Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.
GOPs are going to SCOTUS to revoke the requirement in the Voting Rights Act to create majority Black districts. Jamelle Bouie expects a continuation of Roberts’ war on the VRA. Well worth me sharing. He ticks off the French republics leading to the current Fifth Republic and notes we also, while under one constitution, are embarking on our own fifth republic. The first lasted from 1788 to 1861, the reconstruction amendments started the second, the third dates from reaction to the Great Depression, the VRA ushered in the finally truly democratic fourth, and John Roberts is launching the post democracy fifth.
Conservatism is basically a game of make-believe: let’s pretend cutting taxes lowers the deficit, let’s pretend AGW isn’t real, let’s pretend Donald Trump is remotely qualified to be president, and John Roberts’ favorite, let’s pretend all this unpleasant racial stuff never happened.
@Andy: I think it will end. Because it can’t continue forever. But like you, I don’t think there’s any predicting just how and when it will end. This is the characteristic of a highly chaotic system, which is how I would characterize our political economy.
Let’s remember that the most popular public figure in the US is Pope Leo, who is very much a social justice guy. And the second most popular is Bernie Sanders.
There is SOO much anger out there. I feel like I made a mistake backing Hillary in 2016. Not because I think now she would have been a bad president, but because I misread the room.
I’m not gonna make that mistake this next time.
Yes, this means I’m going to have to put up with some stuff I don’t like, such as rent control, and other attempts to command the market to do one’s bidding. Maybe we will be smarter?
But stuffing it to the billionaires who want to run everything will be worth it.
Let’s remember that the most popular public figure in the US is Pope Leo, who is very much a social justice guy.
The polling that came out yesterday with Pope Leo in the pole position put Zelenskyy at second, Sanders at third. Numbers such as these should be taken with a grain of salt. Their relative popularity would likely not survive the slings, arrows, and oppo research of a general election campaign for president. Hillary and Biden had enviably approval ratings — until they became the Democratic Party’s frontrunner.
Americans who believe their problems will be solved and their lives made better more by populist anger are sorely misguided and about to find out the hard way. Our jobs outlook and healthcare access — on the rise under Biden — are now being crushed by Trumpism, as his polling slips and slides.
Turns out bashing trans athles and gulaging migrants doesn’t put food on the table. Oops.
Let’s remember that the most popular public figure in the US is Pope Leo, who is very much a social justice guy.
The Gallup polling that came out yesterday with Pope Leo in the pole position on this question put Zelenskyy at second, Sanders at third. Numbers such as these should be taken with a grain of salt. These men’s relative popularity would likely not survive the slings, arrows, and oppo research of a general election campaign for president. Hillary and Biden had enviably high approval ratings when they were Obama admin backbenchers — until they became the Democratic Party’s frontrunner and standard bearer.
Americans who believe their problems will be solved and lives improved by populist anger are misguided and about to find out the hard way. Our jobs outlook and healthcare access — on the rise under Biden — are now being crushed by Trumpism, as his polling slips and slides and inflation worsens.
Turns out harassing trans folk and gulaging migrants doesn’t put cheap food on the table. Oops.
Texas Democrats receive bomb threat in escalating standoff over redistricting
Texas Democrats who left the state say they experienced a bomb threat at their Illinois hotel on Wednesday morning amid an ongoing clash with Republicans over their effort to block a new congressional map from going into place.
If recorded, there is likelihood of a voice print match with Ken Paxton.
Texas Dems House members represent 30% of the total Texas House contingent. But consistently Texas voters poll around 42% for Dem candidates for Presidency and Texas governorship.
Taxation without proportionate representation. Texas Republicans deserve a “tea party,” they are after all red coats and turncoats.
@DK: I thank you for the correction. Sanders was third, not second, behind Zelensky.
And I cannot connect your last sentence with your first.
You don’t seem to like populism. I don’t think it follows that we should advocate for policies that are unpopular. I don’t actually think Sanders is a populist, either.
I have been thinking about populists, and I think the problem that they present comes when they offer things that can’t be delivered. This is not the same as “things they can’t deliver”. It’s when they offer a fantasy. The things Sanders wants are things that exist in other countries. Americans aren’t THAT different. Changing attitudes is a thing that could happen.
Just like proportional representation. If we want that, we are going to have to engage in the Long Struggle for it.
I would trade higher taxes on myself for decent treatment by the government of my daughter and people like her, including the ones who are friends of the blog. In a heartbeat. Not a hard choice.
