As of the time of this writing, the United States has more than 690,000 cases of COVID-19; more than Italy, Spain, Germany, and France—combined. So far, those cases have resulted in over 35,000 deaths — a greater loss of American life than 9/11, the American Revolution, the War on Terror, and by the time you read this it may have passed the Korean War (36,574).

The COVID-19 virus arose in China in late 2019, but the pandemic that is gripping our country, crushing our economy, and killing our citizens began much earlier.

The following is a timeline, both of the coronavirus and the administration’s failure to anticipate, react to, and take seriously the outbreak that will come to define the Trump Presidency.

2018

Feb. 13 — Director of National Intelligence warns of vulnerability to pandemic

A novel strain of a virulent microbe that is easily transmissible between humans continues to be a major threat, with pathogens such as H5N1 and H7N9 influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus having pandemic potential if they were to acquire efficient human-to-human transmissibility.

May 7 — CDC warns US not ready for the next pandemic

“Are we ready to respond to a pandemic?” asked Dr. Luciana Borio, who was head of the since dissolved global health section of the National Security Council.

Dr. Borio answered her own question: “I fear the answer is no.” She was discussing the influenza but could have just as easily been referencing the coronavirus, given the similarities between the two infections.

May 10 — Trump disbands White House pandemic response team.

The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton.

The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer’s departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack.

2019

July —Trump’s trade war ends US/Chinese PREDICT program for infectious disease prevention.

Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Trump administration eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters has learned.

“It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Bao-Ping Zhu, a Chinese American who served in that role, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2007 and 2011. “If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster.”

October — Trump Administration failed, then concealed, an assessment of its ability to respond to a COVID-19-like pandemic

The simulation’s sobering results — contained in a draft report dated October 2019 that has not previously been reported — drove home just how underfunded, underprepared and uncoordinated the federal government would be for a life-or-death battle with a virus for which no treatment existed.

The draft report, marked “not to be disclosed,” laid out in stark detail repeated cases of “confusion” in the exercise. Federal agencies jockeyed over who was in charge. State officials and hospitals struggled to figure out what kind of equipment was stockpiled or available. Cities and states went their own ways on school closings.

Nov. 17 — Patient Zero infected with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China

Dec. 31 — AP Reports “China investigates respiratory illness outbreak sickening 27”

Unverified information online said the illnesses were caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [Ed: COVID-19 is a SARS variant virus], which emerged from southern China and killed more than 700 people in several countries and regions. SARS was brought under control through quarantines and other extreme measures, but not before causing a virtual shutdown to travel in China and the region and taking a severe toll on the economy.

2020

Jan. 8 — CDC issues first warning of “Pneumonia of Unknown Etiology” in Wuhan, China

Jan. 21 — First case of COVID-19 in the United States

A case of the new coronavirus from China has been confirmed in a patient just north of Seattle, federal health officials said Tuesday. The mysterious pneumonia-like illness has killed at least six people and sickened hundreds of others in Asia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Jan. 22 — President Trump says he has a plan to deal with Covid-19

Q: Mr. President, do you have a plan to contain the coronavirus in the U.S.?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We do have a plan, and we think it’s going to be handled very well. We’ve already handled it very well. CDC has been terrific. Very great professionals. And we’re in very good shape. And I think China is in very good shape also.

It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.

Feb. 2 — Trump: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China”

Feb. 3 — U.S. reports more than 10 cases of COVID-19, Trump Administration ignores U.S. Army warnings about Covid-19

A month after the Army’s briefing, on March 4, President Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that the World Health Organization’s coronavirus death estimate of 3.4 percent of cases was a “false number,” since it contradicted a “hunch” he had. “It’s not that severe,” the president said.

Feb. 17 — Trump Administration flies a plane loaded with COVID-19 patients into the United States over CDC objections

The infected passengers had no symptoms and could be segregated on the plane in a plastic-lined enclosure. But officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disagreed, contending they could still spread the virus. The CDC believed the 14 should not be flown back with uninfected passengers.

