David Harrison: How Things Will Get Better

This is the next of our series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

If you are not already receiving these messages by email, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every month.

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What Donald Trump wants is for your despair to disable you. He wants you to watch the news helplessly, heart sinking to new depths. He wants you to believe that everything he announces will materialize, along with other worse things that he has yet to imagine. He wants you to think that every time he is blocked, he will ignore the obstacle, refuse to honor a court order, or find a new path.

Could you do that for him? Could you become so disoriented that you wouldn’t be able to identify a victory even when you secure one? Could your ability to find ways forward diminish? Could you marginalize your own self? Could you not be able to bear it anymore?

It’s what he wants. But we couldn’t and wouldn’t do that, not ever. Instead, we take the stone off our chests. We will sort out what is happening and recognize these four current conditions upon which we will build.

It’s Not Just About Indiana

It has been so long since a large group of elected Republicans stood up for what is right that we almost forgot that it was possible. In Indiana 21! Republican State Senators voted against Trump’s redistricting plan. All faced threats from Trump that he would get them thrown out. Not only did they not vote the way he wanted, but they also cited democratic principles in refusing to do so. Post Texas (-5) and California (+5) redistricting efforts have slowed.

Slowly, the once entirely absent Republican pushback is growing. In the House, four Republicans faced Trump’s political death threats. They signed the discharge petition that put extending Affordable Care Act subsidies on the House floor. Once it got there, 17 Republicans voted to pass it, giving new life to health care subsidy negotiations in the Senate.

In the Senate, Trump continues to rage as five Republican Senators voted to limit his military powers in Venezuela. Senators Susan Collins, Rand Paul, and Lisa Murkowski were joined by long time Trump apostles Todd Young of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri. Now Trump’s henchpersons at the Department of Justice are investigating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump will be unable to get any Federal Reserve nominee confirmed by the Senate until the dogs return to the kennel.

Trump’s ability to punish MAGA wanderers remains huge, still far beyond the recriminations favored by the presidents before him. However, the fact that some have incurred Trump’s wrath and have survived has been noticed. The closer we get to the November off-year elections, the more some will be looking beyond Trump, still as carefully as they can.

The Republican Schism Grows

It is not difficult to discern why so many Republican members of Congress are battling each other over MAGA principles, whatever they are. Every week they take their positions and every week Trump undercuts them, disagrees with himself and pretends he didn’t say something he said. He arrests one dictator indicted for drug smuggling and pardons another. He is and isn’t an isolationist. He believes in fighting for affordability except on days that he labels it a hoax. Intense narcissism never constituted a political platform, but it has become one now.

All of which make it difficult for Mike Johnson and John Thune to function. Faced with a budget crisis again in late January, Johnson’s survival as Speaker is grounded in there being no one else that House members can think of to elect. All of which will make it difficult for him to establish any kind of leadership that could save his House majority in November.

It’s not wise to underestimate Republican differences over Trump’s long-time friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Here the discharge petition that led to the release of millions of pages of Epstein files was signed by four Republicans who are to the right of Trump, all originally bought in to the withholding of the files being a Democratic conspiracy. Still locked into what they see as a government conspiracy to protect the elites, they were willing to tolerate the political damage Trump is suffering.

The Midterm Outcome Emerges

Only twice in the last 30 years has the party in power escaped losing seats at the midterm. This won’t be the third time. There are two additional factors to our advantage beyond the above stated Republican profiles in courage and their schism. First, Trump for once isn’t lying when he says Republican candidates do better when he is on the ballot, which isn’t going to happen again. Democratic gubernatorial candidates Mikey Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanbarger in Virginia ran 12-15% better this November than Democratic candidates in their own state just one year before, when Trump beat Kamala Harris. This includes some party vote-switching (including among Latino voters) but it also included MAGA voters staying at home. When Trump is not on the ballot, his political activity, endorsements and such turn out more Democratic voters. That is great news, and it won’t change between now and November.

Second, 2026 voters aren’t going to blame Joe Biden for whatever they are feeling about affordability. A record 70% don’t like Trump’s handling of the economy. Here Trump is victimized by Trump. After Biden helped bring inflation back to near the current levels, Trump continued the exact same criticisms that he had featured in 2021 when inflation peaked at 9%. More than anything else, Trump’s focus on Biden has conditioned voters to give any sitting President more blame than he would otherwise receive for any economic problems. In addition, Trump’s bewildering actions on tariffs are a giant “kick me” sign regarding affordability. Spanbarger and Sherrill have already proven that this will be the issue in November. Any Democratic candidate who ignores that doesn’t belong on the ballot.

The cautious Cook Report has just upgraded Democratic prospects in eighteen separate Congressional races. There are now two more Senate races where Democrats could surprise. Texas was on very few lists until now, when it has become clear that far right Attorney General Ken Paxton could win the Republican primary, unseating Republican Senator John Cornyn. This creates a better chance to win much of the center with popular Congressman James Talarico. Even more surprising, Alaska is in play. Former Democratic member of Congress Mary Peltola is running even with Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.

