Here comes the House

Publisher's Roundup, 8

We know from the experience of other nations that have thrown off autocratic leaders that defeating tyranny requires a whole of society approach. My week was framed by two pro-democracy power-moves by the minority in the House of Representatives. They augur the major role that the minority in that body, led by Hakeem Jeffries, will play in the days and months ahead. (And no, I’m not talking about how Democrats did or did not respond to Trump’s speech to Congress—those kerfuffles are irrelevant compared to the daily outrages of a dictatorial president.)

On Monday morning, I had my coffee while turning the pages of the House Minority’s first major entry into the litigation battles against authoritarianism. Over two hundred members of the caucus led by Jeffries and Rep. Maxine Waters filed a brief in the case to stop the Trump Administration’s gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). That agency protects all Americans—above all, average folks—from financial scams and abuses. Trump and his cronies have in effect shut it down, ignoring the command of Congress that it continue. Good for the minority for speaking out boldly in court, where it counts. I hope and trust that it will be the first of many swipes at the Administration’s efforts to stiff-arm Congress.

Bookending the week, on Friday afternoon one of the last things I read heading into the weekend was leader Jeffries’ Dear Colleague letter, which takes a strong stand against the Republican introduction of a “continuing resolution,” which would effectively entrench Trump’s and Musk’s twisted priorities. The government is not funded past March 14. This CR would grant funding and avoid a shutdown—but with utterly reprehensible conditions. Jeffries’ words refusing to go along are powerful:

“Republicans have decided to introduce a partisan continuing resolution that threatens to cut funding for healthcare, nutritional assistance and veterans benefits through the end of the current fiscal year. That is not acceptable.

“House Democrats would enthusiastically support a bill that protects Social Security, Medicare, veterans health and Medicaid, but Republicans have chosen to put them on the chopping block to pay for billionaire tax cuts.

“We cannot back a measure that rips away life-sustaining healthcare and retirement benefits from everyday Americans as part of the Republican scheme to pay for massive tax cuts for their wealthy donors like Elon Musk. Medicaid is our redline.”

Jeffries hit a crucial point there: the impact of Trump and Musk’s autocratic chaos on Americans. He’s ready for this moment because of his experience guiding House Democrats through dysfunction and institutional disarray. Consider what he’s had to deal with in the shambolic, Republican-run House of Representatives for the past two years: the ousting of Speaker McCarthy, a first in our history; regular continuing resolutions to fund the government that relied wholly on Democratic votes to succeed; the marathon effort to expel fraudster Rep. George Santos; and ludicrous, baseless Republican efforts to impeach President Biden—to name but a few of the headaches.

Through it all, Jeffries and his House Democratic team stood firm as the only adults in the proverbial room. On a rinse-and-repeat cycle, House Republicans wrought havoc; then Jeffries cleaned up the mess. That demonstrates his preparedness to meet this solemn time in American history. It makes credible his vow “to push back against the far-right extremism that is being relentlessly unleashed on the American people.”

In the ten-point plan that Jeffries shared with his House Democratic colleagues last month, a recurring commitment can be gleaned: protecting Americans from the storm that the Trump Administration has unleashed. Jeffries has repeatedly pledged to defend Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid against the Trump Administration’s brutal (not to mention illegal) cuts, and to lower our cost of living.

We cannot pretend that the corruption and controversy of the current president and his spineless party will simply blow over without leadership like Jeffries’. Thankfully, he’s not the only voice of hope in these dark times. Indeed, while this week delivered a flurry of challenges, it also offered us windows into Americans’ enduring spirit of resilience. The Contrarian covered it all for you—and if you're a subscriber, we did it with your help.

On, Wisconsin!

The Contrarian places high hopes in forthcoming state races, and (evidently) so does Elon Musk. We focused several pieces of coverage this week on the critical state supreme court election Wisconsin faces on April 1, in which abortion, the Jan. 6th pardons, and Musk’s financial influence over the race have emerged as pivotal issues.

Jen Rubin interviewed Judge Susan Crawford, a current Circuit Court Judge running for Wisconsin Supreme Court. The race is significant enough that Musk has trained his resources on it, and is pouring money into defeating her.

For a kleptocrat with bottomless ambition, this state Supreme Court election is a bargain buy—with heavy consequences for democracy, warned Executive Director of Campaign Legal Center Adav Noti, in Elon Musk Turns His Eye—and His Wallet—Towards Wisconsin.

UW Law Professor Robert Yablon chimed in, writing in A test for judicial independence about how Musk is spending big on the state’s Supreme Court race while expressing contempt for independent courts: a worrisome combination.

The Week’s Other High (and Low) Lights

This week we welcomed Meredith Blake, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, as The Contrarian’s new resident culture columnist. She will help us explore the intersection of what we’re consuming on TV and cable, in books and movies, with our political climate. She started off with fittingly sharp commentary on the pop culture event of the week: the Oscars. This year, there was scant mention of Trump—but plenty of underlying political messaging.

