Friday was a surreal split screen for me. On the one hand, press coverage was dominated by the capitulation to Donald Trump of what was heretofore one of our nation’s finest and heretofore most courageous law firms, Paul Weiss. In one form or another, I’ve worked closely with them for years, and as one very senior public official asked me, “What the f**k?”
The other side of the split screen was the latest salvo in Trump’s attacks on me. Throughout the day, reporters and others reached out to alert me that Trump was about to make another move against me in retaliation for my legal fights against him. I replied that I would not yield, no matter what Trump had planned, then proved it by filing with wonderful partners my latest lawsuit against his administration to reverse the shuttering of Voice of America.
By the time Trump’s Executive Order with my name in it arrived at the end of the day, it was thoroughly anticlimactic. He listed me together with a handful of far more notable bipartisan, pro-democratic grandees in an Executive Order stripping us of our security clearances and the right to enter secure federal buildings unescorted.
This is the third time in the past several weeks that he or his administration has announced that my security clearance has been revoked. Surely he has more important work to be doing? And what does he do—turn it back on after every announcement so he can take it away all over again as a weekly vengeance performance? And as for those visits to secure facilities, it’s hardly devastating to be escorted. In fact, it’s a privilege!
Trump’s Executive Order that brought Paul Weiss to its knees was no less illusory. Yes, Trump yanked all government contracts with them, but I actually couldn’t find them. Besides, the federal courts already enjoined a virtually identical order against Perkins Coie, and the one against Paul, Weiss is no less unlawful.
Injunction or no, the firm’s leadership likely believed that if it had stood its ground—as it so often has during its storied history—it would have risked the interests of current clients (to whom it has ethical duties) and eventually broken up, as partners with large books of business would flee.
But if we all used that reasoning and capitulated to Trump’s overreach, democracy would be over in America. If clients and partners want to take their books of business elsewhere, let them. It is not too much to ask of Paul Weiss that it stand up for the rule of law and democracy that has made it possible for it to thrive.
Standing up and holding their ground is what others are doing, like the many courageous federal judges of both parties who have overwhelmingly rejected Trump‘s illegal acts. Or the Supreme Court, where Trump is so far 0-2 and from where Chief Justice John Roberts issued an extraordinary statement this week condemning the president’s attacks on judges and proposal to impeach those who opposed his wishes. Or the other law firms Trump has targeted, all of whom are standing up to him. Trump is lashing out because he’s losing, which makes Paul Weiss’s decision all the worse.
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That fighting spirit shone through in Jen Rubin’s interview with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a plain-spoken, fearless politician with a twinkle in his eye. Pritzker’s candor about Trump’s inhumane policies and lack of leadership was refreshing--and fear of retribution is certainly not stopping him from speaking out.
Neither are millions of others from coast to coast. 15 Ways You Can Fight for Democracy reminded us that your time, your wallet, your voice, and even the love and joy in your life are instrumental in the fight for democracy and that we are winning. It was one of my favorite pieces of the week.
As always, The Contrarian covered the Democracy Movement. This week we saw courageous acts of resistance from a veteran in D.C., a die-in at the New York Stock Exchange, protests in Atlanta, Tucson, Miami, Huntsville, and more places across the country. The rest of the world even got in on the action, with solidarity from Istanbul and Greelanders in the streets.
We also look forward to joining in sending a collective message to Trump: Keep Your Hands Off! On April 5th, 2025, there will be hundreds of peaceful protests around the country to tell Donald Trump and Elon Musk to keep their hands off our Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, private data, libraries, schools, and personal rights. Find an event near you, or—if you are near D.C.—come join us, along with the rest of The Contrarian family! Watch this space for details.
Jen also talked to Ezra Levin of Indivisible about the forthcoming April 5th protest and the wave of grassroots activism we’re seeing nationwide. And we brought you the latest installment of Joyce Vance’s Democracy Index, this week guest authored by Josh Kolb.
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court: The next battleground for democracy. On April 1, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race will be a referendum on the people versus Elon Musk, seeking to prove the limits of his wallet. He is spending big to swing the race. Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski brought us the urgent news on this local race the world is watching. If the richest man in the world is allowed to buy the courts here, Godlewski warns, anywhere is fair game.
Ethics Complaint in WI Targets Elon-backed Organization. Jen and Norm went live to discuss the ethics complaint filed with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission against Building America’s Future, a political organization backed by Elon Musk that, in failing to disclose its express advocacy spending, has violated Wisconsin law.
