Technical issues kept us from going live on Substack but thankfully we recorded the show.
The final assault on voting rights
The Supreme Court heard arguments today on a Section 2 case that will determine whether Congress retains any power to enforce constitutional limitations on presidential authority. The case centers on Republican efforts to eliminate congressional seats currently held by Black Caucus members through aggressive gerrymandering. Legal experts expect the conservative majority to approve these changes, potentially handing Republicans 19 additional House seats while delivering what Olga Lautman calls “the final nail in the coffin of the Voting Rights Act.”
Congress on permanent vacation
The timing matters. While the Court systematically erodes voting protections, House Speaker Mike Johnson has kept Congress shuttered for over a month—an unprecedented taxpayer-funded vacation during a government shutdown. Federal workers and military families stand in food bank lines while their representatives refuse to work. Johnson hasn’t even sworn in Arizona’s elected representative after five weeks. The House closure has nothing to do with the shutdown impasse; Johnson could bring members back to conduct the people’s business without addressing budget negotiations. Instead, he’s created a power vacuum that serves Trump’s interests perfectly, eliminating congressional oversight precisely when it matters most.
Pentagon builds wall of secrecy
That vacuum becomes dangerous when combined with Pentagon stonewalling. Both Republican and Democratic senators are demanding information about Trump’s military buildup in Latin America—aircraft carriers, fighter jets, thousands of troops operating under unprecedented secrecy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has imposed non-disclosure agreements on military officials involved in the operations and simultaneously cut off congressional access and press briefings. The response to bipartisan congressional inquiries? Nothing. The constitutional requirement for congressional oversight of military operations has been replaced with a wall of silence that conceals not just operational details from the public, but the very existence of these buildups from Congress itself.
When utilities become weapons
Meanwhile, essential services have become surveillance infrastructure. Court records reveal that ICE and the FBI obtained Con Edison customer data, but the utility refuses to confirm whether warrants or court orders were required. The company’s silence follows revelations that federal agents conducted searches of its data systems. In a city where Con Edison holds a monopoly, immigrant communities now face an impossible choice: maintain electricity or risk deportation. The pattern extends beyond immigration enforcement. As Olga notes, utilities cooperating with federal authorities today to target immigrants can easily expand tomorrow to anyone who speaks out against the regime. When basic services become weapons of state control, everyone becomes vulnerable.
Monuments to authoritarianism
Trump completed the week by purging all six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts—the independent body tasked with reviewing his $300 million White House ballroom and triumphal arch. The Biden-appointed commissioners received termination emails just as they prepared to assess projects designed to glorify Trump’s presidency. They’ll be replaced with loyalists who won’t question the demolition of the people’s house or the anonymous donations funding its transformation into a palace. The scale suggests this is merely the beginning—a symmetrical expansion that will remake the White House into something approaching Mar-a-Lago’s gaudy ostentation, paid for through untraceable contributions that function as another avenue for pay-to-play schemes with foreign governments.
The through-line connects each story. Courts eliminate voting protections while Congress remains deliberately inactive. Military operations proceed without oversight while utilities hand over customer data without warrants. Independent commissions get purged to approve vanity projects that glorify authoritarian power. Each institution designed to provide checks on executive authority either lies dormant, actively collaborates, or gets replaced with loyalists.
Olga’s warning cuts through the noise: “It might seem like nothing right now, but it’s going to creep into your lives. It’s going to creep into your workplace. It’s going to creep into your futures, into your children’s futures.”
The machinery of democratic accountability isn’t breaking down. It’s being systematically dismantled, piece by piece, while those elected to defend it take five-week vacations.