Very Slowly, the Supreme Court Slowly Asserts Itself

Trump has already decided how we will respond to an upcoming mixed Supreme Court decision on tariffs. He will rail at the Court and at the decision which will establish that he has overstepped his powers through unlawful use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which requires that the tariffed country represent an “unusual or extraordinary threat” to national security or our economy,

Since in some instances the President has other, lesser authority that he can employ, the Court is likely to require the U.S. Court for International Trade to sort out the permissible actions. They will also set up a process where the government will have to give refunds to certain importers. However sensible or even Trump-tolerant the Court’s decision turns out to be, it will be broadly viewed as a significant departure from the Court’s approach to Trump.

Many of Trump’s opponents have misunderstood the Court’s 6-3 ruling forcing Trump to remove the National Guard from Illinois, California and Oregon. Not without some justification, they think that Trump will just find another way to get the National Guard into places the Governors don’t want them. However, the Supreme Court has set the bar way too high even for Trump.

There are a score of more cases where the Supreme Court stayed a lower court ruling against an unconstitutional action by Trump. In all the lower court ruled the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims. These cases are moving through the system. Plus, by summer we can expect the Supreme Court to have brushed away Trump’s challenge to birthright citizenship and his attempt to fire Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook. 

The way not to make progress against Trump is to devote precious time and thought to impeachment, or to believe the countless AI generated social media fake posts in which Pete Buttigieg, running backs, folk singers and selected actors berate whichever Republican elected official. Instead, let’s do these three things.

1) Be a Founding Donor for Mary Peltola

As Democrats have been trying to figure out how to win back Senate seats in Ohio, North Carolina, Maine and Texas (and protect seats in Michigan and Georgia) Alaska has emerged as an exciting new take-it-back chance. Former Congresswoman Mary Peltola can beat incumbent Dan Sullivan. Early money is like yeast. Let’s all give her some now. 

2) Talk to John Fetterman Right Away

Unfortunately, Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has decided to add his voice to Trump’s about Greenland, discussing a U.S. land acquisition, citing the precedent of the Louisiana Purchase. Call John Fetterman today at (202) 224-4254 and remind him of the existence of indigenous people (Greenlanders) and other sovereign nations (Denmark). Tell him he’s forgotten who we are as a people, or who we are supposed to be.

3) Get on the Street

Peaceful protests are an important part of this movement. Keep track and participate in what is happening locally, where organizers and sponsors will vary. Because of its strong single message, pay special attention to the No Kings Alliance, which will sponsor a gigantic multi-city rally on July 4. The perfect date, no?

Every week, in every way possible, we put ourselves in play. We got rid of him once and we have to do it again, so we will.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island , Washington

David Harrison: Everyone is a Potential “Piggy”

This is the next of our series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. . 

If you are not already receiving these messages by email, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every month.

You can’t help but be taken aback. Donald Trump is an unbelievably meanspirited, vindictive man. Each day, there is a new person or country to mock or taunt. The fact is everyone is a potential “Piggy” to him, or a “Traitor”. Will somebody please warn Kash Patel not to read Truth Social a month from now? Bobby Kennedy Jr. you are a major measles epidemic away from having your usefulness revisited. Mike Johnson, Karoline Leavitt, Kristi Noem, at one point Trump loved John Bolton just as much as he now loves you! He once loved Marjorie Taylor Greene even more than he loves you! Mayor Zohran Mamdani, you already know you need to be prepared for next February’s news cycle.

Every month in the last twelve seems the same. The man who had “the best MRI his doctor had ever seen” subsequently said he didn’t know what the MRI was scanning. He tells us that a “lot of people didn’t like” the Saudi-murdered Ahmad Khashoggi, that worries about food prices are a “con job”, and that Zelenskyy is ungrateful and is welcome to fight on by himself.

The good news is that it turns out that every month isn’t the same. The door opened further for our resistance on the off-year election night on November 6, which demonstrated that when he isn’t on the ballot (which he never will be again) he is a much better vote getter for his opponents than he is for MAGA. Latino voters turned away from Trump. Precinct by precinct in Virginia and New Jersey, we ran ten points better than our outcome just a year ago. On Tuesday in Tennessee, we ran thirteen points better.

And that isn’t all. There are seven deadly sins, all working against Trump at the same time, all opening the door further:

1) Affordability - The genie is resisting going back into the bottle. Trump beat Kamala Harris largely due to Biden-era inflation. Now that he is the President, Trump has told his Cabinet that affordability is a “Democratic con job”. Unfortunately for him, by 2 to 1, voters say that Trump has done more to increase inflation rather than reduce it. That’s true of course, but Trump is also hobbled by the fact that even if it weren’t true, perception is always going to be the winner. On the economy, you shouldn’t or can’t tell the American people that things are better than they think they are. It doesn’t work.

2) Trump Gerrymandering - On redistricting, now that the lower courts have blocked the Texas plan, Greg Abbott is relying on the Supreme Court to reinstate his now-blocked effort to grab five more House seats. Five members of the Court will hold their noses and do so, even though they know a “ham-fisted” letter written last summer by the Department of Justice violated the Voting Rights Act. Even so, Trump’s redistricting schemes are slowing, parried by Gavin Newsom’s efforts in California. In Indiana, a Republican State Senator has opposed the bill after Trump slurred the intellectually disabled. 

