A case study took place this past winter in North Carolina. And though the party ultimately won the state supreme court seat, it came at a serious cost.
I think we can see the GOP's 2026 game plan. Use the goverment to create chaos in the midterms. Throw the elections to the supreme court, which rubber-stamps the eternal GOP majority.
Never mind post election legal challenges, in the run-up to the elections you can fully expect a widespread campaign of intimidation to deter people from coming out to vote. The masked brownshirts will come out in force, particularly in closely fought districts, and there will be a spate of naturalized citizens snatched off the streets under threat of having their citizenship stripped (with no due process to defend themselves), and even if that doesn’t end up working in specific cases, just the threat of it will keep naturalized citizens from leaving their homes on voting day.
Winning by distorting and warping the process, basically undermining the wishes and intentions of the voters is not winning. That's not winning. That's more like cheating. You didn't have a winning hand, so you resorted to underhandedness. That's not winning. That's what losers do.
i hate this. How is it democracy when every result is turned into an expensive court battle that is usually won by the side with the most money? There is way, way too much money in politics and not enough democracy.
That’s why millions of us have to turn out to vote! No one can sit at home, no one can say, “this is ‘fill in the blue state’, Democrats always win here”, giving themselves a get out of jail free card for not bothering to vote!
Isn’t there a way to sue people for frivolous lawsuits? It seems like there should be. Democrats have to “go to the mattresses.” These bastards will lie, cheat and steal to stay in power. No more Mr. Nice Guy bs.
The Dems problems are neatly summarized in this post. You have the young active progressive pro gaza wing that they really need this up coming election cycle. And you have the older active pro Isreal (as a lesser of two evils maybe) wing that they need to win this cycle. And you have a don't give a damn about either side (both sides currently screaming loudly at this group) group of Dems they cannot afford to lose if they hope to win. These groups really cannot live very well together. And they cannot win apart from each other. The GOP gan live in the bizarre alt-world where the party of antisemites is Pro Isreal to the point of insanity. The benefits of being the party of stupid and the party of alternative facts.
And the Dems need money and the people that give money are unhappy with the lack of action by the dems and that action of course takes money. They cannot reach out to corporations and billionaires that hate trump because they are then "Corporate Democrats". "grassroots" only has so much money. And any money given is going to be dictated by the above struggle between the Pro Gaza (or Hamas) Left and the Pro Isreal (or anti Hamas or plauge of both your houses) moderates.
So what to do? Wait until Trumps Big Ugly Abomination lands with both feet on millions of people and then be the only alternative to say Stop!? Find a way to get a coalition that includes everyone by just agreeing on some fundamentals: Both Isreal and Hamas need to stop killing each other and Trump is the biggest threat to everyone. Or just throw your hands up and joint the GOP and hope to get a slowly raise their Collective IQ by osmosis. Become the real enemy within. Or just agree to disagree and fight each battle district by district, give to your local candidate and keep on hammering the issues that the majority care about: the economy and healthcare. Odds are both will be in bad shape by this time next year.
Or we can keep on fighting each other and just hope the midterms stumble along like most midterms.
Am I wrong to wonder if states with all-Republican governments (governor plus both houses of the legislature) might try to keep Democrats off ballots altogether? Unconstitutional, but that does not seem to be deterring them these days. And the Trump administration has already made noises about Democrats supporting terrorists / rebels / gang members etc. so they could conjure up some sort of "national security" reason. And now with the Supreme Court decision about nationwide injunctions from district judges, and thinking back to JVL's Triad last week, there might be some sympathetic judges in some parts of the country to let such actions stand. That could be enough to prevent a House Democratic majority.
I haven't given money to dems for at least a couple of cycles (I'm generally of the belief that money matters A LOT less in our current media environment), but I'm happy to chip in money in 2026 if the GOP pursue this route, and I'd imagine a lot of folks would feel the same.
This is really simple. Stop playing defense and start playing offense. Sue the Republicans for all the Democrats’ cost defending a frivolous lawsuit. Challenge their lawyers by attempting to disbar them. The Democrats also need to start contesting votes just like the Republicans—especially in toss up elections in Democratic states. Stop complaining and act!
This is very interesting and scary. Thanks for covering the unsexy party coffers angle on this. Like Trump, the GOP has shown itself more than willing to deploy any tool, including lawfare, to try for permanent one party government. Also thanks for that CNN Cuomo story. He always struck me as a stubborn bully but this shows to what degree. Maybe if he is handed a second big loss in November, New Yorkers can finally be rid of him.
I think we can see the GOP's 2026 game plan. Use the goverment to create chaos in the midterms. Throw the elections to the supreme court, which rubber-stamps the eternal GOP majority.
