This is making me feel sick to my stomach. I find it impossible to understand why so many republicans are willing to forsake our 250 year old democracy. And then to see Republican senators who have lost their primaries FINALLY vote with the Democrats to stop the madness? I hope it’s not too little too late. That just makes me insane. They KNOW what’s right and yet continue to vote along party lines just to keep their jobs. That is so utterly cowardly and disgusting. I couldn’t understand why they allowed his 2016 candidacy in the first place. And here we are. 🤬
Chrissy...thank you for writing this...and I want you to know that the sick feeling you're describing...is NOT weakness.
It's a sign that your moral compass is STILL working...when a lot of people's have gone quiet.
You've actually put your finger on the thing that matters most. The cruelest part isn't the senators who genuinely believe in this. It's the ones who DON'T....the ones who know EXACTLY what's right...and vote against it anyway.
And the fact that some of them only find their spine...AFTER they've already lost a primary tells you everything: it was never about conviction.
It was about the job. Once the job is gone...the truth becomes affordable.
Honestly, it works both ways: subscribers like YOU are a good part of what keeps me steady enough to write.
And I love the merch idea. #HoldFast started as a sign-off and it's turned into something people seem to actually want to carry around...which tells me it's hitting a nerve.
I'm sketching a few shirt and cap concepts now. Once the paid report is out I'll share the designs and figure out the simplest way to get them made.
The fear of the unknown causes overreaction. Keeping yourself in check without fear and over reactivity is a tough and necessary challenge. This administration is not smart enough to knowingly cause an ongoing historic disaster as the one we as a geopolitical community are experiencing. Who is actually in charge? Do we really want to know? I treasure my life. Taking a stand takes grit. It takes courage to withstand judgement that is derived from misconceptions and miscommunications.
I would certainly like to see our children overcome our obvious weaknesses and become the stronger quiet voice that overcomes these manmade creations of fear. Thank you Jack.
Alexa...this is one of the most clear-eyed things anyone has written to me...and...I want you to notice how far you've traveled in just a few messages.
You started out feeling sick to your stomach. You're ending HERE....naming your own fear... keeping it in check...and still resolved to stand.
That's not a small thing. That's exactly the muscle that gets people through hard stretches of history.
What you said about fear of the unknown driving overreaction...that's the whole game... really.
The pull toward catastrophizing...and the pull toward surrender...are the SAME PULL wearing two different coats.
Both end with a person sitting down. Staying UPRIGHT in the uncertain middle...WITHOUT flinching and without going numb...is the actual discipline. You've found it.
And...that line about our children becoming the stronger quiet voice... I'll be thinking about that for a while.
It reframes the stakes correctly. We may not get to see the resolution of all this. The job isn't to win it single-handedly in our own lifetime...and...I don't think we will...it's to hand the next people a country...and a temperament...WORTH inheriting. Quiet...steady... unafraid.
You're already modeling the thing you hope they'll carry.
Thank you for being the kind of reader who makes this work feel less lonely. Steady as we go...I'll be right here.
Perhaps I’m ironing out the wrinkles on the white flag too soon but I sometimes think the Nov 2026 elections are already fraught with tampering. I think these primaries are important to 47 and his cabal because they are picking the winners now. The top vote getters in November may not matter because it won’t be counted / reported accurately. Has even one candidate that 47 has endorsed declined the endorsement?
Mary...you said it yourself...you may be ironing the white flag too soon.
Hold onto that instinct. It's the honest part of you, and it's right.
Here's where I think you're genuinely onto something: the primaries DO matter enormously...and...for exactly the reason you name.
A contested general election can be lost. A primary where the field has been cleared by an endorsement...a threat...or a well-funded challenger...is decided before most voters are paying attention.
That's real...it's documented...and...it's happening in the open...no conspiracy required. Picking the nominees is how you shape the outcome...without EVER touching a ballot count.
Jack, you hit the nail on the head…it’s all about institutional control! The other issues are triggers and “window dressing” to distract the voters from the very real danger of the moment we are facing! This is the real worry that keeps me awake at night! We are doing everything that we can to help the “Blue Wave” occur…donating to candidates across the country, small donations from coast to coast. I am also contacting our elected representatives urging them to stand up and fight back in any way possible! We’re on the street when necessary and I think that a General Strike has to be really organized and repeated until we drive the message home to corporate America, too…they are enabling this regime! Look forward to your next post…thanks!
