Re: Outside of Politics and paper mail. My daughter just turned 6 and she loves writing letters. Can she spell? No. Is her handwriting still pretty atrocious? Yes. But she LOVES sending letters. So for her birthday I bought her an envelope lining kit and some gorgeous scrapbook papers to use. Now every piece of mail is custom and FUN and a little extra.
There is a similarly reported piece on the first year in the Justice Department. Both of these pieces are some of the most affecting and effective journalism I have read in a while. They are breakdowns month by month of what unfolded in these agencies in 2025, many stories that I only heard headlines about or fully missed. Almost all of the text of the pieces are agents and lawyers and officials speaking in their own words. I'm so glad you highlighted these pieces (glad is weird but you know what I mean). Thank you.
Besides SURJ are there other resources or trainings, reputable organizations to look to as we prepare ourselves for ICE coming to our cities/towns? Thank you for the episode, much needed.
Much of the organizing around and ICE response is local. Google if your state and/or nearest metro area has an ICE response network, and immigrant justice coalition, an immigrant advocacy network, search terms like that tend to turn up what you're looking for. And orgs will usually connect you to other orgs doing similar work. Keep in mind that some orgs may be pretty tight lipped on their website about trainings and how specifically to get involved, the most active org in my area (Boston) is doing mini "onboardings" with everyone interested in joining a response team to vet people and keep things secure.
I feel Beth on the lament over placing trust in our elected reps.
I just got off the phone with my representative’s office (Rob Wittman - R, Virginia). I’ve called twice now. He’s been radio silent since Alex Pretti was killed. Wittman did take the time to make two completely unrelated Instagram posts which, understandably, landed poorly. The comments are full of folks telling him to use his platform to speak out.
I know Wittman is a Republican, but good god, if this isn’t the time to break rank, then what fucking is.
After this painful week in our nation I have been grasping for something to give me hope that we are not going to fall apart as a country.
Please take the time to watch this in full. I am not from Florida so I was inclined to say I don't have a stake in the Florida Governors race so why watch but after watching this I think every candidate in every race, in every state in 2026 needs to hear this and follow his lead:
Resistance lib here who set herself into an anxiety spiral during Trump 1.0 and what infuriated me during that time was people acting like I had lost my mind for thinking the damn wouldn’t hold the checks and balances would burst and the courts and congress would crumble. On January 6th I posted “people who cried when he was elected saw this day coming” and we did. But it gave me no satisfaction.
For 2.0 I had changed and the way I approached him had changed, and I appreciated you and Sarah’s moderate approach to him and I tried to take that on as well. But as I gesture around now to all the things I feel this sense of “I saw that coming” and when people are now like oh shit the damn actually broke I don’t feel mad I feel tired because well of course it broke some of us saw the leaks and tried to warn people but sometimes people need to see the damn break to believe it.
So I guess all that to say I welcome those who now see it and my anxiety greatly decreased by becoming a listener to this podcast in 2018.
I relate so much to this! Anytime I find myself getting into the "if you're not outraged you're not paying attention" posture, I remind myself that I, too, took longer than many people to notice some things that are wrong with the world. I am certainly missing some things now. And sometimes I give too much attention to the wrong things. Of course there is a spectrum, but it never has been reasonable to expect everyone to be angry and worried about the same thing at the same time.
May I make a spicy Thursday topic suggestion? Allie Beth Stuckey - I don't know how to talk to my far right christian friends who only see the world through the lens of this woman and what she tells them. I'd love some help here.
Beth and Sarah — I listened slowly to this episode over the past 24 hours and just have to say thank you so much for the time and care that you took with it.
Beth mentioned training and education — I highly recommend this virtual training from States at the Core. The first part is what to do if you find yourself engaging as a constitutional observer, which as I mentioned in my other comment is happening for folks whether they planned to serve that role or not. I felt much calmer after learning what to do when I encounter ICE. I can also see this being useful for the potential election issues you mentioned in the episode as well.
The second part of the training is about community building and organizing, which I think is the best thing any neighborhood could be doing right now. My neighborhood scaled up our connection and infrastructure on Signal within a matter of hours and days, but it would’ve felt less chaotic and overwhelming if we had already been connected that way.
