Tag: Government

CORPORATE OLIGARCHS HAVE BEEN UNDERMINING DEMOCRACY FOR 45 YEARS

Trump is the culmination of decades of work by wealthy individuals and CEOs (America’s oligarchs) undermining democracy & skewing government policy. This has led to high income & wealth inequality. Many Americans have lost their economic security, as well as their faith in government & democracy.

Trump is the culmination of decades of work by wealthy individuals and corporate CEOs (i.e., America’s oligarchs) undermining democracy and skewing government policies. This has led to dramatic income and wealth inequality. Many Americans have lost their economic security, as well as their faith in government and democracy.

SPECIAL NOTE: We need millions of Americans at the No Kings protests on October 18 in defense of democracy. Please support this however you can. You can find an event near you at: https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/map/?tag_ids=27849.

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

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

I’ve been surprised at how little spine corporate Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) (supposed “leaders”) have shown in the face of Trump’s behavior and attacks. They know that unpredictability and chaos in government, as well as uncertainty, polarization, and unrest in society (in America and globally), are bad for the economy and for their businesses, at least in the long run. They know that an autocrat’s lack of respect for the rule of law, for property rights, and for freedom of speech are bad for business.

However, the CEOs of large corporations (aka corporate oligarchs) tend to be pragmatic and short-sighted. They value having political power and influence to the point that they seem to care little about politicians’ ethics or actions on issues that don’t conflict with their corporate interests. They know their large corporations are dependent on the government for many things, e.g., approvals of mergers, government contracts, tax breaks and subsidies, and licenses to operate. And they know their corporations are affected by many other things government does, e.g., writing and enforcing regulations, tax laws, and export and import policies (e.g., tariffs). [1]

President Trump has been leveraging (generally illegally) these many interrelationships between the government and corporations to pressure CEOs to do what he wants them to do, to support his policies, and to support him personally (sometimes financially). CEOs know Trump is arbitrary, unpredictable, and vindictive. They know that if he is irritated by a company or its CEO that he will use the powers of the government in a punitive fashion against them. Therefore, they capitulate.

However, Trump and his anti-democratic, autocratic, and fascist behavior and administration are the culmination of decades of work by wealthy individuals and corporate CEOs (i.e., America’s oligarchs). They have been undermining democracy and skewing government policies and our economy in their favor for at least 45 years. They have quadrupled their political spending (after adjusting for inflation) over the last 40 years. [2] In the 2023-2024 federal election cycle, $5.3 billion was spent on the presidential race and $9.5 billion was spent on congressional races. The overwhelming majority of this money came from American oligarchs. One hundred billionaires alone spent $2.6 billion. The seven highest spending individuals spent $930 million, all for Republicans, with Elon Musk leading the way with $291 million in spending, almost exclusively for the Trump campaign.

In addition to spending on election campaigns, corporations are also spending over $4 billion a year lobbying the federal government. [3] Furthermore, they engage in an extensive “revolving door” cycle of personnel (tens of thousands of them) who move between government regulatory agencies and positions in corporations the agencies regulate. [4]

All of this is in the interest of skewing government policy to favor American oligarchs, i.e., wealthy individuals and their large corporations. They have been very successful; their return on investment has been extraordinary.

My next post will provide specific examples of their successes, along with the effects and implications of them.

In the meantime, please make plans to stand up for democracy and against the oligarchs. I hope you can participate in and/or support the No Kings protests on October 18 – and the many, many other smaller protests that are occurring daily. Thank you for all you are doing! Please keep up this great and important defense of democracy!

Find a No Kings October 18th event near you here.

[1]      Edelman, L., 9/23/25, “Why corporate leaders are appeasing Trump,” The Boston Globe

[2]      Reich, R., 9/26/25, “Why are we so polarized? Why is democracy in such peril?” Blog post (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-are-we-so-polarized)

[3]      Open Secrets, retrieved from the Internet 9/29/25, “Lobbying data summary,” (https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/)

[4]      Open Secrets, retrieved from the Internet 9/29/25, “Revolving door overview,” (https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving-door/)

CHILDREN AREN’T SAFE ON META’S VIRTUAL REALITY PLATFORMS

The harm that Meta Platforms’ Facebook and virtual reality programs do to children and youth is well documented. The evidence continues to grow as new whistleblowers come forward and share inside information. Clearly, Meta is far more committed to its profits than it is to protecting children.

The harm that Meta Platforms’ social media platforms, including Facebook and virtual reality programs, do to children and youth is well documented. The evidence continues to grow as new whistleblowers come forward and share inside information. Clearly, Meta (and other social media platforms) are far more committed to their profits than they are to protecting children.

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

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

It’s been far too long since I wrote about Meta Platforms and its subsidiaries. Meta’s Facebook and virtual reality platforms are harming children. The harm that Facebook and other social media do to children and youth is well documented. It is equally clear that Meta and other social media companies are far more interested in maximizing profits than protecting children.

Three years ago, I wrote a blog post calling for federal legislation to protect children on social media. No legislation has been passed in those three years and no significant federal legislation regulating social media has been passed since the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). A lot has changed since 1998 and new federal legislation is sorely needed. In my September 2022 blog post, I called on Congress to pass two bills to protect children on social media. (Previous posts here and here document the harms to children and beyond of Facebook and other social media platforms, as well as ways to respond.)

The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSA) (a combined version of the two previous bills) passed the Senate with a strong, bipartisan vote (91 – 3) in July 2024. Heavy lobbying, led by Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and controlling stockholder of Meta, blocked action on it in the House. By the way, Europe has done a much better job than the U.S. of protecting everyone’s privacy and well-being on social media, including that of children.

The social media platforms’ business model is to hook kids at an early age, feed them addictive content to keep them engaged, amass extensive personal information about them and their online behavior, and then use these data to sell very targeted, personalized, and effective advertising. This is very lucrative for the social media platforms, however, the content and marketing to kids often presents toxic content that harms kids’ well-being and mental health. [1]

Advocates for children, including Fairplay, filed a request in May for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Meta for violating children’s safety and privacy on its virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds. Children, including ones under 13, are at risk for sexual predation, financial harm, bullying, and harassment on Horizon Worlds. Meta knows this, but it fails to protect children while it captures their data, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, to sell to advertisers and to make their platform as addictive as possible. The FTC complaint was supported by a sworn statement from Kelly Stonelake, the former director of marketing for Horizon Worlds at Meta.

Meta has been in the news this week because six whistleblowers and former employees have come forward to report (again) that Meta has been covering up and ignoring the harm they know their platforms are doing to children. The focus this week was on the virtual reality platforms that Meta offers. Current and former employees revealed that Meta is suppressing internal research on child and youth safety and is also turning a blind eye to children under 13 illegally using these platforms. Furthermore, Meta’s legal and communications teams work to communicate plausible deniable for its executives on company knowledge of negative effects on children. Zuckerberg and Meta have previously lied about the harmful effects of their platforms and their knowledge of those harmful effects on children. (Meta whistleblowers previously revealed similar misbehavior in congressional testimony in 2023 (Arturo Beja) and 2021 (Frances Haugen).)

Not surprisingly, therefore, the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSA) is again being considered in the U.S. Senate (S.1748) and there’s also a push to pass it in the House: It would:

  • Provide privacy protections for children and youth,
    • Extend to 13 to 16-year-olds the prohibition on social media platforms capturing children’s personal information without their consent and require the platforms to delete any such information they collect if requested to do so,
    • Limit individually targeted advertising (referred to as surveillance advertising),
    • Require the social media platforms to put the interests of young people first,
  • Provide families with the tools and safeguards to protect children’s well-being and mental health,
  • Require transparency from the social media platforms about the data they are capturing and the algorithms they are using for promoting content and advertising, and
  • Establish accountability for harms caused by social media.

I encourage you to contact your Representative and Senators in Congress and ask them to support strong regulation of social media platforms to prevent them from harming our children and youth. Urge them to support the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA, Senate bill 1748) and similar legislation in the House.

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

SPECIAL NOTES:

[1]      Corbett, J., 7/27/22. “ ‘Critical’ online privacy protections for children advance to Senate floor,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/07/27/critical-online-privacy-protections-children-advance-senate-floor-vote)

THE PERVERSION OF CAPITALISM BY TRUMP

President Trump is perverting capitalism and the free market by asserting unprecedented influence over the private sector. His actions are not a coherent economic policy. They’re all about centralizing power and control. This is what fascism and oligarchy look like.

President Trump is perverting capitalism and the free market by asserting unprecedented influence over the private sector. His actions are not a coherent economic policy and make the U.S. economy look like China’s. They’re all about centralizing power and control, while undermining the rule of law and democracy. This is what fascism and oligarchy look like.

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

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

President Trump is perverting capitalism and the free market by asserting unprecedented personal influence over and taking government ownership in private sector companies. His actions do not reflect a coherent economic policy. It is the power grabbing of a tyrant and bully who wants to control others and wants them to be subservient. Trump is using largely illegal financial (e.g., import tariffs and export fees), regulatory, and court-based actions to do this. He wants to influence the decisions of other countries and American businesses, including media corporations, financial institutions, law firms, and  universities. He wants countries and companies to come to him begging for exemptions from his actions and threats. [1] This is, of course, a breeding ground for corruption and bribery.

Nothing even approaching this level of government interference in the private sector has occurred since the emergency mobilization of the private sector for World War II. This government interference in private companies, which is a type of state-controlled capitalism, has until now always been anathema to Republicans and the business community. If any president prior to Trump had attempted any of this, Republicans, business executives, and the mainstream media would be screaming about it being socialism or communism. The actions by Trump are making the U.S. economy look like that of China, where the government owns a stake in companies or has considerable influence over their decision making. [2] [3] Or like Leninist capitalism where the Communist Party controlled the state’s ownership of businesses. [4]

This alignment of an authoritarian leader and a nominally capitalist economy is classic fascism. While Republicans and business executives are supportive or mute, the Wall Street Journal simply calls it inefficient. The business executives and other wealthy investors that facilitate and participate in Trump’s actions are the American oligarchy.

Examples of Trump’s actions include:

  • Allowed Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, makers of artificial intelligence (AI) computer chips, to export them to China on the condition that the companies pay the United States 15% of their profits. This poses risks to the U.S. AI industry and to U.S. national security (in part due to the chips’ use by the Chinese military). These payments are, for all intents and purposes, an export fee, which is unprecedented in U.S. history. Moreover, the Constitution explicitly bans export taxes (Article I, Section 9, Clause 5). [5]
  • Demanded that Intel’s CEO resign and then negotiated 10% government ownership of the company. This makes the U.S. government one of Intel’s largest shareholders. [6]
  • Proposed that the Defense Department take a 15% ownership stake in MP Materials, which mines minerals critical for chips and electronics.
  • Allowed Nippon Steel of Japan to take over U.S. Steel on condition that Nippon pay a “golden share” of the proceeds to the government and give Trump control over elements of corporate governance.
  • Reserved the right to personally direct some the $1.5 trillion in promised investments in the U.S. to be made by America’s trading partners as part of tariff negotiations.
  • Sued media corporations and negotiated approval of media corporation mergers to get money and influence over media content.

The government ownership in and influence over the private sector asserted by Trump has nothing to do with promoting the public interest, the well-being of American workers, or protecting national security. In fact, they undermine all these principles. They’re all about centralizing power and control in Trump’s hands as part of his efforts to undermine the rule of law and democracy. [7] Moreover, who holds the ownership stakes and who exercises the related rights is unclear.

Despite Trump’s bluster about being tough on China, his actions have been quite favorable to China. He has illegally extended the deadline for the sale of Chinese ownership of TikTok if it wants to do business in the U.S. He has shut down Radio Free Asia, which countered Chinese propaganda. He’s allowed the export of artificial intelligence computer chips to China, which was a key request from China in trade negotiations.

Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to assert their oversight of these deals Trump is making. Ask them to clarify who holds the ownership stakes, who is exercising ownership rights, and where the funds received are going. Ask them to ensure that the Trump administration’s economic policies and actions further the public interest, benefit workers, promote national security, and comport with the rule of law and democratic principles.

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]      Dayen, D., 8/11/25, “Tariffs to import and fees to export,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-08-11-tariffs-to-import-fees-to-export-nvidia-chips-china/)

[2]      Reich, R., 8/12/25, “Trump’s ‘state capitalism’,” Blog post (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-state-capitalism)

[3]      Cox Richardson, H., 8/11/25, Letters from an American blog post, (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-11-2025)

[4]      Meyerson, H., 8/18/25, “When l’etat c’est Trump, the U.S. goes in for state capitalism,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/economy/2025-08-18-when-letat-cest-trump-us-goes-in-for-state-capitalism/)

[5]      Dayen, D., 8/11/25, see above

[6]      Liedtke, M., & Kurtenbach, E., 8/20/25, “US vying to own a big stake in Intel,” The Boston Globe from the Associated Press

[7]      Reich, R., 8/12/25, see above

BEWARE! SCAMS ARE COMING YOUR WAY! PART 2

Consumers beware; you’ll need to up your vigilance to avoid scams. The Trump administration is weakening consumer protections. From the cryptocurrency industry to cyber security to Social Security and health care, weak oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud.

Consumers beware; scams of all sorts are coming your way. The Trump administration is weakening or eliminating agencies and regulations that protect consumers. From the cryptocurrency industry to cyber security to Social Security and health care, weak oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud. You will need to up your level of vigilance to avoid getting scammed.

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

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

Consumers beware; scams of all sorts are coming your way. The Trump administration is weakening or eliminating agencies and regulations that protect consumers, so it’s an open field for unscrupulous behavior by businesses and fraudsters. From the cryptocurrency industry to cyber security to Social Security and health care, weak oversight and regulation will lead to consumer rip-offs and outright fraud. (See this previous post focused on financial and other corporate scamming.)

The cryptocurrency industry is trying to transform its image from that of a scandal-ridden and crime-enabling financial technology (aka fintech) experiment into that of a mainstream financial and commercial investment and transaction vehicle. Don’t let yourself be fooled. For example, Coinbase, founded in 2012 and now the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange as well as the world’s biggest bitcoin custodian, has had over 8,000 consumer complaints filed against it with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). [1]

The crypto industry spent well over $100 million in the last elections, including donations to Trump-affiliated entities, to elect pro-crypto politicians and to instill fear into others who might oppose the industry. It has also spent millions on a lobbying campaign to build bipartisan support for the Republican-led pro-crypto bills and to obtain a favorable regulatory environment.

Despite the crypto industry’s record of fraud, facilitating criminal activity, and extreme volatility, the Trump administration, through an executive order, is allowing investments in it by retirement plans, corporations (including banks!), and the government itself. [2] Furthermore, the Trump administration has eliminated crypto crime units at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and in other government agencies. It has ended numerous investigations and criminal prosecutions of crypto industry entities. These actions effectively facilitate money laundering and criminal activity. [3]

Three bills have been introduced in Congress ostensibly to regulate the industry but appear more focused on giving it legitimacy and a government seal of approval. One of the three bills, the so-called Genius Act has passed and become law. It established a regulatory framework for a piece of the crypto industry called stablecoins. This type of cryptocurrency is linked to the value of the U.S. dollar which is supposed to prevent the volatility that occurs with other cryptocurrencies. Most, but not all, Democrats opposed this bill due to concerns that it lacked strong provisions to prevent fraud and money laundering. Furthermore, it does nothing to stop President Trump, his family, and his associates from profiting from cryptocurrency activities that allow other people and entities to effectively put money in Trump’s and his affiliates’ pockets. [4]

One of the other bills, the so-called Clarity Act would create a broader crypto regulatory framework. The third bill would ban the Federal Reserve from creating its own cryptocurrency that would compete with private cryptocurrencies and presumably reduce the profitability of the private crypto industry. So, beware of anything crypto industry related that comes your way.

In a variety of other arenas, the Trump administration is also weakening consumer protections.

Having effectively eliminated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Trump administration is now considering weakening the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that protects consumers from dangerous non-financial products.

The Trump administration has dramatically weakened some of the federal government’s cyber security agencies. So, be ever more alert for cyber crime and cyber scams. It is taking FBI agents away from their specialties such as combating hackers (as well as terrorism, espionage, public corruption, white-collar crime, civil rights, child sex crime, etc.) to have them patrol the streets of D.C. where crime is at its lowest level in years. Moreover, a map of where FBI agents and troops have been deployed makes it very clear they are not really there to combat crime; they are there to be seen and to make a statement. [5]

The Trump administration is cutting staffing and services at the Social Security Administration, while having it send out misleading information. (See this previous post for more detail.) This will make it harder for seniors and others to receive the benefits they’re owed and to get accurate information. This will create fertile ground for scammers to step in. Be on your guard.

Similarly, cuts to the health care system and weakened oversight of privatized Medicare Advantage Plans will open the door to scammers. For example, 17% of Americans now report they are using buy now, pay later (BNPL) programs to pay for medical or dental care. [6] BNPL programs not infrequently involve terms and costs that are not well explained to consumers and, therefore, result in financial abuse.

Please contact your members of Congress and tell them you support strong regulation of the crypto industry to protect consumers and to prevent crime and money laundering. Ask them to oppose the two crypto industry bills as they are currently written. Ask them to stand up for strong consumer protections from the CFPB, CPSC, and cyber security agencies. Ask them to protect seniors and others from the undermining of Social Security and our health care system.

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.

By the way, there is lots of good news. See Jess Craven’s latest good news post. It includes California Governor Newsom fighting fire with fire on the gerrymandering front, numerous judges’ decisions, protests all across the country, conservative economists opposing Trump’s nominee to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown deciding to run for U.S. Senate again in 2026, and much more.

[1]      Silverman, J., 5/27/25, “Three coin monte,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/power/2025-05-27-three-coin-monte-crypto-regulation/)

[2]      Johnson, J., 8/7/25, “‘Disaster in the making’: Trump to open 401(k)s to crypto, private equity vultures,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-private-equity-401k)

[3]      Silverman, J., 5/27/25, see above

[4]      Gold, M., 7/18/25, “Here’s how Congress is wading into crypto regulation,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times

[5]      Cox Richardson, H., 8/19/25, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-19-2025)

[6]      Corbett, J., 8/6/25, “‘Gouging’: US health insurance giants raked in over $71 billion in profits last year,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/health-insurance-profits)

THERE’S GOOD NEWS AND LOTS OF IT!

