Evening Roundup
January 28: Corporate media luminaries refuse to obey as Trump's relentless Shock & Stunt antics continue at a deliberately overwhelming pace
It was another exciting, packed day at The Contrarian, starting off with Paul Krugman and his first piece for us, Departing the New York Times, a deeper explanation of his leaving and an indictment of the current state of legacy journalism—one that reveals why staying true to his byline meant leaving his publisher of 25 years.
We also had our first installment of Jen Rubin’s weekly column on Words and Phrases we could do without, given our current political landscape and autocratic climate. Check it out to discover her inaugural word that has no place in the Trump administration.
*This afternoon, Jen interviewed former federal employees Mimi Rocah and Julie Zebrak on the breaking news about Trump’s attempt to halt all federal funding and the recent firings within the Justice Department.
*Esteemed American political scientist Norm Ornstein, who was all-too-prophetic when he co-authored the book It's Even Worse Than It Looks, reminds us that, while Trump is throwing all the spaghetti he can find at the wall to distract us, rather significant decisions are looming, such as the decision about our debt ceiling. His advice? Let Trump deal with the mess.
*Award-winning author Katherine Stewart also contributed an insightful and alarming piece about some of the ideology that sits at the core of Trump’s plan for dismantling our country as we know it, namely, how he’s employing Christian nationalism as a key part of his leadership strategy.
*Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU School of Law, contributed to draw attention to another glaring horror of the administration to date: women’s rights. An outlier and glimmer of hope is A Citizen’s Guide to Menopause Advocacy, a new digital resource featuring a dozen leading health experts. Read about it in her comprehensive piece, The Fight for Midlife and Menopausal Health is Essential to Reproductive Rights—and Democracy.
*There are other reasons to have hope in the people’s democracy advocating for our bodies and freedom. Jen Rubin spoke with Dr. Rob Davidson about how public health is at severe risk, especially in light of RFK Jr. and his potential confirmation, but what he and his group have done to try to prevent that from happening.
*And in case you missed it, Kim Lane Scheppele’s searing piece on how to cut through the noise of “zone-flooding” in the first days of the Trump regime—by better understanding his autocratic instinct is a must-read: Cruelty and Loyalty.
Our publisher and co-founder, Norm Eisen, is currently on a LIVE Substack stream with Jim Acosta, who announced on air today that he, too, will be leaving corporate media and his post at CNN. We will have clips available tomorrow in our morning round-up. From Paul Krugman to Jim Acosta, Jen Rubin to Norm Eisen, a resounding message is hopefully being reaching you. There are still ample voices who refuse to buckle to tyranny or censorship. We are committed to truth-telling, and to doing it our way. Thank you for your continued participation in our growing community! Please share your thoughts, with us and with one another.
Until tomorrow,
The Contrarian
So, so thankful for THE CONTRARIAN.
Now, we need Dem lawmakers giving constant press conferences, podcasts, Bluesky posts, etc.
Use this time when you have little legislative power to COMMUNICATE!
We need VISIBILITY!
There’s a huge army of grassroots volunteers working our tails off. We need visible LEADERSHIP! And if you can’t keep up or need to step away, get out of the way!
Be like our CONTRARIAN heroes!
No Head Start ! No food for children nor seniors! Have we lost our mind?
ENOUGH!!! WHERE DO I MARCH?
At 83, where do i march? Lorna Bourg