Brooke Densmore Williams (she/her)

Five big takeaways from Democrats’ blue tsunami election that should worry Trump Record voter turnout, a revolt against Trump and DOGE in Virginia, affordability remains a throughline and all should worry Trump, Mike Johnson and the Republicans, Eric Garcia writes. Plus, one tough...

One major takeaway: Winsome Earle-Sears tried relentlessly to attack Abigail Spanberger with the same transphobic messaging Trump used against Kamala Harris.... and people just didn't care. It shows anti-trans messaging isn't an inflection point.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Interesting to think that this is the kind of polling that James Carville was looking at the last time he won an election 🤷‍♂️

AOC: “The girls are fighting, aren’t they?”

This is the energy we need from leaders - thank you, @govpritzker.illinois.gov !

🔥 WATCH: Bernie sweeps aside Senator Slotkin saying Dems should stop talking about fighting the oligarchy because people don’t understand.

Of course people get it. And if they don’t, you don’t stop saying it. You say it until they do. #FightTheOligarchy 🇺🇸

I went to bat for her when she was first elected and she has gone nothing but sell out the people who elected her since then. I'm incandescent with rage. She should hear all of this from her constituents! You don't get to vote to take their rights away and come home to polite town halls.

A headline from Hell.

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...

Trump's Hammer, Our Hope: An Emergency Town Hall YouTube video by Haymarket Books

Happening now on @haymarketbooks.org ' YouTube page (and available to watch afterward as well)! ⬇️

www.youtube.com/live/9vP5p_o...

Of Boys And Men If Books Could Kill · Episode

Here's the whole #IfBooksCouldKill episode about "Of Boys and Men," which is unfortunately extremely relevant right now. open.spotify.com/episode/6qfb...

Wow, no one is safe from Mar-a-Lago Face. 🤢

@michaelhobbes.bsky.social elegantly summinng up the appeal of the podcast Manosphere.

pca.st/episode/e185...

ICYMI — here’s the lesson Schumer and the other Dems just taught them 👇🏽

What an absolute nightmare. I have always respected Monisha and wondered about her time at the Mayor's office. This unfortunately confirms so many of my fears and suspicions about him. What will it take to get him out of office?

Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993

For more on the history of ACT UP, I *highly* recommend Sarah Schulman's brilliant "Let The Record Show" bookshop.org/p/books/let-...

Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993

Thank you so much for this thread! I've been thinking a lot about ACT UP and think I might need to reread Sarah Schulman's "Let The Record Show" with an eye to this current era.

bookshop.org/p/books/let-...

Important 🧵 from @anatosaurus.bsky.social ⬇️

Now we have no choice but to accept what we have long known: We cannot vote our way to a democracy.

The only way forward is for us to take direct action.

AOC: It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect social security, protect medicaid, and protect medicare.

Putting a lot of chips on thermostatic public opinion here. Not sure “we’re fighting Trump by voting to let him do what he wants” is gonna motivate a lot of people to vote, donate and organize for the midterms. bsky.app/profile/atru...

I love to call my Senators' offices three times per week and try to cajole them into doing the most elementary political messaging and strategy. This is what it means to be an engaged citizen: leaving a strenuously polite voicemail for a 74yo on a more regular cadence than I talk to my parents.

👇👇👇

Chuck Schumer Arrives At Roy Cohn's Birthday Party American politician New York State Assemblyman Chuck Schumer, hands in the pockets of his overcoat, arrives at the Studio 54 nightclub (at 254 West 54th Street) for Roy Cohn's birthday party, New York, New York, February 22, 1979. (Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/MUUS Collection via Getty Images) 7 gettyimages Credit: Fred W. McDarrah Black and white photo of a dark haired young man in a tuxedo

Apropos of nothing in particular, here is a photo of young Chuck Schumer at a birthday party for Donald Trump’s mentor, Roy Cohn:

absolutely

Five years ago, Breonna Taylor was murdered. She should still be alive.

We will not forget.

#SayHerName

Three years ago, three other reporters and I ID'd and called any school accused of having litter boxes for furries.

We found one (1) in the entire country: Columbine's school district.

Cat litter was for a "go bucket," in case kids were locked in during a shooting.

www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinfo...

Good morning Washington. Today's the last day both the state House and Senate are able to pass (non-budget) bills off their floors, with a 5pm deadline where they can keep working on one individual bill.

The Senate has 68 bills ready to move, and the House has 71. Many of them will die today.

“It’s not a badge of honor to have my creative work denigrated as obscene, especially when that work is about queer people and people of color. It’s offensive to have my work mischaracterized this way.” — Malinda Lo

Some people think getting your books banned is a badge of honor, but it’s not. As I told Ms. Mag: “It’s not a badge of honor to have my creative work denigrated as obscene, especially when that work is about queer people and people of color. It’s offensive to have my work mischaracterized this way.”

🚨 Everyone needs to call their Dem Senator right now. They are starting to cave.

Tell them:
1. Vote NO on Cloture
AND
2. Vote NO on the Republican spending bill.

Don’t let them pivot to reconciliation. GOP doesn’t need Dem votes on that and they know it.

TODAY is the showdown.
🤳🏽: (202) 224-3121

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election is a referendum on Elon Musk “We'll find out whether Musk's millions are more powerful than the fury that Musk provokes among voters.”

Elon Musk's involvement in Wisconsin has turned what could've been a sleepy off-year election at a time when Democrats are still reeling from Trump’s second win into a race with major significance.

“We’ll find out whether Musk’s millions are more powerful than the fury [he] provokes among voters.”

Trans and intersex Americans’ health is suffering. The Trump administration could make it worse. Trans people are experiencing poor physical and mental health, while intersex people are struggling to find health care at all, new data shows.

Trans Americans experience poor physical and mental health more than other LGBTQ+ people, in part due to higher rates of discrimination, while intersex Americans struggle to find or afford health care at all.

These disparities may only get worse under the Trump administration.