Jessica, I just called Schiff’s Washington, DC office and left a message that I was behind him on the investigation. THAT SOB Trump, caused us to lose 13% of our investments! I cannot believe that Guesenkamp-Perez voted with these criminals! Calling her office too to give her hell. I sent $ to her campaign. She’s supposedly for the working-class women but just sent us down a hole. 🤬🤬
I'm in Maine CD2, Represented by Democrat Jared Golden who voted for the SAVE Act. For weeks we'd made concerted efforts -phoning and writing to tell him to Vote No. Golden has repeatedly let us know that our voices - as constituents, volunteers, contributors, and voters- mean nothing to him. On many issues. Golden not only ignores us but castigates us for disagreeing with him. CD2 politics is complicated. Many of us hold our nose to get Golden elected. He's relied on us being willing to vote for him just to elect a Democrat, because the Republican would be worse. I wonder how that will play after this vote. Unless he switches parties first.
I, too, live in Maine and am TOTALLY disgusted with DINO golden. I did hold my nose when I voted for him as I thought the Republican candidate, Theriault, would be worse. I will do my absolute best to be sure golden’s ass is voted OUT. We do, though, desperately need a Democratic candidate to oppose him.
It's easy to say, "Any D not voting as they should needs to be primaried," but you want to make sure their incumbency isn't more powerful than the voters who took extra time & money to organize a primary challenger & back their opponent, & wins. Name recognition, unfortunately has too much sway with ignorant voters. Work to do for a lot of us in this party! I speak from constantly trying to rein in my 2 Dem senators.
Glu-Perez is in a very red district, and she keeps voting with the GOP on critical voting measures. She's sacrificing democracy for votes. It's not good enough. She needs to get primaried by someone who can win in that district BUT is a hard-line pro-democracy candidate.
Ugh. There has to be someone, you would think! It's really frustrating when folks who call themselves Democrats align themselves so radically with Republicans on really unforgivable sh** like the SAVE Act. No amount of "hard-liner" virtue signaling on immigration is worth selling the core of democracy for. If they can't recognize that, I have no hope for them. It must be hard in some districts to find someone who is a solid candidate and can raise the insane amount of money that is now necessary to win a race. As we make our way out of this nightmare of authoritarianism, we will need to build a new democratic system. We will have to guarantee that money is firmly excluded from politics. It has corrupted both parties and leaves us with a paltry bucket of candidates.
To be fair, Democrats in red districts have an uphill battle to winning their elections in the first place. That said, the one line no lawmaker should ever cross is that of voter suppression. Republicans are a lost cause, as we know, but I would expect better from any Democrat, anywhere. These Democrats who voted for the SAVE Act in the House may have figured that it was going to pass anyway with full Republican support, so their yes vote really didn't matter; and it was an opportunity to signal to their red base that they're tough on immigration.
However, I still see it as a sellout. Voting unlocks all other rights. It is sacred. Republicans may have desecrated it, but I refuse to follow in their authoritarian footsteps. I would hope lawmakers calling themselves Democrats would do the same.
Thanks, Sue. I did call and leave a message on the recorder. Said I was from CA and was very angry that she did not support our rights as women, especially. She is only 36, my daughter’s age, I just wonder if she realizes what a plunder she made.
I’m so glad you called Glusenkamp-Perez. I’m just outside her district so my call wouldn’t hold as much weight. I’m glad she’s been able to keep Joe Kent out of that seat but it’s disgusting that she voted for this. Way to go!
Also, I think we need to be wary of GOP in disarray and depending on them not agreeing. So far they have been in lock step. Even if 2 house reps didn't vote for the budget, they've been able to pass everything without issue. Maybe because there is enough voter suppression that even with all the horrible things going on, they know they will get re-elected. They are not acting like there will be consequences. This should be alarming in itself. ESp when Dems shoot themselves in the foot every day, with 4 voting for SAVE act. This is a tightrope walk and Dems are not having the discipline needed.
About those 2 Rs not voting for the budget--they were 2 Rs that didn't think the social safety net destruction was large enough! Some ppl thought they rejected the bill because they actually cared about their constituents. Incredible sociopathy.
Sadly this budget will pass. It's now that MAGAt voters, after all these decades of poor white ppl voting against their own best interests FINALLY get a massive brutal lesson; their FAFO is coming.
Even in deep red areas, the tide was turning before this budget.
I hold out hope ppl are seeing the light. There will always be hardcore of about 25-30% that won't change.
Steve Bannon warned his thug buddies to be careful how that $880B cut to Medicaid goes through as a lot of MAGAt voters depended in it.
Their efforts in voter suppression won't be enough from losing even in red areas in 2026.
I hope some ppl change their minds but Dems need to motivate the 80 million that sat at home. They are persuadable. But when Senate votes for CR, Chuck Schumer as a leader, it really isn't inspiring. It's hard to ask people to get energized when dem Senators are still voting for Trump nominees. Is it performative? Yes, but if you can't even perform, what can you do?
But it is also up to us. No one is saving us, as we see from law firms and universities. The big research hospitals are staying quiet hoping to keep their funding, obeying in advance. So it is up to us. We have to call our representatives. We have to show up to town halls. We have to text our friends petitions to sign on to. We have to do this daily.
I know we are all exhausted too. But just doing a call daily should not be that hard. I was born under dictatorship. And America - if yall can't even call every day, you are not going to like what daily life under dictatorship is going to be like.
No one should be confused by Trump's strategy... He's first and foremost a Reality TV star playing a President. His audience ratings are GREAT. The Tariff kerfuffle has pushed them further. Through the roof!!!
Check how many times he's mentioned in the NYTimes or WP...I'd say the name Trump gets more coverage per day in these papers than Biden, (a real life president who got good things done) than Biden did in his entire presidency.
As long as he can keep the reality of Americans and their lives out of sight his TV brand will shine.
Our job is to make sure the decline of our lives, all American lives is broadcast loud and clear. Keep protesting.
From Day One he has been looking to profit himself and his cronies, using the office of POTUS to enrich himself and intentionally generating publicity for his new reality show. He doesn't care about anything else, definitely not about actually running the country.
As you say, we need to amplify the messaging about the horrible effects of his Dept of Greed and Evil, or Dept of Government Evisceration, and the millions who will suffer here and abroad due to his actions and that of his inept unqualified corrupt cronies. Someone pointed out recently that he has appointed/hired at least 22 ex-Fox "personalities" to fill roles in his regime.
And there is no FELON without ELON. It is incomprehensible to me how an unelected unqualified person is allowed so much access to the inner workings of the government and how much his companies will benefit from this, without much resistance at all from Congress.
I can't comment further as it isn't good for my mental health these days to be as active as I used to be on Substack but Jess is one of the few that I still read.
Joan - I copied and pasted this on the Robert Hubbell comment section as folks were commenting about this there too- I just used your initials though - hope that is ok!
It is a fact to me that the fpotus is causing markets to fall and rebound from his "tariff wars", so that he and his cronies can buy cheap at the fall, and sell at the rebound. So obvious! I hope Senator Schiff outs the ones who gained from these manipulations. So IMO, fpotus is not chickening out, or being more erratic than usual. He is enacting one of the billionaires' projects to enrich themselves any way they can with federal help, illegally.
I think it was a combination. I don't think he even knows what he's doing from one minute to the next. But I have no doubt that once he decided he was going to"hit pause" he gave his followers notice so they could buy first.
I don't think 45/47 blinked on the tariffs. I think he deliberately manipulated the markets so that he & his rich cronies could buy up stocks at bargain prices & make themselves MORE RICH. Can you say insider trading?
I also think he purposefully creates a "crisis" or chaos so he can say, "Look, I cleaned up this mess." Even though the majority of us that are not brainwashed cult members can see it's a crisis of his own making.
And since the DOJ is in his pocket, we have little recourse. Who is going to bring charges against him or anyone else, like MTG, that benefited from this market collapse?
Thank you for all of your work, Jessica. I especially thank you for the suggestions that are broader than to contact my congresspeople. Mine are all Democrats who are doing a pretty good job and they hear from me often in many ways. I need these other actions (like commenting on the Alien Registration rule, which is horrendous) so that I feel that I'm doing something actually useful.
Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner-TX and Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-AZ both passed away in March. It sounds like there is an effort to delay a special election to fill Turner's seat, but I'm not sure about the situation in Arizona with Grijalva's seat.
*** Make sure to do the EXTRA CREDIT action to stop The Alien Registration and Evidence of Registration Rule, a dangerous racist rule that will harm our immigrant friends, neighbors and families.
Jessica, I just called Schiff’s Washington, DC office and left a message that I was behind him on the investigation. THAT SOB Trump, caused us to lose 13% of our investments! I cannot believe that Guesenkamp-Perez voted with these criminals! Calling her office too to give her hell. I sent $ to her campaign. She’s supposedly for the working-class women but just sent us down a hole. 🤬🤬
It's great that you called. As a constituent and a former donor your voice holds great weight.
I'm in Maine CD2, Represented by Democrat Jared Golden who voted for the SAVE Act. For weeks we'd made concerted efforts -phoning and writing to tell him to Vote No. Golden has repeatedly let us know that our voices - as constituents, volunteers, contributors, and voters- mean nothing to him. On many issues. Golden not only ignores us but castigates us for disagreeing with him. CD2 politics is complicated. Many of us hold our nose to get Golden elected. He's relied on us being willing to vote for him just to elect a Democrat, because the Republican would be worse. I wonder how that will play after this vote. Unless he switches parties first.
I, too, live in Maine and am TOTALLY disgusted with DINO golden. I did hold my nose when I voted for him as I thought the Republican candidate, Theriault, would be worse. I will do my absolute best to be sure golden’s ass is voted OUT. We do, though, desperately need a Democratic candidate to oppose him.
It's easy to say, "Any D not voting as they should needs to be primaried," but you want to make sure their incumbency isn't more powerful than the voters who took extra time & money to organize a primary challenger & back their opponent, & wins. Name recognition, unfortunately has too much sway with ignorant voters. Work to do for a lot of us in this party! I speak from constantly trying to rein in my 2 Dem senators.
Mainers fought for and won Ranked Choice Voting. This gives us some breathing room in voting.
Glu-Perez is in a very red district, and she keeps voting with the GOP on critical voting measures. She's sacrificing democracy for votes. It's not good enough. She needs to get primaried by someone who can win in that district BUT is a hard-line pro-democracy candidate.
We face that problem in Maine's CD2. It has not yet been possible to find a credible contender to challenge Jared Golden.
Ugh. There has to be someone, you would think! It's really frustrating when folks who call themselves Democrats align themselves so radically with Republicans on really unforgivable sh** like the SAVE Act. No amount of "hard-liner" virtue signaling on immigration is worth selling the core of democracy for. If they can't recognize that, I have no hope for them. It must be hard in some districts to find someone who is a solid candidate and can raise the insane amount of money that is now necessary to win a race. As we make our way out of this nightmare of authoritarianism, we will need to build a new democratic system. We will have to guarantee that money is firmly excluded from politics. It has corrupted both parties and leaves us with a paltry bucket of candidates.
It's like why bother to be a D running in a red district if you aren't going to follow your own party's lines?!
To be fair, Democrats in red districts have an uphill battle to winning their elections in the first place. That said, the one line no lawmaker should ever cross is that of voter suppression. Republicans are a lost cause, as we know, but I would expect better from any Democrat, anywhere. These Democrats who voted for the SAVE Act in the House may have figured that it was going to pass anyway with full Republican support, so their yes vote really didn't matter; and it was an opportunity to signal to their red base that they're tough on immigration.
However, I still see it as a sellout. Voting unlocks all other rights. It is sacred. Republicans may have desecrated it, but I refuse to follow in their authoritarian footsteps. I would hope lawmakers calling themselves Democrats would do the same.
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez office # 202-225-3536.
Thanks, Sue. I did call and leave a message on the recorder. Said I was from CA and was very angry that she did not support our rights as women, especially. She is only 36, my daughter’s age, I just wonder if she realizes what a plunder she made.
Oh NM I see you're not a constituent. Oh, well. The former donor part holds some weight, too.
