We look to our elected officials to understand current politics better than we do, so this is bad:

Based on the Supreme Court’s order referenced by Jeffries, the judge handling the Garcia case demanded that the government disclose where he’s being held. Yesterday, there was a hearing in front of the judge who originally had the case and she tried to get the government to disclose Garcia’s whereabouts and the DoJ basically refused, setting up yet another test for the courts. This has been the pattern of the Trump Administration. Jeffries’ premature spike here is dumb.

This is dumber:

Even some idiot writing a blog told his readers on April 9, 2025 that Trump keeping Chinese tariffs at 125% renders his supposed back down meaningless, and the markets were plummeting yesterday when Chuck’s social media team tweeted this out.

AOC and Bernie are criss-crossing the country to huge crowds (LA today, Utah, Idaho and Montana on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday). Both of our titular leaders are getting ratioed into the earth on social media, and Schumer is running around trying to keep his job. Why?

My take is that they’re in a cage of their own making. They think some billionaires are good, specifically the ones who give them money, so they can’t call out insider trading or the oligarchy too hard. They don’t want to stick up for immigrants too much because their pollsters say that people don’t like immigrants. They run and hide when trans rights come up, or worse. This cage of fear is so goddam limiting.

It’s not a huge mystery why a former waitress from the Bronx who’s smart and quick on her feet, and a curmudgeonly old guy who has been saying the same things for 20 years are far more popular than these two guys. AOC and Bernie believe in something, and they’re not afraid of saying it. This is the time in our politics where people who don’t live in a cage of fear, and have some clue how they’d use power if they got some, will advance.

The politicians living in fear cages are making a bet that, yet again, Democrats will win the midterms and 2028 on the strength of being not-Trump. Even Canadian PM Mark Carney, who in his bones is a cautious central banker, sees the massive opportunity that Trump has given him, and he’s got a pretty ambitious plan for fighting tariffs and strengthening his country. The path that Jeffries and Schumer want the party to follow will lead to tiny incremental change that will frustrate people who voted for them, and then the voters will grab the wheel and we’ll be in the ditch again.

So, in short, I’m with Kay: against the status quo.

No post about bravery would be complete without a picture of you know who. “We want to welcome Claudia”. This is from Thursday. AOC is also very brave to go to those rallies.

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John S.1 year ago

Neither Jeffries nor Schumer have any upcoming events according to their websites. So good to see them out there meeting with their constituents and listening to their concerns. Maybe some other folks will have to start doing “empty chair” town halls for them.

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Kathy Quinerly1 year ago

Great posts. TY. I am trying to read all your and Kay's posts but behind on some stuff from a few days ago. Hitting my halfway point of a little over 3 week road trip in CA. Been living in a rented 1954 Spartanette camper on 10 acres. Mostly to see if I could and it was cheap. Learned that I can.

Keep up the great work. Much appreciated.

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John S.1 year ago

RV life can be pretty awesome. My best friend is living in one on my property, and he loves it.

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Kathy Quinerly1 year ago

Ok. I did a long comment to you and it disappeared. I was a little wary when typing it in. I saved it if it didn't take. Will put in a stand alone comment.

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mister mixAuthor1 year ago

I had to google Spartanette - it looks like the Airstream of the 50's - nice.

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Kathy Quinerly1 year ago

It's fun and cute. I left a long comment to one of my old BJ defenders (John S.) above. Wanted to address it to all....but these damn threaded comments.😎😎😎😎

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Tam R1 year ago

Oh my goodness, I looked it up and that camper is so cute. I was driving by the VW dealership and they have these Easter egg colored, retro looking camper vans. It’s a good thing I can’t afford to buy a car right now because they are calling my name.

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Scott H1 year ago

You're seeing the VW ID Buzz, their next EV.

It has lacklaster range, relatively pokey charging rate and it's lowest price starts at $62K.

There are tons of better EV options.

I saw one "in the wild" for the first time yesterday here in Denver. I'm sure I'll see more given the amount of money here.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a62638170/2025-volkswagen-id-buzz-test/

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Kathy Quinerly1 year ago

It's fun and cute. Not mine. I bet it has been sitting in this same spot 60 years. Cool on the inside. Original birch paneling was saved. Laminate floors. They did a nice job on saving what they could. I left a long comment to one of my old BJ defenders (John S.) above. Wanted to address it to all....but these damn threaded comments.😎😎😎😎

More info in that comment. Have a beautiful day. Take care.

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Scott H1 year ago

AOC/Sanders are out drawing big crowds, that's reflective of the pro-labor/pro-public education/populist wing of the party.

Then you have MattY along with Marc Andreesen hosting a $5k-minimum "luxury" retreat with Gallego from AZ.

Those are your two, distinct, aspects of the (D) party.

I harp on this constantly but if anybody wants to see just how racially tone deaf and entitled white people can be, just hang with the ones that have gentrified/colonized urban areas over the last decade. Yeah, they vote (D) but any liberalism of depth stops with that. They are no fans of AOC/Sanders. You don't hear them screaming for MOAR LEADERSHIP!!!!!!!

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Tam R1 year ago

Those may be the two opposite ends of the spectrum, but the Democratic Party has many more constituencies and they don’t align perfectly which creates a lot of tension. It can also be a strength that gets us electoral victories. I think we have to get a lot more specific.

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r po1 year ago

Can confirm. I've got an ancient D Auntie-inlaw radiologist's wife, has given speeches to the GA assembly, and she regularly goes before whatever zoning board is relevant NIMBYing anything in her area on "neighborhood/historical character grounds". She also has for years donated to the SPLC in our names. Skynet tells me: "As of the end of the last fiscal year, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) had an endowment of approximately $731.9 million. "

Thanks, Auntie!

