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This Week Was a Tipping Point in the battle against Trump and I have RECEIPTS! GNR [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-26
Oh I know what you are thinking: That Goodie — always pushing it a little too far in terms of optimism! That title is over the top!
Well guess what my friends! The title is inspired by a quote from the amazing (and NOT overly optimistic) Jennifer Rubin — journalist extraordinaire! She thinks historians will look back at this past week as a week where we reached a tipping point in defeating trump!!
Sure, there is no way to predict the future. Sure, we will have bad weeks again.
But something changed.
And it wasn’t all of a sudden.
it was something that has been building.
With every protest.
With every lawsuit.
With every phone call to an elected official.
With every person using their voice (even when it is scary).
With each of us.
Things are changing and we can continue to make them change.
Go to protests if you can. Make phone calls. Show up for town halls. Use your voice.
One day we are going to look back on this and tell the story of when America finally FINALLY stood up against this and began to win.
And you are a part of that story. And if you aren’t so far, get your ass in the game! You want to tell your kids and grandkids that you were a part of this amazing moment.
Yes, they will continue to do bad things, but those bad things are a sign of desperation and weakness, not strength. And many of those bad things will lead to battles that WE WILL WIN.
"Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi,
Here is what Jennifer Rubin had to say:
When historians review the Trump Presidency 2.0, they may well cite this week as a tipping point. From collective action in civil society (colleges and nonprofits) to courts (on the MAGA effort to steal the North Carolina Supreme Court election, Voice of America), to the government’s noncompliance with discovery in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case, to Democratic politicians’ vigorous advocacy (with Minority Leader Charles Schumer standing with nonprofits and four members of Congress traveling to El Salvador on their dime) we saw forceful, effective pushback against the Trump regime. Like many archetypal bullies, Trump frequently backs down when people stand up to him or when he is faced with the consequences of his actions (e.g., backing off firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, shelving the attack on nonprofits, and pausing some detrimental tariffs).
How about Marc Elias
The shift in momentum against the Trump administration is palpable. The White House is mired in scandal and internal discord. The economic outlook darkens daily, and our foreign policy is in disarray. The courts continue to hand them defeats at nearly every level, including the Supreme Court.
Let’s enjoy it. Here are MANY reasons to be hopeful and (dare I say it) joyful!
Here are the receipts I promised:
The Legal System Continues to Hold Up
Judge blocks Trump administration from requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote
Donald Trump’s unilateral effort to reshape election processes is an attempt to “short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order,” a federal judge in Washington, D.C. wrote Thursday afternoon. In a 120-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked the Trump administration from requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and ordering that election officials “assess” the citizenship of anyone who receives public assistance before allowing them to register. She also barred the Election Assistance Commission from withholding federal funding from states that did not comply with the order. “Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States—not the President—with the authority to regulate federal elections,” she wrote. “No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”
Federal Appeals Court Halts Ballot Curing in North Carolina Supreme Court Election
A federal appeals court blocked North Carolina from beginning ballot curing as part of Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin’s effort to overturn the results of the state’s 2024 Supreme Court race. A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals voted Tuesday 2-1 to order the state not to mail any notices to the roughly 1,400 voters whose ballots are included in the state’s cure process while litigation over Democrat Allison Riggs’ narrow victory continues in federal court.
Trump Humiliated by Judges as He Loses Three Cases in a Day
It was a rough day for the president as he suffers major setbacks to his agenda. Donald Trump’s agenda suffered a triple blow on Thursday when three judges ruled against him in one day. The rulings came just a day after the president slammed judges holding up his deportation plans as being engaged in a form of “judicial insurrection.”
Three Wise Judges
On March 15, some five weeks ago, Trump issued a White House proclamation under the guise of the “Alien Enemies Act”—a law from the late 1700s that has only ever been used during times of actual war. Ever since that absurd and dangerous proclamation, civil rights lawyers have scrambled to protect the rights of migrant, moving quickly to establish a right to a hearing for any migrants accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members, sometimes on nothing more than tattoos or the say-so of a single ICE agent or informant; to identify and provide those illegally deported a chance to have their cases heard and to repatriate them back to the U.S. if possible; and to stop the government from sending even more people to prison in El Salvador. This week, three federal judges stepped up to weigh in on each of these measures. In Maryland, Judge Paula Xinis is overseeing the Abrego García case. She is tasked with implementing the unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court that the government must “facilitate” the return of Abrego García to the U.S. Judge Xinis could barely contain her ire. She wrote in her order, Defendants—and their counsel—well know that the falsehood lies not in any supposed “premise,” but in their continued mischaracterization of the Supreme Court’s Order. That Order made clear that this Court “properly required the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” I’ve handled dozens of discovery motions in my years as a litigator. But I’ve never seen a sentence quite like this next one: “Defendants’ objection reflects a willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations. The objection is overruled.” Pro-tip: When you see words like “willful” and “bad faith” in an order, you pretty much know the court is lining things up for sanctions. In New York, Judge Alvin Hellerstein leaned in hard during a contentious hearing on whether to extend his existing hold on the deportation of migrants under the Alien Enemies Act proclamation. That hold has been in place temporarily since April 9. Judge Hellerstein took the government to task. “This is not a secret court, an inquisition from medieval times. This is the United States of America. People are being thrown out of the country because of their tattoos." He added that the White House cannot “hire a jail in a foreign country” to subject people “to cruel and unusual punishment not allowable” here. As for their suspicions of gang membership, the judge was equally firm. “The law is clear: If you are kicking out a person, you give them an opportunity to defend themselves,” the judge said. “You can’t kick someone out by guilt by association.” In Colorado on Monday, Judge Charlotte Sweeney held a hearing in which she expressed grave doubts over the government’s arguments and broad claims of power under the Alien Enemies Act. At issue was whether she should issue a temporary restraining order covering affected migrants within the state of Colorado. In a 35-page ruling, which came out yesterday, Judge Sweeney took on the government’s basic rationale behind the summary deportations, finding the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of their claim. She expressed grave doubts, for example, over the White House’s argument, laid out in its March proclamation, that migrants are being sent here to conduct “irregular warfare” under the Alien Enemies Act. She concluded that, to the extent the White House “relies on the Act’s invasion and incursion provisions to justify its removal powers, it does so improperly.” The judge issued a temporary restraining order covering a provisionally certified class of people that instructed the government not to move any of them outside of the District of Colorado without at least 21 days notice.
Judge signals she will likely issue a permanent injunction against executive orders targeting law firms.
In a hearing on Wednesday before US District Judge Beryl Howell, the judge signaled her intent to issue a permanent injunction against Trump's executive orders targeting law firms. See ABC News, Judge appears inclined to permanently block Trump order targeting law firm. The hearing before Judge Howell took place in the case brought by the law firm of Perkins Coie. A victory by Perkins Coie will create a non-binding precedent and template to be used by other judges hearing challenges by other law firms. As the government has done in other such hearings, it sent an attorney who was deliberately and woefully unprepared to answer the judge’s questions. Deputy Associate Attorney General Richard Lawson repeatedly pleaded ignorance of relevant facts and refused to answer simple and direct questions from the judge. If Judge Howell issues a permanent injunction, the Trump administration will undoubtedly appeal to the US Supreme Court. However, the inability of the US Attorney Richard Lawson to articulate a coherent argument defending the executive order strongly suggests that Judge Howell’s ruling will be upheld.
It’s not just ‘leftist’ judges. GOP appointees have many sharp words for Trump.
A fast-increasing number of Republican appointees have also cast the administration’s actions as blatantly illegal, lawless and even dangerous to U.S. democracy. One Reagan appointee back then said Trump was trampling on the Constitution for “political or personal gain.” A George W. Bush appointee this year called Trump a “charlatan” who “doesn’t in my view really care about democracy, but only about power,” and cautioned that “our democracy is in trouble.” Lamberth is one of multiple Republican appointees who have decried Trump and his allies’ attempts to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, 2021, with Lamberth calling it “misguided rhetoric” that “could presage further danger to our country.” The combined picture is one of a Trump effort that hasn’t just been stymied by left-leaning judges, but many right-leaning ones as well.
Kavanaugh and Barrett appear likely to ride to Obamacare’s rescue
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could lead health insurance plans to offer narrower coverage. The case, known as Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, challenges the authority of a group within the US Department of Health and Human Services tasked with requiring insurers to cover some forms of preventative care. The plaintiffs, represented by former Donald Trump lawyer Jonathan Mitchell, want the justices to strip the PSTF of this authority — thus permitting health plans to deny coverage for treatments they are currently required to pay for. Based on Monday’s argument, it does not appear likely that Mitchell has the votes for that outcome. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito came out swinging against the PSTF, and Justice Neil Gorsuch appeared likely to join them in attempting to sabotage Obamacare. But they were the only three justices who clearly telegraphed sympathy to Mitchell’s arguments. Notably, Republican Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett both seemed inclined to vote against Mitchell
Courts Block Trump From Withholding School Funds Over D.E.I.
President Trump was dealt a setback in his plans for American public education, as three federal judges issued separate rulings on Thursday pausing his ability to withhold funds from schools with diversity and equity initiatives. The rulings block the administration, at least for now, from carrying out efforts to cut off billions of dollars that pay for teachers, counselors and academic programs in schools that serve low-income children. Two of the judges who issued the decisions were appointed by Mr. Trump. A third was appointed by President Barack Obama. The cases were brought by teachers’ unions and the N.A.A.C.P., among others.
