When lions aren't hunting democracy is not being sustained

For democracy to survive, the pride have to be set free to hunt; otherwise, democracy dies.

PART TWO - THE HERE AND NOW

We have long been at an inflexion point when it comes to fighting the cancer that is the tyranny imposed by this administration. As I have said before, often I feel America is in a state of denial. Nobody can believe that it has come to this, yet here we are. As Humans, we hate admitting our failings, and some Democrats who read my work can really struggle with my sometimes brutal assessments, which may strike an uncomfortable note.

I’m going to quote a reply I wrote to a longstanding follower yesterday, because I think it encapsulates where I am in respect of support :

While I may be critical of the Democrats, I need to be clear that they have enjoyed my support in over 200 political Ads since 2019.

I am in alignment with their core values; my criticism is more related to why they seem to have abandoned many of these core values in pursuit of right-leaning voters.

There is no other game in town; they are it, and I’m angry with them for their complete absence of vision. I have been asking questions to many Americans about what they see as common policies they could get behind, because I want to create a piece that zooms in on a vision that would bring people together.

What you have to understand is I don’t technically have a horse in this race, which allows me to be really objective while being unhindered by political baggage. I want Democrats to win with every fibre of my being, and I want them to win big, because only a big win can deliver the transformative change required to provide a better tomorrow.

Your win would be a win for my country and the rest of Europe, and the world, for that matter, who are now facing the same challenges. My criticism comes from a place of love, and my frustration comes from what I can only describe as a state of paralysis. I would absolutely love to get on a Zoom with the Democratic caucus and ask some simple questions like:

• Do you believe that it’s OK to trade individual stocks as a lawmaker?

• What are the top policies for 2026 you can stand behind?

• Who comes first, constituents or donors?

• What should the minimum wage be?

• Should healthcare be a human right?

• Should access to save drinking water be a human right?

• Should every American have access to affordable childcare?

• Should paid family leave be a given?

• Should corporate welfare be abolished?

• Should caregivers be paid a living wage to care for disabled family members at home?

I’m sure you have many more of your own questions, too, but what I want to do next week is build a foundation of core policies that any socially aware voter can stand behind, regardless of political affiliation, so I can formulate a policy framework to create a proposition for one of you to send to Democratic leadership. I am happy to host Zoom conferences with groups of readers so we can share ideas and create a vision that is totally absent from a party that seems hellbent on simply waiting for Trump to face-plant.

If you visit here often, you will be familiar with my passion for equity and social justice. The piece that is missing right now is an honest conversation. Instead of the incessant begging emails, why isn’t someone listening to the Democratic base—the people on the ground, the ones who have a grasp of the real challenges, rather than relying on political theory? YOU, my friends, are the key to unlocking this puzzle, not a leadership team that has decided to take a nap until Trump sets himself on fire.

I had great hopes for Hakeem Jeffries; alas, I am bitterly disappointed, not least of which with those odd pauses in the wrong place when he delivers a speech. As for Chuck Schumer, all good things come to an end, and his political expiry date has sadly long passed. I believe there should be a ‘Better Tomorrow Board’ featuring well-respected lawmakers from all wings of the party. The board should be representative of the American people and include respected Democratic activists, influencers, and lawmakers. This board should be empowered by leadership to assess EVERY candidate wishing to run in 2028 and decide if that candidate should face a primary.

David Hogg formerly touched on this and was shown the door because it was seen as being too radical. The fear was that David’s focus was too weighted towards young candidates, which is understandable given the organisation he runs. I believe in taking a broader brush approach because experience counts for a lot in politics, but it has to be acknowledged that there does need to be an injection of youth. There is no argument that members like Maxwell Frost, AOC and Jasmine Crockett, all of whom, in my view, are potential future presidents, as is James Talarico, who is running for the US Senate in Texas. The list of talent is so long that Democrats should be embarrassed.

Before you bend my ear on critical seats and risk assessment, I’m OK with that. It’s mission-critical not to risk seats Democrats could lose.

Just as Republicans set the example with Project 2025, Democrats should be scouring the country for dynamic progressive political talent and take it from me, there is lots of it out there. There should be a database of ready-to-go hungry lions. There should be a team profiling this talent and making the case to a vetted donor list containing only donors that align with the vision for a new people-first Democratic party. Every candidate intending to run should have to defend their right to do so based on their performance and a stated vision for the future, just as they would be asked to do in a corporate leadership setting; No new candidate application approval should be governed by who you know or based on your independent wealth. It’s time for a fresh approach.

The messaging world has changed, but the Democrats are in many instances a decade behind. They rely on the same old agencies that feed off the election gold rush. It’s time to clean house and adopt more cost-effective production technologies. Leadership can’t endorse Zorhan Mamdani, yet he has the most innovative and world-class message machine in US politics right now. I suspect he’s using the same agency as AOC.

This is before we talk big data. As someone who has a deep understanding of data analytics and AI, I can tell you the sky is the limit if the party would get off their ass and DO SOMETHING with the lions that are doing their best, but are in desperate need of dynamic leadership. I’ve been around British politics for half a century, and campaigns are the same the world over. As someone on the outside looking in, I want to grab someone by the scruff of the neck and say FFS WAKE UP.

I believe the American people should be told precisely what is being done to reshape the Democratic Party with a people-first focus. Media should be produced to introduce them to the process. Democrats desperately need to foster buy-in to their new vision for accountability. The public needs to be able to join the journey; this will likely spark the Obama-2008-style campaign funding that can help fuel the campaign. Voters need to become stakeholders, just as I encourage readers to become paid subscriber stakeholders in my work. Let’s rebuild the American Dream. It’s about being brave and being bold and seeing no barriers to success.

