Thanks, Andrew for another beautifully written piece complete with this sentence: "Islamist regimes abroad and single-celled organisms at home keep disobeying his extremely clear instructions, no matter how many bombs or gallon jugs of hydrogen peroxide he sends their way"
It's only because the single cell organisms get a vote.
They hit the blue-green algae with peroxide, killing it, but creating an environment where other species of algae could thrive. Only this administration could be so packed with incompetents that this problem could still be going on.
In all seriousness I feel extremely lucky, especially given the state of the industry, to be at an outfit that pays well enough to support my family in the DC area on a single income (my wife is a SAHM for now). For which I have all of you to thank!
Rothschild's Sewage and Septic Sucking Services runs a lucrative franchise, though. It could have something to do with the fact that Winston Rothschild is number 1 in the number 2 business.
I watched as much of the rally as I could stand , less than 15 minutes. I am not an expert, but I believe Trump is losing some of his charisma. His lines seem old and the audience response seems canned. I think it may be an issue for him that to pull of his routine he needs a specific demonized by comic enemy, like crooked Hillary, Hussein Obama, or sleepy Joe. Weirdly Democrat disarray may actually make things harder for Trump. Antifa is now the main monster and at best it’s unconvincing. Yesterday’s story in Wapo about the long sentences for alleged ‘antifa’ members was really disturbing.
I embrace as healthy a lifestyle as I can just to help ensure I’m around to see the succession fight for Trump’s crown. Those founders who bestowed democracy on us all knew how succession went in Rome, Greece and countries ruled by monarchs.
Yeah, I saw a few minutes and crowd looked mildly embarrassed, not enthusiastic, but I saw when Trump was announcing that he should run for office a third time. He's not getting buyers on that idea even among MAGA.
I know, it is truly amazing. It's like these people are in another space-time continuum. And also amazing is that some of them, maybe most of them, didn't pay any attention to politics ten years ago.
Here’s a Substack (free most days) that caters to them. Rather than inform his readers of the bad Iran news, he pivots to conspiracy theories about Covid and Anthony Fauci.
While I appreciate the informative link, I think I will pass on reading it. I live in a county that voted +40 for Trump, so I have already gotten the full experience. Unfortunately.
I wish the Democrats could say something that most Americans could get behind and do it in a convincing way. I hear...
"Yeah, we gotta talk about corruption and whatnot for now, but that's just to get the rube vote. Once we get back in, we can focus on climate and gender issues and all the important stuff again."
They sound like they're from Oberlin because they ARE from Oberlin.
That's why Platner bothers them so much. He doesn't sound like he's from Oberlin.
I'm glad someone watched part, I've had to avoid anything in Pennsylvania, and one state out west, maybe Utah, maybe Nevada, but he sure is not traveling much. I may try and catch it on Cspan, we do need to witness, I'm not worn out, a little sad though.
There's a pun opportunity there, somewhere: we can't get the Reflecting Pool squared away because...it's a rectangle. But it's the most beautiful rectangle, many people say.
Anyone else notice how small and insignificant Trump looks in that photo? It was the first thing I noticed about it. He looks like a tiny guy with tiny little hands.
I retired from teaching 20 years ago after nearly 32 years. I'm in sympathy with "education". It is sad to see this many folks (who vote, I guess) blindly, unquestionably trust in what they've created in trump! No critical thinking skills, no ability to make connections, no cause/effect reasoning, just programmed to adore.😩🥺💔
Centrists might not like it, but the progressive realignment of the Democratic Party that we've been trying to tell everyone about for over a year is now well underway, no matter how much dark money is spent to oppose it. Democratic voters who've sat out since their party leadership has aligned itself with AIPAC and the corporate lobby are back, they're retaking their party, and they have no patience for fence-sitting establishment Democrats who call progressive policy, "radical."
I generally consider myself a centrist Democrat but even I understand why a progressive message is resonating. We have a radical Republican party that wants to send society back to 1930 (or hell, 1830), that thinks the Gilded Age is a good goal, and blatently works to destroy ordinary people. Countering that with anything other than full throated radicals of our own seems futile, stupid and weak.
Trump apologists told us that the rise of Trumpian populism was a natural response to ordinary Americans feeling left behind. The populism was only stylistic, but hard-right ideologues still say that a Trump-led counterrevolution is necessary to save "American culture" from leftism.
Considering how blatantly plutocratic Trump's policies have been, his apologists shouldn't be surprised that they're provoking a left-wing reaction.
I want someone to stop Trump and MAGA and fascism. If Schumer won't be against American concentration camps, I will find politicians who are anti-concentration camp. This isn't a difficult concept. I want our Constitution to matter.
The junior senator from New York essentially doesn’t exist. My friends and I, her constituents, are always asking each other, what does Gillibrand actually do?? No one ever comes up with an answer.
Leading up to her last campaign, I recall someone compiled a collection of clips of her telling the same story about how a trip to Brooklyn changed her, putting on display her lack of actual awareness of her constituents. Then, she got re-elected.
This is it. People want their rights, and the rights of their neighbors, protected. They want to see people fighting for them. Anyone who is not fighting hard for their constituents is not going to fare well. I can’t even tell you how almost everyone I know loves Brad Lander because we all saw him trying to protect his constituents from those ICE thugs as they roughed him up. That kind of stuff matters right now.
Things are measurably getting worse for everyone except the mega rich. People want answers, and milquetoast centrism won't give us anything except the status quo.
Radical solutions are needed to get us back on track.
I'm not sure "centrism" is necessarily the problem (this coming from someone who would probably fall on the "far left" end of the spectrum/pidgeonhole). The problem is having the intestinal fortitude to go after Trump and his minions, rather than strongly worded letters and hand-wringing concern.
That's why I was disappointed at (good ol') George Conway's poor showing in NY-12. Because he does have the aforementioned fortitude, as well as the necessary skill set. Well, maybe we'll be seeing him around these parts again.
Compare/contrast the unbridled everyman joy around The Knicks, and the leader at that city’s helm, with the taunting disrespect on the White House lawn, and the craven cult leader behind that spectacle.
Look beyond political tribalism and acknowledge Mamdani is actually working to make the lives of NYC non-1%’ers better.
You’re conflating centrism with cowardice and I think that’s wrong. Plenty of Dems have been reluctant to call a spade a spade and don’t understand the new media environment. That’s cowardice. Centrism is understanding that coalition building requires you to run from party lines occasionally to win elections. The dirt bag left loves a purity test and is sitting on the horseshoe next to MAGA. If progressives want to do sewer socialism and fund infrastructure, healthcare, promote building and other abundance stuff, great, if it’s “the west is evil, Russia is just defending itself, and China is a paradise,” then I’m concerned.
No, I call out self-described centrists, because in the current political environment, there is no such thing. There is no halfway point between universal healthcare and eliminating due process. Between saving social security and having whistleblowers investigated. Between closing tax loopholes and unilateral war. The left and right extremes are not on the same spectrum, so there is no balance between them. It's not a matter of cowardice or bravery. It's matter of calling people out for pretending it's possible to straddle the line. It is not.
I’m not sure why you’re drawing a line between healthcare and due process. The two ends of the line are totally for profit healthcare with no restrictions and something like the VA or NHS. Same with SS and whistleblowers and tax policy and war?
