Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

True, and good that it's true, but ...

... I worry about taking that to mean the midterms "will fall into our hands like a ripe fruit", which seems to be the approach of the so-called "leadership" of the Dem Party.

"it didn't work for [Lenin], but it might just work for us!"

She: "Well, did it work for those people?"

He: No, it never does, I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but ...

[pause]

He: ... but it might work for us.

November 17, 2025 at 8:29 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Great piece by Jim Carroll arguing that this month's election demonstrates Trump's and MAGA's weaknesses.

A good complement to G. Elliott Morris' report on the diffs betw. the 2024 election and this month's election.

Quotes below.

The worst possible Democratic response to these off-year elections would be to conclude that passively letting Trump make mistakes and defeat himself has somehow been vindicated as the optimal policy, to double-down on talking only about kitchen table issues, and to de-emphasize Trump’s lawlessness. As Greg Sargent writes at New Republic, the economic mismanagement and authoritarianism simply can’t be separated from each other:

[quote]
Trump’s tariffs, his killing of the tunnel project [between New Jersey and New York], his potentially illegal federal-worker firings, his DOGE bloodbath, and more show that the economic carnage he’s unleashed is inseparable from his consolidation of autocratic power. Democrats can say these things are bad because they’re both authoritarian abuses of power and have terrible economic consequences, while vowing to stand up to that lawlessness—and do well with the working class.
[/quote]

Crucially, politicos did not simply leave it to voters to intuit this connection on their own; as Sargent details, gubernatorial candidates Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey also made this case in advertisements and on the stump.

Those in the Democratic Party who have urged the party to keep its head down in the face of authoritarianism and to hope that Trump eventually somehow destroys himself, to focus on narrow “kitchen table issues,” or even to shift further towards a supposed “middle” to capture some of the supposed right-wing cultural swing of the electorate, have utterly misjudged our political situation. Americans have not missed the big picture of the Trump administration — the economic mayhem, the in-your-face corruption, the psychotic attempt to send troops into American cities — and when given a chance to make their voice heard, most declared “fuck that shit.”

Even in the face of such a clear electoral indictment, Donald Trump seems incapable of moderating his ostentatious corruption and indifference to the fortunes of ordinary Americans. His obsessive focus on building (or at least pocketing money to “build”) his Bribery Ballroom, which has led to the demolition of large chunks of the White House, may be the most symbolically resonant instance of this. All those Mary Antoinette “let them eat cake” memes may or may not sway public opinion, but they capture a certain timeless quality to his self-aggrandizement that is instantly clear even to those who don’t follow politics closely.

November 15, 2025 at 3:20 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Brian Karem at Salon on Trump's increasingly unintelligible word salads..

[Jake Tapper enters the chat room] "Breaking news, folks! Biden is older than he was a year ago!!!"

A quote below:

“He promised to release the files. Now he’s upset someone is starting to leak the information,” a source close to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., explained to me. Others said it’s what you’d expect from a man “no longer able to read the room.” Another indicated the president is mentally unaware of his surroundings.

It’s funny watching people come to the conclusion that Trump appears diminished. At the end of his first administration, I noticed him slipping and I thought I was late to the game. In July 2020 I wrote, “Evidence points to major concerns about Trump’s cognitive abilities, in addition to ongoing concerns about his ability to tell the truth, leading to the inevitable question: How screwed is this country if Trump is reelected?”

Advertisement:

Along with others, I noticed his unsteady gait. The president’s hands were shaking at times. He often seemed listless, tired. Sometimes he babbled like a cicada. Now, five years later, it’s so bad even Trump’s fans are grasping the obvious: Trump II is not Trump I.

Pep Secretary Leavitt addressed that fact Wednesday during her weekly appearance in the Brady Briefing Room. With the precision of a trained seal, she accused Democrats of victimizing the president before pivoting to praise Trump when asked about his recent trip to Washington’s Walter Reed Hospital for an MRI. Never fear, she said. The doctors, “all agreed that President Trump remains in exceptional physical health, which you will all see with your own eyes.”

She never mentioned a word about his mental health. She literally turned and left us hanging.

We have seen the president’s physical and mental decline with our own eyes, and it seems to be going from bad to worse at an increasing pace. Trump’s speeches often don’t make sense. He sleeps in public meetings, and afterward, his staff denies it happened.

November 14, 2025 at 7:08 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Keep it up, Donnie! I'm sure you'll persuade a lotta folks that you're as clean as the driven snow.

