Establishment Politics and the Democratic Party’s Road to Nowhere

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

Ruben Gallego is a United States Senator in Arizona. He won his seat in 2024, a key hold for Democrats, largely running on stronger border security. As best I can tell, his Congressional history is largely pro-Israel, opposing BDS, supporting the “Iron Dome,” supported a stronger definition of antisemitism, and consistently supporting a two-state solution (he did support the Iran Deal under President Obama, which Israel opposed). Gallego even says the Democratic Party should focus on building prosperity, over focusing on equity. The guy is a full blown moderate, or at least he was. He seems to be blowing in the winds of change, embracing a radically different vision now.

Ruben Gallego endorsed Graham Platner for the Maine Senate seat today, a shameful act that drew political fire from all directions. Last Fall, he went on Pod Save America to slam the party’s narrative with a bunch of lefties, a bizarre move from a political moderate. Gallego has displayed further bro behavior by complaining about Democrats not allowing “women to be hot.” The guy’s behavior is really all over. When he was running for Senate, he wanted his divorce records sealed after saying his PTSD from the war had lead him to drink and smoke too much and have outbursts. He blasted Kyrsten Sinema for “doing nothing” while considering a run against her, then ran as a moderate Democrat anyway. Gallego is really all over the map.

Even though Gallego is an enigma, his endorsement of Platner doesn’t make much sense. Platner is Mr. Nazi Tattoo. He posted horrible things on the internet for years. His campaign pays his wife a salary, which Gallego doesn’t. Platner might have dated several women at once. He was a Blackwater mercenary. Now we find out he’s going on Nazi conspiracy theorist podcasts and retweeting Neo-Nazis. Even for Gallego’s unsteady brand, Platner is insane. He called him the “kind of fighter Maine has never seen,” which is true, the Nazis never invaded Maine. This seems totally unnecessary.

Well, sometimes endorsements happen for stupid reasons. Really stupid reasons. Like Ruben Gallego has the same television consultant as Graham Platner, so he endorsed him. Rebecca Katz, who was also a part of that Pod Save America debacle, is the television consultant for both of them. She was John Fetterman’s advisor as well, because of course she was. Her co-workers worked for the likes of Bernie Sanders and Cori Bush. Oh, and they’re Bob “Crooksy” Brooks’ consultants too. And in case you need to be shocked some more- Ruben Gallego also endorsed Brooks. Because I’m sure he knew a lot about Crooksy going into this.

This whole “blue collar populist” Democratic movement is a sham. If you pay certain people enough money, they’ll shovel you into their template and give you another endorsement from an erratic Senator in another state. They’d probably have “Shrek” Fetterman out there endorsing some of these freaks, but he’s not very popular right now because he refuses to cosplay a Nazi, and honestly that might be the most respectable thing he’s done in his strange, strange existence, which they also created. Their entire argument is that if we just have some white guys all go out and sell socialism, with an occasional non-white person who happens to be young and halfway interesting, we can convince America to at least be more like Europe, if not like Mao’s China. Because, you know, Mr. Nazi Tattoo is a good future for America.

As Pete Stumps for Bob “Crooksy” Brooks, I Wonder if Crooksy Even Likes Buttigieg, or Anyone in the Biden Administration?

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Pete Buttigieg did a tour through Eastern Pennsylvania today. He stopped in Philadelphia today with Malcolm Kenyatta, he hung out with Frank Pintabone and Larry Holmes Jr. in Easton, and of course he did an event here with Crooksy. If you’re wondering why Pete Buttigieg endorsed a guy he didn’t know before he got a call from him, Pete’s Iowa State Director was a Fetterman senior staffer with Crooksy’s TV consultants- you know, establishment Democratic politics at play. An endorsement as worthless as the promissory note Crooksy signed to pay back his ex-mother-in-law, according to the judges who rejected his appeal over a decade later.

