This…isn’t working

Last week, RAM conducted an email survey in which we asked our supporters their opinion on a number of political issues, from whether they believe the country is on the right track to their thoughts on political parties. Perhaps you were one of the thousands who responded. If so, thank you for your feedback. Overwhelmingly, survey participants told us they are concerned about the direction the United States is taking and voiced their dissatisfaction with the two-party system.

- 81% feel the United States is moving in the wrong direction.

- 91% disapprove of the Republican Party.

- 60% are unsatisfied with the Democratic Party.

- 76% feel the United States needs a strong third party.

The Renew America Movement was founded on the belief that we need to reform our politics in order to preserve and protect our democracy. Our politics are broken, and we have to work together to forge a better path forward, independent of the tired and failed partisanship of our time. Greater choice for voters and candidates is how we will combat extremism and build a new kind of politics for America. We intend to deliver on our mission. Watch this space for important updates over the coming weeks. —Mike Ongstad, Communications Director, Renew America Movement

• Biden stands with Israel on Iran nuclear ambitions; greets MBS with fist bump in Saudi Arabia —The Independent

• Manchin pulls plug on climate and tax talks, shrinking domestic plan —The New York Times

• Republicans block bill to shield people who travel out of state for abortions —ABC News

• 27-count federal grand jury indictment reveals arsenal of accused Tops shooter —The Buffalo News

• House passes bipartisan bill to create active shooter alert system —NBC News

• House passes Slotkin’s Veterans Burn Pits Exposure Recognition Act —The Livingston Post

• Ukrainian city cleans up and grieves after Russian missile attack —Reuters

• Italian Premier Mario Draghi says he will resign —Associated Press

• Sri Lankan president resigns by email after fleeing to Singapore —CNN

• Ivana Trump, ex-wife of Donald, dies at 73 in NYC apartment —New York Daily News

We're all sick of it

If there's one thing Americans of all political stripes agree on, it's that our electoral system, well, stinks, and our democracy is suffering as a result. There have been relatively few innovations to our system that would produce more representative election results and allow new, independent voices to compete on a level field with the same old two-party choices. Fortunately, that's beginning to change. A key development: the adoption of ranked-choice voting. “Democracy prospers when lots of candidates run. But when voters have to cast a ballot in a dynamic, modern field with the same old single-choice ballot, they’re at a profound disadvantage, and the end result doesn’t adequately determine the true will of voters,” says David Daley, senior fellow at FairVote. “A ranked ballot would be an important step toward putting our democracy back in the hands of the people.” —The Hill

• Practical considerations. As Ryan Williamson of the R Street Institute points out, RCV has other advantages as well for the 11 states that hold runoff elections. “With ranked-choice ballots, the runoff would happen after the first round of balloting, instead of weeks after, as there would only need to be one election instead of two,” he says. “With only one round of balloting, the opportunity for any sort of fraud or interference that would harm the integrity of elections is immediately cut in half.” He adds, “Cost savings are another critical aspect of this reform.” —The Hill

• Another idea: Fusion voting. Many voters are reluctant to associate with one or both of the major parties, and ever-increasing hyperpolarization suggests this trend will only intensify. Fusion voting allows these voters to nonetheless support a competitive candidate who best reflects their values because they can do so on the minor party line. As a result, voters need not associate themselves with the extreme elements of a major party in order to support a centrist who nonetheless earns the nomination of that party. —RealClearPolicy

• Yep, he gets it. Former U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski, who served Illinois’ 3rd District from 2005 to 2021, explained the change he’d like to see. “[A]n Independents Movement that could bring about a sea change in American politics is even more vital,” he writes. “The movement is growing, and perhaps in 2024, two years before America’s semiquincentennial, we will see a ‘Spirit of ’24’ in which independents revolutionize our failing party system and put our country back on the right track.” Hear, hear. —Chicago Tribune

MORE: Michael Gerson: The answer: A centrist bloc. The question: How to build it? —The Roanoke Times

King & Weisman: Gen Z is so over it

“[O]lder leaders often talk about upholding institutions and restoring norms, while young voters say they are more interested in results. Many expressed a desire for more sweeping changes like a viable third party and a new crop of younger leaders. They’re eager for innovative action on the problems they stand to inherit, they said, rather than returning to what worked in the past.” —Maya King & Jonathan Weisman in The New York Times

Maya King is a politics reporter covering the South. Jonathan Weisman is a veteran congressional correspondent and the author of “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump.” 

