[{"id":144872,"date":"2026-09-17T15:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144872"},"modified":"2026-09-17T18:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:16:22","slug":"techtonic-shift-in-american-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/techtonic-shift-in-american-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tectonic (or Techtonic) Shift in American Politics?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_PrG2cL33Z6Q?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beneath the current anti-Trump exasperation and anger at the costs of living he\u2019s pushed beyond many Americans\u2019 capacity to meet, beneath even the rising prospects for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections, there\u2019s a rumble of a shift in our politics, a hint that some of its tectonic plates are beginning to move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fundamental aspect of any popular politics is the identity of the people\u2019s enemy, the nefarious force that threatens life and values. As is normal in nations with unregulated capitalism, late-19th-century America saw the rise of a populist movement of workers and farmers who understood that the robber barons of that time\u2014the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Goulds\u2014were exploiting them in ways that kept them in or near poverty. This mass anger at economic elites persisted, powering the New Deal of the 1930s, until the regulations and reforms of capitalism that the New Deal had instituted created the broadly shared prosperity of the three decades following World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/author\/harold-meyerson\/\">More from Harold Meyerson<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was during those three decades, however, that the modern American right took shape, beginning to refocus populist anger on a different elite: a liberal cultural elite that was shoving its cosmopolitan values down ordinary Americans\u2019 throats. That wasn\u2019t the only focus of the right, of course; Americans and immigrants who weren\u2019t white or Christian or male had always been the kind of \u201cothers\u201d who could serve as threats to values and hierarchies of power. But beginning with Joe McCarthy and then George Wallace, the right began to define a new elite: the \u201cpointy-headed bureaucrats,\u201d as Wallace called them, the Ivy League leftists like Alger Hiss, whose elitism McCarthy went after almost as much as his Communist leanings (for which reason, McCarthy also went after the anti-Communist elitists like Dean Acheson and Adlai Stevenson whose own elite status and softness on liberalism made them suspect as well).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the late 1980s, the leading Republican strategist of the time\u2014Lee Atwater, who shaped George H.W. Bush\u2019s successful 1988 presidential campaign\u2014noted that a foundation of Reagan-age conservatism was its success in turning populist ire on the cultural elites who infested big government rather than the economic elites who ran and owned big business (who were, of course, the chief beneficiaries of Reagan-age conservatism). Four years later, Pat Buchanan, while waging a failed primary challenge to Bush, declared that the central issue in American political life, given that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist, was the need to defeat the cultural elites who threatened American values. While Buchanan never won the Republican nomination, his politics came to define Republicanism; Donald Trump is very much his successor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What post-Buchanan Republicans failed to realize was that the capitalism they had deregulated created a new generation of oligarchs and robber barons whose misdeeds and depredations could give rise to an economic populism so sweeping that it might just eclipse some or all of the cultural\u2014and racist, religious, and sexist\u2014populism on which the right depended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border is-vertical is-content-justification-stretch is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14603c61 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-bitter-font-family\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\">Today on TAP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-bitter-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:18px\">This story first appeared in our free <em>Today on TAP<\/em> newsletter, a weekday email featuring commentary on the daily news from <em>Prospect<\/em> reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-block-newspack-newsletters-subscribe newspack-newsletters-subscribe is-style-modern\" data-success-message=\"Thank you for signing up!\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<form id=\"newspack-subscribe-1\" data-newspack-recaptcha=\"newspack_newsletter_signup\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"newspack_newsletters_subscribe\" value=\"1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"lists[]\" value=\"14\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-email-input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input id=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe-block-input-20619-email\" type=\"email\" name=\"npe\" autocomplete=\"email\" placeholder=\"Email Address\" value=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"nphp\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" name=\"email\" type=\"email\" autocomplete=\"off\" placeholder=\"Email Address\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"submit-button has-background-color has-secondary-variation-background-color\" type=\"submit\" style=\"background-color: #7f0000;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"submit\">Sign up<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/form>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__response\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__icon\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__message\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week, a convening in D.C. to demand a stop to the coming of AI, and the threats it poses to communities (data centers), jobs, and perhaps lives, was keynoted by Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, each not only castigating AI but also the oligarchs behind it. The mass anger at corporations and the very rich has been evident in polling for some time now, and the push by the Zuckerbergs and their ilk into promoting AI may well be prodding America into a full-blown form of economic populism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given that, the Republicans\u2019 sole advantage in the upcoming midterms\u2014the massive support in funding, which is being heavily provided by the selfsame oligarchs\u2014could be one more weight pulling the Republicans down if the Democrats know how to exploit it. As both <em>The New York Times<\/em> and, this week, the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/2285c111-b103-4b04-96c7-fe26a3c04c3e\">Financial Times<\/a><\/em> have documented, it\u2019s basically our billionaires who are keeping the Republicans tenuously afloat. As the FT reports, \u201cAmerica\u2019s mega-donors are overwhelmingly backing Donald Trump\u2019s Republicans in this year\u2019s race for Congress, as billionaires from Silicon Valley to Wall Street bankroll the party\u2019s midterm push.\u201d The FT\u2019s list contains no real surprises; there we find Musk, Andreessen, Horowitz, Griffin, and Schwarzman, Singer, and other usual suspects. Big money generally favors Republicans over Democrats, the FT acknowledges, but notes that this year, that dynamic is \u201cespecially skewed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Can the Democrats find a way to make clear to the electorate that the folks who are skewing big money to the Republicans are the same folks who are screwing the public? That the Republican ads blanketing the airwaves are paid for by the very oligarchs who threaten Americans\u2019 livelihoods (if not their lives)? Can the Democrats sense this tectonic shift\u2014if you will, a \u201ctechtonic\u201d shift\u2014in America\u2019s political fundamentals? That would require a number of Democrats to turn against the interests of some of their wealthiest supporters, of course\u2014at least by embracing such progressive populist economic policies as wealth taxes. Given the turn in American populism, not to do so would be a form of political malpractice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Culture-war populism looks to be giving way to economic populism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":144871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-17T19:21:25Z","apple_news_api_id":"442bc76b-1e6c-4392-8624-e43ee7ab3135","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-17T22:11:28Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ARCvHax5sQ5KGJOQ-56sxNQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_PrG2cL33Z6Q","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen 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autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Today on TAP: Culture-war populism looks to be giving way to economic 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This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Tectonic (or Techtonic) Shift in American Politics? - The American Prospect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Culture-war populism looks to be giving way to economic populism.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/techtonic-shift-in-american-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Tectonic (or Techtonic) Shift in American Politics? - The American Prospect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Culture-war populism looks to be giving way to economic populism.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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Dayen","date":"July 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Haley Stevens espoused progressive ideas in last night\u2019s Michigan Senate debate. That\u2019s a familiar pattern.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Michigan U.S. Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed, left, and Rep. 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It says, \u201cAttachment: $5,000 Check \u2026 Pres. Trump just authorized it,\u201d a reference to the financial windfall that Donald Trump promised for every adult in America if the GOP retains power in the midterms. It is followed by a link to access the \u201cportal\u201d to \u201csubmit approval ASAP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But like many text-based scams, the link does not follow through as advertised. Instead, it goes to a donation website for Flores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s unclear who is behind the website; in one section, it says that it is paid for by Eric Flores for Congress and another says it is paid for by WinRed, the Republican National Committee\u2019s fundraising platform, and \u201cNot authorized by any candidate or candidate\u2019s committee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"694\" height=\"560\" data-attachment-id=\"144861\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wimbish-tx-flores-091726-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-2.png?fit=694%2C560&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"694,560\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" 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data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?fit=909%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" data-id=\"144862\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=909%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-144862\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=909%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 909w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=266%2C300&amp;ssl=1 266w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=768%2C866&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=550%2C620&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=800%2C902&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=780%2C879&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=400%2C451&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?resize=706%2C796&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3.png?w=1196&amp;ssl=1 1196w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-3-909x1024.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 909px) 100vw, 909px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"983\" height=\"1024\" data-attachment-id=\"144863\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wimbish-tx-flores-091726-4\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?fit=1298%2C1352&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1298,1352\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?fit=983%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" data-id=\"144863\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=983%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-144863\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=983%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 983w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=288%2C300&amp;ssl=1 288w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=768%2C800&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=1200%2C1250&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=550%2C573&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=800%2C833&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=780%2C812&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=400%2C417&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?resize=706%2C735&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4.png?w=1298&amp;ssl=1 1298w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726-4-983x1024.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 983px) 100vw, 983px\"><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Either way, the donated money will not necessarily be used for electing Flores, who is in a toss-up seat in a district that was made more favorable to him by the Texas gerrymander. The money will primarily help retire his campaign debt. According to FEC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/candidate\/H6TX34080\/?tab=summary\">records<\/a>, Flores loaned himself more than half a million dollars to get through the primary in the race to defeat incumbent Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll contributions given via this page will be first designated to 2026 Primary Debt retirement as allowable,\u201d the website says. \u201cAny funds that cannot be applied to debt will be applied to 2026 General funds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/21pdf\/21-12_m6hn.pdf\">2022 Supreme Court ruling<\/a> allowed federal candidates to fundraise unlimited amounts after the date of an election to pay back a personal loan; previously, candidates could only raise funds over $250,000 within 20 days of that election. The Texas primary was March 3, over six months ago, and no funds were listed as repaid by Flores\u2019s campaign as of June 30. Candidates can even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-2009-feb-14-me-napolitano14-story.html\">charge high interest rates<\/a> on these personal loans and actually make money off the deal; whether Flores is charging interest is not yet listed with the Federal Election Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flores, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Army veteran, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/07\/22\/texas-congress-delegation-net-worth-millionaires-2026-midterms\/\">multimillionaire<\/a> whose campaign material claims he \u201cis guided by his Christian faith and an unwavering commitment to his neighbors,\u201d did not respond to a request for comment, including to explain how the text is not deceitful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Voters received the text the day after Republicans held a poorly attended rally in Dallas they referred to as a \u201cconvention,\u201d though no RNC business got done. During the event, Trump said he would send every adult American citizen a $5,000 \u201cdividend\u201d as long as the GOP held onto the House and the Senate after the midterms, spending that would total about $1.2 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is no plan to disburse that money. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/6085042-trump-dividend-not-taxpayer-funded\/\">claimed<\/a> it would not come from taxes or add to the deficit. Maybe it would come from the Trump Platinum Card, Lutnick said, though that does not yet exist. Or maybe from stock investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ABC reporter Rachel Scott <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/215316\/trump-lunges-female-reporter-5000-check-rachel-scott\">asked<\/a> Trump why he needed to pay people to vote if his economic policies are working, and he responded by lurching forward and growling at her. \u201cNot you. Not you!\u201d he said. \u201cYour network \u2026 you\u2019re the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-the-american-prospect wp-block-embed-the-american-prospect\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Pw7NzmYi61\"><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/14\/pac-spending-reveals-republicans-screwed-in-midterms\/\">PAC Spending Reveals: Republicans Are Screwed in the Midterms<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cPAC Spending Reveals: Republicans Are Screwed in the Midterms\u201d \u2014 The American Prospect\" src=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/14\/pac-spending-reveals-republicans-screwed-in-midterms\/embed\/#?secret=Hay7U5cwQF#?secret=Pw7NzmYi61\" data-secret=\"Pw7NzmYi61\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While many Republicans have <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/state-watch\/6089133-trump-proposed-five-thousand-dividend\/\">inched away<\/a> from Trump\u2019s proposal, either out of concern for the fiscal cost or a desire to restrict the money from allegedly \u201cundeserving\u201d citizens, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cybersecurity-insiders.com\/americans-must-beware-promised-5000-payment-fuels-cyber-fraud\/\">scammers<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2026\/sep\/10\/scammers-exploit-trumps-5000-dividend-pledge-fake-text-alerts\/\">immediately used it<\/a> to flood the internet with fake promises of cash. Flores is the first political candidate, to the <em>Prospect<\/em>\u2019s knowledge, to use the pledge as a bait-and-switch fundraising tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The donation text also comes as Republicans are pouring money into Texas elections, including in the heavily Latino Rio Grande Valley, a sign that they know their gerrymandering gambit in Texas is not going to result in the five easy wins they had presumed. As the <em>Prospect<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/14\/pac-spending-reveals-republicans-screwed-in-midterms\/\">reported<\/a> earlier this week, Republican super PACs are spending millions of dollars even in districts that went to Trump by a wide margin in 2024, including in TX-34, which went to Trump 55-to-45. Republicans have fallen so low in popularity that the seat is seen as a toss-up by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cookpolitical.com\/ratings\/house-race-ratings\">Cook Political Report<\/a>. Super PACs have spent $660,791 in aggregate there as of last weekend; Flores has $2.9 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gonzalez, meanwhile, has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/candidate\/H6TX15162\/\">$3.8 million<\/a>, FEC records show. He says the spending illustrates that Republicans know the districts are toss-ups and that they\u2019re losing ground among voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to the text, the five-term congressman said, \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this in all my time in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eric Flores is an Army veteran and lawyer running to unseat Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas District 34.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":696,"featured_media":144859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-17T14:02:49Z","apple_news_api_id":"d31213c7-7bea-4e0d-a589-6cdc33c40748","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-17T14:02:49Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A0xITx3vqTg2liWzcM8QHSA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_Q0gGSpl8b5P","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen to this article:","embed_ui_title_icon":"","primary_voice":"49","guest_voice":"653","default_publication":"pblc_yPNpMjtZdBK","default_conversation_mode":false,"podcast_duration_minutes":5,"default_sonic_optimization":false,"optimizer_level":2,"default_read_alt_text":false,"default_read_urls":false,"default_skip_article_image":false,"intro_mixable":281,"outro_mixable":258,"intro_duration":8,"outro_duration":11,"intro_padding":3,"outro_padding":4,"disable_music":false},"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"4c9bc1966f0cbdfe6f365ba4c0b7e9cb","_everlit_metadata_hash":"9bd57b4be4788149a9a606bd907a8d77","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_Q0gGSpl8b5P?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Eric Flores is an Army veteran and lawyer running to unseat Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas District 34.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[4932],"tags":[6401,5726,6961,6922,14344,6677,6920,5171],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"coauthors":[10365],"class_list":["post-144866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-campaign-finance","tag-congress","tag-donald-trump","tag-election-2026","tag-eric-flores","tag-politics","tag-republicans","tag-texas","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Republican Nominee in Texas Using Trump\u2019s $5,000 Promise to Deceive Voters - The American Prospect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Voters received the misleading text message the day after Republicans held their midterm convention in Dallas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republican Nominee in Texas Using Trump\u2019s $5,000 Promise to Deceive Voters - The American Prospect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eric Flores is an Army veteran and lawyer running to unseat Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas District 34.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The American Prospect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAmericanProspect\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-17T14:02:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-17T14:10:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Whitney Curry Wimbish\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theprospect\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theprospect\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Whitney Curry Wimbish\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/prospect.org\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/17\\\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/prospect.org\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/17\\\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Whitney Curry Wimbish\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/prospect.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f807aea1eab3f8120570b58cc9553721\"},\"headline\":\"Republican Nominee in Texas Using Trump\u2019s $5,000 Promise to Deceive Voters\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-17T14:02:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-17T14:10:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/prospect.org\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/17\\\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":767,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/prospect.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/prospect.org\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/17\\\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/prospect.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"campaign finance\",\"Congress\",\"Donald Trump\",\"Election 2026\",\"Eric Flores\",\"Politics\",\"Republicans\",\"Texas\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/prospect.org\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/17\\\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/prospect.org\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/17\\\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\\\/\",\"name\":\"Republican Nominee in Texas Using Trump\u2019s $5,000 Promise to Deceive Voters - 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She previously worked in the Financial Times newsletters division, The Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh, and the Herald News in New Jersey. Her work has been published in multiple outlets, including The New York Times, The Baffler, Los Angeles Review of Books, Music &amp; Literature, North American Review, Sentient, Semafor, and elsewhere. She is a coauthor of The Majority Report\u2019s daily newsletter and publishes short fiction in a range of literary magazines. She can be reached on Signal at wwimbish.07.","url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/author\/whitney-curry-wimbish\/"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Republican Nominee in Texas Using Trump\u2019s $5,000 Promise to Deceive Voters","url":"http:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1"},"articleSection":"Politics","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Whitney Curry Wimbish"}],"creator":["Whitney Curry Wimbish"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The American Prospect","logo":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-cropped-TAP_Site-Logo_Tagline-scaled-1-e1760478223796.png"},"keywords":["campaign finance","congress","donald trump","election 2026","eric flores","politics","republicans","texas"],"dateCreated":"2026-09-17T14:02:28Z","datePublished":"2026-09-17T14:02:28Z","dateModified":"2026-09-17T14:10:37Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"Republican Nominee in Texas Using Trump\u2019s $5,000 Promise to Deceive Voters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"http:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/republican-nominee-in-texas-using-trumps-5000-dollar-promise-to-deceive-voters\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2026-09-17T14:02:28Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"Politics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"campaign finance,congress,donald trump,election 2026,eric flores,politics,republicans,texas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Whitney Curry Wimbish\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/prospect.org\/p.js"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":145157,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/23\/republicans-texas-midterm-elections-trump-rio-grande-valley\/","url_meta":{"origin":144866,"position":0},"title":"Republicans Running Scared in the Rio Grande Valley","author":"Whitney Curry Wimbish","date":"September 23, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump\u2019s economic and immigration policies have pushed South Texas voters away from the GOP, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ll vote blue no matter who.