Men's Lifestyle February 26, 2026 0 Comments

JD Vance’s Controversial Playbook: Why Embracing the ‘Bad Guy’ Image Could Be His Ultimate Power Move

Ever wonder what democracy looks like under the microscope? This week, the “laboratories of democracy” reveal some unsettling experiments — from the chess moves of J. Divan Vance, playing a ruthless game with Minnesota’s Medicaid funds, to Montana’s conservatives aiming to rewrite a constitution that’s more progressive than their comfort zone. And just when you think the show can’t get any weirder, measles decides to crash the southwest Utah party, reminding us that public health sometimes takes a backseat in this wild ride. Oh, and in Oklahoma, the revolving door between lawmakers and lobbyists spins faster than ever, because who doesn’t love a little insider’s edge? It’s a messy, intriguing tableau of governance where the stakes are real, the players flawed, and the consequences ripple across the nation. So, buckle up — democracy’s tale this week is anything but dull. LEARN MORE

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This Week in the Laboratories of Democracy

(Permanent Musical Accompaniment to This Post)

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what’s goin’ down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin’ gets done, and where the good shepherd grieves.

If you ever need a frontman for a grotesquely inhumane policy decision, you can’t do better than vice president J. Divan Vance, who would front for the Russian mob if it suited his grandiose view of his own importance. From The Guardian:

Vance announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” more than a quarter-billion dollars in Medicaid reimbursements to the state of Minnesota, escalating Donald Trump’s newly announced “war on fraud.” Vance said the action was to ensure Minnesota was “a good steward of the American people’s tax money,” part of its crackdown on the state following a fraud scandal linked to residents of the Somali community in Minneapolis, which prompted the administration to send thousands of federal immigration agents into Minneapolis and that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens and widespread protests. “What we’re doing is we are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer,” the vice-president said at a press conference in Washington, where he was joined by Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid.

And all because Minnesota stood up to the petulant child in the White House over the issue of whether a goon squad can kill American citizens in broad daylight for no reason except that they want to do so. A monster serving a monster, Vance is a lesson in the dangers of hubris that would have choked Sophocles.

We move on to Montana, where the state’s conservatives are up to something. From the Montana Free Press:

The existing state Constitution, enacted in 1972 and widely considered progressive in content, gives voters the chance to approve a new constitutional convention every 20 years—an opportunity Montana voters have twice rejected, in 1990 and 2010. The next vote on Montana’s blueprint for state government is in 2030. The prospect of a new constitutional convention, at which delegates could propose revisions and rewrites, comes as Montana’s Republican legislators grow increasingly frustrated with state courts rejecting conservative laws on constitutional grounds.

Montana has an interesting progressive history to its politics that dates back to the labor strife and to the plutocratic greed that marked its Gilded Age mining boom. In fact, before the Supreme Court legalized influence peddling with its decision in Citizens United, corporate donations to political candidates in state elections were absolutely forbidden. And Montana activists are now attempting to re-establish something like the old system. However, if the state’s conservatives get their new state constitution, their agenda will be a familiar one.

The sections of the Constitution that have disqualified several state laws passed with Republican support since 2021 mostly concern voting rights, environmental protections, and privacy rights regarding medical decisions, specifically reproductive health and gender transition. The state Constitution also grants the state university system the right to govern itself, including the regulation of guns on campus, which legislators have attempted to override.

They’ve painted a genuine bullseye on provisions in the 1972 constitution aimed at conserving Montana’s environment. As protester Joanne Gores put it to the MFP:

“I grew up in Montana. I remember when the Clark Fork ran orange. I remember when a lot of the kids in Anaconda had arsenic in their blood … I’ve seen it, and we don’t want to go back,” Gores said.

Specifically, Gores expressed concern about the future of Montanans’ right to a “clean and healthful environment,” a signature provision of the state Constitution. The state Supreme Court in 2024 ruled that the right includes the right to a “stable climate system,” meaning the state has to consider greenhouse gas emissions when reviewing industrial projects for permitting. Gov. Gianforte has said that decision will lead to “open season on Montana’s all-of-the-above approach” to power plants, coal mining and energy development.

The environmental protesters’ best bet is to block the calling of a new convention so that the current constitution stays in place, as was the case in 1990 and 2010.

Time now for our weekly national germ update. Measles has now made an appearance in southwest Utah. From Fox13 in Salt Lake City:

“I guess it really comes down to we try everything we can to educate. We do disease surveillance. We have epidemiologists, but it really comes down to personal responsibility,” explained David Heaton with the Southwest Utah Public Health Department. Until this year, Heaton said it had bee 18 years since the last recorded case of measles in southwest Utah.

High school wrestlers from southwest Utah are also being pointed to as the source of a large measles exposure at the state wrestling championships at Utah Valley University over Valentine’s Day weekend.”That you have an event like that or a transportation hub, the opportunity to spread disease is present,” explained Candice DeMatteis, Vice President and Policy Director for the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease

As measles spreads throughout the state, there is a sense of frustration among health officials in southwest Utah. “Honestly, it’s frustrating because we have the information that would help us to avoid this,” said DeMatteis, “to avoid the suffering, to avoid sick children, to avoid the upheaval. “Measles is the canary in the coal mine to many in the public health community

At this point, under this administration, the canaries are dropping like flies.

And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official International Man of Misery Friedman of the Plains brings us an old wives tale, if your old wife is an industry lobbyist. From Oklahoma Watch:

House Bill 3727 by Jim Shaw, R-Chandler, proposed requiring former legislators to wait at least four years after exiting office to register as Oklahoma lobbyists. Shaw, whose seven-point Save Oklahoma Plan has found support from several statewide candidates, said the legislator-to-lobbyist pipeline has created an uneven playing field at the Capitol. “Lobbyists compete on access, whether to us or situations,” Shaw told members of the House Civil-Judiciary Committee, adding that 24 former legislators have registered as lobbyists since 2016. “As a result, a former lawmaker absolutely gains an unfair advantage over policy experts, grassroots advocates and small businesses by immediately capitalizing on relationships we formed while in office.”

The opposition’s figleaf is based on a lovely childhood fantasy of how things work.

Rep. Collin Duel, R-Guthrie, said former legislators might be more trustworthy than someone with little electoral experience. “The person who has served in government has at least been elected by the people, so there’s some institutional trust in them from the electorate,” Duel said.

Whatever “institutional trust” Duel is talking about, and I have no idea what that might be, likely will be drained immediately upon the change in careers since people trust lobbyists less than they do legislators. I suspect Rep. Duel has something lined up for a new career.

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.