Socialism and Spam August 22, 2026 The main thing I got from this long, interesting piece in the Times . . . Moderates See Socialists as a Threat to the Democratic Party. Socialists Agree . . . is that the DSA — the Democratic Socialists of America — is a small membership organization, not a political party, and that Bernie Sanders does not belong to it. Many of its aims are wonderful — who doesn’t want a crime-free society that requires no police or prisons? — but no Democrats I know of advocate crazy stuff like that. It would be so much easier if Bernie, AOC, Zohran, et al, simply said, “because we don’t embrace all the platform planks of the Democratic Socialists of America, we will henceforth call ourselves Social Democrats to avoid confusion . . . while working hard to advance the many DSA aims, like universal health care and taxing billionaires, with which we do agree.” But now let’s talk about socialism for a minute — this dread word Republicans love to scare people with. Most Republicans are socialists! They support public roads and public schools and public police forces (though billionaires have private security) and public fire departments. They support Social Security! They support Medicare! (17 Years Later, ‘Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare’ Guy Still Wants Government Hands Off His Medicare.) All these things are socialist. Not to say that, as a practical matter, Democrats should embrace the label. It’s just too toxic. But c’mon: think about it. Political ideology is a continuum that runs all the way from pure communism on the left, which always leads to economic failure and tyranny (e.g., North Korea today, and China before it went largely capitalist and started minting billionaires) — no one wants that — to pure cruel unregulated untaxed Darwinian libertarian capitalism on the right (no one wants that, either; well, maybe Elon Musk when he’s on acid). Most Democrats want to nudge us a little further left — more like Canada and Europe and Australia and Japan, say; plus a pluralistic society that celebrates diversity, agrees with Ronald Reagan on immigration, values civility, competence , and compassion . . . while Trump and the Epstein class who currently control all three branches of our government want to nudge us more toward what I guess might be called the Putin model of oligarchy, nationalism, and intolerance. Note that economic growth under the socialist-style 90% percent top tax rate of Eisenhower — and under the only moderately less socialist-style 70% top tax rate of JFK, LBJ, Nixon and Ford — was significantly stronger than it has been since Reagan started cutting taxes on the rich. Those cuts, amplified by Bush 43 and Trump, have accompanied slower growth, weaker wage gains, and massively higher National Debt. Not to mention social-fabric-destroying inequality. So if you’re a MAGA Republican who wants to see our economy — and your personal economy — thrive, and our national finances gradually brought back from the brink, you just might want to vote Democrat. Which brings me to: SPAM PACS Yesterday’s I offered this piece about what underlies the swarm of texts and emails we all get — like a swarm of mosquitos — asking urgently for $15 by midnight. It may not be worth your time to read in full, but the highlights, I think, are important: “I’m a political scientist who studies money in politics,” writes Adam Bonica, “but I’m also a lifelong Democrat. I believe my party is doing itself a disservice by following Republicans down this dark path.” Spam PACs rarely operate in isolation. My analysis of FEC data shows that they cluster into networks linked by a small number of treasurers who oversee multiple committees at once. . . . [From 2011] through 2025, Harry Pascal’s network of eight PACs raised more than $390 million from individual donors. According to my analysis of FEC filings, roughly $20 million of that went directly to Democratic candidates, or funded independent expenditures supporting them. Another $100 million or so covered field and get-out-the-vote programs and the payroll to staff them, and roughly $20 million went to administrative costs. The rest — an estimated $249 million, or 64 cents of every dollar raised — went to fundraising itself. “Among the fundraising ads run by the largest spam PACs,” Bonica found, “between 70 and 85 percent of impressions are delivered to users 65 and older.” Whether or not those who operate this fundraising model recognize or intend it, fundraising spam runs on similar psychological levers to those that the FBI and AARP identify as hallmarks of elder financial exploitation: manufactured urgency, emotional appeals engineered to trigger guilt or fear, false exclusivity, fabricated account or profile statuses that look like official notices, and relentless pressure to give before there’s time to think. Why stamp “FINAL ATTEMPT” on a message and warn that “the deadline is just hours away” if not to manufacture urgency? Why claim that Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Hakeem Jeffries have emailed you, then demand an answer to their “desperate pleas” if not to trigger guilt? Why warn that Social Security checks will be “SLASHED by $500/month?!” — up from the $460 in the email sent two days earlier — if not to stoke fear? Why tell someone they are “the only Democrat in your city who hasn’t responded” if not to single them out? Why announce a recipient’s “appointment to the Social Security Advisory Board” above a picture of a Social Security card if not to dress a solicitation as official business? Why the midnight deadlines, the countdown timers, the “400% MATCH” that applies only if you give right now, if not to force a decision before reflection can intervene? Even someone with no moral objection to these tactics should mind their cost. They poison the entire Democratic ecosystem, warping incentives for organizations and candidates alike. For campaigns, the draw is fundraising without the traditional work of fundraising — no grueling hours dialing for dollars, no donor dinners, no need to build genuine grassroots enthusiasm. Simply hire a digital firm and let the consultants tap into the pipeline. It’s some comfort that . . . Only about 20 percent of Democratic congressional candidates hire the high-volume digital fundraising firms used by spam PACs. But those candidates raised a combined $570 million from captive spam donors. The remaining 80 percent of Democratic candidates who stayed outside the spam ecosystem raised just $37 million from these donors. And yet . . . This fundraising model is a parasite on the party, enriching outside consultants while steadily starving the host. Republicans succumbed to it first, watching their own grassroots donor base hollow out in real time. If Democrats don’t change course, they are headed into the exact same donor death spiral. Not great to read that . . . The party’s platform champions protecting the vulnerable. Its fundraising apparatus exploits them. The party’s official campaign committees, which should set the standard, are instead some of the worst offenders. Emails and texts from the DCCC and the DSCC feature similarly aggressive fundraising pleas and draw heavily from captive spam donors. (A lawyer for the DSCC and DCCC whom I admire pushed back that the committees do not target the elderly — which I believe. But Bonica responds: “This piece makes no claim that either committee targets donor solicitations by age; the finding concerns who responds, not whom they are aimed at.”) Note that Bonica did not include the DNC with its sister committees. The good news is that change is possible. After I published a series of articles on Substack last summer about deceptive fundraising practices, ActBlue leadership reached out to me to discuss the platform’s response. Soon after, ActBlue announced its most significant crackdown on deceptive fundraising to date. . . . There has been other movement in the right direction. The Democratic National Committee, led by Ken Martin, launched an effort to stop PACs from trading on the Democratic name without actually supporting Democratic candidates. But these reforms have not been enough. . . . More is needed. Beware spam PACs. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
I Was Duped August 20, 2026August 22, 2026 But first, and most important . . . AVOID HOLY WARS! We didn’t vote for this war, and we sure didn’t vote for a Holy War. Watch! (90 seconds) Also . . . AVOID SPAM PACS! Hook and Squeeze: How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations. Be sure you know whom you’re giving to. Which leads me too . . . OOPS Bill Clinton’s wonderful speech I posted yesterday turns out to have been fake. Fortunately, whoever wrote it, human or otherwise, did a great job — and in a just cause! — so it’s still well worth watching. But it’s scary to think how people like me, who’ve known the guy for 40+ years, could watch for 21 minutes and not have a clue. (In hindsight, there were some tells — why was he plugging The Bluebill . . . I guess that’s likely who wrote the speech — but my guard was down and I lapped it up.) Scarier still to think AI will be twice as powerful in 6 months, and twice again more in a year. Boy, do we ever need honest, thoughtful, brilliant people to lead us into the future. A couple of you sent helpful suggestions: → “When you click on a YouTube video, select ‘description.’ They disclose when it’s made with AI.” → Steve Brill’s latest venture: NewsGuard AI. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
Three Cool Things August 20, 2026August 20, 2026 1. KENTUCKY GOVERNOR BESHEAR ON THE DSA: 60 seconds Skip straight past the first 98 seconds to 1:38 and watch as he opines on the Democratic Socialists of America. Executive summary: It’s a big tent. What divides Democrats Bernie Sanders and Mark Warner (say) is NOTHING compared with what unites them. (And, yes, some of the DSA platform planks, though well-intentioned, are cuckoo.) He says it so well. Beshear 2028? Or perhaps Ossoff 2028? 2. PRESIDENT CLINTON ON SENATOR OSSOFF ON TRUMP Remember when we had a president who balanced the budget, raised the minimum wage, oversaw the creation of 22 million new jobs, saw dictators as our adversaries and diversity as our strength? A president who signed the Assault Weapons ban, staffed his administration with serious, competent people — and led the free world with dignity and grace? Never belittling adversaries as scum or vermin? Never mocking the disabled? Try to take the time to watch. A really important 20 minutes. AND — ASTONISHINGLY — IS FAKE. Scary what AI can do. Though in this case, whoever wrote that speech, whether human or AI, did a heck of a job. 3. HAVE DRINKS WITH DAVID LETTERMAN? He once made me sit on a whoopee cushion, way back when he had a morning show. Now, in recompense — and to help save democracy — he is very graciously special-guesting a small gathering with Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the country, who just might be the next junior Senator from the great state of Kansas. Me-mail me in case you had some luck with HYMC or CHRB or RNGE and could be in New York September 15. Otherwise, meet Adam virtually and — if you become as excited as I am — toss some more-human-size contribution into the pot. Kansas has a Democratic governor, after all, so this is hardly a crazy idea.
