After a week of warp-speed malevolence and tragedy, a silver lining is the number of regular Americans (and especially Minnesotans) making themselves seen and heard on the ground around the country.

To let your emotions idle back to merely medium for a minute, observe that a not-that-liberal trio of higher-profile white dudes back in Washington is also stepping up in the war to preserve some sense of institutional decency and integrity.

Jerome Powell. Trump initiating an investigation of the Federal Reserve chair over how a building renovation project has been handled is welcome proof that irony isn’t dead, even if the East Wing is. As you’d expect, this isn’t really about a renovation. It’s about Trump’s unhappiness that the Fed has influence over interest rates that Trump cannot control. Trump has used litigation to harass and bully his entire adult life, and it’s too late to stop now.

But what we didn’t expect is for Fed Chair Jerome Powell to finally call out the president on his bullshit. Out loud. In public. In front of a camera and microphone. Posted on a government website, no less.

 

Straightforward. Honest. Delicious.

Republican officials are already opposing Trump’s move. They know it’s bad for markets, bad for the quality of future Fed officials, and yet another Oval Office tantrum against an independent civil service.

Jack Smith. The former Special Counsel for investigating President Trump’s involvement related to the 2020 post-election shenanigans is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee this week. Testify publicly, that is, which makes a big difference.

An excerpt from the above article, regarding Smith’s previous (and private) congressional testimony:

“Smith’s testimony confirmed that his office had a rock-solid case, based on irrefutable evidence, that Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election and willfully retained highly classified documents after leaving office,” Raskin said in a statement.

I haven’t looked into the sequence of events that led Rep. Gym Jordan to allow this, but I’ll take it. Thank you, Mr. Smith, for stepping up despite vitriol from the highest office and untold threats from the lowest dregs.

Mark Kelly. And finally, the senator from Arizona is punching back, filing a lawsuit against Department of Defense Secretary Hegseth for trying to knock down his rank and pension out of spite. As you may recall, Kelly and others committed the sin of reminding our servicemen and servicewomen that following illegal orders is also illegal.

Which probably wasn’t the first time many of them had received that message, seeing as how a plaque to that exact effect has been on the West Point campus for years.

What the Academy brags about instilling, only one president takes personally. Huh.

I really wanted to accentuate the positive with this post, but yet more damning information about Hegseth’s most infamous boat strike is already making me regret the decision.

And I can’t let you go without making sure you’ve seen this clip of another recent ICE interaction in Minnesota. “Have you not learned?” asks the officer before he assaults the woman.

Yessir, you unscrupulous shitbird, I think a lot of people have learned a lot of things the last few days, thanks to the murder of Renee Good. One thing many understand now that they may not have grasped before: There’s one patriot in this conversation, and it’s not you.