Over the past few days, a number of polls have come out showing Hillary Clinton
leading Donald Trump nationally by double digits, including in blue collar states
like Michigan (10%) and Pennsylvania (11%). If you are a Clinton supporter and
have felt a sense of relief when you saw these numbers, your shoulders suddenly
relaxing and an audible "phew" coming from your mouth, if you got
excited that your belief system was now reassured that there was no chance your
fellow Americans will vote for a narcissistic misogynist, then you just became
part of the problem - and why Donald J. Trump could actually win on November
8th.
Please do not think for a second this election is over or in the
bag. There are three long months to go. If you think that all we have to do
is just let Trump keep shooting himself in the head - that "Trump will
beat Trump" and the rest of us just have to sit back and watch with glee
- well, you are playing with fire. And you’re looking for a way to get out of
doing any work. Clearly you’ve forgotten this election is not about whether
there are more people "for" Hillary or Trump. Of course there are
more people for Hillary! She will lead in the opinion polls from now until Election
Day.
AND IT DOESN’T MATTER.
Because this is not a popularity contest
decided by polls (or in this year’s edition, a contest over who you dislike
the least). As I’ve said, if people could vote from their sofa via their Xbox
or remote control, Hillary would win in a landslide. But this election is only
about who SHOWS UP to the VOTING BOOTH on November 8th (or to early voting or
by absentee ballot). The election this year is not being held as usual on the
first Tuesday of November; it’s happening in the second week of the month, so
if you live in the top half of the country, that means a greater chance for
snow or icy rain - and that means a lower turnout. A lower turnout helps Trump.
This
election is ONLY about who gets who out to vote, who’s got the most rabid supporters,
the kind of candidate who inspires people to get out of bed at 5am on Election
Day because a Wall needs to built! Muslims are killing us! Women are taking
over! USA! USA! Make My Penis Great Again! Hillary is the Devil! America First!
Fetus First! First in Line at the Polls!
So instead of feeling better
this week because of the new polls (BTW, only one of these polls is of "likely
voters" - the Reuters Poll - and in that one, Hillary leads by only 4 points),
or regaling over Trump’s insanity (so insane, he raised $82 million last month
in mostly $10-$20 contributions, stunning the Clinton campaign, because Bernie
never had a grassroots month anywhere near that), I would like to suggest a
different response. I’d like to ask those who love Hillary to hold off on the
victory party ’til the wee hours of November 9th. Please, can we all agree that
now is NOT the time to
do this!
Let’s stop the early celebrating and the gloating over Trump’s
Bad Week. No premature end zone dances. If you are serious about this election,
and if you are smart enough to still take Donald Trump seriously, then here’s
5 things to do - four for you, and one for Hillary: You Are Responsible for
Getting 50 People to the Polls November 8th. Start making your list now. Create
this list on your smart phone of the people you will personally make sure show
up to the polls on November 8th. Enter their email addresses and cell phone
numbers. Call it your "November 8th Project." Add a name to it every
single day between now and November 8th until you have 50 people - 50 names
in 90 days. Focus on nonvoters. Then, on November 7th and 8th, call, text and/or
email every one of them and remind them to vote. Offer them a ride. Offer them
lunch. Offer to watch the kids. Offer to mow their lawn. Plan a get-together
or a party for everyone after going to vote. You must remind even those people
who you think don’t need reminding. This election isn’t about you voting - it’s
about you getting 50 others to vote.
From Today Until November 8th, You Are in the French Resistance. Imagine
what it was like to be in the French underground while the Germans invaded France.
The only possible way to win was an unrelenting, round-the-clock commitment
to defeat the Nazis. There was no time for one of those 3-hour French dinners.
They did not take vacations. They did not sleep in. They did not have time for
"playdates." The Germans were coming! The Germans were there! Well,
friends, our fascist (Drumpf!) is coming! That’s the mind-set you need to be
in. For the next three months, the kids have to get themselves to soccer! Work
on your marriage in December! There’s no time for hot yoga! No one in the French
Resistance ever said "I can’t blow up that Nazi train today ’cause I feel
like I might be coming down with a cold!"
