Jim Carroll
@jtccarroll.flux.community
Editor, The Hot Screen; contributor at Flux
I'll have a lot more to say about the Democrats' triumphs yesterday, but here are my initial thoughts:
We have not yet begun to fight
The radical right has been dealt a massive blow, but the struggle for democracy is only just beginning
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Job 1 for congressional Democrats is going to be removing Pete Hegseth, the criminal traitor currently destroying the U.S. Department of Defense. Hakeem Jeffries has said they will get rid of Hegseth if Trump doesn't. The DoD is filled w thousands of people who will provide evidence.
Jeffries: Democrats will deal with Hegseth if Trump doesn’t
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Democrats will run Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “out of town” if they take the majority in the November midterms. Jeffries told MS NOW that De…
thehill.com
I know national pundits gravitate towards "kitchen table issues" as an explanation for everything, and immigration is generally regarded as a topic that can only help Republicans. But what Trump did wasn't really even policy. It was an open declaration of war against nonwhite Americans.
Pat Scaramuzza@genocideman.bsky.social · last wk.It was definitely ICE's open war on Latinos. The heavily Hispanic districts in Florida went from +13 R to +28 D. The Republican party may have just lost an entire generation of Hispanic voters, and it serves them right.
I think we should offer thanks to all the Ds who stepped up and ran courageous races in the face of endless media naysaying, vicious GOP propaganda, and Musk-fueled derangement, thoughtfully creating a new politics that appealed to people's basic decency at an extremely trying time in American life.
New @flux.community: While Democrats have appealed to voters in the midterms by attacking Trump and the GOP for mismanagement of the economy, corruption, and the misbegotten war on Iran, Republican candidates have responded by attacking. . . America. 1/x plus.flux.community/p/as-elector...
As electorate appears set to render dour midterms judgment against Republicans, MAGA reverts to familiar peddling of hate
While Democrats attack Trump and the GOP for mismanagement of the economy, corruption, and the misbegotten war on Iran, Republican candidates respond by attacking. . . America
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As electorate appears set to render dour midterms judgment against Republicans, MAGA reverts to familiar peddling of hate, @jtccarroll.flux.community writes:
As electorate appears set to render dour midterms judgment against Republicans, MAGA reverts to familiar peddling of hate
While Democrats attack Trump and the GOP for mismanagement of the economy, corruption, and the misbegotten war on Iran, Republican candidates respond by attacking. . . America
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Read this, then read the rest of the series if you haven't. Some of the best work I've seen pulling together the story of what Trump 2 has done to our country.
Garrett M. Graff@vermontgmg.bsky.social · last wk.My fourth and final essay in a series examining Trump's reign as we head now into the final hours before the midterms — this one on how Donald Trump has, through a whole series of unnecessary choices, weakened the country around the world, likely irreparably. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/trump-s-ty...
These guys just hate America, and I mean that in a literal sense, not in their "You must hate America if you criticize a Republican president" sense. Whenever they encounter the diverse, chaotic, dynamic nation America has ALWAYS BEEN they burn with loathing b/c it isn't just white and Christian.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoJD Vance whines about translators in hospitals and says, "how about if everyone just spoke English?"
ICYMI @flux.community: Dems should ever bear in mind the larger long-term struggle against MAGA extremism, and frame any successes in the midterms as a repudiation of Trumpism and its enablers, not just as a referendum on a struggling economy. 1/x plus.flux.community/p/to-move-th...
To move the U.S. beyond MAGA, Democrats must delegitimize a radicalized GOP in the eyes of voters
This strategy needs to start with any Dem successes in the midterms, which the party should frame as a repudiation of Trumpism and its enablers, not just as a referendum on a struggling economy
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New from me at @flux.community: It’s time for Dems to attack authoritarian maneuvers like the targeting of Rep. Ilhan Omar both as dangers to the republic AND as exposing the deep vulnerabilities of MAGA’s bleakly racist vision for America. 1/x plus.flux.community/p/in-despera...
