Saying Trump is al-qaeda’s big brother is as stupid as Trump saying Obama was the founder of ISIS. I’m hoping to elect a grown up next time around.

Guy’s name should be Welp.

“I think the sense of anger and disaffection that comes from seeing that the numbers are fine, like unemployment’s low, like all that, like you said GDP is growing and yet a lot of neighborhoods and families are living like this recovery never even happened. They’re stuck,” Buttigieg told high school students in in Nashua, N.H.

“It just kind of turns you against the system in general and then you’re more likely to want to vote to blow up the system, which could lead you to somebody like Bernie and it could lead you to somebody like Trump. That’s how we got where we are.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan told reporters in New Hampshire on Tuesday that President Donald Trump faces a difficult re-election race next year because of the number of voters who have rejected his brand of politics. Hogan also said his reading of the special counsel’s report on the 2016 election made it clear that Trump “attempted to” obstruct justice in the Russia investigation.

The Republican governor said he will spend the next several months traveling the country talking to people as he contemplates a 2020 race for president, though he has no precise timetable for making a decision.

Hogan was the featured speaker at the “Politics & Eggs” breakfast, an event frequented by presidential candidates, and then took questions from members of the audience and a large press contingent that included reporters from New Hampshire, home of the nation’s first primary, nearby Boston, one of the nation’s largest media markets and a smattering of national writers.

The event is sponsored by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.

In even more vigorous terms than he has before, Hogan slammed the Republican National Committee for trying to protect the president from a robust primary challenge. He said the RNC’s alignment with the Trump campaign was “worse” than what the Democratic National Committee did to boost Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the last election.

“I think it goes way beyond what the DNC did back in 2016,” Hogan said. “I think they’ve taken way more steps to try to stack the deck in favor of the president. I think it was wrong what the DNC did, but this is much worse.”

Hogan acknowledged that Trump remains strong with GOP base voters, but in his remarks he faulted the party for failing to reach beyond the “mostly white men” at the party’s core.

He made it clear that if he runs, he will court middle-of-the-road voters, including those outside his party, who take issue with the president’s policies, conduct or both, though he conceded the party’s actions might hamper him.

“There are, I think, 23 states that have open primaries,” Hogan told a press scrum after his remarks. “So independents and/or Democrats can cross over and vote. If they [the RNC] don’t change all the rules — and in some cases they’re trying to do away with primaries altogether, in some states they’re trying to change primaries into caucuses, that kind of stuff is going to make it very difficult.”

In his most extensive public remarks about the just-released report by special counsel Robert Mueller, Hogan said “there was certainly evidence” that Trump attempted to obstruct justice.

He also said he found White House aides’ descriptions of the president’s conduct to be troubling.

“It certainly did not completely exonerate the president, as he said. There was some very disturbing stuff that they found in the report. And just because aides did not follow his orders, it’s the only reason we don’t have obstruction of justice.”

“There was some really unsavory stuff in the report that did not make me proud of the president,” Hogan added. “And there was certainly nothing to crow about and nothing to celebrate in that at all.”

Hogan said congressional efforts to pursue impeachment would amount to “Democratic overreach.”

“I don’t think [impeachment hearings] would be productive,” he said. “I think most people in America are sick and tired of this whole two-year investigation. … But I also don’t think there should be a cover up from the administration. And I don’t think you should be whitewashing the thing.”

Hogan said he has met with many GOP leaders and has encouraged those, like former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, who have decided to take Trump on. By his count, he has been to 10 states and has plans to visit 16 more, mostly tied to his role as incoming chair of the National Governors Association.

The governor blasted members of his own party who grumble about Trump’s conduct among one another but refuse to take him on publicly.

“It’s very frustrating,” he told reporters. “I know there are a number of my colleagues — both governors and senators and members of the House — who will say privately they’re very concerned but they won’t say anything publicly. And I think it’s because they’re afraid. There’s no profiles in courage here. They’re afraid of being primaried. They’re afraid of being tweeted about. And very few of us are willing to say what we really think.”

This guy gets it

stay home lenny..i'll pay you

I love Mayor Pete and have already donated a few times to him. But when asked in this recent CNN town hall to clarify this view, he basically says he agrees with the sentiment.

Anderson Cooper: "Are you saying the system doesn't need to be blown up?"
Mayor Pete: "No, the system needs to be changed profoundly, we can't just nibble around the edges."

So, it's good that maybe he's found a way to channel that sentiment in a calmer, reasonable tone, but he is certainly part of that progressive "system change" group.

Also, wondering why some think Bernie Sanders is too far left to win (which is possible) but not as much talk about Warren in this way. Granted she's not a front runner at the moment, but she seems to be the furthest left in terms of speech, cultural issues and certainly in policy proposals (redistribution is popular among all, but she has plans for actually changing how capitalism can structure itself). I personally don't think any of these candidates are too far left, and Warren has the most interesting ideas. Just don't understand why Dems don't ask if she's over-promising too, with such bold ideas.

Don’t kid yourself, Mayor Pete is definitely a capitalist:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/12/2020-candidate-pete-buttigieg-on-taxing-the-rich-future-of-us-capitalism.html

I don't hear any of the candidates suggesting we change systems entirely.

It's odd how the Jacobin set and red rose Twitter are going all in on Bernie despite this observation. It really seems like merely calling oneself a socialist means a lot to those people as signaling.

I think it does. I would think that it would benefit them to have at least some of the stigma attached to socialism removed. I doubt that Jacobin or even DSA would consider Bernie to be an ideal candidate, but he may help them escape the "fringes" better than anyone else.