Unseen victories of the resistance.

May 8, 2025

The resistance is poised to achieve another victory against Trump's plan to slash and burn Medicaid for millions of Americans. The victory was achieved by concerned citizens flooding town halls to make their voices heard. Because the victory manifested itself in back rooms in the Capitol and lobbyist offices on K Street in Washington, the victory is not as apparent or dramatic as it deserves to be.

The bottom line is that Republican leadership quietly abandoned plans to cut Medicaid because GOP members of Congress were lambasted at town halls by constituents who expressed their displeasure over Medicaid cuts to pay for tax reductions for billionaires and corporations.

“Moderate” Republicans heard the message and feared they would lose in 2026, so they withdrew their support. That, in turn, prompted a “revolt” among right-wing deficit hawks who want even deeper cuts to pay for the tax reductions for billionaires. As a result, Speaker Mike Johnson’s plans to gut Medicaid have collapsed. See NYTimes, Johnson Rules Out an Aggressive Plan to Cut Medicaid as G.O.P. Moderates Waver. (Accessible to all.)

Speaker Mike Johnson has dropped one of the most aggressive options the G.O.P. was considering to cut Medicaid costs to help pay for President Trump’s domestic agenda, bowing to pressure from politically vulnerable Republicans and underscoring the deep party divisions imperiling the plan.

The retreat was an acknowledgment that many House Republicans viewed the ideas — both of which would create large state budget shortfalls — as politically toxic. It also underscored how difficult it will be for Mr. Johnson’s conference to find Medicaid cuts that hit the spending targets Republicans set for themselves and also win enough votes to pass.

Note that the Times attributes the change in plans to “politically vulnerable Republicans”—most of whom have seen “empty chair” town hall meetings in their districts hosted by Democrats eager to flip the GOP seats.

The anticlimactic, under-the-radar change is due to the dedication and persistence of grassroots activists across the nation. Take a bow and give yourselves a pat on the back. Now get back to work!! We have much more work to do!

Before leaving this subject, it is worth noting that gutting Medicaid was a key component for funding the extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts. Without the “savings” from gutting Medicaid, Republicans won’t be able to “pay” for the tax cut extension without increasing the deficit. And increasing the deficit is unacceptable to the GOP right wing in the House—thereby imperiling Trump's entire plan for extending tax cuts to billionaires and corporations.

Per the Times,

Ultraconservative Republicans quickly vented their opposition, in a public reminder that Mr. Johnson’s efforts to stave off a revolt of mainstream lawmakers could cost him crucial support from his right flank. That could doom Mr. Trump's vast tax and spending cut plan in the House, where the speaker can afford to lose fewer than a handful of votes.

The home-grown protests across the nation have not only succeeded in focusing the attention of vulnerable Republicans on the unacceptability of Medicaid cuts, but they have also threatened the entire premise of Trump's budget—"spending cuts to pay for tax cuts.”

The fight isn’t over, but if anyone has doubts about the effectiveness of weekly protests, Mike Johnson’s retreat should dispel those doubts. The lesson we should take from this temporary victory is that we must redouble our efforts by protesting more consistently, with more volume and passion. We may have only a few tools available to us until the 2026 election, but we are making the most of them. Good job and keep up the good work!

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Speaking of resistance . . . a little bit goes a long way.

Yesterday I wrote about a “hold” by Senator Adam Schiff on Ed Martin’s nomination as US Attorney for D.C. leading to a likely defeat. Today, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board supported Republican Tom Tillis’s decision not to back Ed Martin and urged Trump to offer a replacement for Ed Martin. See WSJ Editorial Board, Thom Tillis Says No to U.S. Attorney Ed Martin. (“This is a good exercise of the Senate’s advise and consent power.”)

The WSJ supported Tillis’s decision to vote against Ed Martin by citing to evidence that was first discovered after Adam Schiff placed his hold on the nomination. Per the WSJ,

The day before the riot, Mr. Martin spoke at a rally in D.C., leading chants of “stop the steal!” He later said Jan. 6 defendants were prosecuted in “communist show trials” and sent to a “D.C. gulag.” Mr. Martin has appeared more than 150 times on the Russian propaganda networks RT and Sputnik, including a 2021 segment discussing whether the U.S. was sliding into authoritarianism.