3) Marjorie Taylor Greene - You could think that MAGA’s drum major walking off the field at halftime was just a quirky isolated little thing, but you would be wrong. For years, Trump believers in Congress have done whatever they have been told to do, because to do otherwise would guarantee they would suffer Trump’s political execution ritual. Surprisingly, some pundits have said Marjorie Taylor Greene signed the discharge position forcing the House vote on the Epstein files because she’s chosen another political path. The fact is, she doesn’t have and will not have another viable political path. Otherwise a bit off kilter, she signed it because defending Epstein’s victims is the right thing to do. Given the shortage of profiles in courage in the Republican party, those that occur must be recognized. Partly due to her, the disclosures about Trump and Epstein being each other’s wingmen will continue.

4) The Speaker and the House - Speaker Mike Johnson already knows there isn’t going to be another reconciliation bill. There is no issue where he can keep his tiny majority together. The Speaker is spent, and there is no replacement. Among other things, Republicans in the House are warring with each other internally about Trump’s Putin love, Pete Hegseth’s murderous “fog of war”, health care subsidies, the Epstein files, what happened with the East Wing, asylum, redistricting, regulation of their stock purchases, the continuing resolution, and vaccines. As mid-term elections near, the angst will grow. If the election were held today, Democrats would take back twenty seats.

5) The Ukraine Peace Deal - Being a transactional person, Trump is stuck with trying to secure an agreement that Putin and Zelenskyy will sign, when what they each want is not reconcilable. You either reward Putin for attacking a sovereign nation, or you don’t. With Trump’s longtime friend Steve Witkoff acting as his “diplomatic” emissary, Trump only solidified Putin’s demands. Marco Rubio is helping him backtrack, but Putin is upping the nighttime bombings. Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer are trying to help Zelenskyy without angering Trump. This will stay a mess for a while, and a lot of people are going to be unhappy with Trump at the end of it. 

6) The Federal Courts - Legal analysts have marveled at the lengths that Supreme Court Justices Roberts, Coney Barrett, Gorsuch and Kavanagh have gone to protect Trump’s actions. They had not believed nearly so much in the sanctity of executive powers when Joe Biden was president. Happily, a modest but real shift has begun. In a few instances where the Supreme Court has blocked nationwide injunctions issued by lower courts, the cases are finally coming to trial. In other instances, the states are using the Administrative Procedures Act to block agency actions, a course that Judge Coney Barrett had underscored. Moreover, the Court will modify Trump’s tariff powers and prevent his executive order on birthright citizenship from going into effect.

7) The Latino Vote - Kamala Harris won the Latino vote in 2024, but her margins were much reduced from the Biden victory in 2020. Regret among Latino voters is surging. In New Jersey and Virginia, 20% of the Latino supporters for Trump in 2024 voted for successful Democratic gubernatorial candidates Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger one year later.

Already we know that we have seen the last time Donald Trump’s name will appear on a ballot. Our chances of taking back the House have gone from good to excellent. That’s not as good as what will happen in 2028 with our new generation of candidates, but it is where we will start this next chapter. Let’s do these three things.

1) Respond to Representative Maria Elvira Salazar

Florida Member of Congress Maria Elvira Salazar has come to Donald Trump’s defense after he called reporter Catherine Lucey “piggy”. Salazar said “President Trump is a very picturesque and difficult and different type of politician. But I always say that I look at his policies and not at his personality. No one is perfect. Those who are perfect are in heaven.” Let’s call Rep. Salazar’s DC office at 202 225-3931 and tell her that she should be defending the reporter, not her verbal assailant.

2) Help Feed, Clothe and Warm Ukrainians

It’s not clear that Donald Trump cares about the people of Ukraine, but you do. Gifts to the International Rescue Committee are tax deductible. They can be earmarked for Ukraine. They will be matched dollar for dollar until January 5. 

3) Time to Put Texas on Your Mind

Georgia, Maine and North Carolina will all be big Senate battlegrounds in 2026. Donors are reluctant to think about Texas, even though Beto O’Rourke almost took away Ted Cruz’ Senate seat in 2018. There are some new possibilities. Very right-wing attorney general Ken Paxton may unseat right wing Senator John Cronyn, upping our chances in the general election. This is a state that once elected Lloyd Bentsen, Anne Richards and Ralph Yarborough. In the right circumstances, they can help us move toward a Senate majority. You can help that along by sending some of your liquid assets to the Texas Organizing Project, which has a big umbrella and is a consistent ground force. 

It seems a nearly endless quest, but it isn’t hard to see where we can and will go. So, let’s go there.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

David Harrison: Will the Last Real Republican Turn Out the Lights?

This is the next of our series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. . 

If you are not already receiving these messages by email, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every month.

Will the last real Republican turn out the lights as you leave the Capitol? Donald Trump owns every single bit of your party.

It’s been hard on their party’s equilibrium. Donald Trump, working with a narrow majority, unchecked as he obliterates what Republican Senators have worked decades to achieve. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, remember the days when you were a leader in crafting and supporting the government’s vaccination efforts? Those were the days, the ones before you were allowed a show hearing to pretend you are curbing Bobby Kennedy’s destruction of the Centers for Disease Control. The whole world knows you aren’t stopping anything. 

Charles Grassley of Iowa, at 91 will you stay in the Senate long enough to witness the President you support firing your last Inspector General? You worked so hard to create that system to guard against governmental excess. It turns out that grumbling about the firings doesn’t keep them from happening. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, weren’t you once (with your friend John McCain) the ultimate truthteller about the coldblooded killer Putin? How was it to hear the duped Trump tell Emmanuel Macron that “Putin wants to make a deal… as crazy as it sounds?” How is it to know that Putin’s drones kill Ukrainians almost every night while Trump blames the war on India? Wasn’t Trump going to bring peace in a day?

