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I am FULL of HOPE and COURAGE. HERE IS WHY: GNR [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-22
Things are awful.
That is going to sound like a really weird way for me to start a Good News Roundup.
First, because I usually spent the entire GNR trying to show you how things aren’t that bad.
Second, because I don’t actually think anyone has rose colored glasses on. I know you know this is bad.
You read the news. And you believe it — because you are rational and informed people. You read it and you are horrified — because you are rational and informed and kind people. You feel awful. You see how super bad this is.
And then, hopefully, you find ways to distract yourself with your LIFE. Because our lives are a gift and letting go of all the joy and love and fun and wonder in life is not what ANY of us should be doing. So the moving away from the trump news and living our lives is GOOD. Bravo. Keep giving yourself time to just live.
BUT then next time you read about something else that trump has done that is awful, it feels like a stomach punch. It hurts just as bad. You feel a return of the dread and worry and awfulness. You feel it all over again. You are newly bowled over with how awful this is and you are worried and maybe even on the verge of panic.
And that is what I want to help you stop. And, oddly, I think that comes from really truly accepting that this is awful and terrible and scary and wrong.
Once you accept this as reality it no longer has the power to emotionally destroy you.
It doesn’t mean you bathe in it. It doesn’t mean you don’t take breaks about it.
it definitely doesn’t mean not fighting against it — it actually means the opposite. When we fully accept how awful it is, we also accept that we have no choice BUT to fight.
And accepting how bad this is does not mean ignoring all the good things that are happening every day. I have plenty of those below. There are lots. We are amazing. I’ll give you LOTS of reasons to be hopeful below.
Accepting how bad this is does not mean letting go of hope. I both see how bad this is AND am full of hope that we can, eventually, reclaim our country.
So why come to terms with how bad this is?
Because when you truly come to terms with how awful this is then every reminder of it doesn’t injure you afresh. Because you already know. You know they are awful and do awful things. It isn’t a repeated gut punch every time because you know this is the reality and you are focused on fighting back.
This is essential because you need to protect yourself from repeated psychological injury. They want you overwhelmed. They want you constantly injured. Don’t give it to them.
Accepting it is easier when you know you are not alone. When you know how strong we are. When you know that we can’t protect everything, but we can protect a lot. And we will. And we are.
They suck. Don’t let them destroy you every time the suck anew.
Accepting it means you take that power from them.
You are not alone. You are braver than you know. We are in this together and we are amazing.
They are awful and they will do awful things and those awful things will have awful consequences.
But their cravenness is not a sign of strength — it is weakness.
And they are underestimating us. They think that they can destroy us with their evil. That we will be so overwhelmed that we will quit.
But we won’t.
We know this is bad. We know they are hurting real people. We know things are less safe.
And those facts make us more dedicated to winning. They make us angry and they kick up our empathy for those being hurt. They give us more fire.
They are underestimating us. And that is a big mistake.
Some more pep talks:
I find so much reason for hope from the wise words of many people on our side! Here are some:
From Jay Kuo
this week, we also saw Trump’s assault on our democracy begin to falter. I’m not just talking about the scores of lawsuits now pinning down the Justice Department and revealing to the federal judges just how haphazard, dangerous and incompetent the new administration is. The pushback has come from ordinary Americans all around the country, and it’s starting to have a noticeable effect. Across America, protests erupted in state capitals over Trump’s executive orders, the mass firing of federal workers, and the takeover of systems by Elon Musk and the DOGE hackers. The biggest demonstrations took place on Presidents Day. A grassroots effort by the 50501 Movement, which called for 50 protests in 50 states, saw thousands turn up despite frigid temperatures to protest the anti-democratic and illegal actions by Trump and his billionaire allies like Musk. The largest protest was in Washington, D.C., home to tens of thousands of federal workers impacted by the mass firings. In town halls by Congressmembers, capacity crowds have begun to turn up demanding they stand up for their constituents. With an overflow crowd spilling out of Roswell City Hall, Rep. Rich McCormick was likely surprised to find himself drowned out by angry voters in his ruby red district in Georgia over DOGE’s chainsaw approach to cost cutting. One woman received cheers and a standing ovation from many when she asked when Rep. McCormick was going to “rein in the megalomaniac in the White House.” He was met with boos and catcalls when he said that he had had “the same discussion with Republicans when Biden was elected.” Trump’s allies are wavering Jesse Watters of the Fox Network surprised his co-hosts when he complained that a friend, who was a long-serving veteran, was now afraid for his federal job. Watters isn’t the only voice on the right starting to speak up about Trump going too far. Republican Rep. Troy Balderson of Ohio said on Thursday that Trump’s executive orders are “getting out of control” and that Congress decides whether the Department of Education goes away. “Not the president, not Elon Musk.” It’s too early to tell whether these are isolated cases or the beginning of an internal revolt, but one thing is clear: There are cracks now in the GOP dam protecting DOGE and Trump.
