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Why subscribe? Silence is not an option. Take part in the community so we can drive change together. We Are Under Attack From an Enemy Within By listening to our founders and refusing to go along with this, we can name and defeat the ongoing danger to our constitutional republic Steven Beschloss Oct 5 He’s getting worse: Trump at a campaign rally this weekend. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt via Getty Images) We humans have a natural impulse to adapt to reality. It has been essential for the survival of our species and the development of civil society. But now, that same normalizing impulse is putting us in serious danger. Let me be blunt: Too many Americans have absorbed and continue to tolerate Donald Trump’s insane, destructive behavior as a fact of life—a reality to live with. Most of the corporate media has facilitated that mentality as it relies on traditional framing devices that give an air of legitimacy to this crazed and chaotic White House. In their need to maintain access at all costs—and their reluctance to risk their position—they have failed to articulate the very actions that are accelerated the destruction of our constitutional republic. As we speak, the Trump regime is defying court orders, rejecting Congress’ power to control spending and pursuing myriad tactics to once again try and subvert the outcome of our federal elections. Each of these illustrates a lawless regime and a dangerous despot who feels free to abuse his power and run roughshod over the requirements set forth in our Constitution. But how often do you hear this reality communicated with the clarity and urgency that it deserves? Just as I believe that we are facing a psychiatric emergency with Trump as a man, I believe we are facing a constitutional emergency with an executive branch of government working to centralize its power at all costs. My friends, we are under attack from an enemy within. In a less broken political environment, we could count on a cabinet and a Congress to pursue the constitutional mechanisms of the 25th Amendment and/or impeachment to remove Trump and stanch the growing cancer. But the failure of these institutional mechanisms to provide the necessary checks makes overwhelming clear the necessity of We the People doing our duty to save our republic. This work is currently underway in Democratic campaigns across the country. But in less than a month, each of us has a sacred duty to help end the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate with a massive voter turnout and a resounding Democratic victory—diluting the potential of the Trump regime to subvert the election’s outcome and deny the will of the voters. In other times, my impulse toward caution would lead me to resist using language that could be attacked as unduly alarmist or hyperbolic. But these are not normal times—and this election is likely our last chance to stop the march of fascism led by Trump and his enablers seeking to hold onto power by any means necessary, democracy and free elections be damned. We should take seriously Trump’s repeated assertions that he intends to stay in power after 2028—assuming he lives that long. We should not laugh off Trump operative Steve Bannon’s comments last year in an interview with The Economist. “He’s gonna get a third term,” he said. “Trump is gonna be president in 2028. And people oughta just get accommodated with that.” No, we should not get accommodated to that, Steve. Nor should we accept the regime’s failure to comply with hundreds of immigration-related court orders resulting in over 700 lawsuits, causing federal judges and other legal observers across the country to decry. Nor should we accept that Trump thinks he can cancel without consequence over $1 billion in Congressionally approved funds for immigration services, foreign aid, education, health research and minority-owned businesses. Nor can we tolerate the growing evidence that the regime is pursuing a sophisticated and nefarious plot to subvert the November midterms to entrench and expand Trump’s maximum, unfettered power. This regime must be stopped—by you, me and every American citizen who remains committed to self-governance and living in a constitutional republic. Let me briefly underscore the assertions of our founders when defining the constitutional means by which our society could function without reliance on the demands of a king or a despot and in order to avoid slipping into tyranny. As for ignoring court orders: The Constitution lays out a separation of powers of each branch of government to protect against possible abuses by one branch over another. Here are the words of James Madison in Federalist 51: “The great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same [governmental] department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.” Madison called this “essential to the preservation of liberty.” As for usurping Congress’ power to control spending: The Constitution could not be clearer. This is Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 on spending: “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” This is Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” As Madison explained in Federalist 58, “This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance”—that is, to check abuses and overreach by the executive branch. As for Trump manipulating the elections and subverting the will of the people: A president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration. Period. As Article I, Section 4 states, “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” Moreover, the president has no power to overturn election results or cancel an election. Of course, these are not the only examples of the Trump regime’s constitutional violations and indifference. The overwhelming levels of corruption, including the repeated taking of bribes from foreign governments and others, obviously transgresses the Constitution’s Emolument Clauses. Nor will simply acknowledging these transgressions stop the abuses, not as long as Trump is surrounded by a cabinet of sycophants and a confederacy of cowards and fellow fascists in Congress. Yes, I am encouraged that there are Democratic members of Congress who are already writing bills and planning ways to rein in Trump’s abuses and reverse the dangerous expansion of executive power in the years ahead. “We have a massive reconstruction task ahead of us,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the House Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, told The Washington Post. But none of this begins in earnest until the Republicans lose their majority. And that depends on enough Americans channeling their fury about Trump’s corruption, crime and indifference to their needs and getting out the vote. We are under attack by an enemy in the Oval Office and we can put an end to this expanding emergency. As we head to the midterms, it’s more important than ever to support the survival of democracy. I remain committed to raising my voice as vividly and fiercely as I can. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $50 a year or $5 a month to show your support and enhance your engagement—to share your thoughts in the comments sections and access all content.