Despite all the bad news, there’s lots of good news. Democrats in Congress are starting to increase their resistance. In addition to action at the national level, state level action is critically important. I don’t condone gerrymandering, but I do believe we need to fight fire with fire. For lots of good news, look at Jess Craven’s weekly good news edition of her Chop Wood, Carry Water blog.

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

Despite all the bad news the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are generating, there’s lots of good news.

Democrats in Congress are starting to increase their resistance. (Finally!) Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee invoked a rarely used procedure that allows five members of the committee to obtain documents from the administration. Senate Democrats have formally and officially demanded the release of the Epstein files by August 15. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has announced that she and hopefully other Democrats will refuse to cooperate with Republicans on any spending bills until Trump stops withholding previously appropriated funds. She pointed out that if Republicans allow Trump to ignore spending decisions by Congress or to rescind them after the fact, any future spending bills are a meaningless waste of time. Democrats are also demanding a thorough vetting process for fifty Trump nominations awaiting Senate confirmation rather than letting Republicans ram them through in an expedited process. [1]

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) strongly criticized his fellow Democrats for voting for some of Trump’s policies. Apparently as a result, Democrats held a closed-door meeting to develop a strategy for their resistance to the Trump / Republican agenda for the next two months.

In addition to action at the national level, state level action is critically important. Most notable right now is states’ threats to gerrymander congressional districts. Texas is threatening to do a very unusual and very partisan redistricting (normally this is only done when there is new Census data every ten years). Its goal would be to create five districts where Republicans would replace Democrats. Not only are Texas Democrats working to block this however they can, Democratic states are announcing that if Texas does this, they will take similar action to create new districts where Democrats would replace Republicans. I don’t condone gerrymandering, but I do believe we need to fight fire with fire. Democrats can’t afford to play by the rules when Republicans aren’t playing by the rules and are destroying our democracy.

For lots of good news across all levels, look at Jess Craven’s weekly good news edition of her Chop Wood, Carry Water (CWCW) blog. Here are some samples of the dozens of items she reported in the last two weeks.

August 3 edition examples (there’s much more!)

  • President Trump was caught on camera cheating while playing golf in Scotland.
  • Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that nearly 210,000 Michiganders will see more than $144 million in medical debt eliminated.
  • A federal judge ruled that Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed by Medicaid, despite a provision in the Republican / Trump budget cutting off this funding.
  • On April 30, several thousand CWCW readers contacted their U.S. Representatives urging them to sign a bipartisan letter supporting fiscal year 2026 funding for global maternal and child health, GAVI (the vaccine alliance), and global nutrition. On July 23, the House Appropriations Committee rejected Trump’s proposed cuts, continued FY 2025 funding levels, and INCREASED nutrition funding to $172.5 million. ADVOCACY MAKES A DIFFERENCE!
  • Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott denied a request from the Department of Defense to activate Vermont Army National Guard soldiers in support of federal immigration enforcement activities.
  • Solar and batteries make up the vast majority of new power plant installations in the U.S. — and will continue to through 2030. Trump may be able to slow the momentum, but not stop it

July 27 edition examples (there’s much more!)

Please contact your members of Congress and tell them to increase their resistance. Urge them to speak out against Trump / Republican policies and to explain to their constituents the toll these policies will take on every day Americans and our society.

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]      Hubbell, R., 7/31/25, “More signs of life among Senate Democrats,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/more-signs-of-life-among-senate-democrats)

HARMFUL POLICIES OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Trump administration policies are doing wide-ranging harm to people and our society. We need to protest and resist to convince elected officials, business and academic leaders, and others to stand up and push back.

Trump administration policies are doing wide-ranging harm to people and our society. We need to protest and resist to convince elected officials, business and academic leaders, and others to stand up and push back.

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

Trump administration policies are doing wide-ranging harm to people and our society. This is why we need to protest and resist in every way possible and however each of us can. We need to make it clear these policies are unpopular and convince elected officials, business and academic leaders, and others to stand up and push back. Perhaps some of the topics below will suggest wording for your protest signs. This previous post highlighted some of the harms of the recently passed Trump / Republican budget and thisprevious post documented some of the harm to seniors.

This post highlights harmful policies in crime and violence prevention, in children’s health and well-being, and for low-income seniors. It also notes harms to economic data and states’ finances.

CRIME AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION: The Trump administration has slashed funding for multiple programs that fight crime, reduce violence, and improve public safety. In April, the Department of Justice (DOJ) canceled $820 million in grants that had supported over 500 organizations working to reduce crime and promote public safety. This included $13 million for a program that funded rural law enforcement, supporting investigations of sexual assaults and reductions in child abuse. It cut a $3.5 million collaboration program for law enforcement, community leaders, and researchers to reduce violent crime – a program that Trump had touted as a success in his first term. These cuts are literally defunding the police. [1]

These programs had been working. After a spike in violent and property crimes during the pandemic, over the last three years crime has fallen substantially. Homicides have fallen in major cities, e.g., down 62% in Baltimore to a record low and also to record lows in Chicago and New York.

YOUNG CHILDREN’S WELL-BEING: The Head Start program provides essential services and supports to almost 800,000 low-income children up to age 5 and their families each year. The services include early education and child care, health and dental referrals, nutrition, and parenting supports, including support for getting a job.

The Trump administration’s ban on enrolling children who are undocumented is punishing children for their parents’ status and behaviors. This is like telling parents they can’t send a child to school because they got a ticket for running a red light. Denying them Head Start services will jeopardize the children’s development and ability to succeed in school and in life – early nutrition and development have life-long effects. Moreover, parents may not be able to work because they will have lost their child care. [2]

Head Start has provided these services and supports to over 40 million children and their families since 1965 with no questions asked because they benefit the children as well as their and our society’s futures.

Moreover, between Trump’s inauguration on January 20 and April 15, 2025, according to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Trump administration illegally withheld more than $800 million from Head Start programs. Some Head Start programs were forced to close at least temporarily, negatively affecting thousands of children and hundreds of staff. [3]

CHILD MALNUTRITION: The Trump administration recently ordered the destruction of over 500 tons of emergency high-nutrition biscuits that would have prevented malnutrition for about 1.5 million children for a week. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had spent about $800,000 on this important food source for distribution to children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was in storage when the Trump administration gutted USAID stopping its distribution. Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured the House Appropriations Committee that the food would get to the children before it spoiled. However, the State Department ordered the destruction of the food because providing food to Afghanistan might benefit terrorists (although no reason was given for destroying the food destined for Pakistan and apparently no option of delivering the food to another country was considered). Destroying it will cost the U.S. taxpayers $130,000. [4]

WORK PROGRAM FOR LOW-INCOME SENIORS: The Trump Labor Department has quietly ended that Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). This program helped tens of thousands of seniors (55 or older) who are living on the edge of poverty get part-time employment. The Labor Department withheld about $300 million from grant recipients in July. This is doubly cruel as the Trump / Republican budget is putting work requirements in place for these seniors to qualify for Medicaid health care coverage and for food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). [5]

ACCURATE ECONOMIC DATA: The accuracy of economic data provided by the Trump administration has been a matter of concern for months. Cuts to staff at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a key source of economic data, have hurt the timely production of accurate data. For example, the Consumer Price Index and related data that the BLS produces have included a lot more estimated data than in the past. [6]

When the August 1 jobs report from the BLS showed low job creation for the last three months, Trump falsely claimed that the data had been manipulated to make him look bad. So, Trump fired the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Dr. Erika McEntarfer. With a Trump replacement, future data from the BLS, which is important to investors and business leaders making decisions about hiring and growth, will be even more suspect that it has been to date.

IMPACT ON STATES’ BUDGETS: Massachusetts Governor, Maura Healey, has introduced legislation to spend $400 million of emergency state funds on research and development. This is an effort to soften the blow of Trump administration cuts of research and development grants. MA state programs have lost $714 million in federal funding already this year and universities and other entities have also lost federal research and development funding. MA receives over $8 billion annually in federal research and development funding, which supports 81,300 jobs and generates $16 billion in ancillary economic activity. In New England, the Trump administration has canceled hundreds of research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Health and Human Services Department totaling over $3 billion. [7]

[1]      Waldman, M., 7/22/25, “Trump defunds effective crime-prevention policies,” Brennan Center for Justice: The Briefing (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/trump-defunds-effective-crime-prevention-policies”

[2]      Hilliard, J., 7/14/25, “Immigration policy shift threatens Head Start,” The Boston Globe

[3]      Conley, J., 7/23/25, “Nonpartisan watchdog agency finds Trump admin illegally withheld Head Start funds,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/head-start-trump)

[4]      Cox Richardson, H., 7/15/25, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-15-2025)

[5]      Johnson, J., 7/20/25, “‘Extra cruel’: Trump admin ends job program for seniors as work requirements loom,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/senior-job-training-program)

[6]      Cox Richardson, H., 8/1/25, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-1-2025)

[7]      Gross, S. 8/1/25, “Mass. Research would get $400m,” The Boston Globe

PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN A “MAKE GOOD TROUBLE” PROTEST ON THURS., 7/17

I hope you’re planning to participate in a Make Good Trouble protest on Thursday, July 17. You can find an event near you here. The Trump administration continues its assaults on our democracy and on the safety and well-being of Americans. We and our elected officials need to step up our resistance and make it clear we oppose the administration’s actions.

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

(Personal note: My posting has been and will be a bit less regular this summer primarily because of multiple opportunities to spend time with our grandchildren.)

I hope you’re planning to participate in a Make Good Trouble protest on Thursday, July 17. You can find an event near you here. These protests are important follow-ups to the No Kings protests on June 14. Resistance is even more important now as the Trump administration continues its assaults on democracy and on the safety and well-being of all Americans. Please participate in a protest if you can; bring family members and friends if possible. Support the resistance however you can. Let’s make this bigger and better than the No Kings protests in June!

In addition to protests against the Trump administration, these will also be rallies in support of democracy. They will include pro-democracy messaging supporting the Constitution, equality, due process, liberty, fairness, decency, compassion, and the common good. [1]

These Make Good Trouble protests will be honoring the legacy of civil rights activist and former member of Congress John Lewis, who advocated for making good trouble and marching forward despite all odds. Lewis and his fellow civil rights marchers didn’t make it across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday (and Lewis almost got beaten to death), but they persisted and now is our time to stand up for democracy, decency, the rule of law, fairness, and justice.

These protests are not seeking to change Trump’s mind or those of his MAGA supporters in and outside of Congress. They are seeking to demonstrate to our elected officials that if they do not stand with us in resisting the Trump administration and in protecting democracy that they will lose their next elections. They also seek to convince enough people of the importance of voting for Democrats (and against Republicans) in upcoming elections to give Democrats control of Congress, along with state and local offices and legislative bodies. They also seek to make it clear to corporate executives that siding with Trump will hurt their businesses as well as to judges that the people support and want democracy; that we want government of, by, and for the people; and that we will back them when they stand up to the Trump administration’s illegal actions.

The Make Good Trouble protests and pro-democracy rallies are also a way to support one another in our resistance and underscore the importance of our actions. As John Lewis wrote: “When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself. Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.” [2]

Trump’s repeated assertions of illegal and autocratic powers undermine the Constitution, civil rights, the rule of law, and the foundations of our democracy. They are a coordinated attack on our democracy and a humane and healthy society. They attack our rights to due process, to vote, to protest, and even our well-being, including access to healthcare, food, and shelter. They target immigrants, families in need, and anyone who disagrees with them or calls out their lies.

The only solution to the Trump administration’s illegal and dictatorial actions is for millions of Americans to peacefully protest to show their opposition. Thousands of protests all over the country, in cities, towns, and rural areas, by people of all ages, political persuasions, and ethnicities, are needed to clearly show the Trump administration, our elected officials (members of Congress, Governors, Mayors, members of state legislatures, etc.), corporate executives, and our judges that the Trump administration’s actions are unacceptable and broadly opposed.

We, as citizens of a democracy, need to rise up in unassailable numbers to defend our democracy against the autocracy and budding police state dictatorship of the Trump administration.

Our political leaders (if they deserve to be called leaders) should be leading the charge and stepping up their resistance, as President Trump continues his assaults on our democracy. I urge you to contact your elected officials at all levels, from members of Congress to Governors to members of state legislatures to local officials, and ask them to join a protest on Thursday and to resist every day. Ask them to do more than just speak out. Now is the time for action!

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.

P.S. We all need our weekly dose of good news, so here’s a link to a Jess Craven Chop Wood, Carry Water good news post.

[1]      Hubbell, R. B., 7/14/25, “Making good trouble,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/making-good-trouble)

[2]      Hubbell, R. B., 7/14/25, see above

EXAMPLES OF THE SOCIETAL TOLL OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The actions of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are inflicting a serious toll on our society. Examples include their efforts to defund foreign aid and public broadcasting, their weakening of our cybersecurity defenses, and their efforts to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, not to mention all the horrible things in the budget bill.

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

The actions of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are taking a heavy toll on people, on our society, and on our democratic institutions. Here are some examples.(See this previous post for more examples.)

ACTION #1: Republicans in U.S. House recently passed a bill to rescind $9.4 billion of previously approved funding for foreign aid ($8.3 billion) and public broadcasting ($1.1 billion). The good news is that the Trump administration is tacitly acknowledging that it is illegal for it to cut congressionally approved funding through executive orders or actions by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The vote to pass the bill was 214 to 212 and occurred only after Republican Speaker Johnson had pressured a few Republican representatives to switch their “no” votes and support the bill. [1] Republicans in both the House and the Senate have expressed concerns about this bill.

The bill would rescind funding for foreign aid programs that some of them support, such as President George W. Bush’s emergency AIDS program that has saved over 25 million lives around the globe. These cuts will ultimately harm health and result in deaths here in the U.S. as diseases spread across international borders.

It also would rescind funding that supports 1,500 public TV and radio stations, including many in rural, Republican areas where they are a vital, local resource.

ACTION #2: The Trump administration is weakening America’s cybersecurity defenses at a time when the likelihood of cyberattacks is growing. Trump fired the general who led the National Security Agency and other leaders of our cybersecurity agencies. He has cut staffing and funding for cybersecurity agencies. [2]

This makes no sense because the likelihood of cyber warfare is growing as global tensions and conflicts escalate – in Ukraine, the Middle East, and over Taiwan. U.S. adversaries Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea all have significant cyber warfare capabilities, and there are signs of cyber activity cooperation among them. Cyberattacks can be used for espionage – to steal valuable corporate or government information. Or they can be used to disrupt public infrastructure such as electric power supplies, phone and Internet services, hospitals, banks and financial services, and water supply systems. Recently, Russian hackers disabled the automatic control systems at a rural Texas municipal water plant. This was probably just a test of their capabilities or a warning about what they can do.

ACTION #3: The Trump administration, Republicans in Congress, and their wealthy backers in the financial industry are working hard to eliminate or at least emasculate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB was created in response to the financial industry corruption that caused the 2008 financial collapse and resulted in millions of Americans losing their homes due to abusive and fraudulent mortgages. Since its creation, the CFPB has returned more than $21 billion to consumers through enforcement actions on illegal behavior by financial companies. It has also saved consumers untold additional money through its regulation of the financial industry. [3] For example, it has capped exorbitant fees such as credit card late payment penalties and bank account overdraft charges.

The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been trying to cut CFPB funding, fire its employees, and eliminate the agency. On February 14, a federal judge ordered a halt to these actions. The Trump administration responded by placing most of the CFPB staff on administrative leave and preventing them from performing their jobs.

On June 10, the head of enforcement for the CFPB resigned, writing: “It is clear that the bureau’s current leadership has no intention to enforce the law.” [4] (Russell Vought is the Acting Director of the CFPB and the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, as well as a key author of Project 2025.)

To benefit the wealthy executives and corporations in the financial industry, the Trump administration is persistently trying to eliminate the only independent agency protecting consumers from predatory and illegal practices of financial industry companies.

YOUR ACTION: Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to oppose these actions of the Trump administration in every way they can. Urge them to speak out against these actions and to explain to their constituents the toll Trump administration’s actions are taking on them and our society.

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]      Edmondson, C., 6/12/25, “House votes to claw back $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times

[2]      Klepper, D., 4/21/25, “Nations ready cybersecurity defenses,” The Boston Globe from the Associated Press

[3]      Economic Policy Institute, 6/12/25, “Trump administration attempts to close the CFPB, block agency’s work,” (https://www.epi.org/policywatch/trump-administration-closes-the-cfpb/)

[4]      Economic Policy Institute, 6/12/25, see above

ASK YOUR SENATORS TO OPPOSE THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

Please contact your US Senators NOW. Ask them to stop the draconian Republican budget the Senate is voting on NOW, which includes major cuts to Medicaid and food assistance. Its spending cuts will harm millions of Americans. Its tax cuts will be a windfall for wealthy individuals and corporations.

ACTION: Please contact your U.S. Senators NOW and ask them to do everything they can to stop the draconian 940-page Republican budget the Senate is voting on NOW, which includes major cuts to Medicaid and food assistance. In addition to spending cuts that will harm millions of Americans and tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations, it includes many other very objectionable provisions.

(Note: If you find this message too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading and acting!)

