The Big Buzz
These men are complaining now. USDA’s business contracts have been broken. Tariffs are raising prices. Federal resources are used to grab working people, tossing them into prisons outside the country. Health care services are shattering. These actions — Trump’s actions! —are ones that disrupt our workforce and endanger our economy.
If we’re going to pull the US economy back together, we need to understand how Trump’s “smoke and mirrors” kept people from understanding what he promised to do. He’s keeping those promises now—cutting back Medicaid and Medicare, breaking contracts with farmers and others, and instituting tariffs that raise prices and prevent businesses from succeeding.
At the same time, Democrats complain about Trump’s decisions, but some push back against Democrats who take steps toward building a strategy for 2026 and beyond.
The latest “clamor” — According to Rolling Stone, is “Speaking With American Men.” THE PROJECT is led by Ilyse Hogue, the former president of the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, and John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics and an adviser to Biden’s 2020 campaign. The project’s fundraising pitch lists former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), a one-time NFL player who lost a Senate race to Ted Cruz last year, as part of the SAM Project team.”
The $20 million is allocated to research, outreach, organizing, and communications focused on men’s voting patterns, particularly the shift of young men toward supporting Trump in 2024. All four components are vital to the Democrats’ efforts to develop a winning strategy for 2026 and beyond. It’s more than a “clamor.” It’s an action.
The decision to raise and commit the money was made with a mix of party leaders and large donors, i.e., a large high-dollar “donor table.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, elected just months ago, has been feverishly working to make desperately needed changes in the DNC. These changes prioritize Democratic communications in places where voters have not supported Democrats but rely on the many programs Trump is cutting or eliminating. Martin has established a “war room” for talking back, i.e., correcting the record as the Republicans accuse us of outrageous things; he’s created a new daily round-up called The Daily Blueprint, which will emphasize facts in what’s going on in government, and now, the young men project.
If we don’t talk with people, they won’t know what we stand for.
Language varies regionally in the United States, perhaps best characterized by the differences between pop, soda, and coke—all meaning the same choices in non-alcoholic drinks, but each used differently in different regions of the country.
Examples of why policies matter (or don’t!) must be localized. Expenditures for fixing a major farm-to-market bridge that cannot carry heavy trucks differ from investing in mass transit for cities. Both are valuable infrastructure, and both matter.
We must learn to talk local. Dems have not been doing this very well.
But let’s think about the Donor Table again. Be prepared—their meetings are often frustrating. I give credit to this national Democratic donor and leadership “donor table” meeting because they seem to be making their decisions at least somewhat publicly. Additionally, they are addressing a well-known challenge: the culture wars.
So why are we squabbling? Give FOX News credit for being the first to report and identify the project. After that, everyone piled on. By now, we should know that the Republicans’ greatest skill is naming things, and sure enough, the Repubs succeeded as FOX led the way; The New York Times and other publications followed their lead. Once again, FOX named a project, and Dems reacted.
In this case, Dems fell for the FOX position — that the project is “outrageous.” Let’s look at the facts:
Dems lost young men in the 2024 election.
The national "young men" project is a two-year strategic initiative aimed at re-engaging young men with the Democratic Party. The $20 million budget is designated for research, outreach, organizing efforts, and communications.
All four categories—research, outreach, organizing, and communications—require funding, so $20 million is a reasonable amount. People can’t work for free; this is a full-time effort that can help Democrats claim victory in 2026.
For the Democrats to succeed, we need young men to return to their typical Democratic voting patterns.
While I applaud the national “donor table” for operating in public, I often question the thinking processes of donor tables. For instance, Iowa's donor table in my home state makes decisions without public meetings. It seems they converse among themselves, making choices early on without evaluating the progress of campaigns. For example, when Kamala was 3 points down in Iowa, they sat on their hands ... "too late to do anything." Well, that was wrong. Once again, just like in our most recent Senate race, they refused to finalize the deal while national Repubs poured in gobs of money to ensure that Dems who were surprisingly close to victory lost. NOTE: These questions need to be asked in every state.
Republicans executed their "culture wars" strategy exceptionally well in recent elections, and, of course, FOX is always on board to assist them.
Too many Democratic and Independent voters, including young men and others, get sucked into the cultural conflicts stirred up by Republicans. Now, proof of the pudding is how people are angrily saying things like, "But I didn't vote for cuts in Medicaid," or "But I didn't think they would cancel USDA contracts."
Unfortunately, yes, these voters did vote for the cuts and cancellations Trump promised. Votes have consequences.
In my home state of Iowa, we have three open House seats, the gubernatorial race, the Secretary of State race, and Joni Ernst’s Senate seat. Joni is the one we’ve all been reading about who plans for people to die sooner rather than later.
We must pay special attention to the 4th Congressional District to win these statewide races. Statewide races cannot be won in Iowa if the 4th is ignored because the friendly voters we overlook rarely vote for us. They drag down statewide totals. We need a strong candidate there, and all the state legislative races must be contested. The 4th must operate like a racing crew—everyone rowing in unison.
I hate asking this question, but is the Iowa Democratic Party even alive? For two cycles, the IDP has failed the most basic tests—recruiting candidates and providing training for county chairs. They did not sponsor GOTV in 2022, and in 2024, the IDP mistakenly believed their only duty was to persuade Democrats to vote.
Noooo! This isn’t enough. The IDP must engage with Independents and swing voters year-round, not only Democrats. Of course, at least they made an effort this last election. Two cycles ago, the IDP completely failed the mirror test on everything.
At the state level, it remains to be seen whether the party will take action and fill the Democratic ticket with candidates for the legislature and county offices. The IDP needs to wake up and fulfill its responsibilities. However, I do not see much evidence of this happening. It mostly resembles the Einstein approach—doing the same things over and over again while expecting a different result. Under normal circumstances, we call this insanity.
Sitting around the kitchen table and complaining isn’t enough. Criticizing national Democrats isn’t sufficient either. If Iowa and other similar states are going to succeed, we all need to engage in some serious, roll-up-your-sleeves work. We must row our boats together. Teamwork will be essential. DNC Chair Ken Martin is leading us in the right direction.
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