Reflections on the news through the lens of hope.

February 22, 2025

[Reminder: I will host my usual “Saturday Morning Live” on Substack’s livestream service on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at 9 a.m. PST / Noon EST. The live stream is open to everyone. You just need to open the Substack App at the appointed time and click on the notification alerting you that I have started livestreaming. (Download the Substack App for your phone or tablet here.) I will send a reminder 30 minutes in advance.]

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Finding sources of strength during challenging times.

When I began sending a nightly email to my daughters in November 2016, my goal was to review the news truthfully but in a manner that offered hope that our democracy would endure and prevail. That purpose ultimately transformed into the tagline for this newsletter—"Reflections on the news through the lens of hope.” For more than eight years, I have remained true to that purpose—and I intend to continue to do so for as long as possible.

But even I need encouragement and comfort from time to time. My main source of strength is my wife, Jill, who is my partner in all things, my daughters and their families, and my close friends.

But something magical happened as the newsletter grew. You—the readers who form the newsletter community—became my source of hope and sustenance. For that, I am forever in your debt. I couldn’t have made it to this point without you. Being by your side in this struggle is an honor and a privilege.

As Trump's second term has unfolded, many new voices have come to the fore. Most focus on specific aspects of the resistance—legal developments, political and historical commentary, economics, and grassroots activism. That is a wonderful development. We need all the positive reinforcement we can get. I welcome those new voices and hope for their success. If they succeed, we succeed!

Recently, Rebecca Solnit began an online publication called Meditations in an Emergency. To my mind, Rebecca Solnit is the best writer in the English language. More importantly, her voice is a balm during these troubled times. Whenever I read her essays, I can feel my spirits lifting and my confidence growing. She consistently delivers what many people seek from this newsletter—an honest discussion of the news framed by the lens of hope. I encourage you to subscribe to Rebecca Solnit’s newsletter if you are looking for the type of insight and support I try to offer in Today’s Edition Newsletter.

In her most recent post, This Is Really Hard (But We Are Not Quitting): Reflections on Kindness and Resoluteness, Rebecca tells the story of a protest in front of a Tesla dealership in San Francisco and the people she encountered on her bus ride home. She discovered that the people she met were going out of their way to be helpful and kind.

Solnit writes:

Everywhere I went it felt like people were trying harder than usual to show up, to connect, to be their best selves. This is emergency behavior. This is how people behave when their city is bombed or flooded or burning down, this extra care, this extra presentness, this best self-connecting with other best selves. Then, online, an actual pastor I knew reminded me that the word comfort means to fortify (com- as in with; fort as in fortress, fortitude, and fortify), maybe to fortify with kindness. We were fortifying each other with what we had to offer, which was ourselves, by really being with each other.

The last line is worth a moment of quiet reflection. “We were fortifying each other with what we had to offer . . . which was ourselves.”

We will make it through this difficult time because we have each other. Whether you know it or not, dear readers, I am in community with you and I draw strength and fortitude from you every day. Thank you, and bless you!

The first step we must take is to join in community with others who are determined to save democracy. If we can do that, we will not only endure, we will prevail. It is only a matter of time.

Stay strong, and get some rest this weekend. We will need our strength for the battles to come!

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Legal developments

In general, the protectors of democracy continue to get the better of Trump in court, although some requests for relief are being denied because of technical procedural hurdles (like standing and irreparable injury).

In a potentially significant development, the US Supreme Court refused to lift a temporary stay of Trump's firing of the chief counsel in charge of “whistleblowers.” Gorsuch and Alito dissented from the decision to leave the stay in place. See Politico, Supreme Court delays Trump’s effort to fire federal ethics watchdog.

The case is freighted with procedural complexities, so we should be careful about reading too much into the Court’s denial of relief to Trump. He could be back in the Supreme Court on the same case next week and win. But to the extent that we are trying to read tea leaves in the dark, today’s decision was the first leaf to float to the top of our teacup. And it appeared to be a good omen.

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Federal judge enjoins Trump's efforts to terminate grants to organizations that promote DEI

Democracy Forward obtained a temporary restraining order against Trump's efforts to deny federal grants to programs that promote DEI. Democracy Forward press release, Judge Halts Implementation of Trump Anti-DEIA Executive Orders Nationwide in Suit Filed by Higher Education Officials, Restaurant Workers, City of Baltimore.

This is a tremendous victory. Democracy Forward has been at the forefront of much of the most important litigation against Trump. If you have paused your donations to politicians and/or political groups as you look for effective opportunities to invest, consider Democracy Forward.

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Judge allows Trump to put thousands of USAID workers on leave

A federal judge allowed the Trump administration to proceed with its efforts to place thousands of USAID workers on leave who are currently deployed overseas. See Politico, Judge lets Trump administration proceed with mass recall of USAID workers overseas.

The mass employment action is plainly unconstitutional and illegal. Congress funded USAID for the current fiscal year. By resorting to the artifice of placing thousands of workers on leave, Trump has accomplished indirectly that which he could not legally accomplish directly: Shutter USAID.

