Trump is Crumbling

 May 26,2026

Bt Marc Cooper

Donald J. Trump has been a disaster so often with such regularity that it has become difficult to distinguish between bad weeks and very bad weeks. This last week has been downright catastrophic for The Boss, his enablers and acolytes and possibly for the immediate future of the republic.

Bad for Trump. Bad for MAGA. Bad for whatever normie Republicans are still out there and threatening to our democracy not to speak of the rest of the world. 

Appearances can be misleading and often contradict reality. Flexing his sagging muscles, Trump appeared as strong as ever in influencing recent GOP primaries by financing and dragging across the finish line a number of retro-MAGA screwballs against somewhat more rational Republicans (this is actually good for the rest of us as the flying monkeys are easier to beat in the November general elections).

This is against a more ominous background of his poll numbers continuing to node dive, now into Bush 08 territory and heading quickly toward the dark hole of Nixonland, the high 20’s. It’s a pity Trump is not running for a third term as he would be crashed by Democratic dog cathcher of East Jesus, Missourri in 2028. Trump has never ben stronger with MAGA, but MAGA has never been weaker or more fragmented. And decomposing. 

As is president Trump -- as both his official policies and his late night Truth Farts, not to mention his public speaking descend ever deeper into MADNESS. The Trump-MAGA train crash took on consequential proportions when a handful of Senate Republicans, including high-profile MAGAS refused to give him the 51 Senate votes to finally fund ICE, essentially aping the position of the Democrats.

Yes, you heard that right, Republicans denied Trump the votes he needs to keep funding ICE. The rather meek Senate leader John Thune dealt him the humiliating blow of sending the Senate off for a two week vacation, perhaps cutting short the chance of eventually approving the funding before the early voting in the midterms. 

That’s after the Republicans were forced to pull the $1.8b heinous slush fascist fund out of the big reconciliation bill aimed at aggrieved Trumpanzees who claim the Biden Justice Department was weaponozed against them. B;these fine patriots to plead guilty. As the DOJ also convinced 100% of the judges involved in hunfreds odtrial Translation: Trump want to hand loads of cash to the 1600 convicted hooligans a,omg whom not a single conviction was overturned. 

First, he pardoned them. Now he wants to give them 100 grad reward each. Madness?Yes. But there’s a more sinister motive In play here. Yjey may be what some analysts like Ruth Ben-Ghiat call “retatiners.”

” Such retainers are common in organized crime and autocratic corruption around the world. I agree with former national security operative Steven Cash’s assessment that the “settlement” “resembles the kind of state-funded loyalty network or private militia support system often seen under rising authoritarian regimes overseas.” The idea of MAGA as a revolution that continues the energies of 1776 was integral to the Stop the Steal movement that fueled January 6 and served as a recruiting and radicalization ground for those who assaulted the Capitol and wanted to harm Republicans and Democrats alike. 1776 rhetoric and images run through in the January 6 documentary Fight Like Hell (Jon Long, 2024) which follows the flow from Stop the Steal to the tragic events of that day (I consulted on the film)… 

While the U.S. armed forces is to all appearances doing Trump’s bidding, and ICE is developing in the direction of being a state-funded revolutionary guards operation, there is nothing like having a private militia that is loyal to you personally. With this slush fund, Trump signals to violent extremists that their service to him has not ended. “America could evolve into a national brand of electoral autocracy in which election subversion is backed up by grassroots violence,” I wrote in the fall of 2021. The 2026 midterms could present an opportunity for this militia in the making to serve the leader again.” 

One day, Signore Bomgiorno, I mighi call on you some day for a favor,” Vito Corleone said to a small time supplicant mortician who needed The Godfather’s help in getting a suitore of his daughter busted up. 

Republians, and everybody else, previously rasied enough hell over Trump’s jaw dropping movr to pay himself $10b dollars for psychological damage by Biden. That one never sood a chance. Congress, neither seems very excited, about provding the extra $100b in taxpayer funding for his Marie Anoinette ball room, Ain’t gonna happen—at least at nowwhere that level. 

