When Progressives Take Power

A 2028 wave can be real. More than an election. It can build clinics, rail, public banks — and prove America can build again

Previously on America’s Undoing…

For years, progressives had the money, the policies, and the public — but not the coordination. Then came the break: Stewart, Bernie, and a new generation stopped diagnosing and started leading. Primaries turned into an insurgency, establishment Democrats fell one after another, and the party was reshaped into something new: not just opposition, but Builders with a government-in-waiting.

Part 1: $300 Million in Progressive Fundraising, Zero Coordination
Part 2: Inside the Plan That Could Beat MAGA
Part 3: Madison Square Garden — The Revolution Builds

Part 4: The Builders Govern November 5, 2028. Election Night.

The networks called it at 11:47 PM Eastern. Stewart-Warren by 7 points, 319 electoral votes. But the real earthquake was Congress.

"We're looking at something unprecedented," CNN's John King said, touching his magic wall. "The Builders flipped Pennsylvania's open seat, Ron Johnson's gone in Wisconsin, Bernie Moreno lost Ohio. They defended every seat and picked up five. That’s 59 in the Senate if McConaughey’s upset over Ted Cruz in Texas holds — Hollywood charm meeting this energy might be too big to stop."

The House was a massacre. 287 Builders elected. Summer Lee is looking to be the youngest Speaker in history at 34.

Republicans had rushed through mid-decade redistricting in Texas to create five new GOP seats. Enthusiasm for the new “Builder” progressives was so intense, they won three of them anyway. Gerrymandering only works when people don't show up. Everybody showed up.

But at Mar-a-Lago, Trump raged. "STOLEN! Fake ballots everywhere! Military must act!"

November 6-December 15, 2028: To Coup or Not to Coup

It started with "irregularities." Republican secretaries of state in Florida and Ohio refused to certify. The Supreme Court agreed to hear emergency challenges. Federal judges issued conflicting orders.

For three days in December, it looked like it might work. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear Trump's emergency petition, Stewart couldn't sleep. Warren and Bernie conference-called him at 3 AM.

"What if we did all this just to watch them steal it?" Bernie asked.

"Then we take to the streets," Stewart replied. "We hope America joins us. Every city, every town. We can't let democracy die in a courtroom. America can’t go out like this."

Warren's voice was steel: "We've got voting rights lawyers all over the country on standby. They want to steal it? They'll have to do it in broad daylight with the whole world watching. And we'll make sure the whole world is watching."

But the Builders had learned from 2000 and 2020. They knew it couldn’t just be fought in court — it had to be fought in the court of public opinion. So they stationed lawyers at every counting site, livestreamed every moment, and documented every vote for the country to see.

When Florida's governor ordered the National Guard to "secure" ballot warehouses, something unprecedented happened: the troops refused. "We swore an oath to the Constitution, not to politicians," a guardsman told reporters.

Trump's executive orders grew desperate:

• November 15: Federal workers must sign loyalty oaths

• December 1: Federal marshals ordered to arrest state election officials

Each order collapsed on implementation. Career officials leaked everything. Judges, even Trump appointees, balked at naked authoritarianism. When Trump fired the Joint Chiefs for refusing to deploy troops domestically, the military command structure simply ignored him.

December 20, 2028: The Parallel Transition

"They want chaos. We'll give them competence," Stewart announced.

While Trump raged, the Builders built. They established transition offices in every major city. Bernie led public workshops on the Reconstruction Authority’s first projects — but it wasn’t just speeches. Mary Barra, the former GM CEO now leading the effort, walked audiences through schematics and supply chains.

Warren livestreamed policy briefings. In New York, Mamdani wasn’t just talking about healthcare — his administration was signing people up, with municipal enrollment hitting new records every day. At the same time, they were training thousands of healthcare professionals at a pace no private system had ever attempted.

The split-screen was devastating: Trump raged about fraud while Builders promised something simpler: a publicly owned insulin factory on Day One.

January 20, 2029: Two Inaugurations

Trump held his own "real" inauguration at Mar-a-Lago before 5,000 supporters. Stewart took the actual oath before 2 million in DC, with Bernie Sanders administering it—a symbolic passing of the movement's torch.

Stewart's address was brief: "We're here to build. Let's get to work."

The First 100 Days: Dismantling and Building

Days 1-10: The Purge

"Every agency head Trump appointed? Gone," Warren announced at the first press briefing. "That was the easy part, though. The hard part is convincing the 50,000 civil servants who've seen administrations come and go that something's actually going to change, that they're going to get to work for the people."

The Builders had pre-vetted 50,000 experts ready to serve — not donors or cronies, but people who’d spent years blocked by the lie of what was “politically feasible.”