The closure of USAID is devastating—both because of the harm to beneficiaries around the world and the loss of trust and expertise caused by the helter-skelter manner of closing the programs. See Nancy Clair in The Bulwark, The Human Faces of the USAID Shutdown.

Nancy Clair responds to the false notion that USAID is riddled with waste and fraud:

But if you want to talk about waste, let’s start with Donald Trump’s re-election and the waste that the Trump administration has caused by a wholesale dismantling of USAID.

How do you terminate overseas projects when USAID offices are closed, have few personnel left to pay outstanding invoices and salaries, inventory office equipment, and shut down operations?

How do you capture what has been learned from projects when websites are shut down and reports are incomplete?

How do you restart programs when staff have been fired and resources have been dispersed?

Trump and Musk claim that they are “breaking things fast.” To the extent that federal courts permit them to do so, the damage is irreversible, even if there is a future remedy in the form of damages paid to the wrongfully terminated employees.

Yes, we can rebuild USAID—but it will take decades. And in the meantime, millions of children will suffer more illness, poverty, and illiteracy for a generation, at least. Trump's callous plan is cruel and heartless—all so that billionaires and millionaires in America can preserve tax cuts passed in 2017.

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Trump keeps his racist campaign promises

During his campaign, Trump promised to abolish “DEI”—a promise that was code for promoting white supremacy, racism, and misogyny. He is keeping those promises.

On Friday evening, Trump fired the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown. See Politico, Trump fires Joint Chiefs Gen. C.Q. Brown.

General Brown was eminently qualified to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. But he is a Black American—and has promoted diversity in the US military—qualities that are disqualifying in Trump’s racist America. General Brown’s replacement [General Caine] is an unqualified white retired general who lacks the experience to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

As described by Josh Marshall in Talking Points Memo,

[General] Caine has not been a service chief or held a combatant command or been the head of the air forces of a combatant command. So basically, he’s held none of the assignments which normally precedes elevation to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

Trump has also laid off (or announced the termination of) the only two female leaders of military branches—the US Coast Guard and the US Navy.

See a pattern here? Trump fires the only Black service chief and fires the two female service chiefs—all in the name of “eliminating DEI.” As I said, in Trump's mouth, “DEI” is code for “white supremacy, misogyny, and racism.”

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Trump shuts down Department of Justice database that tracks police misconduct

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Trump established a DOJ national database that tracked police misconduct. Before the creation of the database, “bad cops” could move easily between police departments run by different state and local municipalities that had no way of identifying “bad cops.” The database cut down on the ability of bad cops to flit from job to job as a way of outrunning claims of misconduct against them

Trump is now shutting down the DOJ’s database tracking police misconduct. See HuffPo, Trump Shuts Down DOJ Database Tracking Federal Police Misconduct.

The closure of the database tracking police misconduct is transparently racist. Black Americans experience the highest rate of threats of force and instances of force by police. See What the data shows about police use of force by race | USAFacts.

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Tell a friend: Senate Republicans vote down amendment to protect Medicaid

As Senate Republicans attempted to pass a budget for 2024-2025, Democrats introduced an amendment to protect Medicaid from cuts. Every Republican voted against the amendment except Senators Susan Collins and Josh Hawley. See HuffPo, Senate Republicans Pass Budget, Rejecting Protections For Medicaid.

Republicans are coming after Medicaid—which provides medical coverage for 70 million Americans, many of whom are in red states that voted for Trump. See Analysis: Red states like OH, Ky. and Ind. could hurt most from Trump cuts | WVXU.

Here is the most important point: Trump will cut Medicaid (healthcare for the working poor) to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and millionaires. That fact cannot be said loudly or often enough.

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Concluding Thoughts

Remember, join me for Saturday Morning Live at 9am PST and Noon EST on Saturday, February 22.

Jill and I will be in England and Scotland for the next two weeks. During that time, I will continue to publish the newsletter on a 24-hour cycle, but the length and timing may vary each day. I will also attempt to provide the audio version of the newsletter, but the quality of the audio may be affected by access to Wi-Fi and recording equipment. I appreciate your understanding.

Jill and I set the timing of this trip for a happy reason. We are expecting two new grandchildren in the first week of May. We are currently blessed with daily participation in caregiving (or backstopping caregiving) for our three granddaughters. We believe that it will be challenging to take a vacation for the year following the arrival of our fourth and fifth grandkids, so we are taking this opportunity to travel.

Jill will attempt to post short videos daily on her blog, which I will link to in my newsletter.

We will meet with three groups of newsletter readers in London and Edinburgh during our travels. I will report on those meetings as they occur.

Again, thanks for your understanding as I squeeze the newsletter into a packed travel schedule. As always, I recommend the Comment section for additional sources of inspiration and information.

Stay strong! I will talk to you on Saturday morning!

Daily Dose of Perspective

The Needle Galaxy is 30 million light-years from Earth. When the photons captured in the image below departed the Needle Galaxy, Great Britain was still physically connected to continental Europe. See Interactive Ancient Earth Globe