Kumbayautocracy

It’s never fashionable to suggest gathering around the campfire to sing kumbaya – and least of all when the campfire is actually just American democracy burning.

And yet – beneath all the 5-alarm doomsaying, and the burn-it-down FIGHTmaxxing, and the base-pleasing Trump-torching – there is a strange, unexpected harmony quietly emanating from top voices across the Democratic Party… 

A growing chorus of Dems are challenging us to renew our civic bonds; to reconstruct a sense of common purpose; to dare to belong to one another.

“At a time like this!?” you may ask. Yes, at a time like this – especially, at a time like this.

These quotes aren’t usually the ones that break through and dominate the discourse. But that’s why I suffer through every speech and podcast hit on earth – so I can identify such trends for you sickos.

It’s become a key pillar of KAMALA HARRIS’s stump, as she’s found her footing in recent months: 

It’s an ethos at the core of ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ’s theory of change: 

PETE BUTTIGIEG has been warning of a “crisis of belonging” since 2019, when he was a lonely voice imploring Dems to reckon with the brokenness that enabled Trump’s rise, and pitching a national service program as an antidote – an engine for razing silos and rebuilding social trust. Seven years later, both the diagnosis and the remedy remain central to his pitch, laced with more urgency than ever.

CHRIS MURPHY has been similarly clear-eyed, speaking out about the burgeoning loneliness epidemic as early as 2022, and the “spiritual unspooling of America” shortly thereafter. His new book – Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America – comes out in two weeks. And it’s hardly the only entry of the genre from prospective 2028ers with new books.

CORY BOOKER’s Stand presents “an urgent call to rekindle our shared American ideals.” JOSH SHAPIRO centers faith, family, and shared humanity in his memoir, Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service. And forthcoming releases include RAPHAEL WARNOCK’s The Crooked Places Made Straight: Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America, and ANDY BESHEAR’s Go And Do Likewise: How We Heal A Broken Country.

At this point, dear reader, I know you expect me to do my thing where I tear into the Democratic Party for its many maladies, and its pathological commitment to never fixing them. After all, you might ask, isn’t this ~Good Samaritan~ shit a lame response to the right’s scorched-earth tactics, which have pushed democracy to the brink?

But I’m full of surprises. And I find this Good Samaritan shit tremendously heartening – essential, even.

Unfortunately, you cannot save democracy by scorching earth.

You cannot defeat Trumpism by accepting its terms – by yielding to its false cynicism about human nature. 

The foundational lie of Trumpism is that the entire world is zero-sum. The foundational truth of America is the opposite: that out of many, we are one.

That doesn’t mean we just hold hands, light a candle, and sing the gospel of community as Trumpism continues its dark march; I don’t want to live in a kumbayautocracy.

But the faithful practice of citizenship is not so futile. Neighborliness – like that we saw from thousands of ordinary Minnesotans with open arms and steeled spines – is not so futile. A politics rooted in belonging and shared humanity is not so futile. 

Time and time again, transformational movements have been born out of the seeds of these small acts of civic engagement – out of community-building and commitment to the common good. 

It will be a herculean task, but I think it’s possible for an inspiring leader to build such a movement now – one that pairs the righteous anger and disruptive vision this moment demands with a politics of addition; E pluribus unum populism, or something. 

Just a couple weeks ago, Axios wrote up AOC’s “hide-and-seek” media strategy. Suddenly, she’s inescapable.

In the past week, she had two buzzy hourlong+ sitdowns: one on It's Open with Ilana Glazer, and the other with David Axelrod at UChicago’s IOP, each of which set the internet ablaze. She seems to break people’s brains in a unique way – and that attention capital is part of her upside. If you watch the full interviews, you’ll see flashes of both the star power (she’s more charismatic & genuine than almost anyone in the field) and the shakiness – though I think the latter is teachable and the former is not.

You might’ve missed that she also keynoted Rep. Lauren Underwood’s Women’s Power Brunch in Chicago, joined Protect The Vote Arizona livestream with Carlos Eduardo Espina, sat for an extended interview with NY1’s Errol Louis, met with & endorsed a GA State Senate candidate & spoke at RAPHAEL WARNOCK’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. She’s headed to Philly tomorrow & Missoula, MT next week to campaign for progressive House candidates. A notable uptick in activity!

Even after a quiet year, she’ll have her choice of being a top-tier presidential contender or walking into Chuck Schumer’s Senate seat in 2028 – not a bad position to be in!

I feel obliged to frequently reiterate that despite my endless chronicling of 20 top Dems in the 2028 chat, I still think “anti-establishment disruptor on nobody’s radar” is the favorite. A couple quick updates on rising outsiders I first hyped last September: