sidravitale

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/10/8/2347561/-The-issue-that-got-Trump-elected-is-now-his-biggest-threat?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

President Donald Trump won in 2024 because of the economy. He promised voters he’d lower prices on Day 1, and people foolishly believed him. But what does he care? A candidate has one job—to get elected—and he managed to do it.

That same focus on cost-of-living issues also powered Zohran Mamdani’s rise from relative obscurity to becoming New York’s Democratic nominee for mayor. He put affordability at the center of his campaign and surged past better-known rivals. It’s a model Democrats will lean on through next year’s midterms and into the 2028 cycle—not only because it works, but because it’s right. If the government doesn’t exist to make people’s lives better, then what’s the point?

That’s why the latest Economist/YouGov poll should set off alarms for Republican strategists everywhere. Nearly one-half of respondents listed top concerns that reflect the basic costs and conditions of everyday life: inflation (24%), jobs (12%), and health care (11%). Those just happen to be the issues where Republicans are weakest.

Trump broke through with some lower-income voters in 2024, seizing on their anger over rising prices. But that anger hasn’t gone away: It has turned back on him. His supporters still feel the pinch, and no slogan or scapegoat will fix that. Inflation is the one issue he can’t talk his way out of, and it’s only getting worse.

Related | Even MAGA minions call bullsh-t on Trump’s social media lies

Beyond so-called illegal immigration, which remains a reliably conservative rallying cry, the Republican base is restless over economic anxiety. And that’s fertile ground for Democrats. And they don’t have to win over all those restless voters—just a fraction would reshape the map.

Trump’s approval rating remains deeply underwater (38% approve, 54% disapprove), with many conservatives souring on his performance. Moderates, meanwhile, have largely abandoned him. Among those who voted for Trump in 2024, a meaningful share—15%—now disapprove of the job he’s doing. Between disaffected Trump voters and those who stayed home last time, there’s an opening big enough to matter.

Perhaps the most revealing number in the poll shows how people see the economy itself. Only a small minority (19%) think things are improving, and even among Trump voters, less than half say the economy is getting better. Normally, partisans rally around their own president, claiming optimism out of loyalty. Not this time. A significant slice of Trump’s base thinks the economy is heading in the wrong direction. That’s new—and dangerous—for him.

It’s no coincidence that roughly one in five Trump voters think the economy is getting worse, disapprove of his presidency, and list inflation as their top concern. That cluster of discontent could be enough to swing close races or, just as crucially, depress Republican turnout altogether. 

Add to that a broad majority of independents who think things are worsening, and Democrats have a real opportunity to expand their coalition.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump’s most effective ad featured Vice President Kamala Harris talking about gender-affirming surgery for prison inmates. It wasn’t successful because of transphobia—polling shows most Americans support protecting trans people from discrimination—but because it reinforced a perception that Democrats were talking about issues far removed from people’s daily struggles.

Democrats won’t make that mistake again. This cycle, their message will center squarely on the economy, more so than even Bill Clinton’s famous “It’s the economy, stupid” mantra in 1992. With Republican chaos sabotaging the economy from the White House down all the way down to state legislatures, Democrats don’t just have a chance to win next year. They have a chance to run up the score.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/10/8/2347561/-The-issue-that-got-Trump-elected-is-now-his-biggest-threat?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/10/8/2347574/-The-Recap-Democrats-stand-strong-on-health-care-and-Republicans-fall-apart-over-their-own-shutdown?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know.

The Trump recession may already be upon us

Nothing says “golden age” like “should I pay for food or rent?”

Republicans in disarray over how to end their shutdown

The GOP is falling apart, but unfortunately they’re taking everyone down with them.

Trump's demands get more unhinged amid his war on Democrats

He literally called for a governor he doesn’t like to be put in jail. What do we call that again?

GOP confirms another monster as America’s newest ambassador

The United States is now even more of a joke to the rest of the world.

Republicans know they're losing the California redistricting fight

Looks like they’re already throwing in the towel.

Confirmed: Mike Johnson's taste in music is trash

The Super Bowl has Bad Bunny, but all the House speaker has is bad taste. 🙉

Cartoon: Catching criminals

What happens when the “thugs” are the ones doing the arrests?

Pelosi says Democrats won’t abandon health care—despite GOP’s demands

She put it very succinctly: “We're not doing it.”

