“despite the hope and promise of this country, many Americans feel they cannot move about their lives freely without being targeted by the very people elected to represent them”
There are just a butt load of racists, bigots, and plain old butt-holes who thrive on the backs of decent human beings - probably 1/3 of the country who stayed in there parent's basements until the gelatinous orange bag of putrid pus rode down the escalator made it okay to proudly hate others not like them. Pathetic mouth breathers helping the south to rise again. Well-written newsletter, Lauren!
I don't understand why a politician wouldn't stand up for the people in his community. Take a lesson from the good people of Minnesota and refuse to allow your neighbors to be treated so repulsively. Molder needs to grow a spine.
It's heartbreaking the US has become a country where swaths of our population are fearful of government reprisal. The Founders are rolling over in their graves.
Most Democrats want to pretend they can just ignore questions of who belongs in America, what do we owe to each other, and what can we expect from each other. This is especially true for Democrats who want to represent places where lots of Republicans live. This is true of Tennessee. It's also true of my home state of Michigan.
Instead of confronting questions about belonging and dignity, Democrats try to focus on nothing but economics. Everyone cares about financial stability, right? We shorthand this as "kitchen table issues" and now "affordability". Let's focus on what people have in common, not what separates them, right? Let's be serious and prudent. Let's make the main thing the main thing.
It's good as far as it goes, but it leaves out half the picture. It's hard to have financial stability when your own elected representatives can stir up a pogrom against you. People care deeply about belonging, whether they're the ones who want to belong or their the ones who want to tell other people they don't belong. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Avoiding it just looks like hiding.
So, when Democrats like Chaz Molder, or my own representatives in Michigan, ignore the kinds of things that Andy Ogles is doing and calls them distractions and diverts every question to economics, it makes me think they're not serious and they have no interest in looking out for people like me.
Let's be clear. Ogles has a misguided right to shoot his mouth off. That said his proposed legislation is so demonstrably unconstitutional that even if passed and signed, is not likely to pass muster in the courts -- even in the hard knocks Supreme Court of today. Now on the other issue -- I do not understand the impulse to weaken any solidarity among the Democratic Party in these times where the Trump party is entirely about (sheepish and slavish) solidarity. As for bread and butter issues -- those are the ones that appeal to a broad base of potential voters. The assault of a tyrant against popular government does not cut it with the voters, they aren't really feeling it, and the little matter of envying, and thus hating, your neighbor is so common in this country that it should be our national motto. Voting Democrat is almost the only hope to get out of this mess, that is if we still have a vote remaining in the Fall.
Hi, CW. Yeah, people like Andy Ogles are usually better at making noise than getting laws passed. And the courts, at least the lower courts, have done some good at holding the line against the craziest things.
On the other hand, there are a lot of loud and crazy people like Ogles these days and it would be a mistake to assume he can't win, and experience shows that it would be a mistake to count on the Supreme Court to stand up for E Pluribus Unum. The people like Ogles have gotten further than I ever would have guessed and all the defenses I assumed would hold up have crumbled. I'm not going to underestimate Ogles anymore.
Back in the day there was a TV show where one of the characters was a single mother of two grade-school-aged children. And she went out on a date with a man who wanted to impress her by winning over her kids. So he walked up to them smiling and said, "I know what kids like - money!" And he tried to give them each some cash. The mom put a stop to it and there were no more dates.
Republicans understand that money isn't the only thing people care about. Now they use this for evil, mostly by scaring them into thinking that their neighbors want to hurt them. Republicans understand that people care deeply about who belongs and who doesn't belong.
Democrats refuse to understand this. The talking points have gone out and every single Democratic elected official knows them: talk about people's pocket books. Every other subject is turned to this one. Why? Because supposedly it's safe. It's what people have in common. It doesn't make soft Republican voters angry. But if it's so safe, why are we in this mess now?
It's also empty. Even the talk of kitchen table issues isn't tied to any understanding of what's broken, how it got broken, and how to fix it. This approach contains no knowledge and no values. It's junk food and the only reason it works at all is because the alternative is poison.
The Democratic leadership is entirely bought into the idea that the only thing to talk about is finances, as if people are nothing but stomachs that vote. So if anyone tries to talk about anything else, it looks like they're wandering away from the team. It looks like they're breaking solidarity. But maybe what they're doing is refusing to do something that is empty of meaning and won't make anything better in the long run.
