(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Check the Scoreboard! Dems much better on National Security [1] ['Chloris Creator', 'Sabrina Haake', 'Greg Dworkin', 'Bill In Portland Maine'] Date: 2026-07-15 Recently posted a diary about how we need to get truths out and to support them in order to fight the firehose of lies. Some of these are relatively recent lies, such as “illegal aliens stealing pets and eating them” – but others have been around for a long time. One of them has been that the GOP is better on national security. The GOP is much more ready to go to war, which is probably better where the myth comes from. It’s not true, like so many of the lies and myths. But how to get the message across? Because when you’re explaining, you’re often losing people. In a comment Girasol remarked how much she liked the “Check the Scoreboard” approach in one of the bluesky posts. And that’s because many people who are often freaked out by numbers and logic are more comfortable when applying math and logic in the arena of sports. So, let’s try it. Before turning to the examples of how Ds are better at Rs at security, let’s point out something important: National Security, when done right, is something we don’t hear about. So there are fewer examples in D administrations than in R administrations. That’s a sign that things are working well. Now, in no particular order, let’s get started: .1 THE FELON STOLE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS AND STORED THEM IN A BATHROOM AT MAR-A-LAGO: The alleged security breaches by John Bolton remind me of security breaches by another ex-government official who kept classified records in his bathroom and evaded justice with the help of a corrupt MAGA judge in Florida. — Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) 2025-10-16T21:21:23.772Z And lots and lots of people had access. And don't forget—"Mar-A-Lago Sought 380 Foreign Workers During Time Trump Had Access To Classified Documents" — Zach Everson (@zacheverson.com) 2026-03-25T13:10:49.147Z Also probably selling them. Note that John Bolton, who pleaded guilty to classified documents, was a member of the GOP. Which leads us to: 2. MANY IN THE GOP ARE WAY TOO FRIENDLY WITH RUSSIA For example, 8 went to Moscow for the 4th of July (2018) 7 years ago today, 8 Republicans (7 Senators & 1 House member) spent the 4th of July in Moscow:• Ron Johnson (WI)• Richard Shelby (AL)• Steve Daines (MT)• John Thune (SD) (current Sen Majority 'Leader')• John Kennedy (LA)• Jerry Moran (KS)• John Hoeven (ND)• Rep. Kay Granger (TX)Traitors. — Dr. Jack Brown (@drjackbrown.bsky.social) 2025-07-05T03:25:59.663Z I kept their photos for lo, these 7 years — Ollie (@ollie209.bsky.social) 2025-07-05T03:27:20.789Z Ron Johnson appears to be especially connected. I’m not sure what Russian information Senator Ron Johnson laundered in 2020 specifically, but I trust Goldman more than Johnson: Tulsi Gabbard was also considered a Russian asset, and the felon appointed her as DNI!!! Tammy Duckworth on Tulsi Gabbard: "I think she's compromised … Russian controlled media called her a Russian asset." — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2024-11-24T14:29:28.551Z I don’t think many people believe that putin has the best interests of American citizens at heart. .3 WARS We have a great military, certainly the most expensive on the planet, in part because we were considered the world’s police, with the Pax Americana. But our great military should be used to keep us safe. Or to right serious wrongs, when the military can be used to do in certain circumstances. The felon has started this war with Iran. W started wars with Iraq and Afghanistan. All these wars have been expensive and ill-advised, with objectives (when they had objectives) that could not be met. Obama did not end the war in Afghanistan, but he did end the war in Iraq. And he used special forces to get Osama bin Laden, which was the reason for going to war in Afghanistan. Biden ended the war in Afghanistan, but under bad terms because of what the felon negotiated. Bush I did Kuwait and Clinton, I think sent some troops to Bosnia. The wars started by W and the felon show how very, very bad the Republicans are at war. It’s true that starting a war can make you look strong, which can help a negotiating position. If W had used the Iraq Authorization of Military Force just as a pressure point against Hussein, to require inspections and concessions, that would have been brilliant. Wars – winning them – is really hard. Ds usually recognize this, but so often the GOP does not – or they do not care. .4 NEGOTIATION Negotiation is essential to keeping us safe. I think we can agree we don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons. Work from Obama, Hillary Clinton and especially John Kerry created the Iran deal, which was actually working. The felon tore up that deal, which meant that Iran could and did resume its quest for nuclear weapons. The felon and his badministration keep failing at negotiations with Iran. Hint: next time, negotiate before you start a war. .5 GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH ALLIES The planet has lots of people and many countries. Even if you’re America first, you recognize we have borders and trade, often for things we cannot grow ourselves (bananas! coffee!). We also have common problems and common threats. We need to work with others on those threats. This works better if we are trusted and respected. Thanks to the felon, internationally we are no longer trusted Pew Research A new Pew Research Center survey finds negative – and often overwhelmingly