Welcome to a Monday night edition of Progress Report.
So, there’s some good news: Jimmy Kimmel is headed back to TV, because the wrath of the free market is evidently even worse than the wrath of Donald Trump. Unless you chair an independent government agency; in that case, the Supreme Court has ruled that Trump is all-powerful and can act as judge, jury, and executioner.
Tonight, we turn our focus to the great midwest, where a populist campaign is hoping to reimagine what the Democratic Party can be — and not a moment too soon.
Note: The far-right’s fascist takeover of this country is being aided by the media’s total capitulation to Trump’s extortion. It’s never been more critical to have a bold independent media willing to speak up against the powerful. That’s what I’m trying to do here at Progress Report.
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The good news for Democrats is that the public has soured on Donald Trump’s handling of just about every major issue.
The bad news is that the public still trusts Republicans on most of those issues — including the economy, crime, and immigration — more than it trusts Democrats, the putative opposition party.
How did this happen?
There’s little disagreement on the top line issue: whether it’s fair or not, Democrats are seen as elitists. What that means, and how it can be alleviated, is more open to debate. According to a new billionaire-funded think tank, the party’s main weakness can be traced back to having identifiable and immutable principles. To others, it’s the lack of principles and principled figures that plague the Democratic Party.
“It's not just the message; it's also the messenger,” Wisconsin state Rep.
tells me. “And so how do we fend off the elitism that has destroyed so much of the Democratic Party? It's having working class candidates speak directly to working class people.”Hong first ran for legislature in 2020 as her community in Madison reeled from the pandemic, a crisis exacerbated by the gerrymandered GOP supermajority that thwarted Gov. Tony Evers’s every attempt to manage the crisis. The daughter of Korean immigrants and a longtime service industry employee who co-owned a ramen restaurant near the capitol, Hong has carved out a reputation as one of the most progressive members in Madison.
And now, she’s running for governor, aiming to assemble a grassroots coalition of working people who are sick of politics as usual, not because they don’t have strong convictions, but because they’ve no longer convinced by the usual politicians.
Hong is the latest entrant into what’s becoming a crowded primary, including Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, and state Sen. Kelda Roys. There are other who might jump in, too, including former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, but Hong isn’t bothered by the competition; if nothing else, it’s a chance to draw real distinctions between Democrats in a swing state that can be a litmus test for the future of the party.
She’s blunt, curses like she’s working the kitchen line instead of the legislature, and believes in fighting for a care economy that prioritizes public education, childcare, and keeping hospitals open. The bet is that by traveling all around Wisconsin, listening to voters instead of lecturing to them, and standing up for something, she can push the party in a new and necessary direction.
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