Molineaux is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and president/CEO of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
Half of our political class is delusional. There’s an old adage in the marketing business that goes, “Half of all ad dollars are wasted. The problem is, we don’t know which half.” This quip came to mind recently as I was thinking about the culture and narrative war we are living through and our inability or unwillingness to agree on observable facts without interpretation.
In 2018, 89 percent of Americans said that they want both parties to try to find places to compromise. The American public clearly wants something better from our leaders but the question is: What, if anything, are they willing to do about it?
Like the European crusaders who fought to liberate Jerusalem or the revolutionaries in 18th century France and 1930s Germany who built an ideology on liberating their people from oppression, the political class in the United States has been captured in the delusion of “saving the nation” from the forces of evil. On one hand, there is the evil of authoritarianism; on the other, socialism. The political class on each side claims themselves as the warriors of liberation. Russia’s encroachment and now invasion of Ukraine’s territory is their proxy war – protectionists and freedom fighters, battling for the soul of the world. But are they?
What if they are both wrong?
Considerable research has pointed to the “exhausted majority,” those Americans who don’t vote for a variety of reasons, ( here, here and here). These citizens want to get on with their lives, loving their friends and family without tip-toeing through political landmines. Businesses would like to get back to serving their customers without feeling internal and external pressure to make statements about politics and social issues. If we want a better future for our nation, we need everyone to do their part. If our democracy is to work, and perhaps even survive, every resident, citizen and neighbor must realize they can make a difference.
If the political class cannot lead then it is up to the exhausted majority to engage and offer a course correction. One of the many reasons people do not engage is their mistaken belief that their vote doesn’t matter and their perspective won’t be represented. History shows us that We the People can make a difference. Unions helped course-correct businesses from unsafe and abusive practices in the last century. American citizens can course-correct the political class by voting. Given our gerrymandered districts, voting in the primary is critically important. Given that less than 25 percent of eligible voter votes in primaries, your vote is even more important. We’ll need three things to make a course correction happen.
- Enact automatic voter registration and easy access to voting for all eligible citizens. ( The Heritage Foundation shows 1,165 convictions of voter fraud since 1982 – so let’s stop the pretense that voter fraud is widespread or election changing.)
- Open primaries and allow people to vote for their chosen candidate, regardless of political party. Does this cause discomfort? Please ask yourself why. One person, one vote is the foundation of democracy, why not in primaries, too?
- Be friends with people who are different from yourself. American innovation comes from our diversity. When we stay in homogenous groups, our thinking is more likely to become extreme and deepens our delusions.
I live in the D.C. area. I attend meetings with the political class every day and am frustrated with what I see. These people are my friends and colleagues. But we need your help to co-create a better future for us all. Let’s end the delusion of the political class that believes they are in charge. If they are, it’s because you fail to use the power of your vote.
Please vote in EVERY primary and general election this year. YOU are the course correction we need.
Americans across the political spectrum have continued to ask about the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s connections among the political elite. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks to voters at a town hall at the Elks Lodge 188 on June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine.
McConnell and Platner both feel entitled
The two men could not be more different. One, a Republican, octogenarian, seven-term Southern senator, the other a progressive, millennial Maine oysterman who’s never spent a day in elected office.
But Mitch McConnell, the senior senator from Kentucky who’s been MIA for the past few weeks and Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate who’s facing calls to drop out of his race against Sen. Susan Collins, apparently do have something in common: an outsized sense of entitlement.
McConnell, who is 84 and not running for reelection, has been hospitalized for three weeks, and yet we still don’t fully know what he was admitted for or what his condition is. Per CNN, “his office has not disclosed a medical reason for the hospitalization or provided specifics on his health status beyond saying last week that he ‘continues to improve’ and ‘is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters.’ ”
While several legislators have said they’ve talked to him and insist he sounds strong, others have said they are completely in the dark. One MAGA influencer, Laura Loomer, posted ”High level source close to the White House tells me ‘Mitch McConnell is officially brain dead. He’s not coming back.’ ”
Meanwhile, up in Maine, Platner has been artfully dodging calls from his own party to drop out of his race after several allegations of misconduct from women, including a sexual assault allegation from a former girlfriend, came to light. While Platner, who has managed to survive a Nazi-tattoo scandal, a sexting scandal, and several old tweets scandals, denies the allegations, he has not quit.
High-profile Democrats including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, the latter of whom had unsuccessfully hand-selected Maine Gov. Janet Mills to face Collins instead of Platner, have urged Platner to drop out, while other Dems have accused him of trying to influence the picking of his replacement.
Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson released a statement Tuesday, which said in part:
“Unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate nor in determining what this process looks like.”
Both incidents show a deep lack of accountability to voters, who in one case deserve to know whether their senator is capable of performing his duties, and in another deserve a candidate who isn’t being accused of crimes, bigotry and deception.
The offensive and odious entitlement of both McConnell and Platner stands out not because it is particularly unique among today’s political class. Tom Kean, the New Jersey GOP congressman, missed more than 100 votes, only sharing after a three-month mystery absence that he was dealing with depression.
Former President Joe Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to disclose a hospitalization for prostate cancer surgery, flouting the established rules for Cabinet members and senior U.S. officials.
From Biden’s insistence on running for reelection despite his obvious cognitive and political weaknesses to Trump’s brazen flouting of laws and norms, few politicians seem to appreciate that their public service job comes with responsibilities to constituents, including transparency and honesty.
But both parties increasingly justify the chicanery, because the stakes of winning elections and keeping power are simply too high. But that’s no excuse. If we’ve learned anything over the past decade, it’s that character and accountability do, in fact, matter. And when we, the voters, stop caring about it, well, so do they.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.