Politics and Current
He once renounced politics. Now this Georgian activist is trying to recruit people who rarely vote
Davante Jennings of the New Georgia Project says the primary rule of winning over a skeptical voter is consistency.
ATLANTA (AP) — Davante Jennings solid his first vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton within the 2016 presidential race. He believes that Republican Donald Trump’s election this yr turned him from an idealistic student right into a jaded cynic overnight.
Jennings moved away from a system that he felt ignored people like him, a young black man who grew up in Alabama with a political awareness but held no visible power. It took him almost six years to recognize this view as suicidal.
Now, at age 27, Jennings is not only looking forward to casting his second vote within the presidential election for Democratic President Joe Biden, but he is also fully committed to his role as an activist, a top advisor to the Georgia state legislator and a daily volunteer recruiting potential voters from side as a part of the nonprofit New Georgia Project.
“I thought: I’m not going to vote for this if it’s all rigged and doesn’t matter at all,” he said in an interview. “Now I can talk to people who have been defeated by the system and say, ‘I understand. Let’s talk about why this is important.”
Jennings’ path focuses attention on the tens of hundreds of thousands of Americans who political campaigns often call “low-propensity voters,” people who never vote or achieve this only occasionally generally elections. About 1 in 3 eligible Americans I didn’t vote in 2020. In 2016 it was more like 4 out of 10.
With presidential elections often decided by slim majorities in several states, these voters could determine whether Biden is re-elected or whether Trump completes his return to the White House. The Biden campaign has had a noticeable advantage in trying to reach such voters, but each campaigns, together with political motion groups across the spectrum, are aiming to construct a broad organizational reach to maximize support in the autumn.
“Running an actual campaign where people can feel like they see a part of themselves is incredibly important,” Roohi Rustum, Biden’s national organizing director, said in an interview.
Biden and Trump owe their election to these sporadic, disaffected voters who often feel unrepresented.
Inconsistent Democratic supporters are getting younger and way more likely to be non-white. They helped Biden win Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2020, 4 years after Trump flipped them in his loss to Clinton, while also adding Georgia and Arizona to his slate.
To play this coalitionRustum already includes greater than 100 field offices, greater than 300 paid employees and, as of the tip of March, had conducted roughly 385,000 volunteer recruitment interviews. The campaign highlights Biden’s political achievements and believes Biden is winning over Trump as a more empathetic and stable figure. But the campaign is also prioritizing a network of volunteers who will make the case in their very own circles, especially in areas with lower turnout.
“No talking point is going to be as compelling as someone they know in their community,” Rustum said, adding that “it’s actually your pastor, your cousin, your neighbor.”
Jennings doesn’t work directly with the Biden campaign. But his role in Project New Georgia, launched a decade ago by Democratic powerhouse Stacey Abrams to increase Black turnout in Georgia, reflects the same philosophy.
He argued that voter concerns often cut across party and demographic lines to a greater extent than reflected within the national conversation. “There is not as much difference as people think between poor people and black people and poor people and white people,” he said. But the messenger still matters. “When someone looks like you and sounds like you, there is a certain basis of trust.”
Trump increased GOP support amongst white voters without college degrees, which in 2016 helped him flip several Rust Belt states that Democrat Barack Obama won twice in his White House races. Trump also wants to increase support amongst blacks and Latinos.
He has matched Biden in fundraising and organizing this cycle. He is within the early stages of adjusting the agenda on the Republican National Committee and preparing operations on the bottom. But Republicans say the essential attraction is Trump himself, making the meticulous organizing less essential to his overall appeal than the trial itself is for Biden.
“President Trump connects with people and their frustrations with the economy, borders and their values,” said Josh McKoon, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. “That draws people to him.”
Jennings confirmed that there is something to this argument. He said some young, nonwhite voters are attracted to, or no less than intrigued by, Trump’s bombast against the very establishment powers they distrust — as are some white Trump supporters.