Obviously, I’m not gonna do that unilaterally. (Though if it were possible, I would consider it!)
But at this point, more money doesn’t do a lot for me. I’m not into the game of “MOAR POWA!”
which appears to be what motivates the people who are giving us a problem.
It’s when they offer a fantasy. The things Sanders wants are things that exist in other countries.
They exist there with tax rates that Sanders and his ilk have repeatedly claimed are not necessary to impose on Americans to implement Medicare-for-All — which is a fantasy.
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential campaign slammed former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday for “continued lies” about Medicare for All.
“Thank you, Joe Biden, for crediting our campaign for honesty,” senior advisor Jeff Weaver said in a statement.
”I’m sorry we can’t return the favor. Your continued use of the same insurance company scare tactics that were used against the Affordable Care Act is truly disheartening.”
Biden last week expanded his criticism of Medicare for All, saying the healthcare policy would be impossible without raising taxes on the middle class.
He credited Sanders for being “honest that it’s going to cost a tax on the middle class” while speaking to reporters in Detroit.
Orwellian stuff from the Sanders camp, because Biden was closer to reality here than Bernie. And that’s how he squandered his 2020 frontrunner status despite outraising all his primary opponents, and lost the nod to Biden (it was much the same with Sanders’s similarly-dishonest campaign against Hillary).
This kind of stuff is one of the reasons Bernie’s campaigns faltered with the loyal, traditional Dems who ultimately decide the nominee. We like Sanders well enough; we’d also prefer a more robust net of services and benefits to insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and support the general welfare. However, insulting our intelligence by selling us the populist fantasy it can all be achieve without some middle-class households paying more taxes won’t play well in South Carolina and beyond.
We get candidates have to bend the truth to get elected — since a prohibitive slice of the American electorate is immature, selfish, wants all the gain and luxury with no pain or shared sacrifice, and hence has to be sold leg tingly hope-and-change rather than serious policy. But one can take that only so far in a Dem primary. One cannot repeatedly insult Democratic voters with Trumpian fakery and expect reward. We may be angry, but we are not Republicans.
I would trade higher taxes on myself for decent treatment by the government of my daughter and people like her, including the ones who are friends of the blog. In a heartbeat. Not a hard choice.
Me too. So rather than obfuscating and dissembling about these higher taxes, Bernie types should instead hype the utilitarian, long-term benefits of this trade that you and I would make.
Since we live in the stupidest timeline, I’ve been asking myself now and then of major developments: what’s stupid about this?
In this case, I wonder: what’s the rush?
Is there a deadline past which the Texas legislature cannot redraw the map to steal some more seats? If there is, it’s a tad less tupid. If not, it’s full on stupid.
The stupidity begins with El Taco not even trying to hide his party’s manipulation of electoral rules. He could just as easily had called the state’s governor and legislative leaders, and told them to do this. They then could have come up with some BS but plausible sounding reason to redraw the map, and gone ahead with it.
Of course it would leak, and of course El Taco would deny even knowing what Texas is.
To tag onto DK, I’d add that it depends on what’s specifically polled.
For example, I pulled up this from 2024. Biden had 57% in likability, but only about 40% in job approval (by contrast, note Trump’s numbers).
I would guess that people who may like Pope Leo would be pretty unhappy to have him as President. I think the same goes for Sanders – he’s a likable guy to a lot of people, but most people do not agree with his policies or see the obvious flaws in them.
Finally, I’d postulate that being President just inherently creates a lot of opposition. There’s a reason why job approval consistently goes down and why there is a pattern of the President’s party losing in the midterms.
I don’t know why Steven was surprised by this. MAGA folk love the exercise of raw power just because they can. They’ve convinced themselves that they’ve spent most of their lives as pathetic victims being taken advantage of by liberals and all America’s institutions and even by the rest of the world. President Trump’s mad as hell and he’s not gonna take it anymore! Drive the corrupt Democrat traitors out of public life using any means available!
@Andy: Well, this is a necro, but I think y’all are taking what I’m saying a bit too literally.
Like Robert Reich, I think a new Progressive Era is coming. I think there is tons of evidence that people, in large majorities, hate billionaires. They hate the self-dealing, they hate the control they exercise over our daily lives. They hate the naked display of privilege. They hate how billionaires don’t pay any taxes.
