I’ve been thinking a lot about the first trump administration and what I want to do differently this time around.
One big thing for me is not letting him live rent free in my mind.
First, because there is nothing that psychotic narcissist would like more than to have us all thinking about him 24/7. I’d rather not give him ANYTHING he wants.
But more importantly, because it isn’t healthy for me. It isn’t healthy for you either.
It doesn’t do anyone any good. He doesn’t deserve to be thought about that much. It causes us stress. It does no one any good.
When important things are going on that require me to call my reps, or write letters, or donate money, or take to the streets, I want to know.
But the dumbass stuff? Like not knowing who Fredrick Douglas is, or coloring on a hurricane map with a sharpie, or saying really stupid or offensive shit. I am going to do all I can to avoid that.
I may hear about it but I am not going to read about it or watch things about it or talk about it or think about it.
I’m not saying it is meaningless or not bad. But it isn’t what I want to focus on. It won’t do any good and it takes over my mind. The man is a troll. He wants us upset and worked up and focusing on him. “triggering the libs” is 99% of what they do and I want no part in it.
When I think back, as stressful and awful as it was, I also had wonderful times between 2017 and 2020. There were great things that happened to me and my family and my friends and I enjoyed them. Life is filled with both great sorrow and great joy. I have every hope and expectation that will also be great joy between 2025 and 2029.
Time is limited, precious, unpredictable, and an enormous gift. I have no intention of signing over four years of my life to that monster and his bands of grifting morons.
This doesn’t mean I don’t intent to fight. Oh, I do. And I plan to win too. Me and millions and millions of my friends. You included.
But that fight won’t be all of my life. And it won’t be all of yours. And to protect that, we need to learn to focus on what is important and not on every attention seeking idiotic move. It won’t always be easy but we can do it.
Instead of a ton of articles today, I have a bunch of snippets of hope and good news from lots and lots of different places and then three slightly more in depth things. My apologies for not citing each of the snippets, but know that they come from reputable sources. My enormous gratitude to the many people who wrote these in a wide variety of places. There were just too many people sharing hope this week to organize it differently.
Let’s do it:
Snippets of Hope
- The cities of Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia have vowed to shield undocumented immigrants from Trump's mass deportation effort.
- People in this country have overcome worse than what we must overcome now. It’s the part of our history that is often the first to be censored, but groups of Americans have overcome far worse than this. Our role is clearly to grab the baton from the pro-democracy heroes who came before us, and carry that baton forward as they did, countering the anti-democracy forces who are always there, pushing the other way.
- We picked up a House seat (CA-45). GOP has a 220-214 margin, BUT 3 of their seats are back in play with Trump cabinet picks, meaning essentially 217-214. They will get nothing done! Democrat Adam Gray leads freshman GOP Rep. John Duarte by just 182 votes with 99% of the vote tallied. So we might end up 217 — 215 which means they can’t lost even one vote to pass anything! That is pretty amazing considering how hard it is for them to agree on ANYTHING.
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Matt Gaetz defeat shows the limits of Trump’s Power. So does the growing list of GOP Senators speak out against recess appointment idea. So do Republicans speaking on the record against Trump extremism nominees like Gorka, Gabbard and RFK Jr. So does GOP Senators picking Thune as leader, not Trump's preferred candidate
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Democrat Sen Judiciary senior member Amy Klobuchar saying she will only vote on FBI vetted candidates and then GOP Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski joined Klobuchar! And OP ranking member on Senate Armed Services Committee Roger Wicks says yes, Trump nominees need FBI checks. And GOP Sen. Mike Rounds says if background check is outsourced it needs to be validated. Checks on power!
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former OMB director Mulvaney saying Musk will find it is easier going to mars, than making changes to federal government. Basically, everything you have always hated about how slow the federal government works, you are about to love.
- Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive non-profit organization Indivisible, told USA TODAY that 11,000 people showed up to an election result debriefing call Indivisible held the day after the election and more than 40,000 were on a call announcing a new version of the Indivisible Guide a week later, numbers he hasn't seen since 2017
- More than 100,000 people RSVP'd for a call hosted six days after the election by several national progressive organizations.
- Run for Something, which supports progressive candidates who want to run for local offices, hoped 100 people would sign up in the first year. When they launched on Trump's Inauguration Day in 2017, 1,000 people signed up. Since Trump won re-election, more than 7,000 people have volunteered to run for office, said the group's co-founder Amanda Litman, contradicting the anecdotes she's heard that people feel like there is no point in resisting and won't bother getting involved. “People are angry, they're galvanized, they're specific with what they want to do."
- Since Election Day, Run for Something has had over 10,000 people from across the country sign up to run for office. To put that into perspective, RFS had 15,000 people reach out with interest in running for local office in the first year of Trump’s presidency.
