Saturday Report 6/28/25 — Don’t let this happen to us: The “Spiral of Silence” is invading America…

The Best of the Rest of the News

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Unless breaking news intervenes, I’ll be on MSNBC with Ali Velshi this morning at 10:30 AM ET, 7:30 AM PT.

Also, my new book The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink is available for presale.

— Has The Supreme Court dealt a “deathblow to the rule of law?” Six radical, on-the-take Republicans on the Supreme Court have ruled that federal judges can no longer stop the Trump administration from committing crimes unless and until the cases reach the nation’s top court itself. NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray noted in an appearance on MSNBC, “So make no mistake about this. The court has given this administration an enormous win. They have [tied] one hand behind the backs of those who are trying to fight against this administration, and they have dealt a deathblow to the rule of law.” In their dissents, both Justices Jackson and Sotomayor essentially called out their rightwing colleagues as neofascist toadies of a wannabe dictator. As Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, openly calling her Republican colleagues “lawless”: “Yet the order’s patent unlawfulness reveals the gravity of the majority’s error and underscores why equity supports universal injunctions as appropriate remedies in this kind of case.” The Republicans on the Court also ruled that even though gay marriage is fully legal and the law of the land (and widely accepted), it’s an infringement of the religious rights of people subscribing to bigoted sects of Christianity, Islam, etc. (the complainants were Muslim) to expose their children to a story about two men who fall in love. The racist and homophobic zealots on this Court are determined to inflict their bizarre notions of morality on every American family in complete defiance of our Founders.

— Trump has decided that it’s a crime to be unpatriotic and has also proclaimed the you have to be loyal to him to be patriotic. The good news is the fightback. Trump is threatening to sue The New York Times and CNN over what he calls “unpatriotic reporting” that revealed his exaggerations about the “obliteration” of the Iranian nuclear program. The Times answered with a no-nonsense, “No apology will be forthcoming.” Bullying the press is the first and most dangerous hallmark of a fascist regime attempting to end democracy in a free nation. Hopefully our press will continue to hold the line against these efforts at intimidation.

— Have Republicans reached the point of no return, no matter what they do? Outside of the pathetic cultists who only watch Fox “News” and consume rightwing radio and social media, most Americans now know that Republicans in Congress are planning to remove over 10 million people from Medicaid and hit Medicare with a huge mandatory cut just to help pay for another $5 trillion tax gift (also funded with borrowed money our kids will repay) to their billionaire donors. This widespread knowledge is becoming a problem for the GOP, with Republican senators like Thom Tillis (who at least knows how to spell his name right!) worrying out loud it could cost them the House and Senate in the 2026 elections. The big question is whether people who’re just marginally paying attention but know about the tax cut scam will even realize if congressional Republicans back away from gutting healthcare. Odds are that perception is now well-baked-in, which could double the danger to these clowns next fall.

— California Governor Gavin Newsom goes to war against Fox and Trump. Following in the footsteps of Dominion Voting Systems, who won a $787 million damages settlement from the billionaire-owned propaganda operation, Newsom is now suing Fox “News” for the same $787 million for defaming him by repeating lies Trump had told on the network about his conversations with the governor. Democrats across the nation are increasingly desperate for leaders who’ll stand up to Republicans and Newsom has positioned himself at the front of that pack, increasing his odds of winning the 2028 Democratic presidential primary. Good on him!

— Now that Musk, Big Balls, and his merry band have fired so many people from the Social Security Administration that people are experiencing days-long wait times to sign up for benefits, the agency has stopped reporting wait times. Because of course they would; they don’t want Americans to know how badly they’ve kneecapped the organization in their zeal to gut “socialism” and reduce government expenses to pay for more tax gifts to the billionaires who fund the GOP. As Alex Lawson, President of Social Security Works and a regular guest on my program, told The Washington Post: “If they think this lack of transparency will fool the American people, they’re in for a surprise. People notice when they can’t get an appointment because their local field office has lost half its staff. When checks and decisions are delayed. When they get the runaround from an AI chatbot on the phone, instead of getting to talk to a real person.” The danger here is that Republicans are correct in believing that if they can destroy the quality of Social Security’s service then people will gladly submit to the agency being privatized and taken over by a massive bank with GOP ties. The key to preventing this is public outrage: tell everybody you know about this nefarious scheme to steal our retirement funds and hand them off to banksters.

— Goodbye to a hero: Bill Moyers (1934-2025). Some years ago, I spent a weekend with Bill Moyers and his wife at the Vermont home of Lyn and Norman Lear; it was an exhilarating experience and Bill didn’t disappoint. His insightful and thoughtful questions and comments made for fascinating meals and conversations. He’s also been a guest on my program. A true giant of journalism and thought leader has passed away, and the world is poorer for it.

— Self-censorship: Don’t let this happen to us. The “Spiral of Silence” is a term sociologists have come up with to describe what happens when a political party constantly goes on the attack and characterizes its opponents as evil, enemies of the people, and less-than-human (“scum”) so people simply stop discussing politics. Professor James Gibson documents how this happens in countries when the political dialogue is polluted by this type of near-violent rhetoric, and recent surveys find it’s happening here in the US now. It’s a dangerous sign, and when it goes full-blown it makes it far easier for dictators and authoritarians to do their dirty work. So…keep speaking up!