Sunday thought: What Is Being Born? Out of the rubble and embers of this catastrophe

Sunday thought: What Is Being Born?

Out of the rubble and embers of this catastrophe

Robert Reich - May 3, 2026

Friends,

I’m not going to dwell on this week’s outrages by Trump and his regime — his Supreme Court appointees gutting the Voting Rights Act, his bizarre claim that his war doesn’t require congressional approval because it’s “terminated,” his murders of additional sailors he suspects of smuggling drugs, his ongoing ICE raids, his continuing efforts to use the Justice Department to punish perceived enemies, his renewed attempts to silence comedians such as Jimmy Kimmel, his giant self-aggrandizing triumphal arch (what triumph?) and grotesque ballroom, his never-ending corruption and lies.

Yet in the midst of this cataclysm, the backlash against Trump is growing. Your work has been critical — your demonstrations and No Kings marches, your letters and phone calls to Congress, your boycotts and your local activism.

Trump’s approval ratings are in the cellar.

Two-thirds oppose his war.

Many are demanding an end to his reign.

Even some MAGA faithful are turning on him.

But it’s more than resisting Trump.

A new progressivism is being born.

Many of you are leading this.

You are the activists in Montana and Hawaii pushing a new vision for reining in corporate power.

You’re the activists in California and New York devising new ways to tax the super-wealthy to pay for what most people need.

You’re the activists in Massachusetts taking the lead on reproductive rights and access to health care.

In Washington state, pushing new and more aggressive environmental regulations and renewable energy.

In San Diego, Oakland, and San Francisco, devising new ways to address homelessness.

Organizations like Voz in Portland, Oregon, empowering immigrant day laborers.

You are the activists in red states refusing to let warehouses be turned into migrant detention centers or let their towns host giant AI data centers.

You’re raising the minimum wage across America.

Since the start of this year, 22 states have raised it, bringing the total number of jurisdictions raising the minimum — including cities and counties — to almost 90, with 18 states and the District of Columbia now mandating $15 an hour or more.

You’re supporting a new generation of young progressives in Congress: Maxwell Frost, Summer Lee, Greg Casar, Delia Ramirez, and the just-elected Analilia Mejia.

And new progressive local leaders like New York’s mayor Zohran Mamdani.

You’re encouraging a new cohort of progressive rising stars, including Minneapolis’s Omar Fateh, Tennessee’s Aftyn Behn, Wisconsin’s Francesca Hong, Illinois’s Kat Abughazaleh, Texas’s James Talarico, San Francisco’s Saikat Chakrabarti, Maine’s Graham Platner, Tennessee’s Justin Pearson, Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, Florida’s Elijah Manley, and many others.

In my six decades in and around American politics, I’ve never seen anything close to the progressive talent and energy that’s now emerging.

Make no mistake. These are terrible times — the worst I’ve lived through, and I’ve lived through some bad ones. (Remember 1968? Nixon’s enemies list?

Anyone old enough to recall Joe McCarthy’s communist witch hunts?)

Trump and his goons are doing everything they can to destroy America and much of the world.

But out of the embers and rubble that Trump and his despicable regime have wrought, a new America is being born.

We are making it happen.

As long as we are alive and as long as we are resolved, as long as we are taking action to stop the worst of this catastrophe and also trying to make America and the world better, have no doubt: We will prevail.

Be safe. Hug your loved ones. Never, ever give up.

Robert Reich

Republicans produced their takeover plan they call Project 2025 which is being implemented as we speak.

But America's problems are not limited to Republicans, Project 2025 and conservatism-at-large, but do include our nation's problems with the Democratic Party.

What's missing is a single new progressive plan - a unified field theory of politics that correctly assesses and identifies our nation's problems and a progressive plan that will lead us out of the bi-partisan darkness and into the new progressive light.

SituationPolitics.Com - Thank you Robert for proclaiming that a new progressivism is being born.

Yes there are new progressives - young and old alike that are entering politics and starting to make a difference.

New young blood and even older new progressives do not necessarily have the right solutions yet, but they have a keen, innate sense of what should not be happening in politics and are ready and willing to make changes to try to solve our nation's longstanding and new problems.

SituationPolitics.Com - After having researched, lived and worked in politics for decades, I have produced a new progressive plan for America that if implemented, will lead us out of the darkness, into the light of true democracy and unlock the true economic power of We The People and how our government should be operating.

The New Progressive Plan

SituationPolitics.Com - The key to solving our nations's problems begins with identifying our problems, how it got this way and who is responsible for the mess we have been in.

What do We The People need? We need solutions in several key areas:

Currently we suffer a bi-partisan criminal enterprise on Capitol Hill known as Democrats and Republicans who both engage in lawlessness and serve BIG DONORS instead of We The People.

We suffer a bi-partisan Capitol Hill insider trading self-enrichment program which is categorically illegal and unethical, but has been operating at full capacity for decades, enriching both Democrats and Republicans.

What has been happening is a person runs for federal office, gets elected and goes to Washington thinking they're going to save the world and bring change to DC and America - UNTIL they arrive and Capitol Hill politics, movers and shakers hit them in the head with DC reality.

Like Mike Tyson said, "everybody's got a plan until they get hit in the head."

The freshly-elected new Congressperson or Senator is immediately confronted with party colleagues who inform the new arrival of the bi-partisan Capitol Hill rules of the road to riches in DC:

*Shut the fuck up;

*Vote as you're told by committee members and lobbyists;

*Don't rock the boat too hard and protect the status quo;

and we will double and triple your net worth every 12 to 18 months via hot stock tips from friendly committee members who sit on committees that are privy to insider trading and stock information.

That's why Bernie Sanders is the poorest Senator by far; precisely because Bernie does not participate in the Capitol Hill bi-partisan self-enrichment program.

No committee members are giving Bernie hot stock tips this week.

That's how and why We The People suffer Congresspersons and Senators who enjoy net worths in the millions of dollars on a $174,000 a year guvmint salary.

Another big problem is that both Democrats and Republicans succumb to BIG DONORS and the agenda of Washington DC think tanks who create policies that lobbyists use to instruct Senators how to vote and write legislation in favor of BIG DONORS.

Mega-corporations, billionaires, U.S. defense contractors and the Israeli lobby lavishly fund DC think tanks who write policies that specifically benefit mega-corps, billionaires and an illegal Israeli foreign lobby group.

CNN, MSNOW and FOXNEWS routinely and regularly feature, hire and promote DC think tank stooges who appear on these networks each and every day, infecting the minds of voters with their BIG DONOR PROPAGANDA.

CNN, MSNOW and FOXNEWS are not practicing objective, professional journalism, but serve as a BIG DONOR TOOL to normalize BIG DONOR AGENDA to the American people.

Americans are led to believe things that are not true and that are wholly incongruent with the interest of We The People.

EXAMPLES:

Americans are led to believe that non-stop inflation is normal and necessary;

Americans are led to believe that our current economic system of selling U.S. T-Bills to fund U.S. government operations and obligations are normal and necessary;

Americans are led to believe that our government should operate like a household budget with debits, credits and a limited amount of income.

Americans are led to believe that Social Security is running out of money and benefits will soon be reduced and/or eliminated.

Americans are led to believe that We The People cannot afford fully-funded, federally-subsidized healthcare, education, housing, nutrition and transporation.

Americans are led to believe that nationwide gun violence is normal, and a necessary component of the Second Amendment.

Americans are led to believe that America lives under constant threat of being attacked by Russia, China, Iran and Muslims in general.

Americans are led to believe that we must spend most of our money on U.S. defense and military spending to maintain security, freedom and the Number One military in the world.

Guess what?

Every single one of these things are lies: damn lies.

Really? Who is doing all this lying? You? Me?

or BIG DONORS and their well-paid mouthpieces?

You guessed correctly - BIG DONORS are the root of our problems along with bi-partisan GREED.

It takes two to tango, and We The People suffer a bi-partisan dance where the only people invited to the BIG DONOR BALLROOM are BIG DONORS and their sycophant, subordinate, greedy Congresspersons, senators and lobbyists.

It's a BIG CLUB, AND YOU AIN'T IN IT!