Aaron Rupar quote Trump's Truth Social post - "The Dems are doing everything in their withering power &c" - and glosses:

"Bringing up Epstein & peddling obvious lies abt your ties with him is certainly a choice."

November 14, 2025 at 6:17 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Some scathing quotes in the piece:

Yet the concept of “equal protection of the laws” has shrunk with the modern Supreme Court. That has been evident in the justices’ rulings on race-based measures in education. And during oral arguments in the Louisiana case, Kavanaugh was among the justices who suggested the era of racial remedies, in education and voting, must end.

As race endures as a flashpoint for the justices, the court has weakened the spirit and reach of Brown. A series of impending cases may further erode civil rights milestones.

“Brown is a shell now,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, former president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the organization that took the lead in Brown v. Board of Education.

November 14, 2025 at 6:12 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Agree with EMG that Rampell did a great job here ...

A fun quote with quite the burn of Trump's "undercooked health care 'plan'"...

Then there’s Trump’s undercooked health care “plan.” As dedicated Bulwark readers know well, the enhanced subsidies for purchasing Obamacare marketplace insurance are about to expire. As a result, premiums are skyrocketing, and roughly 4 million people are estimated to become uninsured. Rather than extend those premium subsidies—as Democrats demanded during the prolonged shutdown fight—Trump has proposed siphoning money away from insurance plans and giving the cash to individuals for health care–related purchases.

It’s not totally clear what this would entail, and it’s always dangerous to spend more time analyzing a Trump policy than he spent coming up with it. It sounds sort of like an expanded Flexible Savings Account. Which already exists, and is not going to reduce health costs—particularly if paired with broader repeal of Affordable Care Act provisions, which Republicans are (again) eyeing. (Read my colleague Jonathan Cohn’s recent pieces on this.) Either way, it’s almost certainly not becoming law.

November 14, 2025 at 5:17 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

2nd report I've seen saying that Cuck Schumer agreed to the provision to protect Dem senators prospectively.

Guy doesn't seem to get that Trump doesn't give a shit what the law says. Give Trump an inch and he'll steal your wallet.

We need a new Dem leadership team; failing that ... a new party.

A Democratic aide told NBC News that Schumer “fought to make the provision prospective to protect his members from a corrupt and out-of-control DOJ” under Attorney General Pam Bondi.

November 14, 2025 at 4:40 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Hooboy ... get vaxxed, folks. Sounds like it's a-gonna be a bumpy ride.

Approximately 89% of children who died of flu in 2024-2025 were not fully vaccinated, which shows the importance of the protection that vaccination offers.

Last flu season, only about 47% of adults received a flu shot in the U.S. Data for this year is not yet available (again, because of the shutdown), but Foster is nervous about what vaccine hesitancy could mean for shot uptake.

November 14, 2025 at 4:33 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Good piece by Jen Rubin on Dem US Rep Robert Gracia's messaging leadership in the House on the shutdown and Epstein emails.

Important not to lose sight of those fighting the fight even as we boggle at the fecklessness of Dem so-called "leaders" in Congress ...

Recommended.

Garcia, the former Long Beach mayor, blends political savviness, high principle, and media skills, making him a model for a newer generation of House Democrats. They collectively understand the battle they are in for democracy. Most importantly, they have the tools to skewer Republicans.

As we have painfully learned from the shutdown’s dreadful denouement, Democrats need not only hold the right positions; they must be the right messengers and strategists to regain power and begin rebuilding of our pock-marked democracy. A geriatric “leader” who cannot rally his caucus—or even nix the corrupt poison pill handing millions to Senate Republicans whose phone records (not the call contents) were properly searched in the investigation of their party’s 2020 insurrection—simply will not do.

But if Garcia, along with effective House fighters (e.g., the ever-on-message Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, veterans like Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and young faces such as Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida) are the vanguard of a new generation of Democrats, democracy might just stand a chance.

His constituents, Democrats, and democracy advocates of all political stripes should be grateful for Garcia’s deft and undaunted leadership. We salute him for his tenacity throughout the second Trump term and are hopeful as we follow his political trajectory.

November 14, 2025 at 3:35 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Unbelievable. The Senate Dem squishes caved to protect the filibuster.

We desperately need a new party. These clowns are Trump accomplices.

The only way out of the shutdown was a bipartisan deal, and Democrats had achieved something incredibly rare in a shutdown showdown: opposition party leverage.

Why did King and the Invertebrate Eight sacrifice that leverage for a deal that forfeited their main Democratic demands?

