'Psychological projection': MAGA’s 'very weird about sex' — and it’s hurting them

The community of “involuntary celibate" men that trend toward President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have had a difficult year.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump walks by Elon Musk during the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) gala at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 14, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Sarah K. Burris

December 31, 2025 

ALTERNET

The community of “involuntary celibate" men that trend toward President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have had a difficult year.

Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte noted Wednesday that the biggest loser of 2025 appears to be the incel movement, which seems to have reached its peak.

Marcotte began with popular MAGA influencer Sólionath, who "[defended] white supremacist murderers, [tried] to get people fired for not mourning Charlie Kirk ... and [concocted] lies about the [Jeffrey] Epstein files."

Sólionath ended his year by bashing the 99 percent of the world that has had sex at some point in their life, claiming that few people have actually ever done it.

Mocking "Nazi apologist" Nick Fuentes, Marcotte recalled the Piers Morgan interview asking if he's ever had sex.

“No, absolutely not,” Fuentes said. He then admitted he finds it "very difficult to be around” women. Any man who does manage to score will end up “henpecked.”

"You think you’re an expert on women, given you never got laid?" Morgan asked.

After a year in office, Trump's MAGA movement is faltering, young white men are bailing in droves and the "incel" world has stumbled into a marketing problem, Marcotte wrote.

“Trumpist leaders love pointing the finger at LGBTQ+ people and liberals, calling them ‘groomers’ and suggesting they’re violent perverts," she continued. "But in 2025, the nation really saw how much that behavior is old-fashioned psychological projection.”

The best example of that comes from the investigation files around sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to Marcotte. Trump has spent the past six months frantically trying to stop the release of the "the 5.2 million pages of documents" the government has on the federal investigation into Epstein

"The nation got a glimpse of the sexual world the president apparently inhabited, or at least stood in close proximity to, one which wasn’t glamorous but simply gross," said Marcotte.

“In 2025, ‘Mar-a-Lago face’ entered the lexicon, a term used to describe the combination of plastered-on makeup and aggressive plastic surgery that makes women look like inflatable sex dolls, as Trump’s apparent sexual tastes have morphed MAGA aesthetics into something inhuman," Marcotte continued.

Allthewhile, the world's richest man, Elon Musk, and self-appointed "First Buddy," was exposed for having "a fetish for impregnating women."

"It may not initially seem obvious why Mar-a-Lago face, incels, Elon's pregnancy fetish or the Epstein files are linked," wrote Salon's Amanda Marcotte. "But this is a year in which MAGA showed they are very weird about sex. And it's hurting them."

Ultimately, the right wing populates the internet with "sexually dysfunctional straight men who argue that their romantic woes aren’t due to their own failures, but because feminism has ‘ruined’ women," Marcotte closed. “Either way, there’s one thing I can predict with confidence: We’ll get another round of articles handwringing about why it’s so hard for Republicans to find a date, which will show no understanding that the answer was always obvious.”

Read the full column here.

Fleurmach.comfleurmach.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/wilhelm-reich-the-emotional-plague-1945.pdf

THE EMOTIONAL PLAGUE | fleurmach

The term "emotional plague" is not a derogatory phrase. It does not connote conscious malevolence, moral or biological degener acy, immorality, etc.

Archive.orgarchive.org/details/themurderofchrist

The murder of Christ : the emotional plague of mankind

Apr 7, 2020 ... The murder of Christ : the emotional plague of mankind. by: Wilhelm Reich. Publication date: 1953; Usage: Public Domain Mark 1.0 Creative ...

Theanarchistlibrary.orgtheanarchistlibrary.org/library/patrick-dunn-a-radicalization-of-reich

A Radicalization of Reich | The Anarchist Library

Fifth Estate #383. plain PDF A4 imposed PDF Letter imposed PDF EPUB (for ... Reich obscures his own radical insight into the nature of the emotional plague.

Courtenay-young.co.ukwww.courtenay-young.co.uk/courtenay/articles/An_Essay_On_The_Emotional_Plague.pdf

an essay on the emotional plague & its relevance today: especially ...

Wilhelm Reich coined the phrase, 'The Emotional Plague' (Cpt. 16, Character ... www.orgonomy.org/articles/Science_Links/TJOG_42_2_extract_crist.pdf.

How 'pro-family' Trump is 'leaving millions of families in the lurch': analysis

President Donald Trump boarding Air Force One on September 7, 2025

 (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok/Flickr)

Alex Henderson

December 31, 2025 

ALTERNET

President Donald Trump often describes himself as a champion of "pro-family" policies — a message aimed at his hardcore MAGA base and far-right Christian fundamentalist evangelicals. And Vice President JD Vance has taken that messaging a step further, attacking specific Democrats as "childless cat ladies" for not having biological children — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), former Vice President Kamala Harris and ex-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

But The New Republic's Grace Segers, in a biting article published on New Year's Eve Day 2025, lays out a variety of Trump administration policies that she says are harmful to families.

