On airplanes, we are told to put our own oxygen mask on before helping those around us. This makes sense. If you don’t protect yourself first, you won’t be able to help other people. You’ll deplete yourself trying to and you won’t make it. And you won’t be of much help to others.
What is beautiful about that instruction is that so many people need to be told to put their own masks on first.
Despite a natural (and healthy) focus on self preservation, many of us look at others’ suffering and our first instinct is to do what we can to help them. That is beautiful. That is amazing. Strangers risk their lives for people they don’t know. On the regular. It is a breathtaking and beautiful part of being human.
But you do need to put your own mask on first. You need to make sure that your own glass is full. You need to take care of your own mental health.
It isn’t selfish to still enjoy the enjoyable parts of your life. It is smart. It is necessary. It is good.
When we don’t do that, we deplete ourselves. And when we are depleted, we run out of the natural human ability to feel empathy for others. We get compasion fatigue. We find ourselves avoiding those who need help (or even dehumanizing them) because otherwise we can’t function. We are so depleted, that basic humanity starts to slip.
So, take care of yourself. Do fun things. Enjoy the people around you. Get out in nature.
Fill your own gas tank.
Then you will be able to help others.
This is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to find ways to get to the end.
At the end of this post, I have many ways to help others. Find one or two and commit to them but also commit to YOU. Take care of you. Don’t bathe in the negative news to such a degree that you can’t function. Don’t forget that enjoying the wonder of this life is still important. Put on your own mask!
Now onto the good news! And there is A LOT so ENJOY IT!!!
We are strong
I continue to be so amazing by us and so grateful that I am not alone in this!
A turning point.
It will take days or weeks to understand the scale and number of pro-democracy rallies on June 14, 2025. It will take years to understand that No Kings Day was the turning point in reversing the anti-democratic authoritarianism of Trump's second term. But for the millions of Americans who participated in the rallies, change was in the air. This time, it was different.
The difference wasn’t just the doubling, tripling, and quadrupling in size over prior protests in the same locations over the last four months, although that was a bracing and welcome development.
The crowds felt their power and sensed the path forward. Victory lies in the collective will of the people. The thousands of protests across the nation were an order of magnitude larger than the limp, boring parade that feted the decline of an old man fifty years past his “prime.”
There was a sea change on No Kings Day. But the sea change was the beginning, not the end. The protests must continue—and become larger, more dispersed, and more forceful in their demands for change.
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“The contrast between the protests and the military parade suggested an important shift in political culture. The momentum and the joy, as well as the American flags, were on the side of those protesting Trump’s growing authoritarianism.” — @hcrichardson.bsky.social
— Laurence H. Tribe (@tribelaw.bsky.social) 2025-06-16T10:39:23.674Z
How We Keep Our Democracy
In Canby, Oregon, a city of 18,000 located south of Portland, between 400 and 500 people protested yesterday, receiving support from fellow citizens as they drove past.
Across the country, in Burlington, Vermont, friends gathered to emphasize they had no interest in being ruled by a king.
Every single sign, every picture that you all have sent me since yesterday morning, they are all so powerful. I’ve opened every one. I wish there was space to share all of them with the Civil Discourse community because what I saw in them collectively was our power, and the fact that this democracy is about us, not “them.” Americans are in a moment where we are learning how to exercise that power against someone who has tried to take it away from us.
The Week Momentum Shifted - Have the Tables Turned?
Los Angeles said "no more."
California Governor Gavin Newsom found his footing.
US Senator Alex Padilla was physically accosted.
Trump's polling numbers hit a historic low.
Millions marched against authoritarianism.
It rained on the President's parade.
Think voters get more conservative with age? Think again.
On Saturday, millions of Americans turned out to protests large and small, in red areas and blue, to tell Donald Trump, there are “No Kings in America!” In New York alone, there were more than ninety No Kings protests stretching from Long Island all the way to The Finger Lakes region of the state where I live (just southeast of Rochester) and beyond.
I opted to attend a protest in Canandaigua, a lakeside city of fewer than 11,000 residents, one of just two small Democratic bastions in Rep. Claudia Tenney’s 24th Congressional district, which has the dubious distinction of being the reddest district in the state.
But you wouldn’t have known it on Saturday.
At the corner of two main thoroughfares, an estimated 2,000 people gathered, lining the streets, waving homemade signs and chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.” And the dominant cohort among them, as has consistently been the case for all major actions I’ve attended in the area since Trump took back power, have been our senior citizens.
But this mobilization of seniors that I witnessed was hardly an isolated case; it’s a full-fledged phenomenon, as Akaya Windwood and Bill McKibben, leaders of Third Act, which seeks to organize older Americans, observed in their L.A. Times piece last month titled “Why older Americans are Trump’s biggest nightmare.”
senior voters are only growing in power.
