Join me on Saturday at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern for my regular livestream.
The torrent of political developments continued unabated on Friday, as it does most days. But there has been a change in the air. Long-forgotten injuries ache in anticipation of a cleansing downpour. The wind carries a static charge. Clouds billow, leaves turn, and dogs bark. Something big is about to happen. We can all feel it. We must be prepared, not for the storm but for the aftermath, when opportunity awaits those with the foresight and courage to plan for the future while seeking shelter.1
We have a long, hard road ahead of us. Restoring democracy will require more than taking control of Congress and the presidency. The weak points in the Constitution have been exposed and exploited, the bonds of trust that sustain the rule of law have been stretched to the breaking point, and the neighborly presumption of human decency and kindness upon which civil society rests is seen as weakness by corrupt politicians and selfish billionaires.
We have a long, hard road ahead of us . . . but at least we can see the road! In eleven tumultuous months, we battled our way through chaos and confusion to the high ground of clarity and purpose. We can see the path forward and gather ourselves as we plan for the battles ahead and the period of reconstruction that must follow.
As we head into the weekend, we have reason to be hopeful. But if we have learned anything over the last eight years, it is that we must not relent. Indeed, we must be unflinchingly honest about the hardships that lie ahead. It is likely, even probable, that things will get worse before they get better. But they will get better because tens of millions of Americans have met the moment, stepping outside of their comfort zone and settled expectations to rise to the defense of democracy. For them, there is no going back. And they form the backbone of the citizen army that will reclaim our democracy at the ballot box, in meeting halls, on overpasses and roadsides, and in living rooms across America.
Let’s start with the good news.
Indiana’s rejection of Trump’s gerrymandering demand.
I undersold the significance of the vote by Republicans in the Indiana state senate rejecting Trump’s partisan gerrymandering plan. Many commentators rightly suggested that the vote may signify the official beginning of the end for Trump. See, e.g., Jonathan Chait in The Atlantic, The Indiana Vote Is an Inflection Point.
Per Chait,
In rejecting yesterday a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump, Indiana’s Republican-controlled senate did not merely deny Republicans two new U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections. They also engaged in a mass revolt against the president. The stakes of their defiance reach far beyond the midterms. This vote was possibly the most significant blow yet against the authoritarian ambitions that have defined Trump’s second term.
The significance of Indiana’s noncompliance lies not in the specifics of what was refused—attempts to gerrymander electoral maps are hardly unprecedented, even though a mid-decade battle violates norms—but in the act of refusal itself.
The tenth anniversary of the Paris climate treaty.
Speaking of long-term significance and hope, Rebecca Solnit published a reflection on the Paris climate treaty on its tenth anniversary in The Guardian, The Paris climate treaty changed the world. Here’s how.
While there is cause for alarm on many fronts, Solnit celebrates the treaty’s tenth anniversary for two reasons.
First, in July of this year, the International Court of Justice ruled that “all nations have a legal obligation to act in response to the climate crisis.” Some climate activists have described the ruling as “the most consequential case in the history of humanity.”
Second, Solnit notes that improvements in renewable energy and stiffening of political resolve have slowed warming. The slowing is not enough, to be sure, but it is progress on the climate front when many are in despair.
Solnit explains,
Is this good enough? Far from it, but we are, as they say, “bending the curve”: before Paris the world was headed for 4 degrees of warming; it’s now headed for 2.5 degrees, which should only be acceptable as a sign that we have bent it and must bend more and faster.
If you are worried about the climate—as we all should be—read Solnit’s essay for a hopeful perspective on how far we have come in ten years.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation sues Trump to stop construction of the Trump-Epstein Ballroom and Spa.
At last! Someone has sued Trump to stop the construction of the Trump-Epstein Ballroom and Spa. See ABC News, National Trust for Historic Preservation sues to try to stop White House ballroom construction.
Per ABC,
In a complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for DC, the organization is asking for the project to be stopped until it completes the federal review process standard for federal building projects and seeks public comment on the proposed changes.
With any luck, the lawsuit will slow the project so that it remains unbuilt through 2028, at which point the next president can rebuild the East Wing without having to tear down the Trump-Epstein Ballroom and Spa.
House Democrats keep up pressure for the release of Epstein files.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have kept up pressure on the administration to release the Epstein files. They are doing so by rapidly releasing materials received independently from the Epstein estate, including selections from tens of thousands of photographs delivered on Friday. See NBC News, House Democrats release more photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.