From Robert Hubbell
Jessica Craven and I joined about 250 members of Commit to Democracy on Tuesday in San Francisco. The event, planned shortly after the November election, was designed to allow CTD members to regroup and reflect on their hard work during the campaign. Although we did not win the presidential election, the CTD members and volunteers deserved to be thanked. So, the atmosphere at Tuesday’s event was entirely different than expected. It was both more somber and more determined than anticipated. Jill and I spoke to almost everyone in the entrance line. To a person, they expressed the same disbelief and shock that each of us is experiencing. But out of the two hundred or so people we spoke to, only one person said they were pessimistic about the future. It is challenging to remain optimistic and hopeful. While we must remain rooted in reality and clear-eyed about our challenges, the only sensible outlook about America’s future is that it will continue its long, slow arc toward a more just, tolerant, and inclusive society. There is no good reason to believe that a political movement based on resentment and hate will prevail over an ideology based on promoting the common good. Yes, we will experience retrograde cycles and reactionary moments, but they will pass. Our secret to success is this: We must not quit. If we can endure, we will outlast the bastards. If all we do is hold the bulwarks until this retrograde moment exhausts itself, we will prevail. But we can do much more than simply “not quitting.” If we can replicate the energy of 2024 in the midterms and the next presidential election, we can exploit every misstep and hateful action taken by Trump. We came within several hundred thousand votes in three states to win the presidency and five seats to win the House. We can overcome those margins in 2026 and 2028. Do not quit. More importantly, rejoin the fight. We can win—again—as we did in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
From Robert Reich — Ten reasons for modest optimism
(the post goes into details on each one if you want more)
1. Boycotts are taking hold. 2. International resistance is rising. 3. Independent and alternative media are growing. 4. Musk’s popularity is plunging. 5. Musk’s Doge is losing credibility. 6. The federal courts are hitting back. 7. Demonstrations are on the rise. 8. Stock and bond markets are trembling. 9. Trump is overreaching — pretending to be “king” and abandoning Ukraine for Putin. 10. The Trump-Vance-Musk “shock and awe” plan is faltering.
and this from the great Rebecca Solnit — No One Knows How This Will End (But I Do Not Think It Will End Well for Them)
Trump just tweeted a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte, "He who saves his country violates no law," which is maybe supposed to justify the attacks on the Constitution and the outrageously illegal actions we've seen since the January 27th attempt to seize Congress's power of the purse. But Napoleon didn't end his career as an emperor. He ended it as a prisoner of the British on a small volcanic island more than a thousand miles off the coast of southern Africa. I don't know where Trump, Musk, and Vance's story ends, but I know it doesn't end with them in power, and I don't think it will end particularly well for them, though my main concern--and yours, I presume--is trying to prevent damage along the way. And I'm convinced that if we take action, we get to write some of the chapters and maybe revise or erase some of what they're trying to impose. A huge portion of the American public and the world already regards their actions alarm or horror or fury, and that matters. We're already seeing revolts inside the federal government--some of them undoubtedly invisible to us, but the drama late last week in New York made a huge impression on the legal world and not a good one. These isolationists confuse coercion with power and cooperation with weakness, when in truth it is more or less the other way around. Coercion and violence are what you resort to when you have failed at convincing and allying and negotiating. Meanwhile our power lies in cooperation and connection, those of us who are still striving toward a more perfect union. We now must do it by opposing and obstructing the attempt to shatter and corrupt that union. We have power, and our power arises when we connect, when we join organizations like Indivisible (whose very name proclaims this truth), when we come together as civil society, when we act together to protect the vulnerable, to defend what we love.
