“It might be helpful for you to know that you are not alone. And that in the long, twilight struggle which lies ahead of us, there is the possibility of hope.”
“The Long Twilight Struggle.” Babylon 5, created and written by J. Michael Straczynski, Season 2, Episode 20, 1995.
Here’s what I’ve found interesting:
- Musk-Trump destroys systems that took generations to create;
- The weaponization of trauma against federal employees;
- White House press corps should send in the interns;
- Local news’ great coverage of the impact of Musk-Trump cuts;
- Let’s make Tesla toxic;
- Montana bill would charge women for trafficking their own fetus;
- Nazis ushered in fascism by burning trans literature;
- SCOTUS sides with innocent person;
- California’s Prop 30 taxes expire in 2030; and
- Let’s not allow Trump to rewrite the history of the January 6, 2021, insurrection he instigated.
Here we go. I’m glad you’re here.
#1
‘They Were Careless People’: Taking Moments to Tear Down What Has Taken Lifetimes to Create. (James Fallows, Breaking the News, Link to Article)
Last week the eminent China scholar Orville Schell likened this moment’s all-fronts Trump-Musk disruption of American institutions to the early years of the catastrophic Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao. “Trump may lack Mao’s skills as a writer and theorist,” Schell wrote, “but he possesses the same animal instinct to confound opponents and maintain authority by being unpredictable to the point of madness”:
<snip>
It is impossible to keep up with the barrage of daily shocks and dislocations. Of course this is by design. The nonstop flow of outrages also makes it easier for members of the quisling Congress to avoid commenting on any of them in particular—for instance, the US siding with Russia and North Korea in a major UN vote this week, and siding against all its traditional allies. By tomorrow, reporters will have something else to ask about.
So let me focus on one dull-sounding development that sooner or later will be killing people. Yes, I could be talking about changes in Medicaid or in vaccine coverage or in cancer research, or about the USAID shutdowns that have already left many people dead overseas. Or lots more.
But instead I’m talking about the sudden attack on part of the invisible infrastructure that has kept air travelers so safe in the skies.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
When James Fallows isn’t providing analysis of our press or political speeches, he often shares what he’s learned from his years of flying planes.
Fallows draws from this expertise to discuss how the Musk-Trump regime’s destruction of federal institutions could set in place the “accident chain” for a crash in the future.
Fallows notes that making a complex system safe takes expertise and stability. It takes decades to build up what the United States had with our commercial aviation industry and the safety culture that our aviation systems have produced.
It won’t take long to destroy the delicate combination of institutions that makes it so safe to fly in the United States. Musk and DOGE have shut down safety committees, fired staff key to our air traffic control systems, and left federal employees in a state of trauma and unease.
Fallows details the aviation sector in his article, but he notes that experts in many other fields—health care, research, disaster relief, foreign aid—could share similar stories and warnings.
Federal agencies have been keeping us safe for decades. Musk and his tech-bro followers are now crashing and burning through our systems and likely creating problems that will only become apparent when something catastrophically fails.
It will not be easy to put these systems back together. Democrats should be telling this story to make sure the right people are held accountable for what is likely coming.
The Long Twilight Struggle is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider joining for free or becoming a paid subscriber to buy me coffee to drink while writing this newsletter.
#2
The Weaponization of Trauma (Rachael Dietkus, Can We Still Govern?, Link to Article)
I am a current federal employee with the United States Digital Corps. I was required to be interviewed by a member of the DOGE team and am also on the termination list of employees due to probationary status. I wrote this in my personal capacity, but the perspectives I share are deeply connected to my professional responsibility to advance ethical, trauma-informed practices in public sector innovation.
TL;DR: The forced mass terminations and agency restructuring under the Trump administration have activated psychological and emotional distress among federal workers. Employees report hypervigilance, institutional betrayal, physiological symptoms of stress, loss of identity, grief, and collective trauma.
The administration’s rhetoric explicitly frames these actions as an intentional effort to induce trauma, as evidenced by Russell Vought’s statement: “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.”
