Matt Bennett

Co-founder & EVP for Public Affairs, Third Way Long-Suffering Syracuse fan.

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

Imagine a historian in 2035 writing a political history of the 2020s, and he points out that every election, the out-of-power party won a cost-of-living election and then used their mandate to ignore or exacerbate affordability only to be destroyed in the next election, where voters again said “to be clear, I don’t want whatever bullshit you’re up to, I just want life to feel more affordable,” and then, once again, the winning politicians prioritized everything except affordability, and this story repeated itself over and over again.

One of my strongest held political opinions right now is: Democrats should do everything they can to avoid that history being written.

[Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts]

NYT kind of proving The Atlantic’s point about seeing politics through the funhouse mirror of X. The “progressive activist” featured here came in third in his primary, but is allegedly impacting the Senate leader pick by posting daily to his “tens of thousands of followers.” https://t.co/35YEBLYOW9

[Third Way @ThirdWayTweet]

The @NewDemCoalition shows the dynamism and energy is in the Democratic center. Third Way congratulates incoming Chair @RepNikkiB, who will lead the 142-member powerhouse of pragmatic lawmakers in the 120th Congress.

These majority makers flipped dozens of red seats by promising to fight for lower costs, accountability for taxpayers, and results that working people can feel. Moderates will represent a majority of the Democratic caucus and we look forward to working with them to deliver for the American people.

[Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias]

It’s not a “coincidence” — we are both responding to the same incorrect argument.

[Grant Mulligan @gtmulligan]

The pushback against BAAJA is a classic example of what @ATabarrok calls the “tyranny of the complainers.” I’m in a Senate briefing hosted by @citizensclimate, and staffers are grappling with how well the BAAJA polls vs. the litigation groups noisily flooding them with negative messaging.

BAAJA is unequivocally net-positive for nature, but the environmental litigation groups are trying to protect their business model.

The big environmental NGOs need to get off the fence and support BAAJA. They’re once again letting the minority establish the narrative that environmentalists are unreasonable. Show some courage!

https://t.co/AhjkFwDjgr

[Matt Bennett @ThirdWayMattB]

Nothing says "warrior ethos" like having your flunky threaten to remove reporters from a press conference when they ask you hard questions.

[Aidan McLaughlin @aidnmclaughlin]

At Pete Hegseth’s briefing this morning, an official came out to tell reporters that if anyone "gets out of line" they will be "removed physically." Reporters shouted back "what does that mean?" Official said it meant to maintain "decorum" and added he was just relaying orders.

[Matt Bennett @ThirdWayMattB]

Lots of agreement between this thread and @mattyglesias excellent piece today:
https://t.co/9TRFD0Ee5X

[Matt Bennett @ThirdWayMattB]

Since the election, commentators on the left have argued we should ignore the massive overperformance of moderates relative to leftist candidates because all candidates ran on "populism." Well, no. A 🧵

[tré easton @treeaston]

From the same KFF poll:

[Matt Bennett @ThirdWayMattB]

@samstein Why is this bad? Every president of the modern era came through a tough primary first. These kinds of debates are good and healthy in presidential primary cycle. The left SHOULD be making its points and the center left should too. Parties are stronger that way.

[Matt Bennett @ThirdWayMattB]

So, if the left is celebrating candidates who just miraculously delivered us Senate seats in Texas, Kansas, South and North Carolina, and Iowa, etc., using some anti-establishment rhetoric but rejecting most of Sanders’ signature ideas, have at it! Seems like we’re all moderates now. End/

[Matt Bennett @ThirdWayMattB]

Since the election, commentators on the left have argued we should ignore the massive overperformance of moderates relative to leftist candidates because all candidates ran on "populism." Well, no. A 🧵

[Matt Bennett @ThirdWayMattB]

And none of this is surprising. Here’s the pre-election analysis of what Talarico was trying to say: 14/