Hey, I have not donated to anything in Minneapolis, but I would like to do that. Any recommendations on mutual aid funds that have been vetted or know what to look for? I get so concerned about scams, but I also don’t want that to hold me back.
*sigh* but there really is no point continuing to waste my time contacting my Senator when she posts, in the midst of all this, a love letter to Stephen Miller on her official Facebook page. I’m screaming at a brick wall over here in East Tennessee with Marsha and Chuckie and Bill…. Every single individual who represents me on the federal level is at Grade A Sycophant Status, doubling down for Trump. My state reps are basically letting Stephen Miller dictate the legislative agenda for Tennesseans, going after hate policy after hateful policy. And every single one will get handily reelected. Even my county mayor has gone viral of late for bashing Dems, and he seems to like the taste of that internet fame cocktail, so he’s pouring from that shaker with increasing frequency.
I love my home. I love my friends and my church and my kids school and my neighborhood and the nature all around me. I love my city. But how do I stay when my “leaders” and my fellow citizens largely fall somewhere on the spectrum between unquestioning loyalist and downright cruel? Who do *I* call or email to have a say as an American, as a Tennessean? I’m just so exhausted not only from the policies and the cruelty and the threats and the greed and the corruption, but also from feeling absofuckinglutely invisible.
You can't be the only person in your community who hates what's going on. Find your community. Band together. Form a plan to be the pillar that pushes against the tryanny. Form a coalition and write opinion pieces to newspapers, publish pamphlets like our Rebel forefathers and foremothers did and pass them out in front of grocery stores and at church and at every city hall meeting. Attend every city hall meeting where the mayor is in attendance with your group and don't GIVE AN INCH.
Freedom is lost when good people do nothing. It's not enough to just attend a protest and write letters to our representatives. You have to actively be engaged with your community. Find your people and build a coalition that fights back in non-violent but firm ways that demonstrate backbone and presence. Form an active community group that not only attends protests, but also publishes works in the community like pamphlets and newsletters that celebrates freedom and diversity and denounces tryanny and racism. Write letters and opinion pieces to newspapers. Publish a blog; start a podcast; a community fireside chat. Engage in community volunteer events. All of these actions can build a positive presence in the community that celebrates diversity, inclusion, freedom, and non-violence that can greatly influence the political and social climate.
This is what I am taking steps to do in my own life. The question is, how much motivation do people have to put their phones down and step away from their video games to put the energy and time in to do this work?
Oh I’m certainly not the only one, but we are also certainly a minority. The network is there—but again, here in deep red Tennessee, it’s screaming at a brick wall. I think that’s why I felt the visceral “ugh” when Beth said it’s important to keep contacting Republican representatives because they are the ones with power… because of course they are but mine never wield theirs for good.
My direct participation in protests, op eds, etc. is also complicated because my husband works for a federal judge and his ethical obligations prohibit any activities that could be perceived as biased or partisan. So I have my hands tied with what I can publicly do in order for him to remain employed/keep our family’s health insurance. Perhaps that’s contributing to my feelings of helplessness. With so many restrictions it feels like the least I should be able to do is communicate with my reps, and doing so feels almost counterproductive at this point — because it will not influence them one iota and gets me deeply agitated and anxious so I’m less present in my life and community.
So far I’ve been leaning hard into educating my kids about what is happening, how it parallels events in history, and the various ways it can look to stand up and be on the right side of history. Volunteerism is a wonderful idea; I volunteer at their school, but I’m also very slow at work right now so perhaps I’ll talk to my firm about whether the would let me take on some pro bono work.
But I also would love to financially support the types of community organizing that you are talking about, so it would be great if we could maybe make a discussion thread on here for people to pop in links for various groups accepting donations for this fight as it spreads into more and more communities.
It makes my heart less achy to get these responses in this community—to see the various ways all of us are showing up and figuring out how to navigate this terrifying and uncertain time. Thanks for doing your part in your community and giving me a little more hope and some ideas about doing my part in my own. ♥️
I've been thinking so much about the damage this is doing to real law enforcement, but this is the first place that I've heard someone else mention it. It seems to me that if we wanted to "back the blue," we wouldn't want thugs pretending to be police killing people and causing chaos in the streets that the actual law enforcement officers then have to attempt to de-escalate. The real police officers are being put in so much danger because of all of this.
Just thank you for the way you help me process the news. I’ve always listened but my husband watches y’all and he said he could tell by your body language that y’all have had it. And I think I realized it also when you both posted on social media over the weekend. In a weird way, this feels almost exactly like where we should be for 250- revolting against a mad king.
Thank you, as always, for this episode, Beth and Sarah. As unpleasant as it must have been to record, it’s so incredibly cathartic to listen to. You’ve both shaped my thoughts and feelings about the news and state of the world since 2020, and I always look to both of you when I need some grounding and a voice of reason amidst the chaos. Like Beth mentioned, even your IG stories are helpful for your community (including your parasocial community) to watch - I watched both of your stories like a hawk over the weekend to calm my nervous system. 😮💨 Thank you for showing up and putting your voices and yourselves out there in these scary and turbulent times. You’re doing more than you know.
There was a great (short) episode of Throughline (NPR Podcast) today. It is part of their series called "America In Pursuit" as part of their 250 celebration (right up Sarah's alley) and their story today was about how the US Postal Service was instrumental in the revolution and our political culture (right up Beth's alley!) It is great and worth the short listen and mentions a longer book to read called "How the Post Office Created America: A History" by Winifred Gallagher
Feeling so many of the same things commented on here. Kindred spirits that are not accepting what our government is serving.
The Correspondent is an excellent book - loved that Katie Couric had the author on in her virtual book club to discuss it. She shared that she wrote it in her closet.. and other lovely insights.
I am a HUGE thank you note fan. As kids, we were mandated to sit at the dining room table and write out our thank you notes after birthdays or Christmas… or any reason we were gifted anything. My son had the same expectation put upon him but he’s now 40 and long ago moved to texts or emails. I worry expressing simple gratitude with a written note has lost its importance with the younger online generations. 🤷🏼♀️
Re: Outside of Politics and paper mail. My daughter just turned 6 and she loves writing letters. Can she spell? No. Is her handwriting still pretty atrocious? Yes. But she LOVES sending letters. So for her birthday I bought her an envelope lining kit and some gorgeous scrapbook papers to use. Now every piece of mail is custom and FUN and a little extra.
Here's the kit: https://www.papersource.com/products/envelope-liner-template-kit-0842612042098
For those who haven't clocked it yet, I *strongly* recommend the first NYT link that Sarah and Beth shared above: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/22/magazine/trump-kash-patel-fbi-agents.html
There is a similarly reported piece on the first year in the Justice Department. Both of these pieces are some of the most affecting and effective journalism I have read in a while. They are breakdowns month by month of what unfolded in these agencies in 2025, many stories that I only heard headlines about or fully missed. Almost all of the text of the pieces are agents and lawyers and officials speaking in their own words. I'm so glad you highlighted these pieces (glad is weird but you know what I mean). Thank you.
Besides SURJ are there other resources or trainings, reputable organizations to look to as we prepare ourselves for ICE coming to our cities/towns? Thank you for the episode, much needed.
Much of the organizing around and ICE response is local. Google if your state and/or nearest metro area has an ICE response network, and immigrant justice coalition, an immigrant advocacy network, search terms like that tend to turn up what you're looking for. And orgs will usually connect you to other orgs doing similar work. Keep in mind that some orgs may be pretty tight lipped on their website about trainings and how specifically to get involved, the most active org in my area (Boston) is doing mini "onboardings" with everyone interested in joining a response team to vet people and keep things secure.
I feel Beth on the lament over placing trust in our elected reps.
I just got off the phone with my representative’s office (Rob Wittman - R, Virginia). I’ve called twice now. He’s been radio silent since Alex Pretti was killed. Wittman did take the time to make two completely unrelated Instagram posts which, understandably, landed poorly. The comments are full of folks telling him to use his platform to speak out.
I know Wittman is a Republican, but good god, if this isn’t the time to break rank, then what fucking is.
After this painful week in our nation I have been grasping for something to give me hope that we are not going to fall apart as a country.
