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GNR for Friday, May 2, 2025: Making that guy unpopular matters [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-02
Welcome 🌻 to Friday’s Roundup of Good News!
In my first GNR after the beginning of the convicted felon’s second presidency reign of error, the theme was “Let’s make that guy unpopular.”
As people here know, we don’t have the presidency, the Senate, the House or the Supreme Court. With this Congress, we cannot impeach. With that cabinet, the 25th amendment is highly unlikely. A disabling medical event is possible, perhaps even likely, but not something we can count on, and we can be sure it would be glossed over. (It IS being glossed over, as tRump is showing more and more evidence of cognitive decline.)
Anyway, although we can press on the other areas, unpopularity is where we need to focus. It weakens him. It helps us peel off some in Congress. It gives courage to the press and to the judges.
And, given what he’s doing, it is not that hard. Tariffs are making things really bad for farmers and businesses and workers.
Threats to social security, Medicaid, the VA and other organizations are making many nervous. Threats to rights, to judges, to due process, to law firms and to education at all levels are upsetting people.
The polls show that America is noticing.
Even if tRump stopped doing all this at the moment, it would take time to recover, as shipping is currently not happening and we can expect there to be empty shelves (if you see them, take pictures and post them).
At the moment, we cannot afford infighting. That’s how we have been weakened before. Divide and conquer is a strategy that works. We cannot let ourselves be divided.
We also need to keep this up. We need to keep going to rallies when we can. We need to keep contacting our senators and representatives. We need to keep repeating the truth.
One thing I must apologize for: a number of the posts from bluesky with great news but terrible pictures of the convicted felon. I’m trying to find alternatives but may not be able to get them for all situations.
Anyway, dear gnusies, come on in, and sit down with your favorite beverage and congratulate yourself for surviving this 100 days of hell.
Regular Scheduled Programming
No one here is naïve; we are aware of the many who are fighting to destroy our country. Some of us expected it: the cheating, the lying, and the chaos. But we are here to read the efforts and the positive results of those (including us and our fellow gnus) who are working so hard to save our country and the planet from those very bad people. We are furious with them for what they are doing and we are letting them know.
Remember:
💜Although they lie all the time, reality matters. And our goals — based on reality — are more popular.
💙 They want us to be demoralized. The best way to keep up your spirits is to fight. So, take the time to recharge your batteries, make sure to protect yourself, your family and your friends, but find ways to contribute to the well-being of our country and our world.
🗽 Reports on Resisters 🗽
The most effective way to stop tRump: How to Stop Trump in One Stupid Chart Jonathan V. Last The Bulwark at Substack (published in an earlier GNR, but as relevant as ever)
I gave you the stupidest possible headline today, but only because I couldn’t think of a less dumb way to say the most obvious thing in the world. Stopping Trump’s war on America isn’t like solving Fermat’s Last Theorem. It’s actually quite simple. ✂️ At -1.6 unfavorable, Trump is a juggernaut. At -18 unfavorable, Trump is weak. Pushing him to -18 is Democrats’ job. Their entire job. In fact, I’m not sure that anything else they do over the next year even matters. ✂️ You will note that over the course of eight years Donald Trump has been at his current level of relative popularity only twice. The normal state of affairs for Trump has been a net unfavorable level of roughly -13. Which means that we’re not trying to argue people into buying sunscreen during a blizzard. People don’t like the guy. They’re used to not liking the guy.
Importance of being prepared. On Monday — and she repeated some of the information on her last show of the first 100 days — Maddow had segments where she explained why some of the resistance has been so effective. It’s because they were prepared. They were ready to jump into action. That’s why and how one of the planes to El Salvador was stopped. That’s how come the student who was just released in Vermont, was actually still in Vermont and not in Louisiana trapped by a more difficult prison system.
Don’t want to watch? Here are the important takeaways. If you’re someone who could be targeted, this is especially important. Make sure you have a community to support you — people in churches, family, your local schools, your local employment, and those in local government. Have ways to contact them at very short notice. Then, these people need to be ready to mobilize: they need to contact lawyers, the ACLU, judges and the press.
x Our response to ICE raids in Evansville, Indiana yesterday made @maddow.msnbc.com tonight. Thank you to everyone who showed up for our neighbors. We'll be back tomorrow night at 5:30 Central. #evansvilleresistance — Brandon (@scrumdaddybax.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T02:58:44.714Z
Note that when Maddow talked about this, she mentioned “Evansville, Illinois,” but it was actually Evansville, Indiana. Which is generally deep red.