In the world of overt political messaging, Trump is not working alone. In this week’s installment of Words and Phrases We Could Do Without, Jen Rubin decided that, given its grossly unqualified sycophants, we must dispense with the notion that there is a “Trump Cabinet.” “This isn’t Lincoln’s Team of Rivals, let alone JFK’s ‘Best and the Brightest’; it’s a room of trained seals,” she wrote.

We also offered you an episode of our friends at Talking Feds addressing the tension within the Executive Branch over Elon Musk and growing popular opposition to the Administration—especially to Musk’s untethered, unaccountable role in a podcast titled “Anyone Unhappy With Elon?”

Our coverage throughout the week answered why there is so much pushback against Musk. After all, DOGE’s cuts are harming veterans, for starters. Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton (ret.) wrote on how DOGE’s cuts to the VA aren’t “efficient”; they are cruel, wrong, and fundamentally unAmerican. They’re targeting the National Weather Service, putting us all in jeopardy, points out meteorologist Tom Skilling.

But it’s not just DOGE. Republicans are fleecing America—and threatening to strip away Medicaid. Economist Heather Boushey argued that America’s budget is a “moral document,” showing which people and places we value–and that Republicans’ values are clear: more for me and none for thee. Unfortunately, the Republican votes to potentially cut Medicaid do matter. Jeff Nesbit sharply observed that every one of the House GOP members who voted for the recent budget resolution are on record: They are complicit in cutting Medicaid, and neither voters nor Democrats should forget that.

Cutting Medicaid, stripping healthcare benefits and snatching food stamps away from hungry children is not just the stuff of a 19th-century novel, Jen Rubin reminded us in It’s not Dickens—it’s the MAGA agenda; it’s present-tense MAGA nirvana.

Far too many of our most essential programs are under attack, as we explained in Cuts to USAID also hurt EVERYONE. Jen held interviews with Nancy Clair, Ed.D, a lifelong worker at USAID, about the essential work of their programs, the Trump-Musk attacks on the agency, and the real human cost of funding cuts. That human cost was also addressed when Rep. Ritchie Torres and Jen collectively interviewed fired USAID worker, Nancy Bolan. Bolan, a dedicated midwife and nurse practitioner, has spent over 25 years saving the lives of mothers and newborn babies. In January, she endured an unexpected, unceremonious firing from her healthcare position at USAID.

And of course, many are still reeling from the horrifying scene we all had to witness in the Oval Office on Friday. That revolting, un-American display was viewed and critiqued globally. Former Representative Tom Malinowski and Jen discussed the shameful outburst that marred the meeting between Zelensky and Trump and its implications for US-Russia relations. Legal eminence Walter H. White, Jr. wrote on how Trump is single-handedly breaking more than a century’s worth of international alliance-building in his piece America is at its weakest since the Civil War.

Abandoning Alliances & Embracing Enemies

Keeping our eye on the global stage, we explained that as goes Germany, so goes the Western world. David Bernell and Thomas Graham situated the recent elections in Germany as part of a growing wave of support for far-right-wing parties across Europe. They looked at the already-weakened mitigating effects we might have had on (other) Western nations espousing racist, xenophobic, imperialistic politics.

In Where in the World is Tim Mak? Jen and Tim talked about Ukraine, China, and Taiwan, as he was based in Taipei, noting Trump’s eagerness to exploit allies for autocrats’ gain, and what Taiwan is learning from Ukraine.

Jen pivoted to address the halting of aid to Ukraine, plus tariffs on Canada and Mexico. She explained why Trump stopping U.S. aid to Ukraine is a gift to Putin, while his high tariffs on Canada and Mexico, our neighbors and longtime allies, will crash the U.S. economy. She and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) talked about American global influence and the fate of Ukraine, and what can be done to rebuild our international standing.

Jen also interviewed Alexander Vindman to discuss American Deception of Russia and Betrayal of Ukraine. Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, as the former Director of European Affairs for the United States National Security Council, carries a profound understanding of the status of the Ukraine-Russia war, American military strategy, and our relationship with Russian power.

Olivia Julianna and Rep. Tom Suozzi discussed Ukraine and the American media space. In their forthright discussion, they covered the likely future of Ukraine, our fractured media space, and the necessity of getting people both engaged and prepared to compromise.

Trump’s Tuesday TED Talk…er Tantrum

On Tuesday evening, Jen and I went Live with The Contrarians, with friends April Ryan and Jonathan Alter, to offer counterprogramming to the parade of Trumpian lies in his address to Congress. We also gave you other antidotes: a relaxing reel of Pets of the United States (the real “POTUS”), plus cartoons, commentary on the past (Parlous) State of the Union by Ted Widmer, an inspiring, fortifying portrait from Maria Peralta on how The State of Our Union is Fed Up, and a video that reveals what’s really going on across the States of the Union.

