Dems need to stop bringing a wooden spoon to a knife fight. Obama, as much as I respect him, should have forced the constitutional issue back when McConnell refused to seat Garland. He could have sworn in a justice and effectively said, 'balls in your court Mitch.'
I've come to the conclusion that the party as an institution is just too weak (having been weakened for years by various processes) to coordinate without a president as leader. There are more incentives to act individually than to act in concert.
OK. I get it but what can we do? Calling reps doesn't seem to move them. And as much as I love substack writers they just aren't reaching enough people.
Hey, Susan. There's stuff we can do and in isolation such things might seem self-satisfying, self-absorbed, and inconsequential, but I'd argue they're not. Attend a town hall. Do call your reps--everything I read (and heard from my rep at a town hall last weekend) is that they do matter. Send an email on an issue that's near and dear to you: Maybe you love the outdoors, so write about cuts to the USFS or National Park Service. If access to clean water is an issue in your state, write about that. If your friend or co-worker has been laid off because of DOGE nonsense, write about that. Attend a protest/rally/demonstration. I'm going to protest at a Tesla dealership on Monday. Should be fun! Hold a sign like Rep. Stansbury did at the SOTU. (BTW, she's a pistol. You gotta see some of her takes during the House Oversight Committee's subcommittee on DOGE. I love her!) Put a sign in your yard that provokes a conversation with your neighbors, with passers-by. I find that when I talk about wanting a community built on kindness and caring for "the least of these," it resonates. As does, taxing billionaires and making sure they pay their full share. Social Security resonates with most. I have a 90yo mother who relies on SS; in a few years I will begin drawing on that entitlement--damned right it's an entitlement: I paid it over the years of my working life with the understanding that it would come back to me when I stopped working. Ask why it is that when persons start earning over $176,000 STOP paying into the systems. (Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Musk all stopped contributing to the system by 12:05am this past Jan. 1. Seek to understand and then be understood. These are issues we can ALL agree on. Most of all, keep the faith and hope, but know that faith and hope are not enough: Action is needed. However small, your actions matter. Be brave. I find that I'm too seasoned to be worried about being pointed at or laughed at or disagreed with or even arrested--one of the benefits of the second half of life. We can do this. You can do this. Let's do it.
Seth, more great news today, DEI is done at UVA. Maybe your anti-white racist colleague Ashley Jardina, from your show earlier this week, will be moving on to an HBCU or something more to her liking. See the Governors statement:
Seth, did you see today’s news, Columbia just lost $400,000,000 now that’s not chump change even if they have a $15 Billion Endowment. See article in The Hill
You know you’re allowed to complain about Republicans in Congress, the people who actually have the power to do something? Right? For some reason it never occurs to liberals that we can do anything but complain about our own party (which the normies notice, and do not draw positive conclusions from.)
Did we learn nothing from Reagan’s 11th commandment? “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican?”
What exactly is the party supposed to do with an army of online commenters telling them to do things? Especially when people are asking for different, often contradictory actions??? Put the heat where it needs to be.
Good piece! I'd love you to do a follow-up on the media ecosystem on the right that drove those notable shifts in public opinion. Because I think in most cases R elites are also following (though often quite closely) changes in their voters' beliefs. But the media consumed on the left is obviously different - the NYTimes also follows public opinion. There's obviously a lot to say about all of this. Much has already been said but it feels like this dynamic remains poorly understood by a wide range of center-left elites (donors, et al).
Professor - I am just baffled by how bad the D elites and leadership are at this. I half expect them to start trying to get to the Right of Elon, shortly. I hope Politico is doing their typical "It's all a meaningless game - LOL" when they have stories about the D senators apparently being ready to fold like the proverbial cheap suit and pass a GOP budget plan to abdicate power to Trump. It's bad enough that Fetterman seems well down the road to selling his soul, but how the rest of them seem willing to do that, as well, is just disheartening at best. It also seems so mindlessly stupid. History seems pretty clear on this, given the choice between a D Republican and the real thing, they'll pick the real thing, anyway.
What happened to controlling the narrative? I remember the 80's and all the stories about the journeys immigrants made and the horrors they escaped from in their countries. The mainstream media may not tell the stories but there are lot's of Substack writers who will. There are a lot of motivated people who want to do something anything. Pushing a narrative would be a great way to get people active and involved.
Dems need to stop bringing a wooden spoon to a knife fight. Obama, as much as I respect him, should have forced the constitutional issue back when McConnell refused to seat Garland. He could have sworn in a justice and effectively said, 'balls in your court Mitch.'