"Since entering the White House for the second time," Segers observes, "President Donald Trump has explicitly cast himself as a 'pro-family' president. His administration has frequently adopted the language of the pronatalist movement, promoting ideas and policies intended to encourage Americans to have children. But many of the ostensibly family-oriented policies proposed by the White House and approved by Congress this year will primarily benefit higher-income households, leaving millions of lower income families in the lurch."

Segers attacks a long list of Trump positions, from tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy to health care policies to "dramatic changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Medicaid."

"The loss of SNAP benefits for families with children may in turn have a larger impact on society as a whole," Segers argues. "According to research by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy, every $1 lost in benefits for families with children would cost society between $14 and $20. Nearly 40 percent of all SNAP participants are children."

The number of Americans lacking health insurance decreased significantly during Joe Biden's presidency, but Segers warns that failing to fund subsidies for the Affordable Care Act of 2010, AKA Obamacare, will reverse that.

Larry Levitt, executive vice president of policy at KFF, told The New Republic, "In health care, it would be hard to find anything that's a positive for families."

Levitt, according to Segers, "noted that the pending expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies will affect middle-income households, who will face far higher insurance costs in the new year."

"As such, millions of Americans may opt out of any health coverage rather than paying higher premiums," Segers warns. "Although moderate-income children may be able to receive health care through the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, a parent unable to afford their own health care through the Affordable Care Act marketplace may opt out of coverage for themselves."

Read Grace Segers' full article for The New Republic at this link.

Walz Says Trump Is Exploiting Minnesota Fraud Issue to Defund State’s Childcare Programs

“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” said the Democratic governor.


Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz testifies during a Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on June 12, 2025.
(Photo by Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Dec 31, 2025

COMMON DREAMS

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday accused US President Donald Trump and his administration of sensationalizing and exploiting a real problem—fraud in the state’s social services system—to advance their broader agenda of gutting the safety net.

“This is Trump’s long game,” Walz wrote on social media after the US Department of Health and Human Services announced it was suspending all federal childcare funds to Minnesota, alleging “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant.”

Walz added that fraud is “a serious issue—but this has been [Trump’s] plan all along.”

“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” the governor wrote.

The right-wing media ecosystem and Republican politicians have fixated on fraud in Minnesota in recent weeks, using it to launch bigoted attacks on the state’s Somali community and call for mass deportations of Somalis.

The issue exploded over the weekend after Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer and YouTuber, released a video claiming to expose fraud in Minnesota day care centers. The video went viral and was shared by top Trump administration officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Vice President JD Vance. Kristi Noem, head of the US Department of Homeland Security, said in the wake of the video’s publication that federal agents “are on the ground” in the state and “conducting a massive investigation.”

Minnesota Public Radio reported that the state’s House speaker, Rep. Lisa Demuth (R-13A), confirmed that her caucus directed Shirley to the day care sites that he visited.

“Those featured in his widely viewed video have been part of a state-administered childcare program using federal money, although some recently had operations or payments suspended,” the outlet noted.

The Guardian noted that “despite claims by conservatives on social media that the allegations of fraud were ignored until now, there have been years of fraud investigations that began with the indictments in 2022 of 47 defendants for their alleged roles in a $250 million scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

MAGA influencer's viral Somali fraud claims shot down by CBS News fact check

David Edwards
December 30, 2025 
RAW STORY


YouTube/screen grab

Despite a right-leaning change in management at CBS News, the network disputed claims made by MAGA influencer Nick Shirley about alleged fraud at Somali daycare facilities in Minnesota.

Shirley's video investigation, which was viewed tens of millions of times on YouTube and X, suggested that the facilities were taking funds from the government without caring for children.

On Tuesday, CBS News posted a fact check of Shirley on X, the same platform that members of the Trump administration had used to bolster the fraud claims

CBS News correspondent Jonah Kaplan noted that Somali businesses had been prosecuted for fraud in the past.

"Now you have this viral video getting traction online," he said. "It's from influencer Nick Shirley, and he visited several daycares, Somali-owned daycares in the Twin Cities, and basically accused them of doing the same thing. Running these sham operations where kids didn't show up but still bilked the federal government and collected millions of dollars in Medicaid funds."

"We visited those sites too, as did state inspectors many times over the last six months," he continued. "And we found the facts on the ground tell a different story. Those daycares, many of them were written up for safety violations, things like maybe busted equipment or staff training issues, but that's not the same as being fraudulent."

"So it's important to put all of this into context."

 

Reporter shreds Trump admin's daycare fraud claims in less than 2 minutes

Washington Post reporter Dave Jorgenson on YouTube on December 29, 2025

 (Image: Screengrab via @DaveJorgenson / YouTube)

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that Jorgenson is a former Washington Post reporter who is the founder of Local News International.

Carl Gibson

December 30, 2025

ALTERNET

President Donald Trump's administration recently made the decision to suspend all federal childcare payments to Minnesota in the wake of a far-right influencer's YouTube video over supposed daycare fraud in Minneapolis. But one former Washington Post reporter is accusing the administration of cherry-picking data to suit their preferred narrative.

In a video posted to YouTube Shorts, Local News International founder Dave Jorgenson observed that YouTuber Nick Shirley's video — in which he asserted that Somalian immigrants in Minneapolis were stealing taxpayer dollars — was based on documented fraudulent activity. However, he noted that the wave of right-wing outrage that has followed the release of Shirley's video overlooks the fact that both Minnesota's Democratic state lawmakers and members of Congress, as well as former President Joe Biden's administration, have all taken significant steps to address the fraud in Minnesota daycares.

"Yes, since 2018, more than half of $18 billion in taxpayer funds spent on the 14 programs intended to help low-income vulnerable people was most likely stolen," Jorgenson said. "But this has been under investigation for a long time. More than 92 people have been charged."

Jorgenson mimicked both Shirley and Vice President JD Vance (who reposted Shirley's video on X), with "Shirley" asking Jorgenson: "Well, how come we haven't seen it in the news?" Jorgenson reminded viewers that "local and international outlets have been reporting on it for years," and pointed to a New York Times article from 2022 on the Biden administration's FBI sounding the alarm over "massive fraud" in Minnesota.

When Jorgenson's "JD Vance" countered that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) supposedly "did nothing about this," Jorgenson pushed back again, alerting viewers to Omar leading a push to get to the bottom of the fraud allegations in February of 2022. He also referenced a local report from 2019 about a statewide audit of Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program. He also shared a local Fox affiliate's 2018 article about state officials "aggressively investigating daycare fraud since 2014."

"But what about how they're funneling all the money to terrorists?" Jorgenson's "Nick Shirley" asked.

"Look, there is clearly fraud happening here," Jorgenson said. "But that terrorist allegation was made by a police detective from Seattle who retired in 2015 and has never been to Minnesota."

Jorgenson also pointed out that while Shirley was unable to find evidence of children being present in daycares in the video he posted the day after Christmas, it was unlikely that daycare managers would let "a complete stranger, flanked by his security team and his camera crew, into your daycare to see the children."

"And I don't know when he filmed this, but my daughter's daycare is closed for the last two weeks of December," he added.

Watch the video below:

AMERIKAN GESTAPO

ICE Plots $100 Million ‘Wartime Recruitment’ Drive Aimed at Hiring Gun Enthusiasts

WHITE THUGS

The propaganda blitz will be aimed at “people who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown an interest in guns and tactical gear,” according to the Washington Post.


Federal agents block people protesting an ICE immigration raid at a nearby licensed cannabis farm on July 10, 2025 near Camarillo, California.
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Brad Reed
Dec 31, 2025
COMMON DREAMS


The Trump administration is planning a massive propaganda campaign aimed at recruiting thousands of new federal immigration enforcement officers to carry out its mass deportation agenda.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that it had obtained internal documents revealing that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to spend $100 million over the next year on what the agency describes as a “wartime recruitment” drive.


‘Beyond Dehumanizing’: ICE Docs Expose Plan to Hold 80,000 People in Warehouses

The propaganda blitz will be targeted at highly specific demographics, including “people who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown an interest in guns and tactical gear,” according to the Post.

The ICE drive would also use an ad-targeting technique called “geofencing” to send recruitment ads to users’ phone browsers if they are in the vicinity of certain locations, such as military bases, NASCAR races, college campuses, and gun shows.

The ads being designed for the recruitment drive will be based around current appeals that depict joining ICE as part of a “sacred duty” to “defend the homeland” from “foreign invaders,” the Post reported.

This rhetoric is similar to the language used in a recent ICE job post flagged by University of Wisconsin–Madison sociologist Jess Calarco. The listing asked prospective recruits if they are “ready to defend the homeland” by joining “an elite team dedicated to... securing our nation’s safety.”

Calarco noted that the job post “reads like a video game ad,” which she said “is almost certainly by design.”

Sarah Saldaña, a director of ICE under the Obama administration, told the Post that it is worrying to see the Trump administration casting such a wide net for people who lack any experience in law enforcement and who may be eager for what the Post described as “all-out combat.”

The recruitment blitz comes amid new indications that the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign is falling far short of its goals.