I believe that Democrats CAN win big in 2028 if people would listen and learn from the failures of the past. I have a body of work here that extends to over 200 articles. If anyone doubts my qualifications to offer guidance, I think it’s time to start reading. I’ve spent my entire life as a backroom boy. I have no interest in fame or fortune. I just want to fucking stop the monster that’s in the White House, and I can help if someone would just listen. Sorry, I’m getting over-excited now. I’m more than happy to hand things off to an American to manage; I don’t need to own it. This is not about me, it’s not about you, it’s about US. This is personal for me, and I suspect it is for many of you, too.

People need to be aware that the assassination of Charlie Kirk has just made it more urgent than ever that Democrats get a grip, because Trump IS coming for the elections. Far more seriously than that, he’s coming for ActBlue and all the funding valves that sustain the Democrats. This has been a five-alarm fire for far too long. It’s time to stop bringing a pencil to a gunfight. There are no rules of engagement; they are taking no prisoners. They have perfected the art of political deception and how to dominate the narrative, and that has to stop. Sorry I’ve gone on, but I’m fired up because I haven’t thrown in the towel yet. What about you?

As I said in my earlier supplemental post today, I didn’t sleep much last night. I had a lot going on in my head, not because I was losing sleep over Charlie Kirk’s passing, but because of the potential for violence I still fear may follow. Having looked this morning at the spin being posted by Fox Entertainment anchors and contributors. They appear to be desperately trying to square the circle on how a young white male from a middle-class conservative pro-gun religious Republican background can be responsible for assassinating a 31-year-old white millionaire conservative pro-gun religious Republican college dropout, travelling around college campuses to recruit young people into the MAGA movement.

This has the potential to get very, very ugly, because I can see lots of ways this could go, and none of them are good. The problem with Trump is that he can never be wrong, and he was early out of the gate on the Kirk assassination, laying the blame squarely at the feet of ‘radical left extremists’. You can be absolutely assured that lots of people have been tasked with making the crime fit the judgment. In normal circumstances, this would be very difficult, but Trump has all the levers of power in the DOJ and the FBI to dress this up exactly to suit the narrative he wants to promote, and that to me is terrifying.

He is now faced with the dilemma of executing one of his own, when he usually wouldn’t hesitate to pardon him, given his family’s politics. The obvious route would be to convince Tyler to claim he was radicalised by the left, so that he can be painted as a victim of a domestic terrorist organisation. This way, he could plead diminished responsibility. At this stage, we have no information on whether any conditions were offered in exchange for his surrender, and it would be unwise to speculate. However, the administration faces a real dilemma of whether to seek the death penalty for the child of a middle-class conservative, pro-gun, religious Republican family.

I suspect Trump is being told we can spin this and still get a win out of it if we paint him as a victim of the radical left, and I have an awful feeling this might be where this is heading. Everything about this is a mind game with few answers. My concern is that, typically, over time, we would see due process unfold openly and transparently. I fear that in this case, we will see only what the administration wants us to see, and Trump has all the players in place to make it happen.

I’m sure that there is already an army of investigative journalists on this and that we will begin to see the fruits of their labour in the days ahead. We are all walking in the dark at the moment, having to bring the threads together based on what is publicly available. The problem is that lots of people are running scared right now and scrubbing images and posts from social media, so sources can be there one minute and gone the next. The prime example is pictures of Tyler as a child with firearms. Many of these have been removed. While I have a respected reputation for correcting errors clearly and without ambiguity, many don’t share my commitment to the truth, so this story is likely to be somewhat fluid for at least a day or two.

One thing that is very clear is that the likes of Stephen Miller remain committed to the wider destruction of political opposition to Trump, regardless of where it might come from. Charlie Kirk’s murder was immediately seized upon as an opportunity to instigate a political ‘Night of the Long Knives’ to target Democratic funding and political advocacy groups, etc. As reported today by Brendan Cole, senior reporter at Newsweek:

White House adviser Stephen Miller has said Charlie Kirk gave him a message before his assassination, which was to "dismantle" what he called the "radical left."

Miller said that the killing of Kirk, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and proponent of the MAGA movement, took place within the backdrop of "a domestic terrorism movement in this country."

Miller does what all good propagandists do: he shared a message that nobody could dispute because the person who delivered the message to him is now deceased. It is beyond question that MAGA intend even now to spin Kirk’s assassination into Trump’s Reichstag Fire moment. It is beyond chilling, and I still urge prominent liberal voices to take additional measures to protect their safety, because Trump will not dial this down. He has no intention of using it to bring Americans together. He will do the just the opposite and divide them further.

I know I shouldn’t need to say this, as it should be a given, but my posts on this tragic event are opinions based on the best information available at the time of writing, which is often a little while before you get to read them. I always deliver my honest opinion; I’m not interested in clicks or seeking acclaim for anything I write. Respect, yes, maybe even admiration, if I’m honest, but I want to assure you that if I have made any mistakes during these fast-moving events, I will be the first to correct them and apologise. Equally, if you notice anything, please reach out and let me know.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my thoughts and observations. I hope you feel it was worth the investment of your time. I deliver a post to my community most days and invest significant time, money, and effort in producing fact-checked, deep analysis pieces. If you appreciate my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help offset some of the associated costs. It really does make a big difference.

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