Feel free to check the past Biden Era archives and follow the editions to come in the Trump Era on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn, including those on the 2024 Autopsy, Bench-Building, DOGE News, Project 2025 Authoritarianism, Progressive Populism, and more (First Come, First Serve!).

So, to some blog recommendations here:

My brother wrote a wonderful post on an Article V Convention. A must read.

Aaron Rupar profiles the situation around Jake Tapper’s book. It is worth wondering how Biden would be scrutinized for every little detail he missed or was wrong on, and yet, Trump’s pathological lying gets special treatment by the press. The things we have allowed to accept as normal with Trump is stunning, and dystopian. People forget Trump is now the oldest President ever elected in American history.

And the same with Trump’s children. Imagine if Hunter Biden was involved in the crypto corruption and family business deals with golf courses and hotels/resorts that Don Jr. and Eric routinely do now.

Think of all the ways the Trumps can be bribed and influenced: Trump Family meme coins, NFT trading cards, Trump Bibles and watches, Middle East condos, Trump Media stocks, presidential private clubs, pro bono litigation from Paul Weiss (after they caved in), and even a luxury jet from Hamas-aligned Qatar. Where’s the outrage?

Likewise, it is worth sharing this article on how Trump slashed VA research funding.

The US Justice Department also dropped police reform agreements with the cities of Louisville (Breonna Taylor) and Minneapolis (George Floyd).

Finally, in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, there is a hidden provision that effectively weakens the authority and enforcement mechanisms of the lower courts.

Now, to an issue I’ve been waiting to get to for a while.

The Democratic Party still has a lot of work to do. There are some improvements from the start of January, but the fact is the opposition in Washington DC is not nearly as organized as the opposition outside the Beltway.

As Rachel Maddow highlighted throughout the first 120 or so days, the anti-Trump opposition across the country has never been stronger and more vociferous; big, small, urban, rural, you name it. The organizations leading the way like Tesla Takedown, Hands Off!, Disrupt Project 2025, Indivisible, More Perfect Union, Inequality Media, Fifty Fifty One, and so many more showing up in full force, making sure no one is getting off the hook in America.

It’s time for Democrats in the Beltway to follow the grassroots model. Yes, the Democratic Party has not taken inspiration yet to the amazing energy on-the-ground in dissent and resistance to the oligarchically rigged, authoritarian-like Project 2025 agenda of Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans.

The party still grapples with the question of how to deal with Trump. Do we try to work with Trump when we can? When do we stand against him? How do we respect the will of the people?

The answer is not that complex anymore. After only less than 5 months, the very voters who gave Donald Trump a win at the ballot box in November are now saying they had more than enough. Sure, Trump’s approval rating is staying somewhat static, but he’s lost a significant percentages of his voters and they haven’t come back even when the stock market has gone up and news has been slightly better for Trump.

The numbers remain extremely dismal otherwise, whether it is the approval numbers of DOGE mastermind Elon Musk, the thumbs-down on the Trump Tariffs, the perceived Trump inaction on lowering costs, the funding freezes and mass firings, the dismantling of the social safety net and national government apparatus as a whole, the cuts being made to healthcare, education, climate action, rural programs, affordable housing, foreign aid, and scientific research, the pardon of January 6 seditionists, the cruelest aspects of the Trump immigration agenda (e.g., Kilmar Abrego Garcia), the loosening of gun safety laws already on the books, the restrictions to abortion access, the insanity and inaccuracy of the MAHA report courtesy of Bobby Kennedy, or the unpopularity of Project 2025 going back to the 2024 campaign.

Furthermore, we see the election results more recently, with the Wisconsin Supreme Court contest, various state legislative special elections, and the major flip of a mayoral seat in Omaha, Nebraska. The majority of voters know where they stand, and they stand unequivocally against Donald J. Trump.

It seems some Democrats still haven’t taken the hint, or gotten the cue, or whatever metaphor you can use. And sure, people may pluck out the easy targets in red-leaning states and congressional districts like John Fetterman or Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Jared Golden. But the bigger problem in the Democratic Party is party wide, not specific to a handful of lawmakers who do have to make tough decisions (and who also have unique, under-appreciated populist bonafides that we need to harness).

