We must do everything, everywhere, all at once

February 17, 2025

Reader feedback over the weekend suggests that a persistent disconnect separates the Democratic base and its leaders. Grassroots activists feel a sense of urgency and immediacy that seems to escape the leadership of the Democratic party. That disconnect has left Democratic faithful feeling leaderless and a bit lost. Frequent questions readers pose include, “What is the most effective use of my time? What tactics? Which boycotts? Does it make a difference if I call my congressional representatives? Should I be calling MAGA members of Congress? Should I be protesting? Should I push the media to be more direct in criticizing Trump?”

Here is my advice: We must use every tool in our toolkit every day. You don’t have to do everything personally. Resistance is a collective obligation in which we each share the burden. Do not let anyone tell you that any act of resistance is meaningless or futile. Taken together, our collective actions express the will of the majority.

Any individual act or strategy can be diminished by viewing it in isolation, thereby reducing it to an infinitesimal. That reductionist approach works in calculus but not politics. When tens of millions of Americans send the same message through millions of discrete acts each day, the collective force of those actions is not merely additive, it is exponential.

We must do everything, everywhere, all at once. Leadership and coordination are welcome and desperately needed—but we must stop waiting for Democratic leaders to tell us what to do. Continue to do whatever you are doing. Do more, if possible, but do not exhaust your physical, emotional, or mental reserves. We are in a marathon and the winner will be the group that is still running four years from now. Endure. Abide. Outlast. Persist.

Do not let anyone tell you that you are being hyperbolic or frantic. Anyone who tells you so is clueless or complicit. Over the weekend, Trump posted a statement that said,

He who saves his country does not violate any laws.

That may be the most undemocratic, most fascistic statement ever made by an American president. It is a claim that the president is above the law so long as the president believes he is “saving the country.” The worst dictators in history have used the same logic to enslave, destroy, conquer, and kill their own people. See The Guardian, Trump under fire for likening himself to Napoleon amid attacks on judges.

The need for urgency is manifest. The dereliction of party leadership is bewildering. And we are all experiencing the head-scratching sense of watching a disaster unfold while others go on about their lives as if nothing has changed.

Other commentators are expressing similar views—suggesting that they are hearing the same urgency and angst from their readers. I offer two sources below—but attach a significant caveat to each. They are strong medicine and use profanity liberally. If that bothers you, do not click on the links. Although I do not agree with everything in the essays below, their sense of urgency and alarm captures the moment.

The first essay is a Substack post by Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Youngman in The altmedia, Fight ALL the fights. The authors say, in part,

We were told the resistance had to be different this time…

We can’t swing at every pitch, they said.

We have to choose our battles, they said.

We can’t overreact to everything Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing, they said.

Well **** that and **** them. We need to resist it all. We need to fight it all. And we need to start right **** now.

[¶¶]

It is past time for our party to change to a fighting posture. We can swing at every pitch. We can fight every battle. We can overreact to everything Trump and Musk are doing. We have nothing left to lose. Let’s act like it.

The above is the PG-13 version of the essay. I don’t agree with the notion that “we have nothing left to lose,” but I do believe we should “act like” we have nothing to lose. We are not governing. We are resisting, impeding, blocking, tackling, obstructing, and holding the ramparts until 2026 and 2028. I agree with the passion and candor with which Parkhomenko and Youngman write. We need more it, not less.

To similar effect is David Corn’s piece in Mother Jones, It’s a War. Do Democrats Get That? There is much to recommend Corn’s lengthy essay in Mother Jones. Again, I don’t agree with everything he says, but bless him for his passion and his truth telling.

One section of Corn’s essay made my hair stand on end (and I don’t have any hair!). Corn writes about Chuck Schumer’s delegation of the Democratic Senate messaging strategy to Cory Booker. Corn quotes reporting from the NYTimes, and then adds his comment:

[From the NYTimes:] Last week, Mr. Booker delivered a PowerPoint presentation to fellow Democrats about how to deliver their message online. In the slides, which were obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Booker offered his colleagues guidance on how often to post on each platform. Instagram: once or twice a day. Facebook: once a day. LinkedIn: three to five times a week. X: two to five times a day. TikTok: one to four times a day.

[David Corn’s comment:] That paragraph should make any Democrat scream. The Democrats are bringing a teaspoon to a gunfight. This is not how a party battling for its survival and the survival of the nation behaves.

This is a break-glass moment. A five-alarm fire. The Democrats must tell that story to Americans over and over, every day and in every way. They must make sure the public clearly sees the crisis at hand, understands what’s at stake, and perceives the Democrats as ferocious warriors for the common good. That is indeed a tall order. But one thing is for sure: You cannot win a war you are not fighting.

So, we need to update the old joke, “What do Democrats bring to a knife fight?” The new answer is (now), “A PowerPoint presentation.”

If Cory Booker is in charge of the Democratic messaging campaign for the Senate, he needs to drag the somnambulant Senators from their comfy chairs and make them protest on the steps of the Capitol until their feet are frozen and their lips are blue. Trump just posted, “He who saves his country does not violate any laws.” What the hell do they think Trump is signaling by that statement? Whatever Trump means, a PowerPoint presentation is precisely the old-style thinking that got Democrats into this mess.

The good news is that you get it. Grassroots volunteers are already doing their part. But we need to get louder, bigger, more pointed in our criticism. We have to act like we have nothing to lose even as we work to save the precious gift of democracy. We must do everything, everywhere, all at once—with joy, determination, and courage.

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Ukraine

In 1938, England, France, Italy, and Germany agreed between themselves that Germany could annex a portion of Czechoslovakia (the Sudetenland)—informing Czechoslovakia after the fact that it could accept the German annexation of its territory or face German invasion alone. Trump is attempting to repeat history.

Over the last three days, Trump announced “peace negotiations” to end Russia’s invasions of Ukraine—but announced that European nations would be excluded from the negotiations. Ukraine was not invited, although Trump did not even give the courtesy of telling Ukraine it would be excluded from the opening rounds of the peace negotiations. The US said Ukraine would meet with Russia to discuss peace. That was news to Kyiv. – Politico.

In effect, the US and Russia seem intent on dividing Ukraine without its consent or involvement.

See Al Jazeera, Europe to be excluded from Russia-Ukraine peace talks, US envoy confirms and Irish Mirror, Ukraine frozen out of peace talks between Russia and America.

In response to their exclusion from the peace talks, European nations have called for an emergency summit on Monday to discuss Trump's efforts to remove them for the process. See Reuters, France's Macron to host emergency European summit on Ukraine.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that European nations and Ukraine would be included in the peace talks if they progressed to the point that they become “real.” Ukraine, Europe will be part of 'real' peace talks, says Rubio, as US weighs Putin's motives | Reuters.

Of course, by the time that the negotiations become “real” in the estimation of the US and Russia, commitments will have been made without input from Ukraine and its European neighbors who will enforce a peace deal.

At this rate, Trump will not need to withdraw the US from NATO. The likelihood is that the US will be kicked out by allies who no longer view the US as trustworthy or reliable partner.

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Supreme Court to hear first challenge to Trump's effort to defy congressional restrictions on presidential power

Trump has fired the head of the Office of Special Counsel—a quasi-independent agency established to protect whistleblowers. (This is not the “special counsel” function that exists within the DOJ when a conflict precludes the Attorney General from pursuing a case.)

Chris Geidner explains the dispute in detail in his Substack blog, Law Dork, Trump admin goes to SCOTUS to fight for right to fire protected agency head.

The dispute is straightforward: Trump argues that Congress may not restrict the president’s authority to dismiss the head of an agency housed within the executive branch. The dismissed head of the agency argues that the limitations on firing (i.e., for cause) are constitutional.

Trump has asked for the Supreme Court to lift the trial court’s order that reinstated the head of the Office of Special Counsel. It is possible that we will get an immediate ruling from the Supreme Court.

I don’t have a good feeling about this particular dispute—but I don’t believe it should be taken as a sign regarding the broader assault by Trump on the authority of Congress over appropriations.

Read Geidner’s article if you want to know the details. Otherwise, watch this space for future developments.

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Trump's assault on the Constitution, the rule of law, and the American people continues

Musk’s government hacking team, DOGE, has demanded access to the IRS computer system that contains the taxpayer information for millions of Americans. See ABC News, Elon Musk's latest move involves millions of Americans' personal tax details: Sources.