The State Department won the argument. But unhappy CDC officials demanded to be left out of the news release that explained that infected people were being flown back to the United States — a move that would nearly double the number of known coronavirus cases in this country.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!

“And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” — President Trump. February 26, 2020

Feb. 29 — First US death from COVID-19

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

A Poll in today's New York Post says that 77% of "U.S. adults have confidence in their government's ability to handle the Coronavirus (Number One), compared to other health threats." 64% for Zika, 58% for Ebola. Others way down on list. Our professionals are doing a great job!

Mar. 2 — US reports more than 50 cases of COVID-19

“You take a solid flu vaccine — you don’t think that would have an impact or much of an impact on corona?” — President Trump. March 2nd, 2020

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, "The risk is low to the average American.

Mar. 5 — US reports more than 150 cases of COVID-19

Mar. 6 — Trump claims CDC tests are “perfect” and “millions” are on the way

“Anybody that needs a test gets a test; they’re there, they have the tests, and the tests are beautiful,” Trump told reporters during the visit, touting the administration’s response as more than 270 cases of the virus were confirmed across more than two dozen states as of Friday.

“The tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect, the transcription was perfect, right?” he added later. “This was not as perfect as that, but pretty good.”

“It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” — President Trump. March 10th, 2020.

Mar. 11 — US reports more than 1,200 cases of COVID-19; daily fatalities from COVID-19 exceed Benghazi attack.

Mar. 12 — BBC reports “manufacturing defects” with CDC tests; US “declined to use” WHO tests.

The US declined to use a test approved by the World Health Organization in January — instead, the CDC developed its own coronavirus test. However, there were manufacturing defects with the initial CDC tests which meant many of the results were inconclusive.

Mar. 13 — COVID-19 Declared a National Emergency; 50 Americans dead

“This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic” — President Trump. March 17th, 2020

Mar. 21 — More Americans lost to COVID-19 (346) than died in Gulf War (294)

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!

Mar. 24— US reports more than 50,000 cases of COVID-19

“You can call it a germ, you can call it a flu, you can call it a virus. You know, you can call it many different names. I’m not sure anybody even knows what it is” — President Trump. March 27th, 2020

Mar. 29 — More Americans lost to COVID-19 (2517) than died in the D-Day invasion (2500)

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of 'The Bachelor.' Numbers are continuing to rise...

Apr. 11 — U.S. reports more than 500,000 cases of COVID-19

Apr. 15 — President Trump threatens to defund the World Health Organization

“I am directing my administration to halt funding while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus”

Apr. 17 — Trump encourages right-wing coalitions rallying to end lockdown restrictions amid coronavirus pandemic

LIBERATE MICHIGAN!

LIBERATE MINNESOTA!

Now What?

Remember that chart? The one at the beginning of this article? Every single country on that chart had the exact same information the United States had. The World Health Organization didn’t drop the ball here; the Trump administration did.

And not just once. Over, and over, and over again the Trump Presidency preferred fiction to fact, charlatans to scientists, and pettiness to preparedness. The consequences of those decisions are ones that Americans can’t live with… we have to bury them.

What Can I Do?

First, please stay at home if you can, and follow the CDC guidelines for slowing the spread. Get important Covid-19 related information for your state on Resistbot with the COVID keyword. Everything from state statistics to school closures to mental health assistance to unemployment is there.

Second, we need every American to reach out to their elected officials. Congress needs to defend themselves as a co-equal branch of American government. Funding for the World Health Organization was allocated by Congress; funding or defunding it is not the President’s decision. You can remind them of that by sending CONGRESS to Resistbot.

State governors need to assert their rights to continue to flatten the curve. No matter how much Mr. Trump may want to re-open the country to bump the stock market up, the lives of tens-of-thousands of Americans are at stake. Mr Trump can not compel states to lift their stay at home orders and the governors must stand firm. You can write your state government by sending STATE to Resisbot.

Never used the bot before? Just sent one of the keywords above to Resistbot on iMessage, Messenger, Telegram, as a Twitter direct message, or old-fashioned SMS at 50409.

The Postal Service is in danger. The change in the daily patterns of life brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic has hit USPS revenue especially hard, but Americans depend on the USPS more than ever in these troubled times. As a result, the Postal Service and its more-than-600,000 employees are looking at financial insolvency by September.

The federal government could do something to help, but President Trump refuses to do so. His administration has actually threatened to veto pandemic relief legislation if it helps the Post Office. Let me just say that again in larger type:

The Trump administration has threatened to veto pandemic relief legislation if it supports the Post Office.

It’s challenging to overstate how crazy this is. The Post Office enables the social distancing efforts that have brought millions of Americans together to help contain the spread of COVID-19. They’re delivering letters to grandma, bills, tax-payments, even toilet paper. In fact, the Post Office is so vital it’s one of the few functions of government that’s called out by name in the Constitution: Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 empowers Congress to “To establish Post Offices and Post Roads.”

So why is the Trump administration opposed to helping out the Post Office? There are two possible reasons and they’re both infuriating.

First, Trump has a long-standing grudge against both Jeff Bezos and the Postal Service. Bezos owns Amazon as well as the Washington Post and the Post hasn’t hesitated to call out the President for his incompetence, corruption, and fundamental indecency. Trump has long harbored a conspiracy theory that the Post Office gives Amazon unreasonably preferential rates for… reasons… and that many of the Post Office’s financial problems could be solved by raising rates.

Second, and perhaps more relevant to our current situation, you can’t do vote-by-mail without a Post Office. Vote-by-mail seems to be a logical way to hold elections in this time of pandemic but everyone understands that this will increase voter turnout. Even Republicans acknowledge that voter-turnout is bad for the GOP, so sabotaging the Post Office provides a great way to prevent a national vote-by-mail campaign from gaining traction by November.

The result will be a repeat of Wisconsin — where more than 90% of urban (read Democrat-leaning) polling places are closed and turnout is suppressed by pandemic fears. Many of those who do turn out to vote will get sick. Some will die. And the GOP leadership will happily accept this outcome if it leads to electoral victories for Republicans.

What Can I Do?

You can write Congress and demand that it stand up to President Trump. If Trump wants to hold the entire country hostage because he’s unwilling to help the Post Office out — an institution beloved, especially now, by millions of Americans — then the least Congress can do is give him the opportunity to do so.

Democrats must commit now to fully supporting the Post Office and a national vote by mail campaign. You can join more than 100,000 of your fellow citizens and ask Congress to support the Post Office by texting, messaging, or tweeting USPS to Resistbot on SMS at 50409, iMessage, Facebook Messenger, or Twitter.

It takes 2 minutes to send your support. 💌👊🤖

There’s a story in the Washington Post that describes the failures that have brought the United States to the place we are now — a quarter-million COVID-19 cases and a thousand deaths a day. Those failures lay squarely at the feet of Donald Trump. As a president, as a leader, and as a person, he has failed the American people. His failure will cost more American their lives than our wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, and Vietnam… combined.

Those Americans will be buried beneath the avalanche of Mr Trump’s failures: failure to heed CDC warnings about repatriating sick Americans, failure to properly quarantine repatriated COVID patients, failure to stockpile medical supplies, but most of all failure to act when they saw what was coming.

And yet, it took 70 days from that initial notification for Trump to treat the coronavirus not as a distant threat or harmless flu strain well under control, but as a lethal force that had outflanked America’s defenses and was poised to kill tens of thousands of citizens. That more-than-two-month stretch now stands as critical time that was squandered.

More than 70 days ago the alarms were blaring in the President’s daily briefings and Mr. Trump did nothing. Worse than nothing — he mocked and scorned those who suggested that an emergent virus burning through China could be a threat to American lives.

70 Days. Nearly two months. Rewind the clock 70 days. Imagine instead a chief executive without the hubris to spit in the face of science. Imagine a President with the humility to trust experts. Imagine a leader who believed in the power of government to do good and so supported it rather than tearing it down.

