Last week, Semafor’s Dave Weigel wrote a smart piece about how the right keeps finding ways to make anonymous lefties a headache for Democrats. This long-festering Libs of TikTok problem is one of the most vexing fronts in the party’s broader culture war woes. 

This summer though, Dems finally started playing a bit of offense. The coordinated Epstein accountability push & GAVIN NEWSOM’s viral Trump mockery are the two highest-profile cases, though neither feel particularly replicable. But one under-the-radar example caught my eye…

Trump recently granted a full military funeral to Ashli Babbitt – the J6er fatally shot by Capitol Police, turned MAGA cause célèbre – and Marine vet RUBEN GALLEGO has been leaning into fights about it. He called for those honors to be stripped, and when MAGAs fumed that he’d maligned a deceased veteran, he doubled down unapologetically, calling her a “traitor” who “should’ve complied” but “FAFO.”

This may seem crass, but it’s authentic to Gallego, clearly signals his values, and pits them against the right fringe – a more effective way to engage in culture wars than the perpetual defensive crouch or adopting Trump-lite positions.

So, which other 70/30 issues might be ripe for throwing punches? Perhaps vaccines. No, you shouldn’t root for the unvaxxed to die, or go all-in on sweeping mandates. But when RFK Jr. is depriving cancer patients of new treatments & parents of the ability to protect their kids – all in the name of freedom – maybe irreverent attacks would be stickier than strongly worded letters.

After electrifiying crowds of 30,000+ on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this spring – and leaping to the top of 2028 lists – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has opted out of the spotlight for a while. 

As far as I can tell, AOC hasn’t done a podcast or TV hit since March. In May, she passed on a second bid for the high-visibility Oversight Committee post she’d sought in December. Her only major public events have been a town hall in Elise Stefanik’s district & her speech at a Zohran Mamdani rally. Instead, she’s largely been focused on things like constituent services & bipartisan legislation, including a congressional stock trading ban she just rolled out with Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) & co. 

But don’t mistake this as evidence she won’t run for president. She doesn’t need to blitz the podcast circuit or manufacture media cycles in 2025 to solidify her national relevance in 2027, and there’s much to lose from over-exposure. She’s already built up a grassroots fundraising juggernaut, enormous cultural cachet, and is well-positioned to inherit much of the Bernie movement, should he ever pass the torch.

If anything, I think Beltway prognosticators continue to underestimate both the likelihood and the formidability of an AOC candidacy in 2028. In any event, biding her time is a savvy approach, and a luxury other contenders would love to have.

Gloves off in the Golden State. Over the past week, RO KHANNA has thrown several jabs at GAVIN NEWSOM, including: praising San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan for taking on the “failed status quo & CA Establishment” and being a “workhorse, not a show horse” while tweeting out Mahan’s anti-Newsom op-ed; roundly rejecting Newsom’s warning that Trump won’t leave office; and telling an AFL-CIO breakfast in NH that Dems shouldn’t settle for mimicking Trump. 👀

Pritzker deftly threads the needle on crime. IL Gov. JB PRITZKER’s tough talk has endeared to the ‘fight harder’ wing of the base. But talking tough is easy. I was more impressed by the tightrope he walked as Trump prepared to send troops to Chicago, given the dual imperatives of forcefully opposing the deployment & conveying a sincere commitment to working with the (proper) feds to tackle crime, which remains a top concern for voters in big cities. Check out his framing on Face The Nation & NBC Chicago, which offer a roadmap to other Dems confronting this quandary.

The fading American dream. I’ve long felt that we are failing to grasp the level of hopelessness many Americans – particularly in Gen Z – are experiencing; disaffection with the rigged system has given way to desperation. A new WSJ poll begins to capture it: “Nearly 70% of people said they believe the American dream—that if you work hard, you will get ahead—no longer holds true or never did, the highest level in nearly 15 years of surveys.” Ripping the status quo will be table stakes in the 2028 race, but don’t be shocked if some more extreme iconoclasts gain traction. (I’m talking more Mangione than Mamdani…)