For the last six months, the only past president that Trump was more popular than was… himself. Literally, when you compared his popularity at that point of his term with every past president at that point in their term, he would only beat... Trump in his first term. Pathetic.
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Well folks, that patheticness has reached a new level. Trump 2.0 is now less popular than the 1.0 version, which makes him the most hated president since we started measuring how much people hate presidents. To which I say “well earned buddy!!!” If there is one honor this fellow deserves, it is the seething hatred of a nation full of patriots.
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This is why the failed game show host is working so hard to rig the 2026 elections. He knows we can win (with hard work) and he knows that flipping the House (and the Senate!) will effectively end the worst parts of his presidency. He is panicking.
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Which is why we have to win. Honestly.
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Think about this: The choice is another 1 year+ of this or another 3 years + (if we don’t take the House). Think about how much the House did for us in Trump 1.0! Think about how grateful we all were to Pelosi!
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We can have that again (although not with Pelosi).
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Will this be easy? No. We have a lot on our side: people hate him. We are winning special elections. We are fired up. The party out of power traditionally wins in the midterms.
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But we have some obstacles to face. They will try to suppress votes. They will lie. And Democrats have our own branding issues.
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And we are behind in $$ because giant donors seems to think (I wonder why???) that big donations will give them favors from the current administration.
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Of course, money isn’t everything. You’ll remember what happened in the Wisconsin special, even after Elon poured in all his money.
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But money is important. And to win, we need to donate (if we can). We’ll need to write postcards, and make calls, and share things on social media, and talk to friends, but we will also need to donate (if we can).
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It is time to start fighting. And if you can, it is time to start donating.
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To help us out, I set up a fundraising page!
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It splits our donations among the 15 seats held by Republicans in swing districts. These are seats that were either won by a margin of 4% less and/or were won by Harris in 2024. In other words, these are seats we can win in 2026. None of them are in CA or TX (and thus likely to be redistricted). Any money you donate will go directly to whomever our candidate will be in 2026. We only need to flip three of these!
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I know there has been bad press about ActBlue out there. Is it perfect? No. Is it our main fundraising arm for the party? YES!!! Our group alone has donated half a million dollars to Democrats through ActBlue
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You know who is spreading bad info about ActBlue? Republicans in the House. Gee, I wonder why????
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TO KEEP US FROM DONATING (that is why).
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I know the spam we get from donating is the worst. So I set this one up so you can opt out of sharing your info with the candidates.
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Of course, I can’t guarantee that you won’t get spam from this from someone. But, honestly, is that going to be what keeps you from saving Democracy? Spam emails?
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Of course not!
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Please, if you can, donate to take the house and SAVE DEMOCRACY.
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Here is the link:
Let’s do this!!!
Words of Inspiration
This week, a number of people I really admire said things that really moved and inspired me. I’d love to share them with you.
Here they are:
From the amazing Rebecca Solnit:
On Not Surrendering in Advance (Or At Any Point Thereafter)
There's a reason why sports teams don't chant "I believe that we will lose" before a game, a reason so obvious that I'm pretty sure it needs no explanation in that context. Words have power. They not only describe but shape reality; we take vows – spiritual vows, marital vows, oaths of office, become accountable for our words when we testify under oath in court or in Congress or just make a verbal commitment. Our words shape reality when we tell someone they're worthless or valuable, beautiful or ugly, beloved or unloveable, which is a bit like chanting "I believe that you will win." Or lose.
A friend of mine reminded me that the word encourage literally means to instill courage; we can do that or its opposite with how we speak, with what we say, with how we show up. It's not the only work we can do during this emergency, but it's an important part of it. It's a big part of how we express a spirit of defiance, of resoluteness, how we act with the knowledge that emotions and attitudes are contagious, be they fear or courage, strength or weakness, kindness or cruelty.
Which is why it makes my head explode – picture this head as a volcano and these words as lava – when people surrender in advance verbally, which they do all the time about politics. There's a lot of "I believe that we will lose" on social media and in the news...
What is it about noisily enthusiastic, confident defeatists? Is it that they want everyone else to surrender with them so they aren't the only ones surrendering? Or is it that they are abandoning the very real power we have, to resist, to claim a power none of us actually have, to know the future? Because pretending you know what will happen is a worn-out excuse for not participating in determining what will happen….
Vaclav Havel famously declared – and his words written in something more glowing than lava, are worth revisiting today: "The kind of hope I often think about (especially in situations that are particularly hopeless, such as prison) I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world. Either we have hope with- in us or we don’t; it is a dimension of the soul; it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed."
