Bonus Post: This is Not a Joke
How we start to turn the page on this awful regime.
I apologize to those of my readers who didn’t realize that this past Tuesday’s post started out with (and ended with) an April Fool’s joke. Apparently this included several close relatives of mine, who all thought I was selling out to some trillionaires and putting The Connector behind an ultra-high paywall. I don’t usually do the April Fool’s thing, but this year the chance to help Trillionaires for Trump, which is itself a real satire, get launched, was irresistible. I promise I won’t do that to you again!
I’m happy to share a gift link to a guest opinion piece by me that was just published by The New York Times this morning, focusing on how federal workers can play a vital leadership role in the new, defiant, resistance to Trump and Musk. Stay tuned for more on that topic next week.
P.S. If you are attending one of the more than 1000 Hands Off rallies happening across the country—and I assume a lot of you are—take some notes and share your observations in the comments below. Who spoke? What resonated the most with you? What did it feel like? And were you part of an organized group? Is it growing?
People working in the White House seem to be indicating that trump does not know what he is doing. He has learned little about how tariffs work since his first term and does not understand that it is a tax on Americans and only serves to create higher prices, lose many American jobs, and make adversaries out of America's closest allies. But trump does not seem to care. Republicans in Congress don't understand that trump is an unhinged, mentally unbalanced, cruel egoist whose skill is repeating lies until naive people believe those lies are true. We must frighten Republican incumbents into believing they may lose their position unless they resist the damage trump is doing to our formerly great country and remove him from office.
Just back from protest in Manhattan. Observations:
1) I stood on the side of 5th ave for about half and hour and counted. Virtually no Black people (same at the Women's day march last month from Wash Sq to Union). At a recent meeting of Indivisible Manhat. someone asked what outreach had been done to young people and speakers of other languages; answer: none (said acknowledging a shortcoming)
2) almost no police presence. A cop I asked claimed it was because of defunding.
I made a point of thanking the four cops at the Brooklyn Tesla protest a couple of weeks ago; whatever you think of policing during the summer of '20, this is a different world, and anywhere bridges can be built they have to be
3) signs against and for many things, but no signs about cuts to the VA or firing of veterans (especially by two men who both avoided military service). Many police have come through the military.
2) and 3) suggest areas for engagement, especially with veteran overrepresentation in other government departments. As gratifying as many signs were for me (Trump and Musk as Nazis, very credibly rendered; my personal favorite: "fuck this shit"), thinking about the imagery created and how it might play outside of blue cities is worth consideration