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Texas Democratic congressional candidate Bobby Pulido speaks to supporters","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-South-Texas-092326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-South-Texas-092326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-South-Texas-092326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-South-Texas-092326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-South-Texas-092326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137043,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/04\/12\/eric-swalwell-death-of-accountability-sexual-misconduct\/","url_meta":{"origin":144866,"position":1},"title":"Eric Swalwell and the Death of Accountability","author":"David Dayen","date":"April 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"His sexual misconduct was an open secret. So why was he still seen as a rising star in the party?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"California gubernatorial candidate Rep. 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2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Ken Paxton\u2019s Texas primary victory puts another Republican Senate seat in play, alongside those of North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, and Alaska.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Newsletters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Newsletters","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/blogs-and-newsletters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to supporters at a campaign event","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meyerson-on-Tap-052826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meyerson-on-Tap-052826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meyerson-on-Tap-052826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, 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It Also Disenfranchised Cities.","author":"Harold Meyerson","date":"May 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Republican redistrictings strip cities of congressional representation.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Newsletters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Newsletters","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/blogs-and-newsletters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"State troopers remove demonstrators from the House gallery of the Tennessee state legislature","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meyerson-on-Tap-050726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meyerson-on-Tap-050726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meyerson-on-Tap-050726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meyerson-on-Tap-050726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Meyerson-on-Tap-050726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Wimbish-TX-Flores-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1","author_name":"Whitney Curry Wimbish","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/696"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144866"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144870,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144866\/revisions\/144870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144866"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_taxonomy?post=144866"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_section?post=144866"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":144827,"date":"2026-09-17T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144827"},"modified":"2026-09-22T17:23:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T21:23:52","slug":"alligator-alcatrazs-tiny-cages-were-likely-even-tinier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/alligator-alcatrazs-tiny-cages-were-likely-even-tinier\/","title":{"rendered":"Alligator Alcatraz\u2019s Tiny Cages Were Likely Even Tinier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-default has-cream-background-color has-background\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-efdcd2e1 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-cream-background-color has-background has-bitter-font-family has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\"><em>This article was featured in the Daily Prospect newsletter. <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/newsletter-sign-up\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sign up for it here.<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_aN16tlb7g2K?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Homeland Security released a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2026-09\/OIG-26-22-Sep26.pdf\">scathing report<\/a> last Friday about the shuttered Florida concentration camp built on an abandoned airstrip known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d concluding the camp failed to meet numerous health and safety standards, and that the use of \u201csmall metal enclosures\u201d was \u201cunprecedented\u201d and posed \u201csignificant risks to detainee health and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report included photos, taken by OIG inspectors during an \u201cunannounced\u201d visit in January to the camp, showing a phone booth\u2013sized cage set up outdoors under a temporary awning. Staff at the camp euphemistically described the cages as \u201ccalming areas\u201d where detainees could \u201creflect on their behavior choices, manage their emotions,\u201d and, they claimed, leave whenever they wanted. Staff records indicated 79 detainees had spent time in the cages in a two-day period, none for more than two hours, which the OIG could neither confirm nor refute, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/author\/gillian-brockell\/\">More from Gillian Brockell<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cage images are appalling and, at first blush, seem to confirm an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/documents\/AMR51\/0511\/2025\/en\/\">Amnesty International report<\/a> from last December that first alleged the use of cages at the tent prison. But a closer comparison of the two shows not agreement but evidence of a cover-up: a Potemkin Village carefully positioned to fool inspectors and hide a truth that was much, much worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amnesty spoke to four people who were detained at the Everglades site in the summer of 2025 for periods of between two weeks and a month, and to local groups that had worked with former detainees there. All of them spoke of \u201cthe box\u201d\u2014an outdoor cage where they said they were sent as punishment for alleged infractions. They described being handcuffed in a 2\u2032 \u00d7 2\u2032 cage, with their ankles shackled to the floor, preventing them from sitting down or shifting positions. There was \u201chardly\u201d any protection from the hot sun and sometimes no protection at all, they said. All of them told Amnesty that detainees were left in the box for hours at a time, attacked by insects and provided with little water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPeople ended up in the \u2018box\u2019 just for asking the guards for anything. I saw a guy who was put in it for an entire day,\u201d one detainee was quoted as saying in the Amnesty report. An illustration based on detainees\u2019 descriptions shows a man in ICE\u2019s standard gray sweatsuit in a cage too small to stand up in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/07\/26\/nx-s1-5479105\/an-ice-facility-in-the-everglades-is-under-scrutiny-for-the-treatment-of-detainees\">interviews<\/a>, former detainees have described it as a 4\u2032 \u00d7 4\u2032 cage, which would be consistent with the illustration, but everything else is the same: no protection from the sun, chained to the ground, left there for hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-attachment-id=\"125452\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/125051\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1024,683\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"2.8\",\"credit\":\"AP\",\"camera\":\"ILCE-9M3\",\"caption\":\"Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed \\\"Alligator Alcatraz,\\\" at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1751630017\",\"copyright\":\"Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved\",\"focal_length\":\"24\",\"iso\":\"400\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.0004\",\"title\":\"Immigration Florida\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"Alligator Alcatraz\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Work progresses on the migrant detention facility dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Florida.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;The Alligator Alcatraz site in the Florida Everglades, seen in July 2025.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"The Alligator Alcatraz site in the Florida Everglades\" class=\"wp-image-125452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tkacik-Disaster-capitalism-071725.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Alligator Alcatraz site in the Florida Everglades, seen in July 2025. <span class=\"image-credit\"><span class=\"credit-label-wrapper\">Credit:<\/span> Rebecca Blackwell\/AP Photo.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now look at the OIG photos again. The cage is larger than the one detainees described to Amnesty. A piece of wood covers the bottom, which would prevent shackling. It sits under a thick awning and atop a piece of plastic turf, surrounded by another fence with barbed wire, seeming to suggest the cage\u2019s occupants had the option to walk out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are two possible explanations for the discrepancies: Either all of the detainees\u2019 memories were flawed in the exact same way, or sometime between the Amnesty report\u2019s release on December 4 and the \u201cunannounced\u201d inspection on January 21, staff at the camp fixed up the cages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Incredibly, the OIG made no effort to speak with previous detainees, according to a spokesperson, who asked not to be identified by name. That was not within the scope of the \u201cunannounced\u201d inspection, the spokesperson said, which was confined to evaluating conditions at the camp on that day only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, you may have noticed that I keep putting \u201cunannounced\u201d in quotes. I am not suggesting the inspectors were in on the cover-up. But I do call into question whether officials at the camp found out about the pending inspection ahead of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deep in the report, the inspectors note: \u201cWe were unable to independently confirm or refute ICE officials\u2019 assertions regarding their use of the enclosures \u2026 as none of the detainees we interviewed reported experiencing these conditions during our unannounced inspection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report also says the officials\u2019 records logged 79 people spending time inside the cages on January 17 and 18. <em>Seventy-nine<\/em> people, two cages, with the average time spent inside being 59 minutes. That sums to 79 out of an available 96 cage-hours. The math doesn\u2019t add up unless detainees were going into the \u201ccalming areas\u201d almost around the clock, including in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And only three days later, when inspectors showed up, all of those people were conveniently gone, transferred somewhere else and unavailable for interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Was the high flow of traffic in and out of the camp normal? It\u2019s impossible to say definitively without the camp\u2019s bus records, but I did take a look at flight records for about 80 planes in ICE\u2019s vast charter plane network, and found that U.S. Coast Guard aircraft landed at the facility every day between January 18 and January 20, the <a href=\"https:\/\/globe.adsbexchange.com\/?icao=ae2125&amp;lat=31.238&amp;lon=-92.397&amp;zoom=4.0&amp;showTrace=2026-01-18\">only<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/globe.adsbexchange.com\/?icao=ae2125&amp;lat=31.238&amp;lon=-92.397&amp;zoom=4.0&amp;showTrace=2026-01-19\">three-day<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/globe.adsbexchange.com\/?icao=ae2730&amp;lat=31.167&amp;lon=-91.799&amp;zoom=4.0&amp;showTrace=2026-01-20&amp;timestamp=1768925327\">streak<\/a> between the release of the Amnesty report in early December and the end of January. (The Coast Guard, which is administered by DHS, used search-and-rescue planes to do ICE flights between June 2025 and March 2026, news of which I first reported for <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-features\/trump-ice-coast-guard-planes-immigrants-detention-1235414267\/\">Rolling Stone<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When told about the Coast Guard flights, the spokesperson seemed surprised but declined to respond on the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andrea Pitzer, a concentration camp expert and author of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/one-long-night-a-global-history-of-concentration-camps-andrea-pitzer\/ea53c06c993f6ad0\">One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps<\/a><\/em>, was not surprised to hear any of this. In extrajudicial camps, which is how she classifies Alligator Alcatraz, \u201cthe box\u201d is an almost universal occurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou almost always see this kind of solitary punishment. Typically, it is three to five feet across but not tall enough for somebody to stand. They are typically fastened in some way. They are isolated, they are exposed to extreme cold or the sun,\u201d she said in a phone interview. Contrary to camp staff\u2019s claims, Pitzer said that \u201cthis is not done as a kind of timed time-out, but very much to punish troublemakers, whoever the authorities see as insubordinate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notably, one of the detainees who spoke to Amnesty compared the box he was held in to another recent example, a place Pitzer visited for book research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a copy of Guantanamo. The conditions are inhuman. We\u2019re kidnapped there; it\u2019s inhuman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attempting to create a Potemkin Village to fool outsiders is also bog-standard for concentration camp governments, Pitzer said. Throughout the Holocaust, and as late as 1944, Nazi Germany fixed up concentration camps like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/The-Times-and-the-Concentration-Camp-at-Dachau%2C-An-Kersten\/c85322841395abf6b587d9fc1c4bf4a222cb90fe\">Dachau<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.ushmm.org\/content\/en\/article\/theresienstadt-red-cross-visit\">Theresienstadt<\/a> to fool the Red Cross and international media\u2014who were then allowed in to inspect the camps\u2014with varying degrees of success. The last step in those \u201cbeautification\u201d efforts, Pitzer said, was to move large numbers of prisoners somewhere else, to reduce overcrowding and to remove witnesses who might have shared damning information with the visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-the-american-prospect wp-block-embed-the-american-prospect\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"qTtDhsfZQy\"><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/11\/immigrant-trump-sent-to-african-hotel-prison-arrested-after-speaking-with-media\/\">Immigrant Trump Sent to African Hotel Prison Arrested After Speaking With Media, Lawyers Say<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cImmigrant Trump Sent to African Hotel Prison Arrested After Speaking With Media, Lawyers Say\u201d \u2014 The American Prospect\" src=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/11\/immigrant-trump-sent-to-african-hotel-prison-arrested-after-speaking-with-media\/embed\/#?secret=W8NvGd67kr#?secret=qTtDhsfZQy\" data-secret=\"qTtDhsfZQy\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also isn\u2019t unusual for these efforts to not go far enough, because concentration camp governments \u201csimultaneously want to terrorize the target population while somehow convincing the general population that what is being done is being done for the people\u2019s good,\u201d Pitzer said. \u201cThey both want to show off what they\u2019re doing, and they hide what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What you often ended up with from the visitors\u2019 reports was an uncanny \u201cmiddle ground,\u201d she said, where there is an attempt at accountability with some \u201cfinessing\u201d of the full truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSometimes it\u2019s because by the time anybody was allowed to go in and see a place, it\u2019s been cleaned up. And sometimes it\u2019s the people who are doing the reports who are trying to do the finessing themselves,\u201d Pitzer said. Speaking about the OIG report, she added, \u201cI have no doubt that some things in it are absolutely true, [but] everything I have read from interviews with people who were there, from a number of sources, those issues are not reflected in that report.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pitzer said that inspectors could clean up their reports to avoid punishment or appease the powerful. As to which category the OIG might fall under, let me be clear: I don\u2019t think they are in on the cover-up, for one simple reason. In Trumpworld, any criticism whatsoever\u2014even feckless or defanged criticism\u2014is tantamount to treason. It took some amount of courage to release the report, and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if Inspector General Joseph Cuffari or his entire office were imminently sacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They may not be conspirators, but they are in over their heads. The OIG report based on the January inspection took eight months to come out, a delay the spokesperson attributed to the DHS shutdown and the \u201cnormal review and clearance process\u201d that gave ICE 30 days to respond. By then, the camp had already been closed for nearly three months, making its recommendations largely moot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Who exactly was running the camp\u2014ICE or the state of Florida\u2014was unclear for the entirety of Alligator Alcatraz\u2019s existence. And that may have led to some of the abuses, the OIG said, because none of the staff knew which regulations they were supposed to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But according to Pitzer, these gray areas are part of the concentration camp design, the opening of a black hole in which both laws and the targeted people can disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ICE responded to the report by continuing to claim it was not responsible for the camp. But a spokesperson for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2014a former Navy lawyer stationed at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2023\/apr\/28\/ron-desantis-guantanamo-bay-allegations\">Guantanamo<\/a>\u2014said of the cage photo, \u201cWe\u2019d make it even smaller if we could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to people placed inside of it, they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Appalling as photos showing phone booth\u2013sized cages at the Florida camp are, the truth is likely<br \/>\nmuch worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4197,"featured_media":144729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-17T13:16:45Z","apple_news_api_id":"ba327136-8f7f-442b-b1ed-933377fc3e67","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-22T21:19:33Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AujJxNo9_RCux7ZMzd_w-Zw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_aN16tlb7g2K","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen to this article:","embed_ui_title_icon":"","primary_voice":"49","guest_voice":"653","default_publication":"pblc_yPNpMjtZdBK","default_conversation_mode":false,"podcast_duration_minutes":5,"default_sonic_optimization":false,"optimizer_level":2,"default_read_alt_text":false,"default_read_urls":false,"default_skip_article_image":false,"intro_mixable":281,"outro_mixable":258,"intro_duration":8,"outro_duration":11,"intro_padding":3,"outro_padding":4,"disable_music":false},"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"e274128bdeb05eb3d5305099889a872c","_everlit_metadata_hash":"e40b0dde463562545374b9ec53565385","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_aN16tlb7g2K?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Appalling as photos showing phone booth\u2013sized cages at the Florida camp are, the truth is likely\nmuch worse.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[4878],"tags":[13090,6132,6961,5468,6861,5126,6702,6477],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"coauthors":[13594],"class_list":["post-144827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice","tag-alligator-alcatraz","tag-dhs","tag-donald-trump","tag-florida","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-incarceration","tag-justice","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alligator Alcatraz\u2019s Tiny Cages Were Likely Even Tinier - The American Prospect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Photos of the &quot;calming areas&quot; 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Corporations don\u2019t want to do it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Working in America&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Working in America","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/labor\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young male technician climbing ladder in industry","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-071626.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-071626.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-071626.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-071626.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-071626.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139707,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/06\/12\/feds-deport-ice-detainee-organizer-to-ecuador\/","url_meta":{"origin":144827,"position":1},"title":"Feds Deport ICE Detainee Organizer to Ecuador\u00a0","author":"Susanna Beiser","date":"June 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Rogelio Boluf\u00e9 is a Cuban national who faced ongoing retaliation for organizing against inhumane conditions inside detention camps.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Law and Justice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Law and Justice","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/justice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ICE officers are seen outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Wimbish-ICE-deportation-061226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Wimbish-ICE-deportation-061226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Wimbish-ICE-deportation-061226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Wimbish-ICE-deportation-061226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Wimbish-ICE-deportation-061226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138216,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/05\/07\/oliver-larkin-jared-moskowitz-jeffrey-epstein-ron-desantis-florida\/","url_meta":{"origin":144827,"position":2},"title":"Oliver Larkin vs. the Epstein State","author":"Maureen Tkacik","date":"May 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Hasan Piker\u2019s new favorite candidate was gaining surprising traction challenging self-described \u2018Ron DeSantis Democrat\u2019 Jared Moskowitz. 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But some states are welcoming the shock troops.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Law and Justice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Law and Justice","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/justice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Wimbish-ICE-states-82126.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Wimbish-ICE-states-82126.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Wimbish-ICE-states-82126.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Wimbish-ICE-states-82126.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Wimbish-ICE-states-82126.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":144638,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/14\/rogue-sheriffs-revolt-against-new-york-law-ending-ice-partnerships\/","url_meta":{"origin":144827,"position":5},"title":"Rogue Sheriffs Revolt Against New York Law Ending ICE Partnerships","author":"James Baratta","date":"September 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"State lawmakers have forbidden local police from participating in mass deportation. Some sheriffs think they are above the law.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Law and Justice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Law and Justice","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/justice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Baratta-NY-sheriffs-immigration-091426.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Baratta-NY-sheriffs-immigration-091426.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Baratta-NY-sheriffs-immigration-091426.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Baratta-NY-sheriffs-immigration-091426.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Baratta-NY-sheriffs-immigration-091426.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-3.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1","author_name":"Gillian Brockell","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144827"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145169,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144827\/revisions\/145169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144827"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_taxonomy?post=144827"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_section?post=144827"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":144813,"date":"2026-09-17T05:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144813"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:22:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:22:50","slug":"aftermath-yemen-houthis-second-middle-east-front","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/aftermath-yemen-houthis-second-middle-east-front\/","title":{"rendered":"Aftermath: A Second Middle East Front"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_QWylHvwA5Ya?