States of the Union

In anticipation of Senator Slotkin’s response, former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Lavora Barnes praised the real voice of America, assuring us that she would be more than up to the task, calling her “a qualified, capable public servant from a battleground state who has won consistently with a diverse constituency.” Finally, as sometimes the lies fly so freely that all you can do is laugh, Andy Borowitz conjured a vision of Tuesday’s power pageant in Trump Watches Musk’s Speech to Congress From Last Row.

Going on air past many Americans’ bedtimes thanks to Donald Trump’s Fidel Castro-length diatribe, Senator Elissa Slotkin delivered the Democratic rebuttal. She was normal, grounded in reality and decent; a far cry from the mean and vindictive blowhard who had preceded her. And—bless her!—she was brief. For all the composure she emanated (among other reasons), we tapped her as The Contrarian’s Undaunted Figure of the Week.

The next morning, following Jen’s sobering, clear-eyed assessment that The American Century is Over, in what she cited as “the smallest, lowest speech in modern presidential history,” we sought out a more visual perspective with Meredith Blake’s assessment of Why wearing pink was the wrong choice for the Democrats. She explains that genteel, color-coordinated dissent felt less effective to her than AOC’s hand-knitted sweater. We completed the coverage with a few more opportunities for relief via laughter, from former Obama speechwriter David Litt’s revision of Trump’s speech in The State of the Union Is Less Than Ideal, editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder’s Scary bedtime stories, and one final dose from Borowitz, with his piece Trump Sets Record for Longest Speech Without Single Fact.

Who Will Lead the Patriotic Opposition?

We continued our ongoing coverage of the brave everyday Americans who refuse to accept the attempted thievery of our federal government and the moral degradation of our nation’s global standing. This week, the Democracy Movement covered protests in support of Ukraine, federal workers defying DOGE, celebrations of the sanctity of our national parks, and much more.

Joyce Vance’s The Democracy Index put those images into words. Her mainstay contribution is intended to keep you apprised of the state of our democracy each week. So much has come at us from every direction this week (not to mention the prior six) that it’s a true challenge to distill what’s happening into what you need to know. If the chaos feels overwhelming, remember, that’s their plan. Joyce, Julie Zebrak, and the Democracy Index team track it all so we can defeat that plot!

Given how essential it is for us to trust the courts and their ability to uphold our laws, President Trump Targeting a Major Law Firm Matters for All Americans. Trump’s attack on the Covington & Burling law firm is the latest skirmish in his campaign to bring the entire legal profession to heel, argues political scientist Austin Sarat. Then Trump repeated it with another firm that he likes even less, Perkins Coie. This coming week, we hope to cover the massive pushback by other law firms and everybody else. We cannot leave it to the targets alone to defend themselves.

Jen Rubin and Andrew Weissmann discussed the 5-4 SCOTUS ruling releasing USAID funds. Such a slim Supreme Court margin opting to order the Trump Administration to unfreeze $2 billion in foreign aid is significant. They talk about which Justices signed on, and what’s next. But, as Michael Podhorzer succinctly explained at the end of the week, There's Nothing Supreme About the Roberts Court. With damning concision he wrote: “Today’s radical decisions have been delivered exclusively by justices handpicked through a pipeline designed to ensure ideological loyalty to corporate and religious elites.”

AME Bishop Reginald T. Jackson gave a clarion call for leaders of Black faith communities—standard-bearers of moral resistance in this nation—to come to the vanguard of a historic crisis once more. He asked them to lead the resistance and seize this historic moment. “We must not shy away. As history has shown, resistance is not optional. It is our moral obligation.”

In her welcoming post to Women’s History Month, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf rounded up the current gender-inflected threats to health and human rights and what resources we can all be using in opposition, while taking a moment to honor those already working tirelessly to do so.

And now, for Dessert

No week is complete at the Contrarian without some comic commentary from Ruben Bolling’s Tom the Dancing Bug, and of course our celebrated Contrarian Pet of the Week. This week’s furry honoree was our friend Andrew Weissmann’s beloved English Cocker Spaniel, Innis, noted for being able to howl on pitch to the sirens of New York City.

Finally, in celebration of (today’s) International Women’s Day celebration, we left you with a Recipe of the Week from Marissa Rothkopf. Before delivering her irresistible brownie recipe, Marissa wrote a Women’s History Month nod to Christine Frederick, who tried to make homemaking more efficient.

That’s a good week’s work if I do say so myself. Rest up for the coming one, starting with Coffee With The Contrarians LIVE on Monday at 915 AM ET. See you then.

Warmly,

Norm