: Trump Uses State Power Against Comedians

RS Seminar- Economic Crisis: Trump Uses State Power Against Comedians:   Trump and the Project 2025 plan is to rapidly shock the system and invoke a state of paralysis so they can take permanent control of the c...

New Poll. Americans Prefer Democratic Socialism

 

New Poll: Democratic Socialism Is Now Mainstream The Editors of Jacobin September 15, 2025 Jacobin A national poll from Jacobin, DSA Fund, and Data for Progress finds broad support for democratic socialist leaders and left-wing policies. Politicians like Zohran Mamdani and Bernie Sanders may be “outsiders” among the political class, but the numbers show that their policy positions reflect mainstream American opinion., Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images   A new national survey commissioned by DSA Fund and Jacobin, with support from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, and fielded by Data for Progress (N=1,257 likely voters; MOE ±3) takes stock of where democratic socialism stands with the electorate — and what it would take to build stable, working-class majorities beyond deep-blue districts. Among Democrats, democratic socialists enjoy significant popularity. The poll’s findings include: Democrats prefer democratic socialism to capitalism by a 58 point margin. Socialism wins overall with likely voters under forty-five years old. Democrats prefer left-wing political figures similar to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and Zohran Mamdani over establishment politicians similar to Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Nancy Pelosi by a 20 point margin. This was also true across party lines in critical voting blocs: noncollege (+9), Latinos (+30). Candidates who identify as democratic socialists are viewed just as favorably (+69) among registered Democrats as candidates who identify only as Democrats (+67). “These results tell a clear story: democratic socialism is now mainstream,” said DSA Fund executive director Gabe Tobias. “Far from a liability, the ‘democratic socialist’ label is now how voters recognize a leader who they can trust to fight for them. And far from fringe, DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] actually represents the majority political views of Democratic voters.” The poll also found support for egalitarian policy positions among Republicans and independents: 70% of all respondents say that our economic system is “rigged in favor of corporations and the wealthy” and needs to be replaced; this includes 67% of independents and 58% of Republicans. 59% of respondents (and 58% of Republicans) blame landlords and banks more than government regulation for the high cost of housing. 83% of respondents agree that social work and mental health are necessary parts of a public safety budget; this includes 81% of independents and 80% of Republicans. This was true across all partisan, racial/ethnic, geographic, and class groups. 15% of Donald Trump voters prefer democratic socialism to capitalism. These voters tended to be younger and non-white. “This poll underscores that the term ‘democratic socialism’ now communicates something very practical to American voters: the kind of economic security and fairness once associated with the New Deal tradition,” said Bhaskar Sunkara, president of the Nation magazine and founding editor of Jacobin.   The poll was conducted from August 22 to 24, 2025. It surveyed 1,257 likely voters nationwide using web panel respondents. It was conducted by Data for Progress for the DSA Fund, Jacobin magazine, and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. Read the survey here. Full crosstabs here. Political Polling; Bernie Sanders; Zohran Mamdani; Democratic Socialism;

Trump's Phase II Assault on Democracy Has Begun. Fight back.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-phase-2-now-begins?

 

“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”

-Thomas Paine

December 23, 1776. 

 

Driving Off a Cliff ? The U.S.Economy

 

U.S. Economy.

Driving Off a Cliff.

“They got some basic problems. They’re very expensive and they don't go far.” 
—Donald Trump at a campaign event, 2024. 

 “An unpleasant aberration that would vanish, if there was justice in heaven.”
—General Motors on the small car market, late 1960s.

Auto and auto parts production is globally the second largest manufacturing industry by employment and the highest by value of output. And with Henry Ford’s creation of the assembly line in the 1910s, the industry came to symbolize the United States as a global manufacturing power. Detroit was the “Motor City,” with a cultural impact beyond simply the number of cars produced—remember the “Motown Sound”?

There were competitors, but the U.S. auto industry was dominant well into the 1950s, when two-thirds of all globally manufactured vehicles were made in the United States. The first serious challenge to U.S. dominance came from Japan—small, convenient cars that U.S. auto executives dismissed as low quality and unreliable, insisting that U.S. car buyers really preferred the mammoth, fuel-guzzling, high-profit vehicles with new models produced each year.

By 1967 the United States moved from a net auto exporter to a net auto importer. 

Today, the global auto market produces more than 75 million new cars a year. The United States is the second largest producer but only accounts for about 11% of the total. China is the largest, accounting for one-third.

 

https://www.dollarsandsense.org/driving-off-a-cliff/

….

Bill Barclay

Bill Barclay is a member of the Chicago Political Economy Group and a member of the Ventura County, Calif. chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). He worked for more than two decades in fin

 

 

  

The Steady Work of Moral Resistance

 The Steady Work of Moral Resistance

Authoritarians want a show down, but moral movements win the long game

JONATHAN WILSON-HARTGROVE

 AND 

WILLIAM J. BARBER, II

SEP 08, 2025

•  

Millions of Americans were heartened on June 14^th - No Kings Day - to meet our neighbors on the street in an historic demonstration of resistance to the authoritarian abuses of the Trump regime. The illegal firings of federal workers, the cancelation of federal grants, the shakedowns of corporations and universities, the violations of due process, and the usurpation of Congressional authority had advanced at breakneck speed since Trump returned to the Oval Office. A “flood the zone” strategy was designed to overwhelm resistance while the carefully laid plans of Project 2025 were put into place.

https://ourmoralmoment.substack.com/p/the-steady-work-of-moral-resistance?

 

 

The economics of Oligarchy

 by Heather Cox Richardson.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-3-2025?

Labor and Organizing to Resist Fascism Today

 https://ourmoralmoment.substack.com/p/labors-power-to-check-authoritarians?

The Poor People's Campaign