Great piece. I am a veteran of more than two decades at the higher levels of the Democratic Party campaign apparatus (DSCC, DNC, Kerry 2004). I could not agree more with your point that it is vastly easier to take over an existing party, with all of its legal structures already in place across all the states, than it is to consider what it would take to start a new one. And as you note, the right-wing christian nationalist fascists used exactly this take-over-from-the-inside method for their conquest of the old Republican Party.
The closest that the Democrats have gotten to this take-over position was in the late 1980s, when Jesse Jackson used the Rainbow Coalition approach to shock the party by winning a number of presidential primaries. One of the great mysteries of recent political history is what happened to Jackson and the RC after 1988 Jackson appeared to be well on the way to pulling together that mythical small-D democratic coalition of the working class, minorities, etc. that could have made for a very serious contender in 1992. If anyone knows why Jackson and the RC basically evaporated as a force within Democratic politics, please post. Thanks.
Good old Chuck needs to be doing more or concede to a younger more energetic senator (never going to happen because everyone loves to horde power). Lucie already pulled the football and we’re on the ground.
Rs were great at controlling the senate from the sidelines, did no one take notes!?! Even though you’d assume they have built a counter playbook, dems should at least be trying. Though it’s probably already too late as most everyone is confirmed.
I would argue there are a few Rs that could be turned and that effort is needed. Don’t burn every bridge yet. A few have shown the only reason they aren’t pushing back is due to the shear power of Ts name and the amount of mafia style coercion going on. Dems need a similar effort (maybe without the violence) to see if they could force a majority, with solid break glass and nuclear option if all else fails. These should also not be secret. Let everyone know we are willing to bring the fight.
Though remember we can chat about this forever, but if we don’t get up and convince anyone in power to change we might as well say nothing. So make sure you are doing something…
That DNC chair quote is how you know we’ve BEEN in an oligarchy for a while. It’s the core of what’s wrong with the party and why they’ll keep losing. They don’t need to pay consultants a massive fee for an election post-mortem, they just need to throw that quote to the public and see how it lands
I would start by reaching out to the 90+ million who didn’t vote. My ask would be simple - if you don’t care about politics, think your vote doesn’t matter, or that it doesn’t matter who gets elected, then commit to automatically voting against every incumbent in every election. Party doesn’t matter. Incumbents facing a credible threat of 60-70% opposition will be highly motivated to demonstrate that they’re doing the right things for the voters. Sure, some garbage will get elected, but a one term “prove it” contract is far better than we have now.
It is WAY MORE than most. Our country is devoid of meaningful, productive action by all of our leaders. It’s not just that ‘Murrica is now a fascist country. It’s not just that repulsive unelected alien billionaires are stealing our personal data and money. Our planet is en fuego and not one fucking “leader” in the world is doing anything about it. The climate change disaster is already here and it will continue to get worse and worse, while the Bloated Yam of Scam drives his golf cart over the greens of his golf course, for fun. ⛳️
I don’t disagree that we need to ask elected officials to stand up against an existential threat to democracy but I wonder whether the best way to do that is to rail against those politicians in the center who may not be doing enough but who at least are not actively doing harm-and focus all fury and meaningful action against the very large number of politicians who are either cheering on or facilitating the coup. It seems like an circular firing squad to me-the other side is hellbent on destruction (and doing quite well at it) and the other side looks itself to see who isn’t doing enough to fight the fire. There will be time after the fire is extinguished to assess who didn’t lift enough buckets of water.
The nearest Senate voices to what you are calling for are our octogenarian spirit leader from Vermont, my own state’s Senator Warren, and the much younger Chris Murphy from Connecticut and Andy Kim from NJ. In the House we have The Squad, Jamie Raskin, Maxwell Frost, Jasmine Crockett,
I have never, ever trusted Amy Klobuchar. She has always struck me as a politician in the centrist, David fucking Axelrod “art of the possible” mode, not the let’s stand for what is right mode. She lacks integrity, IMO. As does Chuck Schumer and other centrist Democrats who want to keep their seats, not work for their constituents.. I vacillate between throwing out our current Democratic leadership and replacing them with people like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Jamie Crockett, vs. creating a third anti-fascist party that has one mission and one mission, only: To oust Nazism in America once and for all. The very idea that current Democrats have not yet gotten the memo that non-Trump voters want them to obstruct Trump at every possible turn is so mind-blowing to me. I liken them to the orchestra on the Titanic, continuing to play music for the masses while the ship goes down. Our job is not to placate Trump’s followers. It’s to root out white supremacy and treason.
Regarding your how do we fight them notes, I do think there is power in work stoppage (literal general strikes, and not on the weekends just because it’s more convenient for us). The gears must grind to a halt. The flow of taxes to the federal government has to stop, too. And blue state governors have to start threatening to leave the Union. Without us, there is no money for the fascists to operate. Because even the billionaires don’t have that much money.