There’s also this. Mahdawi’s release was made possible by the people who stepped for him, including Jewish people who wrote letters on his behalf. If he had not had this help, he would have been sent to a prison in Louisiana and his release would have been in doubt and certainly delayed.
x NEW: Mohsen Mahdawi has been freed from detention. “We are pro-peace and anti-war,” Mohsen told a huge crowd outside court after his release. “To my people in Palestine: I feel your pain, I see your suffering; and I see freedom and it is very very soon.” — Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) 2025-04-30T15:55:55.498Z
The courts are not officially the resistance but they are making up an important force among those opposing the illegal orders of tRump. And here we have that the Alien Enemies Act is not applicable today:
x BREAKING: A federal judge in Texas — appointed by Donald Trump himself — has just ruled that Trump's controversial attempt to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to carry out mass deportations is unlawful. — MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-05-01T15:48:32.067Z
💣 Republicans: Party of Crimes and Chaos 💣
Rs having a hard time of it
x "Many in the crowd, which included only verified residents of his district, broke out into outright laughter. 'Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,' a large contingent chanted, drowning out the congressman as he defended aspects of Trump’s tariff policy..." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/n... — Rachel Maddow (@maddow.msnbc.com) 2025-04-28T19:02:32.076Z
They absolutely deserve it, because they have abdicated their responsibilities.
And there’s this:
And there’s this:
x Donald Trump's second term is not even 100 days old and already his standing with Americans has soured, with polls showing opposition on major themes as well as specific issues, and the numbers only get worse as time passes. Rachel Maddow reviews the results of several major polls that show Donald — dharmalee3 (@dharmalee3.bsky.social) 2025-04-25T04:47:28.215Z
*
How trump destroyed trumpism Sidney Blumenthal The Guardian
In the 2024 election, Donald Trump eked out a narrow victory, by 1.5 percentage points nationally, the lowest popular vote margin in 56 years, since Richard Nixon’s wafer-thin win by 0.7 points in 1968. Trump claimed he had won an enormous historic mandate to impose a counterrevolution. “The American people have given us a mandate, a mandate like few people thought possible,” Trump boasted on 6 March in his address to the Congress. ✂️ Trump’s formula in the first 100 days of his second term, and onward, is to reverse an extraordinary success into spectacular failure. His ironclad approach is that problems that don’t exist can be solved by policies that won’t work. On 19 October 2024, the Economist ran a cover story headlined “The envy of the world”. “The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust,” it reported. Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve Board, had announced cuts to interest rates based on the economy approaching the fabled “soft landing” of low inflation with high employment. On the edge of achieving a glide path toward stable prosperity, he cautioned that the policies in place would have to be maintained to reach an equilibrium. “We haven’t completed that task,” he said. On 2 April, Trump’s “liberation day”, he proclaimed astronomical tariffs on nearly every country in the world based on a nonsensical equation he got from his crackpot adviser Peter Navarro, whose academic work is studded with footnotes referencing the work of a non-existent scholar named Ron Vara, an anagram of Navarro’s name. Navarro, who served a prison sentence for contempt of Congress, refusing to testify about January 6, is considered an absurd figure among virtually all professional economists. In response, the reality-based Powell felt compelled to announce that the US now faced a “challenging scenario” of “higher inflation and slower growth”, and that the Fed would halt rate cuts, which would increase inflation further. The “soft landing” has disappeared from sight.
Bad arguments:
x So let us get this straight. When the stock market soared under Biden, Trump said it was because of him. But now that’s it’s crashing due to his policies, it’s because of Biden? Pathetic. — MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-04-30T13:29:51.973Z
tRump may have been correct in his original screed, when he claimed that the stock market under Biden was doing well because of him, or expectations about him. That’s because investors look forward.
