Agree! We need to defeat the Republican Party in the next election by ensuring that both branches of Congress, the House and the Senate, return to control by the Democratic Party. Obviously, the Democratic Party is not perfect, but the current Republican Party and its leader is an abomination. What are your thoughts on how to defeat them, Jim? Does part of the movement include being active in the upcoming elections? Will you and others in the climate movement be opposing incumbent Republicans? My personal hope is that this should happen in a big way.
Ron, thanks for this comment! One of the ways to defeat this current crop of Rs is to grow and improve the Climate Movement and help our members understand why from that perspective these Rs must be defeated. For us, real climate action must be at the top of our list of voting criteria. We must make candidates aware of this and push them towards strong climate action at the speed and scale necessary. But we mustn’t support anyone just because they have a D by their name. Ds can’t simply point to this current crop of Rs and say “We’re not as bad.” To get our support they must lead and produce climate action at speed and scale. Any R who voted to repeal the IRA, or who facilitated its repeal (e.g. Sen. Collin’s) must be defeated. But new Rs who oppose Trump/MAGA and support climate action at speed and scale could possibly win our support. It would depend on a comparison with who they are running against. Ds must win our support. We must let them know that they don’t get our support just because they don’t have an R by their name. We must not let them take us for granted. Weak Ds must be primaried with stronger ones. In sum, our political support is not partisan. Our political support is driven by the need for strong climate action at speed and scale.
Unfortunately, at this point, any support for a Republican candidate, even if they are somehow decent on climate, is an effectively a boon for Trump. The Republican Party as a whole is so skewed and corrupted by Trump that there is no justification for supporting a Republican candidate- at this time. This could change once Trump has been vanquished, but until them any votes for a Republican at the national level is a vote for Trumpism.
I agree. Theoretically if someone like Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney were to still run as an R, who wouldn’t support Trumpism or vote for R leadership in Congress until all MAGA Rs were defeated, who were better on climate than whoever else they were running against, then they could possibly be supported. The meta point of my piece is that this current crop of Rs must be defeated, and Trump/MAGA must be removed from any type of power, electoral power, party power, etc. A red line has been crossed with the repeal of the IRA and all the other crap they are doing with climate and clean energy. We must defeat them all. Thanks for your comments!
Agree! We need to defeat the Republican Party in the next election by ensuring that both branches of Congress, the House and the Senate, return to control by the Democratic Party. Obviously, the Democratic Party is not perfect, but the current Republican Party and its leader is an abomination. What are your thoughts on how to defeat them, Jim? Does part of the movement include being active in the upcoming elections? Will you and others in the climate movement be opposing incumbent Republicans? My personal hope is that this should happen in a big way.
Ron, thanks for this comment! One of the ways to defeat this current crop of Rs is to grow and improve the Climate Movement and help our members understand why from that perspective these Rs must be defeated. For us, real climate action must be at the top of our list of voting criteria. We must make candidates aware of this and push them towards strong climate action at the speed and scale necessary. But we mustn’t support anyone just because they have a D by their name. Ds can’t simply point to this current crop of Rs and say “We’re not as bad.” To get our support they must lead and produce climate action at speed and scale. Any R who voted to repeal the IRA, or who facilitated its repeal (e.g. Sen. Collin’s) must be defeated. But new Rs who oppose Trump/MAGA and support climate action at speed and scale could possibly win our support. It would depend on a comparison with who they are running against. Ds must win our support. We must let them know that they don’t get our support just because they don’t have an R by their name. We must not let them take us for granted. Weak Ds must be primaried with stronger ones. In sum, our political support is not partisan. Our political support is driven by the need for strong climate action at speed and scale.
Unfortunately, at this point, any support for a Republican candidate, even if they are somehow decent on climate, is an effectively a boon for Trump. The Republican Party as a whole is so skewed and corrupted by Trump that there is no justification for supporting a Republican candidate- at this time. This could change once Trump has been vanquished, but until them any votes for a Republican at the national level is a vote for Trumpism.
I agree. Theoretically if someone like Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney were to still run as an R, who wouldn’t support Trumpism or vote for R leadership in Congress until all MAGA Rs were defeated, who were better on climate than whoever else they were running against, then they could possibly be supported. The meta point of my piece is that this current crop of Rs must be defeated, and Trump/MAGA must be removed from any type of power, electoral power, party power, etc. A red line has been crossed with the repeal of the IRA and all the other crap they are doing with climate and clean energy. We must defeat them all. Thanks for your comments!