Diversity is our strength. Diversity is our strength.
I agree with you, we need each to work on their own approach.
Nibble the GOP to death like ducks, from a hundred, a thousand, a million different directions. They won't know which way to turn. In the end, they really have only one playbook (yell and threaten, yell and threaten), and after a while, it just won't work anymore.
Tackle them at the school board, in the library council, at town meeting, on street corners. Write letters to editors (write op-eds, too), put up signs, rent billboards, gather your five best friends and go to the politicians' offices, show up, show up, and keep showing up until their eyes roll, and keep hammering away at their cupidity.
Research who gives them money and expose their corruption.
Run for office, town council, neighborhood watch, anything, get involved in something!!
Diversity is our strength!!
Oh, and help shelter those the GOP attack to the best of your ability. Financially support local outreach organizations for the poor, pre-school programs for kids, legal protections for LGBTQ (including T!), PFLAG, the Trevor Project, etc. Support ACLU. Support unions (join or start a union at your place of work).
Great piece. Yes, start with the easiest thing that is NOT doing NOTHING!
I think I'm going to start by writing my state's junior US Senator, who is up for re-election in 2026, and tell him that if he doesn't oppose EVERYTHING the fascists are doing right now, then I will support ANY other Dem who primaries him. I will primary him MYSELF if necessary. You want to attract support? Then show some fucking guts.
PS: I like that you used the word "monomaniacal." I think the last time I saw it in print was in a piece describing George Harrison's approach to guitar playing.
I actually like this idea: similar to the NRA ratings for 2A friendliness, we should rate current Democratic leadership on their anti-fascist, anti-white supremacist stances.
I think we deluge the DNC with emails, postcards, and phone calls to implement this system. And if they won’t do it, then I suggest we contact David Hogg’s “Leaders We Deserve” who might be open to this idea.
Not sure I get what you’re asking. Look up the DNC contact info online? Start writing, calling, and emailing. Get your friends and family to do the same.
Great piece. I am a veteran of more than two decades at the higher levels of the Democratic Party campaign apparatus (DSCC, DNC, Kerry 2004). I could not agree more with your point that it is vastly easier to take over an existing party, with all of its legal structures already in place across all the states, than it is to consider what it would take to start a new one. And as you note, the right-wing christian nationalist fascists used exactly this take-over-from-the-inside method for their conquest of the old Republican Party.
The closest that the Democrats have gotten to this take-over position was in the late 1980s, when Jesse Jackson used the Rainbow Coalition approach to shock the party by winning a number of presidential primaries. One of the great mysteries of recent political history is what happened to Jackson and the RC after 1988 Jackson appeared to be well on the way to pulling together that mythical small-D democratic coalition of the working class, minorities, etc. that could have made for a very serious contender in 1992. If anyone knows why Jackson and the RC basically evaporated as a force within Democratic politics, please post. Thanks.
Good old Chuck needs to be doing more or concede to a younger more energetic senator (never going to happen because everyone loves to horde power). Lucie already pulled the football and we’re on the ground.
Rs were great at controlling the senate from the sidelines, did no one take notes!?! Even though you’d assume they have built a counter playbook, dems should at least be trying. Though it’s probably already too late as most everyone is confirmed.
I would argue there are a few Rs that could be turned and that effort is needed. Don’t burn every bridge yet. A few have shown the only reason they aren’t pushing back is due to the shear power of Ts name and the amount of mafia style coercion going on. Dems need a similar effort (maybe without the violence) to see if they could force a majority, with solid break glass and nuclear option if all else fails. These should also not be secret. Let everyone know we are willing to bring the fight.
Though remember we can chat about this forever, but if we don’t get up and convince anyone in power to change we might as well say nothing. So make sure you are doing something…
No, it was a handful of men in Sillicon Valley who did this. Love thy neighbor and fight the power.
That DNC chair quote is how you know we’ve BEEN in an oligarchy for a while. It’s the core of what’s wrong with the party and why they’ll keep losing. They don’t need to pay consultants a massive fee for an election post-mortem, they just need to throw that quote to the public and see how it lands
Get out of the way and let someone else lead if you are just going to lay down and get ran over.
Quote: The First Buddy, a Nazi apartheid billionaire/corruption mogul whose name means Flair Odor”. You had me a first buddy. *chefs kiss*
I would start by reaching out to the 90+ million who didn’t vote. My ask would be simple - if you don’t care about politics, think your vote doesn’t matter, or that it doesn’t matter who gets elected, then commit to automatically voting against every incumbent in every election. Party doesn’t matter. Incumbents facing a credible threat of 60-70% opposition will be highly motivated to demonstrate that they’re doing the right things for the voters. Sure, some garbage will get elected, but a one term “prove it” contract is far better than we have now.
