Coward.

March 14, 2025

Chuck Schumer is a coward. He has surrendered in advance, refusing to fight for a democracy that desperately needs patriots willing to defend it. Instead, Schumer decided to “cut and run.”

On Thursday afternoon, Schumer announced that he would support the GOP’s continuing resolution in order to avoid an imaginary ‘parade of horribles’ that might—or might not—occur during a shutdown.

If we refuse to act because Republicans might do “something bad” in response, then we will never act, remaining permanently frozen with fear and indecision. Which is exactly where Schumer has led the Democratic Party. It is time for him to go. Correction, it is long past time for him to go.

For a complete refutation of Schumer’s “deer in the headlights” strategy for resisting Trump's slow-rolling coup, watch this video by Adam Schiff released on Thursday afternoon, “Why I am a ‘hard no’ on the continuing resolution.” (From Schiff’s Notes on Substack. Subscribe here.)

I understand and acknowledge the wisdom and grace of those (like Marc Elias) who say we should not attack fellow Democrats over an issue that was a difficult choice. Schumer is not the problem. Trump is the problem. All true.

But we must also be honest and acknowledge the bitter disappointment and white-hot fury of Democrats who busted their ***** over the last eight years to support the Democratic Party, only to see their Senate leader choose the strategy of “do nothing” in the face of an active coup.

As of Thursday evening, tens of millions of Democratic grassroots volunteers and activists believe Chuck Schumer is a coward (and worse)—and there is no virtue in pretending otherwise. We must acknowledge and validate the feelings of the Democratic base if we have any hope of answering this question,

“Why should Democratic grassroots volunteers and activists continue to work tirelessly to support the Democratic Party and its agenda?”

Here is the answer I would give to those who are so angry they feel like quitting:

We are not cowards.

We are not faithless servants.

We are not potted plants.

We are ordinary Americans who love our country and who will fight to preserve a democracy gifted to us by the sacrifice of generations who came before us. They knew that they would not live to see the day when their efforts would bear fruit, but they trusted that we would be strong enough to continue their struggle.

We cannot betray their trust.

We cannot let them down.

We are not permitted to surrender.

Despite our bitter disappointment, there is one benefit from Schumer’s betrayal: We have been given the gift of clarity. We can see clearly it is up to us. It always has been. It always will be. Schumer’s betrayal merely confirms the core truth that “We, the people” control the fate of our democracy.

Unlike Schumer, we cannot give up. Ezra Levin has been urging Americans to continue to lobby their Senators. Levin writes,

No Dem Senator has to follow Schumer here. This is a weak strategic move driven by fear and learned helplessness. Don't follow him. He's leading the party into irrelevance and helping Trump and Musk in the process.

Call your Dem Senators and ask them not to join Schumer's surrender tomorrow.

Find the contact information for your Senators here: U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators

---

Two major court rulings order reinstatement of fired workers

On Thursday, two federal judges ordered the government to reinstate thousands of workers illegally fired by dozens of federal agencies.

The first ruling was issued by US District Judge Alsup in San Francisco. Judge Alsup ordered the “immediate” reinstatement of workers from dozens of agencies. See NYTimes, Trump Administration Must Rehire Thousands of Fired Workers, Judge Rules. (This article is accessible to all.)

Judge Alsup issued sweeping relief after excoriating DOJ attorneys for attempting to mislead the court. Per the NYTimes,

Judge Alsup said he was convinced that federal agencies followed a directive from senior officials in the Office of Personnel Management to use a loophole allowing them to fire probationary workers by citing poor performance, regardless of their actual conduct on the job. He concluded that the government’s actions were a “gimmick” intended to expeditiously carry out mass firings.

“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” he said.

“It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements,” he added.

A second federal judge in Maryland issued a similar, overlapping order. See CNN, Second federal judge orders temporary reinstatement of thousands of probationary employees fired by the Trump administration.

Per CNN,

In the states’ case, filed in Baltimore’s federal court, the attorneys general argued that the administration had violated a 6-day notice requirement for so-called reductions in force – or RIFS – as well as other procedural steps for such mass terminations. The administration countered that no such notice was required for the layoffs, done quickly in early days of the administration, because federal law allows the government to terminate probationary employees under certain circumstances without any heads up.

[Judge] Bredar on Thursday rejected the administration’s arguments that the terminations fit into a category not requiring notice because the employees were fired because of their substandard performance.

