The Senate voted 51 to 48 to open debate on the SAVE Act on Tuesday. Under Senate rules, Republicans need 60 votes to end debate (cloture) and advance the bill to a vote on passage (or not). Tuesday’s vote count will only get worse for Republicans when they vote on cloture, because Mitch McConnell said he voted to open debate as a courtesy to Senate leadership, and Thom Tillis did not vote. Tillis has said he does not support the bill.
Although the actual count on cloture to overcome the filibuster may change by a vote or two, it does not appear that Republicans will improve their current margin of 51 votes—nine votes short of the total necessary to overcome the filibuster. See The Hill, Republicans collide with Trump over no-excuse absentee voting, SAVE Act.
Still, Democrats must continue their fight to convince the American people that the SAVE Act is a dangerous, anti-democratic bill that will disenfranchise millions of Americans—especially women and people who cannot afford a passport or other proof of citizenship that is costly and burdensome to obtain.
Frankly, Democrats need to do a better job than sending Chuck Schumer to talk to the press with an easel and a poster board. See his stilted press conference on Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer on Opposing SAVE America Act. Congressional Democrats must send their most persuasive, relatable members who can speak with passion and vigor—and without looking down at the podium while reading from notes. The debate over the SAVE Act is a contest for the hearts and minds of American voters heading into the 2026 midterms. Seniority cannot be the test for choosing spokespeople.
On Day One of the debate, Republicans framed the bill as requiring “Voter ID.” The rebuttal—which must be the first words out of the mouths of Democratic spokespeople—is that the bill makes it more burdensome for Americans to vote by requiring proof of citizenship through passports and birth certificates, imposes a special burden on women who have changed their names through marriage or divorce, bans all mail ballots, requires states to purge their voter rolls using a flawed federal database and requires states to surrender all voter data to the federal government. See Center for American Progress, The SAVE Act: Overview and Facts.
Voter suppression is a blunt instrument. The SAVE Act will not pass, but if it did, it would affect all voters, not just Democrats. As the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal wrote on Tuesday,
But the SAVE America Act wouldn’t turn blue states red, and it can’t save Republicans from voter anger at unpopular policies. In the MAGA era, the bill could even marginally hurt the GOP. Kamala Harris in 2024 won college graduates and voters earning over $100,000 a year. Mr. Trump carried those with no degrees and lower salaries. Which coalition is most likely not to have passports and birth certificates handy?
The SAVE Act will not pass. But the fight over messaging must be vigorous and passionate. And we must be part of that fight by amplifying the truth about the voter suppression that is at the root of the SAVE Act.
Trump’s war cabinet is beginning to point fingers as the war on Iran goes sideways
The responses to Trump’s plea for help from European allies to open the Strait of Hormuz have ranged from “skepticism to ‘hell no,” so Trump switched course (again) and said that the US does not and has never needed help from allies. See CNN, NATO: Trump lashes out at European allies for rejecting his demands on Iran war. (Trump should do a quick review of Wikipedia’s entry on WWII—it will be a revelation to him about the role of the Allies in defeating Germany.)
In a dramatic rebuke to Trump, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, posted a resignation letter on social media that criticized Trump for starting the war on Iran. See CNN, Joe Kent, high-ranking US intel official, resigns over Iran war.
Kent was a controversial, unqualified appointee to head the National Counterterrorism Center. Prior to his confirmation, he fraternized with white supremacists and Nazi sympathizers—credentials that call into question his motivations as a critic on matters of national security.
Kent’s letter is included in the CNN article, above, and says, in part,
In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. [Yet,] early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.
Trump and others immediately smeared Joe Kent. Trump said, “I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security,” which begs the question of why Trump would appoint Kent to a counterterrorism position. An administration official told The Atlantic that Kent was “a known leaker,” which begs the question of why Kent was not fired for leaking as soon as that fact was discovered. See The Atlantic, Joe Kent’s Secret (Gift article, accessible to all.)
In another self-inflicted wound, Trump’s economic advisor, Kevin Hassett, said that the economy was doing just fine and that harm to consumers was the “last concern” of the administration. See Common Dreams, Long Iran War Would Hurt Consumers, But That’s the ‘Last of Our Concerns’: Trump Economic Adviser.
Hasset said,
If the war were to be extended, it wouldn’t really disrupt the US economy very much at all. It would hurt consumers, and we’d have to think about what we’d have to do about that, but that’s really the last of our concerns right now because we’re very confident that this thing is going ahead of schedule.
At a time when many Americans are being forced to choose between gas and groceries, ranking consumer harm as “the last of our concerns” is callous. Hassett will undoubtedly try to walk back the remark by saying that he misspoke. The problem for Hassett is not that he misspoke, but that he spoke the truth.