I miss the days when day to day politics were boring 😔 I'm hoping on the American People will stand up and Vote this November and in 2028. We simply can't afford Republicans anymore. Thanks again Jack, for your insight and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
You have just outlined my ever present nightmare. And now Trump is grabbing $1.775 billion dollars to compensate the jan/ 6 rioters. do not be fooled by this, it is not compensation. It is him funding them for the next insurrection. think what the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers could do with that much money. No blue state will be safe nor any who does not bend the knee.
Jack, I have that sick feeling that Chrissy has too. Part of it might be this migraine… not most of it though.
I couldn’t actually read it because of the migraine that refuses to go away… and I couldn’t wait after seeing the headline… so I listened. Did you know that it will suddenly speak a sentence or phrase with a French accent? Weird! DEI is pronounced Day… had to stop it a few times and figure it out… but I understood it… far too well.
Now I sit here with a renewed sense of anger and frustration at some people who refused to vote in 2024.. in spite of everything I could say. They won’t vote this time either. I know that and it makes me furious. The only person who could convince them is not very convincing.. gotta keep the peace… and that makes me furious.
Anyway, I look forward to the paid piece and hope the migraine eases but I’ll read and read again later if necessary. I’m hoping for some solid WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW advice.. because suddenly the midterms seem far too close and the evil side feels quite a few moves ahead of us.
Thank you, Jack. I look forward… I think… to the paid article. I’d have already dissolved into despair if I hadn’t found you a decade or so ago and knew right then that you were a gift. Honestly, I had no idea just how much… I do now.
So glad I found you here. I am married to the quintessential optimist (opposites do, in fact, attract). I have to keep telling him there is real danger here, even as he fights for veterans' and military family rights. This regime, this group of despicable anti-democracy fools, MUST GO. Anxious to keep reading your pieces because we need all the advice we can get. #HoldingFast and yet crying for our country, too.
This is making me feel sick to my stomach. I find it impossible to understand why so many republicans are willing to forsake our 250 year old democracy. And then to see Republican senators who have lost their primaries FINALLY vote with the Democrats to stop the madness? I hope it’s not too little too late. That just makes me insane. They KNOW what’s right and yet continue to vote along party lines just to keep their jobs. That is so utterly cowardly and disgusting. I couldn’t understand why they allowed his 2016 candidacy in the first place. And here we are. 🤬
Chrissy...thank you for writing this...and I want you to know that the sick feeling you're describing...is NOT weakness.
It's a sign that your moral compass is STILL working...when a lot of people's have gone quiet.
You've actually put your finger on the thing that matters most. The cruelest part isn't the senators who genuinely believe in this. It's the ones who DON'T....the ones who know EXACTLY what's right...and vote against it anyway.
And the fact that some of them only find their spine...AFTER they've already lost a primary tells you everything: it was never about conviction.
It was about the job. Once the job is gone...the truth becomes affordable.
-Jack
And the thorn in my side is that this is all being carried out by the most disgusting, the most ignorant, vile person on earth.
The republicans will cheat. They cheat in every election.
Walter...sadly, any sane person would agree with you.
-Jack
Agree
You are such an anchor in these stormy winds. Looking forward to the paid post. I want shirts and caps that say: #HoldFast! Can you design some?
Sara...what a kind thing to say...thank you.
Honestly, it works both ways: subscribers like YOU are a good part of what keeps me steady enough to write.
And I love the merch idea. #HoldFast started as a sign-off and it's turned into something people seem to actually want to carry around...which tells me it's hitting a nerve.
I'm sketching a few shirt and cap concepts now. Once the paid report is out I'll share the designs and figure out the simplest way to get them made.
Stay tuned...and hold fast.
#HoldFast
-Jack
The fear of the unknown causes overreaction. Keeping yourself in check without fear and over reactivity is a tough and necessary challenge. This administration is not smart enough to knowingly cause an ongoing historic disaster as the one we as a geopolitical community are experiencing. Who is actually in charge? Do we really want to know? I treasure my life. Taking a stand takes grit. It takes courage to withstand judgement that is derived from misconceptions and miscommunications.
I would certainly like to see our children overcome our obvious weaknesses and become the stronger quiet voice that overcomes these manmade creations of fear. Thank you Jack.
Steady as we go.
Alexa...this is one of the most clear-eyed things anyone has written to me...and...I want you to notice how far you've traveled in just a few messages.
You started out feeling sick to your stomach. You're ending HERE....naming your own fear... keeping it in check...and still resolved to stand.