The Republican budget the Senate is voting on NOW makes big spending cuts in a range of government programs and services due to the need to reduce the increase in the federal budget deficit caused by the lost revenue from the big tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations. Overall, the richest Americans would gain around $12,000 a year from the tax cuts, while the poorest families would lose about $1,600 on average from program cuts. Here are some key things the Senate Republicans’ proposed budget would do: [1] [2] [3]

  • Take health care away from roughly 12 million Americans by cutting spending on Medicaid by $930 billion over ten years. Medicaid provides health insurance for millions of low-income families, including students and families of low-paid and unemployed workers. It also covers nursing home care for millions of seniors and health care for disabled individuals. This cut, combined with cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicare, will reduce spending and wreak havoc throughout the whole health care system.
  • Take food assistance away from millions of low-income households, including many new mothers and their babies, as well as students and families of low-paid and unemployed workers. It would dramatically cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. It would also cut the Farm to School program that supports local, small farmers and provides healthy, fresh food to school lunch programs.
  • Increase the federal budget deficit by about $330 billion a year. This would add $3.3 trillion (yes, trillion) to the overall federal debt over the next ten years.
  • Extend expiring tax cuts and create new ones that will provide huge windfalls to wealthy individuals and corporations at a cost of about $4 trillion.
  • More than double the budget for the detention and deportation of immigrants by adding $150 billion to the budget of the Department of Homeland Security. It will add $45 billion to the budget for detention centers to increase or expand the existing 160 detention centers. This would mean ICE has more money for detention that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
  • Immediately end tax credits in place since 2005 to incentivize the development of wind and solar energy. Moreover, it would implement a new tax on these projects. [4]
  • Increase funding for the Defense Department by about $150 billion, including for Elon Musk’s companies. This significant increase is proposed even though there’s more waste, fraud, and abuse in the Defense Department than anywhere else in the federal government. Clearly, Trump, his administration, and Musk and DOGE don’t really care about cutting waste and making government more efficient.

There are many other harmful provisions in the proposed Republican budget.

Please contact your U.S. Senators NOW (as they are voting on this bill and its provisions this week) and ask them to vote against this draconian budget in the upcoming votes. Let them know you oppose tax cuts for wealthy corporations and incredibly wealthy individuals –  especially when they are partially paid for by cutting programs that benefit everyday working Americans.

If your Senator is a Democrat or Republicans Tillis (NC) or Paul (KY), thank them for voting against the budget in a preliminary vote. If your Senator is one of the other Republicans, ask them to vote against the budget in upcoming votes.

Your contacts are important even if you don’t change someone’s mind or vote. It lets your Senators know that you are watching them and paying attention to what’s going on in Congress. If they voted against the budget preliminarily, it will encourage them to continue to oppose the budget. If they vote for the budget in upcoming votes, it will let them know that they are jeopardizing their chances of re-election, which is key to getting them to oppose Trump in these and future votes.

You can find contact information for your U.S. Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO! IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

(Note: Republican presidents (Reagan, Bush, and Trump) and Congresses have cut taxes for wealthy individuals and corporations multiple times since the 1981. These tax cuts have added over $10 trillion (yes, trillion) to the federal debt. The economic boom, jobs, increased tax revenue, and trickle down of benefits to everyday Americans they always promise have NEVER materialized. Most recently, they did not happen after the Trump and Republican tax cut of 2017. Extending these tax cuts and adding others will not increase economic growth, will not increase tax revenue, will not create jobs, and will not trickle down to working Americans. They will, however, balloon the deficit by around $500 billion a year – unless spending is cut to make up for the loss of revenue.)

[1]      Reich, R., 6/30/25, “The worst bill in history,” Robert Reich’s daily blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-three-myths-of-trickle-down-economics)

[2]      Mascaro, L., Freking, K., & Cappelletti, J., 6/29/25, “Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill clears key Senate vote as Republicans race to pass it by July 4,” The Boston Globe from the Associated Press

[3]      Cox Richardson, H., 6/28/25, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-28-2025)

[4]      Reuters, 6/28/25, “Senate bill hastens end of wind, solar tax credits and imposes new tax,” U.S. News (https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2025-06-28/senate-bill-hastens-end-of-wind-solar-tax-credits-and-imposes-new-tax)

EXAMPLES OF THE SOCIETAL TOLL OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The Trump administration and Republicans are taking a serious toll on our society. Examples include their sanctioning of unnecessarily aggressive and violent tactics by federal police, their false claims of fighting antisemitism, and their attacks on transgender girl athletes.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are taking a serious toll on our society. Examples include their sanctioning of unnecessarily aggressive and violent tactics by federal police, their false claims of fighting antisemitism, and their attacks on transgender girl athletes. It’s valuable to document the damage and the toll for multiple reasons.

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

The Trump administration is taking a serious toll on our society, in addition to its toll on individuals’ well-being and safety. (See this previous post for examples of the human toll).

Overall, the toll the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are taking on people, on our society, and on our democratic institutions is immense. The more one looks and the deeper one looks the more damage one sees. At some point it can seem meaningless to document the damage in detail – it’s just omnipresent and unimaginable. And it’s depressing to think about it all.

This is what Project 2025 envisioned and planned to do. However, the swiftness, scope, and cruelty of the actions in these first few months has, I think, been a shock to almost everyone. Part of this is that I’m not sure anyone – even Trump and the Project 2025 authors – anticipated the involvement and aggressiveness of Musk.

I do think it’s valuable to document the damage and the toll for multiple reasons. Here are some reasons to do so:

  • To identify and make us appreciate all that the federal government does for us, which I think all of us took for granted, at least to some extent.
  • To identify opportunities for push back and responses that facilitate individuals’ involvement based on where personal interests, experiences, and/or expertise allow each of us to be uniquely effective.
  • To provide evidence and arguments that will convince more and more people to turn out to vote and to vote against Trump and Republicans. This provides talking points for all of us to use in convincing others to get engaged and to vote. (Note: Democrats also must present powerful reasons to vote for Democrats; something Democrats have not done well, to say the least.)
  • To identify what will need to be repaired and rebuilt once the Trump administration and Republican control of Congress are over.

Here are some examples of the toll the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are inflicting on our society:

EXAMPLE #1: With Trump’s authorization and encouragement, federal police forces (including Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the FBI) are using unnecessarily aggressive tactics. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), perhaps following their example, has also engaged in unnecessarily aggressive tactics in response to the recent, largely peaceful protests in LA. (See this previous post, which includes more on the unnecessarily aggressive tactics of the Trump administration in LA, the exaggerated reporting of violence by the mainstream media, and a note on the kidnapping-type tactics of ICE in detaining people.)

Jeremy Lindenfeld, a reporter for Capital & Main, a California-based non-profit news source, has reported based on firsthand experience that peaceful protesters in Los Angeles have faced aggressive use of force that violates police crowd-control protocols. He has experience with this because he’s previously covered Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations on the Israel – Palestine conflict. He reports that in LA he “witnessed law enforcement agencies deploy crowd-control weapons with greater intensity and more indiscriminately than [he] ever had before.” [1] He witnessed clearly identified members of the press being targeted and injured by the police’s use of weapons.

EXAMPLE #2: The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are using Jewish Americans as political pawns. They claim to be fighting antisemitism on college campuses and in protests over the war in the Middle East. However, this is just an excuse to attack colleges and individuals who don’t share their right-wing political views. Attacking colleges and universities is part of Project 2025 and something Vice President Vance has been talking about since at least 2021. [2]

The insincerity of the claims by Trump, members of his administration, and some Republican members of Congress that they are concerned about antisemitism is belied by their support (and pardoning) of January 6, 2021, insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol carrying Nazi flags and symbols, as well as spouting Nazi rhetoric. Trump also described neo-Nazis marching in  Charlottesville, VA, in 2017 as “very fine people.” Trump has hosted antisemites at his home at Mar a Lago and his biggest financial supporter and (until very recently) his co-president, Elon Musk, has engaged in antisemitic rhetoric and actions on multiple occasions.

EXAMPLE #3: The Trump administration and many Republicans are using LGBTQ+ individuals, and particularly transgender children, as pawns for political purposes. They are vilifying transgender children and denying them access to medical care as well as normal participation in everyday life.

Trump and many Republicans have targeted transgender girls playing public school and college sports. The number of these athletes is tiny and clearly should be handled on a case-by-case basis. Nonetheless, Trump and company are trying to ban their participation in sports. (Note: the NCAA reports that out of 500,000 college athletes, ten are transgender girls.)

Trump has targeted Maine over its laws that allow transgender girls to play on girls’ high school sports teams. He has tried to cut funding for Maine’s schools and to impose other penalties, but Governor Mills has fought back and has prevailed in court.

Recently, one of the very few transgender girls competing in high school sports in Maine won an event at a track meet. A Maine state legislator, Laurel Libby, on national TV, used Trump’s talking points to attack transgender girl athletes. She claimed that they are “pushing many, many of our young women out of the way on their ascent to the podium.” This is false because there aren’t that many transgender girl athletes and because they aren’t, by any stretch of the imagination, dominating girls’ sports. (Note: None of the ten fastest high school girl runners nationally in the events this girl ran is a transgender girl.) [3] Furthermore, Libby endangered the girl by posting a picture of her winning a race and portrayed transgender athletes as violent and dangerous during a legislative hearing.

The girl who finished second in the race won by the transgender athlete stated, “I don’t feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points. … No one was harmed by [the transgender girl’s] participation in the girls’ track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are.”

[1]      Lindenfeld, J., 6/10/25, “Police violently crack down on L.A. protests,” Capital & Main (https://capitalandmain.com/police-violently-crack-down-on-l-a-protests

[2]      Abraham, Y., 4/3/25, “Don’t be fooled,” The Boston Globe

[3]      Wilkins, B., 5/15/25, “2nd-place runner in high school race rips Maine GOP lawmaker for attacking trans winner,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/transgender-student-athletes-maine)

PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN A NO KINGS PROTEST ON SAT., 6/14

I hope you’re planning to participate in a protest for No Kings Day on Saturday, June 14. You can find an event near you here. The Trump administration has escalated its attacks on our democracy, and we, and our political leaders, need to step up our resistance and make it clear we oppose the administration’s actions.

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

(Personal note: I took last week off as I was on an overseas vacation – our first since Covid.)

I hope you’re planning to participate in a protest for No Kings Day on Saturday, June 14. You can find an event near you here. This important day of protest has been planned for many weeks and is even more important now that the Trump administration has escalated its attacks on democracy.

The Trump administration is actively working to impose martial law. Deploying National Guard troops, let alone Marines, to the streets of Los Angeles is blatantly illegal and unconstitutional. Trump is again declaring a fake emergency to justify his exercise of autocratic powers, and, in this case, the powers of a military dictator.

The confrontational protests in LA have occurred in a small, 4-block area of a huge city. The Trump administration has intentionally inflamed the situation first by the unnecessarily aggressive actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel (see more on this in a note at the bottom), then by sending in the National Guard, and finally by sending in Marines. The LA Police Department was fully in control of the situation and the Trump administration’s actions only made their job harder. (See Robert Hubbell’s on-the-ground testimony and video of the calm and normalcy of LA as well as his blog post.)

As Hubbell notes, the depictions and reporting by the mainstream media are misrepresentations of the situation. They play right into Trump’s hands in making the unwarranted emergency he has declared seem reasonable. Trump has declared this and other fake emergencies to justify his exercise of illegal and autocratic powers, thereby undermining the Constitution, civil rights, the rule of law, and the foundations of our democracy.

The only solution to the Trump administration’s illegal and dictatorial actions is for millions of Americans to peacefully protest to show their opposition. Thousands of protests all over the country, in cities, towns, and rural areas, by people of all ages, political persuasions, and ethnicities, are needed to clearly show the Trump administration, our political leaders (members of Congress, Governors, Mayors, members of state legislatures, etc.), and our judges that these actions are unacceptable and broadly opposed.

We, as citizens of a democracy, need to rise up in unassailable numbers to defend our democracy against the autocracy and budding military dictatorship of the Trump administration.

Our political leaders (if they deserve to be called leaders) should be leading the charge and stepping up their resistance, given that President Trump has stepped up his attacks on our democracy.

I urge you to contact your elected officials at all levels, from members of Congress to Governors to members of state legislatures to local officials, and ask them to join a protest on Saturday. Ask them to speak out in support of California Governor Newsom and LA Mayor Bass. But tell them to do more than just speak out. Now is the time for action. I’d love to see members of Congress organize and lead a march to the Pentagon to protest the use of Defense Department resources to support ICE (and also, by the way, to stage a military dictator-style parade).

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.

Note on ICE tactics: One thing our mainstream media aren’t covering at all, to my knowledge, is that if ICE was really focused on arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records, it would be operating very differently. Our police arrest criminals all the time. Unless they catch them in the middle of a criminal act, they have warrants for their arrest – which ICE typically does not. Our police wear uniforms that identify who they work for and who they are. They don’t wear masks to hide their faces. ICE agents typically show up without identification, often wearing masks, and frequently in military dress with military weapons. Their detentions are more like kidnappings than arrests. There is no need for these tactics to make arrests.

EXAMPLES OF THE HUMAN TOLL OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The Trump administration is making us less safe from disease, violence, and death. Cuts to Medicaid and Medicare will increase deaths. So will weakening gun violence prevention efforts. Finally, the Trump administration’s war on children is harming children and will increase deaths for them too.

The Trump administration is making us all less safe in many ways, including less safe from disease, violence, and death. Cuts to the Medicaid and Medicare health care programs will increase deaths. So will the weakening of gun violence prevention efforts. Finally, the Trump administration is engaged in a war on children that is harming the well-being of children and will increase deaths for them as well.

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

STORY #1: The expansion of Medicaid by the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obama Care) has saved 27,400 lives. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently published an analysis of 37 million Americans since the passage of the ACA in 2010. The low-income adults who got Medicaid coverage under the ACA expansion were 21% less likely to die each year than those who did not have Medicaid coverage. Deaths also fell for 20 and 30-year-olds. Overall, the analysis estimated that 27,400 lives were saved by the Medicaid expansion. This is one of several studies that have found that having Medicaid coverage saves lives. These findings are particularly relevant now, given that the Republican budget just passed by the U.S. House would end Medicaid coverage for roughly eight million people who now have it. [1]

STORY #2: The Republican budget just passed by the U.S. House would increase the deficit so much that it would trigger mandatory spending cuts, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The cuts would include a roughly $50 billion a year reduction in Medicare spending. Explicit cuts to Medicaid (health coverage for low-income Americans including many seniors in nursing homes) are specified in the Republican budget. The cuts to Medicare (health coverage for all seniors) are not explicit in the budget but are forced by the budget’s sizable increase in the annual federal budget deficit. The CBO’s non-partisan analysis estimated that the Republican budget would increase the deficit by about $230 billion a year. Therefore, under the 2010 Pay-As-You-Go Act (PAYGO), the White House Office of Management and Budget would have to reduce spending (i.e., sequester authorized spending) by $230 billion a year. About $50 billion of this would come from cuts to Medicare, according to the CBO. [2]

STORY #3: The Trump administration is weakening multiple facets of gun violence prevention efforts. This makes us all less safe. On day two as President in 2025, Trump closed the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Despite Trump’s promises to keep Americans safe and reduce crime, this and other actions that weaken gun violence prevention will do the opposite. The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, created by President Biden, brought a coordinated, government-wide approach to gun violence prevention for the first time. It coordinated the federal response to mass shootings and community violence. Its cross-agency, public health approach to the uniquely American epidemic of gun violence contributed to a 13.5% decline in the homicide rate in 2023, the largest annual decrease ever. It also contributed to a significant drop in the number of untraceable “ghost” guns, i.e., guns without serial numbers. It worked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to close down 644 gun dealers who had engaged in illegal sales. [3]

The Trump administration has also:

  • Legalized the sale of devices that convert ordinary guns into automatic weapons, i.e., machine guns,
  • Advocated for a nationwide right to carry a concealed weapon,
  • Cut Centers for Disease Control funding for studying and analyzing gun violence,
  • Promoted policies that would make it easier and more profitable to sell gun silencers, and
  • Facilitated re-licensing of gun dealers who had their licenses revoked for illegal activity.

Three hundred Americans are shot every day on average. Weakening gun violence protection efforts puts the interests and profits of the gun industry above the safety of children and all the rest of us.

STORY #4: The Trump administration is putting children at risk and making them less safe in multiple ways. The risks start at birth and continue through adolescence. The lack of federal regulations and enforcement for the health care of pregnant and post-partem women has led to significant increases in maternal and infant mortality.

The Trump administration has laid off thousands of workers who run programs that help children and their families. They have also cut funding or plan to cut funding for many of these programs. For example, the staffs of programs that help families keep the electricity and heat on have been fired en masse. The staff that provides enforcement for child support payments has been decimated. Funding has been terminated for investigating child sexual abuse, responding to internet crimes against children, preventing youth violence, and following up on reports of missing children. Billions of dollars for school meals and school safety have been suspended or delayed. [4]

Trump wants to eliminate funding for Head Start, which provides hundreds of thousands of low-income children annually with high quality early education along with meals and family support. The federal staff that oversees Head Start programs and processes their federal funding has been decimated, which may force some programs to shut down.

The Trump administration’s cutting of funding for food assistance, gun violence prevention efforts, and the suicide hotline will all disproportionately harm children. It’s ignoring the harm that social media does to children. And last, but by no means least, its targeting of immigrants, who frequently are parents of children (who may well be U.S. citizens) is doing untold and immeasurable harm to children.

[1]      Kliff, S., & Sanger-Katz, M., 5/17/25, “Medicaid expansion saved 27,000 lives, study finds,” The Boston Globe from The New York Times

[2]      Johnson, J., 5/21/25, “‘They’re not just cutting Medicaid’: GOP bill would trigger over $500 billion in Medicare cuts,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/cuts-to-medicare)

[3]      Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, retrieved from the Internet 5/27/25, “Press releases,” (https://www.bradyunited.org/press)

[4]      Hager, E., 4/23/25, “The Trump administration’s war on children,” ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/article/how-trump-budget-cuts-harm-kids-child-care-education-abuse)

MUSK AND DOGE ARE FAILURES

Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are failures. They haven’t even managed to reduce federal spending, let alone reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, or increase government efficiency – according to Jeff Jacoby, a quite conservative columnist for the Boston Globe.

Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are failures. They haven’t even managed to reduce federal spending, let alone reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, or increase government efficiency – according to Jeff Jacoby, a quite conservative columnist for the Boston Globe.

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

Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are failures. Don’t take my word for it, according to Jeff Jacoby, a quite conservative columnist for the Boston Globe (with whom I almost never agree), they have failed at the most basic of their goals: reducing federal government spending. [1]

It may be debatable whether Musk and DOGE had any intention of reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, or of increasing government efficiency, or even just cutting government spending. However, the results are clear: they accomplished none of these things. (See previous posts about their successes in benefiting Musk and his companies, as well as their failure to focus on the places where waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency are widespread, namely the Defense Department and private, for-profit government contractors.)