In 2016, voters 65 and older made up just 16% of the electorate. In 2020, that rose to 22%.
And in 2024, they made up 28% of the electorate.
They are also being targeted and organized like never before, through organizations such as Third Act
and we have used our economic power for good!
Why Standing Up Against Trump is Good for Business
Standing up against Trump is not only important politically and morally. It’s also profitable.
Diversity, for example, is good for business. CEOs that have scaled back their companies’ diversity programs in response to Trump’s attacks have misread the market and are now suffering the consequences.
When Target rolled back DEI, the company confronted a consumer boycott, which led to a 17 percent drop in the value of its stock. A similar boycott of Walmart has contributed to an 18 percent drop in its stock value in the past month alone.
Palantir, a data analysis and technology firm whose contracts with the federal government are expanding, has taken heat over its rejection of DEI and coziness with Trump. (In a recent speech to the Economic Club of New York, Palantir CEO Alex Karp told the audience that DEI programs are antithetical to meritocracy.)
On the other hand, corporations like Costco and Apple, which have stood firm against Trump and in favor of DEI, have done well.
Similarly, law firms that have refused to cave to Trump’s blackmail are being rewarded by clients, while those that have surrendered are being penalized.
At least 11 major companies — among them Oracle, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, and McDonald’s — have shifted their legal work to firms that have stood up against Trump and away from firms that struck deals with him, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Microsoft dropped Simpson Thacher & Bartlett — one of the first law firms to surrender to Trump —and signed on with Jenner & Block, which took the administration to court. (A federal judge struck down Trump’s executive order against Jenner, saying it was “doubly violative of the Constitution.” Trump is appealing.)
Legal talent is also parting ways with firms that surrendered to Trump. Key lawyers and rainmakers are joining firms that have held their ground.
Paul, Weiss lost four of its partners after its surrender. One is among America’s top antitrust litigators; another co-chaired its litigation department.
As many as seven partners are exiting Willkie Farr & Gallagher in the wake of its surrender to Trump and joining rival law firm Cooley, which has helped successfully challenge one of Trump’s orders in court.
Another lesson: boycotts work. The consumer boycott of Target for abandoning DEI has been hugely costly to the corporation. Similarly with Walmart. The boycott of Tesla due to Elon Musk’s destructive role has caused investors to flee.
what we did with Tesla is breathtaking!
The Definitive Story of Tesla Takedown
In February, a Bluesky post caught the eye of Alex Winter. The result is a coalition of environmentalists, anti-Trump advocates, and federal workers that’s been hyping Tesla’s stock slide ever since.
And primaries and specials continue to show that we are ENGAGED!!!
and we have great allies:
ICE agents scatter as SD Bishop Pham, other clergy visit immigration court
Eight immigration courts line the fourth-floor hallway of the downtown Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building. On the walls: boot prints of ICE agents.
But on World Refugee Day, masked immigration agents weren’t leaning against the off-white walls, waiting to grab people. They scattered Friday after seeing a clergy delegation led by Bishop-elect Michael Pham.
“Like the story of Moses and Exodus, the Red Sea parted,” said observer Scott Reid of the immigrant-aiding San Diego Organizing Project.
Said another observer: “We’ve never seen the hallways cleared out so quickly.”
The result: Nobody was detained as immigration lawyers said would happen.
Jesuit priest Scott Santorosa, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Diego, briefed camera crews and other media members who weren’t allowed into the federal building. (Several reporters entered, including me, but didn’t view the court proceedings.)
“Our presence made a difference,” Santorosa said, quoting an immigration lawyer saying their client was given more time to prepare for another hearing.
Any other day, said a local activist, two to four immigrants would be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and taken away in vans operated by private prison CoreCivic.
Bishop Pham, himself a Vietnamese refugee as a child, said ICE agents were “standing there covered with masks as we walked toward the courtroom. Eventually the … agents kind of scattered and went away. No wonder people come in fear.”
The ABA Declares War
The American Bar Association (ABA) just dropped a massive federal lawsuit against the White House. And it’s not messing around. The lead counsel filing suit on behalf of the ABA is Susman Godfrey, one of the firms Trump targeted. The complaint names the Office of the President, but for good measure, it also names each and every high level government department along with every cabinet official.
The list of named defendants alone goes on for eight pages, and I admit that I smiled while flipping through it.
It’s hard to overstate what a consequential, historic and unprecedented move this is. The ABA is a normally quiet, nonpolitical organization. You’d know this if you’ve ever attended and tried to stay awake during its conferences.
To stir it to action and actually file a lawsuit against a sitting president and his entire administration is something I thought I’d never see.
and this:
L.A. Dodgers block federal agents from setting up in stadium parking lots, team says
The Los Angeles Dodgers blocked federal immigration agents from accessing Dodger Stadium parking lots Thursday, the team said.
“This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots,” the Dodgers wrote on social media Thursday afternoon. “They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight’s game will be played as scheduled.”
and that is due to our power (once again)
On Friday, the Dodgers announced that the organization would contribute $1 million to support immigrant families affected by the ICE raids. See KTLA, L.A. Dodgers pledge $1 million to support immigrant communities after ICE raid backlash.
Approximately 40% of the Dodgers’ fan base is Hispanic. I wish that the Dodgers acted out of concern for the families of their fans, but the sad truth is that the Dodgers were forced to take action by a coalition of Latino organizations. Those organizations--Little Latin America USA, California Rising, El Salvador Corridor Association, CD1 Coalition, and the L.A. Youth & Family Foundation--held a press conference in front of Dodger Stadium earlier this week, demanding that the Dodgers act. The team responded to the pressure.
The Dodger example shows the way forward. Corporations are nervously monitoring events—especially those events that affect their bottom lines. A boycott of Dodger home games by a Latino community fearful of ICE raids would quickly impair the value of the franchise. Just ask Tesla. And Target. And Elon Musk.
Democrats are Great
Lots of trash talking Dems going on but I am not having it. Of course you won’t agree with everything. Of course a party out of power can only do so much.
But so many Dems are doing so many great things! I am so proud to be a Democrat.
And here are some reasons why:
Democrats are doing a good job branding the bill – a fact even most Republicans concede.
The larger question for Trump and Hill Republicans is this: Is the One Big Beautiful Bill a replay of what Obamacare or Build Back Better was for Democrats? Is it a bill that’s so large, complex and all encompassing that it’s impossible to sell?
Top House Republicans worry right now that Democrats are beating them to the punch in defining what this bill does and doesn’t do.
“A messaging void is political death,” one House Republican aide told us.
Republicans’ challenge. That’s the scary reality for the GOP: Big, amorphous bills with lots of disparate policy particulars are oftentimes unpopular.
And Democrats are doing a good job branding the bill – a fact even most Republicans concede.
In a recent House Democratic Caucus meeting, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries presented slides that showed very stark numbers for Republicans.
The DCCC polled the popularity of a bill that cuts food stamps, Medicaid and tax credits for clean energy while increasing border security, extending the 2017 tax cuts and temporarily eliminating taxes on tips and overtime.
The internal survey, reported here for the first time, had 61% of respondents opposing the bill while 39% support it. Those numbers got even worse after Democrats branded the bill as a “devastating scheme that takes health care and food away from everyday Americans while giving huge tax breaks to billionaire donors.”
After hearing that Democratic framing, 66% opposed the bill while 34% support it.
Furthermore, Democrats see an ability to make inroads in rural communities by highlighting cuts to rural hospitals that rely on Medicaid.
“We are seeing public support for the bill cratering in real time with a clear argument that is incredibly persuasive to voters: instead of lowering costs, Republicans are cutting health care and food assistance to pay for billionaire tax giveaways,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said. “Simply put, this vote is going to be the defining contrast of the midterms.”
Gavin Newsom’s Troll Wars as a Check against “Usurpation or Wanton Tyranny”
Politics remains a remedy. Not just a remedy, a necessary part of winning on this issue and on defeating fascism more generally.
And, increasingly, it’s a winning issue. Polls show — even a Fox News poll that has Trump screaming — that Trump is losing the battle to make this dragnet popular.
Certainly Newsom has been focused on that.
There’s been so much else going on, I’ve seen no focused commentary on the media campaign Newsom has been pursuing, even as he attempted to block the invasion in courts. Newsom has been conducting the kind of media campaign that the most realistic assessments of last year’s election loss say Democrats need to learn to do (admittedly, Newsom already took steps in this direction when he started a podcast).
Newsom’s prime time speech last week — widely applauded by those whining about so much else — has drawn a lot of attention.
He started a Substack the other day, describing it as an effort to “flood the zone and continue to cut through the right wing disinformation machine.”
He has done interviews with (best as I can tall, all male) influencers in his emergency response room over and over.
But the response by which I’ve been most fascinated is his trolling on Xitter
Between his personal account and a press account, Newsom has been supplementing more serious messaging with both important political points and trolling.
The trolling mocks Trump’s aides, including Kristi Noem, Pete Hegeseth, Steven Cheung, and Karoline Leavitt, as when he contrasted how the Guard were left without a place to stay when while Whiskey Pete boasted about going to a ballgame.
But Newsom has focused his closest attention Stephen Miller.
Newsom has been mocking Stephen Miller’s total control over the Administration.
As I discussed with LOLGOP, this trolling is structured in a productive way. Not only does it play on Trump’s own weakness (in recent days, rebranding Trump’s MAGA with that weakness), but it sets Miller up as the easy fall guy when shit starts hitting the fan. It does a lot of fact-checking, but frames this battle as much about ego and dick-wagging — the currency of the far right — as rational persuasion.
