Engaged Citizen

If we are being honest, I think we all know what’s going on here. The overt corruption carried out by the Trump administration—from the billions pocketed by his family from cryptocurrency, social media, and presidential merch to stripping away human rights and launching an unprovoked war—is so blatant. If we ignore or wave it away at this point, we are responsible for enabling it. While I think some are weirdly excited by a strong-man, balls-to-the-wall approach to the presidency, it seems the majority of us are not. So it is truly on us to stand up for the rights we have left before any remnants of democracy completely fall by the wayside.

Specifically, if you are a White voter, it is your moral obligation to be an ally and protect the rights of Black and Brown voters, who are the ones most squeezed by newly gerrymandered maps. If you are a male voter, it is your moral obligation to stand up for your female family members’ right to vote. They are coming for those, too. We’ve said before that Trump telegraphs his every move. We should not be surprised but utterly sober and awake to what is happening.

Check our various resources, and stay informed and aware of what you can do.

https://www.lwv.org

https://snyder.substack.com

https://campaignlegal.org/exposing-president-trumps-pay-to-play-administration

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

The conservative Supreme Court has once again sliced up the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Regardless of whether you identify as Conservative or Liberal, Democrat or Republican, or somewhere in between, we should all be horrified by the efforts to manipulate and deny individuals’ right to vote. There is no doubt that Trump and his buddies are feeling their unpopularity and trying to do everything to hang on to power. Too many people have fought long and hard to win their right to vote. It is an insult ot democracy to erase the political power of the voting populace. Hopefully, we will use this alone as motivation to vote—perhaps not simply along party lines, but in favor of preserving whatever remnants of democracy we have left to work with.

It will take years to rebuild and improve upon what has been broken in the last 19 months, but the only way we can recalibrate is to show up at the polls.

Resources:

https://substack.com/home/post/p-197076970

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-109_21o3.pdf

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/scotus-greenlights-11th-hour-alabama-redistricting-plan-for-2026-election/

Let it be said very clearly that political violence does not belong in a functioning democracy. Let it also be said that if our democracy were functioning, it would neither be fomented nor tolerated.

What happened at the White House Correspondent’s dinner was wrong. And how might we examine it as a shadow aspect of what happens when unchecked anger guides our behavior? James Baldwin once wrote, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost all of the time.” How that applies today is that if we are relatively conscious, we likely feel some rage at what is happening in our country. Anger can be informative and activating, but as we have seen, it can also be dangerous.

It feels more important than ever to greet our anger with curiosity and compassion, to let it fuel desires for change in positive ways rather than destructive ones.

For further reading:

1. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/correspondents-dinner-shooting-suspect-wrote-about-grievances-against-trump-and-targeting-administration-officials

2. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-recent-political-violence-in-the-u-s-fits-into-a-long-dark-history

Last week, Timothy Snyder published a Substack on the five things we need to watch for in anticipation of Trump trying to manufacture a coup to prohibit November elections. While some of them may seem far-fetched, I honestly would not put anything past this administration to hold tight to power. We walk through the scenarios and give our own take. They are:

1. Promoting the need for a “steady hand” during wartime, which involved prolonging the war in Iran.

2. Bonapartism, which refers to how Napoleon used might abroad to rally support even as he crumbled freedoms at home.

3. Bismarckian Unification, which refers to the forced unification of outside countries while continuing to make a tiny elite powerful at home.

4. Fascist Sacrifice. It sounds exactly like what it is and may be the least likely scenario, but again…I wouldn’t put anything past this guy.

5. Exploitation of Terror, which involves drumming up fear of a real or manufactured terrorist attack on the United States. Prevention of this one relies on cooler heads prevailing, and I am wondering where those cool heads are.

It’s important that we stay aware of these plays, that we anticipate them so that we are better able to resist them. Remember: a democracy is only ever as strong as our participation in it. Stay engaged, y’all.

Resources:

https://substack.com/home/post/p-193162758

The title comes from Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when the cruel and sadistic Delores Umbridge takes over the school of witchcraft and wizardry. My guess is most of you are like, “Well, duh. It’s been taken over.” And you would be right. If we aren’t currently feeling government interference in our lives, then I have to wonder what rock we’re living under.

We are a nation at war.

We are a nation whose democratically elected president is actively trying to undermine and downright take away the vote of millions of people.

ICE is in the airports, and some analytical readers of Project 2025 say it was always part of the design.

We have primaries and elections coming up in every state.

What can we do about any of it? Well, we can show up locally. We can raise our voices, call our representatives, protest on March 28, send letters, and vote. We are not powerless even if it takes longer than we would like. Today Heather Cox Richardson did a live post about what is at stake is her usal, measured way. You can listen here.

Other Resources:

1. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/03/20/congress/texas-senate-talarico-cornyn-paxton-poll-00837336

2. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-texas-could-determine-which-party-controls-the-senate-in-2027/

3. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/iran-war-creates-growing-cracks-within-trumps-maga-movement

Trump has already telegraphed his intent to take federal control over the 2026 midterm elections. He’s already gotten Texas to turn over its voter registration rolls and is browbeating others to follow suit. The administration continues to escalate ICE movements, especially in complicit states like Texas. Warehouses are being built, bought, and planned to hold hundreds of detained immigrants and citizens. An increasingly unpopular administration is gripping harder to control.

But let’s talk about what’s working. Protests are working. Going to city council meetings to refuse permits to privately run human warehouses works. Voting works. Calling your reps works. So does checking on your neighbor and documenting what you see. Shoot, we saw artwork in powerfully during the Super Bowl! We are far too creative a species to take this lying down!

