Installment #4 of my weekly Q&A with your questions, where we open up a much larger discussion on what we need to do to take care of one another -- and what we need to build together.
All great points. Additionally, we need to focus on ways to counteract disinformation among people who are not highly politically attuned. I’m thinking about ways to identify informal leaders at the grassroots level who are open to ongoing discussions/education so they can pass along valid info to the people with whom they interact and who rely on them for honest assessments of situations.
Judy Woodruff had a great panel yesterday with Judge Luttig, Heather Cox Richardson and Theodore Johnson. I was very impressed with Johnson and would like to see more from him in the DNC.
Thank you for your insight and expertise. It's appreciated. I have referred a couple of concerned attorney friends to your pod and writing. Your information on the law and its collision with a sociopath like trump is very helpful and hopeful! We have to cancel them. Somehow.
Could the Dems >please< elect a European-style leader of the opposition? Not the DNC chair, but someone to truly represent the party, call us to action, and speak with a loud voice in the media, including Fox, Rogan etc. If we revive the mini-primary idea, we could do it within a month with a forward looking debate. If the party wont do it, maybe the grass-roots should just go ahead and elect someone!
Sounds good to me! I might try to start a hashtag on bluesky, but could try here too? If we do rank choice voting, I might go: 1) AOC, 2) Mayor Pete, 3) Hakeem Jefferies 4) Whitmer, but we have such a deep bench! What'd be your vote?
Please let me know if you do this. Oh gosh, I'm not sure. Your list seems pretty good. I wonder if some younger people like Maxwell Frost and David Hogg are worth considering. Of course that depends on their plans. We don't know what any of these people have in mind.
We're starting local. Plans to regularly attend our township meetings in January. They're currently canceled for the holidays 🙃
I'm hoping to get more involvement on the Democratic ticket picks in our county as well. Head of our county Democrats has left several positions unopposed in the last few elections 😡
Great report from all persons involved in this article. You hit the nail on the head in regard to Musk and Ramoswami as I feel they should not be allowed with in miles of trump and all of his plans and they're part of them as everyone knows. How can we stop them from getting by with the things that they're doing when they're not even nominated to any of the offices as stated within the government. I'm so in fear of being broke and losing the little bit we have left after downsizing and being living comfortable. I feel scared of what they can do to us and Trump is backing them by the multi-millions. All of these billionaires have and it's so depressing to me and maybe it's getting the best of me. I just know my husband needs his federal employment checks as he is a retiree and I social security in order to live to make house payments. So on and so forth. I will do anything to make things better for our country and it sure in the hell it's not Trump and his partners who are horrible.
There is a plan to be built. The 2028 Democratic Platform needs our input, and should be a guide for all of us. The ‘24 Democratic Platform was thrown at us last minute and was an aside. A useless aside.
For the 2028 Democratic Platform, I chance at 3 of its 6 legs, Economy, Immigration, and Rural. There are 3 more to devise. Health, Equality and Defense are candidates. Question is can everything fall into one of those buckets? For instance, foreign affairs goes under Defense? Or we have a leg called Matters of State, and Foreign Affairs and Defense go under that. Here is the starter file discussing this topic: https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/democratic-platform-28?r=3m1bs
What about when trump begins to intimidate judges and prosecutors? We keep thinking the court will save us… is that realistic??
Felon 45 was already threatening judges and their families while he was a citizen essentially facing life in prison with all his convictions everywhere.
Now with total immunity as president and with the FBI and the military behind him, I’m pessimistic about the “justice” system’s ability to hold him back.
I live in Florida, and unfortunately unethical and illegal things are pulled all the time by MAGA and their cronies. I’d Iike to get your advice on a recent event, because I personally feel like there has to be something we can do about it. Rep. Susan Valdés in FL ran and won as a Dem this Nov and days ago flipped to be a Republican giving them a supermajority. This is also less than a week after she tried to run as Dem chair of her county. This seems to be happening more often—people running as Dems knowing they are going to flip and defrauding voters—what can we do about it? It seems like ever time it happens people say “They should step down and refund people.” but obviously that never happens so what can we do to stop this? What repercussions can we enforce? Interested to hear people’s thoughts.
With federal employees under attack again, who are the lawyers that will help protect their rights? Is it just union lawyers? What about federal employees who are not in positions covered by the union?!
I would like to see a guide for those of us who are not lawyers so we can help with the legal end of things. Is it practical for us to get involved? I'm too old to go to law school but I would be interested in helping.
Yes, and YES again! We need to organize and we need to stay united to take the fight to the fascists and make it impossible for them to destroy our values.
Why else would Trump seek to appoint the very worst people to head our most important institutions - justice, health, education, defense, intelligence and administration - if not to destroy our country from within? The mainstream media have proved worthless in standing up to him and calling out his lies. We, the people, will need to push back and seize the initiative.
I'm looking forward to receiving your further thoughts about the issue, Tristan. Please keep us posted.
All great points. Additionally, we need to focus on ways to counteract disinformation among people who are not highly politically attuned. I’m thinking about ways to identify informal leaders at the grassroots level who are open to ongoing discussions/education so they can pass along valid info to the people with whom they interact and who rely on them for honest assessments of situations.