Trump fired 25% of the staff that coordinates animal laboratory testing that tracks bird flu, among other diseases transmitted via animals. See Politico, Trump administration firings hit key office handling bird flu response.

The National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) fired 300 employees on Friday—and was surprised to learn that those employees were involved in “nuclear management”—as in “management of the US nuclear weapons arsenal.” After the Trump administration realized its reckless error, the NNSA sent an email to current employees begging for help to contact the fired employees. The email read,

“The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel. Please work with your supervisors to send this information (once you get it) to people’s personal contact emails.”

See Newsweek, Trump Administration Struggling to Find Fired Nuclear Safety Staff: Report

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Washington Post canceled an ad that demanded the government “Fire Elon Musk.”

The Washington Post accepted and helped design an advertisement on the paper’s plastic wrapper that called for the termination of Elon Musk. After the advertisement made it through the design and (possibly) the legal review stage, WaPo canceled the ad without explanation. See The Hill, Washington Post backs out of 'Fire Elon Musk' ad order.

The facts are complicated (and may be contested), so read the Hill for additional details. But it certainly smells like the ad was given the “green light” until Jeff Bezos got wind of the ad and killed it.

Stay tuned for more on this story. Let’s hope someone at the Post will explain who is deciding not to run ads critical of Elon Musk.

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Reader meetings in London and Edinburgh

Jill and I will be meeting with readers in London (March 1) and Edinburg (March 8). I am still working to find locations for those meetings and will be in touch with attendees shortly. If you already signed up, no need to do so again. If you haven’t signed up and would like to join us, the sign-up sheets are here: London sign up and Edinburgh sign up.

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Opportunities for Reader Engagement

I received this note regarding the founding of a new Indivisible Group in the La Crescenta-Montrose area of Los Angeles. Joining Indivisible is a great way to direct your activism and channel your energy. If you are in the LA area, check out the organizing meeting Tuesday, February 18 at 6:30 pm:

The Northeast Los Angeles Indivisible (NELA) organization has officially been chartered, and we are excited to announce our first meeting this Tuesday 2/18/25 6:30pm-8pm at St. Luke’s of the Mountains Church (2563 Foothill Blvd, La Crescenta-Montrose, CA 91214.

NELA is excited to bring together people across the Northeast LA Foothills communities and San Gabriel Valley area to enact the Indivisible vision in our local geography.

If you are excited to join in on this mission to protect democracy, then please RSVP (google form link). RSVP-ing is not a requirement, but it helps us gauge attendance. At the meeting we will discuss our strategy and specific actions we will take individually and as a group to make ameaningful impact. Please feel free to forward this to others *that you know are in our specific region*.

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Concluding Thoughts

This is a confusing time to be a Democrat. I understand (and share) the anger and disappointment with our elected Democratic leaders. To the extent that we are politely yelling at them, we must remember that our goal is to motivate them to join us in vigorous opposition to Trump's dismantling of the rule of law. Our point is not to blame them but to motivate them to break out of the “Washington politics” response to every crisis. We need them to think outside the box. Trump is.

Despite the confusion and chaos, I remain confident we will ultimately prevail. Why? Because of you. You helped defeat Trump and his surrogates in 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. We came very close to defeating him in 2024. We have beaten him before, and we can beat him again.

It will be a tough road ahead. We shouldn’t delude ourselves about that fact. But we are up to the challenge. The level of involvement and interest is off the charts. Let’s convert that enthusiasm into resistance and opposition to everything, everywhere, all at once.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Daily Dose of Perspective

The skies over LA are still cloudy. No new astrophotography images this evening.

On October 14, 2023, Los Angeles witnessed a partial annular solar eclipse. I was at a local pumpkin patch with my granddaughters. I brought my handheld Sony Alpha VI camera. I set the focus to infinity, pointed the camera toward the Sun (without looking through the viewfinder—never do that!) and took 40 exposures.

When I got home, I found this image—-the partially eclipsed sun dissected by frayed telephone wires.

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. It takes light from the sun about 8 minutes to reach Earth. One of Einstein’s key insights was that if the Sun disappeared instantaneously, humans on Earth would not learn of that fact until 8 minutes later—when the light from the Sun would go out, and the Sun’s gravitational “pull” on the Earth would vanish. (Gravitational waves travel at 186,000 miles per second—just like light.)

Enjoy!