John Stoehr

To put it mildly, the Democrats have had a complicated relationship with the white working class at least since passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But things are going to be simple in the run up to November's midterm elections. Democrats don't need to offer much. White working-class voters who supported Donald

The housing bill that sailed through the US Congress this week is going to become law no matter what the president decides to do. On Monday, it passed the Senate by a vote of 85-5. On Tuesday, it passed the House by a vote of 358-32. Even if Donald Trump were to veto it, those numbers suggest the will to override him. The United States might be divided on other issues, but not on affordability. That crisis is unifying. This act of Congress reflects that.

The president contaminated the Reflecting Pool that's in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Donald Trump had the bottom of it painted blue in celebration of himself, er, America's 250th anniversary. The $14-million paint job is now peeling. Algae is blooming. Efforts to kill it with hydrogen peroxide have made it look like a giant Mark Rothko painting . The Times reported that the White House gave the task of "refurbishing" the pool to a firm tied to a Trump donor

Why did Donald Trump blow up a signing ceremony that would have celebrated the passing of a new housing law that takes aim at the affordability crisis that everyone is talking about? With Congress in session, the bill becomes law whether he signs it or not. So why would the greatest narcissist in the history of presidents pass up a chance to brag about how great he is? Why is he acting like Republican control of the Congress is not his highest priority?

It's hard to believe, but apparently "the entire GOP political ecosystem" is now dedicated to the idea that what worked in 2024 is going to work in the coming congressional elections. Every level is focused on "building a turnout operation with the sole focus of identifying, engaging and ultimately persuading 'low propensity' voters,"

The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship this week . The Times said the decision "capped a more than decade-long effort by Mr. Trump to use the issue as a political tool." A relief, to be sure, but no cause for celebration. A plain reading of the 14th Amendment would bring anyone to the same decision. The court was split, however, with some justices unable to resist the temptation to dehumanize immigrants by calling them " foreign birth tourists

The American republic dodged a bullet this week when the US Supreme Court decided to uphold birthright citizenship. If not for two Republican justices, who refused to make-believe their way through a plain reading of the text of the 14th Amendment, we would have seen the clock turning back to a time after the Civil War when politicians were debating whether formerly enslaved people and their children were actually United States citizens. We came too close to destruction to consider anything short of a maximal response. For years,

I will spare you the details of the rightwing reaction to the Supreme Court's decision last week to uphold birthright citizenship. I will spare you because they are disgusting, especially on America's 250th anniversary. What you need to know is that the mainstream of the Republican Party is no longer flirting with the so-called "Great Replacement Theory." In GOP circles, the idea that immigration is " civilizational suicide " is now conventional wisdom.

Don't kid yourself . The sphere of freedom is shrinking. Trans people wanted to live their lives, but the political right, in the form of Donald Trump , made them demons and the political center, in the form of respectable white people, made the right's demonization seem respectable. Kamala Harris wanted America to choose liberty. "We're not going back," she said. Many of us agreed, but we are. The pulling back of trans rights could lead to the pulling back of other rights – birth control, gay marriage, inter-racial marriage, and more.

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