- 800 lawyers are signed up to implement legal counter-strike plans to Project 2025 that were developed in recent months in working groups convened by Democracy Forward.
- Public Citizen's co-president Lisa Gilbert said instead of people organically taking to the streets in shock like in 2016, the coalition of groups are working together to channel the "manic organizer energy" to ensure all possible lanes are covered; not just protesting and speaking with lawmakers but also monitoring Cabinet officials' ethics filings and pursuing lawsuits. Public Citizen is a non-profit progressive consumer rights advocacy group based in Washington that sued Trump's first administration repeatedly and helped form one of the largest coalitions of groups opposing Trump called the Not Above the Law Coalition. Gilbert said they are primed to file public information requests about Cabinet officials Trump doesn't want the Senate to vet and sue over moves he tries to make through executive order.
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They will overreach. That overreach will include dangerous and disturbing actions. It will involve policies that harm the lives and well-being of everyday Americans. It will involve words and actions that offend the sensibilities of most Americans. It will also involve unforced errors. And it will involve decisions that prove to be politically toxic at the moment, or over time.
And this overreach after a very close election presents near-term opportunity.
We must seize it.
- The US has a longer and more robust democratic tradition than other 21st century democratic backsliders. Institutionally and culturally, harder for would-be authoritarians to overcome. Orban, Erdogan, Modi, Chavez/Maduro, etc. had it easier. Less to defeat than Trump. And many were more competent. I won't say it'll all be fine, because it won't be. But that doesn't mean it's all over, and thinking that it is grants Trump/MAGA a lot more power than they actually have. People in various countries have overcome worse. The US had democratic backsliding in Reconstruction's failure and Jim Crow. We’ve come back before. We can do it again.
- Trump’s signature policies of mass deportation and high tariffs are now facing some corporate headwinds. The booming Texas construction industry is having serious misgivings about the plan because it relies so heavily on documented labor. And on tariffs, giant retailers like Walmart and Lowe’s have now made their misgivings public, warning that import tariffs could lead to higher consumer prices.
- The European Federation of Journalists representing 320,000 journalists have announced they will stop posting on X on 1/20/25
- the Senate has now confirmed 15 Black federal appellate judges including 13 Black women under Biden. Before Biden became president, a total of 8 Black women had served as appellate judges EVER, so he nearly doubled the total of the previous 240 years of this country’s history in less than 4 years.
- Republicans controlled both the House and Senate for Donald Trump’s first two years in office. And yes, they passed a disastrous tax cut that benefitted billionaires and Big Business at the expense of the American people. But, quite famously, they failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) — even though it was practically the only thing some of them talked about (nearly to the point of foaming at the mouth) for years. Furthermore, it’s not like Republicans never disagree with other Republicans. They can’t even put aside their intra-party differences long enough to choose a Speaker of the House without devolving into farcical chaos and literal shoving matches. On top of all that, the Republican majorities in both the House and Senate will be thin. With any particular bill in Congress, just a few Republicans in either chamber breaking from the MAGA party line — because what’s best for their constituents will sometimes (more like most times) not align with what’s best for Donald Trump, and they know it — can stop bad legislation in its tracks.
- Since the election, thousands of people have donated to Public Citizen in response to their emails highlighting some of the ways they intend to confront a second Trump presidency and some of the ways they are already working together in fighting back.
In addition to those snippets, I want to give you three longer things. First, here is country star Sturgill Simpson talking about the election and America
Second, here is the always amazing Joyce Vance talking about the next few years from the perspective of what we can do and what strength America has
Not Broken
Right now, it might feel like Donald Trump broke the rule of law. But, stop and consider for a moment: this is how Trump wants you to feel. This is how all of the people around him, the ones who envision their surge to take over government in January, want you to feel. They want you to feel defeated. They want you to feel like Project 2025 is inevitable. They want you to give up, stay at home, and slowly subside into miserably drinking wine.
That is not who we are. Democrats may have lost the last election, but that’s not the same thing as losing the Republic. Far from it. And Donald Trump has not broken the rule of law. He has tortured it and stretched it out of shape insofar as it applies to him. But he has not broken it, and he has not broken us. He cannot do that unless we let him, and I don’t intend to let him.
I am still a very proud American. I love this country. I love the Constitution and the rule of law. I’m grateful to live in a place where, unlike the Eastern European cities my great-grandparents escaped from, people are not hunted down and killed because of their religion. I’m grateful to live in a country where, despite the failings at the founding, we have progressed to include Black people and women as voters, and where we continue to aspire to be more inclusive and open, including action at the state and local level when a president threatens to go the other way. Our progress is not always linear, but it is still important and a sign that our country is worth fighting for, which I intend to do. Not in the January 6, attack-the-Capitol sense of the word, but intelligently and persistently, using the tools American democracy gives us to their best use.
