Dem
50
Ties
1
GOP
49
Some candidates for political office don't worry too much about the nitty-gritty of their campaigns, and leave those details for their staffs to figure out. Others are very hands on, and keep a close eye on every decision that is made, and every word that is uttered by anyone working for the campaign. Insiders say that Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is most definitely in the latter category, which makes the latest developments in his campaign very interesting, indeed.
In short, starting in the last week or so, Ossoff has been laying into Donald Trump. Over the weekend, the Senator went viral with this relatively brief portion of what was actually a 30-minute speech:
While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings. He golfs and trades stocks. So he doesn't want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.
The Natalie being referenced is clearly Natalie Harp, the presidential aide who is with Trump at nearly all times, and who famously carries a portable printer so she can share positive news coverage and tweets with the President in real time. She also "qualified" for the real airplane flight from Turkey to the U.K., as opposed to being used as a decoy.
After the clip of that remark got north of 6 million views on eX-Twitter, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle decreed that "Nobody gives a shit what this lightweight loser says." And yet, Ingle himself cared enough to add "Jon Ossoff is a cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama." Trump himself slurred Ossoff as a "Pee-wee Herman lookalike." And White House Communications Director Steven Cheung had this to say:
Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics. Instead of denigrating hard working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he's a miserable person who hates this country. It's because he's a radical, extremist Dumocrat.
You should probably take that seriously. After all, if there's anyone who knows what a cuck loser looks like, it's Steven Cheung.
The White House's fury, despite not claiming to care what Ossoff has to say, is interesting. Obviously, Trump does not like to be the target of insults, so that's part of it. But the vitriol here came particularly fast and was particularly acidic. The general consensus, though there's no way to prove this, is that Ossoff managed to strike a particularly raw nerve. There have been many rumors that Trump and Harp are having an affair and, whether that is true or not, there have also been many rumors that First Lady Melania Trump is angry about the possibility and about how much time her husband spends in the company of a much younger woman. Truth be told, we are skeptical that Trump is capable of carrying on an affair with anyone anymore—or that any woman would be willing to do it—and we're also skeptical that Melania cares anymore if he's unfaithful. But we're not specialists in gossip, and the folks who are say this could well be what's going on here.
What is much more interesting to us is Ossoff's very obvious change in gears. There have been a dozen polls of his matchup with Rep. Mike Collins (R), and the Senator has led in all but one of them. The exception is a poll taken in September of last year, and that had the race as a tie. The most recent poll of the race, from a Republican house, had Ossoff up by 7 (50% to 43%). The aggregators have him leading by an average of 7.5 to 9 points. Point is, he could afford to put it in cruise control right now. Certainly, he does not need to "shake things up."
There's really only one compelling explanation for the change in tone, and that is that Ossoff is not so much running for the Senate in 2026 anymore, and now has shifted to running for the White House in 2028. He insists that is not the case, but of course he's not going to admit it. Voters hate to think they are just being used as a springboard to bigger and better things.
Ossoff's change in direction also has big implications for someone else: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). If Ossoff is running for president, AOC might want to think carefully when deciding whether to run for the House, the Senate, or president in 2028. If she opts for the latter, she will not be a shoo-in for the "charismatic young lefty lane." Plenty of Democrats may decide that a lefty young white man is safer than a lefty young woman of color.
Also notworthy, Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) appeared on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday, and he had... some thoughts. Here is what he said:
So, fix the darn government. Constitutional amendment. It is time. It should outlaw partisan redistricting and enshrine part of the Voting Rights Act right there in the constitution. It should create term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court. No more gaming those appointments. It should also overturn Citizens United, and I think call for direct elections of the president and the vice president. That could actually make things work. A big idea that would, yes, change government, but in a way enshrined in the constitution where people would know it's going to get better.
Host Ed O'Keefe was somewhat flummoxed, as he did not expect a moderate Southern governor to casually call for an end to the Electoral College, among other things. The careful reader will notice that none of these ideas have anything at all to do with governing Kentucky, but they are very big with the Democratic base. Indeed, one might just describe that statement as the beginnings of a platform for a national campaign. Or a stump speech.
The two lessons there, then, are these: (1) Even though the 2026 midterms are still more than 2 months away, the 2028 presidential campaign has already begun, and (2) Ossoff and Beshear are definitely running. Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) have also made clear they're going to run, which means that the horse race is already getting crowded. Anyone else who plans to run better get themselves on Face the Nation or Meet the Press soon, so they can share their proto-platform. (Z)