Tuesday, May 27, 2025

21 Unexpected Heavy Hitters for a Democratic Shadow Cabinet

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/27/democrats-shadow-cabinet-brand-00353690

 

Politics

21 Unexpected Heavy Hitters for a Democratic Shadow Cabinet

Here’s who the party should tap to take on Trump and refresh the Democratic brand.

An illustration featuring the Cabinet Room surrounded by photos of Ben Stein, John Boyd Jr., Abigail Spanberger, Gisele Fetterman, Nikki Glaser, GQ Brown, Letitia James, Mark Cuban, Jon Stewart, Katie Hobbs, Bill Nye and Lina Khan

As Democrats cast about for a strategy to thwart President Donald Trump’s agenda, rebrand their party and take back power, Sen. Elissa Slotkin recently offered one intriguing idea: Build a shadow Cabinet.

The shadow Cabinet, as envisioned by the Michigan Democrat in an interview with POLITICO, could be composed of the ranking members of congressional committees who could then take the lead in challenging the Trump administration. It’s a common feature of opposition politics abroad and could be a way for Democrats to flood the media zone and deliver a coordinated response to Trump’s most wild maneuvers. But … ranking members?

Ranking members have their uses. They’re good at reclaiming their time and making motions to recommit. But they are not the fresh faces who can give the Democratic Party a sleek new look.

Nor are the thirsty crop of presidential wannabes right for a shadow Cabinet. Everything they say would be parsed for self-serving motivation, distracting from the party’s broader task at hand.

So how best to assemble a shadow Cabinet? Tap accomplished people with the ability to speak plainly and the credibility to puncture the Trump administration’s often Orwellian narratives. Don’t limit members to professional politicians. Pitch a big tent. Don’t draw rigid ideological lines.

What would such a shadow Cabinet look like? If you gave me the power to appoint, here are my fighters:

Samantha Power

SHADOW SECRETARY OF STATE

Samantha Power has long been a powerful voice in American foreign policy, whether she was serving as Barack Obama’s Ambassador to the United Nations or as Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development under Joe Biden.

She’s often spoken persuasively about the wide range of humanitarian assistance USAID has provided to vulnerable people around the world. Of course, I have to say “provided” and not “provides” because the Trump administration has effectively shuttered the agency and fired all of its employees.

As the last person to win Senate confirmation to lead USAID, Power knows more than anyone how Trump’s extraordinary foreign policy shifts will harm both lives and America’s long-term interests.

Democrats need not shy away from defending foreign aid. While some Democratic strategists at the beginning of Trump’s second term cautioned that sending money overseas was too unpopular to merit fighting for, polling since the decimation of USAID has buttressed the opposite argument. According to the Pew Research Center, 83 percent of Americans support “providing medicine and medical supplies” and 78 percent support “providing food and clothing” to people in developing countries. Only 35 percent support ending most USAID programs.

Lina Khan

SHADOW SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

As Federal Trade Commission Chair under the Biden administration, Lina Khan roiled Corporate America with an aggressive antitrust approach that won her plaudits from progressives.

But some notable populist Republicans were also impressed. Then-Sen. JD Vance said last year that Khan was “one of the few people in the Biden administration that I think is doing a pretty good job.” Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, former Trump adviser and MAGA movement podcaster Steve Bannon said, “I would be a huge supporter of Lina Khan remaining, and I would love to see her given more power.”

With populist cred that has transcended party lines, Khan is well positioned to go toe-to-toe with the current Treasury secretary, challenge Trump’s close ties to tech oligarchs like Elon Musk and prosecute the case against Trump’s economic policy. She’s already gotten a head start, recently appearing on MSNBC to charge Trump’s tariffs as economic “malpractice,” which will leave small businesses “decimated.”

General Charles Q. (C.Q.) Brown, Jr.

SHADOW SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

General C.Q. Brown, another casualty of Trump’s axe, would make a fine shadow Defense secretary. The second African American to serve as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown was marked by current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the face of diversity, equity and inclusion programs loathed by MAGA.

Why? Because of what happened in 2020, at the tail end of Trump’s first term when Brown was nominated by Trump to lead the Air Force. Days before his Senate confirmation, and days after the shocking murder of George Floyd, Brown recorded a heartfelt video about racism and military service. When Brown won confirmation, Trump celebrated it as a “historic day.” Yet The New York Times later reported, citing an unnamed presidential adviser, that “in Mr. Trump’s eyes … there was no coming back for General Brown after he made his video.”

