Month: February 2026

This coming week, February 24, 2026, I will boycott Trump’s State of the Union and instead tune in to the alternative broadcast of “The People’s State of the Union” live from the National Mall at 5pm (PST) organized by MoveOn.org and Meidas Touch Network . The event will be hosted by Katie Phang and Joy Reid. This is yet another way to peacefully express opposition to this administration and its destruction of the rule of law, our Constitutional rights, and basic human decency.

We all know this president feeds on the loyalty, debasement, and adoration of people. He thrives on being seen. Let’s not feed him. In every poll, his approval numbers should continue to plummet. At every public appearance he needs to hear our “boos” of disappointment and disgust. On every social media platform, he needs to encounter our artwork, songs, commentary and skits opposing his lies, corruption, cruelty, and incompetence. At every entertainment event, he needs to hear the voices of opposition from entertainers and athletes. On every major street across the country (and the world), he needs to see the people out protesting and making fun of him. On every comedian’s stage, he should be the butt of every joke. On every tall building and billboard, there should be banners and film projections of his corruption. In every industry he touches, he needs to observe the exit of competent people. Outside his small circle of MAGA cultists and White House sycophants, there should be no place for him to find the praise and adoration he desperately craves to feed his depravity and his oversized ego.

I can now say with certainty that anyone still supporting this president, is not only anti-American but indecent and inhumane. We cannot be friends. We have a convicted felon as our president who lies, cheats, bullies, defrauds, insults, threatens, takes bribes, extorts, and sexually abuses women. He has created an army of undertrained ICE agents who are literally kidnapping and imprisoning people of color off the streets. He is a sexual predator. At the very least he was complicit with Epstein’s trafficking and rape of children. Today, he is protecting the perpetrators by not only labeling this ordeal a hoax but instructing his Department of Justice to refuse to prosecute the pedophiles. At the very worst, he was very likely an active participant. He is lying when he says that the files exonerate him. It is the exact opposite; the files implicate him. Thank goodness for Senator Ted Lieu who is publicly exposing his alleged behavior.

So, I can say with conviction that any person who continues to support or give deference to this man or to Speaker Mike Johnson, Pam Bondi, Steven Miller, JD Vance, Kash Patel, RFK jr., Kristi Noem, and others working on his behalf, is not worthy of my friendship nor respect. I stand with the majority of Americans who want justice for the victims of the Epstein trafficking ring. I want justice for the immigrant families brutalized and torn apart by this ruthless and lawless ICE agency. I want justice for the many government employees whose lives were turned upside down by DOGE. I want justice for the innocent lives that were lost because of cut to funds for USAID, medical research trials, abortion bans, and cuts to Medicaid. I want justice for the American people who have been paying 94% of the cost of illegal tariffs imposed on imports from around the world.

Steve Bannon was right when he said that people will go to prison if the Democrats win the mid-terms. So, despite every scheme Trump and these Republicans are trying to enact to keep us from voting or to redistrict or to otherwise steal the election, we must be relentless and determined and smarter than them so that we successfully vote them out of office at every level of government (city, county, state, and federal).

We the people will not bend the knee like too many corporate leaders, law firms, media outlets, and republican politicians. We will stand firm and stand together in every way possible. And denying Trump the television ratings he craves by boycotting his State of the Union address is one more important way to oppose him.

Republicans understand that they cannot win upcoming elections unless they either cheat or greatly limit the ability of citizens to vote. This past week, the Republican led House of Representatives narrowly passed a voter suppression bill called the SAVE America Act. This law requires citizenship ID to register to vote. This means all eligible voters will need to provide a birth certificate that matches their current name or a U.S. passport. The result is that a married woman who took her spouse’s last name and any other person who has legally changed their name during their lifetime, will have to present a U.S. passport in order to register to vote. The SAVE America Act is unlikely to pass in the Senate where it will require 60 votes. The problem is that this authoritarian president has announced that he will enforce the provisions of the SAVE America Act with or without Congressional approval. “There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!” DJT