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:19px\"><em>This story was first featured in the<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/aftermath\"><em>Aftermath<\/em><\/a> <em>newsletter, a series from David Dayen exploring the economic consequences of the war in Iran. To have these stories delivered to your in-box as soon as they are published,<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/newsletter-sign-up\/\"><em>sign up for the newsletter here<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Iran war has acquired a new front. Yemen\u2019s civil war, largely dormant since an uneasy 2022 truce between the rebels of Ansar Allah, known colloquially as the Houthis, and the Saudi-backed \u201cinternationally recognized government,\u201d roared back to life last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Houthi lightning offensive swept to the Red Sea coast and down to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/middle-east-tensions_n_6aa3d76fe4b0b2af35a60990\">strategically critical port of Mokha<\/a> and Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandab strait. As the Saudi-backed coalition forces collapsed, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/09\/11\/houthis-yemen-saudi-trump-mbs-strikes\">reportedly called Donald Trump<\/a> to ask for American air support to no avail. Trump would claim that the Houthis had called him too and asked the U.S. to stay out\u2014a claim the famously proud and independent Houthi leadership vociferously denied\u2014and that \u201cthey have a problem with one country and we\u2019ll solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"171\" data-attachment-id=\"137185\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/04\/14\/aftermath-plastics-clogged-in-persian-gulf\/aftermath-banner\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?fit=2560%2C427&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,427\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\"}' data-image-title=\"Aftermath banner\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?fit=1024%2C171&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner.png?resize=1024%2C171&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-137185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=1024%2C171&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=300%2C50&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=768%2C128&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=1536%2C256&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=2048%2C341&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=1200%2C200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=550%2C92&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=800%2C133&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=2000%2C333&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=780%2C130&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=400%2C67&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-scaled.png?resize=706%2C118&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Aftermath-banner-1024x171.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While U.S. officials have been careful to emphasize in their statements to the public and the press that they are staying out of Yemen this time, a recent flurry of arms sales notifications to Saudi Arabia and reports of U.S. advisers on the ground tell a different story. The White House may not want its regional conflagration to spread to Yemen, but if it continues to enable the Saudis to avoid diplomacy, full-scale war will rapidly return, and a deeper oil crisis along with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unusual diplomatic tact from Trump toward the Houthis is a product of the cease-fire that ended last year\u2019s U.S.-Houthi flare-up. In March 2025, when the Houthis resumed attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping sites in stated solidarity with Gaza after the collapse of the January 2025 cease-fire, Trump approved \u201cOperation Rough Rider,\u201d a multiweek air campaign in the name of \u201cfreedom of navigation\u201d that killed hundreds of Yemenis, including at least 224 civilians, per the <a href=\"https:\/\/trump-yemen.airwars.org\/operation-rough-rider\">independent monitor Airwars<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This air campaign, though, failed to bomb the Houthis into surrender, much like the multiyear Biden- and Trump-backed Saudi air campaign before it, and in early May, the U.S. and the Houthis agreed to an Oman-brokered cease-fire based on a narrow agreement that separated Houthi attacks on U.S. shipping from those on Israeli targets. Israel would continue its own air strikes on Yemen, while Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastmonitor.com\/20250514-trump-the-houthis-are-tough-fighters\/\">complimented the Houthis\u2019 resolve<\/a>: \u201cThey\u2019re tough, they\u2019re fighters, but they agreed to stop targeting U.S. ships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<span data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" class=\"everlit-audio everlit-no-audio\" data-everlit-no-audio=\"true\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-size:14px\"><blockquote><p>No matter how limited U.S. officials claim their involvement in Yemen to be, these recent developments troublingly resemble the original American foray in the country more than a decade ago.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S.-Houthi cease-fire has held for nearly a year and a half, and Trump\u2019s public dismissals of potential U.S. involvement in the current conflict demonstrate that the White House, for all of its militaristic braggadocio and leaning into the \u201cFAFO\u201d motto, is wary of stretching the military even thinner by opening yet another front. However, U.S. officials also appear to be pushing the limits of the cease-fire with their quiet support for the Saudi intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On September 4th, the State Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/bureau-of-political-military-affairs\/2026\/09\/kingdom-of-saudi-arabia-joint-direct-attack-munitions-extend-range\/\">posted a notice<\/a> of foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia of more than 10,000 bombs and corresponding Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits, the weapons <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2023\/12\/israel-opt-us-made-munitions-killed-43-civilians-in-two-documented-israeli-air-strikes-in-gaza-new-investigation\/\">now infamous<\/a> for their usage in alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/09\/10\/politics\/us-military-support-saudi-arabia-houthi-iran-yemen\">CNN reported<\/a> that more than 100 U.S. military advisers were on the ground in Saudi Arabia as part of a new joint operations center to provide intelligence and targeting support in their anti-Houthi campaign. While the anonymous officials cited stressed that U.S. advisers were not participating directly in strikes, this denial may not hold water as the Saudis ramp up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.afp.com\/en\/houthis-say-saudi-arabia-hits-yemen-54-strikes-after-attack-bases\">another air campaign<\/a> against Yemen with that targeting support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pains to which U.S. officials go to deny direct involvement in Saudi strikes are a product of the yearslong grassroots and congressional efforts to end support for Saudi Arabia\u2019s war in Yemen. During Trump\u2019s first term in 2018, a rare bipartisan coalition passed a Yemen war powers resolution through both chambers of Congress before Trump vetoed it; a similar resolution would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/votes\/house\/116-1\/83\">pass in the House<\/a> the following Congress, though with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/votes\/house\/116-1\/81\">hostile amendment included<\/a> that would safeguard intelligence-sharing with the Saudis. The Pentagon would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/story\/2026-01-14\/senate-war-powers-resolution-venezuela-trump-war\">attempt to avert<\/a> passage of the 2019 resolution by announcing an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/11\/09\/politics\/us-yemen-houthis-missile\">end to U.S. refueling<\/a> of Saudi warplanes in advance of the vote, a policy which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/09\/10\/politics\/us-military-support-saudi-arabia-houthi-iran-yemen\">U.S. officials claim<\/a> holds to this day. During an abortive war powers push by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2022 that was fiercely opposed by the Biden administration, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.murphy.senate.gov\/view\/senator-murphy-delivers-floor-speech-on-yemen-war-powers-resolution\">acknowledged<\/a> that U.S. maintenance of Saudi warplanes helped keep them in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While a formal Yemen war powers resolution has never been signed into law, the pressure campaign by Yemen war opponents and war powers advocates has pared down U.S. support to the Saudis to its current state, in which officials take pains to minimize the role they admit to playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border is-vertical is-content-justification-stretch is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14603c61 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-bitter-font-family\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\">Aftermath<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-bitter-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:18px\">This story first appeared in The American Prospect\u2019s free <em>Aftermath<\/em> newsletter, a series on the economic consequences of the war in Iran.  <\/p>\n\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-block-newspack-newsletters-subscribe newspack-newsletters-subscribe is-style-modern\" data-success-message=\"Thank you for signing up!\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<form id=\"newspack-subscribe-3\" data-newspack-recaptcha=\"newspack_newsletter_signup\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"newspack_newsletters_subscribe\" value=\"1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"lists[]\" value=\"28\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-email-input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input id=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe-block-input-27898-email\" type=\"email\" name=\"npe\" autocomplete=\"email\" placeholder=\"Email Address\" value=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"nphp\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" name=\"email\" type=\"email\" autocomplete=\"off\" placeholder=\"Email Address\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"submit-button has-background-color has-secondary-variation-background-color\" type=\"submit\" style=\"background-color: #7f0000;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"submit\">Sign up<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/form>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__response\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__icon\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__message\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No matter how limited U.S. officials claim their involvement in Yemen to be, though, these recent developments troublingly resemble the original American foray in the country more than a decade ago. In early 2015, the Obama administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2015\/03\/25\/395294977\/yemens-president-flees-palace-as-rebels-continue-advance\">announced<\/a> a \u201cJoint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate U.S. military and intelligence support\u201d while \u201cnot taking direct military action in Yemen.\u201d From these humble beginnings came the U.S.-backed Saudi intervention that killed thousands of Yemenis in airstrikes and hundreds of thousands more by unleashing the world\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/live-news\/20211123-yemen-war-will-have-killed-377-000-by-year-s-end-un\">most severe humanitarian crisis<\/a>. While circumstances on the ground have shifted significantly\u2014the Houthis have already functionally \u201cwon\u201d the civil war and govern a large majority of the country\u2019s population, and appetite for a another major intervention is likely limited in both Riyadh and Washington\u2014any renewed offensive risks a return to all-out war and its attendant consequences on Yemeni civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hawkish rationale for a major anti-Houthi campaign is superficially straightforward. The Houthis\u2019 capture of Mokha and Perim is a boon to their ability to threaten Red Sea shipping and the Bab al-Mandab strait, upon which the Saudis have grown reliant for energy exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The major Houthi advances and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2026\/09\/11\/iran-denounces-us-israeli-oppression-houthis-advance-yemen\/\">devastating strike<\/a> on the Saudi East-West Pipeline (reportedly by their Iraqi allies, according to Riyadh) at least temporarily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/energy\/saudi-pipeline-outage-threatens-loss-4-global-oil-supply-2026-09-13\/\">shut off 4 percent of global oil supply<\/a> and sent oil prices soaring, directly undermining the White House\u2019s siege strategy against Iran, in which limited exports through the Strait of Hormuz under U.S. aegis reduced Iran\u2019s leverage against the global economy. The diminishing of strategic oil reserves <a href=\"https:\/\/energynow.com\/2026\/09\/oil-stocks-in-us-strategic-petroleum-reserve-fall-to-lowest-level-since-1982\/\">in the U.S.<\/a>, which currently sit at the lowest level since 1982, adds to this urgency, as experts believe that the long-anticipated impact of war in the Middle East is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/energy-oil\/oil-executives-say-the-great-fuel-crisis-is-here-b6b32030\">finally upon us<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reality is even worse for the U.S. than this picture: The military is overstretched, past anti-Houthi campaigns have proven fruitless, and Trump has a strong incentive not to provoke additional attacks on shipping that will send oil higher still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Washington policymakers are also beginning to accept that there is no military \u201csolution\u201d to their Houthi problem. Allison Minor, a former deputy to Biden Yemen chief Tim Lenderking, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/Zju6D\">argued last week<\/a> that any military effort in Yemen must center on girding the politically fractured Saudi-backed coalition so that they can resist the Houthis enough to force them back into diplomacy. The Houthis, for their part, say that they will <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DropSiteNews\/status\/2099668317023633736\">cease fighting<\/a> as soon as the Saudis end their own intervention, including the long-standing air and sea blockade that has fueled a deep economic and humanitarian crisis in Houthi-controlled territory. The Saudis have found themselves in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/14\/world\/middleeast\/saudi-iran-trump-yemen-houthis.html\">same predicament<\/a> as the tiny Gulf monarchies before them: paying a heavy price for the United States\u2019 Iran war, with the U.S. reluctant or unable to include them under the security umbrella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Houthis, frustrated by the glacial implementation of the 2023 U.N.-sponsored \u201croad map\u201d to peace that would include critical elements like the payment of $1 billion to $2 billion in withheld civil servant salaries to the Houthi-controlled area out of Saudi-held banks, no doubt appreciate their improved position at the negotiating table. While current and former officials like Minor may assert that the Houthis\u2019 anti-Israel campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/Zju6D#selection-1815.768-1815.962\">stalled<\/a> the peace deal\u2019s implementation, the Saudis and Israelis are at least nominally independent parties with separate relationships with the Houthis. A Saudi offensive in Yemen, U.S.-backed or otherwise, only serves to prolong the deep suffering in the country while forestalling a real political solution. The war will end not with more bombs but with fiddly technical details like the execution of civil servant salary payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the White House has roundly ignored both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ms.now\/news\/house-votes-third-time-end-iran-war\">congressional war powers authority<\/a> and sour public sentiment in continuing its war with Iran, a difficult political environment is likely nonetheless constraining Trump\u2019s Yemen policy. While national security\u2013concerned elected officials may be loath to further pinch their Saudi allies, any senator could force a vote on a joint resolution of disapproval on those recent bomb sales (like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/15\/bernie-sanders-pushes-military-block-israel\">April votes<\/a> to block bulldozers and 1,000-pound bombs to Israel) and force their fellow senators to go to bat for the unpopular Saudi dictatorship. Some hawkish members of Congress, like freshly appointed House Foreign Affairs Middle East subcommittee chair <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ErikSperling\/status\/2097056086331129904\">Rep. Jared Moskowitz<\/a> (D-FL) and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepJoeWilson\/status\/2099543130101911729\">Rep. Joe Wilson<\/a> (R-SC) of \u201cyou lie\u201d infamy, have pushed for escalation in Yemen, but they\u2019re swimming upstream. Trump\u2019s own baseless assertions that the Iran war will end \u201csoon\u201d would be undermined by fully opening a new U.S. front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The early signs that the White House uncharacteristically understands the limits of its own power are encouraging. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChoukeirJ\/status\/2100187556117631340\">Reuters reported<\/a> that U.S. officials met with Houthi representatives in Oman over the weekend for talks. Houthi diplomats <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/us-officials-met-iran-backed-houthis-oman-over-weekend-sources-say-2026-09-16\/\">publicly recommitted<\/a> to their pledge to hit only Saudi ships, and Trump may be happy to hold onto the 2025 cease-fire and maroon the Saudis on that island. However, as long as the U.S. is plying Saudi Arabia with bombs and intelligence, they will be fueling a volatile conflict\u2014and its consequences for the global economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:19px\"><em><mark style=\"background-color:#ffff00\" class=\"has-inline-color\"><em>Thanks for reading. If you have tips or ideas for future stories, let us know! You can email us at<\/em> <a href=\"mailto:aftermath@prospect.org\"><em>aftermath@prospect.org<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. is officially uninvolved in fighting between Houthis and the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, but quietly they are offering the Saudis support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6886,"featured_media":144812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-17T13:16:13Z","apple_news_api_id":"f0d0ade6-6e7d-4984-ac8f-e5c4824235df","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-17T13:16:13Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A8NCt5m59SYSsj-XEgkI13w","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_QWylHvwA5Ya","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen to this article:","embed_ui_title_icon":"","primary_voice":"49","guest_voice":"653","default_publication":"pblc_yPNpMjtZdBK","default_conversation_mode":false,"podcast_duration_minutes":5,"default_sonic_optimization":false,"optimizer_level":2,"default_read_alt_text":false,"default_read_urls":false,"default_skip_article_image":false,"intro_mixable":281,"outro_mixable":258,"intro_duration":8,"outro_duration":11,"intro_padding":3,"outro_padding":4,"disable_music":false},"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"c635220d988585331ca9e8d7b4581d11","_everlit_metadata_hash":"56609eb9b3ff33a48015eddb61c447cb","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_QWylHvwA5Ya?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"The U.S. is officially uninvolved in fighting between Houthis and the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, but quietly they are offering the Saudis support.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[4902],"tags":[13978,5292,6687,6661,5279,5482,6458,5720,6918,5994,5814,5200,13911,14342],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"coauthors":[13869],"class_list":["post-144813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-aftermath","tag-world","tag-energy-environment","tag-foreign-policy","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-national-security","tag-ocean-shipping","tag-pipelines","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-weaponry","tag-yemen","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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Thompson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6886"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144813"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144857,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144813\/revisions\/144857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144813"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_taxonomy?post=144813"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_section?post=144813"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":144824,"date":"2026-09-17T05:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144824"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:22:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:22:05","slug":"crypto-clarity-act-senate-democrats-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/crypto-clarity-act-senate-democrats-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Crypto Whiff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_KJpZtL9XJAP?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (or CLARITY Act) was supposed to usher in a new era for the crypto industry. It was going to give them special treatment to skirt securities regulation, and enshrine that special treatment in statute. It was going to bring the appearance of legitimacy that only an official regulatory framework can bring to an industry inundated with fraudsters, sanction evaders, and terrorists. If the bill passed, it was absolutely going to be worth the staggering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/article\/corporate-money-2026-midterms-surges-to-650-million\/\">$206 million<\/a> the industry has spent on the midterms so far, more than any other corporate interest, on top of the $133 million spent on congressional races the last time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Except it didn\u2019t happen. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats and a small group of Republicans shot down a vote to advance the bill on the Senate floor, delivering a devastating blow to the crypto world and their once formidable political machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/author\/eleanor-davis-diver\/\">More from Eleanor Davis-Diver<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The crypto industry emerged as an apparently unstoppable force in Washington politics in 2024 after spending tens of millions to oust a prominent critic in then-Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and a successful courtship with President Trump shortly before he won re-election. But Tuesday\u2019s vote\u2014and the months of repeated delays and fruitless negotiations leading up to it\u2014pulled back the curtain. What stands behind is a deeply unpopular financial product with no legitimate use cases, and a political arm poisoned by its association with Donald Trump, who has (along with his family) been running nonstop crypto scams since he took office. Crypto\u2019s vast money was no match for the anger rising among the electorate sparked by Trump\u2019s egregious corruption and corporate influence over politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite regular threats of an Ohio repeat from the industry, not a single Democratic senator voted to advance the bill, not even the most pro-crypto among them, or the vulnerable Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), running for re-election in a purple state this fall. What\u2019s more, they were joined by three Republicans (not including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) who changed his vote to no as a procedural matter) citing concerns about the impact the bill might have on community bank lending. Among them was Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who is currently locked in a tight race for her Maine Senate seat.<\/p>\n\n\n<span data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" class=\"everlit-audio everlit-no-audio\" data-everlit-no-audio=\"true\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-size:16px\"><blockquote><p>The crypto industry emerged as an apparently unstoppable force in Washington politics in 2024.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps these senators realized what critics of the crypto industry have been saying all along: Most of their threats of electoral hellfire are empty. For one, crypto typically only invests in candidates who are going to win anyway; Brown\u2019s 2024 opponent Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) is one of only a handful of exceptions. As Corey Frayer, director of investor protection with the Consumer Federation of America, points out, \u201cit was an incredibly uphill battle for [Brown] to win that state with Trump on the ticket.