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

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 US PAPER using the Rube Goldberg arrangement of servicing debt and 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. Savings Bonds.

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

For example, Congress could issue two (2) US 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