Republicans and billionaires are not all powerful

We're NOT Doomed: July 20, 2026

There was a time that performative action and activism was seen as a negative, but now, if something isn’t performative, it’s like it didn’t happen.

Democrats can’t be fighting back, because if it wasn’t covered by your favorite political creator, it’s obviously not happening.

Considering the consequences to one’s actions is no longer okay. Sure the Member of Congress could go to jail and we’d lose a seat, but that doesn’t matter when them being arrested would be plastered all over social media.

There’s no middle ground anymore. There’s no room for measured approaches or consideration of all the facts.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is literally saying that he isn’t sure the Republican law forcing a special election for a vacant Senate seat doesn’t violate the state constitution.

He told Al Sharpton on Politics Nation a week ago:

[It] says I appoint all state officers when there’s a vacancy. The question is, does that apply to federal offices? Well, before there was ever a law in Kentucky on how this would work, multiple appointments were made by governors, assumingly under that provision.

That’s huge.

That’s Governor Beshear saying he’s going to go toe to toe with Republicans over something that most of us working in political journalism were very much considering settled.

He has a State Assembly and Senate with Republican supermajorities. They can pretty much do whatever they want. And yet, he’s ready to challenge that. He’s publicly and loudly saying he’s ready to challenge that.

And yet. All I see is people complaining that he’s not barging into McConnell’s hospital room demanding a nurse tell him exactly what’s on his chart. (exaggeration, but you get the point.)

It’s like if something isn’t performative enough, the actual action that is happening couldn’t matter less.

And this kind of thinking WILL cost us vital elections.

There is no such thing as the perfect candidate. The only candidate that is perfect to you, the only candidate that could ever say everything you want to hear and nothing you don’t, is literally you.

So barring you running for office, every single politican, yes, including Mayor Mamdani, is going to end up doing something you don’t fully agree with at some point.

It’s not a matter of “if,” it’s a matter of “when.”

So it’s important to take each thing that does go right, and that you do agree with, and celebrate it. If we are just waiting to be let down, that will happen 100% of the time.

Andy Beshear is one of the best Democrats we have — and that’s not even based on his policies, though, as an example he’s loudly pro trans in a state that very much isn’t.

Kentucky is very red, very very red, but even WITH his incredibly progressive policies, he’s still very popular in red Kentucky.

That is not someone we want to oust from office. That is someone we want to be around as long as possible.

People from Kentucky realize that. Most people on social media do not.

And those voices end up drowning out the Kentucky voters who are just begging people to stop treating him like the bad guy.

What he is doing with McConnell’s seat is HUGE. It’s a really big deal to go against a Republican super majority. I wish social media would celebrate it, instead of finding a way it’s not good enough.

This mob mentality isn’t good for anyone. Stop, for just a second, and think about if this is the best way to have an impact.

And if you come to the conclusion that it’s not, please focus on the Midterm, where we DO have a fantastic Dem candidate for McConnell’s seat named Charles Booker. If we put as much focus on him as people are currently putting on ragging on Beshear, he might just flip that seat.

If we keep going down this path, that’s not gonna happen.

So let’s get Booker elected, and celebrate what Beshear is already doing.

Who’s with me?

Missouri

Thu, June 18 - For the first time, a total abortion ban has been reversed.

Within two hours of the Dobbs ruling, Missouri had banned all abortions in the state. And even before that, medication abortions were banned under a restriction that required aborted tissue to be “submitted within five days to a board-eligible or certified pathologist for gross and histopathological examination.”

Which is just so gross.

Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang made the temporary injunction from 2024 that ended the restriction permanent. She wrote:

The Court in its previous preliminary injunction order noted that this would seemingly prohibit a physician from prescribing the medication after an in- person appointment and having the patient subsequently take the medication at home, or even in a medical facility in the presence of a nurse or other medical professional. The Court finds the language of this statute conflicts with the language of Amendment 3 and finds in favor of Plaintiffs.

And so, for the first time in 8 years, most abortions are 100% legal in Missouri.

And it’s all thanks to Amendment 3, The Right to Reproductive Freedom (RRF), which passed in 2024.

This still isn’t going to be easy though. There are two ballot measures this year to reverse this win.

Amendment 3….yeah I know, which would reverse RRF, and has an added anti-trans addition this time.

And Amendment 4 would make it significantly harder for a citizen led measure to get the votes needed to become law.

And as an added fun thing, Governor Mike Kehoe just signed a new law saying that committing infanticide would result in the death penalty for the provider.

For the record, infanticide is already very much illegal, but the wording of this new law is murky and it could make providers nervous to provide abortions in situations they are most needed, like the life of the person carrying the fetus or in fetal fatality cases.

But even with these attempts, Zhang’s ruling is going to make getting an abortion much safer for those who need it.

The fight isn’t over yet but this is a big win.

Washington

Thu, June 18 - Meta has lost in court for a third time for their inability to disclose 822 political ads on Facebook during the 2020 election.

This time in the Washington State Supreme Court. The nine justices were evenly split three ways as to how much Meta must pay in penalties (three thought the lower court had the right amount, three thought it was right right amount in theory but still asking too much of a company, and three thought it should be less.)

Justice Helen Whitener wrote for the lead opinion (the one agreeing with the lower court ruling):

Here, the court faced a willful repeat offender with vast resources that conceded it is able to comply with FCPA requests but chose not to provide nonspeculative reasons for its decision not to do so.

And, because of the stalemate, the Appeals Court ruling from 2022 stands and Meta was ordered to pay $24.6 million plus attorney fees, coming out to $35m.

According to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission this penalty is “believed to be the largest ever imposed for campaign finance violations in United States history.”

With everything going on in this country right now in terms of elections and voting, this is monumental and incredibly encouraging.

Meta can’t get away with campaign finance violations now matter how big they are and how many times they try to fight it.

Antrim County, Michigan

Mon, July 6 - On Fri June 12, Antrim County Clerk, Victoria Bishop, has had her access to the county’s Qualified Voter Files (QVF) revoked after she began altering voter rolls earlier this year.

Jonathan Brater, Director for Bureau of Elections sent her a letter stating:

A review of your QVF activity indicates that you were not identifying deceased individuals for city/township clerk review…but rather making other changes to QVF records that county clerks are not authorized to complete except at the request of the city or township clerk.

This was the third time Brater has tried to get her to stop these actions.

Antrim was a breeding ground for Trump’s stolen election claims because of a tabulation error that had Biden winning the county. The error was fixed in days, but it provided a great jumping off point for Trump and his lies. And gave Bishop the perfect opportunity to run for clerk in 2024.

Michigan was already frustrated with this situation, but now, voters are too.

On July 6, a petition was filed to get Bishop recalled.

This Friday, the Board of State Canvassers will determine if the recall efforts can go forward or not. But based on everything leading up to this point, and especially the harshness of Brater’s letter, I think chances are high.

This is a very red area, but even the vast majority of Republicans aren’t thrilled with their voter registration being messed with.

I’m so glad she’s not just able to get away with this, as I’m expecting many would assume she could.

And in this critical election year, that’s important to see.

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So those are today’s stories. These are all great reminders that Republicans and billionaires try to have control, but we still have the law on our side, and they lose that way a whole lot.

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