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Kaine: "When I got to elected to the Senate in 2012, I told myself that if I ever had a chance to stop an unnecessary war like we were living through then, I would do everything possible...I view this resolution as reminding Trump what he has said 2016, which is the US should not be in endless wars"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-17T13:53:18.737Z
Dem Rep. Jamie Raskin
Dem Rep. Jamie Raskin gave inspiring words about what we’re fighting for: “Democracy ... advances the idea that every single person matters, and we all rise together.”
“The opposite … a dictatorial system where you have a tiny group in society that uses public resources and private resources, just to benefit themselves,” Raskin added. “And that’s what we’ve got now. It's a gangster state.”
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For those unconditionally cheering the attacks on Iran, remember that our early strikes in Afghanistan and Iraq were “successful”. But we ended up getting dragged into costly wars that created more terrorists than we killed. The American people haven’t forgotten that.
— Chris Murphy (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social) 2025-06-18T15:51:42.962Z
These centrist women in a group chat are leading Democrats in 2025
They jumped into politics in President Donald Trump’s first term. They ascended to Congress with similar résumés. They text all the time in a group chat.
Now Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill and Elissa Slotkin are all playing leading roles for the Democratic Party — a trio of centrist women with national security backgrounds who helped retake the House in 2018 and this year hope to steer their beleaguered party back toward winning.
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Duckworth to Hegseth: "You are blowing through money like my fellow cadets and I did in our first liberty after basic camp. Luckily I didn't end up with a questionable tattoo ... you're just an unqualified yes man who can't tell the president how to keep Americans safe."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-18T15:44:50.272Z
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HIRONO: If ordered by the president to shoot peaceful protesters in the legs, would you carry it out?
HEGSETH: Of course I reject the premise of your question
HIRONO: Considering that the president in his first term actually ordered such a thing, it's not a premise you can reject
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-18T15:03:13.709Z
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ROSEN: Given the rise in antisemitic violence & to show that the Trump admin does have a 0 tolerance policy for antisemitism, will you dismiss Ms. Kingsley from her role as military spox?
HEGSETH: She does a fantastic job... you're attempting to win political points
R: You are not a serious person
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-18T16:00:00.841Z
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ROSEN: Did you discuss Gen Haugh's dismissal w/Laura Loomer?
HEGSETH: I don't discuss who I talk about anything with
R: Do you believe it's appropriate for social media personalities to influence personnel decisions?
H: I believe your time is up
R: It's not up to you to tell me when my time's up
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-18T16:05:05.772Z
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SLOTKIN: Does the uniformed military have the ability to arrest and detain protesters?
HEGSETH: Um. I --
S: It's a yes or no
H: Troops are given very clear orders
S: What are they?
H: They're public
S: So say it -- yes or no
H: They are there to protect law enforcement, ICE officers
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-18T16:13:23.684Z
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SLOTKIN: Have you given the order to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way?
HEGSETH: What is that based on?
SLOTKIN: It is based on Trump giving that order to your predecessor, who I give a lot of credit to bc he didn't accept the order. He has more guts & balls than you
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-18T16:15:32.736Z
Senator Padilla: This Is How an Administration Acts When It’s Afraid
To any American wondering if democracy is lost or if they can ever make a difference, I’d say this: If the Trump administration was this scared of one senator with a question, imagine what the voices of tens of millions of Americans organizing will do. No one is coming to save us but us.
Senator Alex Padilla is an American hero
Padilla drilled down on Noem’s audacious, unconstitutional, and unprecedented assertion that Trump was “liberating” Los Angelenos from their elected representatives. The word for that is coup. “That simply is not, and cannot be, the mission of federal law enforcement and the United States military,” Padilla declared. “To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, are you truly prepared to live in a country where the President can deploy the armed forces to decide which duly elected governors and mayors should be allowed to lead their constituents?” For a party that has thrown around the merits of “states rights” like confetti, the lack of outrage among MAGA Republicans is galling.
Padilla used appropriate, accurate, and essential language to describe Trump’s break with democracy, citing a “tyrant,” “undemocratic crackdowns,” and “authoritarian power grabs,” while warning that Trump is taking us on a “path to fascism.” This is the language all democracy defenders must adopt. Media descriptions like Trump “tests the boundaries,” or “leans into executive power” are so anodyne as to mislead the public and wrap Trump’s autocratic conduct in a cloak of legitimacy.
Padilla demolished the Republican talking point that ICE has focused only on dangerous criminals, noting that: “reporting shows that less than 10 percent of immigrants taken into ICE custody since October have serious criminal convictions.” The raids are not at gang hangouts, they’re at workplaces, where immigrants are providing such essential work that hospitality and agricultural interests have pleaded with Trump to stop. (He initially agreed but was overruled by “President” Stephen Miller, who apparently gets the last say.)
