Nixon Just Might Be The One

By Baxter

Since yesterday was the end of the quarter, we cats took a few minutes to send some money to Democratic Senatorial candidates. A lot of them were polling well against the Trumpsters, others were neck-and-neck, and still others were behind but showed promise. But we have to admit we didn't make a contribution to Angie Nixon in Florida, our nominee against incumbent GOP appointee Ashley Moody.

We weren't writing Nixon off — just doing our research, as they say.

Now, though, we're pretty tempted. It turns out that JD Vance (known in some jocular quarters as "Couchfuck McGee") went to Florida today to campaign for Republicans. Think about that for a second: Democrats are doing well enough that Vance has to spend time in Benedict Donald's home state. In fact, he's doing a whole itinerary of red states because polls are looking pretty scary for them these days.

Anyway, in his stupid speech in Lakeland, Vance addressed Nixon and told her, "Get the hell out of here. You don't belong in America." Nixon responded on social media, and she did not mince words.

"I don't wanna COUCH my words here: I know JD Vance, his eyeliner, and absent Ashley Moody are used to running away from people when things get tough, because they care more about themselves and their billionaire buddies than the people they represent.

"But this is my home. The most ordinary man imaginable came to my home state to tell me to 'get out of America' while they enjoyed the comfort of buildings my ancestors built. Imagine standing on the shoulders of the people who built this country and then telling their descendants they don’t belong here.

"Wanting lower property insurance and healthcare for families isn't un-American. It’s what working people deserve. They can take their tech-bro cash and their weird, intrusive agenda somewhere else, because I'm not going any damn place. 

"I don’t go high when they go low. I get LOUD. Because the soul and humanity of this country are at stake."

Nicely done, Angie Nixon. We'll shoot you a few bucks, just for this post. We cats PURR.

Schmittstorm

By Sniffles

Yes, we're probably overdosing on Eric Schmitt schadenfreude, but we just can't help ourselves. That odious boor from Missouri faceplanted so badly yesterday before the nation and the world that people are still talking, exclaiming, and tweeting about it. May they never stop.

A little more than 24 hours later, a couple of additional humiliations have come to mind.

Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson had to delete his earlier post that said Schmitt "just CAUGHT Jack Smith perjuring himself" and "pulled out the receipts." Benny? Hello? You colluded with Team Schmitt ahead of time and posted too soon, didn't you? (Sean Hannity did, too!)

The Atlanta Hawks franchise used to play in... (drum roll)... St. Louis, from 1955 to 1968. In fact, they won their only NBA championship there, and reached three more NBA finals during that time. C'mon, Eric — you're a Missouri man! We thought you boys knew all this stuff.

Finally, as a Senator who we know has high ambitions for 2028, Schmitt surely had plans to visit Senate and House battlegrounds in the last month of the 2026 midterms. Will any campaign welcome him now?

Poor Eric. How simply frightful — how humiliating — how delightful!

We cats PURR.

Vote Out The Clowns

By Hubie and Bertie

Ain't America great? If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. One day you're a certifiable nonentity from Missouri, and the next, you've broken the interwebs because you made a fool of yourself before the entire world in a Senate hearing.

Everywhere we turn online, there he is — the hapless harlequin known as Eric Schmitt, whose staff had apparently just teased a story to the press that floated him as a possible future VP, because they were so sure they'd have a Jack Smith bombshell today to ride into 2028 on. And it blew up in his face. SAD!

Meanwhile, both the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball have pushed more races the Democrats' way, as Trump dithers while gas, diesel, and groceries go through the roof (and consumers' pocketbooks). A couple of Marist polls from Ohio got our attention recently: Sherrod Brown ahead of Jon Husted in the Senate contest 51 percent to 43 percent, and Amy Action leading Vivek Ramaswamy for the governorship 50 to 44 percent. (Also be sure to check out Sherrod's new ad about how poor Americans don't understand money. Brutal and hilarious.)

Marist is a university poll, so there's no bias. It's possible that their methodology or sampling system is different from other pollsters' — for example, they have 6 percent undecided, so they're not pushing respondents to make a choice. But all or almost all of the credible polls have moved two to three points toward the Democrats in the last two weeks. They can't all be fake or problematic.

We don't know how much voter anger is building out there or whether anything else can happen to upset current trend lines. Our only advice is to ignore the noise, and keep working and giving. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: "Circus Performers," by Walt Kuhn, 1942, via Art But Make It Sports. And, of course, today's clowns.)

De Adder Du Jour

Political cartoonist Michael de Adder is a genius when it comes to drawing Benedict Donald. The only expression missing here? One that shows Trump sound asleep. (Yep, it happened again today.) We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

(IMAGE Michael de Adder, deadder.net)

Worst-Case Scenario, Yes?

By Miss Kubelik

The fall elections are figuring into our dreams. We cats confess to having dreams about Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. We can't tell you what they were about — just that he was there.

