"That’s a constitutional crisis. Hakeem Jeffries may want to keep praying it doesn’t come to that, but in the meantime, the entire Democratic Party should be flooding the airwaves — meeting us where we are — and warning Americans before it’s too late."
I am sorry, but as far as I can see Kamala´s whole campaign was about Project 2025 and what Trump would do.
Time to stop pushing the idea The DEMs should save everyone and start adressing the main issues:
1) You have up to almost 80 million voiters okay with ending democracy
2) Many could simply not vote for a black woman even if iot meant saving them from losing their jobs, being deported or having loved ones die because abortion rights are no longer protected.
3) You have a system that does not block a convicted fellon from runing to office.
Thank you and well said. The one thing about this whole discussion concerning "what the Democrats" should do is where are the voters in all this? They're the ones with the power to change things through their vote? And yet, when afforded that opportunity, millions chose instead to opt out and stay home thereby handing Trump a "mandate" despite yet again failing to win even a majority of the voters who bothered to show up.
Are we really supposed to believe voters don't have the means to form an opinion unless a political party does it for them? That they have to be "woo'ed" as if they're getting married, and not making a practical decision between two options as to who they want to lead the country?
The Dems were very loud and clear about what was at stake - I'm not even American and I CLEARLY understood the messagge and yet millions of American voters nope'd out? And are acting surprised by the fact that Trump is doing damned near everything he said he would do, or that the Republican party over which he completely dominates isn't offering even the slightest pushback, and yet somehow its on the Democrats, to bail them out?
The federal employee offer is NOT A BUYOUT. If you read the email, it basically says that if you resign, you can continue to work as you have (remotely or with telework, or not) until the end of September and then you leave. There is not a promise of administrative leave where you sit on your ass until then and collect a paycheck (though in some cases, this might happen). If you are needed to complete work, you will be working. Any fed workers that aren't already planning on retiring or are very early in their careers would be crazy to take this. It would totally upend retirements, health insurance, etc. and no real details have been provided. Make them get rid of me through legal means--that they're only giving people a week says to me that they know this shit won't fly through standard channels, at least not very easily.
Well, if you consider that these people's salaries are already approved through the end of the fiscal year (which for the feds is September 30), then the money is technically allocated. The biggest issue is when someone IS put on admin leave or is just not working--will Congress approve continuing to pay to these people? Apparently, there is a $25,000 cap on an actual 'buyout' of a fed employee--these payments would be well above that, in most cases. I know Trump's cronies at OPM think they're being clever about going around this, but to me (and probably most fed workers) it's pretty transparently suspect. This whole thing is an insult to federal workers' intelligence, frankly. I know that Russell shithead over at OPM thinks they're all stupid though.
We shouldn't be freaking out (at least not beyond the initial justified emotional reaction) but we should be acting. I keep bringing up that Atlantic piece on how Hitler overturned the government through completely constitutional means within a month of becoming chancellor because the parallels are striking, almost uncanny.
The Republicans will NOT stop him, with the exception of the Mitch McConnells et al who are completely irrelevant. The rest of them will enable him, not because they have no choice, but because they actively support him, just like the National Socialist party actively supported Hitler. The old Republican party and its principles are completely gone; they are the party of fascism now and will fully implement fascism.
Trump will refuse to follow laws because he's always refused to follow laws and he thinks he's above them, and the rest of the Republican party thinks so too.
My hope is that the opposition will not fold the way they did in 1930s Germany, although I don't feel great about that, given that both my Democratic senators voted to confirm Noem. I expect more of that from both of them and I'm hoping they will be responsive to complaints from their electorate (there are more Democrats than fascists in Michigan; we just keep going for Trump because we hate women). And my hope is that the ACLU, the SPLC, and everyone else can coordinate to "divvy up", for lack of a better term, and focus on different things so that everything is covered. I will keep donating to those organizations as long as I am able!!!
The cynicism in the Senate is terrifying. Most of the Senators are convinced whoever passes confirmation won't make it 12 months, so it probably doesn't matter. I'm not saying they're wrong, but that's some serious copium. There's also a norms & traditions argument that the Presidents get to have broad latitude in their choices for cabinet agencies - confirmation is just to weed out the . . incompetent, unqualified, or corrupt. *head smacking my desk* Of course, so many of the elected Senators (and Congresspeople) are themselves incompetent, they probably wouldn't see a Cabinet appointees incompetence even if it hit them with a freight truck. It's the same blinkered vision of government their leader has.
