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President Donald Trump speaks during a "Made in America," product showcase featuring items created in each of the U.S. 50 states, at the White House on July 17, 2017, in Washington. Alex Brandon / AP

But with the 2020 election more than 39 months away, what's the hurry?

"The entire Democrat political machine is solely focused on blocking the President's agenda and defeating him and other conservatives in the next two election cycles," said Ed Rollins, lead strategist at Great America PAC. "Given this reality, it's essential for us at Great America PAC to work twice as hard to help ensure the president's short-term success and create a more favorable environment for his re-election campaign."

By early May, these super PACs had together

Another pro-Trump super PAC active in 2017 is Rebuilding America Now, which reported income of $1.15 million during the first half of 2017 almost all coming in the form of "media." The PAC has largely spent its cash on food, travel, legal fees, and $35,000 a month to one of the

Meanwhile, Ronald Weiser, founder of architecture firm McKinley Associates, gave

Florida-based America First Agenda, yet another new pro-Trump super PAC,

Make America Number 1, the pro-Trump PAC

Future45, another pro-Trump super PAC largely funded last year by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and Linda McMahon, who Trump appointed to head the Small Business Administration, secured $105,000 from only two sources so far in 2017.

Nearly all the money this year, $102,500, came from super PAC Liberty 2.0,

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Pro-Trump Super PACs Already Have Edge Over Liberals in 2018 ... - NBCNews.com

As the BC Liberals move into the unfamiliar confines of opposition, theyll have to choose who best will lead them

The final act in this years bizarre political drama played out last week with the resignation of former Premier Christy Clark.

Looking relaxed, and frankly relieved, she told reporters Monday, I am done with public life.

Her resignation comes at the end of a tumultuous few months: The election of a minority government; the assemblage of a partnership between the Greens and the NDP; a bizarre Liberal throne speech; and a final non-confidence vote that prompted Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon to call on NDP leader John Horgan to form the next government.

Since then Clark has been noticeable by her absence.

So, while many expressed shock and surprise by her announcement Friday, it wasnt all that surprising.

It was unlikely that the BC Liberals were going to fight the next election with Clark at the helm. There was too much baggage, and too much bitterness for her to regain the confidence of the electorate.

As she said Monday, the party needs renewal and this is the best time for that to take place.

Both the NDP and the Green Party will want to consolidate their gains (and replenish their war chests) before heading into the next election. Horgan and the NDP will want to score some quick wins before presenting a throne speech this fall that can put into action the years of promises theyve made.

The Greens will want time to demonstrate they are a viable option not just an alternative.

The Liberals, meanwhile, need to rebuild. Not only must they replace key players lost in the last election, they must decide what kind of party they want to be. Their strength has always come from uniting divergent right-of-centre perspectives. Thats easier done when you are in power. However, that unity is harder to maintain from the opposition benches.

Perhaps thats why Clark was looking so relieved.

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Heavy lifting ahead for BC Liberals - Surrey Now-Leader

Former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts, the Conservative MP for South Surrey - White Rock, in the Commons. In the provincial Liberal party, the right-wing is arguing it is their turn to hold the leadership and hopes to recruit Watts. But others in the party say it is time for a leader from outside Metro Vancouver. Bernard Thibodeau House of Commons / Vancouver Sun

VICTORIA The race to succeed Christy Clark was just getting underway last week when I began hearing from Liberal party members why such and such a contender was a poor choice for the leadership.

Target: Todd Stone, the Kamloops MLA and recent minister of transportation and infrastructure.

Objection: Poor communicator. Ticked off Metro Vancouver with his clumsy handling of tolling policy and the transit referendum. And remember that brief flap in the 2013 campaign over him not displaying Christy Clark or the party name in large-enough type on his election signs?

Next up: Andrew Wilkinson, Vancouver MLA and former minister of advanced education.

Objection: Smartest guy in the room just ask him. Overbearing. Not ready for the world beyond Cambie Street, never mind upcountry.

Before the weekend was out, the dissing was in full swing among Liberals.

Jas Johal, rookie MLA from Richmond: Who does he think he is anyway? Just joined the flock and already wants to be shepherd.

Mike Bernier, Peace River. Lightweight, indecisive.

Mike de Jong, Abbotsford, ex-finance minister: Short-changed the party election platform, best-before date long gone.

Kevin Falcon, second place in last leadership: No time for Liberals to play back to the future.

Rich Coleman and George Abbott: ditto and ditto, though by the time the partys trash-talkers got around to them, theyd already taken themselves out of the running.

