70 Comments

Nice write up - if I had something like this once a week for the next four years, I'd make a point to look out for it vs trying to keep up with the deluge of "breaking" news likely to flow minute by minute, hour by hour.

Expand full comment

yes, the breaking news is already exhausting, on Day 2

Expand full comment

I've been ignoring it for 36 hours. Now I'm starting to come back, but not as much as before. I hate seeing their smug faces.

Expand full comment

Still avoiding and will continue to avoid FFOTUS (First Felon of the United States, h/t Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen!)

Loving all the news abt the wannabes who are NOT tcf, Rudy colludy et al who f’d around in 2020 and are finding out

Expand full comment

This provides much needed information in a logical layout that makes it easier to understand. It brings some order to the chaos, which is oddly calming. Thank you.

Expand full comment

Ads need to be run on FNC every day with the name of someone pardoned and video footage from Jan 6. Over and over and over

Expand full comment

Maybe Michael Moore’s next documentary.

Expand full comment

You should run for DNC Chair!

Expand full comment

Wonderfully done. This truly helped me to make sense of the deluge of information thrown out yesterday and today. And the way you broke it down definitely helped my anxiety level. Thanks for doing what you do, Jay.

Expand full comment

Thanks for the effort, as always, Jay. And I do think your three-bucket idea is a good place to start.

Expand full comment

The whole “shock and awe” thing” makes it clear that they know much of their agenda is not on solid ground, so they’re looking for low-hanging fruit. I suspect the real battles over the next few months will center on tax cuts and slashing Medicaid, and those will be fought out in Congress.

Expand full comment
10hEdited

Fight? Or will democrats roll over? They never reinstituted death taxes or more sensible income and capital gains taxes when they had the chance

Expand full comment

There is only so much they can do. The voters let them down and gave the Republicans full control.

Expand full comment

The "birthright citizenship" EO is primarily hot air. I don't want to say it's harmless, but it does a lot less than it claims. It doesn't actually remove the citizenship, just bans the federal government from issuing documents that could prove such. That means that the next President can on day 1 issue a new EO that such documents should be issued again, including retroactively.

Trump's argument about the "not under the jurisdiction of" could also backfire. If undocumented people are not under the jurisdiction of the USA, they cannot be arrested, tried or deported, just as diplomats can't.

Expand full comment

Not to nit pick, but birthright citizenship is documented by birth certificates issued by states, not the federal government, yes?

Expand full comment

You are right. But the EO bans the fed government from accepting such as evidence of citizenship, such as issuing passports. The full text of the EO is here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/

Expand full comment

that inability for our courts to prosecute, much less sentence, the killer of Laken Riley or others was the first thing I thought of when looking at the jurisdiction argument. One thought I have had is that the Extremes will figure out a way to say that children of undocumented immigrants are not born, but hatched.

Expand full comment

This was very helpful,Jay. The flooding the zone with shit approach that ConvictedFelon47 is using can be overwhelming but to see it broken down in segments like this shows not only how vile this man is but that he is stupid. We have to pick our battles, but battle we must. 2026 can’t come soon enough!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Jay. I am eschewing all media right now for my mental health. Earlier this morning, I told a friend that I wanted to know the important stuff but not in a way that would leave me in distress (I don’t hide it well and I gotta work). When I got the notification and saw the title to this article, it felt like it said, ‘safe to open’. And it was. It was exactly what I needed.

Truly, thank you.

I will sleep better tonight *because I read it.

Expand full comment

Same with me Jennie, thankful to TBP, Jay and all those I trust on Substack and I “feel safe.” I feel an overwhelming need to know, at least scanning the headlines, and stop reading when it gets too dark.

Expand full comment

Thank you for such detailed work Jay. This is so helpful.

I am keeping a binder of your work for future reference. I imagine the fascists now in charge will try to limit work such as yours - that which tells the truth about their corrupt actions. If it’s only online it can be disappeared.

Take care of yourself. It can’t be easy diving into all this ugliness.

Expand full comment

Thank you Jay.

Expand full comment

THANK YOU!!!

Expand full comment

It may not be a gigantic thing, but I’ve decided to email my Representative and my two Senators — all GOP — and ask why they think X that Trump did was a good idea. “Why do you think it’s good to release convicted criminals from J6 back into society?” Why do you think . . . Pick your own issue. They will probably ignore you, and send you a fundraising email at some point, but you can get things off your chest.

Expand full comment

https://newrepublic.com/post/190476/donald-trump-basic-geography-spain-brics

Where to start.

NATO is in Europe. Spain is in Europe. Spain is part of NATO.

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization of ten countries that aims to increase economic and geopolitical coordination among member states. The acronym stands for the original members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. In 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates joined. BRICS is seen as a counterpart to the G7 and an attempt to counterbalance the influence of Western-dominated institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

Trump does not know which country is in what continent and part of what types of organization, military, economic or otherwise.

So Trump is ignorant, stupid, insane and senile. Any questions?

Expand full comment

Thanks for that. We do all need to just stay calm and focused on what and how to productively challenge them. They don’t have unlimited power.

Expand full comment

I certainly hope that the Democrats are learning something here, and that the next D President will have a similar flurry of Day-1 EOs ready to fix *all* the Trump damage. And while he or she is at it, also undo all the damage George Bush did 20 years ago that haven't been fixed to this day.

Expand full comment