Judy Woodruff had a great panel yesterday with Judge Luttig, Heather Cox Richardson and Theodore Johnson. I was very impressed with Johnson and would like to see more from him in the DNC.
Thank you for your insight and expertise. It's appreciated. I have referred a couple of concerned attorney friends to your pod and writing. Your information on the law and its collision with a sociopath like trump is very helpful and hopeful! We have to cancel them. Somehow.
Could the Dems >please< elect a European-style leader of the opposition? Not the DNC chair, but someone to truly represent the party, call us to action, and speak with a loud voice in the media, including Fox, Rogan etc. If we revive the mini-primary idea, we could do it within a month with a forward looking debate. If the party wont do it, maybe the grass-roots should just go ahead and elect someone!
I don't see why we can't. This platform, Substack, is a great way to get people to come together, so how about starting one? Who would you suggest?
Sounds good to me! I might try to start a hashtag on bluesky, but could try here too? If we do rank choice voting, I might go: 1) AOC, 2) Mayor Pete, 3) Hakeem Jefferies 4) Whitmer, but we have such a deep bench! What'd be your vote?
Steve, it seems that I can really pick 'em. I just found out that David Hogg is running for DNC vice-chair.
Who do you like for DNC chair?
Please let me know if you do this. Oh gosh, I'm not sure. Your list seems pretty good. I wonder if some younger people like Maxwell Frost and David Hogg are worth considering. Of course that depends on their plans. We don't know what any of these people have in mind.
OK, did it!
https://bsky.app/profile/sengelweb.bsky.social/post/3ldbrvbwfc22s
This is great! I suppose I need a Blue Sky account now. I wasn't going to set one up.
Yes, you do. When you get there look me up @78minutes.bsky.social
We only lost by 1.5%!!!!!
We're starting local. Plans to regularly attend our township meetings in January. They're currently canceled for the holidays 🙃
I'm hoping to get more involvement on the Democratic ticket picks in our county as well. Head of our county Democrats has left several positions unopposed in the last few elections 😡
Great report from all persons involved in this article. You hit the nail on the head in regard to Musk and Ramoswami as I feel they should not be allowed with in miles of trump and all of his plans and they're part of them as everyone knows. How can we stop them from getting by with the things that they're doing when they're not even nominated to any of the offices as stated within the government. I'm so in fear of being broke and losing the little bit we have left after downsizing and being living comfortable. I feel scared of what they can do to us and Trump is backing them by the multi-millions. All of these billionaires have and it's so depressing to me and maybe it's getting the best of me. I just know my husband needs his federal employment checks as he is a retiree and I social security in order to live to make house payments. So on and so forth. I will do anything to make things better for our country and it sure in the hell it's not Trump and his partners who are horrible.
Thefire.org supports free speech and is looking for attorneys.
There is a plan to be built. The 2028 Democratic Platform needs our input, and should be a guide for all of us. The ‘24 Democratic Platform was thrown at us last minute and was an aside. A useless aside.
For the 2028 Democratic Platform, I chance at 3 of its 6 legs, Economy, Immigration, and Rural. There are 3 more to devise. Health, Equality and Defense are candidates. Question is can everything fall into one of those buckets? For instance, foreign affairs goes under Defense? Or we have a leg called Matters of State, and Foreign Affairs and Defense go under that. Here is the starter file discussing this topic: https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/democratic-platform-28?r=3m1bs
Don't forget the environment!!
Tristan,
What about when trump begins to intimidate judges and prosecutors? We keep thinking the court will save us… is that realistic??
Felon 45 was already threatening judges and their families while he was a citizen essentially facing life in prison with all his convictions everywhere.
Now with total immunity as president and with the FBI and the military behind him, I’m pessimistic about the “justice” system’s ability to hold him back.
What do you think?
I live in Florida, and unfortunately unethical and illegal things are pulled all the time by MAGA and their cronies. I’d Iike to get your advice on a recent event, because I personally feel like there has to be something we can do about it. Rep. Susan Valdés in FL ran and won as a Dem this Nov and days ago flipped to be a Republican giving them a supermajority. This is also less than a week after she tried to run as Dem chair of her county. This seems to be happening more often—people running as Dems knowing they are going to flip and defrauding voters—what can we do about it? It seems like ever time it happens people say “They should step down and refund people.” but obviously that never happens so what can we do to stop this? What repercussions can we enforce? Interested to hear people’s thoughts.
With federal employees under attack again, who are the lawyers that will help protect their rights? Is it just union lawyers? What about federal employees who are not in positions covered by the union?!
I would like to see a guide for those of us who are not lawyers so we can help with the legal end of things. Is it practical for us to get involved? I'm too old to go to law school but I would be interested in helping.
Yes, and YES again! We need to organize and we need to stay united to take the fight to the fascists and make it impossible for them to destroy our values.
Why else would Trump seek to appoint the very worst people to head our most important institutions - justice, health, education, defense, intelligence and administration - if not to destroy our country from within? The mainstream media have proved worthless in standing up to him and calling out his lies. We, the people, will need to push back and seize the initiative.
I'm looking forward to receiving your further thoughts about the issue, Tristan. Please keep us posted.