All in all, the first round of recriminations served to confirm an observation by B.C. journalism legend Bruce Hutchison: You can learn to dislike anyone in politics but for those feelings to develop into full-blown hatred, the person will usually be a rival for power and position within your own party.

Already, too, one can see a couple of fracture lines emerging, one factional, the other geographical.

The B.C. Liberals are one party, albeit including people with roots in the federal Conservative and Liberal parties, as well as the old B.C. Reform and Social Credit provincial parties.

Between elections, the parts work well comparatively together, particularly if the party is in power. But when the leadership is open, the components tend to come unstuck.

The leadership race in 2011 came down to a showdown between Christy Clark, whod come up through in the federal Liberal party and its old provincial counterpart,and Kevin Falcon, whose connections were all federal Conservative and provincial Socred.

Clark edged Falcon by about four percentage points in the popular vote and afterward had to work hard to staple the two halves of the coalition back together.

She did so with assistance from prominent Conservatives, including former federal cabinet ministers Stockwell Day and Jay Hill, longtime provincial Socred and federal Tory John Reynolds, and then prime minister Stephen Harper himself.

The effort helped put the party on a winning footing in the 2013 election. But with Clark now giving up the leadership after blowing the government majority in this years election, some of the Conservatives in B.C. Liberal ranks are saying it is time to put one of their own into the leadership.

Thats not the only factor with those who discount Todd Stone and Andrew Wilkinson, both of whose roots are on the Liberal side of the party equation.

But Tory proclivities do account for the push to recruit former Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, now serving as a federal Conservative MP.

Another Tory name to conjure with is retired MP and former cabinet minister James Moore, now a business consultant, policy adviser and chancellor of the University of Northern B.C. The still-youthful Moore (hes 41) quit politics in 2015 in part because of the precarious health of his infant son and for personal reasons, so may not be in a position to return to the arena.

The other potential dividing line in the Liberal leadership is urban-rural or to be more precise, candidates from Metro Vancouver versus those from the North and Interior.

Since Kelownas Bill Bennett retired as premier 30 years ago, the office has been inhabited for all but a few months by leaders whose home base was Metro Vancouver, including two former mayors of the city itself.

Another group of Liberals making the its our turn argument are from the North and Interior, where the party added to its strength in the recent election even as it lost nine seats and four cabinet ministers in and around Vancouver.

Others argue that far from going with a leader like Stone or Bernier from regions where the party is already well entrenched, Liberals should pick a candidate like Watts or Johal from a region where the party lost ground this year.

Based on the formula set out in the party constitution, the Northern and Interior ridings will have about 28 per cent of the voting strength at the convention, the Island and Coast should get 17 per cent, and the rest, about 55 per cent in total, will be allocated to the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. In that regard at least, Metro would appear to have the edge.

But its too soon to say how all this will shake out. The two dozen or so members of the partys governing executive have yet to meet to set all the membership and voting rules and date for a convention that is expected to be held early in the new year.

Until then, speculation and recriminations will rule the day.

vpalmer@vancouversun.com

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Vaughn Palmer: Fault lines show as BC Liberals slag own potential leaders - Vancouver Sun

Photo: JGI/Tom Grill/Getty Images/Blend Images

Rapid Resist is the latest in a growing series of political mass-texting platforms.

Rapid Resist is the latest in a growing series of political mass-texting platforms.

From Rapid Resist's press deck.

From Rapid Resist's press deck.

The app's strategy.

The app's strategy.

From Rapid Resist's press deck.

From Rapid Resist's press deck.

The app functions as way to connect constituents with other constituents in Republican districts.

The app functions as way to connect constituents with other constituents in Republican districts.

Oakland app gives liberals an alternative to canvassing mass text messages

Rapid Resist is the latest in a growing series of political mass-texting platforms. The Oakland-based organization has developed a text-messaging platform for users to reach out to people in targeted Republican districts and invite them to local organizing events in their areas.

Volunteers for Rapid Resist are given a list of people to reach out to who range from registered Democrats to other volunteers already on the app. Rapid Resist also works in tandem with activist groups. At present, Rapid Resist volunteers are in contact with the organizers of West Virginia's women's march to help recruit peaceful protest volunteers (President Trump is visiting later this week).

"I found that when you want to organize someone, it helps if you're doing so as a representative of their community," Rapid Resist founder and former White House Staffer Yoni Landau said. "It helps if you're affiliated with folks who are actually rooted in their community."