The New Republic‘s Greg Sargent on Wednesday wrote that immigration arrests this year have fallen far short of the goal of 3,000 people per day set by top Trump aide Stephen Miller, and it seems highly unlikely that Miller will realize his dream of deporting 1 million people per year.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, told Sargent that “it’s clear that they have not achieved the shock-and-awe campaign of mass deportations that they wanted, and they are still running into quite a lot of obstacles.”

Reichlin-Melnick also predicted that “there will still be millions of people here who are undocumented” after Trump leaves office in 2028, as the administration “will not be able to deport even the majority of undocumented immigrants in four years.”

The Trump administration earlier in the year announced plans to entice new ICE recruits by offering them $50,000 sign-up bonuses and assistance with repaying student loans in a bid to double the agency’s head count.

Trump Vetoes Colorado Clean Water Bill—Then Tells State’s Officials to ‘Rot in Hell’

President Donald Trump issued the first veto of his second term this week

The bill vetoed by Trump would have provided funds to finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a 130-mile pipeline designed to deliver clean, filtered water to 50,000 residents in the eastern part of the state.

Brad Reed
Dec 31, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

President Donald Trump issued the first veto of his second term this week when he rejected a bill with bipartisan support aimed at ensuring access to clean drinking water in rural Colorado.

As reported by Colorado Public Radio on Tuesday, the bill in question would have provided funds to finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a 130-mile pipeline designed to deliver clean, filtered water to 50,000 residents in the eastern part of the state.


‘Blatant Act of Retaliation’: Trump Denies Colorado Request for Fire, Flooding Disaster Relief


In a statement announcing his video of the bill, Trump cited concerns about the size of the US deficit, even though the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that finishing the conduit will cost less than $500,000.

“My administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies,” said Trump, whose signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is projected to increase the US deficit by $3.4 trillion over the next decade. “Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the nation.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), a longtime Trump ally who sponsored the legislation, blasted the president for vetoing “a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously.”

Boebert also hinted that Trump’s reasons for passing the bill could be political retribution over her effort to force the release of files related to the criminal prosecution of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who for years was a friend of the president.

“I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability,” Boebert said. “Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics.”

It’s not clear what Trump’s motives were for vetoing the bill, though he has been feuding with elected officials in Colorado over the continued imprisonment of Tina Peters, the former county clerk of Mesa County, Colorado who was convicted in 2024 of seven charges related to her allowing unlawful access to voting machines in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump has demanded that Colorado release Peters, and he even went so far as to give her a presidential pardon, even though she was convicted on state charges rather than federal charges where such a pardon would carry real legal weight.

In a New Year’s Eve Truth Social post, Trump once again made false claims about Peters’ case.

“God Bless Tina Peters, who is now, for two years out of nine, sitting in a Colorado Maximum Security Prison, at the age of 73, and sick, for the ‘crime’ of trying to stop the massive voter fraud that goes on in her State,” Trump wrote.

In reality, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Colorado during the 2020 election.

Trump finished off his post by lashing out at Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, a Republican whose office successfully put Peters in prison for a nine-year sentence.

“To the Scumbag Governor, and the disgusting ‘Republican’ (RINO!) DA, who did this to her (nothing happens to the Dems and their phony Mail In Ballot System that makes it impossible for a Republican to win an otherwise very winnable State!), I wish them only the worst,” Trump wrote. “May they rot in Hell. FREE TINA PETERS!”

'Trump is a disgrace': Gavin Newsom's press office rips into president over water bill

Ewan Gleadow
December 31, 2025

RAW STORY


U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order on tariffs, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Gavin Newsom's Press Office has branded Donald Trump a "disgrace" after the president vetoed a new water bill.

In a string of posts made to X, the Governor of California's official X account backed GOP representative Lauren Boebert's statement regarding a bill that, if passed, would have given clean drinking water to Southeast Colorado. A statement released by the Republican Party rep, who earlier this year challenged Trump to release the Epstein files, criticised the president and his administration for disregarding rural Americans.

Boebert's statement reads, "President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously. Why? Because nothing says 'America First' like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in Southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections."

"I must have missed the rally where he stood in Colorado and promised to personally derail critical water infrastructure projects. My bad, I thought the campaign was about lowering costs and cutting red tape."

"But hey, if this administration wants to make its legacy blocking projects that deliver water to rural Americans; that's on them."

Newsom's Press Office had already criticised the decision from Trump to veto the bill, with a post depicting Trump as a member of royalty shared. The image is captioned, "NO WATER FOR YOU PEASANTS, I NEED TO PUNISH YOU FOR A POLITICAL GRUDGE!"