"Trump is making deeply unpopular decisions, and we have to call them out—but he hasn’t yet crossed a constitutional red line. Yet."
He's blatantly crossed Constitutional lines in his orders, it's just that none of the orders have caused crisis actions beyond some events which should be repairable (in theory). But I suppose my distinction is nitpicking.
"not a single Republican is doing a damn thing about it"
There's the problem in just 11 words. Given the numbers, they are the only ones who can effectively exercise Article I powers and stand in his way. But the whole lot has just spent like a million bucks to hold their "retreat" at Doral. They're a pack of cowardly suck-ups, all of 'em.
Oh, and Chuck Grassley won't do squat over in the Senate, except maybe invite Susan Collins for a ride on his tractor.
The thought that I'm kind of settling into is that Trump wouldn't be issuing so many executive orders if he thought any of this shit had a chance of becoming law. He has a Republican congress and a conservative Supreme Court. But he's not a king. He should be pushed back on. FORCEFULLY.
It's kind of like him nominating Matt Gaetz, who never stood a snowball's chance of confirmation, then sneaking Pam Bondi in there instead. Lead with the crazy stuff so that the even worse stuff you *really* want to do won't attract as much attention.
I think it's pretty reasonable to freak out. The reason he's flooding the zone is because he knows you can't stop everything. There's going to be a lot of damage, and if/when Democrats finally get power back, they're going to have to spend capital they shouldn't just to do things like fully staff the government and bring back important agencies.
Musk and his collection of tech freaks coming into OMB and running the same playbook they did when he bought Twitter - which, if you read the book Character Limit, was basically the dumbest and worst possible way to take over a company - is really, really bad. Musk is a unique combo of extremely stupid and extremely powerful. That's the last person you want trying to do anything with the government. A lot of people are going to take those buyouts, and they'll be replaced by MAGA freaks (or, in most cases, not replaced at all).
Im listening to Kara Swisher's book and the way she describes him is... something else. He really is bad. Hard to fathom how the richest fucking man in the world can still feel like such a victim.
The dude picked to run OMB is Russell Vought, not Leon. Vought is the so-called architect of Project 2025, so there's nothing to worry about there, unless you're hoping the federal government will still do what it's meant to do.
The problem with the pick our battles mindset is (I think, anyway) that that's exactly what the representatives and senators on our side are doing. They're voting for Noem and every other reprehensible person he appointed to his cabinet so it's not all just white noise when the pick a fight they hope they can win against Kennedy. Unless I'm wrong and their strategy is coming from the other side of our base that actually wants things to get as bad as they can so that maybe people finally learn what voting Trump and republicans in general will get you. And if that's the case we're not freaking out enough because we're truly on our own.
I tried to have a conversation about this with my husband last night and he kept trying to talk me down from the ledge by assuring me that this is all going to eventually blow up all over Trump and the GOP. Meaning that once the Memaws can’t get their meds or red state AG producers lose all their help, the MAGAS will march on Washington but against Trump this time. So, besides the fact that he’s literally predicting an overthrow of the government/war, I tried to explain that there was going to be a ton of damage and chaos in the meantime. Both of our jobs tangentially rely on federal money and a healthy economy. His especially since he works in private aviation, which seems to be one of the first sectors to tank when the economy goes bad and is one of the slowest to recover.
I’m rambling, but I’m really worried for myself, my family and the world as a whole. He thinks we need to watch and see and wait for the blowback to neuter the worst of it. I cannot take the stress that I had during his first four years but I can’t just shut everything down and look away. Guess the point is that I just don’t know what to do. Everything feels completely hopeless (which I know is the point).
Is your husband a middle-class white man? I ask because mine is reacting the same way, and he's a straight cis white man from a middle-class background. He didn't grow up wealthy, but during his entire childhood and adulthood, he's never known financial instability.
I think people who come from privilege are underreacting right now. They think: "Oh, that could never happen to me! Other people will suffer, but I won't lose my job or healthcare or access to affordable groceries!" Unfortunately, I do Trump is capable of wreaking so much havoc that everyone (except the billionaire class) will suffer.
My white, middle class husband is reacting the same way, too. He's definitely concerned, but he tells me that I shouldn't panic.
Meanwhile, I'm panicking anyway, because I'm a little more aware of how this administration treats women, POC, and LGBTQ+ folks. The guardrails are completely gone, and we're headed for complete chaos and a lot of people will get hurt (or worse).
