The Resistance Is Stronger Than Trump: From The Ballroom To Jim Crow 2.0, His Regime Keeps Losing

Plus, courts tell ICE no 10,000 times, and a failed gerrymander in Mississippi keeps Rep. Bennie Thompson on the ballot

On Tuesday, Trump leaned over on the White House lawn and said: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”

Might be the most truthful thing he’s ever said. It’s a stark reminder that we don’t matter to Trump. Same with your large grocery bills, the price at the gas pump, or your kids’ or grandkids’ futures.

But here’s what he will never understand. We are people who care about and think about each other. The resistance—yours, mine, ours—is louder and stronger than Trump. And getting louder and stronger every day.

Hit the ❤️ like button and re-stack this edition right now to make sure everyone knows what Trump said. You have that power.

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BALLROOM REPUBLICANS

Trump swore the White House ballroom would cost $200 million. It was to be paid for by private donors—nothing from taxpayers. He said it on camera, again and again. Then, after the price ballooned to $400 million, a federal judge halted construction.

To pay for it, Republicans quietly added $1 billion in taxpayer money to the Senate budget reconciliation bill and called it “security.” Seriously. For a ballroom. The same Republicans who slashed Medicaid and told seniors to figure it out.

Chuck Schumer gave them a new nickname: “Ballroom Republicans—asking working families to pay the price while Donald Trump pockets the perks.” This week, Senator Jacky Rosen released a report that showed what $1 billion could actually buy: rent for 62,000 families, or childcare for 79,000 infants. Even GOP Rep. Marlin Stutzman couldn’t defend the price tag: “It just kind of seems upside down.” Oh, ok Marlin.

Now Republicans are running from it. GOP Sen. Rand Paul said it probably won’t survive. Speaker Mike Johnson hinted just yesterday the Senate would drop it entirely. GOP Rep. Nick LaLota of New York said: “Most of us assume this is going to die—people think that at a time where Americans are paying $4.50 for gas, a ballroom just doesn’t mix.” Gee, ya think, Nick?

Turns out you can’t sell a gold ballroom to people who can’t afford groceries.

TEN THOUSAND TIMES, NO

US District Judge Fred Biery

Last July, Trump’s acting ICE director quietly rewrote the rules. A memo declared millions of immigrants who had lived in America for years—people with jobs, families, and roots—would now be treated as if they just illegally crossed the border that morning. No bond hearings or chance to plead their case. Straight to the immigration prison.

The courts said no—more than 10,000 times. That’s roughly 90% of every case that’s been decided. More than 425 judges including a majority of Trump’s own appointees. Even DOJ attorneys walked into courtrooms and told judges it couldn’t defend what ICE was doing.

US District Judge Fred Biery called it “the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

Trump said he’d have all the winning—tell that to his ten thousand losses.

THEY CAME FOR THE WRONG CONGRESSMAN

Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson

The Trump regime has been targeting Black members of Congress across the South. In Mississippi, they came for Rep. Bennie Thompson. It failed miserably.

Gov. Tate Reeves—a Republican who declares “Confederate Heritage Month” every April—called a special legislative session. On paper it was about redrawing court district lines. But under pressure from Trump, state officials were using it as cover for something else—gerrymandering Rep. Bennie Thompson out of office.

Thompson is the longest-serving Black elected official in Mississippi, in Congress since 1993, and was the chairman of the January 6th Committee. MAGA wanted him gone.

Thompson called it what it is: “This is Jim Crow 2.0. And the only thing we can do is resist it and fight back with every fiber in our body.”

Mississippi had already held its primary elections in March—meaning they’d have had to cancel those results and make everyone vote again. Civil rights groups were ready to take them to court the moment they tried. Then the legal basis for the whole scheme collapsed. Reeves had nothing left. He folded.

Thompson is on the ballot. His district stays.

MASSACHUSETTS DREW THE LINE

MA Gov. Maura Healey (Middle)

While Senate Republicans were arguing over a ballroom, Massachusetts was busy protecting the people Trump is trying to disappear. The PROTECT Act passed 37-3 in the Senate, and 134-21 in the House. Negotiators are now reconciling the bills before sending it to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk for signature.

Both chambers agree on the core protections—ICE won’t be able to make warrantless arrests at courthouses. The Senate went further, barring ICE from warrantless arrests at schools, hospitals, churches, and daycares. Local police are prohibited from assisting federal agents in immigration enforcement. Anyone who breaks these rules can be sued in state court. And parents facing deportation will be able to name a legal guardian for their children.

Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka

Senate President Karen Spilka said: “Across our Commonwealth, we are seeing children torn from their parents, students pulled off the street, and families living in fear—and we refuse to accept that as normal in Massachusetts.”

Trump is losing in court, in Congress, and in state legislatures across the country because people like you care about this country and decided to fight for it.

That momentum has helped us drive millions of congressional contacts over the last decade, and build a social media machine that generates billions of impressions monthly. No billionaire puppeteers, no boardroom meetings. Just me, our team, and our awesome community of readers.

Help us keep it going by joining as a paid subscriber today. We’d love to have you:

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Onward!

Scott

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If the ballroom were built, what do you think we should actually use it for? Be creative.