A repost of Bobert's statement from the Press Office also added comment from the Governor of California's team. It reads, "We’re with Lauren Boebert on this one. Trump is a disgrace."

Boebert would end her statement by laying out her hopes that this was not "political retaliation" for demanding the release of the Epstein files.

She wrote, "And I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability. Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics."

'That's on them!' MAGA rep goes scorched earth on Trump for vetoing state's vital project

Robert Davis
December 30, 2025

RAW STORY

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) arrives at the the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 11, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard


Firebrand Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) went scorched earth on President Donald Trump on Tuesday after he vetoed a water project in her state.

According to a statement Boebert's office shared with journalist Kyle Clark, the Trump administration unilaterally vetoed a "non-controversial, bipartisan bill" for a pipeline project that would have provided clean drinking water to more than 50,000 people in southeastern Colorado. Boebert questioned the timing of the move, considering that she was one of the lawmakers who crossed the aisle to vote on a petition to force Trump to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

"Nothing says 'America First' like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in southeastern Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for [Trump] in the last three elections," Boebert's statement reads in part.

"I must have missed the part of the rally where he stood in Colorado and promised to personally derail critical water infrastructure projects," Boebert added. "My bad, I thought the campaign was about lowering costs and cutting red tape. But hey, if this administration wants to make its legacy blocking projects that deliver water to rural Americans, that's on them."

Boebert also suggested that the veto may have been politically motivated.

"And I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability," she said. "Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics."

Boebert suggests Trump's veto of funding in her district is 'retaliation' for Epstein vote

Rep. Lauren Boebert in Grapevine, Texas in June 2023 (Gage Skidmore)

Adam Lynch 

December 30, 2025

ALTERNET


Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is accusing President Donald Trump of blocking a non-controversial water project affecting her district after the lawmaker challenged Trump to force the release of the Epstein files in November.

“… Trump decided to veto … a bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously. Why? Because nothing says ‘America First’ like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in Southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections,” Boebert said, according to Colorado news reporter Kyle Clark. “… I sincerely hope this veto has nothing to do with political retaliation for calling out corruption and demanding accountability. Americans deserve leadership that puts people over politics.”

“I thought the [Trump] campaign was about lowering costs and cutting red tape,” Boebert added.

More specifically, Trump vetoed a bill to fund a pipeline project to bring clean drinking water to communities on the Eastern Plains between Colorado’s Pueblo and Lamar cities, according to 9 News. The president’s veto of the “Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) Act,” which passed unanimously in the House and Senate, is Trump’s first veto of his second term.

In his veto letter, Trump wrote: "My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies. Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation."

But Colorado Democrats joined Boebert in accusing Trump of vetoing the project over petty grievance and vengeance, with Clark reporting Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) accused the president of “playing partisan games and punishing Colorado by making rural communities suffer without clean drinking water."

Clark also reported U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) saying “This is payback because Colorado won't bend to his corruption. It's weak, it's dangerous, and it's un-American."

Social media on X blasted Boebert for not seeing the alleged betrayal coming, with one X user writing: “Another person who blindly supported the face-eating leopard is ranting now that the leopard’s eaten her face.”

“That feeling when you realize you were dating a bully,” posted another commenter on X.

Having passed unanimously, Congress could potentially override Trump’s veto should Trump’s Republican Party find the strength to defy him.

Read the 9 News report at this link.

10 Good Things That Happened in 2025

I hope you can look back on 2025 as the year movements for peace and justice freed political prisoners, slowed the war machine, and helped turn the public against endless wars.


People react following the first results of the referendum in Quito on November 16, 2025 as Ecuadoran voters appeared poised on November 16, 2025, to reject the return of US military bases, according to early referendum results, a damaging blow to Trump-friendly President Daniel Noboa.
(Photo by Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images)

Medea Benjamin
Dec 31, 2025

Common Dreams


It’s true—2025 has been a hard year. It’s easy to focus on the disasters, and there have been many. But we also had real victories that moved us closer to a better world. Here are some of my highlights from 2025.

1. Israel Was Forced to Negotiate a Ceasefire

In October, a ceasefire agreement was reached in Gaza, though it would be a lie to call it an end to the genocide we’ve all been witnessing for over two years. Still, the pause matters because it reveals what Israel could not achieve. Israel failed to break the Palestinian people or erase them from their land. It was forced to negotiate. It also gave us one of the rare moments where we saw videos coming out of Gaza with Palestinians celebrating in the streets, and feeling a little bit of relief for the first time in a long time. Yes, the Israelis are violating the ceasefire every day, Palestinians continue to suffer, and the “Peace Plan” passed by the United Nations is a sham. But the fact that Israel was unable to accomplish its goal of defeating and expelling the Palestinians—and instead had to negotiate—is in itself a testament to the power of both the Palestinians and their supporters throughout the world.

