We Stop This Or It Gets Worse

This week is the Critics Choice Awards. In tandem with that, I am still finishing up 2025's Top 10 TV Shows. Those are the kinds of things that many of you subscribe to this newsletter for. But for those who have been here from the beginning, you remember that this newsletter started off educating people about politics through the lens of pop culture. Today, I offer no pop culture updates or lists. I come to you with a plea.

In the early morning of January 3rd, Donald Trump unilaterally bombed Venezuela and kidnapped their president and his wife. The administration claiming that they are protecting the American and Venezuelan people as justification for committing an act of war without congressional approval.

They are lying.

They are lying in the same way they lied when they occupied American cities with our own National Guard. They are lying in the same way they lied about rounding up our neighbors (the majority of which are law abiding citizens). They are lying in the way they lied about bringing down grocery prices. They are lying in the same way they lied about other countries paying for tariffs. And they are lying in the same way they lied about not having money for health care.

Trump's second term has operated with one central premise: Who's going to stop me? The administration is fully aware that everything they are doing is illegal. But why should that stop a cabinet made up of criminals and headed by a convicted felon and alleged pedophile?

There is only one answer to "who's going to stop me?" It's us. It has to be us. Because no one else is coming. I fully understand the frustration with our political system — particularly in the wake of constant inaction from democratic leaders who claim to be an opposition party. But the people who benefit from all of these atrocities are begging us to give up, and we can't.

I am a firm believer in "what you allow is what will continue." Make no mistake, my friends. We have allowed this. I know that makes you a little sick to your stomach, but it doesn't make it any less true. We let it get this far. We let all of this happen, and we have the responsibility to stop it.

I know you feel hopeless. I get that, I really do. But the only sure way to fail is to give up. And so my plea is this:

• Call your reps: reps.fyi will help you find them. Are your reps republican? Good. Your call matters most. Is your rep a do-nothing democrat? Good. Your call matters a lot. Is your rep a progressive who has vocally squared up with this moron? Good. Tell 'em we need them to go a few more rounds. Impeach, convict, remove is the absolutely only option in this moment. We HAVE to show the rest of the world that the American people do not stand for this.
• Can't get them on the phone? Show up at their offices. The above reps link will help you find the office closest to you.
• Find an emergency protest near you. Don't know how to find one? Connect with your local DSA branch or go to your social to find local organizers in your area. You don't have to be the one to lead the pack if the idea of such things stresses you out. You just have to stand up.
• Get your neighbors involved. The only way through this is community and coalition. We have to work together. There are more of us than there are of them.
• Get educated. I know it's hard to stay informed right now, but set aside 30 minutes a day to read up on current events.
• Follow people who don't look like you. This sounds so innocuous, but it matters.

These actions are all in the immediate. We have work to do come the midterms, make no mistake, but these are the things that have to happen right now. This is not a "wait until we have majority" situation. This is a force a majority situation.

Those of us with an ounce of privilege have absolutely no right to believe that there is nothing we can do. We have a moral responsibility to FIND something to do. And when we complete those things we have to collectively find the next action we can take.

It's on us.

I love you. Keep Fighting.
- A