Commentary by K.E. Bell
McCauley’s commentary doesn’t paint a very good picture of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, though it appears to be cherry-picked. Lord knows the only way I’d want my name in the same sentence as Trump’s is in a list of people who can’t stand the corrupt president. But I think El-Sayed is coming at some of this stuff from a different angle than Trump. Money absolutely needs to get out of politics. That will take a far bigger effort than one Michigan politician can accomplish. Nuke the filibuster? It’s the only thing saving millions of people from getting kicked off voter rolls by the vile SAVE America Act.
Targeted tariffs have worked with the CHIPS Act, but of course Trump has sold coveted chips to unsavory allies as part of his usual grift. The world economy is very interconnected, and I don't think we should be placing tariffs on most foreign cars, for example, with the exception of Chinese EVs because they can be largely funded and backed by the Chinese government.
McCauley's thoughts on Medicare for all are rather reductive. Of course it's going to cost money, but our current system costs more. A plan needs to be put in place. I believe that between businesses and the government we could enact it for less money than is currently spent on healthcare, perhaps half. Goodbye insurance company middlemen, their outrageous CEO salaries, and their denials of care. Hello more affordable healthcare that covers everyone. I wouldn't expect El-Sayed to have a full plan in place with all the details on where the money comes from, but he might be a good candidate to study the funding.
My bigger takeaway is that truly progressive candidates are seeing wins as a backlash to the backlash. Obama, a Black man, beget Trump, a virulent racist. Read what you want into what that says about the country. Now, Trump, a corrupt fascist, in conjunction with the Heritage Foundation's wildly unpopular Project 2025 agenda, is creating a progressive backlash. The Democratic Party needs to back the will of the people and corporate Dems need to get on board to get progressive/democratic socialists elected. The alternative is more Trump, the Heritage Foundation, corruption, wars, sweeping tariffs, budget deficits, lies, tax cuts for the wealthy, golden idols to the godlike leader, and fascism. I'll take a Democrat with a vague plan over any of that.
El-Sayed may not be the ideal candidate, but we need to elect any Democrat over the spineless Trump cronies and capitulators in the Republican party.
Bell is a contributing pundit to The Hustings.-30-