Michael Podhorzer

Essential warning from Vanita Gupta re: the dangers of Trump’s attacks on civil society

Stunning charts show how disproportionately the Roberts Court favors the Trump regime.

"This pattern exemplifies what scholars call 'autocratic legalism'—the systematic weaponization of legal institutions to consolidate power while maintaining the appearance of legal process."

On Data and Democracy (Mid-Year Roundup): Charting the Assault on American Democracy and A Path Forward A narrative of a democracy in the balance, told through 29 data visualizations.

Been a busy year in the data mines.📊 Just published my mid-year roundup: 29 data visualizations on the state of US democracy, tracking everything from judicial resistance to billionaire influence to why Dems have a mobilization crisis, not a moderation problem.

All charts free to use:

Fascism and the English Language: "Immigration" Edition A conversation with Anat Shenker-Osorio

In our latest Substack Live chat, @anatosaurus.bsky.social explained why Trump’s attacks on immigrants are not “immigration policy”—they are abductions, disappearances, and the construction of concentration camps.

www.weekendreading.net/p/fascism-an...

This was an excellent discussion with my @contrariannews.org colleagues

bsky.app/profile/talk...

More Than the Weekend: Unions, the Past and the Future of Democracy WIthout strong unions, “democratic capitalism” is an oxymoron.

By the same token, fighting back these attacks helps all of us.

Unions are the past, present, and future of democracy.

www.weekendreading.net/p/more-than-...

The Trump Regime’s War on Working People: The First 100 Days How Unions are Resisting Authoritarian Attacks on Workers’ Rights—and Why It Matters for Everyone

The Trump regime’s attacks on unions and working people have been massive; here is a summary from just the first 100 days.

These attacks do not just injure those directly targeted, but all of us.

www.weekendreading.net/p/the-trump-...

Oligarchs Understand Power. Do We? Unions make us strong.

Strong unions are one of our best defenses against oligarchy and authoritarianism.

It’s why taking out unions is always one of the first pages in the fascist playbook, as in Chile, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Indonesia, Spain, Myanmar, and more.

www.weekendreading.net/p/oligarchs-...

An incredibly important story is flying under the radar: There’s enough support in Congress to force a vote on a bill to restore the union rights for federal workers that Trump took away with an executive order.

Why is it so important?

1 in 5 workers in this country is an immigrant. The Trump admin’s mass deportation agenda is indiscriminately targeting workers' families—it’s an attack on our economy, our communities and working people. America’s unions came together today to say that we will not stand for it.

Trump's approval hits new low as Epstein pressure mounts The news is all about tariffs, deportations, and Trump's Epstein files shenanigans. And he's massively underwater on all three.

As I've written, Trump is unpopular on pretty much every major issue of his presidency, including inflation, health care, tariffs, immigration, and deportations.

But his approval rating on Epstein is in a league of its own, and not in a good way. www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trumps-app...

Donald Trump is following the authoritarian playbook to a T:

1. Get hold of the courts
2. Erode the rule of law

That’s why it’s so critical the Senate rejects Bove and Pirro, as I discussed with @anacabrera.bsky.social

Planning the big #GoodTrouble broadcast with @katiephang.bsky.social

Catch us LIVE on the Contrarian YouTube tonight at 7:30pm ET

👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=p318...

I've wondered why term limits generate so much applause when gerrymandering remains somewhat niche.

You can always vote out the old incumbent. Gerrymandering, outside of states where you can pass ballot measures to ban it, is in most places impossible to undo.

Opinion | How Texas could help ensure a GOP House majority in 2026 Trump wants Texas lawmakers to redraw congressional maps to create more Republican seats. It could work.

This Texas Republican gerrymandering effort "could put the House beyond reach for Democrats in 2026"—and it would be "one more gift delivered to the GOP by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the Supreme Court."
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

This Is the Most Inspiring Thing I’ve Heard About Democracy at the Supreme Court in Ages It’s not every day that a political leader talking about the state of U.S. democracy is able to hit two tricky notes at the same time: realism and hope.