Hegseth published a book last year which telegraphed his desire to fire Brown. “Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill?” Hegseth asked about Brown’s final promotion.

But Hegseth is not exactly the personification of meritocracy, let alone competence. He has been caught sharing classified information on unsecure phone apps. He fired three close aides ostensibly for leaking, though another Pentagon aide who had resigned wrote a POLITICO Magazine op-ed that said the rationale given by Hegseth was untrue and “easily debunkable.” A New York Times exposé of Hegeth’s team found “screaming matches,” “bureaucratic logjams” and “a growing distrust of the thousands of military and civilian personnel who staff the building.”

As a shadow Cabinet member, Brown would be a stark reminder that a true meritocracy doesn’t overlook anyone because of their background, and punishing people for speaking out against racism does not lead to more competence.

Letitia James

SHADOW ATTORNEY GENERAL

Perhaps the most effective Democrats in the country right now are the 22 Democratic state attorneys general tying up Trump’s executive orders in the courts. But only one can say she won a civil fraud case against the Trump family business with a $450 million judgement, and that’s New York’s Letitia James.

That makes James uniquely qualified to argue that Trump is abusing the office of the president to enrich himself while destabilizing the global economy for everyone else.

James hasn’t stopped tangling with Trump in court. Joining several of her peers, she has filed suit charging that the White House does not have the legal authority to unilaterally impose tariffs, dismantle the Health and Human Services Department or claw back public health funds to state governments. She also is exploring possible insider trading charges.

The Trump administration has responded in seeming retaliatory fashion, opening up a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into James for suspicion of mortgage fraud. While most presidents would not comment on active investigations, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that James is “a horrible, horrible human being, and I think she’s a total crook.” Unbowed, James touted her nearly two dozen lawsuits against the Trump administration and dismissed the investigation into her as “nothing more than retribution.”

Few get under Trump’s skin as well as James. And while so many others have acquiesced after facing threats from Trump, James is a role model of resistance.

Jon Tester

SHADOW SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

Trump’s Interior Department has embarked on a sell-off of public lands to fossil fuel and mining interests, fast-tracking the permitting process in ways that may run afoul of the law, under the dubious guise of a “national energy emergency.” To make the case against the ravaging of public lands, Democrats don’t need a coastal tree-hugger. They need someone who can speak the language of rural America.

How about the Democrat who represented one of the most rural states in America for the last 18 years?

Washington is not as much fun since the blunt-talking, seven-fingered, wheat-farming Jon Tester lost his Montana Senate seat. He couldn’t survive the 2024 election (despite, oddly enough, winning more raw votes than he ever did in any prior election). But he did win three times.

And those wins happened in part because he was a devout defender of public lands who built a strong legislative record of success. One of the reasons why Tester’s record wasn’t enough to secure a fourth win was that Tester’s Republican opponent used rhetoric in defense of public land ownership that tracked closely to his own.

Now in forced retirement, Tester hasn’t lost his edge. Speaking on MSNBC in March about the impact of the Trump trade agenda on rural America, Tester offered, “He’s trying to pit America against everyone else except for China and Russia and North Korea and Iran, and that’s a bunch of crap.”

That’s the kind of attitude needed in the shadow Cabinet.

John Boyd Jr.

SHADOW SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE

Farmers, many of whom depend on exporting their crops to make a living, have long been cool toward tariffs yet warm toward Trump. One farmer cool to both is John Boyd Jr., the founder of the National Black Farmers Association.

On CNN in March, Boyd — in his familiar black cowboy hat — warned of a “state of emergency for America’s farmers” because “the president came right into office and caused a whole lot of chaos. In a separate appearance, Boyd lamented that his children won’t want to continue in the family farming business “if this administration continues to make it more difficult.”

Prior to sounding the alarm about tariffs, Boyd had a four-decade history advocating for financial compensation for Black farmers discriminated against by the Agriculture Department’s loan program. He played a lead role in a 1997 class action lawsuit, which led to a 1999 settlement and multiple legislative remedies in subsequent years, the most recent a provision in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that created a $2.2 billion program for farmers who have experienced discrimination.

As Democrats aim to reconnect with male voters — white, Black and Latino — who have drifted toward MAGA, Boyd’s capacity to speak plainly and colloquially distill the impacts of public policy would come in handy.

