SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
us congress
Madman Trump Must Be Removed
The cost of inaction is simply too high.
Apr 13, 2026
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall…
―Bob Dylan
A shaky two-week truce; we’ve temporarily slipped from the hangman’s noose. There’s still a madman president on the loose.
We are living in an Upside Down moment, and the danger is no longer metaphorical. You don’t need to have watched Stranger Things to recognize that the threat is real, not lurking in another dimension. It’s prowling in the White House, and no blinking lights are spelling out SOS.
This is what an Upside Down world looks like: a president openly threatening catastrophic violence against another nation’s civilian infrastructure, while those with the constitutional authority to stop him hesitate, equivocate, or remain silent.
No matter what happens next, history will remember: On Easter Sunday 2026, Donald Trump posted a message so reckless, so unhinged, that it would be disqualifying in any functioning democracy. Threatening the destruction of Iran’s power plants and bridges, invoking apocalyptic language, and wrapping it all in bravado, he revealed not just poor judgment but a fundamental disregard for human life and the rule of law. Two days later, this warning: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
The response was immediate—but not where it matters most.
Sen. Chris Murphy, the Democrat from Connecticut, spoke out about the Easter threat. If he were in Trump’s Cabinet, Murphy said he would be calling constitutional lawyers about invoking the 25th Amendment. Others echoed the alarm. Even some of Trump’s most reliable allies on the far right voiced scathing criticism.
For a brief moment, it seemed possible that outrage might translate into action. But it hasn’t...yet.
There is no credible evidence that the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet are engaged in serious discussions about removing Trump under the 25th Amendment. Vice President JD Vance has shown no sign of breaking ranks. How is it possible that loyalty—political, ideological, or personal—continues to outweigh constitutional responsibility?
And Congress? Missing in action. Despite clear authority under the War Powers Resolution, a Republican-controlled Congress has done nothing to rein Trump in—and has shown no signs of changing direction.
Why is it falling to the American people to do what elected officials are failing to do: unseat a president unfit to serve?
Activists in organizations like CodePink mobilized emergency protests in Washington and across the country, integrating opposition to the Iran war into the broader pro-democracy resistance.
Protests against the war need to be as ubiquitous as daffodils in Spring—visible, sustained, and impossible to ignore. The anti-Vietnam War movement did not stop the war overnight, but it changed the political calculus until continuing it became untenable.
What about the military? Senior officers and military lawyers understand what’s at stake. Orders to deliberately target civilian infrastructure—power grids, bridges, and population centers are war crimes.
The law of armed conflict is not optional. It applies to those who carry out orders, not just those who give them, creating a tension within the chain of command. Last year, six members of Congress posted a video reminding service members, “you can refuse to carry out illegal orders.”
Meanwhile, the judiciary, often imagined as a final safeguard, has—for now—remained largely silent. Courts do not move at the speed of crisis. They require time. And time is an enemy of this moment.
So where does that leave us? With a reality both sobering and clarifying. The formal mechanisms of restraint—Congress, the Cabinet, and the judiciary branch—are stalled, reactive, or unwilling. The most immediate pressure is coming from two places: people in the streets, and professionals inside the system trying to hold the line. Neither is sufficient on its own.
The millions at No Kings rallies have been doing their part, but only to a degree. Now, perhaps, they’ll take a new tack. Imagine citizens moving from street protests into the halls of Congress, confronting their representatives in their Washington offices and home districts. Asking, insisting, refusing to leave without an answer to a simple question: What are you doing—right now—to stop him? To stop the madness?
We know this Congress can’t be counted on to act on its own. Apparently, it will only act when the cost of inaction becomes too high—politically, publicly, unmistakably.
The people have begun doing their part. Congress must now do its. Much more must be done—and with great urgency—to bring this madness to an end.
Keep ReadingShow Less
As Oil Prices Spike, Americans Are Hurting; We Need a Better Energy Road Map
Built on a simple premise to lower energy costs, modernize the grid, and protect consumers where they are most vulnerable, the Energy Bills Relief Act is an urgent path forward that deserves swift passage by Congress.
