It’s an attempted coup. We must stop it.

June 13, 2025

On Thursday, US Senator Alex Padilla was physically ejected from a press conference being held in a federal building, forced to the ground, and handcuffed by federal agents (FBI?) for having the temerity to ask a question of Secretary Kristi Noem, who was at that very moment threatening to remove the democratically elected Mayor of Los Angeles.

The assault on a US Senator feels like an assault on each of us and deserves full-throated condemnation, which follows below.

But first, we must attend to business:

• What, if anything, should we do differently in response to the assault on Senator Padilla?

The answer:

• We must continue to do everything we have been doing, except at a larger scale, greater volume, and with more enthusiasm.

Our plans for No Kings Day are now mission-critical. Tens of millions of Americans must show up on Saturday to send an unequivocal message to Trump: We will stop your coup. Whatever power you have is based on the consent of the governed. And we are withdrawing that consent.

Let’s be clear: Trump will not be persuaded no matter what we do. But America’s business leaders must be made to understand that the basis of civil society—which is the foundation of their profits--is entirely dependent on the rule of law applying to everyone. If Trump's corporate overloads support his rolling coup, then they are not entitled to the benefits of a civil society governed by the rule of law.

Realistically, the protests on No Kings Day will not, standing alone, achieve our goal of stopping the coup. But the protests are a necessary step to victory.

If you are reading this newsletter, the chances are high that you are planning to attend a No Kings Day rally. If 10 million Americans attend the rallies, they will be an incredible success.

But 10 million attending the rallies means that 240 million Americans eligible to vote will be sitting on the sidelines. Sadly, Trump is president today because 90 million Americans did not vote on November 5, 2024. See 2024 was a Landslide...for 'Did Not Vote' | Environmental Voter Project

As in November 2024, our challenge is to convince those sitting on the sidelines of democracy that they must join us in the streets before it is too late.

I firmly believe that 30 or 40 million Americans will eventually step up to stop Trump's slow-rolling coup. But what will it take for those on the sidelines to see that Trump will not stop his attempted coup until we stop it?

I fear that it will take an inevitable tragedy on a large scale before enough Americans wake up and realize that if they do not act, those of us who have been fighting for the last eight years cannot do it alone. We need their help. And you must help convince friends, family members, neighbors, and strangers to join us in the fight.

Do not misinterpret my realism for defeatism. I am confident we will prevail. It is only a matter of time before Americans rise in sufficient numbers to defend the Constitution, as they always have. Indeed, I am heartened by the increasing protests across the nation over the last week in response to the illegal occupation of downtown Los Angeles by federal troops.

Rebecca Solnit has captured the emerging sense of hope in her essay in Meditations on an Emergency, The Heart of the Matter. If you are feeling discouraged or anxious about today’s developments, I strongly recommend reading Rebecca Solnit’s essay.

Below are excerpts from Solnit’s essay, which capture my feelings perfectly:

[I]n April I wondered, "When does the pressure break, the dam crack, the earthquake fault slip, the ferment explode the bottle? No one knows. But we can prepare for it, we can build toward it, we can lay the groundwork for it. [¶]

I think this is it. It's begun.

The Trump Administration has escalated, and so has the resistance to the Administration, to its brutality, lawlessness, cruelty, and destruction. They want to institute authoritarianism, a regime in which they have unlimited power and we have no rights. . . .

But I do not believe history is on their side, and I believe we are writing history with our voices, our donations, our bodies, our solidarities, our commitment to remain informed and engaged right now.

Although it may feel like things are spinning out of control in the moment, we can control our response to the fabricated emergency and thereby bend the moral arc of the universe toward justice, democracy, and freedom.

Trump deployed federal troops to LA and handcuffed a US Senator for asking a question because he is afraid of the people—the steady state of every wannabe dictator seeking to rule by fear.

We are not afraid; Trump is. We have him on the run, a fact that will become increasingly evident as the protests against his rolling coup grow in size and volume. But we cannot take for granted that the protests will grow on their own.

Their future success demands much from us—our dedication, perseverance, and courage. Above all, we must demonstrate mental toughness that will allow us to endure defeat and push forward to victory.

If you have been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the right moment to join peaceful protests in defense of democracy, this is the moment you have been waiting for.

Sign up or locate a protest here: NoKings.org.

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The ejection and handcuffing of US Senator Alex Padilla.

Although Trump did not personally order the ejection and handcuffing of Senator Padilla, he has created the conditions in which federal agents believe they are immune from the rules of law and can eject, detain, and handcuff people for exercising their First Amendment rights. Trump has given permission for lawless and thuggish behavior by federal agents.

The Trump administration has lied about the incident, and some major media outlets (NYTimes) have obligingly parroted the administration’s lies about the incident. Secretary Noem claimed on Fox News that (a) a man “burst into” the press conference; (b) he lunged toward the podium; and (c) did not identify himself. Each of those points by Secretary Noem is a lie that is disproved by a widely available video. See also MSNBC, Nicolle Wallace calls out Kristi Noem’s lie over Sen. Alex Padilla’s handcuffing and forced removal.

The video of the incident is available on YouTube, Senator Alex Padilla Detained.

In the video, you can clearly hear Senator Padilla say, “I am Senator Padilla.” Despite identifying himself as a US Senator in a federal building, federal agents pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him.

