Michael Podhorzer

My new deep dive on how Trump “won” the popular vote.

I put “won” in quotes because it wasn’t his win, but Harris’s loss. The results were not a “swing right” embracing Trump/MAGA, but a vote of no confidence in Democrats (and in our system as a whole).

www.weekendreading.net/p/how-trump-...

How Trump “Won”

The Anesthetized Anti-MAGA Majority

Stunning charts show how disproportionately the Roberts Court favors the Trump regime.

"This pattern exemplifies what scholars call 'autocratic legalism'—the systematic weaponization of legal institutions to consolidate power while maintaining the appearance of legal process."

Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social

Been a busy year in the data mines.📊 Just published my mid-year roundup: 29 data visualizations on the state of US democracy, tracking everything from judicial resistance to billionaire influence to why Dems have a mobilization crisis, not a moderation problem. All charts free to use:

On Data and Democracy (Mid-Year Roundup): Charting the Assault on American Democracy and A Path Forward

A narrative of a democracy in the balance, told through 29 data visualizations.

Black voter participation soared right after the VRA passed in 1965.

But not until 1992, after Congress strengthened the VRA to require majority-minority districts, did we start getting closer to proportional Black representation in Congress.

Because Black votes finally counted more in the South.

Are we on the brink of a constitutional crisis? No—we’re already in one, and have been for two decades.

Here, I explain how even progressive legal experts have enabled this coup, and how we can start to reclaim our own power to decide constitutional meaning.

www.weekendreading.net/p/the-courts...

The Courts Will Not Save Us

We must resist the learned helplessness of judicial supremacy.

Elon Musk’s ransacking of our government, including threats to the Department of Labor, should remind us:

Taking out unions is one of the first pages in the autocratic coup playbook.

It's why we need strong unions now more than ever.

contrarian.substack.com/p/the-one-si...

The one single, proven constraint on oligarchy and autocracy

By Michael Podhorzer

Alito and Thomas have made clear their insurrectionist connections. So why are we debating whether Alito should recuse himself, instead of demanding Roberts dismiss Trump’s immunity appeal so the J6 trial can begin immediately? (It should be “dismissed as improvidently granted.")

Trump is already following Viktor Orban's autocratic playbook. Read @normeisen.bsky.social and @kimlanelaw.bsky.social on how America can respond: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/o...

Opinion | Are We Sleepwalking Into Autocracy? (Gift Article)

What we can learn from countries that have pushed back on threats to democracy.

On MLK Day, let’s remember the civil rights leaders who were murdered in the effort to pass the Voting Rights Act, which Antonin Scalia dismissed as a “racial entitlement” that was too difficult to get out of “through the normal political processes”—processes the Roberts Court happily disregarded.

Great video at @contrariannews.org of yesterday's rally outside the Treasury Department to protest Elon Musk being handed the keys to the Executive Branch.
contrarian.substack.com/p/weve-had-e...

We've had enough! Anti-Musk rally in DC demands change

Yesterday, thousands of Americans—including dozens of members of Congress—rallied peacefully outside the Treasury Department to voice their outrage over Elon Musk being handed the keys to the Executiv...

1/ Here's what we too rarely talk about when a man seeking high office is credibly accused of sexual misconduct. Platner, Swalwell, Kavanaugh, Thomas—these men almost always have the option to keep the allegations private.

They almost never take it.

"The strategy here is to break the law in the open, over and over, until the law itself appears broken, ineffectual, and incapable of delivering consequences."
[email protected]

contrarian.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

Welcome To Postmodern Authoritarianism

On the urgent importance--for those of us who still hold out hope for the idea of America--not to give up on democracy or its language

Many now understand that Trump’s attacks on judges, law firms, universities, non-profit groups, and the media are all related—all part of a fascist power grab.

Missing from that list? Unions.

A detailed inventory of Trump’s attacks on working people, and how unions are fighting back:

The Trump Regime’s War on Working People: The First 100 Days

How Unions are Resisting Authoritarian Attacks on Workers’ Rights—and Why It Matters for Everyone

An incredibly important story is flying under the radar: There’s enough support in Congress to force a vote on a bill to restore the union rights for federal workers that Trump took away with an executive order.

Why is it so important?

AFL-CIO @aflcio.org

Trump’s executive order stripping bargaining rights from federal workers was union-busting—but we have the bill AND the votes to fix it. We urge every member of Congress to sign the discharge petition to get the Protect America’s Workforce Act to a vote. aflcio.org/press/releas...

Trump is now doing almost precisely what he said he would—and voters hate it.

This is compelling evidence of the catastrophic failure of not just Democratic campaign professionals, but also civil society and the media, to effectively inform voters of the consequences of the choice before them.

The Re-Emerging Anti-MAGA Majority

If voters had known in November what they know now—which could and should have been possible—Trump would have lost.

Reply to @mikepod.bsky.social

6/ We owe survivors a debt for their bravery, but we should be furious that they are forced to be so brave in the first place.

In the end, Platner is withdrawing anyway. He dragged his accusers through all of this for nothing, and everyone will be worse off.

RIP VRA, 1968-2026.

RIP all of the civil rights leaders who were murdered while fighting for the rights it secured.

www.weekendreading.net/p/americas-s...

Americans support labor over big business more now than at any time on record. @epi.org

www.epi.org/blog/america...

Reply to @mikepod.bsky.social

First, here’s what we know about how and why Harris lost ground.

Based on VoteCast data, we can estimate ~19 million people who voted for Biden four years ago stayed home.

(40% of those voting in 2024 had voted for Biden in 2020, and 40% had voted for Trump. From there, it’s simple arithmetic.)

As I told @chrislhayes.bsky.social on #inners last night, the breathless commentary about Trump "winning" gives the false impression that Americans have decided they like what he has to offer.

The best way to win this election was to have lost the last one.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX7P...

Michael Podhorzer on the reason for Trump's victory

YouTube video by Matthew Chapman Clips

Trump's bad polls tell us less about Trump than about the catastrophic failure of not just Dems, but also civil society and the media, to effectively inform voters of the consequences of their choice.

Trump is now doing almost exactly what he said he would. www.weekendreading.net/p/the-re-eme...

Reply to @mikepod.bsky.social

5/ The public only ever sees Act Two—the story breaks, sometimes the survivor testifies on national TV.

We never see Act One, where he decides his ego matters more than the people he hurt or the country he claims he wants to serve.

When Trump clapped John Roberts on the shoulder and thanked him on Tuesday, it wasn't just for shielding him from prosecution—he was acknowledging the man who had quietly created the conditions that made his re-election and Elon Musk’s co-presidency possible.

contrarian.substack.com/p/theres-not...

There's Nothing Supreme About the Roberts Court

Today’s radical decisions have been delivered exclusively by justices handpicked through a pipeline designed to ensure ideological loyalty to corporate and religious elites

During the 2024 campaign, Trump and his MAGA allies did not hide their intentions towards immigrants like Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

But media, pollsters, and consultants did—minimizing or outright ignoring Trump's explicit threats in an effort to avoid accusations of bias, partisanship, or alarmism.

From “Deportation” to Abduction

How the media and consultant class’s poll-washing enabled the abduction of Kilmar Abrego Garcia—and what comes next

Reply to @mikepod.bsky.social

3/ Seeking high office anyway, knowing what's out there, is reckless.

Being confronted with the reporting and doing anything but quietly withdrawing from consideration is the height of selfish egotism—a deliberate choice to retraumatize survivors and betray your own supporters.