Revolt of the Elders

Consider that people my age have been around for almost a third as long as the United States of America. Our lifetimes have spanned its entire post-WW2 period of global hegemony, and our fortunes have generally risen along with the nation’s.

But all of that has come with certain costs, including deep political divisions, obscene wealth disparities and severe environmental damage .

And now we fear that one of those costs will be our democracy itself.

We know that what Donald Trump is doing goes far beyond the normal yin and yang of politics, or the cyclical pendulum swings from right to left. He appears to be systematically dismantling the federal government in a naked grab for complete power.

Our nation was founded in a rebellion against autocratic power and formed to resist it should that threat ever appear at these shores.

Well, that time has come.

As elders, we must now speak out. We can’t check out just because we’re old and tired or that we’re too busy. (We’re not that busy.) We must do our part to help save what matters most while we still can.

Trump can still be stopped, so let’s stop him. Why revolt? Because he is revolting.

HEADLINES:

• Trump’s Fury at Canada Boils Over on Fox—and Polls Now Show a Backlash. Trump is now looking at Canada the way Putin looks at Ukraine—through “the eyes of a predator.” (TNR)

• ‘This Is Worse’: Trump’s Judicial Defiance Veers Beyond the Autocrat Playbook (NYT)

• Emails Reveal Top IRS Lawyer Warned Trump Firings Were a “Fraud” on the Courts (ProPublica)

• More than a dozen judges have said Trump and Co. probably broke the law (WP)

• Judges Fear for Their Safety Amid a Wave of Threats (NYT)

• Musk, DOGE violated Constitution, judge says. (NPR)

• Trump’s Call to Impeach Judges Is a Dangerous Threat to Constitutional Order (Slate)

• If Trump Defies the Courts, Here’s What a Judge Can Do (Politico Mag)

• Trump team makes plans for military to hold migrants at border (WP)

• Judge warns of consequences if Trump administration violated deportation order (Reuters)

• Opening the door to green card deportations endangers us all (WP)

• Trump targets Education Department (NBC)

• Elon Musk, once a tacit backer of DEI, now focuses on anti-White bias (WP)

• Possible NOAA layoffs alarm broader weather forecasting community (Axios)

• 'Great uncertainty': UC system orders hiring freeze amid steep Trump cuts (SFGate)

• Congressional Republicans threaten revolt over Trump-led defence shake-up (Guardian)

• How the Justice Department is remaking itself in Trump’s image (WP)

• Is This Game Over for the Houthis? (Foreign Policy)

• Hamas fires rockets at Israel for first time since truce collapses as toll mounts in Gaza (CNN)

• Taliban frees an American man who was abducted while traveling in Afghanistan more than 2 years ago (AP)

• Greenpeace was ordered to pay an oil company $667 million. Environmental groups say the suit was intended to chill protests against new oil and gas drilling. The financial blow could destroy Greenpeace USA. (WP)

• The US dropped to its lowest-ever ranking in the global list of happiest countries to live (Business Insider)

• Researchers find a hint at how to delay Alzheimer’s symptoms (AP)

• Apple Shuffles AI Executive Ranks in Bid to Turn Around Siri (Bloomberg)

• Dad demands OpenAI delete ChatGPT’s false claim that he murdered his kids (ArsTechnica)

• Siri has become an unmitigated disaster, and AI won’t save it (9to5Mac)

• Think Tank Called ‘The Himmler Institute’ Assures Nation This All Legal (The Onion)