\u201d In fact, Brown led Kamala Harris by seven percentage points in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conditions have changed greatly in two years. Now, enormous spending in some Democratic primaries seems to be backfiring. The Israel lobby spent an unprecedented $60 million failing to defeat Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate primary. And with national conditions increasingly looking like a Democratic wave, El-Sayed and other progressives might sweep easily into office no matter what opponents spend. Indeed, Brown himself looks likely to be returning as a senator from Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More importantly still for Democrats: Despite crypto\u2019s attempts to paint themselves as bipartisan, the industry will always pick the more openly corrupt, anti-regulation Republican Party when they can. \u201cThis whole maneuver that Gillibrand and Schumer thought they were being smart on to court crypto money was always going to be a failure and drag along with it some pretty heavy baggage that they weren\u2019t serious about Trump\u2019s corruption,\u201d Frayer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS AND MONTHS<\/strong>, it\u2019s been one problem after another for the CLARITY Act\u2019s proponents. A loophole allowing stablecoin issuers to offer deposit-like rewards to account holders touched off an aggressive lobbying campaign from community banks and agriculture groups worried about the threat to deposit bases that could affect local lending. There were law enforcement groups pushing back against exemptions from the Bank Secrecy Act for decentralized finance, known as DeFi in the crypto world, that would make it harder for them to prosecute financial crimes. Tribal leaders worried about challenges to their sovereignty from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. And on and on. But in the end, the death knell for the bill was the crypto industry\u2019s association with Donald Trump and his corruption in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats demanded an ethics provision to limit the ability for senior government officials and their families, including the president, to profit off of digital asset businesses while in office. Corruption is a key message for the party as they look to take back Congress in November\u2019s midterms, and Trump\u2019s wildly blatant crypto corruption has been the focus of headlines and increasing outrage all summer long. Trump, of course, won\u2019t sign anything that even makes it appear as if Democrats are reining in his profit machine, and Republicans in the Senate refused to hold him to even the flimsy standards proposed by Democrats the night before the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was also the standstill over ethics, more than anything else, that led to the persistent delays for CLARITY over the last few months, especially after a financial disclosure released in June revealed Trump had brought in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/06\/30\/trump-crypto-windfall-disclosures-00983207\">$1.4 billion<\/a> from his crypto ventures alone in 2025. No progress was made in the weeks leading up to the August recess, which many of the bill\u2019s supporters saw as their last chance before the rapidly approaching midterms made passage too politically contentious. Once the vote was actually scheduled for September\u2014a consolation prize for the industry from the Republican Senate leadership\u2014Trump\u2019s continued refusal to come to the table on ethics looked worse and worse for the legislation\u2019s outlook as time went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then, on Sunday night, a Hail Mary from Senate Republicans in the form of a new draft with an updated ethics provision suddenly revived hope for the CLARITY Act\u2019s chances. The draft included a nod to a key demand from the Democrats to give state attorneys general the power to enforce the ethics rules instead of limiting any power to hold Trump accountable to the law to his own attorney general, as the last Republican draft proposed. But a nod is all it was. The version didn\u2019t actually give state AGs any power to bring enforcement action against the president or any other official, only the power to sue the attorney general of the United States, who still retains sole enforcement authority, to compel action. And they wouldn\u2019t even be able to do that if Trump\u2019s Office of Government Ethics, run by political appointees, decided to stop the lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A separate demand from Democrats to require Trump to divest from his existing crypto assets wasn\u2019t included at all. It would have allowed him to continue to profit off of the same business that made him that $1.4 billion in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey put in some new words that pretended to solve the problem,\u201d Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told reporters on Tuesday morning before the vote. \u201cThe changes were nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, despite the \u201cnonsense\u201d changes, it seemed, for a moment, as if the crypto-friendly Democrats in the Senate might actually fold at the last minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wouldn\u2019t be the first time. Over a year ago, a critical group of Democrats helped their Republican colleagues in the Senate advance the CLARITY Act\u2019s companion establishing a light-touch regulation framework for stablecoin (a type of crypto token designed to facilitate trading between traditional currencies and digital assets), the GENIUS Act. Back then, too, Democrats demanded an ethics provision, among other changes, to limit conflicts of interest for senior government officials issuing stablecoin. But thanks to a last-minute deal, they agreed to give away all of their leverage and advance the GENIUS Act past the filibuster\u2019s 60-vote threshold needed to move to a final vote, which only requires a simple majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last month, Trump\u2019s crypto firm World Liberty Financial was granted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.occ.gov\/topics\/charters-and-licensing\/interpretations-and-decisions\/2026\/cd1385.pdf\">conditional bank charter<\/a> by the president\u2019s handpicked comptroller of the currency, Jonathan Gould, the first step to becoming a Permitted Payment Stablecoin Issuer under the GENIUS Act.<\/p>\n\n\n<span data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" class=\"everlit-audio everlit-no-audio\" data-everlit-no-audio=\"true\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-size:16px\"><blockquote><p>For Democratic voters, crypto has become synonymous with Trump\u2019s rampant corruption and corporate America\u2019s outsized influence.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A similar scene played out earlier this year with the CLARITY Act itself during the bill\u2019s markup in the Senate Banking Committee. The banking lobby, which seemed to be losing ground to its digital counterpart in a battle to influence Congress, appeared for a minute as if it could stop the bill from advancing without a proper fix to the stablecoin yield loophole. It came right down to the wire, but a deal that was struck after the proceedings were already under way brought over Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and saved the bill in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flash forward to this past weekend, when rumors were swirling that the crypto-friendly portion of the Democratic caucus might consider a similar last-minute deal, even if it meant giving away any leverage ahead of the final vote. There was real optimism in the crypto industry that the new Republican language would be enough justification for lawmakers scared of crypto\u2019s money to concede. Politico reported that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)\u2014one of crypto\u2019s fiercest advocates in Washington, whose son also happens to run a crypto startup funded by major industry players\u2014was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/09\/14\/congress\/gillibrand-privately-urges-dems-to-advance-crypto-bill-01075514\">privately encouraging<\/a> her fellow Democrats to vote for the language as it stood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crypto lobbyists, many sporting the signature orange tie of Bitcoin enthusiasts, swarmed the capital in a final, desperate push to get their legislation over the finish line. The industry\u2019s leading advocacy group Stand With Crypto, backed by major crypto exchange Coinbase and responsible for scoring and endorsing candidates across the country, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/standwithcrypto\/status\/2099483453603377454\">posted on X<\/a> Monday morning \u201cproviding notice\u201d that they planned to \u201cscore the upcoming cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the CLARITY Act.\u201d The \u201cnotice\u201d came weeks after the organization released a slate of House endorsements but said they would hold back on the Senate until closer to the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as the Senate\u2019s first day back in session dragged on, more and more senators in the group of about a dozen possible yes votes among Democrats told reporters they still had real issues with the bill, and the ethics provision in particular. That night, on the eve of the vote, they produced a counteroffer, according to reports, even though Republicans insisted their last draft was the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/technology\/6091004-senate-blocks-clarity-act\/\">last, best, and final offer<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/punchbowl.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/ethics.pdf\">Democratic counteroffer<\/a> didn\u2019t exactly offer a shining example of stringent ethics requirements itself. It left the weak enforcement power for state attorneys general and the Office of Government Ethics\u2019 ability to shut down any lawsuit intact. The only thing it did was add in some divestment requirements for currently held assets. \u201cIt\u2019s barely a set of technical corrections,\u201d Frayer told the <em>Prospect<\/em> in a message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-the-american-prospect wp-block-embed-the-american-prospect\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Mvj7KyNELi\"><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/08\/24\/wall-street-capital-requirements-dodd-frank-act-financial-crisis\/\">The Best Protection Against Financial Crises Is Being Destroyed<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cThe Best Protection Against Financial Crises Is Being Destroyed\u201d \u2014 The American Prospect\" src=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/08\/24\/wall-street-capital-requirements-dodd-frank-act-financial-crisis\/embed\/#?secret=knqNKvqwai#?secret=Mvj7KyNELi\" data-secret=\"Mvj7KyNELi\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Efforts from lobbyists and lawmakers alike continued on Tuesday in the hours before the vote when staff for Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) abruptly shut down negotiations, according to several Democratic staffers involved in the eleventh-hour talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A year ago when the CLARITY Act landed in the Senate, its passage seemed inevitable. But after hundreds of millions of dollars and months and months of ultimately fruitless negotiations, the bill only received 49 yes votes on the floor, falling far short of the 60 needed to advance. Even Gillibrand ended up voting against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>CRYPTO\u2019S SHALLOW THREATS MAY HAVE<\/strong> been enough to force the GENIUS Act through Congress, but in the year since, the politics within the Democratic Party have seen a significant shift. Moderate Democrats spent the summer watching as candidates backed by big money consistently lost out to more progressive opponents speaking out against widespread corporate influence over American politics. More and more Democrats in competitive races are embracing the anti-crypto label\u2014and winning. This year, Democratic candidates for Congress have purchased <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bgov.com\/bloomberg-government-news\/democrats-embrace-cryptos-opposition-as-badge-of-honor-on-trail\">three times as many anti-crypto social media ads<\/a> as in 2024. The industry just suffered two major defeats by proudly anti-crypto candidates in Minnesota and Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The industry tried a brute-force strategy to muscle through deregulatory legislation with mountains of money and aggressive lobbying. But there was never any real public demand for the CLARITY Act or any comprehensive crypto legislation at all. Most consumers aren\u2019t interested in a product from what they see as a fraud-filled industry. For swing voters, crypto barely registers compared to the cost of living. And for Democratic voters, cryptocurrency has become synonymous with Trump\u2019s rampant corruption and corporate America\u2019s outsized influence over Washington politics. Lawmakers are beginning to realize supporting crypto may be more dangerous than even the hundreds of millions of dollars the industry is hanging over their heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, crypto faces a choice: spend big against the traitorous no votes in an unfavorable political environment and risk both being humiliated by major losses, and incurring the ire of a party poised to take back the majority in at least one chamber of Congress, or stand down and reveal just how empty their threats truly are. Either way, the smoke and mirrors behind the industry\u2019s electoral power is beginning to fall apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is a major blow. But the fight isn\u2019t over yet. For at least the next two years, crypto has Trump and his regulators ready to push as much of the industry\u2019s agenda as they can get through, Congress be damned. The next time progressives have an opportunity, not only will they have serious damage from these four years to undo, but they\u2019ll have to be prepared to codify real regulation into law before another administration can let the crypto industry write whatever rules it wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The crypto industry wasn\u2019t able to buy support for its biggest legislative priority in the Senate this week, despite unparalleled levels of spending in the midterms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11319,"featured_media":144833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-17T13:15:34Z","apple_news_api_id":"ff174a7e-dbbf-427c-b1ea-f8dbde9c5fdc","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-17T13:15:35Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_xdKftu_Qnyx6vjb3pxf3A","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_KJpZtL9XJAP","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen to this article:","embed_ui_title_icon":"","primary_voice":"49","guest_voice":"653","default_publication":"pblc_yPNpMjtZdBK","default_conversation_mode":false,"podcast_duration_minutes":5,"default_sonic_optimization":false,"optimizer_level":2,"default_read_alt_text":false,"default_read_urls":false,"default_skip_article_image":false,"intro_mixable":281,"outro_mixable":258,"intro_duration":8,"outro_duration":11,"intro_padding":3,"outro_padding":4,"disable_music":false},"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"9016f40ab1e11800c2856ec3ccd3eba0","_everlit_metadata_hash":"5f6e58d2cf7b0b176967e727a529a625","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_KJpZtL9XJAP?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"The crypto industry wasn\u2019t able to buy support for its biggest legislative priority in the Senate this week, despite unparalleled levels of spending in the 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This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Big Crypto Whiff - The American Prospect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senate Democrats and a small group of Republicans delivered a devastating blow to the crypto world and their once-formidable political machine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/crypto-clarity-act-senate-democrats-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Big Crypto Whiff - The American Prospect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The crypto industry wasn\u2019t able to buy support for its biggest legislative priority in the Senate this week, despite unparalleled levels of spending in the 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CLARITY","author":"Eleanor Davis-Diver","date":"July 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"After spending hundreds of millions on Congress to advance their market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, the crypto industry faces one giant obstacle: Donald Trump\u2019s corruption.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bitcoin Symbol flows into a bottomless funnel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Davis-Diver-crypto-72426.jpg?fit=1200%2C771&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Davis-Diver-crypto-72426.jpg?fit=1200%2C771&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Davis-Diver-crypto-72426.jpg?fit=1200%2C771&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, 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coins","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Davis-Diver-Project-Crypto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Davis-Diver-Project-Crypto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Davis-Diver-Project-Crypto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Davis-Diver-Project-Crypto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Davis-Diver-Project-Crypto.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140639,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/07\/08\/not-all-nepo-babies-are-trumps-sen-gillibrand-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":144824,"position":3},"title":"Not All Nepo Babies Are Trumps","author":"Fletcher Calcagno","date":"July 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"DSCC chair\u2019s 22-year-old son strikes it big in pursuit of further gamifying finance.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Money, Politics, and Power&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Money, Politics, and Power","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/power\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RDP-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139999,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/06\/18\/magic-pill-or-placebo-black-politicians-crypto-lobby\/","url_meta":{"origin":144824,"position":4},"title":"\u2018Magic Pill\u2019 or Placebo?: Black Politicians and the Crypto Lobby","author":"Susanna Beiser","date":"June 18, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Young Black congresspeople are winning their seats with support from the crypto industry. But can investing in crypto help close the racial wealth gap?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Money, Politics, and Power&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Money, Politics, and Power","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/power\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bitcoin caution sign against background of American flag and U.S. Capitol Dome","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bethune-Black-politicians-crypto-061826.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bethune-Black-politicians-crypto-061826.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bethune-Black-politicians-crypto-061826.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bethune-Black-politicians-crypto-061826.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Bethune-Black-politicians-crypto-061826.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":142631,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/08\/11\/senates-mad-dash-to-pass-something-before-midterms\/","url_meta":{"origin":144824,"position":5},"title":"The Senate\u2019s Mad Dash to Pass Something Before the Midterms","author":"David Dayen","date":"August 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a lot of sound and fury signifying next to nothing, as most of the bills the Senate passed and the ones it punted to September are doomed.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"U.S. Capitol building","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Dayen-Congress-081126.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Dayen-Congress-081126.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Dayen-Congress-081126.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Dayen-Congress-081126.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Dayen-Congress-081126.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Davis-Diver-Congress-crypto-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1299&ssl=1","author_name":"Eleanor Davis-Diver","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144824"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144856,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144824\/revisions\/144856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144824"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_taxonomy?post=144824"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_section?post=144824"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":144793,"date":"2026-09-17T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144793"},"modified":"2026-09-17T09:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:18:24","slug":"democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Democrats Fail to See the Working Class Again?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-default has-cream-background-color has-background\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-efdcd2e1 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-cream-background-color has-background has-bitter-font-family has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\"><em>Read the top story of the day in your inbox. <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/newsletter-sign-up\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sign up for the Daily Prospect newsletter here.<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_KBBEi5LlZZK?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">House Democrats are about to announce their \u201cYou Deserve Better\u201d agenda that will include a range of initiatives they promise to pass if they win control of the House in November. Understandably, Democratic leaders are trying to regain support and trust with the diverse Democratic base and the key working-class swing voters and union households that moved to support Donald Trump in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"393\" data-attachment-id=\"144301\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026_election_logo\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?fit=2550%2C979&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2550,979\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"Electin 2026 logo\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?fit=1024%2C393&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=1024%2C393&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-144301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=1024%2C393&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=300%2C115&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=768%2C295&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=1536%2C590&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=2048%2C786&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=1200%2C461&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=550%2C211&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=800%2C307&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=2000%2C768&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=780%2C299&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=400%2C154&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=706%2C271&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo-1024x393.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to surveys conducted by Democracy Corps, the most important policies in that agenda should be saving the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, and re-enacting the expanded monthly Child Tax Credit. But why is that not obvious for other researchers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(I should disclose that my wife is Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, one of the principal sponsors of the expanded monthly Child Tax Credit.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/author\/stanley-greenberg\/\">More from Stanley B. Greenberg<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have written over many decades in the <em>Prospect<\/em> that Democrats will only regain their majority when they realize that white, Black, Hispanic, and Asian working-class voters demand an economic populist and values agenda. Fortunately, for our latest polling I persuaded Randi Weingarten\u2019s American Federation of Teachers and the Voter Participation Center founded by Page Gardner to add 500 oversamples of Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters, as well as large samples of young voters and white working-class women and men under 50 years of age\u2014the genuine swing voters who are open to Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we launched, Carlos Odio of Equis Labs oversaw the Hispanic surveys, and Terrance Woodbury of HIT Strategies the Black surveys. Woodbury criticized my <em>Prospect<\/em> piece after the 2022 midterms when I wrote that Black voters were more concerned with crime than police abuse, and not much interested in Joe Biden\u2019s racial justice agenda. So now I oversee the surveys and run the reports myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democracy Corps conducted a post-election national survey in November 2024 with 2,357 actual voters, including 528 Black, 503 Hispanic, and 314 Asian voters. The survey is <a href=\"https:\/\/democracycorps.com\/battleground-surveys\/the-meaning-of-trumps-victory\/\">linked here<\/a> and deals with many reasons for the disastrous election that re-elected Trump. The election was close, and we asked respondents to choose which were the most important reasons to vote for Kamala Harris. The campaign spoke about democracy and risk of fascism, but across the base groups, the top reasons were saving the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, followed by \u201cher help with the cost of living, like the monthly Child Tax Credit, the cost of housing and small business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-attachment-id=\"144796\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/greenberg-polling-091726-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?fit=2500%2C1406&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2500,1406\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"1\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"Greenberg-Polling 091726 2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-144796\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=550%2C309&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=800%2C450&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=2000%2C1125&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=780%2C439&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=400%2C225&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2.jpg?resize=706%2C397&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-2-1024x576.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What was the response among groups that received the expanded monthly Child Tax Credit? Among Gen Z voters, 45 percent chose \u201chelp with the cost of living\u201d as the top reason to support Harris in the election, followed by the 39 percent who wanted to save the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Among the much larger group of millennials, 35 percent chose help with cost of living, just four points below saving our democracy and the battle for federal retirement programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among Black voters, 50 percent chose Harris\u2019s commitment to save the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, but the expanded monthly Child Tax Credit was tied for second place, with 38 percent choosing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among white working-class men under 50, help with the cost of living was in third place, with 39 percent choosing it. It was tied for second place with white working-class women under 50; about a third chose it. And remember, these working-class swing voters are 1 in 5 voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the post-election survey, we also asked voters for their feelings about \u201cthe higher monthly child tax credit that gave tax relief to poor, working and middle-class families with children.\u201d It was extremely popular. About 80 percent of Black voters, white working-class men under 50, Hispanics, and Asians gave warm ratings to the measure. And critically, 64 percent of Black voters, 57 percent of Hispanic women, 55 percent of white working-class men under 50, 53 percent of white union households, and 52 percent of Gen Z gave it \u201cvery warm\u201d ratings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is striking that the biggest fans of the much larger monthly Child Tax Credit are Black voters and white working-class men under 50. Democrats have an important opportunity with both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-attachment-id=\"144797\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/greenberg-polling-091726-3\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?fit=1430%2C804&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1430,804\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"Greenberg-Polling 091726 3\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-144797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=550%2C309&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=800%2C450&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=780%2C439&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=400%2C225&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?resize=706%2C397&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3.jpg?w=1430&amp;ssl=1 1430w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726-3-1024x576.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The expanded monthly Child Tax Credit had an enormous impact on society, despite its too-brief implementation. It cut child poverty in half and hunger by a quarter. It provided many in the working class help with the cost of child care and other expenses. This post-election survey for Democracy Corps \u201csees\u201d the working class, and sees the political impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is happening with other surveys that House Democratic leaders are looking at? The stakes are too important not to ask. Do the surveys under consideration have large samples of Black, Hispanic, and the youngest Gen Z voters? Are they breaking out white working-class voters under 50 years of age?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are they explicitly referencing <em>the much larger<\/em> and <em>monthly<\/em> Child Tax Credit that was clearly noticed, according to this survey?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are they allowing the current extended Child Tax Credit in the Big Beautiful Bill to color perceptions of this form of tax relief?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats are right to try to address the huge trust issues that led so many to vote for Trump. They should not fail to see the working class agan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Democratic base and working-class swing voters want action on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid and the expanded monthly Child Tax Credit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1163,"featured_media":144799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-17T13:14:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"ada01e10-de79-4e12-bd40-69d33d8c4b54","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-17T13:14:40Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AraAeEN55ThK9QGnTPYxLVA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_KBBEi5LlZZK","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen to this article:","embed_ui_title_icon":"","primary_voice":"49","guest_voice":"653","default_publication":"pblc_yPNpMjtZdBK","default_conversation_mode":false,"podcast_duration_minutes":5,"default_sonic_optimization":false,"optimizer_level":2,"default_read_alt_text":false,"default_read_urls":false,"default_skip_article_image":false,"intro_mixable":281,"outro_mixable":258,"intro_duration":8,"outro_duration":11,"intro_padding":3,"outro_padding":4,"disable_music":false},"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"8d8a24ed1326c346fb0d808fac9961ae","_everlit_metadata_hash":"750beb8696ab54349acc30f54e6323c4","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_KBBEi5LlZZK?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"The Democratic base and working-class swing voters want action on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid and the expanded monthly Child Tax Credit.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[4932],"tags":[5025,5072,6482,6922,5561,6353,6677,6748,13522],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"coauthors":[10074],"class_list":["post-144793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-affordable-care-act","tag-child-tax-credit","tag-democrats","tag-election-2026","tag-health-social-policy","tag-medicaid","tag-politics","tag-polling","tag-working-class","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Will Democrats Fail to See the Working Class Again? 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- The American Prospect","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","datePublished":"2026-09-17T09:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-17T13:18:24+00:00","description":"House Democrats are about to announce their \u201cYou Deserve Better\u201d agenda that will include a range of initiatives they promise to pass if they win control of the House in November.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","width":2000,"height":1333,"caption":"More than a thousand demonstrators marched against efforts to dismantle and defund the health care system, March 12, 2025, in Washington."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politics","item":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Will Democrats Fail to See the Working Class Again?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/","name":"The American Prospect","description":"Ideas, Politics &amp; Power","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/#organization","name":"TAP: The American Prospect","url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-cropped-TAP_Site-Logo_Tagline-scaled-1-e1760478223796.png?fit=1584%2C390&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-cropped-TAP_Site-Logo_Tagline-scaled-1-e1760478223796.png?fit=1584%2C390&ssl=1","width":1584,"height":390,"caption":"TAP: The American Prospect"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAmericanProspect\/","https:\/\/x.com\/theprospect"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ce0d988a1a7d3071997b269caf826fd8","name":"Stanley B. 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Greenberg, a founding partner of Greenberg Research, Democracy Corps, and Climate Policy &amp; Strategy, and Prospect board member, is a New York Times best-selling author and co-author of It\u2019s the Middle Class, Stupid!","url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/author\/stanley-greenberg\/"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Will Democrats Fail to See the Working Class Again?","url":"http:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/democrats-you-deserve-better-agenda-medicaid-afordable-care-act-child-tax-credit-working-class\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1"},"articleSection":"Politics","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Stanley B. 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But the lasting effects were wanting, and the politics were brutal.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economic Policy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economic Policy","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APR26-Cooper.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APR26-Cooper.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APR26-Cooper.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APR26-Cooper.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APR26-Cooper.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":143562,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/08\/28\/troy-jackson-is-looking-forward-democrats-senate-maine\/","url_meta":{"origin":144793,"position":2},"title":"Troy Jackson Is Looking Forward","author":"Thor Benson","date":"August 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Maine\u2019s U.S. Senate candidate poses the strongest challenge to Susan Collins of her career.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Troy Jackson points to supporters at the nominating convention in Maine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Benson-ME-Troy-Jackson-082826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Benson-ME-Troy-Jackson-082826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Benson-ME-Troy-Jackson-082826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Benson-ME-Troy-Jackson-082826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Benson-ME-Troy-Jackson-082826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139410,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/06\/08\/jun-2026-encircling-royalists-democrats-economics\/","url_meta":{"origin":144793,"position":3},"title":"Encircling the Royalists","author":"Susanna Beiser","date":"June 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Democrats finally show up to the class war.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"Tax the Rich\" sign displayed at a political rally","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JUN26-Meyerson.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JUN26-Meyerson.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JUN26-Meyerson.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JUN26-Meyerson.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/JUN26-Meyerson.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140278,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/06\/29\/bad-week-for-billionaires-california-tax-new-york-dsa\/","url_meta":{"origin":144793,"position":4},"title":"A Bad Week for Billionaires","author":"Susanna Beiser","date":"June 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Losing New York to socialists, facing a wealth tax election in California\u2014our oligarchs begin to suspect that Americans may not like them very much.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sen. 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Its architect sees it as a battle plan for the midterms.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) stands on the House steps ouside the Capitol","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dayen-on-Tap-042926.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dayen-on-Tap-042926.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dayen-on-Tap-042926.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dayen-on-Tap-042926.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Dayen-on-Tap-042926.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Greenberg-Polling-091726.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","author_name":"Stanley B. Greenberg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144793"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144855,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144793\/revisions\/144855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144793"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_taxonomy?post=144793"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_section?post=144793"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":144801,"date":"2026-09-16T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144801"},"modified":"2026-09-16T15:30:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:30:47","slug":"unbearable-lightness-of-pete-hegseth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/16\/unbearable-lightness-of-pete-hegseth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unbearable Lightness of Pete Hegseth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_aRgzSOY98lP?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yesterday, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky filed a well-deserved impeachment resolution against Pete Hegseth, <a href=\"https:\/\/massie.house.gov\/news\/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395853\">on eight specific charges<\/a>. And he filed it as a privileged resolution, which requires the House to act within two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also yesterday, seven Republicans voted with Democrats to invoke the War Powers Act against President Trump\u2019s undeclared war in Iran. The impact of the vote is only symbolic, but the fact that it got seven Republicans suggests that Massie just might peel off a few colleagues to vote to impeach Hegseth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the House divided 218-to-214, it would only take Massie plus two more. At the very least, forcing a record vote on impeaching Hegseth would be a huge embarrassment to Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/author\/robert-kuttner\/\">More from Robert Kuttner<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response, House Speaker Mike Johnson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/09\/16\/congress\/johnson-cancels-another-house-session-day-01079318\">abruptly changed the schedule this morning<\/a>, sending the House home Wednesday, in order to avoid the impeachment vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.majorityleader.gov\/schedule\/weekly-schedule.htm\">The previously published schedule<\/a> by Majority Leader Steve Scalise had the House staying in session through this week, which would force a vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their ability to go into recess early is the handiwork of two faithless Democrats. On Tuesday, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state joined with Republicans to pass a rule to set up votes on bills to give Trump new powers to sanction Russia\u2019s trading partners and to roll back some EPA regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With this last bit of needed business done, it\u2019s not yet clear when the House will go into recess. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/16\/house-democrats-press-johnson-to-stay-in-session-and-address-ai-safeguards-01078709\">Democrats have urged Johnson to keep the House in session<\/a> to take up AI legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, with unerring timing, Hegseth has just issued orders that only the \u201cfittest\u201d troops will be welcome at his speech September 30 on the sad state of the military. This speech will echo his command-performance Quantico speech of last year for senior officers in which Hegseth disparaged \u201cfat generals\u201d and \u201cbeardos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/national-security\/pentagon-seeks-fit-troops-for-upcoming-hegseth-speech-45626103\">In an email sent Tuesday to Army commanders<\/a>, Hegseth\u2019s office explained that this year\u2019s event will include lower-ranking officers and NCOs. But to attend the event, service members must display a set \u201cwaist-to-height ratio\u201d as well as \u201cimpeccable grooming and uniform standards (no exception).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But of course, the true sad state of the military, with its badly depleted weapons and purged ranks of competent senior generals and civilian officials, is Hegseth\u2019s own handiwork, as two just-released reports about failed preparations for the Iran war make all too clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to new findings by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/publication\/62756\">Congressional Budget Office<\/a>, the Iran war has cost the Pentagon $38.1 billion through August 1 and will cost another $2 billion to $3 billion for each additional month of fighting. The CBO also found that the U.S. has used about two-thirds of its missile-defense interceptors since June 2025, and that replenishing them could take at least five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border is-vertical is-content-justification-stretch is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14603c61 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-bitter-font-family\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\">Today on TAP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-bitter-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:18px\">This story first appeared in our free <em>Today on TAP<\/em> newsletter, a weekday email featuring commentary on the daily news from <em>Prospect<\/em> reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-block-newspack-newsletters-subscribe newspack-newsletters-subscribe is-style-modern\" data-success-message=\"Thank you for signing up!\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<form id=\"newspack-subscribe-4\" data-newspack-recaptcha=\"newspack_newsletter_signup\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"newspack_newsletters_subscribe\" value=\"1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"lists[]\" value=\"14\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-email-input\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input id=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe-block-input-75966-email\" type=\"email\" name=\"npe\" autocomplete=\"email\" placeholder=\"Email Address\" value=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"nphp\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" name=\"email\" type=\"email\" autocomplete=\"off\" placeholder=\"Email Address\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"submit-button has-background-color has-secondary-variation-background-color\" type=\"submit\" style=\"background-color: #7f0000;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"submit\">Sign up<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/form>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__response\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__icon\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-newsletters-subscribe__message\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The just-released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dodig.mil\/reports.html\/Article\/4600623\/operation-epic-fury-oef\/\">Pentagon Inspector General Report<\/a> adds that Iranian counterattacks damaged or destroyed \u201chundreds of buildings and structures\u201d at U.S. military bases in \u201cKuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to the latest CBO and IG reports on weapons depletion, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/middle-east\/the-u-s-is-burning-through-its-supply-of-interceptors-to-counter-irans-attacks-f42c5ecd\"><em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em> reports<\/a> that the military had to use 70 or more high-end interceptor Patriot and THAAD missiles on just one recent Iranian attack on Jordan. They take years to replace. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/market-data\/quotes\/LMT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lockheed Martin<\/a>, which makes the Patriots, produced a record <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/national-security\/lockheed-martin-to-raise-pac-3-capacity-in-defense-department-deal-a1e11e5f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">620 of the interceptors in 2025<\/a> but is nowhere near its target of 2,000 a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the Iran war is not only failing to reach its goals but is leaving the U.S. stripped of key defensive weapons systems needed in other, more strategic theaters, Hegseth\u2019s obsession with the appearance and testosterone level of troops is the counterpart of Trump\u2019s fixation with the Mall reflecting pool\u2014a delusionary distraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hegseth\u2019s demand that only trim, fit, and well-shaven officers will be welcome at his September 30 address is a signal for the troops to go on fast-food binges and grow Wall Street\u2013style beard stubble in order to be rejected, just as men in my generation worked to flunk their Vietnam draft physicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s all too fitting that the secretary of war is fixated on appearances. Trump appointed the utterly unqualified Hegseth only because he looked good on Fox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hegseth has repeatedly denied that the military is short of defensive weapons. With the Iran war in a state of costly and endless stalemate, you have to wonder why Trump keeps Hegseth around. Let\u2019s see if he is still there on September 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the military is running out of missiles, the secretary of war is fixated on whether the troops are adequately toned and testosteroned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1553,"featured_media":144800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-16T19:29:33Z","apple_news_api_id":"94312e34-cfee-4599-842b-8e3a5e96a7f1","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-16T19:29:34Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AlDEuNM_uRZmEK446Xpan8Q","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_aRgzSOY98lP","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen to this article:","embed_ui_title_icon":"","primary_voice":"49","guest_voice":"653","default_publication":"pblc_yPNpMjtZdBK","default_conversation_mode":false,"podcast_duration_minutes":5,"default_sonic_optimization":false,"optimizer_level":2,"default_read_alt_text":false,"default_read_urls":false,"default_skip_article_image":false,"intro_mixable":281,"outro_mixable":258,"intro_duration":8,"outro_duration":11,"intro_padding":3,"outro_padding":4,"disable_music":false},"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"a3edce1c8e4e49804542ce381837819c","_everlit_metadata_hash":"92bad0fcc0e765d443f98b9a08215540","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_aRgzSOY98lP?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.2.14\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Today on TAP: While the military is running out of missiles, the secretary of war is fixated on whether the troops are adequately toned and testosteroned.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[4941],"tags":[5726,6030,5247,6961,5279,6458,7229,5720,14280,6012,7867,14054,13911],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"coauthors":[9920],"class_list":["post-144801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tap","tag-congress","tag-congressional-budget-office","tag-defense-department","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-mike-johnson","tag-military","tag-missiles","tag-blogs-tap","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-thomas-massie","tag-weaponry","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - 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Who\u2019s next?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Newsletters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Newsletters","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/blogs-and-newsletters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies at a congressional hearing.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kuttner-on-Tap-040326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kuttner-on-Tap-040326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kuttner-on-Tap-040326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kuttner-on-Tap-040326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kuttner-on-Tap-040326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136234,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/04\/03\/apr-2026-magazine-finally-anti-woke-war-iran\/","url_meta":{"origin":144801,"position":3},"title":"Finally, an Anti-Woke War","author":"Francesca Fiorentini","date":"April 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"America refuses a prolonged DEI quagmire.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/APR26-Parting-Shot.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/APR26-Parting-Shot.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/APR26-Parting-Shot.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/APR26-Parting-Shot.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/APR26-Parting-Shot.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":137038,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/04\/13\/reenacting-the-crusades-pete-hegseth-maga-trump-evangelical-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":144801,"position":4},"title":"Re-enacting the Crusades","author":"Harold Meyerson","date":"April 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Pete Hegseth\u2019s Christianity\u2014tribal, with plenty of enemies who deserve the sword\u2014is central to the MAGA worldview.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Meyerson-Crusader-Christianity-041316.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Meyerson-Crusader-Christianity-041316.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Meyerson-Crusader-Christianity-041316.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Meyerson-Crusader-Christianity-041316.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Meyerson-Crusader-Christianity-041316.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138531,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/05\/15\/aftermath-trump-wrecking-us-military-iran-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":144801,"position":5},"title":"Aftermath: Trump Is Wrecking the U.S. Military","author":"Susanna Beiser","date":"May 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Not our precious troops! No! No!!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;America and the World&quot;","block_context":{"text":"America and the World","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sailor stands watch on the USS Gerald R. Ford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aftermath-051526.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aftermath-051526.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aftermath-051526.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aftermath-051526.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aftermath-051526.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kuttner-on-Tap-091626.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","author_name":"Robert Kuttner","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144801"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144810,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144801\/revisions\/144810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144801"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_taxonomy?post=144801"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_section?post=144801"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":144752,"date":"2026-09-16T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144752"},"modified":"2026-09-25T11:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:44:20","slug":"oct-2026-a-path-to-a-texas-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/16\/oct-2026-a-path-to-a-texas-breakthrough\/","title":{"rendered":"A Path to a Texas Breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_ayv5UyRAqJP?client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:19px\"><em>This article appears in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/archive\/oct-2026-issue\/\">October 2026<\/a>\u00a0issue of<\/em>\u00a0The American Prospect\u00a0<em>magazine.<\/em>\u00a0<em>If you\u2019d like to receive our next issue in your mailbox, please\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/simplecirc.com\/subscribe\/the-american-prospect\">subscribe here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">LOCKHART, TEXAS \u2013 \u201cBeto broke my heart,\u201d Jen tells me. \u201cI told myself, \u2018I\u2019m not going to engage.