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Welcome, new readers! Epolitics has covered digital politics and advocacy since 2006, and I’m excited to welcome you to the community.
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Now, on with the show.
MAGA Trump Fury, Rubio AI Impersonator, DCCC OBBA Ads, SSA Puff Email & More
MAGA vs. Trump vs. Dems
Is MAGA truly up in arms about the Trump Administration’s inability to deliver the goods on Jeffrey Epstein? Judging from a conversation I just had with a QAnon-adjacent friend in my East Texas hometown, quite possibly. To him, it was a sign that even the Trump people had been coopted by the powers behind the scenes. No client list? No credibility.
Could the right wing have unleashed one conspiracy theory too many? Well, maybe. It’s possible that the most out-there of Trump’s supporters might start to drift from his orbit, but we should never underestimate the connection he has with the MAGA base. My suspicion is that they’ll find ways to rationalize “betrayals” like this and Trump’s resumption of support for Ukraine, but we should definitely watch for longer-term disillusionment among their ranks. It wouldn’t take that much erosion to swing a few House districts here and there next year.
Hospital closures might break off some support as well, at least if voters ever realize the Big Beautiful Bill is the cause. With that possibility in mind, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is buying Meta ads in the districts of 35 House Republicans highlighting how Medicaid cuts hurt rural hospitals. The ad buy is in the “four figures”, which I hope means four figures per district, not a few thousand dollars spread over 35 separate areas.
Also note the DCCC’s recent attempt to pin grocery prices on House Republicans, which they appear to have given to Fox Business News as an exclusive, perhaps as an incentive to keep the story on screen longer. As with the Facebook ads, it’s necessary but not sufficient! Dems and allies should be preparing to spend orders of magnitude more time and money persuading voters than went into this campaign. Are they?
More Quick Hits:
- Did you get that bizarre fluff email last week from the Social Security Administration, which I’ll emphasize is a branch of the federal government? The message was essentially a press release praising the Big Beautiful Bill for lowering taxes on social security benefits. You will be shocked to hear that it did not mention that the tax cuts will naturally accelerate Social Security’s eventual insolvency. The message was so out of the ordinary that I thought I’d received as a member of the working press, but apparently it went to everyday people with online accounts with the SSA. Your tax dollars at work! And a reminder of how much Trump will use the executive branch to warp the information space in which we live.
- Elon Musk’s Grok AI [hearts] Hitler! Lots and lots and lots of antisemitic and pro-Nazi content, perhaps because of access of unfiltered content from Musk’s Twitter/X. Definitely in character, since for Musk, it’s always Springtime for Hitler.
- An AI mimics Marco Rubio: “An impostor pretending to be Marco Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a US governor and a member of Congress by sending them voice and text messages that mimic Rubio’s voice and writing style”. We shall see many more events like this in the months and years to come! To help, Alexandra Petri lays out a few signs it wasn’t actually him.
- Be sure to read these two important pieces from Will Robinson! First, The Stories Democrats Aren’t Telling (But Should), because “If there’s one thing Democrats should have learned by now, it’s this: voters don’t just remember what you did – they remember how you made them feel.” Next, People Are Our Power. So Why Aren’t We Training Them? Because, “Let me be blunt: we are failing to train the people who want to help us win.” Don’t miss either piece.
- In a similar vein, see Amy Pritchard’s Five Hard Truths about What We’re doing Wrong. A small sample: “We Reward Relationships, Not Results…You can lose a campaign and still get rehired. You can run the same ineffective strategy and still get funded. You can burn through staff and never be held accountable.” Testify, sister. Though Epolitics naturally wonders how we got left out of the grift.
- The Democrats Have an Authenticity Gap. “What creates the ‘relatable dude-bro’ audience is organic connection, not donor checks.”
- About that almost-revolution in Quebec: “‘The importance of social media really can’t be overestimated here,’ Lewis said. ‘They became incubators for this very specific kind of cell-based, networked extremism.'”
- Citizen journalists step up: “And now in this moment when L.A. needs as many eyes on the streets as possible, L.A. Taco has become indispensable.” Hunter Thompson: “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
- Reagan Invoked the ‘Welfare Queen.’ The New G.O.P. Target Is a Lazy Gamer. “Republicans targeting safety net programs once invoked women they claimed were living lavishly on government funds. Now as they seek to pare back Medicaid, the imagery has changed — but not the argument.”
- Hakeem Jeffries’ floor speech as a sign that Dems are waking up to the new reality?. “‘Said the first House Democrat who spoke anonymously: ‘So much of politics has turned into showtime, and so we do showtime.'”
- And finally, Trump wants to tariff Brazil over its trial of his buddy Bolsonaro, a move that would jack up the prices of cofeee. Harold Myerson: “A lesser man might be deterred by the economic consequences and political fallout from this threatened tariff, but give Trump credit where credit is due: His commitment to overthrowing democracy in Latin America’s largest nation will not be deterred by such mundane considerations. Up the fascists! Drink less coffee!”
– cpd
Top photo by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay