Democratic leaders across the South are sounding the alarm over what they see as a lack of urgency and investment from their party following the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to limit race-based redistricting.
<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/10/black-leaders-democratic-party-redistricting-00991564">Politico published</a> a report detailing deep grievances from black lawmakers and activists across the Deep South, who say the Democratic Party has largely abandoned them by focusing resources on battleground states while neglecting red ones.
“Folks who lead our party go to swing states like North Carolina and Georgia, but states like Mississippi and Tennessee and Alabama and South Carolina are really neglected and are really forgotten and are really treated as if it is inevitable that we’ll always stay in such systems of what I call apartheid type of politics,” Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones told Politico. 
The anxiety is especially acute among Democratic voters in deep-red states following the landmark Supreme Court ruling that triggered a nationwide redistricting arms race. In the decision, a majority of justices struck down a Louisiana congressional map favoring Democrats and significantly limited how states may use race in drawing congressional districts.
Since then, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee have redrawn their congressional maps, building on Republican gains in Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri.
Speaking to Politico, Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell claimed there is a coordinated effort to suppress black voters.
“Republicans in the Legislature and the Supreme Court have said that it’s okay to turn back the clock and reverse civil rights progress in this country,” Driskell said. “They’re basically giving these Southern states what they have consistently and persistently wanted, which is to suppress Black voices.”
Some Southern Democrats feel their power is evaporating in real time and, in part, blame their party’s leadership for dropping the ball. 
“The Democrats sort of allowed for this behavior to regularly happen,” said Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr., noting the party’s failure to strengthen the Voting Rights Act under President Joe Biden. “I think that there could have been an opportunity before this second surge in MAGA. As of right now, I’m not sure if we necessarily have the infrastructure for that.”
The geographic divide has been on full display in recent months as Democratic leaders have focused on putting out political fires in Maine while scrambling to contain a growing socialist movement that has successfully tossed out a string of longtime incumbents.
In June, leftist candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani ended the political careers of three NYC Congressional Democrats. In July, another DSA-aligned candidate ousted a nearly 3o-year incumbent in Colorado. 
For many black Democrats, there is a growing sense that the party is focused on making blue districts even bluer and managing troubled candidates elsewhere while losing sight of its most loyal voting bloc. Those tensions <a href="https://x.com/WellsJorda89710/status/2079325161531097293?s=20">spilled into public view</a> over the weekend in Texas, where state Rep. James Talarico (D) is seeking to beat Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in what many Democrats view as a must-win Senate race.
“So you stay here, you answer our questions, or you suffer the consequences,” one voter shouted at a Talarico town hall event about black outreach. 
“I’m happy to engage,” Talarico replied. “I appreciate you being here, and I appreciate you traveling in.” 
“I did it for my people, not for you,” the woman fired back. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://x.com/hashtag/TexasSenate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TexasSenate</a>
James Talarico is pressed by attendee at Houston town hall on Black voter outreach.
Attendee received some applause among the crowd. <a href="https://t.co/UMlGTyM22N">pic.twitter.com/UMlGTyM22N</a>
— Politics &amp; Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) <a href="https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2079015404559646955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
Another black attendee asked Talarico to condemn white progressive Democratic insiders whom they said had harassed and threatened black political organizers.

Charlane Oliver

Black Leaders Accuse Democrats Of Leaving Them Behind

black vote

Democrats

Elections

News

Politics

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico learned the hard way that his prospective constituents expect him to answer their questions when they take the time to attend his campaign events.
Talarico, who bested Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) to win the Senate primary, struggled to find answers when a woman called him out at a recent event, warning him that he would &#8220;suffer the consequences&#8221; if he chose not to stay and answer questions from the people in attendance.
&#8220;So you stay here! You answer our questions, or you suffer the consequences,&#8221; she shouted.
Another attendee cheered her on, shouting, &#8220;Say it with your chest!&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m happy to engage,&#8221; Talarico, clearly taken aback, responded.
&#8220;Well, you talk to your staff,&#8221; the woman shot back.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll come to — here in just a second,&#8221; Talarico said, adding, &#8220;I appreciate you being here, and I appreciate you traveling in, and I appreciate you —&#8221;
&#8220;I did it for my people, not for you,&#8221; the woman said, prompting applause from around the room.
&#8220;And that&#8217;s wonderful,&#8221; Talarico replied. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s wonderful.&#8221;
As the crowd began to murmur, Talarico continued, &#8220;It&#8217;s all right. It&#8217;s all right, that&#8217;s what this conversation is supposed to be about.&#8221;
At the same event, Texas Democratic state Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons — who supported Crockett in the earlier primary — <a href="https://x.com/FBugenhagen_/status/2078936200061026390">explained</a> why she was throwing her weight behind Talarico: &#8220;Primaries are family fights. We licked our wounds on Tuesday then we woke up ready for war.&#8221;
But despite Simmons&#8217; assessment, one key figure has been markedly absent from Talarico&#8217;s campaign events: Crockett. In the days since the primary, instead of helping Talarico across the finish line, Crockett has instead claimed that the primary was &#8220;racist&#8221; and has said that her time and efforts were better spent in supporting and endorsing black candidates in other races.

Texas State Representative Talarico Holds Primary Election Night Event

James Talarico Stammers As Black Woman Berates Him For Not Answering Questions At Event

