Beautiful tribute to Hunt’s legacy. Democrats need his economic empowerment message now more than ever, but there’s darker context that makes it both more urgent and harder to execute.
I just published analysis showing Trump’s Venezuela bombing fits the November NSS’s “Trump Corollary”…documented imperial doctrine authorizing military force to seize “strategically vital assets.” This matters for Hunt’s lessons because methods normalized abroad bleed into domestic governance. Hunt built through education investment and infrastructure. Trump’s playbook is regime change, resource extraction, and unilateral executive power.
Your education-as-empowerment point is exactly right, but connect it to the authoritarian threat. Trump just made the biggest education cuts in history to fund tax cuts for the rich while using military force to seize Venezuelan oil. That’s not two stories, it’s one: hollowing out opportunity at home while projecting imperial power abroad.
Hunt gave people agency through tangible investment. Trump extracts. Hunt built, Trump loots. That contrast should be central to 2026.
Well Andrew Bates called Hamas an "evil terrorist organization". Wake me up when the Demoncratic party make human rights the central part of its foreign policy as it was under Carter, instead of pleasuring AIPAC, as it's been since.
In 1944, a French Communist Maquis leader, Jacques was given an order by the Central Committee in Paris ambush SS troop convoys speeding to stop the Normandy invasion. Jacques, the bravest and most successful Maquis in that part of France refused to do so. The Wafen SS massacred to the last person any villages or towns in proximity to ambush points. As Jacques could not protect all of these unarmed people or even most of them, he declined this order. When Hamas launched their fierce attacks on October 7, 2023, they knew that Bibi and his crony government were an Arab-hating government who would waste, brutalize and massacre a largely unarmed population that Hamas could not protect. No one would come to protect Palestinian women, elders, children, or male noncombatants. When Marc Lamont Hill asked the Hamas spokesperson on Al Jazeera, "Didn't you know or guess, that the occupation government would massacre the Palestinian people as a reprisal?" The Hamas spokesperson said " Well, they(the people) will be martyrs anyway?" That was the first time that I saw that the Hamas leadership were villains too./ Just not as bloody minded or murderous as the Netanyahu clique
Some people also pre-emptively surrendered to Trump's depradations, such as Christopher Wray, who could have stayed and fought them. I don't think prophylactic surrender is a moral requirement. I don't have grounds on which to condemn Hamas, who has tried everything else to free Palestinians from their horrible oppression.
U.S. citizens living, serving, or studying abroad—you can vote from wherever you are! 🌍 Visit https://votefromabroad.org to register and request your overseas ballot.
It’s quick, free, and valid for all elections in 2026. Need help? Write to help@votefromabroad.org.
Vote from Abroad volunteers are ready to assist you with any questions about requesting or returning your ballot. Don’t wait! Request your ballot today and make your voice heard! 🗳️
My political book club read "Freedom's Dominion" by Jefferson Cowie and then saw him talk in Berlin where he was a visiting Prof. His book was about the long struggle in one county for Indigenous and Black people to get the government to support their rights against Whites whose idea of freedom was "free for me, but not for thee." In his first talk he talked about how a winning candidate needed to have populist ideas. I wrote about that talk here.
Then, because we did not understand his ideas on populism we invited him to talk to us. He graciously did. This time he clarified what he meant by a person had to have populist ideas to win, but not be a populist. He also expressed great disappointment in how little the Democratic Party has done to protect voting rights. I wrote this piece after that talk.
Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Abroad are starting the GOTV now, because we not only have to contend with needing to register every year from abroad in order to vote, but also getting our ballots in a timely manner and getting them back in a timely manner.
