AOC is right. Emanuel did cover up the Laquan McDonald murder. I’m also a Chicagoan, and I remember that vividly. Emanuel has no business running for president.
Useful analysis of useless Democratic strategies Jacobs does a fine job of baring the naked ambitions of Newsom and Emanuel by showing these 2 presidential aspirants wear no clothes.
My two senators, weasel Schumer, and the cloyingly indignant Gillibrand, both kneeled to trump, along with eight other aging, bad-faith Democrats. Meanwhile, the vile WH villain is dismantling democracy. Newsom is off his rocker and Emanuel is just obnoxious beyond measure. We need D's like AOC, Crockett and Jeffries in the Senate. Otherwise, call our party redundant.
Redundant? I think you can call it moribund. At the rate the Dem party is going, I wouldn't be surprised if Mickey Mouse finally gets elected to something via write-ins in 2026.
Brian Tyler Cohen makes a similar point in his Substack newsletter today (“How to bring the Democrats back from the dead”). He writes: “There’s no sugarcoating it: the Democrats are in bad shape, owed almost entirely to our unwillingness to fight. When Democrats are in the majority, they’re not willing to fully exercise their power. And when Democrats are in the minority, even in the rare instances where they do have leverage, they’re not willing to use it. The simple question here becomes: why should people vote to give you power if you’re not going to wield it once you have it?
This past week, the Democratic base was led to believe that the continuing resolution, the CR, would be used to extract concessions from Republicans if ever there was a chance of Democratic participation. After all, the CR required 60 votes in the Senate; Republicans only have 53 Senators. They would need Democratic buy-in. And in exchange for that buy-in, Democrats could have demanded that DOGE be neutered or that the federal employee firings stop or that Elon’s overreach be curbed or to guarantee protections for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security or to extract any concession whatsoever. That didn’t happen. The CR passed and it included major cuts to federal programs, and Democrats have nothing to show for it, aside from a very broken government continuing to remain open. One hell of a concession.”
Democrats giving time to disingenuous MAGAs is not unlike MSM that fails miserably to expose or critique the utter garbage and lies they spew. As you point out, Mark,we need vigorous push back, not additional outlets for their poison. It is maddening!
'During the Cold War, people on the right accused liberals of... pushing the communist agenda...
That accusation was usually unfair."
No, it was always unfair. The McCarthy era had no basis in reality. We all know it was a vicious, fabricated, and cynical campaign to discredit the other side. Eventually we will see today's "fascist" and "authoritarian" smears the same way.
I left myself some wiggle room because use of the phrase "useful idiot" was also common in Europe, and I don't know the situation there. Also, there were Stalin apologists back then.
There were "Stalin apologists"? I don't think so. Of course, according to Republicans, they were all over the place. Same with today's politics. According to Democrats, Putin supporters are all over the place.
And its antecedents went back at least to the late 19th century, when the mega-rich and their mega-companies were trashing every workers' attempt to organize as communist, socialist, anarchist, un-American, etc.
Newsom totally lost me with the Bannon and Kirk interviews. We absolutely do not need to give those guys airtime! Ugh. And Rahm was awful with the Laquan McDonald murder; he is a complete non-starter for us in Democratic politics. Thank you for reminding non-Chicagoans about Rahm's unsavory history. And we Dems do the worst when we try to become Republican-Lite. Let's just be actual Dems -- it works better for us then, because Republicans and independents will always vote for actual Republicans instead of Republicans-Lite, if they have the chance.
This is what I tried to explain to a dear friend when she disagreed with me on my complaints about democrat officials who remain silent while musk and trump destroy the government. She said we should not split into factions but present a United front. I said but our leaders aren’t leading, we need to call them out. They just keep expecting checks and balances to magically iron everything out. They need to be reminded that THEY, our elected officials, ARE the checks and balances and they need to ACT. But she lives in a friendly blue state and I don’t think she quite understands what it’s like for me living in a hostile red state.
I’m a Chicagoan too and Emanuel got a lot more wrong than MacDonald. He bought into charter schools, showing ignorance about public education. He, like all in leadership, have allowed education to lose its way, ignorant about the fact that fascists run most of our schools and people are either angry or stupid - mostly both - because of this. THIS is what paved the way for Trump.