Mass-texting as a political tool became popular with both the Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaignsand is continuing to be used in current efforts to organize.Resistbot, a messaging service launched in March, helps constituents rapidly compose succinct text messages to members of Congress. 5 calls asks people to allocate a mere five minutes a day to make five calls to local and national elected representatives.

Landau says since the organization's launch six months ago, Rapid Resist has supported 190 different actions and sent 1,456,058 text messages. They've also recruited 28,949 people total across the nation.

Landau said the choice to using a mass-texting platform came not only because of its attention-grabbing quality but also because of its great power to expand participation. The app is designed to include people of all kinds, from already politically active folk to rocket scientists who still want to help out (but may not have the time to call or knock on doors).

"You can text from the hospital. You can text if you're disabled, or elderly, or sick," Landau said. "The movement is about tolerance and inclusivity and it needs to be model that."

The peer-to-peer messages are sent through another Bay Area app called Hustle. Rapid Resist provides step-by-step instructions for using Hustle on its website, and training in various cities. On a day when cell service is a good, a Rapid Resist volunteer can send 300 texts in 10 minutes.

But are they effective?

Some say social media is wiping out the need for door-to-door and phone banking. According to TechCrunch, Hustle's research says 75 percent of millennials prefer texts to calls. In fact, less than five percent of millennials pick up calls from unknown numbers (compared to 10 percent on average for non-millennials).

Others contend that social media, including text messages, can't fully encapsulate the nuance of in-person persuasion (and oftentimes read like spam). Rapid Resist says they are aware of that challenge; while they offer scripts and and suggestions for text messages, volunteers are mostly free to improvise.

Mainly, they hope to use their coastal position to unlock into what Landau calls "untapped potential." He analogized the organization as the "immune-system of the resistance."

"On the coast, we have extra resourcesextra sort of white blood cells," Landau said. "And when there's this really critical moment where a legislator could be persuaded to stop Trump from taking away our health care or taking away our Democratic rights, we facilitate that connection."

See the rest here:
Oakland app gives liberals an alternative to canvassing mass text messages - SFGate

CNN commentator Van Jones is touring the country to get people to focus on our commonalities as opposed to our differences at a time when politics has fractured the country.

Jones We Rise tour, which kicked off Wednesday and continues until Aug. 19, is stopping at venues from Los Angeles to New York as he hosts conversations with local government and community leaders and artistsabout politics and activism. Wednesdays kickoffevent in Los Angelesfeatured a panel with hip-hop mogul and producer Russell Simmons and actor and rapper Nick Cannon, as well as performances that includedspoken word poetry.

In an interview with HuffPost before the tour launched, Jones said he wants to push people progressives in particular to think beyond partisan divides to work on social justice issues, such as mass incarceration and the drug epidemics.

Part of whats happened is everybody feels a sense of crisis economically, geopolitically but instead of turning to each other, were turning on each other, Jones said.

Since the election, Jones has drawn some criticism from the left for his push to bridge divides with folks on the right, particularly those who voted for Donald Trump. As a proud progressive who worked in the Obama administration and famously dubbed Trumps election a whitelash against changing demographics, Jonescaused some brows to furrowwhen his CNN show,The Messy Truth,which launched in December, had him visiting Trump supporters to listen to their struggles.

Many progressives and people of color in particular have taken issue with the panoply of peopleafter the election, including Jones, who have called for those on the left to have conversations with Trump voters rather than focus solely on supporting marginalized groups, many of which have seen their rights threatenedbythe Trump administration.

Jones maintains that he can do both: Im just as concerned about whats going on in Appalachia as in South-Central Los Angeles. Were concerned about people both parties have let down for decades.

Its a lot easier to say, Screw Trump and anyone who voted for him, he added. But the problem is it doesnt create a job or close a prison.

Jones We Rise tour wont mirror his Messy Truth show, he says, largely because he will be talking mostly with liberal panelists and audience members, since, as he put it, progressives and people of color will be the main people who show up.

Im going to be challenging those folks with stuff Ive seen, to try to get us to open our hearts, Jones said. Its a risk for me, because right now there is real risk as a progressive to raise criticism, because they dont want it to play into Trumps hand somehow.

Sales from the tours tickets ranging from a low of$17 in Las Vegasto a high of$216 in Miami will benefit Jones nonprofit,The Dream Corps.

HuffPost spoke to Jones about the tour and why he thinks people on the left should be joining with those on the right to advance social justice.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jerritt Clark via Getty Images for Roc Nation

Your We Rise tour wants people to focus on our commonalities as opposed to our differences.At a time ofdeep political division, why do you believe bipartisan efforts are the path forward?

