How You Can Help Trump Fail

As you may already have heard, ICE/ CBP rogue paramilitary goons under the leadership of cosplaying Nazi commandant Greg Bovino, murdered two people who were observers in Minneapolis and they also used a 5 year old child, Liam Ramos, as bait to lure his dad out of hiding so they could arrest the father. Then they sent both the father and son to a Texas detention center where the little boy became very depressed and sick- not eating, sleeping a lot. A federal judge just ordered the child and father to be released from custody.  The judge was appalled at the cruelty and said so in his order.

“[F]or some among us,” the judge wrote, “the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned.”  Judge Biery signed the order after saying he was putting “ a judicial finger in the constitutional dike.” Under his signature, he posted the now-famous image of the little boy detained in his blue bunny hat and Spiderman backpack and wrote “Jesus wept.”

There are other little children in custody who, like Liam, have been used as bait to capture their parents. Americans need to hear about them too. If voters are upset now about the degree of cruelty we already know about from this government, just wait. We don’t know how badly people are being treated inside these detention centers. But given the meaness and violence on our streets from Trump/ Stephen Miller/Kristi Noem’s paramilitary, the detention centers must be hell holes. It is just a matter of time before this information comes out. When it does, it will cause more Americans to turn against the Trump regime.

Trump is not about to change his evil ways. Tom Homan, who replaced Bovino, is as despicable as Greg Bovino. Yesterday federal agents tear gassed people who were peacefully protesting in Portland including little children walking along with their parents.

The Trump regime is showing its hand. Cruelty is the plan because it scares people into submission. The clear goal of the administration is to kill off our democracy and turn the government into a right-wing dictatorship.  I have been warning about this for a long time. But many of our friends (who said they did not like Trump but did like his policies) thought I was being an alarmist. I was not. This was their covert goal from the start of Trump 2.0. Really, since Trump lost in 2020.

Trump was chosen by the tech bros and fossil fuel titans as their best hope to gain dominance over the country and expand their power. These powerful, wealthy guys believe the world divides into the makers and the takers. The makers are the elites (them) who deserve to live like kings and pharaohs and get what they want. The takers are a drain on society and deserve nothing. They should just go off in a corner and die. And by-the-way, women are included in the enslaved class by these broligarchs.

And, you Trump supporters, you too are the takers that they think are worthless people.

The Supreme Court is part of this extreme movement towards autocracy. Three hand picked Supreme Court justices were put on the Court by Trump to cripple our constitutional republic and empower a “unitary executive” which is really the same thing as an autocrat/ dictator. The tech bros and the fossil fuel titans have given up on democracy. Democracies require compromise. These guys are not willing to compromise. Trump was perfect for their coup. He works for these guys because he is open for business. All you have to do is pay him off.

What are Trump’s motives? He wants to get richer, be the darling of the elites who used to shun him in NY, and avoid prosecution or impeachment for all the laws he has broken and will continue to break with impunity. Like every other autocrat in history, he has surrounded himself with corrupt people who protect him and will try to turn the country into an autocracy before We the People figure out what hit us.

Too late, you guys. We the People have figured this out. That’s why in bright red Tarrant County, Texas, which includes Fort Worth, Democrat, Taylor Rehmet resoundingly defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss in a district where President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024. The Republicans face a blue tsunami in 2026 even with the Democratic brand in the toilet. The country wants Trump stopped! limited! and the harm he is causing prevented!

It isn’t only CNN’s Anderson Cooper exposing the cruelty. Even some commentators on Fox News are expressing concern beyond pearl clutching. Independent media is loudly calling out this administration with Meidas Touch raking in more views than Fox or Joe Rogan and many former journalists for main stream media setting up shop as independent voices with their own platforms.  They are getting us the truth even as this administration tries to shut them down so we don’t know the truth.

Will the broligarchs win or fail?  They have power and money. They are good at breaking things, but in the process they are pissing off a lot of people and creating massive backlash that is reaching into Republican suburbs and formerly safe GOP strongholds.

Could this administration fail to install a dictatorship? Why?

1) Because they are moving too fast and are being too cruel and out of control. Millions of people who voted for Trump three times are now developing “concerns” about what’s going on (based on the most recent focus groups that Sarah Longwell of the Bulwark has conducted.)

2) Trump is sick and might not make it to the end of his term. There is uncertainty about whether JD Vance could hold the coalition together. The MAGA cult that voted for Trump is split into sub groups that have different ideas about what America First means (as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s departure exposes). The cult does not like Vance or trust him. Part of Trump’s power comes from the cult that votes for him and threatens Republican lawmakers and others who critcize Trump to stay in line. They might not do that for Vance.

3) The administration has put inept and stupid people in power. They keep f–ing up in the courts, for example. They are losing pretty much every case they bring in federal court even before Trump-appointed judges. But that might not matter to them since just indicting or arresting someone is punishment and a warning to others. It causes emotional and financial costs for the targeted person. They have debased the DOJ and are using it as a whip to punish “enemies”.