Hakeem Jeffries Shares with MeidasTouch the Plan to Stop Trump's Agenda
Jeffries made it crystal clear: Trump and his enablers want to discourage us. They want to exhaust us. They want us to throw up our hands and say, “What’s the point?” But we will not bend the knee to Trump. We will not let them break our spirit. We will fight on every front—Congress, the courts, and most importantly, in our communities. But here’s the good news—we have the power to stop this. Jeffries reminded us that we’ve done it before. In 2017, Trump and the GOP tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They had the numbers. They had the power. But the American people mobilized. We marched. We called. We showed up in every way imaginable. And we won. Trump was humiliated, and his top legislative priority went up in flames. That’s part of the playbook. And that’s what we’re going to do again. As you listen to Jeffries other thoughts on Trump 2.0, I want you to keep this in mind: We are not powerless. We are not alone. There are tens of millions of us who refuse to let our democracy be hijacked by a criminal, a coward, and a con man. So, if you’re asking “What can I do?”—start here: Call your representatives. Make them feel the pressure.
Show up—protests, town halls, community meetings. Your presence matters.
Support independent media that tells the truth. (You’re here, so you already get it.)
Organize. Mobilize. This is not the time to back down. This is the moment to rise up. We’ve faced authoritarianism before, and we’ve beaten it. We’ll do it again. But it takes all of us. Let’s go.
and from Scott Dworkin: Good News For Us, Horrible News For Trump
As we head into another week of the Musk and Trump chaos, I wanted to share some more good news. Hopefully it helps you breathe a little easier—even if just for a bit. Across America—and around the globe—folks are loudly speaking out against Trump, and pushing back against his tyranny. Yesterday, President Zelensky swiftly rejected Trump’s obscene demand for half of Ukraine’s mineral resources, saying: “These resources, this is not mine, but our people’s.” Pope Francis went after Trump’s inhumane deportation plans, calling them a “violation of the dignity of many men and women, and entire families.” The Pope also appeared to rebuke JD Vance directly—for wrongly citing the Bible to defend their awful immigration policies. Also, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow is in Munich, because he refuses “to let Vance and Hegseth be the voice of America to the world.” I’m glad he’s there. Back in the states, Pete Buttigieg hammered Elon Musk’s DOGE for leaking sensitive data via their website, stating: “Incompetence in Washington puts every American at risk, no matter how you voted.” Buttigieg, who is seriously considering a run for the Senate in Michigan, also tore into the administration for “accidentally” firing the folks who manage America’s nuclear weapons. Pete called it “even worse incompetence,” and a “shockingly sloppy episode.” Former GOP Chair and MSNBC host Michael Steele shredded Republicans on Saturday, for allowing Trump to give Elon Musk “absolute” power: “I'd just like to see somebody wake the hell up and get excited about the fact that your country is under assault!” And AOC is refusing to back down to Trump’s border lapdog Tom Homan, who acted like she could be put in prison for educating immigrants about their rights. AOC recommended he learn how to read, especially the Constitution, before telling Fox “News” Digital: "Since Mr. Homan seems to be vaguely familiar with U.S. immigration law, we also remind him…becoming undocumented in the US is a civil offense, and not a criminal one.”
and more from Rebecca Solnit — Notes on Not Surrendering
I have faith in the American people--faith that we're an unruly, insubordinate bunch scattered across a vast swathe of land, from our beautifully diverse cities to our remotest rural communities, that we are not easy to subdue and control, that even those who have supported the current authoritarian cult will not like losing some of the federal government's services that make our lives livable, that we have more power than is recognized and that some of us are already organizing to use it. Protests and organizing of all kinds are happening, from high-school student walkouts to protest attacks on immigrants to demonstrations in front of hospitals from New York to Los Angeles that are complying with the malicious order suspending gender-affirming care for young trans people. More demonstrations in defense of rights and a functioning nation are being organized nationwide, including by unions, by the newly formed 50501, and by Indivisible, which was magnificent during the first Trump Administration, and is back in strength, organizing through many local chapters as well as at the national level. Tomorrow is a big day of action, with information available here and organizing by, in part, the Federal Unionists Network (yeah, acronym FUN). There are not that many actions listed right now, but you can call your friends and organize your own. Remember that a handful of people with signs bearing clear messages can have an impact. The huge amount of support and even adulation for Luigi Mangione, the twenty-six-year-old accused of shooting down the CEO of United Healthcare on a Manhattan sidewalk last fall, is a reminder that even before the regime change four weeks ago today, there was a groundswell of resentment against the deprivation of the many by the grotesquely wealthy few. It is that few and their minions attacking us all now. The attacks on the federal government, and on our rights, on the privacy of our records, on the stuff we need to survive, will impact all of us ultimately. A lot of people who were oblivious--to why air travel has in recent decades been very safe, why you can pop into a well-run national park for a day or a campout, why we have social services and subsidies for healthcare for the old and (some of) the poor, where a lot of the orderliness and stability of our lives comes from, including food safety and functioning transportation--are about to find out how it works. Or worked. A lot of lawsuits have been filed, and a lot of them have been won already--and in a number of cases Team Musk/Trump has backed off when ordered to by the courts, though it looks like we're heading into some more constitutional crisis when they don't. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is one of the groups behind of a lawsuit whose named plaintiffs include American Federation of Government Employees and the Association of Administrative Law Judges, seeking to halt the "unlawful, systematic, wholesale, continuous, and ongoing disclosure of Plaintiffs’ and their members’ sensitive personal data to DOGE Defendants and their agents, including to Elon Musk or to any other person." A scholar on BlueSky concludes that of the 76 actions that the Trump/Must team has taken, half are being opposed, a quarter in the courts. She adds, "Some lawsuits have already resulted in preliminary injunctions. There are a LOT of people/organisations doing a LOT. Three of the org types bringing lawsuits are (blue) states, labour orgs & civil rights orgs. The 4th lawsuit category is NGOs, health/education bodies." There's this one against Musk by a John Doe federal employee here, and a suit the ACLU has filed to defend birthright citizenship is here. Justsecurity.org lists a lot of the lawsuits here.
