(BALTIMORE) — Democrats have won the House and the Senate. America has spoken. When the new Congress takes office in January, this administration will face a different balance of power.
For nearly two years, this country has endured leadership that, in my view, treats everyday, working-class Americans like disposable collateral.
Look at the record.
On the Epstein files, the Justice Department says it has released nearly 3.5 million pages. It acknowledges withholding other material, citing duplicates, legal exceptions, and privileges. Congress and the public deserve a full accounting of those decisions. Transparency must protect victims while holding powerful people accountable.
And then there are Renee Good and Alex Pretti—American citizens killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Say their names. We cannot talk about government accountability while overlooking Americans dying at the hands of their own government. Congress must demand answers, independent investigations, and accountability wherever the evidence leads. No badge can put anyone above the law.
Abroad, this administration took us into a war with Iran that I believe was unnecessary. Working families felt it at the pump. Gas averaged approximately $2.98 a gallon before the war; by October 14, the national average was $4.33—roughly 45% higher.
While our troops were fighting, the Pentagon lost experienced leadership.
Reporting has documented nearly two dozen generals, admirals, and other military leaders who were fired, forced to retire, or otherwise departed under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. A broader accounting reported that he had fired or blocked promotions for more than 80 generals and admirals.
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said nearly 60% of the senior officers Hegseth had fired were women or Black. The Pentagon denies that race or gender determines promotions and insists it bases its decisions on merit.
Nevertheless, the loss of experienced leadership, and the consequences for Black officers and women, demand answers.
You don’t casually discard your wisest counsel in the middle of a war. That’s suicide.
Who pays, and who profits?
At home, the 2025 reconciliation law, widely known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, tightened access to food assistance. SNAP participation fell by approximately 5.5 million people between July 2025 and July 2026, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of USDA data. The organization says the law accelerated declines that were already underway.
New Medicaid work requirements generally must be implemented by January 1, 2027, creating another hurdle for many Americans trying to access healthcare.
For families already stretched thin, these policies reach directly into the kitchen and the medicine cabinet. They affect groceries, prescriptions, doctor visits, and decisions about which bill can wait.
Meanwhile, a Reuters investigation published in June estimated that the Trump family had made at least $2.3 billion from its cryptocurrency ventures since he returned to the presidency. More than a million investors in those ventures had combined net losses of approximately $2.3 billion through the end of April, including paper losses on investments they still held.
That raises serious questions about the relationship between presidential power, public policy and private enrichment. It is not, by itself, a finding of criminal wrongdoing.
But Americans have every right to ask: Who is this government working for?
Conduct matters
Our relationships abroad have also suffered from a leadership style that too often substitutes humiliation for diplomacy.
Trump threatened Canada, our closest northern neighbor, with a 100% tariff over a prospective trade agreement with China.
The televised confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025 remains another example of conduct I consider beneath the dignity of the presidency.
And the pattern predates this term. In December 2019, Trump mocked 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter. Attacking a teenager for speaking her mind showed the world a profound lack of class and etiquette.
Then came the October 25 rally in Michigan.
Speaking about Nicki Minaj, the president said, “I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before, Nicki Minaj,” and encouraged her to stand.
That was the president of the United States speaking from a campaign podium.
We should expect better.
Loyalty doesn’t guarantee protection
The administration moved to revoke temporary legal protections for roughly 530,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Those affected were parole recipients, whose temporary status did not make them citizens eligible to vote. But immigration decisions reach entire families, including relatives and neighbors who are American voters.
No community should assume that political courtship guarantees protection afterward.
Even longstanding allies face uncertainty.
On Election Day morning, Trump announced on Fox that he intended to end roughly $4 billion in annual aid to Israel, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed. Netanyahu’s office had not publicly confirmed the agreement in the reporting available that day. The existing assistance agreement runs through 2028, and Congress has a major role in what happens next.
I am not for an open checkbook for Israel. Palestinian lives, American taxpayers, and the consequences of war all deserve serious consideration.
But from a strategic standpoint, how do you announce such a major change involving America’s closest ally in the Middle East on Election Day, in the middle of a war with Iran, while discussing its usefulness against a Senate candidate in Michigan? Trump explicitly tied the assistance to a campaign talking point Abdul El-Sayed used.
What is the policy, and what is the campaign maneuver? Can anybody explain that to me?
Michigan answered
Michigan voters made their own decision. Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers and will become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.
His victory deserves recognition on its own terms. Voters chose who they wanted to represent them, despite a bitter campaign and questions about whether he could build a winning coalition.
What this means for Black America
For Black Americans, this election is historic.
Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. state. Aaron Ford became Nevada’s first Black governor. Here in Maryland, Wes Moore won a second term.
Those victories matter. Our elders understand the distance between being denied access to the ballot and electing people who once would have been excluded from the offices they now hold.
But representation brings responsibility.
Black voters deserve more than campaign-season appreciation. We deserve investment in our neighborhoods, fair access to capital, strong public schools, affordable healthcare, safe communities, and opportunities to build businesses and generational wealth.
The Democratic Party must examine where it invested, which candidates it supported and which communities it took for granted. As longtime Baltimore organizer Alice Torriente told me the morning after the election, she believes some candidates didn’t get the support they deserved.
Black voters are entitled to ask those questions without having our loyalty questioned.
And Black voters are not a single, interchangeable constituency. Our communities contain different generations, experiences, priorities, and political judgments. Earning our support requires listening—and giving us reasons to believe that our participation will improve our lives.
That responsibility extends to the Black Press.
We document the work before candidates become household names. We cover communities that national outlets often discover only when an election becomes competitive. And we must keep asking questions after the victory speeches end.
We owe our responsibility to the people who depend on us for information. Access to elected officials must never replace accountability.
Here in Baltimore, the test will be practical: Can families afford to live? Can children learn and thrive? Can entrepreneurs get financing and contracts? Can elders receive care with dignity?
Those questions belong on the desks of Democrats and Republicans alike.
The responsibility ahead
Money can only take you so far.
When extraordinary wealth exists alongside callous disregard for people struggling to survive—from Baltimore to Gaza and Haiti—public frustration should surprise nobody.
This election gives Democrats the power to provide oversight and a responsibility to show what they intend to do with it.
Investigate carefully. Protect essential services. Defend civil rights. Explain the decisions. Deliver results people can feel.
Winning an election is the beginning of the assignment. Leadership is measured afterward, when campaign promises meet budgets, legislation, and the needs of people who cannot afford another disappointment.
I see hope in this moment: the possibility that collective dignity can overcome fear, division and the belief that ordinary people have no say.
America has spoken.
Now the people we elected must listen.
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