Jon Ossoff, the Democratic senator from Georgia, recently showed up on Pod Save America with an argument that may have irked the program’s die-hard Democratic audience. President Donald J. Trump, Ossoff said, is not the one-and-only major problem facing American politics. There is something else.
“Vast sums of corporate and billionaire money in our political system—with or without Trump—are why ordinary people are so ill served by elected officials and by Congress,” he said. “If we don’t solve this problem—even once we put Trump back in the box in the midterms and once he’s gone—the country will still be in deep trouble.”
Ossoff’s comment ran counter to Democrats’ self-soothing assumption that they can win elections simply by casting Trump as the singular anomalous problem plaguing the country. It is a familiar pitch that presumes voters will believe that once Democrats regain control of Congress and Trump is out of the White House, we will all live happily ever after.
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While Ossoff may be complicating his party’s anti-Trump strategy ahead of the 2026 midterms, his message about endemic corruption could prove far more electorally effective than any hyperpartisan pitch. Why? Because fighting corruption is one of the only causes that voters across the ideological spectrum strongly support.
Americans agree on few issues, but polls have long shown that large majorities believe money corrupts the political process, empowers oligarchs to buy elections, and prompts politicians to serve well-heeled donors—and their own financial interests—rather than serve the public. We agree on this because, whatever your particular political affiliation, you see it everywhere, every day.