It doesn’t just seem like the time between now and the presidential election of November 2028 is interminable. It is. There will be modest moments of grace every month before then, like when the Supreme Court begrudges a victory or two for the Constitution on issues like birthright citizenship, or when a million or more people fill the streets on No Kings Day. We already know when the big day is, the Congressional elections of November 3, 2026. We will have a celebration then. Between now and then, it is up to us to decide how big a festival of democracy it will be.

Current polling shows that if the election were held today, we would make progress in the Senate and take back the House, winning a dozen or more seats. The answers to the FAQ’s show trending in our favor.

Will the current government shutdown be to our political disadvantage?

There isn’t a better issue for Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer to stand behind than American access to affordable health care. If the “Republicans” don’t agree to it, they will shoulder the blame for what most Americans already see as a festering problem. The Mike Johnson/John Thune position arguing for a “clean” bill has no meaning for the average voter. Since Trump always attacks Democrats for everything, his blame casting has achieved no resonance with independent voters, and it won’t.

How about Trump’s role as peacemaker?

Even the Nobel committee (or especially the Nobel committee) knows you can’t award the Peace Prize to anyone who threatens to invade Greenland and Panama and will threaten to invade one or more countries to be named later. Trump has no way to avoid the impasse in Ukraine. Zelenskyy and NATO are rightly opposed to giving back their sovereign territory. Putin won’t stop the war unless they do, and Trump does not have the leverage to change either position. Hence him blaming India and previously claiming that Ukraine started the war. In Israel and Gaza, there is promise now that the 20 remaining hostages have been returned, and Trump and his people did the necessary work to make that happen. For a while, it will be forgotten that Trump got Benjamin Netanyahu to this place by removing any Biden-era constraints on bombing of Gaza’s civilians. The hard part is already emerging, Hamas giving up their weapons and Gaza being governed.

Is Trump helping Republicans win over independents?

No. And a quarter of the Latinos who voted for Trump are expressing misgivings. Forbes reports that Trump’s second term approval rating is at a new low. 

Will Trump be able to claim that his tariffs gained important trade concessions?

Between now and November of 2026, Trump’s tariff policies will strongly advantage the Democrats. 61% of voters disapprove of his actions. China knows elections are coming up, and that Trump doesn’t want the negative economic impact that 100 percent tariffs will generate. It is a hardball negotiating game that Trump is playing, but he is killing markets for our farm products and causing former trade partners like Brazil to head toward Beijing. Meanwhile he will have to scramble to repair whatever constraints the Supreme Court will place on his bizarre, dishonest use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Example: the false “emergency” of Canada being the source of fentanyl. Even the smallest inflation upturn will be attributed to Trump’s trade wars and will stall the Federal Reserve’s intent to lower interest rates.

So, prospects for November 3, 2026 election look good. How can we make them better by acting in October of 2025?

Let’s do this right now:

Support an Outstanding Team of Field Organizers

The 2020 Joe Biden/ Kamala Harris victory was largely due to extraordinary field work carried out by anti-Trump activists. This was perhaps the largest campaign effort in American history. It seems so long ago. 

Perhaps the best recruiter, trainer and deployer of our forces is Common Power. From the beginning their hallmark has been having very strong local partners under the promise of “our boots, their ground”. Right now, Charles Douglas and David Domke of Common Power are executing their 2025 plan in a way that will give us momentum for 2026. It’s all about winning the Governor’s races in Virginia (Abigail Spanberger) and New Jersey (Mikie Sherrill) and passing Gavin Newsom’s initiative in California.

Common Power couldn’t be clearer about why, where and how they have deployed over a hundred organizers, stretching their resources:

And now we enter a crucial four-week window: the November 2025 elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and California. Winning in these three states gives the Dems a boost of hope and momentum heading into 2026, AND super important, gives the Dems a chance to hold their own in the current US House redistricting battles. In California, passage of Prop 50 would allow state Democrats to redraw their US House districts. In Virginia, a Democratic victory in the governor’s race and a holding by Dems of control of the state House would allow VA Democrats to redraw House maps to pick up a seat or two. In a fair democracy, these redistricting moves would not be needed, but Republicans have so distorted the political landscape.

This missive is all in. It has its own donation link and thus its own distinct role in raising the $600,000 that will put Common Power over the top as well as bolstering them for 2026. It is not too late to step in. Let’s click and send.

What a miserable, unacceptable, undemocratic political environment this anti-American president has created. Let’s change it.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

David Harrison: Rules for Escaping the Abyss

This is the next of our series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. . 

If you are not already receiving these messages by email, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every month.

This pit isn’t bottomless, though sometimes it seems so.

Any time you fall into an abyss, you will wonder whether it is or isn’t bottomless. Abysses have an earned bad reputation. You don’t want to think that extrication or escape is impossible. 

In this instance, related to the unthinkable “presidency” of Donald Trump, the way out is there for us, as long as we follow these simple abyss extrication rules:

1) Don’t spend even a minute dwelling on how you and others fell in, even if where and how you fell in is obvious. (See Joe Biden 2024 candidacy).

