So instead of blackmailing Adams on these charges, that DOJ will have to find different charges to threaten him with?

Somehow I don’t think they’ll have much trouble.

Yeah, no. Musk let his ego get in the way. He forgot how unpopular he personally was, so his dramatic publicity stunts did more harm than good.

If Musk had done the normal, not ego driven, billionaire thing, and used his $25 million to secretly fund “grassroots” conservative groups, swamping the Wisconsin media with advertisements from two dozen different sources and hundreds of “ordinary citizens”, his side could easily have won. Creating the illusion that the conservative candidate was already well ahead would have boosted conservative turnout while convincing liberals and moderates to stay home and not waste their time voting. It’s happened in elections all over the country for decades.

Instead, Musk made the whole election about him. He didn’t just buy votes, he boasted about buying votes. He acted like a fucking celebrity. So people who don’t give a shit about the Wisconsin Supreme Court turned out to vote against Musk.

Musk’s money would have guaranteed the election. If he wasn’t an idiot. But as stupid and obedient and wealth-worshiping as the American voter is, they still have a tiny fragment of self-respect left for now.

Right. Now is the right time to start.

But it’s too soon to tell if that effort will accomplish anything, because the effort has to be sustained through 2026 and 2028.

And the people showing up waving signs have to become politically active - not just showing up and going home, but writing their congresspeople and boycotting companies and knocking on doors to get out the vote and so on and so forth. Bernie and AOC can stump all they want. If they don’t inspire people to act it means nothing.

The Democrats need a grassroots movement - as angry and passionate and hopeful as the Tea Party was - not just speeches by celebrity pols. It’s too early to tell if liberal citizen voters will accept their responsibility to build that movement.

Save your praise until they actually win some victories. Marches and rallies are a good start, but they don’t necessarily translate into political action. Remember the women’s marches in 2017? The largest single day protest in American history and it did exactly two things: jack and shit. People went out, waved signs, went home, and Trump flipped three court seats and ended Roe.

Bernie in particular has always been great at turning out a crowd, but he’s never been able to turn that into political or legislative victories.