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Red-to-Blue, Everywhere

A🧵

Historic wins in Virginia, New Jersey and California.

Critical judicial wins in Pennsylvania.

An incredible case study of why you run everywhere, with the stunning results in the Virginia House of Delegates…

1/ But let me name some other places you may not know as well….

Anderson Township.

Mason.

West Chester Township.

These are large communities outside Cincinnati.

The go-to places for not just GOP wins—but dominant GOP margins that drive overall state outcomes.

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JC’s Journey: A Freedom Story

A 🧵

Few authors have more informed (and reshaped) my understanding of American history than Isabel Wilkerson.

I had the honor and thrill of hearing her speak the other night, and she shared a story and lesson I will never forget.

1/ I couldn’t take notes as she told it, but I will capture it as best I can, having done a little research to fill it out.

In the early to mid-1900s, millions of Black Americans migrated north, escaping the punishing life and crushing poverty of the Jim Crow south.

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“The People Strike Back”

According to Strength in Numbers, “search interest for “Cancel Disney+” has hit an all-time high — even higher than the boycott movements from when Disney “went woke” in 2020-2022.

1/ The current Disney boycott is now 4x as large as any over the last 5 years, gauged by search interest.”

And those searches were just the beginning:

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🚨

A few weeks ago, when discussing the raid of John Bolton’s home, Vance kept describing the investigation with the words “we” and “our.”

It showed that Project 2025’s goal of erasing any independence of the FBI has happened.

And the true danger of that red line…

1/ …being crossed is playing out right now, amid the Kirk investigation.

“We.”

“Our.”

Trump. Vance. Miller. Bondi. Patel.

When it comes to an FBI investigation, they are all now one and the same.

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Thiel’s Tentacles & Long-Term Plan

A 🧵

More than even Musk, no private individual has his tentacles in more aspects of American government and data than Peter Thiel

And if you look back at what he once said he wanted to do to government and politics w technology

1/ that should scare the hell out of all of us.

It’s no secret that Thiel is responsible for placing people in positions of enormous influence over American government and life.

Including JD Vance.

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A Blowhard Goes Strangely Silent on the Epstein Files

A 🧵

If there was one thing made absolutely clear when he ran for president, it was that @VivekGRamaswamy would release the Epstein Files.

I mean, just look at how often he made that promise.

1/ Throughout that campaign, nothing was more clear than that he planned, as he said, “to expose the Epstein client list.”

“No one would be spared,” Vivek promised.

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A Note from Abroad

A 🧵

Much of my early life was spent abroad.

So this note from a family friend living abroad truly hit home:

“[T]here has been a tectonic shift in how we Americans are regarded abroad...

1/ Having lived outside the US since finishing my MBA in '93, my expat life has spanned five presidents.

While I choose to not discuss my political views except with my very closest friends, expatriates (especially Americans) nevertheless…

2/

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As Speaker Johnson takes aim at Newsom’s effort to counter the Trump effort to steal the 2026 election, let me introduce the Speaker to somebody.

This gentleman came to power from what is arguably the least accountable statehouse in the nation…

1/ This gentleman reaped the benefits of that broken system when he wasn’t even an incumbent.

In early 2015, when the state representative where he lived ran for another office, this man ran for the vacancy.

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Election Interference Deja Vu

A 🧵

JD Vance flies to Indiana.
In the wide open, he and other federal officials pressure state leaders to rig Indiana’s map to help seal House elections outcome 15 months in advance.

1/ Specifically, by giving themselves two extra seats in the House, and eliminating all Democratic seats in the Hoosier State.

2/

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When’s the last time that the person with the highest job approval rating in Ohio was…..

the Democratic candidate for Governor?

A long damn time.

But it’s actually the case right now!

1/

https://twitter.com/amyactonoh/status/1953528331116130319

A brand new poll shows that, at + 10, @amyactonoh has the highest job approval rating in the state.

By a lot.

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A 🧵 on the need for actions to match words

Thank you to those Texas Democrats taking their courageous stand, and thank you to those supporting them in Texas and beyond. Standing up to the anti-democratic tactics of Trump and state leaders

1/ like Abbott is absolutely critical at the moment.