I don't know what to do, and I'm not even sure, realistically, if there's anything we CAN do. It's awful.
I don’t have any good answers. I’m just thinking about what I can do to get through the next few years. :( All I know is that we can’t give up. That how the fascists win.
I'm the one telling my white boyfriend it's going to be a long four years if you stress over everything Trump does. So no, not every white man is responding the same way.
Yep, this makes a lot of sense. I don’t really know what we can do to convince them other than just continue to talk about how bad things are and how much worse they can get.
That's very much the Musk mindset. I read an article a long time ago about how Tesla really looked with disdain on potential employees with any kind of automotive experience or expertise, and instead prioritized "drive" and "innovation" and "hunger". And I saw that firsthand when I had to work with them (ALLEGEDLY; if I'd worked with them I'd have had to sign an NDA prohibiting me from talking about it): their engineers were arrogant idiots.
They were really, really condescending about the way we did things because obviously the automotive industry is full of backwards morons who aren't good enough to get a job with Tesla, but the way the auto industry does things is based on a lot of knowledge. We have standardized ways to test for resistance to abrasion, for example, or to test for how likely something is to get moldy if it gets wet, because we have built cars for a hundred years and have learned that those are real issues. And they would literally laugh at us and go "we don't do it that way" and it was impossible to get anything done with them. (Not coincidentally, their build quality is shit.)
Wyden was the one who blew the whistle about all 50 states being locked out of the Medicaid portals yesterday. And also has released stuff on what OMB has been doing/asking employees to do.
This was forwarded to me today:
"Wise and important words from sociologist Jennifer Walter about what is happening in this country right now and what to do about it:
"As a sociologist, I need to tell you:
Your overwhelm is the goal.
1/ The flood of 200+ executive orders in Trump's first days exemplifies Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" - using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too disoriented to effectively resist. This isn't just politics as usual - it's a strategic exploitation of cognitive limits.
2/ Media theorist McLuhan predicted this: When humans face information overload, they become passive and disengaged. The rapid-fire executive orders create a cognitive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for citizens and media to thoroughly analyze any single policy.
3/ Agenda-setting theory explains the strategy: When multiple major policies compete for attention simultaneously, it fragments public discourse. Traditional media can't keep up with the pace, leading to superficial coverage.
The result? Weakened democratic oversight and reduced public engagement What now?
1/ Set boundaries: Pick 2-3 key issues you deeply care about and focus your attention there. You can't track everything - that's by design. Impact comes from sustained focus, not scattered awareness.
2/ Use aggregators & experts: Find trusted analysts who do the heavy lifting of synthesis. Look for those explaining patterns, not just events.
3/ Remember: Feeling overwhelmed is the point. When you recognize this, you regain some power. Take breaks. Process. This is a marathon.
4/ Practice going slow: Wait 48hrs before reacting to new policies. The urgent clouds the important. Initial reporting often misses context
5/ Build community: Share the cognitive load. Different people track different issues. Network intelligence beats individual overload.
Remember: They want you scattered. Your focus is resistance."
And this is where I'm living all the time in my head at the moment. Trying desperately to not do what I did in 2017 and freak out at every little thing. Let's see what happens, what the courts strike down vs what harm he can ACTUALLY do, beyond sowing chaos. I feel like that's what the Democratic Party is doing as well, laying (lying?) low and picking strategic battles. HOWever, in the meantime, it feels like this slow degradation is only going in one direction, and it's not going to stop, hence the daily panic. From the suddenly new comfort with saying the word "r**ard" again I see happening, we're only one step from the "n" word being comfortably thrown around in polite society, to people getting used to Trump being Trump, and trying, like me, to just hunker down, grit our teeth and try to just get through the next 4 years. The question is, HOW can Dems fight back, when we have ZERO power in the levers of government. Giving speeches on the floor, doing social media hits, all fine and good, but as we've seen, this Republican Party is immune to shame and pressure, so what does it matter?? THIS is what this country voted for, and I'm right back to my cynical, fuck-it attitude, of OK, well I guess this is what we get! Slightly over half of us think that this is the righteous way, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯/ I guess? And hope that in 2 years we can have some small turning of the tide?? I don't know, it all just feels hopeless. I'm not in fighting form yet, I suppose.
I like Keith Olbermann's last two podcasts; he DOES suggest that the Democrats need to raise articles of impeachment. Early and often! All impeachments, even failed impeachments are undefeated.
Yes. We should be freaking out. I get that it's not conducive to daily life, so of course all things in moderation but this. Is. Scary. Shit.