Day 11-30: The Orders

Executive orders flowed like water, each designed to inject competition into seized markets:

• Medicare authorized to manufacture generic drugs and sell at cost-plus-15%

• U.S. Postal Service authorized to offer basic banking—checking, savings, small loans

"Capitalism has seized up," Stewart explained. "When markets stop competing and start extracting, government has to become the competition. We're not replacing the private sector—we're forcing it to remember how to compete."

Day 31-60: The Legislation

With 59 senators, the Builders moved fast. In the House, Saikat Chakrabarti—fresh off his 18-point victory over Pelosi—coordinated with Speaker Summer Lee to ram through the agenda:

• Citizens United overturned by constitutional amendment

• American Reconstruction Authority funded at $500 billion—including public options for healthcare, housing, and childcare

A handful of conservative Democrats tried to slow things down. AOC, now Senator-elect after crushing Schumer in the primary, led the public pressure campaign. Her response to one holdout went viral: "You can either be on the side of history or be history. Your choice."

The pressure worked. The bills passed.

Day 61-100: The Building Begins

Bernie, at 87, insisted on breaking ground personally for the first Reconstruction project: rebuilding Flint's water system.

"They said it would take a decade and a billion dollars," he told the crowd. "We'll do it in six months for fifty million. How? We're cutting out the consultants and hiring the workers."

Behind him stood Mary Barra, former GM CEO who'd shocked everyone by joining the administration. "I spent decades optimizing for shareholders," she'd told Bernie. "Now I want to optimize for America."

The Empire Strikes Back: Capital on Strike

Corporate America's response was swift and coordinated. Within weeks of the inauguration, they launched what amounted to a capital strike:

• Pharmaceutical companies threatened to stop making essential drugs

• Major banks refused to process federal payments

“They think they can break us by refusing to play,” Stewart told his cabinet. “They forget — this is America. When someone tells us we can’t do something, we figure out how to do it ourselves. But here’s the thing: we’re not trying to replace them. We’re trying to remind them how competition works.”

That April, when Pfizer announced it would “pause” insulin production, Stewart’s response defined the administration:

“Great. We said on Day One we’d build public insulin plants. So let’s do it. And when we sell it for $10, let’s see if they remember how to compete.”

The first federal pharmaceutical plant opened in May — a converted Purdue Pharma facility in Connecticut. Mary Barra had transformed it in just 47 days.

“In Detroit, we turned factories from cars to tanks in weeks during World War Two,” she explained to skeptical reporters. “The know-how exists. We just stopped using it for the public good.”

By September, the plant was producing insulin for $3 a vial and selling it for $10 at post offices nationwide. In Toledo, an exhausted mother slid a ten-dollar bill across the counter and wept when the clerk handed her a month’s supply.

"Let them refuse to make drugs," said new HHS Secretary Mona Hanna-Attisha. "We'll make them better and cheaper."

When construction contractors boycotted federal projects, the Builders created the American Building Corporation—hiring workers directly at $50/hour, cutting out layers of middlemen.

"California spent fifteen years and ten billion dollars to build zero miles of high-speed rail," Warren announced. "The problem wasn't engineering. It was allowing every consultant and contractor to extract profit at every stage. We're changing the model."

They brought in the chief engineer from France's TGV system. "Your environmental reviews took seven years and produced 10,000 pages," he said at his first press conference. "In France, we do it in six months with 200 pages. The difference? We actually intend to build."

First success: Flint's water system, completed in 174 days. Cost: $47 million (versus $1 billion estimate). Secret: They used proven designs and hired locally.

Banking

The Federal Reserve, under new leadership, authorized public banking options through post offices. When private banks refused to process federal payments, the Fed processed them directly.

"Turns out," Warren observed, "we don't need them as much as they need us."

The Battles

The Supreme Court Crisis (March-June 2029)

The 6-3 conservative majority struck down the Reconstruction Authority as "unconstitutional." Stewart's response shocked everyone: he ignored them.

"The Court has made their decision. Now let them enforce it," he said, channeling Andrew Jackson. "We're building hospitals, not destroying democracy."

When Roberts threatened contempt, Stewart countered: "A Court that upheld a coup attempt has no legitimacy. We'll follow legitimate courts."

The standoff broke when two conservative justices, facing certain impeachment for their roles in the certification crisis, resigned. Stewart nominated Mamdani and a union lawyer. The Senate confirmed both in a week.

The Texas Showdown (July 2029)

Governor Abbott ordered state troops to stop federal construction crews building rural hospitals. Greg Casar, now Senator Casar, led 10,000 Texans to surround the sites.

"You want to stop hospitals?" Casar asked Abbott on live TV. "Go ahead. Tell rural Texas why their kids should die to own the libs."