🚚 💙 Democrats Deliver 💙 🚚
Democratic Attorneys General are fighting back Kathy Jennings, Kwame Raoul Newsweek
Trump's attack on birthright citizenship is just one example of a larger, horrifying pattern—a presidency unbound by precedent, marked by an abuse of authority, motivated by division, and willing to trample individual rights for political gain. In his first 100 days as president, Trump has: —Launched a draconian immigration crackdown, reviving and expanding family separation policies at the border, pushing mass deportations without due process, and targeting long-time visa-holding residents for removal. We are fighting them in court and offering legal guidance for our residents to help immigrant families stay in the communities they call home. —Moved to defund and dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the federal government and in public institutions. The chilling effects are already clear—schools are losing federal funding, corporations are scrubbing DEI initiatives, and government agencies are erasing any mention of diversity. ✂️ It's up to Democratic attorneys general to step up and fight back. But we're not just fighting back in court; we're showing up in our communities and making sure our constituents know that their voices matter. Across the country, Democratic attorneys general are holding town halls to hear directly how Trump's agenda is affecting their lives. We're hearing from parents worried about losing their child's health care, immigrants terrified of being rounded up and deported, and researchers who've lost funding for critical research into deadly diseases. These conversations aren't just powerful, they're essential to help us understand the real-life implications of Trump's ill-conceived plans and inform our legal strategies to block these policies. As attorneys general, we are not just legal officers; we are public servants with a duty to protect the people above all else. Meanwhile, what are our Republican colleagues doing to protect their constituents? Instead of standing up to Trump's harmful extremism, they're enabling Trump's dangerous, legally dubious policies—defending them in court and using the power of their offices to advance his political agenda. Their silence and complicity in the face of a devastating constitutional crisis speak volumes, and their inaction will be remembered.
Protest! Non violent, of course
x Pritzker calls for mass protests and disruption - “Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,” he says, swaying their portraits will one day be put in museums “reserved for tyrants and traitors” — Isaac Dovere (@isaacdovere.bsky.social) 2025-04-28T01:09:46.190Z
💜 Unity? 💜
tRump is a unifying force, but maybe not the way he wants. Go, Canada, Oh, Canada!
x “Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country would “never” yield to the United States as he declared victory in federal elections early Tuesday, following a campaign overshadowed by relentless provocations and steep trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.” — Lyric Rivera | NeuroDivergent Rebel (@neurodivergentrebel.substack.com) 2025-04-29T14:55:15.614Z
And the rejection went deep:
x A stunning development in Canada: Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre didn’t just lose his bid to become Prime Minister — he lost his own seat in Parliament. Poilievre has officially been defeated in his Carleton riding by Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy. — MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-04-29T13:13:04.654Z
Speaking of Meidas Touch
x "The MeidasTouch Podcast" was the most downloaded podcast for the third month, data from Podscribe showed. — Newsweek (@newsweek.com) 2025-04-24T19:32:04.501Z
They’re not my favorite, and Ben Meiselas has several phrases he uses way too often. But this means more genuine information is getting out there.
📥 Actions You Can Take 📤
Tax-exempt organization complaint referrals. 13909. You can fill this out for the NRA and lots of other organizations. How about if some of us white folk go into some of the MAGA churches and video record what they’re saying?
Voting rights. This may be the biggest issue threatening our democracy right now. Besides contacting your representatives at the state and federal level to do the right thing (depending on who they are),you can support and contact these organizations:
ACLU — American Civil Liberties Union
Democracy Docket — founded by Marc Elias, so important in fighting the challenges after the last election.
Fair Fight — founded by Stacey Abrams
🌱Grass roots. Join with local communities to make a difference. It could be your local Dems. It could be your school board or your library. Reach out to people. We all need each other these days.
🏃 Run for something. If you want to run for something, but have no idea what to do, these people will help you. They also like money and volunteers to help those people who are running, so even if you’re not in a position to stand for office, you can help.
👎 Defund the seditionists. This is a list with companies that sometimes have donated to the seditionists. The list is long. You will recognize many of the corporations, and you probably have a relationship with some — either you are a customer, a shareholder, or maybe even an employee. Contact them and compliment or complain, but let them know you are watching. Forward it to others.
🐍 Schadenfreude 😈
More evidence of tRump’s cognitive decline Edith Olmsted The New Republic
Donald Trump gave a completely incoherent response to a question about his crackdown on Harvard University and ended up ranting about fictional riots. During a phone interview with NewsNation Wednesday, Stephen A. Smith, the firebrand sports pundit turned political commentator, asked the president to expand on a comment he’d made about Harvard University, which has seen $2.2 billion in government grants frozen by the current administration. Smith asked Trump what he would say to those who view his attacks against the Ivy League school as “an attack on academic freedom, rather than a defense of fairness.” “Well, I say this. We had riots in Harlem, in Harlem, and frankly if you look at what’s gone on—and people from Harlem went up and they protested, Stephen, and they protested very strongly against Harvard. They happened to be on my side,” Trump said. ✂️ Trump’s stumped response is particularly disturbing because, crucially, Smith repeated the word “Harvard” three times in asking his question, and was responding directly to something Trump had just mentioned. Halfway through the question, Trump seemed to realize his mistake, but then felt it necessary to comment on the support of Black voters, which was at that point entirely off topic. ✂️ During an interview on ABC News Tuesday, Trump appeared to suggest that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador, literally had “MS-13” tattooed on his hand. In reality, Trump had seen an image with these letters and numbers digitally added as a visual aid to the tattoos the government claimed proved his gang affiliation.
Mike Waltz has left the chat
x Mike Waltz, praising Trump yesterday, 24 hours before Trump fired him. — Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T15:25:37.567Z
ETTD
Website for maga-friendly businesses backfires as people use it for boycotts Jennifer Bendery, Huff Post
Fox trumpeting the accomplishments of tRump in the first 100 days
These are real things. The things listed, the things they are celebrating over at fox. Wow.
Bad night for Canada’s tRump
x A stunning development in Canada: Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre didn’t just lose his bid to become Prime Minister — he lost his own seat in Parliament. Poilievre has officially been defeated in his Carleton riding by Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy. — MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-04-29T13:13:04.654Z
Musk on his way out at both our government and at Tesla? But while he owns so many shares of Tesla stock, it’s still his company, and no one should buy the cars or trucks. Remember: ETTD.
x WSJ: Tesla officially launched a search to replace Elon Musk as CEO — MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-05-01T01:41:18.635Z
📣 Let’s Honor Truth ☀️️
I have always liked Philip Bump, so I’m honoring him today — despite my cancellation from the Washington Post. Not only is Bump telling the truth about what happens when you don’t listen to the truth, he’s doing in the WaPo, where it may take some bravery to write such things.
Again, apologies for showing the awful person in the photo, but the flutter contains the gift link, which I thought people would appreciate:
x Decades of building an informational universe in which loyalty and loudness are the central virtues has resulted in a president and a senior team unprepared for reality. Gift link: wapo.st/44ce0i3 — Philip Bump (@pbump.com) 2025-04-28T12:31:10.812Z
Some paragraphs from the piece, an example of tRump’s living inside the bubble:
No one should be surprised that Hegseth is flailing in his new role, one of the most arduous and complicated in the U.S. government, if not the world. When Donald Trump proposed that Hegseth run the agency, the response was broadly unified: Hegseth lacked the experience needed to do the job effectively. You could debate the other controversies surrounding his bid for the role ad nauseam, but there was no way to reasonably argue that the Fox News talk-show host was prepared to run the Pentagon. Hegseth was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate anyway because Trump and a universe of voices who support him insisted Hegseth was the best choice for the job — because he was Trump’s choice for the job. Republican senators who undoubtedly knew better went along, betting that things wouldn’t get so bad under Hegseth that it was worth stirring up the fury of that pro-Trump bubble. polling and the data make clear that he is — it’s trivial to identify that insular chorus of cheerleaders and cynics as a root cause. It’s the same bet that prominent Republicans have been making on Trump himself since 2015. Now, as Trump too is flailing —andmake clear that he is — it’s trivial to identify that insular chorus of cheerleaders and cynics as a root cause.
Of course, Bezos may not be that fond of tRump these days, thanks to the tariffs, and so Bump may have had an easier time publishing this. Still like the respect for truth. * We are also honoring all the pollsters, who are now being threatened by tRump: x hahahahahahahaha www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo... — Rachel Maddow (@maddow.msnbc.com) 2025-04-28T19:17:28.129Z
🌹 Let’s Celebrate Love ❤️
🐘 Compassion connects species
*
I am always a sucker for elephant stories.
📎 Odds & Ends 📎
UK schools and parts of US banning smart phones in school Andy Corbley Good News Network
Without a government body to legislate the result, UK education authorities have discovered that over 90% of national schools have instituted smartphone bans, a measure still being debated by industry members and scientists. Representing a triumph of distributed sovereignty, a survey of more than 15,000 schools found that 99.8% of elementary schools and 90% of middle schools had instituted some form of ban, the Guardian reports.✂️ In Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas, governments have allocated grant money to any school district that wants to begin controlling smartphone and device usage by closing them away in secure pouches or boxes at the beginning of lessons. Florida and California have passed prohibitions already, with the latter mandating its effect by the end of the next school year (July 1st). Ohio, Virginia, Minnesota, Indiana, and Louisiana have all passed measures that compel schools to come up with their own programs and methods for reducing, controlling, or eliminating smartphone and device usage during school hours or in classrooms. Several other states, including Washington and Alabama, have taken a lighter touch, passing non-binding measures that encourage schools to take action, rather than mandating it. “The research is clear: Reducing the use of cellphones in class improves concentration and learning, improves mental and physical health, and reduces pressures caused by social media,” said Washington schools superintendent Chris Reykdal in an official guidance document.