So how do We The People make change? How do We The People take the kind of significant, game-changing action needed to actually produce results that We The People benefit from and are happy with?

It begins with you the individual, you the human being, you the worker, the poor, the disabled who are sick and tired of being lied to and suffering a BIG DONOR economy and political system.

It truly begins in the hearts and minds of new federal candidates who REFUSE BIG DONOR donations and REFUSE DC lobbyist intimidation tactics.

It begins with new federal candidates armed with a new progressive plan that will produce the kind of permanent results that We The People seek and deserve.

Let's start with the lack of law and order on Capitol Hill and what could politics and our world look like if We The People could simply enforce existing federal law on Washington politicians, movers and shakers.

How do We The People eliminate BIG DONORS from federal elections?

Removing BIG DONORS from federal elections requires codifying into federal law mandatory 100% federal funding of ALL federal campaigns - not just federal matching funds, while some candidates are funded by BIG DONORS.

Federally-funded campaigns are useless UNLESS all federal campaigns are federally-funded.

Thus far, for the past 240 years or so neither Democrats nor Republicans have codified into federal law legislation that would PROHIBIT private donors and MANDATE federally-funded campaigns for all federal candidates.

How come neither Democrats nor Republicans have ever passed such type legislation that would eliminate private donors?

Because of bi-partisan greed and toxic tribalism - that's why.

THE SOLUTION is to completely eliminate and replace debt-based government spending with debt-free government spending.

There is no need to fund U.S. government operations, programs and obligations by SELLING U.S. PAPER - selling Treasury bills to fund government.

Democrats and Republicans have been using a deadend Rube Goldberg arrangement of servicing debt and utilizing a system of debit and credit accounting that we have been suffering since the implementation of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve Act.

Our Founding Fathers gave Congress the constitutional authority to create US currency at will, without borrowing money from anyone and without hocking our government to foreign and private investors via the sale of U.S. T-bills/Savings Bonds.

An "America First" economic program would feature Congress issuing what I call a "U.S. Currency Instrument" in an amount large enough to pay off the national debt and fund U.S. government operations, obligations and programs for the next four years.

For example, Congress could issue two (2) U.S. Currency Instruments: one to pay off the $37 trillion national debt; and one to fund US government operations, obligations and programs for the next four years.

Such Congressional action would permanently END our debt crisis, END hocking our country to foreign and private investors; END the negative impact of global financial market forces; END government borrowing and END paying huge interest payments on a national debt.

The problem is the current set of incumbent, aging Democrats and Republicans engage in a "BIG DONORS FIRST" economic program instead of an "America First economy."

What about America's financial problems:

The National Debt, interest payments, U.S. government program costs and financial obligations?

How do we reduce the national debt while funding U.S. government programs and obligations?

The U.S. Government is over $37 trillion in debt.

Bi-partisan implementation of austerity measures and belt-tightening will NEVER pay off the national debt, nor will these kind of measures resolve what put us in such debt in the first place.

Voters must realize that neither Democrats nor Republicans will ever eliminate the debt-based system voters have toiled under since the inception of the Federal Reserve and the sale of U.S. T-bills.

U.S. bankers, U.S. defense contractors, U.S. Senators and Congresspersons ALL OPPOSE eliminating our current system of funding gov't operations by selling T-bills and paying interest on those T-bills to "keep the dollar strong" at home and abroad.

For the rich and powerful named above, "Keeping the dollar strong" really means using the full faith and credit of the United States Government for the benefit of the aformentioned rich and powerful - not for the voter.

If you haven't noticed the rich and powerful are working hard to eliminate the need for human workers as Republicans do everything they can to eliminate the right to vote for voters that Republicans don't like.

Both Democrats and Republicans have been telling their constituents their entire lives that government accounting is like household accounting: we only have a finite amount of money to spend within a defined budget that must include expenditures that benefit only the rich and powerful, or Russia, China, Iran and Islamic countries will militarily and economically defeat the U.S. on the battlefield and in the global economy.

These bi-partisan seminal and pivotal lies serve as justification for austerity measures for the voter but full access and control of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government for the rich and powerful.

The Greatest Sin as far as the rich and powerful are concerned, would be for the voter to access the full faith and credit of the U.S. government to improve voters lives.

The rich and powerful don't want to improve voters lives; clearly the rich and powerful plan to effectively eliminate the voter and keep the voter parked in the back of the economic bus.

The rich and powerful have always believed that if voters gain too much government benefits that voters will abandon their low-paying jobs and enjoy too much life at the expense of the U.S. government.

Billionaires have a dream; and that dream features a one-employee corporation that pays ZERO TAXES AND PAYS ZERO WORKERS.

The only employee is the billionaire CEO. That is THE DREAM AND GOAL of billionaires who are counting on AI and greedy subservient Senators, Congresspersons and Presidents to reach their goal of a billionaire dominated society free of troublemaking workers and unions, free of having to pay taxes and having to answer to NO ONE.

Billionaires have written the future and they wrote workers and voters OUT of their billionaire-dominated American society.

Billionaires have concluded they need to build more jails and prisons to handle the unwashed masses as the American dream vanishes before their very eyes and public pushback against the rich and powerful grows.

George Carlin was not kidding when he said,

"IT'S A BIG CLUB AND YOU AIN'T IN IT."

The future for the American middle class and poor is unimaginably dark; so dark that if I told you, you wouldn't believe me.

That's because the average American is a decent human being who uses basic scruples and principles in their own lives.

Many Americans have trouble identifying trouble on the horizon and who is not operating in their best interests.

Psychologists call this phenomena "normalcy bias," meaning when a person or group of people fail to recognize terminal danger and believe that things are proceeding in a normal fashion.

Normalizing danger, war crimes, tax-free corporations and billionaires seems to be the job of the rich and powerful and their FOR-PROFIT media mouthpieces operating in the interest of the rich and powerful.

How does the humble voter stop this bi-partisan runaway train of conducted by the rich and powerful?

THE SOLUTION is to get BIG DONORS OUT OF FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

But how do voters eliminate BIG DONORS from buying greedy politicians and influencing federal elections?

Robert Reich and other well-intentioned persons suggest that THE SOLUTION is to overturn CITIZENS UNITED or to use state actors and means to correct the problem.

SituationPolitics.Com suggests that THE SOLUTION is three-pronged, consisting of three needs or actions:

*codifying into federal law a voters mandate that ALL federal campaigns are federally-funded campaigns - no private campaign contributions frrom anyone or any group; no more BIG DONORS, no more special interest group control of federal elections.

*ending Republican Party control of the U.S. Supreme Court as Republican justices and their BIG DONORS have proved the danger and harm that Republicans have cast on the American people.

*a U.S. President who will appoint a U.S. Attorney General who will enforce existing federal laws without reservation, bias or favor.

American voters obviously suffer a bi-partisan Catch-22 dilemma that may seem unsurmountable to many voters.

How do you get BIG DONOR MONEY out of politics if BIG DONORS already own and operate Democrats and Republicans?

At the end of the day, the bottom line is We The People must support NEW BLOOD who will go to Washington and REJECT BIG DONOR MONEY, REJECT THE BI-PARTISAN CAPITAL HILL SELF-ENRICHMENT PROGRAM OF INSIDER TRADING and vote for legislation that will mandate federally-funded elections for ALL FEDERAL CAMPAIGNS - NO EXCEPTIONS!

That's how We The People will finally kick BIG DONORS OUT OF FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

Some say the longest journey begins with but a single step; and there are a few NEW BLOODS who are bound and determined to go to Washington and REJECT BIG DONOR MONEY and politics-as-usual.

If and when We The People finally take control of our own government, will we look back and ask, "What went wrong? How did America devolve into a cesspool of greed and BIG DONORS?"

The problem originated with the rich and powerful who used their wealth and power to normalize classism, fascism and greedy behavior to forever remain in power and control of the United States Government.

THE SOLUTION originated from voters who were sick and tired of poverty, low wages, unchecked inflationary and political greed; sick and tired of the rich and powerful using the full faith and credit of the U.S. government for the benefit of the rich and powerful while voters were reduced to crumb catchers.