Obama
Former President Barack Obama spoke in Hartford, CT on Tuesday night—and he did not mince words. “What we're seeing right now … is not consistent with American democracy … It is consistent with autocracies,” Obama said, stressing that there must “be people in government in both parties who say, ‘No, you can't do that.’”
Then, Obama slammed Trump: “In 2020, one person won the election and it wasn’t the guy complaining about it … And that's just a fact, just like … my inauguration had more people.”
Obama then spoke about his old mantra: “I’m still optimistic—I’m still the ‘hope’ guy … It is important to be impatient with injustice and cruelty, and there’s a healthy outrage we should be exhibiting in terms of what’s currently happening both here and around the world.”
They are weak
Meanwhile, although they have a lot of power, they are squandering much of it by sucking so much. They are much weaker than we tend to think. Actual strong people don’t act like they do.
Trump Is a Lousy Dictator
split screen was striking: millions of peaceful high-energy protestors on one side and Trump’s listless North Korean-style self-celebration on the other. No Kings featured throngs of marchers of every age. Well over five million people participated in demonstrations in all 50 states across the country (plus multiple global protests occurring in solidarity, in cities like Frankfurt, Paris, and Toronto. There were countless original signs (“No ‘faux king’ dictators” was seen from coast to coast), singing, chanting, and even dancing, attended by seniors in walkers, babies in strollers, and—as is so important to any democracy movement—young people galore.
The thing about Trump’s dictatorial role-playing is that he’s not that good at it, neither Saturday nor writ large. Those actual dictators manage to inspire or terrify large crowds into showing up for their self-aggrandizing shindigs. Trump’s crowds were sparse and, at spots along the parade route, non-existent. On a Fox broadcast, someone was heard asking, “Where are the people?” as the camera panned over a scanty crowd along the route. Even the president himself seemed uninterested and perhaps somnolent at times.
It was a metaphor for the failure of Trump’s larger authoritarian project so far. Remember, he set out to be a dictator “on day one,” and it became clear on day two and in the 146 days since that he meant from day one. The good news is that his dictatorial project is failing, as we explain every day here at the Contrarian and as you will read about in my usual weekly summary. Yes, the damage has been vast, starting with the turmoil Trump set off in Los Angeles. But it’s worth noting that even on his cruel immigration raids, he's now backing down (TACO!) and overall, his larger autocratic ambitions have been frustrated.
Trump’s Failed Strongman Schtick
Trump claimed that the world was spinning out of control under an enfeebled President Biden. He pledged to end wars on day one, defeat inflation, strengthen the economy, secure the border, and reduce crime. Many voters who did not personally like or agree with Donald Trump ultimately voted for him with the hope that he could bring order to a chaotic world.
Trump didn’t just promise to end the chaos; he promised to do so immediately. And as last week demonstrated, Trump has failed miserably.
Why Trump Is the Most Impotent President in Living Memory
President Donald Trump is rapidly becoming even more of a punchline on the world stage, according to foreign policy expert David Rothkopf, who appeared on Friday’s episode of The Daily Beast Podcast to deliver a scathing assessment of Trump’s global irrelevance.
“I would argue he may be the most impotent president of the United States that we’ve seen in our lifetimes,” Rothkopf told host Joanna Coles. “He’s alienated our allies, undermined our economy, attacked the international system—and he hasn’t made a single deal.”
“Trump wants to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral,” Rothkopf quipped, mocking the president’s need to put himself at the center of every news story.
It’s far from the only instance. Rothkopf criticized the president’s self-proclaimed deal-making prowess, which has yet to yield any actual deals. “It’s just not the same as cutting a real estate deal in New York City with your cronies,” Rothkopf said.
International leaders aren’t buying the act either, according to Rothkopf. “People are making fun of Trump publicly on stage,” he said. “They just don’t think he’s a serious character.”
Once Champions of Fringe Causes, Now in a ‘Trap of Their Own Making’
Dan Bongino, the intense and voluble media personality tapped by President Trump to be a top F.B.I. official, appeared on Fox News last month to deliver news that should not have been news: Jeffrey Epstein, he said with glum resignation, had not been murdered after all.
“I’ve seen the whole file,” said Mr. Bongino, sitting next to his boss, Kash Patel, the bureau’s director. “He killed himself.”
Mr. Patel and Mr. Bongino, partisan showmen placed in positions previously held by people with greater experience, earned their bona fides in Mr. Trump’s camp by promoting conspiracy theories, making promises of what they would accomplish under Mr. Trump when he returned to power based on fictional or exaggerated premises, pledging to reveal deep-state secrets and vowing swift vengeance on their enemies.