The mere hint of losing the filibuster may have caused panic among Senate institutionalists. Karen Tumulty, the veteran Beltway reporter at The Washington Post, said on X, “This was all about the filibuster.” Her former Post colleague Benjy Sarlin added, “D’s seem divided 80-20 between the ‘Go ahead, make my day’ caucus on ditching the filibuster and the 20 who cut a deal as soon as R’s put it on the table.” Republicans had not actually put it on the table, but the surrendering Democrats may have feared the worst anyway.

November 12, 2025 at 4:18 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

The Ketamine Kid said something similar, didn't he?

Ah, yes, this from prospect.org (albeit not a direct quote):

prospect.org/2025/01/02/2...

Oligarchs like Musk and David Sacks say that the H-1B program is vital because Americans are too stupid and lazy to learn technical skills. This is not remotely true—on the contrary, there is currently a sizable surplus of technical labor, as the generation that had “learn to code” as the automatic route to a six-figure salary beaten into them graduates, while the tech industry conducts mass layoffs. Indeed, a major motivation of the “learn to code” dogma was coming from tech company brass enraged at high labor costs.

November 12, 2025 at 2:32 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

@jamellebouie.net on the Senate squishes.

"Democratic voters ... want Grants, not McClellans."

No one familiar with Civil War history would call McClellan "moderate". Neither should the Senate squishes be described as "moderate". Their "moderation" is a threat to the Republic.

Highly recommended.

But this view is wrong. This isn’t an ordinary moment. The president is openly lawless. After firing thousands of civil servants and slashing entire agencies, he has turned much of what’s left of the federal government into a tool of authoritarian consolidation. He’s transformed the nation’s immigration enforcement agencies into a de facto secret police force, terrorizing communities across the country. He wants the National Guard to occupy American cities and he has publicly mused about sending the military against protesters. He’s turned the Department of Justice into his personal law firm as well as the enforcement arm for his efforts to suppress dissent and force the institutions of civil society into compliance with his will. And his supplicants in Congress, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, are willing and eager to sacrifice their independence as constitutional actors on the altar of his personal rule.

This extraordinary reality calls for something different than the usual approach. Senate Democrats may think they are fighting to position themselves for crossover votes in the midterm elections, but they are actually in a battle for self-government itself — for democratic freedom and the rule of law. In that fight, the goal of any legislative strategy should be to inflict as much pain on the ruling party as is feasible. Democrats were, up until this week, meeting the task at hand. The polling was clear: Republicans were losing the shutdown. Americans were souring on Trump even more than they already had. And nearly half of them were willing to keep the government on hiatus if it meant Congress would retain enhanced tax credits for health insurance.

But if it appears that a feckless set of Senate Democrats have looked a gift horse in the mouth, it is also important not to over-read the electoral implications of this week’s maneuver. Next year’s midterm elections won’t be shaped by the Democratic Party’s congressional posture as much as they will be by the public’s view of Trump. And there is no reason to think that its view will improve.

The president does not know how to save face or change course. His go-to move is to escalate, whether or not it is effective. He doesn’t swerve away from his most unpopular positions; he drives full speed in their direction. You can imagine a world in which these tendencies were mitigated by strong advisers willing to give good counsel. But this is the exact opposite of the actual case. Two of Trump’s most influential counselors, Russell Vought and Stephen Miller, are uncompromising ideologues more interested in pushing their extreme agendas than they are in Trump’s political standing.

Democratic voters have shown, over the last 10 years, a remarkable amount of pragmatism when it comes to confronting Trump. But it is clear, from the mass protests of the past few months, that their patience is running thin. They want lawmakers who understand the stakes of the moment. They want leaders more inclined to fight on every front than retreat in the face of pressure. They want Grants, not McClellans.

It is not too late for Democrats in Congress to show the fighting spirit that their voters want to see. At the very least, they should consider the consequences for their own careers if, and very likely when, rank-and-file Democrats decide that their patience has run out.

November 12, 2025 at 1:26 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Retire the term "moderate"!

It is important to lose that label of “moderates” not only to make clear these Democrats are a drag on the party and the fight for democracy but to spare those fighting Democrats (including the Gov.-elect of New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill and other senators who held firm but can in no way be considered far-left progressives) from getting lumped in with the weak-kneed crew. Put differently, we need to distinguish Democrats who understand we are in an existential fight for democracy from those who think “getting along in the Senate” is a worthwhile goal.

You do not have to take the most progressive stances on policy issues to comprehend that the senators who caved have made an astounding error. Indeed, the long list of not-as-progressive-as-some Democrats who have denounced the deal (e.g., Reps. Ritchie Torres, Jake Auchincloss, Dan Goldman; Sens. Chris Coons, Mark Warner, Elissa Slotkin) should remove any confusion that this is about ideology.

If last Tuesday’s results showed anything, it is that ideology matters less than clarity and determination. The commonalities between Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Sherrill vastly outweigh the differences. (Hint: “Affordability” is the new Democratic mantra.) No one should ever confuse Sherrill for Dick Durbin. The former is a disciplined fighter; the latter is an embarrassment.

In other words, the caving senators have given “moderate”—or its cousin label of “centrist”—a bad name. So how should fighting Democrats such as Sherrill, Warner, Pritzker, etc. describe themselves?

In response to the query, “What kind of Democrat are you?” candidates and politicians, donors, and operatives horrified by this retreat, regardless of ideology, should respond: A Democrat who wins; a Democrat who fights for a fair shake for Americans; a Democrat with zero tolerance for corruption; a Democrat ready to fight fire with fire on redistricting; a Democrat who treasures and collaborates with grassroots organizers and rejects invitations to appease bullies; a JB Pritzker-Gavin Newsom (not Muriel Bowser or a caving Senate Democrat); a No Kings Democrat; a Democrat who understands we are in an existential crisis; and a Democrat who will fight for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, for women and girls abused by Jeffrey Epstein, for heroic Capitol Police who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, and for every nonprofit that has been smeared as ANTIFA.

November 11, 2025 at 6:00 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Truly hilariously self-unaware paragraph from the NYT report.

Left someone off the list, mebbe?

Since the primary, New York’s dismayed power brokers — the real estate and finance industries, the local Democratic Party — have struggled to understand how a democratic socialist could be elected mayor in the global center of capitalism, and with the support of people who are ostensibly doing reasonably well in it.

November 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

@willbunch.bsky.social on Tuesday's election results.

Sample below... a good read.

The first concern is about the leading Democrats on Capitol Hill. At the same time that voters were heading out to the polls on Tuesday, there were reports that centrist Dems in the Senate were eying “a deal” that would reopen the government on largely the GOP’s terms, with just a token promise for a vote on affordable healthcare that guaranteed nothing. Such a cave-in, especially with polls showing most voters blaming Republicans for the shutdown, and after the electorate made its views pretty clear on Tuesday, would be a disgrace.

Hopefully, this fear of continued cravenness from the Democratic leadership is unfounded. “I think it would be very strange if on the heels of the American people having rewarded Democrats for standing up and fighting, we surrendered without getting anything for the people we’ve been fighting for,” Connecticut‘s Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told Axios. What’s more, Thursday’s end-of-2026 retirement announcement from Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is a sign that perhaps the Mamdani big win also sent a message to the gerontocracy.

But the bigger worry still stands. Voters can send a message to Trump, but they can’t likely get rid of him for another 38 months. The president couldn’t control Tuesday’s outcome, but he still controls a military larger than the next nine or 10 nations combined, is still hiring loyalists for a masked secret police force, and still believes his 48.5% share of the 2024 vote was a mandate for dictatorship.

You will be shocked to learn that the 47th and possibly last American president is not taking Tuesday’s results well. On Wednesday, the commander-in-chief let loose with a barrage of some 30 posts on his Truth Social site — everything from book recommendations to bizarre rants that looked AI-generated — and threatened to invade Nigeria, a nation that Trump might struggle to locate on a map.

November 7, 2025 at 12:38 AM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Republicans going full-metal grievance-mongers ...

Kirk’s rhetoric of “Christian white nationalism, anti-transgender, quote anti-woke culture-war framing, this isn’t on the edge anymore,” Orr told me. “It has moved into what many consider the center of Republican identity.” They said they were deeply concerned about how few people seemed willing to point out the consequences of this shift: “Who is actually fighting for us?”

November 6, 2025 at 6:27 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Somewhat tell this asshole to STFU ...

Golden Book cover with bunny in rain poncho & umbrella saying "Oh Christ, It's This Asshole Again", price $0.29.

November 6, 2025 at 2:08 AM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

Well, now that you ask ...

... not *exactly* the same thing, but close enough for gummint work.

He got my vote when my in-laws threatened to leave the city if he wins.

November 5, 2025 at 10:35 PM

jhstoo

@jhstoo.bsky.social

A fun read by @ryanlcooper.com on America's dumbest $gazillionaires pouring $millions down the drain to prop up a failed former governor. A short sample below: