Please address the effect of White Christian Nationalism on the current Republican Party, especially from Stephen Miller. Thank you for your work in protecting democracy.
I meant to suggest exactly what you are saying. I deleted the comment bc it is obviously too easy to misinterpret. Let's not argue amongst ourselves here, please.
If you read Jesus and John Wayne you will see the history of Evangelicals and how their decisions to overwhelmingly support Trump despite their previous “character counts” and “values voter” claims.
Without them Trump never becomes president nor does he return
Thank you for last night's discussion, Simon. The strong dose of optimism is so helpful.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to ask them to keep the Epstein issue front and center and to do whatever they can to stop the Trump's tariffs. I'm writing postcards to North Carolina voters today.
Editing to add: the timing is pretty interesting. DOJ tells Trump in late May he's in the Epstein files and shortly thereafter Elon announces Trump's in the files so they won't be released. Bondi waits a few weeks and says the files won't be released. Almost as if Elon sat in the meeting with Trump. Congress might want to send Elon a summons, too.
The polls continually remind me of the low level of education of the American public. As a society, we need to address this monstrous problem. Among other issues, what is the reason why a slight majority of people continue to believe this regime is effective on the border?
I would guess fragmented echo-chamber media/social media is the main reason. Though I'll take any opportunity to mention that the over-emphasis on standardized testing weakened social studies and civics in schools for the last two decades.
Oh my heavens, yes. My son spent 45 minutes a day doing multiple-choice reading exercises. It's enough to kill anyone's interest in reading. (He just finished seventh grade.)
If you read history of the first congressional congress you could take nearly all their "grievances" and file them against Trump's actions today. Maybe if education of the people who think the other countries are paying the cost are enlightened by the fact that the Boston Tea Party and other grievances were against the import taxes on goods levied against and Paid by the colonists to an unreprestantive government. Import taxes that are renamed "tariffs" today. Maybe this explanation through our history would be more likely be considered by the right as they started in the 90s as "the Tea Party".
Our mainstream Republican state rep (high school history teacher) tried to get civics a required course for graduation, as it used to be, into the school system but he didn't succeed unfortunately.
A civics teacher in our district (it is a required class here) told the students their civic responsibility was to turn our county red by voting MAGA, that SB8 (the Texas abortion bounty hunter law) was something to celebrate, that Democrats all support open borders so criminals can come in and commit voter fraud, that the US was founded as a Christian nation, that he was a political centrist, and that the students should be centrists like him. (He got told to cut it out.)
So I am not as sure that civics classes are that helpful.
Hi, Simon. I think the agenda is really strong and powerful. I had a couple of suggestions in case they are helpful:
Under safety, I wonder if you might consider more about climate--restoring the IRA, promoting clean energy, undoing tax breaks to fossil fuel industry, etc. Yes, we should fund warnings and rescue, but also address underlying causes.
There might not be any room to do this, but education has really fallen out of the conversation in general. I noticed it never came up in the debates or the campaigns in general last year, meanwhile our schools are getting worse and worse and the average adult reads at a 6th grade level. Educational policy has been a disaster for two decades now, and the "anti-woke" campaign is only making it worse, with teachers quitting in droves.
Civics need to be a required course for high school graduation as it used to be. History, not out of textbooks but reading of books like Canton,'s "Mr. Lincolns Army", etc. I had a 8th grade teacher who had us read the textbook and do the required tests quickly, the said we would then use the textbook as a timeline and the started us reading historical books. Learned so much but then some kids complained to their parents and she was hamstringed. Was an older teacher and quit. Next year got a young one who happily just fed us the pablum from the textbook with tests , never essays. I'm 76 years old so this dumbing down of education has been a plan since the 60s.
I certainly do not disagree about civics, but civics courses alone will not make a person proficient at understanding and protecting our Constitution. I think we're experiencing what it's like to proceed on an assumption that a republic can be run by auto-pilot.
And so two "What if" questions: What if a critical mass of citizens WERE really literate in our Constitution and the key court cases? Would we be in this mess? (No.)
What if the Framers could see our predicament today? What would they advise? That's one thing studying the Constitution and Federalist papers does: Kind of channels a person into their thought processes.
