“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:
- How to make Trump unpopular again by not allowing more GOP political layups;
- Democrats must address their gerontocracy problem;
- Silicon Valley’s plan to dismantle democracy;
- Republican SAVE Act could prevent many women from voting;
- Elon Musk is trying to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat;
- How a foreign reporter would write about last week (“King Donald I” Accelerates White Nationalist Purge of Military Leaders);
- 150-year-olds are not collecting Social Security benefits;
- Civil Servants are leading the resistance; 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
How to Make Trump Unpopular Again (Dan Pfeiffer, The Message Box, Link to Article)
Without adopting McConnell’s nihilism, we do need a similar approach. McConnell understood that his party’s success was inversely correlated with Obama’s. Unfortunately, politics is zero-sum. Mutually shared political victory between Republicans and Democrats does not exist.
Therefore, Democrats need to adopt a “no layups” rule. This is a concept borrowed from basketball. There are no easy shots. If the other team tries to make a layup, you foul them before they can. This is the mentality Democrats need. We must complicate everything for Trump and the Republicans and use every lever of power to slow things down and gum up the works. Time is the only non-renewable resource in politics. Every day that Trump doesn’t move his agenda is a day he won’t get back. This is what McConnell did to Obama and it’s what Democrats need to do to Trump.
The real test will come when government funding runs out and the debt limit expires. The Democratic approach must be in total opposition to any Republican proposal. We have all the leverage. If Republicans want Democratic votes, they must pay in concessions. This doesn’t mean we demand Medicare For All or an expansion of Social Security, but we can insist on concessions to protect many of the priorities being slashed by Musk and his minions.
To be clear, Democrats are not forcing a shutdown. Republicans have the votes to keep the government up and running. I am simply saying that Democrats shouldn’t bail out the Republicans due to some sense of civic duty.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Right before this recent Congressional district work period, Senate Democrats helped speed along the confirmations of several of President Trump’s nominees, including Tusli Gabard, Pam Bondi, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They did this by agreeing to unanimous consent requests so members could avoid being in session on Friday and be sure to get to the Munich Security Conference.
To quote the legendary Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi:
I was under the impression we were facing the most difficult time for our Republic since the Civil War. It’s not just what I’m seeing the Musk-Trump regime do in the news—it’s also in all the fundraising appeals I am getting from Democrats and Democratic-related fundraising committees.
Yes, protecting our democracy and highlighting the Musk-Trump illegal activities may require staying in session on Fridays (and, gasp) weekends.
Yes, the Republicans enjoy a federal trifecta. But that doesn’t mean Democrats are without tools they can use.
This is where I find Pfeiffer’s use of the “no layups” metaphor helpful to describe reasonable expectations at this moment.
Democrats may not be able to win many votes, but they have many ways to slow down events—especially in the Senate. Democrats should start using all of these tools, at least until Elon Musk and his tech-bro followers at DOGE are brought under control.
That means objecting to every unanimous consent request. It means hard quorum calls that force 51 Senators to be present on the floor to conduct business. Republican Senators need to pay a cost for going along with Musk-Trump. Time is a nonrenewable resource, and Democrats should force Republicans to use every moment of it. Indivisible Co-Founder Ezra Levin used BlueSky to post the memo that former GOP Senator Judd Gregg sent to his colleagues in 2009 to try to stop the passage of universal healthcare. Democrats should use every one of those processes.
Republicans broke these norms years ago. They set the precedent.
While more Democrats have started fighting back since my last newsletter, we still need to see more from our leaders. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have been subpar (I hope Jeffries noted the protests aimed at him earlier this week while he made a baffling book tour appearance in Chicago).
We need our leaders to show us they care.
And we need to show them that we care. I have been calling my two U.S. Senators every day the past week to share my disappointment with their unwillingness to use their power to throw sand in the gears of the Musk-Trump regime. I’ve called my Member of Congress to encourage her to talk to her California Senate colleagues. Contacting local elected officials who have endorsed the Senators can help as well.
The 5 Calls app is an excellent way to make these calls about this issue or any other part of the current Constitutional emergency. There is something all of us can do, as dire as the situation seems.
Finally, regarding the gif image at the beginning of this newsletter, if you weren’t aware of what the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream did to help Rev. Raphael Warnock defeat their team’s co-owner, former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, in the 2020 Georgia special Senate election, I encourage you to read Elizabeth Williams’ article telling the story and to watch the outstanding Amazon Prime documentary Power of the Dream. Williams is the person blocking the shot and preventing an easy layup in the image above.
