Akash Chougule

Some personal news - March 21 is my last day at AFP; On March 26, I begin as President of @FREOPP!

I am grateful to AFP and Stand Together, and honored for the opportunity to lead FREOPP - looking forward to helping expand the American Dream to uplift more Americans than ever!

NEW POLLING from Narrative Strategies: a HUGE “narrative violation” for the MAGA/national conservative/“new right” crowd:

Republican voters overwhelmingly prefer the future of the GOP focus on “lowering costs and strengthening the economy” (49%). Way ahead of:

Stronger immigration enforcement/border security (17%)
America first trade agenda incl. tariffs (13%)
Taking on political cultural institutions (6%)
Taking a more confrontational approach to the national news media (3%)

In short, Republican voters want Republican leaders to be normal. When the party’s perception driven from the top is the opposite, the result looks like Tuesday.

Today is the first night of Diwali.

Diwali celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance.

More than 5 million people in America celebrate Diwali, a manifestation of faith, family, community, and prosperity – all things America could use more of these days.

Happy Diwali! 🪔

This is a perfect encapsulation of the thinking of the new Republican elite that thinks it’s in touch with the concerns and priorities of normal Americans but is actually living a complete fantasyland detached from reality.

Voters in every single state said tariffs did more to hurt than help. They raised costs *and* hurt manufacturing employment.

Anyone who is still pushing this way of thinking as a justifiable economic or political agenda should be ignored.

MAGA is dead. The tariff-happy new right is a failure. The midterms made that perfectly clear. We don’t have to pretend otherwise anymore.

Worth taking stock of two bright spots for Republicans from yesterday, and their associated lessons:
1) Those who survived tough races amidst the national tsunami: people like @KellyAyotte in New Hampshire, @RepMcCormick in Atlanta suburbs, @RepMariaSalazar in Miami.
2) Progressive policies losing ballot initiatives even in places Democrats romped.