     

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Fighting for the Future We Want

Listen to the words of Trump, Hegseth and a federal judge. They are a warning of two different fates for America after the midterms.

Steven Beschloss Oct 2

Pete Hegseth, belligerent and unfit, pushes his toxic vision. (Photo by Alex Wong via Getty Images)

This is the tale of three Americans who told us this week what they think matters. One, who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution to occupy the nation’s highest office, made clear once again he despises the First Amendment and the right of the free press. A second, who left his duties as a Fox weekend host to manage the world’s largest military and the nation’s largest bureaucracy, communicated his toxic belief in lawless violence that endangers every American soldier. A third, who presides over a courtroom, ruled in favor of the rule of law and the need for a justice system that does not harm innocent people.

I’d like to share with you snapshots of each of their public remarks this week. The first is an interview with Donald Trump published by Time magazine yesterday. The second is a so-called “State of the Force” speech delivered by Pete Hegseth on Wednesday. The third is a final ruling yesterday by Judge Todd Edelman in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia regarding David Hearn and the Justice Department’s charge that he destroyed property in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

With just one month until the November midterms, when our country’s fate will be decided, these three men ask us to decide what future we want. In their words which portray their values, they offer us a choice. Let’s take a look.

The despot demands praise

“Why should Americans believe that you respect the free press when you’re restricting access to the White House to some of our colleagues?” Trump was asked.

“Because I do respect the free press, but I don’t respect fake news,” he answered, adding, “If I do the finest thing, if I found the cure to cancer, they would say, ‘Why didn’t he move quicker?’ They are just horrible people, and they’re so bad. So I believe in a free press. I believe in an honest press, but I don’t believe in fake news.”

In other words, the only acceptable press is the one that praises him. And why, in his twisted authoritarian view, is that the correct course?

“I won the election. I won it handily by massive numbers. I won the popular vote. I won all seven swing states,” he said, adding, “If I wasn’t doing a good job, I wouldn’t have won that election by a lot.”

The Time interviewer was ready to move on, but Trump wasn’t. First, he needed to explain his greatness: “I've done great things. I mean, I've done Venezuela. I've done—I can name, I can name 100 great things I've done. I never get good press. I never get fair press. Doesn’t have to be good. All it has to be is fair.”

And how exactly would he assess what’s fair coverage? He focused on his crowds:

You know, yesterday I got tremendous applause from massive crowds that came to Duncan…I went to Tennessee. The crowd went wild. I went to, yesterday, to Chicago. Got the big golf tent. President’s coming. The crowd went absolutely wild…They asked me to make a speech. I said, ‘I'm not going to make a speech. I want to play golf.’ But I said to him—I mean, they had to stop the crowd from—they were going crazy, 100 percent. There was no negative number.

In other words, forget a free press that holds a leader accountable. Forget honest coverage based on facts. Rather, the despot in power is always right. It’s only fair when he is praised. The First Amendment can be tossed away to please him. That’s the country he hopes to make happen if the Republicans continue to control Congress.

The violent cowboys are in

And then there’s sadistic Pete Hegseth. I call him Killer Pete because he’s been telling us from the beginning how much he savors “maximum lethality.” Back in March, just days into his and Trump’s unauthorized war of choice in Iran, he couldn’t contain his excitement.