I'm saying that there is no comparison between the two "sides." They're not operating on the same set of rules and facts, and to claim to be in the middle is a display of either ignorance or dishonesty. The "left" believes in the rule of law. The "right" believes in loyalty and "might makes right." There is no shared belief for this dynamic, and for most other positions the regime has taken. These are not positions for which there is a middle ground.
I guess I’m referring to centrism as the ability to share more pro life ideas and say that land acknowledgments are dumb so you can win in a red district. Those aren’t middle positions between fascism and democracy, they’re more social signals to voters who have an irrational hatred for purple haired baristas in NYC.
I'm a little surprised at myself, but as a centrist there's relatively little I disagree with progressives on at the moment. My concern is more about purity tests and messaging skills. We'll see.
I live in the Lehigh Valley, in “the purplest district in the purplest state in the country,”per a friend. I look forward to voting out Mackenzie in November and watching President Man deal with a Democratic House next year … if he hasn’t wasted away from taking that new Lilly drug (see headlines about a mysterious 79-yr-old man getting dispensation to try an experimental obesity medication).
While I still maintain that he's better than Oz, Fetterman is a major disappointment. Turns out that Fetterman's only skill was having a clever modern campaign.
As an out-of-state donator to Fetterman, I wince but rationalize that I helped stave off six years of Dr Supplement in the Senate, compared to whatever shenanigans he gets up to as Admin of CMS.
What’s sad is we will never know how a no stroke Fetterman would behave/vote in the Senate. I think we can assume he’d still dress like Charlie Brown OD’d on growth hormones.
In Washington State there is young and clever MGP --Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. A small "D" in a R/I sprawling SW Washington district just across the Columbia River from Portland. I am not in that district, but supported her because Joe Kent was the opposition and MGP was clearly on the side of local issues and constituents, where Kent was spouting the rolodex of crays and slide show of national issues. I do not agree with her on a number of issues, but continued to admire her independent spirit and "constituent representation". More recently, her voting record has been surprisingly ignorant on issues that should be very clear. It is disappointing.
Fishback is horrible, but not a lot better than his opponent. Hopefully their combined incompetence will usher in a chance for a D win (not holding my breath tho).
Thank you for the tip, even though it means _The Atlantic_ can't be dessert tonight. Maybe it's true, that thing about eating dessert first? At any rate, that's the best opening line I've read in a while.
Open up that link, and even if you don't read the whole article, take a look at the face of whoever the guy is in the picture with Trump. He's thinking, "What the whuuu!!".
Also in the Chait article, notice that "Somebody said" is Trump's source for his latest claim that vandals are dumping fertilizer into the pool. The SNL bits write themselves.
Andrew: "Every stupid threadbare brag line, every completely invented cockamamie anecdote and scripted attack on the “Dumocrats”—the crowd, as usual, ate it up with a spoon. “There’s so much love in the room,” Trump said. “There’s so much unbelievable love.”"
What does it say about "the crowd" that 11 years into the Trump era, these people are still watching with bated breath the ramblings of a demented, narcissistic sociopath. Attending one of these rallies in 2026 is a choice, and the rest of us are allowed to make moral judgments about their character (or really lack of it).
Also, "so much unbelievable love?"
JFC. If the people who truly matter actually loved you, you'd be in a nursing home instead of stumbling across the country while carrying the codes to our nuclear arsenal. The fact that you're not means the people who truly matter are ***using you***, including Uday and Qusay. No one loves you, Mr. President. You are incapable of absorbing love. You are incapable of giving love. The second that you're not useful anymore, you'll be discarded and you'll spend your remaining time screaming at the clouds until your appointment with Our Father Below.
From what I've read, that usefulness will expire the moment we are 1 day past the two year mark on this term. That would allow Vance to govern for 1.999 years without affecting his eligibility for two full terms.
You did it again boys. You manage every morning to make me spit my coffee out with your excellent takes on the absurdist experimental theatre troupe called the US government. Well done.
When John F. Kennedy was running to be president, Protestants voiced concern that a President Kennedy would take orders from the Pope. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is well aware that if he runs for president, people will warn that he will be a tool of Israel. Both predictions arose from fear-mongering, hate-mongering, and prejudice. Not so the predictions that were voiced about Tulsi. She was a bona fide Manchurian Candidate.
The Bulwark needs to prepare itself for the ascendance of the DSA wing. Whether or not you agree with their policy recommendations, we cannot ignore the current political and economic environment, and it is ripe for this type of a philosophy. When the stock market has become completely untethered from reality, when one of the worst people in the world has become the world's first trillionaire (something so obscene I cannot wrap my head around it), and while those who are lucky enough to have a job toil to make the ownership class wealthier and wealthier while they struggle with stagnant wages and inflation, you're going to see increasing the appeal of a movement that deems the entire system rotten and corrupt, and proposes revolutionary solutions.
'he intends to try to sell a return to the status quo2 in the Strait of Hormuz as one of those Wonderful, Magnificent Deals Only Trump Could Ever Get You: “Yesterday, 19 million barrels of oil flowed out of the Strait of Hormuz, a very beautiful place,” he said. “That’s the most oil in the history of the strait.” (In reality, it’s still a bit subpar—last year an average of 20 million barrels passed through the waterway daily.)'
So he's lying about 19 million being a record. And also probably lying about the 19 million.
'Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania yesterday, Trump acknowledged, in his way, the need for continued discussion of the war: “Anybody that’s been critical of it has to be educated.”'
And by "educated," Trump actually meant indoctrinated.
If it is our collective fate to transition from being the Republicans nobody in the Republican Party likes because we won't stop screeching about Donald Trump to being the Democrats nobody in the Democratic Party likes because we won't stop screeching that markets are Good, Actually and economists are worth having in your governing coalition . . . well, so be it!
Well regulated markets. We won't even get into the trickle down con job of Reaganomics. Bush the Elder was correct when he called it "Voodoo Economics".
I would be interested to see if you think at least part of the problem people have with Mamdami is his foreign name, not very white skin and his non-Christian religion. After all, there is probably a reason Trump never refers to Obama without including his middle name.
I think it's coming, and whether America is ready for it or it's smart politically, I can't say. It plays great in parts of New York but it could be suicidal in other places. Propaganda will play a huge role, paid for by the oligarchs who are so invested in maintaining the status quo. But what is becoming increasingly clear to me is that things have gotten bad, they're on the cusp of getting way out of hand, and I don't see any evidence that traditional economists have any good answers or solutions, or that the way we've been doing things to get us to this point is at all sustainable.
As a HS teacher (retired 2020), I taught the backend of Millennials, and the vanguard of Gen Z. I noticed a distinct shift in their priorities, from students of previous years. They were much more attuned to climate change, healthcare, and social security (not being there for them). They understood these issues couldn't be solved by individual States, and needed comprehensive solutions addressed nationally.
They felt their concerns for the future were being ignored by politicians continually kicking the cans down the road. I saw a budding openness toward more socialistic solutions from both liberal and conservative students.
They believe climate change is real and we should be utilizing all available energy sources. They see the real cost of healthcare in their families and are favorable to Medicare for all. They feel that social security will be cut (and not for us oldies) but upon their backs. That 401k's are not as good as a defined benefit for retirement. They are also much more tolerant of gender issues and human rights.
