Big Balls, and their lack

Jason Pilaski opens The Blind Spot by introducing “Big Balls” (Edward Coriston), a young tech whiz with a shady résumé who improbably landed high-level roles in the Trump administration and got carjacked in D.C. He uses the incident to pivot into a blistering critique of Trump’s recent move to seize control of D.C.’s police and deploy the National Guard under the pretext of fighting crime—something Pilaski opposes mainly because it expands Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, not because D.C. crime isn’t a real problem. He lambasts Democrats for their chronic inability to message on crime, accusing them of sounding evasive, academic, or soft, which cedes rhetorical ground to Republicans who speak bluntly and claim the “tough on crime” mantle. He rails against a small far-left faction for toxifying the party’s brand, warns that reflexive opposition to Trump without strategy alienates persuadable voters, and argues Democrats must rebrand, talk plainly, and connect with working-class and minority concerns instead of pandering to insular activist circles. The throughline: crime is high, Trump is exploiting it for power, Democrats are fumbling the counterpunch, and unless they grow a backbone and fix their messaging, they’ll keep losing.