Never mind post election legal challenges, in the run-up to the elections you can fully expect a widespread campaign of intimidation to deter people from coming out to vote. The masked brownshirts will come out in force, particularly in closely fought districts, and there will be a spate of naturalized citizens snatched off the streets under threat of having their citizenship stripped (with no due process to defend themselves), and even if that doesn’t end up working in specific cases, just the threat of it will keep naturalized citizens from leaving their homes on voting day.
Winning by distorting and warping the process, basically undermining the wishes and intentions of the voters is not winning. That's not winning. That's more like cheating. You didn't have a winning hand, so you resorted to underhandedness. That's not winning. That's what losers do.
i hate this. How is it democracy when every result is turned into an expensive court battle that is usually won by the side with the most money? There is way, way too much money in politics and not enough democracy.
That’s why millions of us have to turn out to vote! No one can sit at home, no one can say, “this is ‘fill in the blue state’, Democrats always win here”, giving themselves a get out of jail free card for not bothering to vote!
Isn’t there a way to sue people for frivolous lawsuits? It seems like there should be. Democrats have to “go to the mattresses.” These bastards will lie, cheat and steal to stay in power. No more Mr. Nice Guy bs.
Of course the DNC didn't help in NC. Just a worthless organization. Let Hogg take over.
The Dems problems are neatly summarized in this post. You have the young active progressive pro gaza wing that they really need this up coming election cycle. And you have the older active pro Isreal (as a lesser of two evils maybe) wing that they need to win this cycle. And you have a don't give a damn about either side (both sides currently screaming loudly at this group) group of Dems they cannot afford to lose if they hope to win. These groups really cannot live very well together. And they cannot win apart from each other. The GOP gan live in the bizarre alt-world where the party of antisemites is Pro Isreal to the point of insanity. The benefits of being the party of stupid and the party of alternative facts.
And the Dems need money and the people that give money are unhappy with the lack of action by the dems and that action of course takes money. They cannot reach out to corporations and billionaires that hate trump because they are then "Corporate Democrats". "grassroots" only has so much money. And any money given is going to be dictated by the above struggle between the Pro Gaza (or Hamas) Left and the Pro Isreal (or anti Hamas or plauge of both your houses) moderates.
So what to do? Wait until Trumps Big Ugly Abomination lands with both feet on millions of people and then be the only alternative to say Stop!? Find a way to get a coalition that includes everyone by just agreeing on some fundamentals: Both Isreal and Hamas need to stop killing each other and Trump is the biggest threat to everyone. Or just throw your hands up and joint the GOP and hope to get a slowly raise their Collective IQ by osmosis. Become the real enemy within. Or just agree to disagree and fight each battle district by district, give to your local candidate and keep on hammering the issues that the majority care about: the economy and healthcare. Odds are both will be in bad shape by this time next year.
Or we can keep on fighting each other and just hope the midterms stumble along like most midterms.
Am I wrong to wonder if states with all-Republican governments (governor plus both houses of the legislature) might try to keep Democrats off ballots altogether? Unconstitutional, but that does not seem to be deterring them these days. And the Trump administration has already made noises about Democrats supporting terrorists / rebels / gang members etc. so they could conjure up some sort of "national security" reason. And now with the Supreme Court decision about nationwide injunctions from district judges, and thinking back to JVL's Triad last week, there might be some sympathetic judges in some parts of the country to let such actions stand. That could be enough to prevent a House Democratic majority.
I haven't given money to dems for at least a couple of cycles (I'm generally of the belief that money matters A LOT less in our current media environment), but I'm happy to chip in money in 2026 if the GOP pursue this route, and I'd imagine a lot of folks would feel the same.
There AREN'T GOING TO BE ANY MIDTERMS
Another reason that in2026 everyone must vote big margins best way to stop the nonsense
This is really simple. Stop playing defense and start playing offense. Sue the Republicans for all the Democrats’ cost defending a frivolous lawsuit. Challenge their lawyers by attempting to disbar them. The Democrats also need to start contesting votes just like the Republicans—especially in toss up elections in Democratic states. Stop complaining and act!
This is very interesting and scary. Thanks for covering the unsexy party coffers angle on this. Like Trump, the GOP has shown itself more than willing to deploy any tool, including lawfare, to try for permanent one party government. Also thanks for that CNN Cuomo story. He always struck me as a stubborn bully but this shows to what degree. Maybe if he is handed a second big loss in November, New Yorkers can finally be rid of him.
The midterms were cancelled the moment Trumpo got re-elected. They just haven't announced it yet.
I don’t understand why the resource drain is a problem for Democrats on defense but not Republicans on offense?
Lots and lots of PACs and very, very little gag reflex, let alone respect for law, on the Republican side over what to spend all that money on.