Ups and downs!
Winning, losing, illegal intent... and a Rev. Al chat
Hi, Ari here, below is a new edition of my newsletter, with some audio.
And a special welcome to the many new subscribers that just joined us, in these turbulent times! How this works: I email out my occasional entries on life, news and culture — available to all — and you can always become a full subscriber for the extra editions, and to join the annual Zoom video call I do with full subscribers:
New Mood, New Challenge
Suddenly, there is a new mood out there: Sen. Booker’s record breaking address, a revived spirit of political resistance, voters beating back Elon Musk’s money in the Wisconsin election.
That’s all happening alongside Trump’s tariff crash — markets tumbling and prices rising in response to Trump’s policies.
We all experience and learn about these developments in many ways. Today, I’m sharing my thoughts about them, from a new exchange I had outside of the newsroom, in a more casual conversation with Rev. Al Sharpton at his annual conference.
Today’s piece has some key excerpts — edited for clarity — or if you prefer to listen, you can click play on the audio below. (Some of the sound is choppy, were weren’t on a professional TV set, but it’s here if you prefer to listen.)
Voters vs. Dollars
Several current crises are testing democracy, and also reinforcing its essential role in combatting greed and oppression. Take state judicial elections, which aren’t usually a big deal. The Wisconsin results reaffirmed the public’s power to reject billionaire meddling, and Rev. Sharpton asked me about that:
Sharpton: What is the significance of the results of the Wisconsin elections?
Melber: Judicial local elections are supposed to be boring. They're not supposed to be national news. They usually aren't—and they certainly aren't supposed to be expensive. But this was the most expensive judicial election ever, partly because of the out-of-state money [from Musk]. And still, a candidate won against that spending.
We’re seeing early signs of voting pushback in this Trump era — even in red districts like Matt Gaetz’s in Florida. Democrats didn’t win there, but they did improve. This was the first real electoral response to what’s been happening.
Tariff Crash
Then there is this self-inflicted economic meltdown.
Sharpton: We hear the word “tariffs,” but what does it mean to us?
Melber: This one's simple. There are two kinds of tariffs — strategic, and dumb. Trump's are the latter. Even the Wall Street Journal called them a $6 trillion tax on Americans. Every car you might buy, every product at a big-box store — that cost gets passed to you.
Trump figured out on the job, that he could do this without working with anyone, or Congress. It’s legal, but it’s pricey. And it shows how he favors ‘fast power’ over functional policy.
New Leaders?
This is a big one, from the 2024 race (Biden exiting stage left) — to demands for new Democratic leaders in Congress. How should politicians pass the torch and keep the fire burning? Sharpton began with his own plug for the wisdom of elders, which we can all relate to, and posed the question haunting Democrats after the election.
Sharpton: Let me ask you, in terms of the rise of… ‘new leadership’ — it's not just about age. Yes, older people need to let younger people lead. But I was talking with a guy the other day who said, “We need young leadership,” I said, “How old are you?” He said, “Forty-three.” I said, “You do realize you’re older than JD Vance? You do realize Stephen Miller is only 37 years old?”
So this is not just about youth [and] age. It’s about judgment. I’d rather have old folks on my side than young folks — if they don’t know what they’re doing.
Melber: You put it incisively, because there’s a real tension here. Some things are simple — this isn’t. It’s more nuanced, especially when you’re going up against Elon Musk, billionaires, capitalized corporations, multinational interests, and all the political tricks in the book.
You [Sharpton] have spent decades playing three-dimensional chess in politics: Dealing with police and police unions at the local level; then there’s the state level — what are the laws on investigating misconduct? And then the federal, and even international levels. That’s a layered skill set.
You throw in a young, gifted organizer — let’s say a ‘young Al Sharpton’ — but without the decades of experience, they’ll need some time. You can make mistakes on the job. So you need both.
When you think about the generational aspect, it’s like DMX said:
“I’ve been rapping 20 years — and you’re [just] 20 years old!”
Meaning: ‘my whole body of work is older than you.’ That’s real in this context, too.
The BLM movement had major impact. A lot of young people showed up. But so did a lot of older people. It was cross-generational, and that mattered.
Now look at the Democratic Party. You had a candidate in Biden, seen as someone who served his country, but ultimately many voters said, we need an emergency change because of fitness concerns. In the Senate, Chuck Schumer (74) — who you have a strong relationship with — has been in the job a long time. And his deputy is Dick Durbin (80). It’s not like you get ‘Schumer and AOC.’ Not really, [the deputy is older than the leader]. So if you’re asking me, as someone who covers this: The Democratic Party brands itself as ‘progressive, forward-looking, a party of the people and the future.’ But if you can’t point to one of your top leaders being from the next generation, that’s a problem. I’m not here to tell them what to do — but it’s a challenge.
