Is the Democratic Party a Ghost Brand? Congress has a 15% approval rating right now. At the same time radical right Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem and others are moving into military bases. Why? They’re afraid of backlash as they destroy civil liberties with fascist policies that are hurting Americans.
The Atlantic tried to make sense of this move and find out who was pulling Trump’s strings.
For weeks before Kirk’s death, activists had been protesting the Stephen Millers’ presence in north Arlington, Virginia.
Before Ghost Brand…
Who is Miller and why don’t residents of Arlington, VA want him in their town?
Stephen Miller is Trump’s deputy chief of staff but, he has been the power behind the throne.
Especially for Project 2025′s plan to have troops occupy American cities to instill a police state by militarizing local law enforcement, and ensuring they answer as a private army, only to Trump, similar to the Gestapo.
ICE has played this role, as well, to a lesser extent, the National Guard. Back in 1996 Stephen Miller might have stayed a hidden puppeteer like many didn’t know Karl Rove was pulling the strings behind invading Iraq after 911.
Before smartphones and the internet becoming a household tool, many didn’t know that Vice Pres Dick Cheney used to be CEO of Halliburton, then he ran with Bush in office.
After Operation Iraqi Freedom, began in March 2003, when after 911 America invaded Iraq and destroyed a lot of shit guess who got paid to rebuild Iraq? Halliburton.
So, let’s continue to connect the dots and see who is pulling what strings now with the 2025 Trump Administration, and considering if the Democratic Party is headed towards the cliff of being a ghost brand.
Ghost Brand? What About Ghost Fears…
Why Radical Right Republicans Are Scared
As the man in the Oval Office, it is Trump who has absorbed the accusations of authoritarianism for usurping the powers of California’s government after deploying 4,000 national guard troops and 700 active marines on to the streets of a city that is home to more undocumented immigrants than any other in the US.
Someone had put up wanted posters in their neighborhood with their home address, denouncing Stephen as a Nazi who had committed “crimes against humanity.”
A group called Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity warned in an Instagram post: “Your efforts to dismantle our democracy and destroy our social safety net will not be tolerated here.”
Keep in mind, this is Miller’s hometown. Where he grew up. And they still don’t want him here. His entire presence is a ghost brand to his own people.
Why?
I’ll answer this below but first, let’s hear from how people reacted to the news that Trump cabinet members are moving to military bases to protect themselves from the public they allege to serve:
Ghost Brand continued
Why are radical right republicans scared? Because Stephen Miller is transparently attempting to replace democracy with fascism. And make the American people, not a foreign power, the enemy of the American government.
At a meeting at Ice’s Washington headquarters last month, Miller ordered them to skip the usual practice of compiling lists of suspected illegal migrants and instead target Home Depot, where day laborers gather for short-term hire, and 7-Eleven stores, to carry out mass arrests, the Wall Street Journal reported.
This in contrast to Revolving Door scandals the public only had print media to refer to, is easily being seen by the public as a blatant attempt to replicate techniques of fascist Germany in the 30s.
The problem? This isn’t a conspiracy anymore. Even The Guardian is reporting how Miller is trying to destroy democracy.
Ghost Brand continued . . .
How Stephen Miller is the Architect of 2025 Fascism
Ice would aim for a minimum of 3,000 arrests a day, Miller told Fox News – a figure exceeding previous estimates, based on assumptions that those with criminal records would be prioritized. It also seemed to raise the risk of mistakes and wrongful arrests.
Accordingly, Ice has drastically stepped up its arrest rate – and broadened the profile of those targeted.
The results have been plain to see. As demonstrators took to the streets, Miller promptly raised the stakes by accusing them of an “insurrection”.
After Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Miller stuck with the former president – even while his political future initially looked doomed in the aftermath of the 6 January 2021 attack by his supporters on the US Capitol.
How Miller Planned a Fascist Takeover After Trump’s Loss to Biden
After Biden took office, instead of cashing in on his relationship with Trump and signing deals Miller immersed himself in studying how to overcome the hurdles that stymied Trump’s agenda during his first presidency.