This weekend's episode of Amicus with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social and @whitehouse.senate.gov is well worth your time.

As Whitehouse put it, what was done to our democracy **was done**, and can be undone.

slate.com/news-and-pol...

In “ICE Age,” the latest @talkingfeds.bsky.social Contrarian episode, @normeisen.bsky.social; ‪@mikepod.bsky.social; @jenrubin.bsky.social dazzle in discussions of exposing the BBB; ICE’s abuses; DOJ’s over-the-top politicization; Bove nomination; Jackson; and a lot more. Link: bit.ly/ICEAgeTF

ICE Age Our latest Contrarian episode features Norman Eisen, Jennifer Rubin , andMichael Podhorzer— each from the all-star cast of the dynamic new media venture.

Sparks flew (in a good way!) on Talking Feds when I joined my Contrarian colleagues @jenrubin.bsky.social @mikepod.bsky.social & @harrylitman.bsky.social

We ran the gamut, including Republicans' big, beautiful buyer's remorse to the Bove confirmation chaos ahead

Give it a listen 👇

Politicians in Robes: Part III The “Exceptions” That Prove the Rule

As @whitehouse.senate.gov pointed out, Roberts (mostly) upholding the ACA wasn’t a sign of independence—it was doing the insurance industry’s bidding.

I also wrote about these kinds of “exceptions” here: www.weekendreading.net/p/politician...

The Call Is Coming From Inside The Court As the democracy-decimating chickens come home to roost, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse makes an argument for optimism.

. @whitehouse.senate.gov understands the Roberts Court better than most Democrats—how it's been captured by "creepy billionaires," why defending the institution of "the Supreme Court" plays right into those billionaires' hands, and why Roberts has never been the sober jurist he’s made out to be.

Here you go, an all-new @talkingfeds.bsky.social w/ 3 guests from the Contrarian -- @normeisen.bsky.social; @mikepod.bsky.social; ‪@jenrubin.bsky.social. Fighting back v. the BBB; ICE run amok; DOJ’s fascist turn; Bove nomination; Justice Jackson’s comments and a lot more. Link: bit.ly/ICEAgeTF

LIVE NOW: Conversation with Katherine Stewart Michael Podhorzer on Substack

Join us now to discuss the Christian nationalist movement to destroy American democracy as we know it:
open.substack.com/live-stream/...

LIVE NOW: Conversation with Katherine Stewart Michael Podhorzer on Substack

Join me on Substack Live at 1pm for a conversation with Katherine Stewart, whose award-winning coverage of Christian nationalism includes the NYT bestseller "Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy."

open.substack.com/live-stream/...

The Courts Will Not Save Us We must resist the learned helplessness of judicial supremacy.

100 percent - The Roberts Court IS the constitutional crisis - www.weekendreading.net/p/the-courts...

Trump's approval on immigration and deportations plunged after Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador. Then it sank again after Trump sent the military into Los Angeles—along with how voters rated his deportation policy. Approval on both issues is now down 20 points from the start of his term.

This is helpful guidance on what we — writers, activists, journalists, people engaged in discourse, etc. — can do in language & framing. Small changes in language can grant legitimacy or delegitimize corrupt institutions.

Franklin D. Roosevelt echoed Lincoln, affirming that the Constitution was not a legal straitjacket but a living framework for self-governance—something that belonged to the people, not to a priesthood of legal experts.
www.weekendreading.net/p/the-courts...

Lincoln said it best.

www.weekendreading.net/p/the-courts...

In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King wrote: "Legal but not Legitimate." Picture of MLK. "We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal.’" Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail

2. Develop and deploy a vocabulary that distinguishes what is momentarily legal from what is eternally legitimate.

Remember MLK’s admonition that “everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal.’”

So, how can we help recover popular constitutionalism? Here are several things we must all do, and demand our allies follow suit:

1. Don’t say “the Supreme Court did X.” It gives unwarranted legitimacy by naming the hijacked institution, not the hijackers.

Say “the Roberts Court,” etc.