I've come to the conclusion that the party as an institution is just too weak (having been weakened for years by various processes) to coordinate without a president as leader. There are more incentives to act individually than to act in concert.
OK. I get it but what can we do? Calling reps doesn't seem to move them. And as much as I love substack writers they just aren't reaching enough people.
Hey, Susan. There's stuff we can do and in isolation such things might seem self-satisfying, self-absorbed, and inconsequential, but I'd argue they're not. Attend a town hall. Do call your reps--everything I read (and heard from my rep at a town hall last weekend) is that they do matter. Send an email on an issue that's near and dear to you: Maybe you love the outdoors, so write about cuts to the USFS or National Park Service. If access to clean water is an issue in your state, write about that. If your friend or co-worker has been laid off because of DOGE nonsense, write about that. Attend a protest/rally/demonstration. I'm going to protest at a Tesla dealership on Monday. Should be fun! Hold a sign like Rep. Stansbury did at the SOTU. (BTW, she's a pistol. You gotta see some of her takes during the House Oversight Committee's subcommittee on DOGE. I love her!) Put a sign in your yard that provokes a conversation with your neighbors, with passers-by. I find that when I talk about wanting a community built on kindness and caring for "the least of these," it resonates. As does, taxing billionaires and making sure they pay their full share. Social Security resonates with most. I have a 90yo mother who relies on SS; in a few years I will begin drawing on that entitlement--damned right it's an entitlement: I paid it over the years of my working life with the understanding that it would come back to me when I stopped working. Ask why it is that when persons start earning over $176,000 STOP paying into the systems. (Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Musk all stopped contributing to the system by 12:05am this past Jan. 1. Seek to understand and then be understood. These are issues we can ALL agree on. Most of all, keep the faith and hope, but know that faith and hope are not enough: Action is needed. However small, your actions matter. Be brave. I find that I'm too seasoned to be worried about being pointed at or laughed at or disagreed with or even arrested--one of the benefits of the second half of life. We can do this. You can do this. Let's do it.
How wrong James Carville is... Thx Seth for an alternative view of proactive communication.
Seth, more great news today, DEI is done at UVA. Maybe your anti-white racist colleague Ashley Jardina, from your show earlier this week, will be moving on to an HBCU or something more to her liking. See the Governors statement:
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2025/march/name-1042455-en.html
Seth, did you see today’s news, Columbia just lost $400,000,000 now that’s not chump change even if they have a $15 Billion Endowment. See article in The Hill
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5183573-fetterman-columbia-pays-for-its-failure-with-400m-in-grants-axed/amp/
This is a great beginning.
You know you’re allowed to complain about Republicans in Congress, the people who actually have the power to do something? Right? For some reason it never occurs to liberals that we can do anything but complain about our own party (which the normies notice, and do not draw positive conclusions from.)
Did we learn nothing from Reagan’s 11th commandment? “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican?”
What exactly is the party supposed to do with an army of online commenters telling them to do things? Especially when people are asking for different, often contradictory actions??? Put the heat where it needs to be.
Good piece! I'd love you to do a follow-up on the media ecosystem on the right that drove those notable shifts in public opinion. Because I think in most cases R elites are also following (though often quite closely) changes in their voters' beliefs. But the media consumed on the left is obviously different - the NYTimes also follows public opinion. There's obviously a lot to say about all of this. Much has already been said but it feels like this dynamic remains poorly understood by a wide range of center-left elites (donors, et al).
Professor - I am just baffled by how bad the D elites and leadership are at this. I half expect them to start trying to get to the Right of Elon, shortly. I hope Politico is doing their typical "It's all a meaningless game - LOL" when they have stories about the D senators apparently being ready to fold like the proverbial cheap suit and pass a GOP budget plan to abdicate power to Trump. It's bad enough that Fetterman seems well down the road to selling his soul, but how the rest of them seem willing to do that, as well, is just disheartening at best. It also seems so mindlessly stupid. History seems pretty clear on this, given the choice between a D Republican and the real thing, they'll pick the real thing, anyway.
What happened to controlling the narrative? I remember the 80's and all the stories about the journeys immigrants made and the horrors they escaped from in their countries. The mainstream media may not tell the stories but there are lot's of Substack writers who will. There are a lot of motivated people who want to do something anything. Pushing a narrative would be a great way to get people active and involved.