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
Democrats’ gerontocracy problem is front and center in the Trump era (Kyle Thorp, Chaotic Era, Link to Article)
The most powerful elected official in the Democratic Party at the moment uses a flip phone and does not send email. “I don’t do e-mails. I get them but I don’t do them,” Chuck Schumer told a local news outlet several years ago.
As U.S. Senate Minority Leader, Schumer is one of the most visible representatives of the Democratic Party’s brand and platform. He arguably has the greatest say over Democrats’ inside strategy to block or stall parts of President Trump’s agenda. And yet, “embarrassing,” “so unbelievably bad,” and “horrific,” are just a few of the words used by senior Senate Democratic staffers to describe Chuck Schumer these days.
Over the past two weeks, I’ve spoken with a half dozen current or former Democratic Senate Communications Directors, Legislative Directors, or Chiefs of Staff about Chuck Schumer and whether or not he is the right person to lead Democrats at this moment. Every person requested to speak on background, out of fear of losing their jobs or angering their friends. Each is in agreement that the Democratic leader has struggled to find his footing in the new Trump era, and should pass the torch to the next generation.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
So we’ve tried it Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s way. He seemed to think that if the Democrats held their fire against some of President Trump’s least objectionable nominees, that Republicans would go along with keeping the most dangerous of them from getting confirmed.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert K. Kennedy Jr., and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard demonstrate how terrible that strategy turned out to be.
I thought that Schumer may have wanted to take advantage of this moment to get revenge for all of the Republican obstruction that intensified when the nation had the gall to elect a non-white person to the presidency. But, no, apparently taking weekends off and letting Republican Senators help announce our national appeasement of Russia and China in Munich (of all cities) turned out to be a bigger priority.
It’s not just Schumer, of course. Leading Democrats still haven’t figured out how to center themselves on video calls and make sure they have decent enough lighting to appear professional on cable news interviews. Schumer put Senator Cory Booker in charge of organizing the Senate Democrats’ social media plan. It’s not going well. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries didn’t inspire confidence with his “God is still on the throne” thoughts and prayers.
What we’ve seen the first month of the Musk-Trump regime from Democrats has not been good enough. It’s time to try new strategies, and if the current leadership isn’t willing to do so, they should make the honorable choice and step down.
#3
Silicon Valley’s Plan to Dismantle Democracy (Mike Brock, Notes from the Circus, Link to Article)
DOGE is not about efficiency. It is about erasure. Democracy is being deleted in slow motion, replaced by proprietary technology and AI models. It is a coup, executed not with guns, but with backend migrations and database wipes.
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, marking the largest failure of an investment bank since the Great Depression. This event catalyzed the global financial crisis, leading to widespread economic hardship and a profound loss of faith in established institutions.
In the aftermath of the crisis, several key figures emerged who would go on to shape a new movement in American politics.
<skip>
The notion that traditional democratic governance was inefficient or outdated resonated with those who saw themselves as disruptors and innovators.
This intellectual throughline—from Mises to Hoppe to figures like Yarvin and Thiel—helps explain the emergence of what some have called “techno-libertarianism.” It represents a dangerous alignment of anti-democratic thought with immense technological and financial resources, posing significant challenges to traditional conceptions of democratic governance and civic responsibility.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
The emergence of techno-libertarianism, and its current alliance with white Christian nationalists, has put our democracy in its greatest danger since the Civil War.
Why is Silicon Valley shifting sharply to the right? Why are the PayPal mafia, who include Peter Thiel, so interested in spending money to create politicians like Vice President JD Vance?
They believe democracy is incompatible with freedom. They want to move our nation towards a new system where those with the most money and access to technology make the rules.
I think understanding these motives provides more context for what we are watching happen with our federal agencies.
It also may be related to why President Trump wants to dissolve the Presidio Trust. The Nerd Reich’s Gil Duran wonders if these people are looking to replace the park with one of its fascist cities (that they prefer to call Freedom Cities). I think that’s the likely plan. We shouldn’t be surprised when we see announcements to that effect. As Duran also explains, we also shouldn’t be surprised by the potential federalization of the Solano County land that the tech evangelists behind California Forever want to take over and create a new city.
