Episode 217 Audio: Robert Weissman

This week’s guest, Robert Weissman, walks us through the current climate of grassroots and organizational pushback against our government’s current self-destruct mode. To make a long story short, it’s not looking easy on the ground — but essential victories prove that there’s a limit to the number of times Trump and his cronies can buy out justice and rely on a conservative Supreme Court to do the heavy lifting. A particular important victory comes in the form of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to rule Trump’s freeze on USAID funding unconstitutional. Weissman tells the amazing story of how Public Citizen and other groups are suing Trump for violating the Constitution, but that in general, Trump’s powerful and endlessly wealthy machine can simply wait out and run red tape around these completely legitimate cases. However, in the case of USAID, something different happened. Multiple courts found that Trump’s team had defied court orders and potentially the Constitution, and even though the government tried to ignore a temporary order from a judge demanding that the USAID funding be unfrozen, they were eventually held to account by (of all things!) the Supreme Court. This is a story of hope and, for both existing and nascent political organizations opposing Trump fascism, inspiration. We’re glad to have Robert on the show to shine a light on this important story in hopes that it’s one of many. You can listen to this episode as a podcast on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/subscribe