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Tam R1 year ago

I’m an old campaign hand so I’m always going to be cautious about what rallies mean. Both the Bronx and Queens shifted right by double digits in the last election. I am not convinced that we are listening to what voters actually want. I think we are also falling into a trap of assuming what issues fall under which ideological umbrellas. It’s one thing to be an opposition leader and it’s a different thing to win a general election. I too don’t want to go with the status quo. So far I don’t think any one approach is going to get us big victories in 2028 and we are going to have to be more flexible and adapt to how the electorate has changed.

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Kay W.1 year ago

Agree. "Change" doesnt mean in any one direction. I also think we ignore the shift Right in places like Queens and the Bronx to our peril. We ignored the dramatic shift Right in some very diverse urban areas in FL and now FL is gone for good. We are losing non college voters of every race and ethnicity. This is just a fact. Denying it does nothing. We have to figure out how to talk to non college voters. They're 60% of the country.

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Tam R1 year ago

I also think we need to figure out an economic message that is successful because not doing so has harmed and will only continue to harm the social, civil and human rights gains. What is happening in Maine right now is terrifying. Because the federal government keeps pausing, threatening and ending funding over their bogus Title IX investigations, soooo many people are caving and urging our Governor to cave to Trump. This is all over 2 trans athletes. People will choose $ over rights and we cannot let that continue.

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Kay W.1 year ago

I wonder about an explicit, honest pitch around that? So we would say "we'll protect Medicare and Social Security and Medicaid (or insert any econ issue) BUT our commitment to civil rights comes along with that" Stop dancing around it. Just say it. I think voters might respond to that level of truth-telling.

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Tam R1 year ago

I think you’re right. It is also honest to say that the same people who are going after women’s reproductive rights and trans athletes are actively trying to cut your social security, Medicare and Medicaid.

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Scott H1 year ago

The usual suspects that see a Dem Party based purely on white, urban, cosmopolitan, business "liberalism" (Abundance Bros! and their ilk) ignore the electoral consequences in how that, by now, marginalizes the minority poor.

It's also totally neglected working class voters (which these same people always reframe it as "white working class" ignoring union composition in education unions or trades like the IUPAT, etc).

Policies enacted by local Dems in places like Queens and the Bronx to the benefit of that white class of voters of course has resulted in rightward shifts, we saw that almost universally nationally but yeah, let's keep calling such groups "dumb".

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mister mixAuthor1 year ago

New York's Democratic Party is terrible. Passive, corrupt, machine pols dug in like ticks. It's no surprise that Schumer and Jeffries are fumbling the moment -- the Democratic Party in NY is, too. Hochul is a terrible campaigner. Basically invisible, and she is supposed to lead the statewide ticket.

The only saving grace is that the NY Republican Party has gone full MAGA. What we'll probably get is people like Cuomo -- basically, Republicans with a D after their name. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

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Sepideh M1 year ago

A part of Queens is AOCs district so when you are talking about shifting right by double digits, how much is that really?

The make up of the part of Queens that I was in had shifted last year when I was there. There were a lot of young families there. Some of them may have been the type of family that Scott H likes to rail again-- the type that are going to move to the suburbs when their kids are old enough for school.

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Tam R1 year ago

I think the Bronx and Queens both shifted by about 20 points. AOC slipped by a point or two from 2020.

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mister mixAuthor1 year ago

71.6% in 2020 and 69.2% in 2024 (prez yr vs prez yr) so it wasn't catastrophic for her. Biden was 77% in that district and Harris was 65%, so huge slip for the top of the ticket.

The big story in NY 14 (AOC's district) was ~21,500 fewer voters between 2020 and 2024. Nobody was excited to vote for Democrats in 2024.

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Kay W.1 year ago

Rep Greg Casar (Texas) is also showing up - I listen to his anti Elon stuff on Bluesky and he's good!

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John S.1 year ago

It’s easy to find people who are really rising to meet the moment because they are like an oasis in a desert. Meanwhile, our so-called leaders still want us to drink the sand while insisting that it’s really water.

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Kay W.1 year ago

Tim Walz is drawing big crowds too.

IMO the horse is out of the barn on reform and the question won't be "are you for change?" it will be "what kind of change are you for?" Whoever and whatever wins that argument determines the direction of the Party.

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r po1 year ago

I am not sure it's fear. I think it might be more like a primate level of "we're on top of the monkey dominance hierarchy, and since we're there, we're the monkeys who must be on top of the monkey dominance hierarchy". I'll wade into the minefield and opine that's probably what RBG was thinking when she said something like, "who could replace me?" Biden... Feinstein... Add in political machines and we might as well ask who has the plans for the guillotine. (Metaphorically speaking.)

I doubt it is productive to think of these craven seat warmers as fundamentally good people buffeted by forces they don't understand. They got a good racket, and by the goddess they're going to keep it.

Am I allowed to stay in this info bubble here? I've never found a place I agree with more. Since I'm a megalomaniac I like to think of it as "reality". But then, my political science education consists primarily of extended observation of the baboon exhibit in the Paris zoo.

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TBone Dinosaur1 year ago

BRAVO!!! I had a jailbreak in my sleep.

I had a dream right before I woke up that some local municipal manager type guy pulled over hubby and me and wrote two tickets for fines for some type of bullshit. When I laughed at him, he went and got the Orange Menace to speak to me. I walked right up into his face and snarled "Four years is a LONG fuckin' time!" And then I woke up proud of myself.

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TBone Dinosaur1 year ago

Mostly proud that I was able to overcome my urge to slap and spit on him.

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