On Thursday, Trump was swamped by the backwash from the GOP’s “flood the zone” strategy. Under that strategy, Trump engages in a torrent of unlawful conduct designed to overwhelm the ability of the courts, Congress, and the people to restrain Trump’s lawlessness.

For most of the last nine months, we have been on the receiving end of the “flood the zone” strategy. It hasn’t felt good. We have been on defense, backpedaling as we tried to stem the tide by lurching from crisis to crisis, protesting, filing lawsuits, sounding the alarm, donating to hundreds of causes, and supporting candidates trying to flip seats in statehouses and Congress.

Waves of victories were punctuated by too-frequent setbacks, especially in the Supreme Court. But our resistance bought valuable time for the courts, Congress, statehouses, and public opinion to catch up to Trump’s unlawful conduct. On Thursday, the tide turned, and Trump was buffeted by a series of losses that had long been in the making and were sorely overdue.

Many outlets are reporting that Trump “had a very bad day” on Thursday. That framing ignores the nine months of resistance that made the “very bad day” both possible and inevitable. The string of Democratic victories on Thursday was made possible by the months of determined resistance.

As we consider the calamities that swamped Trump on Thursday, we should view the developments with satisfaction and pride, knowing that our steadfast refusal to give up carried us to this day of reckoning for Trump. There are many more victories in our future, so long as we endure and abide in the face of adversity.

I offer a note of qualification before examining today’s stories: Some of Trump’s failures on Thursday will hurt the American people. They represent Trump’s inability to govern for the common good. There is no joy in noting those losses, only a somber recognition that Trump’s “flood the zone” strategy is no substitute for the hard work of governing in a democratic society.

Trump’s approval rating on the economy drops to 31%.

Trump’s approval rating on the economy continues in freefall. The latest poll shows a 2-percentage-point drop to 31%. See Raw Story, ‘When will people understand?’ Trump wails about ‘greatest economy’ as approval drops.

It is difficult to overstate the significance of Trump’s loss of voter support on the economy. Most analysts credit unhappiness over the economy as the primary reason for Trump’s victory in 2024 (along with immigration). See Newsweek, (11/06/24), Economy, Immigration Among Key Reasons Voters Backed Trump: Survey.

Indiana state senate rejects Trump’s demand for partisan gerrymandering

Trump unleashed a full-court press on Indiana state legislators to force them to pass a mid-census partisan gerrymander. The Indiana House of Representatives passed a gerrymandering bill earlier this week. On Thursday, the Indiana Senate rejected the bill by a margin of 32 to 19, with a majority of Republicans in the state senate voting no. See Talking Points Memo, Indiana Senate Republicans defy Trump admin and reject gerrymandered maps.

As noted in the TPM article, Republicans in the Indiana Senate withstood months of bullying by Trump, who threatened to primary any Republican who opposed the demand to redraw the congressional maps to eliminate two Democratic seats. On cue, Trump’s supporters threatened the safety of Republicans who dared to oppose Trump.

Per HuffPo,

The GOP members who voted to adjourn soon found themselves the target of increasingly dangerous threats. Someone attempted to have the police swarm Sen. Spencer Deery’s house with a false call of imminent danger ― a practice known as swatting. The same thing happened to Sens. Greg Walker and Greg Goode. Sen. Jean Leising was the target of a pipe bomb threat. Sen. Linda Rogers reported threats called into her home and business.

These threats flowed from Trump’s increasingly angry diatribes against Republicans who would not do as he demands. These attacks continued up to the final vote on Thursday.

First, good for Indiana Republicans for standing up to Trump! Second, the fact that they stood up to Trump signals he is losing his grip on the Republican Party. That process will accelerate as Republicans recognize that Trump is a detriment to them individually and collectively.

Federal judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from custody.

In a significant and embarrassing setback for the Trump administration and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, US District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia after four months in wrongful detention by ICE / Homeland Security. See NBC News, Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be released immediately from ICE custody, judge orders.

Judge Xinis found that the government misled the court on numerous occasions, including by claiming that she lacked jurisdiction to review a final order of removal. As Judge Xinis noted, the government never obtained a final order of removal—a fact that it concealed from the court. See Chris Geidner, Law Dork (Substack), The Trump administration’s authoritarian house of cards is starting to fall.

Government fails for the second time to convince a grand jury to indict Letitia James for mortgage fraud

Trump famously sent a public message to Attorney General Pam Bondi that was intended to be a private “direct message” on Truth Social. In that message, Trump demanded that Bondi indict several of his political enemies, including New York Attorney General Letitia James. See NBC News (10/10/25), Trump accidentally posted message pressuring Pam Bondi to charge his enemies, source says.

The inept former acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, convinced a grand jury to indict Letitia James. That indictment was dismissed when a judge ruled that Halligan was improperly appointed as acting US Attorney.

Since the first indictment was dismissed, the government has failed twice to convince a grand jury to issue a new indictment against Letitia James. See CNN Politics, Justice Department fails to reindict Letitia James for a second time | CNN Politics

In case you are wondering, the government tried to obtain the failed indictments from two different grand juries, sitting in Alexandria and Norfolk, Virginia.

As one commentator on social media wrote, if the government finally manages to convince a grand jury to indict Letitia James, her motion to dismiss on grounds of vindictive prosecution will write itself.

The treatment of Letitia James represents a degree of corruption in the DOJ rarely seen in the history of our nation. Every attorney involved in the sham effort to obtain an indictment should be disbarred. But, for the moment, the disgrace of multiple failures to obtain an indictment should follow the attorneys for the rest of their short careers.

Kristi Noem flees House Oversight hearing after repeatedly being caught in lies

The House Homeland Security Committee conducted an oversight hearing into Department of Homeland Security practices for detaining and deporting immigrants. Democratic senators repeatedly caught Noem in lies about deporting US military veterans and their families. It became so embarrassing, Noem fled the oversight hearing by claiming that she was late for another meeting—which had been canceled before Noem began testifying. See The New Republic, Kristi Noem Literally Runs Out of House Hearing to Avoid Dem Questions | The New Republic.

Senate Republicans fail to pass bill to extend ACA subsidies

Subsidies for ACA premiums are set to expire on December 31, 2025. The subsidies were killed by Republicans to pay for the billionaire tax cut in the Big Ugly Bill. See CNBC, (5/23/25), House Republican tax bill skipped ACA credits — marketplace health insurance will get pricier without them.

Republicans are now scrambling for a way to reinstitute the subsidies because of the beating they have taken in every special election since the passage of the Big Ugly Bill. On Thursday, two proposals died in the Senate—one Democratic and one Republican. Because Republicans hold a trifecta and have the obligation to forge bipartisan legislation capable of being enacted, they will be blamed for the debacle. See NYTimes, Senate Deadlocks on Health Care, Leaving Subsidies to Expire (Accessible to all.)

House Republicans are desperately attempting to force Speaker Mike Johnson to allow a floor vote on extending the ACA subsidies, even though such a bill will die in the Senate. See Roll Call, Moderate House Republicans look to force vote on ACA tax credits. (“[A]small contingent of Republicans running in competitive elections next year . . . have voiced concern about letting the tax credits expire Dec. 31.”)

Opportunity for Reader Engagement

Tuesday, December 16th, 7pm-8pm EST

Join a Zoom with Senator Jon Tester and Blake Gendebien, Candidate for NY-21

Here is the link to RSVP/contribute and tickets start at $25:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/tester_gendebien_zoom

Last month, Rep. Elise Stefanik announced her bid for governor, making this an open race! With the right candidate, we can flip this seat. Come meet Blake Gendebien, who has been out talking to people in the district ever since the Special Election for the seat was canceled because Trump told Stefanik she needed to stay in her seat when it looked like Blake could flip it.

There is a primary in June, but Blake has raised more money than the other Democrats, and a lot of $ will be needed since his multi-millionaire Republican opponent just invested $5 million of his own money in the race, setting this up to be one of the most expensive races in the country.

Hope you can join this Zoom with two farmers to hear all about the race and what farmers and residents in upstate NY are saying on the campaign trail.

Concluding Thoughts

Trump ran into additional troubles on Thursday, but the above is enough to give you a taste of the dumpster fire burning in the Oval Office.

As I noted above, we have arrived at this day of reckoning for Trump because we refused to quit when we were being overwhelmed by the “flood the zone” strategy. The strategy has boomeranged on Trump, and he can barely keep pace with the flood of losses he’s facing. (Apologies for the mixed metaphor, but I am behind schedule!)

If we can increase the scale, volume, and passion of the resistance, we can help ensure that Democrats have a governable margin in the House beginning on January 3, 2027. That day will truly be the beginning of the end of Trump’s second term.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

Daily Dose of Perspective

Below is an image of the Soul Nebula, an object that I have tried but failed to capture on many previous occasions. The image below is a partial success, but captures only a portion of the nebula. I do not know why my efforts have been unsuccessful. I will try again soon.

The Soul Nebula is 7,500 light-years from Earth.

A helpful word for interpreting today’s image is “pareidolia.”

---

From Today’s Edition Newsletter via this RSS feed