MUSK AND TRUMP ARE ENGAGED IN CORRUPT SELF-ENRICHMENT

Musk and Trump are corruptly lining their own pockets by ending or weakening investigations, enforcement, and regulation of Musk’s companies, as well as providing them with new government contracts. They’re also endangering workers, the public, and our national security.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

My previous post provided an overview of the 32 (or more) ongoing investigations of Elon Musk’s six companies when Trump was sworn into office. It also noted that Musk has obtained much of his enormous wealth through government subsidies and contracts – over $38 billion in the last 20 years. In 2023, Space X and Tesla got almost $3 billion from 100 contracts with 17 federal agencies. [1] These include substantial contracts with the Department of Defense (DOD). Space X has a multi-billion-dollar contract to build a classified spy satellite network for the DOD. It also has contracts for communication services through Space X’s subsidiary, Starlink.

Needless to say, Musk’s role with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) presents huge conflicts of interest that are illegal. He would be swiftly barred from this work and/or prosecuted under any president other than Trump. Instead, Trump and Musk are systematically undermining the agencies that regulate businesses, including Musk’s, to keep workers, consumers, and the public safe. This deregulation results in windfall profits for Musk, Trump, members of Trump’s cabinet, and other wealthy business executives and investors. This is outright oligarchic corruption with wealthy business people funneling government money and benefits to themselves and their cronies.

Musk is lining his own pockets as a government contractor and businessman in two main ways:

Dismantling or emasculating agencies that regulate his business activities, often ending on-going investigations and enforcement actions, and
Having the Trump administration award his companies billions of dollars in new contracts, while continuing to pay billions of dollars to his companies under existing contracts.

Actions by Musk, DOGE, and Trump to block or weaken regulation, investigations, and sanctions of Musk’s companies include:

Firing members of the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, and others at the Department of Labor in order to hobble their 24 investigations into violations of workers’ rights at Musk’s companies.
Cutting staff at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that was investigating fatal crashes of Tesla vehicles and had ordered recalls of hundreds of thousands of Tesla vehicles due to safety issues.
Emasculating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that
- Was reviewing over 300 complaints about Tesla’s financing entity, and
- Would have oversight of the digital payment service Musk wants to add to his social media platform, X.
Slashing the workforce at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that is suing Space X over worker safety and investigating it for violations related to its rocket launches.
Firing workers at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that was investigating Musk’s Neuralink company for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
Eliminating USAID that was reviewing its contract with Space X subsidiary, Starlink, for communication services in Ukraine.
Firing over a dozen Inspectors General, which has reduced oversight of government contractors, among other negative effects. The firings of Inspectors General at the Defense Department most likely disrupted or ended an investigation into Space X’s contracts.
Presumably ending the three DOD investigations of Musk’s and Space X’s repeated failures to file mandatory national security reports of contacts and involvement with foreign entities. This is one small effect of Trump’s politicization of the DOD, e.g., his appointments of political loyalists such as Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and Caine as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Musk and Space X have significant contacts and engagement with Chinese leaders and investors. This is one reason that their failure to make required national security reports is a matter of serious concern. Space X has sizeable investments from Chinese investors, but because of its contracts with the DOD, Space X does not want its investments from Chinese investors to be public knowledge. Therefore, it actively works to make sure those investments are laundered through intermediate entities in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere, which keeps investors anonymous. [2]

Roughly half of Musk’s Tesla vehicles are built in China and China is Tesla’s largest market. Tesla’s largest factory is in Shanghai and its construction received a $2.8 billion investment, major tax breaks, and special permissions from the Chinese government. Musk regularly meets with Chinese government and Communist Party officials due to his multiple business interests, current and future, in China.

Needless to say, Musk is considered a significant national security risk by DOD and intelligence officials and experts. Nonetheless, Musk had scheduled a private meeting with Secretary of Defense Hegseth and others for a briefing on top secret U.S. preparations for conflict with China. The briefing was apparently scrapped after knowledge of it became public. [3]

Notwithstanding all the above, the Trump administration has awarded or announced plans to award (it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference due to Trump’s and Musk’s frequent distortions of facts) Musk’s companies multiple new contracts. The FAA recently announced its intention to engage Space X subsidiary Starlink in a $2 billion contract to upgrade air traffic control systems. There were plans for the State Department to order $400 million worth of armored Teslas. The contract was backdated to make it look like it was awarded before Trump took office. The contract is apparently now on hold.

