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If you read or listened to almost anything I put out this past week, you know exactly how I feel about the destruction of the East Wing of the White House. I’ll let the photo above and your feedback below (in the Social Soundboard) do the talking today.
Have a good Sunday,
Joe
In Today's Issue
The Social Briefing: Heroes of the Week
Good Reads for This Week
The Social Soundboard
This Past Week
SUBSTACK LIVE: Open to all subscribers, unless noted. Don’t miss it!
Tuesday with Jim Acosta [ [link removed] ] (click if you missed it)
Wednesday with Michael Cohen [ [link removed] ] (click if you missed it)
Thursday with Edwin Eisendrath [ [link removed] ] (click if you missed it)
Thursday AMA for Paid Subscribers [ [link removed] ] (click if you missed it)
Amid all the bad [ [link removed] ], awful [ [link removed] ], dumb [ [link removed] ], stupid [ [link removed] ], absurd [ [link removed] ], insane [ [link removed] ], sickening [ [link removed] ], despicable [ [link removed] ], cruel [ [link removed] ], sad [ [link removed] ], pathetic [ [link removed] ], embarrassing [ [link removed] ], irresponsible [ [link removed] ], demoralizing [ [link removed] ], deplorable [ [link removed] ], shady [ [link removed] ], infuriating [ [link removed] ], outrageous [ [link removed] ], terrible [ [link removed] ], horrible [ [link removed] ], Constitution-defying [ [link removed] ], fascist [ [link removed] ] news of the past week, we have to acknowledge the TOP FIVE HEROES among us. The list is growing, as more and more of us are standing up to the tyrant. Courage is infectious. Be brave!
ADELITA GRIJALVA & KRIS MAYES. Grijalva and Arizona Attorney General Mayes are suing [ [link removed] ] the U.S. House of Representatives after Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to swear in the new Representative of Arizona’s 7th congressional district—supposedly because the House is out of “regular session.” Johnson’s refusal has political consequences: one more signature [ [link removed] ] is needed to force a vote on whether to release the Epstein files, and Grijalva plans on providing it. “This delay is not procedural, it is intentional,” she says. Right on. Keep up the fight.
LORI LIGHTFOOT. The former Chicago mayor and attorney is teaming up [ [link removed] ] with other attorneys to record illegal actions by ICE. The ICE Accountability Project website will serve as a repository for these actions and “unmask” the anonymous agents with the hopes that legal action will eventually be brought against those who have acted outside of the law. Lightfoot says, “I have the Constitution and rule of law on my side.” And she certainly does.
9TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS. The court has temporarily blocked [ [link removed] ] Trump’s Oregon National Guard deployment to Portland. The new order is “an important step in protecting Oregonians’ rights and keeping our communities safe,” says Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield. Good move. Let’s keep holding Trump Constitutionally accountable.
COLLEGES WHO TURNED DOWN TRUMP’S ‘COMPACT’. The vast majority of universities offered preferential funding by the Trump Administration in return for policy changes have refused [ [link removed] ] to take it. The universities include several Ivy League schools, as well as a number of other notable bastions of academics. The demanded changes included [ [link removed] ] banning groups that disagree with “conservative ideas” and barring staff from political speech or action. Trump wants to take away our free speech. Some of our best universities are resisting him. Stay strong, universities.
ONTARIO. The province spent $75 million to launch an ad campaign [ [link removed] ] featuring President Ronald Reagan’s warning against tariffs and other protectionist legislation. The ads aired across American broadcasts last week, causing Trump to call them “fake,” terminate [ [link removed] ] trade talks, and hike tariffs [ [link removed] ] on Canada. “Such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer,” says President Reagan in the clip. Wise words. Trump would do well to listen to them.
HONORABLE MENTION. When Republicans speak out against Trump, they aren’t heroes—they’re doing the job they’re supposed to do. However, since so few are willing to take a stand, those who do deserve recognition. The Indiana Senate doesn’t appear to have the votes to pass a mid-cycle congressional map, as demanded by Trump to give Republicans more seats in Congress—despite Republicans’ legislative supermajority in the state. Why? Republican lawmakers [ [link removed] ] holding out against it. Republican State Senator Greg Walker [ [link removed] ] sums it up: “Hoosier lawmakers should be leaders in resisting this hypocrisy, not followers of this effort promoted by outsiders, not Hoosiers.” Damn straight.
Did we miss anyone? Send your heroes our way [ mailto:[email protected] ]!
Good Reads for This Week
America’s Real Enemy Within [ [link removed] ] —Project Syndicate
Token Resistance [ [link removed] ] —The Dispatch
Unmanageable: On Refusing Fear [ [link removed] ] —Tom Joad
I Met Hamas’s Founders. The Palestinian Terror Group Can’t Surrender in Gaza. [ [link removed] ] —The Next Move
The Coming U.S. Financial Crisis [ [link removed] ] —Project Syndicate
The Broken Minds of the Anti-Anti-Trump Right [ [link removed] ] —Notes from the Circus
My Last Day as an Accomplice of the Republican Party [ [link removed] ]—The xxxxxx
Why Trump’s New Ballroom Is a National Security Threat [ [link removed] ] —Salty Politics
The Devil’s Ballroom [ [link removed] ] —The Bond-Fire
THROWBACK: Donald Trump and the Bonwit Teller Sculptures [ [link removed] ] —Places Journal
Here’s what some of you are thinking about this week…
Hi Joe!
