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It’s the Democracy, Stupid
AFTER THE 2024 ELECTION, A CONSENSUS quickly formed among Democrats that they spent too much time talking about democracy and failed to focus on “kitchen-table issues” like affordability. As a campaign issue, the protection of American democracy was viewed as too abstract and hysterical. It was something elites in Washington cared about, but a matter of indifference for struggling Americans who had just suffered through a painful bout of inflation. After Trump won by his widest margin ever in 2024, Democrats resolved to table the whole authoritarianism thing and instead talk more about the price of eggs.
🎟️ COME JOIN US IN MINNEAPOLIS, DALLAS, and AUSTIN🎟️
There are still tickets available for Minneapolis on February 18th, and in Dallas on March 18th, and Austin on March 19th. Get yours before they sell out!
Warning Signs of Election Interference
LAST WEEK’S RAID BY FBI AGENTS of the Fulton County, Georgia, elections warehouse seeking ballots and other materials is not only the latest salvo in President Donald Trump’s years-long effort to discredit the results of the 2020 election. It is also an alarming signal of the kinds of abuses we should expect from Trump and his allies in future elections.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
ICYMI: I was up in Springfield, Ohio, earlier this week, where locals are relieved but clear eyed. If you missed my dispatch in Morning Shots, it’s here. If you missed my video dispatch, you can catch it here.
I’ll have more to report as news happens, but the best place you can donate to help locally there is here, the Haitian Support Center.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
It is the democracy and has been for years. It is the Conservative Movement that successfully got the Voting Rights Act gutted by the SC. It is the Conservative Movement that got the justices need to give Trump presidential immunity. It is the Conservative Movement that got the justices the take freedoms from women by theocrats. It is the Conservative Movement that wrote Project 2025. It is the Conservative Movement that has backed the dehumanization of so many different Thems - a basic part of the authoritarian playbook. It is the Conservative Movement that attacks every part of the First Amendment and a bunch of other Amendments. It is the Conservative Movement that has created the kind of country that has given rise to those proud to be Nazis.
It is the democracy that is so very much at risk.
Jim, THANK YOU for the link here to your Insta from Springfield. Hearing what's happening, what people are already experiencing, the tension & anticipation... makes me think of our neighbors across the globe, like being in a big town in Western Ukraine, wondering when the war will come for you. Our sisters & brothers in Springfield wonder when the President of our own country will set his schock troops upon them.
Please keep us up to date when you can. And be careful out there