It’s abundantly clear that Musk, Trump, and their cronies are lining their pockets at taxpayers’ expense and at significant risk to the public. I urge you to contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to call out and take whatever actions they can to stop the corrupt self-enrichment of Musk and Trump. You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1] Elordi, M., 10/21/24, “Elon Musk’s companies have faced at least 20 federal probes,” Daily Wire (https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musks-companies-have-faced-at-least-20-federal-probes-report)

[2] Kaplan, J., & Elliott, J., 3/26/25, “How Elon Musk’s Space X secretly allows investments from China,” ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/article/elon-musk-spacex-allows-china-investment-cayman-islands-secrecy)

[3] Reich, R., 3/21/25, “Is the Muskrat working for China?” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/is-the-muskrat-working-for-china )

MUSK AND DOGE ARE ALL ABOUT CORRUPT SELF-ENRICHMENT

Musk, DOGE, and Trump do not care about efficiency & reducing waste. They’re not targeting for-profit contractors, which is where the bulk of fraud & waste occurs. They’re focused on ending investigations & enforcement actions against Musk’s companies, letting Musk corruptly line his own pockets.

Musk, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and Trump do not care about efficiency and reducing government waste. They’re not targeting for-profit government contractors, which is where the bulk of fraud and waste occurs. Instead, they’re focused on ending investigations of and enforcement actions against Musk’s companies, and providing them with new government contracts. Musk is corruptly lining his own pockets.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is not focused on efficiency and reducing government waste. DOGE’s haphazard actions of laying off workers and dismantling government programs, processes, and agencies that Musk and Trump don’t like are actually decreasing efficiency. (See previous posts here and here for more detail.) Musk and Trump are focused on lining their own pockets, i.e., on corrupt self-enrichment.

Contrary to Musk’s and Trump’s claims that the government workforce is bloated, the federal government had fewer employees before Trump took office (3 million) than at its peak in 1990 (3.1 million), despite significant growth in the responsibilities of the government. Federal government employees were 4.3% of the U.S. workforce in 1960; they’re just 1.9% of the workforce today. In general, government agencies are understaffed, due to budgetary restrictions.

If Musk, Trump, and DOGE were serious about increasing government efficiency, they would be targeting for-profit government contractors – like Musk’s companies. Before looking specifically at Musk’s companies, overall, the major sources of waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending are contractors for military hardware and services, and insurance companies that are contractors providing Medicare coverage through so-called Medicare Advantage programs. It’s estimated that 40% of the people working for the federal government are contractors and not employees. For example, in 2019, in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were 50% more U.S. contractors than U.S. soldiers.

Between 2013 and 2023, spending on government contractors grew by nearly 63%. This reflects the mistaken belief by many that private, for-profit contractors are more efficient than government employees. A 2011 study found that contractors are overpaid in comparison to government workers and that when waste and fraud are identified in government programs it is often for-profit contractors that are the culprits. A 1994 Defense Department Inspector General’s report had similar findings.

For-profit contractors are seeking to maximize profit. They do this by maximizing their prices and minimizing their costs, which generally means minimizing the quality of services and products delivered. Contractors are exempt from transparency and accountability laws that cover government programs, making waste, fraud, and abuse hard to identify, eliminate, and punish. Contractors also violate the law with shocking regularity and repetitiveness. Defense contractor RTX (formerly Raytheon) averages over five sanctions per year for illegal activities. Insurance companies operating Medicare Advantage programs regularly and repetitively engage in fraudulent billing of the government. (See this previous post for more detail.)

To feather their own nests, government contractors spend millions lobbying the government and send employees through the revolving door to work in government roles often overseeing their contracts or work. In 2024, the ten largest federal government contractors spent $71 million lobbying the hand that feeds them. They also spent $8.5 million in the 2023-24 election cycle on contributions to federal candidates’ campaigns, although this is technically illegal. They circumvent laws banning contractors contributing to campaigns by setting up supposedly independent political action committees (PACs).