The mind-set of the young is not set by having had any meaningful participation in the largest economic expansion in modern history, but rather by the decline of their prospects for upward-mobility. They are being relegated to gig-economy jobs, and have deal with oppressive student-debt, should they seek higher education . They are disgusted by the open corruption happening around them and see crony-capitalism as mortgaging their futures.
The DSA is speaking directly to the young about their inner fears, and presenting actual policies, that at least, address the failures of action. The rise of the DSA is only going to gain more traction, as the young maturate as a cohort. This phenomenon was going happen, sooner or later.
". . . economists are worth having in your governing coalition . . ."
It depends on the economist. We tend to focus on what is right in front of us: the midterms, and then 2028. But there is a reason the Republican party turned fascist. Desperate people will grab a lifeline, even if it turns out it isn't attached to anything. Over the past several decades, the scale of economic inequality has become obscene. Both parties contributed to this. Trump promised to help the people who are hurting, and they bought his promises. Maybe some of his voters even realized it might be a scam, but they were desperate, so they took a chance.
Democrats may well win in 2026 and 2028 with nothing more than "we aren't as bad as the other guy." But if they do, and if they don't have answers to the economic problems of tens of millions of Americans, the win will be temporary. Voters will swing back to fascism, maybe so hard that elections won't matter after that.
Our goal has to be more than winning one or two elections. We need to build a society that most Americans can buy into. A society that is immune to fascism. Americans need jobs. Americans need a decent place to live. Americans need to feed their children and themselves. Americans need to know that they can get health care when they need it. Americans need to educate their children. Americans need the opportunity to have these things without getting buried in debt, and to save a little to invest in their future. Are these things just for a few exceptionally talented and dedicated individuals, or can these things be within the reach of most people? The aging corporate Democrats who have controlled the party for the last several decades have no idea how to deliver on these goals. The ones developing plans for addressing these issues are dismissed as "progressive" or even "radical." Maybe you recoil at the thought of socialized medicine. But other countries have demonstrated that socialized medicine is just like the other kind, except it is better and cheaper.
Leaders of the Bulwark have an opportunity to engage in the policy debates that can lead us out of this crisis. There isn't another forum like this. Sure, talk about the horse races in 2026 and 2028. But we expect more from you. Our country depends on it.
Well said. Though I'm concerned that the current swing to fascism is already hard enough that political power won't swing back to the Dems in 2026 or 2028. The regime will do anything they can, legal or illegal, to prevent it.
I agree with everything on the list in your penultimate paragraph, James. Unfortunately, the Republicans have successfully taught many Americans that this equates to that dreaded Socialism. You are right that other countries have demonstrated that these things are possible without turning Socialist. They do require a national commitment to care for all citizens and a willingness to pay taxes to cover that, however. One of the reasons they are okay with this is their own self-interest: if they get sick, lose their job, or need help with paying for child care so they can work after having kids, they know that help will be there, and they won't end up living in their car with their kids or rationing their insulin.
The policies promoted by elected DSA members are quite similar to Eisenhower’s policy preferences from the 50s and 60s. These are decades that most Americans associate with stability and upward mobility for working Americans.
I’m deeply disappointed in this take. It seems to rely heavily on a straw man argument and lacks the nuance and curiosity I associate with both you and the Bulwark.
"The Bulwark needs to prepare itself for the ascendance of the DSA wing. Whether or not you agree with their policy recommendations, we cannot ignore the current political and economic environment, and it is ripe for this type of a philosophy. When the stock market has become completely untethered from reality, when one of the worst people in the world has become the world's first trillionaire (something so obscene I cannot wrap my head around it), and while those who are lucky enough to have a job toil to make the ownership class wealthier and wealthier while they struggle with stagnant wages and inflation, you're going to see increasing the appeal of a movement that deems the entire system rotten and corrupt, and proposes revolutionary solutions."
It's a given that Russia has been monkeying around with our electoral process. Pretend you're a Russian cyber operative. Ask yourself how you would program your bots for maximum damage at this juncture. My answer: promote the shit out of DSA, then tar the whole party as anti-American commies.
This is how we cede power and enrich the wealthy; by punching each other instead of punching up. It's been an incredibly effective strategy for centuries, and interested parties, from malign foreign actors to our own 1%, will keep going to this playbook for as long as we allow it to work.
Yeah, I totally agree, Dems have to win as many elections as possible. What works in New York is not going to work everywhere, but I think these DSA policies are going to gain traction among Dem primary voters outside of New York. And Republicans are going to run ads against them about Communism and Socialism (which they'd do no matter what, but probably with more effectiveness against these types of candidates).
My lament is that we're all getting played. DSA candidates are not really Republican voters' enemies, and vice versa, but everybody on this lateral plane is convinced they're all each other's enemy, because moneyed interests keep churning out propaganda to convince us this is so. In reality, the enemy is the people getting rich off of us fighting amongst ourselves rather than against them, and there are so many more of us than them.
How on earth, in a democracy, can there be this much concentration of wealth?
Oddly, the concentration of wealth (ownership of the means of production) was the precondition for a truly Marxist revolution as Marx himself told it. A guy like Musk would own everything and at that point the rest of us would look at him and say "It's over." We own it all now.
Without systemic changes, these concentrations over the coming years are going to become probably orders of magnitude more egregious. I don't know if voters are smart enough to realize this before it's too late; in my estimation, we need the exact types of candidates right now that we've become conditioned as a society to abhor.
The DNC in 2016, "We can't run Bernie, the Rs will call him a communist!". Run Hillary, whom Rs immediately and thruout the campain call a communist. (DNC blames the Green Party, rather than looking in the mirror, just like they did with Gore and Nader).
The DNC in 2020, "We can't run Bernie/Pete/etc, the Rs will call them a communist!". Run Biden (who, to be fair, won, but not by much). Rs call him a communist for six months.
Harris didn't have a primary. Rs call her a communist and win, despite Trump being FAR more of a communist than she is. But she's from CA, so 🤷♂️.
How could I not blame the Green Party for 2000? There was a time when third parties struggled to get a couple of their issues onto a major party platform and in return threw their support to that party. Since the change that some small % of votes this time around meant public funding next time around that's changed. I hold Nader as responsible for what followed as I do Bill Clinton for not being able to keep his pennacker in his pants.
Actually, come to think if it, the Kennedy anti-vaxxers played it smarter this last time around. Completely aside from what I think of their point of view, they succeeded in making progress where the Greens dropped the ball.
You are identifying "Fusion Voting", where one party takes another party's candidate as their own. Minnesota's Democratic Farmer-Laborer Party is a legacy of this phenomena. FV has been scarce everywhere for decades. However recently, the Democrats seemed to wake up, accepted a moderate Independent as their supported candidate in Nebraska (caucus D). He won. Let's hear it for FV! If Nader had thrown Green party's support behind Gore, W, would not have happened. Same with HW and Perot, and Clinton. And maybe Trump wouldn't have if only Stein...
FV was fairly common in the US until the late 30's, when the R's and D's together agreed to push Primary-Vote nominating. This in lieu of caucusing, or party delegate-nomination backroom deals. It was a bipartisan solution for the State's big-two parties apparatchiks to lock-out any 3rd party interference in elections. It's the genesis of our modern "Two-Party System", sold as increasing voter participation; it became popular, but served to increase bi-partisan power over the electorate.