70 days. Imagine what could have been done in those 70 days. We could have ramped up ventilator manufacturing, built field hospitals, begun stockpiling PPE. We could have accepted the World Health Organization’s test offers while seriously investing in domestic test production as well. We could have instituted shelter at home orders sooner instead of discrediting those policies at every turn.

Instead we did none of those things. And now the President of the United States is claiming that if he does everything perfectly we will still see more than 200,000 American souls lost to Mr. Trump’s pandemic. Worse, he’ll expect praise for such a ghastly “accomplishment.”

It didn’t have to be this way. It should never have been this way. This blood — oceans of it, coughed from the lungs of our parents, our children, and our grandparents — is on this administration’s, this President’s hands.

And we will not forget.

They knew. They knew for 70 days. They knew, and they did nothing.

What Can I Do?

You can remember. When this administration and the one after it have faded into the history books, you can remember the thousands upon thousands of lives lost to the incompetence, arrogance, and willful disregard for knowledge and decency that dwells at the heart of this administration. Then you can do everything in your power to ensure that those that stood up to be counted with them never stain the doorstep of another public office as long as they live.

In the meantime, you can vote. You can write to Congress, to your State Government, to anyone who will listen and demand justice. You can scream from the rooftops that this atrocity of inadequacy will not stand. Resistbot can help with that. Just text, message, or tweet RESIST to Resistbot on SMS at 50409, Facebook Messenger, or Twitter.

Mr Trump once quipped that he could kill someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and not lose a single vote.

Well, this is 5th Avenue today; in November, we’ll see if he was right.

For somehow this is tyranny’s disease, to trust no friends. — Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound

For a guy that lived more than 2500 years ago, Aeschylus was certainly prescient about our present reality of social distancing. Covid19 is spreading rapidly through the US population and while China has managed to get the disease under control, the United States is foundering in the deficits of our national leadership.

The numbers don’t lie. This is a hockey-stick-shaped curve. The further it rises the steeper it becomes. It is accelerating upwards. Already that fact and the numbers which they imply leave our minds numb with shock. So let me put this in cold, political terms.

Today is March 27th. At the time of this writing, 401 Americans have died from Covid19 today. That’s 107 more than perished in the First Gulf War against Iraq.

Tomorrow, if the trends hold, another 536 will die and the day after that about 670. Monday will see 870 deaths and the last day of March will mark the first day in which more than 1000 Americans die from this disease.

Those four days will represent a greater loss of American life than the D-day invasion. The next four will see more Americans die than perished in the Guadalcanal campaign in WWII. The next four will surpass the loss of American life in the American Revolution.

Together those twelve days will dwarf the American lives lost in the Korean War. All three years of it.

The scale of a pandemic is brutal and it is hard to imagine the horrible work that hockey-stick shaped curve does until we are already too far along it to stop it.

But we are not.

Numerous states are already implementing Social Distancing measures and every day more are extending that policy to one of Shelter In Place. Such policies will likely save a minimum of 100,000 lives and may save many times that number. The time to act is now and it is not too late.

Write your Governor. Write your state legislators. Write the House and the Senate. Write the President of the United States and demand Shelter In Place policies.

We can beat this thing. We can flatten the curve, slow the spread of the virus, and conserve our hospital beds, ventilators, PPE, and anti-viral drugs so that no American who fights Covid19 fights alone.

But to do that we need to treat this like the threat it is. We need to act now.

What Can I Do?

Given the gravity of this situation and the importance of swift action, we’ve wired up a petition you can sign very simply. Just text, message, or tweet COVID ACT to Resistbot on SMS at 50409, Facebook Messenger, or Twitter and the ‘bot will dispatch this message to your state government (with the relevant information for your state).

If you feel like writing your own, that’s great too. Just send RESIST by the same methods and the ‘bot will help you through the rest.

And wash your hands. 🧼👏🤖

These do seem like dark times. The Senate’s refusal to actually try Trump’s impeachment, while hardly a surprise, confirms the suspicion that our institutions may not save us. McConnell’s announcement that he will hold a vote should another Supreme Court Justice step down heralds the possibility of a generational shift in the Court. Trump’s pardons for a raft of corrupt political grifters and would-be oligarchs hints at an accelerating rot in government and Attorney General Barr festers like a metastasizing cancer at the center of the once-independent justice department.

The Independent warns that the 2020 election may well be the last fair and free election of the American experiment.

Well, “if this is to be our end, then I would have [us] make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance.”

We know what lies before us: a hard-fought primary between two clashing visions for the future of the Democratic Party; a torrent of misinformation and manipulation on social media; a tidal wave of misinformation, gas-lighting, and outright lies by the President and his toadies; and an ocean of money pouring into the eyes and ears of voters in those all-important swing states.

And it will begin, make no mistake, with an attempt to turn that hard-fought primary into embittered schisms in the Democratic coalition. Indeed, that has almost certainly already begun.

It is February now, and by November the moment that hangs before us today will have slipped into the shadows of memory. We must resolve now and steel ourselves over the next nine months to recall the stakes for which this election is fought: policy, yes, but also the soul of democracy.

Think of the most vulnerable person you know, and vote in their interest.

Is the President accountable to the law or should the Senate put party over country and treat him as a king? Is the attorney general the government’s attorney or the President’s? Does Congress control the budget or does the President decide where our taxes are spent? Is foreign aid a tool of international policy or of domestic politics?

Are we a nation of laws or aren’t we?

It may be difficult in nine months. It may be distasteful come November. You may not be excited to stand in line for two hours in the driving rain to cast your vote.

But you must. We all must. Remember how hard we’ve fought and how far we’ve come. History has its eyes on you. #BlueNoMatterWho

What Can I Do?

For right now, you can make sure you’re registered to vote. Resistbot can help you do that. Send the word CHECK to Resistbot on iMessage, Messenger, Telegram, or as a Twitter direct message. The bot will not only check your registration, it will help you register and even monitor your registration to make sure you stay registered between now and election day. (Did I mention there are almost certainly going to be voter roll purges? There are going to be voter roll purges.) Once you check your registration, the bot will prompt you to invite others. Do it. The more you invite, the more voters are protected, and the more the ‘bot can turn out in November.

If none of those work for you, Resistbot also supports old fashioned SMS: text CHECK to 50409 to get started. It takes 2 minutes make our stand. 👊🤖

In the immediate aftermath of the drone strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the White House has argued that the strike was necessary because there was “specific information on an imminent threat, and those threats included attacks on U.S. embassies.” [Emphasis added]

That phrase “imminent threat” matters here. It triggers special rules in both U.S. and international law. In both cases, an imminent threat justifies the use of military force without declaration or authorization. That’s important because the United States didn’t declare war on Iran nor did the U.S. Congress authorize President Trump to use military force against Iran.

If there wasn’t an imminent threat, Trump’s targeting of Qasem Soleimani is in violation of U.S. law, international law, and a war crime.

But the imminent threat that the White House claims prompted the attack doesn’t seem to exist. The members of Congress — both Republican and Democratic — who receive the most detailed national security briefings available to civilians have seen no mention of any intelligence suggesting any imminent attack on a U.S. embassy, base, or other facility.

President Trump has suggested there was a plot underway to target four embassies, but he seems to be the only member of the administration willing to commit to anything so specific. Last week, Secretary Pompeo described the situation with considerably less specificity, stating that “we don’t know precisely when, and we don’t know precisely where.”

Resistbot on Twitter

Sec. Pompeo speaking this morning on @NewDay https://t.co/oOmMIdDVaM

Sunday, Secretary Esper said that he “didn’t see” the threat described by the President while describing “exquisite intelligence” provided to the Gang of Eight.

Resistbot on Twitter

Esper: "Well, the President didn't say there was a tangible-he didn't cite a specific piece of evidence. What he says probably-he believed, could have been-" "Are you saying there wasn't one?" "I didn't see one with regard to four embassies." https://t.co/aRHJUQbQeI

So far no one in the Gang of Eight has corroborated Esper’s claims, Rep. Schiff called it, “plain wrong.”