Musk is lining his own pockets as a government contractor and businessman in two main ways:

Dismantling or emasculating agencies that regulate his business activities, often ending on-going investigations and enforcement actions, and
Having the Trump administration award his companies billions of dollars in new contracts, while continuing to pay billions of dollars under existing contracts.

Musk has obtained much of his enormous wealth through government subsidies and contracts. His companies have received over $38 billion in government funding over the last 20 years. Currently, among other things, Musk’s Space X company is receiving billions of dollars a year from NASA for rocket launches and from the Department of Defense (DOD) for satellite launches and Starlink communications services. Musk’s Tesla vehicle company got significant funding from the Department of Energy for its development of electric cars. (Note: This support was called wasteful by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.) [1] In 2023, Space X and Tesla got almost $3 billion from 100 contracts with 17 federal agencies. [2]

When Trump was sworn into office, Musk’s six companies were the subject of more than 32 ongoing investigations by at least 11 federal agencies. The agencies conducting these enforcement actions are being emasculated by Musk, DOGE, and Trump. Therefore, these investigations and potential penalties from them are now likely to be ended. This means Musk’s companies are now worth far more than before because they are no longer threatened with government penalties or constraints on their operations. As their major shareholder, Musk is a huge winner. [3]

The enforcement actions against Musk and his companies included: [4]

A Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing Musk and his companies of violating federal securities laws.
A lawsuit by the Federal Aviation Administration accusing him and his rocket company, Space X, of violating worker safety.
24 separate investigations by the National Labor Relations Board into violations of workers’ rights.
Over a dozen investigations of Tesla and Space X for unfair labor practices, safety violations, and workplace discrimination by various agencies of the Department of Labor.
Several open investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into safety issues with Tesla vehicles.
An investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which had fined Space X for previous violations, for issues with its rocket launches, including post-launch explosions that had interrupted air traffic and spread debris and toxic pollution in the atmosphere.
At least three investigations by the DOD of Musk and Space X for repeatedly failing to meet reporting requirements aimed at protecting national security, including reporting information on Musk’s meeting with foreign leaders. This non-compliance with national security protocols has led to investigations by the DOD Inspector General (now fired), by the Air Force, and by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

My next post will discuss actions by Musk, DOGE, and Trump to block regulation, investigations, and sanctions of Musk companies; Musk’s and Space X’s China connections; and new government contracts for Musk’s companies.

[1] Heinz, B., 4/1/25, “Rule by contractor: DOGE is not about waste and efficiency – it’s about privatization,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/power/2025-04-03-rule-by-contractor-doge-privatization/)

[2] Elordi, M., 10/21/24, “Elon Musk’s companies have faced at least 20 federal probes,” Daily Wire (https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musks-companies-have-faced-at-least-20-federal-probes-report)

[3] Reich, R., 2/11/25, “Fraud and Musk,” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/fraud)

[4] House Committee on the Judiciary, 2/13/25, “Fact Sheet: Trump administration, DOGE punish agencies investigating Elon Musk’s companies,” (https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2025.02.13_fact_sheet_re_musk_investigations.pdf

OPPOSE THE SAVE ACT AND NORRA; GET ABREGO GARCIA BACK

ACTION #1: Please contact your US Senators and ask them to oppose – and filibuster if necessary – the SAVE Act, which just passed narrowly in the House. It’s pure voter suppression. Voter fraud is incredibly rare; less than one out of every two million votes cast, which is nowhere near enough to affect the outcome of any election. The SAVE Act would:

Make it much harder for the 70 million married women to register to vote because they’ve changed their name, so their current name doesn’t match their birth certificate.
Require voters to provide proof of citizenship – a passport or birth certificate – in-person to register to vote, including re-registering (e.g., after moving) or updating their voter registration.
Ban online voter registration (which 42 states currently have), voter registration drives, and mail-in registration (which millions of Americans have used).