What James Carville should be saying: It’s education, stupid, is what my recent memoir about education taking place in an elite northern suburb of Chicago reveals, along with the solution for great schools that could be easily implemented if the unions were not appeasing these fascists and hiding the truth about our schools.
Education is the great leveler. It has leveled democracy instead of its intended purpose to give everyone a chance.
Excellent article 💯 on target. I am revolted at Newsom for this disgusting turncoat behaviour. NEVER president no matter if he slithers back at this point.
Definitely think the Democratics need to get their sh*t together and get on the same page, particularly becoming aware of what the general population wants. The idea the mtf trans individuals should be in women's sports is a losing idea...most people agree with that....but, they should not be left out of sports either....develope a way or a category to fit them in. The paraolympics evolved from a need to include people in sports. If Mark is suggesting Democrats like Newsome or Emanuel aren't "right leaning" enough, he better be prepared to not win many future elections.
Yes, and Rahm’s brother Ari was an investor partner in Musk’s bid to retake Open AI.(or is Ari a “good billionaire?”) Rahm was the worst manifestation of Obama’s centrist/conservative tendencies. Why not just vote for a rightwing Republican? No chance of hewing to the First Amendment in a moment of political calculation.
Amen to this. These are the too savvy "democrats" who got us into the trumpian nightmare. They and their ilk need to be utterly and completely rejected.
Your concerns are clear and I think there are some intertwined issues here that need to be sorted. Ram Emanuel's actions to cover up police brutality are about justice and sacrificing principles for political expediency. Wrong and always wrong. Thanks for bringing that incident to light. However, speaking with people who you disagree with - like Gov. Newsom inviting Steve Bannon on to talk - is NOT the same as what Ram did in Chicago, and it's not quite as stark as you make it. Steve Bannon may be on your hit list as an anarchist, early MAGA, etc. but as of late he has had some strident and loud criticisms of what DJT is doing in office. Listening to people who have something to say - and who are willing to talk about it - is reinforcing democracy. I think you're critique suffers from an inconsitent and arbitrary view of what "defending democracy" is all about. It doesn't mean if you don't happen to hold my particular leftist (woke?) leanings, you are anti-democratic. It means you disagree and can debate and argue about it - all to the good.
This is a criminal who stole money from innocent victims, is in line with overthrowing the government, promoted the BIG LIE and encourages revenge on TRUMP prosecutors.
Disagreement with that does not make you “woke,” it makes you sane.
I agree with your charges against Mr. Bannon. However, he has a significant and dedicated following - and he is willing to talk civilly and share his thoughts as well as listen to host Gavin Newsome. If you watch it, you may learn how Bannon thinks and brings others around to his views (not good students of either history or economics I might add), but listening opens the door to having your say. And Gavin got his in - and I hope some of the Bannon people heard him loud and clear. I certainly did.
I agree with you in that I would entirely disagree with Steve Bannon. Sure he's all those things you said. But he has a lof of folks who listen to him. I applaud Gov Newsom for debating him and if Bannon faithful tuned in, then they got explosure to a different point of view. Who says talking or debtaing someone is "agreeing with them?" If you want to win them over, you have to make your case and be heard. Nice work Gov. Newsom, maybe a few people agreed with YOU and not with Bannon. Progress only happens when you have the balls to fight and make your case in a room where not everyone is ALREADY on your side.
I watched the video from start to finish, and I thought it was informative and Gavin Newsome gave as good as he got. For instance, he challenged the rather simplistic notion Steve Bannon was pushing about “democracy from the ground up,” as something totally fanciful for a country of 350 million, and he noted that tariffs without industrial policy (for targeted industries) and educational policy (to create the workforce) are not going to be magical and bring back industries to the U.S. Bannon has followers - and it’s important that they share what they think, we listen and then we try to get them to hear us out. That’s what we need if we’re going to break down the bubbles.
Funny I must have watched a different version of “Ths is Gavin Newsom” You Tube when he held a discussion with Steve Bannon. Because I saw the Governor disagree with Bannon on several topics, including why CA tax brackets are not “HIGH” for middle and low income workers - but do include a higher bracket for the top earners. And I saw Bannon agree with the Governor that the DOGE was in total “waste, fraud and abuse.” Bannon went on to say that the government budget cuts he favors would center on the Pentagon and wasteful spending there. I wonder how many Democrats would disagree with that?