2) Assess your current situation carefully. Others with you may be distracted by dangers that are not real. (See Trump executive order usurping state constitutional powers on management of elections.)

3) Realize that it is a waste of time comparing your abyss to warranted concerns of the years ago, unless remembering how we prevailed will cheer and empower you. (See election of November, 2020)

4) Work with all those who fell or were pushed in with you. Dwell now on what you share. (See overwrought debates between liberals and progressives)

5) Don’t let weariness or resignation take over. (See most of us, December, 2024)

6) Identify the most promising paths (See below...)

The 2026 House of Representatives elections, in which we will take back the House and elect Hakeem Jeffries speaker. Poll averages place the generic Congressional vote at +4% for Democrats. Gavin Newsom and California will successfully respond to Texas redistricting and Republican gerrymandering will stall in the face of Kathy Hochul’s New York threats.

The 2026 Senate elections, in which we have found new energy from Donald Trump’s execution of North Carolina’s Senator Thom Tillis. Former Democratic NC Governor Roy Cooper is a strong candidate. Republican Senator Susan Collins is (deservedly)in trouble in Maine and former Senator Sherrod Brown is giving us a new shot in Ohio. If ultra-right winger Ken Paxton unseats John Cornyn in the Texas primary, Democrat Colin Allred will have a solid chance in the general election.

The Virginia governorship, in which voters will decide this November to select former Democratic member of Congress Abigail Spanbarger who holds a 10+ percent polling lead. This is a take back made possible by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin reaching the maximum two terms 

The FY 2025-2026 federal budget (or continuing resolution), in which divisions among Republicans leave no way for speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader John Thule to get approval by the deadline date of September 30.

A growing number of appellate court decisions in which litigants have blocked Trump from proceeding in such areas as massive agency layoffs, unlawful rescission of appropriations, DOGE actions, and due process for deportees. The Supreme Court has stayed several of these rulings, allowing Trump to temporarily continue. Many of these cases will ultimately move forward with district and appellate courts already having found that those litigating against Trump are likely to prevail on the case’s merits.

Trump promised the American people that he would end the war in Ukraine his first day in office. Because he is unwilling to challenge Putin, his only option is unthinkable - to cede Ukrainian territory and thus reward the Russian invasion.

And then there are the tariffs, and their resultant inflationary pressure.

Of course, having Trump as president is agony. No one is saying otherwise. From vaccine rejection to throwing 10 million people off Medicare to ending our international role in fighting hunger and disease, Donald Trump is killing people as surely as if he was firing a gun.

Just because this seems endless doesn't mean we won't set our country free. At this point, we can be participating in and funding local organizers and getting behind individual candidates.

In addition, one of the most disheartening features of this past year has been these three Senators abdicating their core beliefs. Let's remind them of what they promised and sought by doing these three things:

1) Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Donald Trump just did a "pocket rescission" of over $4 billion in aid to poor countries. This means he will freeze the money, ignore the Budget and Impoundment Act that governs such matters, and let the clock run out. This action treats Collins and her Congressional Committee as minor functionaries rather than an equal branch of the US government. Call Susan Collins at 202 224-2523 and tell her that she is violating her oath of office by not standing up to Trump.

2) Republican Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina has been a lifelong truth teller about Vladimir Putin's threat to Eastern Europe. Graham was John McCain's close ally in making certain America never forgets the danger that Putin presents. He has since bromanced Donald Trump to remain "relevant". Call Lindsay Graham at 202-224-5973 and tell him that ceding Ukrainian territory to an occupying country is a desecration of American ideals.

3) Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is a doctor who has spent his entire medical and political career advancing the use of vaccines. He has stood by while Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr. have taken apart the vaccine protections that he and his colleagues built over decades. Call Bill Cassidy at 202-224-5824 and tell him you know what is in his heart, and that he can't stand aside any longer.

There is no one waiting behind us if we step aside. Let's find our way out of the abyss.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

David Harrison: John Thune’s Confession

This is the next of our series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. . 

If you are not already receiving these messages by email, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every month.

Dear fellow Americans,

Some of you have followed my very successful political career, at least since I was elected to the Senate in 2005. I cast myself as a George W. Bush Republican, eager to remove obstacles to his policies as he began his second term. What it meant to be John Thune was to have people describe me as a solid conservative with a moderate approach and a yen for building consensus. That is still who I am.

You might ask yourself how I as Senate Majority Leader could walk away from my past as the Senate agreed to its version of the Donald Trump proposal on taxes, spending and debt? It aims to extract many billions of savings from the help we give to poor people to get more money to comfort the comfortable. How could I square my own commitments to human compassion with the plan to cut access to food aid and remove medical assistance from ten million Americans? 

The easy answer is my job was and is to find consensus within my party. However, two things have happened in the past week that make that easy answer unacceptable to me. First, when my colleague Thom Tillis announced his no vote on the Senate floor, he told the truth about what Medicaid cuts would do to the least of our brethren in North Carolina. He said we are breaking the promise not to cut entitlements. For me, he raised the image of a child writhing in pain or even dying with caregivers hugging them through their last breath. I am haunted by those we will leave behind, as we shamefully field the media-tailored White House untruth that Medicaid will be unchanged for those for whom it is intended. The President gets to say whatever he wants (“We’re not cutting Medicaid”) but we are making the biggest health care cuts in history. Unbelievably, some of my colleagues are reveling in this.