And now we have more, not a lot, but more MAGAS saying they will no longer go ahead with funding the collapsing war on Iran and are ready to join Democrats in approving the restrictive war powers act. Trump can’t wait to get free of that Booby Trap that Netanyahu and Hegseth lured him into. But there’s a problem: there is no exit accept a humiliating retreat which Trump could likely precede with one more massive bombardment so he can claim Mission Accomplished.

 

https://open.substack.com/pub/thecoopscoop/p/trump-is-slowly-crumbling?

Media dominance

 First, some background. Twenty years ago, the best way to communicate with voters was through TV, radio, and newspapers, and Democrats were pretty good at it. 

But today, everything has changed. A majority of swing voters now get their news from social media, podcasts, and YouTube.

And on these platforms, Democrats are getting absolutely steamrolled.

Four of the top ten news podcasts on Spotify right now are hosted by right-wing extremists, like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. The White House’s rapid response Twitter/X account is five times bigger than the DNC’s. Of the 100 largest political YouTube channels, 64 of them are conservative.

On Facebook, Twitter/X, TikTok, you name it … Republicans are running circles around Democrats, and that could cost us the entire midterm election.

Robert Reich, 

A New Separation Crisis by the Trump/MAGA Regime

 https://portside.org/2026-05-21/new-kind-family-separation-crisis?utm_source=portside-general&utm_medium=email

Voters

 

Police Officers Sue Trump to Stop the Corruption and abuse of Tax Funds

 

Payout Fund: Two officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued the Trump administration to try to stop the creation of a $1.8 billion fund they argue would benefit rioters who committed violence to support the president. The lawsuit argues the administration exceeded its authority to create the fund without Congress’s authorization. Read more ›

New York Iimes 

Trump Just Stole 1 Billion $

 https://youtu.be/Rh1GC3ObgcE?si=dnoBQMsuT4RS2DCX

https://youtu.be/Rh1GC3ObgcE?si=dnoBQMsuT4RS2DCX

3 rd. Congressional District Forum

 

Family Separations Grow to Over 100,000.

 Over 100,000 Family Separations in Deportation Push, Report Estimates

The Brookings Institution suggests that federal statistics are an undercount because immigrant parents are not being asked about or not disclosing their American children.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/us/brookings-institution-report-family-separations.html?

 New York Times.

Tom Steyer distorts the issues on immigration and children (updated)

   Candidate Tom Steyer should end his negative, inaccurate, destructive media campaign distorting the reality of Becerra’s work on immigration. It is unfortunate that this campaign has selected this route. Instead, if he hopes to be governor, Steyer should campaign on what he is in favor of.  

The anti Becerra  ads funded by Tom Steyer are endless and deceptive. Becerra is being blamed for Trump  era immigration failures.  The failures  were created by the overcrowding of immigrants detention facilities during the Trump era.  Becerra organized and sued the Trump administration as California Attorney General.  Then, we went to Washington with the Biden Administration. 

 

The truth is Xavier Becerra inherited the failures at HHS caused by the Trump era assault on immigrants and immigrant children.  And Becerra resolved many of the problems.  Now, Trump has done it all again- even more.

See Here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntyYRugBgY&t=1224s

Trump and company have filled the jails and detention centers. Steyer responds with  campaign ads and distortions. 

Update. 

 I am adding to a prior post in response to the  overwhelming domination of the media market by political ads by Tom Seyer. 

What did Becerra do about the immigration crisis ? During the 2016- 2020 Trump Administration, Becerra, as California Attorney General sued Trump 120 times. He won over 80% of the cases that went to court. 

In 2021, when Trump lost and Biden became President, he appointed Becerra to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.  In this position, Becerra had responsibility for many of the children incarcerated by  Trump. In response to Trump budget cuts,  It took some months for the Becerra office to work through the back log of cases of children in custody. 

Becerra received criticism for not acting quickly enough.  See the video of the House Select Committee on this. 

Since 2024 and the second Trump administration, the separation of children and the division of families, the jailing of hundreds of thousands has returned. 

