Bob Perls, a former NM State Representative, is the Founder/President of NMOE, and Sila Avcil is the organization’s Executive Director.
In a historic move, the New Mexico Senate has just passed a semi-open primary elections bill, which allows registered independents and minor party affiliates to participate in primary elections without having to change their voter registration. The legislation passed with a vote of 27-10, with support from both Democrats and Republicans, and is seen as a significant step towards increasing voter participation in primary elections. Though 41 states have some form of open primaries, nearly all have a legislative bypass through the ability of citizens to change laws through ballot initiative. New Mexico does not allow citizen referenda and getting any legislature in the U.S. to open up primaries has been next to impossible.
New Mexico Open Elections (formerly NM Open Primaries) led the effort to pass this bill through the New Mexico Senate. We have been working tirelessly on a semi-open primaries bill, as well as other voter rights efforts since 2015. That effort has required significant foundation building over years, including organizing a coalition in support, clearing legal objections, educating lawmakers, thought leaders and the public, and raising awareness in the media.
A big shout-out to Jeremy Gruber with Open Primaries. He told us late last year that we must pass a semi-open primaries bill in New Mexico before we could even think of passing non-partisan primaries and/or ranked choice voting. If not for Jeremy, we might have skipped this step after seven years of frustration only to have missed a window of opportunity to take a small but important step for election reform that will open the door for more reforms to follow.
Under the current closed primary system in New Mexico, only registered party members are allowed to vote in primary elections, which we have criticized for disenfranchising a large portion of the electorate and causing issues for county clerks. Since 41 states have some level of open primaries and with the mobility of voters in America, most newcomers to this sunbelt state assume they can vote in all elections. They show up on primary election day and get angry at the election officials, like the county clerk. Then, they leave and don’t vote. With the passage of this bill, registered independents and minor party affiliates will be able to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary elections.
The semi-open primary elections bill now heads to the House of Representatives. With the Senate vote signaling strong bipartisan support, we remain optimistic that it will ultimately be signed into law. The Secretary of State of New Mexico and many county clerks have expressed full support of this bill and many locals are showing up for public testimonies. The Governor, Michelle Lujan-Grisham, is on record during her last re-election campaign supporting a bill that allows independents to vote in primary elections.
The passage of the semi-open primary elections bill is a significant development for New Mexico, which has struggled with low voter turnout in recent years. By giving more voters a voice in the primary elections, the state is taking an important step towards increasing participation and ensuring that its elections are more democratic and representative of the people.
Just this year, NMOE gathered donations to reach and mobilize the 7,000 voters who changed their registration on primary election day to vote in the 2022 June primary election. We onboarded a Volunteer Coordinator and hired a lobbyist, previous State Representative Kelly Fajardo. With all boots on the ground, we have been able to manage the success of this bill as it made it through the Senate. With more organization and funding, we could help the state of New Mexico make history.
Efforts will continue as the bill moves through the House and NMOE will continue to need all the support we can get. Please visit our website to learn more and get involved.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.