The Eternal Now of Trumpism

PRESENTED BY COCKTAIL HUMMUS

At 8 pm tonight, join a briefing on the Supreme Court case that will decide the fate of independent agencies like the FTC under assault from Trump.

At 8:30 pm tonight, Indivisible unveils its 2026 primary campaign. In related news, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries celebrated Trump’s pardon of the oil-soaked Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and endorsed his campaign for re-election.

It’s starting to feel like one week is like any other. It is the eternal now of Trumpism. Although today’s newsletter could fit a template, the specifics matter. So:

[TEMPLATE] Federal judges continue to rule that the Trump regime’s actions are illegal and unconstitutional. [/TEMPLATE]

On Monday, the Third U.S. Circuit ruled that Trump’s former personal lawyer Alina Habba was illegally installed as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor. On Tuesday, federal judge Indira Talwani ruled Tuesday that the Trump regime’s One Big Brutal Bill Act attack on Planned Parenthood is illegal. Yesterday, federal judge Beryl Howell ruled yesterday that the Trump regime’s all-out assault on immigrants in the nation’s capital is illegal.

[TEMPLATE] The Trump regime continues to dismantle the Joe Biden climate legacy, brick by brick. [/TEMPLATE]

Yesterday, the regime announced with its typical bombast a proposed rollback of fuel economy standards that have been helping spur America’s electric-vehicle renaissance. Biden established the standards in 2021, after Trump had reversed in 2020 Barack Obama’s fuel economy standards set in 2012. The rollback specifically targets “the imputed fuel-economy performance of battery-powered electric vehicles.” If this seems stupid, that’s because it is.

Next up: bringing back leaded gas to own the libs.

The rollback was ordered in January by Trump’s Real-World-alumnus Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, a racist Ken doll and climate denier, on the day he was confirmed. His nomination was backed in committee by all 13 Democratic senators and on the floor by 24 Democratic senators. Good job, team.¹

In the House, Energy and Commerce Republicans advanced “a series of bills that roll back energy efficiency standards and preempt localities that want to restrict gas hookups in new construction,” per Sludge. The “Energy Choice Act” (H.R. 3699) forbids any state or local regulation that “has the effect of directly or indirectly prohibiting or limiting” an “energy service based on the type or source of energy.” Its intent is to block bans on methane-gas hookups, but as written seems to similarly apply to prevent limits on solar or wind energy or battery farms. Other bills reverse Biden-era incentives for energy-efficient homes (H.R. 4758), block efficiency standards for federal buildings (H.R. 4690), housing (H.R. 5184), home appliances (H.R. 4626), and showerheads (H.R. 4593). Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) ranted that “alarmist climate change worldview is divorced completely from reality.” On the Democratic side, the oil-soaked Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) agreed with “all-of-the above” protection of the fossil-fuel polluters who fund her,² but also expressed concern about “extreme weather,” which is almost like but actually totally not taking climate change seriously.

And in the Senate, Republicans overturned Biden’s protection of Alaska’s coast from drilling (S.J. Res. 91 and H.J. Res. 131).

[TEMPLATE] Insert beautiful photo of bird [/TEMPLATE]

“Everything here is built for one type of weather,” Ade Adeniji writes about Los Angeles. “And most of the time it works. But when it doesn’t, it really doesn’t work.” As Gustavo Arellano wrote earlier this year, “Welcome to the Los Angeles Mike Davis predicted.”

[TEMPLATE] A humorous post [/TEMPLATE]

Kudos to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the one member of Congress who seems to be truly exercised about the Trump regime’s dismantling of NASA.

Hearings on the Hill:

• 9 AM: House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
     Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee
  Strategic Trajectories Assessing China’s Space Rise and the Risks to U.S. Leadership

Climate Action Today:

• 8 PM: Consumer Federation of America
  An Independent FTC on Trial: What to Watch for in the Trump v. Slaughter Oral Argument

• 8:30 PM: Indivisible
  Indivisible’s 2026 Primary Program Launch

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—@[email protected], @climatebrad on Threads, and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky.

1  Did I already mention Indivisible’s 2026 primary campaign launch? It’s 8 pm tonight.

2  See Footnote 1.