You said that people don't care about the assault of a tyrant against popular government. Are you sure? Has the entire Democratic party committed to working against the tyrant, or is that just a distraction from the real talking points about healthcare and gas prices? If the party doesn't take tyranny seriously, why would the public?
Here's one way to try to bridge the gap. Democrats could say this over and over: tyranny is expensive. Tyranny makes almost everyone poorer. Tyranny creates shortages and black markets and crime. Tyranny is about the worst thing imaginable for your kitchen table. Tyranny is unaffordable. Anyone who wants to live in prosperity should want nothing to do with a tyrant and should do everything possible to expel the tyrant.
Good talking with you. Hope you're enjoying St. Patrick's Day.
I live about 90 minutes from Nashville and usually visit there several times a year. Will be checking out this neighborhood and its restaurants and markets during my next visit!
I live in TN-4 and the candidate here has 0% change of winning so I'm not volunteering for her. When I heard the latest about Ogles, I signed up to volunteer for Molder, he might actually have a chance if the economy continues to tank because of the stupid war. I hope he gets better at defending the Muslim community.
I presume you mean 9/11. I don´t know howold you are but this started long before 9/11. If yhis has influenced Bulwark might be true, but I don´t like to make a statement on what influens other people I do not know personally
Let's use plain language: Andy Ogles is an oily, twitchy, disgusting little man who displays that unique kind of small-town corruption that's rooted in insecurity rather than overweening arrogance. He's lied about his credentials, he lied in his campaign disclosure reports, by all appearances he misappropriated funds donated to create a memorial garden for stillborn children! He's like a little dog inadvertently left tied to a car bumper when the car takes off, desperate to keep up, and who feels his only lifeline is the pander. Back in the day when I lived in Hillsboro-Belmont, whenever the dog and I on our morning walk crossed the bridge on Brightwood Ave into his district, I felt genuine disgust. He's not fit to be Mayor of Dogpatch let alone a member of the United States Congress.
I think Molder's approach of avoiding identity politics and focusing on the broader issues that impact all residents is worth testing, especially in these supposedly strong red House seats.
Less flame throwing seems to work in state-wide races so why not test its effectiveness in some federal districts?
If we are going to rebuild the republic we will need to move away from identity politics.
Forgive me, but when a politician calls to ethnically cleanse a whole group of American citizens from American soil just because of who they are and what God they worship, it shouldn't be "too much" to ask for an explicit condemnation from the politician who is supposedly opposed to said ethnic cleansing.
From a values perspective, I understand this; I used to feel this way in my younger days. Now, I am willing to consider other options (meaning not explicit condemnation of the politician) if it means winning the district or taught us something that could be used in other elections. We used to be a country of "Yes And"/Falafel and Pizza but we are now a country of Falafel OR Pizza.
For example what if Molder held a rally each in Little Kurdistan and in Ogles' neighborhood emphasized at both that he will consider the interests of all of his constituents? Don't know if it would make a difference but as JVL was writing yesterday, we cannot likely appeal to the morals of Americans because our values are different.
I agree. I don't think it's a good idea for politicians in red states to focus on identity politics, but it should be baseline for them to defend the right of everyone to practice whatever religion they choose (or no religion at all) and for immigrants to be safe in their communities. He needs to talk to Talarico for tips.
Everyone has identity and in the end, all politics are identity politics. Not focusing on them when people like Ogles make explicit attacks just tells Ogles that he can get away with it, and it tells people like the ones living in Little Kurdistan that they can't count on being protected by their own representatives, not even the supposedly good ones.
Sure, I totally agree with you, he should definitely defend people in his district. I just mean that he shouldn't do what Democrats typically do and go overboard. I live in the district just south of this one and I REALLY want Molder to win, I'm volunteering for his campaign. The woman running in my district has zero chance of winning because she's an identity politics warrior, she also ran in 2024 and got clobbered because people here won't vote for that kind of candidate. I think Molder has a really good chance of winning. I want him to be more forceful defending this community, but to not go overboard and make other people think he's some sort of radical. It's a delicate balance here. It's sad it has to be like that, but it's just reality. It's also reality that if Molder wins, life will be better for the Kurdish community here. Our current politics are just exhausting.
