Can’t miss that $5,000 a plate meal!

If you’re on social media, you know people have a million theories about why Senate Democrats caved in and voted to end the shutdown, without actually saving people’s health care. I’m afraid mine is especially cynical: It’s about the air travel. 

Senators travel by commercial flights, unlike the president, who has a private plane. Senators also have a healthy recess for the holidays, beginning on Nov. 22. Most of them use that time off for fundraising events and, boy, do they not like to miss those! I suspect the threat of massive flight delays messing up their crucial year-end fundraising calendar was a primary factor. 

The Democratic addiction to fundraising over pretty much everything else continues to be a major problem getting in the way of putting up a fight, much less making progress. 

Don’t despair! Throw them out

For a functioning political party, last week’s big election wins would provide momentum and inspiration to keep fighting Donald Trump even harder. For the weary gerontocrats of the Democratic Party, however, it was an excuse to throw in the towel. They got the wins they wanted, now it was time to screw over the voters who put their faith in them by ending the shutdown fight without a victory. 

I understand if readers feel demoralized. I’m frustrated. I’m angry. I know people who are losing access to health care because of this bill, and they are understandably furious that Democrats caved in. Nor are they the minority. Polls show that two-thirds of Democratic voters are fed up with their party’s fecklessness. 

Still, this is not a time to give up hope. I already hyped it, but if you haven’t watched my video on Zohran Mamdani or at least read the accompanying article, this is a good time to do so. The answer lies with the many younger progressives who are stepping up and running for office. 

They know how to fight. After all, most of them have to overcome immense resistance from party leadership, but they are forging ahead anyway. That shows they have the kind of fight we are not seeing from the current, out-of-touch leadership.  

So yes, I’m broken-hearted, but I am not giving into hopelessness. On the contrary, this is yet another wake-up call that shows it’s time for new, fresh leadership. I wish we could get to change without all this hardship and disappointment. But doing this the easy way was never a realistic option, so here we are. 

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The OnlyFans case study in how Democratic leadership is failing

On the latest episode of “Standing Room Only,” Amanda Litman of Run for Something told me that Democratic leadership is trying to block a number of promising young politicians from running for higher office. She specifically mentioned one: Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who is running in next year’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against the establishment pick, Rep. Colin Allred. 

Talarico pulled ahead in the polls on Friday. On Saturday, Axios ran a story trying to paint Talarico as a pathetic horndog lusting after OnlyFans models on Instagram. The story is bunk. Talarico’s campaign Instagram account, which has 1.7 million followers, has followed back about 3,700 people. The campaign seems to follow back people with high follower accounts, a standard strategy for boosting engagement. A small number of those people are erotic models. Who are legitimate voters, just like the other high-profile people his account follows. 

This story was almost certainly seeded to Axios by an opposition researcher working for Allred, or for Democratic insiders who want Allred to win. It shows how desperate they are, trying to smear a good man with this baseless nonsense. This isn’t like the Graham Platner tattoo story, whatever you think about it, because at least the tattoo was real. This borders on a false allegation against Talarico. 

The good news is that this will likely backfire. Even if people believe that Talarico likes to look at thirst-traps, they may well react by saying, “Yeah, who doesn’t?” If anything, Talarico’s biggest liability is that he comes across as a bit of a Boy Scout, so this could actually help him. But the larger story here is that current Democratic leadership is not made for this moment. They need to go, so we can have more young and energetic candidates like Talarico. 

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What we're reading this week

• “The Real Reason Kim Davis Never Stood a Chance at the Supreme Court,” Mark Joseph Stern, Slate

• “Women didn’t ruin the workplace. Capitalism did,” Andi Zeisler, Salon

• “Male Dominance Is in Ruins,” Kate Manne, More to Hate

• “Make No Mistake: Trump Is an Albatross,” Jamelle Bouie, New York Times

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