I’m calling out snowflakes who are AFRAID to listen to voices that may shock them with new or radical ideas, but EXTOLLING candidates who figure that if millions of Americans think this guy has something to say, that they should sit down and talk. That is the job of political candidates - to widen the tent and face opposition fearlessly. Abraham Lincoln as I recall, was anti-slavery but he held notable debates with slavers. Great job by Newsom, as he held his own in this exchange but showed a willingness to compare his ideas with someone who certainly has a
For sure one guest speaker isn't something to get alarmed about, but if a pattern emerges -- that's worth paying attention to. Just in general, mainstream Democrats seem to be more comfortable with people to their right than with people to their left.
One pattern that we Democrats have to pay attention to is how people voted, and especially young people. I'm not comfortable in any shape or manner with where the voters have taken us. But, I think we need to recognize that Democratic strategy and platforms have failed to attract a majority of voters. An estimated 8 m Democrats who voted for Biden sat out the Harris race. I'm convinced that putting identity politics on page 1 of Democratic campaigns- and appeals to tout our strong support for things which are patently unpopular - are because Democrats in recent years have abandoned politics for cultural wars. Soccer moms vote and they are clear that they want their kids to be spared from the battle over trans rights. Eventually it ends up in the Courts and they will decide as a matter of law and civil rights. I'm saying that voters are liking Republicans not because of their political policies, but they are responding to cultural/individual liberty issues. At the end of the day, these matters are settled in courts, not by legisltation. If your political strategy is to TELL people how to think about these issues - or that they are IMMORAL or Fascict! if they don;'t agree with your take- then you are headed for a defeat at the polls. Liberalism demands that we allow people freedom of thought - not dictate to them. I am all in with more leftist poiltics - and polls show a majority of voters would like MORE government help and leadership with health care, cost of living and the social safety net (Medicare, Medicaid). But is that where Democrats are showing themselves? No. They're pushing cultural issues that are NOT required to be liberal or left leaning - and the results are clear. If you want Bernie Sanders vision to be the country's vision- stay in the political lane - and leave the cultural battles to the churches, communities and media. That's where they belong. Being woke is great, but it's not being leftist or even left-leaning. I hope we Democrats can see what the voters are tellling us.
But what *are* "the voters" telling us? What is it based on? Since the Citizens United decision (2010), campaign spending has been out of control, and it was a problem long before that. And given the state of the media, reliable information is very hard to come by.
What I've been seeing for years now is that Democrats who talk about economic justice -- many of whom are people of color -- get marginalized by the more mainstream, mostly white Dems. Many Trump voters say that inflation/the economy was one of their reasons for voting Republican, which strongly suggests that they know very little about how the economy works, what causes inflation, or the progress that was being made (against daunting odds) by the Biden-Harris administration -- or about how feeble the first Trump administration was on this issue.
Indeed, the structural failure of our political sphere are legion. Limitless money for media propaganda, limitless deductions for lobbying, yes I agree with that critique. The question of "economic justice" has been DRIVEN out of the main arena of political decisions making by substituting - what I call cultural or individual liberty/justice issues like DEI, gay/trans" rights the main and prominent issues,along with nd individual "liberties (guns, to vaccine or mask, free speech) more prominent. I think if you look at analyses of media time and $ spent on issues, these pushed "economic justice" out of the main arena. Let's also admit that "economic justice" is not an easy topic, and various approaches may claim to be the best. Conservatives used to argue (pre MAGA) that a thriving economy will lift all boats. Leftists would say that some boats need more help than others. I think that what's clear is that the economic issues - which Democrats show a strong historical advantage in doing better at than Republicans - weren't reasonably and noticeably prominent in the national campaigns. Cultural issues were the main event, and ant-woke, anti-government telling us how to think about cultural/identity issues is NOT a majority stance. If Democrats are to win - they need to push the economic issue to the front.
AOC is right. Emanuel did cover up the Laquan McDonald murder. I’m also a Chicagoan, and I remember that vividly. Emanuel has no business running for president.