The following analysis applies trauma frameworks to understand the impact of these upheavals.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told us what he wanted to do to our federal workers. We should not forget how Vought and Regent Elon Musk’s DOGE tech-bros are treating people who were dedicated to improving our lives.
I am glad we have this first-hand account of the human toll created by the Musk-Trump-Vought destruction of our federal agencies. It is vital to remember that each announcement of layoffs or terminations involves real people with mortgages, children, and health concerns. They have done nothing to deserve the disrespect and chaos they face.
Vought has described himself as a Christian Nationalist, and he seeks to bring Christianity into all parts of our society and government.
I’d like to know what part of Jesus’ teachings is consistent with wanting other humans “to be traumatically affected?” I don’t remember that being a part of the Sermon on the Mount.
Vought is a dangerous person trying to impose his heretical religious views on the rest of us. The trauma won’t stop with federal workers if he has his way.
#3
Send the Interns (Jay Rosen, Press Think, Link to Article)
When I say #sendtheinterns I mean it literally: take a bold decision to put your most junior people in the briefing room. Recognize that the real story is elsewhere, and most likely hidden. That’s why the experienced reporters need to be taken out of the White House, and put on other assignments.
Look: they can’t visit culture war upon you if they don’t know where you are. The press has to become less predictable. It has to stop functioning as a hate object. This means giving something up. The dream of the White House briefing room and the Presidential press conference is that accountability can be transacted in dramatic and televisable moments: the perfect question that puts the President or his designate on the spot, and lets the public see — as if in a flash — who they are led by. This was always an illusion. Crumbling for decades, it has become comically unsustainable under Trump.
Please note: I am not saying that as a beat the White House is unimportant, or that its pronouncements can be ignored. I’m not saying: devote less attention to Trump. Rather: change the terms of this relationship. Make yourself more elusive. In the theater of resentment where you play such a crucial part, relinquish that part.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
NYU Journalism Professor Jay Rosen first suggested that media outlets #sendtheinterns to the White House press briefings with this article at the beginning of the first Trump Administration. That didn’t happen.
However, given Trump’s attacks on the Associated Press, ABC, CBS, the Des Moines Register, and other reporters, Rosen reminded people of his suggestion.
I think it has much merit, especially now that the Trump White House is taking over the media pool assignments from the White House Correspondents Association.
Trump gives reporters access and sound bites but otherwise insults reporters and is engaged in a war against the stewards of the First Amendment.
White House reporters have ways to fight back. Rosen notes that very little news comes from the briefings, so the lead correspondents could spend that time more productively.
Trump loves his media coverage. He may react to having the press briefing downgraded. Reporters can reset the rules of engagement.
As Reporters Without Borders has explained, press freedom is under siege after the first month of Trump 47. Our press outlets need to do something. Or they can continue to be lied to in press briefings and belittled at every opportunity while our First Amendment rights slip away.
#4
Local news deserves high marks for coverage of the doge fallout (Jennifer Schulze, Indistinct Chatter, Link to Article)
Local news is doing what it does best: build trust by reporting on stories local residents can verify with their own eyes. Recently, much of that reporting has focused on the local impact of the reckless actions of Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Fired USDA bird flu scientists. Shuttered Head Start programs. Angry voters confronting GOP Congressmen about doge. It’s all part of a monumental story playing out every day on trusted local news outlets from the TV newscasts in Chicago, to newspapers in Kansas and digital news sites stretching from Nevada to New Hampshire.
I’ve spent my journalism career working in local newsrooms and I’m very impressed by the quality of work. It’s timely, often gut wrenching and impactful. Equally, in an era when people doubt the news, it feels authentic.
