Michael Podhorzer
@mikepod.bsky.social
Former political director, AFL-CIO. Senior fellow, CAP. My Substack: www.weekendreading.net
Tune in live soon! I'll explain the framework I use for understanding both the Roberts Court term and the midterms.
Words to Win By@wordstowinby.bsky.social · 2w agoToday @ 1pm EDT! Join @anatosaurus.bsky.social and @mikepod.bsky.social for Meeting the Moment. Livestream here:
Today @ 1pm EDT! Join @anatosaurus.bsky.social and @mikepod.bsky.social for Meeting the Moment. Livestream here:
LIVE SOON: Meeting the Moment with Anat Shenker-Osorio
Starting Oct 5 at 1:00 PM EDT
open.substack.com
Unions are the only major institution that has gained and not lost support since the Great Recession. Yet after Labor Day, the people who write about “the working class” for a living will manage not to say the word “union” out loud again for 364 days. www.contrariannews.org/p/labor-day-...
💡
Michael Podhorzer@mikepod.bsky.social · last mo.Democrats won’t become the “party of the working class” by finding the right message. Instead, Dems need to stop treating working-class voters as consumers to be marketed to, and start treating them as partners again. www.contrariannews.org/p/labor-day-...
Most of Democratic "affordability" messaging is about what things cost. The missing half of that equation is what you make. Unions are the “one neat trick” we have to improve wages, benefits, and more. They're incredibly popular. So why don't Dems talk about unions—or show up for them—much more?
Labor Day 2026
Democrats need to build a durable governing coalition that deserves the support of unions and working people
contrariannews.org
Democrats won’t become the “party of the working class” by finding the right message. Instead, Dems need to stop treating working-class voters as consumers to be marketed to, and start treating them as partners again. www.contrariannews.org/p/labor-day-...
Republicans will face a drubbing in the midterms, and Dem consultants are already mistaking working-class anger at Republicans for working-class attraction to their genius "affordability" messaging. How can Dems build a durable governing coaliation that actually deserves working people's support?
Labor Day 2026
Democrats need to build a durable governing coalition that deserves the support of unions and working people
contrariannews.org
Good article by @mikepod.bsky.social on what Democrats need to do better to earn the support of unions & working people. It’s not just the right thing to do. It’s also good strategy for the party to win. www.contrariannews.org/p/labor-day-...
Labor Day 2026
Democrats need to build a durable governing coalition that deserves the support of unions and working people
contrariannews.org
How can Democrats actually become "the party of the working class" again? New from me at @contrariannews.org : www.contrariannews.org/p/labor-day-...
Labor Day 2026
Democrats need to build a durable governing coalition that deserves the support of unions and working people
contrariannews.org
Watch this "State of the Unions" address from @lizshuler.bsky.social featuring new @aflcio.org polling data: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8QK...
2026 State of the Unions | AFL-CIO
YouTube video by AFL-CIO
youtube.com
This from @mikepod.bsky.social's Midterm Overview is a good example of why I say: "Not the odds but the stakes." www.weekendreading.net/p/poll-washi...
Join me today at 1pm ET with special guest @perrybaconjr.bsky.social on “Meeting the Moment” with @anatosaurus.bsky.social! We’ll talk about the midterms and get an insider’s perspective on the media environment. open.substack.com/live-stream/...
LIVE SOON: Meeting the Moment with Anat Shenker-Osorio and Perry Bacon
Starting Aug 26 at 1:00 PM EDT
open.substack.com
Absolutely thrilled to be interviewing @naomiaklein.bsky.social in a few hours! We will dive deeply into how we got here and how we get out. Join us.
Michael Podhorzer@mikepod.bsky.social · 2mo agoFew thinkers can match @naomiaklein.bsky.social in explaining the disorientation of this moment—how capitalists and authoritarians manufacture chaos, then exploit it to control us. Join me and @anatosaurus.bsky.social live today at 4pm ET/1pm PT: open.substack.com/live-stream/...
Few thinkers can match @naomiaklein.bsky.social in explaining the disorientation of this moment—how capitalists and authoritarians manufacture chaos, then exploit it to control us. Join me and @anatosaurus.bsky.social live today at 4pm ET/1pm PT: open.substack.com/live-stream/...
LIVE SOON: Meeting the Moment with Anat Shenker-Osorio and Naomi Klein
Starting Aug 19 at 4:00 PM EDT
open.substack.com
This story has flown horrifically under the radar for the last year and a half. www.weekendreading.net/p/the-crimes...
The Crimes Against Immigrant Kids We're Not Hearing About
What you must know about the Trump regime's plans to abduct, traffic, and expel more children, with the ACLU's Sarah Mehta.
weekendreading.net
Join me, Anat, and Sarah Mehta right now to discuss this pact, Michigan, and more! open.substack.com/live-stream/...
LIVE NOW: Meeting the Moment with Anat Shenker-Osorio and Sarah Mehta
Michael Podhorzer on Substack
open.substack.com
Anat Shenker-Osorio@anatosaurus.bsky.social · 3mo agoHow about we make a simple pact? Never make MAGA's arguments for them.
Join me with constitutional law professor Kermit Roosevelt right now for some great insights on the Declaration of Independence! open.substack.com/live-stream/...
LIVE NOW: Weekend Reading Live with Kermit Roosevelt
Michael Podhorzer on Substack
open.substack.com
As we lurch toward November, we're going to be getting the same advice dressed up as novelty: beat the opposition by becoming them. An examination of the failures of that approach: open.substack.com/pub/anatosau...
Don't Make the Argument
The battle cry of the reactionary centrist, or how we helped usher in authoritarianism
open.substack.com
Read this whole thread. The Platner implosion provides occasion to recollect what we learned about Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, our two sexual predator Supreme Court justices. bsky.app/profile/mike...
Michael Podhorzer@mikepod.bsky.social · 3mo ago2/ Breaking a story about rape or abuse is a long and involved process. Any well-reported piece at a major outlet asks the accused for comment before it runs. Sometimes, as with Platner, the survivor confronts him privately too. He always knows what’s coming before the public does.
All of this. And, the additional hubris is assuming they will sail through anyway. That the women will not be believed or that the allegations will not matter -- assuming the public will see the women as these men have and do.
Michael Podhorzer@mikepod.bsky.social · 3mo ago1/ Here's what we too rarely talk about when a man seeking high office is credibly accused of sexual misconduct. Platner, Swalwell, Kavanaugh, Thomas—these men almost always have the option to keep the allegations private. They almost never take it.
1/ Here's what we too rarely talk about when a man seeking high office is credibly accused of sexual misconduct. Platner, Swalwell, Kavanaugh, Thomas—these men almost always have the option to keep the allegations private. They almost never take it.
Tune in now!
Anat Shenker-Osorio@anatosaurus.bsky.social · 4mo agoTomorrow 1pm ET @mikepod.bsky.social & I host convo with your favorite organizer’s, favorite organizer: Doran Schrantz. She helped establish the “Minnesota Miracle” and is now the go-to person across states for getting folks out to confront fascist threats. open.substack.com/live-stream/...
Tomorrow 1pm ET @mikepod.bsky.social & I host convo with your favorite organizer’s, favorite organizer: Doran Schrantz. She helped establish the “Minnesota Miracle” and is now the go-to person across states for getting folks out to confront fascist threats. open.substack.com/live-stream/...
LIVE SOON: Meeting the Moment with Anat Shenker-Osorio and Doran Schrantz
Starting Jul 1 at 1:00 PM EDT
open.substack.com
"How did our country get so broken? In short, it broke when the billionaires broke it." I wrote this in October of 2024. It's about to get even worse after the Roberts Court's ruling in NRSC v. FEC. www.weekendreading.net/p/the-john-r...
The John Roberts Election
Politicians in Robes Part II: How the billionaires captured the Court to remake American “democracy” in their own image
weekendreading.net
Under appreciated about NY winners is that they ran better campaigns. They talked to voters & got voters to talk to each other about them. Magnetism 101: if you want people to come to your cause, be attractive. Pollingists can't comprehend or recreate this: donors are their audience.