Let's talk about making it to the Midterms in good shape.
TAT readers,
We’ve got a busy week ahead of us and my time, will be especially overcrowded with must-do chores, including writing these essays. For this reason, I want to share some thoughts that I find especially pressing. At the top of the list, is the required planning for the GOP’s extremely disruptive, 2026 Midterm Election. The Republican Party has been chipping away at our voting rights for a couple of decades, especially here in Texas and those like us.
The MAGA folks have already taken several steps to protect their power at the midterms and far more is yet in store. If we don’t plan for and begin acting assertively against their evil, we’ll never be rid of these insurrectionists. In other words, if we sit on our collective hindquarters, without strong actions, I believe that the 2028 election will merely be for show, much like the Weimar Republic became for Hitler, once he was appointed Chancellor in 1933. Historical parallels are often, exemplary in explaining threats. Now, let’s take a little bit deeper look.
The Enabling Act "On the 23 March 1933, Hitler proposed the Enabling Law to the Reichstag. This new law gave Hitler the power to rule by decree rather than passing laws through the Reichstag and the president. If passed, the law would establish the conditions needed for dictatorial rule. The atmosphere of terror that had followed the Reichstag Fire, and Hindenburg’s and von Papen’s support, made the proposal seem legitimate and, to some, necessary. The law needed two thirds of the Reichstag to vote for it to pass. The Nazi’s had the support of the DNVP, and had banned the communist party, the KPD, from attending. The SA and the SS had also been on a month long campaign of violence to scare or imprison other opponents to the party. They had placed many in the first concentration camp , Dachau , which opened just a few days before the vote on the 20 March 1933. The Centre Party’s vote was crucial. After Hitler had promised to protect the interests of the Catholic Church, the party conceded and supported the bill. Only the SPD opposed it. The Bill passed by 444 votes for to 94 against on the 24 March 1933. Although President Hindenburg and the Reichstag continued to exist, Hitler could now govern by decree. - The Holocaust Explained - The Weiner Holocaust Library
Immediately after being appointed Chancellor, Hitler proposed the Enabling Law to the German Reichstag (German Parliament) which under pressure passed it. Now the Parliament had given up their power and handed to Hitler, which he used to govern by decree, without the Reichstag’s blessing. Within two years, Germany became a defacto dictatorship. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, are doing the same for Trump and his henchmen. Every single sitting GOP congressman is also complicit in this coup. The Enabling Act was little different from Project 2025, which also puts all real power within the Executive Branch. Basically, the Republican Party is turning the US into a dictatorship.
A week ago today, I wrote an essay titled, Not quite a Civil War yet... but in the military we have a name for this, Low Intensity Conflict and in that essay I discussed Gleichschaltung, or the legal strategy and tactics to “Nazify” Germany.
It’s worth repeating a long quote here as we talk about what Trump and the Republicans are doing to ensure success in the 2026 Midterms.
"Gleichschaltung was the process of the Nazi Party taking control over all aspects of Germany. It is otherwise known as coordination or Nazification. The process primarily took place between 1933-1934. The Nazi’s started with the Civil Service , issuing the Act for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on the 7 April 1933. This act legalised removing anyone of non-Ayran descent from the civil service. In the judicial system specifically, this act removed any judges that were deemed non-compliant with Nazi laws or principles. This act was reinforced by the German Civil Service code of 26 January 1937, which retired any judges or judicial official who would not intervene in cases and rule in favour of the Nazis. The People’s Court, a court created by the Nazis in April 1934 with judges chosen specifically for their Nazi beliefs, replaced the Supreme Court. With these measures in place, the Nazification of the judicial system was complete. Gleichschaltung was applied across every possible aspect of government policy. To take control of cultural policy, the Nazis appointed Joseph Goebbels as Minister for Public Engagement and Propaganda on the 13 March 1933. Goebbels became responsible for controlling the national media, film, theatre, arts, and other cultural aspects. Goebbels soon radicalised each of these areas, ensuring that they advocated Nazi ideas. Whilst Gleichschaltung aimed to reach every aspect of rule in Germany, this was not always possible. Local governments proved more difficult to infiltrate, and even at the end of 1945 only 60% of local mayors were Nazi Party members. Despite this, on the whole, Gleichschaltung was largely successful. By the end of 1934, the Nazis had managed to infiltrate and take control of every major aspect of German government." - How did the Nazis consolidate their power? - The Holocaust Explained
It is also no coincidence that Germany declared emergency powers the day after Hitler came to power, therefore suspending existing laws. Now Hitler and his Nazi Party ruled by decree, not representation. This matters because, the Republican-led Congress has already abdicated their power to the Oval Office by not challenging Trump’s emergency powers, granted to Presidents in 1976, in the National Emergencies Act.