“America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” he said then. “Death and destruction from the sky…all day long.” And he said, “Our war fighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly.”

We’ve seen it in the mass casualties in Iran, the extrajudicial killings of humans in fishing boats—and on Wednesday we heard him double-down on his failing toxic vision that puts our uniformed men and women in danger.

His words were bellicose and bombastic. Apparently, they make Killer Pete feel strong.

He addressed his major cutting of top military officers—generals and admirals. “Yes, 20 percent reduction across the board,” he said. “Now the media calls that a ‘purge.’ I call it accountability and long overdue…what the media levels as an accusation, I wear as an accomplishment.”

He was just warming up his hot head. “We are no longer the Woke Department or the Weak Department,” he proudly boasted. “Simple translation of that: No fatties. No trannies. No beardos. No weirdos. No wimps. No radicals. Just warriors. Just tough, ready, committed troops…The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in — with testosterone testing on top.”

And more: “All of you deserve senior leaders who know how to war-fight, who will employ you like the War Department, not the State Department. Who will think outside the box—bold and violent.” And laws be damned: “We will fight to win. Clear missions, full hearts, hands untied.”

This tragically unfit buffoon also picked up on his boss’ hostility toward the press, hepped up with tough and false words. He laid out his hunger for only praise and an indirect justification for his banishment of journalists from the halls of the Pentagon.

“A free press is of course important, but partisan activism that intentionally smears the troops and the historic mission they are undertaking is fundamentally anti-American,” he lied. “It's sick. It's a national betrayal. It's treason, actually. I hate to have to say it, but it has to be said, especially in defense of the great Americans right in front of me.”

This is the vision of the military that this testosterone-pumped “leader” is bent on taking farther. Forget equality. Forget expertise. Forget decades of experience. Forget the law to achieve his violent ends. We’ll get more of this unless Democrats take over Congress. And if they do: The growing hunger to impeach Pete Hegseth may turn into real action.

“No right…to compound the errors”

But don’t lose all hope about the present. Consider Judge Edelman’s determination to free an innocent defendant wrongly charged by Donald Trump’s Justice Department—and to ensure that Trump’s vengeful prosecutors will not try their unjust trickery again.

First, he laid out the case:

In July 2026, the United States secured an indictment against Defendant David C. Hearn for felony destruction of property based upon allegations that he had damaged the lining of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Within a month, the government recognized that its prosecution lacked merit. It reached this conclusion not because it had misidentified Mr. Hearn as the perpetrator of the alleged act, but because no crime had occurred: the observed damage to the Reflecting Pool was due to a contractor’s ‘rushed and botched’ installation of the lining while conducting renovations, and Mr. Hearn’s actions had no effect on the value of the Pool.

That should have been the end of it, at least if there were a legitimate Department of Justice. But the judge worried that these prosecutors could try to find another way to charge Hearn, who doesn’t deserve this treatment. He wrote:

The government urges the Court to treat this case no differently than any other and therefore to dismiss the matter without prejudice, i.e., in a manner that would hypothetically allow it to re-charge Mr. Hearn with this offense at some point in the indefinite future, restricted only by the six-year statute of limitations…

In the exceptional circumstances posed by this case, the government has no right to retain the ability to compound the errors it has already made, or even to threaten to do so, at Mr. Hearn’s expense.

This is why Judge Edelman concluded that he needed a ruling that would ensure this case was finished. Really finished. In other words, with prejudice. “This case must be dismissed with prejudice, and the government must thus be barred from re-instituting this charge against Mr. Hearn.”

Now that’s a judge who stands up for the rule of law and the responsibility to treat innocent people fairly. He understood that David Hearn, a gold medal-winning athlete who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, could still be at the mercy of a president who despises the Constitution and the truth, an unwell narcissist who prioritizes saving his public image over justice and decency.

This should be what we expect from every judge in every courtroom. We have one month and one day until the midterms when we can decrease the power of a vengeful White House occupant who could not care less about who’s innocent or what the truth is. Just as the words of Judge Edelman provide us a picture of the kind of America we should demand, Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump provide us a picture of the kind of future we will have if Americans fail to stand up and curb their power.

As we head to the midterms, it’s more important than ever to support the survival of democracy. I remain committed to raising my voice as vividly and fiercely as I can. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $50 a year or $5 a month to show your support and enhance your engagement—to share your thoughts in the comments sections and access all content.

Rats Are Fleeing the Sinking Ship There are just 35 days until Nov. 3

                                   

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Rats Are Fleeing the Sinking Ship

But they have waited too long and are still too few in number to change the outcome of a likely Democratic tsunami

Steven Beschloss Sep 28

(Illustration by Planet Flem via Getty Images

I can’t count how many times I’ve heard that many Republicans oppose Donald Trump, but they only will say so privately. But now, just five weeks until the November midterms, a growing number of Republicans are panicking as they grasp how many voters despise the man they’ve spent the last decade enabling.

Last week the non-partisan American Research Group released a poll last week citing a 29 percent approval rate for Trump—a new low for him. That may be something of an outlier, but I wouldn’t doubt that it captures the increasingly bleak and angry assessment of this failing man.

Consider a CNN poll released last week found that 73 percent of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the war with Iran. As for Trump’s handling of foreign affairs more broadly, 71 percent disapproved.

The collapse on foreign affairs—down 10 points since the start of the year—is hard for elected Republicans to avoid, even among cultists convinced he does no wrong.

Last week Politico quoted a GOP strategist who said that Republicans are capable of reading polls. This strategist, afraid to attach his name to his candid observations, added, “They know he is kryptonite.”

All of a sudden—and, in my view, far too late for any version of redemption or forgiveness—rats are fleeing the sinking ship. They are jumping overboard in the vain hope that they won’t sink along with Trump.

Consider several examples:

• Byron Donalds, the Florida congressman running for governor against Democrat David Jolly, has cleansed his website from the stench of Trump. As the Miami Herald noted, the site used to be dominated by references to Trump’s endorsement: “TRUMP-ENDORSED Proven Conservative Fighter” was the main text on the home page and a button asking supporters to “Chip in to Support Trump Endorsed Byron Donalds” was at the top of the page. These and other such references are now gone and his photo with Trump is now buried inside.

• Florida GOP Rep. María Elvira Salazar—facing an increasingly tight race against Democrat Eliott Rodriguez in a district Trump won by nearly 15 points in 2024—has run a commercial criticizing Trump’s deportation operation, noting that half of those detained by ICE had no criminal record. “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” she says in the ad. “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.” (Trump’s response this weekend: Fourteen posts sharing Truth Social users attacking Salazar as “a back stabber” and more, including the need for another Republican to replace her.)

• Mike Rogers, who is polling behind Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the race for Senate in Michigan, released an ad in which he says, “We need to bring prices down. The war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly.” This is the same guy who in July called the Iran war “a win-win-win for us” and said, “I don't mind giving the president authority to continue. You can't stop in mid-negotiation.”

• Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson, in a close contest for the Senate running against Democrat State Rep. Josh Turek, called for the Iran war “to be brought to a successful and immediate end,” noting on X that “Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran.” This from a GOP congresswoman who’s rejected six House measures intended to cut Trump’s authority to continue the war.

They are not the only ones who’ve grasped that mindlessly kowtowing to a failing Trump is a mistake. Last week Mississippi’s Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called China’s Xi Jinping “a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator” who shouldn’t be trusted—and surely shouldn’t have been flattered with a state dinner. “Quite frankly,” said Wicker, a typically staunch Trump defender, “had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome here in the United States.”

The rebuke was real, even if we shouldn’t expect Wicker—who’s not up for reelection until 2030—to more broadly reject Trump. Still, I’m sure that Wicker especially enjoyed the images of U.S. military personnel on their knees unrolling and smoothing a red carpet for Xi’s arrival.

Consider one more example of the shifting ground as sweaty Republicans fear the consequences of sticking by deranged and increasingly despised Trump. Over the last month or so, Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, polling behind Democrat David Crowley for the governor’s seat in Wisconsin, has said a few rational things.