I’m saying this attitude will have consequences. The more nakedly these billionaires exercise their privilege, the stronger this gets. Which is why the billionaires spend lots of money to distract and misdirect those voters who can be distracted and misdirected. So they can shill for billionaires as “righteous”, while handing them giant tax cuts.
What I don’t know is the who, how, and why. But all the energy is there. It might be Robespierre, it might be Teddy Roosevelt. It might be next year, it might be 10 years out. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can see the energy there.
********************@
GOPs are going to SCOTUS to revoke the requirement in the Voting Rights Act to create majority Black districts. Jamelle Bouie expects a continuation of Roberts’ war on the VRA. Well worth me sharing. He ticks off the French republics leading to the current Fifth Republic and notes we also, while under one constitution, are embarking on our own fifth republic. The first lasted from 1788 to 1861, the reconstruction amendments started the second, the third dates from reaction to the Great Depression, the VRA ushered in the finally truly democratic fourth, and John Roberts is launching the post democracy fifth.
Conservatism is basically a game of make-believe: let’s pretend cutting taxes lowers the deficit, let’s pretend AGW isn’t real, let’s pretend Donald Trump is remotely qualified to be president, and John Roberts’ favorite, let’s pretend all this unpleasant racial stuff never happened.
It’s hard to put into words how bad this kind of ultra-partisanship is. Perhaps more worrying is attempting to estimate how this downward spiral ends.
@Andy: I think it will end. Because it can’t continue forever. But like you, I don’t think there’s any predicting just how and when it will end. This is the characteristic of a highly chaotic system, which is how I would characterize our political economy.
Let’s remember that the most popular public figure in the US is Pope Leo, who is very much a social justice guy. And the second most popular is Bernie Sanders.
There is SOO much anger out there. I feel like I made a mistake backing Hillary in 2016. Not because I think now she would have been a bad president, but because I misread the room.
I’m not gonna make that mistake this next time.
Yes, this means I’m going to have to put up with some stuff I don’t like, such as rent control, and other attempts to command the market to do one’s bidding. Maybe we will be smarter?
But stuffing it to the billionaires who want to run everything will be worth it.
@Jay L. Gischer:
The polling that came out yesterday with Pope Leo in the pole position put Zelenskyy at second, Sanders at third. Numbers such as these should be taken with a grain of salt. Their relative popularity would likely not survive the slings, arrows, and oppo research of a general election campaign for president. Hillary and Biden had enviably approval ratings — until they became the Democratic Party’s frontrunner.
Americans who believe their problems will be solved and their lives made better more by populist anger are sorely misguided and about to find out the hard way. Our jobs outlook and healthcare access — on the rise under Biden — are now being crushed by Trumpism, as his polling slips and slides.
Turns out bashing trans athles and gulaging migrants doesn’t put food on the table. Oops.
@Jay L. Gischer:
The Gallup polling that came out yesterday with Pope Leo in the pole position on this question put Zelenskyy at second, Sanders at third. Numbers such as these should be taken with a grain of salt. These men’s relative popularity would likely not survive the slings, arrows, and oppo research of a general election campaign for president. Hillary and Biden had enviably high approval ratings when they were Obama admin backbenchers — until they became the Democratic Party’s frontrunner and standard bearer.
Americans who believe their problems will be solved and lives improved by populist anger are misguided and about to find out the hard way. Our jobs outlook and healthcare access — on the rise under Biden — are now being crushed by Trumpism, as his polling slips and slides and inflation worsens.
Turns out harassing trans folk and gulaging migrants doesn’t put cheap food on the table. Oops.
If recorded, there is likelihood of a voice print match with Ken Paxton.
Texas Dems House members represent 30% of the total Texas House contingent. But consistently Texas voters poll around 42% for Dem candidates for Presidency and Texas governorship.
Taxation without proportionate representation. Texas Republicans deserve a “tea party,” they are after all red coats and turncoats.
@DK: I thank you for the correction. Sanders was third, not second, behind Zelensky.
And I cannot connect your last sentence with your first.
You don’t seem to like populism. I don’t think it follows that we should advocate for policies that are unpopular. I don’t actually think Sanders is a populist, either.
I have been thinking about populists, and I think the problem that they present comes when they offer things that can’t be delivered. This is not the same as “things they can’t deliver”. It’s when they offer a fantasy. The things Sanders wants are things that exist in other countries. Americans aren’t THAT different. Changing attitudes is a thing that could happen.
Just like proportional representation. If we want that, we are going to have to engage in the Long Struggle for it.