\u2019\u201d She shakes her head. \u201cBut then \u2026 he\u201d\u2014she nods to the stage\u2014\u201cspoke the language of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"393\" data-attachment-id=\"144301\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026_election_logo\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?fit=2550%2C979&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2550,979\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"Electin 2026 logo\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?fit=1024%2C393&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=1024%2C393&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-144301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=1024%2C393&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=300%2C115&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=768%2C295&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=1536%2C590&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=2048%2C786&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=1200%2C461&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=550%2C211&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=800%2C307&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=2000%2C768&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=780%2C299&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=400%2C154&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo.png?resize=706%2C271&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026_Election_logo-1024x393.png?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jen is a Sunday school teacher from South Austin who has driven two hours with a friend from church to see another Sunday school teacher: James Talarico, the Texas Democratic Senate candidate whose campaign raises bittersweet memories of 2018, when Beto O\u2019Rourke lost to Ted Cruz by about the population of two well-attended SEC football games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The close miss has made some progressives rather cynical about Talarico\u2019s chances. Though his fundraising efforts (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/candidate\/S6TX00479\/\">$72 million and counting<\/a>) have set records, O\u2019Rourke set records first. Talarico has big rallies, but O\u2019Rourke had even bigger ones. O\u2019Rourke was also beloved by the national media. O\u2019Rourke also saw high enthusiasm among Democratic voters. Both men had clownishly unlikable goons for opponents: Cruz for O\u2019Rourke, current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for Talarico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And O\u2019Rourke lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jen, analysts, armchair pundits, and other supporters have seized upon Talarico\u2019s earnest and skillful deployment of his Christian faith as a point of difference between now and then. Talarico is on leave from seminary, but regularly ministers to audiences, podcast hosts, and his fellow state legislators, offering lessons about how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/articles\/education\/2026\/04\/21\/549758\/texas-ten-commandments-5th-circuit-court-2\/\">displaying the Ten Commandments<\/a> (as schools may in Texas) is un-Christian and deporting immigrants violates the edict to love thy neighbor. The popular theory is that this time, Talarico\u2019s wholesome youth pastor routine will peel off some of the churchgoers who have so decisively fueled the MAGA movement. It is difficult to find a story in the national press that does not mention this.<\/p>\n\n\n<span data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" class=\"everlit-audio everlit-no-audio\" data-everlit-no-audio=\"true\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-small-font-size\"><blockquote><p>Talarico is inspiring such an outpouring of cash that hundreds of small donors have hit the $3,500 contribution limit.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his stump speech, Talarico talks about \u201cservant leadership,\u201d Christian jargon that might sound nonsensical to a non-churchgoer but is the kind of thing Jen probably talks about regularly in Sunday school. He <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TeamTalaricoHQ\/status\/2050719554142122479\">tells the story<\/a> of an Amazon worker who died on a warehouse floor and how, reportedly, managers instructed his colleagues to turn their backs and keep working: \u201cThat was a human being, a child of God. That was our sibling sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis man speaks Bible,\u201d Jen says. \u201cHe speaks the other side\u2019s language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have my doubts about the durability of this theory. So far, polling does not show Talarico making much of a dent among white evangelicals in Texas, who supported Ted Cruz with 79 percent of the vote and support Paxton with 78 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Talarico is polling consistently, if only marginally, ahead, and O\u2019Rourke did not. Maybe it\u2019s time to become a believer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cWE ARE PEOPLE-POWERED AND WE ARE PUPPY-POWERED!\u201d <\/strong>exclaims the Talarico campaign staffer to a crowd of 100 or so who have gathered, with their dogs, in the courtyard of a North Austin brewpub. She leads us in a chant: \u201cThis is what community looks like!\u201d The response is a little less than full-throated, likely because the temperature has also reached three figures. What\u2019s more, Talarico has not arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The audience keeps cool under overhead tarps, creating breezes with Texas-shaped fans emblazoned with Talarico\u2019s logo and a handy QR code. They are drinking cold beer from pint glasses or cold water from Texas flag\u2013printed water bowls, depending on whether they have thumbs. There are Talarico-themed coloring pages and free crayons. Dogs and people alike wear Talarico T-shirts, or have Talarico buttons pinned to their breasts and their collars. Inside the taproom, an Austin Humane Society volunteer presides over a litter of Anatolian shepherd mixes who are available for both permanent adoption and temporary, immediate snuggling. (There is a line for the latter.) Volunteers with clipboards politely buttonhole anyone standing still for more than 30 seconds: \u201cAre you registered to vote? Do you need to check if you\u2019re registered to vote?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-default has-cream-background-color has-background\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-efdcd2e1 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-cream-background-color has-background has-bitter-font-family has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\"><em>This article was featured in the Daily Prospect newsletter. <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/newsletter-sign-up\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sign up for it here.<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before Talarico speaks, the emcee oversees canine races in three categories: puppy, small dog, and medium dog. The competitions devolve into adorable chaos; owners not paying attention to the category, pups gleefully bouncing around the track with no mind to the finish line. When the winners (as near they can be divined) and their people get their chance at the mic, the emcee asks the humans why they\u2019ve come: \u201cJames makes me proud to be a native Texan,\u201d says one. \u201cI\u2019ve never felt more hopeful about the future of Texas,\u201d says another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talarico finally comes onto the stage, dressed in a heat-index-defying outfit of dark jeans, white Oxford, and dark blazer. He states the obvious\u2014\u201cThis is probably the cutest campaign event I have ever attended\u201d\u2014and the applause is more rapturous as attendees crowd the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, he gets to the point: He has a record of protecting dogs in Texas and his opponent, Ken Paxton, has a record of protecting animal abusers. Talarico has receipts for these claims: He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/pet-boarding-safety-bill-clears-110416060.html\">helped pass<\/a> legislation requiring boarding kennels to notify pet parents if they do not have a fire suppression system or if their dogs will be left alone at any point. (This law was inspired by a horrific fire over in Georgetown, a tragedy dog owners still talk about in trembling voices.) Meanwhile, the campaign refreshed old news about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcdfw.com\/news\/local\/activists-seek-animal-testing-records-from-texas-university\/1983872\/\">Paxton stonewalling an investigation into abusive practices at a university lab<\/a> and how, as a state representative, he <a href=\"https:\/\/d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net\/texashumane\/pages\/87\/attachments\/original\/1458777369\/Texas_Humane_Scorecard_2011.pdf\">voted against a measure<\/a> that forced those convicted of animal abuse to pay for the care of their victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-attachment-id=\"145347\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/oct26-cox-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,800\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"OCT26 Cox 2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;The \u201cPuppies for Talarico\u201d event was indicative of his campaign: a fresh-faced, community-minded reformer versus a dour, corrupt opponent.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-145347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=550%2C367&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-2-1024x683.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The \u201cPuppies for Talarico\u201d event was indicative of his campaign: a fresh-faced, community-minded reformer versus a dour, corrupt opponent. <span class=\"image-credit\"><span class=\"credit-label-wrapper\">Credit:<\/span> Bob Daemmrich\/ZUMA Press Wire\/Alamy.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKen Paxton is anti-puppy,\u201d Talarico says. \u201cKen Paxton will never defend the little guy, even when the little guy in question is literally a puppy.\u201d He deftly knots together the afternoon\u2019s focus with the campaign\u2019s most central themes, affordability and corruption: \u201cI\u2019ve already told some of the dogs that are here that the best way to get on Ken Paxton\u2019s good side is to become a billionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(To be exactingly fair to Paxton, in July he instigated an investigation of a Texas puppy mill for deceptive marketing and substandard care. As a dog lover myself, I am hoping for an escalation in claims about which candidate is truly better on dogs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After that, staff herd Talarico to an area where they\u2019ve set up a Texas flag backdrop, and he spends a good 45 minutes taking pictures with the attendees, as well as their dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>THERE ARE NO DOGS<\/strong> at Paxton\u2019s campaign stop. Eventually there is a line for photos, sans the Instagram-ready backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paxton is at The Angry Elephant, a MAGA-themed suburban bar and grill outside San Antonio. Their logo is an elephant with bulging biceps, and you can buy a shirt that says \u201cOnly You Can Prevent Communism\u201d or one with a picture of President Trump\u2019s raised fist after his attempted assassination. Their menu includes items like \u201cThe Antifa Dog\u201d (\u201cWill set your mouth on fire\u201d) and \u201cThe Ron DeSantis Cheeseburger\u201d (\u201cTake off the mask \u2026 and grab a napkin\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though they regularly host events for local conservative politicians, they are not prepared for the crowd here to see Ken Paxton on a hot August afternoon. The line stretches across the strip mall and the venue is packed cheek to cheek, even as the intro speakers are wrapping up. Paxton staffers have a hard time wrangling attendees to sign in with names and phone numbers as they press inside. There is no merch table or register-to-vote station, but people are ordering cocktails from two women in thin tank tops behind the bar. Everyone else is in MAGA casual rather than anything Paxton-branded: red, white, blue, lots of Trump, and a T-shirt cameo from Ruthless, the bizarro-world answer to Pod Save America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paxton ambles onstage and, after cycling through thank-yous to local officials, begins his speech asking the audience to close their eyes. Given Paxton\u2019s soft, sibilant speaking style, I prepare mentally for some campaign ASMR, but lulling us to sleep is the last thing he has in mind. \u201cI want you to envision what you imagine a Texas senator being like,\u201d he says. \u201cNow, I want you to throw in that he\u2019s a vegan and he hates Texas cattle and Texas barbecue.\u201d The audience chuckles. They know where this is going. \u201cNow imagine that your next senator, his job, he\u2019s a DEI counselor \u2026 he advises school districts on woke policies.\u201d Some chuckles, again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These lines of attack against Talarico are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.notus.org\/campaigns\/talarico-paxton-republicans-texas-senate-masculinity-attacks\">familiar to anyone<\/a> who\u2019s been paying even half-hearted attention to the race. I peek and am fascinated to see that Paxton has closed his own eyes. \u201cOK, the next one is \u2026 imagine your next Texas senator hates the oil and gas industry and tried to pass a law that would have basically created Biden administration policies here and harmed jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are not especially vivid cues or even strictly visual ones (how do you picture someone hating the oil and gas industry?), but you can sense a little surge of expectation, the sense that red meat is about to be thrown. Paxton commands us to open our eyes and says, \u201cThat\u2019s the definition of a bad dream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The punch line falls loosely into the friendly crowd, and there\u2019s a half-beat before they laugh. He repeats it: \u201cLet\u2019s not live that dream. That\u2019s a bad dream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This event is supposed to be a rollout for Paxton\u2019s affordability policies, but it unfolds with more resentment and defensiveness than enthusiasm. Paxton says he\u2019s on his \u201c17th month\u201d traveling the state since he announced his run for Senate, and \u201cdespite the fact that <em>Houston Chronicle<\/em> says I\u2019m not working very hard, I feel like I\u2019m working pretty darn hard.\u201d He rushes along. \u201cSo, what have I heard? I know that people are hurting. Texans are hurting. Americans are hurting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-attachment-id=\"145346\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/oct26-cox-3\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,800\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"OCT26 Cox 3\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Ken Paxton\u2019s checkered record gives Talarico a deep well of corruption scandals to choose from.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-145346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=550%2C367&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=800%2C533&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-3-1024x683.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ken Paxton\u2019s checkered record gives Talarico a deep well of corruption scandals to choose from. <span class=\"image-credit\"><span class=\"credit-label-wrapper\">Credit:<\/span> Julio Cortez\/AP Photo.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After an obligatory reference to Joe Biden being the cause for today\u2019s economic woes two years into the Trump administration, Paxton plows quickly through four policies to \u201cprotect Texas\u2019s promise.\u201d Except for doubling child \u201cTrump accounts,\u201d they are tax deductions: $50,000 for the purchase of your home, another $50,000 if you buy a second one (Paxton has an expansive definition of \u201churting\u201d), $25,000 in health care expenses, and $5,000 for \u201chealthy living\u201d expenses. He starts listing what those expenses might be (gym membership, sports equipment) and then calls out to one of the local officials who opened for him: \u201cAnd, Donna, even doctor-prescribed GLP-1s \u2026 not that anyone here would be taking them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Midway through his speech, he is interrupted by protesters yelling, \u201cPaxton protects pedophiles.\u201d They are ejected into the parking lot and carry on with a handful of audience members more interested in tangling with the opposition than listening to Paxton, who has moved on to relitigate Talarico\u2019s culture-war offenses. (He\u2019s not a real Christian, wants boys in girls\u2019 sports, thinks there are six sexes, etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPedophile protector\u201d is an accusation with a specific origin beyond Paxton\u2019s warm relationship with Jeffrey Epstein associate Donald Trump. This year, Paxton arranged a plea deal for a Waco attorney named Adam Hoffman who sexually abused one of his son\u2019s friends over three years. Paxton\u2019s office knocked the charges down from a Class A felony to a misdemeanor, and the penalty from life imprisonment without parole to 30 days, with no requirement to register as a sex offender. The original offer would only have required one actual day in jail, with credit for time served, but the judge, outraged (to quote directly: \u201cSeriously?\u201d), demanded more. During the primary, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn released a statement on the episode, calling it \u201cone of the most outrageous examples of leniency towards a violent criminal in modern Texas history.\u201d Talarico has <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jamestalarico\/status\/2075394094906413062\">urged that Paxton\u2019s office release<\/a> the \u201cHoffman Files,\u201d which he has officially rejected. In September, Talarico released a campaign spot about the deal, the rare attack ad that really earns the grainy black-and-white aesthetic and ominous tones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paxton closes his visit to The Angry Elephant with a photo line. I talk with the people waiting about why they\u2019re there: \u201cI don\u2019t want Texas to turn purple.\u201d \u201cWe gotta win.\u201d \u201cI agree with all the values.\u201d Only one gentleman refuses to engage when I ask why he\u2019s there. \u201cYou figure it out,\u201d he says, and turns his back to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>IT\u2019S ONLY SLIGHTLY UNFAIR TO COMPARE<\/strong> these two events directly. For one thing, \u201cPuppies for Talarico\u201d is not an especially typical stop. It was in Central Texas, where Talarico has no need to gin up votes; he spends more of his time in swing districts, especially Latino strongholds up and down the Rio Grande. It was not especially large. There were no new policy announcements or much policy at all. Conversely, Talarico\u2019s multi-stop \u201cNew American Dream\u201d tour took him to expanded venues with big-screen backdrops and featured a speech with 11 separate legislative proposals to address affordability, from canceling medical debt to passing universal child care and paid family leave. (The speech mentioned Paxton twice.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But \u201cPuppies for Talarico\u201d was indicative of the kind of race Talarico is running, fueled by $72 million in donations and acres of media attention. It\u2019s the kind of event you can hold when you have extra bandwidth and extra volunteers, when your logistics team isn\u2019t scrambling. It\u2019s imaginative and well organized, and those candidate pix with people\u2019s pups are social media gold. And it meshed perfectly with Talarico\u2019s preferred narrative for the campaign: A fresh-faced, community-minded reformer versus a cruel criminal whose behavior breaks not just political norms, but social ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether the Angry Elephant event is representative of Paxton\u2019s candidacy is a bit harder to say, because there aren\u2019t many Paxton events. You can\u2019t find much on the bare-bones campaign website. I read about the Angry Elephant thing in the news. Paxton\u2019s press contact has a Gmail address. The website does have a place to sign up for news or to become a \u201cPaxton Patriot.\u201d I reluctantly added my name in late July (for science!) and I have received one email since. Far be it from me to complain about not getting enough solicitations from a political campaign, but if this was his outreach, no wonder that by the end of the summer, he had raised $16 million, less than a quarter of Talarico\u2019s haul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This weak showing was, however, less about Paxton\u2019s failure to send all-caps text messages or emails with alarming subject lines and more of a testament to how thoroughly he alienated most of Texas\u2019s Republican ruling class. Large donors held back from his campaign, many reportedly resentful about the ugly primary fight with Cornyn that Paxton insisted on starting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/austin\/2026\/07\/16\/cornyn-paxton-talarico-fundraising-texas-senate\">According to Axios<\/a>, almost 100 donors gave at least $50,000 to Cornyn\u2019s campaign or a supporting political action committee. As of July, how many of that group had given to Ken Paxton? Zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By contrast, Talarico inspired such an outpouring of cash that hundreds of small donors giving $15 or $20 at a time managed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonsun.com\/money\/james-talarico-campaign-money-excessive-contributions\">hit the $3,500 contribution limit<\/a> for the general election, and the campaign had to refund them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conservatives with deep pockets have held grudges about the stunt lawsuits that Paxton files so he can issue a new press release. (By my count, the AG office puts out at least five or six announcements a week touting one legal action or another.) A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/elections\/ken-paxton-scrambles-to-win-back-the-gops-big-dollar-donors-29689c87\">review<\/a> by <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em> found that Paxton attacked over 30 businesses or people who collectively contributed $38.5 million to state and national Republican causes in the past two years. The paper described one target as being \u201cannoyed\u201d by fundraising appeals that came after being named as a defendant. Another lauded Paxton\u2019s fundraising efforts in general, but when asked about plans to donate himself, told the <em>Journal<\/em>, \u201cabsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cornyn himself has gleefully shed responsibility for Paxton\u2019s fate. He has denigrated his former opponent with a lusty enthusiasm he rarely showed on the campaign trail, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2026\/08\/28\/john-cornyn-ken-paxton-texas-fundraising-talarico-senate-race\/\">telling<\/a> The Texas Tribune that Paxton is a \u201cpoor campaigner\u201d who is \u201clazy and doesn\u2019t raise money.\u201d Cornyn\u2019s (accurate) analysis of the race: Paxton \u201cis not offering a very compelling case for his election. He\u2019s making this harder than it needs to be.\u201d It didn\u2019t get any easier with the announcement that one of Cornyn\u2019s own staffers signed on to the Talarico campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s hard to convey to outsiders who are familiar with Texas\u2019s famously punchable junior senator, Ted Cruz, exactly how awful Paxton is, how he could be any worse than the cringey goober who lectured about personal responsibility while escaping to Cancun during the Big Freeze. Think of it this way: Cruz is disliked. Paxton is distrusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is objectively one of the most corrupt politicians in Texas, a state in which a lobbyist once handed out literal blank checks to lawmakers on the Senate floor without running into legal trouble. (A local prosecutor explained to <em>The New York Times<\/em>: \u201cIn Texas, it\u2019s almost impossible to bribe a public official as long as you report it.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paxton was indicted on security fraud charges in 2015 (dropped in 2024) and was the subject of a Justice Department corruption probe through 2024. Three years ago, Paxton became the third Texas politician in state history to be impeached. The allegations were brought forward by four whistleblowers from his own office: three deputy attorneys general, and a 48-year veteran of law enforcement and former Texas Ranger. (The former Ranger has now cut a commercial for Talarico.) These formal complaints resulted in charges of bribery, corruption, abuse of office, dereliction of duty, disregard of duty, abuse of public trust, and unfitness for office. The Republican-led House voted 121-23 (all the Democrats and two-thirds of the Republicans) to move 20 articles to the Senate. One count alleged that Paxton had granted an Austin real estate developer favorable treatment in exchange for hiring Paxton\u2019s mistress. Paxton\u2019s wife, Angela Paxton, was among the state senators in the chamber to hear that testimony, having been recused from voting on his conviction but asked to stay present to keep the two-thirds majority needed to convict more surely out of Democrats\u2019 reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republicans voted down party lines to acquit Paxton on all charges, but he was hardly found innocent. Last year, Angela Paxton announced she was divorcing him \u201con biblical grounds\u201d and it emerged that he was having a <em>new<\/em> affair with a \u201cChristian influencer and grief counselor.