The outcome has been apparent in the blizzard of executive orders during the restored president’s first months back in the White House. Miller purposely sought to “flood the zone” in a manner that would overwhelm the capacity of the courts – or the media – to respond.
These are the fascist executive orders that were predicted in the rap song, Project 2025 released Q4 of 2024.
No order was more Miller’s than that issued on the day of Trump’s second inauguration on 20 January, which attempted to cancel birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants.
The order was challenged in the courts and is now with the supreme court after the administration challenged the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions supporting a right that is guaranteed in the US constitution.
Miller’s anti-immigrant zeal has at times exceeded even that of Trump. According to the New York Times, the president told a campaign meeting last year that if it was up to Miller, there would only be 100 million people living in the US – and all of them would look like Miller.
The bond between the two men has grown to such an extent that Miller has been dubbed “the president’s id” in some circles.
“He has been for a while. It’s just now he has the leverage and power to fully effectuate it,” an unnamed former Trump adviser told NBC.
Others have called him “the most consequential” White House official since Dick Cheney, who exercised vast influence as vice-president under George W Bush.
Critics cast Miller as the root of all evil in Trump’s White House. “Stephen Miller is responsible for all the bad things happening in the United States,” NBC quoted Ben Ray Luján, a Democratic senator for New Mexico, as saying.
Ghost Brand continued . . .
So, is it any wonder, the people destroying America have to hide in military bunkers?
Yeah, doesn’t sound like Miller should have any power to do anything, to anyone, if the policies he is responsible for are so toxic he has to hide from the population of the country whose lives he’s making worse.
The real question is, why can’t the Democratic party get their shit together, echo their base, and rally support when the other side is so royally screwing the pooch?
Begin the Ghost Brand for Dems
Even With Food Stamps Cut Dems Can’t Rally Their Base
Trump is trying to bring back nuclear testing, which dirties the air and 42 million people got their food stamp benefits cut Nov 1st.
However, due to federal court rulings, the government was ultimately ordered to issue partial payments for November, which were expected to be half of the usual amount and caused significant delays.
Initial Halt: A U.S. government shutdown led to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) initially announcing it would not issue SNAP benefits on November 1st, 2025.
Court Intervention: Two federal judges ruled that the Trump administration was required to provide either full or partial benefits using contingency funds.
Reduced Payments: The administration decided to use contingency funds to provide reduced benefits, with one report stating they would only provide half of the usual payment, causing a logistical nightmare for state systems to implement.
Delayed Benefits: Even with the court orders, delays were expected because many state systems needed to be recoded to handle the reduced payments.
Partial Payments: Ultimately, some states began issuing partial payments, though the amount varied and some households with higher incomes received no benefits for November, notes The Texas Tribune.
Ghost Brand continued
Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published in August suggest that, as a result of the changes, more than 3 million Americans could lose assistance within the next few years.
Under the megabill, the upper age limit for those who need to meet work requirements was raised from age 54 to 64 for the first time for able-bodied adults without dependents.
According to CBO estimates, about 1.1 million people will lose SNAP benefits between 2025 and 2034, including 800,000 able-bodied adults through age 64 who don’t live with dependents and 300,000 parents or caregivers up to age 64 with children aged 14 and older.
Exemptions were also removed for homeless individuals, veterans and young adults who were in foster care when they turned age 18. Meanwhile, exemptions were added for American Indians.
Ghost Brand Triggers
Trump | Miller Want States to Pay for SNAP
States will have to share in the cost of SNAP benefits under the megabill, a change from the federal government shouldering the cost of the program.
Under the megabill, states with SNAP payment error rates above 6% have to pay a share of 5% — starting in 2028 — up to a maximum of 15 % of SNAP benefit costs.
A Commonwealth Fund analysis found that about $128 billion in federal costs will shift to the states, and many will not have the funds to meet the required matches. This could force states to opt out of SNAP for their residents.
