Barbara Kaskosz

“Today for the first time in 18 months, I am prepared to say that Donald Trump has miserably, humiliatingly lost that war against the nations federal courts, and the rule of law.” @judgeluttig.bsky.social

Michelle Cottle after watching a video of Todd Blanche talking about Trump: “I may have to take a minute because I am still a little nauseated from that. That was the most impressive display of throne licking I have seen in quite some time.”

“It all came full circle with this slush fund, and the American people saw for the first time what this man and this presidency is about. And it is for that reason that I believe that the beginning of the end of this presidency will be remembered in history as this week.” @judgeluttig.bsky.social

“60 Minutes is emblematic of the attack on the Fourth Estate, on journalism and journalists, on independent reporting, that is the lifeblood of a democracy.”—Andrew Weissmann @weissmann.substack.com

Andrew Weissmann on the choice of Bill Pulte as DNI: “You decide you are going to choose somebody who has no experience whatsoever in the intelligence community, and in law enforcement as far as I know. Who does that? Who would pick somebody like that?” @weissmann.substack.com

NJ Gov Mikie Sherrill: “I am going to keep using every tool at my disposal to gain full access to Delaney Hall. And I am going to keep working for better conditions inside of this facility until it’s closed for good.” Sherrill calls on DHS with a list of demands to improve conditions at Delaney.

Adam Serwer on the likely focus of the Paxton-Talarico race: “It certainly can’t be about the economy improving or prices getting lower or inflation going down because those things are only happening in Donald Trump’s group therapy meetings with his Cabinet.” @adamserwer.bsky.social

“We always have to embrace the possibility that neither Trump nor the people around him really know what they’re doing and I think that’s really evident now.” — Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols on ambassadorships under Trump: “He’s been filling them almost as a kind of a trolling exercise with really some of the most inappropriate people you can think of. Charles Kushner is our ambassador to France. That’s just an insult to the French.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

“A 60-day ceasefire – let’s think about it for a moment. Are we really saying that if we don’t get good terms from the Iranians that the president is going to restart a major war in the Middle East – on what, Labor Day? Just before an election? Good luck with that.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols on the Iran war: “I think what you’re seeing now is this kind of panicky, sweaty search for a face-saving exit.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

“Never, never underestimate the willingness and ability of Donald Trump to send people who are unqualified, extreme loyalists into important jobs.” — Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols about Tulsi Gabbard resignation and the DNI position: “This office shouldn’t even exist. The CIA director has always been more powerful than the DNI. The DNI has no real operational control over anything…” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Larry Krasner calls on our pro-democracy movements to be prepared for the midterms, to show up, peacefully, with our phones, and document any illegal federal activity: “There is a chance that this President is going to try some kind of coup”. @dalarrykrasner.bsky.social

January 6 criminals are lining up to claim millions from Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund.

Elizabeth Oyer on the $1.8 billion weaponization fund: “This is essentially a collusive conspiracy between Donald Trump and Todd Blanche to take money from taxpayers—take tax dollars—and distribute them to people who have no legal entitlement to that money.”

Elizabeth Oyer explains the meaning of the “release of claims” document posted by the DOJ today. The scope of the document covering Trump, his family, and his businesses is much broader than just tax audits.

A beautiful day today for our Overpass Brigade event! Today’s message: HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU Overpass Brigade South County Resistance Rhode Island, 5/16/26 #socoresistance #VisibiltyBrigade #RhodeIsland

BREAKING: Trump and Xi hold an unexpected bilateral meeting. Tom Nichols: “This reminds me of Helsinki where the president goes into a room with a foreign authoritarian leader, by himself, and God knows what happens next.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols: “We are really seeing the cost of a debilitated president, a screwed up foreign policy process, and a weakened America on the world stage.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Rep. Jamie Raskin about Trump’s $1.7 billion IRS scheme and the “weaponization” fund — a slush fund in Trump’s pocket—which will likely be given to January 6 insurrectionists: “He is basically replenishing the private militia that he pardoned from January 6 just in time for the 2026 election.”

Professor Eddie Glaude makes a very important point: “What we have to finally do is to name the devil that has us by the throat.” Every day I witness colleagues being hesitant and fearful to call things for what they are. @esglaude.bsky.social

Senator Booker’s powerful words about the Supreme Court eviscerating the Voting Rights Act. @corybooker.com

“My fears are that he is going to sell out American interests for his own personal interests. Remember, he has at least one son I saw on this trip who has been clouding all of our foreign policy by doing deals with the very nations that are negotiating with us…”— @corybooker.com on Trump’s trip.

Thank you @normeisen.bsky.social and @democracydefendersfund.org for all your hard work to save our democracy.

“There is a reason why people are calling this Jim Crow 2.0. This really is plainly an effort to drag us back to the post-Reconstruction era.” Rachel Maddow shows people’s anger and protest in LA, AL, and TN. @maddow.bsky.social

Our Overpass Brigade is growing! Many people, lots of enthusiasm, and dedication to the cause. Overpass Brigade South County Resistance Rhode Island, 5/9/26

Michael Feinberg: “We have what I can only call the return of Jim Crow era electoral norms ushered in with the blessing of the Supreme Court of the United States.” @michael-feinberg.bsky.social

Devastating words by Rev. Al Sharpton: “I think that we are seeing the end of the Second Reconstruction.”