In fact, there is no choice.

As a matter of strategic action, and as a matter of message.

In fact, if our actions don’t match our words, we lose!

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🚨 🚨

Much bigger than employment data

Quick 🧵

While Trump fired the leader of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he was angry about the accurate reporting of his poor job numbers, the BLS oversees far more than just monthly job growth and unemployment.

1/ That far broader array of economic data is critical to the country, to a wide variety of federal programs, and—as Trump no doubt is thinking—politics. And that makes the move that much more dangerous.

2/

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Sweetheart Deal of the Century

A 🧵

@NOTUSreports clued me into a story the other day that bears amplifying.

It really is a stunning revelation: the sweetheart plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein,

1/ reached by then U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, that Ghislaine Maxwell hopes will set her free (via her current Supreme Court petition), isn’t just of great interest to her.

2/

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The Politicization of Higher Ed: A New Low

A 🧵

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something comes along that still stuns you. That happened to me when I read an update from my friends at this Substack:

1/ We’ve watched now for months as Republicans at both the federal and state level attack universities for being too woke, too political, too whatever. (And of late, by the way, we are seeing too many of those institutions cave to extortion and shakedowns.)

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A Pattern — Learn from It

A 🧵

How often does a gerrymandered statehouse cry uncle?

How often do Republican US senators join Democrats to demand the Trump administration back down from something awful it’s doing?

1/ How often does the Administration actually back down?

And how often do voters (of a red state) decisively reject a key part of the right-wing agenda?

The answer is…lately…these things almost never happen.

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Roberts’ Handy Roadmap for Illegal Cover-Ups

A 🧵

Yesterday and today, Trump’s former personal lawyer is meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell.

No doubt trying to win her over and keeping her from further incriminating Trump

1/ But much worse than the fact that his former personal lawyer is having this conversation….is the fact that this man is having this conversation AS a DOJ lawyer.

And part of the conversation is clearly that he is a dangling a formal pardon as leverage in that conversation.

2/

Vivek. You can’t be serious.

A 🧵

I’ve been around politics for a little bit.

Which gives me a good eye for people who are serious, and people who are not at all serious.

And people who are not at all serious stick out like a sore thumb.

1/ So I’m here to tell you, @VivekGRamaswamy is not a serious candidate for Ohio.

Now he may have a lot of money.

And in today’s GOP, he may even be the favorite to be their candidate.

But this guy is not at all serious.

About actually being Governor.

2/

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Question:

You may have heard that Republicans plan to gerrymander both Ohio and Texas in order to gain more seats in the House for the 2026 election.

But have you heard that the only reason they can even do this in Ohio is because the Ohio GOP…

1/ 1) violated the Ohio Constitution seven times

2) defied Ohio Supreme Court orders seven times

3) held consecutive elections on maps that, at the time of those elections, violated the Ohio Constitution per the most recent opinion of the highest court in the state

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The LA ICE Nightmare

A 🧵

It’s easy to see stories and headlines and lose sight of just what’s happening.

So here’s some detail from the ACLU complaint that shows just how bad the LA ICE raids are:

1/ “One of the clearest patterns that have emerged in the raids in Southern California over the past few weeks has been stops and interrogations based on nothing but broad profiles, including on the basis of apparent race and ethnicity”

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As if the recent obsession with “Alligator Alcatraz”—and the images and memes popping up all over social media in celebration of it—isn’t grotesque enough as it is.

A 🧵

Just look at the images our own government is putting out:

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But this isn’t the first time in American history that images and themes of alligators have been conjured up by elements of our political culture.

And it’s this history that instructs us as to the danger of what’s playing out.

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🚨 🚨

As much as I loathe all the damage Musk has inflicted on our government and our country, Trump’s latest response in their battle is as dark as it gets.

Let me tell you why:

1/
When I worked in Russia, and as it was growing in corruption in front of our eyes, one of the most clearcut tell-tales of its slide into lawless authoritarianism was that as most people began to behave corruptly—

2/