2026 Midterms

James Talarico

Texas

As my boss likes to <a href="https://x.com/bdomenech">say</a>, “You can tell a man&#8217;s vices by his friends,” and Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a 46-year-old Democrat with his eye on 2028, has spent years surrounding himself with men whose scandals eventually caught up with them. So color us shocked that the man who looks like a predatory version of Gus from Cinderella may have one of his own waiting in the wings.
The now-married congressman admitted to having sexual relationships with two House staffers during his time in office amid a &#8220;pattern of mistakes and missteps and judgment calls,&#8221; a source told the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/16/us-news/sen-ruben-gallego-had-sexual-relationships-with-two-house-aides-sources-reveal-to-the-post/">New York Post</a>. He also apparently has &#8220;very flirtatious&#8221; habits with others that &#8220;may come back to haunt him.&#8221; Sounds like more infractions may be hiding in his closet.
Could there have been signs that he may have felt inclined to use his position of power to coerce younger women into relationships with him? Any at all? The man is infamous for filing for divorce in late 2016, when his then-wife was heavily pregnant, weeks from giving birth. He&#8217;s currently under investigation for potentially misusing campaign funds on family travel, childcare, and Super Bowl tickets. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna&#8217;s office has passed sexual misconduct allegations against Gallego to Senate Majority Leader Thune&#8217;s staff. And he just about had a <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2044105376186986651/video/1">seizure</a> on camera when his very &#8220;best friend&#8221; in the House, Eric Swalwell, watched his own scandal detonate.
Nah. The power clearly hasn’t gone to his head. Just ask the Democratic operative who&#8217;s crossed paths with him: she told the Post she witnessed that “flirtatious nature after a couple of drinks,&#8221; and has &#8220;always steered clear.”
But the real story isn&#8217;t Gallego&#8217;s alleged conduct in isolation. It&#8217;s who he chose to stand next to while it was happening. Look at the men Gallego has called friends, endorsed, and defended, and a pattern starts to look less like a coincidence and more like a type. Democrats don&#8217;t seem to have a problem with credible allegations against their rising stars. They have a problem with those allegations becoming a liability at the ballot box. The women making the accusations don&#8217;t suddenly become believable. The candidate just becomes unwinnable. The support doesn&#8217;t disappear when the accusations surface. It disappears when the polling does.
Exhibit A: Eric Swalwell. Democrats went to the mat for him against allegations of sexual assault, right up until he started sliding in the polls. Then the party quietly dropped him; he left Congress, and his 2026 California gubernatorial bid died with barely a eulogy.
Gallego, for the record, was listed on Swalwell&#8217;s campaign site as his best friend. The two traveled together, shared a joint account, and yet Gallego insists he had no knowledge of his wingman’s alleged r*peyness. Sure.
If Swalwell was the pilot episode, Graham Platner was the highly unfortunate sequel. Gallego endorsed him too, the Senate candidate from Maine who nearly made it to November carrying sexual harassment allegations, a Nazi tattoo, an account on an app known for messaging underage girls, an affair within months of his own wedding, a Reddit confession about masturbating in porta-potties (bonus points for explicit wall décor), and a claim that he&#8217;d r*pe home invaders, but, you know, not in a gay way. None of it moved Gallego. Then, Platner&#8217;s numbers started slipping, and suddenly a Democratic voter&#8217;s r*pe allegation was worth taking seriously. He dropped out, still insisting it was all a lie.
Gallego had once <a href="https://x.com/RubenGallego/status/2028471098614890658">called</a> him the &#8220;kind of fighter Maine hasn&#8217;t seen in a long time,&#8221; until he couldn&#8217;t ignore that the fighting was actually happening in the bedroom, and women were on the losing end.
And don&#8217;t forget the third member of Gallego&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/nypost/status/2045488277101084966">&#8220;cool kids&#8217; clique,&#8221;</a> Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), who was spotted making out with a Swalwell aide at a house party in 2023. Nobody blinked when he later admitted to cheating on his wife.
But that’s just what “cool kids” do, right, guys?
It&#8217;s rich, watching the men harping the <a href="https://x.com/mazemoore/status/2077870498457817544">loudest</a> about Jeffrey Epstein and those most devoted to &#8220;believing women&#8221; who then turn out to be the ones getting handsy the moment the lights dim in D.C. Apparently, belief is conditional. Ask any of them, and they&#8217;ll tell you they stand with survivors. Just don&#8217;t ask them to stand with one if she&#8217;s holding up their candidate&#8217;s poll numbers.
We will follow the facts, and right now, Gallego is nothing more than a hairy little dude with an eye contact problem and a prior affinity for younger, vulnerable staffers. But if his vices are in any way related to his friends, he might have a problem on his hands.

Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act

You Can Tell A Man’s Vices By His Friends

DW Opinion

Eric Swalwell

graham platner

Ruben Gallego

As Graham Platner crashed out of the Maine Senate race over rape accusations, a nebulous group stepped out of the shadows with millions of dollars to boost Democrats in the state. In the immediate aftermath of the scandal, a 30-second $2.5 million <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UkhcVm6Hx8">TV spot</a> popped up <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/10/congress/dem-ad-blitz-collins-abortion-record-00992630">attacking</a> Republican Susan Collins for her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
The ad was paid for by a group called “Affordable Maine,” which records show is a creation of the Opportunity Action Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based dark money group run by well-connected activists poised to spend millions of dollars backing Democrats in the midterm elections. The group&#8217;s sudden injection into the race provides a clue about how a powerful dark money entity will spend its money ahead of the midterm elections. 
Affordable Maine is just one of the dozens of trade names registered by the Opportunity Action Fund, including multiple other “affordable” state-focused groups. The trade names shed light on where Democrats may pour untraceable money next — even as many of the party’s candidates denounce dark money and corporate PACs. 
<a href="https://corponline.dlcp.dc.gov/business/info">Corporate filings</a> show all of the trade names registered by the Opportunity Action Fund are competitive politically: Affordable Virginia, Affordable Pennsylvania, Affordable Georgia, Affordable Iowa, Affordable Alaska, Affordable Maine, Affordable Ohio, Affordable Michigan, and Affordable North Carolina. 
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Caitlin Sutherland, the executive director of Americans for Public Trust, a watchdog group that first flagged the corporate filings, told the Daily Wire that these trade names are used to disguise the fact that groups dumping into races aren’t as local as they claim to be. She said that trade names should be viewed as a &#8220;costume&#8221; to hide the true nature of where the spending originates.  
“What they are doing is co-opting this process to make it seem like it&#8217;s a local mom and pop grassroots group that can then run ads to support a specific candidate in a state,” Sutherland told The Daily Wire. “We just saw this last week with attacking Susan Collins under the group Affordable Maine. It&#8217;s very important to know it&#8217;s not a Maine group.”
All of the groups appear to be moving in concert with each other. The trade names for “affordable” Maine, Michigan, Alaska, Ohio, and North Carolina, for example, were identically registered on April 23, 2026. All of these states have competitive Senate or House races. 
Sutherland expects to see more &#8220;affordable&#8221; attacks on Republican Dan Sullivan in Alaska as well as on Republican candidates in North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, and Iowa. Spending allocation will likely depend on fundraising numbers and polling. She added that it was telling to see where no trade names had yet been created. For example, no name has been registered for Texas, where Democratic candidate James Talarico is facing off against Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The trade names allow outside groups to “sneak in and sneak out of these competitive districts or these competitive states and make it sound like it is a local group,&#8221; Sutherland said. 
The Opportunity Action Fund was first registered in Washington, D.C. on February 20, 2025, and its listed corporate email address is affiliated with Elias Law, the law firm of powerful Democrat lawyer Marc Elias. Elias has made a name for himself by challenging voter integrity laws and representing Democratic candidates.  
The group&#8217;s corporate filings list its directors as Mike Russell, Larry Lopez, and Christopher Rackens, who previously worked <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-rackens-95396150/">several Capitol Hill jobs</a> for House Democrats.
Another one of the Opportunity Action Fund’s trade names is Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy, which used to be a project of the Democrat aligned Forward Action Fund. The group&#8217;s affiliated PAC <a href="https://www.familyfriendlyeconomy.org/news-/new%3A-campaign-for-a-family-friendly-economy-pac-announces-%2450-million-midterm-electoral-program">announced</a> plans to spend $50 million backing Democrats in the midterm elections. The organization and its PAC share the same <a href="https://www.familyfriendlyeconomy.org/">website</a> and describes itself as a “project” of the Opportunity Action Fund. 
The $50 million campaign said its<a href="https://apnews.com/article/daycare-child-care-assistance-midterm-elections-1a006de0d9e0557370958e482d6f51f4"> focus</a> would be on Senate races in North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Maine, and Ohio, and on Iowa and Pennsylvania House races, all states with Opportunity Action Fund “affordable” trade names. 
The group is led by Sondra Goldschein, who previously worked for the far-left ACLU as the deputy national political director. Its goals include pushing paid medical leave and “affordable child care.” 
The Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy PAC <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00744920/?cycle=2024">reported</a> raising $22 million for the 2024 election cycle. Its current <a href="https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202601309795136179">reported</a> receipts from January 2025 to May 2026 sit at over $2.8 million. About $2 million of these funds were from Pivotal Ventures, a group tied to Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of billionaire Bill Gates. Those funds were <a href="https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202601309795136179">marked</a> for the PAC&#8217;s non-contribution account, meaning they cannot directly go toward candidates.  
Two of the <a href="https://www.familyfriendlyeconomy.org/accountability">projects</a> of the Campaign For a Family Friendly Economy include Affordable Virginia and Affordable Pennsylvania, both trade names of the Opportunity Action Fund that were previously housed by the Forward Action Fund. 
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Affordable Pennsylvania has <a href="https://www.affordablepennsylvania.org/">focused</a> its attention on attacking Republican lawmakers including Reps Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan, and Scott Perry. The group attacked the trio for voting for more accountability for welfare benefits. 
One upcoming <a href="https://www.mobilize.us/affordablepennsylvania/event/969389/">event</a> sponsored by Affordable Pennsylvania bills itself as a “town hall” that “will put people as the center of the affordability crisis and hold Congressman Mackenzie accountable to us — not his billionaire buddies on their yachts.”
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Affordable Virginia <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260224002131/https://www.affordablevirginia.org/">focused</a> much of its attention on going after GOP Rep. Jen Kiggans. The group no longer appears to have an active website, but is still listed as an active trade name of the Opportunity Action Fund. 
Other of the “affordable” trade names don’t yet appear to have active websites. Going to a <a href="https://affordableiowa.org/">webpage</a> for AffordableIowa.org ends up on a page announcing that it will be “launching soon.” 
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<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1134919" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-10.59.01-AM-scaled.png" alt="" width="2560" height="809" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-10.59.01-AM-scaled.png 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-10.59.01-AM-300x95.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-10.59.01-AM-1024x324.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-10.59.01-AM-768x243.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-10.59.01-AM-1536x486.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-14-at-10.59.01-AM-2048x647.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></div>
Sutherland said that voters in these states should carefully scrutinize the groups behind the ads they see.
“They really need to question why is this group not being transparent about who they actually are,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s important to take a step back and to scrutinize where that message is coming from before it impacts your vote.&#8221;
In addition to the &#8220;affordable&#8221; trade names, the Opportunity Action fund registered groups like &#8220;The Rural Path&#8221; and &#8220;Astronauts for America Action Fund&#8221; as trade names. A <a href="https://www.theruralpath.com/">website</a> for The Rural Path has expired, but The Rural Path PAC has an <a href="https://www.rppac.com/">active website</a> that states its goal is to improve Democrat performance among rural voters. The Astronauts for America Action Fund has <a href="https://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/pdfs/Space-Community-Letter-on-FY-2027-NASA-Budget.pdf">signed</a> its name to a letter complaining about funding cuts. 
With the failure of the Democratic Party in the 2024 election and the growing toxicity of dark money groups like the Sixteen Thirty Fund, there is an opening for groups to assert themselves as the top outside spender ahead of the next presidential election.
&#8220;All these groups on the left are going to be jockeying for who is going to be the main outside group that is going to have all the money, and the infrastructure ahead of a presidential year, that&#8217;s really not that far away,&#8221; Sutherland said. &#8220;Time and time again, we see Democrats decry dark money, but the Left is the one benefiting the most from dark money.&#8221;

MixCollage-16-Jul-2026-12-56-PM-6658

Where A Secretive Dem Dark Money Network May Strike Next

2026 elections

Dark Money

Maine

Susan Collins

A majority of House Democrats on Wednesday voted to block all U.S. security aid to Israel, escalating a contentious debate that has exposed deepening divisions within the party over America’s relationship with the Jewish state.
The legislative <a href="https://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/Amendment%20to%20HR.8595%20-%20Israel260615132213134.pdf">amendment</a>, which Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced, would have cut $3.3 billion in security assistance that the U.S. has pledged to Israel.
The amendment <a href="https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/2077494665285095668?s=20">ultimately failed</a> on the House floor in a 104-314 vote. All Republicans except Massie, joined by 98 Democrats, voted against the measure, while 10 Democrats voted present.
Internal Democratic divisions were on full display leading up to the vote. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who opposed the measure, urged his members to follow their conscience.
“In my view, there are more decisive ways to achieve the urgent change necessary when it comes to the far-right Netanyahu government,” Jeffries <a href="https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2077051888072114676?s=20">wrote in a letter</a> to his fellow Democrats. “Republican leaders are desperately trying to weaponize an amendment they do not support for nakedly partisan reasons.”
“However, given the strongly held views throughout the Caucus in this important area of foreign policy, we are not whipping this vote,” he added.
Whipping a vote is a conventional practice in which party leaders work to ensure they have enough support from rank-and-file members to pass or defeat a measure. Trying to thread the needle, Jeffries, without giving specifics, said the status quo has to go.
“Moving forward, it is my strongly held view that for the good of Israel and the Palestinian people, American policy in the Middle East must change,” he said.
Jeffries’ argument was not persuasive enough to win over his deputy, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the number two House Democrat.
“I think that this is a cynical effort with this amendment to divide people,” Clark <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/15/congress/katherine-clark-israel-aid-00998666">said</a> in an interview with <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/15/congress/katherine-clark-israel-aid-00998666">Politico</a>. “But it is also a chance to say clearly that the status quo is not acceptable.”
“There is no country that should be given a blank check for military aid that is not in line with our interests and values as Americans,” she added.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also <a href="https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/2077489497080549785?s=20">voted</a> to strip Israel of U.S. military aid, describing the amendment as &#8220;ill-conceived&#8221; but saying she supported &#8220;the message that it sends.&#8221;
Some Democrats couldn&#8217;t help but tie the vote to President Donald Trump.
&#8220;Benjamin Netanyahu, like Donald Trump, is a corrupt authoritarian who should face criminal courts — not receive billions more for weapons,&#8221; Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) <a href="https://x.com/RepRobertGarcia/status/2077428826020164057?s=20">said</a>. &#8220;The American people want lower housing costs and more affordable groceries, not more bombs and foreign wars.&#8221;
No matter how symbolic, the fissures exposed by Wednesday’s vote underscore the extraordinary shift underway in a Democratic Party that was once broadly supportive of military aid to Israel. The vote comes just weeks after three Democratic incumbents lost primary challenges, in part over their positions on Israel.
In April, a record number of Senate Democrats voted to block weapons sales to Israel. On Tuesday, Democrats also blocked an annual defense policy bill, citing objections to the war in Iran and drawing the ire of Republicans.
“For the first time in U.S. history, every Senate Democrat, led by Chuck Schumer, voted against starting debate on the overwhelmingly bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) <a href="https://x.com/SenDanSullivan/status/2077146029166617064?s=20">said</a> on X.
“It’s discouraging to see Senate Democrats caving to the far-left of their party.”