Questions ask why the US is involved in Venezuela? Cheeto ran a campaign counter to such an invasion of countries but of course he lied about so many promises since he wanted to stay out of jail
Despite the fact that Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves the type of oil that the country brings out of the ground is a dirty petroleum product because it requires many many steps to get a marketable product Venezuelan oil accounts for only 1% of the overall global oil production
So if it’s not about a valuable oil product, then is the US military Venezuelan capture of an awful tyrant like Maduro the real reason for this US military action? Maybe but corruption, power, and money always are the motivating factors for Cheeto who desires to be tough guy strongman who can become the bully of countries in the Western hemisphere It sets the tone to all other Western hemisphere countries
In the end there are many reasons Emperor Cheeto decided to arrest a fellow dictator He’s an impulsive malignant narcissist with loyalists willing to do his bidding and oil which is a gift to the American oil industry and its campaign donors is another piece of this bizarro puzzle Then there’s the Nobel Peace Prize Venezuelan activist who Cheeto flipped off when she offered the US help Polling numbers suck and health insurance costs are going up for millions And the action does serve as a great distraction from the haunting Epstein files and the news networks are swallowing the bait
Is education important? Yes. Talking about education without a commitment to taxing the billionaire class out of existence (or at least until we’ve paid for a fully functional and thriving civil society) is like prescribing band aids to traumatic amputation victim.
Do we need solidarity across the spectrum of Americans? Yes. That solidarity can only meaningfully come from the type class solidarity that comes from being united against an enemy. The message that should be hammered is how dangerous the billionaire, ultra wealthy, corporate class is to individuals, society and the very idea of a pluralistic and democratic rule of law.
The patient is far, far past the diagnosis and prescription presented in this article and I’m a little surprised to see it in an email from Zeteo
Beautiful tribute to Hunt’s legacy. Democrats need his economic empowerment message now more than ever, but there’s darker context that makes it both more urgent and harder to execute.
I just published analysis showing Trump’s Venezuela bombing fits the November NSS’s “Trump Corollary”…documented imperial doctrine authorizing military force to seize “strategically vital assets.” This matters for Hunt’s lessons because methods normalized abroad bleed into domestic governance. Hunt built through education investment and infrastructure. Trump’s playbook is regime change, resource extraction, and unilateral executive power.
Your education-as-empowerment point is exactly right, but connect it to the authoritarian threat. Trump just made the biggest education cuts in history to fund tax cuts for the rich while using military force to seize Venezuelan oil. That’s not two stories, it’s one: hollowing out opportunity at home while projecting imperial power abroad.
Hunt gave people agency through tangible investment. Trump extracts. Hunt built, Trump loots. That contrast should be central to 2026.
—Johan
I lived in NC (Durham -- Faculty member at Duke -- when he was governor. Truly a wonderful human being!
Thank you for writing about my former governor! Hunt was a great North Carolinian and a real friend to NC people!
Well Andrew Bates called Hamas an "evil terrorist organization". Wake me up when the Demoncratic party make human rights the central part of its foreign policy as it was under Carter, instead of pleasuring AIPAC, as it's been since.
Well, Hamas is an evil terrorist organization and the Israeli government is an evil entity. Two facts can be true at the same time.
Hmmm, what are your thoughts on the proper way to resist a violent occupying army? More Vichy less la résistance?
In 1944, a French Communist Maquis leader, Jacques was given an order by the Central Committee in Paris ambush SS troop convoys speeding to stop the Normandy invasion. Jacques, the bravest and most successful Maquis in that part of France refused to do so. The Wafen SS massacred to the last person any villages or towns in proximity to ambush points. As Jacques could not protect all of these unarmed people or even most of them, he declined this order. When Hamas launched their fierce attacks on October 7, 2023, they knew that Bibi and his crony government were an Arab-hating government who would waste, brutalize and massacre a largely unarmed population that Hamas could not protect. No one would come to protect Palestinian women, elders, children, or male noncombatants. When Marc Lamont Hill asked the Hamas spokesperson on Al Jazeera, "Didn't you know or guess, that the occupation government would massacre the Palestinian people as a reprisal?" The Hamas spokesperson said " Well, they(the people) will be martyrs anyway?" That was the first time that I saw that the Hamas leadership were villains too./ Just not as bloody minded or murderous as the Netanyahu clique
Some people also pre-emptively surrendered to Trump's depradations, such as Christopher Wray, who could have stayed and fought them. I don't think prophylactic surrender is a moral requirement. I don't have grounds on which to condemn Hamas, who has tried everything else to free Palestinians from their horrible oppression.
