That’s a sentence that I just wrote in 2026 America, because this is what happens when you elect an unqualified reality TV star, celebrity, and professional bullshit artist as the President of the United States of America. We have UFC Fights on White House lawns, Fox News hosts as our Secretary of Defense, and a conspiracy theorist with no medical degree as the director of our Health and Human Services.
It tracks considering we’re a country obsessed with wealth, whiteness, celebrity, and spectacle.
But look closer, and you’ll see a consistent story that is being repeated by voters for the past 10 years. A majority of Americans are done with the establishment, institutions, and the status quo that continues to fail them and their families. They’re so desperate for change that they’re willing to elect flawed, racist candidates if they promise to bulldoze the current system and drain the swamp. That’s what worked for Trump, and in part that’s what fueled Pratt’s campaign - along with a bunch of pampered, privileged, nutty celebrities and right-wing donor money.
Yesterday, Senator Schumer met with Graham Platner and appeared to back him despite the nonstop blitzkrieg against his campaign and the numerous scandals about his background. He sees the writing on the wall and the polls. Mainers don’t care about his sexting scandals or the tattoo or his Reddit posts. They’re still with him because he’s running an anti-establishment, anti-billionaire campaign.
Over in New Jersey, Dr. Adam Hamawy also won despite a vicious, ongoing smear campaign against him trying to connect him to terrorists. The Muslim American Lieutenant Colonel literally saved the life of Senator Duckworth and was a 9-11 First Responder, but even that’s not enough to protect him from Islamophobic smears.
So, how did Hamawy, like Mamdani, survive the hit jobs and prevail?
They stuck to their message of affordability for all and promised to shake up the system. It’s a “top vs. bottom” message where the villains are the broligarchy and the Epstein Class, and heroes are the rest of us trying to get by and make ends meet. The old guard that refuses to embrace massive change, which includes tax cuts for the rich, accountability, a more progressive economic agenda, and ending forever wars, is seen as instruments of that system that continues to benefit the elite.
There’s a path forward here for Democrats if they truly want to win back power and wield it aggressively and ferociously on behalf of the people. But are they willing to walk it, considering many of them are financed by corporate super PACs and Silicon Valley fascists? I talk to Kelly Dietrich, Founder & CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, to break down the election results and what they signal about American voters’ priorities.
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