Hello Thursday. President Trump spoke to Congress and America on Tuesday night, plagued by the painful threats and all our threats and complaints, and we began to look forward to our Chief’s constant commander.

World Health Organization? “Rot!” he wept.

UN Human Rights Council? “Non-American!”

Federal employee? “They will either show up for work in person or be removed from their work.”

All of this was apparently Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was chewing gum, and Vice President J.D. Vance Joe hanging in Glee. I couldn’t help but think he looked like Vintage Howdy Doody MarionetteWith heartless satisfaction, we are forever trapped in self-righteousness.

“Our country won’t wake up anymore,” Trump cried out at the roaring cheers of Maga Republicans. And I’m afraid he’s right – if he wakes up, it means he’s empathetic, inclusive and interested in civil rights.

Meanwhile, the Democrats shot…nothing.

Bipartisan and brave young woman

Before diving further into the depths of Trump’s speech, let’s scream at the brave young woman and highlight the bipartisan moment courted by Melania Trump.

On Tuesday night, one of the first lady’s guests was teenager Elliston Berry. He woke up when his classmate was 14 and used artificial intelligence to turn her Instagram image into deepfake porn.

“I felt responsible, started blaming myself, and felt embarrassed to tell my parents even if I was doing anything wrong.” Berry told lawmakers at a recent roundtable It was part of her defense of “Take it Down Act.”

The bill, defended by First Lady and introduced by Officer Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), holds accountable to both the creators of deepfake porn and the big technicians who allow it to be posted, giving the victim the right to quickly remove it. It passed the Senate in February and was emphasized by the President during his speech under the careful eyes of his wife.

on the other hand Electronic Frontier Foundation And others argue that they are targeting bad problems with bad solutions. I’m going to argue that in a Congress full of bad ideas, that at least they don’t open federal land to cut down federal land, erase transgender presence from public life, or try to abandon their international allies. So I’ll take it.

I’m sure Melania’s husband will sign the law in a not too distant future.

I’m back to Dem

Meanwhile, Democrats continued to rock the flops and flounders like so many trouts thrown at the rocks, pulling from the flow of progressive idealism. A few women were wearing pink, I “Pussyhat” march in 2017? Some Democrats hugged little round paddles with weak sosis protest slogans against them, just as the country club wives who were dissatisfied with the goods at silent auctions were being oppressed. A few people left or didn’t show up at all. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

Al Green, a Texas Democrat, is honored by trying to raise some good problems by waving his cane before swinging it at least in the president, and being kicked out on orders. Speaker microphone Johnson.

“I accept the punishment,” he later told CSPAN. “It’s worth letting people know that there are some of us who are planning on facing this president’s desire to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”

And certainly, for those vulnerable and in the sight of Maga, there was a lot of fear about Trump’s windy rant, even beyond those important social security nets. Immigrants, legal or not, should know that “the great liberation of America” ​​is ongoing, and are a promise to continue to intensify deportation.

Transgender people should know that Trump is “ending the lie that every child is trapped in the wrong body forever.”

Panama and Greenland? It’s coming for you.

Even farmers are not safe, Trump declares that “probably has to endure me,” and his suspension of tariffs and agricultural exports for foreign aid will destroy their business.

But the sad sight of Democrats just sitting between the whole Tillard has reinforced their lack of knowing how to simply handle Trump 2.0 – and Trump knows it.

The official democratic response was given by Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin. Elissa Slotkin was a former CIA agent who served multiple terms at home before winning a Senate seat last year. She is attractive, clever and serious. Everything you want from a Democrat around 2008.

She gave a lovely, coming speech about how mother and father are politically divided. “But that wasn’t a big deal.

As my colleague Kevin Lecter points out, that’s great except there are a lot of Americans. And Americans who are convinced that democracy may be on life support are sure that we are not talking about Republicans or Democrats as much as we are talking about dictatorship and oppression.

So, a takeaway from Trump’s speech is that Maga has known exactly what it wanted for a long time and now knows how to get it.

But Democrats have forgotten the most basic lessons that even 15-year-old Elliston seems to know better than them. When the attack defeats you, stand up and fight.

Other things you should read:

Must see: Transgender Americans leave us behind over Trump’s policies. I already have some
What happened: ‘ A democratic response to Trump shows what a split party shows about how to resist him
LA Times Special: California farmers supported Trump. Now his tariffs could hurt them
Maintaining the golden
Anita Chhabria

A great team of PS photojournalists covered Oscars almost to do. If you haven’t checked out their amazing work, here it is.

Has this newsletter been forwarded to you? Sign up here Get it in your inbox.