MORE: Jullan Zelizer: Why Gen Z is done with Biden—and Trump —CNN

Lost, not stolen

Yesterday, a group of Republican officials released a 70+-page report on their analysis of the lawsuits, evidence, and audits surrounding claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. In the executive summary, the authors, described as having “worked in Republican politics, been appointed to office by Republicans, or otherwise associated with the party,” note that they “examined every count of every case brought in these six battleground states [Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin]. Their conclusion? “We conclude that Donald Trump and his supporters had their day in court and failed to produce substantive evidence to make their case.” They add that in the 20 months since, despite massive efforts, no additional evidence of fraud has been found or presented. “To have 30% of the country lack faith in election results based on unsubstantiated claims of a ‘stolen’ election is not sustainable in a democracy,” the report says. “We hope that setting out the full record in this report will help restore faith in the reliability of our elections.” —The Washington Post

MORE: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election —Lost Not Stolen

‘Violent domestic extremism has grown and metastasized’

Former Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano said this week that domestic political violence driven by extremism is the “most serious homeland security challenge we are facing today.” During a panel discussion hosted by Protect Democracy, Napolitano stressed the role social media has played in the radicalization of many Americans, citing the congressional testimony of Stephen Ayres, who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Ayres testified on Tuesday that once he got off social media, he was able to see through the baseless election fraud claims being spread by Donald Trump and others—claims that motivated him to storm the Capitol to block the peaceful transfer of power. “He was fed a trough of misinformation and disinformation,” Napolitano said. —Arizona Mirror

MORE: Armed man arrested after threatening to kill Rep. Pramila Jayapal outside her Seattle home —The Washington Post

Focus on the Jan. 6 investigation

There were no further public hearings in the House select committee’s investigation of Jan. 6 since the last edition of The Topline. But there was still plenty of news. First, that very alarming story about the Secret Service. In a letter to the House and Senate Homeland Security committees investigating the events of Jan. 6, the DHS’s office of the inspector general reported that "many" text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, had been erased by the Secret Service with a device-replacement program—after they were requested by the agency watchdog. The Secret Service has disputed the accusation. Stay tuned. —Reuters

• That was no pocket dial. We still don't know the identity of the witness who Rep. Liz Cheney suggested was pressured by Donald Trump regarding their testimony to the select committee. But we now know it was a member of the White House support staff who didn't routinely communicate with Trump. The staffer is reportedly in a position to corroborate parts of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony. Alarmed by the unexpected call from the ex-president, the staffer immediately informed their attorney. —CNN

• Two of the president’s men. A one-time senior advisor to Trump, Steve Bannon told a group of associates on Halloween 2020 that Trump had a plan to declare victory on election night. He was aware that the slow counting of Democratic-leaning mail-in ballots meant the returns would show early leads for him in key states. His “strategy” was to claim that the inevitable shifts in vote totals toward Joe Biden must be the result of fraud. And while nearly the entire Trump team was in on it, the inner circle increasingly views former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as the likely fall guy for their attempts to overturn the election. —Mother Jones

• What's next? At its next public hearing, the panel plans to focus on the 187 minutes between when Trump left the rally stage on Jan. 6 to when he delivered a statement to the country while the insurrection was in progress. A DC Metropolitan Police officer has corroborated details of Hutchinson's testimony regarding a heated exchange between Trump and his Secret Service detail when he was told he could not go to the Capitol immediately following the rally. Tune in for the hearing on July 21 at 8pm ET. —The Hill

MORE: How Ray Epps became the victim of a Jan. 6 conspiracy theory —The New York Times

Reynolds: We are not the enemy

“Everyday Americans with different political views aren’t our enemy. Most of us are just trying to make ends meet and hoping for a better tomorrow. The real enemy is far more sinister. It’s the system that allows political leaders to jealously guard their positions and desperately fight to keep the power they were entrusted with by the people. They ransack our democracy, weaken its bonds and safeguards, destroy its very foundations—all while pointing their finger at the other guy and saying, ‘It’s him you want. He did this to you.’” —Spencer Reynolds on Forward Thinking

Spencer Reynolds is the digital director and director of political partnerships at the Forward Party.

MORE: Many American voters want to upend system, poll finds —The New York Times

There are two reasons why Pat Cipollone should terrify Donald Trump, and Trump's advisors should have realized this before they ever invited him to join them:

He was valedictorian at a Catholic college (Fordham University).

He has 10 children. 

I'll explain. 

To be valedictorian of a Catholic college (as Antonin Scalia also was at Georgetown), you have to be very smart, hardworking, and have a certain sense of morality and ethics that drew you to attend a faith-based institution rather than an Ivy League school to which you surely would have gained admittance.

To have 10 children (even Antonin Scalia had "only" eight) you have to really, really accept traditional Catholic teachings to never practice birth control or try to not have a baby.

Cipollone and I are both Italian-Americans with roots in New York City; his is not the first Italian Catholic family I have known with that many children.

The big difference is, in all the other families, the pater familias was born in the 19th century, when the reason for having many children was not the fulfillment of churchly teachings, but to provide free labor on the farm in Reggio Calabria, or the construction firm in The Bronx. 

Even Pat Cipollone's detractors would admit that he is highly intelligent, hard-working, deeply principled, and guided by a devout sense of faith that compels him do what is just and honest. 

Would even Donald Trump's most ardent supporters claim he has even one of those attributes?

Which is exactly why Pasquale...I love typing that...Cipollone (note to broadcasters: the first syllable should be pronounced chip) should scare the hell out of Donald Trump. —Jim V., New York

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff, the Renew America Movement, or the Renew America Foundation.