It’s way past time for this criminal to be gone from our politics and our lives! Instead of helping to build our country up and make it better, his and the entire MAGA crime family are nothing more than a cancer on our country that we must rid ourselves!
epstein update: trump ensnared, bondi ensnared, johnson ensnared, blanche soon to be ensnared. maxwell dangling to get pardon. now we know why maureen comey was fired! she is an expert on maxwell case and cross examining her. waiting for "the donald show" to now ensnare dems to weasel his way out. lawrence should win peabody for last nite's show! epstein estate has birthday book! "cover ups never work" john dean.
Lots of people flew on Epstein's plane with and without him. Personally, I believe all or most of those people knew what was going on with Epstein on that island. Having said that, if any Democrat is guilty of sexually abusing any underage girl, then they should be exposed and held accountable.
One quibble - the plane and the island are different things. Our president flew on the plane between from NYC to Palm Beach but, as far as we currently know, never to the island.
No Quarter. Curb stomping (metaphorical of course) time.
I'll make a donation to Ossoff today (which I haven't done yet), mail some postcards tomorrow, and pick up another batch of 25 from FT6.
We might also point out the Epstein files is about Trump shielding elites, including himself. Everything has been about protecting the interests of the wealthy and powerful.
Here's the truly astonishing aspect of these polls - he's still fine with his base. Siting at 88%+ with the GOP in all of them. It's a fucking cult. A cult obsessed with obtaining and retaining power at all cost, even if it means worshiping a deranged orange-hued cartoon character who is a court-adjudicated sexual offender and possible child predator.
He's cratering with Indies and disapproval with Dems remains sky high. That's our opportunity.
This underscores the "Let's Get To Work!!!!!!!!" portion of Simon's message. We can't rely on a collapse of the GOP base. It will likely never happen. We must stay active, vocal, and united to preserve our coalition—no room for divisive “wedge” politics. And we must be strategic in our outreach to independents to keep them on our side.
And if you want to be even more stunned, take a look at Trump’s approval trends for white males. He’s either holding steady with ~ 15 pt net approval AND SOME POLLS EVEN HAVE HIM INCREASING HIS NET APPROVAL WITH THESE CHUCKLEFUCKS (BTW, I’m a white male).
As 2026 is for congressional races, I was surprised by this recent data:
"A record-high share of American voters are content with the work of Republican lawmakers, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll."
In the survey, conducted in late June, 36 percent of registered voters approve of the job Republicans in Congress are doing — the highest level recorded since pollsters began asking the question in 2011.
Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, have seen a dramatic drop in their approval rating in the latest poll.
Only 27 percent of registered voters approve of the job congressional Democrats are doing — down 12 points since February 2024. In the March 2021 poll, Democrats saw their record-high approval of 41 percent.
We put pressure on Elon, and he left. I'm firmly convinced that played a role in him then deciding to start the Epstein ball rolling with his posts attacking trump. That means we keep up the pressure from here on out about Epstein and refuse to get outraged by the whole "attack Obama" nonsense, the Kennedy Center being renamed after Melania, racist football team names, etc. I say we put pressure on Stephen Miller next because he's the big force behind this ICE gestapo.
Let's hope it's just floating. There are more than a few DC residents who still don't call National Airport "Reagan National." He busted the air traffic controllers union but somehow got an airport named after him. UGH
Self report from WI. My daily sets of calls are in to Republican members of congress regarding our usual concerns:ICE, Epstein,tariffs, Ukraine, Science, free speech etc. I missed the gathering last night but look forward to listening to the recording today. Staying in the fight and thankful for this community
I was never able to get Andry’s dad out of my head after I saw him sobbing in front of news cameras that “I can’t even talk to the boy.”
We don’t do incommunicado incarceration in the United States. It is anti-American. I’ve been telling my congresspersons that I want El Salvador treated as a pariah state when we have power again. Bukele is a brutal dictator, not someone we should be treating as a partner. No more flights to CECOT. Ever.
I wonder if taking a break resets what day it is in Congress?They passed that one weird trick to make all the days the same day, so they wouldn’t have to end T****’s “emergency” that enables him to mess with tariffs, but surely they can’t have a day that is both a work day and a break day.
Simon, great meeting as always. I love the focus on what matters, not what Trump is doing moment to moment to terrorize us. Trump is a literal zombie feeding on our souls and the soul of your nation. Writing postcards for Mikie my former MoC and Abigail. Continuing strong support of our Janelle Bynum, my MoC here in 5th district of OR. Deschutes Democrats growing fast!
Hello Pamela, we are relatively new here but love Central OR and our Deschutes Dems. Seems you are a lawyer--what are you seeing from your perspective?
