How about we shut down the government for this very popular and specific goal and then, hear me out, we hold out for like a month and a half and then, ok this part is important, after a watershed election where we ran the table, ONLY THEN, fold and don't get the one thing we said we wanted.

My latest Substack is out! Here I try to diagnose the malaise that has afflicted the anti-Trump resistance this time around, and how we can overcome it. I think it boils down to residual heartbreak over Trump winning a 2nd term, and a deep crisis of faith in ourselves, our values, and our leaders.

My favorite part of Austin No Kings is this balloon of Elon Musk doing his Nazi salute

My second Substack post is out! Here I introduce the main topic for the series over the next few months: lessons we can learn from Alexei Navalny and the Russian democratic opposition movement as we confront an authoritarian administration here at home.

Hello friends! I'm excited to announce that I launched a new Substack last week. As we fight to save American democracy, we'll be exploring what we can learn from those who have been fighting similar authoritarian regimes overseas.

Why not just save time and add Iran directly to the signal chat lmao

Not a coincidence that Trump “is the most dominant figure on the world stage” and the world is experiencing a level of upheaval it hasn’t in generations.

The Speaker of the House calls for violence against an elected official of the opposition party, and it somehow is second tier news. Unreal.

Honestly this is the kind of courage and defiance that we have been sorely lacking the last six months. Dems should do more of this, and stop being scared and poll testing things to death

“Too many Democrats were lying to themselves. The ‘original sin’ that party leaders now need to grapple with is their tendency toward groupthink, inertia and an extreme and wildly counterproductive risk aversion.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/o...

Donald Trump knows better than most that nothing is ever “free.” They’re buying influence, obviously.

God he’s such an idiot. Yeah, why would a nuclear war in a region with billions of people have any impact on America?

This is what happens when you apply a Silicon Valley mindset — “break things and see what happens” — to government. People will die unnecessarily during this Admin because Elon Musk was allowed to run the government.

Parolin: STOP THE COUNT

Wow, who knew that "Drain the Swamp" really means that Trump will pardon criminals if they give enough money to his friends and allies.

Honestly, if Dems aren’t reminding the public every single day for the rest of his presidency that Trump openly admitted that your kids will have fewer toys this Christmas because of his policies — then they should dissolve as a party and go on to do other things.

Wild how all those “constitutional conservatives” have disappeared now that Trump is in power. They would’ve roasted Obama or Biden alive if he’d said something like this.

I had to check and…this is real. There are literally no limits to how far Lindsey Graham will debase himself

You know things are bad for Trump when even Texas business turns against him

The smug look of triumph on this evil asshole’s face

That’ll make it easier to afford things when Trump’s tariffs make the prices of everything explode, well done sir

Bessent is making the exact same mistake the Democrats made in the Biden era: cherry picking the economic data that supports your priors (the economy is good!) rather than the more revealing data that shows the opposite (people thinking the economy sucks)

This is the economic version of ignoring what the polls say because of your rallies “feel”

Trump is weaker than he looks. Don’t just assume whatever he does on immigration or other culture war issues is immediately popular. And don’t deny your own agency in being able to persuade public opinion against his actions, even on issues where he seems strong. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/u...

We often hear that “Democrats in Congress can’t do anything until after the midterms.” But this great piece lays out a bunch of creative steps congressional Democrats can take right now, before the midterms, to deter lawlessness and corruption in the Administration. open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Gotta say, I think the Dark Mayor Pete look looks good on him

It's funny how when you ask them why they think Pope Francis was "too woke" and request specific examples, they always wound up describing Christ's teachings without a hint of self-awareness.

For the love of God keep him away from JD Vance

Turns out you can shape the agenda with dramatic action and maybe even shift public opinion. Crazy.

You can’t make this shit uo www.axios.com/local/richmo...

This is the funniest fucking thing youtu.be/HJ8qGOe2K0o

Berlin was an enemy capital that had waged war on the entire world — not an ally defending itself from a hostile invasion.. We are really led by the stupidest people.

I’ve never seen a tweet that more effectively communicates how we got to this current situation

Don’t give up: “As long as enough Americans continue to believe in the idea with enough conviction to stick it out here and fight, the country that you and I once lived in will still exist for the generation after us.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Even North Korean officials would be embarrassed at this level of sycophancy

We are now in a new world — and not, I think, a better one

Looking this up for no reason, no reason at all

Oh wow did he clear this with RFK

This is what Trump’s “golden age” means: millions of Americans working in sweatshops because we have turned our backs on global trade and given competing in the global marketplace to create the best jobs possible for our people

Best evidence yet that his mind is Swiss cheesed on ketamine, how could anyone think this is realistic at the moment?

This is why you shouldn’t cosy up to autocrats, like Bezos and Zuckerberg did. Even if you don’t care about democracy, autocracy is simply a bad business strategy. Free markets and free people are much better for the bottom line. stocks.apple.com/AsPMSIPcGRja...

What’s funny here is that for Trump’s strategy to have a chance at working—that people will endure hardship in the form of higher prices to revive manufacturing—you would need the kind of national unity, trust, and sense of common purpose that Trump and his allies have spent decades destroying

We will never be able to make the center left competitive in this country again if we continue to refuse to appear on media platforms where voters get their information from, and if we arent willing to take risks to reach voters. www.thebulwark.com/p/hip-hop-lo...

It’s so dispiriting to see how little we learn from history. Here we are, doing both fascism and Smoot-Hawley again, even though we know how both turned out the last time.

and that’s why you do performative things

This exercise is a good counterargument to anyone who says “Senate Democrats can’t do anything because they have no power.” Well, Cory Booker found a way to do something even though he’s in the minority. Where there is a will, there is a way.

It's wild that no one knows what the tax rate will be on imported consumer goods tomorrow -- hell, maybe even Trump doesn't know yet

A new example the Admin’s descent into lawlessness and brutality. This is what happens when we turn our back on the principles that made this country great: the rule of law, checks and balances on government, due process, etc.

I wish people would stop trying to read some kind of four dimensional strategy into Trump's words and actions. Maybe Trump is floating the prospect of serving a third term for the simple reason that he intends to stay in office for a third term. We dismiss that simple explanation at our peril.

This is very similar to how they treated Trump’s threats to stay in power after the 2020 election: laughing it off and trying to ignore it. It resulted in an attempted coup and several people dying. They’ve learned nothing.