We still have a First Amendment right to assemble, to petition our government, and to free speech and a free press. They are ours to insist upon or lose. I intend to insist.
We have a right to vote. Preparing for the upcoming midterm elections, where MAGA may try to make it difficult to vote, is essential. That means both encouraging good candidates to consider running starting now and making sure essential parts of the electorate who feel defeated by what has happened find their way to get back up again. We can’t afford to let anyone give up.
The cavalry isn’t coming. It’s just us. And I’m thankful we’re together for it. It's no surprise that people are exhausted. It's no surprise that they feel like they've given their all and been betrayed by a country that reelected the convicted felon. But history teaches us that progress is not linear and that people who want to have a democracy, who understand that it's worth fighting for, have to stay the course even at their lowest point.
We have two choices: Give up or move forward.
It’s not even close. We have a Republic to keep, and we are not quitters.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
Third, here is the smart Noah Smith reflecting on how little Trump was actually able to get done in his first term and how his second term might be limited in similar ways.
The best-case scenario for Trump's second term
The economy continues to do well
There’s no evidence that economic expansions “die of old age”. Other than the brief weird interruption of Covid in 2020, the U.S. economy has been in perpetual expansion for the last 12 years or more. There’s a decent chance this will continue.
Unrest continues to fall
Unrest was the worst thing about Trump’s first term, but there are some signs that this history won’t repeat itself in the second. Trump’s victory in 2024 hasn’t been followed so far by any giant outpouring of anger in the streets, as happened in 2016. Nor have rightists triumphantly marched through the streets as they did in Charlottesville in 2017.
Tariffs on allies are a bluff
For example, Trump recently threatened 25% tariffs on Mexico unless Mexico stopped migration (which it has been trying to do anyway). Then shortly afterward, he declared that he had had a productive conversation with Mexico’s president, and seemed to say that they had worked things out:
Trump’s deregulatory effort helps the U.S. grow faster
During the Biden years, it became painfully apparent that certain types of regulation — especially land-use permitting — were strangling American industry. Some Democrats tried to reform permitting in order to facilitate the transition to green energy, but were largely foiled by progressive factions of their coalition.
Trump keeps Biden’s industrial policy but removes the “everything bagel” contracting requirements
Worryingly, Trump has threatened to cancel Biden’s signature policies — the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. That would be a tragedy, since these laws have been more effective at reindustrializing America than any other policy tried thus far.
But it’s possible Trump could be bluffing! Instead, he might decide to keep the policies in place, but make just enough changes to slap his name on them and take credit for them. This would obviously make Democrats mad, but it would preserve these very important policies.
Trump’s wacky nominees are replaced by regular conservative types
One of my big worries about Trump’s second term is that he’ll appoint wacky, incompetent people like RFK Jr. to positions of power. But it’s possible that some of these kooky appointments won’t make it through Congress, and others will quickly resign or be pushed out after performing badly at their jobs for a while. And it’s possible that Trump will replace these wacky appointees with competent conservatives.
For example, Trump just nominated Jim O’Neill, former CEO of the Thiel Foundation, to be deputy head of HHS, right under RFK Jr. If RFK resigns, O’Neill would be the most likely person to take the top spot, and would probably do an infinitely better job. And it’s possible that this could become a pattern throughout the entire administration.
Elon or others restrain Trump from fiscal profligacy
The biggest economic danger of Trump’s second term is inflation. Government deficits are one driver of inflation, for two reasons. First, they stimulate aggregate demand by putting money into consumers’ hands. Second, they pressure the Fed to keep rates low in order to help sustain government borrowing, and low rates are inflationary.
Trump has promised huge amounts of tax cuts, without concomitant spending increases. If carried out, this would add huge amounts to the deficit and to the national debt, increasing the risk of inflation and setting Trump up for a showdown with the Fed.
However, some of Trump’s associates — most importantly, Elon Musk — are extremely concerned about the deficit and the debt. Musk correctly identifies deficits as a driver of inflation
Trump takes no federal action on abortion
Perhaps the most consequential change to American society that happened as a result of Trump’s first term was that abortion became illegal in some states (thanks to Supreme Court judges that Trump appointed). Some in the GOP now want to enact a federal abortion ban, that would make it illegal throughout the country. However, Trump has promised to veto such a bill. He probably realizes how unpopular it would be. The best-case scenario is that he follows through on this promise, and continues his record of being moderate on abortion rights.
Trump forces an end to the Ukraine war in which Ukraine is not conquered
One of Trump’s major campaign promises was to end the Ukraine war quickly. This is a difficult thing to do, since the U.S. is not a combatant in that war. One option would be to simply withdraw all aid from Ukraine, presumably resulting in Russia conquering the whole country (assuming the hapless, helpless Europeans are unable to step into the gap left by the withdrawal of U.S. aid). That would certainly end the war!