Resistbot on Twitter

He said the intelligence was exquisite, and it was incredibly detailed. Do you quibble with his characterization of what you were told?" Schiff: "I don't quibble with it. I think it's just plain wrong." https://t.co/YVGnZqoJes

Without knowledge of “when” or “where”, the attack on Soleimani can neither be justified as a response to an imminent threat nor credibly claim to prevent any sort of attack in a general planning stage. Without a “when” or “where,” Soleimani’s killing is a political assassination, pure and simple, undertaken to assuage the ego or boost the political fortunes of an increasingly dangerous and unhinged President.

Resistbot on Twitter

Sen. Lee: "In order to know and understand where one power ends [executive power] and another begins [congressional war powers] in any context, we need to have a certain amount of information and an adequate amount of information was not shared with us." https://t.co/I1SAwowWO3

Congress has but one recourse in a situation like this: impeach (again).

Want to see the most recent statements your Senators have made on impeachment? Resistbot has you covered. Send the word impeach to the bot on Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or as a Twitter direct message. If none of those work for you, Resistbot also supports old fashioned SMS: text impeach to 50409 to get started. It takes 2 minutes to be heard. 🤖👊

On Friday the United States military, at the express direction of the President, conducted a drone strike on General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Quds Force. Here’s what you need to know.

How important was Soleimani?

It’s fair to describe Soleimani as the second most powerful man in Iran. He held the title of “General” but that doesn’t quite cover it. The man at the top of Iran’s government is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Soleimani reported directly to him and personally controlled the Iranian Quds force, which can be thought of as a hybrid between the Navy Seals and the CIA. Soleimani and the Quds force.

There’s no American analog to Soleimani but Iranians may view the attack that killed him in much the same way as Americans might a suicide bombing that killed the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence.

Was he a threat to the United States?

Possibly. That depends a lot on who you believe. Certainly the Trump administration claims that Soleimani was personally involved in numerous operations targeting Americans and American diplomats. Of course, those operations were to be carried out in his capacity as an officer in the Iranian military. Supreme Leader Khamenei named a replacement for Soleimani within the day and the Quds Force continues operations as of this writing. Unlike a non-state terrorist organization, it’s unlikely that a decapitation strike against the Quds Force significantly hampers its ability to plan or execute operations.

What happens next?

Iran is going to retaliate for the attack. Exactly when and where that happens is unclear but it could set off an escalating chain of retaliations which lead to a general war in the region. The United States has already deployed 3,000 troops to the region in response to an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad and in anticipation of a retaliation for the strike on Soleimani.

Is this a distraction from the Impeachment?

Maybe. Maybe not. The problem here is that the President has access to information that the rest of us just don’t have. Maybe there were intercepted messages linking Soleimani to specific attacks on US targets. Maybe defectors from Iran slipped us information linking him to terror attacks around the world. Or maybe not. Maybe, when people tell you who they are, you should believe them.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

Now that Obama's poll numbers are in tailspin - watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

Don't let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected--be careful Republicans!

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face!

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

Remember what I previously said--Obama will someday attack Iran in order to show how tough he is.

Donald J. Trump on Twitter

Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly-not skilled!

The massive escalation of Trump’s ongoing feud with Iran did come mere hours after Just Security obtained a damning sequence of emails between the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Pentagon which lay out “clear direction from [the] POTUS” to hold Ukraine’s military aid.

Certainly, the longer the Impeachment story has dominated the headlines the worse things have gotten for Mr. Trump.

What Can I Do?

Weigh in. Many have already shared their Resistbot open letters on the subject.