Hi, Jennifer. Could you give an example of what going overboard looks like in your state or district? People say that sometimes but I genuinely don't know what it means.
I can't think of last time my congressional Democrats went overboard on identify politics. My rep is Kristin McDonald Rivet and she focuses like a laser on economics and nothing else, and my senator, Elissa Slotkin, even said recently that "identity politics should go the way of the dodo". I don't know what Slotkin was referring to, but I do know that every time she speaks in public it's about national security or household economics.
So what is going overboard, and which Democrats are the worst offenders, if you don't mind me asking.
In my district in rural Tennessee, what I mean is focusing too much on things that turn off people who actually live here. In 2024, the candidate in my district who got clobbered had "pansexual" in all her social media bios. By clobbered, she got 24% of the vote (I did vote for her). Now, I'm totally fine with being a pansexual, but most of the people who live here were probably like WTF does that mean, she's a crazy liberal! Also, her major "issues" last time I looked are abortion, gun control, and education. I support all those things. However, this is the South! People do not rank abortion rights as a main issue. Also everyone here loves their guns, sadly gun control is a losing topic to focus on. Winning issues here right now are affordability, inflation, and jobs. People will NOT vote for someone they think is a radical liberal. If this issue with the Kurds was happening here, it might be saying something like "we should welcome anyone who is repressed to immigrate here no matter what religion they are." I agree with that, but the majority of voters here don't. I just think candidates should look at their district and try hard to understand what will connect with the people who actually live there. Trying to win an election won't work if you just run on your own personal values without also trying to connect with constituents. That's why I can never run for office, my values do not mesh at all with people here! Although I guess that might be why people distrust politicians, we can tell when people aren't being true to themselves.
Houston’s liberal gun club is growing fast! We teach women and POC how to shoot, urban warfare tactics to combat DHS/LEOs, and self defense. Take your power back from the fascists! We also offer safety trainings like applying tourniquets, CPR, etc.
“despite the hope and promise of this country, many Americans feel they cannot move about their lives freely without being targeted by the very people elected to represent them”
My youngest daughter is a Nashville MPD cop. When she worked patrol (she’s a detective now) this was part of her beat.
There are just a butt load of racists, bigots, and plain old butt-holes who thrive on the backs of decent human beings - probably 1/3 of the country who stayed in there parent's basements until the gelatinous orange bag of putrid pus rode down the escalator made it okay to proudly hate others not like them. Pathetic mouth breathers helping the south to rise again. Well-written newsletter, Lauren!
AIPAC donation to Ogles: $74, 629.
https://www.trackaipac.com/states/tennessee
I don't understand why a politician wouldn't stand up for the people in his community. Take a lesson from the good people of Minnesota and refuse to allow your neighbors to be treated so repulsively. Molder needs to grow a spine.
I expect nothing better from "moderate Democrats"
It's heartbreaking the US has become a country where swaths of our population are fearful of government reprisal. The Founders are rolling over in their graves.
Most Democrats want to pretend they can just ignore questions of who belongs in America, what do we owe to each other, and what can we expect from each other. This is especially true for Democrats who want to represent places where lots of Republicans live. This is true of Tennessee. It's also true of my home state of Michigan.
Instead of confronting questions about belonging and dignity, Democrats try to focus on nothing but economics. Everyone cares about financial stability, right? We shorthand this as "kitchen table issues" and now "affordability". Let's focus on what people have in common, not what separates them, right? Let's be serious and prudent. Let's make the main thing the main thing.
It's good as far as it goes, but it leaves out half the picture. It's hard to have financial stability when your own elected representatives can stir up a pogrom against you. People care deeply about belonging, whether they're the ones who want to belong or their the ones who want to tell other people they don't belong. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Avoiding it just looks like hiding.
So, when Democrats like Chaz Molder, or my own representatives in Michigan, ignore the kinds of things that Andy Ogles is doing and calls them distractions and diverts every question to economics, it makes me think they're not serious and they have no interest in looking out for people like me.