Well, I'm 12 years into a career that's been almost entirely court-appointed criminal defense and related areas, so that's the perspective I'm coming from. So, the CECOT atrocity has been a laser focus of mine for the last 4 months.
I'm also focusing on issues with ICE detention here where, for example, lawyers have been refused contact with their clients at Alligator Auschwitz. I'm definitely getting a crash course on immigration law, federal tort law, and the like.
Mostly what I'm seeing is rule of law is shaken but holding, and our significant capacity -due to federalism, strong civic institutions, etc.- to resist tyranny is proving itself.
I am feeling quite hopeful since last Friday when the Venezuelan CECOT detainees got released. One has already initiated a 1.3 million dollar claim for false imprisonment and personal injury. I write about it on my page if you want to check it out.
Please address the effect of White Christian Nationalism on the current Republican Party, especially from Stephen Miller. Thank you for your work in protecting democracy.
Isn't Stephen Miller Jewish? Katie Miller is Jewish and they were married by a rabbi.
Maybe Christian Nationalism as an agenda, independent of religion. It's not particularly Christian, anyway, as in following Christ.
Exactly.
How is that relevant?? There are evil people of ALL religions. Give me a break.
I meant to suggest exactly what you are saying. I deleted the comment bc it is obviously too easy to misinterpret. Let's not argue amongst ourselves here, please.
If you read Jesus and John Wayne you will see the history of Evangelicals and how their decisions to overwhelmingly support Trump despite their previous “character counts” and “values voter” claims.
Without them Trump never becomes president nor does he return
That is how Christian Nationalism is relevant
Yes, but go figure.
Yup, they are not Christians!
Thank you for last night's discussion, Simon. The strong dose of optimism is so helpful.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to ask them to keep the Epstein issue front and center and to do whatever they can to stop the Trump's tariffs. I'm writing postcards to North Carolina voters today.
Editing to add: the timing is pretty interesting. DOJ tells Trump in late May he's in the Epstein files and shortly thereafter Elon announces Trump's in the files so they won't be released. Bondi waits a few weeks and says the files won't be released. Almost as if Elon sat in the meeting with Trump. Congress might want to send Elon a summons, too.
The polls continually remind me of the low level of education of the American public. As a society, we need to address this monstrous problem. Among other issues, what is the reason why a slight majority of people continue to believe this regime is effective on the border?
I would guess fragmented echo-chamber media/social media is the main reason. Though I'll take any opportunity to mention that the over-emphasis on standardized testing weakened social studies and civics in schools for the last two decades.
Oh my heavens, yes. My son spent 45 minutes a day doing multiple-choice reading exercises. It's enough to kill anyone's interest in reading. (He just finished seventh grade.)
between no child left behind, common core, book banning, and massive class sizes, literacy and reading are just getting battered.
If you read history of the first congressional congress you could take nearly all their "grievances" and file them against Trump's actions today. Maybe if education of the people who think the other countries are paying the cost are enlightened by the fact that the Boston Tea Party and other grievances were against the import taxes on goods levied against and Paid by the colonists to an unreprestantive government. Import taxes that are renamed "tariffs" today. Maybe this explanation through our history would be more likely be considered by the right as they started in the 90s as "the Tea Party".
They think cruel = effective?
Our mainstream Republican state rep (high school history teacher) tried to get civics a required course for graduation, as it used to be, into the school system but he didn't succeed unfortunately.
A civics teacher in our district (it is a required class here) told the students their civic responsibility was to turn our county red by voting MAGA, that SB8 (the Texas abortion bounty hunter law) was something to celebrate, that Democrats all support open borders so criminals can come in and commit voter fraud, that the US was founded as a Christian nation, that he was a political centrist, and that the students should be centrists like him. (He got told to cut it out.)
So I am not as sure that civics classes are that helpful.
Oh my. Is this in Texas?
No, I am in California. But SB8 was national news.
Bring back a new version of schoolhouse rock and put it on NFL commericals slot
Hi, Simon. I think the agenda is really strong and powerful. I had a couple of suggestions in case they are helpful:
Under safety, I wonder if you might consider more about climate--restoring the IRA, promoting clean energy, undoing tax breaks to fossil fuel industry, etc. Yes, we should fund warnings and rescue, but also address underlying causes.
There might not be any room to do this, but education has really fallen out of the conversation in general. I noticed it never came up in the debates or the campaigns in general last year, meanwhile our schools are getting worse and worse and the average adult reads at a 6th grade level. Educational policy has been a disaster for two decades now, and the "anti-woke" campaign is only making it worse, with teachers quitting in droves.