1. Trump is trying to gain the power to unilaterally modify the constitutional amendments as he sees fit with his birthright EO.
2. Trump is trying to take the power of the purse from Congress- and it appears Republicans are willing to cede it.
3. Trump is escalating his loyalty purges to include inspector generals who the last administration specifically put guardrails around to prevent this. Trump is ignoring it.
Yes, two federal judges have halted 1 and 2, and the inspector generals have said 3 isn't allowed. But both those fed judges can be appealed. EOD, this all ends up in front of SCOTUS. And this SCOTUS? I honestly don't know how they will rule. I kind of suspect they'll split the baby and allow birthright but push back on the impoundment violations (because Scalia himself railed against Nixon for trying something similar and God knows the only person Clarence Thomas worships over his own self-interest is Scalia).
But SCOTUS has already shown it's fine taking down all the guardrails. We can't trust that they won't take these too. And that leaves us with a leader who is making civil servants sign loyalty pledges, no inspector generals to call out corruption, a leader with full power over the national purse, and one who can modify constitutional amendments as he sees fit.
That's not a president anymore. That's a dictator. Especially when he's also trying to do loyalty purges on the military as well.
Will this necessarily happen? God I hope not. Is this what they are trying to accomplish? Yeah, I think so. They have plans this time around, and faced no consequences from the last round. MAGA, Trump, Project 2025, they're all 3x as dangerous as when we faced this in 2016.
It's obvious they are operating under the "unitary executive theory" which is a horseshit concept republicans have been trying to implement since the Bush administration. The idea being that the president is essentially a dictator and can do whatever he wants. That's what the spending freeze was about. Testing the idea that the president controls the purse strings essentially bypassing congress.
Keep in mind, there is no constitutional basis for this. They completely pulled this idea out of their asses. Congress obviously controls the purse strings. Yes, you should be freaking out. They are absolutely going to ignore court rulings they don't like or judge shop until they find one that will rule in their favor. On places like Yahoo! there's already talk to of just taking every case they lose to the SCOTUS on the assumption it's just a rubber stamp for whatever they want. And I can't say with a straight face it isn't.
There's a reason he wanted to get rid of the debt ceiling altogether. He doesn't want congress to have any leverage over him. He wants congress to be powerless. Yes, it's as bad as it looks. Yes, they are every cartoon stereotype we have about them. The only light I see as the end of the tunnel is the fact that the spending freeze really did seem to freak out a lot of people. I don't think most Americans understand what they voted for. We need to tell them. No one voted to invade Greenland. No one voted to take the power of the purse away from congress. He's essentially going to destroy every single government agency and replace it with cronies who are only subservient to him.
I also think he understands there's a limit to how much of this shit the public will put up with or how much of it they can sell. There's a reason things like SNAP benefits and food stamps didn't fall under the spending freeze. He knows he needs the public on his side if he's going to pull this off. Take away too much too soon without selling it to the public first is a bad idea. We can work with that. If we know how to take advantage of it.
To your point about Trump understanding there are limits to what the public will put up with, I liken it to mob boss actions (I'm thinking specifically about the Harlem mob boss in American Gangster, handing out free turkeys or straight up cash to poor people to win them over and then he can do whatever he wants, like flood the neighborhood with drugs and destroy a community, all to line his pockets). I see Trump doing the exact same thing. Desperate people getting thrown a bone and thinking they have a benevolent leader to take care of them, all the while not seeing the destruction and erosion taking place around them, because most people are just trying to survive the day. Not everyone is tuned in and paying attention to politics and current events, hence the dumbing down of our education system. It's easier to convince desperate people you're their savior. It's so disheartening and infuriating.
"That’s a constitutional crisis. Hakeem Jeffries may want to keep praying it doesn’t come to that, but in the meantime, the entire Democratic Party should be flooding the airwaves — meeting us where we are — and warning Americans before it’s too late."
I am sorry, but as far as I can see Kamala´s whole campaign was about Project 2025 and what Trump would do.
Time to stop pushing the idea The DEMs should save everyone and start adressing the main issues:
1) You have up to almost 80 million voiters okay with ending democracy
2) Many could simply not vote for a black woman even if iot meant saving them from losing their jobs, being deported or having loved ones die because abortion rights are no longer protected.
3) You have a system that does not block a convicted fellon from runing to office.
Thank you and well said. The one thing about this whole discussion concerning "what the Democrats" should do is where are the voters in all this? They're the ones with the power to change things through their vote? And yet, when afforded that opportunity, millions chose instead to opt out and stay home thereby handing Trump a "mandate" despite yet again failing to win even a majority of the voters who bothered to show up.
Are we really supposed to believe voters don't have the means to form an opinion unless a political party does it for them? That they have to be "woo'ed" as if they're getting married, and not making a practical decision between two options as to who they want to lead the country?
The Dems were very loud and clear about what was at stake - I'm not even American and I CLEARLY understood the messagge and yet millions of American voters nope'd out? And are acting surprised by the fact that Trump is doing damned near everything he said he would do, or that the Republican party over which he completely dominates isn't offering even the slightest pushback, and yet somehow its on the Democrats, to bail them out?
Nah, f**k that.
The federal employee offer is NOT A BUYOUT. If you read the email, it basically says that if you resign, you can continue to work as you have (remotely or with telework, or not) until the end of September and then you leave. There is not a promise of administrative leave where you sit on your ass until then and collect a paycheck (though in some cases, this might happen). If you are needed to complete work, you will be working. Any fed workers that aren't already planning on retiring or are very early in their careers would be crazy to take this. It would totally upend retirements, health insurance, etc. and no real details have been provided. Make them get rid of me through legal means--that they're only giving people a week says to me that they know this shit won't fly through standard channels, at least not very easily.
There's also not money allocated to pay for this, and it's coming from two of the biggest grifters in American history.
Get your check up front because you might not get it at all.
Well, if you consider that these people's salaries are already approved through the end of the fiscal year (which for the feds is September 30), then the money is technically allocated. The biggest issue is when someone IS put on admin leave or is just not working--will Congress approve continuing to pay to these people? Apparently, there is a $25,000 cap on an actual 'buyout' of a fed employee--these payments would be well above that, in most cases. I know Trump's cronies at OPM think they're being clever about going around this, but to me (and probably most fed workers) it's pretty transparently suspect. This whole thing is an insult to federal workers' intelligence, frankly. I know that Russell shithead over at OPM thinks they're all stupid though.
I said this over on the main site, but I don't think the guy who stiffs his lawyers and contractors is gonna pay up when the time comes.
Were I in this position, I'd make them fire me and wear it as a badge of honor.
This is the same sh*t Elon pulled at Twitter when he bought it. Trying to convince people to take less than they were by leaving voluntarily.
That did seem too good to be true, eight months severance sounded amazing to me in the private sector.
We shouldn't be freaking out (at least not beyond the initial justified emotional reaction) but we should be acting. I keep bringing up that Atlantic piece on how Hitler overturned the government through completely constitutional means within a month of becoming chancellor because the parallels are striking, almost uncanny.
The Republicans will NOT stop him, with the exception of the Mitch McConnells et al who are completely irrelevant. The rest of them will enable him, not because they have no choice, but because they actively support him, just like the National Socialist party actively supported Hitler. The old Republican party and its principles are completely gone; they are the party of fascism now and will fully implement fascism.
Trump will refuse to follow laws because he's always refused to follow laws and he thinks he's above them, and the rest of the Republican party thinks so too.
My hope is that the opposition will not fold the way they did in 1930s Germany, although I don't feel great about that, given that both my Democratic senators voted to confirm Noem. I expect more of that from both of them and I'm hoping they will be responsive to complaints from their electorate (there are more Democrats than fascists in Michigan; we just keep going for Trump because we hate women). And my hope is that the ACLU, the SPLC, and everyone else can coordinate to "divvy up", for lack of a better term, and focus on different things so that everything is covered. I will keep donating to those organizations as long as I am able!!!
RE: those Senators
The cynicism in the Senate is terrifying. Most of the Senators are convinced whoever passes confirmation won't make it 12 months, so it probably doesn't matter. I'm not saying they're wrong, but that's some serious copium. There's also a norms & traditions argument that the Presidents get to have broad latitude in their choices for cabinet agencies - confirmation is just to weed out the . . incompetent, unqualified, or corrupt. *head smacking my desk* Of course, so many of the elected Senators (and Congresspeople) are themselves incompetent, they probably wouldn't see a Cabinet appointees incompetence even if it hit them with a freight truck. It's the same blinkered vision of government their leader has.
"Trump is making deeply unpopular decisions, and we have to call them out—but he hasn’t yet crossed a constitutional red line. Yet."
He's blatantly crossed Constitutional lines in his orders, it's just that none of the orders have caused crisis actions beyond some events which should be repairable (in theory). But I suppose my distinction is nitpicking.