You realize what this means right? If states in America are forced to pay for Foodstamps now, Foodstamps will be going away from many states in America.
Want a preview? Here are the 10 most likely states to cut Food Stamps if they are now required to fund them. Per a George Washington University analysis, these are states who simply don’t have the financial resources to dig deeper into their own pockets:
Ok, so you’d think with the Republican party starving out millions of American people while giving $40 billion dollars to Argentina right now that the Democratic Party would be more popular right?
Even the NewYorker, not known for it’s investigative journalism recently published a headline:
Why Is Trump Using Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Rescue Javier Milei?
BBC covered it too, but the thought that America is prioritizing bailing out foreign countries and starving out its own poorest citizens is another example that 99% of the Republican party now is rhetoric, and lies, to the effect of,
Ghost Brand continued
“We’ll do what we want, and make up a lie rationalizing it afterwards, or switch sides if we can make more money.”
Sounds like sociopathic politics.
With the bar that low YOU WOULD THINK DEMOCRATS COULD GET A WIN!
But, instead, the Democratic party has lost touch with what people care about and why they vote democratic: cost of living, medical and insurance costs, common sense issues. This is why it seems like they are headed towards ghost brand land.
You know how much more aligned Democrats were with Bush era republicans? Not politically but just as rational, logical people willing to listen and have a conversation.
Even if those conservatives did a lot of things worthy of critique, it’s nothing compared to the Trump fascist takeover right now, where both sides refuse to talk to each other.
Being fiscally conservative, meeting in the middle, these were negotiating tactics before the right became ideologically radicalized by Hitler loving business men in real estate and tech, who decided to use American politics as a shell game, to make themselves more money. Regardless of the cost to everyday people.
Let’s talk about Ghost Brands for a moment and why this is concerning for the disappearing Democratic Party.
Is The Democratic Party a Ghost Brand?
Watching Bill Maher’s New Rules this morning, Maher made the tragically clever analogy between a ghost brand and the Democratic Party.
A ghost brand is a formerly popular brand that is still sold, often to a niche audience, or a marketing strategy where a brand’s identity is hidden.
Well-known names like Kodak or Ovaltine that are no longer mainstream but have a lingering legacy or have been revived by new owners. Radio Shack, RCA, Sears, GE, Atari are all examples of real life ghost brands who are no longer relevant with any influence in business or the market.
They still have value because they have name recognition but they aren’t relevant even if they have nostalgia value too. It’s not where you want to be as a business, barely surviving on customer habit with just enough juice to slap your label on something.
Sears
Sears is down to 5 stores when it used to be where you go to buy everything. The Democratic Party is becoming a ghost brand as it applies to politics, not just business.
Like Sears the Democratic party used to be mighty, ascendant and popular. Sears once accounted for 1% of the American economy and 40% of the appliance economy.
Democrats once controlled the house and Supreme Court but the last time Democrats controlled all three branches of government was during the 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president, according to the history of the US House of Representatives.
But now even at a time when President Trump is turning 250 years of democracy into sweatshop controlled by private police, the democrats have their lowest rating in 35 years:
What happened?
Well, what happened with Sears?
It used to be synonymous with the American Dream because it kept faith with what the customer wanted. It used to be the place your family bought everything from school clothes to appliances, to your family Christmas portrait.
Now it’s a great place to go if you wanna be alone.
Playboy
Same thing happened to Playboy just in silk pajamas and a Captains hat. For 66 years Playboy Magazine was a fact of American life. Sears sold your father a mattress, and Playboy Magazine was what he hid under it.
It was a surefire product – pictures of tits and 25 cartoons about F*g Santa Clause. Plus real journalism, you could read an interview with Jimmy Carter while looking at photos of bush.
But then it started messing around with the formula.
