The Long Term

 Everything now is about saving American democracy. It's about slapping patches on a sinking boat, trying to keep it afloat until we reach a safe harbor.

However, the second iteration of Trump is so nakedly corrupt, we need to examine that phenomenon, as simply winning control of Congress in 2026 and the White House in 2028 would only slightly bring consequences to the corrupt. Maybe can prosecute those who have looted American government, but I'm sure Trump will pardon everyone on his way out.

Instead, we need to look into campaign finance reform again. For years, I was skeptical that money from wealthy donors really made a huge difference in policy. Yes, Republicans funneled wealth upwards and some Democrats obliged them. The story of Trump 2.0, however, is far more naked corruption and the outright alliance between billionaires and the White House. That has been a frequent theme going back to William McKinley, as Paul Krugman points out in his latest in a series on wealth inequality.

The Democrats road back power, even just relevance, is to ride outrage over the OBBB and Trump's rank authoritarianism. That will include aiming at the billionaire class and their outsized leverage in our political system.

Campaign finance reform will obviously be tricky, as the Supreme Court gutted the very idea of regulating money in politics with Citizens United, a case that along with Shelby basically deeded American democracy to oligarchs. Since we now know from painful experience that elections in America are now won and lost by voters who simply don't know what the fuck is actually going on, we have to deal with the fact that low information voters are especially susceptible to a flood of corporate and billionaire money. While the cowing of media by Trump's authoritarianism is really concerning, it's really only the natural progression from the increased role of the fantastically rich like Jeff Bezos and Rupert Murdoch controlling important outlets in the first place.

Our first Gilded Age led to the Progressive Movement and the Progressive Amendments, which led to the direct election of Senators, an income tax and woman suffrage. It will likely require a similar set of new amendments to heal the wounds to American democracy, and it will start with money in politics.