Now, Steyer is spending millions on ads attacking Becerra for his actions in H & HS. I recommend that he do something  to rescue or release detained immigrants. He is not doing a single thing to rescue those jailed and deported and removal operations.  If we defeat Trump in 2028, a new government will have to do the releases again.  Becerra has experience and a record on this. Steyer does not.  We will not be able to defeat Trump if we are diverted by misrepresentations of the actions of other members of the needed coalition. 

Becerra had years of work on these issues.  If we can defeat Trump in 2028, the next head of H H S will have to do it all again. Instead of misrepresenting what happened Steyers burries the issues in endless campaign ads.  

Steyer has gained substantive progressive support in recent weeks including from major unions and political organizations.  He should campaign positively and accept the voters solutions whichever way the votes come in.  If he refuses, progressive groups should reconsider their endorsements which endanger this elections. 

We need a governor who is honest rather than deceptive. We need a governor with experience in running major government functions. 

Steyer  has continued to misrepresent the issues.  Here is Voting  alternative for those of us who do not want a November election where we are faced with a choice between two bad Republicans.  ( Proposal Reprinted from another source. )

A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN CALIFORNIA?

 NO WAY!

***VOTE STRATEGICALLY IN JUNE 2 PRIMARY*** 

HERE’S THE SITUATION:

California has a “jungle primary,” meaning the two candidates with the highest votes will be on the ballot in November, regardless of party. 

Democrats have at least six candidates competing, while the Republicans have two. Democrats are diluting the vote so much that NONE of them are frontrunners. Tom Steyer, Xavier Becerra and Katie Porter are at 14-10% in polls. 

Both Republicans are MAGA Trump supporters. Steve Hilton is a Fox News commentator. Chad Bianco is a Republican sheriff. Both are round 14 %  in polling.

If we don’t organize and strategize RIGHT NOW, the two Republicans could end up being our only two choices on the ballot in November!

 In spite of Steyers flooding the airways  and our mail boxes with inaccurate campaign ads,,,

We should be strategic to get a candidate on the November that we would be willing to vote for.  

 

WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DELAY CASTING YOUR VOTE UNTIL 7-10 DAYS BEFORE THE  June 2 primary.  

THEN VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT (OPPONENT OF DONALD TRUMP )  WITH THE HIGHEST POLLING NUMBERS. 

Despite what you may feel about some of the candidates, ANY of these Democrats would be much, much better than either of the two Republicans!!! 

A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN CALIFORNIA COULD MEAN:

 - more ICE agents in the streets, deportations, detention facilities

 - subverting, disrupting, hijacking the election in 2028

 - appointing Republican judges and other officials hostile to democratic rule of law

 - dismantling environmental regulations

 - reducing social services and safety net programs 

 - reducing protections for LGBTQ people, racial minorities, immigrants

Further actions to help get an opponent of Trump on the November ballot.

 

SEND THIS INFORMATION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, so that people understand why they need to hold off voting until a week before the primary.

Post this on your social media.  Spread the word. 

VOTE IN THE PRIMARY! Check to see if your neighbors will vote. 

Vote June 2

 

Fact Checking : Steyer's ads

  

Candidate Tom Steyer in mailers. and TV ads claims that he closed a tax loophole  that shortchanged California  schools  by over $ 10  billion per year

In  other TV ads , he  often claims that this  act  benefited California schools at least a cumulative  $ 3.2 billion 

It is accurate that In 2012 Steyer and his staff did organize an imitative campaign to close an out of state  corporate tax loophole. Prop. 39

John Steyer did not give California Schools $ 3.2 Billion.   What he did do in 2012, was to endorse and helped to fund an initiative campaign Prop.39.  

Dozens of other organizations supported the campaign. Most of the education unions and several public service unions  as well as community groups put people into the campaign.  The California voters passed the initiative with a 60 % vote. 

 But, Steyer did not save the money. The voters of California, when educated and organized, saved the money.  Note; funds from the Proposition no longer go to the schools, but to the California General Fund

I wonder if the other claims by Steyer are as overstated as this one ?

See also the prior correction on immigration. 

See Here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntyYRugBgY&t=1224s

 

Repeating a slogan over and over on television, media and mailings does not make a claim true.  It only makes it repeated. 