From the great Marc Elias:
Most importantly, I have hope when people refuse the cool cynicism of despair. Despair is peddled by the right to convince us that resistance is futile, and it is echoed by too many on the left who would rather sit back and say all is lost. Cynicism asks nothing of us; hope demands everything. When people choose to act rather than surrender, that is what keeps democracy alive.
Will these efforts be enough? Will the cynics be proven right in the end? I don’t know. None of us does. But our job — all of our jobs — is to ignore the temptation of despair and to keep fighting authoritarianism every single day, in every way we can.
Donald Trump wants us to grow numb to these attacks. But numbness is itself a form of complicity. He wants us to remain silent in fear. But silence normalizes the unacceptable. He wants us to feel hopeless. But hope is our greatest tool to fight dictatorship.
related:
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.". ~Alice Walker
Democrats are Amazing
Another thing you can do? Share stories about Democrats doing great things! THERE ARE SO MANY!!
Why don’t people realize this? I think this is because (a) people don’t follow the nitty gritty of what Dems have been doing (b) people define the party as being their least favorite members and forget that it also includes their most favorite members, and (c) people forget what a party that doesn’t control the House, Senate, or WH can do (and can’t do).
Here are some AMAZING stories of Democrats from just this week! Make sure to use your voice to amplify them when you can.
California Democrats Pass Redistricting Bill to Counter Trump’s Texas Gerrymander
California Democrats voted Thursday to approve a package of bills that together set up a November special election in which voters will be asked to greenlight a new congressional map. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) swiftly signed the package of bills into law, officially allowing California voters to decide whether to let lawmakers redraw the state’s congressional map.
The proposed new map, which could give Democrats five new seats in Congress, aims to counter Texas’ gerrymander. The Texas map, which came after pressure from President Donald Trump, is likely to hand the GOP five new congressional seats of its own. Texas lawmakers are slated to pass their map Friday.
The California package was debated in both legislative chambers simultaneously Thursday. Applause broke out in the Assembly when the chamber passed the constitutional amendment authorizing the maps by a 57-20 vote. The chamber passed the maps themselves and a bill funding the redistricting by similar margins, while the Senate passed each of the three measures along party lines.
Newsom Signs California Redistricting Plan to Counter Texas Republicans
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two redistricting bills that the Democratic-controlled Legislature sent to him earlier Thursday. He also declared a special election on Nov. 4 that will ask voters to grant final approval to the newly drawn congressional districts.
“We’re responding to what occurred in Texas,” Mr. Newsom said before signing the bills. “We’re neutralizing what occurred, and we’re giving the American people a fair chance, because when all things are equal, we’re all playing by the same rules.”
How Rep. Nicole Collier’s Capitol protest sparked solidarity among these Texas women
Tuesday morning, state Rep. Nicole Collier awoke from her seat on the floor of the Texas House, “bonnet and all,” after spending the night locked in the Capitol.
It’s an image that will go down in history.
Collier — an attorney, a mother, and the first woman to represent Tarrant County’s House District 95 in North Texas — was protesting the decision by the Texas House to order 24/7 monitoring by DPS state troopers of Texas Democrats who broke quorum over the past two weeks. More than 50 Texas Democrats left the state last month for Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts to protest racist redistricting efforts by Texas Republicans. In addition to creating five more Republican seats in Congress, the Texas GOP’s redistricting map would substantially reduce the representation available to Black and brown Texans.
Texas Democrats even posted a livestream overnight from the House floor, which showed other lawmakers, including some Democratic senators and state Rep. Gene Wu, visiting Collier with provisions.
Social media exploded overnight, as activists, civilians, and lawmakers — like U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke — called Texas Republicans “fascists” using “some old Jim Crow playbook.”
“Texas Republicans have lost their damn minds,” Crockett posted on X.
Texas Congresswoman Julie Johnson called Collier a “badass” for “holding her ground.”
“This situation says it all,” Johnson added. “Republicans holding a Black woman hostage so they can finish their business of rolling over Texas voters for Trump. Disgusting, racist, and shameful.”
Meanwhile, in the face of such authoritarianism, Democrats like Collier have shown “genuine vulnerability,” Eckhardt said.
“She invented a form of protest in that moment,” Eckhardt added.
CA state attorney general Rob Bonta.
Bonta's department issued this press release recently: "Since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Department of Justice (DOJ) have acted as a first and last line of defense against an onslaught of illegal executive orders, baseless actions, and wholesale dismantling of our government and the rule of law. Today, Attorney General Bonta reported on DOJs progress in safeguarding California's funding, protecting programs and services, and defending California's values amid ongoing illegal attacks from the Trump Administration. In just over six months, Attorney General Bonta has filed 37 lawsuits, leading or co-leading 23 of them, and separately filed more than 40 amicus briefs in support of other litigation against the Trump Administration. In the 19 cases where he has sought and a district court has ruled on early relief, he's succeeded in 17 of them, with 13 orders blocking President Trump's illegal actions currently in effect. He's also secured concessions and reversals outside of court, including the Department of Education’s recent decision to restore funding it had illegally frozen just days after California filed a lawsuit." That demonstrates that whatever you want to call Trump, unstoppable shouldn't be one of them. Though he does have the power to release the Epstein papers.
The Associated Press observed on August 8th on this handy chart: "The courts have agreed to block the president in a number of cases" and gave this score: "EXECUTIVE ACTION STATUS: Partially or fully blocked 110; Court left in effect 74; Pending 90." So much winning, a not inconsiderable majority of it by opponents of Team Trump.
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he’s moving forward with a ballot initiative which would allow Democrats to put in place a partisan gerrymander in the state. The Trump administration was so enraged at this act of defiance that officials sent ICE troops to stage a raid in Little Tokyo outside the Japanese American National Museum as Newsom held a press conference there last Thursday.
The sight of federal agents terrorizing people at the site of a where Japanese Americans were rounded up for internment in World War II was stark and sickening. Newsom responded with a fiery rebuke.
“He’s a failed president,” he said. “Who else sends ICE at the same time we’re having a conversation like this? Someone who’s weak. Someone who’s broken.”
Newsom’s threat to retaliate in kind is not a divisive attack on good governance. It is, instead, the only hope for democracy. Bipartisanship right now is appeasement. Democrats cannot and should not hide behind neutrality and fairness as MAGA incinerates the remaining tatters of our republic.
Newsom and other Democrats joining this battle are right to fight. And by fighting, they are demonstrating just how weak Trump is. When you bend the knee, MAGA looks invincible. As soon as you stand up, though, the orange god starts to look like a fetid bag of wind.
Illinois Sues Trump Administration for Access to Crime Victim Funding
Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Monday that he has joined a multistate lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from withholding federal funding to support crime victims in Illinois due to the state’s policy on immigration.
The lawsuit is one of 35 such suits challenging Trump administration policies that Raoul has joined as part of a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general. That’s an average of more than one suit per week since Trump resumed office on Jan. 20.
The latest suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, argues that the U.S. Department of Justice has imposed unlawful conditions on the distribution of funds under the federal Victims of Crime Act, a 1984 law that provides funding to help crime victims deal with costs resulting from crimes, including medical bills, counseling services and lost wages.
We Are Amazing
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ICE getting routed in my old DC Columbia Heights hood. Public, viral, resistance is the only way to prevent them from selling the idea that we love our red state military occupation are it’s a solution to urban ills Trump/Bondi/drunk Pirro are lying. Here’s how to expose the lie.
— Dave Zirin (@edgeofsports.bsky.social) 2025-08-20T11:44:37.034Z
We the people are amazing.
Donald Trump wanted to show everyone to see who’s in charge. And on Thursday night, the citizens of Washington, D.C. showed him just that.
Washingtonians took to the streets, throwing a resistance party and sending a beautiful Fuck You to the commander-in-shit-for-brains. Earlier, Trump had visited some federal officers to talk about grass and other nonsense. He claimed earlier in the day that he would be going on patrol. That, of course, was a lie. Because he’s a total chickenshit
And not long after Trump retreated to the increasingly grotesque White House to watch Fox News and definitely not South Park, this happened:
Sherrod Brown raises $3.6 million in 24 hours for Senate campaign
Former Democratic senator Sherrod Brown raised $3.6 million in the 24 hours since he announced Monday that he would challenge Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) next year, according to his campaign. The number sends a strong signal that Democratic donors are willing to give more than a year before the midterm elections as Democrats attempt to retake control of the Senate.
Brown received donations from all 88 counties in Ohio, according to his campaign. Ninety-six percent of the individual donations to the campaign were under $100, with an average donation of $53.