We’ve grabbed food stamps away at the same time, reducing the rolls by over three million people. Unbelievably, the motivation in part is to have more funds to give to people who have long since stopped needing the money. We should require billionaires to go to grocery stores, stand in the aisles and take things from the grocery carts of those we are disqualifying.

What were once Republican conservatives have lost our party. There is no clearer sign than the Kabuki-theatre style drama we set up for Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. I think some Americans even bought into Lisa Murkowski’s “agonizing” vote to put the bill over the top, and Susan Collins’ “fight” for rural hospitals. At least Rand Paul stood for something with his no vote. Collins and Murkowski stood for nothing. At no point did I fear that they would extract major changes. As the majority leader, I would let Lisa Murkowski settle for her whaling captain tax break every day of the week. And take Josh Hawley, please. His principled plea to protect Medicaid ended up in a vote in favor of the enormous cut. Where did he really stand?

There’s more to say, but I won’t say it. Many of my colleagues had cheered the inventiveness of solar and wind energy entrepreneurs in our states, bolstered by the previous  administrations. We stood by while the bill assaulted those companies, which will force many to close.

It’s a hard business. I understand as a Senator that you don’t always win. I get it when my colleagues fear recrimination from someone who hasn’t hesitated to employ political punishment. I have felt the same lash myself. In December 2020 I announced that the election results would stand and was threatened with a primary challenge. I fought for the COVID vaccine. But the fact that I once stood up and didn’t this time makes being part of this awful month harder, not easier. 

The “resistance” doesn’t seem to get how much of this bill they can unravel as they take the House back in 2026. Many of the Medicaid changes are being phased in, to try to protect our swing district House members from what otherwise may befall them. They can be phased out as well. Some of the most severe cuts aren’t scheduled until 2027, which gives Democrats the challenge of getting the millions of independents and Republicans who receive Medicaid to register their disapproval before they feel the reality of being thrown out of the system. Resisters even think Elon Musk’s pronouncements and money will have a minor impact, which is not close to accurate. If Musk does what he says he will do, it will muddy every close race. 

If I were in the shoes of those who can publicly oppose what just happened, I would read and follow the recommendations in David Harrison’s missives:

1) Quit the Rending of the Garments

Donald Trump didn’t win a second term. We gave him one. Perhaps it is unwise to start a chorus of cries that our republic started on July 4, 1776, and ended upon the President’s bill signing on July 3. Might that not be just a little bit self-defeating?

2) Support Roy Cooper

Perhaps the only good thing that happened for Democrats during the last month was Donald Trump unfairly torching John Thune’s friend North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis and blocking him from seeking re-election. The president had several good conversations with the highly respected Tillis before his severe attacks on social media, leading to the Senator’s decision not to run again. This seat replaces Susan Collins’ Maine race as the number one Democrat take back opportunity. Democratic former Governor Roy Cooper is popular. He won the governorship in 2016 even as Trump was getting the state’s electoral votes. Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump will find that Trump’s political appeal is not transferable. Supporters will have to wait a little while. Roy Cooper will make his decision to run in the next month

3)      Target Vulnerable House Members

Polling on the generic congressional vote is more favorable for us than it was in November 2024. From now until November 2026 there will be lists of which Republican congressional candidates are most vulnerable. Swing Left is already raising money for a fund that targets 15 Republican incumbents, all of whom won by less than 3% in 2024, and all of whom will be more vulnerable because of their recent vote to root out whoever is in need and take away whatever we had been giving to them. It’s the best targeting going right now. Eventually Swing Left will create “district funds” which will be set aside for individual races until someone wins the primary. The Cook Report is a little more conservative on which races are in play. At this point, the Democratic Congressional Campaign is also raising PAC money for targeted races. Understandably, they want to put as many races as possible into play. They have identified 35 districts to target. 

As the Supreme Court closed off Federal District Court judges issuing national injunctions, they identified other promising paths for the legion of litigators that remain in aggressive support of our Constitution. In addition to the above strategies, let’s stay tuned on that, and let’s channel our anger into action against the man who would be King.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington 

David Harrison: Some Help Is on the Way

This is the next of our series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. . 

If you are not already receiving these messages by email, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every month.

Trump’s plan could not be clearer. Include in your one hundred executive orders forty that your lawyers tell you are unconstitutional. Assail the courts, even judges you appointed, hoping that the fear you are generating will yield rewards. Bludgeon your friends when you feel like it, as a tool to maintain your control over them. When you do something that generates disapproval from your supporters, pretend you didn’t do it. Lie liberally and shamelessly, and craft different versions of the same lie, tailored to the audience. Say you didn’t say what everyone knows you said. 

Blame the courts, Joe Biden, Congress, Jerome Powell, law firms, the media, and then Joe Biden again. Criticize Zelenskyy, praise him again, and then mock him. Deny him what he needs, causing soldiers and civilians to die. Then call yourself a hero.

Elevate revenge. Shut off the vaccines which can prevent the death of poor children around the world, then call that efficiency, or say it makes America great. Walk away from countries whose soldiers stood at our side during world wars and call your negotiating behavior an “art”. Surround yourself with sycophants. Remove your own loyal appointees if Laura Loomer has something bad to say about them. Favor dictatorships over democracy. Randomly fire people when you have no idea of what they do and how valuable they are. Praise yourself endlessly. Never apologize.

