We are engaged in the serious business of saving democracy.
February 27, 2025
Jill and I spent about 14 hours sightseeing today in London, so I could watch news alerts only out of the corner of my eye. Today’s newsletter, therefore, contains my relatively unfiltered, unresearched reactions to what has happened in the US through 4:00 pm Eastern on Wednesday. It was a big news day that should cause everyone to redouble their efforts to rouse friends, neighbors, and strangers to oppose the dark and dangerous path Trump has charted for America.
I believe we can and will prevail, but we must simultaneously act like we have nothing to lose and everything to win. We must be bold, resolute, and willing to step outside of our comfort zone to stop Trump's effort to break America.
Here is my takeaway: As Trump goes for broke, many politicians, media outlets, and fellow citizens have yet to understand the full urgency of our situation. What must we do in response? Get louder, be more visible, demand more from our political representatives, and stop being polite about it. We are engaged in the serious business of saving democracy, and if we hurt a few feelings along the way, that is a small price to pay to make people understand the stakes.
One more observation before looking at today’s developments. Trump has somehow bullied otherwise smart, strong, principled people and institutions into submission. Cowardice is spreading like a contagious disease. The good news is that courage is also socially transmissible—in a good way.
We desperately need people, companies, and institutions to stand up and speak out against Trump's campaign of ignorance, hate, and greed. Some people are showing us the way. Lift them up! Support them! Follow their example. Become a leader who gives others the courage to stand up against Trump's effort to break American democracy.
Trump succeeds in bullying the media into complicity
Yes, “complicity.” Hear me out.
Trump has banned the AP and HuffPo from access to some presidential briefings and availabilities in the White House. He banned AP because it won’t surrender to Trump’s “thought police” tactic of referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” On Wednesday, Trump banned a HuffPo reporter because Trump doesn’t like HuffPo’s critical coverage of Trump's actions.
Trump has also neutered the self-governing role of the White House press corps by announcing that he will decide which media outlets get to attend which interactions with the president. See The Wrap, Trump White House Will Now Pick Which Press Pool Reporters Get to Ask Questions.
Let’s get this part out of the way: Trump's actions are illegal. See Harry Litman in Talking Feds Substack, Trump’s Exclusion of the Associated Press Will Not Stand
The White House Correspondents’ Association issued a statement criticizing Trump's actions. To be blunt: The statement was weak, and the follow-up was non-existent. The media still showed up on Wednesday to two interactions with Trump, whimpering and cowering like whipped dogs.
There is a simple way to stop Trump's hostile takeover of the White House press corps. Don’t show up to cover the president. Every legitimate press outlet should stop showing up (and, better yet, stop reporting on any event from which they are excluded).
Before you accuse me of being an alarmist, consider this: The New York Times will have a reporter embedded in the press pool and report on every table scrap that Trump throws to the baying press. When the NYTimes reporter writes a story about the event, that reporter will have in the back of their mind, “I can’t be too aggressive, or the NYTimes will end up like AP and HuffPo.”
In other words, by banning AP and HuffPo, Trump has managed to give himself a seat at the editor’s desk in every story written about him. And the press has agreed to give Trump that leverage over their reporting about Trump. As I said, “complicit.”
And here is a prediction you can take to the bank: It will get worse. When Trump senses weakness and witnesses cowardice, he presses his advantage until his opponents are broken. It is only a matter of time before Trump breaks them all if the media doesn’t stop covering Trump's events, where he has excluded some members of the media because he disagrees with their coverage.
Am I saying a press boycott will force Trump to reverse his policy? NO! Instead, I am saying that every story reported by the NYTimes after the exclusion of AP and HuffPo is hopelessly tainted by the Times’ cowardice and Trump's stubby thumb on the editor’s red pen. By boycotting Trump's hand-curated press events, the NYTimes can write whatever it wants about Trump without the stench of complicity wafting from the stories it prints.
We need to look no further than Jeff Bezos, who began his descent into darkness by telling his editorial board that it could not endorse Kamala Harris. After a huge public backlash, Bezos published a pathetic op-ed in which he defended himself, saying that the Washington Post should not be telling its readers what to believe about politics.
