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Why subscribe? One of my founding subscribers, Joannie, says it best: “I support your work because you specifically reach out to the people who vote for 45/47. While it may seem futile, it sure is important to keep reaching out to bring some back to their senses.” Thanks, Joannie! Glad you’re on board.
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Hey gang,
Couldn’t resist one TACO jab this week!
Starting today, our Friday newsletter will be our community issue, with your voices and things you can do to resist. Also, look for my Heroes of the Week, the question of the week, and my suggested reads right here.
This issue is FREE to everyone, so please share it widely. With your help, we are growing the Social Contract community, and strengthening the social contract across America at the same time.
As I’ve always said, we are more than a newsletter, we are a movement. I am so grateful that you believe in me and our mission.
Thanks for being here! Have a great weekend!
Joe
In Today’s Issue
The Social Briefing: Heroes of the Week
Good Reads for This Week
What’s Your Take?
What Can You Do?
The Social Calendar
The Social Soundboard
This Week
PAID SUBSCRIBERS: I’m hosting my rescheduled Substack Live tomorrow, May 31, at 4pm ET. See you then!
CONVERSATIONS OF THE WEEK: If you missed my conversations with Maze Jackson on the South Side of Chicago, they’re all archived in Conversations with Joe. Check them out!
SUPPORT OUR MISSION: If you enjoy this Substack and want to help me and my small, but fiercely pro-democracy team reach more Americans with our message, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Thank you!
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Amid all the bad, awful, dumb, stupid, sickening, despicable, embarrassing, irresponsible, demoralizing, infuriating, outrageous, terrible, horrible, Constitution-defying news of the past week, we have to acknowledge the heroes among us. The list is growing, as more and more of us are standing up to the tyrant. Courage is infectious. Be brave!
THE JUDICIARY. Once again, judges made some great calls this week (Supreme Court, you not so much🤦♂️). Two judges struck down Donald Trump's executive order targeting law firms, proving that it pays to fight back. Another judge ordered ICE to release Kseniia Petrova, a Russian researcher at Harvard Medical School. And the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs and levies on Canada and Mexico are illegal. An appeals court has since temporarily reinstated the tariffs, but it’s a start.
SCOTT PELLEY. He made our list again. CBS’s Scott Pelley has been a profile in courage throughout the network’s fight with Trump, and this week was no different. Speaking at the Wake Forest University graduation, he fiercely decried “the fear to speak...in America,” adding, “power can rewrite history, with grotesque, false narratives. They can make criminals heroes, and heroes criminals.” Indeed. Read the transcript of his speech here. It’s well worth it.
JAMIE RASKIN. Rep. Jamie Raskin has opened an investigation into Trump’s meme coin corruption dinner that took place last week. Warning that foreign governments will use cryptocurrency purchases to influence policy, Raskin has asked the White House to disclose the names of all attendees. Keep going, Congressman.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY & NPR. Harvard is not backing down. The university filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration last Friday, challenging its order blocking the school’s certification to admit international students. A judge has extended a temporary reprieve. Good. National Public Radio is suing the administration as well on First Amendment grounds, citing Trump’s attempt to defund NPR as a “clear violation of the Constitution.”
ALL OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR US. It’s still Memorial Day week, and there is never a bad time to remember and honor everyone who has sacrificed their life in service to our nation. What a remarkable gift they gave us, one we can never truly repay. We can only try to make our country reflect the values they died to protect. That’s what we’re working towards every day.
Did we miss anyone? Send your heroes our way!
Good Reads for This Week
Remembering Robbie —Robert Reich
MAGA's Maddening Memorial Day Hypocrisy —The Back Room with Andy Ostroy
Is Trump the America We Want Young People Across the World to See? —Jim Acosta
Democrats: To Win, You Have to Want to Fight —The Home Front
How Liberal Tolerance Replaced Politics —Evelyn Quartz
The Well-Dressed Liars of the Moderate Right —Notes from the Circus
What Whataboutery? —Sam Harris
Don’t Quit, You Wavering Bureaucrat —Persuasion
There Is No Piecing Back Our Badly Shattered Constitutional Order —The UnPopulist
Corrupter-in-Chief —The xxxxxx
LISTEN: Fiery Fucking Call-to-Action Against Donald Trump —You Have the Right to Remain Mouthy
What’s Your Take?