Some Help is on the Way

Too slowly but very surely, a bit of help is on the way. Liberals had decided that the courts would bow to Trump at every turn or that he would ignore any federal court order he didn’t like. Any worry about Trump is a fair worry, and District Court Judge James Boasberg is being pushed to the wall on the El Salvador prison plane. However, Trump and his minions have followed numerous temporary restraining orders and will continue to do so. There are several reasons for this.

• Federal judges have considerable powers in finding individual governmental officials in contempt, including Department of Justice attorneys, whom they can suspend or even disbar. 
• Financial markets hate uncertainty and would react unfavorably to any non-compliance by Trump.
• Ironically, the Supreme Court gained some credibility with many Republicans by developing their novel and expansive view of presidential immunity in criminal cases.
• Chief Justice John Roberts has already pushed back against Trump on his attack on federal judges. The late-night Supreme Court ruling blocking ICE deportation of scores of Venezuelans has added due process to the ICE equation. So has the release of several ICE detainees by Federal district court judges.

Given the questions asked by Supreme Court Justices at their recent hearing, it is likely that there will be new restrictions on Federal District Court judges protecting plaintiffs by issuing nationwide injunctions. It is popular to say district judges are overreaching, but they are not the ones who are pretending that the Constitution and Bill of Rights doesn’t exist. The Court will make it more difficult to enjoin the Trump administration nationally but will emphasize the process by which class action suits that cover all plaintiffs can advance. If there is little immediate national protection available, lawsuits will proliferate, and injunctions providing relief to only part of the aggrieved population will materialize. There will be patchwork action by the government focusing on geographic areas where their actions aren’t stopped by court order.

The media will paint the limiting of national injunctions as a significant Trump victory, but they will overstate the case. All these court suits include a judicial finding that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of the case. Trump has had almost no success getting appellate courts to overturn district court rulings. This will continue.

Where Legal Action Will Succeed

Trump has no chance of overturning birthright citizenship, and no chance of being able to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to authorize deportations without due process. There are several areas of progress. Six months from now, constitutionalists will have had great success in two of these areas:

James Madison would be pleased that due process has been elevated in the consciousness of Americans and even has been recognized by Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom Trump has not recently mocked.  Procedural due process is not limited to American citizens. It means the individual must receive notice of the government's action, have a hearing, and have their case decided by a neutral decision-maker.  

Happily, litigants are now getting traction on Trump’s illegal freezing of funds that Congress has appropriated. Here, Americans still see every announced cut as a completed act of perfidy, although some of Trump’s actions will be reversed. Among the Trump freezes that have already been thawed are $4 billion to universities through the National Institutes for Health, rules to lower University overhead, payment to USAID contractors, and FEMA funding to states. As bad behavior continues, courts will rely on the 1974 Budget and Impoundment Act, which Trump has ignored. It clearly delineates the steps a President must take to rescind appropriated funds, including gaining approval of both the House and the Senate. 

Resisters can celebrate that these litigative efforts will continue. Of course, the other major front for resisters is battles in Congress. The holdup of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is over issues that will resonate with voters in November 2026 and thus give Democrats back the House, unless they pull defeat out of the jaws of victory.

For months, the question for Speaker Mike Johnson is whether the enormous Medicaid cuts could fly under the flag of waste, fraud and abuse and thus allow Republicans to avoid this narrative --- Republicans are throwing eight million people off Medicaid. Parents won’t be able to take their child to the emergency room even if she is screaming in pain. Republicans are comforting the comfortable, transferring any savings from Medicaid cuts to enable tax breaks for the rich Americans that least need them.

Shamelessly, Trump insists that he doesn’t support any Medicaid cuts at all. What the Senate under John Thune has realized is that by including tax breaks for the rich, an increase in the debt ceiling, and deep social welfare cuts all in one big bill, there will be no avoiding the negative narrative. An option would have been to include the tax breaks with defense and border spending and put social welfare cuts in a separate bill.

All of which demonstrates what a charade it is. Republicans want to keep Trump happy and a majority of voters happy. The only way to do both under this level of scrutiny is to lie about the impact of budget cuts. Senate and House Republicans will ultimately agree on an approach because they will need to lift the debt ceiling by mid-summer. If there are a score of moderates, they will regret the cuts as being two harsh, and scores of Republicans will label the cuts insufficiently brutal and insane.

The budget reconciliation bill(s) they pass will sink the House Republican majority in November 2026. Plenty of damage will be caused between now and then, but our mid-term success will help us prevent future damage and regain the White House in November of 2028.

Let’s do these three things now. 

1) Push Democracy Forward

Attorneys General from Trump-battling states have been at the center of winning lawsuits against unconstitutional executive orders. It’s good to support nonprofit litigators too, including the coalition Democracy Forward. They have good political instincts and have filed 50 lawsuits so far. They are in it for the short term and the long term. Their coalition includes nearly every activist organization that is seeking the most robust legal strategy possible. Since misinformation and misunderstanding of threats is our enemy, it is good to know that the best guidance on legal challenges underway is the Brennan Center for Justice. 

2) Ask 12 Republicans to Keep Their Word

In mid-April, twelve House Republicans wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson stressing “we cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations.” It is time to hold them accountable. Call their offices through the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to remind them that we are all watching. They are Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Jefferson Van Drew (R-N.J.), Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.), Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), Rob Wittman (R-Va.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), and Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.)

