First off, I want everyone to read The Real Reason for Zohran’s Success Should Rattle National Democrats by Greg Sargent at The New Republic. And be sure to watch the vidoes. X won’t let me embed them, but here’s one I found on YouTube.
He appears to crank out a lot of these, and they’re all going viral. As in millions of views. Here’s another one:
Not everyone has the personality to pull this off as well, but it seems to me the formula is very do-able. Zero in in a very specific real-world problem, show the folks why it’s a problem, and then explain precisely what you will do to address the problem. And then make videos like this about a lot of problems.
And then there’s the more centrist approach, embodied by the seriously annoying Elissa Slotkin. I picked this up from Oliver Willis on Bluesky.
this clip is a master class in doing a pro-immigration message that actually reinforces right-wing frames on immigration. its cold, makes immigrants sound like chum for the capitalism machine, and stresses the fake “security” narrative. bad, bad, and bad.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis.bsky.social) July 28, 2025 at 9:42 AM
In principle I don’t disagree with her main theme, but who is she talking to? Who is she persuading? If you weren’t already in favor of immigration reform, would this change your mind? And what is she proposing to do, specifically? Politicians have been talking about “immigration reform” for decades now, and nothing seems to change.
Of course, national problems are often more complicated than why the chicken rice combo costs $10. How would you make “immigration reform” more specific? Maybe feature just one migrant and show that the system she is working with is slow and ineffectual. Then promise to do a specific thing to make it better. We need X number more immigration judges to process migrants! Trump has been firing immigration judges (and he has)! There aren’t enough judges to process people quickly, and there are too many people to detain for as long as they need to be detained waiting for a judge. Etc.
I’ve complained about this before, but I’m tired of Democrats running for office who say little beyond “I will reach across the aisles to get things done.” What things? Instead of speaking in generalities, talk about real-world situations that people can relate to and say specifically what you want to do about them.
Okay, next topic — you may not have noticed, but a mini-war broke out between Thailand and Cambodia over the weekend. This war involved bombs dropping from planes and soldiers shooting at each other, so it was serious. The issue was an old border dispute, and this wasn’t the first time the two countries fought over it. The warfare started on Thursday. On Saturday, Trump declared that he had gotten both countries to agree to an immediate cease fire. However, both countries ignored him and kept fighting, through Saturday and into Sunday. I didn’t even see any acknowledgments from them they had spoken to Trump. Possibly they hadn’t.
Other Asian nations jumped in to try to calm things down. Most visible was Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also chair of the regional ASEAN forum. The PM got both parties to agree to meet in Malaysia today, and a cease fire agreement came quickly. Trump’s only involvement was to let it be known he wouldn’t make any trade-tariff deals with them until they’d stopped fighting. And now, of course, he’s claiming credit for the real cease fire. He’s bragging that the Cambodia-Thailand altercation is the sixth major war he has prevented.
It would be fun of someone in media were to ask him what Cambodia and Thailand were fighting about, since he won’t know. But no one will. For the record, I explained the reasons behind the border disagreement in my Patheos column. It’s all about national pride and politics and cultural heritage and stuff.
Update: Ghislaine Maxwell is asking the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.
Maxwell’s appeal revolves around a highly controversial 2007 plea agreement Epstein negotiated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida.
“The United States,” the plea agreement stated, “agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to” four other suspects.
Maxwell was not listed as one of those suspects — but her lawyers argue she didn’t need to be.
That was the infamous Alex Acosta deal, I believe. If someone else wants to try to wrap their heads around this, be my guest. But if her conviction is overturned by SCOTUS, that would make the court an instrument of the quid pro quo negotiated by Todd Blanche, would it not?
First, I agree Momdani has run a great campaign. Second, I'm fine with what he's proposed, rent controls, free bus and city-owned grocery stores to bring down costs. And pay for it by taxing the ultra-rich. Getting the rest of city government to go along is a new challenge. He's got a good message and great delivery. People at the top are soiling their pants, including some Democrats.
Which brings me to comment on your complaint the so many Democrats have messaging that stinks. The 'system' with the Democratic Party is to develop reliable leadership according to a strict seniority system. You work your way up thru the ranks without expressing a dissenting view and, if you don't die of old age on the way, you get aa turn no matter how bad a candidate you are. The party has gamed the primary system to eliminate people who try to challenge the incumbent.
