Dems Need New Mediums—And a New Message
Plus: 1,001 Days of War in Ukraine
Recently in The Bulwark:
BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: RFK Jr. on Chemtrails: ‘I Am Persuaded’
JVL: Be Not Afraid 🔐
JOE PERTICONE: Pete Hegseth’s Enemies List Includes Historic Navy Admiral and You Don’t Have the Votes’: How Trump Barred the Gaetz
Overtime is for everyone. If you’re a subscriber: thank you. If you’re not, there’s no better time to subscribe to Bulwark+ than today. If you like today’s issue, you can share this newsletter with someone you think would value it.
A.B. STODDARD: Dems Need New Mediums—And a New Message
STILL SMARTING FROM DEFEAT, Democrats are hoovering up data, focused on how they can win back the working-class voters who left them for Donald Trump, tossing around names of people they hope can lead the party out of the wilderness.
Complaints and criticisms—about which policies were highlighted or not, which attacks went answered or not, which celebrity appearances might have turned off gettable voters—are being leveled at Kamala Harris’s losing campaign.
In one of many postmortems, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Cal.), a progressive interested in higher office, told the Washington Post, “We didn’t emphasize the economy. We didn’t emphasize the renewal of the American dream. We didn’t emphasize manufacturing and higher wages and corporations not having excessive CEO pay. Instead, we spent a billion dollars having concerts all over America. I mean, it was ridiculous.”
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Sam Harris: Our Democracy Is Already Unraveling [YouTube]
The Michael Steele Podcast: Trump's Menagerie of Misfits (with John Fugelsang, Tara Setmayer & Symone Sanders-Townsend) [YouTube]
Bulwark+ Live: Matt Gaetz Withdraws From AG Nomination?!?! [YouTube]
Shield of the Republic: We're Already at War with Russia
Did you know? Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of these podcasts on the player of their choice.
Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.
📣Bulwark+ members can now listen to ad-free podcasts on Spotify! Learn more here.
Our 🎥YouTube offerings are the free-versions of shows, and they do have ads.
✍️Also: Did you know that every podcast has a transcript for B+ members? Yes! If you’re more a reader than a listener/viewer, open any podcast and the transcript button is beneath the player.
CATHY YOUNG: 1,001 Days of War in Ukraine
WEDNESDAY IS THE 1,001st day of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
But the war has actually been going on much longer.
Wednesday is also the 3,919th day since Russian forces attacked Crimea following the “Revolution of Dignity” that brought a pro-Western government to power in Kyiv; soon after that, the Kremlin-engineered separatist insurgency, often aided by Russian troops posing as “volunteers,” began in Eastern Ukraine.
SONNY BUNCH: ‘Wicked: Part One’ Review
WICKED: PART ONE IS SOMETHING LIKE a musically inclined origin story from the early era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: The characters are broad and the backgrounds are computer generated and the conflicts are flimsy and the whole thing serves mainly to demonstrate how the hero get her powers in order to let us watch her unleash them in future, better installments of the franchise.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Thursday! Ohio delivered! Not many election results I liked, but there was snow in the forecast and it came. While it didn’t stick, it flurried all day, which put the family in an excellent winter-y mood. Jealous former Ohioans in my family were treated to the finest pro-Ohio propaganda our state coffers could devise and fund. Almost like a Hallmark Movie, really. (Except with JD Vance, Jim Jordan, and Vivek Ramaswamy.)
Speaking of, it’s time to go watch my Cleveland Browns play the Steelers. Good thing I don’t have a bottom for disappointment.
Speaking of Pittsburgh… Jay Leno took a tumble there before a comedy show and the local news coverage is cutely comical when you think that all of this effort went to showcase a hill Jay Leno fell down. (Perhaps a commemorative sign is in the works?) Don’t worry: The Hardest Working Man in Showbiz was undeterred.
Stood Up at the Gaetz of Hell…
…Matt Gaetz Backs Down
Matt Gaetz abruptly resigned from the House after being tapped as Trump’s Attorney General. The timing was convenient, with the House Ethics Committee nearing a conclusion on its investigation into him.
His resignation is a good litmus test for Senate Republican chucklefuckery: who debased themselves for him? The usuals! Who decided to wait a beat before stepping on the rake? Mitt Romney’s replacement, John Curtis. Keep an eye on him! Mitch McConnell, rightly or wrongly, is getting some credit, but as I see it, Big John Cornyn probably is who we have to thank the most.
What’s Next for Gaetz?
Serving the Rest of His Term? No, his resignation is final.
Taking the Oath in January? Unclear. His resignation letter to DeSantis and Speaker Johnson stated he wouldn’t take the oath for that office. But it’s possible!
Senate Seat? Possible if Marco Rubio leaves for Secretary of State.
FL Governor? 2026 is far off but feasible if the ethics report remains buried.
Pam Bondi’s Potential AG Bid
Pam Bondi, once Florida’s Attorney General, is back in focus. We’ll have more on her as her nomination ages, but I thought back to a piece by my old colleague Fred Barnes from 11 years ago at The Weekly Standard called “The Last Redoubt” about Attorneys General under the Obama years.
Fred enthusiastically, as is his wont, basically predicted the rise of the activist Republican AG class. And Bondi was one of the first. Fred’s item concluded:
And by the mid-1990s, a conservative legal movement was rising. “Most of the Republican AGs,” Barnett says, have come out of the new legal culture. “I don’t think you are going to see any decline in the importance of state AGs in our constitutional system,” Leonard Leo says.
More [Gregg] Abbotts are in the legal pipeline. And if all goes well, voters will soon know their names.
Indeed. Though 11 years later, Bondi re-emerges from her private sector wilderness, far more competent than Gaetz, comparatively less scandalous, and probably kookier than when she last held the public trust.
Buckle up, America. These holidays are going to be a rollercoaster.
Great Grandpa’s Office… Incoming Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI) pushed his colleagues to let him get a specific new office in the Longworth House Office Building. Normally there is a lottery system, but Barrett’s great grandfather served in Longworth 1232 for 27 years. He got the office.
Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
—30—
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