That's not a small thing. That's exactly the muscle that gets people through hard stretches of history.
What you said about fear of the unknown driving overreaction...that's the whole game... really.
The pull toward catastrophizing...and the pull toward surrender...are the SAME PULL wearing two different coats.
Both end with a person sitting down. Staying UPRIGHT in the uncertain middle...WITHOUT flinching and without going numb...is the actual discipline. You've found it.
And...that line about our children becoming the stronger quiet voice... I'll be thinking about that for a while.
It reframes the stakes correctly. We may not get to see the resolution of all this. The job isn't to win it single-handedly in our own lifetime...and...I don't think we will...it's to hand the next people a country...and a temperament...WORTH inheriting. Quiet...steady... unafraid.
You're already modeling the thing you hope they'll carry.
Thank you for being the kind of reader who makes this work feel less lonely. Steady as we go...I'll be right here.
#HoldFast
-Jack
Perhaps I’m ironing out the wrinkles on the white flag too soon but I sometimes think the Nov 2026 elections are already fraught with tampering. I think these primaries are important to 47 and his cabal because they are picking the winners now. The top vote getters in November may not matter because it won’t be counted / reported accurately. Has even one candidate that 47 has endorsed declined the endorsement?
I think you may be right. Hate to say it but the more I read I am questioning the results of the 2024 election.
I'm right there with you. FIRMLY, Nancy.
-Jack
Mary...you said it yourself...you may be ironing the white flag too soon.
Hold onto that instinct. It's the honest part of you, and it's right.
Here's where I think you're genuinely onto something: the primaries DO matter enormously...and...for exactly the reason you name.
A contested general election can be lost. A primary where the field has been cleared by an endorsement...a threat...or a well-funded challenger...is decided before most voters are paying attention.
That's real...it's documented...and...it's happening in the open...no conspiracy required. Picking the nominees is how you shape the outcome...without EVER touching a ballot count.
So your eye for the primaries is sharp!
-Jack
Jack, you hit the nail on the head…it’s all about institutional control! The other issues are triggers and “window dressing” to distract the voters from the very real danger of the moment we are facing! This is the real worry that keeps me awake at night! We are doing everything that we can to help the “Blue Wave” occur…donating to candidates across the country, small donations from coast to coast. I am also contacting our elected representatives urging them to stand up and fight back in any way possible! We’re on the street when necessary and I think that a General Strike has to be really organized and repeated until we drive the message home to corporate America, too…they are enabling this regime! Look forward to your next post…thanks!
The ground is already shifting....steady tremors...
I miss the days when day to day politics were boring 😔 I'm hoping on the American People will stand up and Vote this November and in 2028. We simply can't afford Republicans anymore. Thanks again Jack, for your insight and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
You have just outlined my ever present nightmare. And now Trump is grabbing $1.775 billion dollars to compensate the jan/ 6 rioters. do not be fooled by this, it is not compensation. It is him funding them for the next insurrection. think what the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers could do with that much money. No blue state will be safe nor any who does not bend the knee.
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬💪💪💪💪💪💪💪
Jack, I have that sick feeling that Chrissy has too. Part of it might be this migraine… not most of it though.
I couldn’t actually read it because of the migraine that refuses to go away… and I couldn’t wait after seeing the headline… so I listened. Did you know that it will suddenly speak a sentence or phrase with a French accent? Weird! DEI is pronounced Day… had to stop it a few times and figure it out… but I understood it… far too well.
Now I sit here with a renewed sense of anger and frustration at some people who refused to vote in 2024.. in spite of everything I could say. They won’t vote this time either. I know that and it makes me furious. The only person who could convince them is not very convincing.. gotta keep the peace… and that makes me furious.
Anyway, I look forward to the paid piece and hope the migraine eases but I’ll read and read again later if necessary. I’m hoping for some solid WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW advice.. because suddenly the midterms seem far too close and the evil side feels quite a few moves ahead of us.
Thank you, Jack. I look forward… I think… to the paid article. I’d have already dissolved into despair if I hadn’t found you a decade or so ago and knew right then that you were a gift. Honestly, I had no idea just how much… I do now.
#Holdfast
~Susan
So glad I found you here. I am married to the quintessential optimist (opposites do, in fact, attract). I have to keep telling him there is real danger here, even as he fights for veterans' and military family rights. This regime, this group of despicable anti-democracy fools, MUST GO. Anxious to keep reading your pieces because we need all the advice we can get. #HoldingFast and yet crying for our country, too.