NEA/ National Emergencies Act "Over the course of the nation’s history, Congress has legislated standby authorities that the president can activate when specific emergencies occur.1 Until the 1970s, presidents exercised this power with essentially no congressional oversight or limitations. But in 1976, Congress enacted the National Emergencies Act (NEA) to counter this unchecked power. The law contained three primary safeguards: (1) states of emergencies would expire after one year unless renewed; (2) Congress could terminate states of emergency at any time using a concurrent resolution that did not require the president’s signature to become law (also known as a legislative veto); and (3) Congress would consider ending ongoing states of emergencies every six months.2 However, the NEA has proven insufficient as a check on the vast suite of emergency powers. Right now, the president can access more than 130 extraordinary powers by declaring a national emergency, including restricting travel, organizing and controlling domestic means of industrial production, closing communications facilities, and assigning military forces overseas.3 But the NEA’s intent of countering this power has not come to pass. There are more than 40 ongoing national emergencies, the longest running of which dates back to 1979.4 And in 1983, the Supreme Court declared a legislative veto unconstitutional, meaning Congress must pass a joint resolution to end a national emergency. This requires either the president to sign the resolution or the resolution to pass with a veto-proof majority.5" - Reforming the National Emergencies Act - Project on Government Oversight - Faith Williams - January 20th, 2025
If we were to go back to the first Trump/ MAGA GOP administration, you will see the birth of an insurrection and now a coup. Both January 6th and now Project 2025 are coup attempts, whether the Republican Party agrees or not. As President John Adams once said, “facts are stubborn things.” Our mission, is to stop their coup and we must do so now, not tomorrow or the next day. Every day the GOP is in power, our odds for success sink.
Now what?
Well, if this were a military campaign, we would not only maneuver to capitalize on our strengths while attacking the enemies’ weaknesses, but we would take every opportunity to collect all types of intelligence. The better the intelligence, the better our odds of success. Fortunately, we already know the enemy’s strategy, it’s written in Project 2025. All written above tells you that Project 2025 is being executed with the most aggressive of tactics. Emergency powers, restructuring the three branches of government, ignoring the courts and deploying an army of thugs, supposedly ICE agents against alleged, “illegal immigrants” with long criminal backgrounds. The problem is, most are not “illegal” and far less than half have criminal records.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have pretty much gifted the administration, carte blanche authority to dismantle our constitutional republic. Every single Republican in Congress bears part of the blame and yes, we will remember who they are, just as much as we’ll remember family and friends, who are their voting base.
Now that the stage is set, let’s use the intelligence in the Project 2025 coup plan to obstruct the coup. Fortunately, the majority of lawyers and courts are stepping up to fight the rampant illegal and unconstitutional landmines contained in the plan. As we all know, Harvard University has been fighting back against the administration’s blatant extortion actions. They refused to bend a knee to a wannabe king, like Columbia University for example. Law firms are resisting the extortion demanded by the administration, although some of the nation’s highest profile law firms, folded without so much as a whimper.
What we need is collective action of those who believe in and adhere to the spirit in which our country was founded and forged over time. That is the message. If each of us would only speak up and take action in our spheres of influence within our families, communities, and jobs we can help sustain a resistance and a “guerilla” offensive against GOP tyranny. But at some point we will need coordination and a focal around which we can all gather strength to push the wannabe dictators out. This is where we need the DNC to step up, and if not them, then find another way. Once we have that focal point, we cannot fall victim to idea of “ideological purity” that permeates the far left and far right.
The question so many would ask is, “What is that focal point?” Simply I would reply it is simple decency, treat people as you would wish to be treated, everybody has the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as Jefferson write nearly 225 years ago. That focal point is embodied in the Constitution and its ideas that it is a living document that builds on the basic Bill of Rights.
Collectively we need to understand this is not a fight at its core about “policy” as so many want to couch it! It is a fight about core values on who we are and how we treat each other. Are we respectful of ourselves and others, empathetic? Or are we at our core cruel, authoritarian, vindictive, and greedy?
I hypothesize if we approached so many who voted for the orange disease with these kinds of questions, we might get an opening to change hearts and minds to understand the core Bill of Rights is what we are fighting for.