Mark Cuban

SHADOW SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

Mark Cuban, the entrepreneur and just-departed Shark Tank co-host, has been putting a friendlier face on the billionaire class. Last year, he sparred with Elon Musk on X in defense of DEI programs. Now he’s built a one-million-plus following on BlueSky, where lately he has been warning about how Trump’s tariffs will ravage small businesses and how Trump’s undermining of federal emergency assistance will harm rural America.

Cuban clearly has no problem mixing it up in partisan politics; he was one of Kamala Harris’ most prominent surrogates during the 2024 presidential campaign.

He does occasionally take positions that rankle some progressives. For example, he’s supportive of Trump’s deregulatory approach to cryptocurrency (but not Trump’s personal profiteering from cryptocurrency) and believes the Federal Reserve should be mandated to reduce the federal debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio. But here’s a case where having a big tent would be beneficial by broadening the range of voices discrediting Trump’s agenda.

Bobby Olvera Jr.

SHADOW SECRETARY OF LABOR

The shadow Cabinet’s economic team can’t just be made up of celebrities and former government officials. Democrats need some folks who really work with their hands, especially to counter Trump’s protectionist policies, which retain some appeal in blue-collar communities.

One union in strong opposition to the tariffs is the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents West Coast dockworkers. In early May, as tariffs on China began to reduce shipping inventory, the union said over 230 of its members were looking but unable to find work.

Enter Bobby Olvera Jr., president of the ILWU, as Democrats’ shadow Labor secretary. Olvera only won election to head the union last fall, so he’s not yet a household name. But he could quickly become the personification of how Trump’s tariffs are harming America’s hard hats and would likely be eager to tussle with the GOP.

Governor Josh Green, M.D.

SHADOW SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green is, in effect, already serving as a shadow HHS secretary, as he often sits for television interviews to counter the vaccine skepticism peddled by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Green was a physician before he was governor. While previously serving as lieutenant governor, he led a medical team to Samoa with vaccines intended to contain a measles outbreak that eventually killed 83 people, mostly children. Green was not shy about pinning the blame for those deaths on misinformation spread in Samoa by Kennedy. Green wasn’t able to block Kennedy’s confirmation, but he hasn’t let up since, mixing medical expertise with plain-speaking in his condemnation of the Trump administration.

On CNN earlier this month, Green warned of the impact on annual Covid and flu shots from Kennedy’s plan to administer placebo-controlled trials for new vaccines: “One of the challenges here is that the viruses change every year. They mutate slightly. And so if they put in new protocols for additional placebo-based protocol and study, you could miss a whole season. It really does smell like they’re trying to delay enough to devastate the vaccination discipline. And it’s insane to do that.”

Jeff Speck

SHADOW SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The shadow Cabinet can’t only criticize the Trump agenda — it needs to offer some fresh ideas that speak to the challenges of the moment.

One of those challenges is how the rise of online retail and entertainment is sapping the life out of America’s downtowns. Our screens make it easy to avoid shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, eating at sit-down restaurants and enjoying live entertainment. The upshot is weaker city economies and municipal budgets and destabilized funding for local education, public safety and infrastructure.

Democrats should give a bigger platform to urban planner Jeff Speck, one of the most prominent proponents of designing cities to promote walkability. The author of Walkable City, his work to redesign the downtown of Hammond, Indiana was chronicled in the documentary Walkable USA.

Speck is also attuned to the potentially tricky politics of promoting walkability. In a podcast interview last year, he noted, “At the local level, walkability is a great window through which to implement good planning. But I think at the state and the national level … it’s probably better sold and implemented through other windows like health and economy and sustainability.” He also has talking points that can help:“The reason why we now have the second generation of American kids who are expected to live shorter lives than their parents … is because we’ve designed out of our communities the useful walk.”

Mayor Freddie O’Connell

SHADOW SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION

While Speck talks up walkability, another red state Democrat flying under the media radar can run point on mass transit.

That would be Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who was elected in 2023 on a pro-transit platform.

Last year, he leveraged his mandate and overwhelmingly won a city referendum approving a sales tax increase to fund his Choose How You Move program, featuring increased bus service, sidewalk construction and road safety improvements. Last month, he won a court case allowing the program to move forward.

As the Trump administration pushes to slash transportation grants to states and cities, O’Connell would be the ideal representative to explain how that would hurt not just coastal cities, but the heartland as well.

Mary Barra

SHADOW SECRETARY OF ENERGY

General Motors CEO Mary Barra is a Michigan-based business leader making electric vehicles with union labor. Who better to show that the clean energy future is good for America and American workers?

Barra is sticking with GM’s transition to clean cars — after investing $35 billion over eight years in the project — despite Trump’s routine disparagement of EVs and his push to repeal tax credits that incentivize their manufacturing and sale. And her bet may be paying off, with the unwitting help of her rival Elon Musk. As Bloomberg recently reported, while Tesla sales are down, GM “went from 6% of EV market share in the US at the beginning of last year to 12% by the end. Its EV sales doubled in 2024 and maintained nearly the same pace in the first quarter of 2025.”

Granted, for Democrats to bring Barra on board, it would require looking past a big demerit: General Motors lobbied senators to support a bill that nullified California’s rule banning new gas-powered car and truck sales by 2035 (which Republicans rammed through the Senate this month on a mostly party-line vote — picking up Barra’s senator Slotkin — by ignoring a parliamentarian ruling that the bill was subject to filibuster). The company had supported the mandate but now deems the timeline too aggressive.

Nevertheless, Democrats still need help to make the case for government support of electric vehicles. Republicans are quick to paint such support as a subsidy for coastal elites at the expense of the working class. As the most prominent American automaker building clean cars — who isn’t decimating the federal civil service in her spare time — Barra is uniquely suited to explain how an electric vehicle strategy is necessary for the American automobile industry and its union workforce to withstand the rise of inexpensive Chinese-made clean cars.

Governor Katie Hobbs

SHADOW SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

One red state governor that Democrats should tap for an assignment is Arizona’s Katie Hobbs, who defied the polls in 2022 and eked out a victory over MAGA sensation Kari Lake. Like some Democrats facing a GOP-controlled legislature, Hobbs spends a lot of her time issuing vetoes — she holds the Arizona veto record. But since the Arizona legislature is closely divided, Hobbs’ vetoes stick. And they’ve mattered when it comes to education.

Again and again throughout her term, education issues have pitted Hobbs against Republican legislators. Just this month, Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have cut off funds to colleges that offer any courses that “relate contemporary American society” to “whiteness, systemic racism, institutional racism … gender identity, social justice, cultural competence, allyship” and a host of other concepts that have become conservative bugaboos.

Hobbs has also engaged in a protracted battle with state Republicans over the state’s universal school voucher program that was first implemented before her term began. The cost of allowing families at any income level to use taxpayer funds for private school tuition has skyrocketed to more than $770 million annually, straining the state budget and diverting money away from public schools. Hobbs wants to cap the eligibility to households earning under $200,000, but Republicans have balked.

With the Trump administration waging war on both K-12 public education and higher education, Hobbs can show the on-the-ground impact of the GOP’s education agenda.

Jon Stewart

SHADOW SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

The Daily Show host and comedian has always been at his righteous best when advocating on behalf of veterans and first responders. In some ways, he’s already a shadow VA secretary.

In 2022, Stewart single-handedly shamed Senate Republicans into supporting legislation known as the PACT Act, which was intended to ease health care access for veterans exposed to toxic substances. After 25 Senate Republicans abandoned their prior support and filibustered the bill, Stewart joined veterans outside the Capitol and thundered, “I’m used to the lies. I’m used to the hypocrisy … I’m not used to the cruelty.” The brutal tirade painted Republicans into a corner, and one month later they dropped the filibuster.

As a member of Democrats’ shadow Cabinet, Stewart won’t have a hard time finding more hypocrisy. While Trump also portrays himself as a friend to veterans, his Veterans Administration is planning on reducing its workforce by 80,000. The Associated Press noted, “That would require terminating tens of thousands of employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration [in part] to cover veterans impacted by burn pits under the 2022 PACT Act.”

This month ProPublica uncovered internal emails that show “doctors and others at VA hospitals and clinics across the country have been sending often desperate messages to headquarters detailing how cuts will harm veterans’ care” after the VA was “mandated by Congress through the PACT Act to expand care and benefits for veterans facing cancer and other issues after exposure to Agent Orange, burn pits or other toxins.”

Let’s see if those layoffs still happen after putting Stewart on the shadow Cabinet.

Gisele Fetterman

SHADOW SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Sen. John Fetterman has become a highly controversial figure in the Democratic Party. His militaristic commentary in defense of Israel has alienated progressives. Leaks from former staffers have raised concerns about whether he is fit to serve in the wake of an extended hospital stay to relieve acute depression.

But his wife, Gisele Fetterman, has none of the baggage and is a compelling figure in her own right. An undocumented immigrant who came from Brazil when she was a child, Gisele married John soon after he became mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania. To help poor Braddock residents she founded Free Store 15104, which provides food and clothes to anyone in need. As her husband’s star rose, she kept a cheeky social media presence. When John was elected lieutenant governor, Gisele dubbed herself SLOP (Second Lady of Pennsylvania.)

Since the November election, Gisele’s social media activity has declined. Her last X post was written in February, defending immigrants without directly mentioning Trump’s deportation campaign: “I still hate politics but I [heart emoji] people and I believe all people deserve to feel safe in their homeland. And if your home is a chosen one, then you should also feel safe there.”

The cheek may be gone but her intrinsic understanding of the immigrant plight remains. As Trump continues on his aggressive deportation campaign, few in America can better personify and articulate what we lose when we vilify people who loved America enough to choose to live here.

Bill Nye

SHADOW ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR

How to convey the urgency of the climate crisis to average Americans has long vexed Democrats and environmental activists. Neither Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning wonky earnestness nor Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s energetic utopianism has done the trick. Why not give Bill Nye the Science Guy a try?

The bowtied engineer-turned-comedy writer-turned-children’s TV host has long married science and entertainment, and in recent years he has applied his talents to combating climate change.

When Last Week Tonight host John Oliver needed to end a long segment on climate policy on a high note, he turned to Nye for “one of his enjoyable, lighthearted demonstrations.” Nye proceeded to torch a globe and jokingly admonished viewers to “Grow the f*** up. You’re not children anymore. I didn’t mind explaining photosynthesis to you when you were 12, but you’re adults now and this is an actual crisis.”

In his docu-series The End is Nye he observed, “Why is it that every disaster movie begins with someone in power ignoring a scientist?” He’s now taken to calling himself “Bill Nye the Climate Guy” and at a time when the party is bemoaning its ability to reach young voters, it could do worse than turn to a guy with a 10-million strong TikTok following..

Governor Laura Kelly

SHADOW OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET DIRECTOR

National media attention has long been paid to large-state, big-personality Democratic governors who might run for the White House. People like Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker and California’s Gavin Newsom. That’s led many to be oblivious to the fact that a Democrat has been running the ruby red state of Kansas since Laura Kelly was elected governor in 2018.

The Democratic brand has serious problems, but Kelly’s success undercuts the notion that the party is so toxic that it can’t succeed in the heartland. And Kelly would make an ideal messenger on budget policy.

Last month, she tried to tighten up the budget approved by the Republican-led legislature with a series of line-item vetoes targeting earmarks, though those vetoes were not sustained in the face of a GOP supermajority.

As Trump and Republicans in Congress look to balloon federal deficits with their tax cut bill, Kelly would bring sober credibility to any analysis of the federal balance sheet and a keen ability to call out the GOP’s fuzzy math.

Michael Collins

SHADOW DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Michael Collins is suddenly looking for a new gig, and the shadow Director of National Intelligence is a good one for him. Until recently, he was the acting chair of Trump’s National Intelligence Council. But he made the mistake of making an independent, professional intelligence assessment that wasn’t what the president wanted to hear.

Trump argues that when deporting Venezuelans, he doesn’t need to give them due process because the Venezuelan government is using Tren de Aragua gang members to launch an “invasion.” The NIC assessment produced last month, however, concludes the government likely has not directed any gang activity, which undercut Trump’s legal case and drew the ire of the far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who called for NIC heads to roll. Less than a month later, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard obliged, firing Collins and his deputy.

Former NIC officer Jonathan Panikoff defended the two as “unbelievable leaders and IC professionals, not political actors,” and said of the Gabbard-Loomer hit job, “Anything that reduces [the NIC’s] independence because policymakers don’t like the independent conclusions it reaches, is the definition of politicization they are decrying.”

Collins can not only bring his nearly 30 years of intelligence experience to the shadow Cabinet role, he can share intimate details of how the Trump administration is treating the intelligence community and suppressing honest analysis.

Abigail Spanberger

SHADOW DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

The shadow Cabinet should avoid sitting congresspeople marinating in the Beltway soup, so it’s helpful that Abigail Spanberger recently departed Congress as she makes her bid for governor of Virginia.

Spanberger is a rising star in the party and has a good chance at victory in November. The Center for Politics, based at the University of Virginia, rates the race as “Leans Democratic” and credits the former swing-district congresswoman as a “veteran of competitive elections.” During her six years in Congress, Spanberger was seen as a serious lawmaker who could work with members on both sides of the aisle.

Most importantly for shadow Cabinet purposes, Spanberger was an undercover CIA officer before entering public office and is deeply familiar with the world of espionage. “I know the lingo. I know the language. I know the culture,” Spanberger said in an interview with the Associated Press after she was appointed to the House Intelligence Committee.

She also knows politics and would be able to speak to how Trump’s politicized approach to national security will impact the CIA’s ability to function on the ground across the globe.

Ben Stein

SHADOW UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

For a dose of real economic starpower, Democrats should do all they can to recruit the most famous opponent of tariffs out there: longtime Trump supporter Ben Stein.

You know Stein from, among other things, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as the monotone high school economics teacher asking “anyone … anyone” if they know about the Smoot-Hawley tariff that failed to end the Great Depression.

But that wasn’t just acting. Stein, a former White House speechwriter for Richard Nixon, has long been a conservative commentator who promotes free market economics. In 2018, the National Retail Federation featured Stein in TV ads reprising his most famous role, pressuring Trump to abandon tariffs. “Tariffs raise prices on things Americans buy every day,” Stein lectures the class. “Trade wars don’t work. They never work.” The messenger and the message should meet this moment.

Nikki Glaser

SHADOW ADMINISTRATOR OF THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

OOK, hear me out on this one. What is a comedian but a small business entrepreneur and traveling content salesperson?

Of course, Nikki Glaser’s value to a Democratic shadow Cabinet is not her deep knowledge of how government regulations impact small businesses. It’s that she has become America’s Roaster-in-Chief, who can fearlessly pick apart the biggest celebrities from Tom Brady to Alec Baldwin.

And while her sex-positive comedy has feminist overtones, she is a welcome guest on the biggest testosterone-laden podcasts like the Joe Rogan Experience and Theo Von that are consumed by the young males whom Democrats are eager to reach.

She’s not known for political humor, but when she goes there, she cuts deep. Looking directly at Ann Coulter she once declared, “The only person you will ever make happy is the Mexican who digs your grave.” Discussing why she needs to wear makeup to “look like a woman,” in her Someday You’ll Die stand-up special, she observed, “If I asked you to draw a smiley face, and I was, like, ‘Now make it a girl,” … you wouldn’t make it, like, holding less money. You would just draw eyelashes on it.”

If Democrats want someone who can whoop Trump or any of his surrogates — on small business policy or anything else — they’d be hard pressed to find a better warrior.

✊ The Big List of Protests

 https://theblop.org/

 

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Event Flyer

Die-In: Day of Mourning

Seminole, FL

An event organized by Indivisible North Pinellas to mourn for the loss of due process, checks and balances, and bodily autonomy.

🗓️
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
️🕒
4:00 PM
👥
Indivisible North Pinellas
Event Flyer

Die-In: Day of Mourning

Seminole, FL

We, as Indivisible North Pinellas, are organizing a "Die-In: Day of Mourning" to protest and raise awareness about the loss of due process, checks and balances, and bodily autonomy. Join us in our demonstration.

🗓️
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
️🕒
4:00 PM
📝
9200 113th St, Seminole, FL 33772-2800
👥
Indivisible North Pinellas

swinging polls

swinging polls

 caps.jpg 

bubbas in baseball caps 2 by 2

 

 

america swings like a pendulum do,

bubbas in baseball caps 2 by 2,

crowds at trump rallys egging him on,

and legions of ladies grabbed by the don,

Now, if you huff and puff and you finally save enough,

Money you can take your family on a trip across the sea,

Take a tip before you take your trip,

let me tell you where to go,

Go to anywhere that donald's not, oh,

america swings like a pendulum do,

bubbas in baseball caps 2 by 2,

crowds at trump rallys egging him on,

and legions of ladies grabbed by the don,

he's the cat's pajamas and ben carson's mustache,

self funding his campaign while raking in the cash,

mocking the disabled and talking all insane,

wished he was a dapper man with derby hat and cane,

america swings like a pendulum do,

bubbas in baseball caps 2 by 2,

crowds at trump rallys egging him on,

and legions of ladies grabbed by the don,

america swings like a pendulum do,

bubbas in baseball caps 2 by 2,

crowds at trump rallys egging him on,

and legions of ladies grabbed by the don,

thanks to roger miller

 

Monday, May 26, 2025

the 40 days of trumpmas - a surreal serial poem

 

 guyhair1_517UcgHYK3L._AC_UL320_SR256_320_.png 

Remember, remember! The fifth of trumpvember

 the 40 days of trumpmas - a serial poem

 

for 40 days the trumpeter reigns,

his lies and hate on whom he disdains,

but election day will come so soon,

we'll no longer hear the orange baboon;

 

in 39 days full of world wide problems.

we could elect him to get rid of the muslims,

but as he'll rant on trivialities of his presidential life,

what could be worse? - you could be his wife;

 

in 38 days just what will you do?

the donald has said he likes lgbtq,

but as he bullies his women and all his men too,

if youre questioning, what stops him from bullying you?

 

in just 37 days, some people are saying,

(or pleading or hoping or some even praying)

the duke of prunes will dye his forelock purple my friend,

and thus make america grape again,

 

our days are down to just 36,

before our problems the don will fix,

he will on day one do what hes said - true,

he'll wall out our enemies - and fat women too!

 

on the 35th day of trumpmas

yes just seven weeks remain!

will the polls and tallies deliver us

donald with his golden mane?

 

34 days and the vice-pipers have piped,

though pence didnt say why donalds suit shouldnt be striped,

he wouldnt defend his master's string pulling,

to make america great? - who do they think they're fooling?

 

just 33 days till the macho tornado,

unless its blown away by hurricane machado,

with women and voters he has so much to loose.

keep your mouth shut donald (unless youre changing your shoes)

 

32 days and we’ve been hit by the big blowhard,

donald spoke here in fla (oh, we had a hurricane too)

this administration gives us playing the race card, a weak economy, and unemployment

but if you want a job you could be donald’s campaign manager (unless youre a jew)

 

31 days, just a month, remains;

will the donald say hes sorry, and his baser impulses restrain?

or keep blaming bill clinton for our moral demise;

when trump speaks to us, our NO votes must be our replies!

 

election comes this time (in 30 days) each 4 years,

time for praise and tears and fears;

as polls will open in many states,

vote early, please dont vote late!

 

down to 29, just a leap february,

and theres still the donald quite

contrary;

donald donald, how does your garden grow?

quoth the master debater, "with pretty maids groped in a row"

 

just 28 days - later or soon,

and the zombies will rise, led by the big goon;

unless everyone gets a reality inoculation,

i might have to move to canada for a well deserved vacation; 

 

now just 27, less than 4 weeks,

no time for you to say 'yikes!' or 'eeeks!'

obama wants to go to mars and colonize it for man,

lets send trump tomorrow! and colonize it for orangutan!

 

26 days are all that remain,

will our democracy and economy go down the drain?

if we all keep listening to the blustering oaf,

will he give jobs and prosperity? - or just half a loaf

 

25 days - will more women speak?,

of the antics of donald who the presidency seeks,

dating 14 year old girls or groping their mothers,

how did the gop pick him over the others?,

 

24 days - were down to two dozen,

the next woman who speaks just might be your cousin,

or mother or sister, aunt, niece, even daughter,

describing the circumstance in which donald caught her,

 

23 days left and trump doesnt yet have as many accusers,

as cosby, but he assures us that they are all really losers,

sent by bankers or hillary with secret agendas,

to disrupt our election of him - our defender!,

 

22 days and we know charity begins at home,

but donalds attention is so prone to roam,

his gift that disappeared to 911 survivors from his foundation?,

oops! maybe donald spent it on a vacation,

 

21 days and trump says the election may be rig-ly,

if hes not the winner and his total's not big-ly,

tremendously higher than hillary gets,

he warns his supporters may all lose their wits,

 

20 days left and while george zimmerman still walks free,

the man who shot at HIM got 20 years - while trayvon got eternity,

trump wants us to support our cops and maintain law and order,

he'll put all the inner city dwellers in jail, and send the immigrant criminals far across the border,

 

19 days left till we all go to pretend,

to elect someone to lead us, as if on it our lives depend,

but wise man, donald trump, already really knows,

who we really voted for - a wolf in president's clothes?,

 

18 days and we bad hombres demand a rebate,

on the ill feelings left since the comments of one candidate,

the debaters have met in their final grudge match,

but only donald can say from whose hands victory will be snatched,

 