It has now fallen on Mr. Patel, Mr. Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi to make good on the promises explicit and implied — or show how hard they are trying. But they are running what amounts to a conspiracy theory fulfillment center with unstocked shelves, critics say.
“Patel, Bongino and the other leaders are caught in a trap of their own making,” said Russell Muirhead, a politics professor at Dartmouth College who has studied the role of conspiracy theories in American politics.
“The world they helped create, a world in which conspiracy destroys facts, is now the world they have to inhabit,” he added.
Trump knows he is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the American people, especially in Los Angeles.
Trump sent Vice President J.D. Vance to Los Angeles in hopes of creating raw meat to feed to the grumpy base. Vance failed spectacularly.
Vance is under the misimpression that he has a sense of humor and can tell jokes. He tried to make fun of the arrest of US Senator Alex Padilla for asking a question to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. But Vance referred to Senator Alex Padilla as “Jose Padilla,” because in Vance’s bigoted mind, all Latino males are named “Jose.”
Senator Alex Padilla is an accomplished person of dignity and integrity who is highly regarded by most Californians. Insulting Senator Padilla by resorting to a racist trope will accelerate Trump's unfavorability in the Latino community in California and nationwide.
They are unpopular
So, so unpopular.
Trump’s Agenda is a Loser
Democrats, often angst-ridden about “getting their message out,” should take some comfort in recent polling. The MAGA agenda is hugely unpopular.
Voters oppose the big ugly reconciliation bill by a roughly 2:1 margin. According to a recent KFF poll, “Nearly two-thirds of the public (64%) hold an unfavorable opinion of the tax and budget bill being discussed by Congress, while one-third (35%) hold a favorable view.” An astounding 71 percent of Independents disapprove. And the more people learn, the less they like it. “[P]ublic support for the legislation drops 14 percentage points to 21% after hearing that the legislation would decrease funding for local hospitals … [while 74%] have an unfavorable view of the legislation after hearing that the bill would increase the number of people without health insurance.”
The numbers on Trump’s deportation scheme, when you drill down, are rotten.
And Americans disapprove of sending migrants to a prison in El Salvador by 61% to 37% margin.
Overall, Trump’s approval is down to the high thirties in several polls. Quinnipiac finds only 38% approve, 54% disapprove; AP-NORC has him below 40 as well. He is in negative territory on virtually every issue, from the economy to trade to immigration.
In sum, cruelty is not popular. And Democrats must focus on MAGA’s victims, tying them to the lawmakers responsible for their ordeal, in order to break MAGA’s grip on power in 2026.
Terrible Polling
Last week Trump saw the worst polling of his second term. His approval was regularly double digit negative, his handling of deportations and immigration went sharply negative and a major poll of his terrible budget bill had it -20, even in worse shape than his handling of inflation and prices.
In the last 24 hours (GNR note: this is from midweek) we’ve gotten five additional polls confirming this downward trend:
Economist/YouGov:
Trump Insists MAGA ‘HATES’ Fox News After Embarrassing Network Poll
President Donald Trump savaged Fox News and declared that his MAGA base hates the network after a poll showed his approval ratings tanking.
One day after claiming he had the “highest ever” approval, a new Fox poll has found that the public thinks otherwise.
A Big, Beautiful Bust
Republicans know they have a big, beautiful problem: The centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s agenda is polling like garbage.
Public surveys from this month paint a grim picture for the GOP’s most important legislative push of the 119th Congress.
A plurality of Americans oppose the GOP reconciliation bill, just 67% of Republicans support the package and 71% of independents have an unfavorable view of the effort. In other words, it’s not only Democrats that don’t like the bill. It’s independents and Republicans, too.
In case you aren’t great at math, this is bad.
And instead of spending all their time selling the bill publicly, Hill Republicans remain locked in an internal struggle over its particulars, with the stakes enormously high — both politically and policy wise.
We also reported in Wednesday’s PM edition that Speaker Mike Johnson wasn’t kept in the loop about the drastic changes that Senate Republicans made to the Medicaid provider tax, a provision that could reduce funding for rural hospitals. Plus, SALT remains a huge hot spot for House and Senate Republicans. We’ll get into that further below.
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Harry Enten on Trump's bill: "The amount of disapproval for this bill -- holy cow, my goodness gracious! We're talking about 29 points underwater ... we're talking about a negative 41 net favorability rating among independents. You rarely ever see proposed pieces of legislation as unpopular"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-17T12:54:58.458Z
Their alliance is crumbling
they are turning on one another. 🍿
Ted Cruz Absolutely Explodes in MAGA Civil War Gotcha Moment
Tucker Carlson grilled Sen. Ted Cruz in an explosive on-screen confrontation that exposes the massive fault line ripping through MAGAworld.
In a preview of Wednesday’s Tucker Carlson Show, the pair engaged in a heated argument over U.S. involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict and started shouting over each other.