Gore ran a horrible campaign, didn't even win his home state, and just thought it was his "turn". So instead of learning from that, they pointed fingers at Nader, even more than the hanging chads and FL judge (one Pam Bondi, IIRC) that stopped the recount. Then Hillary ran a horrible campaign, thinking it was her "turn", and lost to Donald Friggin Trump.
So, Nader voters actually *owed* Gore their votes somehow? People who voted Nader were about 50/50 on who they would have supported without him in the race. So the net-net is it had zero impact on the outcome. Gore just botched the campaign, but the Dems didn't learn a damn thing.
I seriously doubt your 50-50 statistic. Nader wanted future campaign funding, do he stuck it out to fall short of what it would have necessary to obtain it. I have zero respect for him..
Bill described the war as “unauthorized “ when in fact it was illegal, just like the boat strikes and the regime change in Venezuela. Euphemisms muddle the waters when communicating.
Tulsi Gabbard and her guru should be hauled before Congress to testify about their relationship and what information may have been shared, but I won’t hold my breath. But let’s be honest we are in a predicament where the former DNI was most likely directed by a cult leader because of the exact same behavior by the Republican Party. The only reason she became DNI director was because of the same cult-like behavior she is accused of by the Republican Party out of fealty to Donald Trump. Everyone knew she wasn’t qualified, but the leader demanded it and they complied. How is this any different than what Tulsi did except on a much larger scale with people who knew better which I am not sure Gabbard does.
I think you're right about Gabbard's missing awareness. Those messages carry strong overtones of abuse, and she does not seem at all to have recognized that. That could explain what a friend of mine characterized as Gabbard's "robotic affect." It also goes a long way toward explaining her eagerness to stick up for strongmen like Putin and Assad--as well as Trump, that petty bully.
A trump rally "...is a space apart from space and a time apart from time, where the possibilities remain endless..." . Andrew, bringing in quantum theory to try and describe the admittedly strange period we're living in right now! Only in the Bulwark...
I'm not sure who wrote this little nugget, it could have been Bill or Andrew based on my past experience with their writing and stances on this topic:
"Democratic Socialists of America leaders, eager to capitalize on their momentum, are already plotting their next act: making sure one of their own is on the presidential primary debate stage, WHETHER THE PARTY WANTS THEM OR NOT."
Emphasis mine.
As usual the two people most opposed to the Bulwark stance of "Democrats need a BIG TENT" ensure they get the message out that progressives should not be welcome in that big tent. Because, reasons. I'm sure James Carville is very happy with their position on this, since he would prefer all the progressives leave the democratic party.
It was always my understanding that a vibrant primary filled with good candidates is the best way to distill a solid candidate for 2028.
If Democrats are unpopular, I say it's only because the media hasn't been reporting efforts in Congress, or people are not paying attention. Are they leaderless? In this moment no one has arrived at the 'top,' true, but there's time before 2028. Our biggest concerns in this moment should be midterms, not interfered with! I am an independent ... I take no joy in trashing Democrats at this point, but prefer to keep my eye on the prize of ridding the nation of the current administration. The electorate has shown itself to be ill-advised for decades, IMO ... The Obama administration, again for me, was nothing less than a miracle. I still have a hard time conceiving how Obama did so well in elections, given the apparent ignorance that seems to abound in this country ... I have been fortified by Democrats speaking out in Congress ... And frankly, hearing them, I cannot agree that Democrats are as rudderless as the press prefers to make them out to be ... Maybe the press just likes to be in agreement with a voting (or worse a non-voting) public, to keep it's numbers up ... I, again, am an independent voter ... Democratic Socialists probably come closer to a party that I could whole heartedly support. I voted for Bernie in the primary, and wisely voted for Biden in the election. 'You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, ... you might get what you need.' My only complaint with the Bulwark, is so many truly still want to be 'Republicans,' it would appear, so take aim at Democrats, as though they are the wise ones ... True wisdom must move us all forward. Right now, forward for me is as far away as I can get from the outrage of the current administration.
Thanks, Andrew for another beautifully written piece complete with this sentence: "Islamist regimes abroad and single-celled organisms at home keep disobeying his extremely clear instructions, no matter how many bombs or gallon jugs of hydrogen peroxide he sends their way"
It's only because the single cell organisms get a vote.
They hit the blue-green algae with peroxide, killing it, but creating an environment where other species of algae could thrive. Only this administration could be so packed with incompetents that this problem could still be going on.
Next up for the pool: ivermectin and oxygen chloroquine
I laughed out loud on that line and almost called my Mom to read it to her as if it was Borowitz.
This is the line that compelled me to read the piece aloud to my husband.
He is a great writer!
"watching your eight millionth1 Trump rally"
Andrew,
Why didn't you go into a line of work more enjoyable? Like pumping septic tanks?
Simple: I went into journalism for the money
"Why did young Andrew get into journalism?" "He needed the money. Who am I to judge?".
LOL just like all of us did! That sweet, sweet smell of minimum wage when you have kids to support.
In all seriousness I feel extremely lucky, especially given the state of the industry, to be at an outfit that pays well enough to support my family in the DC area on a single income (my wife is a SAHM for now). For which I have all of you to thank!
The party's at Andrew's house . . . . .
That makes me love the Bulwark even more.
Great job Andrew!
Rothschild's Sewage and Septic Sucking Services runs a lucrative franchise, though. It could have something to do with the fact that Winston Rothschild is number 1 in the number 2 business.
(reference to a Canadian sketch comedy show)
And, as a local sewage collection business advertises on its trucks: "Your poop is my soup".
Keep your stick on the ice?
I watched as much of the rally as I could stand , less than 15 minutes. I am not an expert, but I believe Trump is losing some of his charisma. His lines seem old and the audience response seems canned. I think it may be an issue for him that to pull of his routine he needs a specific demonized by comic enemy, like crooked Hillary, Hussein Obama, or sleepy Joe. Weirdly Democrat disarray may actually make things harder for Trump. Antifa is now the main monster and at best it’s unconvincing. Yesterday’s story in Wapo about the long sentences for alleged ‘antifa’ members was really disturbing.
There definitely has to be a shelf life on cult leaders. Either the space ship arrives or get off the pot.
Or...? See Peoples Temple and OTS, even the reports of missing former members of S--ology. People react badly when their cult is threatened.
Yes or they die and can’t be replaced. Succession is a problem for autocrats.
I embrace as healthy a lifestyle as I can just to help ensure I’m around to see the succession fight for Trump’s crown. Those founders who bestowed democracy on us all knew how succession went in Rome, Greece and countries ruled by monarchs.
I hope the GOP rips itself to shreds.
Yeah, I saw a few minutes and crowd looked mildly embarrassed, not enthusiastic, but I saw when Trump was announcing that he should run for office a third time. He's not getting buyers on that idea even among MAGA.
He’s down in the polls but unbelievably there’s still almost a quarter of the population supporting him. 🙄
I know, it is truly amazing. It's like these people are in another space-time continuum. And also amazing is that some of them, maybe most of them, didn't pay any attention to politics ten years ago.
Here’s a Substack (free most days) that caters to them. Rather than inform his readers of the bad Iran news, he pivots to conspiracy theories about Covid and Anthony Fauci.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/intelligence-tuesday-june-23-2026
Read the comments for a full experience. I can’t remember how I found it.