Useful analysis of useless Democratic strategies Jacobs does a fine job of baring the naked ambitions of Newsom and Emanuel by showing these 2 presidential aspirants wear no clothes.
Appeasement = The End. Democrats need to stand together to oppose. Period.
My two senators, weasel Schumer, and the cloyingly indignant Gillibrand, both kneeled to trump, along with eight other aging, bad-faith Democrats. Meanwhile, the vile WH villain is dismantling democracy. Newsom is off his rocker and Emanuel is just obnoxious beyond measure. We need D's like AOC, Crockett and Jeffries in the Senate. Otherwise, call our party redundant.
Redundant? I think you can call it moribund. At the rate the Dem party is going, I wouldn't be surprised if Mickey Mouse finally gets elected to something via write-ins in 2026.
Brian Tyler Cohen makes a similar point in his Substack newsletter today (“How to bring the Democrats back from the dead”). He writes: “There’s no sugarcoating it: the Democrats are in bad shape, owed almost entirely to our unwillingness to fight. When Democrats are in the majority, they’re not willing to fully exercise their power. And when Democrats are in the minority, even in the rare instances where they do have leverage, they’re not willing to use it. The simple question here becomes: why should people vote to give you power if you’re not going to wield it once you have it?
This past week, the Democratic base was led to believe that the continuing resolution, the CR, would be used to extract concessions from Republicans if ever there was a chance of Democratic participation. After all, the CR required 60 votes in the Senate; Republicans only have 53 Senators. They would need Democratic buy-in. And in exchange for that buy-in, Democrats could have demanded that DOGE be neutered or that the federal employee firings stop or that Elon’s overreach be curbed or to guarantee protections for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security or to extract any concession whatsoever. That didn’t happen. The CR passed and it included major cuts to federal programs, and Democrats have nothing to show for it, aside from a very broken government continuing to remain open. One hell of a concession.”
Democrats giving time to disingenuous MAGAs is not unlike MSM that fails miserably to expose or critique the utter garbage and lies they spew. As you point out, Mark,we need vigorous push back, not additional outlets for their poison. It is maddening!
'During the Cold War, people on the right accused liberals of... pushing the communist agenda...
That accusation was usually unfair."
No, it was always unfair. The McCarthy era had no basis in reality. We all know it was a vicious, fabricated, and cynical campaign to discredit the other side. Eventually we will see today's "fascist" and "authoritarian" smears the same way.
I left myself some wiggle room because use of the phrase "useful idiot" was also common in Europe, and I don't know the situation there. Also, there were Stalin apologists back then.
There were "Stalin apologists"? I don't think so. Of course, according to Republicans, they were all over the place. Same with today's politics. According to Democrats, Putin supporters are all over the place.
And its antecedents went back at least to the late 19th century, when the mega-rich and their mega-companies were trashing every workers' attempt to organize as communist, socialist, anarchist, un-American, etc.
Newsom totally lost me with the Bannon and Kirk interviews. We absolutely do not need to give those guys airtime! Ugh. And Rahm was awful with the Laquan McDonald murder; he is a complete non-starter for us in Democratic politics. Thank you for reminding non-Chicagoans about Rahm's unsavory history. And we Dems do the worst when we try to become Republican-Lite. Let's just be actual Dems -- it works better for us then, because Republicans and independents will always vote for actual Republicans instead of Republicans-Lite, if they have the chance.
If you compromise with the devil, you are complicit in evil. It's just as simple as that.
This is what I tried to explain to a dear friend when she disagreed with me on my complaints about democrat officials who remain silent while musk and trump destroy the government. She said we should not split into factions but present a United front. I said but our leaders aren’t leading, we need to call them out. They just keep expecting checks and balances to magically iron everything out. They need to be reminded that THEY, our elected officials, ARE the checks and balances and they need to ACT. But she lives in a friendly blue state and I don’t think she quite understands what it’s like for me living in a hostile red state.
I’m a Chicagoan too and Emanuel got a lot more wrong than MacDonald. He bought into charter schools, showing ignorance about public education. He, like all in leadership, have allowed education to lose its way, ignorant about the fact that fascists run most of our schools and people are either angry or stupid - mostly both - because of this. THIS is what paved the way for Trump.
The leader who listens to teacher whistleblowers - WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org explains it all -has a chance of being a democracy hero.
What James Carville should be saying: It’s education, stupid, is what my recent memoir about education taking place in an elite northern suburb of Chicago reveals, along with the solution for great schools that could be easily implemented if the unions were not appeasing these fascists and hiding the truth about our schools.
Education is the great leveler. It has leveled democracy instead of its intended purpose to give everyone a chance.
Excellent article 💯 on target. I am revolted at Newsom for this disgusting turncoat behaviour. NEVER president no matter if he slithers back at this point.
Definitely think the Democratics need to get their sh*t together and get on the same page, particularly becoming aware of what the general population wants. The idea the mtf trans individuals should be in women's sports is a losing idea...most people agree with that....but, they should not be left out of sports either....develope a way or a category to fit them in. The paraolympics evolved from a need to include people in sports. If Mark is suggesting Democrats like Newsome or Emanuel aren't "right leaning" enough, he better be prepared to not win many future elections.
Yes, and Rahm’s brother Ari was an investor partner in Musk’s bid to retake Open AI.(or is Ari a “good billionaire?”) Rahm was the worst manifestation of Obama’s centrist/conservative tendencies. Why not just vote for a rightwing Republican? No chance of hewing to the First Amendment in a moment of political calculation.
Amen to this. These are the too savvy "democrats" who got us into the trumpian nightmare. They and their ilk need to be utterly and completely rejected.
Your concerns are clear and I think there are some intertwined issues here that need to be sorted. Ram Emanuel's actions to cover up police brutality are about justice and sacrificing principles for political expediency. Wrong and always wrong. Thanks for bringing that incident to light. However, speaking with people who you disagree with - like Gov. Newsom inviting Steve Bannon on to talk - is NOT the same as what Ram did in Chicago, and it's not quite as stark as you make it. Steve Bannon may be on your hit list as an anarchist, early MAGA, etc. but as of late he has had some strident and loud criticisms of what DJT is doing in office. Listening to people who have something to say - and who are willing to talk about it - is reinforcing democracy. I think you're critique suffers from an inconsitent and arbitrary view of what "defending democracy" is all about. It doesn't mean if you don't happen to hold my particular leftist (woke?) leanings, you are anti-democratic. It means you disagree and can debate and argue about it - all to the good.
“Strident and loud criticisms?”
This is a criminal who stole money from innocent victims, is in line with overthrowing the government, promoted the BIG LIE and encourages revenge on TRUMP prosecutors.
Disagreement with that does not make you “woke,” it makes you sane.
I agree with your charges against Mr. Bannon. However, he has a significant and dedicated following - and he is willing to talk civilly and share his thoughts as well as listen to host Gavin Newsome. If you watch it, you may learn how Bannon thinks and brings others around to his views (not good students of either history or economics I might add), but listening opens the door to having your say. And Gavin got his in - and I hope some of the Bannon people heard him loud and clear. I certainly did.
I agree with you in that I would entirely disagree with Steve Bannon. Sure he's all those things you said. But he has a lof of folks who listen to him. I applaud Gov Newsom for debating him and if Bannon faithful tuned in, then they got explosure to a different point of view. Who says talking or debtaing someone is "agreeing with them?" If you want to win them over, you have to make your case and be heard. Nice work Gov. Newsom, maybe a few people agreed with YOU and not with Bannon. Progress only happens when you have the balls to fight and make your case in a room where not everyone is ALREADY on your side.
Newsom didn't "debate" him. He platformed him and let him lie about the 2020 election with no pushback.
I watched the video from start to finish, and I thought it was informative and Gavin Newsome gave as good as he got. For instance, he challenged the rather simplistic notion Steve Bannon was pushing about “democracy from the ground up,” as something totally fanciful for a country of 350 million, and he noted that tariffs without industrial policy (for targeted industries) and educational policy (to create the workforce) are not going to be magical and bring back industries to the U.S. Bannon has followers - and it’s important that they share what they think, we listen and then we try to get them to hear us out. That’s what we need if we’re going to break down the bubbles.
Funny I must have watched a different version of “Ths is Gavin Newsom” You Tube when he held a discussion with Steve Bannon. Because I saw the Governor disagree with Bannon on several topics, including why CA tax brackets are not “HIGH” for middle and low income workers - but do include a higher bracket for the top earners. And I saw Bannon agree with the Governor that the DOGE was in total “waste, fraud and abuse.” Bannon went on to say that the government budget cuts he favors would center on the Pentagon and wasteful spending there. I wonder how many Democrats would disagree with that?
I’m calling out snowflakes who are AFRAID to listen to voices that may shock them with new or radical ideas, but EXTOLLING candidates who figure that if millions of Americans think this guy has something to say, that they should sit down and talk. That is the job of political candidates - to widen the tent and face opposition fearlessly. Abraham Lincoln as I recall, was anti-slavery but he held notable debates with slavers. Great job by Newsom, as he held his own in this exchange but showed a willingness to compare his ideas with someone who certainly has a
For sure one guest speaker isn't something to get alarmed about, but if a pattern emerges -- that's worth paying attention to. Just in general, mainstream Democrats seem to be more comfortable with people to their right than with people to their left.
One pattern that we Democrats have to pay attention to is how people voted, and especially young people. I'm not comfortable in any shape or manner with where the voters have taken us. But, I think we need to recognize that Democratic strategy and platforms have failed to attract a majority of voters. An estimated 8 m Democrats who voted for Biden sat out the Harris race. I'm convinced that putting identity politics on page 1 of Democratic campaigns- and appeals to tout our strong support for things which are patently unpopular - are because Democrats in recent years have abandoned politics for cultural wars. Soccer moms vote and they are clear that they want their kids to be spared from the battle over trans rights. Eventually it ends up in the Courts and they will decide as a matter of law and civil rights. I'm saying that voters are liking Republicans not because of their political policies, but they are responding to cultural/individual liberty issues. At the end of the day, these matters are settled in courts, not by legisltation. If your political strategy is to TELL people how to think about these issues - or that they are IMMORAL or Fascict! if they don;'t agree with your take- then you are headed for a defeat at the polls. Liberalism demands that we allow people freedom of thought - not dictate to them. I am all in with more leftist poiltics - and polls show a majority of voters would like MORE government help and leadership with health care, cost of living and the social safety net (Medicare, Medicaid). But is that where Democrats are showing themselves? No. They're pushing cultural issues that are NOT required to be liberal or left leaning - and the results are clear. If you want Bernie Sanders vision to be the country's vision- stay in the political lane - and leave the cultural battles to the churches, communities and media. That's where they belong. Being woke is great, but it's not being leftist or even left-leaning. I hope we Democrats can see what the voters are tellling us.
But what *are* "the voters" telling us? What is it based on? Since the Citizens United decision (2010), campaign spending has been out of control, and it was a problem long before that. And given the state of the media, reliable information is very hard to come by.
What I've been seeing for years now is that Democrats who talk about economic justice -- many of whom are people of color -- get marginalized by the more mainstream, mostly white Dems. Many Trump voters say that inflation/the economy was one of their reasons for voting Republican, which strongly suggests that they know very little about how the economy works, what causes inflation, or the progress that was being made (against daunting odds) by the Biden-Harris administration -- or about how feeble the first Trump administration was on this issue.
Indeed, the structural failure of our political sphere are legion. Limitless money for media propaganda, limitless deductions for lobbying, yes I agree with that critique. The question of "economic justice" has been DRIVEN out of the main arena of political decisions making by substituting - what I call cultural or individual liberty/justice issues like DEI, gay/trans" rights the main and prominent issues,along with nd individual "liberties (guns, to vaccine or mask, free speech) more prominent. I think if you look at analyses of media time and $ spent on issues, these pushed "economic justice" out of the main arena. Let's also admit that "economic justice" is not an easy topic, and various approaches may claim to be the best. Conservatives used to argue (pre MAGA) that a thriving economy will lift all boats. Leftists would say that some boats need more help than others. I think that what's clear is that the economic issues - which Democrats show a strong historical advantage in doing better at than Republicans - weren't reasonably and noticeably prominent in the national campaigns. Cultural issues were the main event, and ant-woke, anti-government telling us how to think about cultural/identity issues is NOT a majority stance. If Democrats are to win - they need to push the economic issue to the front.