They don’t believe in democracy. They know the American people didn’t vote for this. But they don’t care. They think they are the only ones with the right answers.
Duran has also created this YouTube video to explain what the Nerd Reich is trying to accomplish.
#4
How the SAVE Act Will Keep Women From Voting (Andra Watkins, For Such a Time As This, Link to Article)
For readers unfamiliar with the SAVE ACT, it requires Americans to present a birth certificate or passport THAT MATCHES THEIR LEGAL NAME when they register to vote.
Why does this matter? Because the majority of American women change their names when they marry. Their legal names do not match the name on their birth certificate.
Just over one half of Americans have a passport, and these numbers fall in Communities of Color, which would impact the ability of Women of Color to vote. The SAVE ACT could lead to a significant percentage of American women needing to obtain some new documentation to protect their right to vote.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Republicans have made passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R. 22) one of their top priorities this Congress. It probably has something to do with how it would disenfranchise many women and people of color for the reasons Watkins explains in her post.
Watkins also provides suggestions and step-by-step instructions for what people who have changed their legal name can do to be ready in case this bill passes.
We know Republicans aren’t serious about protecting election integrity with these bills. It’s voter suppression that Chief Justice John Roberts and his radical Republican colleagues have demonstrated comfort with allowing.
If you’ve changed your legal name, I hope you’ll consider getting ready for what may be coming. Please share this information with others. I don’t think hoping the Senate Republicans refuse to change the filibuster rules to keep Democrats from preventing a vote on this bill is a smart bet.
We need to raise the alarm and make sure our elected officials aren’t asleep on about this issue.
Thank you for reading The Long Twilight Struggle. This post is public, so please share it with your family and friends.
#5
Elon Musk Is Trying to Buy Another Election (John Nichols, The Nation, Link to Article)
This week, a Musk-backed political action committee, Building America’s Future, bought a reported $1.5 million in advertising time on television stations across the state of Wisconsin, where one of the most critical elections of 2025 will be decided on April 1. The race is for an open seat on the state’s powerful Supreme Court, which currently has a 4–3 progressive majority. The senior member of the court, widely respected progressive Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, is standing down. Running to replace her are Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, who is backed by Bradley and dozens of current and former jurists and court commissioners from across Wisconsin, and former Wisconsin attorney general Brad Schimel, a right-wing ally of former governor Scott Walker who was appointed to a Waukesha County judgeship after being defeated in his 2018 reelection bid for the AG post.
If Crawford wins, progressives will maintain their majority on a court that has been asked to prioritize cases involving abortion rights, labor rights, and free and fair elections. Since Wisconsin is an intensely contested battleground state where five of the last seven presidential contests have been decided by under 30,000 votes, the court’s decisions carry significant national implications.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Yeah, Elon Musk is trying to buy a Supreme Court seat in one of the most important electoral states in the country.
Judge Crawford will sustain the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 4-3 progressive majority. She could use some donations to fight back against the authoritarian billionaire.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party is working hard to support Crawford’s candidacy. They’ve demonstrated they know how to win these court races. Click here to learn more about what they are doing.
I’m not thrilled that we have elections for judges. But that’s the current system, and I am not about to unilaterally disarm in this fight for our democracy for ideological reasons.
#6
“King Donald I” Accelerates White Nationalist Purge of Military Leaders (Garrett Graff, Doomsday Scenario, Link to Article)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a late Friday night purge, Donald Trump — America’s often ramblingly incoherent ceremonial commander-in-chief — fired three of this country’s top generals and admirals, the latest assault in weeks of efforts to install loyalists at top military and security posts and restore the primacy of the white male ruling class that has traditionally held power here since the country’s founding two centuries ago.
The purge included the nation’s groundbreaking and widely respected top four-star general, C.Q. Brown, who was the first of the country’s oppressed racial minority Black community to rise to head a branch of the military, and also removed the military’s top lawyers as well as the air force chief and the one female currently leading a military branch. The purge completes Trump’s removal of the both the first-ever and second-ever women to rise to the highest ranks of the military.
Traditionally, incoming US presidents remove precisely zero military leaders and the collective firings stand as all-but unprecedented in the 80-year history of the modern military, which prides itself on itself on studious political independence, but had looked increasingly inevitable since Trump installed a white Christian nationalist as defense minister who has been openly hostile to women serving in the military and who has cut back on recruiting Blacks to join.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
Garrett Graff shares his fourth weekly dispatch describing our Constitutional crisis like a foreign correspondent would cover similar events in another country.