While I appreciate the informative link, I think I will pass on reading it. I live in a county that voted +40 for Trump, so I have already gotten the full experience. Unfortunately.
I stumbled upon this when I first got on Substack. Mix racism and stupidity and head on down the rabbit hole...
I wish the Democrats could say something that most Americans could get behind and do it in a convincing way. I hear...
"Yeah, we gotta talk about corruption and whatnot for now, but that's just to get the rube vote. Once we get back in, we can focus on climate and gender issues and all the important stuff again."
They sound like they're from Oberlin because they ARE from Oberlin.
That's why Platner bothers them so much. He doesn't sound like he's from Oberlin.
I'm glad someone watched part, I've had to avoid anything in Pennsylvania, and one state out west, maybe Utah, maybe Nevada, but he sure is not traveling much. I may try and catch it on Cspan, we do need to witness, I'm not worn out, a little sad though.
I agree, but only in small doses. He is not the man he was and his audience is no longer having fun.
Or getting that Reflecting Pool squared away ?
There's a pun opportunity there, somewhere: we can't get the Reflecting Pool squared away because...it's a rectangle. But it's the most beautiful rectangle, many people say.
Much taller than the Empire State Building.
I recall he lied about the height of Trump Towers in NYC. Oh, those halcyon days when he was just compensating for his tiny hands.
Not just many people say, but everyone.
Unfalsifiable, but on brand for His Rotundity.
With tears in their eyes.
I think the Trumps have a gene pool problem, which I guess ends up being a national problem?
Is it possible that Trump and some of his immediate family have a greed and moral deficit gene?
Begin in the Reflecting Pool and work your way up to the Pondering Pool.
Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
I think so, Brain, but if Jimmy cracked corn, why would he care if his master was away?
In its present state, it looks more like the Mulling Pool. Don't taste it, though.
Ah...mulled hydrogen peroxide and water on a cool evening.
Better test one of those clever cocktails people are inventing.
At least one.
What kind of cocktail? A Green Swamp?
Anyone else notice how small and insignificant Trump looks in that photo? It was the first thing I noticed about it. He looks like a tiny guy with tiny little hands.
I retired from teaching 20 years ago after nearly 32 years. I'm in sympathy with "education". It is sad to see this many folks (who vote, I guess) blindly, unquestionably trust in what they've created in trump! No critical thinking skills, no ability to make connections, no cause/effect reasoning, just programmed to adore.😩🥺💔
Or cleaning pools of algae ...
Andrew is a glutton for punishment.
Centrists might not like it, but the progressive realignment of the Democratic Party that we've been trying to tell everyone about for over a year is now well underway, no matter how much dark money is spent to oppose it. Democratic voters who've sat out since their party leadership has aligned itself with AIPAC and the corporate lobby are back, they're retaking their party, and they have no patience for fence-sitting establishment Democrats who call progressive policy, "radical."
I generally consider myself a centrist Democrat but even I understand why a progressive message is resonating. We have a radical Republican party that wants to send society back to 1930 (or hell, 1830), that thinks the Gilded Age is a good goal, and blatently works to destroy ordinary people. Countering that with anything other than full throated radicals of our own seems futile, stupid and weak.
Trump apologists told us that the rise of Trumpian populism was a natural response to ordinary Americans feeling left behind. The populism was only stylistic, but hard-right ideologues still say that a Trump-led counterrevolution is necessary to save "American culture" from leftism.
Considering how blatantly plutocratic Trump's policies have been, his apologists shouldn't be surprised that they're provoking a left-wing reaction.
I want someone to stop Trump and MAGA and fascism. If Schumer won't be against American concentration camps, I will find politicians who are anti-concentration camp. This isn't a difficult concept. I want our Constitution to matter.
That goes for the junior senator from NY, too.
The junior senator from New York essentially doesn’t exist. My friends and I, her constituents, are always asking each other, what does Gillibrand actually do?? No one ever comes up with an answer.
Leading up to her last campaign, I recall someone compiled a collection of clips of her telling the same story about how a trip to Brooklyn changed her, putting on display her lack of actual awareness of her constituents. Then, she got re-elected.
This is it. People want their rights, and the rights of their neighbors, protected. They want to see people fighting for them. Anyone who is not fighting hard for their constituents is not going to fare well. I can’t even tell you how almost everyone I know loves Brad Lander because we all saw him trying to protect his constituents from those ICE thugs as they roughed him up. That kind of stuff matters right now.
Brad Lander is a mensch! Mazel 💙
I’m so happy he won
The establishment Dems lost the trifecta in 2024. Why are they surprised the party's voters are looking for alternatives ?
"We've tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas!" -Ned Flanders's father
Things are measurably getting worse for everyone except the mega rich. People want answers, and milquetoast centrism won't give us anything except the status quo.
Radical solutions are needed to get us back on track.
I'm not sure "centrism" is necessarily the problem (this coming from someone who would probably fall on the "far left" end of the spectrum/pidgeonhole). The problem is having the intestinal fortitude to go after Trump and his minions, rather than strongly worded letters and hand-wringing concern.
That's why I was disappointed at (good ol') George Conway's poor showing in NY-12. Because he does have the aforementioned fortitude, as well as the necessary skill set. Well, maybe we'll be seeing him around these parts again.
Underestimate the Mamdani effect at your peril.
Compare/contrast the unbridled everyman joy around The Knicks, and the leader at that city’s helm, with the taunting disrespect on the White House lawn, and the craven cult leader behind that spectacle.
Look beyond political tribalism and acknowledge Mamdani is actually working to make the lives of NYC non-1%’ers better.
You’re conflating centrism with cowardice and I think that’s wrong. Plenty of Dems have been reluctant to call a spade a spade and don’t understand the new media environment. That’s cowardice. Centrism is understanding that coalition building requires you to run from party lines occasionally to win elections. The dirt bag left loves a purity test and is sitting on the horseshoe next to MAGA. If progressives want to do sewer socialism and fund infrastructure, healthcare, promote building and other abundance stuff, great, if it’s “the west is evil, Russia is just defending itself, and China is a paradise,” then I’m concerned.
No, I call out self-described centrists, because in the current political environment, there is no such thing. There is no halfway point between universal healthcare and eliminating due process. Between saving social security and having whistleblowers investigated. Between closing tax loopholes and unilateral war. The left and right extremes are not on the same spectrum, so there is no balance between them. It's not a matter of cowardice or bravery. It's matter of calling people out for pretending it's possible to straddle the line. It is not.
I’m not sure why you’re drawing a line between healthcare and due process. The two ends of the line are totally for profit healthcare with no restrictions and something like the VA or NHS. Same with SS and whistleblowers and tax policy and war?
I'm saying that there is no comparison between the two "sides." They're not operating on the same set of rules and facts, and to claim to be in the middle is a display of either ignorance or dishonesty. The "left" believes in the rule of law. The "right" believes in loyalty and "might makes right." There is no shared belief for this dynamic, and for most other positions the regime has taken. These are not positions for which there is a middle ground.
now is not the time to sit back and judge, go with what works
I guess I’m referring to centrism as the ability to share more pro life ideas and say that land acknowledgments are dumb so you can win in a red district. Those aren’t middle positions between fascism and democracy, they’re more social signals to voters who have an irrational hatred for purple haired baristas in NYC.