This is really good. The younger generation has been collectively less happy ever since they got smartphones.
Returnable cups!
x Tackling disposable cup waste: Costa, Nero and others join forces The UK’s first-ever returnable cup initiative between multiple national brands launched in Glasgow on 27 January, aiming to cut into the 388 million disposable cups used in Scotland each year. Major retailers including Costa Coffee,… — Today headline (@todayheadline.bsky.social) 2025-01-31T16:11:27Z
☀️ 🚋 On track to increasing the number of solar panels Paige Bennett, EcoWatch
In Switzerland, a solar technology startup is making use of open spaces between railway tracks to place solar panels. The panels can collect solar power, even with trains using the railway throughout the day. Sunways, a photovoltaic inverter manufacturer, is piloting a new solar project on active railway tracks in Switzerland’s canton of Neuchâtel. The company was just given the green light from the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) to begin deploying solar panels on 100 meters of railway operated by transN. “There are three ways to use the photovoltaic current produced: it can be reinjected into the railway company’s LV (low voltage) network to power the railway infrastructure (switches, signals, stations), it is also possible to reinject the current into the electricity network of the nearest local GRD (Distribution Network Operator) or by reinjecting the current into the traction energy network that powers the locomotives,” the company explained, as reported by CleanTechnica. As PV Magazine reported, the pilot project will include an installation of 48 solar panels on the railway. In total, the solar power plant will have a capacity of around 18 kilowatts and is expected to produce 16,000 kilowatt-hours per year. The project will cost CHF 585,000 (about $708,700) to complete.
I love the idea of putting solar panels into so many weird places. And, of course, it’s easy to service the tracks.
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. Newest offerings! Messing with the Myths: The Maxotaur and Messing with the Myths: The Book of the Living . Older offerings: the Crow Nickels (chronicles), a trilogy about crows who want to save birdkind from extinction: Hunters of the Feather , Scavengers of Mind and Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’re really cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And all available on Audible !) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — such as The Meryton Murders — and others based on history and Greek mythology, such as Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus , can be found here . All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paid if you turn the pages.
💙 What You Can Do to Rescue Democracy 💙
It turns out that participation in democracy is not just an every-four-years event but requires active participation, like, whenever you can find time.
I know it’s tough to see the path forward. And I can’t guarantee that there is a path forward. But people who are smarter and braver than I have seen ways to move ahead.
Their (the fascists’) plans really are dark, but many of them are also dumb, in the sense that they don’t make sense. So many of them cannot succeed.
Here are some quick hits.
Stay involved. Yeah, that’s tough. I want to look away too, but by taking simple actions you can make a difference. Keep contacting your representatives, both in DC and at home.
Support causes that will fight. Send money if you can. Also, spread their news with clicks and conversation.
Slow them down. Oppose and block at every turn.
Make tRump unpopular. Doing this weakens him. And it should not be that difficult. The GOP made a lot out of Biden is old and eggs cost too much. Well, tRump is older than Biden was at the beginning of his term and tRump has no policies that are going to bring down inflation. And a host of other problems, like he’s a convicted felon.
Divide the GOP from each other. They are a coalition based on contradictory promises, so there’s plenty to work with.
Keep telling the truth and showing love.
Make sure to pace yourselves in this marathon and to practice self-care.
Current projects:
Look in the comments for Progressive Muse’s report on Postcards to Voters
And Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny Lessons:
(1) Do Not Obey in Advance; (2) Defend Institutions; (3) Beware the One-Party System;(4) Take Responsibility for the Face of the World; (5) Remember Professional Ethics; (6) Be Wary of Paramilitaries; (7) Be Reflective if You Must Own a Gun; (8) Stand Out (this means, speak up, even when others do not); (9) Be Kind to Our Language; (10) Believe in Truth;(11) Investigate; (12) Make Eye Contact and Small Talk;(13) Practice Corporeal Politics; (14) Establish a Private Life;(15) Contribute to Good Causes; (16) Learn from Peers in Other Countries; (17) Listen for Dangerous Words; (18) Be Calm When the Unthinkable Arrives; (19) Be a Patriot; (20) Be as Courageous as You Can.
💙
President Joseph R. Biden: “Our history has been a constantstruggle between the American ideal that we all are created equal and the harshugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart.The battle is perennial, and victory is never assured.”
💙
Sir Winston Churchill: When you’re going through hell, keep going.
🌹 🌹 🌹
TRUTH MATTERS. LOVE MATTERS.
[END]
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