As Graff explains, foreign correspondents use sharper language and stronger judgments than most reporters have used in our country. This writing tactic helps to provide more context for what is happening while providing a quick review of what we’ve experienced in the past week.
This isn’t normal. I wish more reporters were like Graff here and not following the New York Times’ Peter Baker, who felt he should write an analysis seriously considering the prospect of Canada becoming the 51st state.
Reporters still insisting all of this is just a game between red and blue is how we end up without freedom of the press.
#7
No, 150-Year-Olds Aren’t Collecting Social Security Benefits (David Gilbert, Wired, Link to Article)
While no evidence was produced to back up this claim, it was picked up by right-wing commentators online, primarily on Musk’s own X platform, as well as being reported credibly by pro-Trump media outlets.
Computer programmers quickly claimed that the 150 figure was not evidence of fraud but rather the result of a weird quirk of the Social Security Administration’s benefits system, which was largely written in COBOL, a 60-year-old programming language that undergirds SSA’s databases as well as systems from many other US government agencies.
COBOL is rarely used today, and as such, Musk’s cadre of young engineers may well be unfamiliar with it.
Because COBOL does not have a date type, some implementations rely instead on a system whereby all dates are coded to a reference point. The most commonly used is May 20, 1875, as this was the date of an international standards-setting conference held in Paris, known as the Convention du Mètre.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
You may have seen Regent Elon Musk make his startling claim about the fraud he uncovered because of all these 150 year olds who are getting Social Security benefits.
That, of course, isn’t what’s happening. But rather than talk to people who know how the systems work, Musk and his team of tech-bros assumed it had to be fraud.
Several people on BlueSky have been noting that “everything is a conspiracy when you don’t know how anything works.” This is why an actual genius wouldn’t fire all the experts.
#8
Civil servants are leading the American resistance – with GameStop as a guide (Virginia Heffernan, The Guardian, Link to Article)
The most ferocious response to Elon Musk’s coup in the US is also the most disciplined. It’s a sustained act of civil disobedience by the civil service. Amid the malignant lies of the current regime, federal workers are steadily telling the truth.
This strategy is more methodical than it at first seems. Yes, the distress and anger among federal workers is palpable. But the more anarchy Donald Trump’s executive orders and Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) operation loose upon the world, the firmer the federal employees are standing. Their protest might even be seen as a political short squeeze.
Starting on 28 January, federal employees refused to leave their posts in spite of Musk’s campaign to bully them out. On the subreddit for federal employees, they exhorted each other not to quit. Their rallying cry soon became: “Hold the line, don’t resign.” Although 2 million workers were pressured to quit, only 75,000 of them took what looked like a sketchy “buyout” deal.
Then, this past week, when on the job mass firings started, staying at work became impossible. Thousands of employees, many of them with excellent performance reviews, were terminated on the hollow pretext that their “performance has not been adequate to justify further employment”.
But as these employees cleared out their desks, a vocal group refused to vacate their faith in the civil service’s excellence. They have, in short, opposed the lie that they and their colleagues are being fired for cause. In this way, they’ve converged on the policy that Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the great Soviet dissident, called “personal non-participation in lies”.
WHY I FIND IT INTERESTING:
We should not underestimate the personal pain that Regent Elon Musk and his DOGE disciples have created among our federal workers and the people who rely on their services to survive.
It will take decades to replace what has been lost.
Given the stakes, I am glad so many are continuing to fight. And this is one of the reasons I would like to see Democratic elected officials fight at least as hard as those who are losing their careers during this Constitutional emergency.
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:
“Maybe egg muffins *are* the perfect on-the-go breakfast but we are in a moment of unprecedented danger and our media organisations are unable to understand that normal service has been suspended. Even if the New York Times wants to continue using its favoured phrase “executive power grab” as opposed to “coup”, why not try out a bigger typeface than the one you’re using for recipes? News organisations actually do need to pick a side: do they think liberal democracy is better than autocracy? If so, maybe the muffins could temporarily be re-positioned below the fold?”—Carole Cadwalladr, How to Survive the Broligarchy, February 17, 2025, Link to Article
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 craigcheslog@substack.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