Thanks to all who work tirelessly to thwart the Trump regime in its attack on our First Amendment rights.
What is happening with the Postal Service, presidential orders and ballots is at the very least, discouraging people to trust its handling of mailed voting. At the worst, it should be pointed out that tampering with the mail delivery as well as effectively meddling with an election and vote tampering is illegal. Why is this not being dealt with accordingly? It matters not whether it is the federal government or an individual doing this, it is still illegal, and is also effectively another attack on First Amendment rights. Limiting voting voices is limiting free speech.
The Founders obviously had a defective crystal ball... People can be quite creative. It took 250 years, but some of them found a way to completely subvert The Constitution. These people don't want a democratic constitutional republic but prefer an authoritarian country ruled by a strong man... Check out Jim Acosta's interview of Ruth Ben Giat, yesterday: https://substack.com/@jimacosta/p-214055431
"Trump’s personal lawyer’s threat to sue CAP for $5 billion if it did not retract an evidence-based report showing no measurable reduction in crime from the National Guard deployments."
I notice that the plaintiffs don't object to the veracity of the evidence in the report; they COULD just counter it with their own, fact-based, evidence-driven report.
But of course they don't, because they have no facts or evidence, just performative indignation that anyone would question their claims.
That's not only NOT democracy, it's NOT critical thinking skills, either.
The Fouders based much of their writings with the assumption that the values and morals that existed then would extend into the future. As you pointed out, we have developed some who are happy to subvert the Constitution. Rather than go live in a socio/political climate that suits them, they are content to upend ours. They are a noisy minority who should not be granted favor.
I was attempting to be somewhat kindly in the use of the term 'content'. There are other words that you employed that are far more accurate and to the point. Thank you.
These people have always existed, and around the globe they have at times prevailed; but they have never run our country. Now the7 do! November can go a long way to changing that!!
The Founders' crystal ball was crystal clear, but that doesn't prevent people from being "creative," more like hell bent on breaking any law that doesn't suit them.
I truly believe that the day will come when they will all be rounded up and herded to prison....
Watergate history tells us that a bunch of people can be convicted of the crimes this administration and the Postal Service are committing (thank God for principled whistleblowers)! I know that the president cannot pardon people in advance unless they have already committed a crime. What about if they've committed a crime but have not been convicted?
No, the Founders knew. Check how many times Bribery is mentioned in the Constitution. Our Congress, over time, legalized Bribery into "donations," and SCOTUS opened the floodgates.
Unfortunately, the people who would prosecute such federal crimes are Donald Trump’s hand picked Department of justice. I see very very little hope of justice from that group of people.
It seems pretty evident that our current legal structures and norms have not and will not prove sufficient to protect us from depredation at the hands of powerful, well-funded and often shadowy actors determined to ascent to the heights of privilege and remain there. All laws and legal stuctures are, as the handiwork of human beings, more or less imperfect or even highly flawed. (Think Jim Crow.) Going forward, all we can do, and must do, is determine to work like hell to revamp our legal system and establish a much less vulnerable yet still accountable agency or agencies capable of defending our laws. This has been the point of most glaring vulnerability I and many others identified since the day Donnie Desperado was first ushered into high office, by means both legal and extra-legal.
Since tampering with the mail for any reason is a federal crime, the DOJ would have to take action. But clearly Trump would not want that. Hence, no investigation will occur. However, rank and file postal employees beware ... you WILL be prosecuted once a Democratic administration is back in power.
Rank and file postal workers are effectively low-hanging fruit and should be left alone. It's the administrators and their governing board that does and will need attention.
As for the current doj (no caps intentional) and Todd Blanche doing anything about enforcing our rights, as is said in NY, 'fuggeddaboutit'.
IMO it's because we lack an effective means of ENFORCING the law and punishing those who flout it when it comes to the upper echelons of society, be they financial or political. Perhaps this omission emerged triumphant because those of our founders who were of humble origins, like Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were outnumbered by the founders who were part of the then ruling aristocracy.
Clearly, you're right. The attitude of "make me" held by DJT and his followers has proven difficult to counter, regardless of laws, courts, and the Constitution. He's laid out a clear challenge. I hope we're up to meeting it!