17 days and our government is corrupt with quid pro quo,

did you take latin at wharton? is that how you know?,

donald wants us to fire at them all - the bureaucrats lined up in rows,

and believe me, corruption is a subject. that donald really knows,

 

16 days - lets set term limits on all our office holders,

and put all our women in binders - or maybe in folders,

donalds endless complaints are becoming a sour whine,

have a little cheese with that, from wisconsin, where 

hillary's doing fine,

 

15 days and on stocking covered thighs did linger,

two miniature hands with two thumbs and eight tiny fingers,

they belonged to the donald who believed that he owned,

any thing that he wanted - or anyone he got alone,

 

14 days yes only two weeks,

till the duke of orange assends to the throne he seeks?,

to rule all americans, the strong and the weak?,

and dominate the globe with power that's peak?,

 

the 13th day to go - does that seem unlucky?,

not for donald whos lately been appearing quite plucky,

claiming media, polls, and parties are against him,

and rallying his multitudes with wit waxing dim,

 

on the 12th day of trumpmas donald awoke with a jerk,

promptly fired his latest campaign manager (who considered that a perk),

if youre "AAAfroAAAmurikan" and unemployed i can put you to work,

barked donald the businessman from behind his sly smirk,

 

it's the 11th and engineer casey trump is in the caboose,

i hear some of you saying oh no! what's the use,

our campaign will probably just go off the tracks,

but donald says its ok - cause he's got "the blacks",

 

just ten days left yes only one-zero,

til donald is hoping that he'll be your hero,

as new hillary emails come under investigation,

donald hopes to rename camp david to camp donald for

his vacations,

 

like a cat has nine lives we're left with only 9 days,

till we're subject to donald? and his old wicked ways,

on foreign affairs he says he'll save us from isis,

but his domestic affairs are misogyny and crisis,

 

our days are numbered - yes only eight,

till once again we make america great,

by getting rid of candidates who have nothing to add,

goodbye donald you wont make america sad,

 

just one week to go - its day minus seven,

till america's lifted above - to trumpty dump heaven?,

where for rich folks like donald opportunity abounds,

and we keep the working poor with a wall that surrounds,

 

how the time it does fly its already day 6,

till americans problems the donald will fix,

his solutions begin on trumpday number one,

dont you like them? they'll come at the barrel of a gun,

 

Five days to go, baby, One in five,

No one here gets out alive, now,

david dukes not opposed to all jews,

he backs trump - who are you going to choose?,

 

only 4 days left till the armaged-don,

he'll seize power by the horns once he has won,

and donnie will be what he longs for - a winner,

using the FBI to wreak havoc on hillary the sinner,

 

only three left, just a triad of days,

and the donald his supporters continues to amaze,

with hoopla and folderoll made up in his head,

his winning temperament will leave us all dead,

 

just a pair of days - 2 - till trump paradise,

since these words you're reading please heed my advice,

the creatures that surround us are beginning to bite,

'blacks for trump' fear the Illuminati so lets turn out their light,

 

just a single day left till our thanksgiving,

deliver us from donald and preserve the living,

forget sanity and disgard your misgivings,

but pray hard to your gods that they'll be forgiving,

since we've got the nukes why can't we use'em?,

on the road to 2016 why couldn't we lose HIM?,

 

and trumpmas now has finally come,

the tallies will count up to a winning sum,

unless the earth is struck soon by a cataclysmic comet,

to elect a candidate who just makes you want to vomit?,

we wish you a merry trumpmas at this time each 4 years,

if you have'nt voted you've lost the chance to mitigate your fears,

cause donald duck is ready to lead, forget your crocodile tears,

so you'd better get the vaseline and lubricate your rears!

rockette propelled grenade

 

rockette.jpg 

 rockettes

 

 rockettes set to perform at the dadadrumpf coronation may opt out if they so choose - dont worry trumptydumpty you can still get big acts - like rockette morton maybe, or the new gay mens dance troupe 'the television city cockettes' — i bet they'd love to perform for a real man like one of bare chested vlads best buds or mike pence

This Memorial Day, NPR readers honor the ones they've lost

 https://www.npr.org/?refresh=true

 

Trump pauses threatened EU tariffs until July

 https://www.axios.com/2025/05/25/eu-tariffs-trump

 

14 hours ago - Business

Trump pauses threatened EU tariffs until July


President-elect Trump leans on the armrest of a couch during an official visit in Paris in December 2024.

President-elect Trump in Paris in Dec. 2024. Photo: Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images