“Yes, they’re starting to think that they’ve been manipulated and lied to and taken advantage of by the Democrats, as if we were just going to vote for the Democrats,” Jennings said, echoing a few of Trump’s comments. “They’ll say, ‘At least we know what we’re dealing with with Trump.’ It’s not what I think, but I hear it sometimes.
Particularly in less affluent communities – metropolitan and rural – Jennings said his conversations mostly revolve around basic quality of life issues: a lack of quality employment opportunities, a dearth of grocery stores with fresh, affordable food and little access to medical care. Younger voters express frustration with the criminalization of marijuana. Older voters, he said, sometimes question Democrats’ emphasis on LGBTQ rights.
Jennings said the first rule of winning over a skeptical voter is consistency.
“We are knocking on doors with a single mother and three children. She’s stressed. We come in and say, “Hey, I would like you to make time, see, it is important.” Some people don’t want to hear about it. I understand that,” Jennings said.
“But if I knock on that door once and the door goes nowhere, well, a couple of days later I’ll come back again. And on the other hand. What he’s starting to do now is like, “Oh, you really care.” I told you no, and you continue to come back like you actually care. Because I do.”
Breaking through, he added, usually requires telling one’s own story and linking problems to the ballot box.
Jennings said his return to politics didn’t come until 2022, during a friendly conversation with another black man — older than him but still of working age — who couldn’t afford health insurance even with a job. Georgia is among Republican-controlled states that have not fully expanded Medicaid under Democrats’ 2010 federal law, the Affordable Care Act.
“I started to realize, hey, you’re nervous about the health care system. How to change the system? You have to have voices,” Jennings said.
Around the time U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock was seeking re-election as Georgia’s first black senator, Jennings received an invitation to a New Georgia Project event for black men. He went and soon volunteered, learning along the way how to let potential voters lead the discussion.
That doesn’t mean you have to talk about Biden, Trump or any other candidate first, or even at all, Jennings noted. After all, he skipped the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race, when Abrams headlined the effort to become the first Black woman in American history for governor, and the 2020 cycle, when Biden narrowly won Georgia and the state sent Democrats Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate.
“Obviously the president is important,” Jennings said. “But sometimes the president is not the one who can solve the problems that lie in front of you.”
Ranada Robinson, director of research at the New Georgia Project, praised volunteers like Jennings and said it showed why she insisted the group not use the “low-propensity voter” label. Instead, the group refers to “at-risk voters.”
She called the previous classification “the legacy of transactional politics” – the old system of political power that appears only during elections.
The new terminology, she said, is empowering: “We could be a more inclusive democracy if we acknowledge that perhaps, you recognize, the old techniques don’t work for everybody.”
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Politics and Current
Trump says he cannot guarantee that tariffs will not raise prices in the US and does not rule out retaliation
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump he said he couldn’t guarantee that his promised rates regarding key US foreign trade partners there will be no raise prices for American consumers and again suggested that some political rivals and federal officials who handled court cases against him must be imprisoned.
The president-elect also touched on monetary policy, immigration, abortion and health care, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere in a wide-ranging interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday.
Trump often mixed declarations with reservations, at one point warning that “everything is changing.”
Take a have a look at a few of the issues covered:
Trump wonders whether trade penalties could raise prices
Trump threatened widespread trade penalties but said he didn’t imagine it economists’ predictions that the additional costs of imported goods for U.S. businesses would result in higher domestic prices for consumers. He broke his promise that American households would not pay more for purchases.
“I can not guarantee anything. “I can’t guarantee tomorrow,” Trump said, apparently opening the door to accepting the reality that import fees typically operate once goods reach the retail market.
That’s a special approach from Trump’s typical speeches during the 2024 campaign, when he presented his decisions as a surefire approach to curb inflation.
In the interview, Trump defended the tariffs in general, saying the tariffs “make us rich.”
He announced that on the first day of his term in January he would impose a 25% tariff on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada unless those countries satisfactorily stop illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs equivalent to fentanyl into the United States. He also threatened to impose tariffs on China to force the country to limit fentanyl production.