I wrote you a few months ago. I’m the one in Kansas City who was scared to go to my first protest. It ended up going well, so I sent you pics after. I’ve been to four protests since, plus one that was at our local Fox station with Cliff Cash.
For No Kings 2, I decided to fly to D.C. by myself! There were tons of people, there were no problems, it was uplifting, there was singing and bubbles, and a lot of American flags.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to the stage—I got about 50 feet from it, which by photos from D.C., was closer than most. I wanted to be in front. I really wanted to see Michael Fanone and some politicians. But I saw Cliff Cash there.
I used Sunday to visit some of the memorials.
My boyfriend stayed home in KC and went to the protest here—18,000 people!
Wish I could go to D.C. again, but I need to win the lottery first! ;)
Take care. —Melissa H.
Hi Joe,
I found something that helped make even more sense of the sadness. I had not thought of this before, however it sure was a light bulb moment.
Bulldoze the Ballroom 2028! Love to you, Helene, Mabel, and Fern.
All good thoughts! —Stacey
Hello Mr. Walsh,
I am glad to see that you are just as outraged about this as I was when I saw this image yesterday. I really didn’t have the words...I still don’t, but watching your podcast and seeing your anger, your sadness, and hearing your words made me realize, you were expressing a lot of what I was feeling yesterday.
I could go on and on about my frustrations with this administration and its enablers (the whole Republican party), but that is not what motivated me to email you. I really just wanted to say THANK YOU for expressing your feelings. It made me feel like I’m not alone in my anger. And if you decide to run in 2028, I will be one of the millions of people who would volunteer to take a fucking sledgehammer to Trump’s HIDEOUS fucking ballroom!
One last thing...can’t the demolishing of the East Wing be stopped/paused? Do ‘We The People’ not have rights regarding ‘Our House?’ Isn’t there something we can all collectively do to put a stop to this or at least a long pause? I had so much HOPE on Saturday, and yesterday, my light dimmed just a little more.
Thank you for posting your thoughts and true feelings. It was a little comforting. Take care. —Ruby C.
I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s NOT his house to bulldoze. It’s The People’s. I just started listening to you. YOU ARE THE BEST VOICE I’VE HEARD YET.
I am sharing your message with all my people. You are SPOT ON. Right on, Joe, RIGHT ON!
Thanks for saying what needs to be said. —Lorie T.
I agree with you 100%. Believe many, many people are horrified about his behavior of destroying our country. Fox News was mocking Democrats for not being on board with this horrible act. They said that if other presidents made changes, Trump should as well.
It saddened me to see the White House being destroyed. —Anthony J.
Joe,
I just wanted to say I listen to you because my brother (a Tea Party guy) admired you, and I want to think if he had not died of Covid at age 50 (which I fault right-wing media for, since he—a doctor, no less—was skeptical of the vaccine) that maybe he would have come around to your way of thinking by now. He was still defending his position on his hospital deathbed because he thought the “Tr*mp meds” he had ordered as per Fox News’ recommendations were going to save him. My brother was brilliant, not racist, extremely benevolent, and a faithful Christian. It shows how anyone could be vulnerable to the cult. I have wondered why families haven’t brought a class-action suit against Fox or other outlets, because I know my brother isn’t the only one whose loyalty caused his demise.
This week on your podcast someone suggested all of us suing for the demolition of OUR house. Trump should have to write checks to us, not the other way around. Seems that the only thing that speaks to this regime is money or the threat of losing it. I wonder if a group like Indivisible could file. It seems crazy, but what isn’t crazy right now?
Anyway, I am hoping and praying we can find a path out of this horror. In the meantime, keep speaking out and fighting for us. —Kelly A.
Hi Joe,
I listen to you often, almost daily unless I get too busy with life. I just wanted to say that today’s Social Contract was above and beyond excellent.
The appeasers, the enablers, the MAGA supporters have always been the problem, and I’ve been thinking this for 10 years. They are the reason he is doing what he is doing. So I agree with you 100%.
And it is a weird, strange, bizarre circumstance to agree with you so much of the time, because every once in a while, you will say something that I don’t agree with and that I find offensive. But here we are on the same page regarding the current fascist regime.
I just think this needs to be repeated over and over again. Look at what he is doing today, people. And look at all the people who support him, who say nothing against him as he does X, Y, and Z on any given day.
His people are the reason. And we need to say this over and over again.
Elections not only have consequences, but when the person who is voted in becomes more destructive than a bull in a China shop, and people say NOTHING in opposition, they are the problem.
Keep it going, Joe. And thank you. —Linda D.
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