Over 21 million Americans (9%) don’t have the required documents readily available. Only 51 percent of Americans have passports and applying for one for the first time costs $165 and requires assembling needed documentation, getting a self-photograph, and going to an appointment. [1]

You can find contact information for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm. (Note: Many offices only accept messages on a voice mail system. In most cases, you can call outside of regular business hours and leave a message.)

ACTION #2: Please contact your US Senators and ask them to oppose – and filibuster if necessary – the No Rogue Rulings Act (NORRA), which passed in the House recently. It would limit the ability of federal district court judges to issue injunctions that apply nationwide. (Note: The ability to do this has been in place for centuries, literally.) [2] Such injunctions have been used recently to block actions taken by the Trump administration. If NORRA passes, it will mean each state or even each harmed individual would have to get their own injunction. Note that hypocrisy is clearly evident here, as Republicans used nationwide injunctions, often from a single radical judge in Texas, to block Biden administration actions and access to women’s reproductive health care.

ACTION #3: Contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to demand that the Trump administration abide by court rulings and return Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the El Salvador prison where he was sent after his admittedly mistaken arrest and deportation. Also, ask them to demand that the Trump administration stop failing to provide the due process of our laws to all people who are arrested. All people, even criminals, are guaranteed due process under our laws.

You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1] Morris, K., & Henry, C., 6/11/24, “Millions of Americans don’t have documents proving their citizenship readily available,” Brennan Center for Justice (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/millions-americans-dont-have-documents-proving-their-citizenship-readily)

[2] Conley, J., 4/10/25, “House GOP passes bill that moves toward making Trump a ‘king with unlimited power’,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/republicans-impeach-judges)

DEMOCRATS ARE MOBILIZING!

Democrats in Congress are finally stepping up to resist the unprecedented challenges the Trump administration and complicit Republicans are presenting to our democracy and its foundational institutions. They are using outside-the-box tactics to slow progress on Trump nominees and Republican legislation. They are more aggressively and effectively communicating with constituents and the public. Contact your members of Congress to thank them for what they’re doing to resist and ask them to do more.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

The Hands Off! protest rallies across the country on Saturday, 4/5, showed the depth and breadth of the opposition to the Trump administration. Somewhere between 3 and 5 million people participated including in every state and in communities large and small, Republican and Democratic. To those of you who participated or supported the protests, THANK YOU! Many smaller, local protest rallies that hopefully will involve even more people are being planned, possibly for Sat., 4/19. More information will be forthcoming, but please plan to participate and bring a friend so the next protests are even bigger than April 5.

Democrats in Congress are finally stepping up to the unprecedented challenges the Trump administration and complicit Republicans are presenting to our democracy and its foundational institutions. The Democrats are beginning to use outside-the-box tactics, including delaying and obstructing progress on Trump nominees and Republican legislation. Some Democrats are more aggressively and effectively communicating with constituents and the public, including about the incompetence and failures of the Trump administration, as well as its illegal actions.

Thank your members of Congress when they do good things and push them to do more.

Democrats in both the Senate and the House have introduced bills (The Trade Review Act, S.1272 in the Senate) to take back control over tariffs from Trump. Eight Senate Republicans have now joined this fight. Ask your Senators and Representative to co-sponsor and support this bill. Thank them if they already have.

More Senators are putting holds on Trump nominees. (See this previous post for the initial holds.) Senator Schatz (D-HI) is placing holds on over 300 nominees and Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) has announced plans to place holds on all Trump nominees. Holds force the Senate to take votes to override each hold and this slows done the process of approving Trump nominees.

House Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) (the second highest Democratic leader) is working with her colleagues to produce one-minute videos critiquing Trump administration actions on a variety of topics. They’re putting out roughly one per day. As far as I know, they’re only available on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/housedemocrats.bsky.social. (Note: Rep. Clark is awesome! In the interests of full disclosure, she was my State Senator before she was elected to the U.S. House. Unfortunately, I’m one town away from being in her congressional district.)

There are 19 one-minute videos available by various Representatives on topics including the Republican budget (and its health care cuts and tax cuts for the wealthy), the SAVE Act (voter suppression), tariffs, Social Security, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, Signalgate, the Department of Education, and protecting the privacy of our personal information.