He opposed Trump renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America, for example. “I believe the Great Lakes are the Great Lakes,” he said a month ago, surely recognizing that Canada is Wisconsin’s top trading partner. He also disagreed with Trump’s plan to import foreign beef to drive down prices, a serious issue for local farmers.

But let’s not doubt the continuing challenge to deal with pro-Trump extremists who have stood by Trump all these years—and who will continue to support Trump’s efforts to subvert our elections and deny the people’s will.

That includes Tiffany, an election denier who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s wins in Pennsylvania and Arizona and said at the time that he would have voted against certifying Wisconsin’s results if they came up for a vote. He is one of more than 130 election-denier candidates who are on the ballot for statewide or federal offices this year.

In the last several weeks, Tiffany was happy to report at a campaign event that the Justice Department is sending federal officials to monitor Wisconsin’s midterms. As he put it, when asked about the election, “And by the way, good news, good news, the federal Department of Justice is coming to Wisconsin for this election to make sure that we have election integrity.”

Tiffany may try to backtrack here and there. He may lead some voters to think he’s distancing himself from Trump on one issue or another. But he is a reminder that the denial of the voters’ will remains a corrosive danger to our democracy’s survival—and unforgivable.

Yes, there are rats fleeing the sinking ship, but Trump’s poisonous influence will still require a major clean-up operation if and when the Democrats regain control in Congress. The need to retake the House and the Senate—and deploy our collective power to hold the Trump regime accountable—could not be clearer. The only way we truly overcome this dark chapter is by refusing to forgive and forget.

There are just 35 days until Nov. 3

As we head to the midterms, it’s more important than ever to support the survival of democracy. I remain committed to raising my voice as vividly and fiercely as I can. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $50 a year or $5 a month to show your support and enhance your engagement—to share your thoughts in the comments sections and access all content.

                                                                                                   