and this from Mindy Schwatz — How to combat & survive the next 4 years of horror…
Ignore Trump’s Constant Nonsense If this is only the 4th week, how do we keep sane and motivated to act over the next 4 years? Living in a constant state of outrage is unhealthy and unproductive. We can only face the underlying problems and create solutions by ignoring the non-stop crazy. We will all be much more effective advocates and fighters for democracy if we: Focus on the future and how we make it better. Right now, we can double down on making it safer and more secure. Watch this video for a very positive message: Empowering Children for a Brighter Future Through Purposeful Action | TikTok
Search for ways to reach people who voted for Trump. We have better policies on our side, but we can’t implement them unless Trump voters see how they will suffer from his plans.
Take breaks to care for ourselves. Find what makes you slow down and feel better (I’ve found meditation helpful) and make it a regular part of your week. And don't forget to enjoy time with the important people in your life.
The Big Issues Remember that we can be much more productive if we focus on one issue at a time, even if it’s just for an hour.
and this from Jessica Craven Trust in us.
I am certain of one thing: that we can trust in each other. Really. This movement and the people in it may not be as young and nimble as those performers, but the community we make up has proven itself to be nimble, and committed, and totally reliable. We show up, we do the work, and we simply don’t quit. Let the trust among us, then, grow, and the fellowship created here feed us. It’s tough out there, it’s true, but we’re together and we’re here for each other. We have lots of practice at this. We’ve been in the trenches together for a long time. We will not let each other fall now. That means something. It also makes wonderful feats possible.
and this small bit from the amazing Mark Elias — My Open Letter to Elon Musk
Like many Jewish families, mine came to America because of trauma. They were fleeing persecution in the Pale of Settlement — the only area in the Russian Empire where Jews were legally allowed to reside. Even there, life was difficult — often traumatic. My family, like others, lived in a shtetl and was poor. Worse, pogroms were common — violent riots in which Jews were beaten, killed and expelled from their villages. But you need to know this about me. I am the great-grandson of a man who led his family out of the shtetl to a strange land in search of a better life. I am the grandson of the three-year-old boy on that journey. As you know, my English name is Marc, but my Hebrew name is Elhanan (אֶלְחָנָן) — after the great warrior in David’s army who slew a powerful giant. I will use every tool at my disposal to protect this country from Trump. I will litigate to defend voting rights until there are no cases left to bring. I will speak out against authoritarianism until my last breath. I will not back down. I will not bow or scrape. I will never obey. Defiantly, Marc Elias
Trump’s popularity is plummeting
Want more hope? Trump’s popularity is dropping and is likely to only drop more.
Trump's approval rating slips as Americans worry about the economy U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating has ticked slightly lower in recent days as more Americans worried about the direction of the U.S. economy as the new leader threatens a host of countries with tariffs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. U.S. Presidentapproval rating has ticked slightly lower in recent days as more Americans worried about the direction of the U.S. economy as the new leader threatens a host of countries with tariffs,found. Trump is doing as president, down from 45% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted January 24-26. Trump's approval rating stood at 47% in a January 20-21 poll conducted in the hours after the Republican's return to the White House. The six-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, showed 44% of respondents approved of the jobis doing as president, down from 45% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted January 24-26. Trump's approval rating stood at 47% in a January 20-21 poll conducted in the hours after the Republican's return to the White House. The share of Americans who disapprove of his presidency has risen more substantially, to 51% in the latest poll, compared with 41% right after he took office.