But there are reasons for Trump not to go this route. MAGA rhetoric on this issue has always claimed (falsely) that America is at war in Ukraine. But if that were true, it would mean that if Ukraine were overrun, America would have “lost” a war. That would make Trump look weak — it would be like the Afghanistan withdrawal that started the downward slide of Biden’s popularity, except even worse. All the headlines would declare “America just lost another war!”, and Trump would take the blame.
In fact, Trump seems to be appointing at least a few hawkish people who would be very unhappy with the feeling that America had lost a war to Russia.
Trump stands up to China
I saved this one for last, because Trump’s policy toward China will probably be the most consequential thing in his entire second term. Although known as a China hawk from his first term, Trump has recently shown some signs of wanting to appease the Chinese, opposing the TikTok divestment bill and threatening to cancel the CHIPS Act.
On the other hand, Trump has nominated a number of people who are hawkish on China — Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, Mike Waltz for National Security Advisor, Alex Wong for Deputy National Security Advisor, and others. And of course Trump plans to be very confrontational toward China on trade issues, which is likely to make a general rapprochement more difficult.
In the best-case scenario, Trump follows the path of peace through strength, committing to a strong defense of Taiwan, working with allies in the region, and bolstering America’s military deterrent. Trump is also more likely to raise defense spending than Biden was.
Stay optimistic!
It’s incredibly unlikely that all of these rosy scenarios will pan out. But it’s very possible that some of them will. The next Trump term could be an unending cavalcade of disasters, and we need to both prepare for that and fight to stop it. But at the same time, it’s possible that the outcomes of Trump’s second term end up being just as benign as in his first four years — or more so. So even if you agree with me about all the dangers Trump poses, don’t despair! America has pulled through tough challenges with surprising resilience many times in the past. We should never discount the possibility that we’ll manage to do it again.
On the Lighter Side
Some adorable animal friendships from treehugger
Owen the baby hippopotamus and Mzee the giant tortoise have been friends since Owen was rescued from a reef where he was stranded during the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and brought to Lafarge Ecosystems' sanctuary in Kenya. The frightened hippo ran right over to the surprised tortoise and hid behind him -- just as he would have hidden behind his mother -- and, since then, the two have been walking and feeding together each day.
This macaque was rescued from Neilingding Island in China after his mother abandoned him and left him for dead: His recovery was dragging until he made friends with this pigeon, and now the two are rarely apart.
Two resident dogs at Knowsley Safari Park where Mi-Lu (the deer) was born and abandoned by his mother stepped in to help raise him, going for walks and snuggling as a group, until the deer was introduced back into the herd.
When this baby chihuahua lost his mother right after she gave birth, the staff at Arizona's Halo Animal Rescue had the impossible job of trying to find another nursing dog to take over -- and with no dogs available, they turned to the next best thing: a cat. The feline was already nursing four kittens that were about the same size as the puppy, so rescue workers introduced the chihuahua into the litter. A week later, the dog was doing well, gaining weight, and nearly ready to be adopted.
You're not likely to find a wild Sumatran tiger that's friends with a wild orangutan, but at the Taman Safari animal hospital in Indonesia, abandoned primates Nia and Irma have no problem snuggling with Dema and Manis -- month-old tigers. Both species are endangered, but in the sanctuary they enjoy the same activities as their wild brothers and sisters: cat naps for the tigers and rope swinging for the orangutans.
he baby elephant, orphaned at six months old when his mother fell down a cliff, chased his new friend Albert until the sheep took refuge in a shelter -- for 12 hours. But since then, the animals have been "inseparable," say observers, napping together, walking together, and even picking up habits: Albert figured out how to eat thorny bushes by following Themba's lead to avoid the spikes.
Gladys was a two-day-old chick when she became the only hen to survive a fox attack on her farm in Suffolk, England, but when her owners brought her inside for added safety, she found an unlikely ally in Snowy the cat. The owners saw the cat washing the chick and keeping her clean, and when it was time to let her back outside, Gladys refused to go without Snowy.
What can you do to save democracy?
If You Haven’t Left Twitter Already, Please Do So Now
“But, but, but… It’s how I get my news.”
No. It isn’t. At best it’s how you get your opinions re-enforced by like-minded people you follow because they tell you what you want to hear. At worst, it’s how you are lied to by anyone from a Russian bot to the soon-to-be President.
Oh, and get rid of your Tesla too. There are so many better electric cars out there.
For what it is worth, I left for BlueSky and have not regretted it for a minute! So much better!
What else can you do?
There are many ways to get involved. Everyone can find something that works for them.
Here are some ideas.
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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 used 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!
I am so proud and so lucky to be in this with all of you. ✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 💙❤️💛💚✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