Duane Campbell 

Billionaire blitz: Steyer’s $132 million campaign dwarfs rivals in California governor race

 Billionaire blitz: Steyer’s $132 million campaign dwarfs rivals in California governor race 

 

https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/04/california-governor-race-financials/

 

In summary

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan dominated fellow Democrats in fundraising, bringing in $13 million. Katie Porter raised $2.8 million, Xavier Becerra brought in $1 million, Antonio Villaraigosa raised $707,000 and Tony Thurmond raised just $62,000. 

With so many candidates running for governor, it’s hard to keep up. We’re here to help: Sign up for our 2026 election newsletter to get the latest on the candidates.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist and self-styled progressive candidate for governor, is on track to run the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in state history, having already spent more than $132 million. 

He’s saturated the Internet and TV as special interest groups ramp up advertising of their own ahead of the June 2 primary and county officials prepare to mail out ballots. 

Campaign finance disclosures filed late Thursday show that through mid-April, Steyer continued to outspend his opponents twenty- to thirty-fold, mostly to blitz the state with television ads that began airing early in the race. Nearly all of the money came from Steyer personally, $105 million of which he poured into the campaign from January through April 18.

Tom Steyer Should End His Negative Campaign

  Candidate Tom Steyer should end his negative, inaccurate, destructive media campaign distorting the reality of Becerra’s work on immigration. It is unfortunate that this campaign has selected this route. Instead, if he hopes to be governor, Steyer should campaign on what he is in favor of.  

The anti Becerra  ads funded by Tom Steyer are endless and deceptive. Becerra is being blamed for Trump  era immigration failures.  The failures  were created by the overcrowding of immigrants detention facilities during the Trump era. 

 

The Truth is Xavier Becerra inherited the failures at HHS caused by the Trump era assault on immigrants and immigrant children.  And he resolved many of the problems.  Now, Trump has done it all again- even more.

See Here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntyYRugBgY&t=1224s

 

Steyer has gained substantive progressive support in recent weeks including from major unions and political organizations.  He should campaign positively and accept the voters solutions whichever way the votes come in.  If he refuses, progressive groups should reconsider their endorsements which endanger this elections. 

If Steyer continues to misrepresent the issues, here is an alternative for those of us who do not want a November election where we are faced with a choice between two bad Republicans.  ( Proposal Reprinted from another source. )

A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN CALIFORNIA?

 NO WAY!

***VOTE STRATEGICALLY IN JUNE 2 PRIMARY*** 

HERE’S THE SITUATION:

California has a “jungle primary,” meaning the two candidates with the highest votes will be on the ballot in November, regardless of party. 

Democrats have at least six candidates competing, while the Republicans have two. Democrats are diluting the vote so much that NONE of them are frontrunners. Tom Steyer, Xavier Becerra and Katie Porter are at 14-10% in polls. 

Both Republicans are MAGA Trump supporters. Steve Hilton is a Fox News commentator. Chad Bianco is a Republican sheriff. Both are round 14 %  in polling.

If we don’t organize and strategize RIGHT NOW, the two Republicans could end up being our only two choices on the ballot in November!

 In spite of Steyers flooding the airways  and our mail boxes with inaccurate campaign ads,,,

We should be strategic to get a candidate on the November that we would be willing to vote for.  

 

WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DELAY CASTING YOUR VOTE UNTIL 7-10 DAYS BEFORE THE  June 2 primary.  

THEN VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT (OPPONENT OF DONALD TRUMP )  WITH THE HIGHEST POLLING NUMBERS. 

Despite what you may feel about some of the candidates, ANY of these Democrats would be much, much better than either of the two Republicans!!! 

A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN CALIFORNIA COULD MEAN:

 - more ICE agents in the streets, deportations, detention facilities

 - subverting, disrupting, hijacking the election in 2028

 - appointing Republican judges and other officials hostile to democratic rule of law

 - dismantling environmental regulations

 - reducing social services and safety net programs 

 - reducing protections for LGBTQ people, racial minorities, immigrants

Further actions to help get an opponent of Trump on the November ballot.

 

SEND THIS INFORMATION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, so that people understand why they need to hold off voting until a week before the primary.

Post this on your social media.  Spread the word. 

VOTE IN THE PRIMARY! Check to see if your neighbors will vote. 

We recommend that you take your ballot to the nearest Safe Box. 

Thank you for your participation in helping to save our democracy!

Nicky Silver, nickysilver3@icloud.com

Rebecca Silverstein, rebsilver74@gmail.com

Renée Allen, eenera@icloud.com

Ruth Hurvitz, itzruth@mac.com

Further reading:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5848331-california-governor-race-becerra-steyer/

https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/03/california-governor-candidates/

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/election/voter-guide/article315281369.html

 

 

 

Building Bridges

 

California Governor's Race

 I need to lay it all out on the table, Duane.

A new poll shows us tied with MAGA-backed Republican Steve Hilton, and right behind him is our other Republican opponent, Chad Bianco, waiting to take the second spot and advance to the general election.

Xavier Becerra 

Here’s the cold and hard truth: if we lose even an ounce of momentum now, less than a month from the primary, then both of my Republican opponents are not only going to lock me out of the general election, but lock ALL Democrats out of the Governor’s office. 

They will virtually guarantee that California is governed by a Republican who is ready to slash benefits working families need and rubber-stamp Donald Trump’s agenda.

We cannot let them succeed.

A plan for voting to follow. 

Steyer's Ads are Deceptive

The anti Becerra  ads funded by Tom Steyer are endless and deceptive. Becerra is being blamed for Trump  era immigration failures.  The failures  were created by the overcrowding of immigrants detention facilities during the Trump era. 

 

The Truth is Xavier Becerra inherited the failures at HHS caused by the Trump era assault on immigrants and immigrant children. 

See Here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntyYRugBgY&t=1224s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntyYRugBgY&t=1224s

Why MayDay : Robert Reich

 Friends,

Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted last Thursday on the Ellison family’s purchase of the company. Some 1.743 billion shares were cast in favor of the sale; 16.3 million were cast against it, a ratio of roughly 99 to 1.

1. Great for a Handful of Super-Wealthy, but Bad for Workers and Bad for America

This vote came soon after more than 4,000 workers in the media industry — directors, screenwriters, producers, actors, editors, cinematographers, musicians, and composers — signed a letter predicting an industry disaster if the sale went through.

That’s because, as my friend Harold Meyerson from The American Prospect has noted, such deals typically saddle the purchased companies with gigantic debts that buyers incur to make the deal — in the case of Warner Bros. Discovery, $79 billion — and this debt, in turn, requires that buyers slash costs (especially payrolls) to pay off some of it. 

More than 70 percent of all the shares in Warner Bros. Discovery are held by institutional investors — including the Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street. These institutions voted for the sale because they believe it will make their shares more valuable. 

The sale will also make certain individuals a lot of money. David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, stands to collect some $886 million for shepherding it, in addition to his regular pay package (which was $51 million in 2024). Oracle’s Larry Ellison and his son, David, the new owners of Warner Bros. Discovery, are already among the richest people in the world. 

But what about the workers in the industry who’ll lose their jobs as a result of the sale? What about all the people whose wages will be slashed? What about Los Angeles, which may lose a sizable portion of its major industry? 

And what about the concentration of so much of the news business — so much of what Americans learn about what’s happening — under these two Trump suck-ups? 

If Trump’s Justice Department approves the deal (do birds fly?), CBS News and CNN — along with CBS entertainment (home to Stephen Colbert, whose contract is about to run out and who will be taken off the air because of his criticisms of Trump) and Comedy Central (home to Jon Stewart) and HBO (John Oliver) and TikTok (where 1 out of 5 Americans now get their news) — are all about to become one giant mega-media monopoly under the control of Trump allies, the Ellisons.

2. The Moral Bankruptcy of Shareholder Capitalism 

At the heart of modern American capitalism is the assumption that a corporation exists for only one purpose: to make its shares more valuable. 

That goal trumps (excuse me) all other goals — such as raising workers’ wages, improving workers’ job security, creating more jobs, enhancing the quality of life for the community where a company is headquartered or does business, making life better for the inhabitants of the nation and the world, even protecting democracy. 