First, Jacoby recapitulates Musk’s own statements. Initially, Musk said he would cut at least $2 trillion in government spending. In March, he said DOGE would deliver $1 trillion in spending cuts by the end of May. At an April 10 cabinet meeting, he said he was anticipating savings of $150 billion. The DOGE website lists only $71 billion in spending cuts.

However, the Treasury Department’s report on federal spending says that spending in February and March was $86 billion MORE (up 7%) than in the same months last year. Jacoby notes that Musk and DOGE have not touched programs that account for three-quarters of the federal budget: Social Security payments (as opposed to staff), Medicare and Medicaid health care, the Defense Department, veterans’ benefits, and the interest on the national debt. The Congressional Budget Office reported separately that the federal budget deficit for this fiscal year has increased by about $200 billion in the first seven months of the year.

Although DOGE appears to have reduced or planned reductions of 121,000 federal employees, the cost of the entire civilian workforce of the federal government is only $336 billion. Given that there were three million government employees when Trump took office, assuming these reductions occur, this would reduce the workforce by only 4%. Ignoring severance and any other separation costs, this would save only about $13.5 billion – nowhere near the $2 trillion of promised savings.

Jacoby states that Musk and DOGE have “not made a dent in the vast amount of money the government annually loses to fraud and abuse – as much as $521 billion … It has not clawed back any of the improper payments disbursed by Medicare and Medicaid, which amounted to $101 billion in 2023.” (My bolding.) Trump, Musk, and the Republicans in their party platform, in the campaign, and once Trump was in office promised to slash wasteful government spending. Jacoby closes by noting, “That’s a promise the GOP always makes when it’s out of power and never keeps when it regains control.”

I couldn’t have said this better myself!

[1]      Jacoby, J., 5/18/25, “Why Musk flopped,” The Boston Globe

WHAT DEMOCRATS NEED TO DO Part 2

Democrats need to be more dramatic, effective, and consistent in opposing Trump, his nominees, and the congressional Republicans’ agenda. They need to step up their resistance while promoting and committing to enact policies that would support everyday Americans.

Democrats need to be more dramatic, effective, and consistent in opposing Trump, his nominees, and the congressional Republicans’ agenda. They need to step up their resistance while promoting and committing to enact policies that would support everyday Americans.

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

(Note: Correction. In my previous post asking you to contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to oppose elements of the proposed Republican budget, I wrote that the proposed cuts to Medicaid were “$700 – $800 million.” As many of you know, that should have been $700 – $800 BILLION.)

This previous post made the case that Democrats need to be more dramatic, effective, and consistent in opposing Trump, his nominees, and the congressional Republicans’ agenda. It identified policies that Democrats should be promoting for our economy and the economic well-being of all Americans. This current post focuses on policies in the social services arena, including health care reforms, drug price reductions, enhancements to Medicare, and ensuring long-term funding for Social Security.

Here are some specific policies Democrats ought to be promoting and committing to enact in the social services arena when they are back in power:

  • Ending wasteful and dangerous privatization of health care. Here are two examples;
    • Private equity firms should be banned from the health care industry. The example of Steward Health alone should be enough to seal this case, but there are plenty of other examples as well. (See this previous post for more information.)
    • End the Medicare Advantage program, which privatizes Medicare and results in huge, often fraudulent, wasteful costs to the Medicare program. For example, in 2024, illegal overbilling by Medicare Advantage providers (i.e., big insurance corporations) was estimated to be $83 billion. Medicare Advantage is estimated to cost Medicare $140 billion more per year than if all individuals were on traditional Medicare. [1] (See this previous post for more details.)
  • Strong regulation of drug prices. President Biden took some initial steps to regulate and reduce drug prices, but President Trump is undoing them. In 2022, U.S. drug prices were two and three-quarters times (178% more than) prices in 33 other industrialized countries. This means that our federal, state, and local governments (i.e., taxpayers) and all of us pay over $200 billion a year extra, which fuels exceptionally high profits for drug makers (when compared to other sectors of our economy). [2] (See this previous post for more details.)
  • Enhance Medicare. If the Medicare Advantage program was eliminated and Medicare was allowed to negotiate prices for all drugs (see the above two bullet points), the savings would be sufficient to pay for the addition of dental, hearing, and vision benefits to Medicare, as well as to cap out-of-pocket spending by Medicare enrollees.
  • Ensure Social Security funding for the rest of this century. Currently, workers pay taxes into Social Security only on the first $176,100 they earn in a year. This means that someone making a million dollars stops paying into Social Security after February 15 and someone making ten million dollars stops paying into Social Security after the first week of January. Simply eliminating this cap would increase Social Security’s revenue by roughly $100 billion per year. This would provide about 75% of the funding needed to allow Social Security to pay out its full planned benefits for the rest of the century. The rest could be raised by taxing investment income, estates, and gifts or a variety of other strategies. [3]
    • NOTE: The Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act in Congress would require taxpayers with over $400,000 in income in a year to pay a bit more into Medicare and Social Security. This would fully fund planned Medicare and Social Security benefits for at least the next 75 years. [4]

There are plenty of other policies that Democrats should be advancing to demonstrate that they would better serve and support workers and everyday Americans than Trump and the Republicans. Examples include housing; early education and child care; supporting workers and their unions; effective regulation of businesses for worker, consumer, and public safety; and strong enforcement of antitrust laws including the breaking up of monopolistic companies.

If any of your members of Congress are Democrats, I urge you to contact them and ask them to step up their resistance while promoting and committing to enact policies that would support everyday Americans. 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]      Dayen, D., 1/27/25, “We found the $2 trillion,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/economy/2025-01-27-we-found-the-2-trillion-elon-musk-doge/)

[2]      Dayen, D., 1/27/25, see above.

[3]      Dayen, D., 1/27/25, see above.

[4]      Conley, J., 5/9/25, “Democrats’ bill would extend Social Security and Medicare solvency ‘as far as the eye can see’,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/social-security-medicare-2671925476)

ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO OPPOSE THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

Contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to oppose the draconian measures, including major cuts to Medicaid, in the Republican budget the House is considering. Its spending cuts will harm millions of Americans while it gives tax cuts to wealthy individuals and corporations.

ACTION: Please contact your U.S. Representative and ask them to do everything they can to stop the draconian measures, including major cuts to Medicaid, in the roughly 400-page Republican budget the House is now considering. In addition to spending cuts that will harm millions of Americans and tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations, it includes many other very objectionable measures.

(Note: If you find this message too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading and acting!)

Note that the big spending cuts are driven by the need to avoid exploding the federal budget deficit due to the lost revenue from the big tax cuts for the wealthy. Here are some key things the proposed budget would do:

  • Take health care away from millions of Americans by cutting spending on Medicaid by around $700 – $800 million. Medicaid provides health insurance for millions of low-income families, including students and families of low-pay and unemployed workers. It also covers nursing home care for millions of seniors.
  • Take food assistance away from millions of low-income households, including many new mothers and their babies, as well as students and families of low-pay and unemployed workers. It would dramatically cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. It would also cut the Farm to School program that supports local, small farmers and provides healthy, fresh food to school lunch programs.
  • Prohibit state and local governments from regulating Artificial Intelligence (AI) for ten years. State laws (often bipartisan ones) are currently regulating AI. (Note: The federal government is doing nothing to regulate AI and protect us from its abuses. Elon Musk and other AI entrepreneurs have been very supportive of Trump. They want AI unregulated and are on the current Mideast trip with Trump as the Saudi Arabian royalty is very interested in investing in AI.)

    For example, state laws currently block deepfake pornography, election disinformation, use of discriminatory algorithms (e.g., in hiring decisions), AI-enabled price fixing (e.g., rents), and abusive targeting of children. State laws also protect consumers from AI abuses, including privacy violations, deceptive marketing, price manipulation, and harmful health care decision making. Millions of residents in these states would lose protections from AI abuses if this provision passes as part of the budget bill. California and other states are also cracking down on AI companies using copyrighted material without permission, payments, or attribution. In 2025, at least 45 states’ legislatures are considering 550 AI-related bills. [1]
  • Grant the Trump administration broad authority to take away tax-exempt status from non-profit organizations it deems to be supporting terrorism. It’s already illegal for non-profits to support terrorism, so this is a ploy to allow the administration to take away the tax exemption from organizations it doesn’t like. Moreover, the language doesn’t give the non-profits any effective way to challenge the administration’s decision and action. As I imagine you know, the Trump administration is already attacking non-profits it doesn’t like (e.g., Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Harvard University) and threatening to take away their tax-exempt status. [2] (Note: It’s a crime for the President to ask the IRS to target a specific taxpayer, for example, to remove its tax-exempt status.) [3]
  • Defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
  • Cut renewable energy funding.
  • Limit judges’ ability to hold the Trump administration accountable.
  • Cut student financial assistance.
  • Cut federal workers’ retirement benefits.
  • Increase funding for the Defense Department, including for Musk’s companies, when the Defense Department is where there’s more waste, fraud, and abuse than in any other government agency.

Pick a few of these harmful effects of the Republican budget (or others you know of) that are most meaningful to you and ask your Representative to oppose them and the budget overall. Also, let them know you oppose tax cuts for the wealthy, especially when they are paid for by cutting programs that benefit everyday working Americans.

Moreover, tell them you support tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations to reduce the high levels of economic inequality in the U.S. and so the wealthy pay their fair share for all the benefits our society and economy provide them.

THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO! IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

You can find contact information for your US Representative at  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

(Note: Republican presidents and Congresses have cut taxes for wealthy individuals and corporations multiple times since President Reagan did so in the early 1980s. The economic boom, increased tax revenue, and trickle down of benefits to everyday Americans they have always promised have NEVER materialized. Most recently, they did not happen after the Trump and Republican tax cut of 2017. Extending these tax cuts and adding others will not increase economic growth, will not increase tax revenue, and will not trickle down to working Americans. They will balloon the deficit by around $500 billion a year – unless spending is cut to make up for the loss of revenue.)

[1]      Conley, J., 5/13/25, “‘Gift-wrapped favor to big tech’: GOP sneakily pushes ban on state AI regulation,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/regulating-artificial-intelligence)

[2]      Johnson, J., 5/13/25, “‘We need calls now!’ Republicans slip nonprofit killer bill into tax package,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/nonprofit-killer-bill)

[3]      Gleckman, H., 4/25/25, “Why Trump’s efforts to revoke tax exemptions so dangerous for democracy,” Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2025/04/25/why-trumps-efforts-to-revoke-tax-exemptions-are-so-dangerous/)

RESISTANCE: PEOPLE’S PROMISE LETTER, USPS, NIH, ETC.

Trump is taking so many illegal, cruel, and objectionable actions that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Most important is to regularly raise your voice and take actions to resist, protest, and push back. For example, ask Congress to support the NIH and USPS. Sign the People’s Promise letter.

The Trump administration is taking so many illegal (many are unconstitutional), cruel, and objectionable actions that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Most important is to regularly raise your voice and take actions to resist, protest, and push back, regardless of the issue or specific action you’re focused on.

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

Contact your members of Congress regularly so they know you’re paying attention, watching them, and that you care; that you want them to take strong actions to resist, protest, and push back. Thank them when they do good things; they need to hear this and feel supported. Criticize them when they do wrong things and urge them to do the right things, vigorously.

Ask them to take visible and powerful actions as Senator Booker (D-NJ) and Representative Jeffries (D-NY) did on Sunday with their 12-hour teach-in on the steps of the Capitol. [1] They highlighted the values and moral principles of Democrats, drawing from their religious faith.

While this post focuses on some perhaps less dramatic, but nonetheless very important issues – the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), as well as the People’s Promise letter – we shouldn’t lose sight of critical, on-going targets of protest including:

  • The return of Abrego Garcia and others who have been illegally shipped to prison in El Salvador,
  • The release of Ozturk, Khalil, and others who have been illegally detained,
  • The cessation of foreign aid by USAID that will cause millions of avoidable deaths worldwide and here in the U.S. (see this previous post for more detail),
  • The SAVE Act in the Senate, which would dramatically increase voter suppression (see this previous post for more detail), and
  • The slashing of staff and funding, as well as disruption, at multiple government agencies and programs including the Veterans’ Administration, Social Security, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Head Start, the Labor Department, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the IRS, and other government agencies. These actions will jeopardize the health, safety, and well-being of tens of millions of Americans in the short-term and all three hundred million Americans in the long-term.

Feel free to mention any of these when you contact your members of Congress – or contact them multiple times and mention all of them!

ACTION #1: Please contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to do everything they can to stop the sabotage of research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the largest sponsor of biomedical research in the world. The firing of thousands of workers and the blocking of funding for hundreds (probably thousands) of on-going research projects endangers our short-term and long-term health. For example, research on detection and treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer are being brought to a screeching halt. Drug research and development are similarly being blocked. The impact of all of this cannot be overstated. For example, from 2010 – 2019, 99.4% of new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were developed with NIH funding support.

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. (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: Contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to oppose the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The USPS is a vital public service. It delivers mail to everyone, any place in the U.S. It is not profitable to deliver mail to isolated, small, and/or rural communities, so with privatization these places would lose mail service. This is exactly what happened when the airlines and railroads were deregulated – service to small, unprofitable communities ended or became prohibitively expensive for most people.

Ask your Representative and Senators to support the bipartisan resolutions opposing Trump’s USPS privatization scheme: Resolution 70 in the House and Resolution 147 in the Senate.

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.

ACTION #3: Please sign the People’s Promise Letter sponsored by Common Cause and others. It’s a response to Trump’s first 100 days in office. It calls for an alternative course of action that delivers:

  • An economy that works for everyone including livable wages, the right to unionize, affordable housing, quality healthcare, and quality early education and child care.
  • A government for the people including quality education for all, a strong safety net, and the wealthy paying their fair share in taxes.
  • Equal rights and opportunity for all including legal due process for all; voting for all that is easy, protected, and accurately counted; and freedom from hate and discrimination for all.

Click on “Sign The Letter” in the upper right of the People’s Promise website to sign. Scroll down to read about the harm that the Trump administration has done in its first 100 days.

[1]      Rubin, J., 5/2/25, “Undaunted,” The Contrarian (https://contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-57a)

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.

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.

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]      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.

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]      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/)

SIGNALGATE: AN UNFORGIVABLE NATIONAL SECURITY BREACH

Top Trump administration officials in the military and intelligence agencies have committed an unbelievable and unforgivable breach of national security. Investigations by Congress and the military are essential. Officials responsible should resign, be fired, or be impeached, and perhaps prosecuted.

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

There is NO EXCUSE for top Trump administration officials communicating secret military plans over Signal, an unsecured, commercial messaging app, whose use is SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED by Defense Department policy. Included in the Signal chat group discussing the March 15 attack in Yemen, before and during the action, were:

  • Secretary of Defense Hegseth and Secretary of State Rubio,
  • The President’s National Security Advisor Waltz and Chief of Staff Wiles,
  • The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Ratliffe and the Director of National Intelligence Gabbard,
  • Vice President Vance, and others.

None of them, over the four-day chat (3/11 – 3/15), raised a red flag over the illegal use of an unsecured communication channel, with a reporter accidentally included no less. This is astounding. Any government employee of lower rank who engaged in such a breach of security would be fired immediately and jailed without bail. Concerning elements of this national security breach include:

  • The incompetence, inexperience, and cavalier attitude toward sensitive information of these top Trump administration official is stunning and unacceptable.
  • This strongly implies that senior Trump administration officials are regularly having very sensitive communications over an unsecured, commercial messaging app in violation of the law.
  • Some of them were using their personal, unsecured phones. Experts have stated that it’s highly likely foreign intelligence services are monitoring their personal phones. (Official government-issued secured phones have special encryption and other security features, including the inability to download apps, such as Signal, WhatsApp, X, etc. that make a phone vulnerable to hacking.) [1]
  • Secretary of Defense Hegseth repeatedly lied about what had occurred and Gabbard and Ratliffe lied under oath at a Senate hearing. [2]
  • President Trump stated he had no knowledge of the breach on March 24. Based on the pre-attack messaging, which Trump was not part of, it appears the decision to go ahead with the strikes was made by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, not the President, which is startling. Stunningly, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the military was also not included.
  • The name of at least one CIA operative was revealed in the messaging. [3]
  • The revelation of a specific, targeted individual and on-the-ground intelligence about him, while the strike was on-going, is breathtaking and put intelligence sources at risk. (Apparently some of the intelligence and sources were Israeli and the Israelis are furious about the compromising of their information and sources.)
  • It must be assumed that Russia and China (and maybe other adversaries such as Iran and North Korea) have the ability to intercept these unsecured communications, according to multiple experts. An internal bulletin from the National Security Agency warned staff in February 2025 not to use Signal, citing concerns that the app was vulnerable to Russian hackers. [4]
  • The Signal messaging app being used by top Trump administration officials deletes communications after a set period of time – days or a few weeks. This violates federal laws requiring the preservation of documents and communications. Signal may well have been deliberately used here and in other communications to evade having a public record. [5]

All members of Congress, and particularly any with military service backgrounds, should be enraged and determined to get to the bottom of this. It is a national security breach of breathtaking seriousness that could or may have endangered the lives of military and intelligence personnel. Our troops and our country are clearly not being kept safe. If the Iranians had access to the messaging and had alerted their Houthi allies (the targets) to prepare for the attack, including anti-aircraft weaponry, the U.S. jets and pilots would have been at serious risk and the success of the mission would likely have been compromised.

The military itself should undertake a rigorous investigation with decisive punishment for those guilty of compromising national security. [6]

Reporters and internet sleuths have found personal information about phones and email addresses for a number of the chat participants, including usernames and passwords for email accounts for Hegseth, Waltz, and Gabbard. This makes it highly likely that foreign adversaries have been monitoring everything they have communicated since their nominations. [7]

There are many serious implications of this breach of national security. Here are a few:

  • Allies will NOT be sharing sensitive intelligence with the U.S. because they cannot trust that it will be kept secure. (This exacerbates their concerns raised by Trump’s behavior in his first term and his taking of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago at the end of it.)
  • U.S. soldiers’ lives are at-risk because Trump administration members are not maintaining security about upcoming military actions and allies won’t be sharing their intelligence.
  • U.S. CIA agents’ lives are at-risk because Trump administration members will include their names in unsecured communications and allies won’t be sharing their intelligence.