Alan, Trump planned to fire Wray and others who were not toadies. Trump now has the Supreme Court to back up his wholesale dismissals.
Please remove Rahm Emanuel from this tribute. He tried so hard to do in Chgo Teachers in. Thank you.
U.S. citizens living, serving, or studying abroad—you can vote from wherever you are! 🌍 Visit https://votefromabroad.org to register and request your overseas ballot.
It’s quick, free, and valid for all elections in 2026. Need help? Write to help@votefromabroad.org.
Vote from Abroad volunteers are ready to assist you with any questions about requesting or returning your ballot. Don’t wait! Request your ballot today and make your voice heard! 🗳️
My political book club read "Freedom's Dominion" by Jefferson Cowie and then saw him talk in Berlin where he was a visiting Prof. His book was about the long struggle in one county for Indigenous and Black people to get the government to support their rights against Whites whose idea of freedom was "free for me, but not for thee." In his first talk he talked about how a winning candidate needed to have populist ideas. I wrote about that talk here.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/is-populism-the-way-to-go?r=f0qfn
Then, because we did not understand his ideas on populism we invited him to talk to us. He graciously did. This time he clarified what he meant by a person had to have populist ideas to win, but not be a populist. He also expressed great disappointment in how little the Democratic Party has done to protect voting rights. I wrote this piece after that talk.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/voting-rights-come-before-all-others?r=f0qfn
Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Abroad are starting the GOTV now, because we not only have to contend with needing to register every year from abroad in order to vote, but also getting our ballots in a timely manner and getting them back in a timely manner.
Thank you for posting this!!!
A true populist-accurately defined and enacted. A loss to all of us, but a legacy to emulate. TY for this piece.
Emperor Cheeto Of The Western Hemisphere
Questions ask why the US is involved in Venezuela? Cheeto ran a campaign counter to such an invasion of countries but of course he lied about so many promises since he wanted to stay out of jail
Despite the fact that Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves the type of oil that the country brings out of the ground is a dirty petroleum product because it requires many many steps to get a marketable product Venezuelan oil accounts for only 1% of the overall global oil production
So if it’s not about a valuable oil product, then is the US military Venezuelan capture of an awful tyrant like Maduro the real reason for this US military action? Maybe but corruption, power, and money always are the motivating factors for Cheeto who desires to be tough guy strongman who can become the bully of countries in the Western hemisphere It sets the tone to all other Western hemisphere countries
In the end there are many reasons Emperor Cheeto decided to arrest a fellow dictator He’s an impulsive malignant narcissist with loyalists willing to do his bidding and oil which is a gift to the American oil industry and its campaign donors is another piece of this bizarro puzzle Then there’s the Nobel Peace Prize Venezuelan activist who Cheeto flipped off when she offered the US help Polling numbers suck and health insurance costs are going up for millions And the action does serve as a great distraction from the haunting Epstein files and the news networks are swallowing the bait
Is education important? Yes. Talking about education without a commitment to taxing the billionaire class out of existence (or at least until we’ve paid for a fully functional and thriving civil society) is like prescribing band aids to traumatic amputation victim.
Do we need solidarity across the spectrum of Americans? Yes. That solidarity can only meaningfully come from the type class solidarity that comes from being united against an enemy. The message that should be hammered is how dangerous the billionaire, ultra wealthy, corporate class is to individuals, society and the very idea of a pluralistic and democratic rule of law.
The patient is far, far past the diagnosis and prescription presented in this article and I’m a little surprised to see it in an email from Zeteo