In fact, if shareholders can make more money by shafting these other “stakeholders” and destroying these other values, that’s thought to be perfectly fine. It’s simply the way “impersonal market forces” work. It’s “efficient.”

Before the 1980s, American capitalism ran on a very different principle: that large corporations had responsibilities to all their stakeholders. “The job of management,” proclaimed Frank Abrams, chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey, in a 1951 address, “is to maintain an equitable and working balance among the claims of the various directly affected interest groups … stockholders, employees, customers, and the public at large.” 

The sentiment may seem quaint or inauthentic today, but in the three decades after World War II, it laid the basis for rapid economic growth and, with strong unions, an equally rapid expansion of the American middle class. 

It reflected the sincere views of corporate executives. Many had endured the Great Depression and the war and felt some responsibility for America’s future well-being. These views helped legitimize the role of the large corporation in the public’s mind.

Today, shareholder capitalism has replaced stakeholder capitalism — and most Americans are excluded from its benefits. 

Over 92 percent of the value of all the shares of stock owned by Americans is owned by the richest 10 percent. More than half is owned by the richest 1 percent. And even they have turned over their votes to giant institutions like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street, which have no concern for the well-being of anyone or anything other than the short-term value of the shares they buy or sell.

We are witnessing the logical ending point of shareholder capitalism. 

As the share values of America’s biggest corporations continue to soar — even as (and in many cases, because) they eliminate tens of thousands of jobs — the goal of “maximizing shareholder returns” is revealing itself to be morally bankrupt and economically rotten. 

And as Artificial Intelligence takes over a growing amount of the work Americans do, the gap between share values (including the wealth of top investors and executives) and the incomes of most Americans will widen into a chasm. 

3. Toward a New Stakeholder Capitalism

But here’s the good news: We don’t have to stick with shareholder capitalism. We don’t have to be victims of “impersonal market forces” over which we supposedly have no control. 

We can have control. The market is a human creation. It is based on laws that humans devise. We can make laws that alter market forces to serve the interests of the vast majority instead of mainly the oligarchs at the top. 

Over the last four decades, corporate laws have been shaped by wealthy individuals to channel a large portion of the nation’s total income and wealth to themselves. 

If America’s super-wealthy continue to have unbridled influence over laws and gain control over the assets at the core of Artificial Intelligence, they will end up with almost all the wealth, all the income, and all the political power. Under such conditions, our economy and society simply cannot endure. 

Laws can and should be changed to produce a new version of stakeholder capitalism that shares the wealth more widely. 

How? For example, corporations could be required to provide long-term employees with the same number of shares as are held by investors. Profitable corporations could be required to provide their workers a portion (a quarter?) of their profits. 

Corporations whose highest-paid executives earn more than 100 times their lowest-paid employees should have to pay a surtax. Corporations over a certain size (worth, say, $1 trillion or more) or having more than a certain share of their markets (say, 25 percent) should be broken up. Unfriendly (hostile) takeovers should be banned (as they were, in effect, before 1980).

The “stepped-up basis” rule that allows the wealthy to pass assets to their heirs without ever paying capital gains taxes on them should be eliminated. Vast accumulations of private wealth (say, in excess of a billion dollars) should, after a certain number of years, automatically be turned over to a fund providing subsistence incomes — a universal basic income. 

State corporate laws shouldn’t empower corporations to make any campaign donations (effectively reversing Citizens United). 

Sound radical? Maybe it is. But shareholder capitalism doesn’t work — as illustrated by the Warner Bros. Discovery fiasco. Unless radical changes are made, that fiasco is just a taste of what’s to come. If Artificial Intelligence isn’t to destroy capitalism and obliterate democracy, we’re going to have to come up with something that does work, and soon. 

Happy May Day, 2026. 

Robert Reich, 

May Day With Class

 

This May Day—when, traditionally, labor and immigrant activists have honored the struggles of workers’ fight for a better life—was already going to be different. As of earlier in the week, over 5,000 actions were scheduled, to make clear a workers’ agenda, not a billionaires’ agenda, should be the priority in America. May Day organizers are union and nonunion alike, and it’s the first time I can remember so many nonunion workers participating in a labor action. I hope you can join us to stand up for our rights; find your local actions here. Then, just yesterday, the Supreme Court took away more rights from Americans by gutting the Voting Rights Act, which was passed during the depths of Jim Crow racism to assure that people historically discriminated against had representation. But if you don’t believe that was yet another power grab—like the 2018 Janus case that eliminated the obligation for people with union representation to pay union dues—just look at what the governor of Louisiana did immediately after yesterday’s decision. Gov. Jeff Landry announced he will suspend a primary that was already in progress, to redraw congressional lines to give the Republicans a shot at keeping the majority in Congress. The announcement came less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision was issued. Billionaires and their allies know, like you know, that elections are key to who has power. Once again, they are attacking the power of regular folks to vote.  The folks seeking to take power away from workers are acting with intention—and we must act with intention too. One way to take action is to protest, but another is to vote. So tomorrow, let’s show up to register to vote. The billionaires and their allies are trying to silence us. Don’t let them. Check your registration now. Thank you if you’re already registered to vote; that’s fantastic! I would ask one more thing of you: Please ask one person to register to vote—a co-worker, a neighbor, a voting-age family member. If they are not registered, tell them to visit aft.turbovote.org. The people trying to rig the rules are counting on us to feel overwhelmed and give up. But we will not. Just like Janus didn’t end our voice at work, Callais will not stop us from exercising our voice in our government. We care. We fight. We show up. We vote. And we’re not done fighting. Thank you In solidarity, Randi Weingarten. American Federation of Teachers. P.S. So, what do you have planned for May Day? Reply with what you’ll be doing, and if you have great photos, be sure to tag us on social media!

Speaking Truth: And May Day

 The only good way to take down an authoritarian is democratically. Here’s another truth: Every mass mobilization that Indivisible has helped organize -- from Hands Off a year ago to No Kings I, II, and III -- has been historically large, powerful, and joyfully nonviolent. We defend our constitutional rights by using our constitutional rights. Sometimes we use those rights to say uncomfortable truths loudly.

So here are some more truths: Trump is an authoritarian. He's a convicted rapist who's all over the Epstein files. His secret police force has murdered Americans. His regime serves billionaires and himself at the expense of everyone else. He violates the Constitution constantly, including recklessly starting a war with Iran. He's deeply unpopular. His own coalition is fracturing. And he's currently on track for an electoral blowout in midterm elections that he's openly threatening to sabotage.

Proclaim some truth with your community this Friday on May Day. Earlier this year, the heroes of Minnesota organized the “Day of Truth and Freedom” -- a day where the people of the Twin Cities flexed their economic power to raise the alarm against the occupying regime. Indivisible is backing the May Day Strong coalition for a similar, national effort this Friday. In many communities we’ll see schools closed down, workers off the job, and stores empty. This is a tactical escalation -- the kind of peaceful action we’ll have to supercharge if Trump tries to sabotage the midterms.

The more we insist on the truth, the more inevitable it becomes that members of this regime will have to face that truth one day. That day is coming, and the people doing No Kings are bringing it.

---

Your weekly to-dos

1. Join May Day Strong's Mass Call ahead of Friday’s day of action (Weds 8pm ET/5pm PT). You’ll hear from organizers mobilizing across the country about the importance of economic disruption as a tactic in fighting authoritarianism and how you can take part in the day of action this Friday (If you haven’t already, find a May Day event near you. There are already more than 3,000 events planned across the country.)

 It’s time to talk about truth, organizing, and strategic nonviolence again. Anybody even a little acquainted with Indivisible knows we believe political violence is a threat to democracy, full stop. This is a core belief in no small part because we know authoritarian regimes use political violence to justify repression of the nonviolent opposition. 

The truth is Trump is an authoritarian, and it’s important that we say the truth. After a fringe extremist attacked the White House Correspondents’ dinner this weekend, Trump immediately tried to blame nonviolent, pro-democracy protests. He told 60 Minutes, “The reason you have people like that is you have people doing No Kings.” 

Well, as one of the millions of “people doing No Kings,” I call bullshit.