2. Mahmoud Khalil Is Free

In June, after months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was freed! We got to see him at the People’s Conference for Palestine, and he’s been in action ever since. From the moment he was first detained, the Palestine solidarity movement never stopped demanding his freedom. We knew that if we allowed this to happen to Mahmoud, it could happen to any one of us. His freedom is a testament to the power we all have when we stand together and have a clear demand. The same goes for Turkish student Rümeysa Öztürk, Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri, Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi, and British Journalist Sami Hamdi—all were freed from ICE’s grip due to mounting public pressure.

3. Majority of Americans Are Against War

Polls came out all year in the US that proved that people inside the belly of the beast are becoming more and more anti-war! Whether the conflicts are in Ukraine, Gaza, or Venezuela, the people of the US are sick and tired of their country going to war. This, if people take action on their beliefs, this will have huge implications for the US war machine! The anti-war movement is growing, and we have the power of the people behind us!

4. People Came Together to Protest ICE Raids and Support Immigrants

From Washington, DC to Chicago to Los Angeles, people across the country have been rising up to reject the unjust and illegal ICE raids ripping through our communities. As ICE agents terrorized grocery stores, elementary schools, and neighborhoods, communities responded by forming rapid-response networks to document abuses, provide legal support, and protect those being targeted. This collective resistance has been an inspiring expression of humanity in action—proof that when President Donald Trump’s administration pushes fear, racism, and a fascist agenda, people come together in solidarity to defend one another and fight back.


5. Zohran Mamdani Will Be the Mayor of the Largest US City

Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the NYC mayoral race was fueled by the Palestine movement and the collective mobilization of hundreds of thousands who are unwilling to be swayed by centrist, big-money interests and are ready for a new system. His win has already inspired others to run for office on a similar platform, showing how campaigns that speak to people’s needs can break through. Mamdani now inherits a seat at the heart of the war economy—presiding over the largest police department in the country and a city with deep political and financial ties to Israel. That reality makes his victory not an endpoint, but an opening: a chance to push demands for divestment and a peace economy to the center of city politics, and to turn the energy of his campaign into sustained, collective action—in the streets, in organizing spaces, and at the ballot box.

6. Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza Makes History

For the first time in recent history, the Global Sumud Flotilla sailed into Gaza’s waters and came close to breaking the blockade! I was so inspired by the selfless activists, including my friend Adnaan Stumo and his brother Tor, who set sail to Gaza despite great personal risk. The Global Sumud Flotilla was the largest flotilla in history, and even though Israel arrested and detained dozens of brave humanitarians, their souls weren’t shaken. Another Gaza flotilla will soon set sail again, unintimidated by Israel’s threats!

7. AIPAC Is Losing Power

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s grip is starting to crack, with a growing number of candidates openly rejecting its money. Even more striking, some AIPAC-backed members of Congress defied the lobby this year—voting against its positions and infuriating a group long used to unquestioned loyalty. More and more people are waking up to AIPAC’s influence over our government, and are calling for a widespread rejection of it!

8. Mexico’s Woman President Shows What Principled Leadership Looks Like

Overseas, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first woman president, has delivered bold progress at home—expanding public education, investing in clean energy, and strengthening labor rights and social programs that put working families first. When Trump tried to bully Mexico with tariff threats and demanded that Mexico play border cop, Sheinbaum defended Mexico’s sovereignty with competence, dignity, and a refreshing refusal to be intimidated. And when Trump blocked Venezuelan tankers from delivering oil to Cuba, Mexico stepped in to supply its own oil—a clear act of solidarity that showed what principled leadership looks like on the world stage.

9. Ecuador Rejects US Military Base

At a moment when the US is openly reviving the Monroe Doctrine in Latin America, Ecuador held a national referendum—and nearly 60% of voters said no to reopening a US military base on Ecuadorian soil. By rejecting a foreign base, Ecuadorians asserted their sovereignty and made clear they refuse to be a launchpad for US wars. Even amid a rightward political swing across the region, this vote shows that organized people can still block militarization and defend their self-determination.

10. US and Chinese Citizens Chose Connection Over Fear

This year offered a rare and hopeful reminder of how quickly walls can fall when people are allowed to meet one another as human beings. From the warmth and curiosity circulating on RedNote to iShowSpeed’s unfiltered encounters, a wave of everyday, people-to-people exchanges cut through political fear-mongering and brought Americans and Chinese together around shared humanity. In these small but powerful connections, the image of China as an “enemy” began to fade, replaced by curiosity and connection—and for the first time in five years, the number of Americans who consider China an enemy has dropped by nearly 10%.