Trump admin must seek return of another man who was improperly deported to El Salvador, judge rules
The Trump administration must seek to return a second man who was improperly deported from the U.S. to El Salvador in violation of a previous court order, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Maryland-based Trump appointee, ruled that the administration deported a 20-year-old Venezuelan man last month in violation of a legally binding, court-approved settlement agreement reached in a lawsuit last year. Under that settlement, the U.S. agreed not to deport migrants who arrived as unaccompanied minors until their asylum claims are fully adjudicated.
Everyone Hates Trump
This week, polls were released by Pew Research, Fox, and Reuters/Ipsos
In all of the polls, Trump has by far the lowest approval in the history of any modern president. When you look at the cross-tabs of each poll, Trump has lost major support and now has very low approvals among Latino Americans and 18-29-year-old Americans—groups that were somehow very helpful to Trump in the 2024 election. Trump’s approval is now lower than in his disastrous first term. The polls have Trump severely underwater on his handling of the economy. The polls have Trump underwater on immigration. Even the Fox News poll shows more people disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration than those who approve. All of the polls show that, by margins of over 90 percent, Americans demand Trump follow Supreme Court rulings and not refuse to comply. Trump can lie as much as he wants about how “egg prices are down 87 percent” or that America has “never been richer” than we are now because of his tariffs against the world—but people are feeling and experiencing the harm he is causing. Trump’s lies are not working. Trump’s threats are fangless. The bubble has burst on the MAGA reality.
Voters are Souring on Trump's Strongman Schtick
There is broad public opposition to Trump’s most authoritarian moves. 1. Voters Worry That Trump Thinks He Is ‘Above the Law.’ Trump is ignoring the guardrails that traditionally keep a president in check. This is not a Left Wing fever dream. It’s a widely held viewpoint. In a recent Navigator Research poll, 63% of voters say that Trump thinks he is above the law. 2. Voters Want Trump to Obey Court Orders The public is vehemently opposed to a president disobeying a court order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll from earlier this week found that 81% of U.S. adults — and nearly three-quarters of Republicans — believe the president should obey court orders with which he disagrees. 3. Trump’s Extortion Schemes Are Unpopular In that Reuters/Ipsos poll, only 28% believe that presidents should withhold funding from universities with which they disagree. Even fewer are okay with presidents controlling museums and theaters. 4. Even Deportations Are a Weakness First, voters do not support sending people to a foreign prison without a hearing. According to an Economist/YouGov poll, only 35% support this practice. Second, a Data for Progress poll found that 57% of voters believe that the government must provide evidence and a hearing before deporting undocumented immigrants. Finally, according to the Reuters poll, overall approval of Trump’s handling of immigration is 45/46. 5. No One Wants Trump for a Third Term The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 75% of respondents believe Trump should not run for a third term, including 53% of Republicans; and the Economist/YouGov poll revealed that only 17% of Americans think Trump should attempt a third term.
First House Republican calls for Pete Hegseth's ouster
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) on Monday became the first Republican member of Congress to openly indicate support for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's removal from office. "The military should always pride itself on operational security. If the reports are true, the Secretary of Defense has failed at operational security, and that is unacceptable," Bacon told Axios. "If a Democrat did this we'd be demanding a scalp. I don't like hypocrisy. We should be Americans first when it comes to security," he added.
Bacon is the chair of a House Armed Services subcommittee and one of just a handful of House Republicans in districts that Kamala Harris carried last year. He first made his comments to Politico.
Murdoch Newspaper Calls Out Trump for Making Biggest ‘Mistake in Decades’
The Wall Street Journal has excoriated President Donald Trump’s tariff policies in a scathing editorial, denouncing them as “the biggest economic policy mistake in decades.” In a pointed attack on the president’s authority, the Journal accused Trump of trying and failing to “bully everyone into submission” following his latest attempts to illegally fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. “Mr. Trump thinks he can bully everyone into submission, but he can’t bully Adam Smith, who deals in reality,” the Journal wrote. “Markets know tariffs are taxes, and taxes are anti-growth. The Trump tariffs are the biggest economic policy mistake in decades, and extending the 2017 tax reform and deregulation may not compensate for all the damage.”
Trump Suddenly in Retreat on Many Fronts as Poll Reveals Key Weakness
Suddenly, President Donald Trump appears to be retreating—or getting knocked back—on multiple fronts. Trump is considering whether to slash his tariffs on China. Elon Musk is stepping back from the administration. Federal scientists are admitting the measles outbreak is worse than previously acknowledged. And the leaks about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are intensifying. All this comes as a new poll finds broad public opposition to Trump’s abuses of power, revealing a surprise weakness in an area that savvy observers assured us voters don’t care about. We talked to Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, author of The Hopium Chronicles, who has been urging his party to make Trump’s weakness central to their understanding of this fraught moment. Rosenberg explains why Trump is caught in a vicious downward cycle, where the opposition is successfully mobilizing, and how to coax Democrats to fight back harder.