Until the unholy alliance of Trump, Bondi, and Blanche, the Department of Justice was quite capable of the enforcement and did. Now that department is headed by the president's handmaiden and the department has been purged of responsible legal authority, we aren't getting any action.
Totally agree! This is such an obvious crime against our Constitution and the people, and I'm certain our hardworking Republican Congress is meeting right now to take action!
"Isn't that right, Speaker Johnson or Senate Majority Leader Thune?" "Uh, hello, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Johnson, is anybody here?" "Hello, hello!"
Well, I'll be damned, no one is here doing their jobs, and the country is under attack.
We must throw them up. They can choose to leave peacefully, and if not, we will still overthrow them.
None of what the lower courts say or do matters as long as the six fascists on the formerly known as "supreme" court give the Über-fascist in the WH carte blanche on everything.
I think your last sentence should be on billboards and protest signs across the country!! Thank you for a succinct and clear statement that should guide us to continue pushing back against these illegal behaviors.
The Undaunted column is my favorite. We need heroes right now. These examples are reassuring and inspiring. I am so grateful for Jen Rubin’s voice. She’s fierce when it’s needed throughout the week and then she ends the week with shining examples like these.
"“The bigger picture is that Trump is freaking out, and trying desperately to weaken the messenger. As the midterm elections loom in just two months, he is saddled with a failed war, high gas prices, and a bottom-dwelling approval rating.” Here is the fundamental difference from Hiter who was offensive, but Trump is defensive in pursuit of his autcratic government against the majority of citizens.
Trump is a terrorist. The attempt to screw up mail-in voting isn't an error . It's intentional. It's an attack. It's a crime. Trump is waging war against the majority of Americans that aren't MAGA Fascists. Trump (& his MAGA supporters) shouldn't be regarded merely incompetent. They are the enemy. The only time they're incompetent is when they fail in their war against America.
If it was just DJT that would certainly be bad enough. But look who he has riding shotgun, Our Supreme Court afraid to weigh in and stop a president from interfering with an election!! He has no proof of voters fraud to any degree that merits such an action. And to that, add the USPS agreeing to send it's mail carriers out as DJT's extension of enforcement!!!! Please people WE must vote like our live depended upon it.
Agree 100%. My Representative: Ben Cline (Va. 6th) loves Dirt Bag Donny. I'm supporting Beth Macy https://bethmacyforcongress.com/ . She's a long shot but coming on strong. It's time to clean the House (& Senate).
The Trump regime does not believe that the "Rule of law" applies to them. They simply ignore rulings that attempt to rein them in. In point of fact, the courts have no enforcement arm. They know it. That's why, after a year and a half of outrageous, unconstitutional, and criminal actions, there have been no contempt charges levied against them.
There are no consequences. Trump has a blank check funded by our taxes to do whatever he wants. And as you say they won't prosecute themselves. Republicans won't impeach.
The latest is building the arch. Use our money to build it, defend it with lawyers we pay, and no consequences if it's built with or without permission from Congress or anyone else.
Stephen, the sticky part is that the GOP is holding the levers of power which could be used to bring a halt to this mayhem. And the Supreme Court has abetted much of what DJT is doing. UGH!!! None the less, WE must all be prepared to Vote like our lives depended upon it! It is our only hope to be in a position to stop DJT and his creeps.
What we need to take away from this is how badly we (the US) have weakened our democracy. Two and half centuries of reasonably well-behaved administrations have lulled us into ceding too much authority to the executive branch. The result has been an object lesson in why the Constitution incorporates separation of powers and why the architecture of the Republic is so crucial to the survival of democracy. It will take years of heavy lifting to correct the flaws that the Trump experience has revealed. We must start immediately.
"more urgent than ever for democracy advocates " -- AND more urgent than ever for every voter to vote against every Republican at any level to send a message to the Party that is has tolerated this attempt at dictatorship for far too long. All the way down the ballot. Help the party rebuild itself by doing this.
ALL of the actions by the current administration are completely supported by the republican party, since they could end the war, release all the epstein files, remove supreme court justices from the bench and remove trump himself if they really wanted to TODAY since they hold the majority and the Democrats would go along with them on any of these issues, even just one, like ending the funding for the war.
