Inland Empire Progressive

Inlanders, Proposition 50 is California’s bug spray for the swarm of Trump-aligned politicians trying to infest our democracy with Texas-style gerrymandering.  That includes our very own MAGA-mascot Rep. Jay Obernolte, who continues to introduce and support policies that violate our states' rights.  56% of California voters are already on board with  Prop 50  while 43% are clutching their pearls about it. Democracy needs a blue-wall to stop Trumpism in its tracks and it's up to California to stand up to this madness. Texas Republican lawmakers have sliced up districts so aggressively you’d think they were prepping onions at Benihana. Communities of color? Silenced. Urban voters? Diluted. Fair elections? Deleted.  Prop 50 is our chance to stand up to Trump and send a message. It prevents the GOP from rage-editing democracy because they can’t win in a fair fight. If we don’t pass Prop 50, California is one election away from the Texasification of representation. V...

In a nation where the sick and vulnerable should be our priority, the latest move by the Trump Justice Department armed with the obedience of Rep. Jay Obernolte is transforming health care oversight into a raw political weapon. The suit against the Inland Empire Health Plan ( IEHP ), under the False Claims Act, reeks of political theatre dressed up as integrity enforcement.  It is easy to point fingers at health plans and accuse them of manipulating funding rules. But when those fingers belong to actors with a transparent political agenda, the accusation becomes far more sinister. Where is Obernolte’s concern when IEHP delivers care to communities that otherwise lack options? In his drive to bend the cost curve thousands of residents in our district stand to lose their health care coverage. Obernolte is letting himself be used as a political amplifier. He helps distract from the fact that the DOJ’s selective enforcement is glaring and investigations get initiated based on who holds...

The conservative backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement wasn’t born out of some deep philosophical difference. It was born out of pure, unfiltered panic. Panic that the country might actually have to reckon with the idea that systemic racism exists. Panic that the police might not be perfect. Panic that someone, somewhere, might kneel during the national anthem and make them think about someone else’s pain. When that panic wasn’t enough conservatives embraced the alt-right, that lovable band of “free thinkers” whose idea of intellectual rebellion is posting racist memes and complaining that women won’t date them. Conservatives didn’t just tolerate the alt-right they gave them a platform, a microphone, and a seat at the table. Nothing rallies a conservative crowd faster than fear: fear of immigrants, fear of Black people marching for justice, fear of the country changing into something that doesn’t look like a 1950s sitcom. Conservatives didn’t stumble into this mess they cultivate...

Something has gone deeply wrong when the military an institution grounded in duty, discipline, and the apolitical defense of the nation begins to smell like a campaign rally in camouflage. Yet this is precisely the path that Rep. Jay Obernolte and the Trump administration are pushing us down, with scant resistance. A recent report reveals that Pentagon officials are considering a recruiting campaign built around the legacy of  Charlie Kirk , the conservative activist recently assassinated, with slogans like “Charlie has awakened a generation of warriors” and outreach tied to Turning Point USA chapters on college campuses. Consider what that means: turning military recruitment into a partisan memorial, collapsing lines between the state’s defense apparatus and a political movement. The service is outside partisan politics and serves the Constitution, not a party or the president. When the Trump administration and Obernolte stoop to leverage the uniform as a megaphone for political m...

The latest exhibit in Trump’s weaponization of justice is a federal grand jury has indicted New York Attorney General  Letitia James  on charges of bank fraud, in what is widely being interpreted as an escalation of the weaponization of the Department of Justice. Where is Rep. Jay Obernolte in all of this? Strategically tucked behind a quiet, finger-in-ear silence so deafening it could shatter glass. Obernolte campaigned with the standard GOP playbook of law and order, equal justice under law, limits on executive overreach. He has not, to my knowledge, penned any op-eds about the normalization of political prosecutions. His silence suggests that only some people deserve defense from a runaway executive. By refusing to speak out, Obernolte implies that when this kind of retribution is aimed at Trump’s enemies, it’s acceptable. That kind of moral surrender is cowardice. The fact that Obernolte hasn’t responded suggests either that: He genuinely doesn’t see a problem, or he sees ...

As Inlanders already know, this isn’t just politics as usual. President Trump is actively using the government to shakedown shady foreign governments, crypto bros, and Wall Street billionaires. Qatar has "gifted" Donald Trump a $400 million Boeing 747 jumbo jet with luxury bath and golden toilet "to serve" as Air Force One and then be handed over to the Trump presidential library after his term.  Crony conservatives will claim: “It’s a gift to the Department of Defense, not to him personally.” But here’s the trick: retrofitting that plane, wiring it with security systems, customizing it for presidential use that’s going to cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. And once the work is done, guess whose personal plane it becomes. Accepting a foreign gift of that magnitude is unconstitutional under the Emoluments Clause. But given a rubber stamp congress and a corrupt Supreme Court it's likely Trump will fly off free in the friendly skies while taxp...

 The role of Congress in foreign policy isn’t to be an employee at a rubber stamp company. The Constitution doesn’t give the president a blank check to meddle abroad while lawmakers play spectator. But if you were looking at Rep. Jay Obernolte lately, you might assume Congress is just a fancy prop and Obernolte is auditioning to be Trump’s personal assistant to the Department of Defense. The Trump Administration is attacking boats up and down the  South American  coast with no rationale fracturing alliances and sending ripples through Latin American politics. This development demands Congressional attention. Such moves must be debated, scrutinized, and subject to congressional oversight. Instead, what we’re seeing Republicans giving Trump a pass. Meanwhile, our representative Jay Obernolte doesn’t seem to mind. He’s hardly been vocal in demanding hearings, reviewing executive actions, or forcing accountability. He raises barely a whisper when Trump acts unilaterally. Inla...

Rep. Jay Obernolte refusal to seriously oversee the Department of Health and Human Services is not only shirking his constitutional duty of oversight, but he’s also playing with fire with Inland Empire's health. Meanwhile, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is busy promoting wild, unproven theories about  Tylenol  causing autism and linking circumcision to neurodevelopmental disorders, and Obernolte appears to be napping on the job. This is not oversight, its negligence. Kennedy reasserted the connection between the pain reliever Tylenol and autism during a Cabinet meeting despite the fact that credible science rejects the link. He also referenced a conspiracy theory that boys undergoing circumcision have double the autism rate. How untethered to reality can you get? But while the scientific world recoils, Obernolte’s silence is deafening and irresponsible. Public health is not a joke. An Inlander might ask: What's the harm if a congressman fails to push back? The answer: everyth...

It appears that in 2025, conservatives are going all-out to weaken America’s alliances. In a dazzling feat of geopolitical incompetence, President Donald Trump just floated the idea of expelling  Spain  from NATO. Spain is a country that joined NATO over four decades ago and has participated in many U.S. backed operations and is now called a "laggard” by the President. As strategy, recommending to expel a long-standing member is reckless. As foreign policy, it’s just plain stupid. It’s not just about Spain. This is emblematic of a deeper pattern of conservatives pushing an us-versus-them worldview, confusing allies, and loosening the threads that tie the United States to its security architecture around the globe.  Weak alliances make for a weaker America. The moment we start treating allies as suggestions and expendable is the moment we undermine the very foundations of our global power. We lose early warning partners, basing agreements, intelligence sharing. We invite a...