Another problem is time seems to be running out on any voter course correction of government, as BIG DONOR representatives who We The People call U.S. Senators, Congresspersons and Presidents, eliminate civil liberties, reduce the right to privacy and to vote, obscure the right to independence and freedom through a living wage.

BIG DONORS have no use for the unwashed masses, have no concern for the plight of the American family or worker.

The unvarnished truth is BIG DONORS have always lived in a very different world than you and I; a world of unimaginable greed and abusive practices.

Thanks to the internet and the free exchange of information voters have found out what kind of world the rich and powerful live in and what they do with their wealth and positions of power.

Another problem is the lack of true American democracy. I'm specifically referring to problem of minority rule instead of majority rule.

Our Founding Fathers very much intended our government to operate on the American democratic principle of majority rule: a 51% majority rule unencumbered by unconstitutional rules such as Senate Rule 22 requiring 60 votes before a bill can be voted on in the U.S. Senate.

Proponents of bi-partisanship argue that both parties should have input into the legislative process instead of one party majority rule.

Our Founding Fathers would instantly reject Senate Rule 22 as unconstitutional because it eliminates simple majority rule.

Moreover, our Founding Fathers would reject any committee rule as unconstitutional that would hinder simple majority rule.

Guess who loves bi-partisanship, committee rules and committee control of the legislative process?

BIG DONORS, THAT'S WHO.

BIG DONORS HATE MAJORITY RULE, precisely because minority rule allows mega-corps, billionaires and special interest groups to water down and dilute legislation that would otherwise reduce and/or eliminate BIG DONOR control and influence via majority rule.

Our Founding Fathers would very likely view the modern committee system as a tool of BIG DONORS to get what they want - certainly not an instrument of American constitutional democracy of, for and by We The People.

BIG DONORS know they don't have to control every single member of Congress (even though some special interest groups do control nearly every member of Congress) BIG DONORS know they only have to control committee members to get their legislative agenda pushed out of committee and onto the floor for a vote; while bills which primarily benefit We The People never make it out of committee.

So what are voters to do? Stay on the bridge and freeze? Or jump into the freezing waters below?

As a registered Democrat all my life, I have elected not to jump into the freezing waters below, but choose to stay on the bridge in the freezing weather to stay alive longer than jumping into the river below.

But since my self-education as an informed voter, I now know that the rich and powerful bought the Democratic and Republican partys long ago, and have used their wealth and power to push their agenda through while normalizing things and practices that harm the American people but greatly benefit the rich and powerful.

Here's the buttnaked truth about both parties:

The Republican Party will not change anytime soon, as the GOP is controlled by some of the same BIG DONORS that control the Democratic Party via SUPERPACS and special interest groups.

By the way, what DO both the Democratic and Republican parties have a long, shameful habit and history of supporting?

When it comes to domestic policy, both parties support BIG OIL AND GAS over alternative energy sources, as evidenced by Democrats allowing dirty coal barron Joe Manchin to remain the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Natural Resources Committee for 12 effin' years, blocking clean energy at every chance Manchin got.

Both parties refuse and/or failed to codify into law the following:

• a womans' right to make her own medical decisions;

• workers' right to a living wage;

• voters' right to vote in federally-funded free and fair elections;

• patients' right to 100% federally-funded healthcare;

• students' right to 100% federally-funded education;

• family and individual's right to work and live in a society free of gun violence;

• family and individual's right to federally-funded housing, nutrition and energy.

Republicans would call such a new progressive plan as "Communism" and "Socialism Gone Wild." The Republican Party will not be changing their conservative, delusionally dangerous, anti-social spots anytime soon.

SituationPolitics.Com views "conservatism" as a form of mental illness.

"Conservatism" can be summed up in a few core beliefs and phrases:

• don't ask me to help, I don't have your kind of problems;

• I'm superior to others due to my race, personal wealth and religious beliefs;

• I got mine and to hell with you, buddy.

• the purpose and role of government is like a shipping clerk - to only move objects from point A to point B; any government function beyond such a role is unacceptable.

