What we are and are not going to do

First, some housekeeping. This will be my last newsletter on Substack. The platform has a persistent and defiant Nazi problem and is proud to be sponsoring Bari Weiss. So I’m migrating to beehiiv, which allows me to import my subscribers list. So, if you want to continue reading, you don’t have to do anything except make sure the new email doesn’t land in your spam folder. I do not know at this point what that will mean for paying subscribers, but I will keep sending out emails from this newsletter with updates until the dust settles.

I’m also treating this as an opportunity to rebrand to better fit what this column has become. Capitol Punishments was conceived as an outlet to be a little mean to politicos (a project I still whole-heartedly support) and tear apart their bad ideas. The snark and sharpness aren’t going anywhere—it’s practically part of my DNA at this point. But I’m reviving the name of my first newsletter, “No Final Drafts” because I think it’s a better fit for what I’m doing. (I also really like it.)

There’s a saying that journalism is the first draft of history. “No Final Drafts” alludes to journalism’s and history’s roles in how we shape and understand our world, and that we should revisit those narratives with new eyes and information. I am keeping Maggie Denman’s illustrations because they’re great, and they still fit the theme—investigating ghosts and all that haunts us.

I hope you’ll come along to the new platform, where we’ll continue to explore how we got here, and how we could imagine a different world.

How are you doing? If your answer isn’t weighed down by recent news, I don’t know how to talk to you right now. Whether you word-vomit the outrage at the forefront of your mind or, out of a sense of decorum, take a long pause or sigh before giving a half-hearted “I’m ok,” I don’t care. I’m just grateful for another human who’s retained their humanity.

There’s so much to talk about, I’ve been struggling to find a focal point. So I’m not going to. Instead I’m going to run down some takeaways I’ve had from recent events and how we should carry those lessons forward. Note: I’m not an expert on any of this. I’m just trying my best.

DON’T make human sacrifices. Weeks before Trump was inaugurated, the Senate passed a national defense spending bill with a provision that removed gender-affirming care for the children of service members. Some Democrats voted in opposition (including Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin) but many, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said passing a defense spending bill was too important to pause and fight for transgender children.

You will hear this argument again and again. “Choose your battles.” “Be strategic.” Not when it comes to the rights of our fellow humans. Republicans are targeting the transgender community and immigrant community because they are vulnerable. They do not have the power and resources that other groups of people have. So they are counting on the rest of us throwing those groups under the bus in the hopes that it’ll satisfy their bloodlust. But it won’t.

Imagine a circle with the most powerful people in it. Then another ring around that, with the next level of power. And on, and on, until we get to the most marginalized at the outermost circle. Fascism is an ideology of power. The way fascists gain power is by sending clear signals about who is in and who is out, and creating dire consequences for being cast out—as dire as life and death. So, first they cast out people who are transgender and who are immigrants. Fascists will make their life a living hell with deprivation of healthcare, incarceration, and violence. Then that apparatus, those structures, will be deployed on more and more people as the circle of who is in and who is out gets smaller and smaller. Today they’re talking about incarcerating immigrants at Guantanamo Bay, but tomorrow it could be union organizers, activists, leftists, anyone deemed an “enemy of the state,” AKA an enemy of Trump. That’s what that poem everyone has misquoted all these years is about. In addition to the grotesque immorality of sacrificing trans people and immigrants, thinking it’ll satiate fascists’ relentless quest for dominance—it won’t. We must fight for all of us, because none of us are safe.

DO tell them no. Often, loudly, and to their face.

Do NOT let the fascists rewrite history. We saw with our own eyes what happened on January 6. We remember when Russia invaded Ukraine, unprovoked. We also remember that President Donald Trump was the last person to renegotiate the U.S.’s trade deals with Mexico and Canada. So when the Trump administration tries to reframe January 6 as a day when peaceful protestors were brutalized by their government; or Trump asks “Who the hell made these deals are so bad?” [sic, yes that’s how he talks]; or when officials (or unofficials, in Elon Musk) try to float the narrative that Ukraine started the war by… forcing Russia to invade it and take Crimea? We are going to remember that we know what happened. And we’re not going to let people as stupid as Trump and Musk convince us we don’t.

DO stay curious. The root of Musk’s stupidity is that he thinks he is so smart that he doesn’t need to ask questions anymore, of the world or himself. So when he saw records he interpreted to mean 150-year-olds were receiving Social Security or that Reuters was being paid by the government to engage in "social deception," why would he ask questions? If he had, he’d have learned that he was wrong, both about these specific line items, but more broadly about his assumptions about what the government does and how. He’s not conducting a thoughtful investigation into how our tax dollars are spent, but a hatchet job based on his own confirmation bias.

Don’t be like Musk. Ask questions. Listen to people who are knowledgeable. Listen to multiple people who are knowledgeable and disagree with one another. Learn how things (particularly our government) work and why. And when someone says something that scratches a particular confirmation bias of yours, ask questions and find credible information.

DO focus on the local. One reason the news exhausts our energy is that so much coverage is focused on actions taking place where you cannot physically go and intervene. I would love to march into a federal building, handcuff all the DOGE losers, and perp walk them out into the street. But I can’t. So, instead, I am trying to focus on who is being affected in my community. What can we do to mitigate the harm? Is there anyone already doing this work? Reach out and see what they need.

DO NOT try to save the day all on your own. The fantasy of the big strong hero swooping in with all the answers and saving the day is how we got into this mess in the first place. Remember that you are not the main character. Listen, learn, and consider how you can be of service. No one is coming to save us—we can only save each other if we work together.

DO try to keep your money in your community. Big corporations have mostly caved to this administration, with some notable exceptions. But even the ones that haven’t, aren’t going to save us. Whenever you can, give your money to actual human beings, not the conglomerates and hedge funds that have already vacuumed up so much wealth. Fun fact: it is now cheaper to buy eggs from farmers through the Dane County Farmers’ market than at the store. That, and between trade wars, and cuts to government programs that purchased goods from farmers (like USAID), and conservation programs that are supposed to reimburse farmers for upgrades, farmers are being royally screwed by the Trump administration. Buy groceries from local farmers whenever possible.

DO NOT give up on joy. On Trump’s inauguration day, I took an eccentric clowning class. I may still have my Christmas tree on my desk with a pineapple ornament facing me. I’m taking circus classes, learning how to sew, playing the ukulele, and crocheting large vegetable pillows (right now I am making an ear of corn). Fascism, as an ideology of power and conformity, is inherently opposed to whimsy and eccentricity. It will squash all state-sanctioned joy out of our lives. And resistance does not mean your life is confined to terror and anger. You will feel those things, but you also need to eat good food, spend time with people you love, and find the joy and art in life. Otherwise, what are we fighting for?