(Note: I hope you have a Bluesky account and if not, I encourage you to sign up for one at: https://bsky.app/. It’s a partial alternative to Facebook and X. I encourage you to leave both of those platforms if possible or minimize your use of them because of the objectionable policies and politics of them and their owners. Unfortunately, Bluesky doesn’t have a group feature like Facebook and many of my online friends are still only on Facebook, so I still use it, but I minimize my time on it. I’m on Bluesky: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Follow me there if you’re so motivated.)

Individual Democrats in Congress are, of course, also creating videos on important issues. Senator Schiff recently did a 2 ½ minute video calling for an investigation of the likelihood of insider trading in the stock market by Trump cronies in advance of Trump’s announcements on tariffs.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is coordinating Town Hall meetings by members of Congress all over the country, including in Republican districts where the Republican refuses to hold a Town Hall meeting. The list of them is here: https://democrats.org/peoples-town-halls/. Please participate if there’s one in your area.

The DNC recently announced the formation of a “People’s Cabinet.” It will feature subject matter policy experts who will provide facts and better alternatives to the Trump administration’s lies and reckless agenda. [1] However, I don’t see anything on the DNC website about this yet.

Democrats in Congress are holding hearings even when Republicans refuse to cooperate. For example, Representatives Jeffries and Barragan recently held a hearing on the cuts targeting veterans. (The hearing starts two minutes into the YouTube recording and lasts an hour and 14 minutes.) Senator Shaheen (D-NH) convened a hearing on the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). (See this previous post for more detail.)

Democrats and a few Republicans are standing up and pushing back more frequently and vigorously, but they need to do more to resist the Trump administration and most Republicans’ support of it. The resisters need to feel free to use outside-the-box tactics; they need to fight fire with fire.

I encourage you to contact your US Representative and Senators to thank them when they pushback against the inhumane and illegal actions of the Trump administration. Ask them to stand up and resist when the Trump administration is not acting in the best interests of all Americans, is violating the rule of law, and usurping the role of Congress.

[1] Martin, K., 4/4/25, “DNC Chair Ken Martin launches ‘People’s Cabinet’ to fiercely counter Trump administration chaos and lies,” Democratic National Committee (https://democrats.org/news/dnc-chair-ken-martin-launches-peoples-cabinet-to-fiercely-counter-trump-administration-chaos-and-lies/)

THE RESISTANCE IS BUILDING!

The resistance to Trump and company is building. The public protests in the streets and pushback at town hall meetings with members of Congress are growing. A few Republicans in Congress are standing up and pushing back. Democrats are resisting more strongly. Recent election results have been bad for Republicans and 500 law firms have opposed Trump. Contact your members of Congress and tell them to do more to resist!

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

Although the Trump administration continues to do despicable things daily, the resistance is building in volume and impact. Judges are standing up and pushing back. Court decisions against the Trump administration are announced daily.

The Hands Off! protest rallies across the country on Saturday, 4/5, showed the depth and breadth of the opposition to Trump Administration policies. The pushback when members of Congress hold Town Hall meetings, especially the vehement feedback Republicans are getting, is another sign of widespread resistance. The Tesla Takedown protests across the country are expanding. The dramatic decline in Tesla sales and its stock price are significant.

An essential component of truly effective resistance will be Republicans in Congress standing up to Trump and his cronies. The pushback from constituents at Town Hall meetings and in communications to members of Congress will be key to getting them to stand up and pushback. Once they’re convinced that their re-election is at risk, they’ll begin to resist.

There are a few examples of Republicans in Congress starting to stand up and pushback. Four Republicans — Senators McConnell (KY), Collins (ME), Murkowski (AK), and Paul (KY) — opposed Trump by voting with Democrats to rescind the national economic emergency Trump declared in February (which allows him to impose tariffs by Executive Order). They then voted to eliminate the 25% tariff on Canadian imports. This sends a clear message to Trump that there is broad discontent with his tariffs.

Republican Senator Grassley (IA) introduced separate legislation to reestablish Congress’s power over tariffs. The bill would require tariffs to be approved by Congress or expire in 60 days. A Senate committee, with bipartisan support, has asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s use of the unsecure, prohibited Signal messaging app to communicate details of plans for the March 15 attack on the Houthis in Yemen.

