Extra! Extra! April 6 👏🏼👏🏼

What a week!!

Hi, all, and happy Sunday.

And what a happy one it is! Sure, it’s been a horrible week of abuse and norm-breaking by the Trump administration. But it’s also been a week of enormous progress, history-making protests, and major victories on our side. Bravo!

Enjoy reading the below list of wins for the week. As usual, I’ve likely missed a bunch, and if I did feel free to leave them in the comments. But suffice it to say that your hard work, persistence, resilience and courage are starting to not just pay off but rub off on others. And THAT may be the biggest victory of all.

Please make sure to share this list far and wide; if you’re posting on Facebook, by the way, don’t use Substack’s “share” function—it seems to set off the censors. Just copy and paste the hyperlink above into a new Facebook post and it’ll work great.

The important thing is to make sure that everyone you know who’s been struggling with discouragement sees just how far we came this week alone.

And it’s all because of you and people just like you. I couldn’t be more proud.

Celebrate This! 🎉

Susan Crawford won her Supreme Court race by ten points! Turnout was massive, too. And Jill Underly won a second term as Superintendent of Public Schools. Democrats also won loads of downballot races in Wisconsin—Ben Wikler described it as a “sweep of the state.”

In Aurora, IL, Alderman-at-Large John Laesch defeated GOP-aligned Mayor Richard Irvin with support from prominent Democrats.

In Naperville, IL, Climate Cabinet’s candidates swept 4 city council races — giving them the votes to reject a terrible proposal to keep the city on coal power for another 25 years. Whoo!

In Wisconsin, Gordon Hintz, a member of the Democratic Party who was a Wisconsin State Assembly representative from 2007 to 2023, defeated incumbent Joe Doemel to become the next Winnebago County executive.

In dozens of township elections across the Chicago suburbs on Tuesday Democrats flipped power from Republicans. In fact, the Illinois Democratic Party backed 280 candidates on the ballot for various local offices across the state and 222, or 79% of them, were victorious.

Voters in La Crosse, Wisconsin, made history when they elected the city’s first Black and openly gay mayor. Shaundel Washington-Spivey came out victorious in the local race against Chris Kahlow, winning by just 451 votes.

Although we didn’t flip the Congressional seats in Florida Josh Weil overperformed by 16 points and Gay Valimont overperformed by 22 points! WOW! Valimont also flipped Florida's Escambia county, which heavily backed Trump in the 2024 election, by 19 points!

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to arrange for the return of a Maryland man to the United States after he was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.

Far-right French leader Marine Le Pen was barred from seeking public office for the next five years after being convicted on charges of misusing European Union funds.

CA Gov. Gavin Newsom is pursuing agreements with other countries to ensure California is exempted from retaliatory tariffs stemming from President Trump's escalating trade war.

Canadians are deliberately shifting their spending habits away from American goods.

At least half of U.S. states now outlaw devices that convert pistols into machine guns.

For the first time in Navigator’s tracking, Trump’s economic approval rating (net -5; 46% approve – 51% disapprove) has fallen below his overall approval rating (net -2; 47% approve – 49% disapprove). That’s a huge shift. (These polls were done pre “Liberation Day.”)

The Democratic Party sued President Donald Trump over his executive order to impose new voting rules.

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to halt a temporary immigration program that allows some 600,000 Venezuelans to live and work in the United States.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) delivered the longest speech in US Senate history, in defense of our democracy, and broke Strom Thurmond’s record in the process.

With nine Republicans joining all Democrats, the U.S. House of Representatives is a step closer to changing a rule that would allow new parents to vote remotely around the birth of their child.

The acting Inspector General of the Defense Department announced that he will review Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to determine whether Hegseth and other Pentagon personnel “complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business.” Good.

Georgetown University Law Center students have put together a new google doc detailing which law firms have caved and which have stood up to the Trump regime.

For the first time in the country’s history, Colombia has created a territory specifically designed to protect a group of Indigenous people living away from regular contact with the rest of the world.

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego announced he will block the confirmation of top leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs until the Trump administration backs off plans to cut jobs from the VA.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has asked the city, which is a major Tesla shareholder, to sue Tesla and CEO Elon Musk over alleged breaches of fiduciary duties.

Favorable views of Trump have dropped by 15 percentage points in Texas. Wow!

The FDA granted authorization to market the first test that can be performed entirely at home for detecting three sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Tesla reported its biggest sales drop ever, falling 13% in the first quarter, while its No. 1 rival grew revenue by 60% in the same time period.