I said something similar, from NY, and seeing how she is voting.
Obviously not. I don't get why any D bothers to even run in a red district if they have no intention of staying within their own party.
I’m so glad you called Glusenkamp-Perez. I’m just outside her district so my call wouldn’t hold as much weight. I’m glad she’s been able to keep Joe Kent out of that seat but it’s disgusting that she voted for this. Way to go!
Donor Dollars & who we decide to send them to know no boundaries / district lines. Something worth reminding them.
Also, I think we need to be wary of GOP in disarray and depending on them not agreeing. So far they have been in lock step. Even if 2 house reps didn't vote for the budget, they've been able to pass everything without issue. Maybe because there is enough voter suppression that even with all the horrible things going on, they know they will get re-elected. They are not acting like there will be consequences. This should be alarming in itself. ESp when Dems shoot themselves in the foot every day, with 4 voting for SAVE act. This is a tightrope walk and Dems are not having the discipline needed.
About those 2 Rs not voting for the budget--they were 2 Rs that didn't think the social safety net destruction was large enough! Some ppl thought they rejected the bill because they actually cared about their constituents. Incredible sociopathy.
Sadly this budget will pass. It's now that MAGAt voters, after all these decades of poor white ppl voting against their own best interests FINALLY get a massive brutal lesson; their FAFO is coming.
Even in deep red areas, the tide was turning before this budget.
I hold out hope ppl are seeing the light. There will always be hardcore of about 25-30% that won't change.
Steve Bannon warned his thug buddies to be careful how that $880B cut to Medicaid goes through as a lot of MAGAt voters depended in it.
Their efforts in voter suppression won't be enough from losing even in red areas in 2026.
Oh yes, the 2 GOPers are the craziest.
I hope some ppl change their minds but Dems need to motivate the 80 million that sat at home. They are persuadable. But when Senate votes for CR, Chuck Schumer as a leader, it really isn't inspiring. It's hard to ask people to get energized when dem Senators are still voting for Trump nominees. Is it performative? Yes, but if you can't even perform, what can you do?
But it is also up to us. No one is saving us, as we see from law firms and universities. The big research hospitals are staying quiet hoping to keep their funding, obeying in advance. So it is up to us. We have to call our representatives. We have to show up to town halls. We have to text our friends petitions to sign on to. We have to do this daily.
I know we are all exhausted too. But just doing a call daily should not be that hard. I was born under dictatorship. And America - if yall can't even call every day, you are not going to like what daily life under dictatorship is going to be like.
As always, thank you Jess.
I feel fortunate that Adam Schiff is my senator!
He is a clear thinking, intelligent and a role model.
He's doing great!
No one should be confused by Trump's strategy... He's first and foremost a Reality TV star playing a President. His audience ratings are GREAT. The Tariff kerfuffle has pushed them further. Through the roof!!!
Check how many times he's mentioned in the NYTimes or WP...I'd say the name Trump gets more coverage per day in these papers than Biden, (a real life president who got good things done) than Biden did in his entire presidency.
As long as he can keep the reality of Americans and their lives out of sight his TV brand will shine.
Our job is to make sure the decline of our lives, all American lives is broadcast loud and clear. Keep protesting.
From Day One he has been looking to profit himself and his cronies, using the office of POTUS to enrich himself and intentionally generating publicity for his new reality show. He doesn't care about anything else, definitely not about actually running the country.
As you say, we need to amplify the messaging about the horrible effects of his Dept of Greed and Evil, or Dept of Government Evisceration, and the millions who will suffer here and abroad due to his actions and that of his inept unqualified corrupt cronies. Someone pointed out recently that he has appointed/hired at least 22 ex-Fox "personalities" to fill roles in his regime.
And there is no FELON without ELON. It is incomprehensible to me how an unelected unqualified person is allowed so much access to the inner workings of the government and how much his companies will benefit from this, without much resistance at all from Congress.
I can't comment further as it isn't good for my mental health these days to be as active as I used to be on Substack but Jess is one of the few that I still read.
Thanks Just Raven. Good stuff. Just keep Raven.
