{"id":40663,"date":"2025-03-28T14:06:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T21:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=40663"},"modified":"2025-03-28T14:06:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T21:06:44","slug":"six-small-morsels-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/03\/28\/six-small-morsels-of-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"SIX SMALL MORSELS OF HOPE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
ROBERT REICH<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
MAR 28, 2025<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not going to sugarcoat this. We\u2019re in the worst national emergency of our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not coming directly from threats we should<\/em> be coping with \u2014 climate change destroying our planet, another pandemic threatening millions of lives, artificial intelligence taking over our jobs and brains, nuclear proliferation threatening the future of life on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. This national emergency is coming from a madman determined to turn America into a dictatorship and from his crazed assistants, including the richest person in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can I say that\u2019s even remotely encouraging at this point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Voters are furious.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Democrats flipped a Trump-voting seat in the Pennsylvania state Senate. James Malone defeated a well-funded and well-known Republican, Josh Parsons, in Lancaster County. Malone openly campaigned against Trump and Musk and made sure his opponent was tied to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a red Republican area that went +15 for Trump in 2024. The last time a Democrat won this seat was in 1889.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other state and federal districts are showing the same trajectory \u2014 away from Trump and Musk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Bernie and AOC are drawing record crowds.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 34,000 people turned out at Civic Center Park in Denver to hear Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a \u201cFighting Oligarchy Tour.\u201d As Bernie said: \u201cWe will not allow America to become an oligarchy. This nation was built by working people, and we are not going to let a handful of billionaires run the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the biggest rally of Bernie\u2019s entire career, including his presidential races. Hours later, the two spoke before a crowd of about 11,000 at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elon Musk was so spooked he started peddling conspiracy theories<\/a> about inflated crowd sizes and \u201cpaid\u201d protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to YouGov<\/a>, Sanders is the most popular politician in the country, with a +7 favorability. (Trump is -5, Vance is -8, Musk is -12, GOP is -15. Schumer is -33, and the Democratic Party as a whole is -35.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. April 5 protests are planned everywhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 5, 2025, Americans are hitting the streets. The \u201cHands Off!\u201d movement \u2014 in response to Trump\u2019s and Musk\u2019s devastation \u2014 is the product of a large coalition. You can find the action nearest you by typing in \u201cApril 5 demonstration near me\u201d on your browser. General information from one of the sponsoring organizations can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Trump is fumbling on all fronts.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 \u201cSignalgate\u201d<\/em> \u2014 the group chat scandal \u2014 isn\u2019t just an embarrassment for Trump and his regime. It also demonstrates that they cannot govern. They can\u2019t even manage the most elementary of steps, like making sure they\u2019re meeting secretly and securely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At best, both Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz \u2014 not to mention the White House comms operation \u2014 are damaged goods. There is no administration in the world<\/em>, beyond this one, where a blunder of these proportions happens and nobody gets fired or resigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee \u2014 Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) \u2014 have sent a letter to the Pentagon\u2019s acting inspector general requesting a formal investigation over \u201cthe use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 The economy is in deep trouble.<\/em> Consumer confidence continues to plummet amid growing worries about inflation and recession. Trump\u2019s tariffs \u2014 both those already implemented and those proposed \u2014 are already raising prices across the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 The Trump-Musk DOGE is threatening popular programs.<\/em> DOGE cuts caused the Social Security website to crash four times in 10 days, leaving millions of recipients unable to log in. Office managers are answering phones instead of receptionists because so many Social Security employees have been laid off. Phone services have been eliminated. Field offices are being cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Trump-Musk DOGE cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency are already causing thousands of Americans who have lost their homes in floods and fires to do without any aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Trump\u2019s polls are plummeting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of all of the above, Americans are turning on Trump. Although I\u2019m not a huge believer in individual polls, I pay attention when every major poll shows the same thing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouGov poll taken 3\/22 to 3\/25, Trump\u2019s disapproval (49 percent) exceeds approval (48 percent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuters\/Ipsos taken 3\/21 to 3\/23 is even worse. His disapproval is 51 percent and approval only 45 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morning Consult poll taken 3\/21 to 3\/23 shows his disapproval at 50 percent and approval at 47 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Research Group poll taken 3\/17 to 3\/20 shows his disapproval at 51 percent and approval at 45 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An NBC News poll taken 3\/7 to 3\/11 shows that a majority of Americans (52 percent) are disappointed with Trump\u2019s appointees \u2014 a higher percentage than at the start of Trump\u2019s first term, or at the start of Obama\u2019s, George W. Bush\u2019s, or Clinton\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. The courts continue to hold Trump and Musk in check, but for how long?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal judges are requiring that Trump reinstate 25,000 federal workers he fired; blocking the Trump regime from banning transgender people from the military; stopping ICE and the Department of Homeland Security from detaining several international graduate students for participating in demonstrations or adding their names to dissenting publications; and stopping ICE from deporting people without due process of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All told, over 60 federal courts have halted or pushed back against the Trump-Musk onslaught. Only three have found Trump and\/or Musk to be following the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The massive pushback from the federal courts has led Trump to threaten federal judges. It has also led Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to suggest potentially defunding, restructuring, or eliminating the federal courts altogether. \u201cWe do have the authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can eliminate an entire district court,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These six morsels of hope are small relative to the damage Trump and Musk are doing, but I wanted to let you know that all is not lost; there is push-back against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The damage is likely to accelerate in weeks to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is gearing up his attacks on lawyers and law firms that during Trump\u2019s first term challenged him or offered pro bono services to nonprofits that challenged him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Justice Department is just beginning to target his enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mass raids on alleged undocumented workers and deportations are just getting started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His (and RFK Junior\u2019s) campaign against vaccinations is already costing lives, including those of children who were not vaccinated against measles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America has never been subject to this degree of cruelty, incompetence, and disregard for democratic norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My hope is that this horrific experience will lead to a new era of fundamental reform \u2014 of our economy, our democracy, and our commitment to social justice and the rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope this is not too much to hope for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROBERT REICH MAR 28, 2025 Friends, I\u2019m not going to sugarcoat this. We\u2019re in the worst national emergency of our lives. It is not coming directly from threats we should be coping with \u2014 climate change destroying our planet, another pandemic threatening millions of lives, artificial intelligence taking over our jobs and… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40664,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40663\/revisions\/40664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}