One of the biggest stories across America is the growing anger aimed at Musk and Trump revealed in numerous town hall meetings this week. In Yucca Valley, California, the Hi-Desert Star witnessed the shouts of’ ‘no kings’ and ‘do your job’ at Republican Congressman Jay Obernolte’s Saturday morning town hall. In Milwaukee, TMJ4 was there as the crowd booed claims that Doge was proving successful. In Tulsa, News on 6 reported on calls for congressional hearings. In Georgia, multiple news outlets covered the overflow crowd that jeered Republican Rich McCormick especially when he compared the crowd to the January 6th rioters.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Local news outlets have been suffering greatly over the past 15-20 years. It isn’t a loss of classified ads and subscribers. It is also hedge fund buyers loading them with debt before they strip them for parts.
That is why we should tip our caps to all of the outstanding coverage we have seen the past couple of weeks as voters protest the Musk-Trump regime’s coup against our federal agencies.
Voters are unhappy and demanding that their representatives do their Article I jobs and place guardrails on the Musk-Trump regime. Voters do not want their Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid cut. Voters do not want to hear that their Congressional representatives have no power to stop what Musk and his DOGE tech-bros are doing to our federal agencies.
I am glad that national outlets are picking up these local stories. However, we need to figure out ways to secure the future of local reporting. Rich liberals could do a bunch of good by endowing publications in news deserts and then getting out of the way (unlike that space and defense contractor who has decided to ruin the Washington Post’s reputation).
Thank you for reading The Long Twilight Struggle. This post is public, so please share it with your family and friends.
#5
Make Tesla Toxic (Evan Sutton, Ctrl Alt Right Delete, Link to Article)
But how do regular people with limited resources extract a price from a rising fascist movement?
The first answer is everything we can think of. No one who’s lived their whole life in the United States has ever faced something like this, and none of us knows for sure what’s going to derail the march toward fascism. In times like these, we should foster creative actions, not wag our fingers or tut-tut ideas.
But there is a very specific target that deserves special focus—Tesla Motors.
Tesla is the basis of Elon Musk’s mystique and his wealth. His stake in the company is worth around $145 billion at today’s valuation—more than a third of his total net worth.
Elon clearly isn’t scared about the legal consequences of his actions. Why should he be? The courts have never held him accountable in any meaningful way before, and now he’s protected by an increasingly authoritarian regime.
But legal consequences aren’t the only cost an effective resistance can make opponents pay.
The first thing you need to know is that Tesla Motors is a house of cards.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Many people have lost quite a bit of money shorting Tesla since the start of the pandemic. By any typical measure, the company is overvalued—it is worth more than the next 11 automobile companies combined.
So much of Tesla’s value is based on the belief that Elon Musk is a visionary with a special ability to see the company continue to grow like a technology stock.
But sales have already slowed. And European sales have plummeted since Musk tied himself so closely to Trump and other right-wing causes.
Musk has been working diligently to alienate the people most likely to want to buy an electric vehicle. Meanwhile, other auto companies have caught up to Tesla—and even provided less expensive models in key markets like China.
So, if one wants to hurt Musk, breaking the spell Tesla has on the market is one way to do so. We’ve seen a growth in protests at Tesla dealerships. People are dumping the stock. And people who can’t sell or get out of a lease are putting stickers on their cars to share that they bought it before “Elon went crazy.”
There is more people can do, and Sutton outlines steps people can take to hit Elon Musk financially.
The overvalued Tesla stock is the basis for much of Musk’s power. The marketplace has an opportunity to have an impact.
Musk losing a significant amount of his financial power may, in turn, give Trump (or his advisors) the opportunity to teach him one of the oldest lessons in politics—smart leaders delegate unpopular decisions to others and then use them as a scapegoat to regain their popularity.
Machiavelli diagnosed this dynamic when he wrote in Chapter 19 of The Prince, “From it a noteworthy lesson may be drawn: princes should delegate unpopular duties to others while dispensing all favors directly themselves.”
I doubt Trump is aware of the political philosophy. But he’s a master at using and scapegoating people. Musk’s unpopular overreaching has also upset enough other Trump Administration appointees that the metaphorical knives are starting to emerge.
