Strikers defy the coming Trump crackdown

An election screw-up of the year

Welcome to a Saturday edition of Progress Report.

As we enter a period that demands a vigilant and vocal opposition party to prevent a total slide into theocratic oligarchy and offer a viable populist alternative, Democrats continue to play by institutional rules that are no longer relevant. There were two big developments out of the Chickenshit Club yesterday:

First, Democrats in the House and Senate caved to Elon Musk and bailed out Speaker Mike Johnson by voting for a continuing resolution stripped of drug price reforms and trade regulations with China. The latter part was a huge win for Musk, who wants to build factories in China, while the former was a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry.

Instead of hammering Republicans for servicing billionaires at the expense of the American public, more Democrats than Republicans voted for the deal in the House while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer celebrated its 85-11 passage.

Shortly after that capitulation, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee finally released their investigation into corruption on the Supreme Court. Incomplete due to chair Dick Durbin’s congenital passivity and functionally useless due to the GOP capture of the Senate, the investigation is largely a rehash of what’s been reported about the decades-long culture of rampant corruption on the nation’s high court. One notable finding: Clarence Thomas took even more trips from his right-wing billionaire bestie Harlan Crow than previously known.

Today we’ve got analysis of two major strikes and a news round up for paid subscribers!

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Virginia: Control of the Dominion State’s closely divided state Senate will be decided by two special elections scheduled for January.

Democrats control both houses of the legislature by two seats apiece, and need to maintain control in order to advance three key constitutional amendments. Enshrining abortion rights, same-sex marriage, and automatic voter reinstatement in the state constitution requires that each passes through both chambers of the legislature two years in a row before then being put to voters on the ballot.

If Democrats can pass them this year and hold on to the House of Delegates next November, the amendments will be on the ballot in November 2026.

Oooof: In an election cycle filled with avoidable screw-ups, this one may be the most bewildering and painful.