Are things falling apart for Trump?
The White House just announced that President Donald Trump will hold a rally next week in Michigan to mark his 100th day in office. The timing is … inauspicious. Even as Trump nears that milestone by which new administrations have increasingly gauged their early progress, there are myriad signs that his second-term project may be falling apart. A man who came into office vastly exaggerating the mandate that voters had just given him — and has governed accordingly — appears to have, per public polling, squandered whatever mandate he was given with his brazen actions. And indicators are increasingly dire on a number of significant policy fronts for him. Multiple polls this week showed Trump hitting new lows. His approval rating has been double-digits underwater in surveys from the Pew Research Center (minus-19), Economist-YouGov (-13), Reuters-Ipsos (-11) and now Fox News (-11). Perhaps more troubling for Trump, most of his major policies are even more unpopular than he is. That suggests his image is largely buoyed by loyalists who might not like what they’re seeing but still say they support him — for now.
How the Kilmar Abrego García Case Exposes the Weakness of Trump’s Favorite Tactic
Trump’s history of spinning webs of lies to never admit wrongdoing is so extensive that it has its own Wikipedia page, with nearly 700 references to back up all the examples. And while this strategy has, sadly, worked out for him in the past, I’m not so sure it’s going to hold up this time around. There’s already a chorus of voices in the Republican party and a larger network of influential conservatives telling Trump that his administration messed up here and it should take the L. In an interview with NBC News, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said that the administration made a mistake. "Look, this was a screw-up in my opinion," Kennedy said. "The administration won't admit it. But this was a screw-up." Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) tweeted about "preserving checks and balances" when he shared a Wall Street Journal editorial warning that defying the courts on Abrego García "isn't worth the political cost for [Trump] or the country." Even right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan, who’s been a big supporter of Trump, had harsh words about Abrego García’s removal and the larger effort of transferring Venezuelan migrants without any shred of due process.
We are strong!
This is a pivotal moment in the resistance
he collective consciousness of Americans is waking up. Perhaps you can say Americans are now “woke.” More people are seeing Trump’s incompetence, fraud, and weakness with clear eyes than ever before. Authoritarians like Trump feast on the perception of their power and grow under the ruse of the inevitability of their reign. When the people unite and say “not today,” there is nothing that sucks the power out of the authoritarian more—and shrivels them up quicker—than a united populace. “We the people,” coming together is how we defeat and beat authoritarians. Trump looks fatigued and flustered, doesn’t he? He is a teeny tiny man with teeny tiny faculties in the biggest job in the world. He can’t BS this job anymore. Trump and Musk envisioned that they would be ruling as co-imperial dictators right now and we’d all be their vassals. Remember how they made the business community, old media, and all different so-called leaders show up at Mar-a-Lago and grovel and beg and kiss the ring? Remember how confident Trump and Musk seemed as Americans and the world seemed defeated and resigned to MAGA misery? No more! The fighting spirit is back. I’d argue the resistance right now is far stronger and far more sophisticated than what we saw in the first Trump term. The stakes are higher. We are all playing for keeps. Will we rebuild a democracy from the rubble caused by the Trump and DOGE wrecking ball, or will we remain in this bizarre fascist Trump kleptocracy? I am confident democracy will win.
Protests Across the Country
As much trouble as pro-democracy forces have had breaking through with the message that that protecting the Republic is the most important issue we face, increasingly, it looks like there is some success. From the Iowa townhall where citizens harangued Senator Grassley to Saturday’s protests where people across the country stood up for due process, it’s increasingly clear that Americans get it.
The Resistance is Rising!
The resistance is rising! The “No Kings Day” protests over the weekend were tremendously successful. Major media (inexplicably) continue to downplay the number and scale of the protests. However, widespread reports from across the nation have proven that there have been more and larger protests than expected. Planned protests consistently exceeded expectations, while spontaneous protests emerged where none were planned.
Look at our reaction to them going after ActBlue
and what we did to Target!
Target foot traffic down 10 consecutive weeks amid company's shift away from DEI policies
The backlash is increasing against Target after the company announced it would scale back its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Data from the analytics firm Placer.ai shows foot traffic at Target locations has declined for 10 consecutive weeks. More than 200,000 people participated in a nationwide boycott against Target. Target made the announcement in January as other companies pulled back on DEI initiatives after recent decisions by the Trump administration.
Harvard is demonstrating that bullies don't like to get hit back.