If you haven’t already, please contact your US Representative and Senators to express your concerns and outrage about this astonishingly dangerous national security breach. (And if you have been in touch with them, it can’t hurt to contact them again.) Ask them to demand a full investigation of the unsecured communication about the March 15 military action in Yemen. Ask them to demand the resignations, firing, impeachment, and/or prosecution of the officials involved. Hypocritically, Hegseth, Rubio, Gabbard, and Ratliffe have all stated the importance of secure handling of sensitive information and the need for accountability when it is mishandled in past attempts to criticize Democrats for supposed breaches of national security. Just imagine what Republicans would be saying if a Democrat had committed a breach anywhere near this serious!

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]      Hubbell, R., 3/27/25, “Signalgate: A crack in the façade?” Daily Edition Newsletter (Signalgate: A crack in the facade? – by Robert B. Hubbell)

[2]      Queally, J., 3/26, “Here are the texted war plans that Hegseth said ‘Nobody was texting’ on Signal,” Common Dreams  (https://www.commondreams.org/news/war-plans-signal-hegseth)

[3]      Cox Richardson, H., 3/24/25, “Letters from an American,” (March 24, 2025 – by Heather Cox Richardson)

[4]      Cox Richardson, H., 3/26/25, “Letters from an American,” (March 26, 2025 – by Heather Cox Richardson)

[5]      Hubbell, R., 3/25/25, “Criminal recklessness,” Daily Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/criminal-recklessness)

[6]      Editorial, 3/26/25, “A ‘gross error’ that needs to be punished,” The Boston Globe

[7]      Hubbell, R., 3/28/25, “Let’s ‘create a ruckus’,” Daily Edition Newsletter (Let’s “create a ruckus.” – by Robert B. Hubbell)

PROTEST NATIONAL SECURITY BREACH ETC.

ACTION #1: Please contact your US Representative and Senators to ask them to demand a full investigation of the major national security breach around the March 15 military attack in Yemen. They should demand the resignations, firings, or impeachment of the officials involved. There’s NO EXCUSE for them communicating secret military plans over an unsecure, commercial messaging app whose use is SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED by Defense Department policy. Included in the chat group were the:

  • Secretaries of Defense and State,
  • President’s National Security Advisor and Chief of Staff,
  • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director and the Director of National Intelligence,
  • Vice President, and others.

Any government employee of lower status who engaged in such a breach of security would be immediately jailed without bail. The incompetence, inexperience, lack of qualifications, and cavalier attitude toward sensitive information by these senior officials is stunning, egregious, and unacceptable. I will have more detail on this in my next post.

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.

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: Join a protest rally or march in-person if you can.

  • Big, nationwide HANDS OFF! protests are planned for Saturday, April 5. Go to Indivisible to find an event near you. Let’s make this a huge event!
  • Nationwide protest rallies at Tesla dealerships this Saturday, March 29. Put in your zip code at #TeslaTakedown and find a rally near you. These rallies have been very effective. They’ve gained media attention, and, as I’m sure you’ve heard, Tesla sales and its stock price are down substantially.

ARE TARIFFS AND NO TAX ON TIPS GOOD POLICIES?

Trump’s proposal to eliminate taxes on tips sounds good but analysis shows it’s bad policy. Tariffs can be used effectively, but Trump’s tariff actions are already hurting our economy and will raise prices. They’re also ripe for political corruption.

Trump’s proposal to eliminate taxes on tips sounds good but careful analysis shows it would benefit few workers, be unfair, create perverse incentives, and open a door for tax avoidance. On the other hand, tariffs can be used effectively, but Trump’s on-again-off-again, high, broad-based tariffs are already hurting our economy and will raise prices for consumers and businesses. They are also ripe for political corruption.

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

Let’s take a step back from the dramatic and illegal actions of the Trump administration for a moment and take a look at their policy proposals on tariffs and eliminating taxes on tip income.

Trump has proposed eliminating income tax on tips, which sounds like a good policy that would help low-income workers. However, when carefully analyzed, it’s clearly a bad idea. First, it’s one more complexity in our tax code, unfairly treating some low-income workers and one type of income differently than others. It also creates a perverse incentive to create tip income, even the conversion of regular income to tip income. This is a new avenue for tax avoidance that some employers and business people would take advantage of. [1]

Second, eliminating tax on tips would help very few workers. Workers who earn less than $25 per hour and are in traditionally tipped jobs are only 2.5% of the overall workforce, which is about 4.3 million workers. However, 37% of tipped workers earn so little that they already don’t pay federal income tax. So, fewer than 2.5 million workers would benefit from eliminating tax on tips. Moreover, some low-income tipped workers would lose their eligibility for tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.

It’s unfair to give this benefit to low-wage tipped workers but no similar benefit to low-wage workers who don’t get tips, such as fast-food workers, teachers’ aides, retail cashiers, and bank tellers, for example. The biggest beneficiaries of eliminating taxes on tips would be servers in high-end, expensive restaurants who are already making a decent living.

Third, it undermines efforts to increase wages for all low-wage workers. Some employers might see this tax cut as a justification for not increasing workers’ wages. So, in effect, part of the benefit of this tax cut would go to employers rather than employees. It undermines efforts to raise the federal tipped worker minimum wage of only $2.13 per hour (set in 1993), as well as efforts to raise the regular federal minimum wage of $7.25 (set in 2009).

Fourth, it would incentivize increasing the number of tipped jobs because it would allow employers to pay $2.13 an hour rather than $7.25. Furthermore, tipping might proliferate to many services that currently aren’t tipped. Businesses might add an automatic “tip” to bills or classify a portion of their fees as “tips.” The use of “tipping” to dodge taxes could spread to a wide range of services such as car repair and servicing, appliance installation, child care, and even dental and legal services. [2]

An expansion of low wage tipped jobs is clearly not in workers’ economic interests and, furthermore, tipped work is rife with wage theft, worker mistreatment and abuse, and discrimination (including by tippers).

Turning to tariffs, Trump declared a fake economic emergency that gives him the power to unilaterally impose tariffs. Putting aside the disruptive aspects of threatening or implementing tariffs and then stepping back from them, let’s examine the role and impact of tariffs.

Tariffs can be used effectively to achieve important goals of economic and trade policy. They are most effective when they are narrowly targeted at well-defined goals as part of a larger, clearly established policy strategy. The three main goals of tariffs are: [3]

  • Protecting domestic production of specific products for reasons of national security, resilience of key supply chains, or other clearly justified purposes,
  • Protecting U.S. workers from unfair competition from specific other countries, and
  • Protecting domestic climate change and environmental policies from specific other countries with weaker policies.

High, broad-based tariffs harm the U.S. economy in multiple ways, and they do not reduce the U.S. trade deficit. They raise prices of imported goods for consumers and for businesses who use inputs that are imported. Furthermore, other countries are very likely to implement retaliatory tariffs or restrictions on the importation of U.S. products. For example, when Trump imposed tariffs on China in his first term, China retaliated with tariffs on U.S. agricultural products and a ban on the purchase of Boeing airplanes. The loss of the Chinese market had such a profound impact on U.S. farmers and ranchers that the Trump administration authorized $61 billion in emergency relief for them. This ate up (no pun intended) roughly all the tariff revenue generated by the Trump tariffs. Boeing lost the 25% of its sales that had been in China, and this strengthened the Chinese competitor to Boeing and increased its sales.

High, broad-based tariffs facilitate political corruption. They typically allow importers to petition for reductions of or exclusions from the tariffs. This favors politically connected or favored companies. The first Trump administration granted more than 100,000 exclusions or reductions to tariffs through a process that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Commerce Department’s Inspector General found lacked transparency and made inconsistent and apparently arbitrary decisions. Further analysis found that tariff reductions were used to reward political supporters and contributors, while punishing political opponents. [4]

[1]      Cooper, D., & Mast, N., 2/6/25, “‘No tax on tips’ will harm more workers than it helps,” Economic Policy Institute (https://www.epi.org/blog/no-tax-on-tips-will-harm-more-workers-than-it-helps-proposals-in-congress-and-now-20-states-could-encourage-harmful-employer-practices-and-lead-to-tip-requests-in-virtually-every-co/)

[2]      Cooper, D., & Mast, N., 2/6/25, see above.

[3]      Hersh, A. S., & Bivens, J., 2/10/25, “Tariffs – Everything you need to know but were afraid to ask,” Economic Policy Institute (https://www.epi.org/publication/tariffs-everything-you-need-to-know-but-were-afraid-to-ask/)

[4]      Hersh, A. S., & Bivens, J., 2/10/25, see above.

RESISTANCE AND PROTEST ACTIONS

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ACTION #1: Please contact your US Representative and Senators regularly to thank them for what they do right and encourage them to resist and protest the harmful and/or illegal actions of the Trump administration and Musk. For example:

  • If they’ve held an in-person or virtual town hall meeting for constituents, thank them. If they have not, ask them to. Or ask them to hold another one. Participate if you can. Call their office afterwards and give them feedback on it.
  • Ask them to publicly condemn the Trump administration for its failure to comply with judges’ orders and to call for congressional hearings on the Trump administration’s failure to comply with court orders and requests for information.
  • If they are Democrats, ask them to form a shadow cabinet that would provide a daily critique of the actions of the Trump administration and its cabinet secretaries. They should state what Democrats would do differently and how that would benefit the American people.
  • Ask them to oppose the elimination of funding for our libraries from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. This is the only federal government agency that supports libraries.
  • Or whatever else is on your mind or in the news.

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.

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: Join a protest rally or march in-person if you can. Big, nationwide protests are planned for Saturday, April 5, and there are many protests planned before then. Several national organizations, some with local chapters, are promoting the April 5 event as well as publicizing and organizing other protests. Here are some opportunities to find protests near you:

  • Indivisible is highlighting the April 5th event and will help you find an event near you. It has local chapters you can join and other actions you can be part of. Here’s a list of Indivisible Protests near you.
  • #TeslaTakedown. Put in your zip code and find a protest at a Tesla dealer near you. These rallies have been very effective. They’ve gained media attention, and, as I’m sure you’ve heard, Tesla sales and its stock price are down substantially.
  • 50501 is a grassroots organization listing protests organized by independent activists across the nation. It’s promoting the April 5th event, will link you to protests in your state, and allows you to add a protest to its list of actions.
  • Mobilize is a clearinghouse for protests and will help you find one near you. It also has online events, phone banking, petitions to sign and other quick actions, groups you can join, and volunteer opportunities.

HEROES OF THE RESISTANCE

The resistance to Trump, Musk, and Republicans is growing. You are all heroes for whatever you’ve contributed to the resistance. There are many heroes, including federal workers who work diligently despite the chaos and threats, as well as those who have resigned or resisted being fired to protest.
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The resistance to the Trump administration, Musk and DOGE, and the Republicans in Congress is growing. You are all heroes for whatever actions you’ve contributed to the resistance. There are some heroes that I would like to highlight, including federal workers, some who continue to diligently do their jobs despite the chaos, threats, and demeaning actions of the Trump administration and some who have resigned or resisted being fired to protest.

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

The resistance is growing. Thank you for your participation! Thank you for pushing back and supporting the resistance in whatever ways you can, from donating money to in-person protesting to honking or waving in support of protesters you’ve seen. I hope you’re seeing, hearing about, and feeling the resistance from many people in many ways. I hope you’ve contacted your members of Congress to ask them to block or protest onerous actions of the Trump administration.

I hope you’ve participated in, seen, or read about the town hall meetings where both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have gotten strong pushback from their constituents. I imagine you’ve heard that the Republican leaders in Congress have recommended that their members NOT hold town hall meetings because of all the negative feedback they’re getting. That’s the result of all the feedback you and others have been delivering in-person and via all the various communication modes.

You’re all heroes of the resistance!

Another hero is Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, who spoke to Trump directly at the National Prayer Service after his inauguration and asked him to show mercy for immigrants and LGBTQ+ individuals. I hope other religious leaders will call out the inhumanity of many of the actions of the Trump administration. I urge you to ask religious leaders you interact with to stand up and speak out.

I want to highlight for you a few of the heroes in our federal government workforce. But first I’d like to acknowledge and thank every federal worker who’s on the job every day working hard to serve the American people despite the demeaning rhetoric and threats from Trump, Musk, and others. Many of them are working to hold the Trump administration accountable, but unfortunately we will never know about most of them and what they’ve done on our behalf. It’s important to acknowledge that, despite threats and risks, many of them are doing heroic work. It’s good for them to know we’ve got their backs and for us to know they’re pushing back from the inside as we’re pushing back from the outside. See We the builders for more on federal workers and how they and their unions are pushing back.

Nicholas Enrich was the acting assistant administrator for global health at USAID until March 2 when he was abruptly put on leave. He is a hero for working to keep programs functioning despite a workforce slashed from 783 to less than 70. And despite the freeze on funding. Funds were supposedly freed up by temporary waivers from the Secretary of State for lifesaving assistance. Enrich tried repeatedly to make the waivers work but was blocked at every turn.

He and others wrote a series of memos, which became public, documenting what was happening and what the impact would be. Despite his diligent work, Enrich was put on leave. [1]

The memos share estimates that without USAID’s work and funding more than 16 million pregnant women and more than 11 million newborns will not get medical care; more than 14 million children will not get care for pneumonia and diarrhea (among the top causes of preventable deaths for children under the age of 5); 200,000 children will be paralyzed with polio; 1 million children will not be treated for severe malnutrition; and 2.3 million children a year will die because they will not get vaccinated. There will be at least an additional 12.5 million cases of malaria this year, leading to 71,000 to 166,000 avoidable deaths.

USAID leaders estimated there will be a roughly 30% increase in cases of tuberculosis (TB). The increased tuberculosis infections and disruptions to treatment will cause TB to develop drug resistance, making future treatment options more difficult and costly. This will inevitably lead to more cases in the U.S. USAID staff forecast about 80 additional cases of multi-drug-resistant TB in the U.S. each year as a result. These cases will cost the U.S. millions in tax dollars because it costs roughly $500,000 to treat someone with drug-resistant TB.

There are many judges and public prosecutors who are heroes. Among them are U.S. District Judge Amir Ali. He has now ordered the Trump administration four times to pay the $2 billion owed to USAID contractors. U.S. District Judges William Alsup, Amy Berman Jackson, James Bredan, Tanya Chutkan, Jesse Furman, Beryl Howell, and Lauren King are also heroes. [2]

Eight senior prosecutors at the Department of Justice (DOJ) resigned rather than present a motion to dismiss the charges against NY Mayor Eric Adams. Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, led the way by resigning when ordered by deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove to file for dismissal of the case against Adams, apparently in exchange for Adams’s agreement to help the Trump administration implement its anti-immigrant policies. Kevin Briscoll, John Keller, Hagan Scotten, and four others also resigned. [3]

Trump has attempted to fire 18 Inspector Generals (IGs) in various departments of the federal government. At least eight of them have filed suits claiming they were fired illegally. The IGs’ role is explicitly to ensure effective and efficient operation of their agencies by detecting and preventing waste, fraud, and abuse, while making recommendations for enhanced functioning. Their track records are impressive. Here’s a list of some of them and some highlights of their work: [4]

  • Robert Storch, Dept. of Defense, 281 reports, 970 recommendations, $10.8 billion impact.
  • Michael Missal, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 10,000 recommendations, $45 billion impact.
  • Christi Grimm, Dept. Health and Human Services, 1,300 reports, $18.5 billion impact.
  • Carde Richardson, Dept. of State, $17 million impact in 8 months.
  • Sandra Bruce, Dept. of Education, 739 recommendations, $1.2 billion impact.
  • Larry Turner, Labor Dept., 400 recommendations, $75 billion impact.
  • Mike Ware, Small Business Administration and acting at the Social Security Administration, $14 billion impact plus $30 billion seized or returned to the U.S. Treasury.
  • Paul Martin, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), documented the waste of funding and aid, as well as the impaired functioning of USAID, based on Musk’s interference and personnel cuts, among other things.
  • Phyllis Fong, Dept. of Agriculture, 7,250 reports, $19 billion impact. She refused to leave when fired and had to be dragged from her office. Among other things, she was investigating Musk’s company, Neuralink.

Here’s a quick list of some other heroes: [5]

  • Denise Cheung, a senior DOJ attorney, resigned after refusing to launch a fraudulent criminal investigation into grantees of an environmental program.
  • New York Attorney General Letitia James and Georgia District Attorney Fani Wills each prosecuted Trump despite threats and personal attacks.
  • Brian Driscoll, acting FBI Director, and his deputy, Robert Kissane, refused a DOJ order to assist in firing FBI employees who had investigated the January 6 insurrection.
  • Ellen Weintraub, chair of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), is resisting Trump’s illegal attempt to remove her.
  • Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel, which protects whistleblowers and enforces the prohibition on federal employees engaging in political activity, is suing Trump for firing him illegally.
  • Gwynne Wilcox, chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), is suing Trump for illegally firing her. By firing her, Trump made the NLRB unable to function because it lacks the quorum necessary to make decisions. By the way, there are 24 cases against Musk companies pending before the NLRB. (Note: She was recently reinstated by a judge’s ruling.)
  • And many, many more.

[1]      Murphy, B., & Barry-Jester, A. M., 3/3/25, “Internal memos: Senior USAID leaders warned Trump appointees of hundreds of thousands of deaths from closing agency,” ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-rubio-usaid-musk-death-toll-malaria-polio-tuberculosis)

[2]      Reich, R., 3/3/25, “The Trump-Vance-Musk-Putin manosphere,” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-trump-vance-musk-putin-manosphere)

[3]      Ifill, S., 2/28/25, “When lawyers stand up,” The Contrarian (https://contrarian.substack.com/p/when-lawyers-stand-up)

[4]      Rubin, J., 2/14/25, “Undaunted,” The Contrarian (https://contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-aea)

[5]      Reich, R., 2/13/25, “Profiles in courage,” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/profiles-in-courage)

STOP THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION SPENDING BILL

I’m sorry to be in your inbox again this week, but this is a real emergency.

