MAY 20, 2026: Political Engines for Democratic Socialists of America
Stopping the Anti-Abortion Movement; They Flaunt Corruption; and The Reform Era of Indonesia’s Democracy
POLITICAL ENGINES FOR DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA
From DSA, a letter from the new Democratic Left editorial board. Does DSA have a supporter ceiling? At their 2026 organizing conference, young Democratic Socialists of America focused on organizing student workers, building campus movements against ICE, and preparing mass action for May Day 2028 to confront Trump’s authoritarianism. Michael Lange on DSA vs. WFP: Who leads the left in New York City? In Boston, the DSA and its rapidly growing membership are still trying to define their movement. In the trenches with LA’s comedy comrades: Hannah Einbinder, Joel Kim Booster, and Chris Fleming are turning stand-up sets into political engines for Democratic Socialists of America candidates in Los Angeles, but are they attracting the wrong kind of attention to the cause? Against the Tribunal Left: Anthony Teso on DSA, moralism, and the problem of socialist discipline.
STOPPING THE ANTI-ABORTION MOVEMENT
Alyssa Izatt and Kimberley Brownlee (UBC): Justice for Girls: On the Provision of Abortion as Adequate Care. ICE is shutting pregnant girls in a facility with inadequate care, in an abortion-banned state. Oklahoma’s latest anti-abortion law wants to scare residents from helping each other. Jews paused Indiana’s abortion ban—by turning a religious freedom law against the evangelical right. SCOTUS clears the way for anti-abortion CPCs to continue dodging accountability. From TNR, Melissa Gira Grant on the terrifying convergence of fetal personhood laws and abortion bans; and on the right’s upside-down argument against the abortion pill. Why haven’t the Republican justices banned mifepristone already? If the Supreme Court upholds new restrictions on mifepristone, misoprostol may be targeted too. The midterms aren’t stopping the anti-abortion movement—even as Trump tries to shut everyone up.
THEY FLAUNT CORRUPTION
From the New Yorker, by August, the president and his family had made $3.4 billion by leveraging his position—after his first year back in office, the number has ballooned; and is there a remedy for presidential profiteering? Until now, Trump always seemed unembarrassed to crow about his side hustles—but, if the Emirati payment was kept secret, what else might be? The evolution of Trump’s corruption: The president is no longer intimidated by backlash. From TNR, Malcolm Ferguson on how Trump plans to profit off renaming of Palm Beach airport; Trump used shady crypto venture to triple his net worth as president; and Trump’s sons land massive Pentagon deal as they flaunt corruption. Isaac Saul on the everything, everywhere, all at once corruption story. Majid Maleki Meighani on the Trump–Caligula parallel: A political sociology of corruption and contradiction. Corruption is the iceberg that will sink Trump.
THE REFORM ERA OF INDONESIA’S DEMOCRACY
Jan Breman (Amsterdam): The Delusion of Decolonisation: Making Sense of the Divide Between Profit and Cost. Leo Agustino (Untirta) and M. Dian Hikmawan (Sydney): How Powerful are Village Heads? Clientelism in the Reform Era of Indonesia’s Democracy. Kurniawan Arif Maspul on Sumatra and the politics of environmental failure: This disaster demonstrates how quickly global economy collapses when governance fails. Nithin Coca on Jakarta’s remarkable urban transit transformation. The books Democracy and the Rule of Law in Indonesia: A Legal Philosophical Analysis (Routledge) by Stefanus Hendrianto (Creighton) and Ruling Indonesia: Jokowi’s Presidency in an Age of Democratic Crisis and Great Power Competition (Michigan) by Marcus Mietzner (ANU) are now out.