Up until the Supreme Court, I have faith. When it gets there, though, I have none.A number of blue state governors have stated clearly their intention to protect their residents from Trump depredations.
In doing so, they’ve also underlined that state Democratic strength has grown since 2016 — which is one of the few concrete ways we are better prepared for Trump now than then.
One of the most vocal blue state governors to promise anti-MAGA measures has been JB Pritzker of Illinois. In a combative news conference last Thursday, Pritzker warned Trump and MAGA, “To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans: I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior.”
“You come for my people, you come through me,” he concluded.
[...]
Illinois has taken a range of measures to shore up protections for vulnerable groups since Pritzker won the governor’s race in 2018. The state passed a law in 2023 shielding abortion recipients from civil or criminal discovery and from extradition to other states. The same law ensured that insurance in Illinois would cover abortion medication and gender-affirming care, and also strengthened protections for IVF.
Pritzker also signed legislation making it easier for trans people to change the gender on their birth certificates without medical certification. And the state passed laws to provide for foster provisions and guardianship for children of immigrants arrested or deported by ICE.
Now the Illinois governor is working on plans to try to limit the damage from Trump going forward. He and staffers have been studying Trump’s Project 2025 plan for the next four years. In the 2025 legislative session, Pritzker plans to pass additional legislation to protect the identity of abortion refugees and to try to safeguard access to the abortion pill mifepristone. He’s also looking into ways to shore up environmental regulations.
Perhaps most pressingly, Pritzker says he has been in touch with other Democratic governors to discuss Project 2025 plans to withhold police grants from blue states that refuse to participate in mass deportation. Prizker said that such actions would be “illegal” and promised to oppose them in court.
Public Notice
Continue reading.Pritzker’s actions are being mirrored in other blue states. Gavin Newsom in California has called a special legislative session to provide more funds for the state attorney general’s office to challenge Trump measures on abortion, the environment, gun control, union dues, and more. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York AG Letitia James said they would increase coordination between their offices to “protect New Yorkers’ fundamental freedoms from any potential threats.” Washington state AG Bob Ferguson tweeted that the state had been “working for months to prepare for another Trump term,” going through Project 2025 “line by line” to address “unconstitutional assaults on your reproductive rights, access to health care, and civil rights.”
[...]
Democrats have also slowly gained ground in North Carolina and Wisconsin. The 2024 election broke the legislative supermajorities in both states, meaning the Democratic governors there can block rabid MAGA legislation.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
UPDATE 08:29 am:
UPDATE 11/16/2024:
Trump’s new Border Czar and Kids in Cages architect Tom Homan went on Don Jr’s podcast last night and was asked what we could expect from him on his first day in office. Homan responded, “Shock and awe.”
Meidas Touch
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