#6
Montana Bill Would Charge Women for ‘Trafficking’ Their Own Fetus (Jessica Valenti, Abortion, Every Day, Link to Article)
For the past two years, we’ve watched Republicans push ‘abortion trafficking’ laws to restrict minors’ ability to leave their states for care. And for just as long, I’ve warned that this was never going to stop at teens—that what happens to young people today comes for the rest of us tomorrow.
Well, tomorrow is here. Montana Republicans have introduced a first-of-its-kind bill that would criminalize women for getting certain out-of-state abortions, accusing them of ‘trafficking’ their own fetuses.
And regardless of what happens in Montana, this bill has stark implications for the whole country. Republicans have broken a legislative seal—signaling that they’re coming for women’s right to travel.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
This is the first legislative effort to criminalize women’s travel. And we need to treat it as a serious threat.
The bill may not pass in Montana. But other states are likely to pick up the baton. We have seen this dynamic with forced-birth bills for decades.
Forced-birth extremists are working with conservative legal groups and outside organizations to create an environment where these outrageous ideas are normalized.
The legislation, as Valenti explains, is also a backdoor way of establishing fetal personhood as a legal concept.
Travel restrictions may have started with teens. But like all of these ideas, forced-birth activists will work to expand them to every person who can become pregnant.
It is easier to defeat these bills the earlier we find out about them. I’m glad that Valenti is serving as a major hub to distribute information about what the forced-birth extremists are doing to restrict women’s rights to reproductive healthcare.
#7
Nazis Burned Trans Books To Usher In Fascism: Now Trump Does The Same (Erin Reed, Erin in the Morning, Link to Article)
Nearly a century ago, Nazis raided the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft—the Institute of Sexology—a pioneering research institution and clinic founded by Magnus Hirschfeld, a forefather of transgender research. The institute housed tens of thousands of books, research notes, and data documenting the first decades of scientific study on transgender and queer people. Long before the labor camps and mass killings, the Nazis identified Hirschfeld as a primary enemy, targeting his work in the early rise of fascism. That night, in Berlin’s Bebelplatz Square, they burned his institute’s collection in a now-infamous spectacle, immortalized in history books yet often stripped of the context of who, exactly, was targeted. Now, President Trump is doing the same—digitally burning records of transgender people and pressuring nonprofits to follow suit.
And those digital fires have spread. Within days of Trump’s anti-trans executive orders, the word “transgender” was erased from nearly every government website where it once appeared. CDC data on transgender health was stripped from its pages. The Stonewall National Monument—dedicated to the LGBTQ+ people who fought back against oppression, led by transgender activists—was purged of any mention of transgender people online. Even institutions and nonprofits serving LGBTQ+ communities, particularly those receiving federal funding, have been pressured into scrubbing “transgender” and “gender identity” from their materials. The Nazis would envy the speed and efficiency with which it was done.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Some of history’s rhymes are frightening. Anyone who thinks the Trump Regime is going to stop after they wipe out the existence of transgender people has not paid attention to numerous historical examples.
The attacks against trans people continue to grow. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a directive to permanently bar trans athletes from entering the United States if their visa applications misrepresent their birth sex. The United States is about to co-host the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and the Summer Olympics in 2028.
The directive is also vague enough that it could apply to non-athletes as well.
Rubio was confirmed to his position by a 99-0 vote. Yes, every Democrat voted for to confirm him. And this anti-trans directive is what that celebration of Senate norms has wrought. Did Democratic Senators think Rubio would stand up to Trump and stop some of his worst foreign policy initiatives?
So bleeping naive.
Senate Democrats have also agreed to more than 340 unanimous consent requests in 2025, speeding up the confirmations of many of Trump’s unqualified nominees. This situation is not normal, and Democrats should stop wishing and acting like it is. Are they an opposition party or the junior partner in an authoritarian government?
#8
SCOTUS Sides With Obviously Innocent Richard Glossip, Orders Oklahoma To Vacate His Conviction (Robyn Pennacchia, Wonkette, Link to Article)
In a rare moment of actually doing the right thing, the Supreme Court of the United States of America has determined that Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip should have his conviction vacated and be granted a new trial.
