Krystal Ball

“Kentucky has long been Democratic at the state level but that trend had completely reversed in the Trump era.”

“The Trump administration has been quietly moving to systematically undermine health care putting lives at risk and offering no alternative solution.”

“I've lived in the state almost my entire life, so I think if I ever wanted to come back and serve in Virginia, it would be pretty hard to paint me as a carpetbagger.”

“Yes, health care is an election issue. It's also a moral imperative especially in a wealthy nation.”

“If there is any state that typifies prototypical 'Murica' where the trucks and the guns are big and the social safety net is oh so small, it's Texas.”

“In politics, you're safest when you're saying as little as possible. You're safest when you've got your talking points and you stick to them like glue, even if it means repeating yourself over and over.”

“Serious concerns about worker safety and fair treatment have been reported at Amazon warehouses. Workers have fallen ill from extreme heat, had to urinate in bottles because they don't have enough time to use facilities, and been unfairly terminated.”

“You cannot win the democratic nomination if you are not trusted on the most important issue to democratic voters.”

“For a long time, Americans have bought into the meritocracy, the American dream ideal. But when we watched banksters completely destroy our economy and get bailed out while ordinary homeowners were intentionally left to have their homes seized and lives destroyed, it kind of made people think.”

“When you've been told in ways large and small your whole life that your voice doesn't matter and that you don't count, it's not an easy thing to get over.”

“It will already be unbelievably hard to pass Medicare for All once with a massive outside pressure campaign by an organized grassroots movement and a presidential mandate in the first 100 days of an administration.”

“Maintaining an employer model of healthcare means handing bosses another weapon they can use against their workers. One more way they can drain union strike funds. One more way that the power dynamic is asymmetric.”

“It can be really lonely running for office, especially if you've never done it before and especially when all the normal channels of power are basically closed to you.”

“To my friends on the right, Katie Hill's national shaming is as much an example of an out of control cancel culture as anything that we've seen.”

“You pretty much have to be prepared to talk about whatever the news is. Running for Congress was good practice for that.”

“Conversely, conservatives assume that humans are fundamentally lazy and prone to immorality. In this view, the entitlement system coddles and rewards laziness. This cynicism spills over into their view of government and government 'bureaucrats.' It also spills over into their political tactics.”

“But the truth is the meritocracy is a lie. Those born into wealth and privilege will always be able to game the system for their own benefit and their children's own benefit.”

“Usually, I chalk Democratic dreams of a blue Texas to the same sort of thinking that brought us the inevitability of the coalition of the ascendant and 100% certainty that Donald Trump was going to lose.”

“If you hang around political talkers or strategists much, you're likely to hear a lot about authenticity. This is supposed to be the golden currency which we all look for in our leaders.”

“Being a host or a guest or a pundit, you really want to say something that's interesting and potentially provocative, that's going to stick with people. The last thing you want to say when you're a politician is something provocative.”