Let’s teach Trump a lesson: Voter suppression will backfire.
October 25, 2025
Hi, all. I am sending out a quick newsletter following a family night with the grandkids at the local “Immersive Halloween Experience and Light Show.” We’ve come a long way from using a pillowcase as a candy sack and roaming the streets unsupervised for four hours at six years old!
I will host my regular Saturday livestream, “Weekly Dose of Perspective,” at 9 a.m. Pacific / Noon Eastern. Instructions on how to join are here.
Friday brought several new violations of the Constitution and the norms of democracy—never before experienced in the history of our republic. They include
Accepting $130 million from a private donor to “pay” the salaries of US military during the shutdown, a blatantly unconstitutional and illegal move that violates Congress’s control over the national purse under Article I and the prohibitions of the Anti-Deficiency Act, among other statutes.
Deploying a US naval battlegroup to international waters off South America without reporting to or consulting with Congress under the War Powers Resolution, and murdering six people aboard a boat that Pete Hegseth said was smuggling drugs.
Awarding a Pentagon contract for the purchase of drones to a company in which Donald Trump Jr. has a $4 million equity stake and sits on the board of directors.
Any one of the above violations of the Constitution and the law justifies impeachment, conviction, and removal, as well as indictment, conviction, and imprisonment. But congressional Republicans have surrendered to Trump, removing the vital check on presidential misconduct the Framers embedded in the Constitution. And the US Supreme Court removed the threat of criminal liability for all presidential actions within the scope of office, including murdering alleged drug smugglers without the due process guaranteed by the Constitution to everyone alleged to have violated US law.
But there is one more violation that deserves discussion: Trump’s instruction to the DOJ to “monitor” elections in California and New Jersey in November 2025. Neither election will include federal candidates. California is holding a special election on an amendment to the California Constitution (Proposition 50), and New Jersey is electing a governor. See USA Today, DOJ to monitor elections in California, New Jersey as state officials blast move
The move is intended to suppress votes through intimidation. There is no other legitimate purpose for the DOJ to monitor state elections in California and New Jersey. Trump has perverted the mission of the DOJ from voter protection to voter suppression. The action is reprehensible and possibly illegal, given the lack of justification. We should expect both California and New Jersey to challenge the federal monitors.
Republican officials in both states requested federal monitoring because of imagined voter fraud that has not occurred. The Republican request for federal monitors may provide a colorable basis for a court to deny an order banning the federal monitors from the election sites. (I haven’t had time to research this issue after spending three hours at “Night of the Jack,” so I am making some broad guesses here.)
While the deployment of federal monitors to California and New Jersey for state elections is reprehensible, the use of state, local, and federal monitors is routine. But this particular deployment seems to be a “practice run” for suppressing votes in 2026 and 2028.
It is a practice run for both the Trump administration and the American people. Trump is testing the resistance to voter suppression, seeing if he can “get away with it.”
But the American people are being tested as well, seeing if they will respond to voter suppression by turning out in record numbers.
The best response to voter suppression is massive voter turnout. Voter suppression works at the margins, trying to steal elections that are narrowly decided. We can defeat voter suppression by ensuring decisive victories that are beyond the reach of court challenges to a few hundred or a few thousand ballots.
Rather than cower in fear and predict disaster because of Trump’s latest voter suppression plan, we should view this as an opportunity to teach Trump a lesson: Efforts at voter suppression will backfire, resulting in larger losing margins for Republicans.
The gauntlet has been thrown. Challenge accepted. Let’s make Trump regret turning the DOJ into his anti-voting rights militia.
Concluding Thoughts
There are credible reports that Trump will name the 90,000-square-foot ballroom after himself. Challenge accepted! Just like naming the reconciliation bill “The Big Beautiful Bill” was a mistake (“Big Ugly Bill”), we need to make Trump regret floating the idea that the ballroom will be named the “Donald J. Trump Ballroom.”
Here’s my suggestion: The Trump-Epstein Ball Room and Massage Parlor.
Have at it in the Comments section!
Talk to you on Saturday at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern
Protest Photos
Westport, CT (two photos)
Washington, D.C., from reader Susan D: I gathered friends from several local Indivisible groups, and we headed to the White House today to protest the demolition of the East Wing and the ridiculous ballroom project.
We got a lot of attention... I think this was an event (the destruction of history) that is helping to wake people up.
Daily Dose of Perspective
We're all hearing the number 7m, but the Alt National Park Service has reliably calculated the number of people at the No Kings rallies at 8.1m, many in red states, and most of voting age. We're going to vote, and it is important that we put our energy into getting our allies to vote in 2026, as well as the November 2025 elections, and every local election between now and then. We're a force that cannot be ignored. We can do this.
Adilita Grijalva has sued the US House to be seated in her elected position. Are there not other law suits that could be brought, for example members suing Mike Johnson for not allowing them to fulfill their constitutional obligations and check executive violations of the constitution?