Resistbot Open Letters on Twitter

I just delivered this letter from Anna in Lincoln, Neb. to @JeffFortenberry, @SenatorFischer and @SenSasse #NE01 #NEpol #NoWarWithIran

You can write or call Congress by sending the word congress to Resistbot on on Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or as a Twitter direct message. If none of those work for you, Resistbot also supports old fashioned SMS: text CONGRESS to 50409 to get started. It takes 2 minutes to be heard. 🤖👊

With a swing of Speaker Pesoli’s gavel, Donald Trump became the 3rd President to be impeached by the United States’ House of Representatives, a distinction he shares with Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.

A little house-keeping, since there seems to be some confusion over this matter: impeachment is not removal. It’s like being indicted by a grand jury; it is a formal recognition that there needs to be a trial. An impeached President is still the President, still retains all of the powers of the office, and is in no way eligible for a third term no matter what Mike Huckabee thinks.

Gov. Mike Huckabee on Twitter

I'll be on @seanhannity 2nite @FoxNews at 9pm ET and will explain how @realDonaldTrump will be eligible for a 3rd term due to the illegal attempts by Comey, Dems, and media , et al attempting to oust him as @POTUS so that's why I was named to head up the 2024 re-election.

A little more house-keeping: a bunch of right-wing blogs and (predictably) the White House are pushing the narrative that, because the House has not formally transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate yet, the President has not been impeached. While US law is full of technicalities and loopholes, the impeachment process is not because the Constitution is extremely brief when it comes to defining what impeachment actually is.

Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 5:

The House of Representatives shall chuse [sic] their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

That’s it. That’s all we have on the House’s role in the impeachment process. It’s pretty clear, however, that while the Senate has “the sole Power to try all Impeachments” (Article I.3.6), the power of Impeachment itself lies with the House.

If Speaker Pelosi says Trump has been impeached he has been impeached.

What can I do?

There are a couple things you can do. First, if you see someone in your social media circles who’s confused about impeachment or spreading misinformation, feel free to send them to this article. Second, you can tell your Representatives and Senators that you won’t stand for them peddling misinformation in their media appearances, because you know that’s coming. Third, you can demand that the Senate hold a fair and open trial in which witnesses can testify and evidence may be considered.

You’re on your own for the first one, but Resistbot can help you with the other two. You can write to your Representatives, Senators, and a bunch of other government officials to boot by sending the word resist to Resistbot on on Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or as a Twitter direct message. If none of those work for you, Resistbot also supports old fashioned SMS: text RESIST to 50409 to get started. It takes 2 minutes to demand that justice be served. ⚖️🤖👊

In one of Trump’s absurd rallies, the actual President of the actual United States said the following:

You know, some people want to change the name “Thanksgiving.” They don’t want to use the term “Thanksgiving.” And that was true also with Christmas, but now everybody’s using Christmas again.

As the official robotic hive-mind of the Vast, Liberal, Deep-State Conspiracy™, we here at Resistbot would like to formally note that this is not, and never has been, a thing. Really. There are just so many bigger things to care about that none of us can even bother putting together the list to work out how far down it this would be.

But it would be really, really far down it. Really far.

But if, like many of us, you just finished a carb-heavy, tryptophan-laced meal with a bunch of people who can name their third-favorite Fox News anchor, you may still be trying to work out how you, personally, are responsible for whatever-the-heck “identity politics” is.

We got you, fam, but first we’re going to do you a solid. The next couple paragraphs are pretty wonkish. You can read them if you like or just skip down to the three dots.

Identity Politics is a term coined back in the 1970s. Back then, it meant that members of minority groups were more likely to face oppression because they were minorities. This is, to most of us in the 21st century, a pretty uncontroversial statement. Sometime after that, however, the phrase came to refer to the tendency to preference forming political alliances on the basis of those minority identities rather than trying to form issue-based alliances.

An example might help.

When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, a lot of folks assumed that African Americans would vote for him because of the color of his skin. They ignored the fact that the policies he championed had broad appeal in African American communities.

When Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2016, a lot of folks just assumed that women would vote for her because she is a woman. This turned out not to be the case, largely because there are few issues with broad appeal to all women.

Obama’s run was criticized — falsely — as Democrats indulging identity politics. Clinton’s failed — in part — because Democrats counted on identity politics to save them.