Apr 12, 2026
As tensions in the Middle East once again drive oil prices upward, the ripple effects are hitting household budgets at the worst possible time. While the economy took center stage in 2024 and energy affordability was at the crux of the 2025 elections in Georgia, New Jersey, and Virginia, today, millions of Americans are still opening astronomical utility bills and struggling to make the payments. Nearly 20 million households nationwide are behind on their utility bills, and Americans collectively owe more than $20 billion in unpaid energy costs. If gas prices continue to climb, more families will have to make difficult trade-offs every month just to keep the lights on.
To make matters worse, instead of addressing the cost-of-living crisis, Congress scaled back the very policies designed to expand domestic energy supply, modernize the grid, and lower bills, despite energy prices being a bipartisan priority. Dismantling programs and incentives, such as production credits for wind and solar projects, through the One Big Beautiful Bill, has injected instability into energy markets at precisely the moment when Americans need relief most. With an aging grid that is too old to keep up with rising demand from data centers and electrification, compounded by extreme weather, states are completely unprotected, facing spiraling costs and potential blackouts.
The reality is that a majority of voters support solar energy, as demonstrated by recent polling and GoodPower’s own research, which shows broad support across the ideological spectrum. Even in today’s polarized climate, lawmakers in red and blue states alike have found common ground on protecting ratepayers. Congress came together as recently as 2021 to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, while historically, federal programs like the Weatherization Assistance Program and ENERGY STAR have drawn long-standing bipartisan support for their focus on lowering costs. We have seen how, when lowering costs is the priority, progress is possible.
That’s why the Energy Bills Relief Act isn’t just welcome, but an urgent path forward that deserves swift passage by Congress. Built on a simple premise to lower energy costs, modernize the grid, and protect consumers where they are most vulnerable, the bill was introduced by Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Mike Levin (D-Calif.) to put workers and families at the center of America’s energy future.
The bill is built on tested programs to lower energy bills, strengthen reliability, and protect households from unfair costs.
For one, the legislation would restore incentives for domestic clean energy production, cut permitting delays that hold up critical projects, expand access to community and household solar, and invest in modernizing the grid. We know this strategy works to lower costs. A recent analysis shows that states with more renewable power didn't experience the price spikes seen elsewhere.
Just as important, the legislation cracks down on price gouging by energy companies and prevents the administration from using “energy emergencies” to prolong more expensive, outdated coal plants. It reinforces accountability, ensuring that large new energy users, including massive data centers, contribute to grid upgrades instead of shifting costs onto existing ratepayers. States such as Michigan have already moved in this direction by adopting policies to protect ratepayers from unfair cost allocation, but we need a consistent federal standard. Voters agree, with our polling showing they overwhelmingly show strong support for policies that crack down on price gouging by energy companies (74%).
Some may argue that now is not the time and that there are other policies, but the truth is, we can’t afford to wait. Every year we delay grid upgrades, households pay billions more because of grid congestion, outages, and fuel price swings. These disruptions aren’t mere inconveniences. They impact families’ livelihoods.
The bill is built on tested programs to lower energy bills, strengthen reliability, and protect households from unfair costs. Right now, families care far more about their monthly bills than about partisan victories. If lawmakers are serious about lowering energy bills and helping the American families they claim to serve, advancing this legislation would be a real step forward toward an energy system that is reliable, affordable, and built for the future.
Keep ReadingShow Less
A To-Do List for Congress: End the War, Stop Weapons to Israel, Impeach Trump
We live in a flawed but still functioning democracy. The American people are solidly, sensibly against this stupid war, and need to make sure their lawmakers get the message.
Apr 11, 2026
Reasonable people wonder if it was a coincidence the escalation (and now fragile ceasefire) of the massively unpopular, senseless, illegal US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran occurred while Congress was away from Capitol Hill for two weeks. Maybe so, but speculation aside, it soon won’t matter, as Congress returns to Washington to resume legislative business Tuesday, April 14.
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s monstrous nuclear threat to obliterate Iran’s civilization, calls for his removal from office are rising, understandably. Doing so via the 25th Amendment, which would require Vice President JD Vance and the spineless supine sycophants in the Cabinet to certify Trump unfit for office, is the longest of long shots, though US Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former Constitutional law professor and ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, notes the amendment mentions the ability for Congress to establish its own mechanism to remove an incompetent chief executive.
While that seems remote, the more familiar route would be impeachment by the House of Representatives, followed by a trial by the Senate, and removal from office. Trump is of course familiar with this as he was impeached twice by the House, but not convicted by the Senate. US Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) recently filed Articles of Impeachment, and for what it’s worth, the betting platform Kalshi put the likelihood of it succeeding at 27%, higher than it had been, but still low.
Anyone who wants to rein in this traitorous regime should press in any way possible, including calling for the 25th Amendment and impeachment, but should not expect those to bear fruit anytime soon.
Political calculations aside, any and all attempts are welcome to stop this awful war, to end the needless death and suffering of Iranians, Lebanese, Israelis, Americans, and people in the Gulf states, and to alleviate the shock to the global economy.
However, Congress will soon be forced to vote on Iran War Powers Resolutions (WPRs) to declare its opposition to the war on Iran, and Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) to prevent transfers of US bombs and bulldozers to Israel.
On War Powers, recent votes were close, and almost entirely partisan; with only a few exceptions, Republicans in both houses of Congress voted against, and Democrats voted for, rebuking the administration and reclaiming its clear constitutional authority over the grave matter of taking the country to war. The House might muster the votes to pass an Iran War Powers Resolution, sponsored by US Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), though the Senate is unlikely to do so. While it would not end the war immediately, a House vote in favor of the WPR would be important in representing the clear will of the American people, and clarify the president has no legal authority for its war of choice.
The votes on Joint Resolutions of Disapproval on bombs and bulldozers to Israel, brought forward by US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), with cosponsors Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), will be interesting, to put it mildly. The Trump administration, as it has often done, bypassed the usual congressional notification on these weapons transfers, spuriously claiming a national emergency. The “emergency” is Israel may be running low on bombs to drop on the people of Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. Israel is also running low on interceptor missiles, but this JRD is only about the delivery of 12,000 half-ton bombs. The Caterpillar bulldozers have long been used in demolitions of Palestinian homes, to make room for expanding Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, mostly in the West Bank.
The political dynamics of these JRD votes will be relatively simple. Expect all Republicans to vote no, with the possible exception of Rand Paul (R-Ky.). On the Democratic side, while the most recent JRD votes on other weapons sales to Israel last July garnered (for the first time), majority support among Senate Democrats, they still lost decisively. The difficulty for certain Democratic Senators such as Cory Booker (NJ), Chuck Schumer (NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla (both of California) and others who are rightly slamming Trump’s unauthorized war on Iran, is they never vote to prevent weapons transfers to Israel. Their constituents, facing increased economic hardship caused by this foolish war, which as The New York Times reported Trump was all too easily persuaded to wage by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will certainly be unhappy with this contradiction.
Going forward, if the administration comes to Congress with a war funding request for up to $200 billion (on top of its unprecedented proposal for $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon’s “regular” budget), possibly dressed up with sweeteners such as farm aid (necessary as farmers are hurting not just from increased fuel and fertilizer costs from the war, but also from Trump’s tariffs), said senators will be challenged to adopt Sen. Van Hollen’s position of “hell no,” not another dime for the Iran war.
Political calculations aside, any and all attempts are welcome to stop this awful war, to end the needless death and suffering of Iranians, Lebanese, Israelis, Americans, and people in the Gulf states, and to alleviate the shock to the global economy.
We live in a flawed but still functioning democracy. The American people are solidly, sensibly against this stupid war, and need to make sure their lawmakers get the message—Congress, do your job, and stop this madness, by any and all means at your disposal.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular