Or is he?
First off: Stop. Breathe. Think.
Remember that we are just three weeks into the reign of King Donald. His slurry of executive orders was to be expected. Congress is GOP-controlled in both houses. Their rubber stamping of his actions was to be expected. Just like the Great Battle of the Electoral College, we fully expected these early losses.
Do not panic. We are doing fine.
Most of you are no doubt aware of Senator McConnell's invoking of the rarely used Senate Rule 19 to silence Senator Warren as she spoke against the nomination of Senator Sessions for Attorney General. If not, here is a nice history of Rule 19 with a brief explanation about what went down in the Senate.
In defending his actions, McConnell argued that, "[Warren] was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Big mistake.
In this day and age of social media, the last thing you want to say is something controversial that can be turned into a meme. McConnell's statement, "Nevertheless, she persisted," has been turned into a meme that has gone viral. That's a win for the Resistance.
So what else has gone our way this month? The folks at Project 1461 came up with a list:
Get Ready, Daily Call to Action
It's been a good month for the resistance. Despite the confirmations of three of Donald Trump's cabinet nominees, there have also been some big wins for our movement and for democracy. This morning, have an extra cup of coffee and get recharged for the week with a rundown of what Americans of conscience are accomplishing in the fight against Trump's agenda.
- The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals voted unanimously to reject Trump's request to reinstate the Muslim Ban, saying there was no evidence that anyone from the seven banned countries had ever committed an act of terrorism in the US.
- Congressional Republicans have scrapped plans to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics and sell off huge amounts of public land in the face of massive opposition.
- Downballot progressive candidates for office are raising money from across the country, and new candidates for office (especially women!) are flooding organizations that want to help them run.
- New activists and organizations are joining the resistance every day, and together we represent one of the largest movements in American history.
- In Tennessee and Utah, angry constituents flooded town halls for Republicans, demanding accountability and shouting "Your last term!" and protesters in DC blocked Betsy DeVos from entering a public school
- The ACLU received $24 million in donations in a single weekend -- the most in the organization's hundred-year history -- following Trump's Muslim ban announcement
- Six members of the New England Patriots are refusing to meet Donald Trump at the White House, citing his bigotry and a general feeling of being unwelcome as reasons
- A federal court ruled that gerrymandering based on party is unconstitutional and ordered Wisconsin to redraw its Congressional districts -- a blow to Republicans nationwide
- Senate Democrats filibustered two of Trump's cabinet nominees, Betsy DeVos and Jeff Sessions, for a full thirty hours each, and two Republican Senators broke with the party to vote against DeVos
- "Nevertheless, she persisted" became a national rallying cry after Elizabeth Warren was silenced on the Senate floor for reading a letter by Coretta Scott King. When Warren later read the letter on Facebook, the video was viewed over six million times.
- #PresidentBannon went viral, and Congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would block the president's ability to put people like Bannon on the National Security Council
- Nordstrom dropped Ivanka Trump's brand from their roster (#GrabYourWallet, anyone?), leading to an immediate spike in their stock prices. Other companies that have stopped selling Ivanka's products include Neiman Marcus, Shoes.com, Jet, Gilt, ShopStyle, and Belk.
- More people are calling Congress than ever before, flooding the lines, leading to endless busy signals and the return to relevancy for the fax machine
- Thousands of employees at Comcast and Google staged walkouts to protest Trump's discriminatory policies, and 97 leading tech firms including Apple, Google and Facebook filed a legal paper opposing Trump's Muslim ban
- The Affordable Care Act is the most popular it's ever been, and there's been mostly radio silence on Republicans' ill-advised "Repeal and Replace" campaign
- Harley-Davidson and Disney have canceled visits with Donald Trump, and the CEO of Uber stepped down from Trump's economic advisory council after facing backlash
- People are hitting the streets in incredible numbers: the final tally for Women's Marches topped five million, and tens of thousands marched in over 30 cities to protest the Muslim Ban
There's fun stuff, too
- Rosie O'Donnell desperately wants to play Steve Bannon on SNL
- Sean Spicer is flipping out over Melissa McCarthy
- This t-shirt exists in the world
- Hillary Clinton hit Trump with some massive shade on Twitter
- Bill Nye has a new show on Netflix that will address topics "from a scientific point of view, dispelling myths, and refuting antiscientific claims that may be espoused by politicians, religious leaders or titans of industry"
In building this list, we relied heavily on the following sources:
So there's your Yopp! for today. Sit back with a cup of sustainably-grown fair-trade coffee and read over the above list of victories to recharge yourself. King Donald and his administration are totally depending on us to give up and give in. Your persistence is the best form of resistance!
Yours in Solidarity.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will print out this list and read it when I need to recharge. For me it's vitally important to know where and how the resistance is making strides. Again, thank you.
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