Any candidate for senate or house should be pointing this out to all their voters---it is not simply trump doing this to the country, it is the entire republican party, since they purged themselves of any whiff of dissenters.
Trump's ham-fisted efforts to steal the midterms are so blatant. If SCOTUS continues to back up this madness, it would not surprise me to see rioting in the streets. I'm talking 1968-level rioting. I wouldn't want to be a conservative member of the court right now. They know the law. They know that during this century, they've made unpopular, partisan decisions that have altered not only our politics, but our nation and the world. There is a lot of pressure on them to do the right thing, because the American people aren't going to abide by Trump's efforts to stay in power or prevent himself from becoming a lame-duck after the Democrats take back both houses of Congress. This has become a war now because Trump and SCOTUS have made it so. It's obvious all involved don't give a damn about democracy, and they've broken their respective oaths of office many times over. Every American who cares about the history of and the fate of our great nation needs to get PISSED OFF. I've been that way for 10 years.
“Donald Trump,….. frail ego and isolation from reality….”
So true! And yet, this country elected him as its President! TWICE! What is WRONG with them? And, per polls 32%…one out of three!….STILL support this complete loser! And, there’s even a QUESTION if Americans will vote these knucklehead Republicans Trump-enablers out of office in November. What has happened? How….why….when…..did Americans…..which had such a GOOD thing going….get SOOOO stupid? Ai-yai-yai!
Well, whatever caused that insanity….may it PLEASE go away this November….so we can get a Blue wave and start our climb back to sanity. So…..Vote Blue! ‘Cause we HAVE to!
Surely Judge Talwani's question was rhetorical. Disenfranchising millions of voters is the entire reason for having the Postal Service mishandle ballots. Wait until Trump realizes that his favorite voters (older rural folks) rely most heavily on mailed ballots.
I've thought the same. Messing with mail-in ballots would also curtail many R votes. However, I'm not seeing many people acknowledge that. There seems to be an assumption that only Ds vote by mail, so I thought maybe I was misguided in thinking Rs could also be disenfranchised. I wonder why that's not being considered.
Thank you, Jen, for this informative and important post! I am so grateful for the Contrarians, Democracy Defenders and every person standing up to this corrupt regime!
The bottom line is, Americans LIKE their democracy - despite political disagreements. We want our Constitutional rights and will defend them - and defend the the defenders of those rights - against an autocrat.
When this is over, Congress needs to initiate a new medal designed to recognize those Americans who showed great courage in taking a public stand against Trump's dictatorship. Those named in Ms. Rubin's post would be among the recipients. Maybe a monument with names etched on it - Defenders of Democracy for example. Somehow these courageous people need to be recognized by a grateful nation.
Yes, in a land where bullies rule, no citizen is safe from bullying. Every American citizen has a duty to malign, criticize, obstruct, and peacefully protest every action of such an un-American, unconstitutional, and plain old evil administration.
The only injunction tRump will obey is one from SCOTUS and then only grudgingly with an eye to finding exceptions to widen into superhighways. Using the 2026 midterm election as a test for the new voter disruption method is clearly the intent, especially since no software effort can be completed at high quality without solid, validated, consistent, precise requirements. This group of keystone cops on excessive No Doze is highly unlikely to have that kind of skill set.
Sadly, Trump will NOT obey a Supreme Court ruling that goes against him. He never accepts defeat. He knows the USPS plan must go forward or he will be toast.
Thanks to all who work tirelessly to thwart the Trump regime in its attack on our First Amendment rights.
What is happening with the Postal Service, presidential orders and ballots is at the very least, discouraging people to trust its handling of mailed voting. At the worst, it should be pointed out that tampering with the mail delivery as well as effectively meddling with an election and vote tampering is illegal. Why is this not being dealt with accordingly? It matters not whether it is the federal government or an individual doing this, it is still illegal, and is also effectively another attack on First Amendment rights. Limiting voting voices is limiting free speech.