Minnesota Democrats Hold News Conference Ahead Of State Of The Union

House Democrats Cave To Their Rabid Anti-Israel Challengers In Israel Aid Vote

Israel

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) encouraged members of her party to embrace the term &#8220;socialist.&#8221;
Moore made an appearance on C-SPAN, where she claimed that Republicans argued that any government regulation of any industry — particularly for environmental reasons — amounted to &#8220;socialism,&#8221; and said that Democrats needed to stop being &#8220;shy&#8221; about owning that.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Democrat Rep. Gwen Moore says Democrats should embrace the word &#8220;socialist.&#8221;
MOORE: “Regulating industry…they wanna call that socialist&#8230;Democrats have got to stop being shy about that term.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/cFjN8GGNM8">pic.twitter.com/cFjN8GGNM8</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/2077397542556270701?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Regulating industry so that they don&#8217;t dump poison into the water and the air, they want to call that socialist,&#8221; she said. &#8220;To try to have alternative energy sources and to diminish our fossil fuel imprint, they call that socialist.&#8221;
&#8220;So I think that Democrats have got to stop being shy about that term,&#8221; she said.
In the same segment, Moore was asked to respond to a caller who&#8217;d said that all Democrats had become socialists — and to the fact that socialism, across the board, had failed everywhere it had been tried.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
C-SPAN: &#8220;[Socialism] has been tried in other countries like Venezuela to a disastrous effect&#8230;&#8221;
Democrat Rep. Gwen Moore: &#8220;Bill Clinton&#8230;said that if we were in Europe as Democrats we would be five different parties&#8230;we are a big tent.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/mYWlqTZ6TZ">pic.twitter.com/mYWlqTZ6TZ</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/2077404669869986293?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We had a caller just recently say that all Democrats are socialists now, and that this has been tried in other countries like Venezuela to a disastrous effect. I want to get your take on that, and where you see your party moving,&#8221; the host said.
Moore responded by referencing a comment from former President Bill Clinton, saying that he&#8217;d pointed out the fact that &#8220;if we were in Europe as Democrats, we would be five different parties. We&#8217;d be the Labor Party, we&#8217;d be Democratic Socialists, we&#8217;d be the Progressive Party, we&#8217;d be the Liberal Party, so we are a big tent.&#8221;
But while some within the Democratic Party — like Moore — defend the rise of socialism in the ranks, others are sounding the alarm. Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fetterman-says-democrats-are-flirting-with-something-americans-used-to-fear">John Fetterman</a> (D-PA) has been a vocal critic of the socialists in the party, as have Gov. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/panic-sets-in-dems-tailspin-as-they-realize-the-hostile-socialist-takeover-already-started">Josh Shapiro</a> (D-PA), former Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/crazy-sht-former-dem-senator-delivers-blistering-tirade-at-partys-socialist-drift">Joe Manchin</a> (D-WV), and even comedian <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-maher-is-not-down-with-the-jew-hating-socialists-my-vote-is-in-play">Bill Maher</a>.
The self-described Democratic Socialists aren&#8217;t hiding their agenda, either: targeting established Democrats in safe blue cities and states, they are rapidly taking control of the party from within. And according to the co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America — a group with which many of these candidates are affiliated — the group&#8217;s goals include major changes, such as abolishing the United States Senate to make the nation &#8220;more democratic.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DSA Co-Chair: We Want To Abolish The Senate
&#8220;We don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s extreme.&#8221;
This is now part of the Democrat party &#8216;Big Tent.&#8217; <a href="https://t.co/xeMJW8kyig">https://t.co/xeMJW8kyig</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ld033xjgYc">pic.twitter.com/Ld033xjgYc</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/2077008014482014211?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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US House Committee on Ways and Means hearing

House Dem Calls On Party To Embrace The Word ‘Socialist’

Democratic Socialism

Democratic Socialists Of America

Media

Socialism

Former President Joe Biden <a href="https://x.com/JoeBiden/status/2077350082702123105?s=20">teased</a> his long-awaited memoir on Wednesday, now set to hit shelves after the midterm elections. The delayed release comes after Democrats raised concerns that publishing the book before Election Day could hurt the party at the ballot box.
“Promise Me, America” is scheduled for release on Nov. 17. Biden, who has fallen out of favor with many Democrats after Trump’s triumphant return to the White House, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joe-biden-has-a-midterm-surprise-in-store-for-democrats">previously suggested</a> the book would be released before the November election. 
<a href="https://promisemeamerica.com/">A website</a> promoting the tell-all promises a “candid and revealing” account of the “deeply agonizing calculation” behind Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. 
“Since I left the presidency, I&#8217;ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘Joe, what have you been doing?’” Biden said in the announcement while sitting in a chair. “I&#8217;ve been spending a lot of time with my family. I&#8217;m dealing with a cancer diagnosis, and I&#8217;ve been getting treatment. It&#8217;s been going really well.”
In the two-minute trailer, the former president said the memoir will chronicle the highs and lows of his presidency, which included decades-high inflation, record illegal border crossings, and new wars erupting in Europe and the Middle East.
“It&#8217;s about the challenges we faced as a nation, about the decisions I made, and why I made them. Leading the country through COVID, rebuilding our economy, and restoring our democracy after the attack on January 6th, ending our nation&#8217;s longest-running war in Afghanistan, strengthening NATO, and supporting Ukraine.” 
Conservative critics quickly mocked the book on social media, with some questioning whether Biden, 83, actually wrote it himself.
“I can’t believe the autopen wrote a whole book,” <a href="https://x.com/benshapiro/status/2077385062341812381?s=20">said</a> Ben Shapiro, The Daily Wire Editor Emeritus, a sentiment echoed by reality TV star Spencer Pratt.
&#8220;This guy couldn&#8217;t even sign his own name. He&#8217;s not writing books. LMAO,&#8221; Pratt <a href="https://x.com/spencerpratt/status/2077374853976391779?s=20">said</a>. &#8220;Politicians write books to launder money. Nobody wants to read this, but the corrupt NGOs he provided for as President will buy up 100K copies and burn &#8217;em to hold up their end of the bribes.
In June, Biden teased that the book was set for a September release date, a move that would’ve injected the former president into the political spotlight.
Despite the delay, Biden’s memoir is expected to arrive not long after former first lady Jill Biden’s book, which included revelations that angered parts of the Democratic establishment. In recent interviews promoting her memoir, Jill Biden said she was frightened by her husband’s June 2024 debate performance against President Donald Trump, recalling that she feared he may have been experiencing a medical emergency.
“I was frightened,” Jill Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/when-was-jill-lying-how-she-went-from-hes-fine-to-i-thought-he-was-having-a-stroke?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=When+Was+Jill+Lying%3F+How+She+Went+From+%E2%80%98He%E2%80%99s+Fine%E2%80%99+To+%E2%80%98I+Thought+He+Was+Having+A+Stroke.%E2%80%99">said</a> of the debate. “I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never. I don’t know what happened. As I watched it, I said, ‘Oh my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”
Those comments came more than a year after Biden disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, a diagnosis that fueled renewed scrutiny over his health and questions about the transparency surrounding his condition while in office.
“The biggest lesson for us, I think, was that if you don’t explain something well enough, then the question won’t go away,” Jill Biden <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-memoir-promise-me-america-fc71dd2c1da239995f606b968c7eaac4">wrote</a> in her memoir. “There was never a satisfying enough explanation offered for Joe’s debate performance, and a lot of people never got over it.”