Glossip was convicted in 1997 of a murder he did not commit — the murder of Barry Von Treese, the owner of the Best Budget Inn where he worked as a manager. Another man named Justin Sneed actually committed the murder and Glossip was convicted of supposedly “hiring” him by promising they could split any money Sneed was able to steal afterwards.
<snip>
This morning, after having his execution date changed nine times, after eating three last meals, after years of insisting upon his (very obvious) innocence, after years of work from lawyers, activists and documentary filmmakers seeking to prove his innocence, after years of even Oklahoma Republicans arguing for his case to be overturned, SCOTUS has ordered the state of Oklahoma to vacate his conviction.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
It doesn’t happen often, so I will celebrate when the Supreme Court does the right thing.
Richard Glossip did not receive a fair trial because the prosecution did not correct testimony it knew to be false during the original trial.
There was no guarantee that the Supreme Court would see things this way. After all, it has recently made it much more difficult for innocent people to access the courts when new evidence is found and implicitly said that no Constitutional right is violated if an innocent person has to spend the rest of their life in jail after a wrongful conviction.
Glossip may now get the opportunity to receive the fair trial everyone deserves, particularly those facing the death penalty.
Prosecutors and police should face more significant sanctions for lying to the court or withholding evidence from the defense. I think police should be barred from lying to suspects during interrogations.
But those are conversations for another day. Now we can celebrate that a person with a compelling claim to be innocent of the charges that led to his capitol conviction can get a fair trial (if Oklahoma decides to pursue the case).
#9
Proposition 30 taxes expire in 2030 (Jason Sisney, #CABudget, Link to Article)
One of California’s voter-approved marginal tax rates for higher-income personal income tax (PIT) filers expires at the end of 2030. Absent legislative or voter action to extend these taxes, the state budget then will lose perhaps more than $10 billion of annual tax revenue. Compared to budgets under current tax law, deficits would increase by several billion dollars per year, and guaranteed school funding would decline by several billion dollars. From a perspective of prudent planning for tax and fiscal policy, a decision to extend the current taxes, modify them, or let them expire ideally would be made a few years prior to 2030.
Because the state’s multiyear budget forecasts only go out about four years, the deficit pressures from expiration of these voter-approved temporary taxes are not yet shown in those forecasts. Similarly, the forecasts do not account fully for deficit pressures from the 2030 end of the existing cap-and-trade authorization or the long-term decline of the state’s fuel taxes.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Here’s something my California readers will want to keep an eye on as the state budget debate develops.
I would love it if the Democrats would use their legislative supermajorities to extend the taxes. But I doubt they will since it would require taking a stand.
So, it would be prudent to have a ballot measure ready to go in 2026 to extend the Proposition 30 tax to protect school funding. I’m not confident the legislative leadership or Governor Newsom will see it that way, but we should not be blind as we edge closer to a budget cliff.
The Reality of the January 6, 2021, Insurrection
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump instigated a violent insurrection against the United States government.
People were hurt and police officers died protecting the Capitol. Vice President Pence and other elected officials just barely escaped danger. Our national streak of peaceful transfers of power ended.
It was not, as Trump claims, a “day of love.” And we must resist his efforts to rewrite the history of that dark day.
Post-Game Comments
Today’s Thought from my Readwise collection:
“Beyond this, the adage that the opposition’s duty was to oppose was not Rayburn’s adage. He didn’t want to oppose simply for the sake of opposing. “Any jackass can kick a barn down,” he said. “But it takes a good carpenter to build one.” (Robert A. Caro, Master of the Senate)
Thank you for reading! This post is public, so feel free to share it.
Thank you for reading my newsletter. Please let me know what you think about what you’ve read—and send me things you’ve found interesting! You can email me at craig@cheslog.com.
The Long Twilight Struggle is free and supported voluntarily by its readers. If you liked what you read, please consider buying me a coffee to drink while I write it by becoming a paid subscriber or sponsor.
Be First to Comment