Its about trying to get us back to a place where were talking about solutions and building bridges again.Its scary to me, because Im going out into what feels like a civil war and trying to point out opportunities for hope and progress without being Pollyanna about it.

Ive gotten a chance to go to so many different cities Ive been to West Virginia, to South-Central L.A. Everywhere I go its the same thing: addiction, poverty, a broken criminal justice system, high death rates. Im seeing common pain but no common purpose.

Theres stuff were not going to agree on health care, immigration and everyone knows where I stand on those issues. But there are issues we do agree on, and nobody is doing anything. No one thinks the criminal justice system is doing well, or addiction whether narcotics in black communities or opioids in white communities or that were preparing the next generation of workers.

Were all yelling at each other about whos a snowflake, but theres funeral after funeral of young Americans from overdoses, homicides and even sometimes police shootings.

Youve done some of this kind of bipartisan bridge-building work with your show,The Messy Truth,when you talked to Trump voters about their concerns. How do you respond to the criticism youve gotten over those efforts?

Look, I think Trump is worse than people fear and I think many of the Trump voters are better than people know. The truth is messy. Many of the Trump voters held their nose to vote for Trump, just as many of us held ours to vote for [Hillary] Clinton. My view is we should be tough on Trump and his policies and behaviors, but we should be very curious and open to understanding and finding common ground with Trumps voters.

Im not kumbaya but unless youre saying Screw Trump, youre accused of being kumbaya. Ive been in politics for 30 years. You have to look at reality, and to get things we want to get done, we have to de-inflame some of these tensions.

Jerritt Clark via Getty Images for Roc Nation

You mentioned there are issues people on the left and right tend to agree on. For instance,that mass incarceration is a problem. But even so, arent there still divides on how to solve it, or issues related to it, like police violence?

My organization [The Dream Corps] hasreal legislationmoving right now, theDignity for Incarcerated Women Act, where we think well pick up Republicans on not shackling women in federal prisons when giving birth.

We dont have to agree on everything to agree on some things. On criminal justice, there has been real bipartisan progress.

I think the problem is people are in their own bubbles of outrage, and were not trying to solve problems anymore. If you have a kid in prison or hooked on opioids or who doesnt have a job, a lot of this back and forth is not inspiring. Theres a bunch of people addicted to being righteous and saying Republicans suck. Thats not a hard case to make. The harder case is that there are things we could be doing as progressives to get better outcomes for our community.

You havent been the only one making calls to bridge divides since the election. Everyone from theWomens MarchtoHeinekenhas pushed people to have conversations with folks they disagree with. Butcriticsnote that promoting dialogue makes it seem like its individual opinions that need to change rather than systems or policies.

Thats a false choice. We get in these false binaries: either you work on dialogue and understanding or on systemic change. But you cant work on either unless youre working on both. Try to close a prison without talking to a Republican. You cant do it in any state. Its not dialogue for its own sake: You cant deliver on structural reforms without being in dialogue.

We have to get passed the hazing that youre an Uncle Tom appeaser just because youre trying to close prisons, and in order to do that you have to talk to Republicans. We have to keep our eyes on the prize: the people who are actually suffering.

I think the truth is messy: Im a progressive. Im proud of it. I think our ideas are better, butI dont think our ideas or party is perfect, and I benefit from back and forth with people who disagree with me.

Jerritt Clark via Getty Images for Roc Nation

How does your experience as a black man in America relate to your belief that people should come together despite these deep political divides?

I dont think I can be any more cynical or defeatist than people who were enslaved and lynched and had dogs sicked on them and somehow found a way to be optimistic. I think people have lost all perspective. Its become fashionable to be cynical. Im not going to let Trump change who I am. Im a hope-and-changer in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024, if God lets me stay here.

[Martin Luther King Jr.] was talking about hope and change. Before that you had Ida B. Wells, while people were being lynched, talking about hope and change. This is what we do. This country was a slave state on stolen land, and we had to fight a civil war only to get to apartheid. And Dr. King created a democracy out of apartheid. I stand in that tradition. People with less money and no phones turned an apartheid regime into a democracy against much greater odds than what we face, and they werent cynical.

Im literally bewildered by how fashionable its become to just shoot down any idea or any suggestion that we might be able to get kids out of jail or morgues as Pollyanna, kumbaya stuff. And I reject it.

Come out, sit in a room with me for an hour. If you think Im full of it, come out and tell me to my face. Lets have this conversation.

Jerritt Clark via Getty Images for Roc Nation

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Van Jones Is Touring America To Have 'Messy' Conversations With Liberals - HuffPost