Five Years of Message Box: The Fight Goes On

Thank you for your support and a special offer for new subscribers

Five years ago this week, I hit send on my first Message Box post. At the time, this newsletter was nothing more than a pandemic-era hobby. Instead of traveling the country to help elect Democrats and defeat Trump, I was stuck at home. For the first time in four years, I was not working on a book and (bizarrely) missed writing. I fully intended to stop after the election.

When I put that first newsletter out into the world, I had no idea whether anyone would care enough to open the email. I wondered if I would burn out writing a couple of newsletters a week. After the 2024 campaign was over, I figured I would write during the transition and in the first few months of the Biden Administration — and then wind it down. But I kept writing, waiting for Biden to pass his Build Back Better agenda, and then Dobbs happened, and then the midterms, and then it was the presidential election all over again. At each juncture, I thought I would put the newsletter aside to write another book or do something else.

But I couldn’t stop. As it turns out, I love writing this newsletter. One thing I always found satisfying during my time in politics was writing strategy memos — distilling the polling, assessing the political context, and offering specific recommendations. When I worked in the White House amidst a never-ending series of unforeseen real-world and political challenges, writing a memo added a modicum of order to the chaos. I quickly realized that Message Box was my version of a strategy memo for the fantastic community of junkies, activists, candidates, and organizers who are kind enough to subscribe to this newsletter. The Message Box community now includes more than 160,000 people — each of whom is working to make the world better in their own way.

Thank you. Thank you for being part of this community. I am incredibly lucky that so many people are willing to read what I write and want to engage with my thoughts about politics. It would have been so easy — and quite understandable — to walk away from politics after 2024, but so many of you have stayed in the fight.

I also want to say a special thank you to those who are paid subscribers. Without you, none of this would be possible. Half a decade ago, it was just me, with my wife helping me edit newsletters. Because this enterprise has grown so much over the years, it now requires editing, research, bookkeeping, web hosting, and other expenses.

For those of you who aren’t yet paid subscribers, I am offering a special discount — 20% off for an entire year. Everything is more expensive under Trump — except Message Box.

If you have ideas about topics you’d like covered or thoughts on how Message Box could improve, please comment below or send a direct message on Substack. I want to hear from you.

Thank you again for all of your support over the years. While things feel very dark right now, I remain hopeful that together we can win the fight against MAGA.