The lesson to be learned from Senator Schiff’s resistance against one nomination by placing a hold is that congressional Democrats must oppose Republicans every step of the way. Doing so creates opportunity for lucky breaks for Democrats and self-inflicted wounds by Republicans.

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Judge orders Trump administration to NOT send migrants to Libya or other nations.

For the last forty-eight hours, the media has been reporting that the Trump administration was preparing to send migrants to Libya in violation of an existing court order requiring that migrants be provided “meaningful opportunity” to contest such deportations.

On Wednesday, US District Judge Brian E. Murphy issued a memorandum opinion and order reiterating the mandates of his prior order. See D.V.D. v. Homeland Security | Order re Emergency Relief.

It appears that the Department of Homeland Security was seeking to evade the existing order by transferring the migrants to the custody of the Department of Defense—which was not a party to the existing preliminary injunction.

Per Judge Murphy,

The Court agrees with Plaintiffs that this motion should not be required, as the relief sought is already provided by the Preliminary Injunction entered in this case. Accordingly, the Court construes Plaintiffs’ motion as one for clarification. [¶]

[T]he Department of Homeland Security may not evade this injunction by ceding control over non-citizens or the enforcement of its immigration responsibilities to any other agency, including but not limited to the Department of Defense.

If there is any doubt—the Court sees none—the allegedly imminent removals . . . would clearly violate this Court’s Order.

So, Judge Murphy has clarified that the removal of the migrants to Libya (or any other nation) is currently blocked by an existing order issued by Judge Murphy.

It thus appears that the Trump administration was planning to flagrantly ignore and violate Judge Murphy’s existing order!! The Trump administration was apparently planning to flout Judge Murphy’s order by saying, “Too late! Your order restrained Homeland Security, but Homeland Security transferred custody of the prisoners to the Department of Defense!”

Such conduct by the Trump administration should result in sanctions and disbarment for any attorney who facilitated the plan and impeachment of Kristi Noem (Homeland Security) and Pete Hegseth (Department of Defense) for agreeing to a plan to circumvent an order of the court that was clear on its face.

For additional background, see Nicole Narea in Vox, Can Trump actually deport immigrants to Libya? (“It’s illegal to forcibly send immigrants to places where they will face persecution and danger. Under both US and international law — including the Convention Against Torture and a 1967 protocol implementing the Refugee Convention — this is what’s called the principle of “non-refoulement.”)

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Reminder that Trump is already ignoring multiple court orders

Pro Publica has published a report about the Trump administration ignoring a court order to NOT cut NIH grants. After a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to continue funding existing grants, the acting director of NIH instructed staff to freeze or terminate existing grants—according to an affidavit by a whistleblower. See Pro Publica, Trump’s NIH Axed Research Grants Despite Court Order.

Per Pro Publica,

For more than two months, the Trump administration has been subject to a federal court order stopping it from cutting funding related to gender identity and the provision of gender-affirming care in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

Lawyers for the federal government have repeatedly claimed in court filings that the administration has been complying with the order.

But new whistleblower records submitted in a lawsuit led by the Washington state attorney general appear to contradict the claim.

When I report on the Trump administration violating existing court orders, readers frequently bemoan the fact that there appear to be no consequences for the lawless actions of officials in the Trump administration.

If the Pro Publica reports are true, there will be consequences, including sanctions or a finding of contempt. But it takes time to create a record that will stand up on appeal. Court proceedings are not designed for speed. The fact that Trump has gotten away with it so far does not mean he will get away with it forever.

It is frustrating to await the day of accountability for Trump and his enablers, but it will come. The courts are circumscribing tight circles around the representations by administration lawyers and the facts revealed in discovery. When the plaintiffs can prove that the administration’s lawyers lied, the courts will act. Acting before that time would only lead to a reversal on appeal.