Barack Obama recently said, “It has been easy during most of our lifetimes to say you are a progressive or say you are for social justice or say you’re for free speech and not have to pay a price for it. Now we’re at one of those moments where, you know what? It’s not enough just to say you’re for something; you may actually have to do something and possibly sacrifice a little bit.” But suddenly — signaled by resistance from the nation’s most elite universities — the weaknesses of the nascent Trump authoritarianism, and the potential for resilience within our nation in the face of his lawless assaults, are coming into focus. Matters came to a head last week. Harvard responded to a letter, signed by several Trump administration officials, listing an absurdly intrusive list of demands with a firm rejection. The administration then ratcheted up the pressure on Harvard, including by withholding billions of dollars, and with a threat from Trump to take away Harvard’s tax exempt status. But Harvard, having prepared itself for a long fight, showed no signs of buckling, and yesterday it sued a large number of federal government agencies and officials. Obama applauded Harvard’s actions, stating on social media last week that “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.” And it looks like many will. Soon after Harvard announced it will take a stand against Trump’s assault on the institution, other universities chose to speak up in emphatic support of Harvard’s position — a stark contrast with how many major law firms remained silent following the targeting of their compatriots. Within a few days, the interim president of Columbia was publicly reversing course, announcing that the institution was not prepared to give in to Trump’s most intrusive demands. Furthermore, the same law firm that had represented Paul, Weiss in its capitulation to Trump is among the firms representing Harvard. Thus, while obeisance in the face of Trump’s threats and corrupt inducements proved to be infectious in civil society and other private sector contexts, Harvard’s resolute resistance has had the opposite impact. His choice of a powerful target is clearly backfiring. By the end of last week, Trump’s cronies were telling reporters the threatening letter to Harvard had been sent mistakenly and was “unauthorized,” effectively conceding that their frontal attack on the most powerful elements of the nation’s private educational sector might have been a bad idea. Trump’s assault on civil society and educational institutions is hardly over — he and his cronies are reportedly about to commence an offensive against nonprofits. But recent events demonstrate that resistance, particularly by institutions with the greatest resources, is not only the right thing to do, but just might be effective.
Harvard’s Donations Surged After Garber Challenged Trump
Harvard is receiving an average of 88 online donations an hour as alumni rally behind University President Alan M. Garber ’76’s resounding rebuke of the White House’s demands on Monday. Between Garber’s email and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Harvard received nearly 4,000 online gifts totalling $1.14 million, according to a giving update produced by Harvard Alumni Affairs and Development and obtained by the Crimson. Forty-seven percent of the development office’s gifts have been directed to the Harvard College Fund and 14 percent to Garber’s unrestricted fund, according to the document. Seventy-seven percent of the gifts have been less than $250.
Four Amazing People
Bill Owens, executive producer of the iconic news program 60 Minutes, left rather than consenting to compromise his journalistic integrity. Apparently, the sticking point was his refusal to go along with CBS’s ludicrous settlement of a specious claim brought by Trump. Bill Owens told his colleagues in a hastily scheduled meeting that he had become the “corporation’s problem.” And rather than sacrifice his journalistic independence, he decided to leave. Owens refused to do the bidding of another corporate toady willing to sacrifice the independence of an esteemed media outlet. Moreover, he made clear precisely why he was going and encouraged his staff to stay. When refusing to obfuscate (or flat-out lie), devoted patriots encourage others to take a principled stance. We saw that same approach in the Southern District of New York, when three more prosecutors—Celia Cohen, Andrew Rohrbach, and Derek Wikstrom—quit rather than “apologize” for refusing to carry out a corrupt “Justice” Department deal to dismiss the criminal charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. “The Department placed each of us on administrative leave ostensibly to review our, and the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s Office’s, handling of the Adams case,” they wrote in their joint resignation letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. In leaving, they joined a fleet of other prosecutors (including Acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon) who resigned, bringing the total to at least ten. These recent acts of defiance, both individual and collective, remind us of three essential lessons in the fight to defend democracy. First, democracy does not defend itself Second, a virtuous circle can develop in defense of democracy: Ordinary people organize and protest; politicians and officials realize resistance is popular, they step up their defense of democracy; and their increased resilience in turn inspires more popular defiance. And so it goes, with increased momentum as one courageous action begets the next. (A side benefit: such defiance humiliates the politicians and civil society appeasers who claimed to have had no choice but to go along with the autocrat.) Finally, individual actions do not immediately defang autocrats. Until removed from power, the Trump regime will continue destroying functional government, violating civil liberties, and weaponizing the justice system against Trump’s enemies. But with every loss, the MAGA cult leader’s veneer of invincibility cracks. In persisting despite losses, the autocrat will likely annoy his allies, anger the courts, and reveal his own mind-numbing incompetence. Coupled with the appalling mismanagement of the economy, Trump’s power and the MAGA Republicans’ grip on the levers of government thereby will be diminished until—we must hope—we, the voters, throw them out.
As firms bend to Trump, some workers say no
In February, days after Accenture became the latest corporate giant to end diversity policies under pressure from the Trump administration, John Morris “rage quit” — walking away from a decade’s worth of work in its tech strategy practice. Morris is part of a small but vocal and growing group of American professionals — those so appalled by their employers’ accommodation of President Donald Trump’s orders on diversity, gender identity and other issues that they have resigned and denounced what they see as capitulation.
Democrats are Great
We have an amazing team of people fighting for them. Don’t see them? Maybe you aren’t looking at the right folks!
The DNC
I’m especially pleased by what I see coming out of the DNC. While I’m still disappointed that Ben Wikler didn’t win the chair position, I’m happy with Ken Martin’s early moves. First, he’s made sure that Democrats are holding town halls all across the country, particularly in red districts where Republicans refuse to do so. So far, the DNC has done 80 of these ‘People's Town Halls’ in 39 states, and they have a number more lined up. That’s impressive! The DNC is also holding weekly briefings with content creators—I know this because I’m part of them. They are finally, officially, using us to help Democrats amplify their message. This, too, is great news! Finally, the DNC just announced that they’ll be upping their investment into state parties. Going forward each state party will receive a baseline of $17,500 a month—a $5,000 per month increase—and Democratic State Parties in Republican-controlled states will receive an additional investment of $5,000 a month through the DNC’s Red State Fund, putting their total at $22,500 every month.
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg did an interview with the Flagrant podcast—the same folks who gave Trump a platform to their large audience right before the election. Pete shared this wonderful vision for Americans: “I want you to be paid well … If you're about to have a kid, I want you to know that you'll have parental leave ... and when you pick them up at school, I want that school to be good. And if you don’t want to have a kid, I want you to have the right to choose.” Buttigieg continued: “I want you to be in a neighborhood that is safe ... and when you go to bed, I want you to know that your family is gonna be fine. Even if it's a family like mine.”
check out some of the comments from fox news viewers after his interview:
New York State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Micah Lasher
In New York, State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Micah Lasher are teaming up to take on the Trump administration with two pieces of legislation. One, called the RECOURSE Act, would block New York from sending payments to the federal government, if Trump illegally withholds funds from the state. The other is called the BRIDGE Act, which would create pathways for fired federal workers to transition into jobs in the New York state government. Ramos said this about Trump’s threats to the state: “New York does not bow to intimidation. We do not cower. We stand up, and we organize. We defend what’s ours.” And Lasher made this clear: “We are here to say, ‘Not in New York’ ... bending the knee is never a good strategy when dealing with fascists.”
Al Gore
Former Vice President Al Gore ripped into the Trump regime at SF Climate Week, saying: “They say the climate crisis is a hoax invented by the Chinese to destroy American manufacturing … They say coal is clean. They say wind turbines cause cancer. They say sea-level rise just creates more beachfront property.” Gore didn’t stop there, slamming Trump directly—and hard: “We’ve already seen, by the way, how populist authoritarian leaders have used migrants as scapegoats and have fanned the fires of xenophobia to fuel their own rise of power … and power-seeking is what this is all about. Our Constitution, written by our founders, is intended to protect us against a threat identical to Donald Trump.” Say it again, louder.
Tim Walz
MN Gov. Tim Walz delivered the State of the State address, and he did not hold back on his criticism of Trump’s administration, stating: “These small, petty men will disappear into the dustbin of history. And when they do, we’ll have both an opportunity and an obligation to rebuild our government so it actually works for working people.” Walz also shared this truth: “If you say you love freedom but you don't believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love is not freedom, it is privilege.” That’s absolutely right.
IL Gov. JB Pritzker
IL Gov. JB Pritzker announced that he is making moves to have the state of Illinois boycott companies controlled by El Salvador, as a way to push back against Abrego Garcia’s unlawful detention in the country. This is a great template for other states to push back in the same way. Hit them where it hurts most—their wallet.
Plenty More Bad Stories that Turned Good (and no one noticed)
I’ve started this new feature the last few weeks of highlighting stories that included (a) something bad happening (b) all of us freaking out worrying © our voices leading the bad thing to be undone and (d) no one noticing step C. So here is step C for one story from this week:
remember when that woman was dragged out an an idaho town hall and people were all talking about how it was the end of democracy and the beginning of thugs ruling our country? Nope.
Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl, who was violently dragged out of an Idaho town hall, has filed a $5 million legal action against the Sheriff, the private security company involved, and others
remember how Trump destroyed Voice of America and people panicked about the end of our influence in the world? I do. But...
Judge says Voice of America staffers can go back to work
Staffers at the government-funded Voice of America news service can go back to work, a federal judge in Washington ruled on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction halting part of President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at dismantling the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the independent agency tasked with running Voice of America. More than 1,200 federal employees and contractors from Voice of America — including about 1,000 journalists — were placed on administrative leave as a result of the order.
and did you follow the panic about trump invoking martial law on 4/20? It was all over the internet and the speaker at the rally I went to on the 19th was all about it and how it was a real thing and we might lose everything. There were podcasts like this — Will Trump Declare Martial Law on 4/20? The Shocking Truth Behind the Rumors. I’m not even going to link to the fear mongering but I am sure lots of you heard about it and many people were really panicked
and then…. nothing. First, it was never really martial law (it was the insurrection act which was a threat). and then very quietly it didn’t happen. Nothing. His cabinet members studied it, recommended not invoking the insurrection act (which is not martial law, btw) and he didn’t do it.