The Mistake Playboy Made Democrats Are Repeating
Like the Democratic party, Playboy Magazine decided they didn’t need straight men anymore. Playboy Magazine put transgender men and gay men on the cover. And sales like their subscribers’ dicks collapsed.
Playboy Magazine staff members started using terms like “intersectionality,” and “sex positivity,” “privileging.” And in response Playboy Magazine readers used terms like,
“No thanks!”
“Get the fuck out of here!”
and
“Goodbye!”
Playboy Magazine even dropped the nudity…which is like Cigar Aficionado announcing, “We’re getting rid of the cigars.”
It went from entertainment for men to re-education for nobody. And enlightened their way to unpopularity.
Meantime, Kim Kardashian broke the internet with her ass.
Sometimes you gotta give the people what they want but for some weird reason it’s apparently tempting for some to not do that. I see this often when mentoring younger entrepreneurs – they have their idea of what a business is and they are attached to their personal emotions about that idea.
Without validating any demand for what their offer eventually becomes. That is a recipe for failure. To be overly attached to old ideas that no longer resonate.
Or don’t have a clear path to profitability on the bare minimum of a self-sustaining enterprise – because you cannot justify there is a high enough demand for what you are offering is how you fail.
The hyper focus on trans issues that affect 1% of the population has alienated the Democratic Party from 99% of moderates, left center and swing voters, and most of their base. “Old school libertarians” who don’t feel transwomen – who are men at birth and have a man’s muscle size, density and athleticism by teenage years – should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
Republicans love to tout their ties to business owners, and corporate America. Democrats could learn a thing or two by studying their opposition and learning business principles.
Like passing policy based on validated demand in your constituency, based on solving a pain point that really exists, not some attachment to wokeness, political correctness, gender identity, identity politics.
People don’t give a damn about this stuff and the polling proves it. Yet, Democrats continue to alienate their old school libertarian base in the same way dumb ass new business owners try to plead with consumers to like their idea.
Instead of identifying unmet needs and demands of the market and filling them which guarantees sales.
Just coming up with something because you like it – similar to Zuckerberg’s failed Metaverse experiment – and skipping the part where you see if anyone besides yourself likes it…or likes the way you present it…is a way to guarantee failure.
Cracker Barrell changed their whole layout from rustic to yuppy, it got them no new customers and pissed off the old ones.
The Democratic’s extreme lean into identity politics has gained them no new voters and pissed off the old ones. But at least Cracker Barrel course corrected and suspended its remodeling plans after backlash over logo change and put the sling blades and rustic wagon wheels back on the wall.
Democrats don’t seem to be doing that. They seem to be wanting to be that upscale store that impresses celebrities. Like Barneys. Where Bill Maher bought his wardrobe for Politically Incorrect back in the 90s…
Dems need to get their shit together
Dems need to get their shit together, fire Chuck Schumer and all the other Dems telegraphing, “I’ve given up on fighting authoritarian fascism, the fight is over,” when there are many many unreported wins for progressives.
Congressional Democrats were livid after a handful of their Senate colleagues voted Sunday to advance the House-passed stopgap and end the government shutdown.
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Ca.) said, “Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Khanna said in a post on Twitter following the vote.
“If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn. said, “This bill doesn’t do anything to arrest the health care catastrophe, nor does it constrain in any meaningful way President Trump’s illegality,” the Connecticut senator said. “I think the voters were pretty clear on Tuesday night what they wanted Congress to do, and more specifically, what they wanted Democrats to do, and I am really saddened that we didn’t listen to them.”
It’s us vs them, the us is everyone who believes the American public is not the enemy, but still a democracy. And “Them” is everyone else who thinks fascism is the answer.
It’s about common sense, common ground, and getting things done. Find people authentic and real that talk to people not at them. Focus on what people are concerned about
– Neo
Resources
https://www.buildtheresistance.org/50501
https://www.fiftyfifty.one
https://pol-rev.com
https://www.nvunheard.org/protest-listings
https://indivisible.org
https://handsoff2025.com
https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/event/764896/
Protester Resources
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