But why not? Since we travel back and forth frequently across the border, and we're getting to the point where we don't know if we can bring a couple of bottles of Quebec wine home to New York. But the most telling aspect of all this is the fact that The New York Times asked Carney about gaming out plans for an American military invasion of Canada. Really? An American military invasion? Get out of here.

Carney said, "That's just risk management. That's not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to."

Goodness gracious. That's what we've come to?

Let's please win the midterms and put a check on these crazy Trump people as soon as we can. We know that Carney considers invasion an "extreme tail risk" — one that is unlikely to happen, but would be significant if it did — but, still. THIS IS CANADA WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.

In short, stop it. President Ossoff will. But let's put some brakes on while we can. We cats PURR.

Va-Va-Voom Vermont

By Zamboni

"The most recent University of New Hampshire Green Mountain State Poll released this week reported that 49 percent of Vermonters support [Democrat] Amanda Janoo in the November election, while 43 percent support incumbent [Republican] Governor Phil Scott," VTDigger said.

"The 6% margin led UNH pollsters to declare the governor's race a 'statistical tie.' In a July poll released by the same group, Scott led Janoo by 15 percent, meaning the recent numbers account for a 21-point swing."

Holy smokes. If Phil Scott is in trouble, that says a lot: First, that voters are sick of Republicans in general. Second, Scott's been in office long enough that "it's time for change" applies. Also, Vermonters are unhappy with the kerfuffles at their border with Canada, and with Trump holding up FEMA money because they don't vote for him. Phil Scott could bear their wrath for that.

PS: "The poll also reported former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray leading Republican incumbent John Rodgers 54 percent to 35 percent in the lieutenant governor race. US Rep. Becca Balint, D-VT, comfortably leads the state's one Congressional race with a 35 percent margin against Republican nominee Gerald Malloy." We cats PURR.

Pure Evil

This chilling photo of Benedict Donald and Moose & Squirrel is making the rounds on the interwebs —and no wonder. It no doubt will serve as a symbol of these horrible times of Trump 2.0. The only question is whether we'll be looking back on it from a country whose democracy has died — so let's make sure that doesn't happen. Vote in huge numbers, everyone. We cats switch our tails, and wait.

(PHOTO: Getty Images)

"Oh, What a Beautiful Moron"

Great idea: When our long national nightmare is over, Randy Rainbow needs to stage a Broadway musical of all the anti-Trump song parodies he's done to document Donald's many tyrannies. We cats PURR.

A Bad Ad

By Baxter

So, okay, our tax dollars are being used to air a pro-Trump, anti-communist political ad on TV. "Paid for by the United States government" appears at the bottom of the screen. An outrage, to be sure.

And when the Democrats get back into power, this needs to be investigated, and people need to be hauled off to the hoosegow. No question about it. Still, a couple of questions come to mind.

Why are the Trumpsters airing an ad that screams "communism is terrible" on the same day that Donald rolled out the red carpet (and held a very tone-deaf state dinner) for Chinese President Xi Jinping?

And why is that despicable ad being aired on Fox? Do they think they're in trouble with their own voters? Apparently yes. We cats PURR.

New Map

By Sniffles

The run-up to the midterms is starting to solidify, and for the Trumpsters and the GOP, not in a good way.

Larry Sabato and his Crystal Ball just moved a few more races in the Democrats' direction: the open Senate seat in Iowa from "Leans Republican" to "Toss-up," Roger Marshall's quest for re-election to the Senate from Kansas to "Leans" from "Likely" Republican, and — maybe the most dispiriting for them — the Michigan Senate race between Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed from "Toss-up" to "Leans Democratic."

That's even as Sabato and other analysts still expect El-Sayed to underperform what a Democrat "should" get in Michigan in a year like this. But a win for him would be one of the biggest "F yous" to Republicans that we can think of at the moment. The GOP has worked hard to make him a bogeyman for silly reasons, appealing to people's worst instincts (which, to be sure, they're very good at).

Meanwhile, Republicans are reading the writing on the wall and starting to distance themselves from Trump — pusillanimously and hypocritically, as you'd expect, since they've all enabled Donald for years. They include Rogers and Senate candidate Ashley Hinson in Iowa, both of whom have suddenly decided that an Iran war they've consistently supported is a bad idea. Even gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds of Florida has — gasp! — removed any mention of Trump from his campaign website. And of course Maria Elivra Salazar started the trend by launching an ad against Trump's immigration policies.

Benedict Donald has helped these ratings changes by behaving like the disgusting idiot he is. Nobody is controlling him. Maybe a lot of voters don't get the ins and out of how the White House press pool works, but they definitely know what they're paying at the pump, and are rightly insulted when Trump tells them the cost of gas is just an "inexpensive price to pay" for corralling Iran (which, by the way, he's not doing).

"Inexpensive"? Maybe to him and his billionaire family of grifters. But not to truckers, farmers, exurban commuters, soccer moms, Door Dashers, and folks trying to make some extra cash driving for Uber. Keep being tone-deaf, Donald — you're doing our work for us. We cats PURR.