In desperate attempt to head off midterms rout, Trump tries to criminalize Representative Ilhan Omar for crime of being an immigrant
It’s time for Dems to attack such authoritarian maneuvers both as dangers to the republic and as exposing the deep vulnerabilities of MAGA’s bleakly racist vision for America
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Despite Trump's failures and extremism, Democrats have not focused on deligitimizing the entire Republican brand within the public eye, @jtccarroll.flux.community writes. Next month's election must be more than just a repudiation of Trump's specific failures.
To move the U.S. beyond MAGA, Democrats must delegitimize a radicalized GOP in the eyes of voters
This strategy needs to start with any Dem successes in the midterms, which the party should frame as a repudiation of Trumpism and its enablers, not just as a referendum on a struggling economy
plus.flux.community
A despairing scenario I’ve been confronted with repeatedly: won’t Dems come back to power, not fix every problem they inherited fast enough, and pave the way for another GOP comeback, like 2010 and 2024? Maybe! But the GOP is really burning up the foundations. 🧵 www.offmessage.net/p/post-donal...
No Fake Makeovers For The Post-Trump GOP
Democrats should behave as if the pendulum is destined to swing back against them. But that doesn’t mean it will.
offmessage.net
The immediate task if Ds can take back power is wins. Little fixes, lots of fanfare. A lot of this is because of the electorate. I can’t tell you how angry people are. Across the board they see all politicians do nothing liars—all while the lives of normal people get worse. Book. Immediate. Wins.
Brian Beutler@brianbeutler.bsky.social · 4w agoA despairing scenario I’ve been confronted with repeatedly: won’t Dems come back to power, not fix every problem they inherited fast enough, and pave the way for another GOP comeback, like 2010 and 2024? Maybe! But the GOP is really burning up the foundations. 🧵 www.offmessage.net/p/post-donal...
My latest @flux.community: As Republicans face a likely midterms wipeout, Democrats must be unsparing in reminding voters that there is little daylight between a radicalized GOP and the aspiring despot in the White House. 1/x plus.flux.community/p/flimsy-gop...
Flimsy GOP attempts to show ‘distance’ from Donald Trump should fool no one
As Republicans face a likely midterms wipeout, Democrats must be unsparing in reminding voters that there is little daylight between a radicalized GOP and the aspiring despot in the White House
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As Republicans' electoral fortunes fade significantly, many of its politicians are trying to distance themselves from Trump, but it's only verbal misdirection. He owns the Republican party, and Democrats must remind voters of that, @jtccarroll.flux.community argues:
Flimsy GOP attempts to show ‘distance’ from Donald Trump should fool no one
As Republicans face a likely midterms wipeout, Democrats must be unsparing in reminding voters that there is little daylight between a radicalized GOP and the aspiring despot in the White House
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My latest @flux.community: An increasingly fascistic Republican Party, not ideas that lie within the continuum of pro-democracy policies, is the true threat to America: why the Third Way declaration of war on the DSA is so very bonkers. 1/x plus.flux.community/p/third-way-...
Third Way “war” on democratic socialism betrays a basic misreading of U.S. politics
An increasingly fascistic Republican Party, not ideas that lie within the continuum of pro-democracy policies, is the true threat to America
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As Trump ramps up his attacks on America's founding principles and seeks to destroy our most treasured institutions, the conservative Democrat group Third Way thinks that not-even socialists are the bigger threat. This is a dangerous error, @jtccarroll.flux.community writes:
Third Way “war” on democratic socialism betrays a basic misreading of U.S. politics
An increasingly fascistic Republican Party, not ideas that lie within the continuum of pro-democracy policies, is the true threat to America
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Solid article out from CNN on AI dangers and the GOP's non- response, though this understatement made me lol: "But Trump’s attitude toward cataclysmic warnings of rampant AI suggests he’s done little philosophical soul-searching at a turning point for the human race.” www.cnn.com/2026/09/14/p...
A fateful turning point for humanity and AI could redefine American politics | CNN Politics
If a terrorist threat led subject experts to warn of a near-term existential menace to humanity, the weight of the US government would mobilize in an immediate and limitless effort to save the day.
cnn.com
"Eugenics looms here....If the method of salvation is embracing self-actualization, then saving yourself is a choice. If you fail, you are culpable for the failure." Whatever this is, it doesn't belong in the upper echelons of the federal government.