You Must Be Supportive
of the Depressed Voter. So many people have given up on our system and that’s
because the system has given up on them. They know it’s all bullshit: politics,
politicians, elections. The middle class in tatters, the American Dream a nightmare
for the 47 million living in poverty. Get this straight: HALF of America is
planning NOT to vote November 8th. Hillary’s approval rating is at 36%. CNN
said it last night: No one running for office with an approval rating of 36%
has ever been elected president (Trump’s is at 30%). Even in these newer polls,
60% still say that Hillary is "untrustworthy to be president." Disillusioned
young people stop me every day to tell me they’re not voting (or they’re voting
3rd Party). This is a problem, folks. Stop ignoring it. You need to listen to
them. Chastising them, shaming them, will not work. Acknowledging to them that
they have a point, that Hillary Clinton is maybe not the best candidate, and
then promising them that you will join them on November 9th in a political revolution
that will demand Clinton enact her platform, that might go a long way to getting
them to vote. They don’t have to change their opinion about Hillary. They just
have to reluctantly vote for her and be allowed to feel very bad about doing
it - and very good that we will fight on their side after the election.
Hillary
Must Slyly Stick Trump with a Comedy Shiv During the Debates. Bill Maher
and I will help Hillary with this (Hill, call us!). I’m sure Amy Schumer and
Chris Rock would chip in, too. Clinton actually has a good sense of humor, but
keeps it mostly hidden. Here she is back in the ’90s, sparring with a Republican
leader of Congress:
Trump has very thin skin. If she can slide the
perfect line of satirical ridicule just under that thin skin of his, he will
implode. On live TV. And that, my friends, will be the moment it’s over for
him. A complete mental meltdown on a stage without his cheering man-fans in
the room. BOOM!
I Hereby Appoint You Precinct Captain in Your Neighborhood, in Your School,
and at Your Place of Work. Yes, you. Tell them Michael Moore personally
named you. Not because I have any authority to do so. Just because I said so.
And you said so. Please, friends, do not depend entirely on the "Democratic
Party" to pull this off in November. It is often, depending on where you
live, an apparatus of numskulls, hacks and former high school student council
rejects. Quick, name the local chair of the Dems in your county. They are not
of the people. If we depend just on them, we lose. We usually do. Obama had
a brilliant campaign team, was a beloved candidate, and that’s why he won. Hillary’s
campaign lost 22 states to a 74-year old socialist who had neither a comb nor
50 bucks in his pocket - and was unknown to everyone except me and some hippies
in Vermont! Hahahaha! Here’s a tweet this week from one of Hillary’s "top
advisers", the chair of the "Campaign for American Progress",
just to give you a clue as to the brain trust surrounding her.
So we can’t just depend on them alone to stop Trump. That’s why I’ve decided
to appoint myself, as of this moment, chair of the "Shadow Campaign to
Defeat Donald J. Trump" (or, in short, "The Resistance") - and
I’m appointing each and every one of you as my Precinct Captains in the areas
where you live, work and go to college. From this moment forward you will organize
the block you live on, or the town or neighborhood you live in, or your dorm,
your office, or your place of worship. If asked, just identify yourself as the
"Local Head of the Defeat Trump Coalition." If others want to be the
"Head" or say they are the "Head," just share the title
with them. Then appoint more Precinct Captains. Don’t hold meetings. Do actions.
Use humor. Conduct flash mobs. Be a disruptor. Think creatively and subversively.
Have fun. Defeat Trump.
Because, you see, we have no choice. We’re in the Trump Resistance.
Yours in revolution and future playdates,
Michael Moore
P.S. Still feeling giddy about all the bad news surrounding Trump this week?
Here’s another bucket of cold water: Trump can actually lose Florida, Virginia,
Colorado and New Mexico - and STILL WIN! All he has to do is carry the rust
belt "Brexit States" of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Hillary lost three of these four in the primaries. Nothing can be taken for
granted. Once more: This is all about who shows up November 8th - not who’s
ahead in the popularity polls right now. On the morning of the Michigan Primary,
Hillary was ahead of Bernie in a WJBK/TV2-Detroit poll by 22 points. Twelve
hours later, she lost. Leave your bubble now! You are a Precinct Captain! You
have work to do!