In another horrible messaging point for Trump, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Trump’s “best friend forever,” Vladimir Putin, is providing the Iranian military with advanced satellite imagery, targeting information, and drone technology to help Iran hit US troops. See WSJ, Exclusive: Russia Is Sharing Satellite Imagery and Drone Technology With Iran.
Per the Journal,
The technology provided includes components of modified Shahed drones, which are meant to improve communication, navigation and targeting, the people said. Russia has also been drawing on its experience using drones in Ukraine, offering tactical guidance on how many drones should be used in operations and what altitudes they should strike from, said the people, who included a senior European intelligence officer.
Russia has been providing Iran with the locations of U.S. military forces in the Middle East as well as those of its regional allies, The Wall Street Journal has reported. That cooperation has deepened in early days of the war, with Russia recently providing satellite imagery directly to Iran, said two of the people, the officer and a Middle Eastern diplomat.
So, to recap, Russia is helping Iran to kill US troops while the US is lifting sanctions on Russian oil. The appropriate response would be to impose further sanctions on Russia, but Trump is increasing Russia’s revenue by billions of dollars—all because Trump failed to anticipate that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz.
Two final developments of note: Israel killed Iran’s chief of security, Ali Larijani, who may have been running Iran’s defense after the killing of Ayatollah Ali. Iran, in turn, vowed to avenge the killing of Larijani. See The Guardian, Iran says it will retaliate after key figure killed.
Finally, the US has apparently reached out to Iran through an intermediary asking for a de-escalation, an indirect approach that was rejected by Iran. See HuffPost, Iran Rejects De-Escalation As Israel Kills Iranian Security Chief.
Per HuffPo,
[A] senior Iranian official said Iran’s new supreme leader rejected de-escalation offers conveyed by intermediary countries.
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, rejected proposals conveyed to Iran’s Foreign Ministry for “reducing tensions or ceasefire with the United States,” according to a senior Iranian official who asked not to be identified.
Khamenei, attending his first foreign-policy meeting since his appointment, said it was not “the right time for peace until the United States and Israel are brought to their knees, accept defeat, and pay compensation,” according to the official.
Okay, one more point: As noted last week, Trump is positioning 2,200 Marines for a possible land incursion into Iran. An article by Lucian K. Truscott IV on Substack explains why invading Iran would be a very bad idea. Truscott’s brilliant analysis will change the way you see Iran and the obstacles that face any invasion.
I highly recommend Truscott’s article. But if you don’t read it, the thesis is that invading armies have failed to conquer Iran (and its predecessor kingdoms) for more than two millennia because of its daunting geography, among other things. See Lucian K. Truscott, IV, The many, many wars fought by the empire that became Iran.
But as Truscott notes, it gets worse. Iran has thousands of drones, which can be deployed from hundreds of miles of coastline against ships in the Persian Gulf:
Donald Trump has a huge problem right now. With all the bombs and missiles and jet planes and aircraft carriers and destroyers and submarines at his disposal, Iran has a coastline that runs hundreds of miles along the gulf, from which they can shoot missiles or launch drones at anything in the water that floats, most especially oil tankers carrying 20 percent of the world’s oil to countries such as Japan and China and Indonesia and yes, the United States and Europe. And Iran has the Strait of Hormuz, which makes drone launching and missile shooting by Iran even easier, because it’s only 21 miles wide, and those oil tankers are the proverbial sitting ducks of warfare.
Opportunities for Reader Engagement
Join a Substack livestream with Jon Tester and Maritsa Georgiou
Join Grassroots Connector / It Needs to Be Said to hear from former Senator Jon Tester of Montana and Maritsa Georgiou, a political journalist, who co-host the Grounded podcast on Substack.
Senator Tester and Ms. Georgiou will be joining us in front of a live audience at Brothers Tapworks, co-owned by former Montana Governor Steve Bullock.
Host, Susan Wagner, will candidly discuss with them what needs to be said. This thought-provoking conversation will be held on March 19 at 8 pm eastern, 7 pm central, 6 pm mountain, and 5 pm pacific.
More details at the link on how to join the conversation: It Needs to Be Said with Senator Jon Tester and Maritsa Georgiou
Join Downtown Nasty Women Social Group for a Giving Circle fundraiser
The Downtown Nasty Women Social Group (DNWSG) Giving Circle 2026 Kickoff virtual event is next Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 7:30 pm EST (4:30 PST). Hear special guests, Michigan House Dem. Leader Ranjeev Puri and Wisconsin House Dem. Leader Greta Neubauer, along with The States Project Senior Political Director for MI & WI, Emily Waggoner. We will hear about their plans to flip their chambers blue and get Wisconsin and Michigan to a blue trifecta for 2026!