4) Trump cares too much about spectacle and image. He has put people in power who are all about social media imagery. By putting image first, people who fight back can use those images to hurt and mock the regime. Bovino is being mocked for his mini Hitler coat. People are dressing up like big chickens and rabbits so that photos of Kristi Noem and others show them going to war against costumed animals and looking foolish and ridiculous. In addition, if the image doesn’t look good to Trump, he calls off his army of goons and retreats. The best way to fight back is to embarrass Trump. Minneapolis did a good job.

Americans didn’t vote for Trump to turn the country into a militarized dictatorship. They are waking up to the fact that this was a coup and they have been conned.

I am just back from a conference where the topic was what is happening to our democracy. The conference was both terrifying and inspiring.

The heavy hitting line up of speakers included Heather Cox Richardson, Norm Eisen, Abbe Lowell, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Jim Messina, James Carville and many many other thoughtful, smart leaders in American politics. It was like being in an intense seminar with professors who are on the frontline of the fight for our democracy. Every hour we had another class and another professor. We could ask tough questions and get good answers. One after another for two days straight! It was amazing. It was enlightening. And it was friggin terrifying.

Even if you have heard in the past that “the next election is the most important election of your life”, this next mid-term election IS THAT ELECTION!! Full stop.

If Americans lose the chance to get the House back or let the Trump regime cheat their way to “victory”, we are in for big trouble. The people who run our government including Trump will escalate their self-enriching and corrupt ways. There will be no consequences for them. The American Dream will be over. The rule of law will be whatever Trump says it is. Our country will also lose its standing with our allies as a global leader for decades to come. America First will become America alone and isolated.

I am going to start with the bad news but please keep reading because there is good news and maybe even great news that could come of all of this.

In short, if the Dems do not win back power in Congress by taking back the House and, possibly, the Senate in 2026, it’s game over for our democracy as well as the American Dream for decades to come. On that score every speaker agreed.  The country will also become a very dark, dystopian place– rife with greed and corruption and people with the worse values will be in charge of the federal government. The country will essentially become a police state that empowers white supremacists, mysogynists, racists and anti semetic leaders.

Those people who voted for Trump thinking that he cares about Israel and the Jews and would not put antisemetic people into leadership roles need to get real. Nick Fuentes, an antisemetic white supremacist, has formed an alliance with JD Vance. Greg Bovino (and probably many others in this administration) are also antisemetic. Once Trump is gone or his power is minimized (through illness or maybe the fatal cheeseburger), the regime will target Jews as well as Black and Brown people, women, and critics. Anyone who is critical of the government will become a target. Don Lemon is just the start of this administration’s effort to shut down free speech and constitutional rights for everyone except the elites who will run the country (and, they hope, the world). No one is safe in an autocratic regime. It could be a very long time before we could ever regain any semblance of a democracy after that.

OK. That’s the bad news. Here is hopeful news.

The good news is that Trump and his gang of villains are 1) overplaying their hand, 2) moving too fast and 3) are shockingly inept.  Because of these shortcomings, Americans are finally noticing what’s happening politically despite being busy people who might like to spend 8 hours a day on Tik Tok viewing cat videos or watching a cow use a broom to scratch its back (yes, that’s really a thing! and I confess it is pretty remarkable to see). Meanwhile, in the real world, the actions of ICE and CBP are so gut wrenching and terrifying, those images are penetrating social media and changing minds about Trump and his administration even with people who watch cat videos all day.

Millions of Americans not only don’t like what they see, but don’t like what they are experiencing personally (high grocery prices, high cost of cosumer goods, loss of health care, job loss) with Trump 2.0.  That includes many Trump supporters. But far more importantly, independent voters who voted for Trump in 2024 are rapidly moving away from him. It’s called backlash.

That is why his approvals are in the dumper. (Now falling to 36% or 37% in the most recent polling.) That matters because this disapproval and especially thestrong disapproval numbers for Trump function to wake up Republicans in the House and Senate like an alarm bell. This shift in the electorate will force them to pull away from Trump to save themselves from being voted out of office. As Trump’s numbers crater, we could regain a more muscular Congress that would work in a bipartisan way as the founders intended it to. We are seeing inklings of this even now. (Epstein files was one such indicator.)

Because of this, the Dems have a once in a lifetime, maybe a once-in-a-generation, opportunity to change the narrative and reset the course of our country.

There is mounting evidence of a blue tsunami coming in 2026. The governors races in VA and NJ where Sherrill and Spanberger won, Momdani’s win in NY, and the many special election victories for Democrats seemed to indicate  a shift away from MAGA in the voting patterns of the country. Then came the Texas election yesterday where Democrat Taylor Rehmet, an Air Force veteran and machinist, defeated right-wing Republican Leigh Wambsganss for a seat that Republicans have held since the early 1990s.  Wambsganss spent nearly $2.2 million more than Rehmet in the campaign. Both Texas governor Greg Abbott and Trump himself publicly supported Wambsganss.  Voters flipped a district that Trump won in 2024 by 17 points to Rehmet, electing him by a 14.4-point margin.  The swing from the Republican in 2024 was 32 points toward the Democrats. In Texas!