Please contact your US Senators NOW and ask them to vote against the Continuing Resolution (CR) spending bill that the House Republicans passed. It would fund the federal government until September and avoid a shutdown but has many very objectionable provisions. If you have a Democratic Senator, ask them to filibuster the CR. That’s probably the only way to stop it. Keep in mind that the Republicans are doing a CR because they can’t come up with a regular budget.

Normally, a Continuing Resolution, as the name implies, extends current spending levels but this one slashes most spending, such as a $1 billion in DC (even though it’s local tax dollars and will cut public safety and other vital services), and increases defense spending (there’s more waste, fraud, and abuse in the defense budget than anywhere else in the federal government, so if anything should be cut, defense should be). Furthermore, the CR doesn’t rein in Musk, doesn’t stop illegal firings and withholding of approved funding, and doesn’t block Trump’s tariffs and end the fake “economic emergency” Trump declared that gives him unilateral power to implement tariffs.

Without these provisions, a government shutdown is no worse than what Trump and Musk are already doing. And the CR would explicitly let them continue what they’re doing through next September!

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

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.

RESISTANCE ACTIONS ON UKRAINE AND TRUMP

ACTION #1: I strongly urge you to contact your US Representative and Senators NOW and ask them to support Ukraine. Here’s a sample message. Feel free to tailor it and put it in your own voice.

Please speak out loudly and clearly, and do everything in your power, to support Ukraine and democracy, while strongly opposing Putin, Russia, and dictators. I’m appalled by Trump’s, Vance’s, and Republicans’ attacks on Ukraine and Zelensky! Their withdrawal of satellite imagery and intelligence support for Ukraine is putting civilian and front lines troops’ lives at greater risk. This is horrifying!

Also, please do everything you can to prevent the Trump administration from lifting economic sanctions on Russia. Lifting them would be very harmful to Ukraine and to the struggle between democracies and autocracies worldwide.

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.

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: This is actually three sample messages for President Trump. Feel free to tailor them and put them in your own voice. You can do any one of them, all of them at once, or do them in three separate calls or emails.

President Trump please:

  • Tell Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy to work aggressively to stop the measles outbreak and the spread of bird flu. If more people die and egg prices keep going up, you will get hell from me and the American people!
  • Tell Musk to stop the firings at the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Administration. If those services deteriorate, I and the many other members of the public who rely on those services will be very unhappy, to say the least!
  • Stop your tariffs, the Republican budget, and Musk’s disruptive actions because if they crash the stock market and the economy, as they appear to be doing, you can be sure that Americans from all walks of life will be quite angry!

You can email President Trump at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ or you can call the White House comment line at 202-456-1111, which is available only on Tuesday through Thursday between 11 am and 3 pm Eastern time.

TRUMP AND THE REPUBLICANS DO NOT CARE ABOUT MAKING GOVERNMENT WORK BETTER

The Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress are not trying to make government work better. They’re focused on destroying our federal government and making it unable to perform functions we all rely on in our everyday lives. They also plan to give huge tax cuts to wealthy individuals and corporations. Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to oppose the draconian budget Republicans have proposed.

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

I probably don’t need to tell you that the Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress are not trying to make government work better. Rather, they want to destroy our federal government and leave it unable to perform functions we all rely on in our everyday lives.

This post will examine the Republicans’ budget proposal. My previous post documented the random slashing of personnel, which does not increase efficiency or make government work better. More examples of this have emerged in recent days. The Trump administration has disbanded the information technology group that was working to make the federal government’s public websites more user-friendly and functional. So, for example, it will no longer be working to make it easier and faster to get a passport from the Department of State or to use the free tax filing service of the IRS. [1] Many cybersecurity personnel from multiple agencies have been fired. Computer systems in the U.S. are not being effectively protected and Russia and other adversaries know this. Moreover, it has been reported that the Trump administration has stopped efforts to counter Russian cyberattacks. [2] Obviously, these actions are not doing anything to make the government more effective and efficient; quite the opposite.

Turning to the budget, the Republicans in Congress have proposed draconian cuts to agency and program budgets. They’ve set dollar-amount targets for cuts that reflect no analysis of need or efficiency. Their budget proposal has big cuts in everything that supports working Americans and their families. However, it includes big increases for defense and immigrant detention and deportation. It also extends and expands the very large 2017 tax cuts for wealthy corporations and individuals, which would cost $4.5 trillion over the next ten years. For example, the wealthiest 1% of Americans, with yearly incomes of over $743,000, would get an annual tax cut averaging $62,000. This is more than the yearly incomes of most of the 72 million people in the US who receive health insurance under Medicaid, many of whom are seniors in nursing homes. And make no mistake about it, Medicaid would have to be cut dramatically to meet the Republicans’ budget targets. [3]

These budget cuts are NOT about cutting waste or fraud; they are about cutting programs that working Americans rely on every day – from health care to nutrition programs to student loans to child and elder care. These deep cuts in programs are being proposed to make the tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations affordable, i.e., to keep them from exploding the budget deficit. Note that the Republicans’ budget proposal does NOT extend the tax credits that make health care more affordable under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obama Care) for 20 million low- and middle-income Americans, including three million small business owners and self-employed individuals. The Republicans’ budget proposal would also shift significant costs to state and local governments – which don’t have the capacity to pay them.

Despite the draconian programmatic cuts, the Republican budget proposal would increase the national debt by $4 trillion in less than two years.

It is abundantly clear that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, along with Musk and DOGE, have no interest in efficiency or making government work better. They want to break our government and turn our democracy into a dictatorship. Moreover, they act like bullies; being cruel and hurting people appears to be one of their goals. Why else would you separate children from parents and post gloating videos of immigrants in chains?

Mindless slashing of agency budgets and staff is harming our safety in multiple ways and weakening our economy. It will increase homelessness, hunger, and hardship for many; it will allow diseases to spread and environmental damage to grow.

I urge you to contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to take strong action to oppose the draconian budget cuts Republicans are proposing.

If you have members of Congress who are Democrats, urge them to form a shadow cabinet and identify a party spokesperson. These individuals should critique the actions of the Trump administration on a daily basis by:

  • Identifying what it’s doing right and what it’s doing wrong.
  • Sharing data and people’s stories to document the damage that’s being done.
  • Presenting what Democrats would do differently and how people’s lives would be better if Democrats were running the government.

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.

In my next post, I’ll share some profiles in courage of those resisting and good news about how the resistance is growing and proving to be effective.

[1]      Hubbell, R., 3/3/25, “Every effort matters – now more than ever!” Today’s Edition Newsletter (Every effort matters—now more than ever!)

[2]      Cox Richardson, H., 3/2/25, “Letters from an American,” (March 2, 2025 – by Heather Cox Richardson)

[3]      Parrott, S., 2/25/25, “House budget would increase costs and hardship for many while providing huge tax breaks for a wealthy few,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/house-budget-would-increase-costs-and-hardship-for-many-while-providing-huge-tax)

ECONOMIC BOYCOTT AND OTHER ACTIONS TO TAKE NOW TO RESIST

Here are three action opportunities to resist Trump and Republicans at the national and state levels.

ACTION #1: A national, 24-hour economic boycott will occur on Friday, Feb. 28. Please plan ahead so that on 2/28 you can:

  • NOT shop online or in stores; NOT make any purchases if at all possible. In particular, do NOT shop at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and other stores that have dropped their DEI commitments.
  • NOT use credit cards, debit cards, or any electronic payment systems.
  • NOT click on ads on social media.

If you must make an emergency purchase (e.g., food, medicine), shop at small, local businesses and use cash if you can.

Please SPREAD THIS MESSAGE. Talk about it, post about it, share it, and document your actions on 2/28!

THIS MATTERS because retail, financial, and other corporations only care about their bottom line. A noticeable blip in their business, even for just a day, will send a powerful message.

ACTION #2: Blue Wave is running a postcard campaign in support of Wisconsin Democratic Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford. Election day is April 1. The outcome of the race will determine the balance of power on the Court through 2028. Maintaining the 4 – 3 Democratic majority is essential to protecting constitutional rights in Wisconsin (such as access to women’s reproductive health services), supporting unionization, requiring fair electoral maps, and ensuring free and fair elections in 2026 and beyond.

The postcards must be purchased in packets of 100 and come with stick-on address labels. (If you don’t want to do 100, find a friend to share the work.) They have a VERY short message for you to write and are a great way to help win this election.

More information about Judge Crawford and her campaign is here. Donate if you can.

ACTION #3: There are two special elections for seats in the U.S. House from Florida on April 1. As you know, the balance in the House between Democrats and Republicans is very close and winning these two seats would narrow the margin and give Democrats greater strength. For now, donate if you can. I’ll share other ways to get involved in the future.

Gay Valimont (Democrat) is running in the special election for Florida’s 1st congressional district. (The special election will fill the seat left by Matt Gaetz, who resigned from office after Trump nominated him for attorney general. Gaetz later withdrew from consideration for that position.)

More information about Ms. Valimont and her campaign is here.

Josh Weil (Democrat) is running in the special election for Florida’s 6th congressional district. (The special election will fill the seat left by Michael Waltz, who Trump nominated to serve as national security advisor.)

More information about Mr. Weil and his campaign is here.

STOP TRUMP NOMINEES FOR EDUCATION AND MEDICARE / MEDICAID NOW!

I strongly urge you to contact your US Senators NOW and demand that they block the confirmation of Trump nominees Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education and Dr. Mehmet Oz for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS oversees health care for more than 150 million Americans. Call if you can or email your Senators. Here’s a sample message:

Please speak out loudly and clearly, and do everything in your power, to stop Linda McMahon from being confirmed as Secretary of Education and Dr. Oz from being confirmed as Administrator of CMS. Both nominees are extremely unqualified for these jobs. Maintaining our public education and health care systems is critical to the future of our country. Neither of these nominees has the experience or expertise to oversee these critical systems.

Please stop these nominees NOW! If you have to stage a sit-in in the Senate chamber to get the attention of your colleagues, the mainstream media, and the public, please do so. Dramatic action is required to stop these dramatically unqualified nominees.

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

STOP MUSK AND DOGE FROM ACCESSING IRS RECORDS NOW!

I strongly urge you to contact your US Representative and Senators NOW and demand that they stop Musk and DOGE from accessing your (and everyone else’s) IRS records. Here’s a sample message:

Please speak out loudly and clearly, and do everything in your power, to stop Musk and his DOGE group from accessing IRS records. I do not want them looking at my financial and tax information at the IRS.

Sharing IRS records with anyone outside of the IRS typically results in jail time. IRS employees who access records without authorization are seriously disciplined.

There is absolutely no justification for Musk and DOGE having access to IRS records and the potential for harm is immense.

Please stop them NOW!

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.

RESIST! OUR DEMOCRACY IS IN DANGER

These are unprecedented and dangerous times for our democracy. Things are worse than I thought they’d be. President Trump and co-President Musk are hard at work attempting a coup to establish a dictatorship. They want to create chaos, fear, and despair, while breaking our government and destroying our democratic institutions. We as citizens of a democracy must take action to resist the coup and the would-be dictators. There are a very wide range of actions you can take. See options below.

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

In November, just after the election, I wrote, “This is a post I never thought I’d write. In January, the United States of America will unequivocally become a plutocratic oligarchy with strong elements of fascism. …  we and our country are in for some dark and difficult times. Take care of yourself and nurture the strength for the fights ahead.

I’m not giving up hope or the values and principles I espouse in this blog. Things will get worse, perhaps much worse, before we can turn things around. The fight for democracy has often been hard, and, as I’ve written before, democracy is not a spectator sport.

After a period of mourning and to rest and recuperate from the shock and horror, we all need to get to work fighting for our democracy and the vulnerable members of our society.” (The post is here.)

Well, things are worse than I thought they’d be. I never thought I’d write that there’s a bloodless (so far) coup underway and that our President (and co-President) are hard at work attempting to establish a dictatorship.

Needless to say, these are unprecedented and dangerous times for our democracy. President Trump’s and co-President Musk’s actions have been far more aggressive, far-reaching, and damaging than I think anyone expected. Trump seems to be focused on foreign matters and Musk on domestic ones.

Their goal is clearly to create chaos, fear, and despair. They’re trying to break our government and destroy our democratic institutions. They don’t care about democracy, the rule of law, or anyone but themselves and their cronies.

In the maelstrom of all they’re doing, it’s important to sort the wheat from the chaff and focus on what’s having a crucial, and generally immediate, effect. A lot of what Trump is doing and saying is just hot air and smoke meant to distract from the really important actions.

Right now, I’d urge us to focus on the coup (that is what it is) they’re executing by single-handedly and illegally asserting control over government agencies and spending. We also need to focus on their efforts to destroy the rule of law, which is a cornerstone of democracy and an essential element of their coup.

They’re asserting dictatorial powers over the federal government and its spending, denying any role for Congress. So much for the checks and balances between the legislative and executive branches of government clearly spelled out in the Constitution. (By the way, don’t believe for a second that Trump and Musk have any allegiance to or intent to uphold the Constitution. When Trump swore at his inauguration to uphold the Constitution, that was the first lie of his second term.)

They’re flouting privacy laws by accessing information and data, including your and my personal data, without any authorization. They’re making each of us and our country less safe and secure. With the chaos they have caused at the Department of Justice and the FBI, we are more at risk for everything from ordinary crime to identity theft. Their breaching of sensitive federal government computer systems makes the government and each of us more vulnerable to hackers and cybercrime. The focus of the Secretary of Defense on the Mexican border and purging diversity, equity, inclusion, and transgender individuals from the military has diverted attention from real foreign threats. This makes us more vulnerable to terrorism and foreign attacks of all kinds.

Oh, and by the way, none of their actions have done anything to reduce inflation or bring down the price of groceries. Quite to the contrary, Trump’s spat and threatened tariffs on Columbia have spiked the price of coffee. And the failure and anticipated failure of the CDC to tackle the bird flu, have spiked the price of eggs. Not to mention the impact of tariffs on prices.

We as citizens of a democracy must take action to resist the coup and the would-be dictators. There are a very wide range of actions you can take; there’s something everyone can do, and every little bit helps.

I encourage you to contact your U.S. Representative and your Senators. Urge them to do whatever they can to block the illegal actions and coup by President Trump and co-President Musk. Call if you can (and if their voice mailboxes aren’t full) and try both local and Washington phone numbers. Or email them using their contact forms or email addresses. (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.)

Here are some other ways to protest and resist. I also encourage you to be creative and come up with your own.

  • Wear a button, a T-shirt with a message, and/or a color symbolic of resistance.
  • Boycott X (formerly Twitter), Tesla, Amazon, The Washington Post, Facebook, etc. and/or protest in front of stores of companies that are capitulating to Trump.
  • Communicate. Talk to others, like and share resistance messaging on social media, and/or send letters to the editor of media outlets or submit online comments.
  • Join the protests in the streets.
  • Support those protesting and those resisting (e.g., government employees Trump and Musk are trying to fire, lawyers and non-profits filing lawsuits, etc.).
  • Give financial support to media that are standing up to Trump, to lawyers and organizations who are suing Trump and Musk, and to those organizing protests.
  • Get organizations you belong to and their leaders to speak out, e.g., religious organizations and clergy.

AMERICAN OLIGARCHS CAN’T STAY BEHIND THE CURTAIN

American oligarchs have tried to stay behind the curtain and to distract the public and the mainstream media from their schemes to get richer at the expense of the rest of us. The recent process of funding for the federal government opened the curtain a bit. The greed and power-lust of the oligarchs made their schemes hard to hide.

(Note: If you find my posts too long to read on occasion, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog! Special Note: The new, more user-friendly website for my blog is here.)

As you probably know, Congress just passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for the next three months. The Republicans have made Congress so dysfunctional that is has been unable to pass a normal budget since Clinton was President. Instead, it passes continuing resolutions to fund the government for a relatively short period of time. CRs typically extend previous programs and spending levels without any significant changes. Often this process unfolds with significant drama as a shutdown of the government due to lack of funding looms.

On December 21, 2024, Congress again ran right up to the shutdown deadline before passing a three-month CR. An earlier version of the CR (which had the bipartisan support needed to pass) was scuttled at the last minute by oligarch Elon Musk (and then 13 hours later by president-elect Trump). Musk threatened to fund opposition to any member of Congress who voted for the painstakingly negotiated CR. [1] (Musk, as you probably know is the multi-multi-billionaire who largely funded Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and that Trump has named to head the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). DOGE is not a real department, but rather a private advisory group. This means Musk has no accountability and is not covered by any of the ethics or disclosure laws that cover public employees.)

Musk’s opposition to the original CR was supposedly because it spent too much money. He falsely criticized it for including, among other things, a 40% pay raise for Congress (it’s actually 3.8%). However, good journalists have uncovered other motives for his opposition, in part by comparing the CR that finally passed with the one the Musk blocked.

The original CR included a provision that restricted American investments in technology businesses in China. This was a bipartisan measure targeted at keeping sensitive, national-security-related technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced “quantum” computing capability out of the hands of the Chinese government. However, Musk is investing in businesses in China and wants to build an AI data center there. This investment restriction would have limited Musk’s ability build and profit from his businesses in China. The provision was removed and was not in the final version of the CR that was passed. [2] [3]

Also not included in the final CR was a provision of the original version that would have reined in pharmacy benefit managers. These middlemen for drug sales were supposed to save consumers money but instead have figured out how to negotiate with drug makers and insurance companies to generate huge profits for themselves. (See this previous post for more details.)

Also dropped from the original CR were five provisions to tackle childhood cancer. Although at least some of this funding was approved in separate bills, there was widespread outrage that the victims of the first cuts to government spending driven by Musk were children with cancer.

These are examples of the things that were going on behind the curtain as Musk, Trump, and other Republicans were diverting everyone’s attention with a government funding crisis. This is how the oligarchs will wield their power – cutting funding for children with cancer and increasing what we pay for drugs while letting Musk and other billionaires make money investing in China while transferring sensitive technology there. This is how the rich get richer while the rest of us pay the costs and suffer the consequences. This is how oligarchy becomes a kleptocracy as the powerful use the government to take the public’s money and, directly or indirectly, put it in their own pockets.

