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This Note from Alyssa Milano popped up in my feed this week, and damn does it ever ring true. We’re all trying to go about our regular lives—working, taking care of our families, doing the holidays, and so on, which can be difficult enough on their own—and we’re simultaneously having to deal with this gigantic ball of chaos and cruelty in the White House on a daily basis. Going through the motions of life like everything is normal, when it very clearly is not, is maddening. And we don’t even get a break on Christmas.
The thing is, I think a lot of us feel this way. We’re exhausted. No matter what our politics are, we are not okay. Even with their guy in office, MAGA isn’t okay either. Do they seem any happier to you? Any more well-adjusted? Any more kind and open? Not at all. Americans are dangerously divided. There’s too much hate. Our body politic is broken. Donald Trump is a huge part of it, but it’s beyond just him. He’s merely the ugly result of a country that’s fundamentally not okay.
A new year is coming. Another chance to somehow make us okay again. Let’s make one resolution in 2026: we will be okay. And we will do everything we must do to get there.
This Past Week
My Substack Lives are open to all subscribers, unless noted. Click below if you missed any of my conversations from the past week!
Every day I’m fighting this fascist administration—and I won’t stop until together we restore our social contract in America. If you have the means, please help support my small, fiercely pro-democracy team and me, and keep my independent voice out there. Thank you!
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We’ve built a “know your rights” app for our immigrant neighbors to lawfully protect them against ICE. It’s called PAXIS. We’re crowdfunding it for two reasons: 1) we don’t want Big Tech to have access to our data, and 2) there’s strength in numbers. The more of us who work together to build PAXIS, the more support our immigrant brothers and sisters know they can count on from Americans like you and me.
We’re in Stage 2 of funding, with a goal of $50,000, and we’re so close! Won’t you please help us make PAXIS available to every immigrant and ally who needs it?
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Amid all the bad, awful, dumb, stupid, absurd, insane, sickening, despicable, cruel, sad, childish, pathetic, embarrassing, irresponsible, demoralizing, deplorable, infuriating, outrageous, terrible, horrible, Constitution-defying, fascist 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!
BEN SASSE. This week, the former U.S. Senator and president emeritus at the University of Florida announced that he’s been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. That’s a terrifying diagnosis to face, but what he wrote was all about gratitude and hope. Sasse says he’s grateful for his family, and his faith puts the challenge “in eternity’s perspective.” He added that he’ll be fighting the disease with treatment and humor. Thank you, Senator, for what you’re teaching us all about faith and bravery.
SHARYN ALFONSI. The 60 Minutes journalist called out CBS for postponing a report on the El Salvador megaprison CECOT, despite it having already been cleared. The report was held back by Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, who said it needed “additional reporting,” which coincidentally includes an interview with the White House. Alfonsi condemned the move in an email to fellow reporters, calling it a “tactical maneuver” and saying that she wouldn’t “watch it be dismantled without a fight.” That’s the exact kind of fight we need from our journalists right now.
CHUCK REDD. The jazz musician, who has hosted the annual Kennedy Center Christmas Eve concert for two decades, called off this year’s show after Trump tacked his name onto the institution last week. The name change not only disrespects former President John F. Kennedy, but also illegally bypasses the necessary congressional approval required for such a change. It’s another step on Trump’s crusade to disrespect, destruct, and disrupt the monuments that carry our nation’s history. It’s time to fight back. Chuck did that.
SCOTUS. Occasionally, the Roberts court gets one right. This week, six justices rejected Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to Illinois despite the opposition of local leaders. The Trump Administration had “failed to identify a source of authority” to justify the deployment, they wrote. If ever there was a reminder that the courts matter, this is one of them.
FIRST RESPONDERS EVERYWHERE. When an explosion and a fire broke out at a nursing home outside Philadelphia on Tuesday, firefighters put their lives on the line to get people out and contain the blaze. On Christmas and throughout the holiday season, first responders stay on the clock to keep us safe as we celebrate. Thank you for what you do all year through.
Did we miss anyone? Send your heroes our way!
Good Reads for This Week
‘Heritage Americans’ and the American Heritage —The Next Move
The Open Window —The Dispatch
Bari Weiss Killed CBS News in 76 Days —The Warning with Steve Schmidt
Dear Bari Weiss: From a Russian Dissident —The Next Move
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