After he was released, Senator Padilla explained that he was escorted into the press briefing room by a National Guard soldier and an FBI agent. He then waited in the back of the room before asking a question and did not “lunge” toward the podium. The Hill, Padilla denies claims he lunged at Noem during LA press conference.

The assault on Senator Padilla is the stuff of Putin’s Russia, Orban’s Hungary, and Kim Jong Un’s North Korea. It is a sickening, grotesque display of thuggery on the world stage that is a stain on America’s reputation.

As I mentioned above, the assault and handcuffing feel personal. The video is shocking—all the more so because the attack was on a US Senator. If it can happen to Senator Padilla, it can happen to all of us.

That is Trump's point: He wants us to experience fear and doubt over exercising our First Amendment rights. We cannot allow that to happen! To the contrary, our response must be to exercise the very rights that Trump wants us to abandon.

In the last week, Trump has deployed US military against the American public in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Constitution. He has ordered the arrest and prosecution of a state judge for allegedly interfering with an immigration detention. His minions detained and handcuffed a US Senator. He continues to withhold funds in violation of the Impoundment Control Act and the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution. He has disobeyed court orders requiring him to reverse DOGE cuts and rehire federal employees wrongfully terminated by DOGE. His Secretary of Defense refused to say that he would honor an order from a federal court finding that the unilateral deployment of the National Guard was illegal. He has launched a private cryptocurrency, the proceeds of which directly benefit the president.

The only appropriate words to describe those collective actions is “attempted coup.” It is time for the tens of millions of eligible voters in America who have been sitting on the sidelines to come to the aid of their country in its hour of need. We must stop the coup. Together, we can do so.

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US District Judge rules that Trump's deployment of California National Guard was illegal

In rapid succession on Thursday evening, the following occurred in California’s lawsuit challenging the legality of Trump's federalization of the California National Guard for deployment in Los Angeles:

• US District Judge Bryer granted California’s motion for a temporary restraining order, finding that Trump violated the statutory conditions for federalizing the National Guard. See Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Application For Temporary Restraining Order.

• The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted an administrative stay of Judge Bryer’s order. Order Granting Administrative Stay.

• The Ninth Circuit set a hearing on June 17, 2025, before Judges Bennett, Sung, and Miller.

The opinion by Judge Bryer should be upheld by the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court. The Ninth Circuit panel includes two Trump appointees (Bennett and Miller) and one Biden appointee (Sung). Judge Miller was a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas. However, a quick scan of notable decisions by the judges suggests that California may receive a fair, non-partisan hearing before the Ninth Circuit panel.

The opinion by Judge Bryer is exceptionally strong. By examining the definition of the term “rebellion” as understood at the time the relevant statute (10 U.S. Code § 12406) was enacted, Judge Bryer concludes that there was no “rebellion” in Los Angeles that justified federalizing the California National Guard.

Moreover, Judge Bryer found that Trump and Hegseth violated the procedural requirement of Section 12406 by ignoring the provision that orders federalizing national guard troops “shall be issued through the governors of the States.”

Here, Trump and Hegseth circumvented Governor Newsom, who undoubtedly would have refused to issue the order to transfer command of the California National Guard to the US military. If that had happened, it is not clear how the situation would have been resolved. But as Judge Bryer noted, Governor Newsom was denied the opportunity to object to the order to federalize the troops.

Judge Bryer’s decision is indisputably correct. It may face an uphill battle before two Trump appointees on the three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit. Moreover, my gut tells me that the reactionary majority on the Supreme Court will (wrongly) conclude that the president’s decision that a “rebellion” exists in Los Angeles is non-reviewable. The Supreme Court may also dismiss the procedural violation of circumventing the Governor of California.

I hope my skepticism about the Supreme Court proves to be unfounded.

As legal commentators frequently say, “The courts are not going to save us.” That truism states the obvious fact that, absent the support of the people, courts lack political legitimacy and cannot enforce their own orders. We must save the courts.

But if the members of the Supreme Court witness tens of millions of Americans protest the unlawful deployment of federalized National Guard and Marines, we may save the Supreme Court from its own cowardice and fecklessness. We need only stiffen the spines of two of five members of the reactionary majority to stop Trump's unlawful use of the military to perform police functions.

In the end, however, whether Trump uses the military to perform police functions is entirely up to the millions of Americans who can change that outcome through protest and, if necessary, boycotts, national strikes, transportation stoppages, and continuous massive, decentralized protests. That formula has succeeded in other countries and will succeed here.

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Concluding Thoughts.

I will host my regular Saturday morning livestream at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET. I realize that many of you will be attending protests at that time on the East Coast. I will post a video of the livestream as soon as it is available. Given the fast-changing events, I would like to adhere to the regular Saturday schedule to discuss developments through Friday evening.

As we head into the No Kings Day protests, be peaceful and careful. Do not create an opening or excuse for police to retaliate or arrest protesters. If agitators cause trouble, walk away and leave them by themselves to deal with the police.

Finally, remember that the police and National Guard are not the problem. Trump is the problem. Direct your protests toward Trump, not to men and women who have no choice in their deployment. And if you are a member of the military or police, remember that your duty is to uphold the law and defend the Constitution, not enforce Trump's partisan agenda.

Be safe, everyone! Talk to you tomorrow!

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