Protests are working; keep it up!
March 20, 2025
If you want proof that the Tesla protests are working, the US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, appeared on Fox News on Wednesday and said,
If you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla. It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It will never be this cheap again.
Setting aside Lutnick’s audacity, lack of ethics, and hucksterism, his promotion of Tesla’s stock reeks of desperation. The fastest way to remove the sheen from Tesla’s image is to make Tesla stock an official “buy” recommendation of the US government—right alongside US Savings Bonds.
Worse (for Lutnick), if Tesla’s stock price declines, investors who purchased stock on Wednesday based on his guarantee that “It will never be this cheap again” might ponder whether they have a claim against Lutnick. While ordinary television stock-pickers might have a defense to such claims, Lutnick’s statement amounted to a Public Service Announcement on behalf of the US government.
At this odd moment in history, it turns out that protests aimed at an electric vehicle maker are the perfect vehicle for channeling the fury of the American people with pinpoint accuracy. The protests strike at the heart of the wealth and ego of the man most responsible for the dismantling of the American government.
Over the last several days, readers who have expressed their desire to join protests have asked for guidance on how to do so. I offer a few suggestions here, but I also want to offer a word of caution.
We are experiencing a moment of flux. Protests are emerging organically, spontaneously, and creatively. This is a good development. But as with all situations in which people are motivated by enthusiasm, bad actors will seek to use that enthusiasm to deceive or defraud those with good intentions.
A good rule of thumb is this: Unless you are familiar with the organization or group organizing the protest, verify information regarding the organizers or attendees with a second source. Readers have reported several instances of trolls diverting/interfering with their efforts to organize local protests through social media.
With that as background, I encourage anyone seeking to join protests to consider doing so through a national organization like Indivisible or Swing Left. (See this list of Indivisible Protests near you.)
Also check out these efforts:
#TeslaTakedown. (To use #TeslaTakedown, click on “Find an Action Near You, and then use the map to navigate to your state / city.)
50501, which includes a “clearinghouse” for protests across the nation. Again, conduct due diligence with respect to any protest from a source that is not familiar to you.
The Big List of Protests, which includes a national clearinghouse for protests. Please conduct due diligence on any protest from a source not familiar to you.
As we move forward with protests, spontaneity and ubiquity will be our strength. We will need to be everywhere, all at once. The strategy of hundreds of local protests is working because it provides the media with a counter-narrative and video footage to fill their programming needs. And protests against Musk / Tesla are beginning to sting. See Howard Lutnick’s pathetic attempt to gin up interest in Tesla stock. If there is no Tesla dealership near you, some readers are protesting at Tesla charging stations!
But national, coordinated protests are also important. Indivisible is sponsoring a National Day of Protest, Saturday, April 5. Locate a protest near you, here: National Day of Protest. And if you can’t find a protest near you, Indivisible will help you create your own protest with a Host Tookit.
I understand that people are anxious. We should be. But I am confident that we will prevail because whatever power Trump purports to exercise is derived from the “consent of the governed”—us. Together, there is nothing we cannot do.
If you are feeling anxious and helpless, the single most important thing you can do is to exercise the First Amendment right of every American to “assemble peaceably and to petition their government.”
Join a protest this week, this weekend, on April 5, and at every other opportunity.
Trump to sign executive order on Thursday to shut down Department of Education
Trump will sign an executive order that will set in motion a plan to shut down the Department of Education. To be clear, the executive order is unconstitutional. The Department of Education was created by congressional mandate and is funded each year through congressional appropriations. Trump has no authority to shut down the Department of Education. Doing so should result in his impeachment and conviction.
See AP, Trump to order a plan to shut down the Education Department.
As noted in the AP article linked above, Trump and his MAGA base hate the Department of Education because much of its work focuses on helping vulnerable populations of students, including students experiencing homelessness, poverty, hunger, and disability.
It is a sign of the gratuitous, mean-spirited cruelty of the Trump administration that it is targeting children living in poverty and with disabilities. In a separate action that is thematically consistent, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday that it is rescinding eleven policies directed to businesses to help them comply with federal law.
The DOJ announcement is here: Justice Department Announces Actions to Combat Cost-of-Living Crisis, Including Rescinding 11 Pieces of Guidance.
Although the DOJ guidance is intended to fight inflation, its first target is to rescind guidance of making businesses accessible to Americans with disabilities. The announcement says, in part,
First, the Department is withdrawing 11 pieces of guidance to streamline Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance resources for American businesses.