Since Bob “Crooksy” Brooks brought Secretary Buttigieg to town to stump for him though, I guess it’s worth asking, what does Crooksy actually think of “Mayor Pete?” Look, you might say that’s ridiculous, but I never would have thought a statewide union President would think President Obama “sucked” when his own international union supported him. Then again, Crooksy does have some opinions on outspoken Black men. You see though, Pete Buttigieg was the Secretary of Transportation in the Biden Administration, and we don’t know what Crooksy thought of Biden (yet). We do know, at least if you do a simple google search, that the Pennsylvania Association of Professional Fire Fighters declined to endorse Vice-President Kamala Harris in 2024, with Brooks himself deferring to the IAFF for an endorsement, who also didn’t endorse Harris (simply google “did the Pennsylvania professional fire fighters association endorse Kamala Harris?”). Boy, I wonder what Crooksy didn’t like about her? Oh right, she didn’t know how to speak to the middle class like he does.

Anyway though, enough with “Crooksy Brooksy’s” feelings about Black people and the Biden Administration, and on to some real substance here. I don’t think Pete Buttigieg really knew the guy he was endorsing all that well, and I am not so sure that Crooksy actually likes Secretary Buttigieg. Or at least, if Crooksy does like him, I think he keeps it quiet so he doesn’t upset his “rain maker” in Harrisburg, the Governor. You see, Secretary Buttigieg was the main point person out selling the Biden era Infrastructure Bill that passed Congress. One of the things Secretary Buttigieg really sold hard to the public? Rural Broadband. In fact, Secretary Buttigieg really sold the case for broadband in the bill:

“A connection to the internet is about as important as a connection to the interstate is,” he said. “You need both, you need to be able to connect both digitally and physically in order to do everything; from getting up to date market information on when to sell, to being able to have your kids do their homework or take advantage of telemedicine opportunities.”

The deal would put $65 billion towards expanding the country’s broadband network. Buttigieg said 100 percent of Americans should have fast, reliable, and affordable internet.

“That’s not easy, especially that last couple percent, after you get to 98 percent or so, for folks who are in really spread-out areas,” Buttigieg said. “But it’s important to the President that no one’s left behind and that no one has to wonder whether this bill is going to be for them.”

You know, I couldn’t agree more with all of that. Broadband for all! You see though, there’s some debate about how that went. You see, Governor Shapiro called the program a failure, going so far as to say absolutely no one in Pennsylvania benefitted from it. For real, he said zero people got it. If that’s the case, that is one of the biggest government boondoggles in history. Either Biden’s Administration, and by extension Buttigieg, were a bunch of inept morons, or Shapiro’s Administration was totally inept in applying for the money, or both. Now, I’ve got my opinions on Buttigieg helping Shapiro be successful, but I think it’s fair to say both sides have their opinions on what happened, and they don’t mix.

It may seem a bit inconvenient for Crooksy’s backers that Shapiro says Buttigieg and the team on the infrastructure law were incompetent, especially when they are bringing Buttigieg to the district, but I doubt that bothers Crooksy in the slightest bit. He knows that the Governor butters his rolls in this race, and frankly Buttigieg was just doing a fly in for promotion ahead of 2028. I mean, Crooksy didn’t like Barack Obama, he clearly didn’t like Kamala Harris, by proximity the guy probably thinks Joe Biden wasn’t so bright too, and Pete Buttigieg is just some guy who was junior to all of them anyway. He’s probably glad he came in and gave him a shout out, but he needs the Governor to buy him this office. So don’t be fooled by any of this. It was little more than a publicity stunt, and not a believable one at that.

Left-Wing Brain Rot

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

I just want you to imagine saying this out loud for a moment:

Now, imagine you are an American woman, living in the United States, saying this. Saying this about a regime that is not known for great treatment of women. Honestly, this is lunatic fringe shit to say no matter who or where you are, but just imagine this person doing it. In fact, doing it in a public setting. This person is insane. She also used to work for Elizabeth Warren, apparently.