“I just want to have a level, fast but fair playing field,” Trump said.
Trump suggests revenge against his opponents without claiming to have an interest in revenge
He has made conflicting statements about how he would approach justice after winning the election, although he was convicted of 34 felonies in a New York state court and charged in other cases with handling national security secrets and efforts to overturn his loss to a Democrat in 2020 Joe Biden.
“Frankly, they should go to jail,” Trump said of members of Congress who investigated the Capitol riot by his supporters who wanted him to remain in power.
The president-elect has emphasized his case that he could use the justice system against others, including special counsel Jack Smith, who prosecuted the case involving Trump’s role in the siege on January 6, 2021. Trump confirmed his plan to pardon convicted supporters for the role they played in the riot, saying that he will take these actions on his first day in office.
As for the idea of revenge triggering potential criminal prosecutions, Trump said: “I actually have every right to accomplish that. I’m a top law enforcement officer, you recognize that. I’m the president. But that doesn’t interest me.”
At the same time, Trump named lawmakers on the House special committee that investigated the rebel, citing Rep. Bennie Thompson, R-Mississippi, and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.
“Cheney was behind this… as was Bennie Thompson and everyone on this committee,” Trump said.
Asked specifically whether he would direct his administration to pursue the cases, he replied “No” and suggested he did not expect the FBI to quickly investigate his political enemies.
But at one other point, Trump said he would go away the issue to Pam Bondi, his pick for attorney general. “I want her to do whatever she wants,” he said.
Many leading Democrats have taken such threats, no matter Trump’s inconsistencies, seriously enough that Biden is considering issuing a blanket, preventive pardon to guard key members of his outgoing administration.
Trump appeared to backtrack on his campaign rhetoric calling for an investigation into Biden, saying, “I have no intention of going back to the past.”
Swift motion is coming on immigration
Trump has repeatedly mentioned his guarantees to seal the U.S.-Mexico border and deport tens of millions of people who find themselves in the U.S. illegally as a part of a mass deportation program.
“I think you have to do this,” he said.
He has suggested that he would try to make use of executive motion to finish “birthright” citizenship, under which individuals born in the U.S. are considered residents – although such protections are provided for in the Constitution.
Asked specifically about the future of people that were delivered to the country illegally as children and have been protected against deportation in recent years, Trump said: “I want to work something out,” indicating he may look to Congress for an answer.
But Trump also said he “don’t want to break up families” with mixed legal status, “so the only way not to break up the family is to keep them together and send them all away.”
Trump commits to NATO, setting conditions, but criticizes Putin and Ukraine
Trump, long a critic of NATO members for not spending more on their very own defense, said he would “absolutely” remain in the alliance “if they pay their bills.”
Pressed on whether he would withdraw if he was dissatisfied with allies’ commitments, Trump said he wanted the United States to be treated “fairly” on trade and defense issues.
He wavered on NATO’s priority of containing Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
Trump suggested that Ukraine should prepare for less U.S. help to defend against Putin’s invasion. “Probably. Yeah, probably. Sure,” Trump said about Washington cutting aid to Ukraine. Separately, Trump did called for a right away ceasefire.
Asked about Putin, Trump initially said he had not spoken to the Russian leader since last month’s election, but then insisted: “I haven’t spoken to him lately.” Trump said under pressure, adding that he didn’t need to “impede negotiations.”
Trump says Powell is protected at the Fed, but Wray is not at the FBI
The president-elect has said he has no intention, at the least for now, of asking Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to step down before the end of Powell’s term in 2028. Trump said during the campaign that presidents must have more to say on Fed policyincluding rates of interest.
Trump has not provided any job guarantees to FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose term ends in 2027.
Asked about Wray, Trump said, “Well, it seems pretty obvious” that if the Senate confirms Kash Patel as Trump’s nominee select the head of the FBI, then “he’s going to take another person’s place, right? Someone is that this person you’re talking about.