Jen interviews Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler in the final stretch of the biggest electoral vote so far this year. Ben is widely hailed as one of the geniuses of the next generation of the Democratic Party, and this interview showed why!
Legal expert Steve Vladeck joined Jen Rubin in conversation to discuss the pushback on Trump 2.0’s latest attempt to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemy Act for mass deportation—an effort that, unsurprisingly, seems more about political theater than legitimate legal authority.
In The Constitutional Crisis May be Upon Us, Jen sounded the alarm on Trump’s recent open challenges to the power of courts, throwing the very foundation of constitutional checks and balances into question. Democracy defenders must draw a line in the sand. So far, judges are holding strong.
Such is the case with labor, as discussed by Rushab Sanghvi and Jen on the Importance of Labor Unions. Rushab is the general counsel of AFGE, our nation’s largest union representing federal employees and a frequent litigation adversary of the Trump administration. He discussed the critical role unions play in protecting our civil servants–now more than ever.
Finding Your Voice--and Using it. “I’m writing today to thank you for your service,” Julie Zebrak wrote in a frank address to the many career federal employees who have recently left the government. “I’m also writing today to ask you to use your voice.” Leaving the civil service, she argues, doesn't have to mean ceasing to be a public servant–and if democracy is to survive, the country needs those with inside knowledge of Trump and DOGE’s actions to share it.
In this week’s Undaunted, Jen celebrated our veterans, whose health and livelihood our draft-dodging president and his billionaire pal are threatening daily with their feckless cuts to the federal workforce and VA. “If this assault on our nation’s veterans, their families, and their caregivers does not make your blood boil, I am not sure what will.”
When we kicked off the week, the failure to fight the Republican’s continuing resolution was still fresh and we offered a series of deep dives on what went wrong, the lessons learned, and how we can and must do better next time.
In What Now? Jen started the week with a call to fight the “despondency, paralysis, or resignation” some may have been feeling, in light of the outcome of the budget resolution. “We are not fighting for our democracy because of Schumer;” she wrote, “we are fighting and will continue fighting for it despite him.”
Schumer’s Specter of a Shutdown. Political analyst Norm Ornstein pulled no punches either in his critique of the rationale for avoiding a government shutdown, arguing that capitulation allows Republicans and Trump to evade scrutiny and culpability for the mess they’ve created.
Adam Kinzinger and Jen Rubin discussed this turmoil, suggesting that the Senate’s vote to pass the continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown was a failing strategy of opposition— while pointing the way to what we must do better in the future.
And in this week’s Talking Feds podcast, “ClusterChuck,” Josh Marshall, Charlie Sykes, and Ali Vitali joined founding Contrarian Harry Litman to assess the state of play in politics and U.S. society after two months of hyper-aggressive moves by Donald Trump.
That is where I believe our focus must rest: not on Dems’ infighting but on the Trump-Musk regime’s relentless assault on who we are as a country. It’s also worth calling them out for not delivering on their many promises. Speaking of which…
Jared Bernstein and Jen Rubin on Trump’s devastating economic policy. Jen Rubin interviewed Jared Bernstein on the disastrous effects of Trump’s economic policy. When will we get news that he’s signed an executive order with an aim to actually help Americans?
Donald Trump's broken promises on the cost of things. Jeff Nesbit broke out the calculator on consumer prices: eggs, cars, gas, mortgages have all gone up, despite Trump’s campaign-long promises to the contrary. Should we have expected anything different?
Jen Rubin and political scientist Prof. Michael Albertus discussed land, wealth, and the political power that comes with it. "First-time homebuyers, younger generations—Gen Z and millennials—are facing much higher housing costs than previous generations, both in absolute terms and relative to their income."
Expanding Medicaid for Black women in the Delta could save lives—and the state budget. Community health advocate and researcher Shirley Atkins wrote on the high cost of neglecting essential medical services for Black women in the Mississippi Delta.
Put American innovation first by funding the NSF and NIH. A doctoral candidate in biosciences wrote for us on the condition of anonymity, for fear of retribution, but their incisive message was courageous and clear: The Trump administration is risking Americans’ health and safety by cutting science and research funding.
The cost of $880 billion in Medicaid cuts. Health policy advisor and oncologist Ezekiel J. Emanuel discussed how Trump's $4.5 trillion tax cuts will put Medicaid & the Children's Health Insurance Program–and the health of tens of millions of Americans–on the chopping block.
Andrew Weissmann and Jen Rubin on DOGE Cuts to TSA Dogs Our friend Andrew Weissmann joined Jen again to discuss DOGE’s cancellation of services–including vet visits, kenneling, and even the purchase of food–to the TSA’s K-9 unit. What did DOGS ever do to DOGE?