They Are Pathetic
Vance, Hegseth and Miller Branded ‘Nazis’ in Botched PR Stunt
Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller were met with a hostile welcome at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station on Wednesday.
Their visit came as the National Guard had been camped out around the iconic station as part of President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown in the nation’s capital.
Bystanders looked on as the trio was met with hecklers in the station’s marble lobby as they came confidently strolling through with their entourage.
“You’re an embarrassment to Ohio,” one woman could be heard shouting as Vance kept a smile plastered on his face.
“F***ing nazi,” another man wearing a backpack shouted while taking video on his phone as the group marched through.
“Get the f*** out of my city,” shouted a third man.
Others could be heard chanting “free DC” as video showed the group casually walking into Union Station’s Shake Shack restaurant.
Elon Musk must face lawsuit claiming he ran illegal $1 million election lottery
Elon Musk was ordered on Wednesday by a federal judge to face a lawsuit by voters accusing the world's richest person of defrauding them into signing a petition to support the U.S. Constitution for a chance to win his $1 million-a-day giveaway.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, Texas said Jacqueline McAferty plausibly alleged in her proposed class action that Musk and his political action committee America PAC wrongly induced her to provide personal identifying information as part of the giveaway, late in the 2024 election campaign.
In the public imagination, Stephen Miller is the dark heart of the Trump administration — a pulsing mass of anti-immigrant hatred behind its most aggressively authoritarian moves.
But what if there’s a different story to be told — that Stephen Miller’s obsession with deportations isn’t helping President Donald Trump secure control over the country, but actively undermining it?
Lie, Lie!’: GOP Rep Savaged at Local Town Hall
Every. Damn. Week.
Amazing
Wyoming Republican Representative Harriet Hageman has once again found herself facing an angry crowd while attempting to defend a Trump administration policy.
The congresswoman tried to justify the government’s planned repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s landmark “endangerment finding” to a crowd of voters at a town hall event in the rural town of Pinedale, Wyoming.
Her comments were met with a chorus of boos and heckles, with locals shouting, “No!” and others chanting, “Lie, lie!” as she attempted to press on.
Conservative network Newsmax agrees to pay $67M in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims
The conservative network Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of defaming a voting equipment company by spreading lies about President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, according to documents filed Monday.
US Attorney Pirro's office admits grand jury refused ICE interference charges — twice
Federal prosecutors twice sought a grand jury indictment against a D.C. woman accused of assaulting an FBI agent during an ICE inmate transfer — and were twice rejected, the U.S. Attorney’s Office admitted in court Thursday.
Target’s CEO is stepping down as customers turn away
Target CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down after 11 years at the retailer, as the company faces slumping sales and backlash to its retreat on DEI.
Trump’s Meme-Machine Quits as White House TikTok Flops
Donald Trump’s chief meme-maker has left the role just as the White House’s attempt to launch a TikTok account blew up in its face, and Democrats found their internet attack dog.
While it’s unclear when exactly he left the role—his LinkedIn lists him as being in the role until July—many were quick to point out that the White House had just tried to launch a new TikTok account the previous day, only to receive a substantial amount of criticism and trolling from users in response.
Progessive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen posted a collage of screenshots of comments left on the White House’s TikTok videos alongside a screenshot of McLaughlin’s X post, writing, “Wow. It looks like the White House just booted their “director of digital content” after they launched a TikTok page that got flooded with thousands of comments calling for Trump to release the Epstein files.”
Trump wants the Senate to scrap the 'blue slip.' Republicans aren't interested.
President Donald Trump last month tried to goad Sen. Chuck Grassley into ending the practice of giving deference to home-state senators in the judicial nominations process — a pressure campaign that quickly escalated into an all-out social media war on the 91-year-old Judiciary Committee chair.
It didn’t work. Despite Trump’s threats to rally his base against Grassley, Senate Republicans rebuffed the attempts to get their colleague to give up on so-called blue slips, which allow members of the minority party power to effectively veto nominees for U.S. attorneys and district court judges who would serve their regions.
It also doesn’t look like their position will change heading into the fall, either, as Republicans have indicated they’ll seek a rules change to speed up the confirmation process for certain Trump nominees on the Senate floor but not at the committee level.
“As a practical matter, the Senate’s not going to give up the blue slip,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, in an interview. “So my appeal to the president is: please reconsider. Why do we want to have this fight for nothing?”
Republicans are making a very simple, unforced mistake with Latino voters
For all the talk of a new, lasting multiracial coalition that helped elect President Donald Trump, there are clues that this support may be wavering, particularly among Latino voters. Polls show the president’s approval rating with this group has plummeted since the last election, and a third of Latinos who voted for him say they are unlikely to back a Republican candidate in the next one.
This collapse happened for a few reasons. Latino voters are souring not only on the president generally, but also on his handling of key issues like immigration and the economy — the very topics that boosted his support with them initially.
Good Things Still Happen
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🚨BREAKING: Federal Court BLOCKS implementation of Trump administration’s dangerous new rule that would strip health coverage from more than 2.2 million people, raise costs for working families, and undermine the Affordable Care Act’s core protections. A huge win for @democracyforward.org.
— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) 2025-08-22T15:49:06.303Z
Advocates Fighting 2021 Texas Redistricting Say They’ll Challenge New Gerrymander
Voting rights advocates fighting Texas’ existing congressional map are preparing to challenge the state’s latest gerrymander as soon as it goes into law.
The plaintiffs challenging the state’s 2021 map as a racial gerrymander filed a motion Monday asking to schedule a hearing in September at which they will argue that the court should block the new redistricting plan, which is currently being considered by lawmakers.
The plaintiffs – including the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), as well as other groups and individual Texas voters – argue that the new map, which has been advanced out of committee in both chambers, is “egregiously unconstitutional” and must be immediately blocked.
Plaintiffs intend to expeditiously supplement their complaints and move for a preliminary injunction on account of the new map’s blatant constitutional violations,” the advocates write. “Plaintiffs will request expedited consideration of that motion to ensure relief is available for the 2026 election (including time for emergency Supreme Court review as needed).”
Florida ordered to dismantle Alligator Alcatraz over environmental impact
A federal judge in Miami gave the state of Florida 60 days to clear out the immigrant detention facility called Alligator Alcatraz, handing environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians a win after they clashed with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over the environmental impacts the makeshift site was having in the federally protected Everglades.
Undaunted Leaders of the Free World
They swiftly rose to a challenge, put egos aside, and stood to help defend another leader on the front line in the battle against an authoritarian bully (actually two bullies, but only one waging physical war). United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, President of the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte traveled at a moment’s notice to the White House to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to protect their democratic ally from the predacious Russian President Vladimir Putin and his lackey Donald Trump.
The individual leaders helped guide the meeting to avoid another Trump explosion. As difficult as it must have been, they soberly listened to Trump’s rants, pretended he was coherent, and kept up the patter of insincere flattery. The leaders followed up with pointed rhetoric after the White House meeting. Macron in an NBC interview expressed skepticism that Russia was interested in a deal, and vowed to keep the threat of additional sanctions as leverage. He declared that “if the Russians don’t comply with this approach, yes, we have to increase the sanctions, secondary and primary sanctions.” And in language we used to expect from the U.S. president he stressed, “There is an aggressor, which is Russia. There is a country which decided to kill people, stole children and who refused a ceasefire and peace, so we cannot just create an equivalent situation between Ukraine and Russia.”
The Epstein Scandal isn’t going away.
The summer recess is going badly for House Republicans. Recall that Speaker Johnson adjourned the House early to avoid a floor vote demanding that the DOJ release the Epstein files. Mike Johnson apparently believed that fleeing Washington would make the media and the American people forget that Donald Trump was Jeffrey Epstein’s best friend for more than a decade while Epstein was running a child sex trafficking ring.
Mike Johnson’s plan to run away from controversy has failed miserably. Except for the few days when Trump was attempting to force Ukraine to surrender to Russia, the Republican conspiracy to prevent the release of the Epstein files remained at the top of the news cycle for the last three weeks. See NYTimes, Republican Bid to Help Trump Move Past Epstein Falls Flat. (“[H]alfway through a five-week congressional recess, the clamor shows little sign of quieting.”)
Despite Johnson’s efforts to shut down a floor vote, the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to the Department of Justice requiring the production of the Epstein files on Tuesday of this week. On Monday, the DOJ announced that it would miss the Tuesday deadline and would begin a partial production on Friday.
In other words, the cover-up continues. See MSN, Top Oversight Democrat: DOJ plan to release Epstein files in ‘batches’ a ‘cover-up’. (“Handpicked, partial productions are wholly insufficient and potentially misleading.”)
The cover-up is fooling no one, especially the constituents of Republicans foolhardy enough to hold town hall meetings. See The Independent, Republican town hall descends into chaos as angry voters rage over Epstein files and Trump agenda.