So if identity politics are about counting on someone identifying as a member of some oppressed minority, what does that have to do with the imaginary war on Thanksgiving?

Everything.

Trump’s run in 2016 and every bit of his politics since then has been centered around the identity politics of the rural, white, low-education voter. The strategy is to paint a caricature of an avocado-toast eating, soy-milk swilling, gender-non-conforming, pan-sexual, atheist, bicycle riding hipster and then tell blue-collar America that they’re coming for Christmas, Jesus, Guns, and apparently Thanksgiving. And that because of that, everyone else should vote for Republicans.

So why did you just spend Thanksgiving trying to explain to your MAGA-hat wearing uncle that, no, you really don’t want to turn it into Indigenous Peoples Day*? Because your Thanksgiving dinner is the latest collateral damage in the GOP’s ongoing identity politics offensive.

Buckle up; the War on Christmas is up next.

Bob Geiger on Twitter

Can someone *please* tell me when the war on Christmas starts? Fox News says we Democrats have an ongoing assault on Christmas but I have no idea where the front is and what I'm suppose to do. Do I go to a mall and kick Santa? Get drunk and urinate on a nativity scene?

What Can I Do?

There are real problems which face much of middle America and those problems need to be solved. Rather than treating rural and blue-collar voters like frightened sheep, Congress and the President could try the radical tactic of actually helping to solve these problems.

You can hold them accountable. If you want your Representatives, Senators, State Government, etc. to stop pretending that the most pressing issue facing our country is what Starbucks prints on a coffee cup, send the word Resist to Resistbot on Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or as a Twitter direct message. If none of those work for you, Resistbot also supports old fashioned SMS: text RESIST to 50409 to get started. It takes 2 minutes to demand better. 🦃👊🤖

* Columbus Day, for those of you keeping track.

There’s a story you might have missed in The Hill which really lays bare the lengths Republicans are willing to go to in order to discredit the impeachment inquiry against President Trump.

You can read the entire story here but the crux of the matter is as follows

The RNC paid for about 11,000 calls to almost three dozen House Democrats to influence public opinion on the impeachment inquiry and clog the representatives’ phone lines…. Officials signaled the calls were automated and the goal was to jam the Democrats’ phone lines.

Now, here at Resistbot we know a thing or two about encouraging civic activism. Our mission, since the moment of our launch, has been to faithfully and conveniently allow constituents to communicate with their elected officials. Unlike the RNC, which only connected constituents who opposed the impeachment inquiry, Resistbot does not and never has restricted who we’ll connect to elected officials on the basis of politics.

We have a political viewpoint, sure, but we believe there’s a moral responsibility to allow legislators to hear from all of their constituents, not just the ones we happen to agree with.

Moreover, we believe that the goal of any correspondence with your government must be to communicate ideas, not to deliberately sabotage the communications systems that officials rely upon to communicate with constituents. Sure, there were times when our message volume knocked over Ted Cruz’s fax system and that was hilarious, but we responded to that by leaving the fax line free and instead delivering over 100,000 letters to Senator Cruz’s office by mail at our own expense.

We did that because we believe in the system and in democracy. We believe that our elected officials really do want to listen to their constituents on the issues they care about. We believe that if we can make the process easy, transparent, and reliable enough we can build a better democracy and a better America.

Meanwhile Republicans seem to believe that they’re best served by a smokescreen of cherry-picked viewpoints deliberately orchestrated into a massive denial of service attack upon Democratic members of Congress.

If you believe that’s wrong or if you believe it’s the right thing to do, you should write your Representatives and Senators about it. We won’t tell you what to write because we don’t believe that’s our place and we’ll deliver your message no matter what you have to say on the subject. And we promise that doing so won’t keep other constituents from voicing their opinions.

Because that’s what it means to believe in democracy.

To contact your members of Congress, send the word Resist to Resistbot on Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or as a Twitter direct message. If none of those work for you, Resistbot also supports old fashioned SMS: text RESIST to 50409 to get started. It takes 2 minutes to be heard. 👊🤖