Let's be clear. Ogles has a misguided right to shoot his mouth off. That said his proposed legislation is so demonstrably unconstitutional that even if passed and signed, is not likely to pass muster in the courts -- even in the hard knocks Supreme Court of today. Now on the other issue -- I do not understand the impulse to weaken any solidarity among the Democratic Party in these times where the Trump party is entirely about (sheepish and slavish) solidarity. As for bread and butter issues -- those are the ones that appeal to a broad base of potential voters. The assault of a tyrant against popular government does not cut it with the voters, they aren't really feeling it, and the little matter of envying, and thus hating, your neighbor is so common in this country that it should be our national motto. Voting Democrat is almost the only hope to get out of this mess, that is if we still have a vote remaining in the Fall.
Hi, CW. Yeah, people like Andy Ogles are usually better at making noise than getting laws passed. And the courts, at least the lower courts, have done some good at holding the line against the craziest things.
On the other hand, there are a lot of loud and crazy people like Ogles these days and it would be a mistake to assume he can't win, and experience shows that it would be a mistake to count on the Supreme Court to stand up for E Pluribus Unum. The people like Ogles have gotten further than I ever would have guessed and all the defenses I assumed would hold up have crumbled. I'm not going to underestimate Ogles anymore.
Back in the day there was a TV show where one of the characters was a single mother of two grade-school-aged children. And she went out on a date with a man who wanted to impress her by winning over her kids. So he walked up to them smiling and said, "I know what kids like - money!" And he tried to give them each some cash. The mom put a stop to it and there were no more dates.
Republicans understand that money isn't the only thing people care about. Now they use this for evil, mostly by scaring them into thinking that their neighbors want to hurt them. Republicans understand that people care deeply about who belongs and who doesn't belong.
Democrats refuse to understand this. The talking points have gone out and every single Democratic elected official knows them: talk about people's pocket books. Every other subject is turned to this one. Why? Because supposedly it's safe. It's what people have in common. It doesn't make soft Republican voters angry. But if it's so safe, why are we in this mess now?
It's also empty. Even the talk of kitchen table issues isn't tied to any understanding of what's broken, how it got broken, and how to fix it. This approach contains no knowledge and no values. It's junk food and the only reason it works at all is because the alternative is poison.
The Democratic leadership is entirely bought into the idea that the only thing to talk about is finances, as if people are nothing but stomachs that vote. So if anyone tries to talk about anything else, it looks like they're wandering away from the team. It looks like they're breaking solidarity. But maybe what they're doing is refusing to do something that is empty of meaning and won't make anything better in the long run.
You said that people don't care about the assault of a tyrant against popular government. Are you sure? Has the entire Democratic party committed to working against the tyrant, or is that just a distraction from the real talking points about healthcare and gas prices? If the party doesn't take tyranny seriously, why would the public?
Here's one way to try to bridge the gap. Democrats could say this over and over: tyranny is expensive. Tyranny makes almost everyone poorer. Tyranny creates shortages and black markets and crime. Tyranny is about the worst thing imaginable for your kitchen table. Tyranny is unaffordable. Anyone who wants to live in prosperity should want nothing to do with a tyrant and should do everything possible to expel the tyrant.
Good talking with you. Hope you're enjoying St. Patrick's Day.
Thanks for writing this.
I live about 90 minutes from Nashville and usually visit there several times a year. Will be checking out this neighborhood and its restaurants and markets during my next visit!
I live in TN-4 and the candidate here has 0% change of winning so I'm not volunteering for her. When I heard the latest about Ogles, I signed up to volunteer for Molder, he might actually have a chance if the economy continues to tank because of the stupid war. I hope he gets better at defending the Muslim community.
I presume you mean 9/11. I don´t know howold you are but this started long before 9/11. If yhis has influenced Bulwark might be true, but I don´t like to make a statement on what influens other people I do not know personally
Let's use plain language: Andy Ogles is an oily, twitchy, disgusting little man who displays that unique kind of small-town corruption that's rooted in insecurity rather than overweening arrogance. He's lied about his credentials, he lied in his campaign disclosure reports, by all appearances he misappropriated funds donated to create a memorial garden for stillborn children! He's like a little dog inadvertently left tied to a car bumper when the car takes off, desperate to keep up, and who feels his only lifeline is the pander. Back in the day when I lived in Hillsboro-Belmont, whenever the dog and I on our morning walk crossed the bridge on Brightwood Ave into his district, I felt genuine disgust. He's not fit to be Mayor of Dogpatch let alone a member of the United States Congress.
Thanks Lauren, I had no idea Nashville holds Little Kurdistan.