Democratic Party establishment leaders would call such a new progressive plan unreasonable, unrealistic and unattainable, while they move legislative mountains and normalize propaganda for their BIG DONORS.

Democrats have managed to avoid codifying into law:

• a woman's right to make her own medical decisions;

• workers' right to a living wage;

• voters' right to vote in federally-funded free and fair elections;

• patients' right to 100% federally-funded healthcare;

• students' right to 100% federally-funded education;

• family and individual's right to work and live in a society free of gun violence;

• family and individual's right to sufficient federally-funded housing, energy and public transportation.

How in the world have elected Democrats managed to ignore and/or fail the will of We The People despite controlling government more often and longer than the Dem Party?

BIG DONORS. Greed.

Misogyny? Where? In the Democratic Party? You betcha.

Who, why, when and where?

The Democratic Party has long professed to support a woman's right to equal pay, equal protection of the law and a woman's right to choose.

However the Equal Rights Amendment has never been passed.

What about a woman's right to make her onw medical decisions?

Why didn't Obama and a Democrat-controlled House and Senate codify a woman's right to choose into law?

Why didn't Biden and a Democrat-controlled House and Senate codify a woman's right to choose into law?

The short answer is extreme deliberate indifference towards women and their needs by two men named Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

When reporters asked President Obama, Are you going to codify ROE and a woman's right to choose into law?

President Obama infamously replied, "It's not a priority at this time."

If you didn't know Obama said his specific reply to a reporters' question about a woman's right to choose, you're probably a man.

Both the Obama and Biden administrations and their Democrat-controlled Houses and Senates failed to codify ROE into law; and a few years later, a Republican majority U.S. Supreme Court overturned ROE, permanently denying women their constitutional right to make her own medical decisions.

Who could have known, predicted and warned that such a constituional calamity could occur at the hands of white Republican men sitting in a GOP majority on the Court?

Women, that's who.

Women, women's rights groups, progressives and independents; concerned men, fathers, brothers and uncles all warned Joe Biden that if he did not expand this rogue, woman-hating Christian conservative white male GOP Supreme Court to a Democratic Party majority on the court, this rogue GOP Court would surely overturn ROE and end a woman's right to make her own medical decisions, per white Christian conservative religious beliefs.

Catholic anti-abortionist Joe Biden looked the other way, high-fived the Pope and told women and men that the reason he would not expand the U.S. Supreme Court to a Democratic Party majority on the Court is because ole Joe had more respect for the institution of the Supreme Court than to expand the Court due to partisan purposes (such as protecting a woman's constitutional right to choose).

Barack Obama refused to expand the U.S. Supreme Court for the same reason and infamously allowed Mitch McConnell to bully Obama and Democrats out of Supreme Court seats.

Biden and Obama would tell you that they are not misogynists the same way that Trump and Stephen Miller would tell you that they are not racists.

Facts matter. History matters.

Justice used to matter until BIG DONORS took advantage of bi-partisan human greed to thrwart the will of the people and implement their billionaire/special interest agenda.

How come Biden and Obama didn't get big money out of U.S. elections by codifying such legislation into law?

Because neither Obama nor Biden would direct the Democrat Senate majority leader to use THE EXCEPTION RULE to pass a purely partisan bill that would eliminate BIG DONORS with 51 votes, that's why.

Why in the world would Obama and Biden not want to get BIG DONORS out of politics?

Because BIG DONORS fund their campaigns and the Democratic Party;

Because 100% federally-funded campaigns would greatly reduce the number and odds of Yale and Harvard graduates from becoming Presidents and party leaders.

"IT'S A BIG CLUB, AND YOU AIN'T IN IT."

How come Biden and Obama OPPOSED 100% federally-funded healthcare for all?

Because BIG DONORS oppose universal healthcare in favor of their privatized, FOR-PROFIT healthcare.

BIG DONORS instructed Obama and Biden to get their asses out there and demonize the living hell out of universal healthcare while promoting BIG DONOR, FOR-PROFIT "affordable healthcare" a.k.a. "Obamacare."

"Obamacare" is living on a freezing bridge as opposed to Republican healthcare, which is jumping into the freezing water below.

How come...........

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