As we close in on election day, her are a few stories that pique my interest:
We clearly need to get big money out of politics - -somehow, someway. Whatever it takes. In a year when the deck seems stacked against Republicans due to corruption, recognition of Trump’s venal idiocy (finally!) and an electorate that is fed up with not being able to afford to live their lives, Elon’s largesse (and excess) may not be as successful as in years past. Nonetheless, it is an affront to democracy that one person can spend so much to influence our political system.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen enough Democratic candidates highlighting Elon’s support for their opponents - something that was a winning issue in Wisconsin way back in [checks notes] 2025. Of course, one of our best candidates this cycle - James Talarico - gets it and is running the same play from the 2025 Wisconsin Democratic playbook:
___________________________________________
Turnout for early voting among Hispanics is significantly higher than in precious cycles:
In addition, lots of Hispanic early voters did not vote in the 2024 election:
Tom Bonier goes on to write, “In fact, Hispanic early voters in Senate battleground states are almost 4x more likely to be a low-propensity voters, as compared to white early voters. That's a very good sign for Dems.”
So…, it looks like Hispanics have migrated back to Democrats after briefly - and disastrously - flirting with Trump/MAGA in the last election cycle.
___________________________________________
Finally, it seems as if my view that Democrats should run on “It’s the Corruption, Stupid” - and contrast that with the daily hardships people are facing - is finally breaking through to voters. I mean when you’ve lost Reason Magazine, Mick Mulvaney and The Washington Examiner, well …
An uncanny strength of the second Trump administration has been its ability to be involved in so many scandals that no single one seems to become a dominant story.
Take the most recent allegations about Alina Habba, Trump's former personal defense attorney, who recently landed a plush gig working for Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan banker. Habba will get $50 million over five years to do unspecified work for a company that barely exists, according to The New York Times, while Herrera got a presidential pardon for a 2025 campaign finance charge.
That's just a typical day for the current White House, where the mingling of personal and public business has become routine. Some days, the story is President Donald Trump trying to help himself to taxpayer funds by suing the government he runs, or shipping billions of taxpayer dollars to a foreign mining company partially owned by his sons. Other times, it is Trump selling political influence in the form of digital coins, or his appointees getting caught in naked pay-to-play schemes. If you have a hard time keeping track of it all, I get it. The corruption is so deep and wide that focusing on any singular item becomes difficult.
But that constellation of corruption might finally be breaking through to voters ahead of next month's midterm elections.
A recent Fox News poll found that "government corruption" was the top issue for voters, ranking ahead of inflation and gas prices. Conservative commentators are taking notice.
"What they're saying is, 'Look, we're tired of you getting rich and us getting poor,'" former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said this week.
Tim Carney, senior columnist at the conservative Washington Examiner, also tabs the corruption issue—along with other "avoidable mistakes" such as the Iran War and tariffs—as one of the major reasons why Democrats are likely to win the midterms:
“Trump and his family have enriched themselves in this second term in ways more similar to third-world regimes or Cook County than to any previous administration. He and his family operate a financial company that has received heavy investments from Qatar's government. He's sold access to himself by selling otherwise worthless cryptocurrency. The IRS he controls settled a lawsuit with him, promising to pay him $1.8 billion (this settlement was voided by a judge).”
There is still a week to go and at this point, polls and surveys don’t really matter - it’s actual votes that count.
Nonetheless, dare we be optimistic?
Bonus double-song finale:
Tom Petty - I Won’t Back Down
Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now