Then, well, there’s this gem from the interwebs:

Graham Platner is a horrifying nightmare in human form. Yes, he had a Nazi tattoo for years and years, and finally covered it up when it got exposed to the public during this campaign. He also posted terrible things on the internet for years, before he ran for office. His campaign pays his wife. Yes, really. He might have dated several women at a time in like 2024. Let’s also not forget that he was a Blackwater mercenary, because that’s always good. Now let’s add all of this to the equation:

Platner faced blowback this week for boosting a social media comment about a looming war with Iran by Stew Peters, a neo-Nazi influencer who has frequently espoused antisemitic tropes and engaged in Holocaust denial. Platner’s team said the post was made in error and “immediately” removed it after learning it elevated a “despicable account.”

In late January, however, Platner sat for a lengthy online interview with Nate Cornacchia, a retired Green Beret who has also promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories. Near the end of their hour-long conversation, Platner, a fellow military veteran, called himself “a longtime fan” of Cornacchia’s YouTube channel, “Valhalla VFT,” and said it was “an absolute pleasure being” on the show.

Look, I know what they’re going to say- “he’s for ‘Medicare for All’ and against Israel, so he’s good.” These people are mentally ill. This guy is a Nazi. Just because he’s telling you now as a candidate that he’s not doesn’t mean that he’s not. In fact, who they were before the campaign is who they are. What you get in the campaign is an act.

The left is in full brain rot mode. These folks will side with dictators like Maduro, murderers like Khamenei, terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, failed regimes like Cuba, and even swoon for the fallen Soviet Union and defend today’s Russia. We are way past the “I believe there should be a ceasefire in Gaza so that Palestinian children stop getting killed,” that’s a perfectly sane thing to say, this is outright siding with Neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and third world terrorist organizations and regimes against the United States, basically because they hate Jews and capitalism. It’s insane and bizarre, and frankly hopeless. You are never going to build a majority in modern America for this crackpot shit, most people aren’t this deranged and miserable in this country, even if their situation does suck. People that actually hear this kind of tinfoil hat shit are probably less likely to vote for these dingbats than they were before.

This is Bernie’s legacy. He’s always there to make things worse. Don’t let him bring this insanity to your neighborhood.

A Grown Up Assessment of Iran and Trump’s Foreign Policy

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

Multiple things can be true at once. Ayatollah Khamenei was an awful person and leader who terrorized and killed his own people, and the world and Iran are better off with him dead and gone. The United States entering another war of choice in the Middle East is a terrible idea (assuming we actually do). Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu probably have no plan for what they would do if they achieved regime change in Iraq, and maybe that’s better than if they do. Congress should vote on whether we go to war or not, but Congress is an impotent institution. Actual Iranians seem somewhere between bewildered and happy.

For the second time this year the United States has taken out a ruthless, disgusting, brutal dictator who is awful to his own people. No one should miss Maduro or Khamenei. For that matter, let me lump Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into this too, since he died in the strikes. None of these are good people. Whether we arrest them and remove them from office or kill them in an air strike, honestly, I don’t lose sleep over them. Khamenei has killed tens of thousands of Iranians this year. Read that again if you need. Maduro deteriorated Venezuela to the point of having pirates sailing around off their coast in the Caribbean. Sure, I think Donald Trump is an idiot, but I can’t sit here and honestly say it’s a bad thing that we removed these people. Actual Venezuelans and Persians seem fine with it, the anger almost all seems to be from white leftists. I really don’t care what they think of these events.

Is there any plan here though? When we removed Maduro, we allowed his butcher of a Vice-President to take over as the President there in exchange for access to oil. Will we end up just allowing a new Ayatollah to take power in Iran, or some other puppet strong man, in exchange for oil? My guess is yes, and that definitely defeats whatever good purpose these actions had. Reza Pahlavi seems like the most logical short term answer to who should lead Iran right now, and frankly giving the former Shah’s kid power seems like just our latest blunder in that region. About the only thing worse would be a full scale invasion and having to occupy the country and run it ourselves. It seems that the “Trump Doctrine” at this point is Bush’s “Axis of Evil” on steroids, where we go into every hot spot we’re unhappy with in the world and decapitate their leadership and let them figure it out after.