Yet again, this president intends to circumvent the Constitution and deny states and citizens their Constitutional rights. With a corrupted Department of Justice under his control along with a brutal Department of Homeland Security ready to enforce his orders, it has become difficult and time consuming to withstand the continuous violation of our rights. We’re seeing it every day as ICE violates our Fourth Amendment rights by kidnapping people off the streets without probable cause and without warrants. We see it in the arrest of journalist and students exercising their free press and free speech rights. The president has stolen the right of Congress to impose tariffs and to attack other countries without so much as a whimper from Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Congress passes funding bills, only for this president to deny funding. The express duty of the executive office is to faithfully execute, or enforce, the laws, not make them. But under this Republican Congress we have seen a full-scale dereliction of their oath to protect and defend the Constitution. The Republicans have instead sword loyalty to Trump or have remained silent. I have no doubt that Trump will use his private police force, ICE, to enforce his voter ID orders and that this Republican Congress will allow it.

It is our patriotic duty to win the Midterms so we can turn this country around and finally hold this corrupt and lawless administration accountable. To accomplish this, we must not allow them to prevent us from voting. His lawless executive order will be challenged in court, and he will likely lose again, but what happens in the meantime could be devastating to our democracy and the rule of law. So, we need to arm ourselves and our adult children with either birth certificates or a U.S. passport. I recommend the passport because it serves a dual purpose of facilitating travel outside the U.S. which may become necessary. I concede that passports are expensive and that it currently takes about 2 months to secure. I suppose it will take longer in the coming days since so many government workers were fired under DOGE and that passports will be in higher demand. So, my advice is to request your passport immediately and offer to assist loved ones with the process or the funds if possible. My husband and I renewed our passports as soon as Trump was re-elected as a precaution. I hope many of my longtime readers followed my lead at that time.

The second thing we must do is financially support the organizations who will be challenging this law or executive order in court. Organizations like Democracy Forward, the NAACP Civil Defense Fund, the ACLU, and Democracy Docket are gearing up for this fight but they need our financial support. They have been fighting and winning the illegal and unconstitutional executive orders by this president since he took office. This is yet another fight they are committed to taking on. The lower courts have stood between us and authoritarian rule for now. However, the Supreme Court, thankfully slow, keeps making us question its commitment to the Constitutional and basic ethics.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to applaud the thousands of highly qualified and experienced lawyers who resigned from this corrupt Department of Justice (DOJ) since the beginning of the year. Some were fired because they were viewed as disloyal to Trump. The good news for us is that lawyers don’t just stop lawyering. As public servants at their core, many have set up or joined law firms dedicated to defending our constitutional rights against this vindictive and authoritarian administration. The American Bar Association has reported that the DOJ has a severe shortage of attorneys and is having trouble recruiting the best and the brightest to fill their ranks. The incompetence and lawlessness of the current DOJ attorneys keep showing up in court and judges are becoming increasingly impatient with them.

Even though we should be glad that this administration keeps losing in court (93% of the time), we can acknowledge that Don Lemon was correct when he said, “the process is the punishment”. Threatening investigations and prosecutions of Trump’s past and present political enemies has had a chilling effect on universities, news organizations, businesses, and others. Trump is counting on the public humiliation of an arrest and indictment (even if proven frivolous) and the disruption and stress of having to hire an attorney to fight the charges until they are dropped or litigated to bend everyone to his will. This is why some law firms, media organizations, and corporations have cut deals in advance. They want to avoid the headache and get on with their business. We shouldn’t let them. They should pay the same price Target did for their cowardice.

But even more egregious is the fact that we the people are paying for his vengeance and ego. It is our tax-payer dollars funding the corruption and dismantling of our judice system. In addition, every time this DOJ redirects are limited resources away from actual criminals, they are leaving citizens more vulnerable to actual crime.