3) Keep This Person in Mind

One could fairly say that our 2024 presidential campaign effort was not without its glitches. It is also fair for this missive to wonder who might be exploring running for President at this very moment. Time to take a first look at what Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky has to offer. He has won twice in a red state and has walked the picket line with the United Auto Workers. Yes, those two things are in the same sentence. 

It's a grind, but we are starting to accumulate some wins. Luckily no one convinced us it would be easy.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

David Harrison: This Will Not Stand

This is the next of our series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. . 

If you are not already receiving these messages by email, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook where you can read and share these messages. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, Our Unfinished Work, every month.

From the outset, Donald Trump’s countless executive orders and other malevolent actions were meant to overwhelm Greenland, Canada, Hakeem Jeffries, Charles Schumer, Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, John Roberts, and you. 

Overwhelmed people can have difficulty getting their bearings. Absent immediate help, they begin to think their desperate situation is permanent. Once they hear that assistance is on the way, they could discount that news. Bizarrely, they can fall into acceptance of their situation and aid in quashing their own hope. Law firms, universities and small countries can even aid in devising the conditions of their own surrender.

There is a choice. Overwhelmed people can see new possibilities emerge. While assessing the enormous unavoidable damage that this country will continue to suffer under Donald Trump, they can find meaningful opportunities to fight back. Those opportunities are growing, and with them the sheer number of resistors. We are capturing our fury and put it to use.

That is where we are now. Even as he holds majorities in the House and the Senate, we know where Trump can be pushed downhill. 

• John Thune and Mike Johnson have squeaked by on budget and spending policy. They are now at an impasse with each other and the Senate and House Republican caucuses. The question is how to add to the mix the necessary increase in the debt ceiling and an enormous tax cut. There is no “one big, beautiful reconciliation bill” already teed up. The increase in the debt ceiling has led Johnson to promise the Freedom Caucus the House will make draconian cuts and to promise the small band of “moderates” the House will not.

• Some lies are more difficult to sustain. Donald Trump’s professed love of tariffs and his prevarications about their lack of cost to consumers will collide with Americans’ demand for imported products. Trump’s bludgeoning of other countries will diminish our access to their markets for years. Inflation will increase noticeably, markets and consumer confidence will decline, and the Fed will be forced to act upon their worries. Unbelievably, Trump sold himself to the voters as the penultimate manager of the economy. The number of Americans who believe they are “better off” under Trump’s economy has dropped 33% since January. There is more to come. 

• So far, resistors have underestimated what federal courts will do. Part of this judgement is based upon the Supreme Court doing extra duty to protect candidate Trump from criminal charges. The rest is Trump’s bluster, bargaining the courts will shy away from certain rulings that are unfavorable to him because of worries about his potential noncompliance. However, federal courts have a broad array of enforcement actions that make noncompliance nearly impossible. Further, the already battered markets would not stand for it. Finally, federal judges (including the Supreme Court) read history books too. Yes, they are going to advance Trump’s powers to replace the heads of independent agencies. 
  
  Once Trump and Musk comply with what civil service protections require, they will be able to dismiss tens of thousands of federal workers. But John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett will emerge again. The Supreme Court will not allow any larger scale diminution of legislative powers, or the end of birthright citizenship, or the illegal impoundment of appropriated funds, or the elimination of well-established due process rights, even those afforded to undocumented persons. There have been at least fifty federal court rulings against Trump executive orders and other administration actions. 
  
  In almost all cases, judges have established that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail when the merits of the case have been examined.

As Trump starts the slide from the top of the hill, we can help push, for the good of the world. Let’s do these three things:

1) Get Back into Your Cell

Doing things together can be key to maintaining our intensity of effort. The outstanding political organization Common Power offers numerous real-time opportunities to groups of resistors from around the country to do work that counts. 

Indivisible has been there since the darkest days of December 2016 when Democratic leadership was absent. They have an excellent search feature to help us find like-minded, organized people. 

2) Fight Against Unthinkable Aid Cuts

It has been disheartening to watch Republican past supporters of the Agency for International Development stand by watching the agency be dismantled. It has been additionally disappointing to see the once somewhat balanced Marco Rubio forgetting everything he said previously about our country’s international role. Now comes the Foreign Aid Bridge Fund raising millions to do what they can to stem the loss of nutrient based foods, community health care workers, refugee assistance, vaccine testing and other assistance previously provided by USAID. This fund has several major partners and is well grounded in the work that demands immediate protection.

3) Don’t Let Unacceptable Actions Be Forgotten

It’s not just Marco Rubio who can’t remember what he did and said previously. Pete Hegseth can’t remember that the Department of Defense’s impending military attacks are classified and Mike Waltz can’t remember that calls should be secured. It’s heartening that the conservative Republican Senator Roger Wicker and conservative Republican Representative Mike Rogers are, as noted by Rogers, “still trying to find out what happened.” They are chairs of their respective Armed Services Committees and are duty-bound to stay focused. Call Roger Wicker at 202-224-6253 and Mike Rogers at 202-225-3261 to emphasize this point.

So, it goes. Donald Trump is stomping upon our nation and dismissing our longtime friends who have been by our side for a century. We will work every day to make sure this does not stand.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington