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Death and taxes

The Democratic Party’s ability to mount a resistance in Donald Trump’s second term is dwindling along with their numbers.

Speaker Mike Johnson was able to eke out the passage of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, the first step toward fully implementing the president’s radical spending cuts and tax breaks. Looking at the way it made it through the lower chamber— a one-vote squeaker with all present Democrats voting in opposition — one can’t help but remember that three House Democrats have passed away since the start of Trump’s second term. 

Where Republicans have been willing to embrace the (relatively) youthful MAGA movement that stormed the Capitol along with Trump, Democrats remain committed to machine politics long after the creaky, wheezing contraption has become obsolete. The dogged attachment to fairness and earned deference arguably lost the Dems control of the presidency in 2016, the Supreme Court in the following years and the legislature in the present. 

The man who was the Democrats’ presumptive nominee this time last year just announced he has prostate cancer while looking every bit of his 82 years in recent appearances. We’d say this respect for elders is killing the Democratic Party, but ever unflappable, actual Death seems to be beating them to the punch.

What do you think? Should the Democrats follow leads of  their young caucus members? Should the next face of the party be big on TikTok? Sound off in the comments.

Make me smarter…

Why Democrats seem so disconnected from what voters want

Putting all their stock in legacy acts and life-long politicians has left the Democratic Party smelling of Tiger Balm and woefully out of touch. Read more.

They said what?

• “We did not negotiate with the Japanese”

  Rep. Randy Fine, advocating for dropping nuclear bombs on Gaza after a gunman shot two Israeli embassy staffers in D.C.

• “The president is attending it in his personal time”

  Karoline Leavitt, seeing nothing wrong with President Donald Trump’s private dinner with the largest purchasers of his cryptocurrency.

• “This should be a warning to every other university”

  Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, threatening American universities after her department revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. The move was an escalation in the ongoing war between the Trump admin and the Ivy.

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Before you go …

Forgetting Joe Biden

Trump's problems today are more important than Biden's problems yesterday. Read more.