Biden

Democrats Successfully Bully Joe Biden Into Changing Plans For His Tell-All Book

Joe Biden

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance wants to boil the 2026 midterms down to a binary choice: Democrats who want to trans kids and destroy the economy, or Republicans who are making steady progress on a long list of promises. 
&#8220;We have to focus on the things that we&#8217;ve accomplished,&#8221; Vance explained. &#8220;We did come in with a historic border crisis that&#8217;s now over. We came in with a historic crime crisis. We now have violent crime in some places at century-low levels. We came in with a historic inflation crisis, and yes, prices are still too high. But we&#8217;ve made a lot of progress in curbing that inflation problem.&#8221;
The vice president reflected on the upcoming elections during a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Wire, laying out how he believes the White House and Republicans should be messaging to Americans. While Republicans should be touting the wins of the second Trump administration, they also need to remind the public that &#8220;Rome wasn&#8217;t built in a day,&#8221; he said.
One of President Donald Trump&#8217;s main priorities upon entering office was &#8220;getting things back on track,&#8221; Vance said, &#8220;having people reinvest in the country,&#8221; and &#8220;rebuilding the industrial base of the United States.&#8221; 
&#8220;We&#8217;ve made a lot of progress there, where we see record capital flowing into our country, record construction and factories, and so forth. So there&#8217;s a lot to it that we&#8217;ve achieved.&#8221; 
He also emphasized honesty about the work that&#8217;s left to be done.
 &#8220;I also think we have to be you know candid with the American people that Rome wasn&#8217;t built in a day, and as much as we achieved over the last two years, we can do a lot more on housing, on energy, on agriculture and food, and those things we need to get some more time in order to accomplish,&#8221; Vance said. 
&#8220;Fundamentally, the question for the American people is: Do you want to give the government back over to a bunch of crazy people who want to trans the kids and led to a historic inflation crisis, or do you want to give the people who have chipped away at a lot of those problems another two years to keep on working at them?&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s ultimately up to the American people.&#8221; 
The Daily Wire spoke to Vance days after Maine Democrat Graham Platner was hit with a rape allegation that forced him out of the state&#8217;s Senate race. Until last week, Democrats had largely stood by the embattled candidate as he faced a series of scandals, including his Nazi tattoo and explicit social media posts.
&#8220;I think that it shows that they&#8217;re afraid of their radicals,&#8221; Vance said of the Platner debacle. 
&#8220;Look, Graham Platner was a guy that every Republican in D.C. knew had major red flags. It was just it was sort of an open secret that if he was nominated, there would be so much stuff on him that it would make it impossible for him to win,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;So if that was an open secret in our party, I guarantee it was an open secret in their party.&#8221;
&#8220;The fact that they still nominated him, the fact that they still pushed him shows that they don&#8217;t have the ability in their movement to stand up to the radicals,&#8221; the vice president argued. 
Vance pointed to how Trump deals with Republicans who defy him or buck his will. 
&#8220;When he sees a candidate he doesn&#8217;t like, whether you agree with him or disagree with him, he can very very easily get that person out of the Republican Party,&#8221; Vance said. 
&#8220;The Democrats just don&#8217;t have that,&#8221; the vice president insisted. &#8220;They don&#8217;t have any real leadership that allows them to draw any bright lines in their party, and because of it, they keep on nominating crazier and crazier people.&#8221;
Vance cautioned that the Democrats winning primaries in New York City are &#8220;even crazier&#8221; than Platner.
 &#8220;People who are talking about ending ICE, ending police, ending the imprisonment of violent criminals,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;Say what you will about Graham Platner. At least he wasn&#8217;t advocating the end of imprisoning violent criminals. The Democrats actually have people who are running in New York who are advocating exactly that position.&#8221; 
&#8220;Between a guy with a terrible personal history and candidates in New York with crazy ideas, it&#8217;s not a great time to be a Democrat in Washington, D.C.,&#8221; he concluded. 
Vance also addressed warnings from the pro-life movement that religious Americans may become disillusioned with the Trump administration over failure to act on abortion, causing them not to go to the polls. One area of particular concern for the pro-life movement: abortion drugs, which are still easily available by mail thanks to a Biden-era mandate, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-women-harmed-by-abortion-drugs-send-a-message-to-todd-blanche?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Women+Harmed+By+Abortion+Drugs+Send+A+Message+To+Todd+Blanche">potentially harming many women</a>.
&#8220;I hope not,&#8221; Vance responded, stressing that the Trump administration has been the &#8220;most pro-life administration in history.&#8221; He pointed out that Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-restores-mexico-city-policy-ends-taxpayer-funding-for-abortion">reinstated the Mexico City Policy</a>, ending taxpayer funding for abortions abroad and appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, giving the &#8220;life question&#8221; &#8220;back to the people as opposed to unelected judges in robes.&#8221; 
&#8220;I just think there are a lot of things that we can hang our hat on and say that we&#8217;ve accomplished a lot for the life community,&#8221; Vance responded. &#8220;So I certainly cherish those votes. I agree with those voters, and I certainly want them to come out.&#8221;
&#8220;We are trying to do the best we can, within the political realities that we face, to do as much for life [as we can],&#8221; he explained. &#8220;And that&#8217;s not going to make everybody happy.&#8221;