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Why subscribe? Silence is not an option. Take part in the community so we can drive change together. Donald Trump, The Wrecking Ball And the honorable people who will not be bullied by this deranged and disordered loser Steven Beschloss Sep 18 Through the window of Air Force One, Trump examines what appears to be a poster board depicting a planned demolition of the Kennedy Center. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images) The failures are piling up. Sometimes we can see them with our own eyes. Sometimes we can hear them in the lies that are spewed. The mounting tragedies and shame could be reason for despair. After all, the damage to our country will take a long time to fix. But I believe the growing cacophony of chaos is convincing more and more people that they’ve had enough. As there are just 45 days until the midterms—with the voting already begun in some states—this expanding determination to stop Trump’s unfettered rule seems to be peaking just in time. To be sure, given recent history, it makes sense to be cautious in predicting the future. But honestly? I can almost taste the champagne. Still, let’s not speak too soon. There’s plenty of work to be done over the next month and a half. For now, let me remind you what level of sickness we’re dealing with here, as well as share several encouraging examples of defiance from this week. Deranged, disordered, destructive How does a lifelong abuser talk? If he can't possess the Kennedy Center and do what he wants with it—and that includes stamping his name on it—it should be closed and “ripped down.” Never mind if he’s told that’s illegal. How does a malignant narcissist—that is, someone who cannot face his own failure—behave? He will repeat over and over that he won the war against Iran and he will hide evidence to the contrary. How does a career criminal—fearful of being held accountable—act? He will demand his operatives to find ways to deny mail-in ballots and other means by which the people express their will. And when he realizes he’s failing and grows more desperate, he will tell his followers to “cheat like hell.” And how does a man with a deranged, disordered and destructive mind—fueled by enablers to assume he’s free to do anything—spend his “spare” time? He will turn our historic Capitol City into a dumpsite, then blame innocents when his imagined achievements devolve into embarrassing eyesores. “This is major damage” The scale of Trump’s wreckage became more visible this week when CBS News reporter Jonah Kaplan shared photos of U.S. military bases damaged by Iranian drone and missile strikes. These images—sent anonymously by service members—are a sad and stunning display of failure, emanating from his ill-conceived, badly executed and unauthorized war of choice with Iran. They are also a tiny indication of just how much Trump and Killer Pete Hegseth—two of the most incompetent humans to ever hold top offices in our government—have hidden from the American public in their effort to deny the truth. “This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public,” a deployed service member told CBS News. “We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.” Here are three examples: An undated image from Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia. (CBS News) An undated photo from Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. (CBS News) An undated photo of a destroyed car at Camp Buehring in Kuwait. (CBS News) This week the inspector general of the Defense Department released a 44-page report to Congress, a mandatory accounting of the physical costs of the Iran war (in addition to the human cost in soldiers killed or wounded). Limited to Feb. 28 to June 30, the report cites “hundreds” of buildings and “dozens” of aircraft damaged or destroyed, as well as $22.3 billion in used munitions and $3.7 billion in equipment losses. That total does not include the costs of damage to buildings and other structures at U.S. military bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. With no end in sight and the daily economic hardship deepening for most Americans, these revelations belie the fiction told by Trump and Hegseth. So much for their comments dating all the way back to April. “Total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question about it,” Trump lied to Agence France-Presse. “Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital-V military victory,” Hegseth lied several days after Trump at a Pentagon press conference. Have you noticed that they aren’t beating their chests and boasting “total and complete victory” these days? The bullying is backfiring The reckless depravity and ever-stunning incompetence can feel overwhelming. But two events this week, while tragic for America, also demonstrate that good and honorable people are refusing to be abused and fighting back. The defiant Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meant it last month when he said that Canada would not “fall in line” in response to bullyboy Trump’s moronic 50 percent tariffs. He has not only retaliated; our longtime ally’s leader has pursued greater integration with the European Union. On Wednesday, EU President Ursula von der Leyen invited Canada to become the EU’s first “associate member.” Yesterday, before the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Carney said he welcomed the offer. “Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities.” Note the word “autonomy.” He’s positioning Canada to not be at the mercy of a madman and his childish impulses Inevitably, America’s vengeful toddler called the plan “laughable” and then threatened Europe with “very serious tariffs.” Never mind that Trump would be digging a bigger economic hole for Americans. Asked by reporters about Trump’s threats, Carney said, “Canadians are united that nobody is going to tell us what language we speak. No one is going to dictate our culture or with whom we can strike agreements internationally.” That’s the spirit, Mark Carney. Sane Americans are with you. “He picked the wrong person” And then there’s Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex-officio Kennedy Center board member. She joined the trustees’ meeting after a federal judge ruled that poor Donald could not have his name on the building. The response of Trump and the board: Then shut it down. Trump even threatened that the beloved performing arts center—in fact, a memorial to a slain president—should get “ripped down.” Beatty has opposed the center’s shuttering and filed a motion to stop an illegal closure. Trump insulted her before the board. But the congresswoman was not having it. “He picked the wrong person to try to attack my character and berate me. I was not going to let him tell me that he thought I was incompetent,” Beatty told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “He wanted to blame me if someone died, if something happened, if the ceiling fell in.” She was not done, not about to be intimidated by his temper tantrum. “It was like an immature child,” she said, amazed by his yelling. “I reminded him: He has us at war, and people are dying. He has tariffs and taxes that are preventing people from buying food or being able to have affordable housing and other things.” We can take heart from people like Rep. Beatty, Prime Minister Carney and the anonymous service members who are speaking out and pushing back. They are tired of the lies, tired of the efforts to hide the truth, tired of the assumption that might makes right and that a bullyboy can force us to do his will. We can soon prove that we agree—that we the people have collective power that is stronger than a weak and broken loser desperate to convince us that he is great and all powerful. One more thing: Check out the latest Six Questions with Steven Beschloss, in which I talk with Scott MacFarlane, the former CBS News reporter and now independent journalist working with MeidasTouch. On the agenda: the failures of legacy media and its culpability for Trump’s fascistic rise, the promise of independent media to provide honest and unfiltered insight, as well as the fact that Jan. 6 is not “history” but a continuing reality of our political life. (Scott’s wi-fi is glitchy, but the words are clear.) As we head to the midterms, it’s more important than ever to support the survival of democracy. I remain committed to raising my voice as vividly and fiercely as I can. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $50 a year or $5 a month to show your support and enhance your engagement—to share your thoughts in the comments sections and access all content.