Trump is absolute on Social Security, not abortion and medical insurance
Trump promised that the government’s efficiency efforts under Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would not threaten Social Security. “We do not affect social safety, except that we make it more effective,” he said. He added that “we’re not raising the age or anything like that.”
He didn’t speak in much detail about abortion or the long-promised amendment to the Affordable Care Act.
On abortion, Trump continued its inconsistencies and said he “probably” won’t try to limit access to abortion pills, which currently cause most abortions, in keeping with the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. But when pressed on whether he would commit to the position, Trump replied: “Well, I agree. That is, do things change. I think they are changing.”
A repetition of his line Debate on September 10 v. Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump again stated that he had “concepts” for a plan to switch the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which he called “lousy health care.”
He added that any version of Trump would supply insurance coverage for Americans with pre-existing health conditions. He did not explain how such a project would differ from the establishment or the way it could fulfill his desire for “better health care for less money.”
December 6 in St. Louis has officially been declared Wesley Bell Day to honor the county’s first black prosecutor.
According to Local leaders held a celebratory event at the St. County Department of Justice. Louis, after which County Executive Sam Page made a press release. Bell made history along with his appointment to this position, which he has held since 2019.
He called the recognition “a great honor” that belongs to the community he serves.
“For me, this is a testament to the men and women of the St. County Prosecutor’s Office. Louis, who wake up every day with the idea of public safety, with the idea of treating our victims with the dignity and respect they deserve, and keeping this region safe. In this way, it is a great honor for us,” he said.
Bell took over as St. County prosecutor. Louis after defeating longtime Democratic incumbent Bob McCulloch in the primary. After McCulloch’s controversial decision to not prosecute the officer who fatally shot Black teenager Michael Brown in 2014, Bell ran a campaign that prioritized criminal justice reform. His platform included community policing and progressive marijuana policies that were passed shortly after taking office.
During his tenure, Bell established the Diversion Commission and the Incident Review Unit. The unit enables people wrongly convicted to submit a request to the prosecutor to reconsider their case. Bell sees the measure, a first in the nation, as a step toward criminal justice reform.
But Bell will transcend local politics to assist his St. Louis on a national scale. He was recently elected to the United States House of Representatives, representing Missouri’s 1st District.
“This job, and my future job, is about work,” he added. “It’s about representing the interests of my constituents. People here in this region.
Although Bell will proceed to serve St. Louis in a distinct capability, the race to appoint his successor continues, and the escalating dispute between Page and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson continues. Page has already announced his selection of the next prosecutor, but the GOP leader said he plans to make the nomination.
Politics and Current
68-year-old black Georgia man knocked to the ground and brutally arrested at a red light fights for justice after three-year legal nightmare
It’s taken greater than three years, but Jeffrey Lemon finally got his day in court.
A 68-year-old Black man was arrested in Georgia under questionable circumstances in 2021 after Clayton County sheriff’s deputies threw him to the ground and put a knee on his back after he was accused of running a red light in suburban Atlanta County.
He was charged with obstruction and red light violations, in addition to possession of a small amount of marijuana, which police present in a pipe in the trunk of his automobile after his arrest. He ended up spending two nights in jail.
But the case dragged on for greater than three years until his attorney filed a motion for a speedy trial last month. The trial is scheduled to start Monday, and Lemon hopes prosecutors will drop the case without forcing a trial.
“I hope they throw everything away, but it’s a corrupt system, so I don’t know what to expect,” Lemon told Atlanta Black Star in a phone interview.
Lemon also said he was offered a plea deal late Thursday wherein prosecutors would drop the marijuana and red light charges if he pleaded guilty to the obstruction charge, but he declined to take the deal because he plans to file a lawsuit if he’s cleared of all charges. .
Arresting deputies Jon House and Demetrius Valentine each resigned after the incident, but House, who initiated the traffic stop, was rehired three months later.
“The arrogance I experienced from Officer J. House and Sgt. Valentine… completely disregarded me as a human being,” he wrote in a letter wherein he presented his version of the arrest.