How can we on the pro-democracy side protect non-partisan election workers? “It’s really going to come down to state actors and everyday citizens willing to stand up and demonstrate their rights and their capabilities in a participatory democracy.” — @michael-feinberg.bsky.social

Michael Feinberg on today’s Republican Party: “They’ve become a cult of personality, and the personality they have chosen to worship is somebody who has no problem calling half the country ‘radical leftist scum’ on a regular basis.” @michael-feinberg.bsky.social

Empowered by a recent SCOTUS decision, state lawmakers in Tennessee and Alabama are meeting today to redraw their voting maps. Yesterday, Justin Pearson led a 9-mile march in Tennessee against the carving up of District 9, the only majority-Black district.

This land is your land, this land is my land / From California to the New York island, / From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters; / This land was made for you and me. May 1-International Workers Day South County Resistance Rhode Island, 05/01/26

There were some talented singers among us! May 1-International Workers Day South County Resistance Rhode Island, 05/01/26

Tom Nichols: “[Vance] knows that this is just a poisonous war and the message coming out of this White House is very clear: JD Vance and his people didn’t want to do this; they’re very worried about how it’s going, and Pete Hegseth and his people are screwing it up.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

“I wonder how much of what Hegseth or Cain or anybody tells the president that he actually understands, because I think that’s a challenge. If you’ve ever talked to people who tried to brief him, he’s unbriefable. He just doesn’t listen. He hears what he wants to hear.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

“We are watching the tragedy of a nation, day by day, but also the tragedy of an individual’s life. Can you look at how Todd Blanche has acted over the past year and a half and even fathom that he is now sitting in the same office that Robert Jackson once sat in?” @michael-feinberg.bsky.social

During the presser after dramatic events at the #WHCD President Trump was very relaxed, uncharacteristically friendly, even warm. He used the opportunity to emphasize the need for his ballroom.

Much traffic, much support for us! Thank you all for honking for democracy. Overpass Brigade South County Resistance Rhode Island, 4/25/26

“MAGA is a cult of personality. It’s not a party; it’s not a political movement. And so they look to Donald Trump for their cues. When Donald Trump says things like ‘I rebuilt the military’, which he didn’t, they believe him.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols explains why Iran has no incentive to negotiate with the U.S. Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, posted on social media that “no meeting is planned to take place between Iran and the U.S.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols about the dangers of our current situation: “If I were a foreign opponent, I’d be looking into this and saying: this is singularly the most incompetent American regime we’ve ever faced and they’re burning through their stocks.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Sec. Bessent is backing the idea of providing economic support to the United Arab Emirates, a very, very rich country, (NYT). In January Sheikh Tahnoon, a brother of the UAE president, bought 49% stake in Trump’s crypto company, (WSJ). Sen. Ossoff on the shocking corruption of the Trump family.

“Hegseth is very worried that he’s going to lose his job and so he’s trying to repopulate the Pentagon and its environment with people who won’t support him getting fired.”—Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols: “It was very clear on day one this was a war aimed at regime change, and all of the assumptions that the Trump administration made were based on the regime falling. When it didn’t fall, they were left with a bunch of terrible options…” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols: “You can tell people all day long that things are great but if it costs more to fill their tank, they don’t feel that things are great, and having Secretary Wright say ‘but Joe Biden’ doesn’t fix that.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Brian Stelter talks about Kash Patel’s $250M lawsuit against The Atlantic: “[Patel] is performing what Patel knows his boss, president Trump, wants to see: a very aggressive response to these charges in The Atlantic” @brianstelter.bsky.social

In his spat with the pope, Trump makes his Catholic followers choose: “You can either be Catholic or you can follow me, Donald Trump, but you can’t be both.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Amanda Carpenter to Josef Palermo: “And now we know because of you, this beautiful institution is at risk for being sold for parts, for being turned into some kind of gaudy fundraising center for political purposes. We wouldn’t know this otherwise and so thank you. I just want to say thank you.”

Josef Palermo contacted the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, in particular its Ranking Member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, and blew the whistle on the corruption at the Kennedy Center. The investigation has been going on for several months.

Josef Palermo, a Washington D.C. area artist, was hired under Rick Grenell in June 2025, to establish a visual arts program at the Kennedy Center. Soon after, Palermo began noticing shocking corruption at the Center. Courageously, he stepped forward as a whistleblower.

Tom Nichols on JD Vance’s memoir: “First let me say: worst book launch ever by picking a fight with the pope just as you release your memoir of converting to Catholicism.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

“You can’t negotiate unless *you* know what you want, and this goes back to the problem: who the negotiators are, what this war was about, and what we, the United States, are willing to accept to bring it to an end.” — Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social

“The biggest lesson from Hungary is: voting in large numbers is the way back to a functioning democracy.”— Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Tom Nichols: “Trump, Rubio, Vance, Kushner – none of these guys know what they’re doing now, and what they’re trying to do is constantly improvise behind things that they didn’t expect to happen.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

“The only thing that I find curious is how many of those Republicans still think that clinging to this kind of burning wreckage of the administration is still their only chance of political survival when it seems like the smart move is to start running for the lifeboats.” @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Noticeably more supportive honking today than ever before. Overpass Brigade South County Resistance Rhode Island, 4/11/26