Thank you so much. It's terrific work.
I’m also really concerned about attacks on education at all levels.
Tell me about it, I work at a university as a faculty librarian!
I strongly second your comments about climate!
Civics need to be a required course for high school graduation as it used to be. History, not out of textbooks but reading of books like Canton,'s "Mr. Lincolns Army", etc. I had a 8th grade teacher who had us read the textbook and do the required tests quickly, the said we would then use the textbook as a timeline and the started us reading historical books. Learned so much but then some kids complained to their parents and she was hamstringed. Was an older teacher and quit. Next year got a young one who happily just fed us the pablum from the textbook with tests , never essays. I'm 76 years old so this dumbing down of education has been a plan since the 60s.
I certainly do not disagree about civics, but civics courses alone will not make a person proficient at understanding and protecting our Constitution. I think we're experiencing what it's like to proceed on an assumption that a republic can be run by auto-pilot.
And so two "What if" questions: What if a critical mass of citizens WERE really literate in our Constitution and the key court cases? Would we be in this mess? (No.)
What if the Framers could see our predicament today? What would they advise? That's one thing studying the Constitution and Federalist papers does: Kind of channels a person into their thought processes.
It’s way past time for this criminal to be gone from our politics and our lives! Instead of helping to build our country up and make it better, his and the entire MAGA crime family are nothing more than a cancer on our country that we must rid ourselves!
epstein update: trump ensnared, bondi ensnared, johnson ensnared, blanche soon to be ensnared. maxwell dangling to get pardon. now we know why maureen comey was fired! she is an expert on maxwell case and cross examining her. waiting for "the donald show" to now ensnare dems to weasel his way out. lawrence should win peabody for last nite's show! epstein estate has birthday book! "cover ups never work" john dean.
If there were democrats in the Epstein files, they would've made meme coins out of the announcement
Lots of people flew on Epstein's plane with and without him. Personally, I believe all or most of those people knew what was going on with Epstein on that island. Having said that, if any Democrat is guilty of sexually abusing any underage girl, then they should be exposed and held accountable.
absolutely. every single person.
💯
One quibble - the plane and the island are different things. Our president flew on the plane between from NYC to Palm Beach but, as far as we currently know, never to the island.
I love it.
No Quarter. Curb stomping (metaphorical of course) time.
I'll make a donation to Ossoff today (which I haven't done yet), mail some postcards tomorrow, and pick up another batch of 25 from FT6.
We might also point out the Epstein files is about Trump shielding elites, including himself. Everything has been about protecting the interests of the wealthy and powerful.
So really! What else is new? This felon has been lying his entire life! He’s lied so much, that he’s become a master at lying!
Here's the truly astonishing aspect of these polls - he's still fine with his base. Siting at 88%+ with the GOP in all of them. It's a fucking cult. A cult obsessed with obtaining and retaining power at all cost, even if it means worshiping a deranged orange-hued cartoon character who is a court-adjudicated sexual offender and possible child predator.
He's cratering with Indies and disapproval with Dems remains sky high. That's our opportunity.
This underscores the "Let's Get To Work!!!!!!!!" portion of Simon's message. We can't rely on a collapse of the GOP base. It will likely never happen. We must stay active, vocal, and united to preserve our coalition—no room for divisive “wedge” politics. And we must be strategic in our outreach to independents to keep them on our side.
Stay loud.
And if you want to be even more stunned, take a look at Trump’s approval trends for white males. He’s either holding steady with ~ 15 pt net approval AND SOME POLLS EVEN HAVE HIM INCREASING HIS NET APPROVAL WITH THESE CHUCKLEFUCKS (BTW, I’m a white male).
I guess white males are at the heart of the cult.
unless you say which polls they are, safe to assume they are garbage polls,
As 2026 is for congressional races, I was surprised by this recent data:
"A record-high share of American voters are content with the work of Republican lawmakers, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll."
In the survey, conducted in late June, 36 percent of registered voters approve of the job Republicans in Congress are doing — the highest level recorded since pollsters began asking the question in 2011.
Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, have seen a dramatic drop in their approval rating in the latest poll.