Trying to hold power with illegal intent
Then we turned to Trump’s recent talk of illegally holding power past 2029.
Sharpton: The whole question of a third term, constitutionally, explain that?
Melber: As they say in My Cousin Vinny: You’ve got better odds of getting good grits in Canada than getting a third term. It’s illegal!
The first thing to understand is that when someone — whether it’s Trump, who says he’s not joking, or his allies — starts talking about a third term, they’re expressing what lawyers call illegal intent. That’s one of the elements you need to prove someone knowingly broke the law. They know it’s unconstitutional. That’s the first issue — and it’s a bad one for them.
Second, we still have courts, as the former president has recently been reminded.
So if a political party tried to put Trump’s name on the ballot for a third term, it would be challenged — and every precedent says the courts would strike it down. You can’t even list the name on a ballot. It’s ineligible.
Third, and this is the deeper problem: he didn’t leave peacefully last time.
That matters. In government — and in life — the best predictor of behavior is behavior. People say, “Oh, he wouldn’t do that again.” Well, he already did. He’s the most likely person to try it again.
So before 100 days are up, we’re already hearing talk about illegally clinging to power. We have to take that seriously: As journalists, we’ll cover it. We’ll report the facts. And when they talk about “other measures,” well, we’ve seen what those look like. January 6th was one of them. And those other measures may be illegal, too.
The Constitution limits presidents to two terms. If Trump or anyone else tries to say otherwise, it’s not just talk—it can show “illegal intent,” which courts consider in legal cases. He didn’t leave peacefully last time, and the best predictor of behavior is past behavior.
What kind of Doctor?
Rev. Al expanded our conversation to tackle music and culture, and brought out R&B singer Al B. Sure to reflect on music and his career.
Sharpton: I always grew up around music, coming out of the church … but Usher once introduced himself to me, and I thought he meant he was a church usher!
So what made you different from me, Ari, to where you’re invested in music and culture, and to where it bleeds into your work?
Melber: Rev’s admitting that he’s hip to so much, but he’s not hip to everything. The first time he met Dr. Dre, he said ‘Oh, are you on call this weekend?’ (lol)
To answer your question: What music did for me, at a young age, was open whole new worlds. I don’t know what it’s like for someone today growing up with a cell phone and the internet. But when I was 12, it was 1992, and there wasn’t really internet, and I was going through my parents’ vinyl. That was an exploration, and I went hours on that — Aretha, Bob Dylan, Sly and the Family Stone. That was like learning stories and ideas that weren’t in a textbook. I think that continues on today, which is why it’s so powerful.
And then, I’ve always been interested in reading and writing poetry; and hip hop is poetry. So, those lines echo in my head when I hear things.
The last little Sharpton point I’ll share, is one time, we were talking about Trump and the hush money case. I was on air, and I said, ‘It’s like Pusha T said — ‘we’re living this life with all these guns and violence / the hush money is the only moment of silence.’
And then Pusha hopped online, and he posted it, and I thought that was amazing, this rapper I’ve admired - and he captioned it: ‘Dope, but please not in front of Rev. Al!!!’ (lol)
So that was a lighter moment from the conversation, and I actually once wrote about my parents records in this newsletter, you can read that here.
Until next time
Until the next newsletter, my questions for you are, do you take this third term talk seriously? Are you feeling motivated or pessimistic about the future with everything going on?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I’ll reply to some as always!
P.S. Here’s a recent pic and post…
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Good point re the wisdom of the elders and the enthusiasm of the young. We need fresh ideas with the Democratic Party. We’ve stagnated. My work life was in HR and when recruiting, I learned from many managers that a successful team embraces the safe advice of the “old salt” with the enthusiasm and energy of the “young pups.”
It’s important that both generations respect each other, listen to each and work together at the table for best outcomes.
Ari - my son is 2 yrs younger than you - he too was brought up on the "music" - and has a vinyl collection he's been building since 2012 I think - a collection of his own...I'll admit when he was a yout (a My Cousin Vinny reference haha) in trouble I'd send him to his room and tell him and the only music I want to hear from your room is from my collection! Love all of this and your newsletter is "dope" - wow that had a whole different meaning in my "yout"