Some thoughts on where we stand following this week’s election and what the political outlook may look like heading into 2028.
The Current Political Landscape
Democrats will take control of both the House and Senate, with a substantial majority in the House of Representatives. At least 253 seats will be held by Democrats, and possibly more, compared with the 218 seats needed for control.
In the Senate, Democrats will also gain control, with at least 54 seats and possibly as many as 56. The key numbers in the Senate are 51 seats for a majority, 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and 67 votes to convict in an impeachment trial.Continue Reading >>
Yesterday, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas posted a lengthy screed in response to this week’s election results, and it is worth reading. He is clearly positioning himself for another presidential run, particularly as the newly elected officials take office and he finds himself the only remaining statewide elected Republican in Texas still holding office.
Cruz’s analysis begins with a reasonably well-considered assessment of what went wrong for the Republican Party in this week’s elections. Unfortunately, as the essay progresses, it takes an abrupt turn into fearmongering, hyperbole, and outright nonsense. His increasingly unhinged comments suggest that he fundamentally misunderstands the lessons his party should be learning from its decisive rejection by voters.Continue Reading >>
I have some good news, some bad news, and some great news. Let’s start with the good news…
Today was a really good election day for America. It was a day of hope. A day when we saw that there is a real possibility that the forces driving the United States toward fascism and away from democracy can be defeated.
Thank you to everyone who did their part to help preserve the dream of what America could and should be in the future.
The election results significantly diminish Donald Trump’s ability to do evil things through legal means. They also mean that there will be serious investigations, which may eventually lead to accountability.Continue Reading >>
At the Parthenon, the ancient Greek marble temple built on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, between 447 and 432 BCE — the golden age of Athens under the leader Pericles. It is a masterwork of ancient art, math, and political power that still shapes how we build and think today.
It has now been 18 months since I placed my belongings in storage and set out to travel the world full-time on a four-year mission: to explore and better understand the world around me, to identify potential places to live if the United States falls further into fascism, and to finally visit the destinations I have dreamed of seeing for much of my life.Continue Reading >>
It is hard to wake up from a nightmare when you were never asleep to begin with.
I fight denial every day. My mind keeps reaching for the escape hatch—this can’t be real, this has to end, this is temporary. But it isn’t a dream. It isn’t temporary. This is real. We are living in the upside down, and the ground beneath us is still giving way.
One hellacious year is behind us. At least three more loom ahead. And I know—deep down, with a certainty that makes my stomach turn—that things in the United States are going to get far worse before there is even the slightest chance they get better.Continue Reading >>
Map of Zuromin, Poland, 1939. 6. Hirsch Kurtzman. 12. Berel Kurtzman. 21. Yair Kurtzman. 53. Hirsch Meir Kurtzman. Via https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/zuromin/zurh086.html
As the clock ticks forward, the ghosts of our past often remind us when it’s time to start thinking seriously about our future.
Every person of Ashkenazi descent that I’ve met, and that shares my birth surname “Kurtzman,” traces their ancestry either to Ukraine or to the small town of Zuromin, Poland. Whether these two groups are genetically linked, I don’t yet know. My paternal great-grandfather, Joseph Kurtzman, was born in October 1862 in Zuromin — roughly two hours north of Warsaw today. Later, he moved to the larger city of Mlawa, where he married my great-grandmother, Devorsha, from a family of bakers. Joseph eked out a modest living tanning hides for German buyers and selling yeast to local bakers.Continue Reading >>
And if you are not okay either, know that such a reaction is reasonable, and that you are not alone, given the current political circumstances.
Sleeping was really difficult for me last week, and at times, even in warm surroundings, I felt cold and shivery. Concentrating was hard, and often there was a sense of denial about what had just happened. There were moments when I just wanted to find a dark closet, close the door, and curl up in a fetal position. Nausea came and went, and watching the news felt, and still feels, impossible. There’s a deep shame about my country, and I am heartbroken and horrified for my Ukrainian friends, whose situations are far worse than mine.Continue Reading >>
It was back in 2024, before the US withdrew from NATO, the fall of Ukraine, and all the dominoes began to tip over in Putin’s campaign of European conquest.
It was before the economic crash, before all the civil unrest, before the internment camps, before the self-pardons, before the “official act” of suspending the 2028 presidential elections.
It was before Milley was arrested and jailed. And Obama. And Schiff. And Harris. And Cheney. And Hillary. And Cox Richardson.
Life was much calmer then, but it was still a stressful time. Some of us, at least, still had hope.Continue Reading >>
A bible and gun rest atop the United States Constitution and American flag. Guns, bibles and the American flag are often used emblematically, and for intimidation, by those who believe that participation in American democracy only belongs to those who embrace America as a country of white male Christian privilege.
Archie Bunker, the anachronistical central character of the 1971 sitcom All in the Family, liked to talk about “Real Americans” and fancied himself one of them. To Archie, and those who he satirically represented, being a Real American centered around embracing the concept of white male Christian privilege.
The entire MAGA movement in 2016 to “Make America Great Again” was of course centered on the idea of resurrecting an America that echoed Archie Bunker’s sense of privilege, while simultaneously destroying the boundaries between the (fundamentalist Christian) church and State.Continue Reading >>
Congressional Representative Eric Swalwell posted a note on Twitter yesterday that echoed some of the same sentiments we’ve shared on The Domino Principle before:
The fight for the future isn’t between liberal vs conservative. It’s between truth vs lies.
It isn’t between Democrat vs Republican. It’s between democracy vs autocracy.
I’m still traveling in Texas and visiting family there this week. A conservative family member introduced me to new acquaintances a few days ago as someone who is extremely liberal, and that resulted in my doing a double take, because it isn’t necessarily accurate and it misses the point.Continue Reading >>
Strategies for taking command of our lives through seeing "deep repercussions" in world events and realizing how chain reactions can produce future outcomes.