Trump approval rating underwater 1 month into second term
President Trump’s approval rating appears to be underwater as many suggest he may be overstepping his authority, according to a survey released Thursday. The CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, shows that while 47 percent of adults in the U.S. say they approve of Trump’s moves since returning to the Oval Office a month ago, 52 percent say the opposite.
We’ve gotten a lot of polls in the past 10 days, and Trump has seen a meaningful decline in his job approval in most of them
In many of these polls we are seeing the highest disapproval rating of any President at this point in their Presidency ever recorded, even higher than his first term. He has lost 6 points of job approval this past month in 538’s tracker. His approval rating is 15-20 points below where Biden was at this point, and even further below the average Presidency at this point over the past 70 years. He is underwater now in 8 polls, and now regularly in the 50s in disapproval (all polls can be found at 538):
What the Polls Say
In the last few days, four polls came out showing Trump’s approval rating dropping into the mid-40s — where it was for much of his first term. Here are the numbers: Quinnipiac: Approval : 45% Disapproval : 49%
CNN: Approval : 47% Disapproval : 52%
Reuters: Approval : 44% Disapproval : 51%
Washington Post: Approval: 45% Disapproval: 53% Any one poll could be an outlier, but this many polls in agreement suggest that Trump is quickly losing political altitude — very early into his presidency. Polls go up and down, but this recent dip should be encouraging to Democrats. It shows that much of the public is tuned in, and they don’t love what they are seeing. It should stiffen the spines of Democrats as we head into a critical budget fight with Republicans. We must continue to share stories about the wreckage that Trump and Musk are bringing to bear on this country.
x It's just one poll but in a new Gallup poll Trump is 45-51 (-6) approve/disapprove, and -12 on the economy. - 6 recent polls have Trump underwater - 538 average has dropped 6 pts in past month - Highest disapproval of any President at this point in their Presidency #notwinning — Simon Rosenberg (@simonwdc.bsky.social) 2025-02-19T19:35:16.156Z
New polling shows Trump’s approval ratings declining — and a number of major warning signs appearing.
President Donald Trump came into office claiming a sweeping and historic mandate, but that was always oversold. Trump’s win was relatively modest, historically speaking. And while his approval rating upon taking office reached a new all-time high for him — around 50 percent — his “honeymoon” phase still paled in comparison with every modern president not named Trump. And now, after one month in office, whatever honeymoon (and mandate) Trump enjoyed appears to be slipping away. A big question has been whether Trump’s drastic attempts to overhaul the federal government might hurt him. And it appears that’s happening. Those averages, of course, depend on what things you test. But some of them loom large as strikes against Trump. A big one is the shuttering of USAID. Americans oppose it by 21 points in the Post-Ipsos poll (59-38) and 25 points in the CNN poll (53-28). Another is Trump’s tariffs. The finding about the firings of government workers gets at one of the biggest emerging strikes against Trump: Musk. It has become pretty clear that Americans are increasingly paying attention to Musk’s exploits, and they don’t like what they are seeing. Perhaps no Trump action is as unpopular as one of his first ones: pardoning virtually all Jan. 6 defendants. Even Republican-leaning Americans oppose those pardons 70 to 27. the new polling does highlight perhaps the most significant emerging problem for Trump: the economy. While this has long been his strength, that no longer appears to be the case.
Why it matters
That is why Trump’s growing unpopularity—which has now dropped quite low for a president at this point in his term at just 45 percent approving with a majority of 51 percent disapproving according to Gallup—matters a great deal. Public anger over mass firings, the loss of billions in federal funding, politicization of our Justice Department, and now abandonment of our allies and Ukraine, just to name a few, could soon spill over into far larger public protests than we have seen to date. Trump is counting on public support to sustain his anti-democratic and unconstitutional assaults on our government and our society, but that may quickly fade as the chaos and lawlessness of his regime continue.
The ground begins to shift in our favor.
The first signs of an electoral backlash against Trump emerged in polling that measured public reaction to Trump's four-week rolling coup and destruction derby. Republican members of Congress have found themselves on the receiving end of hostile town hall meetings and melting phone lines. Given the acceleration in Trump’s lawlessness and destruction in the last week, we must assume that the sudden increase in Trump's unfavorability ratings understates his unpopularity. But we cannot relent. The very polls that document Trump's spike in unpopularity also reveal strong MAGA support for many of his most hateful policies. Still, those polls reveal the way forward: Rallying public opinion against Trump and his anti-democratic, anti-government, anti-people policies. We have made significant progress in four weeks—to the point that we can begin to see the outlines of a Democratic victory in the House in 2026. That will give democracy purchase to begin the long, difficult task of undoing the damage inflicted in four short weeks.