\u201d In July, the couple were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/article-15936929\/Ken-Paxton-US-Senate-campaign-Iceland-mistress.html\">spotted canoodling<\/a> in the boarding area of a red-eye flight to Reykjavik. I would also like to flee Texas for Iceland in the middle of summer, but I am not running a close race against the most well-funded Senate candidate in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>THE TALARICO CAMPAIGN HAS CHERRY-PICKED<\/strong> from the deep catalog all of Paxton\u2019s questionable decisions and shady maneuvers. The selection is varied enough that they have left aside his personal life entirely to focus on, among other things, the puppy-hating, his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/08\/10\/us\/paxton-cell-tower-company-texas-senate.html\">suspiciously large real estate portfolio<\/a>, the fact that he appears to have voted in a district he didn\u2019t live in, and an incident in which State Capitol security cameras caught him <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/08\/20\/us\/ken-paxton-montblanc-pen.html\">stealing another man\u2019s pen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the primary, Cornyn was not as decorous as Talarico, and released two ads about Paxton\u2019s extramarital adventures, one an AI-generated spoof of the B-52s\u2019 \u201cLove Shack\u201d (\u201cKen\u2019s Love Shack\u201d) and his own grim, grainy spot accusing \u201ccrooked Ken\u201d of \u201cwrecking another home\u201d and \u201csleeping around with a married mother of seven\u201d <em>as well as<\/em> becoming rich while in office. Who do you want representing you, the ad asked, \u201cthe wife cheater and fraud, or the Texas workhorse\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paxton smoked Cornyn in the Republican runoff by 28 points. True, he was helped along by an extremely late Trump endorsement that might say more about Trump sensing a win in progress than the power of the endorsement itself. Paxton was ahead in polls\u2014and early voting, when 60 percent of the ballots were cast, was in progress when Trump bestowed his favor. But to the question \u201cWho do Texas Republicans want representing them?\u201d Texans answered: The cheater and fraud. After all, they have voted for the Cheater and Fraud in Chief three times before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cornyn\u2019s expensive misadventure\u2014he raised $26 million to Paxton\u2019s $8 million\u2014holds a lesson for Talarico supporters, but it may not be the one that comes immediately to a panicky mind. Paxton\u2019s victory is not a cautionary tale about his ability to withstand an honest recounting of his blemished record despite being massively outspent. Rather, it suggests that pandering to the MAGA base with culture-war shit and slavish devotion to Trump is the <em>only<\/em> thing that can triumph over his blemished record.<\/p>\n\n\n<span data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" class=\"everlit-audio everlit-no-audio\" data-everlit-no-audio=\"true\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-size:16px\"><blockquote><p>Texans are facing the consequences of years of Republican rule, and they appear to be catching on to the grift.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paxton believes he can draw from this tired playbook again. His campaign, as witnessed at The Angry Elephant, is short on policy that has to do with anyone\u2019s everyday lives and extremely long on locker-room jibes at Talarico\u2019s masculinity, either by implication (he\u2019s either vegan or doesn\u2019t love meat *enough*) or literally (calling him \u201ctoo low-T for Texas\u201d). There are also the usual darts of xenophobia (he\u2019s soft on immigration!) and transphobia (he wants to trans our kids!) and attempts to paint Talarico\u2019s social justice\u2013inflected Christianity as heretical and strange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Texans are facing the consequences of years of Republican rule that has centered on these sideshows to distract from their real work: dismantling the social safety net and enriching themselves and their associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Texans appear to be catching on to the grift. You can see this in polling on Texas voter priorities, which are gratingly misaligned with the messages Paxton and his compatriots are running on. In other words, the polls that should give Talarico supporters the most hope don\u2019t have his name on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Immigration has been the overwhelming top issue for Republicans in Texas for a decade, with <a href=\"https:\/\/texaspolitics.utexas.edu\/chart\/trend-percent-texans-saying-immigration-or-border-security-texas-most-important-problem\">some polls<\/a> showing it as the biggest concern for upwards of 60 percent of Republican voters. It was the top concern of over 40 percent of independents as recently as February 2024. Today, 23 percent of Republicans consider it the most pressing issue, and 11 percent of independents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new top priority, across the board: the economy, inflation, and higher prices. Polls break these categories out in different ways, but the findings are consistent. A <a href=\"https:\/\/texaspolitics.utexas.edu\/set\/most-important-issue-facing-texas-august-2026#party-id\">UT\/Texas Politics Project<\/a> poll has <a href=\"https:\/\/texaspolitics.utexas.edu\/blog\/new-ut-texas-politics-project-poll-finds-talarico-leading-paxton-abbott-leading-hinojosa-continued-resistance-to-data-centers-2#OtherRaces\">tracked<\/a> the number of Texans naming an economic issue as the most important problem facing the state compared to immigration. The graphs are almost perfect inversions: the economy in the single digits since 2016 or so, and then spiking to 33 percent for both Democrats <em>and<\/em> Republicans this summer, plus 39 percent of independents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/news\/talarico-leads-paxton-texas-voters-rank-affordability-top-concern-poll-finds\">Texas Public Opinion Research poll<\/a> asking voters to name their top two issues, 50 percent responded with affordability and cost of living as either their first (30 percent) or second choice (20 percent). Over 20 percent selected health care access as their first or second choice. Immigration isn\u2019t even on their minds. Asked which candidate \u201cwould do more to tackle issues with cost-of-living and improve the financial situation of everyday Texans,\u201d respondents said Talarico over Paxton, 48 percent to 38 percent. It\u2019s difficult to score points off of Talarico\u2019s fictitious barbecue order when voters are having trouble <a href=\"https:\/\/thefacts.com\/news\/rising-beef-prices-turn-texas-barbecue-into-a-luxury\/article_d7f99201-5a53-49f3-b0d8-30eeaebecfb5.html\">scraping up the cash<\/a> for a plate of brisket: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kiiitv.com\/article\/news\/local\/south-texas-ranchers-fear-imported-beef-could-drive-more-producers-out-of-business\/503-c6361b38-4d76-4a72-a459-aa5b726a8a24\">Beef prices in Texas have gone up by 80 percent since 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am not sure if Paxton can \u201cmigrant caravan\u201d his way out of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>THE VIBE SHIFT ENCOMPASSES<\/strong> every statewide race; they are all closer than any Democrat running in the last decade would dare to believe. Gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa is a state representative with $6 million in the bank running against Greg Abbott, a three-term incumbent with 99 percent name recognition and who entered the race with over $100 million to spend. Abbott has trounced every Democratic opponent by double digits, including O\u2019Rourke in 2022. Yet polls show Hinojosa with an average deficit of just 3.2 points, with one poll calling it a tie and several at just one or two points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats are behind on the congressional generic ballot by less than three points, which is telling on its own, but I find the margins in non-marquee state races even more telling. A generic ballot is an abstraction, while picking out the state railroad commissioner is a real job you have to trust someone with. And <a href=\"https:\/\/texaspublicopinionresearch.substack.com\/p\/new-poll-in-texas-general-election\">according to an August Texas Public Opinion Research poll,<\/a> Democrats are within the margin of error (+\/- 3.3) in the races for lieutenant governor (47-41), attorney general (44-41), state comptroller (43-41), agriculture commissioner (44-40), land commissioner (44-40), and railroad commissioner (45-41). The most hopeful snapshot is from the race for lieutenant governor: A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/election\/texas-dan-patrick-vikki-goodwin-lieutenant-governor-poll-july-2026\">Texas A&amp;M poll showed Democrat Vikki Goodwin<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/election\/texas-dan-patrick-vikki-goodwin-lieutenant-governor-poll-july-2026\"><em>ahead<\/em><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/election\/texas-dan-patrick-vikki-goodwin-lieutenant-governor-poll-july-2026\">of incumbent Dan Patrick<\/a> (also at the end of his third term) 48-46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">True, all these polls could turn out to be significant outliers. (The down-ballot races are not polled very often.) And true, over 50 percent of those surveyed in the favorable Goodwin poll felt they did not know enough about Goodwin to form an opinion. But the fuzziness around the data isn\u2019t bad news\u2014it\u2019s an opportunity. Texas does not offer party-line voting, so those who tell a pollster they\u2019re voting for the Democrat in the race for state comptroller will not be lost to a single pull of the lever. Much of the Texas electorate seems willing to abandon the GOP for the first acceptable Democratic candidate who comes along. And maybe the most encouraging thing that can be said of Talarico is that he is that acceptable candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To look at what\u2019s happening in Texas and conclude that Democrats need only to aim to be more attractive than the con men who\u2019ve rooked the state into near economic collapse might feel deflating, and unfair to the many thousands of people who have been energized by Talarico\u2019s message. It seems to minimize the hard work and clever strategies that Talarico and his campaign have brought to bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talarico has done so much right, beyond leaping over the incredibly low bar set by Paxton. Talarico gins up constant volunteering events and rallies, does voter registration at those events, engages community outreach beyond mere campaigning; he has a vibrant social media presence, door-knocking teams, phone banks, savvy oppo drops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talarico\u2019s campaign is disciplined and responsive. A somewhat contentious primary against Rep. Jasmine Crockett left questions about whether he would be able to excite Black voters; Talarico pledged $25 million in outreach. He has assiduously courted Latino voters, a group that swung away from Democrats in 2024 but seems to be coming home. He now leads Paxton among them by 17 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-attachment-id=\"145345\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/oct26-cox-4\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,800\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"0\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"0\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"0\",\"iso\":\"0\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"0\",\"alt\":\"\"}' data-image-title=\"OCT26 Cox 4\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;In his stump speech, Talarico speaks of \u201cservant leadership\u201d and how deportations violate the edict to love thy neighbor.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-145345\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=550%2C367&amp;ssl=1 550w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=800%2C533&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?resize=706%2C471&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/OCT26-Cox-4-1024x683.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In his stump speech, Talarico speaks of \u201cservant leadership\u201d and how deportations violate the edict to love thy neighbor. <span class=\"image-credit\"><span class=\"credit-label-wrapper\">Credit:<\/span> Eric Gay\/AP Photo.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talarico is also running a generally positive campaign, narrowly focusing his attacks on Paxton and not Republicans as a group. His whole presentation is that of a reasonable man: A persistent theme in his events is \u201cunity over division.\u201d One of his most popular T-shirts bears the biblically inflected threat \u201cTime to start flipping tables,\u201d but he is not a firebreather. On television, his faith-based messaging jettisons the table-flipping Jesus of Matthew 21 in favor of the Golden Rule Jesus of Matthew 22: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.star-telegram.com\/opinion\/bud-kennedy\/article316860645.html\">Love God, love your neighbor.<\/a>\u201d And Talarico really means all neighbors. \u201cMy party talks a lot about turning Texas blue. Republicans talk a lot about keeping Texas red,\u201d he told a gathering of veterans in Killeen. \u201cI think the best color for Texas is purple. I think she would look great in purple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Policy-wise, Talarico has gently feathered a bit of, let\u2019s say, maroon into his proposals. He frames his affordability agenda around trust-busting language and targeting billionaires: break up the big health care companies, close tax loopholes. Republicans have made much of a Talarico quote from 2020 calling capitalism \u201coppressive,\u201d but I suspect they might be doing Talarico\u2019s work for him in that regard. Talarico has also reframed his past positions that showed support for transgender people, telling Fox News he opposes transgender girls playing in girls\u2019 sports \u201cif it endangers safety or fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All that abundant energy and desire, all that eloquence and charm, all that precise positioning\u2014and as of the end of August, Talarico has led by an average of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/senate\/general\/2026\/texas\/paxton-vs-talarico\">less than two points<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lowering the floor of Republican support is the real difference between 2026 and 2018. That is an unsexy story because it suggests this race isn\u2019t about Bible verses or Paxton swindles, puppies or pens, Texas barbecue or extramarital affairs. It suggests that character and charisma don\u2019t matter. But this is just the first year in decades that\u2019s close enough for character and charisma to make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talarico\u2019s wild fundraising advantage might yet shrink. Ted Cruz said on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/ted-cruz-interview-texas-senate-race-ken-paxton-james-talarico\/\">podcast<\/a> that he thought total spending would wind up around $200 million, a number that assumes things will even out. Something finally pushed the party out of resentment-based inertia and into something more like gritted-teeth resignation in early September. A Senate Leadership Fund\u2013affiliated PAC announced it was kicking in $51 million toward promoting Paxton on the air, and an assortment of other GOP PACs committed another $23 million. President Trump ponied up $10 million from MAGA Inc., a figure impressive only in isolation from the $400 to $500 million total the president claimed to have on hand. One wonders if Trump has second thoughts about backing the marble-mouthed and charmless Paxton, judging by both the relatively tepid assistance and his extremely mid introduction of Paxton at the GOP\u2019s midterm convention. \u201cSome may not like the way he dresses. I don\u2019t \u2026 He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d But, Trump promised, \u201che\u2019s the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later, Trump doubled down on the neg: \u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019s gonna ever speak to me again, but you know, I don\u2019t care as long as he wins. I really don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump need not worry. Paxton is likely untroubled by these insults, if that\u2019s what it takes to turn on the donation spigot. There is a lot of evidence that he\u2019s compromised more than his ego when there was cash on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think a lot about what a cash injection could and couldn\u2019t do for Paxton. He could broadcast a message that resonates beyond the hardest MAGA core. Or maybe Talarico\u2019s attempts to tilt his remarks on gender closer to an imagined center just draw attention to an issue voters were prepared to ignore. Maybe Paxton will stumble onto an affordability policy that doesn\u2019t sound like it\u2019s for his country club friends. Maybe his new plan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2026\/08\/24\/ken-paxton-unveils-anti-data-center-plan-gop-voter-anger-mounts-texas\/\">attacking data centers that use Chinese electronics<\/a> will rev up the base. (A graphic about the plan was labeled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KenPaxtonTX\/status\/2091888962474279215\">Made with AI<\/a>\u201d on X.) But even if the $200 million Paxton needs materializes, that won\u2019t necessarily buy him a plan, and I don\u2019t believe Paxton has much of a strategy beyond hoisting the tattered remnants of the culture war and expecting the once-reliable coalition to assemble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s what that money can\u2019t change: the base-level distrust of the GOP seen in those statewide races. The lack of enthusiasm for Paxton beyond anyone but the most addled MAGA devotee. The split between what voters want and what Republicans know how to say can widen, and the floor of support that MAGA has built their movement on can crater. An environment in which Hinojosa is polling even with Abbott on a regular basis should provide even more comfort than another two points on Talarico\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have lived through several Texas races where a well-funded and energetic Democrat loses to a lumpy Republican selling tax cuts and human rights abuses: O\u2019Rourke against Cruz and Abbott twice, Colin Allred running against Cruz in 2024, even Wendy Davis for governor back in 2014 and again against Rep. Chip Roy in 2020. Money has yet to make enough of a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>LOCKHART IS THE SELF-PROCLAIMED<\/strong> barbecue capital of the world (I am sure there are many others). Kaily Stewart, chair of the Caldwell County Democrats, notes that prior to the rally she had lunch with Talarico at Terry Black\u2019s Barbecue and that she can attest, \u201cJames Talarico is not a vegan!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The crowd cheers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The meeting hall we\u2019re in is hot and almost damp. Jen and I look around for the water the campaign promised, but they\u2019ve run out. (Every other event I attend after this has cases and cases of water on hand. Lesson learned.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jen tells me that though she loved Beto, listening to Talarico has made her aware of his faults: \u201cBeto said things that every Democrat said.\u201d With Talarico, she hears something more aspirational and ineffable, the way he reminds people of the commandment to love your neighbor as you love yourself. \u201cI mean, anyone brave enough to talk about love in this day and age \u2026\u201d She tilts her head meaningfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jen believes that spiritually minded Republicans will cross over to vote for Talarico. Without thinking about it, I say that would be a miracle. She smiles serenely: \u201cI\u2019m praying for one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James Talarico is deploying his Christian faith in his bid for the Senate. But he\u2019s winning because Texans have been pummeled by inflation and corruption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13451,"featured_media":145359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-16T11:59:15Z","apple_news_api_id":"edff06dc-2ea0-4b7d-9890-f5f671154a17","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-25T15:44:24Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A7f8G3C6gS32YkPX2cRVKFw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_ayv5UyRAqJP","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"","everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"d1790c302b454e3e63ae9d4c342ac21c","_everlit_metadata_hash":"4ffbeb92718aa602d2c611ecce2aa09b","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_ayv5UyRAqJP?client=wp&amp;preview=true&amp;client_version=3.3.2&amp;ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"above","newspack_post_subtitle":"James Talarico is deploying his Christian faith in his bid for the Senate. But he\u2019s winning because Texans have been pummeled by inflation and corruption.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[4932],"tags":[6401,5726,6482,6961,6922,13884,6677,6920,5076,5171],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[14360],"newspack_collection_section":[],"coauthors":[14339],"class_list":["post-144752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-campaign-finance","tag-congress","tag-democrats","tag-donald-trump","tag-election-2026","tag-james-talarico","tag-politics","tag-republicans","tag-super-pacs","tag-texas","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Path to a Texas Breakthrough - The American Prospect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"James Talarico is polling consistently, if only marginally, ahead, while Beto O\u2019Rourke did not. Maybe it\u2019s time to become a believer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/16\/oct-2026-a-path-to-a-texas-breakthrough\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Path to a Texas Breakthrough - The American Prospect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"James Talarico is deploying his Christian faith in his bid for the Senate. 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2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The misleading panic attack on the part of the right and the center in the face of the Democratic left\u2019s recent electoral victories","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Newsletters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Newsletters","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/blogs-and-newsletters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Democratic congressional candidate Melat Kiros speaks","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kuttner-on-Tap-070226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kuttner-on-Tap-070226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kuttner-on-Tap-070226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kuttner-on-Tap-070226.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, 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Cox","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13451"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144752"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145362,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144752\/revisions\/145362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144752"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_taxonomy?post=144752"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_section?post=144752"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":144738,"date":"2026-09-16T05:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144738"},"modified":"2026-09-16T11:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T15:03:15","slug":"hidden-divide-that-shapes-our-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/16\/hidden-divide-that-shapes-our-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Divide That Shapes Our Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-default has-cream-background-color has-background\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-efdcd2e1 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-cream-background-color has-background has-bitter-font-family has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\"><em>Read the top story of the day in your inbox. <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/newsletter-sign-up\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sign up for the Daily Prospect newsletter here.<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_KBBEi5DG3pK?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my recent book, <em>Crisis of the<\/em> <em>Common Good<\/em>, I make the argument that our hyper-individualistic, market-obsessed culture has made us more isolated and less powerful. I think Donald Trump is a symptom of this spiritual unspooling. My book argues that happiness comes from a sense of connection and shared purpose with others, and that government should not outsource virtue or morality to private markets. I do not suggest the public sector should dictate one single version of the \u201cgood life.\u201d I suggest it should instead seek, as an agent of the public will, to order our economy in a way that gives power and dignity to every actor in it, and our culture in a way that encourages communion and shared experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Argument\u2019s Jerusalem Demsas, in her critique \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theargumentmag.com\/p\/no-senator-murphy-i-dont-want-to\">No, Senator Murphy, I don\u2019t want to join your cult<\/a>,\u201d argues confidently for more or less a maintenance of the status quo. She warns, appropriately, that people\u2019s freedom could be limited if government takes a position on right and wrong. If government can decide that price-gouging is immoral and thus subject to sanction, she cautions, then it can also decide that women\u2019s free speech is immoral and subject to sanction as well. According to Demsas, <em>any<\/em> attempt by government to channel action toward a common good risks perversion into oppression and must therefore be fiercely guarded against. If people want moral instruction, let them find it in church or family, or let it be decided in the private marketplace. Anywhere but the public sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n<span data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" class=\"everlit-audio everlit-no-audio\" data-everlit-no-audio=\"true\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-size:16px\"><blockquote><p>Has the existing economic order left people feeling more powerful, more purposeful, more fulfilled? You know the answer.