Connecting the MAGA Dots: A Vibe Shift in the Zeitgeist

“We have nothing to lose but our chains” - David Brooks, paragon of white collar civility, in the New York Times

When a tradition steeped institutionalist like Brooks starts riffing on the Communist Manifesto, it’s a big deal. Fear not, he hasn’t gone lefty; he’s been motivated by the anti-monarchist radicals who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Although these days, any expression of disapproval about the current administration is likely to get labeled as Commie/Socialist.

Veteran columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. writes, "The tariffs, the treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the DOGE moves — they're all fundamentally about the same thing," Trump's "thirst for one-man rule."

For sure there is a vibe shift underway, with even more conservative commentator Bret Stephens saying that Trump is trying to turn the United States into “a nation of toadies.”

Of course it’s in these men’s self-interest to mount a fight here. We can enjoy it for the moment but it shouldn’t be cause for dampening the resistance efforts. The dam is breaking this week, and we should all hope that next week more elites will find their courage, speak truth to power, and join the fight. We didn’t get to this point overnight and repairing the damage will be a long

I doubt that we’ll see any of these straight white men leading any of the hundreds of protests (including 10 in San Diego!) this weekend, and that’s a good thing. While I’m glad they’re recognizing Trump as an existential threat, I know that they’re not understanding the reason we have a President like him in the first place.

They’d like to think our current crisis is about one-man rule. Clearly Donald Trump thinks it is.

But there’s something more fundamental at play, namely the baked in assumption that due process is the way things are supposed to work. This notion in societies emerging from Western European governance dates back to the Magna Carta.

The Iroquois Confederacy, which influenced our nation’s framework, had a sophisticated governance structure emphasizing due process through a multi-stage decision-making process, with a system of checks and balances.

The point here is the mass perception that something wrong has occurred. Preventing that deep-seated fight or flight trigger is why due process became so foundational in law.

The administration has tried tarring and feathering renditioned-to-El Salvador Kilmar Abrego Garcia, suggesting that those advocating for this cause are providing cover for criminals and terrorists, and even Sebastian Gorka suggesting that prosecution was in order. And it hasn’t worked.

The protests slated for this weekend started out as a lower key effort to build public consciousness after April 5th demonstrations…. a gesture in response to the sentiment asking what can people do besides vote next year.

Putting on nationwide protests is a lot of work, and many of those who volunteered last time were already running on empty. Now, it has become clear that even more widespread disapproval of the Trump regime is driving the cause.

The crowds showing up for the Bernie Sanders/AOC rallies in mostly red areas are proof that the sentiment for change is widespread. And those rallies didn’t skimp on explaining the class nature of Trump/MAGA/Project2025/DOGE.

Heading into this weekend the stakes feel existential. Via Politico:

• “People understand that if [the administration] can get away with this, it’s the end of due process for everyone,” Leah Greenberg, a cofounder of Indivisible, told Playbook last night. She says her group is “hearing immense energy and alarm about Abrego Garcia and the other men sent to El Salvador,” and that the administration’s actions are seen as “part of a broader escalation in authoritarian tactics including the shakedowns of big law firms and higher education institutions.”

• That’s not just the sense on the activist left: “The crisis is here now,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted yesterday. “Trump is enacting an insidious coordinated attack on our institutions of democratic accountability, designed to crater democracy before next fall.”

This week’s protests via K. Starling

FYI - San Diego Protest Calendar

So due process is what the legacy media/establishment-approved wants to talk about, and, while I’m okay with that hook, trying to deny or ignore that extreme wealth accumulation is what is motivating the attackers of our accepted governance processes has got to be the lead when it comes to looking past the wannabe Trump Reich.

At this point, the Trump administration’s excesses in pursuit of a totalitarian state are coming so fast that even I –a compulsive news hound– can’t keep up.

Destroying democracy depends on undermining key pillars ensuring democratic accountability: an independent media, academic freedom and research, and a non-partisan civil service. The attacks on Harvard and other universities aside, the administration’s (acting) DC Attorney General is sending letters to medical research journals demanding that they provide dueling analyses…. Okay, so saying [fill-in-the-disease] kills patients 90% of the time needs to be balanced with patients who drank draino also didn’t survive?

Deleted government funded services that I’ve been made aware of as I write this include the file taxes for free program, Head Start and FDA Food Inspections. The administration is in the final stages of ending tax-exempt status not only for universities, but for environmental groups. Politico’s E&E news says the axe may fall on “green groups” on Earth Day.

So, hopefully you’re going to get more active. I personally am doing more by participating in person more at events that are beneficial for democracy, build unity, and show support for causes and people under attack by the Trump administration. I have no voice to yell, but I have a spirit that demands solidarity.

One final bit of news: The next set of national protests will be the May Day National Day of Action. Stay tuned.

***

I’ve found an excellent and comprehensive list of ideas that YOU can consider adopting.

It’s Harvard professor Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action. Each of the 198 methods can be used at any time, in any order, by anyone. Some actions require logistical support, others can be acted on by individuals.

Just remember that Actions are best when people become aware of them, and if you’re waiting for the mainstream media to help out, you’re likely wasting your time. Social media is a great way to announce and document; getting your network to echo your postings only happens if you ask. So, ask already.

What's the Real Quid Pro Quo with Bukele? By Asha Rangappa at The Freedom Academy [Eds. Note: Mind-blowing stuff!]

• Enter Bukele. Bukele was elected in 2019, winning on a platform that promised to (once again) “crack down” on gang violence. But his party, Nuevas Ideas, began secretly working to gain the support of a critical group: Yep, MS-13. Bukele and his party negotiated with the gang to bring back the “truce,” which would include (according to the federal indictment) “financial benefits, control of territory, the ability to run the gang from prison, and the early release of gang members.” MS-13 also wanted assurance that they wouldn’t be extradited to the U.S., where they would face more punitive measures. (Having studied the drug cartels in Colombia, this was reminiscent of Pablo Escobar’s mantra, “Mejor una tumba en Colombia, que una carcel in los Estados Unidos” – which means, “Better a grave in Colombia than a jail cell in the United States.”) The same day Bukele’s party received a legislative majority in 2021, it removed the Attorney General and five members of the Supreme Court who had been working with the U.S. to take real action against MS-13. Buekele also released a major MS-13 leader whom the U.S. was seeking for extradition from prison.

• In exchange, MS-13 “agreed to reduce the number of public murders in El Salvador, which politically benefitted the government, by creating the perception that the government was reducing the murder rate.” Indeed, Bukele’s popularity is the result of his so-called “Territorial Control Plan,” which involved building his supermax prison and his plan of mass incarceration – a plan which he credits for the drop in violence since he took office. Of course, the citizens of El Salvador aren’t privy to the secret negotiations Bukele made with MS-13 – details that were going to be made public when the U.S. government’s case against the MS-13 defendants went to trial. Which may explain why the Trump administration quietly dropped these charges last week and put the charged MS-13 members on the third plane bound for El Slavador (and which included Abrego Garcia). Among the defendants was one of the highest-ranking leaders of MS-13, Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, who was arrested last June and added to the earlier indictment (and who almost certainly will not face real punishment in El Salvador). A former FBI agent who spent years working on this and other gang cases called it “a historical loss,” especially in terms of getting critical intelligence about MS-13’s operations and members in the United States.

• In short, both Trump and Bukele appear to be complicit in a plan to allow MS-13 to operate in El Salvador on its own terms, in exchange for making it look like both are “cracking down” on the gang in their respective countries. Of course, the fact that MS-13 will continue to operate in cahoots with the El Salvadoran government means that citizens of that country who are victims of the gang will continue fleeing to the United States, undercutting the Trump administration’s claim that it is trying to end the “invasion” of asylum seekers. Then again, Trump needs a steady influx of people to continue trying to cross the border in order to keep claiming the “national emergency” he is using to expand his authority. So it’s a win-win propaganda operation.

***

How Wales is building a sharing economy through its ‘libraries of things’ by Becky Harford at The Progress Playbook

• Benthyg Cymru was formally set up in 2020, backed by funding from the Welsh government as part of its Beyond Recycling strategy. Wales is leading the way — not just in circular economy thinking, but in how we connect that to fairness, equity, and the long view. We’re the first country in the world to have a Wellbeing of Future Generations Act, which legally requires public bodies to act in the interest of people not yet born. It’s a bold and practical commitment to intergenerational justice — something the UN is only now beginning to champion through its Our Common Agenda and Futures work.

• Benthyg Cymru is putting that vision into practice, one borrowed drill or pasta maker at a time. We’re the first nation to roll out a national network of libraries of things, embedded into community infrastructure and public systems. The idea itself isn’t new — tool libraries have been around since the late 1970s, with one of the earliest in Berkeley, California — but what’s happening in Wales is different. Here, it’s not a one-off project or a novelty. It’s a movement, grounded in policy, powered by community, and driven by the belief that everyone should have access to what they need, in their own communities.

• Today, we’ve got 28 libraries of things up and running across Wales, from urban centres to rural towns. Each one is unique. Some are nestled inside libraries or community centres, while others pop up in shipping containers, public libraries or on the high street. We’ve got more in the pipeline — some led by housing associations, others by local councils or grassroots groups.

***

"Not Very Compelling": How NPR Dismissed the Largest Protests of 2025 by Parker Molloy at The Present Age

• The purpose of journalism isn't just to report on spectacle but to help the public understand significant social and political movements. When Americans mobilize around specific concerns — like the “Hands Off!” protesters did around Social Security cuts, mass deportations, and government layoffs — that's inherently newsworthy.

• By reducing these protests to just another predictable event that doesn't warrant significant coverage, NPR and other outlets are failing in their fundamental mission: to help Americans understand what's happening in their country and why.

• Mass protests deserve more than a photo essay and a shrug. They deserve substantive coverage that explains the issues at stake and amplifies the voices of those affected. Otherwise, what's the point of journalism at all?