Republican Senator Collins (ME), chair of the Appropriations Committee, has sent a letter to Trump accusing him of violating the six-month spending law recently approved by Congress by refusing to spend authorized funding.

Calls for National Security Adviser Waltz to resign are growing louder. He created the Signalgate scandal by setting up a messaging group on Signal that discussed the March 15 military strike in Yemen. The use of Signal is prohibited for security reasons by Department of Defense policy and Waltz included a journalist in the group by mistake. (See this previous post for more detail.) Subsequently, it’s been revealed that he and his staff set up at least 20 such messaging groups on sensitive national security issues. This was described as “commonplace” by one source. It’s also been revealed that Waltz and other members of Trump’s National Security Council conducted government business using personal email accounts, which are even less secure than Signal messaging. As one expert noted, it should be assumed that everything Waltz has discussed has been intercepted by China, Russia, Israel, Iran, North Korea, and perhaps others. [1]

Democrats are standing up and pushing back more frequently and vigorously. (About time!) I imagine you’ve heard about Senator Booker’s (D-NJ) 25-hour speech – and it was a speech not just blather! You can watch one minute of excerpts here or 4 minutes of excerpts here. He live-streamed the speech on TikTok and it got more than 400 million “likes” before he finished.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has just announced the formation of a “People’s Cabinet.” (About time!) It will feature subject matter policy experts who will provide facts and better alternatives to the Trump administration’s lies and reckless agenda. [2]

Senator Schiff (D-CA) has placed a hold on Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. Attorney in D.C., Eric Martin. Martin has never worked as a prosecutor and has engaged in a series of inappropriate actions while serving as the acting U.S. Attorney. For example, he has described the Justice Department as Trump’s personal attorney, launched unwarranted investigations, and fired and reassigned prosecutors who worked on bringing January 6 insurrectionists to justice. There have been several calls for investigations into Martin’s actions. [3]

Senator Gallego (D-AZ) has pledged to block all nominations for posts at the Veterans Administration (VA) to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to the VA’s workforce. The plan is to cut more than 80,000 jobs at the VA; 2,400 probationary employees were fired last month. [4]

Democrats in Congress are holding hearings even when Republicans refuse to cooperate. For example, Senator Shaheen (D-NH) convened a hearing on the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The testimony is chilling at multiple levels – the millions of children and adults around the world who will die as a result, the harm to health here in the U.S. (more detail on these first two topics is in this previous post), the utter recklessness with which this was handled (e.g., the waste of resources that were in-place around the world), and the way the USAID employees were treated. You can watch the hearing here. Watch any five minutes and you’ll be horrified. We found it so riveting that we watched all one hour and 48 minutes of it.

More than 500 law firms have signed onto a court brief in support of Perkins Coie’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s executive order attempting to punishing it for supporting people Trump doesn’t like. [5]

Recent election results have been encouraging. Most notably, Crawford, the progressive, won the Wisconsin Supreme Court race in a landslide (10-point margin), despite over $20 million spent by Musk opposing her. Musk and his money were a drag not a help. Although, Republican candidates for two U.S. House seats in Florida won, they won by just 14 points in each race. Five months ago, Republicans won those seats by 30 and 37 points. There was good news from other elections as well. [6]

Democrats in Congress need to do more to resist the Trump administration and Republicans’ support of it. One way to do so and to gain leverage in negotiating with congressional Republicans is to slow down the process of, for example, confirming Trump nominees and action on Republican legislation. Time is an essential resource in Congress and it makes no sense for Democrats to streamline the process of confirming Trump nominees who are hell bent on destroying our government and democracy. Senator Booker showed us one way to slow things down. Another is to deny “unanimous consent” in the confirmation of Trump nominees, or in other words have a Senator object to the nominee. Democrats have provided unanimous consent over 500 times so far this year. Each objection to unanimous consent would eat up about two hours of the Senate’s time. [7]

I encourage you to contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to stand up and pushback against the despicable and illegal actions of the Trump administration. Encourage them to go beyond the norm, as Senator Booker did. Trump and his cronies aren’t abiding by any norms and therefore the resistance must go beyond the norms as well.