The Founders obviously had a defective crystal ball... People can be quite creative. It took 250 years, but some of them found a way to completely subvert The Constitution. These people don't want a democratic constitutional republic but prefer an authoritarian country ruled by a strong man... Check out Jim Acosta's interview of Ruth Ben Giat, yesterday: https://substack.com/@jimacosta/p-214055431
"Trump’s personal lawyer’s threat to sue CAP for $5 billion if it did not retract an evidence-based report showing no measurable reduction in crime from the National Guard deployments."
I notice that the plaintiffs don't object to the veracity of the evidence in the report; they COULD just counter it with their own, fact-based, evidence-driven report.
But of course they don't, because they have no facts or evidence, just performative indignation that anyone would question their claims.
That's not only NOT democracy, it's NOT critical thinking skills, either.
Kakistocracy (elephants) on parade.
The Fouders based much of their writings with the assumption that the values and morals that existed then would extend into the future. As you pointed out, we have developed some who are happy to subvert the Constitution. Rather than go live in a socio/political climate that suits them, they are content to upend ours. They are a noisy minority who should not be granted favor.
They are not just content to upend ours, like all people with Authoritarian Personalities, they seek to impose their worldview on any and all.
I was attempting to be somewhat kindly in the use of the term 'content'. There are other words that you employed that are far more accurate and to the point. Thank you.
These people have always existed, and around the globe they have at times prevailed; but they have never run our country. Now the7 do! November can go a long way to changing that!!
The Founders' crystal ball was crystal clear, but that doesn't prevent people from being "creative," more like hell bent on breaking any law that doesn't suit them.
I truly believe that the day will come when they will all be rounded up and herded to prison....
Love your optimistic view of how this ends!!
Watergate history tells us that a bunch of people can be convicted of the crimes this administration and the Postal Service are committing (thank God for principled whistleblowers)! I know that the president cannot pardon people in advance unless they have already committed a crime. What about if they've committed a crime but have not been convicted?
No, the Founders knew. Check how many times Bribery is mentioned in the Constitution. Our Congress, over time, legalized Bribery into "donations," and SCOTUS opened the floodgates.
Unfortunately, the people who would prosecute such federal crimes are Donald Trump’s hand picked Department of justice. I see very very little hope of justice from that group of people.
You're correct, of course. The doj (no caps intentional) needs a thorough housecleaning. It was never intended to be a handmaiden to the president.
It seems pretty evident that our current legal structures and norms have not and will not prove sufficient to protect us from depredation at the hands of powerful, well-funded and often shadowy actors determined to ascent to the heights of privilege and remain there. All laws and legal stuctures are, as the handiwork of human beings, more or less imperfect or even highly flawed. (Think Jim Crow.) Going forward, all we can do, and must do, is determine to work like hell to revamp our legal system and establish a much less vulnerable yet still accountable agency or agencies capable of defending our laws. This has been the point of most glaring vulnerability I and many others identified since the day Donnie Desperado was first ushered into high office, by means both legal and extra-legal.
Justice starts on January 3, 2027 and continues to the end of the Trump regime!
Since tampering with the mail for any reason is a federal crime, the DOJ would have to take action. But clearly Trump would not want that. Hence, no investigation will occur. However, rank and file postal employees beware ... you WILL be prosecuted once a Democratic administration is back in power.
Rank and file postal workers are effectively low-hanging fruit and should be left alone. It's the administrators and their governing board that does and will need attention.
As for the current doj (no caps intentional) and Todd Blanche doing anything about enforcing our rights, as is said in NY, 'fuggeddaboutit'.
IMO it's because we lack an effective means of ENFORCING the law and punishing those who flout it when it comes to the upper echelons of society, be they financial or political. Perhaps this omission emerged triumphant because those of our founders who were of humble origins, like Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were outnumbered by the founders who were part of the then ruling aristocracy.
Clearly, you're right. The attitude of "make me" held by DJT and his followers has proven difficult to counter, regardless of laws, courts, and the Constitution. He's laid out a clear challenge. I hope we're up to meeting it!
Similarly, like a toddler he shrugs daringly, "stop me" -Continuing the ballroom construction, and now the damn arch!
The horrors abound and multiply, and he still apparently hasn't finished making a mess out of the reflecting pool.
Amen.
Until the unholy alliance of Trump, Bondi, and Blanche, the Department of Justice was quite capable of the enforcement and did. Now that department is headed by the president's handmaiden and the department has been purged of responsible legal authority, we aren't getting any action.