Former President Trump And VP Nominee Sen. JD Vance Hold Rally In St. Cloud, Minnesota

EXCLUSIVE: JD Vance Gives His Pitch For Voting GOP This November

2026 midterm

JD Vance

Republicans

As Americans flee blue states and migrate to red states, thereby endangering Democrats by changing census numbers, CNBC hilariously listed the “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/11/worst-states-to-live-in-america-2026.html">10 worst states to live in for 2026</a>.”
Needless to say, every state chosen was a red state: Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
To make it abundantly clear just how partisan the report was, take a look at the smorgasbord of issues that the states were targeted for:
<blockquote>
Alabama: lack of mental health providers per capita, lack of worker protections
Arkansas: Food insecurity, violent crime, weak protections against discrimination
Georgia: few protections for LGBTQ+ people, minimal worker protections
Indiana: lack of childcare availability
Louisiana: high crime rate, removal of affirmative action, strict abortion bans
Missouri: violent crime
Oklahoma: strict bans on abortion, worker protections
Tennessee: focus on the traditional nuclear family, violent crime
Texas: highest rate of people without health insurance
Utah: air quality
</blockquote>
After pointing out that CNBC did a masterful job cherry-picking issues with its list, it should be noted that Louisiana and Missouri, which are cited for violent crime, rank 6th and 9th in the nation, <a href="https://www.opencrime.us/analysis/crime-statistics-by-state">according</a> to Open Crime; the District of Columbia is 1st, and California and Colorado (places not seen on the CNBC list) ranked 7th and 8th.
Now let’s take a look at the <a href="https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/state/totals/NST-EST2025-ALLDATA.csv">net domestic migration</a> for the most recent year. Notice anything?
<ol>
<li>North Carolina +84,064</li>
<li>Texas +67,299</li>
<li>South Carolina +66,622</li>
<li>Tennessee +42,389</li>
<li>Arizona +31,107</li>
<li>Georgia +27,333</li>
<li>Alabama +23,358</li>
<li>Florida +22,517</li>
<li>Idaho +19,915</li>
<li>Nevada +14,914</li>
<li>Oklahoma +14,492</li>
<li>Arkansas +14,475</li>
<li>Missouri +14,028</li>
<li>Indiana +12,197</li>
<li>Ohio +11,926</li>
<li>Washington +9,238</li>
<li>Minnesota +8,300</li>
<li>Maine +7,406</li>
<li>Kentucky +7,269</li>
<li>Wisconsin +6,984</li>
<li>Delaware +6,855</li>
<li>New Hampshire +6,554</li>
<li>West Virginia +6,408</li>
<li>Montana +6,348</li>
<li>Virginia +6,268</li>
<li>Utah +3,343</li>
<li>Oregon +2,228</li>
<li>South Dakota +2,169</li>
<li>Michigan +1,796</li>
<li>Wyoming +1,474</li>
<li>North Dakota +512</li>
<li>Nebraska −366</li>
<li>Kansas −519</li>
<li>Vermont −726</li>
<li>Mississippi −917</li>
<li>Iowa −970</li>
<li>Rhode Island −1,551</li>
<li>New Mexico −2,267</li>
<li>Pennsylvania −2,936</li>
<li>D.C. −4,128</li>
<li>Alaska −4,525</li>
<li>Connecticut −5,945</li>
<li>Hawaii −8,876</li>
<li>Colorado −12,100</li>
<li>Maryland −12,127</li>
<li>Louisiana −14,387</li>
<li>Massachusetts −33,340</li>
<li>New Jersey −37,428</li>
<li>Illinois −40,017</li>
<li>New York −137,586</li>
<li> California −229,077</li>
</ol>
Yup. Of the “10 worst states” according to CNBC, Alabama ranks 7th in the number of people who have moved there, Arkansas 12th, Georgia 6th, Indiana 14th, Louisiana 46th, Missouri 13th, Oklahoma 11th, Tennessee 4th, Texas 2nd, and Utah 26th.
Meanwhile, the five worst states were the leftist bastions of California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
Americans voting with their feet are stomping on the leftist notion that red states are bad places to live.
And it’s making leftists nuts.

