I’m still involved with some family stuff, so I’m relying on reader submissions.
A reader who DMs me on BlueSky sent this in:
GOP leaders fear their base. In contrast, far too many Democratic leaders ignore their base or even view us with contempt. We just saw that play out in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, where one candidate was championing views on key issues supported by 75% to 90% of Democratic voters—while the other candidate represented a distinctly minority view of the base. We are talking everything from Medicare for all to abolishing ICE to ending military aid to Israel.
But who did Democratic leaders in Washington D.C. and Michigan endorse? The candidate who stood for the views of about 25% of Democratic voters are today. This has to end—and we must be the ones to end it.
The Michigan Democratic Senate primary was simply the latest example. This race pitted Abdul El-Sayed versus Rep. Haley Stevens. On the big issues that dominated this race, El-Sayed lined up with a huge chunk of the Democratic base while Stevens lined up frankly more with the views of GOP voters. And that is all backed up by polling. Here are the receipts:
1. Medicare for All. This is now supported by 90% of Democratic voters per recent polls. El-Sayed—who wrote a book years ago advocating Medicare for All—has made embracing this issue one of the most visible parts of the campaign. Stevens, on the other hand, opposes it and instead wants to reinstate ACA subsidies the GOP ended and seeks to expand the ACA.
2. Abolish ICE. After the abuses we’ve seen from ICE under Trump’s second term—including murdering people—we now see nearly 75% of Democrats supporting the abolishment of ICE. El-Sayed has made abolishing ICE a large part of his platform. But despite what Democratic voters want, Stevens—who has voted in the past to fund ICE--opposes abolishing the agency and instead wants reforms.
3. Raising taxes on the wealthy. Recent polls show that 80% of Democrats want to see taxes raised on the wealthy. El-Sayed strongly supports raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy and billionaires. Stevens in contrast has not taken a position on specifically raising taxes on the wealthy—instead simply saying we need tax fairness. But by not supporting higher taxes on the wealthy explicitly she again ends up holding a position supported by GOP voters—not Democrats.
4. Ending military aid to Israel and Gaza. This became a major issue in the race. Well, a recent NY Times poll finds 74 percent of Democratic voters opposed additional military support for Israel. El-Sayed has been very outspoken on ending military aid to Israel and instead spending those billions back in the United States. (He has said the same about ending aid to Egypt.) In stark contrast, Stevens supports additional military aid to Israel with no conditions. In fact, just a few weeks ago she voted to ensure the Netanyahu regime receive $3 billion more of our tax dollars for its military.
We are not in a bubble when we say that things that FDR would have supported are good policy and good politics, as Joe would say.
Scott sent this in:
When the El Paso facility’s power plant is complete, it could emit as much planet-warming carbon dioxide in a year as 360,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles, each driven for the average distance logged by American drivers in a year.
With encouragement from the Trump administration, data center developers are building their own power plants, instead of plugging into an electric grid. Nationwide, at least 82 gas-burning power plants are being built or have been proposed to power data centers, according to the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan research organization. Most were announced or granted permits within the past 18 months.
I’m going to write a much more detailed take on data centers, but the horseshit narrative that they are like other light manufacturing needs some pushback.
Thanks for everyone who sends me stuff to post. Have a good Sunday.