Socialism Is So 1845! August 19, 2026 NOT INTO POLITICS? 55 seconds you’ll enjoy. NOT LEAVING MAGA 4 minutes you won’t. Scary. NICK HANAUER Long-time readers know he’s one of my heroes. I can’t count the number of times I’ve linked you to his 2012 must-watch 6-minute TED talk (it is the middle class, not the rich, who are the job creators) . . . and to his 2014 TED follow on (“Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming”). If you’ve never watched them, perhaps today’s the day. But it’s also the day to consider watching yesterday’s 83-minute interview (“A traitor to his class”). I know that’s a LOT of time to give to anything — we’re busy! — but it’s one of the most interesting, consequential things I’ve listened to in a long time. His personal story is itself interesting — how he became a multi-billionaire. As is his assessment of Jeff Bezos. But his call for “market humanism” and “middle-out economics” are worth the scrutiny of every concerned citizen, and certainly those engaged in the public discourse. “Socialism is so 1845,” he says. After listening, you might even decide to read his just-released Markets Built for Humans: A new story of how economic prosperity is created—and how we can create it for everyone. Free download. No signup or login required. Because as angry citizens on the left and the right have made clear — many of them living paycheck to paycheck while the Epstein class piles up ever more billions — the current system needs some pretty radical change. One side thinks it can come from a strongman who tells them he “alone can fix it” (though in fact everything he touches dies). The other side thinks we should go back to the Clinton/Obama/Biden days, when, as the economy was being handed off to Trump, it was “the envy of the world” — yet still far short of what Nick Hanauer argues persuasively it can, and must, be. Your thoughts?
Let’s Bring This Baby Home August 18, 2026 But first . . . “THE ECONOMIC SCOREBOARD THEY NEVER SHOW YOU” If you missed this last week: The Solo cups never lie — or, as this grandfather in short pants puts it: “Cups talk, bull—t walks” (150 seconds). Watch! FAREED ZAKARIA The Iran war is a master class in squandering a superpower’s credibility. Worth reading in full, it concludes: Credibility is an asset, painstakingly accumulated over generations and astonishingly easy to spend and squander. During the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy sent former secretary of state Dean Acheson to Paris to brief Charles de Gaulle on the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Acheson brought reconnaissance photographs to prove the case. De Gaulle, hardly an American supplicant, waved them away. He said he did not need the evidence. The word of the president of the United States was enough. That scene is unimaginable today. SETH MYERS Knowing that you may not have 12 minutes, I start the clip here . . . after Myers’ wonderful takedown of MAGA film critics (and their prediction that The Odyssey would totally flop) . . . to bring home Fareed’s point about our squandered credibility. Otherwise, start here. So now . . . “LET’S BRING THIS BABY HOME!” That’s how the irrepressible Terry McAuliffe wound up his remarks to the DNC membership in Austin Saturday (15 minutes). He is a great cheerleader — and if we all continue to lean in, we’re going to have a lot to cheer about 78 days from now. Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
It’s Time To Flee The DSA August 17, 2026August 17, 2026 Bernie and AOC and Mamdani and El-Sayed, et al, could say: Look. We applaud the idealism of those who hope for a world where there’s no crime, so no need for police or prisons . . . a world where everyone lives in prosperous countries without fear of oppression, so no need for borders . . . a world without conflict, so no need for armies. But the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, and recent statements of some of its leaders, bear no resemblance to what those of us actually in office or running for office — like those of us on this stage today — actually advocate. So to avoid confusion, we today bid that party farewell and will henceforth call ourselves social Democrats — the kind of Democrats who want affordable health care for all . . . well-regulated capitalism that provides a living wage and enforces worker rights and safety . . . well-regulated, enlightened