Totally agree! This is such an obvious crime against our Constitution and the people, and I'm certain our hardworking Republican Congress is meeting right now to take action!
"Isn't that right, Speaker Johnson or Senate Majority Leader Thune?" "Uh, hello, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Johnson, is anybody here?" "Hello, hello!"
Well, I'll be damned, no one is here doing their jobs, and the country is under attack.
We must throw them up. They can choose to leave peacefully, and if not, we will still overthrow them.
None of what the lower courts say or do matters as long as the six fascists on the formerly known as "supreme" court give the Über-fascist in the WH carte blanche on everything.
I think your last sentence should be on billboards and protest signs across the country!! Thank you for a succinct and clear statement that should guide us to continue pushing back against these illegal behaviors.
Keep shining a light, Jen. We need you all, and the work you're doing. And we're grateful for your strong, clear voice.
Here! Here! Wade! I too am very appreciative of Jen's ability to cover all of what's going on with her insight! We need that!!!
The Undaunted column is my favorite. We need heroes right now. These examples are reassuring and inspiring. I am so grateful for Jen Rubin’s voice. She’s fierce when it’s needed throughout the week and then she ends the week with shining examples like these.
"“The bigger picture is that Trump is freaking out, and trying desperately to weaken the messenger. As the midterm elections loom in just two months, he is saddled with a failed war, high gas prices, and a bottom-dwelling approval rating.” Here is the fundamental difference from Hiter who was offensive, but Trump is defensive in pursuit of his autcratic government against the majority of citizens.
Trump is a terrorist. The attempt to screw up mail-in voting isn't an error . It's intentional. It's an attack. It's a crime. Trump is waging war against the majority of Americans that aren't MAGA Fascists. Trump (& his MAGA supporters) shouldn't be regarded merely incompetent. They are the enemy. The only time they're incompetent is when they fail in their war against America.
If it was just DJT that would certainly be bad enough. But look who he has riding shotgun, Our Supreme Court afraid to weigh in and stop a president from interfering with an election!! He has no proof of voters fraud to any degree that merits such an action. And to that, add the USPS agreeing to send it's mail carriers out as DJT's extension of enforcement!!!! Please people WE must vote like our live depended upon it.
Agree 100%. My Representative: Ben Cline (Va. 6th) loves Dirt Bag Donny. I'm supporting Beth Macy https://bethmacyforcongress.com/ . She's a long shot but coming on strong. It's time to clean the House (& Senate).
Go Beth Macy!!! WE are counting on you!!! :-)
The Trump regime does not believe that the "Rule of law" applies to them. They simply ignore rulings that attempt to rein them in. In point of fact, the courts have no enforcement arm. They know it. That's why, after a year and a half of outrageous, unconstitutional, and criminal actions, there have been no contempt charges levied against them.
There are no consequences. Trump has a blank check funded by our taxes to do whatever he wants. And as you say they won't prosecute themselves. Republicans won't impeach.
The latest is building the arch. Use our money to build it, defend it with lawyers we pay, and no consequences if it's built with or without permission from Congress or anyone else.
Stephen, the sticky part is that the GOP is holding the levers of power which could be used to bring a halt to this mayhem. And the Supreme Court has abetted much of what DJT is doing. UGH!!! None the less, WE must all be prepared to Vote like our lives depended upon it! It is our only hope to be in a position to stop DJT and his creeps.
We definitely need to download Constitution 2.0!
What we need to take away from this is how badly we (the US) have weakened our democracy. Two and half centuries of reasonably well-behaved administrations have lulled us into ceding too much authority to the executive branch. The result has been an object lesson in why the Constitution incorporates separation of powers and why the architecture of the Republic is so crucial to the survival of democracy. It will take years of heavy lifting to correct the flaws that the Trump experience has revealed. We must start immediately.
"more urgent than ever for democracy advocates " -- AND more urgent than ever for every voter to vote against every Republican at any level to send a message to the Party that is has tolerated this attempt at dictatorship for far too long. All the way down the ballot. Help the party rebuild itself by doing this.
ALL of the actions by the current administration are completely supported by the republican party, since they could end the war, release all the epstein files, remove supreme court justices from the bench and remove trump himself if they really wanted to TODAY since they hold the majority and the Democrats would go along with them on any of these issues, even just one, like ending the funding for the war.
Any candidate for senate or house should be pointing this out to all their voters---it is not simply trump doing this to the country, it is the entire republican party, since they purged themselves of any whiff of dissenters.
The “Republican” party accurately represents the MAGA voters. Until those voters are rebuilt, and the party can never be rebuilt.
Trump's ham-fisted efforts to steal the midterms are so blatant. If SCOTUS continues to back up this madness, it would not surprise me to see rioting in the streets. I'm talking 1968-level rioting. I wouldn't want to be a conservative member of the court right now. They know the law. They know that during this century, they've made unpopular, partisan decisions that have altered not only our politics, but our nation and the world. There is a lot of pressure on them to do the right thing, because the American people aren't going to abide by Trump's efforts to stay in power or prevent himself from becoming a lame-duck after the Democrats take back both houses of Congress. This has become a war now because Trump and SCOTUS have made it so. It's obvious all involved don't give a damn about democracy, and they've broken their respective oaths of office many times over. Every American who cares about the history of and the fate of our great nation needs to get PISSED OFF. I've been that way for 10 years.
“Donald Trump,….. frail ego and isolation from reality….”
So true! And yet, this country elected him as its President! TWICE! What is WRONG with them? And, per polls 32%…one out of three!….STILL support this complete loser! And, there’s even a QUESTION if Americans will vote these knucklehead Republicans Trump-enablers out of office in November. What has happened? How….why….when…..did Americans…..which had such a GOOD thing going….get SOOOO stupid? Ai-yai-yai!
Well, whatever caused that insanity….may it PLEASE go away this November….so we can get a Blue wave and start our climb back to sanity. So…..Vote Blue! ‘Cause we HAVE to!
Thanks for the great article, Ms. Rubin!
Surely Judge Talwani's question was rhetorical. Disenfranchising millions of voters is the entire reason for having the Postal Service mishandle ballots. Wait until Trump realizes that his favorite voters (older rural folks) rely most heavily on mailed ballots.
I've thought the same. Messing with mail-in ballots would also curtail many R votes. However, I'm not seeing many people acknowledge that. There seems to be an assumption that only Ds vote by mail, so I thought maybe I was misguided in thinking Rs could also be disenfranchised. I wonder why that's not being considered.
Trump is not much for considering something before jumping into doing it.
Thank you, Jen, for this informative and important post! I am so grateful for the Contrarians, Democracy Defenders and every person standing up to this corrupt regime!
Whistleblowers are definitely the first line in the stand for truth and democracy. May they prosper.
The bottom line is, Americans LIKE their democracy - despite political disagreements. We want our Constitutional rights and will defend them - and defend the the defenders of those rights - against an autocrat.
When this is over, Congress needs to initiate a new medal designed to recognize those Americans who showed great courage in taking a public stand against Trump's dictatorship. Those named in Ms. Rubin's post would be among the recipients. Maybe a monument with names etched on it - Defenders of Democracy for example. Somehow these courageous people need to be recognized by a grateful nation.
Yes, A small, tasteful monument (remember taste?), on the site where we've torn down the "triumphal arch." Appropriate?
Yes, in a land where bullies rule, no citizen is safe from bullying. Every American citizen has a duty to malign, criticize, obstruct, and peacefully protest every action of such an un-American, unconstitutional, and plain old evil administration.
MAGA minions, you have been warned!
WOKE UP AMERICA!
I AM ANTIFA!
Thank you for your work, your scholarship, and your commitment to journalism in its pure form.
The only injunction tRump will obey is one from SCOTUS and then only grudgingly with an eye to finding exceptions to widen into superhighways. Using the 2026 midterm election as a test for the new voter disruption method is clearly the intent, especially since no software effort can be completed at high quality without solid, validated, consistent, precise requirements. This group of keystone cops on excessive No Doze is highly unlikely to have that kind of skill set.
Sadly, Trump will NOT obey a Supreme Court ruling that goes against him. He never accepts defeat. He knows the USPS plan must go forward or he will be toast.