ICE is overfunded and undertrained, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere, so we’ve got to employ some long game energy to keep resisting what’s being thrown at us.

Thanks for listening.

———

Resources

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-7-2026

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7160372/

https://youtu.be/V3mQLlrZBI8?si=ous5B96QUls75g9h

https://open.substack.com/pub/hollyhudley/p/no-3?r=57omf0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

In an unconventional move, Judge Fred Biery wrote these words in his opinion ordering the release of Liam and Adrian Conejo Arias: “Jesus wept.” I don’t read it so much as an imposition of Christian values on the legal system, but as highlighting the moral depravity of an administration that is willing to detain children to prove a point. I’ll link to her commentary below, but a Lawyer and Mother wrote that his use of this verse speaks less to a political failing (though it is) and more to a spiritual failing. In its simplest form, religion, from the Latin relegare, means to bind together. To practice being bound to one another does not require a particular doctrine, only a belief that each person is worthy of dignity and reverence, and to treat them as such.

Many people with a more acute historical mind than I have are writing about how this moment has been building for decades. This fact should not make us complacent or indifferent. It should not make us less shocked or angry. it is so easy to look the other way or fall under the spell that “things aren’t so bad,” but what is happening right now is not normal in a democracy. we are needed to uphold a system run for the people, by the people.

I hope we are motivated to stay engaged, to lift our voices, and support our most vulnerable neighbors.

Thanks for listening.

Resources:

1. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26708008-us-district-judge-fred-bierys-opinion-ordering-release-of-5-year-old-liam-arias-and-father/

2. https://www.instagram.com/p/DUOXkrPDR6h/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

3. https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/us/video/mn-group-singing-resistance-ice-vrt-digvid

4. https://substack.com/@terileigh

The past week has brought an onslaught of events and emotions. We’ve seen ICE double down on Minnesotans, and we’ve seen these resolute midwesterners triple down en masse. It seems the whole state showed up for the protest on January 23. The very next day, we saw ICE brutally murder another citizen advocate, Alex Pretti. Minnesota hasn’t let up. Following the death of Alex Pretti, their National Guard was mobilized and armed with donuts, coffee, and cocoa for the residents they were called to protect. All of this in sub-freezing temps amidst one of the worst winter storms in recent history. I am both dismayed and inspired.

No matter where you live, it’s time to take some of the lessons from the good folks of Minnesota and apply them to our own cities. Where can you stand up? What resources do you have available to you to chip away at the brutality this administration is so willing to mete out? Where will you place your body and make “good trouble” so that the fragments of democracy may be preserved? If you have money to give, click HERE to help fund community organizers and legal advocacy in Minnesota.

Check out some of these resources below:

1. https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/19/texas-immigration-ice-arrests-raids-police/

2. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/opinion/trump-minneapolis-ice.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

3. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/new-hampshire-bishop-warns-clergy-prepare-new-era-129330353

4. for information on “Reviving the American Family” and what Project 2025 is trying to do next.

We recorded on MLK day in the US, and we end this podcast by reading one of his well known quotes from his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” It reads, “In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

The US has all but forgotten this truth of reality. We are all the faces of this country. I would ask each of us to examine the face we are showing and how we are using our power and privilege in such a time as this.

Trump is threatening to employ the Insurrection Act against Minnesota without consent or request, essentially committing an act of war against our own people. We attached Governor Walz’s response to everything that has gone on, but suffice to say that nonviolent protest is powerful and needed wherever we are.

We also emphasize the importance of local elections—the Trump administration is looking to install its allies as county clerks and other local officials to influence the implementation and, presumably, the outcome of the upcoming elections. We cannot let this happen. Be aware of what is happening in your areas and get involved. Don’t be afraid to be a non-violent nuisance!

Check out the references below for some further reading and information. And stay engaged!

———

Resources:

1. Gov. Tim Walz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGTsYXBWQgU

2. “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” pdf

3. https://www.state-elections.org

4. https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/political-scene/a-stark-warning-about-the-2026-election-with-robert-kagan

We address three topics this week: what we are learning about Venezuela, ICE actions against Renee Good in Minnesota, and voters’ privacy in the upcoming election cycle.

As crazy as it seems, there are parallels between what Trump says his purpose was in Venezuela and what occurred in Minnesota. The abduction of Maduro was not about holding him accountable or limiting his power; it was about mimicking it. Days after criticizing Maduro for actions against his own people as a way to justify actions taken by the US, Trump justified ICE’s killing of Renee Good. Get this through your heads — the president of the United States is justifying the killing of an unarmed civilian and citizen. The administration is denigrating the victim, calling her a left-wing terrorist, and protecting its paramilitary. Trump is not interested in removing a dictator from power. Just look who he instated as the substitute! He is interested in minimizing his competition and asserting his own authority.

As my friend Jimmy Patterson says in his Substack, “Some Grace Maybe,” our best recourse is to protest peacefully. This podcast is our form of peaceful protest. What is yours? The other recourse we have is to participate in elections and demand better. As we stand, our glorious state of Texas has handed over a complete list of registered voters to the DOJ. DNC litigators argue this violates federal election law and risks using the information to manipulate outcomes. Gov. Abbott is also trying to take control of Harris County elections — the largest Democratic stronghold in the state. All the more reason why we must vote and protest against the loss of freedoms.

Stay informed and stay engaged, y’all. We got work to do!

Resources:

1. https://www.democracydocket.com

2. https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/09/texas-voter-roll-trump-administration-justice-department-democrats-dnc/

3. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77krp7m362o

4. https://www.irishstar.com/culture/entertainment/fox-news-trump-ice-shooting-36528168

5. https://substack.com/@snyder?utm_source=global-search