As a founding giving circle with the States Project (TSP), DNWSG is in its 9th cycle raising money to flip state legislatures because that is where the future of our democracy is being decided. Statehouses shape the laws that govern our bodies, our ballots, our schools, and our communities. And now they are the last line of defense against federal authoritarianism and for free and fair elections.
We have set a goal to raise $250,000 for these battleground states & a goal of 100% participation from everyone who has ever donated in one of our election cycles back to 2018. Because it’s that important! (100% of your donation goes directly to the candidates/caucuses).
Please sign up HERE – 2026 is too important to stay on the sidelines.
Concluding Thoughts
The past three weeks have been a challenging time to cover the news. The war on Iran is a tremendously significant challenge to American democracy, the separation of powers, and the role of Congress in governing our nation. It has also unleashed global economic and military consequences that have not yet been fully appreciated or absorbed by the press, the public, and the securities markets.
As one small example. It is not correct to say that Iran has “closed the Strait of Hormuz.” In truth, Iran has “closed the Strait of Hormuz to the US and its allies.” China is negotiating free passage for ships registered to it, and ships transporting oil to India, Pakistan, and Turkey have exited through the Strait in the last two weeks. The change in access to the Strait of Hormuz is a major global realignment of economic relationships, provoked by Trump’s war and compounded by the US Navy’s inability to ensure open passage through the Strait.
We cannot ignore the war or Trump’s mishandling of the war. It will be an important driver in the 2026 midterms, either directly or indirectly. The war is unpopular on its own, but its economic consequences for American consumers are just beginning to be felt. Trump’s gaslighting and callousness about the state of the war, American casualties, and the state of the economy are generating anger toward Trump personally in a way that is new and different. And his aura of charmed incompetence that always seems to escape accountability has evaporated in the last three weeks. His incompetence and ignorance are responsible for his mishandling of the war.
But with all of that said, there are highly significant developments on the domestic front. The SAVE Act, Robert Kennedy’s assault on vaccines, the Epstein files, lawlessness in the DOJ, the dismantling of climate protection legislation and regulation, the assault on science, and the assault on free speech and independent media.
I could go on, but you get the picture. I am trying to focus on major stories. I appreciate the contributions of readers who post comments on additional noteworthy developments at the end of each newsletter. The high-quality, thoughtful comments are both informative and inspirational to other readers—and I encourage readers to keep up the good work of supplementing the newsletter. As always, be considerate, make space for everyone to be heard, keep comments to a reasonable length, and use paragraph breaks to enhance readability.
And my mailbox is always open to hear from readers who cannot or do not wish to post public comments. Just “reply” to this newsletter and your thoughts will land in my inbox. I can’t promise a reply to every email, but I do read every email from readers to help me understand how readers are feeling and what they want to hear about in the newsletter.
Stay strong! Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
The photo below shows eight prominent galaxies in a cluster known as Markarian’s Chain. The galaxies range in distance from Earth of approximately 50 to 60 million light-years. Most of the members of Markaian’s Chain are gravitationally bound and act as a coherent object. Some members of the group are merely visually aligned and appear to be part of the group when they are not because they are in the same line of sight as the cluster.
To say the least, it is remarkable to see eight galaxies in a single photo taken with a six-inch telescope in my backyard in Los Angeles. My telescope is a dedicated astrophotography instrument that “stacks” photons from consecutive ten-second exposures. The photo below was “stacked” from about 400 ten-second exposures.
Pro-democracy protest photos
[Please send photos to rbhubbell@gmail.com. No texts, please! Include the city and state in the body of the email**.** Thanks!]
Baltimore City, MD
One of four demonstrations with Engaged Defenders for Democracy. This is Protect Democracy in Durham, NC, including a beautiful sign for No Kings!
Bangor, ME
A cacophony of honks! Nobody likes this war! Let’s tell Trump! On the India Point Bridge in Providence RI.
Accomack County, VA Personal Protest Participants, week 39
Bothell, WA (part of the Seattle metro area)
Wolfeboro, NH
For a year, every Saturday at noon, at Pickering Park, people have gathered in this historically Republican town, to protest ICE, the war and assure NoKings. The turnout has been very large.
Photos of our neighborhood group protesting and holding signs, as we have every Friday afternoon since October 2025. We are at a heavily trafficked overpass in West Los Angeles.
Custom Flag for Preserving Democracy Gatherings
Sonoma County Indivisable visibility brigade. we are out every week from Tuesday through Thursday and more often during events like the no Kings. Lots of enthusiasm and lots of honking and waving!
This morning, 3/17/26, in Pasadena, CA
Pic from Kalamazoo Visibility Brigade, MI, from 3/14/2026
Melody Copper Eastville traffic light on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Best of all was the lady who greeted us as she waited for the light to change, “You ladies have blessed my soul.”
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