A number of Democratic Senators, even in some very blue states, including Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, and Mark Warner, are set to approve “crypto regulations” proposed by GOP lawmakers that effectively would greenlight foreign contributions to Donald Trump’s meme coin with the GENIUS Act.

By the way, why is Booker voting for Jared Kushner’s father to be Ambassador to France? After all, this is a convicted felon on tax evasion and witness tampering.

A number of Democratic Senators still approve Trump Cabinet nominees and other administrative officials despite all that has happened. Including in the transferral of power from the legislative and judicial branches to the executive branch of government—not to mention the politically-motivated charges against Democratic lawmakers such as Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, the crackdown on Big Law firms, the attacks on our free press and universities who stand up against Trump, intimidation against our judges and the courts, and the potential suspension of habeas corpus for immigrants and citizens alike.

Even votes to confirm the Secretary of the Army or Navy, or Ambassador votes, have largely been bipartisan (meaning 10-15 Democrats regularly at least).

Some House Democrats voted for the SAVE Act, which would effectively disenfranchise all women who went by their married name instead of their maiden name from voting.

15 House Democrats voted for a bill to give Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent the power to designate undesirable nonprofit groups as extreme or “terrorist.” What happens if say The Intercept finds itself in the crosshairs of Trump for its investigative reporting? Will they now be called “terrorists” by the Trump Regime?

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These party defections are a reflection of a failure of party leadership to line up full dissent against Trump’s clear authoritarian intentions.

More outrageously, Democratic leadership in both the House and Senate continue to receive donations from corporate PACs and other special interest money entities who helped reelect Donald Trump in the first place. No, screw the billionaire Wall Street titans and Silicon Valley tech bros who succumbed to their addiction to “greed, greed, and more greed.” We don’t want their blood money, nor their input.

People all across the country are sending a message to Democrats: they do not want the Democratic Party to be complicit in the political-economic status quo of the last 40 years which gave way to Trump, or for them to cave to Trump’s worst impulses now.

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Democrats are being told explicitly to oppose Donald Trump at every possible opportunity. Block all of his nominees without exception, especially those most controversial and unqualified. Say NO to all and any legislation crucial to the Trump agenda. Filibuster the Senate for days upon days and load up the House schedule with speeches upon speeches against the Trump regime. Do oversight however humanly possible under the circumstances for the time being. Deny unanimous consent. Extract legislative concessions from mandatory legislation the GOP trifecta needs to pass. Abstain from any public appearances with him, and refrain from praising Trump on anything substantive. Boycott all events that are attended by Trump and/or Republican-leaning donors and megadonors. Sue Trump-Vance in court. Force amendments and votes on issues Democrats care about.

Sure, there are some things Trump and Dems will agree on (like banning deepfakes or passing “no taxes on tips”). But beyond such broad consensus, Americans across stripes also say stop the carnage.

Take it another way. There is no excuse for even considering placating Trump’s ego by naming Penn Station after him (as NY Governor Kathy Hochul once floated). There is no reason to have a “working relationship” with a rogue President who wants to be a corrupt monarch. There is no reason to elevate Trump allies, as CA Governor Gavin Newsom has done using his new podcast, which is different from hearing from Trump voters.

Jon Ossoff, Mark Kelly, and Tammy Baldwin, to name a few, are doing just fine not having to be buddy buddy with Trump.

There is no reason that anything but the Mitch McConnell playbook be employed by Congressional Democrats. Because as the sayings go, “they reap what they sow,” and “what goes around comes around.” Remember, it won Republicans Congress in 2010 and 2014.

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So the message that should be sent to Democrats in 2026 is this: fight Trump, or let voters elect Democrats who will. Too much is at stake to do business-as-usual in a time of unprecedented inequality, despair, broken promises, democratic backsliding, and corruption.

“Fight Oligarchy, Unrig the System, and Stop Trump!”