Electoral map

CNBC’s ’10 Worst States’ List Shows Hilarious Anti-Conservative Bias

CNBC

migration

Rahm Emanuel flew 6,000 miles to deliver a stump speech and billed it as a friendship. On Wednesday at Tel Aviv University, the former ambassador, mayor, and undeclared candidate for president told Israelis that the American relationship “cannot stand or survive as it has been,” then laid out his terms: cut the military aid, sanction the banks, accept the blame. He called it truth-telling between friends. Read it the way a lawyer reads a complaint, weighing what it alleges against what it omits, and it is something else entirely: an indictment of the victim, drafted for a jury that lives in New Hampshire.
Start with the premise. Emanuel says American policy stood behind Israel “without conditions, without demands, and without consequences.” That sentence cannot survive contact with his own résumé. He served an administration that clashed publicly with Jerusalem over Iran and settlements, and he watched another pause shipments of 2,000-pound bombs in the middle of a war to force a change in Israeli operations. Every American weapon Israel buys travels through the Arms Export Control Act, end-use monitoring, and congressional notification, the same as every other purchaser. The unconditional ally of Emanuel’s telling has been conditioned, lectured, vetoed, and paused for 50 years. He knows this. He was in the room for some of it.
Next, the charge. Emanuel told the Associated Press that Israel has been “reckless and careless” and accused it of “using food and medicine as an instrument of your military goals.” That is a war-crimes allegation, delivered in a pre-speech interview, unencumbered by evidence. Here is what he said, and here is what he left out. He left out that Hamas started the war by murdering some 1,200 people and dragging 250 more into tunnels. He left out that Israel facilitated aid into Gaza throughout a war against an enemy that hijacked the trucks on camera. He left out that the one sustained pause in assistance was an attempt to pry hostages out of those tunnels. A prosecutor who omitted that much from a charging document would be sanctioned.
Then the dodge. Asked directly whether Israel committed genocide, Emanuel answered that he is “ready to have that discussion” but worries the term is being politicized. Genocide has a precise legal definition: specific intent to destroy a people as such. A man with Emanuel’s experience knows the elements are not met, because a nation bent on destroying a population does not run humanitarian corridors into its territory or treat its patients in Tel Aviv hospitals. If he believes the accusation, he should say so and defend it. If he does not, the honest answer was available, free of charge, and one syllable long.
No is a complete sentence. He declined to say it because roughly half his primary electorate believes the charge, and he checked the polls before he booked the flight.
On the money, Emanuel wants to end American “subsidies,” so Israel buys arms under the same terms as every other trusted ally. Call it a subsidy, and you have already miscounted. The funds flow under a 10-year memorandum of understanding; the overwhelming share is spent with American defense manufacturers, and flagship programs like Arrow are joint American-Israeli developments that feed directly back into American missile defense. As for “every other trusted ally”: name the other one with a genocidal militia dug in on its border, a United Nations apparatus dedicated to its prosecution, and an enemy sworn in writing to its destruction.
Then come the sanctions, where the speech stops being wrong and starts being dangerous. Emanuel proposes sanctioning not only violent individuals, whom Israeli law already reaches, but also “companies and banks that support settlements.” That is the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions program with a federal letterhead. Punishing a bank for serving customers based on where those customers live is punishment by address, and everyone involved understands what the address stands in for. More than 30 American states have passed laws refusing to do business with entities that boycott Israelis, precisely because those legislatures recognized the address as a proxy for the Jew who lives there. Emanuel would write the proxy into federal policy.
His strangest passage is the one he thought was his strongest. “You’ve lost Europe,” he warned: Israeli scientists excluded from research networks, Israeli artists and academics shut out of exhibits and conferences. Every word of that is true, and every word of it describes discrimination, recited as evidence against the people being discriminated against. My organization represents Israeli researchers thrown out of international consortia for the crime of holding the wrong passport. Under American civil rights law, that is national origin discrimination, full stop. Run the substitution test. Tell Emanuel that Chinese scientists are barred from conferences because their government is unpopular, and he would call it bigotry and demand hearings. Tell him it is Israelis, and he calls it leverage.
He did not cite the discrimination as a problem. He cited it as ammunition.
To be clear, Emanuel gets one thing right. The Arab League’s 21 members have spent decades exploiting the Palestinians as a slogan while investing nothing in their governance, and his “23-state solution” at least says so out loud. But watch where the enforcement points. The Arab states receive an invitation to roll up their sleeves. Israel receives sanctions, aid cuts, and conditions. It is a plan that assigns the homework to 21 governments and grades only the 22nd.
Which returns us to friendship. Emanuel opened by declaring that a true friend tells the truth even when it is painful. Agreed. So here is one. A &#8220;friend&#8221; who arrives carrying a list of your sins, a catalog of your enemies’ talking points, and a demand schedule enforceable only against you is not being a friend. He is conducting a focus group. Fifty-eight percent of his party now says America is too supportive of Israel, up 13 points in 30 months, and Emanuel did not fly to Tel Aviv to reverse that number. He flew there to ride it. Popularity is a weathervane. He mistook it for a compass.
The speech was never for Tel Aviv. It was for New Hampshire.
***
Mark Goldfeder is CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center and a law professor at Touro Law School, where he directs the nation’s first antisemitism law clinic. @markgoldfeder on X.

Laver Cup Previews – Day 4

With Friends Like Rahm…

Benjamin Netanyahu

Rahm Emanuel

Tel Aviv

It’s a shame that “Saturday Night Live” is on its annual summer break. Otherwise, we’d laugh about the show ignoring the scandals coming out of the Graham Platner camp.
Except it’s not actually funny.
Once upon a time, when a politician stepped on a rake, a crush of comedians would rise up to tease them. That fueled late-night king Johnny Carson’s decades-long reign, among many others.
Carlin. Sahl. Klein. Miller. Bruce.
Politicians, in turn, had to watch their backs. That was good for their political futures and good for the country, too.
Now, we have a new generation of political figures charitably described as comedy gold. Hunter Biden. AOC. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. And, of course, Platner.
The problem? They’re all Democrats, and the current comedy zeitgeist won’t lay a glove on them. Meanwhile, every Republican in the public arena is mercilessly mocked for both real and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QI9598HwDw8">imagined flaws</a>.
Night after night after night.
It’s something mystery author novelist <a href="https://x.com/DanFriedman81/status/2074238525948510574">Daniel Friedman called out on X.</a>
This is not harmless and this is not meaningless. Democrats have successfully incepted the idea into voters’ heads that Republicans are absurd, clownish and unqualified and the one-sided mockery in entertainment media has helped to spread this lie when the Democrats are actually a collection of hideous weirdos and circus freaks that media has somehow convinced you are normal.
Why would comedians ignore political targets just because they align with their world view? Call it the Palin Effect.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was new to the national scene when Sen. John McCain selected her as his running mate in 2008. “SNL” tasked cast member Tina Fey to portray Palin as a bumpkin, a rube who told the audience she could see Russia from her house.
The impression, to Fey’s credit, was solid gold. And it stuck in the public psyche. Some actually believed the real Palin uttered that “Russia” quote. The moment showed the comedy community that their skits and yuks can impact public opinion.
It’s no accident “SNL” took a hard-Left turn following that election cycle. Even “SNL” cast member Jay Pharoah, who portrayed President Barack Obama on the show, later admitted the show’s brain trust <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/jay-pharoah-snl-obama/">“gave up on the Obama thing</a>,” meaning it pulled its punches on a sitting president.
Why? He wasn’t a Republican.
Both parties have their fair share of political embarrassments. Colorado Republicans just nominated Victor Marx, a man who told an interviewer that it <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/victor-marx-wont-say-how-many-people-hes-killed.html">doesn’t matter how many people he’s killed</a>, to be the next governor.
That’s just the tip of the unhinged Marx iceberg.
Marx’s ramblings already snagged the attention of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” “The Daily Show,” and “Last Week Tonight.” That’s both appropriate and predictable.
Expect more national ribbing in the weeks to come. And, as Desi Lydic did on her “Daily Show” skewering, they <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qILf3Wcpew4&amp;t=306s">might tie Marx to the GOP brand</a>. Heck, you can bank on that.
Late-night hosts typically ignore Democrats behaving badly. When Jimmy Kimmel finally gave Platner a full-bodied mention, he used the alleged rapist to somehow <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/jimmy-kimmel-graham-platner-trump-gop/">smear the GOP</a>.
That’s the level of dishonesty in comedy circles today. That’s the same Kimmel who threw softballs at First Son Hunter Biden during his 2021 book tour.
Meanwhile, the cultural Right has done little to balance the scales. Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” may be a late-night ratings winner, but it’s essentially a panel show aimed at a pre-sold conservative crowd.
The show doesn’t do comedy sketches that might go viral and engage those who might otherwise watch “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” or the left-leaning “Tonight Show.”
The right-leaning Babylon Bee has done some solid sketch comedy in recent years, but the site relegates its toughest political gags to its fake news stories, not its YouTube channel.
Social media fills some of the gaps, with amateur late-night hosts cracking wise or creating memes that deconstruct Democrats. The platforms’ algorithms likely keep those funny bits to one side of the aisle only.
The comic gold, meanwhile, will only get richer. Consider the stunning rise of Democratic socialists and their tried-and-failed policies. Not to mention all the antisemitism.
Colorado Democrat Melat Kiros is so far Left that she couldn’t call the Boulder thug who firebombed a Jewish <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5952491-weiser-kiros-antisemitism-debate/">gathering an antisemite</a>.
New York City Mayor Mamdani embraces socialism while enjoying prime viewing seats at the World Cup (and other perks). That might be worth a gag or two. (But we’ll never see it.)
This may read as a conservative complaint. And it is. Partially. There’s a larger, bipartisan issue in play.
Comedians, at their best, hold politicians accountable and keep them on the straight and narrow. When a gaggle of Democrats betrayed the nation’s COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, they should have been mocked so aggressively that they loosened those protocols.
The country would have been freer and equally safe from the virus, as we later learned. Instead, they kept up the charade because Kimmel &amp; co. didn’t lay a glove on them.
Plus, if a Platner-style candidate got raked over the comedy coals in the early days of his senatorial push, he might have dropped out months ago. His campaign may never have gained that early head of steam.
Instead, he dragged his party down with him as more scandals emerged, hurting both the Democrat brand and the country.
Our Court Jester Class has let us down. And the future holds little hope of any improvement.
***
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News&#8217; Big Hollywood. He&#8217;s also the host of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hollywood-in-toto-podcast-w-christian-toto/id1186449155">The Hollywood in Toto Podcast</a>. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en">@HollywoodInToto</a>.