I would trade higher taxes on myself for decent treatment by the government of my daughter and people like her, including the ones who are friends of the blog. In a heartbeat. Not a hard choice.
Obviously, I’m not gonna do that unilaterally. (Though if it were possible, I would consider it!)
But at this point, more money doesn’t do a lot for me. I’m not into the game of “MOAR POWA!”
which appears to be what motivates the people who are giving us a problem.
Trying to edit the Constitution now.
“Amendments? We don’t have no amendments. We don’t have to show you no stinking amendments!”
@Jay L. Gischer:
They exist there with tax rates that Sanders and his ilk have repeatedly claimed are not necessary to impose on Americans to implement Medicare-for-All — which is a fantasy.
Sanders campaign accuses Biden of ‘continued lies’ about ‘Medicare for All’ (24 July 2019)
Orwellian stuff from the Sanders camp, because Biden was closer to reality here than Bernie. And that’s how he squandered his 2020 frontrunner status despite outraising all his primary opponents, and lost the nod to Biden (it was much the same with Sanders’s similarly-dishonest campaign against Hillary).
This kind of stuff is one of the reasons Bernie’s campaigns faltered with the loyal, traditional Dems who ultimately decide the nominee. We like Sanders well enough; we’d also prefer a more robust net of services and benefits to insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and support the general welfare. However, insulting our intelligence by selling us the populist fantasy it can all be achieve without some middle-class households paying more taxes won’t play well in South Carolina and beyond.
We get candidates have to bend the truth to get elected — since a prohibitive slice of the American electorate is immature, selfish, wants all the gain and luxury with no pain or shared sacrifice, and hence has to be sold leg tingly hope-and-change rather than serious policy. But one can take that only so far in a Dem primary. One cannot repeatedly insult Democratic voters with Trumpian fakery and expect reward. We may be angry, but we are not Republicans.
Me too. So rather than obfuscating and dissembling about these higher taxes, Bernie types should instead hype the utilitarian, long-term benefits of this trade that you and I would make.
Since we live in the stupidest timeline, I’ve been asking myself now and then of major developments: what’s stupid about this?
In this case, I wonder: what’s the rush?
Is there a deadline past which the Texas legislature cannot redraw the map to steal some more seats? If there is, it’s a tad less tupid. If not, it’s full on stupid.
The stupidity begins with El Taco not even trying to hide his party’s manipulation of electoral rules. He could just as easily had called the state’s governor and legislative leaders, and told them to do this. They then could have come up with some BS but plausible sounding reason to redraw the map, and gone ahead with it.
Of course it would leak, and of course El Taco would deny even knowing what Texas is.
@Jay L. Gischer:
To tag onto DK, I’d add that it depends on what’s specifically polled.
For example, I pulled up this from 2024. Biden had 57% in likability, but only about 40% in job approval (by contrast, note Trump’s numbers).
I would guess that people who may like Pope Leo would be pretty unhappy to have him as President. I think the same goes for Sanders – he’s a likable guy to a lot of people, but most people do not agree with his policies or see the obvious flaws in them.
Finally, I’d postulate that being President just inherently creates a lot of opposition. There’s a reason why job approval consistently goes down and why there is a pattern of the President’s party losing in the midterms.
I don’t know why Steven was surprised by this. MAGA folk love the exercise of raw power just because they can. They’ve convinced themselves that they’ve spent most of their lives as pathetic victims being taken advantage of by liberals and all America’s institutions and even by the rest of the world. President Trump’s mad as hell and he’s not gonna take it anymore! Drive the corrupt Democrat traitors out of public life using any means available!
@Andy: Well, this is a necro, but I think y’all are taking what I’m saying a bit too literally.
Like Robert Reich, I think a new Progressive Era is coming. I think there is tons of evidence that people, in large majorities, hate billionaires. They hate the self-dealing, they hate the control they exercise over our daily lives. They hate the naked display of privilege. They hate how billionaires don’t pay any taxes.
I’m saying this attitude will have consequences. The more nakedly these billionaires exercise their privilege, the stronger this gets. Which is why the billionaires spend lots of money to distract and misdirect those voters who can be distracted and misdirected. So they can shill for billionaires as “righteous”, while handing them giant tax cuts.
What I don’t know is the who, how, and why. But all the energy is there. It might be Robespierre, it might be Teddy Roosevelt. It might be next year, it might be 10 years out. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I can see the energy there.