That was a cataclysm. Electoral map wipeout. Senate D practical ceiling is now 52 seats. R's is 62.
Time to rebuild the left.
We are out of touch with the crisis of meaning/purpose fueling MAGA. We refuse to pick big fights. Our tent is too small.
1/ Some early thoughts:
2/ The left has never fully grappled with the wreckage of fifty years of neoliberalism, which has left legions of Americans adrift as local places are hollowed out, rapacious profit seeking cannibalizes the common good, and unchecked new technology separates and isolates us.
3/ The things that mattered are disappearing. We spend half as much time with friends as a generation ago. Hard work no longer guarantees economic mobility. Institutions (like churches) are delegitimized. Place based identity evaporates as we all become "global citizens."
4/ The left skips past the way people are feeling (alone, impotent, overwhelmed) and straight to uninspiring solutions (more roads! bulk drug purchasing!) that do little to actually upset the status quo of who has power and who doesn't.
5/ Does racism explain part of the attraction of the right's nativism? Of course. But mass deportation is a (terrible) response to Americans' real sense they are helpless in the face of global forces (like increased migration). The left largely ignores this pain.
6/ We don't listen enough; we tell people what's good for them.
And when progressives like Bernie aggressively go after the elites that hold people down, they are shunned as dangerous populists. Why? Maybe because true economic populism is bad for our high-income base. 😬
7/ Meanwhile, men tumble into a different kind of identity crisis, as the patriarchy, society's primary organizing paradigm for centuries, rightly crashes. The right pushes an alluring dial back. The left says "get over it". Again, a refusal to listen/offer responsible solutions.
8/ We cannot be afraid of fights - especially with the economic elites who have profited off neoliberalism. The right regularly picks fights with elites - Hollywood, higher ed, etc. Democrats (e.g. the Harris campaign) are tepid in our fights with billionaires and corporations.
9/ Real economic populism should be our tentpole.
But here's the thing - then you need to let people into the tent who aren't 100% on board with us on every social and cultural issue, or issues like guns or climate.
10/ Those are hard things for the left.
A firm break with neoliberalism.
Listen to poor and rural people, men in crisis. Don't decide for them.
Pick fights. Embrace populism.
Build a big tent. Be less judgmental.
But we are beyond small fixes.
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The story of how Trump sells access to the White House - to benefit himself and his family financially and to benefit his political operation - is shocking and sordid.
No President has ever monetized access like Trump has.
1/ It's a story you need to know.
2/ The primary way to get to Trump is at his golf clubs. Reportedly, a $5 million donation to Trump's political operation gets you a one-on-one meeting. $1 million will get you a group private dinner.
3/ One crypto CEO who paid the $1 million price explained to the @nytimes that after his meeting with Trump, his idea to make money off the federal government was suddenly "making the rounds...so mission accomplished from my view.” nytimes.com/2025/08/02/us/…
2/ The most significant claim Trump made in the "announcement" was a $550 billion Japanese investment fund in the U.S. where the U.S. would split profits with Japan 90/10.
Trump called it a "signing bonus".
"They gave us $550B up front, 100 percent," he said.
3/ The press reported it straight even though it sounded absurd.
$550 billion is 13% of Japan's entire GDP! Who believes Japan is investing 13% of its GDP in the U.S. and giving the U.S. 90% of the profits?
It made no sense. And of course we find out - Trump made it up.
I told you that the SCOTUS's ban on national injunctions would supersize Trump's lawlessness.
Well, it's starting.
1/ Let me break some news for you: Trump is stealing money to build facilities like Alligator Alcatraz - from an account earmarked for the OPPOSITE of detention.
2/ I'm the top Democrat on the sub-committee that writes the budget for DHS. I know that budget.
Since 2019, the budget always includes a line item for detention beds AND a line item for the Shelter and Services Program ("SSP"). They are very different programs.
3/ The detention account funds secure beds for immigrants who are detained. But many asylum applicants are released into the U.S. as their cases are processed.
SSP provides small grants to help local communities provide shelter or services to those people.
2/ First, let's just understand how wildly illegal and devastating this funding cut is. This is money authorized by Congress for after school programs. Not a new program; schools get it every year. In many low income districts, their programs cannot run without these federal $.
3/ This fall, over a million kids could have no after school option. In Umatilla, OR - a low income rural town - notice just went out that the programs would shut down. Low income parents will have to find expensive (and likely far away) alternatives, or cut back working hours.
Ok, so Republicans just introduced a 900 page bill none of them have read. But my team is going through it line by line and on this 🧵you can see the hidden provisions we found. Will update all day.
1/ NEW Medicaid cuts, so now 17 million - instead of 16M - lose health care.
2/ It was bad enough they cut all the tax incentives for wind and solar energy - they added a NEW TAX on these projects to make sure America never builds any new renewables.
Remember, Trump promised the oil industry provisions like this in exchange for a $1B campaign donation.
3/ The bill BANS state regulation of AI - a stone cold giveaway to the tech companies who want to addict our kids, pollute our politics, and kill our jobs with zero guardrails.
Rumor is there's a new language coming, but it's still an effective ban. Just an outrage.
The press reported today that the votes are falling apart for Trump's budget (the one with the big Medicaid cuts).
It's the impact of organizing. It's why I set up American Mobilization Project.
1/ Here's a quick summary of what AMP has been up to in its first month.
2/ I think the entire game right now is citizen mobilization. What's the point of raising money for the 2026 election if our democracy is at risk NOW? So I'm dedicating my fundraising efforts to citizen protest. That's what AMP does - fund protest infrastructure.
3/ A taste of what we are doing:
We formed a $200,000 partnership with the Committee to Protect Health Care. They organize doctors and nurses to fight the Medicaid cuts in key states.
Already, 4,000 doctors have signed up to take action.