“Here, the terminated probationary employees were plainly not terminated for cause,” Bredar wrote in a 56-page opinion. “The sheer number of employees that were terminated in a matter of days belies any argument that these terminations were due to the employees’ individual unsatisfactory performance or conduct.”

Together, the rulings reverse a significant portion of the DOGE layoffs. Both rulings will be appealed to the Supreme Court—at which point we will find out whether the Court will serve as an enabler to Trump's rolling coup.

---

Judge orders DOGE to turn over records and answer questions about cuts and firings

In another major court victory, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the federal government to turn over records and produce witnesses to testify about the operations of DOGE. See Business Insider, Elon Musk must turn over records and answer questions on what he's doing at DOGE, judge orders.

Although Judge Chutkan did not issue a temporary restraining order as requested by the plaintiff states, she ordered expedited discovery about the operations and decision-making process at DOGE. Judge Chutkan’s order is here: New Mexico v. Musk.

Musk and DOGE have three weeks to comply. Because Judge Chutkan’s order relates to discovery, it is unlikely that Musk can appeal Judge Chutkan’s order. Whether Musk will comply with the order is a different question entirely.

---

Opportunities for Reader Engagement

Are you attending a protest and need a poster? Reader Julie G. sent this note:

I am writing to you on behalf of Jon Sachs, a Swing Blue Alliance member who is pouring energy into a Trump Tragedies website that has a page devoted to free, downloadable 8.5x11 in. protest-themed posters that I think your readers would appreciate.

Protest messaging that can be posted on America’s streets and easily shared by a website link could help get much more protest messaging in the public eye. Eighteen posters are now available on the site. (There’s also an online suggestion box for additional posters that people think should be added.)

Concluding Thoughts

Note: I will hold a Substack Livestream on Saturday, March 15, at 9 am PDT / 12 Noon EDT. Anyone can join; you just need to download the Substack App and open it at the appointed time.

As you can tell, I am angry with the Democratic leadership today. So are millions of Americans. You may believe that anger is unjustified but, as my wife wisely counsels, “Don’t tell me how to feel.”

Today we are angry, tomorrow we will be back to work. In the meantime, don’t tell us how to feel. And please—please—don’t patronize us by repeating Chuck Schumer’s argument for voting in favor of cloture. We heard it. We get it. We reject it. We find it offensive.

One reason we are so angry is that Schumer tried to deceive us. On Wednesday, he took to the Senate floor and claimed he would vote against the continuing resolution. As Josh Marshall noted on Thursday,

[Schumer’s speech on Wednesday] was a ploy. He was playing his voters for fools. It soon emerged that Schumer’s plan was to engineer what amounted to a performative stand-down, a choreographed interlude of opposition followed by the passage of the GOP bill. . . [It] was a farce: giving up the Democrats’ one true point of leverage [the filibuster] in exchange for votes that were literally certain to fail.

As I wrote on Wednesday, Schumer should “Treat us like adults, please.” He didn’t. He tried to play us for fools. He deserves no benefit of the doubt, no sympathy for the fact that he faced a difficult choice between bad options. Like the politician he is, Schumer opted for political expediency over fealty to country and Constitution.

In the end, Schumer’s betrayal indicates that he doesn’t trust us. He doesn’t believe that we can mount a resistance to Trump that will slow him down. Schumer assumed that if there was a shutdown, Trump would do horrible things, and we would sit in silence like house plants on a windowsill. Does he not have a television? Or a smartphone with a connection to the internet? Can he not see the upwelling of anger and determination that is sweeping the nation?

Well, Chuck, we are already taking things into our own hands, largely because Democratic leadership in Congress has failed to rise to the moment—except for a few notable exceptions, including the sainted Bernie Sanders, the fierce Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the persistent Elizabeth Warren. And now, Adam Schiff has arrived on the scene with his formidable talents.

I take hope from the enthusiastic crowds showing up at the Bernie Sanders’ events. I take hope from the fact that Democratic representatives are setting up town halls in the districts of Republican representatives afraid to appear in front of their constituents.

And I take hope from the fact that the Democratic base is angry that their leaders have refused to fight. It shows that we haven’t given up and that we are willing to do what it necessary to defend our democracy.

That’s it for today. Talk to you tomorrow!

---

Daily Dose of Perspective

For the first time in two months, I was able to set up my telescope to take images of the deep sky. The image below is of the Orion Nebula, one of the most spectacular nebulae accessible by land-based telescopes.

The Orion Nebula sits south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion, about 1,344 light-years from Earth. Enjoy!