I am ogling Andy wishing Amos would slap him upside the head.
I think Molder's approach of avoiding identity politics and focusing on the broader issues that impact all residents is worth testing, especially in these supposedly strong red House seats.
Less flame throwing seems to work in state-wide races so why not test its effectiveness in some federal districts?
If we are going to rebuild the republic we will need to move away from identity politics.
Forgive me, but when a politician calls to ethnically cleanse a whole group of American citizens from American soil just because of who they are and what God they worship, it shouldn't be "too much" to ask for an explicit condemnation from the politician who is supposedly opposed to said ethnic cleansing.
From a values perspective, I understand this; I used to feel this way in my younger days. Now, I am willing to consider other options (meaning not explicit condemnation of the politician) if it means winning the district or taught us something that could be used in other elections. We used to be a country of "Yes And"/Falafel and Pizza but we are now a country of Falafel OR Pizza.
For example what if Molder held a rally each in Little Kurdistan and in Ogles' neighborhood emphasized at both that he will consider the interests of all of his constituents? Don't know if it would make a difference but as JVL was writing yesterday, we cannot likely appeal to the morals of Americans because our values are different.
I agree. I don't think it's a good idea for politicians in red states to focus on identity politics, but it should be baseline for them to defend the right of everyone to practice whatever religion they choose (or no religion at all) and for immigrants to be safe in their communities. He needs to talk to Talarico for tips.
Everyone has identity and in the end, all politics are identity politics. Not focusing on them when people like Ogles make explicit attacks just tells Ogles that he can get away with it, and it tells people like the ones living in Little Kurdistan that they can't count on being protected by their own representatives, not even the supposedly good ones.
Sure, I totally agree with you, he should definitely defend people in his district. I just mean that he shouldn't do what Democrats typically do and go overboard. I live in the district just south of this one and I REALLY want Molder to win, I'm volunteering for his campaign. The woman running in my district has zero chance of winning because she's an identity politics warrior, she also ran in 2024 and got clobbered because people here won't vote for that kind of candidate. I think Molder has a really good chance of winning. I want him to be more forceful defending this community, but to not go overboard and make other people think he's some sort of radical. It's a delicate balance here. It's sad it has to be like that, but it's just reality. It's also reality that if Molder wins, life will be better for the Kurdish community here. Our current politics are just exhausting.
Hi, Jennifer. Could you give an example of what going overboard looks like in your state or district? People say that sometimes but I genuinely don't know what it means.
I can't think of last time my congressional Democrats went overboard on identify politics. My rep is Kristin McDonald Rivet and she focuses like a laser on economics and nothing else, and my senator, Elissa Slotkin, even said recently that "identity politics should go the way of the dodo". I don't know what Slotkin was referring to, but I do know that every time she speaks in public it's about national security or household economics.
So what is going overboard, and which Democrats are the worst offenders, if you don't mind me asking.
In my district in rural Tennessee, what I mean is focusing too much on things that turn off people who actually live here. In 2024, the candidate in my district who got clobbered had "pansexual" in all her social media bios. By clobbered, she got 24% of the vote (I did vote for her). Now, I'm totally fine with being a pansexual, but most of the people who live here were probably like WTF does that mean, she's a crazy liberal! Also, her major "issues" last time I looked are abortion, gun control, and education. I support all those things. However, this is the South! People do not rank abortion rights as a main issue. Also everyone here loves their guns, sadly gun control is a losing topic to focus on. Winning issues here right now are affordability, inflation, and jobs. People will NOT vote for someone they think is a radical liberal. If this issue with the Kurds was happening here, it might be saying something like "we should welcome anyone who is repressed to immigrate here no matter what religion they are." I agree with that, but the majority of voters here don't. I just think candidates should look at their district and try hard to understand what will connect with the people who actually live there. Trying to win an election won't work if you just run on your own personal values without also trying to connect with constituents. That's why I can never run for office, my values do not mesh at all with people here! Although I guess that might be why people distrust politicians, we can tell when people aren't being true to themselves.
Houston’s liberal gun club is growing fast! We teach women and POC how to shoot, urban warfare tactics to combat DHS/LEOs, and self defense. Take your power back from the fascists! We also offer safety trainings like applying tourniquets, CPR, etc.
GET INVOLVED LOCALLY!