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The Revolution Has Been Televised—It’s About To Fail
The task for Democrats now is to keep the wounded, zombie version of it from encroaching further or clawing its way back to power.
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Consider the following snapshot of this political moment:
In Florida, Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar cut an ad telling Donald Trump that his policies of mass deportation and racial profiling had gone too far. “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.” Almost two years ago she won her district by more than 20 points.
Higher up the ticket, GOP gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds scrubbed Trump’s name from his website.
The Trump administration is nevertheless running its mass deportation machine hot. ICE agents in Austin, TX, shot an innocent man in the back this past weekend, and declined to provide him medical treatment. In Evanston, IL, ICE agents assaulted a citizen whom they were apparently racially profiling. He had to be hospitalized for injuries to his head, neck, and teeth.
Republicans’ worst issue may be health care. This is sort of perennially true, but it’s especially so now, as providers and patients alike reel from cuts to the Affordable Care Act, looming Medicaid cuts, and the gutting of federal public health infrastructure.
Against this backdrop, the Trump administration announced it would kick hundreds of thousands of Americans off of their seemingly valid Affordable Care Act plans, with more cancellations to come. Officials, led by JD Vance, targeted these plans in a manner akin to voter caging. They deemed the plans and subsidies to be fraudulent because the beneficiaries have never submitted a claim, and attempts to contact them failed. Let’s think: What kinds of people with valid health insurance a) don’t file claims, b) don’t answer calls from strange numbers, and c) don’t respond to emails they don’t recognize? Mostly young, healthy people—the subset of the population that keeps the private insurance market stable, by balancing out risk pools. In other words, with an election looming, the Trump regime seems intent upon sending the private insurance market into a death spiral.
This is compatible with Trump’s long-run obsession with sabotaging “Obamacare.” Not with the clear political needs of incumbents in his party.
In Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ohio, Republicans running for statewide office called nebulously for an end to the Iran war. They did not say “Trump should end the Iran war,” or that they would take steps to force an end to the Iran war. Just that the war should somehow come to an end immaculately.
Iowa GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, a current House member who’s voted against ending the war repeatedly: “[T]he war needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end.”
Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers, a long-time Iran hawk who supported the war: “The war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly.”
Michigan GOP gubernatorial nominee John James—a current House member who’s voted against ending the war repeatedly: “[W]e need to use every resource at our disposal to bring this war to an end quickly.”
Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany, a current House member who’s voted against ending the war repeatedly: “[W]e should be exiting Iran… It's time to move on.”
Incumbent Ohio GOP Senate nominee Jon Husted: “The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices.”
These Republicans were not as blunt as Salazar. They also did not concede any error or acknowledge their wild inconsistencies. But the message to the White House was clear.
Trump responded by musing before the United Nations General Assembly over whether he should “annihilate” the Iranian people.