Lemon’s arrest got here a month after the death of Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill was accused faces federal charges after he was accused of tying pretrial detainees to a restraint chair for hours in violation of their civil rights. Hill was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison in March 2023, but he was released after serving lower than a 12 months.
Throughout this time, nonetheless, Lemon’s case has remained pending, which he believes is because the officers try to cover up their illegal behavior and prevent him from filing a lawsuit.
Arrest
The incident occurred on May 27, 2021, when Lemon was driving his Camaro on Valley Hill Road and noticed a Clayton County sheriff’s deputy behind him, who turned out to be House.
He stated that he was in the left inside lane and needed to enter the right outside lane to make a right turn in front of him, nonetheless, when he stopped his automobile at a red light, the deputy pulled the patrol automobile next to him into the right lane.
He said the deputy then refused to move forward when the light turned green, stopping Lemon from entering the lane.
Lemon said he waited a few seconds, hoping the deputy would move, but then moved to the next intersection when it became clear the deputy was not going to move.
He testified that when he turned right at the next intersection, the light turned green, but the deputy stopped him and accused him of running a red light.
Lemon told the deputy that he didn’t run the red light, but gave him his license, but the deputy began accusing him of trying to avoid him, and that is when he realized the deputy was trying to escalate the interaction, and as he tried to call his daughter and friend, but he didn’t. they replied.
He then called 911 because he feared for his life when the deputy began accusing him of things he didn’t do, and that is when House called for backup.
Valentine arrived and threatened to taser him if he didn’t get out of the automobile, so he complied under duress, which occurred when Valentine tackled him to the ground and House put his knee on his neck.
“I felt humiliated,” he said. “For the guy to come up and not try to have any dialogue. He just immediately walked up and said, “Get your ass on the ground before I kick you.”
He said that when he was arrested, he was on his way to rent a latest house, so he had $1,800 in money with him, but authorities didn’t allow him to use the money to bail, forcing him to stay in jail for two days.
“They didn’t want to take the money, so I had to carry it in my shoe throughout my stay in prison,” he said.
He said the aggressive arrest put him in a state of so-called cervical stenosis, where he’s currently in constant pain and has already spent hundreds of dollars on medical bills.
Report
The House deputy describes the arrest in a very different light, stating in his report that he became suspicious when Lemon failed to stop at the intersection after the light turned green, believing he was doing all the pieces in his power to avoid being stopped.
He further claimed that as Lemon moved forward, turning right, he ran a red light and that is when House stopped him.
However, this claim contradicts his initial claim because if Lemon was truly trying to avoid being stopped, he would never have run a red light knowing the deputy was behind him.
House also claimed that he began to fear for his life after he noticed a knife in the center console of Lemon’s vehicle and then called for backup and ordered him out of the automobile, but Lemon stated that the knife was never there.
“There was no knife,” Lemon said. “I would like to see their list of things they faraway from my automobile. This will show there was no knife.
House stated in his report that he found pot in the trunk while taking a listing of things in the automobile, which he ordered confiscated. He also claimed that “evidence was dropped in the sheriff’s office room,” but didn’t specifically mention the alleged knife placed in the room.
Valentine resigned two weeks later without explanation, according to personnel records obtained by Atlanta Black Star. He was then hired by the nearby Fairburn, Georgia Police Department the following month.
Personnel records obtained from the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office show House resigned in November 2021 because he was dissatisfied with “a change in the mission of this agency that does not align with my personal goals.”
House was then hired by the nearby Riverdale Police Department, only to resign from the job three months later because “the city-provided health insurance is expensive and does not provide adequate health care for my family,” according to a resignation letter obtained by Atlanta. Black Star.
He was then rehired by the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office in March 2022 and stays employed.
Lemon believes there may be body camera and dash cam video that might prove his innocence, but when Atlanta Black Star asked public authorities for any available footage of the arrest, the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office said “no records exist” ” regarding arrest.
“That sounds like another lie,” Lemon said.
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