Everyone agrees: It’s Trump’s worst idea ever
As soon as I saw “debt slavery” … I knew it wasn’t gonna be good.
“You’ll own nothing, and be happy.”
Versions of this quote have circulated for years, frequently among the far-right, especially during the COVID era. And to give the Dane1 who wrote it credit, it is the perfect title card for the absolute riot erupting in response to Trump teasing the announcement of 50-year mortgages.
Even if I haven’t been writing this newsletter for very long, I’ve been doing this work for six years. So believe me when I tell you, I have never — NE 👏 VER 👏 — seen people from all sides be so instantly and intensely yucked … ever.
COME TOGETHER, RIGHT NOW
The most straightforward explainer of the 50-year mortgage offering — and why it’s so bad — comes from the biggest real estate creator out there, Graham Stephan. And others in the business agree: a realtor, a mortgage broker, a former real estate boss running for office, and (iconic) broker Glennda Baker who says “this is you being a tenant for the rest of your life disguised as the American dream.”
Here’s how the other key subgroups reacted:
The very, very few supporters: CEO of a company that buys and sells homes called it the most “pro-homeowner” policy in decades. The real estate voice on the right is offering help to those “with no money and no credit” get a mortgage (don’t do this). A guy known as The Bitcoin Wizard thinks there’s a good crypto play. And a MAGA podcaster says those against this are “black pilling morons.”
The liberal eyerollers: There are clear connections being drawn between this policy and its massive benefits for banks (TYT, Breaking Points). The mentions of Kamala Harris’ housing platform surprised me. Others characterize the move as “spectacularly dumb,” a “DISASTER,” and warn that this is “going to make the 2008 mortgage crisis look like the good old days.”
The All-American Rejects: Conservatives were unequivocal in their rebuke of this plan. Matt Walsh says it “gets everything wrong.” The Charlie Kirk Show hosts agreed, it “feels really disingenuous.” Erick Erickson, “flabbergasted.” FL Gov. candidate, “disgusting insult.” “Terrible idea,” “sick deal,” “a dumbass idea, I’m not gonna lie.” Like name another policy MAGA faithfuls reacted to this negatively! I’ll wait!
The existential crisis crew: Yes, there is a sect deviating further than the haters above, challenging their entire understanding of MAGA and its priorities all because of this policy. Self-described “nationalist” Evan Kilgore2 admits “MAGA is losing me … My life has seen zero improvement since Trump took office. It’s actually worse.” TPUSA’s Savanah Hernandez is “tired of ‘based’ social media videos and big talk from the admin with zero follow through.” Mike Cernovich, one of Trump’s most committed, longtime allies, announced that our current situation makes him understand why Luigi Mangione murdered someone in power.
Long one from @DrunkRepub
I’m not a gambling woman, but based on this reaction, I’d bet big we never hear about the 50-year mortgage again. If we get a double-down, boy is that gonna give us some strange electoral mutations in 2026. Whaddya think? Ready to commit?
FROM THE LEFT WING:
DISBAND THE NAMING CONVENTION: I’ve talked about my frustration with liberal branding exercises. I even got dragged to social media hell for criticizing Gavin Newsom’s all-caps Trump copypasta3 operation. Worth it, btw!!! So, I was both eagerly and annoyedly awaiting what the resistance rabble rousers were going to come up with when the handful of Democrat senators joined with Republicans to reopen the government. Without further ado, competing in the Gottem! Olympics:
The Hateful Eight (The Lincoln Project)
The Cave Caucus (David Dayen, The Prospect)4
Gang of Eight Rich White People (JoJoFromJerz, Are you f'ng kidding me?)
8 Democratic Senate Quislings (Keith Olbermann)
I’d say the dust is starting to settle, but things are only going to kick up more as the House gets back in formation and Schumer faces increasing calls to step away from leadership.
QUICK PIVOT: ESPN’s loudest mouth (a title that is hard to win) just lost his biggest supporter. There was a 15-day period when people wanted to hear Stephen A. Smith’s perspective on the 2024 election, and he’s been scraping the bottom of the baggie trying to reach the same high on politics ever since. The owner of the “Stephen A. Smith for President” account that gained thousands of followers has decided it was time to let go, move on, and rebrand. Ro Khanna News entered the building and I simply had to know why:
“Ro has the most dedicated team, they reached out to me early in the SASForPres days, and Ro’s social media guy, Caleb Brock, never stopped giving me advice even when the account died. I even suggested Ro talk about the game Roblox being used to exploit kids, and he did. He listens. The commitment Ro and his team have won me over. True grassroots.”
“Updates” style accounts dominate pop culture, and I’m expecting to see more of them crop up as politicians (ahem, their teams) get savvier. The Ro Khanna team should be glad they’re first out of the gate — considering Andy Beshear and JB Pritzker were also in contention.
FROM THE RIGHT WING:
GO BERSERKLEY: Turning Point USA completed their nationwide tour with a stop at U.C. Berkeley. Inside, the event looked packed, jovial, and YMCA-obsessed. Outside is always gonna be a different story. Protestors arrived, chanting “fascists are not welcome” there. We’re starting to get a really clear understanding of who the series regulars are at these protests that turn super chaotic, super quickly — and we can thank the White House’s antifa roundtable for this. Frontlines, TPUSA’s live coverage cohort, was on the scene feeding their followers with minute-by-minute video updates.
Remember back to the day I told you about the ICE sweeps on Canal Street in NYC. The viral videos posted by these creators with the ears — and eyes — of the White House had some correlation with, if not direct causation of, the immigration raid that followed. Reports from Berkeley say two men were arrested for a fist fight and two women were for vandalism … but that’s it. And yet we have the same playbook: videos go viral claiming it’s a “warzone,” DOJ jumps in announcing the Terrorism Task Force will “spare no expense” in response.
OPENING A CAN OF TERMS: You can only hear a word so many times before deciding you’re done not knowing what the hell people are talking about. On Election Night last week, I heard Tim Pool call Zohran Mamdani a “third-worldist.” I wrote it down in case it came up again — which, in the case of researching for this newsletter, it almost always does. And come up it has. When this happens, I’m always looking for the source — what or who might’ve tipped off the right to new frameworks they could funnel ideas through.
After looking at Google Trends and seeing search did peak last week, here’s my best guess at the origin point: “Zohran Mamdani, Third-Worldism, and the Algerian Revolution,” by Zineb Riboua, a researcher for Hudson Institute, published right here on Substack.
“Mamdani repurposes the lexicon of Third-World liberation for American soil, transforming decolonization into a scaffold for moral and political identity.”
LOOSE ENDS:
📝 Word I learned today: dispensationalism
adherence to or advocacy of a system of interpreting history in terms of a series of God’s dispensations — “At the end of the day, the American Right must recognize that dispensationalism is not orthodox to Protestant or Catholic theology — and we must push back against it. (via Old Glory Club)
📰 Something you should read today: Alex Karp Goes to War — WIRED
“In Karp’s view, the antiestablishment tone of Apple’s Macintosh marketing was the original sin in a tech culture that celebrates indulgent individualism and neglects nationalist concerns.”
🥹 Something to make you smile today: I went to my friend Emma’s wedding at the Boston Public Library the other day, where my friends and I would go and pretend to study in college. It was a true blast with many highlights but I can’t resist asking who won this serving-face-off: me or the big BF?
I would probably describe him as a white supremacist antisemite, personally
I’m partial to this one lol