This week, Reuters published some devastating statistics about the economy. Take a look:
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For a guy who ran largely on his supposed economic prowess (with a strong emphasis on “supposed”), these are shockingly bad numbers—but also not the least bit surprising to those of us paying attention. The question is, will they finally make a dent in his support?
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What Can You Do?
GET OUT THERE AND PROTEST! There are two big resistance protest opportunities coming up. Join if you are able!
June 6: Huge rally on the Mall in D.C. to stand up for our veterans! More info at Unite for Veterans.
June 14: Our “No Kings” protest day, with protests taking place in every state in the country. More info at 50501.
SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY PROUDLY! Let the world know you stand with the No Kings movement with a #NOKINGS shirt!
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To get yours, visit oneflaginitiative.org, or become a Social Contract Founding Member, and we’ll send you one for FREE (plus you’ll get an invite to a once-a-month Zoom with me and other special VIP events), with our thanks.
#NOKINGS merchandise sales directly support Conversations with Joe, my personal effort to restore the social contract across America.
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Did you catch Walsh Wednesday, my weekly meetup with Michael Cohen? If you missed it, here it is:
THIS WEEK’S INTERVIEWS & QUOTES
UPCOMING INTERVIEWS
SE Cupp of Pitching and Snitching: June 3 at 8pm ET
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Here’s what some of you are thinking about this week…
I want to thank you for your Memorial Day message. I am the daughter of a WWII veteran who did manage to return against so many odds. My father turned 25 two days after he parachuted into Normandy with the 82nd Airborne. He married my mother in September during his training because he knew his chances of surviving were low, and he knew that she would benefit from his insurance. He did survive and was able to have four children, who received a good education and grew up to be successful taxpayers in the America that my father helped save and establish.
He died 20 years ago at 84 and did suffer as a result of his service. A bullet wound disrupted the muscles in his back, a wound that he bore but could accept. The wounds of PTSD and chronic depression were harder to live with, as he was a man of an old world family and a child of the Depression. He had no model for a man, a husband, a father, to accept the human frailty that he had to live with.
I truly appreciate your Memorial Day message and hope, with some trepidation, that nothing awful happens in the world of potential conflict while the current clowns and grifters are in power. —Beth Olson
Joe,
I understand your frustration and feel your pain. With that in mind, I am sharing my delusional thought: What if there were a national strike on Trump's birthday to rain on his parade? —Luis Lerma
Hi Joe,
Taking a minute to say thanks. I watched today's Substack episode and I agree that face-to-face conversations need to happen.
I may be remiss to say this, but why isn't anyone educating Americans on Project 2025? I don't see, quite frankly, figureheads speaking more about it. We know they're a bunch of Christian nationalists who want to get rid of the U.S. government altogether. Look at what Russell Vought, Stephen Miller, and the tech bros are doing. They lick Trump's boots so they can impose a Christian nationalist dictatorship on our country.
We keep referencing the “Trump Administration.” Shouldn't we be referencing Project 2025? It's that agenda which is being carried out.
“Corruption can't exist in the light.” —Scott J. Robbins
Hey, I want to hear from you! Want to host a conversation with Joe in your town? Want to send us a 600-word op-ed or video clip on how we can mend our frayed social contract and rebuild an America that works? Want to appear with Joe on Substack Live? Just need to vent? Send it our way!
Tell us your story and share your feedback about our Substack community by emailing our editor at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you for being a free subscriber of The Social Contract! We are most grateful. If you believe our mission is worthwhile, and you can spare a few bucks a month, please consider upgrading your subscription now.
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