Looking for federal data? Go local. Former Washington Post reporter and editor Miranda Spivack gave us a Sunshine Week reminder that as DOGE continues wreaking havoc on federal databases, citizens can access information “that, by all rights, they already own,” through local government and public resources.
We put our DOGE coverage in the broader context of the tech movement, bro culture and more. In Another Meta whistleblower. When will it be enough? Yael Eisenstat, Facebook’s former “Global Head of Elections Integrity,” now a director at Cybersecurity for Democracy, wrote on the damning account of yet another Meta whistleblower and her hopes for renewed demands for transparency and accountability in the tech industry.
And in The masculinity crisis: How economic struggles and Andrew Tate are radicalizing young men, Olivia Julianna explored how young men have become vulnerable to radicalization by far-right “alpha-male” influencers–and how we can begin to help them change course. DOGE bros, take heed!
Trump’s Yemen strikes: A playbook of escalation, distraction, and hubris. Brian O’Neill explained that Trump’s launch of U.S. airstrikes on Yemen won’t break the Houthis—they’re an optics-first spectacle that will launch us into a familiar script: claim victory, face retaliation, escalate.
The Gaza ceasefire is over. What’s next? Ilan Goldenberg reported that with the resumption of Israel’s military operations in Gaza this week, much of what comes next for the region will depend on Trump, who retains significant leverage over Israel’s Netanyahu.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Jen Rubin on the tactics of authoritarian regimes. Jen interviewed Ruth Ben-Ghiat to help place the Trump-Musk regime’s latest attacks on academic institutions, law firms, and “DEI” (whatever that means) in the context of the mechanisms of authoritarianism.
Legacy media fail to fact check Trump’s ‘border czar’ on sex trafficking. We might expect Fox News not to correct the baseless claims of Trump’s border czar Tom Homan that sex trafficking is up 600%, but outlets including CNN have failed to fact-check Homan as well. According to Josh Levs, that’s all the evidence we need that we cannot rely on legacy media to fight “the good fight” for truth.
Silencing VOA Is Like Silencing America. Legendary broadcast journalist Marvin Kalb wrote on how Voice of America has been a pillar of U.S. diplomacy for decades–and how its loss is a loss for democracy worldwide.
"Love is Blind" gets political. On the latest seasons of Netflix’s hit dating show, Meredith Blake told us, politics has become a dealbreaker, exposing Gen-Z’s deeply partisan, often gendered divides.
Trade war. Cartoonist Nick Anderson visualized the, erm, circular logic of launching consumer taxes at our trading partners worldwide.
Trump’s Cultural Coup. Meredith Blake wrote on the president’s hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center–and the many artists who are refusing to be part of his plans to make such an esteemed public institution into a (Trump-branded) monument to consumerism.
The JFK Files: Wasted Money, Real Harm, and No Truth! Brian O’Neill wrote on how, with the passage of the JFK Records Act, “the United States spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars confirming that a 1991 movie was, in fact, a movie.” The last of the files pertaining to JFK’s assassination confirmed what we knew–while violating security and professionalism around sensitive intelligence data.
Sports teams visiting Trump as he dismantles the Education Dept. would truly be ‘March Madness’. Carron J. Phillips looked ahead to the choice faced by the eventual victors of college basketball’s big dance: will they go to the White House and shake the hand of a president that is actively targeting higher ed, DEI, and student-athlete equity?
Friday comic: Tom the Dancing Bug. In this week’s strip, it’s all fun and games until someone points out that the troll-in-chief actually is president. What a killjoy!
Contrarian Culture Club Recommendations. Meredith Blake brought us a new weekly column on what to watch to keep you engaged and/or distracted: this week featuring Adolescence and Every Little Thing.
Marissa Rothkopf delivers a delectable springtime recipe, this time for Lemon Cake with a Drizzle.
The Contrarian Pet of the Week, courtesy of Jennifer Weiss Wolf. Meet Barack the Vote, aka “Rocky”!
Finally, for a little fun, we offer this Entertainment Scoop on the upcoming shows that may be forthcoming from the Kennedy Center, under its newly-minted, self-appointed Chairman. These Playbill covers will make you laugh out loud—they did for me!
That’s it for this week, Contrarians. Join us next week as my security clearance is perhaps restored and taken away for the fourth time, for the next batch of Trump authoritarian Follies (my vote for our next set of Playbills), and for news of all the righteous, peaceful pushback from Contrarians across the nation!
Warmly, Norm