And finally, we must be willing to protest loudly and courageously if we are going to keep our rights and take back this country to a place where our freedoms, Constitutional rights, and the rule of law is enforced. I’m in favor of speeches, commentary, and words of persuasion. I love it when athletes, actors, and social media influencers become activists. I’m in favor of peaceful street protests, economic boycotts, meetings with lawmakers, and artful expressions of resistance. I love the songs, the skits, the projections on walls, the artwork, the comedy, and whatever else creative folks come up with to resist. The polls are showing that Trump is widely unpopular and that the Republicans will lose the Midterms. Let’s live up to our national anthem where we proclaim ourselves to be living in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are the brave.

That is why we must make sure we vote this November. We must do everything within our power to be ready to cast our vote. Let’s gain a majority in the House and Senate to impeach and remove Trump. And then let’s reclaim our Department of Justice and send him and his goons to prison so that true justice is served. Let’s live up to our pledge to be “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all”.

There is a segment of our country who choose to believe that straight Christian white men are the rightful leaders of government, society, and industry based solely on their skin color, maleness, and Christian identity. Their rise to power through unbridled greed, exploitation, theft and exclusion through the use of violence and intimidation makes them think they’ve earned the right to dominate everyone on the planet. It was never talent or wisdom or intelligence that put them in charge; it was their propensity to kill and intimidate. These men have always lacked the moral compass that evokes empathy and compassion for others. Their egos make them reckless. And they continue to demonstrate their short-sighted belief that “might makes right”.

Unfortunately, they have managed to convince some straight white women that they can live comfortably under their protection. So, they, too, uphold this absurd patriarchy along with the myth of white supremacy. It is only when a husband dies or betrays them that they discover their own helplessness under the flawed system they trusted to take care of them. Many end up destitute or remarry anyone who brings in a paycheck, no matter how he treats them or their children. I pity the modern “trad” wives who will eventually learn the hard lessons of their uneducated misguided grandmothers.

Beyond recognizing the inevitable plight of the trad wife, I recognize that common sense and history repeatedly prove that talent and ambition are not concentrated within one group of people and that rebellion against cruel and unfair power structures in always inevitable. There will always be people who recognize the humanity in people beyond skin color, gender, language and culture. There will also be people who hate unfairness with every fiber of their being. These people appreciate the fact that talent, creativity, and intelligence are spread across the human race. They possess empathy and compassion. They despise cruelty and violence used to oppress, exploit, and torture others for person gain. And they despise the cowards who ignore the human suffering of others at the hands of the greedy degenerates. These are the humanitarians who birthed the DEI movement.

As a person who worked at the forefront of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the university level since the late 1990s when it was first established as a movement, I always knew that a backlash was inevitable. The seeds of opposition were being planted every time the doors to opportunity were opened to women and people of color. The seeds were watered every time qualified women or persons of color were placed in positions that white men believed belonged to them, especially when the woman or person of color excelled in the position. The seeds blossomed every time the creativity, talents, intelligence, and successes of women and people of color were publicly recognized. As their false narrative of white male superiority was exposed for the farce that it is, they grew increasingly fearful of being “replaced” for their mediocrity was exposed to everyone. I knew that the oversized egos of violent men who lack empathy and compassion would lash out. I knew that those who have exclusively enjoyed positions of power and a privileged place in society would not easily forfeit both the obvious and the invisible benefits bestowed on them from every sector of society. And, unfortunately, I was right.

These people, mostly white men, grew up being afforded the benefit of the doubt from the justice system, from teachers, bankers, the media, and from employers. They were accustomed to being promoted based on charm, good looks, and relationships, and not necessarily merit. They were accustomed to laws being made in their favor and government structures being designed to propel them upward and to protect them from disaster. White men were the initial benefactors of social security, the GI Bill, farm aid, land grants, bank loans, government bailouts and other government programs to extend their opportunities and to build their wealth while people of color and women were explicitly excluded from the same wealth building opportunities and protections. For most of this country’s history, they kept the right to vote within their purview, denying others a say.

As a result, white city governments routinely channeled resources to white neighborhoods and away from areas where people of color were forced to live. White schools were better funded, utilities and infrastructure in white neighborhoods was better, and even the air and water were cleaner because polluting industries were relegated to the areas where black and brown people lived. Entire sectors of employment were closed to women and people of color. And it was the job of police to ensure that black and brown people didn’t demand better than they got. Every hint of rebellion was met with violence. Even black towns that thrived despite the obstacles were visited with certain destruction by angry white mobs.

In the era of Trump and his white supremacist associates like Steve Bannon, Mike Johnson, Elon Musk, and Steven Miller, the use of force is again front and center. They demonize black and brown people with false accusations designed to justify their heinous actions. It wasn’t an accident or the work of a staffer when Trump posted a meme of the Obamas as apes a few days ago. Trump has deputized people willing to terrorize and rid the country of as many black and brown people as possible through unlawful detainment and deportations. They have halted the legal immigration of people of color while welcoming white people. And now they are actively working to prevent people from exercising their right to vote, even floating the idea of federalizing all elections (unconstitutional) and using ICE agents as voter intimidation.

The problem is that too many people have evolved to recognize evil. I’m happy J.D. Vance was openly booed at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics on Friday. More people recognize that cruelty and violence as tools of intimidation and extortion are inhumane and intolerable. With the benefit of history, many people reject the notion of white supremacy and domination. Many people in this country have come to embrace the reality that our diversity has been the strength of this nation. They recognize that equity is simply fairness, not preference based on race or gender or religion. And they understand that including everyone in decision making, celebrations, and as contributors to the American culture enriches our lives and doesn’t detract from it.

It’s going to require increased boldness and bravery from moral humans to continue to stand up against Trump and MAGA and the white suprematist who want to return to the days of oppression, cruelty, and white male dominance. Those were not the good ole days; those were the days of terror for all but a few. It’s clear that corporate leaders, university leaders, media leaders, Republican leaders, military leaders and even some church leaders lack the moral courage to do what they know is right in this time of peril. How disappointed we are in them. And when this is over, they should all be replaced.

So, it is up to us regular citizens to use every tool in our toolbox to fight against this evil administration and the wealthy white supremacists who finance them. We are not the silent citizens of Hitler’s Germany. We’ve learned the lesson that silence is complicity. So, we make a lot of noise this time in protest. History and justice have repeatedly shown that the power of the people is ultimately greater than the people in power.

On Friday my frustrated husband lamented that Trump has broken everything. This came after hearing that Don Lemon, acting as a journalist, had been arrested by the Department of Justice in clear violation of the First Amendment. The arrest was appalling because it flies in the face of everything we have come to expect with regards to our Constitutional rights, especially freedom of the press. We’re watching one wicked violation after another. It’s as though the basic morality and common decency we expect in our society is being challenged by evil people in power. It’s as though the Constitution itself no longer exists. But it does exist. What we are seeing is that the mechanisms to enforce morality, decency and even the Constitution are weak if not missing altogether because a truly evil person is in power.

A perfect example of this is the fact that the Senate failed to remove Trump from office, relying instead on the Justice system to prosecute his criminal behavior. Merrick Garland started too late and the courts took too long to get to trial. Despite the Constitution provisions against it, Trump was permitted to run for president in 2024 after engaging in an insurrection. Many law scholars thought the 14th Amendment of the Constitution was automatic in its enforcement, (like having to be 35 years old, born in the U.S., or serving for only two terms as president). But it wasn’t. Seeking enforcement, several state attorney generals took up the issue, leading to a Colorado judge ruling that Trump was disqualified from being on their state ballot because the events of January 6th were ruled an insurrection. However, the Supreme Court ruled that states lack the authority to disqualify federal candidates. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decided that only Congress had the authority to enforce the disqualification provision of the Constitution. And under an intimidated or complicit Republican Congress, the issue was promptly pushed aside, and Trump was allowed to run again.

This Republican Congress and compromised Supreme Court have abdicated their duties as the second and third co-equal branches of government, rendering the mechanisms to enforce the Constitution powerless. In particular, this Republican Congress stands silently by as Trump repeatedly violates the Constitution because members are terrified of losing a job they aren’t even doing. We continuously watch Trump violate the emoluments clause in the Constitution that prohibits federal officeholders from receiving gifts or payments from foreign states without congressional consent. The Republicans did absolutely nothing when Trump accepted a $400 million plane from Qatar.

The tariffs he placed on the entire world were in violation of the Constitution as the right to impose tariffs clearly belongs to Congress. And yet, we are leaving it to a compromised Supreme Court to rule on something so clearly stated in the Constitution. This is the same Court that shocked Constitutional scholars by granting the president immunity if he breaks the law in his role as president. The fact that the Supreme Court is even giving a hearing to issues like birthright citizenship, declaring war without Congress, tariff powers, and other Constitutional absolutes that we assumed were clearly stated as the law of the land for the past 250 years is disturbing and destabilizing.

The violation of the rights of citizens to protest, to be secure in their home and person, and to due process, are being trampled upon by government sanctioned thugs on our streets without any mechanism to stop them. The Fourth Amendment reads: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” ICE agents are clearly violating the Constitution every time they kidnap and detain people without warrants, based solely on their skin color or accent. They call these “Kavanaugh stops” because Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a bench ruling allowing ICE to briefly question people based on their skin color, accent, and occupation. However, ICE has exploited the ruling, violently denying basic civil rights. The moment they chase and tackle people to the ground, confiscate a cell phone, break someone’s window, knock down a door, or seize a person without a warrant, they are violating the Constitution. We all know it, but we are helpless to stop it. Brave bystanders video tape the atrocities for the world to see. We’ve seen that those who try to intervene to protect victims are being arrested, pepper sprayed or worse, shot dead.

It feels horrible to watch our Constitution being trampled upon. Decent people are angry and frustrated like my husband because the mechanisms and people who are supposed to protect and defend the Constitution have been co-opted by people appointed to positions of power who are clearly violating their oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Instead, the leaders of the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Defense (War), and the Department of Homeland Security have brazenly replaced their oath to the Constitution with a loyalty pledge to Donald Trump. And the Republican Congress is silent and complicit, too cowardly to do their job. The same is true of the majority of Supreme Court justices who have taken bribes or who subscribe to white Christian nationalism.

We have a mob boss in the White House who brazenly threatens, bullies, bribes, extorts, and seeks retribution against those who oppose him. His brutal tactics have undermined the mechanisms designed to enforce our Constitution and the rule of law. His attitude is that of a naughty child who says to his teacher or parent, “Make me!” The problem is that those who have the legal and Constitutional authority to “make him” have repeatedly backed down. Even corporate leaders and corporate news organizations have bent the knee because this president has seized the authority to destroy their businesses using the levers of government.

So, it is up to we, the people, to “make him”. We must continue to peacefully protest in the streets like yesterday and the past several weeks. We must continue to create songs and other works of art to oppose this lawlessness. We must continue to cut off Trump supporters from social circles. We must continue to speak truth to power by calling and writing to our representatives. We must continue to use our economic boycott power to pressure businesses that support Trump to stop. We must applaud FBI agents and government lawyers and military generals who quit their jobs in protest. We must support public media like NPR and PBS. We must support organizations that sue the Administration for violations of the Constitution. Scott Galloway is calling on people to lean on corporate media profits by cutting down on streaming services. And this November we must go to the polls and vote for candidates that are brave and boldly committed to standing up for the Constitution and to holding all of the lawbreakers accountable.

I responded to my husband’s frustration that I view this as an opportunity to rebuild what was broken into something stronger. We now recognize the weaknesses that allowed one maniac to wreak havoc on our country and the world. Once we have rid ourselves of him and his followers, we can replace what was broken with something much better and far more resilient.