❤️ Good News from the Resistance: May 4-10, 2025
The ink is still wet on history—we’re writing it now.
Welcome to How to Resist, a blueprint for resistance based on nonviolence, mutual aid, and community building for ordinary people who want to save democracy.
Good News from the Resistance is a weekly news round-up published every Sunday. Subscribe to receive future newsletters!
In a week that saw protests by veterans, high schoolers, and faith leaders, legal showdowns in the courts, and powerful acts of solidarity, this week’s edition of Good News from the Resistance is a testament to the courage and clarity of everyday people rising up.
My goal for this series is not just to give you the headlines, but to document a living, evolving, and deeply human resistance. One day, when future generations ask what we did when democracy was on the line, we’ll point to stories like these—and say, this is how we showed up.
M-.
Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope
Shortly after Pope Francis’s death, Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed as the Pope on official White House social media, prompting widespread criticism. Catholic leaders condemned the post, saying, “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St Peter. Do not mock us.”1
Faith leaders arrested while praying in the Capitol rotunda
Capitol police arrested five faith leaders while they prayed and protested the GOP’s budget proposal. “Though we were arrested and carried away, we have not stopped praying. Moral Monday is back at the Capitol today to continue to lift a collective prayer that we all might be saved from this immoral budget.” The action was part of the Moral Mondays movement, calling for justice and opposing policies that harm the poor and marginalized.2
NC Writers for Democracy protest disappearing words under Trump
A group of NC Writers for Democracy gathered outside of the State Capitol building in Raleigh to protest the disappearance of words such as “advocacy,” “bias,” “Black,” “feminism,” “racism,” “social justice,” “belong,” “accessible,” and “women” from the language of the federal government under Trump.3 [Full list of words from the NYT4]
Political Cartoonist Awarded Pulitzer
“Ann Telnaes, formerly of The Washington Post, [who is also on Substack Ann Telnaes!] was awarded a prize for illustrated reporting and commentary. Ms. Telnaes, a cartoonist, resigned from The Post in January after the publication rejected a cartoon depicting its owner, Jeff Bezos. The Pulitzer board credited her with “delivering piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions with deftness, creativity — and a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years.””5
ProPublica awarded Pulitzer for coverage of state abortion bans
ProPublica has been awarded what many consider the most prestigious of the Pulitzers, the Pulitzer award for public service, for their coverage of preventable deaths and medical crises caused by state abortion bans.6 Read the piece here: https://www.propublica.org/series/life-of-the-mother
Activists protest Texas Immigration Detention Center
About half a dozen people rallied for two hours along the street outside of the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, demonstrating against Trump administration deportation policies.7
Tesla sales plunge in Europe to the lowest point in 2 years
Tesla’s sales plunged across Europe this week, with significant declines in countries like Germany and France. The slump is attributed to consumer backlash against Elon Musk’s political stances, rising tariffs, and growing competition from European electric vehicle makers.8
24-Hour Vigil to Save Medicaid Takes Over National Mall
Disability advocates and lawmakers, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, Sen. Cory Booker, and Rep. Tammy Duckworth, held a 24-hour vigil on the National Mall to protest proposed federal budget cuts that could slash $88 billion annually from Medicaid.9
Republican Gives Up Fight to Overturn Defeat in N.C. Judicial Race
A six-month battle over a North Carolina Supreme Court seat ended on Wednesday when the Republican Jefferson Griffin finally conceded the race. Judge Griffin contested over 65,000 ballots in the election, claiming eligibility issues, including thousands from military and overseas voters who were legally exempt from ID requirements. He also challenged nearly 300 ballots from so-called “Never Residents,” such as children of military families and North Carolinians working abroad, despite a 2011 state law allowing them to vote. Two recounts affirmed that Justice Riggs won the race by a margin of 734 votes, out of the more than 5.5 million ballots cast.10
Anti-Trump, anti-billionaire protest disrupts Manhattan gala
Protesters disrupted the $50,000 per table gala of the Manhattan Institute, a right-wing think tank. The demonstration aimed to spotlight economic inequality and the influence of wealthy elites on politics and the environment.11
‘We call it betrayal’: Veterans protest Trump’s sweeping VA job cuts
Veterans and Democratic lawmakers gathered on Capitol Hill to protest the Trump administration’s planned cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs that include slashing some 80,000 jobs, which many worry will affect the massive agency’s delivery of medical care and benefits.12
High school students organize a multi-generational protest against Trump policies
Students and community members gathered at the Hunt Memorial Plaza in South Bend, Indiana, for “This is OUR Future Too!” a youth-led protest against the Trump administration’s policies. The rally was organized by local high school students, with support from community members and South Bend Mayor James Mueller.13