Only 27 percent of registered voters approve of the job congressional Democrats are doing — down 12 points since February 2024. In the March 2021 poll, Democrats saw their record-high approval of 41 percent.
source: https://thehill.com/homenews/5379402-gop-congress-approval-poll/
We put pressure on Elon, and he left. I'm firmly convinced that played a role in him then deciding to start the Epstein ball rolling with his posts attacking trump. That means we keep up the pressure from here on out about Epstein and refuse to get outraged by the whole "attack Obama" nonsense, the Kennedy Center being renamed after Melania, racist football team names, etc. I say we put pressure on Stephen Miller next because he's the big force behind this ICE gestapo.
OMG did they go through with renaming the Kennedy Opera House after Melania?
I think they were just floating the idea. I rolled my eyes.
Oh thank goodness. Thank you!
Let's hope it's just floating. There are more than a few DC residents who still don't call National Airport "Reagan National." He busted the air traffic controllers union but somehow got an airport named after him. UGH
In our family, we always call the airport "Voldemort," for "he who shall not be named."
I very regularly fly out of DCA, but never out of Reagan.
DCA is National aka Reagan.
I remember that about Reagan. ugh is right!
We can always change the name back once he's gone.
The spin experts and photo-bots have now had time to prepare their story.
Self report from WI. My daily sets of calls are in to Republican members of congress regarding our usual concerns:ICE, Epstein,tariffs, Ukraine, Science, free speech etc. I missed the gathering last night but look forward to listening to the recording today. Staying in the fight and thankful for this community
Rep. Garcia is rocking it! Excited to see how the House Oversight subpoena plays out.
On a related note (b/c Rep. Garcia continues to advocate for Andry Romero) if anyone was, like me, anxious to see photos of Andry safely reunited with his family in Venezuela, this article from Reuters + MSN really delivers: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/venezuelan-makeup-artist-returns-home-describes-torture-during-el-salvador-detention/ar-AA1Ja3vW?ocid=socialshare&fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLvLYNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHjitR_6FAkNA1SNrEPo_fyGfVICuENN2Qy-0w5Y3HUfFWSxP_eJ0avGCalUB_aem_FAt20WoiokGX5o9_4qa0Kg
I was never able to get Andry’s dad out of my head after I saw him sobbing in front of news cameras that “I can’t even talk to the boy.”
We don’t do incommunicado incarceration in the United States. It is anti-American. I’ve been telling my congresspersons that I want El Salvador treated as a pariah state when we have power again. Bukele is a brutal dictator, not someone we should be treating as a partner. No more flights to CECOT. Ever.
I wonder if taking a break resets what day it is in Congress?They passed that one weird trick to make all the days the same day, so they wouldn’t have to end T****’s “emergency” that enables him to mess with tariffs, but surely they can’t have a day that is both a work day and a break day.
Thank you, Simon. Also, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell (7/23/25) was amazing!!! A must watch!
SPOT ON ! Lawrence O'Donnell IS amazing ! Fearless...from the heart...truth !.
Not easy to listen to the truth these days.
Every day, first thing I do is listen to the podcast of the previous night's broadcast.
Simon, great meeting as always. I love the focus on what matters, not what Trump is doing moment to moment to terrorize us. Trump is a literal zombie feeding on our souls and the soul of your nation. Writing postcards for Mikie my former MoC and Abigail. Continuing strong support of our Janelle Bynum, my MoC here in 5th district of OR. Deschutes Democrats growing fast!
Hello fellow Oregonian! I am on the coast. Val Hoyle is my rep. :)
Hello Pamela, we are relatively new here but love Central OR and our Deschutes Dems. Seems you are a lawyer--what are you seeing from your perspective?
Well, I'm 12 years into a career that's been almost entirely court-appointed criminal defense and related areas, so that's the perspective I'm coming from. So, the CECOT atrocity has been a laser focus of mine for the last 4 months.
I'm also focusing on issues with ICE detention here where, for example, lawyers have been refused contact with their clients at Alligator Auschwitz. I'm definitely getting a crash course on immigration law, federal tort law, and the like.
Mostly what I'm seeing is rule of law is shaken but holding, and our significant capacity -due to federalism, strong civic institutions, etc.- to resist tyranny is proving itself.
I am feeling quite hopeful since last Friday when the Venezuelan CECOT detainees got released. One has already initiated a 1.3 million dollar claim for false imprisonment and personal injury. I write about it on my page if you want to check it out.
First, thank you. Second, thank y ou again. I am fiercely interested in this battle front. Where is your page--Substack?
Found it, will subscribe. Gandalf to Aragorn in The Two Towers: "The defenses must hold." And so they are.