community policing . . . a criminal justice system not designed to enrich billionaire owners of for-profit prisons . . . the old system of carefully considered pardons and commutations based on merit, not on bribes or presidential whim . . . common-sense gun safety laws of the type the NRA itself used to champion . . . an Internal Revenue Service adequately funded to collect taxes owed by the ultra-rich and corporations . . . a tax system where a billionaire’s top tax rate is not lower than the workers who launders his clothes and where loopholes available only to the rich are closed . . . a country that allies with invaded democracies not with invading dictatorships . . . a country where the Constitution is respected, corruption is rejected, and no one — not even the President or the rest of the Epstein class — is above the law . . . and quite a few other common sense things almost all Americans favor. And no, bizarre as it is that the 600,000 fine citizens of Wyoming have as many Unites States Senators as the 39 million fine citizens of California, we do not advocate abolishing the United States Senate. Yes, we are the liberal wing of the Democratic party. But we believe we want what most Americans — if not most billionaires or giant corporations and their lobbyists — want. Don’t be fooled by those trying to scare you. Ed Luce of the Financial Times is so sensible. Here he speaks with Charlie Sykes about a variety of topics, including — in the last few minutes of the interview — Francesca Hong campaigning in Wisconsin with Hasan Piker (“thank heavens she lost,” he says) and what he calls the “utterly lunatic idiotic positions” of Megan Romer, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, he notes, is no Francesca Hong. “Hurray,” he says, for “the normies.” Worth a listen.
COLORADO V. CONNECTICUT August 16, 2026 RIDICULOUS IN COLORADO Remember the preposterous Republican Congressman George Santos? Whose prison sentence, after he was expelled from Congress, Trump commuted? Well . . . meet Victor Marx, the Republican choice to govern Colorado (150 seconds). With luck, Phil Weiser will be Colorado’s next governor. THOUGHTFUL IN CONNECTICUT How politics should work. As we approach the gubernatorial election, incumbent Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont and Republican nominee state Sen. Ryan Fazio are modeling something virtually extinct on the national stage: a masterclass in political civility. Connecticut is extraordinarily lucky to have both Lamont and Fazio as the two parties’ standard bearers, and they are showing the way for the entire nation. . . . SUPER IMPORTANT BONUS The Democratic party needs to do more than represent wealthy progressives.
Three Minutes And 20 Seconds August 13, 2026August 13, 2026 A Trump supporter can’t think of a single promise Trump has kept (one minute). After that minute, he might be having doubts. If so, he’s not alone. Pete on Inequality (two minutes). Really interesting. Even shorter (20 seconds).
X-Rated Wednesday August 11, 2026August 11, 2026 Lindsey Graham was allegedly this trans sex worker’s client. And good for him! He wasn’t cheating on his wife. In America, it seems to me, consenting adults should be free to do whatever they want so long as they’re not hurting anyone else. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Where it gets icky is not in what he may have liked to do with hookers, but in his consistent votes to oppress people like those hookers — and like himself, if reports of his sexual orientation were true. I post this video not because I think you’ll necessarily love the woman who tells her story, but because some of us have never had much contact with sex workers — or trans women — which makes them easy to dismiss. After watching Ms. Snyder’s interview, you might or might not be comfortable inviting her to Thanksgiving dinner . . . she may not be your cup of tea . . . and that’s fine. This is America. But at the same time, you just might come away thinking she deserves as much respect — as a human being — as (say) Lindsey Graham did. Or you may not. Again: this is America. People should be able to disagree without being labeled scum. “THE ECONOMIC SCOREBOARD THEY NEVER SHOW YOU” The Solo cups never lie (two-and-a-half minutes). Or, as this grandfather in short pants puts it: “Cups talk, bull—t walks.” Watch! Share! Join Indivisible! Support the opposition!