Mayor of Newark arrested while protesting NJ immigration detention center
A team of armed, masked federal agents wearing military fatigues arrested, detained, and later released Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark. Baraka was arrested was protesting Delaney Hall, the largest migrant jail on the East Coast, located in Newark, NJ. Baraka has said ICE renovated Delaney Hall without the proper work permits, inspections, and certificate of occupancy, posing safety risks.14
Protestors gather in NYC to protest ‘gestapo tactics’ used again Mayor and members of Congress at ICE detention center
Several hundred people gathered in Foley Square for an emergency rally in response to armed, masked federal agents in military fatigues arresting Mayor Baraka during a visit to a New Jersey detention center. Activists and officials called the actions by ICE an attack on democracy and civil rights.15 16
Quakers set off on 300-mile march to protest the administration’s treatment of immigrants
Continuing in a long tradition of Quaker activism, a group of Quakers have started their journey from Flushing, Queens to Washington, D.C. to show solidarity with immigrants and other people being targeted by the Trump administration’s policies.“I just have to put one foot in front of the other to move towards something better, something more true to what Quakers before us saw for this country and what people saw for […]the American dream.” - 25-year-old Jess Hobbs Pifer, march organizer.17
Fighting back in the Courts
17 states sue the Trump administration for blocking the development of wind energy
Attorneys general from 17 states sued the Trump administration for blocking the development of wind energy. AGs from 17 states and Washington, D.C., are challenging an executive order pausing approvals, permits, and loans for all wind energy projects both onshore and offshore.18
19 states and D.C. sue Trump administration over mass HHS layoffs
19 state attorneys general and the Washington D.C. attorney general have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for the termination of thousands of Health and Human Services staffers.19
Whistleblower attorney sues Trump administration to restore revoked security clearance
High-profile whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for revoking his security clearance, saying that it was revoked for "improper political retribution.”20
Major universities sue to block Trump cuts to NSF research funding
13 schools have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the National Science Foundation’s capping of reimbursement of indirect costs of conducting research, such as electricity and internet, heating and cooling, physical space, and compliance and safety positions.21
AmeriCorps participants sue to block cuts to the agency
AmeriCorps, the “federal agency for national service and volunteerism,” and a coalition of community organizations have filed a lawsuit to block the cutting of $400 million in AmeriCorps grants and placing 85% of its administrative staff on leave, arguing the administration does not have the ability to unilaterally terminate grants and programs.22 23
Judge orders release of Rümeysa Öztürk from detention
Federal judge William Sessions has ordered the release of Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk. Sessions stated that Öztürk’s detention, “raises very significant due process concerns” and “potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of individuals in this country who are not citizens. Any one of them may now avoid exercising their first amendment rights for fear of being whisked away to a detention center from their home.” He ordered the Trump administration to release Öztürk from custody “immediately” and said she was free to “return to her home in Massachusetts.”24
States Sue Over Freeze on Funding for Electric-Vehicle Charging Stations
Washington, Colorado, and California have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for withholding funds for new charging stations for electric vehicles.25
15 states sue over the declaration of a ‘national energy emergency’
15 State Attorneys General have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over Executive Order No. 14,156, which declares a national energy emergency. The states argue the order unlawfully bypasses key environmental protections to fast-track oil and gas projects, threatening ecosystems and undermining state authority.26
Federal judge issues emergency order to halt slashing of 20 federal agencies
A federal judge in California issued an emergency order to halt major parts of the Trump administration’s plan to downsize federal agencies. The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, a group of federal employee unions, saying that the “President likely must request Congressional cooperation to order the changes he seeks.” It will apply nationwide for the next 14 days 27 28
“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution." Ursula K. LeGuin
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We The People!
Cliff Cash’s “This Is How We Win”
-Confront the cowards in-person, in Washington D.C., at the Capitol, at their offices
-Hold the MSM’s feet to the fire… in-person at their corporate HQ and demand that they start unapologetically telling the fucking TRUTH. No more sane-washing an obviously cognitively impaired psychopath, no more normalizing a brazen fascist coup. We the people will NOT stop until they tell the TRUTH!
-June 4th American Veterans need to be heard!
https://youtu.be/-8ZDiQ3-CnU?si=sAqbHxRXruEfaFiL