attacks on women and others who can become pregnant, but I'm not going to recount them here. Booker sets the bar. He gets the digital ink. Every other man in this race should follow his lead. Period.

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Senator Elizabeth Warren is funny and her Twitter game continues to be on point:


She is also a serious policy wonk who released her "Congressional Action to Protect Choice" which calls on Congress to "pass new federal laws that protect access to reproductive care from right-wing ideologues in the states. Federal laws that ensure real access to birth control and abortion care for all women. Federal laws that will stand no matter what the Supreme Court does." This is so necessary, and I am very grateful that she has a plan for that.

And she is also the candidate who is offering "the most fully rounded and multidimensional response to [the] threat" posed by Donald Trump, argues Greg Sargent at the WaPo, and I agree.

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Today, Senator Kamala Harris is introducing her plan to end the gender pay gap, which would, among other things, "punish companies that do not pay men and women equally." GOOD.

And this is terrific:

I think that, sure, if people want to speculate about running mates, I encourage that, because I think that Joe Biden would be a great running mate. As vice-president, he's proven that he knows how to do the job. And there's certainly a lot of other candidates that would make, for me, a very viable and interesting vice-president.
Scorching. LOL.

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Mayor Pete Buttigieg is getting on my last good nerve:


Rep. Seth Moulton actually says something with which I agree: "Immigrants aren't stealing American jobs; automation is." Correct!

Andrew Yang loved the ending of Game of Thrones.

And John Hickenlooper is still definitely running for president.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
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