Disability rights groups filed a lawsuit claiming the Trump administration and billionaire Elon Musk broke various laws by firing thousands of workers and shuttering offices at the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Over 100 members of the Wyoming Bar wrote a joint letter calling on the Wyoming Congressional Delegation to denounce the recent attacks on the Judiciary made by President Trump and others.

Elon Musk has shed more than a quarter of his total net worth since January.

They’re not admitting it publicly, but DOGE has quietly rolled back its plans to close dozens of Social Security field offices because of blowback from the public. That’s YOU! This is huge. Your calls made a difference here.

Utah families who currently pay reduced prices for school meals will soon get them for free after Gov. Cox approved a bill that eliminates reduced-cost lunches.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed Democrats’ bill to establish the Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program. The legislation allocates $500,000 to support food pantries at eligible public and nonprofit private colleges.

Adam Schiff announced he was placing a hold on the Ed Martin nomination to be D.C.’s U.S Attorney. Bravo! Sen. Durbin and all other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also called for Martin to face questions under oath at a confirmation hearing.

Three senior partners at the law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters wrote an Op-Ed urging the legal profession to stand together against Trump’s attacks.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna left the House Freedom Caucus over their refusal to back proxy voting for new parents.

​A Long Island man became the first in the history of New York to be cured of sickle cell anemia.

Members of Congress led by Reps. Jayapal, DeLauro, Schakowsky, and Doggett sent a letter to Medicare administrators urging them to crack down on abuses by corporate health insurers.

Over 1200 peaceful Hands Off protests happened across the country (and in many other countries) yesterday, garnering worldwide news coverage and instilling new hope in millions of Americans. Another is planned for April 19.

All charges were dropped against the 24-year-old Georgia woman who experienced a miscarriage and was later arrested after placing the fetal remains in a dumpster.

Germany is paying for Ukraine's access to a satellite-internet network operated by France's Eutelsat so that they no longer have to rely on Elon Musk’s Starlink.

Portland, OR launched a free walk-in laundry program for people experiencing homelessness.

The Arkansas Senate rejected a bill authorizing $750M for Gov. Sanders' new mega-prison in Franklin County after 8 Republicans broke ranks to vote no.

The Economist finds that Canada’s Liberal Party has an 83% chance to retain power after the upcoming elections — entirely thanks to Trump’s belligerence towards the country, which has unleashed a wave of patriotism.

The number of Tesla owners trading in their EVs in CA jumped nearly 250% this month, year over year.

Target saw foot traffic fall for the eighth consecutive week, extending a losing streak that began just a few days after the company announced it would end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program in late January.

500 law firms joined a court brief supporting Perkins Coie lawsuit against the Trump Administration.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eugene Robinson has quit the Washington Post to protest Bezos’s rightward turn.

Danish shipping powerhouse A.P. Moller-Maersk purchased a railway linking ports at both ends of the Panama Canal, undermining the US’s presence along a key trade route where Donald Trump is trying to elbow out competitors.

Journalists at the federally funded news outlet Voice of America sued the Trump administration for violating their Constitutional right to free speech. A federal judge ruled in their favor on March 28.

A nonprofit has struck a deal to pay off 30B worth of old medical bills for an estimated 20 million people.

Democratic lawmakers across four states have introduced bills this year to stop what’s been dubbed “surveillance pricing” — the term for when a business charges customers different prices for the same product depending on their personal information.

South Korea’s top court unanimously upheld the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol, clearing the way for the election of a new president. Jubilation ensued.

The University of Virginia Faculty Senate has passed a resolution reaffirming its commitment to academic freedom, free speech, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

New York state landmarks were lit pink, white and blue — the colors of the transgender pride flag — Monday night in celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility.

The New York Times announced a brand new project called “50 states, 50 fixes.” All year long, this series will highlight stories of inspiring climate solutions that are happening now in each of the United States’ 50 states.

A federal court ruled that the Pennsylvania date requirement for mail-in ballot violated the First and 14th Amendments. Counties now cannot reject ballots from counting undated and wrongly dated mail-in ballots.

The Canadian government has placed billboards on key highways in 12 states and Washington D.C. in response to an escalating trade war with the United States. They have a simple message: “Tariffs are a tax.” YES!

Speaking of which, a bill to rein in President Trump’s tariff powers already has seven Republican co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate.

Watch This! 👀