Yesterday a guy came in for coffee.  He’s someone I’ve seen before, this day proudly wearing his “T*ump 2024” baseball hat.  I wa minding my own business, and had no interest in engaging with him.  One of the guys sitting next table over said “Nice baseball hat”, which pleased the guy.  But I also noticed the three sitting there all vamoosed and I remembered an earlier encounter where they shut the same guy down. So the “nice hat” comment may have been a preemptive strike.   Quiet prevailed.  Then a woman came by and also said ‘nice hat’ and said hers was the red one.  He commented that T “came in like a tornado and he’s really shaking things up.  I really like the mass deportations.”  She disappeared, for whatever reason.  I made the same election.  Folks like him I see rarely.  Most of us want our country like it was three weeks ago, but we are letting it slide away.  Each of us are players in our recovery or our destruction.  Get in action.

It happens that, at the time, thanks to Joyce, I was reading a Feb. 3 column by Dahlia Lithwick, which I’ve pdf’ed here: Dahlia Lithwick Feb 3, 2025, about the new autocracy playbook, I’ll dub it the Orban plan.  Take the time to read her column.

POSTNOTE: Heather Cox Richardson Feb 3 and Feb 4; Joyce Vance Feb 4 and Feb 5

Column by David French in Feb, 4 NYTimes: David French NYTimes Feb 5 2025

Thanks to Carol and Joyce, here’s an ongoing list of actions relating to the deluge of Executive Orders.  I presume it will continue to be updated.

Heather Cox Richardson Feb. 5 and Feb. 6; Joyce Vance Feb. 6 and  Feb. 7