This is all right out of the authoritarian playbook. In a deeply researched piece looking for practical lessons on global democratic backsliding, Zack Beauchamp found that authoritarians succeed in consolidating power by preventing their opposition from raising the alarm about their efforts to consolidate power. Trump may be in mental decline, but he still understands that much. Democracy dies in darkness, so it’s the pro-democracy organizer’s job to keep the lights on.

The regime does not like that. Like clockwork, regime-aligned media kicked in over the weekend to blame Democrats and call for them to “tone down” the rhetoric. Even putting aside the hypocrisy and concern-trolling from Trump and his allies, the correct response to the tone police is to refuse to tone down the truth. Sugarcoating the truth only serves those who want us to believe lies.  

 

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin 
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible

 

May Day Actions. Sacramento

 

Mayhaps: May Day and the Rebirth of Labor’s Imagination Labor

 Mayhaps: May Day and the Rebirth of Labor’s Imagination

Apr 20 

Written By Fred Glass

 

For many years I taught labor history at night to working students at City College of San Francisco. Since Bay Area workers and their unions had carried out two consequential general strikes (San Francisco in 1934, and Oakland in 1946), each semester I assigned my pupils an essay question:  Is it possible—or even desirable—for our region’s workers, if faced with oppressive circumstances, to replicate those feats today?

My students’ essays appeared along a range of responses between two poles. On one end, no, not possible, even if desirable, due to changed conditions like suburban distances between home and workplace, along with the decline of union density. On the other, yes, both desirable and possible, because new communications technologies allow ideas and organizing to spread rapidly online, and labor’s steep decline means that workers are angry enough to make it happen. Few students in either camp thought it would be an easy lift, reflecting a general sense of limited horizons for labor-led progressive change in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries.

The 1946 Oakland General Strike was the very last one American workers had managed to put together, literally a lifetime ago. But metaphorically, post-January 23, 2026, we might now be onto a new calendar. In the wake of the powerful “No Work, No School, No Shopping” day that erupted in the Twin Cities, alongside a steady drumbeat of growing demonstrations and electoral successes against the Trump regime, there’s wind in the sails for mass action on May Day 2026.

Just in my neck of the woods many events have already taken place, and more are on the boards, combining planning, training and coalition building for that once-unpopular holiday, officially observed in one hundred or so nations across the globe but not in the country that birthed it. I hear from a friend in Minneapolis that he’s been going to meetings attended by hundreds of people dedicated in a serious way to making May 1 another day of action. 

We shouldn’t underestimate the significance of what happened January 23. In the midst of a brutal occupation by poorly trained, heavily armed troops operating with seeming impunity on behalf of their fascist mission of ethnic cleansing, the ordinary people of Minneapolis organized themselves to defend their streets, their democratic rights, their immigrant neighbors, and their idea of a decent society to demand “ICE out!”. Somewhere around 75,000 people showed up on a cold Minnesota winter day to freeze the gears of the local economy and the occupation. 

It was pretty close to a general strike, and unlike all the other dozen-plus city-wide general strikes in American history it was waged not around an economic struggle between workers and bosses, but on behalf of a political idea, more like what happens every so often in other countries. Which is very much in the spirit of May Day.

Tools are there to be found

Doing such things will not suddenly become easier. The Minnesota circumstances are unique, with an unprecedented level of assault running into a recent baseline increase in labor-community alliance and activism. The ICE invasion reignited the embers of powerful alliance-building and union contract victories that peaked in 2024. But every city has its own local history, culture and traditions of collective action, and despite the diminished capacities of the labor movement, the tools are there to be found—providing they are sought out seriously.

One hurdle is the legitimate fear of labor leadership over legal consequences for calling a general strike, forbidden by the anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, a federal legislative backlash by the Republican-controlled Congress against the 1946 strike wave. Unions can be fined and labor leaders jailed for overtly calling for sympathy strikes. Thus while mostly supportive behind the scenes, unions were muted in their participation in the May 1 2006 “Day Without Immigrants” demonstrations and the November 2011 “Day of Action” in Oakland that shut down the docks and shuttered many businesses in support of Occupy Oakland’s call for a general strike. 

 

Read more. 

https://www.californiadsa.org/news/mayhaps-2026apr