Bezos quickly broke his rule by telling the Post’s readers they should support Trump's woefully unqualified cabinet nominees. On Wednesday, we learned that Jeff Bezos' humiliation was complete. He announced that the Post would be “refocusing” its editorial stance as follows:
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
Can you say, “I am going full MAGA” without saying, “I am going full MAGA.” The collapse of Jeff Bezos at a time when America needs him most is shocking and disgraceful. See Jonathan Harwood in Zeteo (Substack), 'Craven. He's Fearful of Trump': Marty Baron Slams Jeff Bezos' Censorship of Post Opinion Section.
Trump is trying this same tactic with the legal profession. Trump is cutting off all federal contracts with and security clearances for the law firm of Covington & Burling—one of the most respected, elite firms in America. Why? Because Covington is representing Jack Smith. See CNN, White House suspending active security clearances of Covington & Burling lawyers who are working with Jack Smith.
Trump has been attacking the legal profession for years. Part of his attack is to persuade lawyers to support his corrupt, illegal, and immoral actions. The other attacks are more direct—firing DOJ attorneys for following the law, insulting and berating judges for doing their jobs, and (now) using the force of the federal government in an attempt to deny his political enemies legal representation of their choice.
The ABA has taken a courageous stand. See Jurist News, ABA reaffirms support for rule of law following Trump executive orders.
Good for the ABA, but more is needed. Just like the White House press corps, other law firms should conclude that they cannot represent an administration or a president that would use the force of the federal government to punish a law firm for representing a client. If the legal profession fails to take a united stand, law firms will find themselves being picked off one at a time—like AP, HuffPost, WaPo, and (soon) the NYTimes.
If you know a lawyer at Covington & Burling, show them some love—send a “thank you note” or pick up the phone to speak to an old friend or classmate. The lawyers at Covington are feeling the pressure of a rogue and vindictive president. They are some of the finest and most capable lawyers in the nation, but they need and deserve support from other lawyers and firms.
Trump attempts to extort Ukraine for a second time
Trump is once again using the threat of suspending US military aid to extort Ukraine into doing something it should not have to do. In 2020, Ukraine refused to assist Trump in fabricating evidence about Joe Biden. Today, Trump is demanding that Ukraine surrender a significant portion of its rare earth metals in exchange for continued military support against Russia’s invasion. As noted in the NYTimes today,
“Experts cannot recall a precedent for the United States, or any other country, extracting cash or resources from its own allies during a time of war.”
Trump asks most federal agencies to prepare plan for massive reductions in force
As painful as the current layoffs have been for federal workers, the Office of Personnel Management is asking most federal agencies for a plan to engage in massive layoffs up to and including (a) eliminating the agency itself, or (b) firing everyone except those workers who remain on staff to “keep the lights on” during a government shutdown.
See The Hill, OPM instructs agencies to turn over plans for mass government layoffs.
If Trump succeeds in additional mass firings, large swaths of the federal government will be hobbled. In the Republican fever dream, the states will step up to take over the functions abandoned by the federal government. The obvious question is, “With what money?”
As a regular public service announcement, here is a reminder that many “red” states are “net takers” from the federal treasury, while many blue states contribute the surplus to the treasury that subsidizes red states. To put a fine point on the issue, West Virginia needs to find the money to replace generous federal subsidies currently provided to the state, For every dollar West Virginians pay in federal taxes, they receive $2.91 in federal subsidies to their state. And 27% of West Virginia’s state budget consists of federal subsidies. Without that federal aid, West Virginia may fail as a state. A half-dozen other red states may face that prospect as well. See The States That Are Most Reliant on Federal Aid.
And to put an even finer point on this story, if Trump slashes federal agencies to the bone, people will die. See HuffPo, An Unvaccinated Child Has Died In Texas Measles Outbreak.
The House budget proposal would slash Medicaid
The House passed a budget resolution on Tuesday evening that would cut federal spending trillions over the next decade while providing billionaires and millionaires trillions in tax cuts. See US News & World Report, The House Passed a Budget Blueprint. What Happens Now?
But the blueprint’s single biggest line item calls for the Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion or more in cuts over a decade – a reduction virtually impossible without making significant cuts to Medicaid.
It also calls for the Agriculture Committee to find $230 billion in savings through 2034 – again, nearly unthinkable without targeting SNAP. The cuts to the popular assistance programs came as a surprise to many voters and have set off a firestorm – even among Republicans.