Ah, right! The key to fighting inflation is to allow US businesses to discriminate against people with disabilities! (To ward off angry emails, please note that statement used sarcasm.)
Heartless bastards! (That statement did not use sarcasm.)
Trump administration is attacking Judge Boasberg in court filings
Judge Boasberg is the US District Judge handling the case involving the Trump administration’s illegal deportation of Venezuelans to El Salvador on the unproven pretext that the deportees are gang members. The federal government carried out the deportations despite explicit instructions from Judge Boasberg to temporarily stay the deportations. Government attorneys then refused to provide information to Judge Boasberg regarding the violation of the court order.
In court filings on Wednesday, the DOJ attorneys resorted to insults and admonitions to Judge Boasberg to be “more respectful” of the government’s position. See HuffPo, Trump Administration Tells Judge To Be More ‘Respectful’ As Threats Mount.
Per HuffPo,
In its filing Wednesday morning, the Trump administration asserted “the Court’s continued intrusions into the prerogatives of the Executive Branch, especially on a non-legal and factually irrelevant matter, should end.” The brief also claimed: “The Court has no basis to intrude into the conduct of foreign affairs by the Government, and a more deliberative and respectful approach is warranted.
The [DOJ said] U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s demands for information about flights carrying hundreds of migrants were actually “a picayune dispute over the micromanagement of immaterial factfinding” . . . .
The government’s statements were insulting and demeaning—intentionally so. If the DOJ believes that it is setting up a winning appeal in the Supreme Court, it is sorely mistaken. Assaulting the independence and dignity of the federal judiciary is not a legal defense to anything.
Judge Boasberg should issue sanctions against the DOJ attorneys for their continued defiance of the court’s orders and for their offensive conduct.
The Trump administration has instituted a fascist state in border zones
Due process is relaxed within US international border zones. That fact does not give license to the US to act in a fascistic, inhumane way. I urge readers to take ten minutes to read—start-to-finish—this story of a Canadian woman who was detained for two weeks by ICE and CPB. The story is Kafkaesque. See The Guardian, I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped.
The only thing that distinguishes her story from that of hundreds of thousands of others is that she had lawyers, family, and resources to end her illegal captivity. Others do not—and suffer even harsher, lengthier, and more lawless detentions. You have to read the story to understand but it is shocking to believe that such treatment is accepted and common in the US.
In another glaring example of the US fascist tactics at the border occurred earlier this month (March 9). A French researcher was denied entry into the US after his phone was searched at the US border and was found to contain private messages criticizing Trump. For that offense, the French scientist was denied entry into the US. See The Guardian, French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found.
The scandal over Doge break-in at United States Institute for Peace gets worse
As noted previously, Doge enlisted the help of the FBI, DOJ, federal Marshals, and the DC Metropolitan Police to gain entry to the independent agency of the United States Institute for Peace.
The awful story took a sordid turn on Wednesday when it was revealed that USIP’s own private security guards “switched sides” during the confrontation. Why? Because the private security firm (Inter-Con) has government contracts worth $209 million with federal government agencies. Someone from Doge threatened to terminate those contracts unless Inter-Con helped Doge gain entry to the building that the private contractor was protecting.
The convoluted facts are explained by Josh Marshall in Talking Points Memo, DOGE Strong-Armed USIP Security Contractors to Switch Sides.
Ultimately, Inter-Con entered into the building against its former client’s wishes by using a key in its possession as part of its duties to protect the USIP building from unlawful entry. As noted above, the private security guard company is “Inter-Con.” It’s website is here, and has an handy “Contact Us” link at the top of the home page: Home - Inter-Con Security
Concluding Thoughts
There is much more going on, but we have covered enough for today. I am going to open the Comment section to everyone to post information and links about protest activities.
The antidote to anxiety is action. Join others in the streets to make your voice heard. The protests are making a difference. Just ask Tesla’s newest salesperson, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. He hears us. He is worried about our collective strength. Good! Let’s give him more of the same. Together, there is nothing we cannot do!
Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
The Lagoon Nebula. Image taken on July 10, 2024 (by me). The nebula is 4,100 light-years from Earth and is 100 x 50 light-years at its widest points.
I’m doing a lot of protest non shopping. Target and Amazon on my ixnay list. I unsubscribed to the Washington Post— that one hurt but it was being ruined and I could not justify giving him money again, especially after they drove away Jennifer Rubin and fired Ann Telnaes for telling the truth. Yeah.
The Guardian article is devastating. We’re the United States of America and this is how we’re treating people. Truly shameful.