The Sunday Positives
Trying something a bit different
Ok, let’s just admit that things are dark. Really dark. Most of the things I have written here haven’t been the happiest, and for good cause. We, as a Nation, are certainly at a crossroads, and things are as bleak as any time I can remember in my 54 years. Hell, that’s why this site came to be.
That said, we have to look for the positives, however small they may be. I did not start writing this to be doom and gloom all the time. Exactly the opposite, actually. I wanted to vent, but also to do my (really really small) part in maybe getting folks to avoid just accepting all of this as inevitable. I would love to think that I am helping just one person get through a tough day with my disjointed writing. I know it’s been helping me.
In that spirit I want to recap some of the more positive signs that I have seen in the last few days. Let’s go!
Some Dems Are Being Heard
One of the things that has bothered me more than most since the inauguration was the relative absence of any organized pushback from the Democrats at the national level. It just seemed like they were as shocked as us normies by the blitzkrieg that T2.0 unleashed on the United States. I have no idea why that would be the case, it’s not like anything that has happened wasn’t telegraphed throughout the campaign, so there’s really no excuse for Dem leadership not being ready to fight.
That’s not to say that there haven’t been individual Democrats that have been making noise, and some of them are starting to get a lot more coverage and, by extension, forcing T2.0 to address them.
Perhaps the most visible has been Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who has always been a thorn in the side of MAGA. Her jousting with Border “czar” Tom Homan has been fun to watch, especially as she refuses to back down to his bully methods. It helps that AOC has the law and the Constitution on her side. We have also seen excellent representation from Dem young guns such as Jasmine Crocket (Texas) and Maxwell Frost (Florida). Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy has been one of the most visible members of the party, as he has taken his defiance of T2.0s multitude of illegal and unconstitutional acts to the airwaves, podcasts, and social media. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has also been a voice of resistance, using his State of the State address to take shots at the administration and warn of the dangers that we are facing while reminding those in power that “we don’t have kings” here in the United States.
Finally, although he is not a Democrat, Independant Senator Bernie Sanders embarked on a tour of red states, holding several events to talk to the people about the dangers of oligarchy.
Early Court Victories
With the GOPMAGA Congress abdicating their responsibilities and allowing T2.0 to run roughshod on Checks and Balances, the only true obstacle to the administration’s lawlessness is the courts. Unfortunately, legal matters are deliberate and allow it to appear that the policies are being implemented in an unopposed manner.
We are starting to see some legal wins, although I should mention that these are all very preliminary, there is still a long way to go in various courtrooms.1 Having said that, it is still worth pointing out that at least the courts seem to be working as they should.
One of the first court victories saw Trump’s funding freeze on federal grants and loans paused. The administration appealed that ruling, and lost their appeal, meaning the freeze is, well, frozen.
A judge issued a nationwide block on the administration’s orders ending federal support for DEI programs.
Another judge upheld a ban on DOGE staff accessing our most sensitive personal data at the Treasury Department.
Finally, the Supreme Court ruled that the head of the Office of Special Counsel could not be immediately terminated by the President, although this is only in effect until the middle of next week.
Again, these are all preliminary findings, and there is a lot of legal wrangling to come, so stay tuned.
The Media, and the People, Push Back
One of the more frustrating things to happen during T1.0 was how, despite his daily flood of lies, the media seemed to be unwilling or unable to call them what they were. My blood pressure would spike regularly seeing the Washington Post or New York Times refer to Trump’s “falsehoods” or mention how the President “claimed without evidence” etc.
So I was pleasantly surprised to see the headline Fact check: Trump lies at CPAC about the 2024 election he won. Considering how milquetoast CNN has become, and how they have been sliding further to the right, it was refreshing to see them label his lies as lies in such an unambiguous manner so early in T2.0.
Early in the week Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator2 which resulted in Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, hardly a liberal rag, to respond thusly:
Wow.
Finally, after being shut out of Oval Office events and traveling on Air Force One because they refuse to change the nearly 500-year-old name of a body of water, the Associated Press filed a lawsuit against 3 T2.0 officials claiming a violation of First Amendment rights. This should be a slam dunk, I don’t even see how Thomas or Alito could spin this otherwise.3
While it’s great to see the media pushing back (finally), I found much more comfort in seeing everyday people going off on GOPMAGA reps at various town halls across the country this week. While the White House tried to spin these events as “just a handful of loud people”, the fact that some of these reps are ducking scheduled interviews is a strong sign that maybe, just maybe, the American people aren’t just going to sit back and be abused by their would-be king.
Maybe Elon Needs to Focus on Tesla
Ok, I can’t let this piece go without some petty schadenfreude. It appears that being Co-President isn’t always great for business, as we have seen Tesla’s stock crashing out while its owner is playing around in DC with the DogePups. Europeans in particular don’t seem to appreciate Elon’s efforts, as sales of his cars across the pond have cratered. None of this really helps our situation here, but damn if it doesn’t make me a little happy that his main moneymaker is getting hit where it counts.
Governor Janet Mills of Maine
One event in particular really made me think this week. I honestly feel that Trump’s Kryptonite may just be strong women. It’s not a surprise to me that some of the leading voices against his actions have been women, and this past week there was a shining example of this.
During a luncheon for governors, Trump was giving a meandering speech about trans athletes and such, during which he asked “is Maine here?”4 What followed was something that doesn’t happen all that often… someone stood up to Trump, to his face.5
Trump: Are you going to comply?
Mills: We are going to follow state and federal law.
Trump: We are the federal law. You better comply or you will not receive any federal funding.
Mills: I’ll see you in court.
The exchange went on a bit more, and by the end Trump was flustered and stammering. Obviously it was stupid for him to get into this in front of a roomful of governors, and I kind of wish that Mills and all of the Democratic governors had simply walked out, but I applaud Governor Mills for not backing down.
5 Things Memes
I will wrap up this inaugural Sunday Positive with some fun, creative responses to a really stupid thing.
Saturday afternoon Co-President Musk tweeted out that “all federal employees will get an email asking for a description of what you did last week. Failure to respond will be considered a resignation.” Now, there’s a whole host of reasons that is dumb.6 But the replies that flooded BlueSky were top shelf. I will leave you with some of my favorites.
And my personal favorite:
Take care and Stay Strong
Of course, we have no guarantee that T2.0 will abide by court rulings, but since I am trying to be positive here, we can save that for another day.
If Trump truly believed Zelenskyy to be a dictator, he would be sucking up to him, so we know Trump was just parroting Papa Putin’s Propaganda.
Don’t bet on that though. Those two have proven that there is no depth to which they will not stoop.
Note the lack of respect in not asking for Governor Janet Mills by name, only by her state.
I avoided watching the video of this exchange for a while, because I can’t stand to hear his voice. This one is worth it though.
Perhaps the dumbest part is that the email to which these replies need to go is public, hr@opm.gov. It would be a shame if that mail server got absolutely slammed with emails all day Monday. A damn shame.