[1] Wilkins, B., 4/2/25, “Calls for Waltz’s resignation grow amid report of at least 20 sensitive Signal chat groups,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/mike-waltz-signal-chats)

[2] Martin, K., 4/4/25, “DNC Chair Ken Martin launches ‘People’s Cabinet’ to fiercely counter Trump administration chaos and lies,” Democratic National Committee (https://democrats.org/news/dnc-chair-ken-martin-launches-peoples-cabinet-to-fiercely-counter-trump-administration-chaos-and-lies/)

[3] Beitsch, R., 4/2/25, “Schiff places hold on Trump pick for DC prosecutor’s nomination,”The Hill (https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5227564-adam-schiff-blocks-trump-nominee-ed-martin/)

[4] Bolton, A., 4/1/25, “Senate Democrat will block Trump’s VA nominees to protest cuts,” The Hill (https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5225064-gallego-trump-va-nominees/)

[5] Hubbell, R., 4/5/25, “Reclaim democracy on April 5 in a national day of protest!”, Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/reclaim-democracy-on-april-5-in-a)

[6] Cox Richardson, H., 4/1/25, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-1-2025)

[7] Dayen, D., 4/2/25, “The Democrats’ Liberation Day,” Today on The American Prospect blog (https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-04-02-democrats-liberation-day-booker-senate/)

PROTEST ABDUCTIONS AND AT APRIL 5 EVENTS

Contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to demand that law abiding, legal U.S. residents who have been abducted and detained by ICE be released immediately and that these illegal arrests stop. If you can, join the big, nationwide HANDS OFF! protests planned for Saturday, April 5.

ACTION #1: Please contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to demand that law abiding, legal U.S. residents who have been abducted and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) be released immediately and that these illegal arrests stop. In addition, ask them to demand that the individuals abducted be allowed to contact lawyers and loved ones. ICE has been quickly moving them around the U.S. to make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to contact lawyers and loved ones. In addition, the movement has (presumably intentionally) frustrated attempts by judges to establish jurisdiction and to order ICE to release or justify the detention of these individuals and to order that they not be deported. [1]

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts student, and Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student, are two examples of law abiding, legal U.S. residents abducted and detained by ICE. No evidence against them was presented and there was no due process.

There are others, and maybe many others; I’m not sure that it’s known how many. However, Secretary of State Rubio recently stated, “It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day.” [2] These individuals are political prisoners and this behavior by the Trump administration mimics what dictators do to intimidate and eliminate all opposition. This is what Russia and China do. They replace the rule of law with the rule of fear. This has never been done in the U.S. in my lifetime. This is a repugnant repudiation of the rule of law, which is a cornerstone of democracy.

Note that many offices only accept messages on a voice mail system. In most cases, you can call outside of regular business hours and leave a message.

ACTION #2: If you can, join the big, nationwide HANDS OFF! protest planned for Saturday, April 5. Go to Indivisible to find an event near you. Let’s make this a huge event! Please spread the word! If you can’t attend, consider supporting it in other ways, e.g., a donation to pay for buses transporting people to the events, spreading the word, etc.

ACTION #3: Contact your US Representative and ask him or her to support and vote for Senate Bill S.1077, the 2025 District of Columbia (D.C.) Local Funds Act. This bill would reverse a $1 billion cut to D.C.’s budget that was made by the federal budget bill recently passed by Congress (the infamous Continuing Resolution). It cut the D.C. budget even though no federal funds are involved. These funds are local D.C. tax revenues that have already been collected and budgeted. If not reversed, D.C. would be forced to cut funding for teachers, police officers, fire fighters, other emergency staff, public transportation, health services, and even retirees’ pensions. The bill has already passed the Senate. [3]

[1] Murphy, S., 4/2/25, “US officials defend the detention of Tufts PhD student. Also say federal judge in Boston lacks jurisdiction,” The Boston Globe

[2] Solomont, A., 4/1/25, “Jewish community must stand up to Trump’s targeting of international students,” The Boston Globe

[3] Hubbell, R., 4/1/25, “Disrupting ‘business as usual’,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (Disrupting “business as usual” – by Robert B. Hubbell)