Steve Shepard

I'm out. 🫡 You can find me at Mastodon and Bluesky. @steveshepard@mastodon.social @stevejshepard.bsky.social

This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant. #Womenwillnotbesilenced #VoteKamala

I'm glad I don't have to write an endorsement piece, because I really wouldn't know how to go about it. Ever since 2015, when Trump descended the escalator, I have had the same feeling, which I've never quite seen articulated, so I will briefly try:

I don’t really do endorsements. I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians. I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor. My time as Governor taught me to love policy and ignore politics. I’m proud of the work I did to help clean up our air, create jobs, balance the budget, make the biggest infrastructure investment in state history, and take power from the politicians and give it back to the people when it comes to our redistricting process and our primaries in California. That’s policy. It requires working with the other side, not insulting them to win your next election, and I know it isn’t sexy to most people, but I love it when I can help make people’s lives better with policies, like I still do through my institute at USC, where we fight for clean air and stripping the power from the politicians who rig the system against the people. Let me be honest with you: I don’t like either party right now. My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime. It is probably not a surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which, if you are a normal person who isn’t addicted to this crap, you probably understand. I want to tune out. But I can’t. Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets. To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America is a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious. And I will always be an American before I am a Republican. That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I’m sharing it with all of you because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious. For decades, we’ve talked about the national debt. For decades, we’ve talked about comprehensive immigration reform that secures the border while fixing our broken immigration system. And Washington does nothing. The problems just keep rolling, and we all keep getting angrier, because the only people that benefit from problems aren’t you, the people. The only people that benefit from this crap are the politicians who prefer having talking points to win elections to the public service that will make Americans’ lives better. It is a just game to them. But it is life for my fellow Americans. We should be pissed! But a candidate who won’t respect your vote unless it is for him, a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke, a candidate who has shown no ability to work to pass any policy besides a tax cut that helped his donors and other rich people like me but helped no one else else, a candidate who thinks Americans who disagree with him are the bigger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea - that won’t solve our problems. It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful. We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that. He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger. That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you. I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz. Vote this week. Turn the page and put this junk behind us. And even if you disagree with me, vote, because that’s what we do as Americans. vote.org

Presidents do not have to be saints, and we hope that a second term for Donald Trump would avoid disaster. But he poses an unacceptable risk to America and the world. If The Economist had a vote, we would cast it for Kamala Harris econ.st/3NKsH2r

Republican and Democratic clerks of elections are doing their jobs here in Pennsylvania – and together with law enforcement, they’re making sure only eligible voters are able to register and vote. Let’s remember, in 2020, Donald Trump attacked our elections over and over. I was the Attorney General back then and despite his bluster and rhetoric, he went 0-43 in court when he fought to make it harder to vote and then tried to overturn Pennsylvanians' votes. He's now trying to use the same playbook to stoke chaos, but hear me on this: we will again have a free and fair, safe and secure election — and the will of the people will be respected.

@JamesTaylor_com Thank you, James. Shower the country you love with love.

Harris/Walz Endorsement

One day they’re in Madison Square Garden “joking” about Puerto Ricans as garbage and Black people eating watermelons. The next day they’re on CNN “joking” about Muslims being blown up by beepers. Every day we normalize Trump’s crimes and misbehavior, his followers grow bolder.

He’s patiently standing in line, waiting to vote. Stop for a second and think about what this moment means for him…what this moment COULD HAVE meant for HIM. And then thank @JoeBiden for being selfless and for making one of the hardest decisions in his life not about him, but about America.

The @JeffBezos decision to quash the endorsement didn't increase trust in the news media; it diminished it. Making The Washington Post more like Fox News further erodes trust for a large swath of the political spectrum. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/…

The NFL can't say "End Racism" in the endzones and also allow Nick Bosa to wear a MAGA hat while in uniform, representing the @49ers and the @NFL. Can't have it both ways.

There is a solution here: Release the already-written endorsement and revisit the decision in the spring on whether the Post should endorse going forward.

Only you need to know who you vote for. Just ask Melania.

Elon’s PAC is running this teenaged boy level message about how Kamala is a “c-word”

Elon Musk says we must accept "temporary hardship" once Trump is elected.

New statement from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein: "We respect the traditional independence of the editorial page, but this decision 11 days out from the 2024 presidential election ignores the Washington Post's own overwhelming reportorial evidence on the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy. Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Washington Post’s news operation has used its abundant resources to rigorously investigate the danger and damage a second Trump presidency could cause to the future of American democracy and that makes this decision even more surprising and disappointing, especially this late in the electoral process."

Tapper's control room "going rogue." 😂

UPDATE: Robert Kagan confirms to NPR that he has resigned from WaPost editorial board after disclosure it would not make an announcement. Kagan has been a persistent conservative critic of Trump, tying him to an autocratic tradition. Uniformly outraged response from staff.