Democratic Presidential Nominee Vice President Kamala Harris Appears On NBC’s Saturday Night Live

How Comedy Failed The Voters

Comedy

Entertainment

Late night TV

Media Bias

Saturday Night Live

Stand-up Comedy

Here is the lesson — and it cuts both ways.
In 2022, a chunk of the Republican Party convinced itself of something untrue: that all you had to do to win was imitate Donald Trump. The premise was that Trump wasn&#8217;t something unique. You could take some Trump-adjacent magic and pour it into a bunch of weird bottles and then win a bunch of Senate seats.
Republicans decided to endorse and then run Herschel Walker for the Senate in Georgia, a man who, it turns out, was genetically related to half the state. And they lost that Senate seat. In Pennsylvania, they ran Doug Mastriano, someone far too extreme for Pennsylvanians. They lost. They lost again by nominating Doctor Oz. Republicans ran Kari Lake for Arizona governor that same year, despite her being a conspiracy theorist with some wild mannerisms. They lost. They ran Blake Masters, a tech pro who ran weird drone commercials in Arizona, and they lost that seat. They ran Don Bolduc in New Hampshire and lost.
Republicans lost at least four Senate seats and at least one gubernatorial seat. Republicans got high on the Trump supply.
The lesson is that there is only one Donald Trump, and he cannot be copied. He cannot be cloned. He cannot be emulated. The magic isn&#8217;t some sort of brand; it&#8217;s not a platform. It is the candidate, because candidate quality matters.
Democrats don&#8217;t seem to have learned that lesson at all. They watched Zohran Mamdani win in New York — a city that has 11 Democrats for every 10 voters — and they drew precisely the wrong conclusion.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/episodeben-shapiro-show-ep-2461?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
They decided that the Democratic Socialist pixie dust was actually the transferable part. You simply take that stuff and pour it into a bunch of weird bottles the same way the Republicans did back in 2022.
Thus, they ran a guy in Maine with multiple rape allegations and a swastika issue, and a man in Michigan who is so sympathetic to terrorism that he wouldn&#8217;t celebrate Ayatollah Khamenei&#8217;s death because many of his supporters admired him.
They’re running a dude in Texas who hates traditional Christianity.
That&#8217;s some wild overconfidence, and it&#8217;s curdling into stupidity. The exact same disease that cost Republicans the Senate in 2022 could cost Democrats the Senate in 2026.
That&#8217;s the warning, forever and always. When you get high on your own supply, when your ideological silo tells you you can&#8217;t lose, and candidate quality doesn&#8217;t matter, you nominate people who lose. Republicans learned it the hard way in 2022, and Democrats seem about to learn it the hard way in 2026.
All of which brings us to Graham Platner. He&#8217;s suspending his Maine Senate campaign after a sexual assault claim.
The real reason the Democrats decided to abandon Platner is that he was losing in the polls.
Members of the Maine Democratic Party voted on Wednesday night and told the nominating convention to select a replacement for Graham Platner. He started losing in the polls, and suddenly, all these scandals were taken seriously by Democrats just to get rid of him.
Platner decided that he was going to cut a video from the woods of Maine in which he paints himself as the victim, claiming, “This is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen &#8230; Amy and I are regular people. We were not looking for this experience. We were not looking to get into politics. We had no desire to run for office. I just want you to think about, like, what you would do as a regular person in a position where a much larger world, large forces were working against you personally to accuse you of the worst thing that a person could do and it was not remotely true.”
He&#8217;s the victim. Imagine if it happened to you. If you ran for office, surely there would be bevies of women emerging with claims that you raped them, wouldn’t there?
Running for office is tough. It is true that in today&#8217;s social media-driven landscape, everything about you will come to the fore. Every single thing, which is something you have to think about when you decide to run for office. Unfortunately, people respond by not running if they have any sense of shame, and only running if they are shameless.
Graham Platner is totally shameless. This is a dude who would get drunk in bars, take off his shirt, and show off his Nazi tattoo. We’re not talking about someone who is driven by any sense of internal guilt or shame over his sins.
At the moment, political office tends to draw people who are somewhat sociopathic because most people don&#8217;t want to go through this. But most people, if they did go through this, would have things uncovered about them that might not be a Nazi tattoo or a lot of rape.
I don&#8217;t think that he&#8217;s the biggest victim. Was he shocked when he woke up and looked in the mirror and discovered that he had a Nazi tattoo? Was he shocked to wake up one morning and discover that there were many allegations about him being rapey?
If he actually believes this is false, he has a moral obligation to stay in the race and fight it. If somebody makes a false rape allegation about you, you have a moral obligation to fight the allegations and not to destroy your candidacy on the shoals of that.
But nobody believes that all of the weight of these allegations is nonsense. No one believes that.
The entire Democratic Party is swiveling into DSA land — which is filled with crazy people — at a rapid pace. If they welcome the DSA, which is a bunch of revolutionary psychopaths, they will end up with some revolutionary psychopaths as candidates.
The Democrats are trying to have it both ways. They want the jet fuel of DSA energy, but they want to claim that the DSA is not actually painting them into a corner.
The DSA is going to eat the Democrats’ lunch. It&#8217;s funny to watch the old-school Democrats try to convince themselves that this is all okay.
They’re like Quint in “Jaws,” with their lower body half-eaten by the shark while maintaining that their legs have not been eaten.

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