The Communist Menace What To Tell Friends Who Are Scared of the DSA August 11, 2026August 11, 2026 Trump: “Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world, only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. It’s like a cancer, you got to cut it out.” Communism is like a cancer. It always leads to tyranny. Fortunately, not a single elected officeholder in America (out of roughly 500,000) is a communist. Nor a single serious candidate for office, for that matter. The fear that team-Trump hopes to stoke to draw attention from the horrible mess he’s made (see below: reckless and feckless) is ridiculous. Not one in half a million? Is that really a menace? I’ll get to Democratic socialists in a second — but wait a minute! What about our warriors who battled FASCISM on battlefields across the world, only to have THAT menace rear its ugly head right back here in America? Isn’t that like a cancer, too? Don’t you have to cut it out, too? And here’s the difference: Where no Democratic candidate or officeholder is a communist (though some do openly aspire to see America be more like Canada and Europe) the leader of the Republican Party is himself a budding fascist, in the style of Mussolini. Here are some of the characteristics of fascism: Strongman leadership style (loyalty over merit; personal whim over institutional competence) Authoritarian rhetoric (attacks on courts, press, and elections) Populist nationalism (Make America Great Again) Self-glorification (“I alone can fix it,” portraits of the leader’s face on government buildings, on the proposed $250 bill, on passports; renaming the Kennedy Center . . .) Demonization of out-groups (immigrants, Democrats, trans Americans) Racism (firing black generals, branding black leaders “low IQ,” welcoming white Afrikaners) Dehumanization (“scum,” “vermin”) Co-optation of the business elite (in the front row of his inauguration) A brown-shirt type police force (masked and unidentified) Thugs loyal to the leader (celebrated as patriots, pardoned when convicted) Constant disinformation (Orwell on steroids) I doubt you can find a Democratic officeholder who for years kept a book of Karl Marx by his bedside . . . but Trump for years kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his. Where the co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America — a woman with no power that no one had ever heard of until last month — goes on TV saying we should abolish the Senate . . . perhaps because Wyoming’s 600,000 fine citizens have as much power as California’s 40 million . . . Trump has all but entirely co-opted the Senate. Or just ignored it, as in the case of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. So yes: The platform of the Democratic Socialists of America has crazy stuff in it. But it is not stuff that “mainstream” Democratic Socialists — like Bernie and AOC and Zohran — advocate. Abolish the police and prisons? And borders? And the Senate? And private property? I mean — come on. If the DSA co-chair runs for president, as she has every right to, I’d be amazed if she won the endorsement of a single Democrat. So, if you know anyone who is genuinely scared by the Red Menace — and not just pretending to be, like Trump — share this info with them so they can relax and enjoy the rest of the summer. And if you know anyone who’s terrified we will become a country with free public education or free roads or free public parks — or higher income tax rates — as they have in Canada and Europe and Australia and just about everywhere else . . . or that we’ll have universal health care (with access to private care and luxury hospital suites for those who can afford it) . . . suggest that they vacation to Madrid or Milan or Munich or Montreal or Melbourne and see whether those are really the hell holes Trump would have you think. ‘ And remind them that we already have a lot of these socialist things. Do they really want to abolish Medicare (the creation of which Ronald Reagan so vigorously opposed)? Do they really want to cut off food assistance to children, the disabled, veterans and the elderly who need it? I don’t think they do. RECKLESS AND FECKLESS How could we have let this happen??? Our country was so recently “the envy of the world.” The good guy that, despite all her flaws and missteps, was seen to stand for freedom, compassion, leadership. Truth, justice, and the American way, so to speak. Fighting corruption, not governed by it. Before Trump, inflation had fallen to 2.7% and was headed down, as were interest rates. Job growth was strong. Today, we have stagflation: rising prices and stagnant job growth. Before Trump, the Strait of Hormuz was open and we had unlimited 24/7 inspection of its nuclear facilities, with 98% of their enriched uranium removed. What’s more, our awesome military invincibility was taken as a given. Today, the Strait is closed, and the world sees us as both reckless and feckless. Iran has us over a barrel. Millions of barrels, actually. I ask again: how could we have let this happen? He promised to end the Ukraine War on Day one, to bring prices down on Day One. He alone could fix it. He hired “all the best people.” (Mostly from FOX News.) All twenty-odd women who had accused him of wrongdoing were lying. Not since Lincoln has a president ever been so badly treated! Everything is rigged against him! He is such a victim! The more than $2 billion by which he’s enriched his family in a year and a half in no way violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution. The economy is hot! Everybdy knows it! Things are great! He’s the most handsome, healthy, honest, successful president in history — and if you don’t agree, just look at all the monuments he’s erecting to himself. He won the FIFA Peace Prize, for crying out loud! And how about the gladiators he had fighting on the White House lawn? And the way he’s bulldozed the East Wing and refurbished the reflecting pool? Mount Rushmore, here he comes. If only he can protect us from the radical lunatic communist scum who don’t approve of the job he’s doing. Which is 66% of the country. Join Indivisible! 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