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course there is danger anytime the public sector involves itself in questions of morality or the purpose of a life well lived. Every discriminatory system in our nation\u2019s history\u2014from slavery to the disenfranchisement of women\u2014took root in arguments about public morality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Demsas\u2019s argument assumes that the democratic exercise of public power is a unique menace to people\u2019s freedom, and that an absent, toothless public sector, indifferent to the common good, creates the true conditions for widespread freedom. That might sound plausible on paper, but a quick look around today\u2019s America shows the opposite is true. Ask yourself: How has the wholesale outsourcing of norm-setting to the private sector gone for the American people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Americans already live in a society that imposes one moral vision above all others. The chief virtue in our economy today is profit-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any company that turns an enormous profit\u2014no matter how it treats its workers, whether it strips communities bare, whether it makes a product of any social value at all\u2014is treated as a successful company. In a virtue-less economy, our nation\u2019s most treasured businesses are addicting children to suicide-inducing algorithms, creating jobs that don\u2019t pay enough to let employees cover their bills, and speeding the nation toward the machine replacement of millions of jobs, if they don\u2019t take out all of humanity first. And anybody who doesn\u2019t commit their lives to the cult of profit-making is all but left for dead in our economy, forced into instability and uncertainty, as these morally liberated corporations mercilessly set the terms of their livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Has that economic order left people feeling more powerful, more purposeful, more fulfilled? You know the answer: definitively no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What about our current culture, in which we feel less bound to one another than ever before, in which young people spend more hours alone than in any period in recent memory, in which existence often amounts to buying more stuff rather than contributing to the common good or practicing basic neighborliness? Sure, the latest smartphone or the sponsored product promoted by your favorite influencer will deliver a quick hit of endorphins. But real contentment, I think, comes not from consumption but from joining in shared work and experience with real, not virtual, human beings. That\u2019s not just my opinion; it\u2019s supported by piles of research and data on human happiness and fulfillment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Demsas reserves specific judgment for two arguments I make side by side: my criticism of a higher-education system that virtue signals four-year degrees over other kinds of job preparation, and my support for a new requirement that young people spend at least six months engaged in some form of public service. She seems to believe that preferring one kind of post\u2013high school experience over another is an illegitimate exercise of public authority. But our government already has a massive stated preference when it spends far more on facilitating college than service experiences. Most importantly, our economy and culture raise the stakes of having a college degree to such an extent that the philosopher Michael Sandel calls it \u201cthe last acceptable prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am simply suggesting that we would be a stronger nation if we reduced the diploma divide in our society in part by having everyone spend a small portion of their formative years exercising their selflessness muscles through public service. Many Americans who spend their teenage years endlessly surfing spiritually empty algorithmic content would have their first meaningful encounter with the lost art of giving back. Maybe that brief immersion into the world of community service would even kindle a sense of shared purpose that stays with them for the rest of their lives. At worst, then, I am arguing for replacing one moral preference for college with a new preference for service.<\/p>\n\n\n<span data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" class=\"everlit-audio everlit-no-audio\" data-everlit-no-audio=\"true\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-size:16px\"><blockquote><p>I believe our nation needs more solidarity and more shared purpose in order to survive.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like Demsas, I do not believe politics is where people should find meaning. In fact, I worry that we excessively elevate our partisan political identities when other sources for communal identity\u2014such as local identity or work identity\u2014atrophy and the threads tying together our social fabric start to unravel. I think we are more bound to each other as a nation\u2014and better off for it\u2014when we make promises to one another about the social and moral floor every citizen stands on. I think it\u2019s good to have public education and roads and police and fire protection and public libraries and retirement security, and I think a little more like that\u2014universal post\u2013high school training, a public service requirement, a guarantee of basic health care\u2014would leave us all feeling more powerful and less alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the end, Demsas\u2019s argument defines a very important dividing line in modern American politics, which does not map neatly onto the controlling left\/right, Democrat\/Republican paradigm. Do we leave all our moral judgments to private life, even as giant corporations dominate our economy and Big Tech algorithms shape our culture? Do we believe that Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk should hold the keys to how we all interact in daily life? Or do we set some moral norms in the public sector, which at least gives all of us a democratic chance to speak our minds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I believe our nation needs more solidarity and more shared purpose in order to survive. And I don\u2019t see that coming through more corporate overlordship, the inevitable result of Demsas\u2019s hands-off approach to our society. Yes, I\u2019m a progressive Democrat. But the basic view that government should set rules that give us more agency and make us feel less alone, and that this task cannot be ceded to \u201cthe market,\u201d is shared by many Republicans and many who inhabit the traditional right. And there are many on the putative left, like Demsas, who prefer the market to set the rules of right and wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unmasking this often hidden divide, as Demsas\u2019s review of my book does, is essential if we want an honest debate about what spiritually ails our broken nation, and what to do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I believe that public policy should be directed toward the common good. Others think that impinges on people\u2019s freedom. We need to be honest about this dispute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":749,"featured_media":144776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-16T11:58:45Z","apple_news_api_id":"0e543cc4-127c-49fa-be4c-8942d127f5ae","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-16T14:57:50Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ADlQ8xBJ8Sfq-TIlC0Sf1rg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_KBBEi5DG3pK","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen to this article:","embed_ui_title_icon":"","primary_voice":"49","guest_voice":"653","default_publication":"pblc_yPNpMjtZdBK","default_conversation_mode":false,"podcast_duration_minutes":5,"default_sonic_optimization":false,"optimizer_level":2,"default_read_alt_text":false,"default_read_urls":false,"default_skip_article_image":false,"intro_mixable":281,"outro_mixable":258,"intro_duration":8,"outro_duration":11,"intro_padding":3,"outro_padding":4,"disable_music":false},"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"6421fa4cf73e2aedcb44217b75047df2","_everlit_metadata_hash":"83afda5d6aa98502b1f3c4a4ea86afa6","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_KBBEi5DG3pK?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.2.14\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"I believe that public policy should be directed toward the common good. Others think that impinges on people\u2019s freedom. We need to be honest about this dispute.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[4932],"tags":[5305,5831,6917,13728,6677,14340,5890],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"coauthors":[12812],"class_list":["post-144738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-big-tech","tag-corporate-power","tag-democracy","tag-higher-education","tag-politics","tag-public-service","tag-youth","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Hidden Divide That Shapes Our Politics - The American Prospect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our hyper-individualistic, market-obsessed culture has made us more isolated and less powerful. I think Donald Trump is a symptom of this spiritual unspooling.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/16\/hidden-divide-that-shapes-our-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Hidden Divide That Shapes Our Politics - The American Prospect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I believe that public policy should be directed toward the common good. Others think that impinges on people\u2019s freedom. 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3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140757,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/07\/10\/notes-for-next-time-kuttner-book\/","url_meta":{"origin":144738,"position":2},"title":"Notes for Next Time","author":"Robert Kuttner","date":"July 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Lessons of a lifetime doing progressive journalism and politics","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TAP&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TAP","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/blogs-and-newsletters\/tap\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image of book cover for \"Notes for Next Time\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kuttner-on-Tap-071026.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kuttner-on-Tap-071026.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kuttner-on-Tap-071026.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, 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podium","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Meyerson-on-Tap-060226.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Meyerson-on-Tap-060226.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Meyerson-on-Tap-060226.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Meyerson-on-Tap-060226.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Meyerson-on-Tap-060226.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140658,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/07\/08\/moderates-veer-left-stevens-el-sayed-michigan-democratic-senate-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":144738,"position":4},"title":"When in Doubt, Moderates Veer Left","author":"David Dayen","date":"July 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Haley Stevens espoused progressive ideas in last night\u2019s Michigan Senate debate. That\u2019s a familiar pattern.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Michigan U.S. Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed, left, and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) shown during a debate.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dayen-MI-Haley-Stevens-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dayen-MI-Haley-Stevens-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dayen-MI-Haley-Stevens-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dayen-MI-Haley-Stevens-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dayen-MI-Haley-Stevens-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":144872,"url":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/17\/techtonic-shift-in-american-politics\/","url_meta":{"origin":144738,"position":5},"title":"A Tectonic (or Techtonic) Shift in American Politics?","author":"Harold Meyerson","date":"September 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Culture-war populism looks to be giving way to economic populism.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TAP&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TAP","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/category\/blogs-and-newsletters\/tap\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Anti-data center protesters rally at Oregon State Capitol","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Meyerson-on-Tap-091726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Meyerson-on-Tap-091726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Meyerson-on-Tap-091726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Meyerson-on-Tap-091726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Meyerson-on-Tap-091726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Murphy-Common-Good-091626.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","author_name":"Chris Murphy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/749"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144738"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144790,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144738\/revisions\/144790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144738"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_taxonomy?post=144738"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_collection_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_collection_section?post=144738"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":144760,"date":"2026-09-16T05:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/?p=144760"},"modified":"2026-09-16T11:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T15:01:26","slug":"artificial-intelligence-anthropic-openai-slowdown-tank-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/16\/artificial-intelligence-anthropic-openai-slowdown-tank-the-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Will an AI Slowdown Tank the Economy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-default has-cream-background-color has-background\" style=\"padding-top:0;padding-right:0;padding-bottom:0;padding-left:0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-efdcd2e1 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-cream-background-color has-background has-bitter-font-family has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:600\"><em>Read the top story of the day in your inbox. <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/newsletter-sign-up\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sign up for the Daily Prospect newsletter here.<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_Kw5rCDXLl0P?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.3.2\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a 24-hour period, we\u2019ve moved from <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/15\/artificial-intelligence-open-ai-anthropic-congressional-democrats\/\">mass panic about AI<\/a> to predictable partisan sniping, all thanks to Donald Trump\u2019s reluctance to let someone else take the lead in scaring the public instead of him. Reports of the AI apocalypse are a <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117271304188365611\">hoax<\/a>, Trump insisted, and he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/14\/donald-trump-ai-regulation-pushback-01074230\">will not be pressured<\/a> into regulating the technology, not even if that pressure comes from its leading companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The venue for this tirade, other than Truth Social, is a big part of the story: a \u201csummit\u201d put on by the All-In Podcast (which includes Trump\u2019s former AI czar David Sacks), wherein Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/09\/14\/trump-jensen-huang-nvidia-ai-all-in-summit\">made a surprise phone call<\/a> to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang live from the stage. Huang is exactly who you would expect to lead a pushback on AI doomerism, because the main thing it would doom is his company and the economy in which he is thriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/author\/david-dayen\/\">More from David Dayen<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s the problem with staking so much of your economy on one nascent technology: You create so much forward momentum that the technology can\u2019t be permitted to fail or even slow down, or else everything else will come to a halt, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there\u2019s an ironic twist. What\u2019s been lost in all the stentorian pronouncements by frontier developers like Anthropic and OpenAI about AI destroying humanity is that it\u2019s in their financial interest to slow down. This sits at odds with the needs of the companies supplying them the infrastructure to speed up, along with the Wall Street financiers getting rich from all this activity. That creates an unusual tension, with investors and the emperor-king Trump demanding that AI do more, even as Anthropic and OpenAI want to do less.<\/p>\n\n\n<span data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" class=\"everlit-audio everlit-no-audio\" data-everlit-no-audio=\"true\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-size:16px\"><blockquote><p>Any guardrails on AI that could meaningfully slow down the only boomlet in the economy would be catastrophic for stocks.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It makes sense that Trump would ally with Wall Street, where doomer fears have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/09\/14\/ai-stocks-apocalypse-wall-street\">barely registered a ripple<\/a>. Trump\u2019s entire economic philosophy can be summed up with the phrase \u201cnumber go up\u201d: He bases economic success on the state of the stock market, just as any <a href=\"https:\/\/seekingalpha.com\/news\/4643118-trump-out-traded-all-members-of-congress-combined---report\">high-volume trader<\/a> would. Market investors need more deployment of AI so Nvidia can sell those semiconductors, Oracle can sell the data center servers, utilities can sell the power generation, and their stocks in those companies peak. It really is a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117270077932428072\">golden goose<\/a>,\u201d as Trump said, and though investors would likely find something else to hype in a slowdown\u2014remember NFTs?\u2014they don\u2019t want to abandon what\u2019s run the market up to current levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By contrast, frontier developers simply cannot sustain the current pace of model-building. At one point, Anthropic and OpenAI tried to raise prices on companies using AI, but that backfired as the companies had the wherewithal to turn to open-source alternatives; today, AI token prices are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/09\/01\/ai-token-prices-lows.html\">significantly low<\/a>. AI model revenue even before that drop wasn\u2019t enough to offset spiraling infrastructure costs predicated on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/3ff9a481-8be3-4dd4-9a00-ea809f3485fd\">dodgy accounting<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/e0d9d5f2-c09d-426e-af03-193b488b7b1e\">dubious credit ratings<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/08aba5e4-5834-4e79-a48d-989a2c5bad0f?syn-25a6b1a6=1\">mountains of debt<\/a>. Higher interest rates, as <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/15\/artificial-intelligence-federal-reserve-ai-bubble\/\">my colleague Bob Kuttner notes<\/a>, are likely on the way, making the costs to OpenAI and Anthropic even more challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anthropic has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/anthropic-selects-nasdaq-for-ipo-amid-ai-risk-concerns-2026-9\">scheduled a Nasdaq IPO<\/a>, something that is <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/ai-doomsday-warnings-anthropic-ipo.html\">still moving forward<\/a>, incredibly. Executives identifying the existential dangers of what it is building, in violation of every known product liability law, could be hauled in for questioning. Instead, they\u2019re about to become multimillionaires, and the securities regulators who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebignewsletter.com\/p\/monopoly-round-up-just-stop-the-anthropic\">could step in<\/a> and stop the IPO are instead facilitating it. But the biggest threat to Anthropic\u2019s riches is its own balance sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So \u201cpacing the frontier,\u201d to borrow CEO Dario Amodei\u2019s words, would nicely reduce the company\u2019s model-building burn rate. Similarly, setting up a standards bureau in conjunction with OpenAI, as Amodei has suggested, would create a potentially impenetrable cartel enabling those token prices to inch back up. In this scenario, Anthropic\u2019s financial disclosures would become more attractive to investors, which is a significant need for a company going public. Slowing down development, therefore, has become an economic imperative for Anthropic, just as much as speeding up has become an imperative for all of its vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By contrast, OpenAI decided to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/09\/12\/anthropics-amodei-proposes-plan-to-slow-the-pace-of-advancing-ai-capabilities.html\">delay its IPO<\/a>, but it still has incentives to slow down. It was OpenAI\u2019s model that went rogue in the Hugging Face hack, and that\u2019s now facing a <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/artificial-intelligence\/openai-faces-congressional-probe-hacking-incident\">congressional inquiry<\/a>. (Fortunately for the company, Hugging Face recently got bought\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nvidia.com\/blog\/nvidia-to-acquire-hugging-face\/\">by Nvidia<\/a>, which has no interest in using the hack to decelerate AI.) Also, OpenAI\u2019s finances are in much weaker shape, and it may need more time to shore that up and cash out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trick about a slowdown agreement is that it likely won\u2019t include China, which <a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/future-society\/china-beijing-dismisses-tech-billionaires-ai-slowdown-fearmongering\">dismissed the recent claims<\/a> about AI\u2019s potential to destroy humanity as \u201cfearmongering.\u201d One way around that for Anthropic and OpenAI is a regulatory solution that bans Chinese open-source models in the U.S. on spying or other grounds, or subjects them to regulation that China cannot accept. That would greatly improve the U.S. companies\u2019 ability to price via an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/fchollet\/status\/2098901026514559194\">oligopolistic cartel<\/a>, and it\u2019s the kind of regulation that Trump would gladly accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-the-american-prospect wp-block-embed-the-american-prospect\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"VRAJbCneUf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/15\/artificial-intelligence-open-ai-anthropic-congressional-democrats\/\">Congressional Democrats in Hysterics About Saving the World From AI<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cCongressional Democrats in Hysterics About Saving the World From AI\u201d \u2014 The American Prospect\" src=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/09\/15\/artificial-intelligence-open-ai-anthropic-congressional-democrats\/embed\/#?secret=uoPk4AqvVt#?secret=VRAJbCneUf\" data-secret=\"VRAJbCneUf\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Nvidia, Oracle, Broadcom, and other suppliers cannot weather a slowdown and maintain revenue margins; for smaller supplier companies, a slowdown\u2019s effect would be existential. The one area of the market that dropped on Monday was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semafor.com\/article\/09\/14\/2026\/ai-slowdown-calls-prompt-chip-selloff\">global semiconductor sector<\/a>. To Trump\u2019s \u201cnumber go up\u201d mentality, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2026\/09\/13\/trump-rejects-calls-so-slow-ai-development-citing-chinese-competition\/\">winning the AI race over China<\/a>\u2014wherever that race leads\u2014is of primary importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this sense, even the industry-friendly frameworks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/west-wing-playbook-remaking-government\/2026\/09\/14\/the-west-wings-ai-bind-01075536\">proposed by administration advisers<\/a>, like a self-regulatory body similar to what the financial industry has, would not satiate Trump. Any guardrails on AI that could meaningfully slow down the only boomlet in the economy would be catastrophic for stocks, which are his measure of the economy. (Yes, the Trump family has <a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/inbox\/post\/215698260\">investments in data centers<\/a>, and that can\u2019t be far from the president\u2019s thoughts either.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The absolutist stance, then, is a function of a deeply imbalanced economy. Imagine the economy as a truck headed straight for a brick wall, but the driver is heavily invested in brick wall reconstruction, so there\u2019s no chance of swerving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether a budding AI apocalypse really is a brick wall in that metaphor is debatable, and the last thing we should do is panic. But as an explanation for the policy outcome by this president, the metaphor serves. We can\u2019t get off the AI track no matter where it leads, because the economy doesn\u2019t have another track to hop onto right now. Yet forcing companies to work harder when they have financial incentives to work slower doesn\u2019t seem tenable either. Something\u2019s got to give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anthropic and OpenAI want to hit the brakes on AI investment\u2014the only thing propping up the broader economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":771,"featured_media":144758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-09-16T11:58:13Z","apple_news_api_id":"18863f17-8507-4b83-851f-830fa6bbdc53","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-09-16T14:57:51Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AGIY_F4UHS4OFH4MPprvcUw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"artl_Kw5rCDXLl0P","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"large","everlit_generation_settings":{"embed_ui_cover_art":false,"embed_ui_title_intro":"Listen to this article:","embed_ui_title_icon":"","primary_voice":"49","guest_voice":"653","default_publication":"pblc_yPNpMjtZdBK","default_conversation_mode":false,"podcast_duration_minutes":5,"default_sonic_optimization":false,"optimizer_level":2,"default_read_alt_text":false,"default_read_urls":false,"default_skip_article_image":false,"intro_mixable":281,"outro_mixable":258,"intro_duration":8,"outro_duration":11,"intro_padding":3,"outro_padding":4,"disable_music":false},"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"896a096683619550bf193f28ead2cb34","_everlit_metadata_hash":"0daa246bf48f3a9dcd18262ec09afc48","_everlit_embed_html":"<iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_Kw5rCDXLl0P?ui_cover_art=false&amp;ui_title_intro=Listen+to+this+article%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.2.14\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>","newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Anthropic and OpenAI want to hit the brakes on AI investment\u2014the only thing propping up the broader economy.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13870],"tags":[13890,6240,5305,5612,6650,6774,6961,5174,5294,14055,5263,6264],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"coauthors":[9903],"class_list":["post-144760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-anthropic","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-big-tech","tag-china","tag-data-centers","tag-deregulation","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-financial-industry","tag-ipos","tag-openai","tag-semiconductors","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Will an AI Slowdown Tank the Economy? 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