His birthright executive order was struck down *specifically because it was blatantly unconstitutional.*
"not a single Republican is doing a damn thing about it"
There's the problem in just 11 words. Given the numbers, they are the only ones who can effectively exercise Article I powers and stand in his way. But the whole lot has just spent like a million bucks to hold their "retreat" at Doral. They're a pack of cowardly suck-ups, all of 'em.
Oh, and Chuck Grassley won't do squat over in the Senate, except maybe invite Susan Collins for a ride on his tractor.
The thought that I'm kind of settling into is that Trump wouldn't be issuing so many executive orders if he thought any of this shit had a chance of becoming law. He has a Republican congress and a conservative Supreme Court. But he's not a king. He should be pushed back on. FORCEFULLY.
Ooh, I like your take, it gives me hope.
It's kind of like him nominating Matt Gaetz, who never stood a snowball's chance of confirmation, then sneaking Pam Bondi in there instead. Lead with the crazy stuff so that the even worse stuff you *really* want to do won't attract as much attention.
I think it's pretty reasonable to freak out. The reason he's flooding the zone is because he knows you can't stop everything. There's going to be a lot of damage, and if/when Democrats finally get power back, they're going to have to spend capital they shouldn't just to do things like fully staff the government and bring back important agencies.
Musk and his collection of tech freaks coming into OMB and running the same playbook they did when he bought Twitter - which, if you read the book Character Limit, was basically the dumbest and worst possible way to take over a company - is really, really bad. Musk is a unique combo of extremely stupid and extremely powerful. That's the last person you want trying to do anything with the government. A lot of people are going to take those buyouts, and they'll be replaced by MAGA freaks (or, in most cases, not replaced at all).
Im listening to Kara Swisher's book and the way she describes him is... something else. He really is bad. Hard to fathom how the richest fucking man in the world can still feel like such a victim.
The dude picked to run OMB is Russell Vought, not Leon. Vought is the so-called architect of Project 2025, so there's nothing to worry about there, unless you're hoping the federal government will still do what it's meant to do.
The problem with the pick our battles mindset is (I think, anyway) that that's exactly what the representatives and senators on our side are doing. They're voting for Noem and every other reprehensible person he appointed to his cabinet so it's not all just white noise when the pick a fight they hope they can win against Kennedy. Unless I'm wrong and their strategy is coming from the other side of our base that actually wants things to get as bad as they can so that maybe people finally learn what voting Trump and republicans in general will get you. And if that's the case we're not freaking out enough because we're truly on our own.
Goddamn I hope they go full court press on Gabbard. That terrifies me.
I tried to have a conversation about this with my husband last night and he kept trying to talk me down from the ledge by assuring me that this is all going to eventually blow up all over Trump and the GOP. Meaning that once the Memaws can’t get their meds or red state AG producers lose all their help, the MAGAS will march on Washington but against Trump this time. So, besides the fact that he’s literally predicting an overthrow of the government/war, I tried to explain that there was going to be a ton of damage and chaos in the meantime. Both of our jobs tangentially rely on federal money and a healthy economy. His especially since he works in private aviation, which seems to be one of the first sectors to tank when the economy goes bad and is one of the slowest to recover.
I’m rambling, but I’m really worried for myself, my family and the world as a whole. He thinks we need to watch and see and wait for the blowback to neuter the worst of it. I cannot take the stress that I had during his first four years but I can’t just shut everything down and look away. Guess the point is that I just don’t know what to do. Everything feels completely hopeless (which I know is the point).
Is your husband a middle-class white man? I ask because mine is reacting the same way, and he's a straight cis white man from a middle-class background. He didn't grow up wealthy, but during his entire childhood and adulthood, he's never known financial instability.
I think people who come from privilege are underreacting right now. They think: "Oh, that could never happen to me! Other people will suffer, but I won't lose my job or healthcare or access to affordable groceries!" Unfortunately, I do Trump is capable of wreaking so much havoc that everyone (except the billionaire class) will suffer.
My white, middle class husband is reacting the same way, too. He's definitely concerned, but he tells me that I shouldn't panic.
Meanwhile, I'm panicking anyway, because I'm a little more aware of how this administration treats women, POC, and LGBTQ+ folks. The guardrails are completely gone, and we're headed for complete chaos and a lot of people will get hurt (or worse).
I don't know what to do, and I'm not even sure, realistically, if there's anything we CAN do. It's awful.
I don’t have any good answers. I’m just thinking about what I can do to get through the next few years. :( All I know is that we can’t give up. That how the fascists win.
I'm the one telling my white boyfriend it's going to be a long four years if you stress over everything Trump does. So no, not every white man is responding the same way.
He is, almost to a tee, that same as your husband.
Yep, this makes a lot of sense. I don’t really know what we can do to convince them other than just continue to talk about how bad things are and how much worse they can get.
We as a society are about to learn the same lesson Cersei Lannister gave to Ned Stark: Words on a paper without enforcement are just words.
My first thought also went to GoT: "Chaos is a ladder."
Additionally, Elon staffed OMB with a bunch or 21 year old red-pills. That is terrifying.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-lackeys-office-personnel-management-opm-neuralink-x-boring-stalin/
That's very much the Musk mindset. I read an article a long time ago about how Tesla really looked with disdain on potential employees with any kind of automotive experience or expertise, and instead prioritized "drive" and "innovation" and "hunger". And I saw that firsthand when I had to work with them (ALLEGEDLY; if I'd worked with them I'd have had to sign an NDA prohibiting me from talking about it): their engineers were arrogant idiots.
They were really, really condescending about the way we did things because obviously the automotive industry is full of backwards morons who aren't good enough to get a job with Tesla, but the way the auto industry does things is based on a lot of knowledge. We have standardized ways to test for resistance to abrasion, for example, or to test for how likely something is to get moldy if it gets wet, because we have built cars for a hundred years and have learned that those are real issues. And they would literally laugh at us and go "we don't do it that way" and it was impossible to get anything done with them. (Not coincidentally, their build quality is shit.)
And now people are dying when their Tesla catches fire because the motherfcking *doors* won't open.
Office of Personnel Management (OPM), not Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Still a catastrophuck in the making.
Ah yes, thank you my bad. More coffee…
Important! Thanks for the share.
Wyden was the one who blew the whistle about all 50 states being locked out of the Medicaid portals yesterday. And also has released stuff on what OMB has been doing/asking employees to do.
This was forwarded to me today:
"Wise and important words from sociologist Jennifer Walter about what is happening in this country right now and what to do about it:
"As a sociologist, I need to tell you:
Your overwhelm is the goal.
1/ The flood of 200+ executive orders in Trump's first days exemplifies Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" - using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too disoriented to effectively resist. This isn't just politics as usual - it's a strategic exploitation of cognitive limits.
2/ Media theorist McLuhan predicted this: When humans face information overload, they become passive and disengaged. The rapid-fire executive orders create a cognitive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for citizens and media to thoroughly analyze any single policy.
3/ Agenda-setting theory explains the strategy: When multiple major policies compete for attention simultaneously, it fragments public discourse. Traditional media can't keep up with the pace, leading to superficial coverage.
The result? Weakened democratic oversight and reduced public engagement What now?
1/ Set boundaries: Pick 2-3 key issues you deeply care about and focus your attention there. You can't track everything - that's by design. Impact comes from sustained focus, not scattered awareness.
2/ Use aggregators & experts: Find trusted analysts who do the heavy lifting of synthesis. Look for those explaining patterns, not just events.
3/ Remember: Feeling overwhelmed is the point. When you recognize this, you regain some power. Take breaks. Process. This is a marathon.
4/ Practice going slow: Wait 48hrs before reacting to new policies. The urgent clouds the important. Initial reporting often misses context
5/ Build community: Share the cognitive load. Different people track different issues. Network intelligence beats individual overload.
Remember: They want you scattered. Your focus is resistance."
And this is where I'm living all the time in my head at the moment. Trying desperately to not do what I did in 2017 and freak out at every little thing. Let's see what happens, what the courts strike down vs what harm he can ACTUALLY do, beyond sowing chaos. I feel like that's what the Democratic Party is doing as well, laying (lying?) low and picking strategic battles. HOWever, in the meantime, it feels like this slow degradation is only going in one direction, and it's not going to stop, hence the daily panic. From the suddenly new comfort with saying the word "r**ard" again I see happening, we're only one step from the "n" word being comfortably thrown around in polite society, to people getting used to Trump being Trump, and trying, like me, to just hunker down, grit our teeth and try to just get through the next 4 years. The question is, HOW can Dems fight back, when we have ZERO power in the levers of government. Giving speeches on the floor, doing social media hits, all fine and good, but as we've seen, this Republican Party is immune to shame and pressure, so what does it matter?? THIS is what this country voted for, and I'm right back to my cynical, fuck-it attitude, of OK, well I guess this is what we get! Slightly over half of us think that this is the righteous way, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯/ I guess? And hope that in 2 years we can have some small turning of the tide?? I don't know, it all just feels hopeless. I'm not in fighting form yet, I suppose.
