Autocracy was sworn in; Democracy reclaimed its voice and pushed back

Publisher's Round-up, Week 2

Was this the week that autocracy came to America? Or was it the week that democracy rediscovered the power of its voice? Both! It was the week of Donald Trump's inauguration and the first glimpse into his cruel and corrupt agenda. But it was also a week in which America stood our ground in the court of law and the court of public opinion—including here at The Contrarian.

The Inauguration of the First Felon of The United States

Though Donald Trump was sworn in as our 47^th president, we and many of you were able to laugh our way through that circus with our tailgate livestream with Jen Rubin and George Conway.

Personally, I responded to Trump’s actual speech—exposing his vitriol and pettiness once again—by filing the very first lawsuit against the Trump regime, a case alleging DOGE’s illegality. I did so seconds after he had taken the oath of office, a sacred oath that, as we know from his last term in office, amounts to empty words for him.

Trump’s monotonous teleprompter rage was also significantly less impressive to me than the fact that over 10,000 people returned for our live postgame show, where Jen and I were rejoined by Conway, with whom we mercilessly derided and mocked the FFOTUS (First Felon of The United States) and determined that he is not president #47 but should be dubbed president #34—no offense, Mr. Eisenhower—for his unprecedented felony count. Our laughter was complimented by phenomenal expert commentating provided by Jonathan Alter and Ashley Etienne.

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As dynamic as the live stream was, the day was chock full of other tremendous pro-democracy content from The Contrarian:

We started the day with the inimitable voices of Heather Cox Richardson & Jen Rubin in conversation, discussing the precedent for arriving at such a day—and where we go from here.

Lavora Barnes, the Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, offered a fierce, searching essay on her work to carry forward the true legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

We closed out the consequential day with a favorite guest, historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who addressed what happens when authoritarians take power.

The Worst Pardons Ever

This week also brought Trump’s pardons of insurrectionists, including those who violently assaulted law enforcement. To cover that, Jen and I spoke with former federal prosecutor Renatto Mariotti, and we interviewed our friend Kim Wehle, a leading clemency expert. Later in the week Judge Nancy Gertner lifted up a few valiant members of the federal judiciary who took it upon themselves to speak up about Trump’s pardons, as opposed to simply rubber-stamping them.

But our coverage of the treachery of Trump’s pardons would not be complete without hearing from those who were attacked on Jan. 6 while trying to protect our lawmakers and enable the peaceful transfer of power. Jen interviewed one of these heroes, Michael Fanone, who worked for the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia for twenty years. He has spoken openly to the public and addressed the January 6th committee about the brutality of the experience, and spoke with Jen about the betrayal he feels regarding Trump’s pardons.

Finally in our pardon coverage DA Mimi Rocah zoomed back out to address the “clear and dangerous message” of Trump’s pardons: that those who kiss the ring are above the American justice system. She explained a much in her searing piece about undermining DOJ.

Dictatorial Decrees

Wielding his sharpies like a graffiti artist defacing the edifice of American law, Trump also signed a large stack of ludicrous executive orders. We prefer to call them executive edicts or dictatorial decrees. To learn more on why The Contrarian is not interested in using the standard official language to normalize and legitimize Trump, read Jen’s unflinching piece about the need to reframe and rename our political vocabulary. No more “tariffs”—call them “consumer taxes!”

Jen and I also had a one-on-one discussion about the influx of these executive edicts flying out of the White House. We explained how Trump is frontally assaulting the rule of law with his “Schedule F” order assaulting civil service law and his other bad behavior. He promised to be a dictator on day one; he achieved that and just kept rolling throughout the week.

It’s easy at a time like this to start pointing fingers in all directions as to the real culprits for Trump’s return to power. Former US Attorney, professor of law, and New York Times bestselling author Barb McQuade had a few thoughts on the people who truly failed to hold this felon accountable, namely Mitch McConnell and the Supreme Court.

Over the next few days we heard strong pushback against Trump’s agenda, whether it was former assistant DHS secretary Jeff Nesbit on rising drug prices and how Trump is passing the cost of his catastrophic healthcare policies on to ordinary Americans, to Navy Veteran Allison Gill (best known as Mueller, She Wrote) writing on What to Watch for at The Department of Veterans Affairs to former Executive Director of the DHS Disinformation Governance Board, Nina Jankowitz, on how the Trump administration is capitalizing on a false conspiracy of censorship to usher in the real thing (with a little help from Elon and co.)

But perhaps the most lasting and effective lashing of Trump came from the gentle words of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who stared the President right in the face, and made global headlines by calmly proposing that “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” Jen’s morning column on Thursday addressed how Trump’s threats and actions, in addition to often being unconstitutional—regardless of whether your beliefs are secular or dictated by a particular faith—are in direct conflict with our most basic ideologies of right and wrong; kind and cruel.

Landing The First Blow to Autocracy

Thursday was a heartening day, as we saw the American people peacefully but forcefully to reject these autocratic ploys. In what I called “the first major body blow for Donald Trump's autocracy,” a coalition of plaintiffs led by State AGs and others secured a Temporary Restraining Order on Trump’s flagrantly unconstitutional EO attacking birthright citizenship. As discussed in our instant response with me, Jen, and LULAC CEO Juan Paraño, and later that evening in a thoughtful written piece by Juan, the ruling revealed to us that—even if the Supreme Court continues behaving like a neutered pet—there are federal judges nationwide who are prepared to stand in the way of President Trump's “blatantly unconstitutional” E.O.s (deemed as such by a Reagan-appointed judge). Juan and were proud to be part of the litigants bringing one of the national cases against this excrescence.

Our day one dictator sure proved it when he tried to eliminate the fundamental American ideal—that anybody born on our soil is a citizen of the United States. But there is a multi-front legal battle being waged against such heinous behavior and you’ll be hearing a lot more from us on that down the line.

Heroes, Humor & Hot Cookies

To keep that pro-democracy momentum rolling and close out the week on some high notes, on Friday, Jen gave a nod to former Vice President Al Gore as our Undaunted pro-democracy fighter of the week, then interviewed Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (who we foresee as a potential Undaunted honoree someday)!

Former Obama speechwriter David Litt delivered a clear-eyed, clever analysis of Trump’s first-week rhetoric in Litt’s must-read How to Drink from a Firehose (securing the most accurate and amusing title of the week).

And knowing what a heavy week this has been, we opted to send you off with a take-care package, bundling together Comics, Cookies, and our Contrarian Cat of the week. Especially after a night like Friday, when we learned of JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote to anoint Pete Hegseth our next Secretary of Defense, you deserve some time with “Tom the Dancing Bug” by Ruben Bolling; over a plate of Marissa Rothkopf’s Bedtime Cookies (recipe and commentary included)! Finally, enjoy learning about Olivia Julianna’s inspiring cat, Lio.

I’ll end on this note. An authoritarian comes into power under the pretense that he carries such omnipotence that there’s simply no use to resist. Though we have only just begun, shocking, reckless, unconstitutional proposals have been made, including the Friday night news that a dozen or more federal Inspectors General have been fired. This will be ongoing. But we have not been beaten into submission, nor will we be. Indeed, those IG’s are refusing to leave! At The Contrarian, we rose to the occasion starting on Day One of FFOTUS 34, and we will continue doing so nonstop.

In powering us to do that, it would be impossible to overstate our appreciation for you, The Contrarian community. We need communities like this one to defeat authoritarianism, and your participation and enthusiasm in this venture have already provided a much-needed buoy of hope. As I wrote last week, we will find a way to litigate and laugh through this tempest—not necessarily in that order!

We love reading your feedback and ideas, so please keep them coming. We’re listening. With your help, we will continue to keep democracy and our most cherished values alive.

With gratitude,

Norm