Carlson asked Cruz, “How many people live in Iran by the way?” Cruz responded, “I don’t know the population.”
The two men then argued about the “ethnic mix” of Iran, which led to Cruz shouting, “I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran!”
Carlson retorted, “No, you’re a senator who is calling to overthrow the country, and you don’t know anything about the country!”
Ted Cruz Rages at Tucker Carlson After ‘Gotcha’ Moment
Ted Cruz has bitterly clapped back after a preview of an interview with Tucker Carlson saw him ridiculed on social media. On Tuesday, Carlson dropped a clip where he asked Cruz “How many people live in Iran, by the way?” When the senator responded he did not know, an incredulous Carlson snapped: “You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?” The Daily Beast covered the fallout from the clip, which descended into Carlson laughing in Cruz’s face. Comments on social media included, “Is it possible to absolutely loathe Tucker Carlson and enjoy the f--k out of watching him destroy Ted Cruz at the same time?” Political commentator Brian Krassenstein leaned into the looming MAGA civil war, stating the video was a sign “the Republican Party is self-destructing.” Cruz took to his X account in an attempt to save face. “He released a snippet playing a ‘gotcha’ on the population of Iran,” Cruz said of Carlson’s preview. “I declined to play that silly game. WATCH the full 2-hr interview, where Tucker ATTACKS Trump, attacks the ‘AIPAC lobby,’ and falsely claims Iran is NOT trying to assassinate Trump.” The full interview is released on Wednesday.
Georgia Republicans are already gnawing at each other in the race for governor
Next year's Republican primary for governor of Georgia is already turning nasty, even though just one candidate is officially running.
Allies of Attorney General Chris Carr launched an ad campaign this week that both previews some of the attacks his side will use against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and makes it clear that they will not cede the MAGA mantle. Carr announced he would run last November, while Jones is all but certain to join him sometime this year.
"Burt Jones has made it no secret he's running, but can we really trust Burt Jones?" asks the narrator for Keep Georgia Strong, a pro-Carr group. The answer: "Bad votes. Self-dealing. Backroom deals to make the family business even more millions."
Stephen Miller and ICE Barbie in Bitter West Wing Civil War Over Round-Ups
Two of the Trump administration’s top figures overseeing Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans were furious with a White House official who tried to persuade the president not to target workers in the agriculture and leisure industries.
White House Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem—dubbed “ICE Barbie” for her stylized anti-immigration photo ops—were enraged after learning that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins had called Trump and suggested that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents avoid deporting longtime workers in sectors heavily reliant on migrant labor, Axios reported.
Tucker Carlson Blasts Trump for Being ‘Complicit’ in Israel’s Attack on Iran
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson made waves on Friday when he criticized not only President Donald Trump, whom he described as being “complicit” in Israel’s attack on Iran, but also former Fox News pals like Sean Hannity and Rupert Murdoch for acting as “warmongers.”
Rep. Marge Greene:
“Everyone is finding out who are real America First/MAGA and who were fake and just said it because it was popular. Unfortunately the list of fakes are becoming quite long and exposed themselves quickly. Anyone slobbering for the US to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA. We are sick and tired of foreign wars. All of them. And this one will quickly engulf the Middle East, BRICS, and NATO as countries are required to take a side. Real America First/MAGA wants world peace for all people and doesn’t want our military killed and forever injured physically and mentally.”
… “We have spent TRILLIONS in the Middle East and we have dealt with the aftermath of death, blown apart bodies, never ending suicides, and disabling PTSD. All because they told us propaganda as to why we must sacrifice our own to defend some other country’s borders and some other country’s borders. I don’t want to see Israel bombed or Iran bombed or Gaza bombed. I don’t want to see Ukraine bombed or Russia bombed. And we do NOT want to be involved or required to pay for ANY OF IT!!!”
Podcaster, comedian, Joe Rogan pal and frequent guest Dave Smith
“Trump, I supported him this past year and I apologize for doing so. It was a bad calculation. He should be impeached and removed for this. All of his supporters should turn on him. It’s an absolute betrayal of everything that he campaigned on. I know Trump supporters have been labeled a cult following, and that certainly is true for a percentage of them, but he’s going to lose his coalition over this.”
Fox News Host Gleefully Mocks ICE Barbie’s ‘Performance’ Art
Jessica Tarlov pushed back on her Fox News colleagues who claimed that Alex Padilla’s confrontation Thursday with Kristi Noem was an obvious photo op orchestrated by the California senator by reminding her co-hosts that the Homeland Security Secretary is “in a costume all the time.”
On The Five, Tarlov alluded to Noem’s frequent dress-up excursions in the field—as a firefighter, a pilot, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, a Coast Guard boat operator, and a headscarf-wearing camel rider—after Greg Gutfeld described Padilla’s video evidence of being wrestled to the ground and cuffed as the “ultimate photo op.”