Accountability will come.

Patience.

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Justice Allison Riggs wins NC Supreme Court seat after challenger concedes

One day after a Trump-appointed federal judge issued a scathing opinion castigating Jefferson Griffin for trying to “change the rules after the election,” Griffin conceded the election to Justice Allison Riggs. See Raleigh News & Observer, Griffin concedes NC Supreme Court race, ending unprecedented effort to overturn election.

While we should rejoice in the victory by Justice Allison Riggs, we must not forget the reprehensible efforts by Jefferson Griffin and the North Carolina Supreme Court to overturn the will of the people. See Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, North Carolina Republican judge fails to steal election. Here's the real lesson.

Stern lays out some of the more egregious arguments made by Griffin and accepted by the North Carolina Supreme Court:

Griffin tried to nullify votes cast by overseas voters, including service members stationed abroad, who failed to include a copy of their photo ID with their ballot. He argued that these votes were invalid. But the election code did not require these voters to provide ID.

This exemption was enshrined into law more than a year before the November election, on a bipartisan basis, and no one challenged it until after Griffin lost.

Moreover, it would have been impossible for overseas voters to submit a copy of their ID, because they cast their ballots through an online portal that had no mechanism for attaching it.

So the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision would have disenfranchised these voters—many of whom are serving their nation in uniform—for failing to undertake a practical impossibility.

Jefferson Griffin’s arguments were all the more reprehensible because he challenged overseas military ballots only in districts where Democrats had a registration advantage, allowing the same allegedly deficient ballots to go unchallenged in Republican districts. And the North Carolina Supreme Court accepted that grotesque perversion of the law!

There are more egregious examples in Stern’s article in Slate, and I recommend the entire article to your attention.

Thankfully, US District Judge Richard E. Myers refused to condone the outright corruption of the North Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Judge Myers’ pro-democracy opinion is all the more remarkable because, per Stern, “Myers is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative—not just a Federalist Society stalwart and Trump appointee, but also a longtime member of gun clubs, including the NRA, and the evangelical Christian Legal Society.”

The Trump playbook has its limits, such as asserting positions that shock the conscience. The hard-fought victory of Justice Allison Riggs should give us hope that the federal courts will serve as the bulwark of democracy against Trump's effort to overturn the Constitution.

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Concluding Thoughts.

We are experiencing a period where it feels like our resistance efforts take a long time to pay off, while Trump continues to break things quickly. While that feeling is grounded in reality to a certain extent, many of our victories are difficult to measure or apprehend at the moment. The GOP retreat on gutting Medicaid is one example. Our victory in (apparently) preventing the gutting of Medicaid is something that didn’t happen—a less tangible result than an election-night win.

The same is true (for now) of the non-deportation of immigrants to Libya and the non-confirmation of Ed Martin. It takes a bit of effort to see past the media buzz to realize that on Wednesday, the resistance was 3-0 on major battles. And our reward is that we get to do it all over again on Thursday.

But it is always so, in everything. Life is the unending battle against entropy, creeping disorder, and backsliding. It is difficult in the moment to see that we are winning. Only when we measure our success over the long term does it become clear that we are winning.

We all remember the first two weeks of Trump's second term. The pace and scale of his executive orders were disorienting. We felt as though our leaders were flat-footed or unable to comprehend what was happening. Now, however, we can see some tangible results every day. And there are results we cannot see, results that are accreting in a stepwise fashion, building momentum and heft that will serve us well in 2026.

Every effort makes a difference, no effort is wasted. At the very least, our actions prevent us from slipping into helplessness and despair; at best, they inspire and encourage others to believe that we can and will win. Creating that confidence and hope in the future is the first step in reclaiming the rule of law.

We are on our way. It doesn’t get any better than that!

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Daily Dose of Perspective.

We took a walk today along the banks of the Potomac as we waited for nature to choose a time for new life. Rowing crews were plentiful on a balmy Spring afternoon. Their shells sliced silently through the sparkling water—as they have for a century and a half.

Patience.

And persistence.