Most worried DOGE cuts could hurt services in their communities
The Department of Government Efficiency‘s (DOGE) work to overhaul the federal workforce and cut down government spending have many on edge, according to a new survey. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, released Thursday, shows that 58 percent of respondents are worried that programs like student financial aid and Social Security payments could face delays. Another 29 percent did not express the same concerns.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett predicts Trump's approval ratings will keep going down
We've gotta do better at education. People don't understand. But you will understand when those hospitals in rural America start closing down even more. You will understand when you don't have your social security. You will understand when your Medicaid, your Medicare goes away. You will understand when planes continue to fall out of the sky. Maybe Sleepy Joe is what we wanted, because we could at least sleep at night.
Democrats are great
I have zero energy for people who blame the Dems for this. Too many people have zero understanding of how out government works and a childlike belief that there is some magical power Dems have that they are not using. And I have had it with that.
Many, many amazing Dems are fighting for us. And if they aren’t KEEP CALLING. It is working.
They’re Fighting For Us
Check out these recent New York Times headlines about the state of the Democratic Party: Many Americans Say the Democratic Party Does Not Share Their Priorities ‘The Damage to the Party Is Profound’: Three Opinion Writers on What Happened to the Democrats Trump Leaves Democrats Dazed and on the Defensive ‘We Have No Coherent Message’: Democrats Struggle to Oppose Trump Powerless, Democrats Debate Just How Deep in the Wilderness They Are Democratic Party is a Rotting Corpse Unworthy of a Decent Burial Okay, I made that last one up. But it’s only a matter of time before the Times prints it. Here’s a headline I’d propose: Democrats Across the US are Fighting Back That one might not be clickbait, but it has the benefit of being true. The corporate media’s “coverage” of the Democrats has chosen to overlook the party’s most spectacular asset: a roster packed with gifted politicians. In fact, I’d argue that the Democrats have more talent than they’ve had in a generation. And they’re fighting for us. Some reader nominations: JB Pritzker from Illinois. He is the best Governor we've had in a very long time My vote for the Democrat to lead the resistance is either AOC or Jasmine Crockett. Both of whom are easily able to overwhelm either Trump or Musk. Jamie Raskin, who said, "Given that I was marching at age three, you know I’m not letting any coup-plotting, election-denying, insurrection-supplying autocrat, kleptocrat, plutocrat or theocrat, or any techno-feudalist Silicon Valley broligarch aspiring dictator, turn me around now. I am going to honor and participate every day in this urgent national fight for strong constitutional democracy, personal freedom and social progress." Senator: Raphael Warnock. House: Sarah McBride (Del); Becca Balint (Vt). If you haven’t heard of them, find them. Brilliant minds and kick-ass attitude. Governor: Gretchen Whitmer. CT Sen. Chris Murphy – David Hogg. He lived through the hell of a Florida high school massacre as a student, and hasn't stopped since
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear
In a state Donald Trump won by over 30 points, Beshear (who won re-election by 5 points in 2023) has advocated consistently for positions he thinks help his state—whether it is preserving FEMA, vetoing an anti-trans bill (which, he explained, required “too much government interference in personal healthcare issues and rips away the freedom of parents to make medical decisions for their children”), and advocating for women’s reproductive freedom. For the latter, he excoriated the MAGA forced-birth stance, pointing out the burden on rape victims. “Their policies give rapists more rights than their victims. That’s not inconvenient. It’s just plain wrong,” Beshear said at the Chicago Democratic Convention. He added, “That fails any test of humanity, any test of basic decency, any test of whether you have any underlying empathy. Thankfully, this extremism is being soundly rejected all over our country.” Beshear might not always produce the sort of fire-breathing rhetoric many in the Democratic base long for. But he defends core Democratic values (e.g., good governance, women’s rights, advocating for so-called red flag laws) with common sense and an emphasis on his personal faith. In the coming months and years in Trump 2.0, he will provide a model for Democrats to talk with (not to) rural voters, farmers, and other groups not normally part of the Democratic coalition but essential to its future. As he recently told a Politico governors’ summit, “When people believe that you are actually improving their lives, and they see it and they feel it. Now they’ll change the way they vote.” There are few better spokesmen than he, for example, when it comes to explaining the hardship the USAID freeze imposed on farmers or the damaging impact of tariffs and rolling back green energy investment. “I would hope a president that said we’re going to make more cars in America would do things that helped us make more cars in America,” Beshear said recently. “We’ve announced about 10,000 EV jobs in Kentucky, and (Trump) won Kentucky by 30 points. And so, if you do the math, if he causes us to lose these EV jobs, he is eliminating jobs from the very people who voted for him.” Beshear continued: “His plans and approach right now risks tanking that economy in a way that will hurt people.” He added, “The amount that gas will cost more will be the ‘Trump tax.’” Reminding voters that Trump promised to lower prices, he pointed out that “in Kentucky, we get hit the hardest, or at least close to the hardest."