I'm a little surprised at myself, but as a centrist there's relatively little I disagree with progressives on at the moment. My concern is more about purity tests and messaging skills. We'll see.
I live in the Lehigh Valley, in “the purplest district in the purplest state in the country,”per a friend. I look forward to voting out Mackenzie in November and watching President Man deal with a Democratic House next year … if he hasn’t wasted away from taking that new Lilly drug (see headlines about a mysterious 79-yr-old man getting dispensation to try an experimental obesity medication).
Also:
Fetterman can suck it.
While I still maintain that he's better than Oz, Fetterman is a major disappointment. Turns out that Fetterman's only skill was having a clever modern campaign.
As an out-of-state donator to Fetterman, I wince but rationalize that I helped stave off six years of Dr Supplement in the Senate, compared to whatever shenanigans he gets up to as Admin of CMS.
Agree with the comments noting Oz would have been worse, but man, Fetterman is not even close to the guy I voted for (or who was lt gov before that).
He’s a changed man.
What does Fetterman actually accomplish besides wearing hoodies, shorts and voting with DJT?
What’s sad is we will never know how a no stroke Fetterman would behave/vote in the Senate. I think we can assume he’d still dress like Charlie Brown OD’d on growth hormones.
I still remember JVL touting him as presidential timber. What a hoot!
That’s about it.
In Washington State there is young and clever MGP --Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. A small "D" in a R/I sprawling SW Washington district just across the Columbia River from Portland. I am not in that district, but supported her because Joe Kent was the opposition and MGP was clearly on the side of local issues and constituents, where Kent was spouting the rolodex of crays and slide show of national issues. I do not agree with her on a number of issues, but continued to admire her independent spirit and "constituent representation". More recently, her voting record has been surprisingly ignorant on issues that should be very clear. It is disappointing.
Better than Oz, now that is a high bar!
Oh yeah.
The Fishback story is a good reminder that an awful lot of prominent white supremacists are also crooks.
Fishback is horrible, but not a lot better than his opponent. Hopefully their combined incompetence will usher in a chance for a D win (not holding my breath tho).
But the white nationalists are prepared to overlook that. Unfortunately.
I'm sad Andrew isn't writing about algae again this morning, but I suppose it can't be all algae, all the time.
Happily for you, Jonathan Chait has maybe the best algae piece yet over at the Atlantic this morning:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/reflecting-pool-green-algae-trump/687672/
Chait says there are no consequences. Dead ducks beg to differ.
There are too many hilarious lines in Chait's piece to pick just one - laying skyscrapers on their side to "obviate their most impressive attribute"...noting that hydrogen peroxide is used as a paint stripper (who knew!)...Cafaro as central casting but only if he was cast to hand Tony Soprano a stuffed envelope...truly a masterpiece. Here's a gift link so all can enjoy- https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/reflecting-pool-green-algae-trump/687672/?gift=xtBuKTISd1X_grU-g5PMZvR9c7hbqLG5gsrRMIFdQkE
I'll add one more to that list: Cafaro is on that Mt Rushmore of bad hair along DJT, James Traficant and Trey Gowdy.
Thank you! It was indeed hilarious!
Totally agree; always love Jonathan's pieces! And for anyone who doesn't have a subscription: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/reflecting-pool-green-algae-trump/687672/?gift=6ICK1NhO1tuSUNO7V_Ru-ldTvYkzcEvWQZ7KYdCht-Q&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share.
Thank you for the tip, even though it means _The Atlantic_ can't be dessert tonight. Maybe it's true, that thing about eating dessert first? At any rate, that's the best opening line I've read in a while.
Open up that link, and even if you don't read the whole article, take a look at the face of whoever the guy is in the picture with Trump. He's thinking, "What the whuuu!!".
Also in the Chait article, notice that "Somebody said" is Trump's source for his latest claim that vandals are dumping fertilizer into the pool. The SNL bits write themselves.
I love the algae story, too! I love having an excuse to keep saying "delaminate." 😀
So much snarky material and too little time.
Andrew: "Every stupid threadbare brag line, every completely invented cockamamie anecdote and scripted attack on the “Dumocrats”—the crowd, as usual, ate it up with a spoon. “There’s so much love in the room,” Trump said. “There’s so much unbelievable love.”"
What does it say about "the crowd" that 11 years into the Trump era, these people are still watching with bated breath the ramblings of a demented, narcissistic sociopath. Attending one of these rallies in 2026 is a choice, and the rest of us are allowed to make moral judgments about their character (or really lack of it).
Also, "so much unbelievable love?"
JFC. If the people who truly matter actually loved you, you'd be in a nursing home instead of stumbling across the country while carrying the codes to our nuclear arsenal. The fact that you're not means the people who truly matter are ***using you***, including Uday and Qusay. No one loves you, Mr. President. You are incapable of absorbing love. You are incapable of giving love. The second that you're not useful anymore, you'll be discarded and you'll spend your remaining time screaming at the clouds until your appointment with Our Father Below.
From what I've read, that usefulness will expire the moment we are 1 day past the two year mark on this term. That would allow Vance to govern for 1.999 years without affecting his eligibility for two full terms.
I still think that's been the Thiel/Vance plan all along.
🤮
There is so much love there, like on January 6th
You did it again boys. You manage every morning to make me spit my coffee out with your excellent takes on the absurdist experimental theatre troupe called the US government. Well done.
Try the veal!
Don't forget to tip your bartenders and servers.
When John F. Kennedy was running to be president, Protestants voiced concern that a President Kennedy would take orders from the Pope. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is well aware that if he runs for president, people will warn that he will be a tool of Israel. Both predictions arose from fear-mongering, hate-mongering, and prejudice. Not so the predictions that were voiced about Tulsi. She was a bona fide Manchurian Candidate.
The Bulwark needs to prepare itself for the ascendance of the DSA wing. Whether or not you agree with their policy recommendations, we cannot ignore the current political and economic environment, and it is ripe for this type of a philosophy. When the stock market has become completely untethered from reality, when one of the worst people in the world has become the world's first trillionaire (something so obscene I cannot wrap my head around it), and while those who are lucky enough to have a job toil to make the ownership class wealthier and wealthier while they struggle with stagnant wages and inflation, you're going to see increasing the appeal of a movement that deems the entire system rotten and corrupt, and proposes revolutionary solutions.
'he intends to try to sell a return to the status quo2 in the Strait of Hormuz as one of those Wonderful, Magnificent Deals Only Trump Could Ever Get You: “Yesterday, 19 million barrels of oil flowed out of the Strait of Hormuz, a very beautiful place,” he said. “That’s the most oil in the history of the strait.” (In reality, it’s still a bit subpar—last year an average of 20 million barrels passed through the waterway daily.)'
So he's lying about 19 million being a record. And also probably lying about the 19 million.
'Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania yesterday, Trump acknowledged, in his way, the need for continued discussion of the war: “Anybody that’s been critical of it has to be educated.”'
And by "educated," Trump actually meant indoctrinated.
If it is our collective fate to transition from being the Republicans nobody in the Republican Party likes because we won't stop screeching about Donald Trump to being the Democrats nobody in the Democratic Party likes because we won't stop screeching that markets are Good, Actually and economists are worth having in your governing coalition . . . well, so be it!
Deregulated markets are not good, not ever.
Well regulated markets. We won't even get into the trickle down con job of Reaganomics. Bush the Elder was correct when he called it "Voodoo Economics".
I honestly don't think the problem people have with Mamdami is his views on markets, do you?
I would be interested to see if you think at least part of the problem people have with Mamdami is his foreign name, not very white skin and his non-Christian religion. After all, there is probably a reason Trump never refers to Obama without including his middle name.
It’s religion. MAGA needs a crusade at all times.
I think it's coming, and whether America is ready for it or it's smart politically, I can't say. It plays great in parts of New York but it could be suicidal in other places. Propaganda will play a huge role, paid for by the oligarchs who are so invested in maintaining the status quo. But what is becoming increasingly clear to me is that things have gotten bad, they're on the cusp of getting way out of hand, and I don't see any evidence that traditional economists have any good answers or solutions, or that the way we've been doing things to get us to this point is at all sustainable.
As a HS teacher (retired 2020), I taught the backend of Millennials, and the vanguard of Gen Z. I noticed a distinct shift in their priorities, from students of previous years. They were much more attuned to climate change, healthcare, and social security (not being there for them). They understood these issues couldn't be solved by individual States, and needed comprehensive solutions addressed nationally.
They felt their concerns for the future were being ignored by politicians continually kicking the cans down the road. I saw a budding openness toward more socialistic solutions from both liberal and conservative students.
They believe climate change is real and we should be utilizing all available energy sources. They see the real cost of healthcare in their families and are favorable to Medicare for all. They feel that social security will be cut (and not for us oldies) but upon their backs. That 401k's are not as good as a defined benefit for retirement. They are also much more tolerant of gender issues and human rights.
The mind-set of the young is not set by having had any meaningful participation in the largest economic expansion in modern history, but rather by the decline of their prospects for upward-mobility. They are being relegated to gig-economy jobs, and have deal with oppressive student-debt, should they seek higher education . They are disgusted by the open corruption happening around them and see crony-capitalism as mortgaging their futures.
The DSA is speaking directly to the young about their inner fears, and presenting actual policies, that at least, address the failures of action. The rise of the DSA is only going to gain more traction, as the young maturate as a cohort. This phenomenon was going happen, sooner or later.
When young people can’t get jobs or security, they reject the status quo that brought them to ruin.
". . . economists are worth having in your governing coalition . . ."
It depends on the economist. We tend to focus on what is right in front of us: the midterms, and then 2028. But there is a reason the Republican party turned fascist. Desperate people will grab a lifeline, even if it turns out it isn't attached to anything. Over the past several decades, the scale of economic inequality has become obscene. Both parties contributed to this. Trump promised to help the people who are hurting, and they bought his promises. Maybe some of his voters even realized it might be a scam, but they were desperate, so they took a chance.
Democrats may well win in 2026 and 2028 with nothing more than "we aren't as bad as the other guy." But if they do, and if they don't have answers to the economic problems of tens of millions of Americans, the win will be temporary. Voters will swing back to fascism, maybe so hard that elections won't matter after that.
Our goal has to be more than winning one or two elections. We need to build a society that most Americans can buy into. A society that is immune to fascism. Americans need jobs. Americans need a decent place to live. Americans need to feed their children and themselves. Americans need to know that they can get health care when they need it. Americans need to educate their children. Americans need the opportunity to have these things without getting buried in debt, and to save a little to invest in their future. Are these things just for a few exceptionally talented and dedicated individuals, or can these things be within the reach of most people? The aging corporate Democrats who have controlled the party for the last several decades have no idea how to deliver on these goals. The ones developing plans for addressing these issues are dismissed as "progressive" or even "radical." Maybe you recoil at the thought of socialized medicine. But other countries have demonstrated that socialized medicine is just like the other kind, except it is better and cheaper.
Leaders of the Bulwark have an opportunity to engage in the policy debates that can lead us out of this crisis. There isn't another forum like this. Sure, talk about the horse races in 2026 and 2028. But we expect more from you. Our country depends on it.
Well said. Though I'm concerned that the current swing to fascism is already hard enough that political power won't swing back to the Dems in 2026 or 2028. The regime will do anything they can, legal or illegal, to prevent it.
I agree with everything on the list in your penultimate paragraph, James. Unfortunately, the Republicans have successfully taught many Americans that this equates to that dreaded Socialism. You are right that other countries have demonstrated that these things are possible without turning Socialist. They do require a national commitment to care for all citizens and a willingness to pay taxes to cover that, however. One of the reasons they are okay with this is their own self-interest: if they get sick, lose their job, or need help with paying for child care so they can work after having kids, they know that help will be there, and they won't end up living in their car with their kids or rationing their insulin.
Is this particular fantasy stock market actually good? Feels more like a money-laundering casino for the rich. It's not sustainable.
The policies promoted by elected DSA members are quite similar to Eisenhower’s policy preferences from the 50s and 60s. These are decades that most Americans associate with stability and upward mobility for working Americans.
I’m deeply disappointed in this take. It seems to rely heavily on a straw man argument and lacks the nuance and curiosity I associate with both you and the Bulwark.
"The Bulwark needs to prepare itself for the ascendance of the DSA wing. Whether or not you agree with their policy recommendations, we cannot ignore the current political and economic environment, and it is ripe for this type of a philosophy. When the stock market has become completely untethered from reality, when one of the worst people in the world has become the world's first trillionaire (something so obscene I cannot wrap my head around it), and while those who are lucky enough to have a job toil to make the ownership class wealthier and wealthier while they struggle with stagnant wages and inflation, you're going to see increasing the appeal of a movement that deems the entire system rotten and corrupt, and proposes revolutionary solutions."
This. So much this.
It's a given that Russia has been monkeying around with our electoral process. Pretend you're a Russian cyber operative. Ask yourself how you would program your bots for maximum damage at this juncture. My answer: promote the shit out of DSA, then tar the whole party as anti-American commies.
This is how we cede power and enrich the wealthy; by punching each other instead of punching up. It's been an incredibly effective strategy for centuries, and interested parties, from malign foreign actors to our own 1%, will keep going to this playbook for as long as we allow it to work.
I don't see where recognizing that winning elections is now nearly everything is punching anyone... .
Yeah, I totally agree, Dems have to win as many elections as possible. What works in New York is not going to work everywhere, but I think these DSA policies are going to gain traction among Dem primary voters outside of New York. And Republicans are going to run ads against them about Communism and Socialism (which they'd do no matter what, but probably with more effectiveness against these types of candidates).
My lament is that we're all getting played. DSA candidates are not really Republican voters' enemies, and vice versa, but everybody on this lateral plane is convinced they're all each other's enemy, because moneyed interests keep churning out propaganda to convince us this is so. In reality, the enemy is the people getting rich off of us fighting amongst ourselves rather than against them, and there are so many more of us than them.
How on earth, in a democracy, can there be this much concentration of wealth?
Oddly, the concentration of wealth (ownership of the means of production) was the precondition for a truly Marxist revolution as Marx himself told it. A guy like Musk would own everything and at that point the rest of us would look at him and say "It's over." We own it all now.