Bad News that Turned Good (and no one noticed)
Here are some stories from the past week that included (a) something bad happening (b) all of us freaking out worrying (c) our voices leading the bad thing to be undone and (d) most people did not notice step C.
Let’s highlight step C!
Why? Because we have agency! We have the ability to make things better!
We so often we panic about things and then completely miss the good turn (or forget to celebrate it).
Remember how trump was going to get rid of mail in voting using an executive order?
White House changes course after Trump vows executive order to ‘end’ mail-in voting
The White House has abruptly altered course on President Donald Trump’s vow to have an elite legal team craft an executive order that would end mail-in voting
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, just over 24 hours later, signaled that the administration had ditched the president’s approach.
remember how they were going to remove the DC police chief?
The Trump administration on Friday reversed course and agreed to leave the Washington, D.C., police chief in control of the department
Remember how Kilmar Abrego Garcia was never going to get out of that monstrous jail? Like ever! Well, not only is he out but… Kilmar Abrego Garcia Free from Detention, Reuniting with Family
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released Friday from the Putnam County Jail in Tennessee and is traveling to Maryland to reunite with his family as he awaits trial on federal human smuggling charges, his attorney told Nashville's FOX 17 News.
His attorney Sean Hecker told the TV station, "Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free. He is presently en route to his family in Maryland, after being unlawfully arrested and deported, and then imprisoned, all because of the government's vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the Administration's continuing assault on the rule of law. He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process."
Finally, are you freaked out about that NYT story about the voter registration issue? This may help a bit. From the great Robert Hubbell:
the gist of the article is true: Democratic Party registration has been decreasing since 2020. Is that a cause for panic? No. But it is a cause for introspection.
But . . . the most recent, real-world data point was the 2024 presidential election, where Trump failed to capture a majority of the vote—and where more people “Did Not Vote” than voted for either candidate.
The margin of defeat was 1.5% and 300,000 votes in the aggregate in three states would have flipped the Electoral College to Kamala Harris. So, making broad claims about a crisis for Democrats ignores actual voter behavior in the most recent natural experiment.
the number of persuadable voters—Independents, and “lean” Democratic and Republican—has increased since 2020—from 37% to 41% in 2025.
The 2024 election was decided by the 39% of “persuadable voters.” The 2026 and 2028 elections will be decided by the (now) 41% bloc of “persuadable voters” and the “Did Not Vote” voters that we can convince to show up in 2026 and 2028.
Approximately 155 million people voted in 2024. Sixty million of them fall into the “persuadable voter” category. We have plenty of margin among persuadable voters in 2026 and 2028 to make our case to the American people.
Am I worried about the modest decline in Democratic registration? Of course. The Democratic Party needs to do a better job of branding itself.
But we must be honest and acknowledge that Republicans lie shamelessly about Democrats in a way that Democrats do not reciprocate. It may be that our brand is suffering because Republicans have abandoned truth and decency. The massive defamation awards against Fox, Newsmax, and One America News demonstrate that right-wing media outlets intentionally lie about Democrats. Those lies take a toll.
I am not making excuses, but if we are going to identify root causes, it would be silly to ignore a significant cause of the poor Democratic brand among right-wing news viewers. And as right-wing news outlets become the predominant news source in rural America, we can expect more of the same.
The good news / bad news is that Trump is breaking the economy and safety net in a way that is getting people’s attention. To my eye, the better indicator of the mood of the electorate is what we see in the streets and town halls, and in special elections. Voter registration is something we should pay attention to, but voter registration does not equal votes. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
What can you do to save democracy?
Despite all the good news this is not going to be easy because they suck AND they cheat.
But we can win. And if we all fight hard, we will win.
Remember, the good news happens BECAUSE we fight! So let’s do this. What can you do?
First, continue to find joy in your life! Don’t let that fuckface live rent free in your mind! This is your life!!!!!
Second, if you can, it is time to start donating. I set up a fundraising page!
It splits our donations among the 15 seats held by Republicans in swing districts. These are seats that were either won by a margin of 4% or less or were won by Harris in 2024. In other words, these are seats we can win in 2026. None of them are in CA or TX (and thus likely to be redistricted). Any money you donate will go directly to whomever our candidate will be in 2026. We only need to flip three of these!
Here is the link:
Some other ways to get involved
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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 openewww.dailykos.com/...d 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
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..."
by Virginia Woolf
.
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. ✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 💙❤️💛💚✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
