Trump Court makes American politics more corrupt

The Court’s latest campaign finance decision was mostly buried by other news such as straightforward constitutional nullification getting four votes, as well as the Court gutting longstanding campaign finance regulations being a Trump-does-self-dealing story. But I don’t think it’s a trivial holding at all. Kagan’s dissent lays out the context of the holding concisely:

Indeed, at this point I think it’s an open question how long even Buckley‘s upholding of individual donation restrictions can survive, although they’re now so easy to circumvent it’s largely a moot point.

There was a certain liberal complacency about the effects of Citizens United and its progeny, in part because 1)the rise of small donations on the internet provided an effective countervailing force, at least in national races, and 2)in the early years, some plutocrats like Bezos and Zuckerberg were largely apolitical. But the landscape has changed, starting with tech executives strongly pivoting to MAGA. Elon Musk’s immense spending spree generated oddly little consternation given that it have Trump a late spending advantage that may well have materially affected the 2024 election. And in the 2026 midterms, money is looking like a potential problem:

Republicans’ cash advantage just got a lot more powerful thanks to the Supreme Court — and the Democratic National Committee’s fundraising struggles just got a lot more concerning for their party.

Democrats argue that the court’s Tuesday decision, which allows political parties to freely coordinate with candidates, will give the GOP the ability to offset Democratic candidates’ fundraising lead in battlegrounds.

Republicans have a cash edge with the Senate and House Republican committees. But the starkest cash disparity by far is for the Republican National Committee, which has $125 million in the bank, while the Democratic National Committee has more debt than cash on hand, $18.3 million to $14.8 million.

That disparity was already going to matter for the GOP. But with the Supreme Court decision, they can spend without constraint — and their dollars will go a lot further, erasing Democrats’ cash advantage in some battlegrounds while allowing the GOP to level up. That’s especially important for expensive campaign advertising: Candidates have long gotten reduced rates, but parties now can get that rate, too.

More than a dozen Democrats working on key midterms races from North Carolina to Maine expressed various levels of concern over the Supreme Court decision Tuesday.

Brian Derrick, who runs the Democratic fundraising platform Oath, said the decision “unequivocally” benefits the RNC .

“They’re gonna be able to deploy those funds in more highly-leveraged scenarios to make up for the gap in candidate funding,” Derrick said. “It’s definitely a boost for the Republican Party in the midterms, and it’s a shame for the country overall.”

You can’t put all the blame on the Court, needless to say — a major part of the problem is that Ken Martin is a total yutz who needs to be replaced ASAP. But the Supreme Court’s Republicans just made it significantly harder to recapture the Senate.