AOC was the headliner at a huge federal workers protest in front of the SpaceX building in DC.
There was over 1,000 people at the rally: "Musk is trying to gut everything good in America for his own private profit. This is the culmination of what oligarchy is all about - the fusion and the capture of the billionaire class of our democracy."
We are amazing
More hope coming from US. My main source of hope!
The People by the Thousands in All 50 States Took to the Streets.
28 Days. That’s all it took for people to want to give up a holiday, make some homemade signs and show up in cities all over the country on Monday. There had been no promotion, no permits, little planning, no leaders or celebrities scheduled to speak, and if they had wanted to speak, nobody could have heard them anyway cause in many cities either people forgot to bring a microphone or a loudspeaker, a few brought a bullhorn, no one seemed to be in charge, there was no agenda, no opening act, no pre-planned chants and if there was supposed to be a march to someplace, no one knew where we were going or if we should turn right or left or straight. In other words, from Tampa to Tucson to Trenton, it was a beautiful sight. Rebellious, random, raucous! With the schools closed, parents brought their kids — and the kids made the best signs. As I looked at all the pix so many of you sent me, I was filled with such joy, and for the first time in many months I thought, “We’re going to be ok.”
Courage In A Georgia Townhall
Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, described it on Twitter: The town hall crowd peppers Rep. Rich McCormick with boos and catcalls as he struggles to answer a pointed question from a resident who says she’s a descendant of Patrick Henry who pressed him on whether Trump was moving toward “tyranny.”
Georgia Republican faces town hall backlash over DOGE's 'chainsaw approach' to government cuts
Rep. Rich McCormick faced an angry crowd Thursday during a town hall in his Georgia district, where many constituents lashed out at the Republican lawmaker over his support for massive federal layoffs and budget cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. In video of the event taken by Greg Bluestein, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an NBC News contributor, attendees clashed with McCormick, bashing both President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk who is helping lead DOGE's efforts to drastically reduce government spending. In one instance, an attendee referred to recent cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by asking, “Why is the supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this?” The town hall was also punctuated by constituents saying, “we’re pissed,” and “don’t bend over,” as well as chants of “shame!” As McCormick struggled to respond to the interruptions from the crowd and suggested he was offering solutions and people didn’t “want to hear,” one person can be heard shouting, “We want to work with someone better.” In another instance, an attendee asked McCormick how he plans to “rein in the megalomaniac in the White House” following Trump’s “LONG LIVE THE KING” post on Truth Social, a question that was met by cheers and some people rising to their feet.
‘I really wanted something to happen.’ The students behind the Stand Up for Science protests
By the time biologist Emma Courtney met bioinformatician J. P. Flores in person here last week at the annual conference of AAAS (publisher of Science), they’d already bonded virtually over their concerns about the impact that U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders on spending and other issues might have on science. And the two Ph.D. students, from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, respectively, had decided to “make something out of it,” Flores says. The result: Courtney and Flores, together with three other scientists, are now organizing events, called Stand Up for Science, on 7 March in Washington, D.C., and state capitals. Using social media, they have so far attracted more than 100 volunteers from some 30 states who are hoping to rally support for research as a public good. Now, Courtney says, organizers are rushing to acquire the needed permits and raise money to rent equipment, such as portable toilets.
