READ THE ROOM
The federal indictment of Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus McCormick did not just drop a political bomb in District 20. It lit up a bigger story that has been building for months. Washington is finally losing patience with its own circus.
The performers are losing their stage.
Sheila is the flashpoint. Prosecutors say FEMA money meant for pandemic work ended up mixed with political spending. She has pleaded not guilty. A court will settle the facts. What matters for this moment is the direction the wind is blowing. Her indictment landed just as Congress had already begun pulling away from the old drama-driven, me-first model. The channels that used to reward theatrics are shrinking.
Credibility and competence are back in demand.
Even at the top, the tone changed. Trump 2.0 has returned to his Apprentice instincts. Serious. Focused. Produce or you are fired.
As the old internet saying goes, do not feed the trolls. So, he stopped feeding them. He cut off the media oxygen and the outrage economy deflated with it. The cameras do not turn on for every hot-take anymore. Without conflict on tap, the showboats are left pacing backstage.
Jared Moskowitz: Reading the Room
Congressman Jared Moskowitz arrived in Washington like a highlight reel in human form. The viral clips. The sharp one-liners. The moments designed for cable and X. For a while, every hearing doubled as a stage and every exchange as content. He knew when the cameras were rolling and how to land a viral punch.
Then he read the room.
He recently did something most politicians never figure out: He adapted. He saw the market shift, so he shifted with it. He still throws a clean punch when it matters, but he now chooses his spots. He works policy. He works his district. He leaned into FEMA oversight, disaster response and the issues where he has subject expertise. Where he can actually move federal dollars for his district. That is survival. That is smart politics.
Matt Gaetz: Finding a New Channel
People love to say Matt Gaetz got chased out of Washington. The reality is more complicated. I say this as someone who once published an unedited Gaetz opposition booklet on this site and chased every rumor from Tallahassee to DC.
Most of it was vapor. He was fratty. He was a bro. He was a rich kid with the attitude that comes with it. But I was always promised by various sources that we were thisclose to hard proof. It never materialized.
His exit was not about evidence. It was about distribution.
Inside Congress his channel collapsed. The Speaker wanted him gone. Democrats made him their favorite email villain. His message had nowhere credible left to go. So he did something that separates instinctive communicators from the rest. Like his colleague Moskowitz, he found a new channel. He flipped the mic.
His show fits him. He has presence and timing that most elected officials would kill for. He moved from a shrinking stage to one where the audience actually wants what he is selling. That is what happens when you understand your own product better than the institution ever did.
Cory Mills: When the Channel Collapses
Cory Mills political brand was built on the tough guy image.
The combat vet. The operator. The man who would charge into danger while the rest of Washington cowered. That was the product. And for a while the channel held. Conservative media repeated the storyline. Committees gave him a seat at the table. Donors bought the pitch. But now the distribution network that once carried that image is pulling away. The House Ethics Committee is reviewing his financial disclosures.
But most importantly there are big questions about the persona he is selling. His shadowy Mideastern connections are starting to bring scrutiny of whether his "Captain America" story holds water. When the channel that carried your story stops carrying it, the product stops moving. You lose credibility and others step up to take your place.
The Market in Washington is Changing
Sheila's indictment did not cause the shift. It made it impossible to ignore. The political market has changed. But like any market, distribution is everything.
Members who live off noise are losing their runway. Members who find the right platform are surviving. The ones who cannot read the room are fading.
Florida, always the bellwether, might be where this shift is showing up the clearest. Members who want to stay in the job long enough to matter are starting to act like adults again.
In the end, it may finally get us a Congress that remembers why it is there in the first place.