negative – views of U.S. President Donald Trump in regions around the globe. Across 36 nations polled, a median of 23% of adults express confidence in his leadership of world affairs. In many countries, confidence in Trump has slipped since last year. Overall ratings for the United States are also largely negative. Favorable views of the country have declined in many places over the past year, including double-digit drops in Indonesia, Italy, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. From the same article, look how we fared under President Biden. The share of the public who considers the U.S. a reliable partner has declined steeply in many countries since we last asked this question in 2022, during Joe Biden’s presidency. This downward turn in opinion has taken place in several nations with which the U.S. has longstanding economic and security ties. For example, in Canada, 83% described the U.S. as a reliable partner in 2022, compared with 35% today. Large declines have also been measured in some of America’s key Asia-Pacific partners. Gosh, if only people had known this before! But we did. We saw the felon insulting Mexico in his first term, pulling out of the Paris climate accord, and trying to get out of NATO. Biden did what he could to correct the problems, but then we foolishly re-elected this felon. 5. WASTING FBI RESOURCES The FBI is tasked with many things, including sniffing out terrorist threats. But when they spend their time protecting pedophiles, they are not working to keep us safe. To recap: More than 1,000 FBI agents were assigned to comb through the Epstein Files to flag any mentions of Trump’s name for higher-ups. The FBI then redacted Trump’s name from the files before ultimately deciding not to release the documents.COVER UP!!! — MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-08-01T15:31:14.549Z I found this a very interesting breakdown on the how Allison Gill & her lawyer are trying to get the training videos from the FBI. The ones that instructed FBI agents to redact Trump's name from the Epstein files. — (@lakesvet.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T23:07:13.656Z Now the FBI is investigating how the NYT figured out the Qatari bribe plane was not adequate for the felon. Trump pulled Patel off a tarmac as he was taking the FBI plane to see his girlfriend sing in Chicago to order him to investigate the NYT for reporting on how, even after a $1 billion upgrade with public funds, the plane Qatar bribed Trump with is still inadequate.It's matryoshka doll corruption. — Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T14:55:44.285Z The FBI is also investigating Lindsey Graham’s death – I actually don’t mind that as much, as it shouldn’t take many resources, and that could quell some speculation – but the senator’s cause of death seems very clear. Heavy drinking can harm your heart and Lindsey drank a lot (I bet he increased his alcohol consumption in order to get through selling his soul to the dark side). All of these uses of the FBI are wastes of our taxpayer dollars and the FBI is not keeping us safe. Only the felon feels safer. 6. REMOVAL OF EXPERTS AND GUTTING OF AGENCIES Not all threats to national security come from foreigners or even humans. Some threats are just there, from dangerous microbes to solar flares to the giant asteroid. Have you heard about that disease, cyclospora, that’s making lots of people run to the toilet? Well, the felon’s government cut back on programs to monitor food safety– Chris Dall, CIDRAP (August 2025) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has scaled back a federal-state surveillance program for foodborne pathogens. As of July 1, the CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), which works with the Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of Agriculture, and 10 state health departments to track infections commonly transmitted through food, has reduced required surveillance to two pathogens: Salmonella and Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Reporting of illnesses caused by Campylobacter, Cyclospora, Listeria, Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia is now optional, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Note: one of those things you only hear about when it goes wrong. And cuts at monitoring the weather. If you're worried about aviation safety, these NOAA/NWS cuts are just as alarming as anything happening at FAA. — Alex Fitzpatrick (@alexjamesfitz.com) 2025-02-27T23:20:24.256Z We also need inspections of buildings, bridges, water, air and a lot of other things. A couple of questions for anyone who has taken the time to read this: What other examples would you add to national security, D v R? Does the “check the scoreboard” approach work, you think, in order to reach people? Other areas you’d like to see covered? Are you convinced or not? Do you think others would be convinced. Anyway, those are ways in which Dems are much better than Republicans at National Security. Dems want to keep Americans safe. The GOP wants to keep billionaires and pedophiles safe. Thanks for your attention! 🐦‍⬛🐦🐦‍⬛I do a lot of other writing. Some offerings: the Crow Nickels (chronicles), about crows who want to save birdkind from extinction (Hunters of the Feather). Popular mysteries based on Jane Austen’s novels, such as The Meryton Murders. Others based on history and Greek mythology, e.g., Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus. Newest offerings: Messing with the Myths — three books so far in this series (new one is Ragnarok & Roll). 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