This Week In The Big Picture

In 2010, Republicans in Wisconsin rode the Tea Party wave to a trifecta of government control in the state, winning the governorship and both houses of the state legislature. And with that power, Republicans proceeded to try to rig themselves into permanent majorities.

What Republicans tried to do in Wisconsin back then has distinct echoes in what Donald Trump has tried to achieve for Republicans nationally in his second term. That makes Ben Wikler, the former Chair of the Wisconsin Democrats who succeeded at actually unrigging Wisconsin during his tenure, the premiere authority on how we can repair our democracy in a post-Trump America.

In tomorrow’s piece, we speak with Ben Wikler about his new book, This Is The Plan: How To End America’s Meltdown And Save Democracy, in which he provides a blueprint for how Democrats can organize to take back power in the wake of Republicans’ all out assault on our democratic institutions.

And in case you missed it, on Monday, Todd Beeton broke down the two distinct political playbooks that battled it out in yesterday’s Michigan Democratic Senate primary. And while Abdul El-Sayed’s victory was far slimmer than many expected, there is a lesson the Democratic establishment should take from El-Sayed’s campaign if they want to both fend off challenges from the left in the future, as well as set themselves up for success against Republicans.

And in yesterday’s piece, Jay Kuo exposed the Trump administration’s well-worn tactic of turning ordinary citizens into criminals to camouflage its own corruption and lawlessness.