This continuing resolution is just one small example of how this happens. More examples will be shared in future posts.

[1]      Cox Richardson, H., 12/21/24, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-21-2024)

[2]      Dayen, D., 12/20/24, “The government is shutting down because Elon Musk has factories in China,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/politics/2024-12-20-government-shutting-down-elon-musk-factories-china/)

[3]      Kuttner, R., 12/21/24, “How Musk outmaneuvered Trump,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/politics/2024-12-21-how-musk-outmaneuvered-trump-government-funding-china/)

BILLIONAIRES ARE RUNNING AND ROBBING OUR COUNTRY

The U.S. is now a plutocracy, an oligarchy, and arguably a kleptocracy. The estimated wealth of Trump’s cabinet nominees is at least $350 billion. There is every reason to believe that Trump and his wealthy appointees and supporters will benefit financially from actions of Trump and his administration. The only real question is how much they will benefit and how much it will cost the American public. Journalism, including investigative journalism, that won’t be intimidated will be crucial to exposing and publicizing the kleptocracy, the malfeasance, and the lies of Trump and his cronies.

(Note: If you find my posts too long to read on occasion, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog! Special Note: The new, more user-friendly website for my blog is here.)

The U.S. national government is now clearly a plutocracy, i.e., a government of the wealthy, an oligarchy, i.e., a government of a small group of generally wealthy businessmen, and arguably a kleptocracy, i.e., a society or system ruled by people who use their power to steal their country’s resources.

The estimated wealth of Trump’s cabinet nominees is at least $350 billion. President-elect Trump himself is probably a billionaire, although there is no reliable figure and Trump has lied about his wealth and the value of his properties on multiple occasions. The figure for his cabinet does not include Elon Musk (wealth of about $400 billion) and Vivek Ramaswamy (wealth of over $1 billion) who are not members of the cabinet but informal advisers for Trump’s supposed efforts to reduce government spending and increase efficiency. For the sake of comparison, the total net worth of President Biden’s cabinet was about $118 million. [1] Trump’s cabinet is roughly 3,000 times wealthier! Trump has also nominated other billionaires for government positions, from ambassadors to the NASA administrator.

Elon Musk spent at least $250 million to help get Trump elected. He contributed $238 million to the America Political Action Committee (PAC), which was dedicated to electing Trump. Musk also supported Trump through free advertising and messaging on his social media platform X, as well as by campaigning for him personally. Recent election financial disclosures reveal that Elon Musk was the sole and secret funder of the $20 million “RBG PAC.” It was created so close to election day that it avoided having to file any disclosure before the election. It paid for advertising claiming that Trump has the same position on abortion as the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. This is a blatantly false claim as Ginsburg supported the right to abortion as established by the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Trump, on the other hand, has bragged about justices he appointed overturning that decision. The RBG PAC ads also promised that Trump would not support a national abortion ban, however, this varies based on when, where, and who asks Trump. [2]

Trump is also getting support from other billionaires who are pledging cooperation in furthering his agenda and policies. For example, Mark Zuckerberg (wealth of about $220 billion), majority owner of Meta (parent of Facebook, Instagram, etc.),  has contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. Jeff Bezos (wealth of about $245 billion), majority owner of Amazon and The Washington Post, has also contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. In addition, Amazon will livestream the inauguration for free, an in-kind contribution worth roughly $1 million. Marc Benioff (wealth of about $12 billion), owner of Time magazine, named Trump Time’s Man of the Year and wrote “We look forward to working together to advance American success and prosperity for everyone.” [3]

Trump, his nominees, and his supporters are trying to avoid (or ignore) disclosures and conflict of interest laws whenever they can. For example, Musk and Ramaswamy are informal advisers to Trump, which means they avoid requirements for financial and conflict of interest disclosures that would be required if they were in an official position. Trump’s inaugural committee has refused to sign the traditional agreement that would provide some government funding for inaugural activities but would require disclosures of and limits on private contributions. Therefore, it is a slush fund for Trump’s benefit that allows unlimited, secret donations. [4] If that isn’t corrupt, I don’t know what is. Zuckerberg, Bezos, and others have voluntarily disclosed their contributions, which implies that they want to be known and visible in their support for Trump. Contributions to the inaugural committee are efforts to curry favor with Trump with the hope of benefits for contributors’ businesses and financial interests.

There is every reason to believe that Trump and his wealthy appointees and supporters will benefit financially from actions of Trump and his administration. For example, both Bezos and Musk have multi-billion contracts with government agencies. During his first administration, Trump benefited financially from foreign officials and others currying his favor staying at his hotels and golf courses. The Secret Service detail protecting Trump paid to stay at his hotels and golf courses when he was in the vicinity and, apparently paid exorbitant rates at least sometimes. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy in Trump’s first administration, got billions from Saudi Arabia for his new venture capital firm shortly after leaving his government role.

Kleptocracy has been growing in the U.S. since the 1980s. Trickle-down economics, i.e., tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations that supposedly will trickle-down benefits for everyone, has been ascendent among Republicans since the 1980s. It is kleptocracy because the benefits have never trickled-down to everyday Americans, while the wealth of the rich has grown tremendously. The economic well-being and security of the middle and lower classes have actually declined. Meanwhile, the tax cuts have eliminated the government revenue needed to maintain infrastructure, support valuable government programs, and provide a safety net.

The only real question is how much they all – including Trump, his appointees, and the many who will be currying his favor – will benefit and how much it will cost the American public. There will be costs for taxpayers for direct government spending that may be exorbitant or unwarranted. There will be costs for consumers from increased prices of products, for example from failure to regulate prices (such as for drugs), from junk fees, and from tariffs. And there will be costs for workers, for example from less overtime pay, lower wages (due to failure to regulate employers and increase the minimum wage), and less safe working conditions.

Trump and his cronies are oligarchs, i.e., very rich business people with a great deal of political influence. American oligarchs’ influence has been growing since the 1980s and has reached a new level with Trump.  In many cases, they are individuals who have benefited quite directly from government actions, such as deregulation and/or the privatization of what had been or should be government functions (e.g., banking and finance, Medicare and other parts of the health care system, education through private voucher programs, space-based activities, etc.).

Journalism, including investigative journalism, that won’t be intimidated will be crucial to exposing and publicizing the kleptocracy, the malfeasance, and the lies of Trump and his cronies. As we have seen, Trump and company will lie to cover up failures and undesirable outcomes, as well as to put the blame elsewhere. They will make blameless people scapegoats and use demagoguery to get their supporters to blame the wrong people and causes for problems.

The mainstream American media have not done a good job, to say the least, of exposing the lies and false promises of Trump and his minions. For example, how much reporting was there before the election that Trump’s proposed tariffs would increase prices for American consumers and cause inflation to spike upwards?

My next post will share sources of information that won’t be intimidated and do excellent investigative reporting.

[1]      Richardson, H. C.. 12/4/24, “Letter from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-4-2024)

[2]      Richardson, H. C.. 12/5/24, “Letter from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-5-2024)

[3]      Hubbell, R.B., 12/13/24, “The billionaire boys club surrenders in advance,”   (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-billionaire-boys-club-surrenders)

[4]      Richardson, H. C.. 12/13/24, “Letter from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-13-2024)

WHAT’S UP WITH TRUMP’S CABINET NOMINATIONS?

President-elect Donald Trump has been announcing picks for his cabinet. They are, for the most part, remarkably unqualified; they lack expertise and experience relevant to the agencies’ missions, as well as experience running any sort of large organization.

Many people are wondering why he is nominating such unqualified individuals. Although I certainly don’t understand Trump, I can think of a range of possible answers. It’s probably a combination of these reasons. Trump may be:

  • Trying to be outrageous to generate media and public attention.
  • Trying to see how far he can push Republicans in the Senate to confirm unqualified nominees. This would be an exercise to exert and demonstrate his power and dominance.
  • Setting up a negotiating strategy where the pressure to confirm some of his unqualified nominees grows after the most outrageous ones are rejected.
  • Concerned only about loyalty. His sole or main criterion may be individuals who will do whatever he asks regardless of legality, ethics, or precedents.
  • Engaged in psychological warfare. He may be trying to scare, terrorize, and traumatize people who are worrying about the effects of having these individuals running the agencies. Trump will engage in “a shock and awe presidency” where he “will bombard this nation with so many reprehensible actions in rapid succession [that] many may cower in a kind of shell-shocked inaction. We’ll still be recovering from one blow when the next one lands.” [1]
  • Trying to make government dysfunctional. Not only do Republicans want smaller, less effective government so regulation of for-profit corporations is reduced, they want to privatize government functions so private providers can profit off them (e.g., Medicare Advantage plans). They also want the public to distrust government and even democracy. What better way to accomplish all of this than to have blatant examples of government dysfunction.
  • Wanting to have the second-in-command individuals, who he can appoint without Senate confirmation, run the agencies. This strategy is included in the Project 2025 plan for the Trump presidency. If the top positions go unfilled (because the Senate won’t confirm or is slow in confirming his nominees), his next-in-line appointees will be in charge.

Whatever happens with Trump’s nominees, there will be significant damage to the agencies and the government. The Democrats need to point out specific examples of actions that hurt the public – and the mainstream media need to report them. For example, if Trump imposes tariffs that drive up prices, Democrats and the media need to highlight this inflation and that it’s caused by Trump’s tariffs. If Trump doesn’t protect consumers from price gouging by monopolistic corporations and abuses by financial institutions, Democrats and the media need to highlight this.

The Democrats also need to point out specific examples of actions that hurt workers and to counter Trump’s claims that he is standing up for workers. For example, if Trump doesn’t support an increase in the minimum wage, doesn’t support unions and efforts to unionize, opposes covering more workers under overtime pay rules, and doesn’t support banning non-compete provisions in contracts employees are required to sign (this is what right-to-work should really be about), Democrats and the media need to highlight this. And so forth.

We cannot allow ourselves to be stunned or overwhelmed into inaction. Every little action and bit of resistance makes a difference and is a contribution to a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. There are elections for the U.S. House and Senate coming up in 2026 that will determine control of both chambers. Needless to say, if Democrats could take back control of one or both chambers that would serve as a powerful check on Trump and his supporters in the federal government and in the judiciary.

The effort to communicate with voters about the differences between Democratic policies and Trump and Republican policies needs to begin now. And Democrats need to be clear and unequivocal that they are standing up for consumers, workers, and everyday Americans, NOT for wealthy corporations and individuals.

We, as believers in democracy, need to identify firewalls and hurdles to block or slow the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine democracy and elections, harm vulnerable people, and implement harmful policies (including on climate change). Legal action through lawsuits will be necessary. These can serve to slow implementation of bad programs and policies, even if, ultimately, they get to a politicized Supreme Court that sides with Trump. This is using the classic Trump technique of using the court system to delay action.

Ultimately, there may need to be big demonstrations and even, perhaps, a general strike. Although there haven’t been big demonstrations since the Women’s March in 2016 and although these are rare in recent times in the U.S., it may be time. The general strike is a tactic unheard of in recent times in the U.S. However, in France, there were huge, mass demonstrations and a general strike in 2023 over efforts to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64. We face far more extreme political and policy changes than that, so perhaps we need to step up our level of engagement and action.

We need to monitor what Trump and his cronies are doing, but we shouldn’t let ourselves be unduly stressed by hypotheticals. We need to respond in ways that are effective and not waste time on minutia and tilting at windmills.

So, for starters, tell your Senators that you want a meaningful confirmation process for Trump’s nominees, who should be held to traditional criteria. Tell your Senators and Representative that you want them to stand up for democracy, for equality and fairness under the rule of law, for equal opportunity, for the Bill of Rights (including separation of church and state), and for government of, by, and for all the people – workers, families, and consumers – not just wealthy business people.

There’s much at risk: democracy, vulnerable people, and important policies, including addressing climate change, enforcing anti-trust laws to block abusive practices by monopolistic corporations, and ensuring free and fair elections where all citizens are encouraged to and facilitated in voting. I hope you agree. There’s much to be done and having all hands on deck will be important.

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]      Graham, R., 11/24/24, “Disqualifying, extreme, and incompetent – Trump’s DEI Cabinet picks,” The Boston Globe

AMERICAN PRINCIPLES AND DEMOCRACY ARE IN DANGER

Oligarchy Definition A small group of people having formal and informal power based on (1)wealth; (2) connections; and (3) privilege.

Trump’s election is the culmination of decades-long efforts to roll back America’s progress toward achieving its founding principles of democracy; equality under the rule of law; equal opportunity for all to pursue life, liberty, and happiness; and government of, by, and for the people.

In modern political history, these efforts began in the 1960s with Nixon’s southern strategy with dog whistles to racism, accelerated in the 1980s with Reagan’s supply side economics, turned nasty in the 1990s with Gingrich’s demonization of the political opposition, and exploded in 2016 with Trump’s emergence. Historians like Heather Cox Richardson trace anti-democracy efforts back to the southern plantation and slave owners of the pre- and post-Civil War periods. [1]

The rejection of democracy is based on the belief that some people (or some men) are better than others and that they deserve to rule over the lesser human beings. This rejects the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that all people (or even all men) are created equal. This belief in oligarchy (rule by a small group) has led to the use of a range of tactics by elites to assert their control and supremacy – from slavery, to Jim Crow laws, to anti-immigrant laws, to voter suppression, to gerrymandering, to buying elections and elected officials. The latter three have been used very effectively in recent years.

For example, a long-standing voter suppression technique has been barring convicted felons from voting for life and creating a criminal justice system that disproportionately convicts Blacks of felonies. As you may remember, the 2000 presidential race between Al Gore and George W. Bush was decided by a few hundred votes in Florida. At that time, there were over 800,000 disenfranchised felons in Florida who were disproportionately Black and who most likely would have changed the outcome of the election if any significant number of them had been allowed to vote.

Current gerrymandering of congressional districts probably gives Republicans 15 to 20 more seats in the U.S. House than they would have with fairly-drawn districts. This determined which party had control of the House after both the 2022 and 2024 elections.

To some degree, money from wealthy individuals has been corrupting our elections probably forever. However, this was exacerbated by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision that allows unlimited spending on campaigns by wealthy individuals and corporations. One clear cut, current example of wealth purchasing political office is J. D. Vance. He almost certainly wouldn’t have been elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 without the $15 million or so his key backer, billionaire Peter Thiel, spent on his behalf. And he almost certainly wouldn’t have been Trump’s vice-presidential pick if Thiel and billionaire Elon Musk hadn’t pledge tens of millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign on the condition that he pick Vance for vice president.

In large part, Trump, his campaign, and the Republicans have been able to sell the rejection of democracy and equality under law by appealing to the frustration, anger, and grievance of the primarily, but not exclusively, white, working class. Workers are angry because their economic security and well-being has been stripped from them. Meanwhile, the rich have gotten much richer and huge, monopolistic corporations and private equity financiers have exerted more and more power over workers. Workers’ jobs have been shipped out of the country, their union memberships have been taken away or denied, and their pensions have been lost to corporate and private equity bankruptcies. Furthermore, their costs of living, for housing, health care, and everyday goods, have skyrocketed. Their wages have been stagnant in the face of inflation and record-setting corporate profits, including in the essential-for-living food and gasoline industries. [2]

Trump is a master of demagoguery and, with significant success, he and his campaign have blamed the struggles of workers on immigrants, minorities, non-Christians, LGBTQ+ and transgendered people, and even women who don’t adhere to a patriarchically defined role.

Trump, personally, doesn’t appear to have any political ideology other than wanting power, prestige, and wealth, including the power to take revenge against anyone who would stand in his way. J. D. Vance’s and Trump’s billionaire backers, however, are committed to establishing an oligarchy. Thiel and Musk are openly anti-democratic and anti-egalitarian. They believe American democracy is a failed experiment and should be replaced by an authoritarian government. They view democracy as inefficient and wasteful. They believe that its commitment to equality and justice erodes (their desired) social values and order. [3]

Thiel wrote in 2009, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” (That begs the question of freedom for whom.) He also wrote that democracy and capitalism are no longer compatible, in part because women have been granted the right to vote. [4]

Thiel, Musk, and other wealthy backers of Trump (and probably more importantly as backers of J. D. Vance), view Trump as ineffective due to his erratic, impulsive nature and cognitive limitations, including a lack of knowledge and attention span. They see him as a transitional means to an end, with Vance as their power behind the throne and as the next president. So, keep your eyes on Vance, Musk, and the other powerful people around Trump. Trump is a master at creating distractions to get the media and the public to pay attention to little, often outrageous stuff, while the important action is going on behind this obfuscation screen.

In future posts, I’ll discuss what can and needs to be done to constrain Trump and his cronies. For example, hopefully, at least some Republicans in the Senate will take their responsibility to vet and approve Trump’s cabinet nominees seriously. State governments and Attorneys General can take action to protect vulnerable people, to move forward on important policies (such as climate change), and to block the Trump administration’s egregious actions.

[1]      Richardson, H. C., 4/7/21 and 7/3/24, “Letters from an American blog,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-7-2021 and https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-3-2024)

[2]      Reich, R., 11/11/24, “How to root out Trumpism,”  (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-root-of-trumpism)

[3]      Reich, R., 10/3/24, “Vance and the future of the anti-democracy movement,” (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/vance-and-the-future-of-the-anti)

[4]      Richardson, H. C., 7/30/24, “Letters from an American blog,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-30-2024)

CONCERNED FOR OUR DEMOCRACY AND THE WELL-BEING OF MANY

This is a post I never thought I’d write. In January, the United States of America will unequivocally become a plutocratic oligarchy with strong elements of fascism. Before getting into details of what this means, I want to acknowledge that we and our country are in for some dark and difficult times. Take care of yourself and nurture the strength for the fights ahead.

I’m not giving up hope or the values and principles I espouse in this blog. Things will get worse, perhaps much worse, before we can turn things around. The fight for democracy has often been hard, and, as I’ve written before, democracy is not a spectator sport.