The Legal System
Lots of hope from this branch. And while they are trying to loophole their way out of many of these, that is not a strategy that will work forever.
x BREAKING: Judge Dale Ho declines quick approval of Trump administration's bid to dismiss criminal case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams, appoints renowned conservative lawyer & former solicitor general Paul Clement to argue against dismissal. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... — Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein.bsky.social) 2025-02-21T18:07:34.928Z
x We should all applaud Judge Ho’s appointment of former Bush SG Paul Clement to present a perspective distinct from those of the indicted NYC Mayor Eric Adams and the Trumpservient DOJ prosecutor Emil Bove. Well played! www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/n... — Laurence H. Tribe (@tribelaw.bsky.social) 2025-02-21T20:06:06.224Z
Litigation challenging DOGE and Trump firings continues
Democracy Forward filed a motion Wednesday to seek limited, expedited discovery in its lawsuit to block Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to sensitive Department of Labor information. Should the court grant the motion, it would be the first lawsuit against DOGE where the plaintiffs are able to obtain evidence, albeit limited, on how Elon Musk’s faux agency is operating within the federal government.
Wisconsin Supreme Court delivers win for voters
In a 4-3 ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed a right-wing legal challenge Tuesday that sought to limit the authority of municipalities to designate early absentee voting locations and prevent future use of a mobile voting van deployed by the city of Racine during the 2022 election cycle. This ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty , a conservative law firm, on behalf of Racine voter Kenneth Brown. The case appealed the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s (WEC) decision in August 2022 to reject Brown’s administrative complaint that sought to prohibit Racine’s use of alternate absentee voting sites and mobile voting facilities. WILL argued that Racine’s “scattering” of absentee voting sites throughout different areas outside of where the municipal clerk’s office is located “was what conferred partisan advantage” to Democrats during the 2022 primary election. The majority opinion, from which all of the conservative justices dissented, didn’t address the merits of the case, instead concluding that Brown doesn’t have standing to sue, since he failed to demonstrate that WEC’s decision harmed him. With Tuesday’s ruling, Wisconsin voters will continue to have access to early absentee voting sites in future elections. However, given the decision did not address the merits of Brown’s arguments, the door remains open for future right-wing legal challenges regarding this issue.
More evidence that our movement is growing
after all the talk of a Joe Rogan of the left, everyone is ignoring the fact that IT HAPPENED! That is huge. It shows that people on our side are engaged!
Today in Politics, Bulletin 74. 2/18/25
Newsweek reports that Joe Rogan has lost his #1 slot in the podcast rankings to the MeidasTouch Podcast, according to Podscribe data. … Newsweek: “Podcast charts have largely been dominated by shows with a conservative or pro-Trump voice, and the likes of Joe Rogan, Shawn Ryan and Ben Shapiro have frequently appeared in the Top 10. But less than a month into the new admin, the rise of the left-leaning MeidasTouch to become the country's most popular podcast indicates a potential shift in tone currently resonating with Americans.” … “Joe Rogan has long dominated the podcast chart, but this month he slipped down into the 2nd spot, according to Podscribe. His podcast was downloaded and played 48.6 million times, a 32% decrease from the previous month. The MeidasTouch Podcast took top spot with 56 million downloads and plays, increasing in reach by 101% this month.
more on this. and this, BTW, is huge. You can’t overstate this in terms of enthusiasm and engagement on our side. And they hate it Joe Rogan Fans Respond After He Loses Top Podcast Spot
Joe Rogan has lost his crown of having the #1 podcast—and his fans are not happy about it. The Joe Rogan Experience was knocked from its top spot by anti-Trump show The MeidasTouch Podcast, outpacing Rogan by downloads and views last month, according to Podscribe, a podcast ranker. The left-wing podcast, hosted by brothers Ben, Brett, and Jordan Meiselas, grew 101 percent in reach last month, with 56 million downloads and views on YouTube and audio platforms. Rogan’s show, however, ranked second with 48.6 million downloads and views. Data showed that the podcast was down by 32 percent.
They are so bad at this
ICE statistics show arrests have dipped so far this month.
despite the rapid infusion of resources, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling to arrest higher numbers of immigrants and falling far short of the administration’s goals.
There are some signs of dissent from their side
Republicans will never do the right thing because it is the right thing. That is the sad truth of their party. But they will if they think it is better for them. And that is why his approval rating dropping is really good.
Here are small signs of cracks. May they grow!
When the NYPost turns on trump you know there are cracks!
x 🇺🇸🇺🇦Covers of the American New York Post “This is a Dictator” — 24Hours Ukraine (@24hoursukraine.bsky.social) 2025-02-21T11:13:09.669Z
And Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker on CNN trashing Trump’s collaboration with Putin, saying Putin is a war criminal and should be executed:
And here is Tillis doing the same
and this:
Trump faces growing DOGE revolt from GOP lawmakers
and this
Republicans caught between Trump and farmers pleading for frozen funds
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