Hopium PM - Court Blocks Trump's Dangerous Power Grab, New Reuters Poll Shows Trump Taking A Hit, Keep Making Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kennedy and Gabbard Hearings Tomorrow, Patel Thursday
Good evening peeps. A federal judge has blocked Trump’s outrageous suspension/cancelling of Congressionally mandated funding for programs of all kinds across all 50 states. From the Washington Post:
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from imposing a sweeping pause on trillions of dollars in federal spending, capping a frenetic day of disruption to government programs that fund schools, provide housing and ensure low-income Americans have access to healthcare.
The order prevented the new restrictions from taking effect until at least Feb. 3, buying time for a coalition of public-health advocates, nonprofits and businesses — represented by the left-leaning group Democracy Forward — to proceed with a case that may test Trump’s claims of expansive power over the nation’s fiscal trajectory.
The decision arrived amid a wave of chaos and confusion in Washington, where few appeared to understand the scope and intention of a White House memo that had directed agencies to “temporarily pause” the disbursement of key federal funds. Even before it could officially take effect at 5 p.m., thousands of government services — many dedicated primarily to Americans’ health, safety and well-being — appeared to be at risk of interruption or shutdown, at least temporarily.
The NYTimes has a good backgrounder on “impoundment” - Trump’s attempt just to cancel government programs he doesn’t care for and “impound” the money (gift article). I also found this article by Russell Berman in the Atlantic helpful in understanding where we are.
Yes, in the first few weeks of Trump’s Presidency we are already facing one of the gravest Constitutional crises in America history as Trump is attempting to seize a level of control over our government no President has ever had.
If there was an upside to this dark day Democrats across the country at all levels of government loudly rose up against the latest acts of our Mad Orange Wannabe King. It appeared to have woken us from our collective slumber, as the threat Trump clearly represents became impossible to ignore. Can we compete with Trump, contest his out of control Administration, score some wins in the coming days?
First, a new Reuters poll suggests Trump has already overreached, as his approval rating has already taken a 9 point hit:
Jan 21 - 47% approve, 39% disapprove (+8)
Jan 28 - 45% approve, 46% disapprove (-1)
We will see if these results are replicated in other polls but this one sure shows that Trump is struggling out of the gate. Note below how unpopular many of his early actions/proposals are (but also note the broad public support for “downsizing the federal government”):
Next, we just need to seize on this moment and flood Congress with calls tomorrow morning. Three potential areas to work your Senators and House Member tomorrow:
Fight The (Newly Revised) Unacceptable 4 - Gabbard, Kennedy, Patel, Vought
Challenge impoundment and Trump’s other illegal actions this week
Insist they fight Trump’s “catastrophic” tariffs that will raise prices for everyone on just about everything and cause destructive trade wars with our closest allies (see this morning’s Hopium post).
Word is that we particularly need calls against Kennedy from constituents into three offices - Cassidy (LA), Fetterman (PA) and Tillis (NC). This afternoon David Corn published a great recap of Kennedy’s clear disqualifiers and Caroline Kennedy released this remarkable letter below detailing why her cousin is so manifestly unfit:
Friends, these are tough times, and Trump is moving fast and breaking things. But it is important that you stay as engaged as you can; keep “doing more and worrying a little bit less” and channel your anxiety and fear into good works; and not lose faith, or hope. We have no idea how the next few weeks or the Trump Presidency is going to turn out. As I’ve been writing I’ve been stunned how reckless, arrogant and idiotic they’ve been so far. We just cannot let him get wins without contest. We have to fight now, everyday, that information war we’ve been talking about since the very first day of Hopium almost two years ago. We have to be loud and proud, and support and amplify others who are too.
Yes there are elections coming up that matter but this work of challenging the Trump assault on our democracy, and soon on our economy, is our most important work now. We simply, together, have to forge ourselves in that ferocious and effective opposition we’ve been talking about. We all have a role to play, everyday. Let’s keep working it my friends and see if we can get some important wins in the coming days after this day of just unimaginable chaos and betrayal…..
Proud to be in this fight with all of you - Simon
This is one of the reasons I am fighting so hard. I posted this on Bluesky earlier and I hope you all don’t mind me sharing:
I am so angry right now. My wife is an attorney and she represents unaccompanied children in their asylum claims. The kids are texting her tonight, terrified because ICE was in their school today. Children, who have been through all sorts of unspeakable hell just to get here, and now my government is terrorizing them. My religion teaches me that God forgives all of us, but I do wonder if there should be an exception for these people who are terrorizing children. All this so that my fellow white people can feel powerful over people who have no power.
What do I tell her? More importantly, what does she tell these children? How do we ever overcome our shame as a nation for allowing this? There is always evil in the world, and right now that evil is upon us.
I am in this for as long as necessary. I know this is a long fight. But, I won’t stand back and let this evil win out. I hope you all feel the same.
Simon, please warn federal workers not to fall for Trump’s new “deferred resignation” scam. I smell a huge rat. It is NOT a buyout - where is the statutory authority, when OPM is only authorized for buyouts up to $25k? (https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/voluntary-separation-incentive-payments/) Where’s the money supposed to come from? Why the hurry to get a commitment by Feb 6 before courts have time to weigh in? Most concerningly, why does it say “resign”, not “retire”? Is this an attempt to cheat federal workers out of their retirement funds? BEWARE!