So the Democrats consistently field 'new' players who are old and well-versed in uttering comfortable phrases with the substance of oatmeal. Actually, side with the middle class and make the rich pay for it. You're made a leper in the party. Bernie and AOC, I'm looking at you. I saw this once before in my lifetime when the Democratic Party tried to exclude the radicals advocating for civil rights. Chicago – 1968.
re Maxwell update: BUT more pragmatically, such a Supreme Court ruling would remove the primary leverage that Trump has on her (though I admit the Trump corrupt scheme in action right now is likely to move more quickly that the Supreme Court). She walks, and that could lead things in all sorts of directions.
"will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to” four other suspects."
I can't seem to find who the "four other suspects" are? You would think that would be a question that the potted plants could ask diaper don in one of his potty mouth sessions?
One of the greatest cubs and I would say the greatest second basemen of all time died yesterday, Ryne Sanberg (hall of fame 2005) was a real hero to cub fans, played almost his entire career as a cub was a real class act!
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/45847000/mlb-2025-remembering-ryne-sandberg-chicago-cubs-teammates-reflect
Halaflation you say. The price does not make sense. So too the cost of housing especially if you rent. Well in a city nothing makes much sense to rural people. Why do people want to settle in a place without access to solitude and nature? The only wildlife around are the rats and a shooter from the Las Vegas area it is reported. These are not my choices for wildlife. Today even the shooter is gone, turning his death wish upon himself after imposing it upon several others. Sometimes it is best if what exits in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. Thanatos is powerful these days among Homo Sapiens and demands an audience that even Las Vegas can't provide. Much time and wealth will be spent looking for other motives, as Pagan gods cannot be accepted as active in this "Christian Nation" armed to the teeth. Go ahead and investigate, but the problem is obvious to those with more open minds. Nothing screams out of place more than an assault rifle in a densely populated urban area. Yet somehow, in a place with one of the highest densities of police per square mile, a guy gets into a high-rise office building with one in broad daylight on a Monday. Have fun explaining how that happened.
The only problem Momdani has is the rule current politicians of both parties at all levels seem to cherish. As myself and my colleagues pondered what solutions the more politically aligned would opt for someone would say they would have to pick solution x because it made sense. That would inspire a chorus of us saying No Way. You know who's in charge…if it makes sense, we can't do it that way. So far, we still have the one-party system in permeating this country. The Nonsense Party. That is why Momdani seems like he is from another planet. I wish him victory.
You'd be surprised how much solitude and nature can be found in the middle of Central Park. The city disappears.
OK, I'm thinking we could use a halal sandwich oasis near me. My door dash search came up with a nothing to eat here message. Sigh.
At the very least, Momdani is showing the way for others, especially of his generation, in using social media. He and AOC have a gift for bringing political issues to ordinary people in ways they can understand. I hope he makes it.
The “seniority system” that we see too often with Democrats (hello Joe Biden) needs to be put to bed. It’s not the 1950s and good union jobs anymore.
As for Halalflation – it’s bizarre that street vendors must pay $20,000 to random individuals to get a permit. In a city as big and old as NYC, there are tons of “legacy systems” that nobody remembers where they came from, why they’re there, and are begging to be junked. And they have stakeholders, like the lucky random people who can legally claim $20,000 whenever somebody wants a permit. Why doesn’t the city put these people out of business and put itself exclusively in the position of doling out licenses? NYC is begging for these kind of reforms, it sounds like, and Momdani may just be the guy to make them happen.
That's exactly it. There are all sorts of things that should be done better and just get ignored, year after year. Most of the last several mayors were focused on other things.
The fix is in, Maxwell has agreed to testify in front of congress so Blanche has her all lined up to exonerate Diaper Don in exchange for something. This is such an obvious bit of corruption they didn't even bother to wait a week until after the bribe was delivered in person. I saw some moron (former DOJ official) on msnbc saying she couldn't understand why they would send the #2 at DOJ to interview Maxwell, all of the idiot msnbc hosts just sit there nobody bothered to point out what is so fucking obvious? They sent the #2 because what they are doing is illegal for christ sake.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/29/politics/maxwell-conditions-congressional-testimony
Trump does not want to be the one to pardon Maxwell. It will implicate him. He wants the USSC to do it for him. I would guess that that was the final result of the two-day negotiation with Blanche, to dump it on the USSC with the understanding Trump will if the USSC won't.
The grounds for the original sweetheart deal were weak. Maxwell was not mentioned by name but she's trying to say that a vague reference to not prosecute associates included her. There are legal flaws in that old agreement (if I recall right) in thaat the law was violated that victims rere not notified of the deal, nor given the chance for input.