Weekly Member Update - July 28, 2025

For the third month in a row, we the people showed up in the shadow of Albany International Airport to sound the alarm about Avelo Airlines, the floundering bargain airline that underwrites its bottom line by ferrying human beings in chains on behalf of ICE and the Trump Administration. We talked about Avelo last week and, judging by the signage we saw at the airport on Saturday, you obviously understand why tolerating Avelo in our community, at an airport funded by our tax dollars, is a real problem. But some folks seem a little slow to come around on this issue so, in our press advisory for Saturday's demonstration, we called upon County Executive Dan McCoy, the Board of the Albany County Airport Authority and the members of the Albany County Legislature to put an end to Avelo’s presence at Albany International Airport. While the people of the Capital Region, including a number of statewide officials, have been unequivocal in their opposition to the inhumane acts of ICE and Avelo, the elected and appointed leaders of Albany County have been conspicuously silent on the issue, despite all of our collective efforts to put this issue in the public eye. What makes that silence all the more galling is the fact that so many of those absent voices belong to Democrats. Moreover, Avelo only flies twice-weekly flights between Albany and Raleigh/Durham, and we therefore can’t imagine that the revenue Avelo generates for Albany County is going to change our mind on this fundamental right vs. wrong issue. As we said in our press advisory; It is time for County officials to tell their constituents where they stand; in defense of our vulnerable local communities, or in collusion with the violence and deprivation of constitutional rights being perpetrated by ICE and Avelo Airlines?

Speaking of Democrats, we saw polling this week that confirms what we already knew; the American people have just about had it with the current iteration of the Democratic Party. Democrats have a lower favorability rating than the Orange King Himself, with a net favorability deficit of 30 points. Somehow, despite their concern over inflation and Trump’s haphazard “economic policies,” the polled voters still preferred Republicans over Dems by 10 points on inflation and by seven on tariffs. It's enough to make one want to scream into the void.

But here’s the silver lining. Even in this Wall Street Journal poll, Trump is underwater by seven points and the GOP is drowning by 10. There’s a sizable contingent of us ready to crawl through broken glass to defeat right-wing authoritarianism, and independents are increasingly repulsed by Trumpism. So what the disastrous Democratic Party polling says to us is that voters are not flocking to the totalitarian cause so much as they are demanding a new form of opposition to not only defeat Republicans in the short term, but to forge a new and durable path forward that puts people before corporations, that restabilizes our Democracy and that stands in defense of both our personal freedoms and the most vulnerable among us.

Simply put, what has alienated the American people from the Democratic Party is the Party’s corporatism and its resulting center-left, focus-group-tested, GOP-lite approach to issues of greatest importance to working people, including fundamental issues of right and wrong. For instance, while Republicans are gleefully destroying diversity initiatives and other measures intended to lift our most marginalized communities up, instead of standing up for basic human dignity – like Tim Walz notably has – establishment Dems choose to deny the existence of our trans brothers and sisters – as Rahm Emanuel did this week – or to frame the issue using Republican talking points – like Gavin Newsom is want to do. Establishment Dems like Hakeem Jeffries stand with the ultra-nationalist, pro-Trump, Israeli government of the corrupt Benjamin Netanyahu and the right-wing racist Itamar Ben-Gvir, and we’re told to look away while the world watches in horror as the people of Gaza are starved and exterminated and Palestinian Americans are murdered on the West Bank. Meanwhile, when a young and energetic candidate rises to capture the imagination of the Democratic electorate with a people-powered campaign in the race for NYC Mayor, potentially invigorating the Party faithful far and wide with a populist message for the working class, those same establishment Dems actively undermine him, echoing Republican scare tactics about his socialism (gasp!) and his Muslim faith. For the entirety of Trump 2.0, traditional Democratic constituencies have pleaded for their leaders to stand and up and fight against the authoritarian breakthrough manifest in the Orange King and his minions; mainstream Dems instead act like business is as usual, preaching bipartisanship and voting to confirm Trump nominees like Marco Rubio, Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem, who then go on to commit human rights atrocities in our Country’s name. When the Democratic Party fails to stand on principle and abandons its core values in favor of political expediency and preaches “moderation” in service to its corporate benefactors, it is no wonder that the one-time Party of FDR now finds itself untrustworthy, feckless and weak in the eyes of the American people.

It's now the turn of the elected Democratic of Albany County to show us where they stand in this ongoing battle for the soul of the opposition left. Will Dan McCoy, a vice-chair of the uber-centrist and moribund State Democratic Party, wield his considerable local power to rid our community of Avelo Airlines? And, where do the elected Democrats of the Albany County Legislature stand on the issue? With you at our side, we intend to find out over the coming weeks as we continue, and expand upon, our campaign against Avelo Airlines.

As always, thank you for all you do on behalf of our collective movement for progressive change. We continue to be inspired by your example. Be sure to stay tuned to our events calendar to keep an eye out for things to come, including the next installment of One Million Rising this coming Wednesday and our next Monthly Member Meeting on August 11!