Fight Trump’s Corruption and Irritate JD Vance
Plus more ways to stand up for democracy with our Contrarian Calls to Action
Democracy is not a spectator sport. Whether you want to exercise your right to vote, join a protest, call your elected officials, run for office, or keep tabs on the week’s hottest issues and protests, The Contrarian has you covered.
Here are our top suggestions for getting involved in the days ahead. These are heated times; we encourage non-violent and lawful activism.
Fight Presidential Corruption
Donald Trump has dropped his scammy lawsuit against the IRS — after getting an outlandish “settlement” from the Justice Department that creates a $1.776 billion slush fund for Trump to distribute to supposed victims of judicial “weaponization.” As our publisher Norm Eisen puts it: “This is a smash-and-grab job, pure and simple: Trump wants to raid the American treasury to line his allies’ pockets.”
The same agreement includes a stipulation that bars the IRS from tax enforcement actions against the president, his family, or his businesses — putting to rest an audit that might have forced Trump to cough up $100 million. This news comes the same week that Trump has been exposed for publicly hyping companies he’d recently bought stock in. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of Trumpworld corruption scandals.
In America, the presidency must be an office of public trust, not a vehicle for personal enrichment. Contact your members of Congress to demand the legislative branch quash Trump’s deal with the Justice Department, which has even GOP leaders nervous. And prepare for the long fight ahead by brushing up on the Brennan Center’s “Nine Solutions for Political Corruption.”
Keep Up the Redistricting Fight
Thousands attended. Millions watched and supported from afar. But the “All Roads Lead to the South” day of action in mid-May was not a one-and-done event. The struggle continues. Keep abreast of the latest in MAGA attempts to erode Black representation in Congress by signing up for updates from the Black Power War Room and by monitoring the latest redistricting news from South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and beyond.
Read bell hooks and Irritate JD Vance
Whitney Alese, a popular digital creator who posts under the handle thereclaimed, noticed that JD Vance’s memoirs have almost the same titles as books by the renowned American philosopher and author bell hooks. This could “potentially promote erasure of her [work],” according to Alese. To counteract this, join Alese in reading bell hooks’ book communion in June. Go to bookshop.org to get the book or request it through your local library. Brownie points if you also read hooks’ Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place. (Vance’s last book title is similar.)
No Blank Check for War
Donald Trump’s war on Iran has been a moral and strategic disaster. Lawmakers hold the power to block funding for Trump’s devastating war, which already has cost at least $29 billion, while disrupting global commerce. You can also let your lawmakers know how you feel about Trump’s call for a 40 percent increase in Pentagon spending. Indivisible has a form to send messages to your members of Congress.
Fight Big Data Locally
Seven in ten Americans oppose the construction of artificial intelligence data centers in their communities, according to a recent Gallup poll. And for good reason — the AI centers increase air, water, light, and noise pollution and drive up energy prices.
Americans fighting to block construction of these emissions-producing, water-hogging facilities have a new tool at their disposal. StopBigData.org has built an interactive map of data center projects from coast to coast and offers assistance drafting opposition emails to local officials and policymakers. Visitors can sign a declaration demanding robust federal regulation of AI infrastructure that has, to date, “weakened the power grid, drained local water supplies, and left taxpayers with costs that corporations admit should fall on them.”
D-Day is for Democracy
Pro-democracy organizers of the Visibility Brigade are honoring the sacrifice of D-Day and the fierce fight against fascism that it symbolizes by mounting nationwide protests on June 6. The Visibility Brigade organizes demonstrations on freeway overpasses — holding large signs and banners to communicate “peacefully, visibly, and powerfully” to passing motorists, with the aim of “reminding everyday people that they are not alone in these unprecedented times.” The D-Day event targets the unchecked billionaire power that’s fueling the fascist lurch the federal government. You can find a brigade chapter near you, check out the group’s activist toolkit for “rush hour resistance,” and sign up for the D-Day events here.
Prepare for “Seven Days In June”
Leading unions and healthcare groups have launched the Seven Days in June campaign to elevate a national conversation about America’s healthcare crisis and the need for consistent non-partisan public health investment. Read the group’s call to action and plan to participate in a candlelight vigil on June 5.
Meanwhile, sign a Stop Taking Our Health Care petition from Social Security Works to speak out against rising healthcare costs and demand that Congress not cut healthcare programs.
Learn and Fight The Authoritarian Playbook
Frustrated with the attack on our democracy and want a simple, concise resource to understand and act? Stacey Abrams launched the 10 Steps mobilization and education campaign to do just that. 10 Steps provides a framework to understanding the “authoritarian playbook” and the tools to fight it. Peruse the campaign’s valuable resources page and toolkit, join events near you, become a partner, or spread awareness online.
Vote Like Your Democracy Depends on It
Texas closes out May primary season with the Republican senate runoff between Trump suckup Sen. John Cornyn and Trump-endorsed, scandal-scarred attorney general, Ken Paxton.
The June primary calendar is stocked, with contests in 15 states and the District of Columbia. Here’s the schedule for a month with five Tuesdays:
June 2: California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota
June 9: Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina
June 16: Oklahoma, Washington, D.C.,
June 23: Maryland, New York, Utah
June 30: Colorado
Check your voting details at Vote411.org and make a plan to cast your ballot.
Click here to find The Contrarian’s standing resources for empowering yourself in American civic life — from contacting your elected officials, to ensuring your right to vote, to supporting public-interest journalism.
I don't read EVERYTHING, but it seems to me the MEDIA should be referring to Trump's efforts to place himself, his family, and that raft of moron-criminals he wants to pay ABOVE THE LAW.
He hasn't called it that, of course, but the whole thing bears classic performative descriptive-definition of it. NO ACCOUNTABILITY, no transparency, and no apologies, "screw you, and I'll do whatever I want." There is no end to what Trump will do, until Congress, the Courts, and the People, make it end.
I would also like to see well-established progressive channels such as The Contrarian help drive traffic to like-minded creators who are producing laudatory work on almost a daily basis, especially when biting political humor is involved, the type of stuff that really gets under Trump's skin. Two that I favor: the well-constructed monologues of Jimmy Kimmel, and the clever AI-based videos from documentarian Jeremy Newberger under the umbrella of "Mr. Newberger's A.I. Funnies."
In addition: So many non-professional creators are doing such great creative work that there ought to be a competition that invites them to create original political ads for the mid-terms, along the lines of what Frito-Lay did when it sponsored a contest to create ads for its products and then used the winning videos in its advertising. A great way to leverage all the anger that's out there.