“Most of the ones we elected are broken.”
It is WAY MORE than most. Our country is devoid of meaningful, productive action by all of our leaders. It’s not just that ‘Murrica is now a fascist country. It’s not just that repulsive unelected alien billionaires are stealing our personal data and money. Our planet is en fuego and not one fucking “leader” in the world is doing anything about it. The climate change disaster is already here and it will continue to get worse and worse, while the Bloated Yam of Scam drives his golf cart over the greens of his golf course, for fun. ⛳️
More than most? Mostlymost? Mostplus? Mostmost?
No good billionaires
I love this piece. The oligarchs are attacking democracy in multiple fronts; there is no reason we can’t defend democracy on multiple fronts.
I don’t disagree that we need to ask elected officials to stand up against an existential threat to democracy but I wonder whether the best way to do that is to rail against those politicians in the center who may not be doing enough but who at least are not actively doing harm-and focus all fury and meaningful action against the very large number of politicians who are either cheering on or facilitating the coup. It seems like an circular firing squad to me-the other side is hellbent on destruction (and doing quite well at it) and the other side looks itself to see who isn’t doing enough to fight the fire. There will be time after the fire is extinguished to assess who didn’t lift enough buckets of water.
The nearest Senate voices to what you are calling for are our octogenarian spirit leader from Vermont, my own state’s Senator Warren, and the much younger Chris Murphy from Connecticut and Andy Kim from NJ. In the House we have The Squad, Jamie Raskin, Maxwell Frost, Jasmine Crockett,
I have never, ever trusted Amy Klobuchar. She has always struck me as a politician in the centrist, David fucking Axelrod “art of the possible” mode, not the let’s stand for what is right mode. She lacks integrity, IMO. As does Chuck Schumer and other centrist Democrats who want to keep their seats, not work for their constituents.. I vacillate between throwing out our current Democratic leadership and replacing them with people like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Jamie Crockett, vs. creating a third anti-fascist party that has one mission and one mission, only: To oust Nazism in America once and for all. The very idea that current Democrats have not yet gotten the memo that non-Trump voters want them to obstruct Trump at every possible turn is so mind-blowing to me. I liken them to the orchestra on the Titanic, continuing to play music for the masses while the ship goes down. Our job is not to placate Trump’s followers. It’s to root out white supremacy and treason.
Regarding your how do we fight them notes, I do think there is power in work stoppage (literal general strikes, and not on the weekends just because it’s more convenient for us). The gears must grind to a halt. The flow of taxes to the federal government has to stop, too. And blue state governors have to start threatening to leave the Union. Without us, there is no money for the fascists to operate. Because even the billionaires don’t have that much money.
Diversity is our strength. Diversity is our strength.
I agree with you, we need each to work on their own approach.
Nibble the GOP to death like ducks, from a hundred, a thousand, a million different directions. They won't know which way to turn. In the end, they really have only one playbook (yell and threaten, yell and threaten), and after a while, it just won't work anymore.
Tackle them at the school board, in the library council, at town meeting, on street corners. Write letters to editors (write op-eds, too), put up signs, rent billboards, gather your five best friends and go to the politicians' offices, show up, show up, and keep showing up until their eyes roll, and keep hammering away at their cupidity.
Research who gives them money and expose their corruption.
Run for office, town council, neighborhood watch, anything, get involved in something!!
Diversity is our strength!!
Oh, and help shelter those the GOP attack to the best of your ability. Financially support local outreach organizations for the poor, pre-school programs for kids, legal protections for LGBTQ (including T!), PFLAG, the Trevor Project, etc. Support ACLU. Support unions (join or start a union at your place of work).
Agitate, don't vegetate!
Our diversity is our strength!
Great piece. Yes, start with the easiest thing that is NOT doing NOTHING!
I think I'm going to start by writing my state's junior US Senator, who is up for re-election in 2026, and tell him that if he doesn't oppose EVERYTHING the fascists are doing right now, then I will support ANY other Dem who primaries him. I will primary him MYSELF if necessary. You want to attract support? Then show some fucking guts.
PS: I like that you used the word "monomaniacal." I think the last time I saw it in print was in a piece describing George Harrison's approach to guitar playing.
We should rate the dems for their effectiveness these days. They are really not doing well.
I actually like this idea: similar to the NRA ratings for 2A friendliness, we should rate current Democratic leadership on their anti-fascist, anti-white supremacist stances.
How do we do this? I don't really have any experience.
I think we deluge the DNC with emails, postcards, and phone calls to implement this system. And if they won’t do it, then I suggest we contact David Hogg’s “Leaders We Deserve” who might be open to this idea.
And how do we deluge? I apologize for my naïveté.
Not sure I get what you’re asking. Look up the DNC contact info online? Start writing, calling, and emailing. Get your friends and family to do the same.
That’s what I was asking. Thanks.