After a period of mourning and to rest and recuperate from the shock and horror, we all need to get to work fighting for our democracy and the vulnerable members of our society. We’ll need to roll up our sleeves, knowing that at times it will get ugly, down and dirty. This is our generation’s fight for democracy. It’s different than my parents’ fight of World War II, but we may need to show the same resolve and courage as they did in the 1940s in the face of what appeared at times to be overwhelming odds.

Here are some thoughts and messages that have helped me in this dark time and I hope will help you.

Kamala Harris in her concession speech: “ … in our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God. … My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fuels this campaign, the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people, a fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. …

“We will never give up the fight for our democracy, for the rule of law, for equal justice, and for the sacred idea that every one of us, no matter who we are or where we start out, has certain fundamental rights and freedoms that must be respected and upheld. … We will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square. … On the campaign, I would often say when we fight, we win. But here’s the thing, sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win. The important thing is don’t ever give up. Don’t ever give up.”

Liz Cheney, former U.S. Republican Representative from Wyoming, wrote: “We now have a special responsibility, as citizens of the greatest nation on earth, to do everything we can to support and defend our Constitution, preserve the rule of law, and ensure that our institutions hold over these coming four years. Citizens across this country, our courts, members of the press and those serving in our federal, state and local governments must now be the guardrails of democracy.”

Rebecca Solnit, writer and author of Hope in the Dark, wrote: “They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love. …

“People kept the faith in the dictatorships of South America in the 1970s and 1980s, in the East Bloc countries and the USSR, women are protesting right now in Iran and people there are writing poetry. There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it’s sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”

From the son of a friend who was with Obama after the 2016 election: “But I mostly remember Obama talking about how growing up biracial in America in the 60s and 70s he had lived through setbacks and agonizing, searing zigs and zags in history, and ultimately he had decided to stay in the fight and stay in the work and stay hopeful. And he challenged us — after taking some time to care for ourselves and mourn — to think about what we were going to do about it in the coming weeks and years.”

We need to fight and persevere because our federal government is going to be run by a small group (oligarchy) of wealthy (plutocracy), primarily white, supposedly Christian, men. They want this power so they can rule like kings, enhancing their wealth and their privileged status. They believe they deserve power because they think they are better people, including smarter and better decision makers, than the rest of us. They don’t really care about working people beyond conning them into voting for them by parroting populist rhetoric.

Although fascism doesn’t have a clear, agreed upon definition, the rhetoric and apparent plans for governing of Trump and his supporters have many elements of fascism. A key one is that the means of production of goods and services, as well as land and other property, remain in private hands. The owners of businesses and the holders of wealth typically work in coordination with government officials to mutually increase their wealth and power.

Fascism is authoritarian, a dictatorship or an oligarchy. Political and intellectual opposition are suppressed, sometimes violently. Other elements of fascism include a social hierarchy often based on race, national origin, and/or religion. It is built on extreme nationalism and a set of “traditional” social values. It denigrates pluralism and democracy that give voice and power to “others.” The nation’s interests (as defined by the rulers) supersede those of the individual, which is, of course, in direct contradiction to the Bill of Rights that America’s founders ensconced in our Constitution.

I’m all in for democracy and for protecting the vulnerable members of our society. I hope you are too. We’ve got our work cut out for us.

OUR DEMOCRACY’S CHALLENGES ARE SERIOUS AND LONGSTANDING Part 2

Our democracy’s challenges are serious and longstanding. I presented an overview of the challenges, some history, and then focused on the selection of the president via the undemocratic Electoral College, including how to fix it, in a previous post. This post focuses on Congress. The Senate is a long way from the one person, one vote representation on which democracy is typically built. The extreme gerrymandering of some U.S. House districts (and of some state legislative seats) means that democracy is subverted there too. Finally, the Supreme Court has allowed elections to be held with gerrymandered districts.

(Note: If you find my posts too long to read on occasion, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog! Special Note: The new, more user-friendly website for my blog is here.)

Like the process of selecting the president via the Electoral College, the process for electing members of Congress is also flawed and undemocratic. The Senate, while established in the Constitution at two seats per state, is blatantly unconstitutional under the “one person, one vote” standard established by the Supreme Court in the 1960s based on the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. Although Senators are elected now rather than appointed by state legislatures (due to the 17th amendment to the Constitution in 1913), Senate representation is clearly undemocratic based on a state-to-state comparison. [1] For example, a California Senator represents the state’s 39 million people, over 67 times the 581,000 people a Wyoming Senator represents.

All Representatives in the U.S. House do represent similar numbers of people, but in some states the districts are so gerrymandered that they do not reflect the population of the state politically or racially. In part because of partisan gerrymandering, very few House elections are competitive. In 2022, only 30 out of the 435 House seats had a margin of victory of less than four-percentage points (i.e., 52% to 48% or closer). [2]

Gerrymandering, which is the manipulation of the boundaries of an electoral district to predetermine the outcome based on party, race, incumbency, or other factors, has been happening for a long time. Gerrymandering has become more blatant and effective in the 21st century because computers and mapping software now allow more sophisticated mapping using more detailed data.

In the redrawing of U.S. House districts after the 2010 Census, independent analyses find that Republicans engaged in extreme partisan gerrymandering in seven states. Partisan gerrymandering is accomplished by packing as many supporters of the opposition party as possible into as few districts as possible. The opponents will win these seats overwhelmingly. Meanwhile, supporters of the favored party are spread more evenly across the other districts, so this party will comfortably win as many seats as possible. Partisan gerrymandering has also dramatically affected thousands of seats in state legislatures.

The best estimates are that, through gerrymandering, Republicans captured between 15 and 20 more seats in the House (out of 435) than would have been expected otherwise. After the 2022 elections, the Republicans controlled the House by a margin of just five votes (which has now shrunk to one vote due to resignations and a removal). For example, in South Carolina and Wisconsin the Republicans’ percentage of each state’s House seats is about 26-percentage points higher than the percentage of their vote in statewide races. (In SC: Republicans got roughly 60% of the vote in the Governor’s and Senator’s races but, due to gerrymandering, won 6 out of 7 House seats, 86%. In WI: Republicans got roughly 49% of the vote in the Governor’s and Senator’s races but, due to gerrymandering, won 6 out of 8 House seats, 75%.)

Extreme partisan gerrymandering means that officials get elected by a small handful of their constituents – those who vote for them in the primary election (where turnout is typically very low). Given that the party that will win the general election is in most cases pre-determined by gerrymandering or a district’s natural political characteristic, the winning candidate is selected by the small number of voters who are motivated enough to turn out and vote in the primary election. These are typically the party’s most committed and partisan voters. The result is that elected officials are in effect picking their voters, rather than most voters having any real choice about who their elected representative will be. (See this previous post for more details on gerrymandering and its undermining of democracy.)

The Supreme Court, prior to the 2022 elections, blocked the implementation of changes to House districts in at least seven states despite lower courts’ rulings that the districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered. After the election, it confirmed that the districts were unconstitutional. This probably delivered at least seven seats to Republicans that otherwise would have gone to Democrats. (See this previous post for more detail on the Supreme Court’s rulings and their effects on the election.) The shift of five seats from Republicans to Democrats would have changed the control of the House, which would have made a dramatic difference in policy making in the House and for the country. It’s hard to believe that the Supreme Court’s actions and timing were anything but blatantly political.

Racial and partisan gerrymandering are closely linked because a large percentage of Blacks typically vote for Democrats. Racial gerrymandering is still very much present in the south. For example, in Alabama, there are seven congressional districts. Twenty-seven percent of the population is Black (and four percent is in other non-white categories), but by packing as many Black voters into one district as possible and splitting up the other Black voters among the other districts, there is only one Black-majority district in the state. The courts have ordered the creation of another Black-majority district but Alabama officials have been resistant. From a partisan perspective, Alabama Republicans got 67% of the vote in the Governor’s and U.S. Senator’s race but, because of gerrymandering, won 86% of the House seats (6 of 7), a 19-percentage point difference.

Similarly, in Louisiana, there are six congressional districts. A third of the population is Black, but, again, by packing as many Black voters into one district as possible and splitting up the other Black voters among the other districts, there is only one Black-majority district in the state. From a partisan perspective, Louisiana Republicans got 62% of the vote in the U.S. Senator’s race but, because of gerrymandering, have 83% of the House seats (5 of 6), a 21-percentage point difference.

My next post will present ways to reduce partisan and racial gerrymandering, which would make our elections for the U.S. House (and state legislatures) more democratic, i.e., more representative of a state’s and district’s population.

[1]      Dayen, D., 1/29/24, “America is not a democracy,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/politics/2024-01-29-america-is-not-democracy/)

[2]      Leaverton, C., 1/20/23, “Three takeaways on redistricting and competition in the 2022 midterms,” Brennan Center for Justice (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/three-takeaways-redistricting-and-competition-2022-midterms)

SHORT TAKES ON IMPORTANT STORIES #3: CORPORATE GREED

Here are short takes on three important stories that have gotten little attention in the mainstream media. Each provides a quick summary of the story, a hint as to why it’s important, and a link to more information.

STORY #1: Corporate profits have skyrocketed. They were roughly $12 trillion per year in 2022 and 2023. This is up from about $8.5 trillion a year in 2019 and 2020; a 50% increase in just three years. [1] (The graph linked to in this footnote is worth a thousand words.) This in large part reflects the price gouging large corporations engaged in in the post-pandemic years, claiming it was inflation. Their ability to inflate their prices and profits is due to the presence of just a few large corporations with monopolistic power in many markets in the U.S. economy. It also reflects squeezing workers to keep their pay low. [2]

This trend of high marketplace concentration, monopolistic power, and growing profits for large corporations has been going on for 40 years largely because of the failure to enforce antitrust laws. Corporate profits were $2.2 trillion per year in 2000, $1.1 billion in 1990, and $0.8 billion in the early 1980s. In other words, they are now over five times what they were in 2000, over ten times what they were in 1990, and 15 times what they were in the early 1980s.

In the last 20 years, marketplace concentration has increased in three-quarters of the U.S. economy with fewer corporations controlling more of the market than ever before. The good news is that the Biden administration is reviving enforcement of antitrust laws. It’s tackling price fixing in the meat industry – where four corporations control roughly 70% of the market. It’s suing Amazon for its monopolistic practices. It’s blocked the merger of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines as well as other mergers that would have increased concentration and monopolistic power.

Notably, the Biden administration initiated the first major antitrust case in 25 years that targets monopoly power. It charges Google with monopolizing the search engine market. The U.S. Department of Justice has been joined by 50 states’ attorneys general in the case. As the trial began, Google asked to keep the proceedings and evidence confidential and the judge was quite compliant. Google typically claimed the information represented business secrets that would harm the company if made public. In particular, Google tried to keep secret the dollar figure central to the whole case: how much it paid smart phone and computer companies to make its search engine the default on their devices. Six weeks into the trial, media representatives and transparency advocates filed a motion challenging the unprecedented secrecy and obstruction of public access to the trial’s proceedings and evidence. The judge responded by making much more information publicly available, including the amount Google was paying to have its search engine be the default on a wide range of phone and computer products and, therefore, effectively the default search engine across most of the Internet. It was a stunning $26.3 billion in 2021 alone. [3]

STORY #2: Chief executive officers’ (CEO) compensation is exorbitant and does not reflect their skills, their productivity, or competition for good candidates for the CEO position. Rather, it reflects CEOs’ power over their Boards of Directors and the lack of any counter weight to such unwarranted influence. CEO compensation declined slightly in 2022 because of weak stock market performance, which reduced the value of stock-based compensation. However, over the last 45 years, CEOs’ compensation is up over 1,200% (adjusted for inflation) while a typical workers’ pay is up 15%. CEOs are now paid 344 times as much as a typical worker, up from 21 times worker pay in 1965. [4]

The most egregious example of exorbitant CEO pay is the 10-year compensation agreement for Elon Musk approved in 2018 by Tesla’s Board of Directors. It’s potentially worth $56 billion. A shareholder sued and a judge just ruled that this level of compensation was unfair to shareholders. Tesla’s Board has only eight members and many have close personal ties to Musk (such as his brother) and therefore don’t have the degree of independence required for a publicly traded company. The compensation package would have allowed Musk to buy 304 million shares of Tesla stock for about $23 each. Over the last 3 ½ years, the stock’s price on the market has always been over $100, hit a high of $400, and has generally been around $200 per share – far above the purchase price of just over $23 given to Musk. [5] [6]

STORY #3: Our tax system needs to require wealthy CEOs and other wealthy individuals to pay their fair share in taxes. To achieve this, fair taxes are needed on income, including capital gains (i.e., the profit from selling stock). Without a fair and well-enforced national tax system, the wealthy play games to avoid national and state taxes. Recently, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that he’s moving his official residence from Washington state to Florida. (He just bought two mansions for almost $150 million on a literally gated island near Miami.) It appears that his motivation for the move was to avoid a new 7% capital gains tax that Washington state has enacted on the sales of stock worth over $250,000. Bezos has been selling about 50 million shares of Amazon stock each year generating roughly $8 billion a year in income that was previously untaxed in Washington. He will save roughly $600 million a year by moving his legal residence to Florida, which has no income tax and no tax on capital gains. Washington enacted its capital gains tax to make its tax system fairer. Prior to its enactment, Washington’s state tax system was rated as the most regressive in the country. With this new, fairer tax system in place, Florida is now the state in the country with the most regressive state tax system. [7]

[1]      Federal Reserve Economic Data, 12/21/23, “Corporate profits after tax,” St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CP)

[2]      Reich, R., 2/16/24, “Where are record corporate profits coming from? Your thinning wallets,” Reich’s daily blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/corporate-soaring-profits-are-from)

[3]      Goldstein, L., 11/28/23, “The secret trial,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/justice/2023-11-28-google-secret-trial/)

[4]      Bivens, J., & Kandra, J., 9/21/23, “CEO pay slightly declined in 2022,” Economic Policy Institute, (https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2022/)

[5]      Chase, R., 1/31/24, “Elon Musk cannot keep Tesla pay package worth more than $55 billion, judge rules,” The Boston Globe from The Associated Press

[6]      Hals, T., 1/31/24, “Judge voids Elon Musk’s ‘unfathomable’ $56 billion Tesla pay package,” Reuters

[7]      Johnson, J., 2/13/24, “Tax-dodging Jeff Bezos to save $610 million with move to ‘Billionaire Bunker’ in Florida,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/jeff-bezos-billionaire-bunker)

SHORT TAKES ON IMPORTANT STORIES 2/1/24

These short takes highlight important stories that have gotten little attention in the mainstream media. They provide a quick summary of the story, a hint as to why it’s important, and a link to more information.

The U.S. economy is performing better than any other major economy in the world. Workers’ wages have grown 2.8% over the last four years after adjusting for inflation. The overall economy is 7% larger than before the pandemic and unemployment has been at record lows. Inflation is down to a benign 2% and consumer spending, which drives the U.S. economy, is growing. This isn’t just happenstance; it’s been fueled by pandemic relief measures and economy-stimulating legislation passed by Democrats in Congress and the Biden Administration. The success of these policies suggests that in future economic downturns, stimulative spending (i.e., fiscal policy) may well be more effective in reviving the economy than the Federal Reserve’s adjustment of interest rates (i.e., monetary policy). (Lynch, D. J., 1/28/24, “You don’t have to look far for the world’s best economic recovery because it’s happening here. What is going on in the US?” The Boston Globe from The Washington Post)

In February 2023, a train derailed in East Palestine, OH, and created a toxic nightmare. The railroads promised to operate more safely and Congress promised to pass legislation to prevent future accidents. However, derailments have increased and no legislation has been passed. Congressional legislation, the Railway Safety Act, has been opposed by lobbyists for the railroads. (Eavis, P., 1/28/24, “Since Ohio train derailment, accidents have gone up,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed limiting the overdraft fees big banks can charge. The proposal, which will probably take a year or two to finalize and go into effect, would reduce the $35 overdraft fee that’s the current standard to between $3 and $14 or just enough to cover banks’ costs. The proposal would only apply to the 175 largest banks (out of about 9,000), but those banks collect about 2/3 of all overdraft fees. In 2022, consumers paid $7.7 billion in overdraft fees; the CFPB’s proposal would save bank customers about $3.5 billion a year. CFPB will be accepting public comments until April 1. (Crowley, S., 1/17/24, “Consumer bureau proposes overdraft fee limits for large banks,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times; The CFPB website: CFPB Proposes Rule to Close Bank Overdraft Loophole that Costs Americans Billions Each Year in Junk Fees)

Republicans in 15 states are refusing to provide federally-funded food to 8 million very low-income children this summer when they don’t get free meals at school. In 2022, roughly one out of every six households with children did not have enough food (17.3%). This was up almost 50% from 2021 due to the end of emergency food assistance, which was a response to the pandemic. The states refusing the federal funding are: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming. (Gowen, A., 1/10/24, “Republican governors in 15 states reject summer food money for kids,” The Boston Globe from the Washington Post)

A record 20 million people have enrolled in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obama Care) this year. This is up 25% over last year’s record of 16 million and is at least in part due to increased subsidies for health insurance’s costs. The need for and popularity of federally subsidized health insurance grows, despite Republican attempts to reduce the subsidies and statements denigrating the Affordable Care Act. (Weiland, N., 1/22/24, “20m signed up for Obamacare for the new year,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times; Weiland, N., 12/21/23, “Americans are signing up for Obamacare in record numbers,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times)

Intuit Inc., the maker of the Turbo Tax software for doing income tax returns, has lobbied aggressively against the IRS creating an easy, free, on-line system for Americans to file their income tax returns. It has claimed such a system would be too expensive and not a good use of taxpayers’ money. The IRS has estimated that it would cost between $64 and $249 million annually for it to offer a free E-filing system. Intuit got a federal research tax credit of $94 million in 2022, which would roughly pay for the cost of the free IRS filing system. (Business Talking Points, 1/4/24, “Lawmakers say break for Intuit could have financed free government tax filing program,” The Boston Globe from Bloomberg News; Senator E. Warren, 1/3/24, “Warren, Blumenthal, Sanders, Porter probe massive tax breaks received by Intuit while company fights free tax filing for millions of Americans”)