Much of the media discussion focuses on the details in the photographs, including the famous men depicted. From a current political perspective, both Trump and his erstwhile advisor, Steve Bannon, are included in the photos. Elon Musk has predicted that it is “only a matter of before [Bannon] goes back to prison.” See Raw Story, Elon Musk issues dark prediction about Steve Bannon as new Epstein photos drop.
The ”good news” here is that –for once—Democrats are playing aggressive offense in service of a righteous cause—justice for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators. The continuous release of materials from the estate makes it more difficult for the DOJ to withhold or redact documents that have already been released.
A federal judge orders that the government cannot re-detain Abrego Garcia after his release on Wednesday.
When a federal judge ordered the government to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Wednesday, many feared that the government would merely re-detain Abrego Garcia when he reported for an immigration check-in. US District Judge Paula Xinis ordered that the government could not re-detain Abrego Garcia. See Talking Points Memo, Judge Blocks ICE From Re-Detaining Abrego Garcia.
The good news here is that federal judges no longer assume that the government will follow the law and act honorably. By issuing a temporary restraining order prohibiting the re-detention of Abrego Garcia, Judge Xinis prevented (for now) a stealth deportation of Abrego Garcia.
In other news . . . .
Congressional Republicans continue to stumble over healthcare, an issue on which only 29% of the electorate views Trump favorably. On Friday, House Republicans unveiled a “healthcare plan” that does not continue the ACA subsidies, offering instead . . . well, nothing, really. The plan is filled with scattershot proposals to cut costs within the existing healthcare framework, but nothing that helps Americans afford insurance in the first instance. See The Guardian, House Republicans propose healthcare plan with no extension of tax credits.
Concluding Thoughts
I was reminded on Friday just how far we have come since the early days of Trump’s second term. For the first two months after Trump’s inauguration, Democrats in Congress seemed clueless about the threat posed by Trump. They were voting to confirm controversial, unqualified nominees. They were strangely silent in the face of Trump’s daily unconstitutional actions. They did not join their constituents in marches and protests. Indeed, they seemed to view their constituents—and grass roots activists—as a problem that needed to be tolerated and avoided.
That changed (mostly) when grassroots activists and constituents let their congressional representatives know how disappointed they were over their lackluster performance in the face of an existential threat to democracy. The outstanding turnout for the Hands Off! protest on April 5, 2025, helped change the political landscape. The follow-on No Kings protests on June 14 and October 18 made clear that the grassroots movement was the strongest bulwark defending democracy at a time when Congress, the media, corporations, and universities were failing to meet the moment.
Susan Wagner (Grassroots Connector) and Leah Greenberg (co-founder of Indivisible) discuss the early days of the resistance movement in this Substack video: It Needs to Be Said, Conversation with Leah Greenberg: Co-Founder of Indivisible. I found the discussion insightful and comforting.
The fact that people like Susan Wagner and Leah Greenberg (and Ezra Levin) were thinking strategically in the earliest days of the Trump administration made a significant difference in the success of our defense of the Constitution and the rule of law.
As Susan and Leah discuss, they were not only resisting Trump, but they were also butting heads with seemingly clueless and oddly complacent members of the Democratic Party. I do not mean to bash elected Democrats; they are not the problem. The Republican Party is the problem. But the early days of Trump’s second term were not the Democratic Party’s finest hour. Thankfully, grassroots leaders and foot soldiers rose to the challenge. But for them, we may not have turned the corner as quickly as we have.
So, to all of you who recognized the national emergency and responded early to your country’s cry for help, bless you and thank you! We have much work ahead of us, but only because you helped deliver us safely to the high ground we currently occupy. Because of you, we can see the path forward and gather ourselves as we plan for the battles ahead and the period of reconstruction that must follow.
Take care! Talk to you tomorrow at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern on Substack livestream.
Daily Dose of Perspective
M33 was directly overhead on Friday evening, which generally results in a brighter, sharper image because light from distant objects passes through less atmosphere on its way to Earth. M33 is located 3 million light years from Earth.
My favorite undergraduate English professor would have given the above paragraph a mercy grade of “B-” for being “purple prose.” In my defense, someone on Bluesky linked to a TikTok video of a creator reciting The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Hearing the incredible poem by T.S. Eliot after a 48-year hiatus awakened a long-dormant poetry gene, which I then inflicted on you. Apologies.
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