Abbott backed down. The hospitals opened on schedule.

Trump, meanwhile, fled into self-exile. By 2030 he was living outside Moscow, a would-be tsar reduced to ranting on livestreams to shrinking crowds. His dacha sat on the same street as Edward Snowden’s. Years later, when Snowden was finally allowed to return home, Trump was left behind — a bitter neighbor in a foreign land America had already forgotten.

The Personal Costs

Not everyone celebrated. In her Senate office at 2 AM, Warren stared at her phone. Her granddaughter's third birthday party, missed entirely. The video showed candles blown out, presents opened, a small voice asking "Where's Grandma?"

"Building a better world for her," Warren whispered to the empty room. "She'll understand someday."

Stewart, on a rare weekend home at the farm, walked his property with Tracey. "I miss this," he admitted. "I miss mornings without crisis calls. I miss dinner without strategy sessions."

"But?" Tracey asked.

"But our kids are going to inherit a country that works. That's worth missing a few dinners."

The Breakthrough (October 2029-March 2030)

By fall 2029, the results were undeniable: insulin for $10 at every post office, 200,000 workers employed directly by federal projects.

Jim Patterson voted Trump three times. But when his diabetic daughter got insulin for $10 instead of $300, he broke down in the Athens, Ohio post office. By 2030, he was organizing Builder rallies in Trump country. "They actually did what they promised," he'd tell anyone who'd listen.

The 2030 midterms approached with the Builders at 71% approval.

"We're not popular because we're perfect," Stewart said. "We're popular because we're building."

Despite a challenging Senate map, results spoke: Rick Scott defeated in Florida, open seats flipped in Kansas and North Dakota. 62 senators. Supermajority secured.

The Transformation (2030–2031)

With full power, the Builders accelerated.

By 2031, insulin cost $10. More Americans were banking at their local post offices than at Wells Fargo. High-speed rail broke ground on five corridors. Union density hit 35% — Labor Secretary Sara Nelson had delivered on Amazon and Tesla. Attorney General Preet Bharara broke up 17 monopolies.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Stewart told a press conference. “Prices dropping sounds like deflation. And yeah, technically it was. But brother, business was booming. Manufacturing jobs up 400%. Construction employment at record highs. Turns out when people can afford medicine and food, they spend money. Who knew?”

The transformation showed in individual lives. James Crawford, the unemployed steelworker from Part 1, stood on the rails his crew had just laid through Ohio.

“My kid asked me what I did today,” he said, hard hat in hand. “I told him I built America. First time I could say that in twenty years. We’re not contractors or subcontractors or consultants. We’re American builders. That matters.”

The grandmother from the Atlanta healing circle now ran a cooperative clinic, one of thousands seeded by federal grants.

“They shot at us to stop this. Now my grandbaby has free checkups for life. Unity to power. Power to freedom. Freedom to prosperity. We lived it.”

November 2031: Looking Forward

Bernie Sanders, now 90, announced his retirement, endorsing Rashida Tlaib for his Senate seat. At his farewell speech in Burlington, 50,000 people gathered in the cold.

“We didn’t just win an election,” he said. “We proved something they said was impossible. That Americans could build again. That government could serve people, not profits. That democracy wasn’t a museum piece but a living tool.”

“They called us too radical. Too ambitious. Too angry. They were right. We were angry that kids died from rationing insulin. We were ambitious enough to think America deserved better. And we were radical enough to build it.”

The crowd erupted: “BUILD BABY BUILD! BUILD BABY BUILD…”

Stewart, speaking at a construction site for the transcontinental maglev, put it simply: “We’re two years in. We’ve built more than the previous twenty years combined. And we’re just getting started.”

Warren, reflecting as VP on the journey so far, observed: “The empire’s last card wasn’t violence or courts or corporate resistance. It was assuming we’d forgotten how to build. They were wrong. We didn’t forget. We were prevented. Remove the barriers, and Americans build miracles.”

“End gerrymandering. Every vote counts the same.”

The Future

As 2032 approached, the transformation was undeniable:

• Life expectancy: Rising for the first time since 2014

• Child poverty: Cut by 70%

• Deaths of despair: Down 60%

• Trust in government: 67% (from 19%)

The revolution hadn't just won. It had delivered.

In Cincinnati, where FBI agents had raided builder offices in 2027, a new federal manufacturing plant produced wind turbine components. The factory employed 5,000 people at union wages.

Above the entrance, workers had mounted a sign: "Democracy Isn't Abstract. It's What We Build."

The builders had kept their promise. The foundation was laid. The future was under construction.

And in America, for the first time in fifty years, tomorrow looked better than today.

End