Good morning and welcome back to your morning edition of the Democratic Wins Media newsletter. Today’s edition is about what happens when an administration built on intimidation starts running out of people willing to be intimidated. Disney — one of the largest media companies on Earth — walked into federal court this morning and called the White House’s pressure campaign exactly what it is. Republicans are saying the quiet part out loud about November. And in Texas, a five-year veteran of a Republican Senate office just switched sides because of how awful the Republican nominee for Senate truly is.
Here’s what we’re covering:
ABC and Disney sue Trump’s FCC, calling its license threats “deeply un-American” censorship
Republicans openly panic as Trump’s approval craters to 33% — the lowest of his presidency
A longtime Cornyn aide crosses over to join James Talarico’s campaign against Ken Paxton
Before the news, a word about why this newsletter exists. The Ellison family now controls CBS News and CNN with Bari Weiss in charge. Bezos owns the Washington Post. Murdoch runs Fox and Roku. The billionaires are buying every outlet that could hold them accountable. Democratic Wins Media is the alternative: we’re fully reader-funded, editorially independent, and will never be purchased. If you have been reading on a free subscription, this morning is the moment to upgrade to a paying membership. Subscribe or upgrade right now.
ABC and its parent, the Walt Disney Company, filed a First Amendment lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Washington against FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, seeking an emergency injunction to halt the agency’s early license renewal proceedings against ABC’s eight owned stations. “Government censorship is deeply un-American,” the complaint opens. The suit describes an 18-month escalation — rooted in Trump’s public demands on Truth Social and culminating in an April 2026 order forcing ABC to seek license renewals years ahead of schedule, even though the first license wasn’t due until 2028. ABC argues the FCC’s true target “is the content of Plaintiffs’ programming — and thus their speech,” and warns that any FCC adjudication of the licenses “would be a charade.” The suit alleges Carr “takes the President’s social media posts as his directives.” What’s notable is the fact that the criticism of the Trump Administration’s efforts isn’t limited to Disney, ABC or even Democrats. Even Republican Senator Ted Cruz has called the FCC’s attempted censorship of ABC “dangerous as hell,” and a bipartisan group of former FCC chairs previously called the proceeding an assault on free speech disguised as regulatory process.
Why it matters: When a company with Disney’s resources decides fighting the administration in open court is safer than appeasing it, the intimidation playbook is failing. Press freedom shouldn’t depend on any company’s courage — but it helps that someone this big finally showed some.
By the numbers: 8 stations targeted for license renewals years ahead of schedule — a move ABC says hasn’t happened in over 50 years.
Trump’s approval rating has sunk to an astounding 33% — the lowest of his presidency — with 64% disapproving, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted August 14–17 among 1,166 U.S. adults. That ties his all-time low from December 2017 and is down from 35% earlier this month, as the prolonged Iran war and rising gas prices batter the White House. Fully 80% of Americans — including 71% of Republicans — expect U.S. involvement to drag on. And Republicans aren’t hiding their alarm anymore. Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) called the administration’s handling of the conflict a “mess” and said party leaders are “living in a cave” if they can’t see voters hurting. Arizona GOP strategist Barrett Marson put it bluntly to CNN: there’s exactly one person in the country who doesn’t care about gas prices — and he controls the party’s fate. GOP Reps. Tom Barrett (MI) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) have already voted with Democrats to limit Trump’s war powers, while Senate Republicans are openly questioning the White House’s $70 billion emergency war funding request. Trump’s answer, at a New York rally: paying “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” is a fair price.
Why it matters: These aren’t Democratic attack lines — they’re Republican senators, Republican strategists, and a Republican-heavy poll sample describing their own party’s crisis. When 71% of Republicans expect an open-ended war their own president promised would take weeks, the credibility gap is the campaign.
By the numbers: 33% approval — tied for the lowest Reuters/Ipsos has ever measured for Trump, across both terms.
James Talarico’s Senate campaign just made a hire that left Republican operatives stunned: Jacob Smith, who spent five years in Sen. John Cornyn’s office as deputy legislative director and policy adviser, is joining the Democratic nominee’s campaign as deputy policy director, NOTUS reported Monday. Smith didn’t mince words about why, calling Ken Paxton “the most corrupt, self-dealing politician in Texas.” One Republican operative who has worked Senate races called the move simply “unheard of.” This shows yet another example where James Talarico is trying to moderate and prove to Texas voters that he wants to serve them, not whatever Washington D.C. defines a Democrat as. This shows a commitment to winning, not just feeling good.
It comes as the race sits in a dead heat — the new Emerson College/Nexstar poll has Paxton at 47% and Talarico at 46%, within the margin of error — with several recent nonpartisan surveys, including Fox News (+3) and Texas Pulse/Texas A&M (+4), showing Talarico narrowly ahead. And Talarico keeps breaking fundraising records: more than $70 million raised this cycle, the most of any non-incumbent Senate candidate in the country, so much that his campaign is refunding over $1 million in over-limit contributions. Paxton, who ousted Cornyn in a bitter primary runoff, has raised less than a quarter of that.
Why it matters: Republicans keep telling us who Ken Paxton is — his own party’s Senate staffers, his own former impeachment lawyer, the fifth of GOP voters telling pollsters they’re undecided or crossing over. Talarico is building the broadest coalition a Texas Democrat has assembled in decades, and he’s doing it with a record-shattering small-dollar army.
By the numbers: $70+ million raised — more than any non-incumbent Senate candidate in America this cycle, and more than 4x Paxton’s total.
The intimidation is failing, the numbers are collapsing, and even Republican staffers are switching sides — the administration’s power was always borrowed from people’s fear, and people are getting less afraid.
Democratic Wins Media has no billionaire owner and no corporate sponsors — we answer to readers, and only readers. That independence is exactly why we can lead with Disney hauling Trump’s FCC into court, Republicans’ own panic over a 33% president, and a GOP staffer defecting to James Talarico — the stories billionaire-owned newsrooms bury. We’re running way behind our August paid subscribers goal, and every single upgrade goes straight back into this work. If today’s edition was useful to you, today’s a good day to become a paid subscriber and ensure we’re able to continue this critical work. Upgrade now →
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