Virginia Republicans are in disarray—just take it from them
"They've all got my cellphone, and I would love to see them," conservative radio host John Reid, who is the only Republican running for the open post of lieutenant governor, said of his ticketmates. "I hope that eventually we'll all be together and they'll embrace me, because I think we have a winning message."
Reid made his comments to WTOP's Nick Iannelli less than two months after he withstood pressure from Gov. Glenn Youngkin to end his campaign over sexually explicit online posts shared by an account allegedly tied to the candidate.
And Finally
If you were stressed by the decision of the 9th court of appeals, don’t lose hope
First, the panel acknowledged that the president’s federalization of the National Guard is subject to judicial review. Second, the panel’s ruling related only to the temporary restraining order issued by Judge Breyer, but leaves open the possibility of a different result on a factual record developed on the preliminary injunction hearing—including the possibility that Trump violated the Posse Comitatus Act. Finally, the ruling is subject to review by the Ninth Circuit in an en banc hearing and by the US Supreme Court.
What can you do to save democracy?
Remember, the good news happens BECAUSE we fight! So let’s do this. What can you do?
You can sign up for Chop wood, carry water. She’ll send you emails a few times a week that are inspirational, honest, and give you super easy action items so you can be involved without letting it ruin your life.
Go here → chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com
Consider joining some peaceful protests! They are making a big difference!
Here are some ideas.
-
If you can, I strongly recommend going to an in person meeting in your area. One way to find a local group is through indivisible: indivisibleproject.formstack.com/…
- Join the truth brigade! Grassroots-powered lie-stopping. Person by person; mind by opened mind
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Election Response Center is a project hosted by Working Families Party, MoveOn Civic Action, Indivisible, and Public Citizen. They are organizing lots of events to get people fighting. Join one at this link
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The ACLU plays a key role in filing lawsuits that often stop voter suppression. Get involved with them at this link.
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Get involved with the Democratic party. We aren’t perfect, but they are fucking evil.
- Get involved with the States Project They are working on turning state legislatures blue
- Get involved with Swing Left. They are working on races right now!
- People For the American Way is a national progressive advocacy organization that inspires and mobilizes Americans to defend freedom, justice, and democracy from those who threaten to take them away. Get involved with them here
- Center for American Progress Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan policy institute and advocacy organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Get involved with them here
Also, continue to find joy in your life! Don’t let that fuckface live rent free in your mind! This is your life!!!!!
Looking for something more specific?
Want to focus on the ENVIRONMENT:
Want to focus on CIVIL RIGHTS:
HUMAN RIGHTS - GENERALLY:
LGBTQ+:
WOMEN:
Huge thanks to DKos user dabug for help with this list.
Don’t let the options overwhelm you! Try to pick one thing and see if it calls to you. If it doesn’t find something else.
There are so many ways to get involved and help!
Some inspiration before I say goodbye
“Whatever happens, stay alive.
Don't die before you're dead.
Don't lose yourself, don't lose hope, don't lose direction.
Stay alive, with yourself, with every cell of your body, with every fiber of your skin.
Stay alive, learn, study, think, read, build, invent, create, speak, write, dream, design.
Stay alive, stay alive inside you, stay alive also outside, fill yourself with colors of the world, fill yourself with peace, fill yourself with hope.
Stay alive with joy.
There is only one thing you should not waste in life,
and that's life itself..."
.
At Albany Bulb with Elaine
By Alison Luterman
Side by side on a log by the bay.
Sunlight. Unleashed dogs,
prancing through surf, almost exploding
out of their skins with perfect happiness.
Dogs who don't know about fired park rangers,
or canceled health research, or tariff wars,
or the suicide hotline for veterans getting defunded,
or or or. We've listed horror upon horror
to each other for weeks now, and it does no good,
so instead I tell her how I held a two-day old baby
in my arms, inhaling him like a fresh-baked loaf of bread,
then watched as a sneeze erupted through his body
like a tiny volcano. It was the look of pure
astonishment on his face, as if he were Adam
in the garden of Eden making his debut achoo,
as if it were the first sneeze that ever blew,
that got me. She tells me how her dog
once farted so loudly he startled himself
and fell off the bed where he'd been lolling,
and then the two of us start to laugh so hard
we almost fall off our own log. And this
is our resistance for today; remembering
original innocence. And they can't
take it away from us, though they ban
our very existence, though they slash
our rights to ribbons, we will have
our mirth and our birthright gladness.
Long after every unsold Tesla
has vaporized, and earth has closed over
even the names of these temporary tyrants,
somewhere some women like us
will be sitting side by side, facing the water,
telling human stories and laughing still.
I am so proud and so lucky to be in this with all of you. ✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 💙❤️💛💚✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