That's headed our way when Reichwing sociopathic budget gets passed--straight for MAGAt voters like a freight train.
Four Dems who voted for the Save Act. Call 202-225 and the four digits below
Golden 6306
Marie Perez (a woman!) 3536
Cuellar 1640
You don’t have to be a constituent to call. Just call, say shame! say you'll donate to their opponent when they’re primaried. And they should be!
Thank you. I've been so angry since I heard and have not known what I can do about it. This is a great suggestion.
Thank you for making this so easy!!! I called and let them know how anti-democratic their votes were!
Joan - I copied and pasted this on the Robert Hubbell comment section as folks were commenting about this there too- I just used your initials though - hope that is ok!
Sure, also I missed one!
Case 2726
Sorry to all!
Can't believe those Dems voted for the SAVE act, makes my blood boil.
It is a fact to me that the fpotus is causing markets to fall and rebound from his "tariff wars", so that he and his cronies can buy cheap at the fall, and sell at the rebound. So obvious! I hope Senator Schiff outs the ones who gained from these manipulations. So IMO, fpotus is not chickening out, or being more erratic than usual. He is enacting one of the billionaires' projects to enrich themselves any way they can with federal help, illegally.
Did he blink really or was it the planned dip and insider trading event of the season?
I think it was a combination. I don't think he even knows what he's doing from one minute to the next. But I have no doubt that once he decided he was going to"hit pause" he gave his followers notice so they could buy first.
That's why I posted the Resistbot letter that I did today. (:
The longer things go on, the less I believe there's any plan. There's no logic to anything he does, it's complete impulse
Typical psychopathic behavior. Think: Serial killer mentality. Lots of sadism.
Right! Does Jessica not think it was insider trading? Because Adam Schiff sure does! GRRR!
Anytime he can make a buck off of other's pain is a win-win for old Dumpty Humpty.
The Press Has Sanewashed Trump’s Dementia and Mental Illness’: Dr. John Gartner. Mind site News
Dr G has said he's a psychopath, also. Dementia is bad enough. Add psycho traits...wow. Actually, 3 psyche pros called Dumpty a psycho/sociopath.
Thanks it’s an interesting article on the web by Dr John Gartner. Here’s the link to the article.
https://mindsitenews.org/2025/04/01/sanewashed-trump-dementia-and-mental-illness/
WTF is with Marie Gluesenkamp Perez???!?!??? I hope her constituents giver her hell🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
I just called her office and expressed my disappointment in her voting with the Republicans for the SAVE Act. It made me feel better anyway...
I have finally managed to turn my despair and depression into outrage and activism. Thank you for holding this space for myself and others like me!
I'm so glad! Welcome!
I don't think 45/47 blinked on the tariffs. I think he deliberately manipulated the markets so that he & his rich cronies could buy up stocks at bargain prices & make themselves MORE RICH. Can you say insider trading?
I also think he purposefully creates a "crisis" or chaos so he can say, "Look, I cleaned up this mess." Even though the majority of us that are not brainwashed cult members can see it's a crisis of his own making.
And since the DOJ is in his pocket, we have little recourse. Who is going to bring charges against him or anyone else, like MTG, that benefited from this market collapse?
Thank you for all of your work, Jessica. I especially thank you for the suggestions that are broader than to contact my congresspeople. Mine are all Democrats who are doing a pretty good job and they hear from me often in many ways. I need these other actions (like commenting on the Alien Registration rule, which is horrendous) so that I feel that I'm doing something actually useful.
What does it mean that if the dems had full roster it wouldn't have passed? I don't subscribe to Punchbowl. Which two seats are open?
Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner-TX and Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-AZ both passed away in March. It sounds like there is an effort to delay a special election to fill Turner's seat, but I'm not sure about the situation in Arizona with Grijalva's seat.
In Texas there defintely is. I'll have to look into AZ.
Jessica, Please send me a link to the Cato Institute article about voter fraud that you referenced on your Instagram post of 4/10. Thank you.
*** Make sure to do the EXTRA CREDIT action to stop The Alien Registration and Evidence of Registration Rule, a dangerous racist rule that will harm our immigrant friends, neighbors and families.