I hope you can look back on 2025 as the year movements for peace and justice freed political prisoners, slowed the war machine, and helped turn the public against endless wars. Even in the hardest moments, that’s how I’ll choose to remember it. And I hope 2026 brings us closer to the world we all want to see.


Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


Medea Benjamin
Medea Benjamin is co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She is the co-author, with Nicolas J.S. Davies, of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, available from OR Books in November 2022. Other books include, "Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran" (2018); "Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection" (2016); "Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control" (2013); "Don't Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart" (1989), and (with Jodie Evans) "Stop the Next War Now" (2005).
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Sanders Backs Push for Billionaire Tax in California as Newsom Raises Money to Fight It

“Yes: We need a wealth tax on billionaires,” said US Sen. Bernie Sanders.


US Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to a crowd in Los Angeles on April 12, 2025.
(Photo by Sam Ghazi/Middle East Images via AFP)

Jake Johnson
Dec 31, 2025
COMMON DREAMS


US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday endorsed an effort in California to impose a one-time tax on the wealth of the state’s billionaires, a grassroots campaign that has drawn opposition from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and powerful investors.

Sanders (I-Vt.) said the proposed ballot initiative, which is currently in the signature-gathering phase, “is a model that should be emulated throughout the country.” The senator said he plans to introduce a proposal for a national wealth tax in the near future.

Gavin Newsom Wants a ‘Big Tent Party,’ But Opposes Wealth Tax Supported by Large Majority of Americans

Khanna Hits Back as Silicon Valley Oligarchs Threaten Primary Challenge Over California Billionaires Tax

“In my view, in a democratic society, we cannot continue to tolerate a rigged economy in which 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck—struggling to pay for housing, food, and healthcare while the top 1% now owns more wealth than the bottom 93%,” Sanders said in a statement posted to social media. “We must not continue a trend in which, over the past 50 years, $79 trillion in wealth in our country has been redistributed from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.”

If placed on the November 2026 ballot and approved by voters, the California Billionaire Tax Act would levy a single 5% tax on the wealth of the roughly 200 billionaires who reside in the state. Those subject to the tax would have the option of paying the amount owed all at once or over a period of five years.

Organizers say the measure would generate $100 billion in revenue, which the state could use to avert a looming healthcare crisis fueled by the unprecedented Medicaid cuts that US President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans enacted over the summer.




“California is facing massive federal healthcare cuts—$20 to $30 billion a year for the next five years,” said Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff of Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, a top supporter of the proposed ballot initiative.

“The billionaire tax would raise dollar-for-dollar emergency funding of $100 billion through a one-time 5% tax on the worldwide net worth of California’s billionaires,” Jimenez added. “Any reductions in state income tax would be negligible in comparison to the billions that will be raised by the billionaire tax. And billionaires would still be taxed at lower rates than were in effect under President Reagan.”

“We need a tax system that demands that the billionaire class finally pays their fair share of taxes.”

Last week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta formally issued the title and summary of the proposed initiative as prominent billionaires—including Peter Thiel and Larry Page—threatened to leave the state over the measure, which would apply retroactively to those living in California as of January 1, 2026. Thiel is facing a potential $1.2 billion tax, while Page would have to pay roughly $12 billion.

The New York Times reported last week that Newsom, “who has been close with people like Mr. Page, is raising money for a committee to oppose the measure.”

“The committee received a $100,000 donation from the venture capitalist Ron Conway in November, according to state campaign finance records,” the Times added.

Other lawmakers from the state are supporting the measure, including US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who represents Silicon Valley.

Sanders, in his Tuesday statement, applauded Khanna, saying he is “absolutely right to support this effort.”

“From a moral, economic, and political perspective, our nation will not thrive when so few own so much while so many have so little,” said Sanders. “We need a tax system that demands that the billionaire class finally pays their fair share of taxes.”

LIBERAL WISHFUL THINKING

How Billionaires of Conscience Can Use Their Wealth to Take Down Trump

The Super Rich are sitting on trillions of dollars of “dead money.” It only takes a few dozen of them to save the Republic with “live money” comprising a fraction of 1% of their assets.

Thousands of demonstrators flood the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina on Flag Day, which also marks the 250th anniversary of the US Army, to protest against President Donald Trump on June 14, 2025.
(Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Ralph Nader
Dec 31, 2025

Common Dreams


There are reportedly about 900 billionaires (probably more) in the US About 5% can be described as enlightened people who know the importance of contributing to organizations that advance justice. They are also appalled by the Trump dictatorship and are not placated simply because he gave them tax cuts, deregulation, and maybe corporate welfare. On their minds is the well-being and freedoms of millions of their fellow Americans, whose lives are being cruelly and viciously wrecked by President Donald Trump, as he destroys the federal civil service.

