Hold the Line? Please hold

PRESENTED BY A SKEPTICAL GROSBEAK

Following the autocratic self-coup playbook, the Trump regime is moving quickly to scrap democratic checks on monarchical power, resegregate society, persecute critics, and dismantle almost all arms of the federal government other than a politicized military, loyalist police forces powered by a mass surveillance network, and a corporatist central bank. Autocracy expert M. Gessen recently offered this advice:

House Democrats now seem to recognize the wisdom of these words, standing lockstep in opposition to the Republican budget bill.¹ However, the same can’t be said for Senate Democrats, who find new ways to fail the simple task of defending the Constitution even while their constituents’ lives and livelihoods are being destroyed.

Trump’s ongoing demolition of our planet is going forward with the endorsement of the oily Democratic Sens. John Hickenlooper (Colo.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), and Jacky Rosen (Nev.), who voted with Republicans on Tuesday to overturn the Biden administration’s rule limiting archeologically harmful offshore oil drilling.

Trump’s ongoing demolition of international trade is going forward with the endorsement of Democratic Sens. Hickenlooper, John Fetterman (Pa.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), who voted to confirm Jamieson Greer to be U.S. Trade Representative yesterday.

Trump's ongoing demolition of the Department of Labor is going forward with the endorsement of Democratic Sens. Hickenlooper—it’s a Hick trifecta!—Maggie Hassan (N.H.), and Tim Kaine (Va.), who cast the needed votes to advance Trump's Labor Secretary nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer this morning, as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) cast a vote in opposition and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was not present. I repeat: Democrats were given the chance to block a Trump nominee, and failed.²

It’s not all limp-noodle news, though. This morning, Democrats on the the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee boycotted Chair Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) forced vote on Dan “Bathroom Bill” Bishop to be Deputy Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. The vote was held only two days after Bishop’s nomination hearing on Tuesday, instead of the standard week. At his hearing, Bishop refused to commit to obeying the law (“I’m confident that President Trump will issue lawful orders”) and heaped praise on OMB Director Russ Vought (“I can assure you, he is the man to get the management of the federal government back on track.”) Ranking member Gary Peters attended to cast a vote in the negative. Bishop’s nomination now heads to the Senate Budget Committee.

Back on the side of obeisance, Fetterman voted in person and submitted a proxy vote by Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) in support of the nativist technocrat Troy Edgar to be Deputy Secretary of U.S. Department of Homeland Security, whose nomination now moves to the Senate floor.

So keep those calls coming until the Senate Democratic caucus wakes up and smells the coup.

The green light to strip the USAID workforce down to the bone was given by Trump-appointed judge Carl Nichols, who ruled last Friday that Trump's unconstitutional acts to destroy the agency didn't threaten anyone with irreparable harm.

In open violation of Judge Amir Ali’s repeated orders to keep USAID funds flowing, USAID has made final decisions to cancel nearly 5,800 awards and has turned off funding flows for almost all of its lifesaving efforts. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts stayed Ali’s most recent order, with a final decision from the Supreme Court on whether or not to rubber-stamp Trump’s lawless destruction of USAID coming tonight or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, an anonymous directive was posted on USAID’s website giving all of its illegally fired staff 15-minute windows to retrieve personal belongings today and Friday, before their offices are turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the MAGA core of U.S. federal police forces. CBP is already in the building, looking to knock heads.

Peaceful protests at U.S. Agency for International Development headquarters began today and continue Friday morning, with songs of protest at 7:30 am and 10 am and direct peaceul confrontation planned for noon.

Personal damage from tropical disasters increases Republicans’ support for climate change policies. Wildfires loom over the G-20 finance ministers meeting in Cape Town. One dead and over 80 homes are lost as a fossil-fueled wildfire spreads in northeast Japan. Trump turns the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into the Corrupt Financiers Protection Bureau. The trial for petrocarbon pipeline giant Energy Transfer’s lawsuit to kill Greenpeace has begun. A periodic table’s worth of news.

Hearings on the Hill:

• 9 AM: House Appropriations Committee
     Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
  American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearing, Day 3

• 9 AM: Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
  Vote on the nomination of Troy Edgar to be Deputy Secretary, DHS, and Dan Bishop to be Deputy Director, OMB

• 9:30 AM: Senate Armed Services Committee
  Nomination of John Phelan to be Secretary of the Navy

• 9:30 AM: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
  Vote on nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer, to be Secretary of Labor

• 10 AM: Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
  Vote on nomination of Steven Bradbury to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation

• 10 AM: Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee
  Nomination of Stephen Miran to be Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Jeffrey Kessler to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, William Pulte to be FHFA Director, and Jonathan McKernan to be CFPB Director

• 10 AM: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
  Nomination of Keith Sonderling to serve as Deputy Secretary of Labor

Climate Action Today:

• 7:30 AM: Fork Off Coalition
  Stand With USAID Until The End

• 12 PM: CFPB Union
  Rock Out With Your Lockout

Climate Action Tomorrow:

• 7:30 AM: Fork Off Coalition
  Stand With USAID Until The End: Raise Your Voice

• 12 PM: Fork Off Coalition
  Join the Fight to Save Democracy at the USAID Headquarters

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. If you’ve got job listings, event listings, or other hot news, I want to hear it. Connect with me—@climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky, @[email protected], and climatebrad on LinkedIn.

1  Though House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is deferring on whether Democrats will stand strong against

2  Right before he voted to back Trump’s nominee, Kaine did manage to goad the exceptionally dumb Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to make a Freudian slip and complain, “Not one single time did you say anything about President Trump's inability to run the country!”