Trump ran his 2024 campaign talking about how he’d bring peace. He lied. He spent the first six months of his Presidency dismantling the federal government by force, simply shutting down whole agencies and departments that were created by laws, on his own word. He is actively trying to reshape the world now using American power. It is not entirely clear what the end result of his plans will be. He has not meaningfully tried to back down Russian aggression in Ukraine, or Chinese designs on Taiwan. It’s not clear that he’s willing to try and push countries who could potentially do major harm to America. In Iran though, it is probably his most aggressive move yet. Regime change there would do great harm to Russia. He has already drawn the Saudis into his coalition with Israel there. Toppling the Iranian regime could go a long way to defunding Hezbollah and Hamas. Toppling Iran isn’t super easy though. It could require an actual war that costs money and lives. There’s the potential that this is the new Afghanistan.

If I’m being honest here, I don’t really have a problem with taking down a terrorist, murderous regime. I just don’t trust the two guys in charge of this. Netanyahu’s decision to drag out his war in Gaza has not been good for anyone, so why would he handle this better? Trump is just maniacal and will do anything he can to try and get his face on Mount Rushmore and out of the Epstein Files at this point. Neither of these guys gives me any confidence. The fact that they have highly competent and funded militaries means they can succeed in a short term attack where they just approve the plans put forward by Generals and Admirals. I don’t really think either has a vision or plan that we should all be excited about.

Patriotism, Hockey, and Democrats

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

I have to admit something that will definitely get me canceled in Democratic circles- I find Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” In fact, I find gratuitous acts of patriotism to be fun. I was celebrating outside of the White House the night Osama Bin Laden was killed with thousands of other young Americans. I was cheering for both Alysa Liu and the Men’s Hockey team at the Olympics. In fact, I generally support America on almost everything. This does not mean I don’t know or care about Jim Crow, the Trail of Tears, Japanese Internment camps, slavery, or any of the other atrocities committed by our nation. It does not mean I wasn’t a protestor during the Iraq War. Far from. In fact, I see no problem with blasting “Free Bird” and acknowledging our problems, even in the era of Trump.

In our currently “black and white” era of politics, there are folks who think picking sides is an absolute. You’re either team AOC or team Vance, period. This extends to the point of an Olympic hockey team, because a.) a majority of them are either conservative or politically disengaged, and b.) they’re white men. Yeah, Kash Patel is a weirdo, and yeah, Trump’s joke about the women’s team was piss poor, but if that’s what you took away from the Olympic Hockey Final, or if you were arguing about Alyssa Liu’s (liberal) politics against people that wanted to re-cast her as simply an anti-communist crusader (she’s both liberal and a tremendous symbol against communism), you kind of missed the point. We don’t watch sports to get political commentary. I think many of us are well aware that the athletes playing on the television have political views like the rest of us, they’re people. You can’t possibly watch what’s going on with ICE in America and *not* have an opinion on it of some kind. The point is that yes, it actually doesn’t matter when I’m watching a hockey game. People are not wired to functionally live in a constant war with their fellow citizens like this. It’s weird. Most people think it’s weird. Trying to force it turns off way, way more people than it attracts.

I get that many people on the American left-of-center side are worried that this will be our final President and that our current state is permanent, and so they think the only choice is to fight on every battlefield, all day, everyday. I do not share that sentiment. I believe Trump will lose the House of Representatives in November and his Presidency will practically end. I do believe we will elect a new President in 2028, regardless of who it is. I don’t think a bunch of hockey players visiting the White House after they win a Gold Medal threatens that. I’m sorry, I think this is a fight and argument that generally makes the left look a lot less appealing to unradicalized normies who actually will decide who that new President is. So I think this was stupid.

Btw, I wrote this in the time it took me to listen to “Free Bird,” “American Girl,” and “American Idiot.” Not bad.