I’ve talked with some of these very rich people (VRP) and heard them say they want to get engaged, so appalled are they by the lawless, egomaniacal, self-enriching, violent plutocrat Trump and his dump. Trump and COMPANY are only going to get MUCH WORSE. What follows are some suggestions on how the VRPs can get underway.

’

1. Sponsor a massive day of protest demanding the impeachment or resignation of Tyrant Trump. More will turn out than did the 7 million Americans marching in hundreds of communities under the “No Kings” banner. A growing majority of people already want this to happen.

With skilled management and verification, these marchers can be asked to take out their iPhones and contribute what they can to create strong local groups that resist Trump’s ongoing wreckage of our basic social safety net; our regulatory health, safety, and economic protections; and our voting rights against Trumpian planned interference in the 2026 elections. Even with just an average of a $10 contribution, at least $100 million would be raised on the protest day to give Americans daily organized power to focus on the White House’s outlawry, violent actions, and thievery. People organizing where they live, work, and raise their families is the first step to reclaiming our democracy.

2. Sponsor a group to counter Trump’s shattering of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), firing thousands of staff responding to calls by middle-class taxpayers, and hundreds of highly skilled accountants and lawyers working on many cases of giant tax evasions by big corporations and the super rich. Many of these cases have been dropped, and the already starved IRS budget was cut sharply by the Trumpsters.


This project can be ably assisted by seven outspoken former IRS directors from both parties who have already testified and written open letters warning that the shoe will heavily drop next year, with tens of billions of uncollected dollars adding to the federal deficit and, worse, longer delays for taxpayers’ inquiries. (See, “More Tax Breaks For the Wealthy” by Jesse Drucker, New York Times, November 10, 2025).

3. Take on the further shredding of our preparedness toward climate violence and “not if, but when” pandemics (see, The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics by Dr. Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olshaker). This should be an easy one to organize and fund with advocates by the VRP. Trump is boosting oil, gas, and coal (the sources of omnicidal greenhouse gases) while crazily doing whatever he can to depress or stop commercial solar energy and wind energy projects. The project would have the public health and scientific professions as well as the solar industry behind it.

4. This White House project is bold because the VRP know they would be assailed by Tyrant Trump. But the case against his extortion of companies, law firms, and universities, forcing them to engage in bribery if they comply with his unlawful demands, is powerfully grounded. Trump—the Bully-in-Chief—likes to dish out the slander and libel, calling for the impeachment of any judge ruling against his misrule, and naming other critical law enforcers as “deranged,” “crazy,” “communist,” “crooked,” “low IQ,” and more. A drive to counter these slurs and hurl some back at Trump would drive this thin-skinned Fuhrer to more self-immolating performances, further lowering his dropping polls.

5. A broad-ranging counterforce can cover the largest shutdown of federal agencies and programs in American history. Vastly immobilized from their congressionally mandated missions are the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Education, and the US Agency for International Development. The latter’s illegal abolition is already costing many lives lost overseas, endangering millions of children and adults who are without medicines, food supplements, shelter, and safe drinking water. All kinds of other mandated missions have been cut at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, NOAA (weather research and forecasting), US Department of Agriculture, assistance to people with disabilities, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, AmeriCorps, Medicaid, and food programs for tens of millions of Americans, and much more.

6. There are very-rich corporate and plaintiff tort lawyers who could address the slumber of the 50-state Bar Associations and the American Bar Association. They are supposed to be the First Responders to the destruction of the Rule of Law and our Constitution by the Rule of Raw Power criminal attacks by the Trump regime. Recall Trump’s 2019 declaration, “With Article II, I can do whatever I want as President,” which he is exhibiting every day with his brazen, boasting serial violations and blatant racism.

Waking up the legal profession would receive support from both lawyers who see themselves as Republicans or Democrats. They just need jump-start leadership—as the lessons of reformist history demonstrate time and time again. (See our letter to the Bar Associations.)

7. Finally, a prostrate GOP-dominated Congress is facilitating or enabling, contrary to their sworn vows to uphold the Constitution and the faithful execution of the laws, the deepening fascist state driven by the White House’s seizure of authority exclusively given to Congress by our Founding Fathers. This project would activate the grassroots, which has been calling for strong action at Town Meetings nationwide.

The Super Rich are sitting on trillions of dollars of “dead money.” It only takes a few dozen of them to save the Republic with “live money” comprising a fraction of 1% of their assets. Most of them are looking over their shoulder to see who takes the first steps.

Who takes the first steps? Aristotle had the answer over 2,000 years ago. He said, “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.”



Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate and the author of "The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas for Our American Future" (2012). His new book is, "Wrecking America: How Trump's Lies and Lawbreaking Betray All" (2020, co-authored with Mark Green).
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