Also, remember how everyone was panicked because trump cut funding for a super important women’s health study?
and all the deportations of international students?
A Justice Department lawyer said during a hearing in Washington on Friday that the administration was poised to reverse course on its mass cancellation of student visas held by international students and academics. The abrupt shift came after the administration has revoked more than 1,000 visas in recent weeks , spawning an avalanche of lawsuits.
And the idea that they never do what judges say?
In a new legal filing stemming from a fight with a federal judge in Washington, the Justice Department has affirmed the fundamental notion that the White House has to follow instructions from the courts. “The executive must abide by judicial orders,” department lawyers wrote. While that idea might seem obvious, the Trump administration has repeatedly sidestepped and flouted orders from judges in an array of cases. In the filing, the lawyers asked a federal appeals court to preemptively stop Judge James E. Boasberg from opening a contempt investigation into whether the White House violated an order he issued last month pausing the use of a wartime statute to deport Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members to El Salvador and also, despite publicly saying “I won’t do this” Hegseth actually is doing this. Pentagon to restart gender-affirming care for transgender service members The Defense Department will resume providing gender-affirming care for service members, a blow to the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate transgender individuals from the U.S. military. A Pentagon memo dated Monday and revealed Thursday states the department will restore surgical procedures and cross-sex hormone therapy to individuals, including dependents of troops, as first reported by Politico That is what they do. They talk loud on Fox news about not doing what the courts say (and we all panic) and then in reality…. they do what the courts say. Oh! And the best one. Remember the autism registry? I am sure you do. It was just earlier this week when we all panicked about it and used our voices and now (quietly as always) they are not doing it No new autism registry, HHS says, walking back NIH director’s claim The federal health department is not creating a new registry of Americans with autism, a Department of Health and Human Services official said in a written statement Thursday. Instead, the official said, HHS will launch a $50 million research effort to understand the causes of autism spectrum disorder and improve treatments. Keep fighting everyone! Use your voices. IT WORKS!!!
Schadenfreude for the week
One day I’ll be the kind of person who doesn’t enjoy schadenfreude. But not this week. ;-)
George Santos Is Sentenced to More Than 7 Years in Prison
George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York whose outlandish fabrications and criminal schemes fueled an unforeseen rise and spectacular fall, was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison on Friday. His 87-month sentence will bring an end, or at least a pause, to a turbulent period in which Mr. Santos was catapulted from anonymity to political and pop cultural infamy, a national spotlight that, even when negative, he often relished more than rejected. Mr. Santos pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He acknowledged his involvement in a variety of other deceptions, including lying to Congress, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and bilking campaign donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
DOJ accidentally files document outlining flaws with Trump administration's plan to kill NYC congestion pricing
Lawyers with the Department of Justice accidentally filed a document overnight that outlined a series of legal flaws with the Trump administration's plan to kill New York City's congestion pricing tolls. In an 11-page letter to the Department of Transportation, lawyers with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York wrote that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy's attempt to terminate congestion pricing faces "considerable litigation risk" and is "unlikely" to be accepted by the court. "As discussed below, there is considerable litigation risk in defending the Secretary's February 19, 2025 decision against plaintiffs' claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, that the decision was contrary to law, pretextual, procedurally arbitrary and capricious, and violated due process," the letter said. According to DOJ lawyers, both of Duffy's arguments for canceling the program -- that the tolls raise revenue rather than prevent congestion and that the program does not offer a toll-free option -- are unlikely to convince the court. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said the filing was an "honest error."
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Tesla’s net income was down 71%
Tesla’s net income was down 71% due to a sharp decline in automotive sales. Interpreting financial statements can be a tricky business, but the numbers are clear: Tesla would have reported a loss from operations except for $529 million in revenues from selling “regulatory credits.” (All you need to know about “regulatory credits” is that they aren’t automobiles, which is Tesla’s main business.) Tesla’s management did its best to pretend that Musk’s controversial role in DOGE was not the cause of the company’s reversal of fortune, but could not conceal the truth. Tesla’s report for the first quarter of 2025 admitted that “changing political sentiment could have a meaningful impact on demand for our products in the near-term.” (Tesla Q1 2025 Update at page 3.) Let me decode the euphemism “changing political sentiment” for you: It translates to this: “People are furious with Musk’s role in DOGE and are repelled by his white nationalist sentiments, which have resulted in massive consumer backlash against the Tesla brand.” See, e.g., Tesla Profit Sinks, Hurt by Backlash Over Elon Musk’s Political Role. In other words, the #TeslaTakedown protests are working.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Musk Forced to Name DOGE Exit Date to Put Out Tesla Dumpster Fire
Elon Musk is finally ready to say when he will step back from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and return to his floundering business empire. “Starting next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,” Musk said, according to CNN. Among Tesla’s most significant losers is Musk’s crown jewel, the Cybertruck. The New York Times said the vehicle, introduced in November 2023, has been a “flop” to start the year, with sales down 50 percent from the final quarter of 2024. It retails at $70,000 and ate up much of the manufacturer’s resources while being developed.
Elon Musk had the government in his grasp. Then it unraveled.
Musk had tried to go over the head of a Cabinet secretary — again. The billionaire leader of the U.S. DOGE Service helped install Gary Shapley, a mid-level IRS official, as the agency’s acting commissioner last week. But the Internal Revenue Service falls under the purview of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had repeatedly bristled at DOGE’s attempts to intervene at his agency. This time, the resulting tensions spilled out in a yelling match in the West Wing, where Musk and the nation’s top financial official battled within earshot of President Donald Trump, said two people familiar with the heated confrontation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive situation. Bessent won, and Shapley was replaced after just three days as the IRS’s act Polls show a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of him and say he has had too much sway in government operations. Fox News and other conservative outlets warned that the billionaire had become “political baggage” for the president, particularly after a Wisconsin Supreme Court race this month that Musk said was “important for the future of civilization” and drew his personal involvement. A liberal judge won. With the electric-car company he runs, Tesla, battered by declining sales and falling share prices, Musk on Tuesday told investors that his “time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly” starting next month, though he added he will probably stay involved. On Tuesday, Tesla reported a 71 percent plunge in profits and a 9 percent decline in revenue compared with the first quarter of 2024. Deliveries slipped 13 percent compared with last year — the largest drop in recent history — and the stock has fallen more than 30 percent since the beginning of the year.
Law students organize to give Trump-caving firms a recruitment problem
By creating a spreadsheet, Georgetown Law students sparked national headlines, along with PR headaches and staffing challenges inside the world's most powerful firms. After Trump signed executive orders singling out law firms for political retribution, the students recorded BigLaw’s responses in a document they titled “Legal Industry Responses to Fascist Attacks Tracker.” The Google spreadsheet currently names more than 800 firms, assigning them to one of five stark categories: “Caved to Administration,” “Complying in Advance,” “Other Negative Action,” “Stood Up Against Administration’s Attacks,” or “No Response.” The document started out a resource to help fellow Georgetown Law students make informed decisions about potential future employers. Mari Latibashvili, one of the student organizers, said in a phone interview: “We didn't know how big this was going to get. It was just giving the students the opportunity to see what the firms that they were considering were doing and to show them alternatives.” But it grew into something much larger.
and finally… What 95 Days Sucking Up to Trump Got the Tech Lords
the tech titans who lined up alongside the president at his inauguration on January 20 are newcomers to the party. And this week they found out the hard way what that means. When ratings begin to fall, every reality show veteran knows what comes next. Heads must fall. Theirs. Elon Musk and his Silicon Valley friends had been good value for the president, but the time had come to pay the price. That price has already been heavy for the wealthiest men on the planet. Earlier this month, it was estimated that the companies launched or run by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had lost a total of $1.8 trillion since before they lined up behind the president at his inauguration. The imposition of whopping tariffs on China and the threats of punitive levies being resumed on other Asian countries have taxed the supply lines of the tech giants perhaps more than any other business. No favors there, then. Trump needed the tech tycoons when his election campaign was trailing way behind Kamala Harris in fundraising, when he was raising a record amount of cash for his inauguration, and when he was enjoying the courtship of this new band of financial buccaneers. But this week it became clear that they have jumped the shark. Even the irrepressible Musk. Trump was happy to take $1 million from Zuckerberg for his inauguration fund. But he left the Facebook founder to fend for himself in court. Apple boss Tim Cook is credited with playing Trump most effectively. But he had to pledge a $500 billion manufacturing investment, and Apple’s stocks fell with everyone else’s in the stock market chaos.
Good News from around the World
Canadian Politician Thanks ‘Malignant Narcissistic Slug’ Trump for Uniting His Country
A Canadian politician has finally said something nice about President Donald Trump… sort of. Retiring Ontario MP and member of the New Democratic Party Charlie Angus appeared on the MeidasTouch podcast this weekend, and surprised everyone by taking the time to thank the U.S. president for his work in bringing Canadians together. Delivering his speech to host Ben Meiselas, Angus said, “Donald Trump, I’m going to say this once—and I might never say it again—I want to thank you. I want to thank you for bringing Canada together.” He continued, “It took a malignant narcissistic slug like you to make us put aside all our differences—all our regional fights, all our concerns with one another—and realize we actually had to stand up for something better: standing up for the rule of law, for democracy, for decency.”
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