The fight isn’t over—not by a long-shot. But it is clear that House Republicans have learned nothing from townhalls in which their constituents have scorched their representatives for haphazard layoffs and reckless funding freezes.
It is vital that Democrats ensure that everyone who doesn’t understand the threat to Medicaid and SNAP hears the truth about the House GOP spending resolution.
And in a slap to the working class and voters living near the poverty line, Republicans claim that the $880 billion will cut “waste, fraud, and abuse”—which is how Republicans describe cancer treatments and nursing home stays after a broken hip and care for a parent suffering from dementia.
Several readers forwarded this important essay by Professor Timothy Snyder from Substack, “The "Fraud" Fraud.” Snyder’s thesis is this:
The term [fraud] is not as an attempt to describe the world, but to change it. It is a political tool, used by a politician to justify a political action: regime change to oligarchy.
I highly recommend Professor Snyder’s article. It will change the way you think about—and respond to—blanket allegations of fraud.
In Senate hearing, Trump nominees for DOJ say federal officials can disregard some orders.
If anyone needs more proof that Trump is engaged in a slow rolling coup, he just nominated two senior DOJ officials who said that “it depends” when asked if federal officials can ignore court orders. See NYTimes, Justice Dept. Nominees Suggest Some Court Orders Can Be Ignored. (Behind a paywall.)
Concluding Thoughts
I did not get a chance to see or read about the “Cabinet Meeting” on Wednesday, but from the headlines it looks like Trump has “outsourced” the presidency to Musk so that Trump can spend more time golfing. A reader (Carley C.) suggests that we call Trump the “PINO”—“President in Name Only” to make the point he has checked out. Mocking Trump is a good way to diminish and infuriate him (causing unforced errors), while focusing attention on the loathsome Elon Musk.
Friends, the firings and budget cuts are going to get worse. Polling proves that Musk doesn’t have the same oily Teflon coating that Trump developed from his time in the sewers of New York. Musk is a made-to-order supervillain billionaire (a “villionaire?”) who is already one of the most hated men in America. Musk doesn’t care, nor does Trump. The point is to win in special elections and mid-terms so we can flip the House as the first step to stopping the madness.
That’s it for this evening. Stay strong!
Daily Dose of Perspective
Jill and I visited one of my favorite places today! (Thank you, Jill!) I am going to “nerd out” a bit on “science” stuff. So, here goes: One of the best places in the world for an astronomer to visit is the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Its location defines the Prime Meridian. The Observatory’s history is integral to astronomy and naval navigation, and it houses the magnificent chronometers of John Harrison—navigational timepieces that were the most important scientific instruments of their era. Plus, the Observatory has spectacular views of London.
Below: H1, John Harrison’s first chronometer, a masterpiece of invention and art that emerged fully developed from the mind of a carpenter. Harrison’s story is told in Dava Sobel’s marvelous book, “Longitude.”
Looking toward the Thames from the Royal Observatory. Teh Univesity of Greenwich and the Royal Maritime Museum are in the foreground and the Canary Wharf financial district is the background.
There is a lot going on in this photo, but two of the most important elements are the dome for the Equatorial Telescope (to the right) and the red “Time Ball” just above the dome. The Time Ball was lowered each day, beginning at 12:55 pm and finishing its descent at 1:00 pm. Ship captains heading out to sea would synchronize their chronometers with “Greenwich Mean Time” to assist in calculating longitude (using descendants of the device invented by John Harrison).
I'm currently in my first year of law school (at age 72), and in Constitutional Law we have just begun to study the presidential powers. It's absolutely surreal to simultaneously learn the details of a 250-year-old blueprint that has worked imperfectly but pretty well, and to see that blueprint burned before our very eyes.
I thought it could not get worse. But the shock wave abroad, as we extort and threaten our own ally, whose very existence is at stake, is perhaps irrevocable, and may have truly disastrous consequences. President Zelensky has been betrayed; but he cannot be mocked or humiliated. He's a hero in real time, and will be so remembered.
This evening Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welsh and Representative Becca Balint held a 90 minute joint town hall via a phone connection that seemed to have linked thousands of us from around the state.
Consistent with Bernie's recent travels to the Midwest where he's spoken to standing room only crowds, they talked in part, about their own work reminding elected members of Congress, especially vulnerable Republicans, of the impact of the moment on their constituents.
Bernie's on a rip!