There is more good news. There has never been a more inspirational, capable, deep bench of Democratic candidates running for office who hope to serve in the House and Senate probably ever in the history of our country. Really good people are running to become governors, AGs, secretaries of state, and state house lawmakers. That’s the assessment of James Carville, Jim Messina and others who have seen a lot of candidates in their lifetimes. These candidates need to get elected and Trump is helping them get elected by being too extreme.  The billionaire right-wing global extremists will throw tons of bucks at these races (and these guys have a lot of money to throw around thanks to Citizen’s United.)

Americans can help Democrats to win not only by donating, but by registering voters, helping with relational organizing, canvassing, calling, amplifying messages, sending postcards, and serving on election protection teams and as judges of election.

According to Dave Wasseraman of Cook Political, the more Trump overplays his hand, the better the chance for the Dems to take back the Senate as well as the House. Trump’s approvals are now in the disastrous dumpster range of 36% and 37%, which has opened up a real chance for the Dems to regain not only the House, but the Senate.

One of the most interesting and inspiring candidates is, I think, James Talarico who is running for the Senate from the state of Texas.  He is a true Christian without being piously in your face about it. He is someone who speaks about kindness and caring without making you wince. He first needs to win in the primary against Jasmine Crockett, who has thrown her hat in the ring. She is a fighter, but she would likely lose in a general election because Texas is still a right-wing state. Right-wing thinking is more baked in the cake in there. Talarico is a Democrat who could actually win.

Other candidates who could win in formerly impossible races thanks to Trump’s overreach and brutality are Colonel Alex Vindman, running for the Senate in Florida, and David Jolly, running for Governor of Florida. Mary Peltola is running for the Senate in Alaska and could have a chance there. 

There are also C 3 and C 4 groups and PACs that are hard at work leveraging the remarkable opportunity the Dems have in 2026 thanks to Trump’s chaos, corruption and cruelty.  The Democratic Party is also aware of the opportunity that Trump and his administration have opened up and DLCC and other Dem groups are expanding their efforts to get candidates elected to Congress and to state houses.

1) Keep pushing back in every way you can. Pick something you can do to push back and just do it! Keep doing it! Get groceries for people too scared to leave their homes. Volunteeer to help get little kids to and from school when ICE/ CBP is around. Write op eds if you can. Be active on social media spreading fact based information.

2) Develop and grow local community groups that protect your community from the government’s ICE and CPB raids.

3) Work to get good candidates elected to your state houses, governors, secretaries of state, AGs, as well as Congress.

3) JOIN ALL RALLIES AND MARCHES YOU CAN TO KEEP HURTING TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATINGS. THE LOWER THEY GET THE MORE THE REPUBLICANS THINK ABOUT WHAT IT WILL BE LIKE WITH TRUMP GONE AND REALIZE THEY NEED TO JOIN THE DEMOCRATS IF THEY HOPE TO SAVE THEIR OWN SKINS.

4) Talk about TRUMP, STEPHEN MILLER, PETE HEGSETH, KRISTI NOEM, GREG BOVINO, TOM HOMAN and others in Trump’s administration in letters to the editor, blog posts and in your conversations with others. SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH YOUR NETWORK. Talk about politics with people you know and  everyone else you talk with. Become a change agent in the world.  Be curious. Listen first to see if you can find common ground. (The second ammendment gun rights guys don’t want their gun rights taken away- there’s common ground there). Identify the evildoers and bad guys. Name them. Tell people hope is not enough. We have to vote no matter how hard that might be.

The potential outcome for our country could be a revitalization and reinvention of our democracy. Other modern European democracies have had an easier time updating their constitutions so government functions effectively in rapidly changing times. Our constitution makes it hard to make big needed changes without 2/3 of the states agreeing. That is super hard to do. But there could be fixes that are possible if Americans vote enough Democrats into power. There is a lot that needs to be done to prevent the total destruction of our democracy.

We need to codify what is currently “norms and unwritten rules”. They need to become laws with penalties and consequences. We need to put term limits on Supreme Court justices, implement rank choice voting (which helps moderates to win elections), get rid of or modify Citizens United, Chevron, and the grant of presidential immunity for “official acts” decisions, pass legislation to enshrine reproductive healthcare as a right, fund ACA subsidies, perhaps end the filibuster so that Congress can pass legislation to empower the American Dream, make Puerto Rico and DC states, hold hearings to expose Trump’s shocking level of corruption and much more.

Stay strong. Stay engaged. Stay positive. Above all, get active and don’t lose hope. If you are hopeless they have already won.

We can do this. Failure is not an option. The future of our country could be amazing.