How iconic Bob Ross paintings could help save public television

One of America’s most beloved artists comes through yet again.

Deputy CIA director has a new side gig as his own lawyer

Who needs a real lawyer when the administration doesn’t follow any laws?

Click here to see more cartoons.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/10/8/2347574/-The-Recap-Democrats-stand-strong-on-health-care-and-Republicans-fall-apart-over-their-own-shutdown?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/10/8/2347600/-Progressive-rising-star-mounts-challenge-against-longtime-House-Democrat?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

State Rep. Justin Pearson, the Memphis lawmaker who rose to prominence in 2023 as part of the “Tennessee Three,” announced on Wednesday that he’s challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen—joining a wave of younger progressives calling for generational change inside the party.

In his launch video, Pearson described himself as a “Memphian, born and raised, who understands how to build bridges across race, identity, ethnicity, and generations in order to build the future that we want to live into.”

“We always stand up against those who try to silence us, push us to the periphery, push us to the back, in the places that should represent us,” he added. “Now, I am ready to fight for us in the United States Congress.”

The challenge marks the latest flashpoint between young activists and long-serving incumbents. Pearson, 30, is still a relative newcomer with deep roots in Memphis organizing, while Cohen, 76, has represented the city since 2007.

Pearson told The New York Times he isn’t framing the race around age, but around urgency—arguing that Memphis needs bolder leadership at a time when President Donald Trump has dispatched federal agents and is now sending National Guard troops to address crime in the city. 

“This is about us being able to fight for our families, for our values, for our future, in this moment in time,” he said.

Pearson became a national figure after he and fellow lawmaker Justin Jones were expelled by Tennessee’s GOP-dominated legislature in 2023 for joining gun control protests on the House floor. Both were reinstated days later, while their colleague, state Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, narrowly survived her own expulsion vote. The trio became known as the “Tennessee Three,” raising hundreds of thousands of dollars from supporters nationwide. Johnson later ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.

Cohen’s seat—Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District—is safely Democratic, meaning the August primary will almost certainly decide the winner. The congressman, a member of the House Progressive Caucus and Tennessee’s lone Democratic representative in Washington, has already said he intends to run again. 

Last fall, Cohen told Axios he was “not worried” about a primary challenge, calling it “a mistake” for anyone to run against him.

Pearson’s launch video leans on his activist roots and his message of inclusion.

“You can’t spell us without you,” he said.

Related | Democrats have exciting young leaders—if the torch ever gets passed

The son of a teacher and a preacher, he began organizing in high school, lobbying his district for new textbooks. He later led a grassroots campaign against a proposed oil pipeline that would have cut through historic Black neighborhoods in Memphis—a fight that drew support from Al Gore and Justin Timberlake, and ended in victory.

Now, according to The Guardian, Pearson is running on a progressive platform that includes a plan to lower health care costs, make housing more affordable, and tighten gun laws. But his central pitch is clear: Democrats can’t keep doing politics the same old way

He’s also taken aim at billionaire tech titan Elon Musk’s plan to build a massive xAI supercomputer complex in southwest Memphis, as well as the federal task force Trump sent to the city. Cohen has opposed the National Guard deployment but has voiced support for helping local police reduce violent crime.

Pearson’s campaign has the backing of Leaders We Deserve, the youth-focused PAC co-founded by gun control activist David Hogg, which pledged to spend $1 million to help him unseat Cohen—the group’s largest investment to date, according to NBC News. 

“Justin Pearson is a transformational leader who can inspire a new generation,” Hogg said, urging Cohen to “pass the torch.”

He’s also got the backing of Justice Democrats, the group that powered New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s win in 2018.

“This district does not have time to wait or keep going with the same status quo leadership that has governed for decades,” Alexandra Rojas, the group’s executive director, said in a statement to the Times and other media outlets.

These groups are banding together as part of a bigger movement of young candidates hoping to take down the Democratic Party’s old guard. Some longtime lawmakers, like New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, have already announced plans to step aside to make room for the next generation.

Related | Democratic stalwart exits Congress—and says it’s time to pass the torch

As that movement gathers steam, Pearson’s campaign is testing whether the Democratic establishment is ready to hand over the reins—or if another fight for the future is about to begin.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/10/8/2347600/-Progressive-rising-star-mounts-challenge-against-longtime-House-Democrat?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=