RFK Jr.’s Toxic World
The HHS secretary uses fear of contamination to denigrate modern medicine and advance a project rooted in vulgar eugenics.
lnk.thebulwark.com
"It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the HHS secretary sees deaths from outbreaks of diseases we had beaten or contained, like measles and cyclosporiasis, as a form of social hygiene that kills off the weak and susceptible."
RFK Jr.’s Toxic World
The HHS secretary uses fear of contamination to denigrate modern medicine and advance a project rooted in vulgar eugenics.
lnk.thebulwark.com
ICYMI: This @flux.community @matthew.flux.community conversation with two former NIH employees offers both on-the-ground details of Trump's war on medical science and an overview of the larger stakes re public health and scientific freedom. 1/ plus.flux.community/p/how-scient...
How scientists are fighting the Trump administration’s attempts to silence them
Sylvia Chou and Alexa Romberg on how scientists are supporting each other and realizing that being apolitical is a luxury belief
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Trump’s Idiotic Trade War Is a Bigger Political Opening Than You Think talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-b...
Trump’s Idiotic Trade War Is a Bigger Political Opening Than You Think
As a general matter, people who write about or strategize about politics...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Had an awesome conversation with @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com and ofc @joshkovensky.bsky.social about Prairieland. There are, imo, a lot of difficult and important questions around activism. We get into many of them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhqS...
How a Texas Protest Ended in Disaster | TPM Social Club
YouTube video by Talking Points Memo
youtube.com
"So “we” may not “need” Canada, but Republicans in the region really “need” Trump to not rupture trade relations with our ally for the next two months." Heartening analysis from @gregsargent.bsky.social on how Trump is undermining GOP candidates in the Midwest. newrepublic.com/article/2146...
How Trump’s Crazed Fury at Canada Is Already Backfiring Badly for Him
The escalating trade war with Canada will hit hard in the Midwest—right where some of the most important contests in the midterms will be decided.
newrepublic.com
My latest at @flux.community: Reports that a covert CIA program was behind the sinking of three Ecuadorian fishing vessels should raise public alarm bells about out-of-control U.S. maritime attacks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. 1/x plus.flux.community/p/indefensib...
Indefensible U.S. attacks on Latin American vessels are even more outlandish than previously understood
Reports that a covert CIA program was behind the sinking of three Ecuadorian fishing vessels should raise public alarm bells about an out-of-control operation in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific
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My latest at @flux.community: The Justice Department's withdrawal of laughable charges against a former Olympic athlete shouldn't obscure the basic, staggering fact of the president's abuse of power against an innocent man. 1/x plus.flux.community/p/trumps-ref...
Trump’s Reflecting Pool vendetta became too ridiculous for Jeanine Pirro
The Justice Department's dismissal of laughable charges against a former Olympic athlete shouldn't obscure the basic fact of the president's abuse of power against an innocent man
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Trump’s Reflecting Pool vendetta became too ridiculous for Jeanine Pirro Despite the dismissal of the charges, this was still an outrageous abuse of power, @jtccarroll.flux.community writes:
Trump’s Reflecting Pool vendetta became too ridiculous for Jeanine Pirro
The Justice Department's dismissal of laughable charges against a former Olympic athlete shouldn't obscure the basic fact of the president's abuse of power against an innocent man
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My latest at @flux.community: ICE is a broken agency in need of major reforms or abolition, but Dems must pair opposition to ICE lawlessness with unsparing attacks on the GOP's dehumanizing anti-immigrant hatred and propaganda that underlies major abuses. 1/x plus.flux.community/p/renewed-ic...
Renewed ICE killings are inevitable result of mass deportations rooted in incendiary claims of immigrant invasion
Democrats must pair opposition to ICE lawlessness with unsparing attacks on the GOP's dehumanizing anti-immigrant hatred and propaganda
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More ICE killings are the inevitable result of mass deportations rooted in incendiary claims of immigrant invasion @jtccarroll.flux.community on why Democrats mustn't shy away from letting the public know about Trump's dehumanization of immigrants
Renewed ICE killings are inevitable result of mass deportations rooted in incendiary claims of immigrant invasion
Democrats must pair opposition to ICE lawlessness with unsparing attacks on the GOP's dehumanizing anti-immigrant hatred and propaganda
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