Without systemic changes, these concentrations over the coming years are going to become probably orders of magnitude more egregious. I don't know if voters are smart enough to realize this before it's too late; in my estimation, we need the exact types of candidates right now that we've become conditioned as a society to abhor.
We need to know exactly what policies the DSA voters are so interested in. Maybe a focus group?
I haven't checked lately but I suspect I would endorse all of them. The trouble is leading with our chin in messaging wars.
The DNC in 2016, "We can't run Bernie, the Rs will call him a communist!". Run Hillary, whom Rs immediately and thruout the campain call a communist. (DNC blames the Green Party, rather than looking in the mirror, just like they did with Gore and Nader).
The DNC in 2020, "We can't run Bernie/Pete/etc, the Rs will call them a communist!". Run Biden (who, to be fair, won, but not by much). Rs call him a communist for six months.
Harris didn't have a primary. Rs call her a communist and win, despite Trump being FAR more of a communist than she is. But she's from CA, so 🤷♂️.
How could I not blame the Green Party for 2000? There was a time when third parties struggled to get a couple of their issues onto a major party platform and in return threw their support to that party. Since the change that some small % of votes this time around meant public funding next time around that's changed. I hold Nader as responsible for what followed as I do Bill Clinton for not being able to keep his pennacker in his pants.
Actually, come to think if it, the Kennedy anti-vaxxers played it smarter this last time around. Completely aside from what I think of their point of view, they succeeded in making progress where the Greens dropped the ball.
You are identifying "Fusion Voting", where one party takes another party's candidate as their own. Minnesota's Democratic Farmer-Laborer Party is a legacy of this phenomena. FV has been scarce everywhere for decades. However recently, the Democrats seemed to wake up, accepted a moderate Independent as their supported candidate in Nebraska (caucus D). He won. Let's hear it for FV! If Nader had thrown Green party's support behind Gore, W, would not have happened. Same with HW and Perot, and Clinton. And maybe Trump wouldn't have if only Stein...
FV was fairly common in the US until the late 30's, when the R's and D's together agreed to push Primary-Vote nominating. This in lieu of caucusing, or party delegate-nomination backroom deals. It was a bipartisan solution for the State's big-two parties apparatchiks to lock-out any 3rd party interference in elections. It's the genesis of our modern "Two-Party System", sold as increasing voter participation; it became popular, but served to increase bi-partisan power over the electorate.
Gore ran a horrible campaign, didn't even win his home state, and just thought it was his "turn". So instead of learning from that, they pointed fingers at Nader, even more than the hanging chads and FL judge (one Pam Bondi, IIRC) that stopped the recount. Then Hillary ran a horrible campaign, thinking it was her "turn", and lost to Donald Friggin Trump.
None of that changes that Nader swung the close election to the GOP.
So, Nader voters actually *owed* Gore their votes somehow? People who voted Nader were about 50/50 on who they would have supported without him in the race. So the net-net is it had zero impact on the outcome. Gore just botched the campaign, but the Dems didn't learn a damn thing.
I seriously doubt your 50-50 statistic. Nader wanted future campaign funding, do he stuck it out to fall short of what it would have necessary to obtain it. I have zero respect for him..
And Tom Nichols and Charlie Sykes now sound a little like Bernie Bros!
Bill described the war as “unauthorized “ when in fact it was illegal, just like the boat strikes and the regime change in Venezuela. Euphemisms muddle the waters when communicating.
Calling a spade a rake most always results in stepping on one at some point.
Very true!
Tulsi Gabbard and her guru should be hauled before Congress to testify about their relationship and what information may have been shared, but I won’t hold my breath. But let’s be honest we are in a predicament where the former DNI was most likely directed by a cult leader because of the exact same behavior by the Republican Party. The only reason she became DNI director was because of the same cult-like behavior she is accused of by the Republican Party out of fealty to Donald Trump. Everyone knew she wasn’t qualified, but the leader demanded it and they complied. How is this any different than what Tulsi did except on a much larger scale with people who knew better which I am not sure Gabbard does.
I think you're right about Gabbard's missing awareness. Those messages carry strong overtones of abuse, and she does not seem at all to have recognized that. That could explain what a friend of mine characterized as Gabbard's "robotic affect." It also goes a long way toward explaining her eagerness to stick up for strongmen like Putin and Assad--as well as Trump, that petty bully.
I’d like to know who was funding this guru, given the foreign policy recommendations. Perhaps Russia?
I wonder if his devotees sell flowers at intersections when they're not drumming and dancing at airports.
I remember Hare Krishna doing that in the 70s. Haven’t seen them lately.
Tulsi being hauled in before a Republican congress? Surely you jest...
Yes, I do!
A trump rally "...is a space apart from space and a time apart from time, where the possibilities remain endless..." . Andrew, bringing in quantum theory to try and describe the admittedly strange period we're living in right now! Only in the Bulwark...
Well, I didn't observe the rally directly, so ANYTHING might have happened!
And if you had observed it, it would have been altered by your observation.
I'm not sure who wrote this little nugget, it could have been Bill or Andrew based on my past experience with their writing and stances on this topic:
"Democratic Socialists of America leaders, eager to capitalize on their momentum, are already plotting their next act: making sure one of their own is on the presidential primary debate stage, WHETHER THE PARTY WANTS THEM OR NOT."
Emphasis mine.
As usual the two people most opposed to the Bulwark stance of "Democrats need a BIG TENT" ensure they get the message out that progressives should not be welcome in that big tent. Because, reasons. I'm sure James Carville is very happy with their position on this, since he would prefer all the progressives leave the democratic party.
It was always my understanding that a vibrant primary filled with good candidates is the best way to distill a solid candidate for 2028.
And in this case, who is the party? Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries? Bc I couldn’t care less what they think.
I do believe that WE are the party; yes I believe I read that somewhere.
Progressive candidates for prez will be locked out of any D primary debate in '28. If that happens, they'll lose again.
An AOC or Mandami may work in NY city. Not nation wide.
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
I'm not sure you can look at the DSA wins in NYC (and for that matter DC) and project them across the country. More centrist democrats won elsewhere.
If Democrats are unpopular, I say it's only because the media hasn't been reporting efforts in Congress, or people are not paying attention. Are they leaderless? In this moment no one has arrived at the 'top,' true, but there's time before 2028. Our biggest concerns in this moment should be midterms, not interfered with! I am an independent ... I take no joy in trashing Democrats at this point, but prefer to keep my eye on the prize of ridding the nation of the current administration. The electorate has shown itself to be ill-advised for decades, IMO ... The Obama administration, again for me, was nothing less than a miracle. I still have a hard time conceiving how Obama did so well in elections, given the apparent ignorance that seems to abound in this country ... I have been fortified by Democrats speaking out in Congress ... And frankly, hearing them, I cannot agree that Democrats are as rudderless as the press prefers to make them out to be ... Maybe the press just likes to be in agreement with a voting (or worse a non-voting) public, to keep it's numbers up ... I, again, am an independent voter ... Democratic Socialists probably come closer to a party that I could whole heartedly support. I voted for Bernie in the primary, and wisely voted for Biden in the election. 'You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, ... you might get what you need.' My only complaint with the Bulwark, is so many truly still want to be 'Republicans,' it would appear, so take aim at Democrats, as though they are the wise ones ... True wisdom must move us all forward. Right now, forward for me is as far away as I can get from the outrage of the current administration.