I like Keith Olbermann's last two podcasts; he DOES suggest that the Democrats need to raise articles of impeachment. Early and often! All impeachments, even failed impeachments are undefeated.
In case anyone is interested in giving a listen: https://youtu.be/TwIAhtSVJbY?si=ADL-teXSAl3XF6nM
It's perhaps the ONE drumbeat that the Democrats can and should all rally behind. Like NOW.
Yes. We should be freaking out. I get that it's not conducive to daily life, so of course all things in moderation but this. Is. Scary. Shit.
1. Trump is trying to gain the power to unilaterally modify the constitutional amendments as he sees fit with his birthright EO.
2. Trump is trying to take the power of the purse from Congress- and it appears Republicans are willing to cede it.
3. Trump is escalating his loyalty purges to include inspector generals who the last administration specifically put guardrails around to prevent this. Trump is ignoring it.
Yes, two federal judges have halted 1 and 2, and the inspector generals have said 3 isn't allowed. But both those fed judges can be appealed. EOD, this all ends up in front of SCOTUS. And this SCOTUS? I honestly don't know how they will rule. I kind of suspect they'll split the baby and allow birthright but push back on the impoundment violations (because Scalia himself railed against Nixon for trying something similar and God knows the only person Clarence Thomas worships over his own self-interest is Scalia).
But SCOTUS has already shown it's fine taking down all the guardrails. We can't trust that they won't take these too. And that leaves us with a leader who is making civil servants sign loyalty pledges, no inspector generals to call out corruption, a leader with full power over the national purse, and one who can modify constitutional amendments as he sees fit.
That's not a president anymore. That's a dictator. Especially when he's also trying to do loyalty purges on the military as well.
Will this necessarily happen? God I hope not. Is this what they are trying to accomplish? Yeah, I think so. They have plans this time around, and faced no consequences from the last round. MAGA, Trump, Project 2025, they're all 3x as dangerous as when we faced this in 2016.
It's obvious they are operating under the "unitary executive theory" which is a horseshit concept republicans have been trying to implement since the Bush administration. The idea being that the president is essentially a dictator and can do whatever he wants. That's what the spending freeze was about. Testing the idea that the president controls the purse strings essentially bypassing congress.
Keep in mind, there is no constitutional basis for this. They completely pulled this idea out of their asses. Congress obviously controls the purse strings. Yes, you should be freaking out. They are absolutely going to ignore court rulings they don't like or judge shop until they find one that will rule in their favor. On places like Yahoo! there's already talk to of just taking every case they lose to the SCOTUS on the assumption it's just a rubber stamp for whatever they want. And I can't say with a straight face it isn't.
There's a reason he wanted to get rid of the debt ceiling altogether. He doesn't want congress to have any leverage over him. He wants congress to be powerless. Yes, it's as bad as it looks. Yes, they are every cartoon stereotype we have about them. The only light I see as the end of the tunnel is the fact that the spending freeze really did seem to freak out a lot of people. I don't think most Americans understand what they voted for. We need to tell them. No one voted to invade Greenland. No one voted to take the power of the purse away from congress. He's essentially going to destroy every single government agency and replace it with cronies who are only subservient to him.
I also think he understands there's a limit to how much of this shit the public will put up with or how much of it they can sell. There's a reason things like SNAP benefits and food stamps didn't fall under the spending freeze. He knows he needs the public on his side if he's going to pull this off. Take away too much too soon without selling it to the public first is a bad idea. We can work with that. If we know how to take advantage of it.
To your point about Trump understanding there are limits to what the public will put up with, I liken it to mob boss actions (I'm thinking specifically about the Harlem mob boss in American Gangster, handing out free turkeys or straight up cash to poor people to win them over and then he can do whatever he wants, like flood the neighborhood with drugs and destroy a community, all to line his pockets). I see Trump doing the exact same thing. Desperate people getting thrown a bone and thinking they have a benevolent leader to take care of them, all the while not seeing the destruction and erosion taking place around them, because most people are just trying to survive the day. Not everyone is tuned in and paying attention to politics and current events, hence the dumbing down of our education system. It's easier to convince desperate people you're their savior. It's so disheartening and infuriating.