Please take the time to watch this in full. I am not from Florida so I was inclined to say I don't have a stake in the Florida Governors race so why watch but after watching this I think every candidate in every race, in every state in 2026 needs to hear this and follow his lead:
https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/the-speech-every-2026-candidate-needs?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true
Resistance lib here who set herself into an anxiety spiral during Trump 1.0 and what infuriated me during that time was people acting like I had lost my mind for thinking the damn wouldn’t hold the checks and balances would burst and the courts and congress would crumble. On January 6th I posted “people who cried when he was elected saw this day coming” and we did. But it gave me no satisfaction.
For 2.0 I had changed and the way I approached him had changed, and I appreciated you and Sarah’s moderate approach to him and I tried to take that on as well. But as I gesture around now to all the things I feel this sense of “I saw that coming” and when people are now like oh shit the damn actually broke I don’t feel mad I feel tired because well of course it broke some of us saw the leaks and tried to warn people but sometimes people need to see the damn break to believe it.
So I guess all that to say I welcome those who now see it and my anxiety greatly decreased by becoming a listener to this podcast in 2018.
I relate so much to this! Anytime I find myself getting into the "if you're not outraged you're not paying attention" posture, I remind myself that I, too, took longer than many people to notice some things that are wrong with the world. I am certainly missing some things now. And sometimes I give too much attention to the wrong things. Of course there is a spectrum, but it never has been reasonable to expect everyone to be angry and worried about the same thing at the same time.
May I make a spicy Thursday topic suggestion? Allie Beth Stuckey - I don't know how to talk to my far right christian friends who only see the world through the lens of this woman and what she tells them. I'd love some help here.
Beth and Sarah — I listened slowly to this episode over the past 24 hours and just have to say thank you so much for the time and care that you took with it.
Beth mentioned training and education — I highly recommend this virtual training from States at the Core. The first part is what to do if you find yourself engaging as a constitutional observer, which as I mentioned in my other comment is happening for folks whether they planned to serve that role or not. I felt much calmer after learning what to do when I encounter ICE. I can also see this being useful for the potential election issues you mentioned in the episode as well.
The second part of the training is about community building and organizing, which I think is the best thing any neighborhood could be doing right now. My neighborhood scaled up our connection and infrastructure on Signal within a matter of hours and days, but it would’ve felt less chaotic and overwhelming if we had already been connected that way.
https://open.substack.com/pub/statesatthecore/p/community-defense-and-ice-watch?r=xevt&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
Hey, I have not donated to anything in Minneapolis, but I would like to do that. Any recommendations on mutual aid funds that have been vetted or know what to look for? I get so concerned about scams, but I also don’t want that to hold me back.
Standwithminnesota.com
*sigh* but there really is no point continuing to waste my time contacting my Senator when she posts, in the midst of all this, a love letter to Stephen Miller on her official Facebook page. I’m screaming at a brick wall over here in East Tennessee with Marsha and Chuckie and Bill…. Every single individual who represents me on the federal level is at Grade A Sycophant Status, doubling down for Trump. My state reps are basically letting Stephen Miller dictate the legislative agenda for Tennesseans, going after hate policy after hateful policy. And every single one will get handily reelected. Even my county mayor has gone viral of late for bashing Dems, and he seems to like the taste of that internet fame cocktail, so he’s pouring from that shaker with increasing frequency.
I love my home. I love my friends and my church and my kids school and my neighborhood and the nature all around me. I love my city. But how do I stay when my “leaders” and my fellow citizens largely fall somewhere on the spectrum between unquestioning loyalist and downright cruel? Who do *I* call or email to have a say as an American, as a Tennessean? I’m just so exhausted not only from the policies and the cruelty and the threats and the greed and the corruption, but also from feeling absofuckinglutely invisible.
You can't be the only person in your community who hates what's going on. Find your community. Band together. Form a plan to be the pillar that pushes against the tryanny. Form a coalition and write opinion pieces to newspapers, publish pamphlets like our Rebel forefathers and foremothers did and pass them out in front of grocery stores and at church and at every city hall meeting. Attend every city hall meeting where the mayor is in attendance with your group and don't GIVE AN INCH.
Freedom is lost when good people do nothing. It's not enough to just attend a protest and write letters to our representatives. You have to actively be engaged with your community. Find your people and build a coalition that fights back in non-violent but firm ways that demonstrate backbone and presence. Form an active community group that not only attends protests, but also publishes works in the community like pamphlets and newsletters that celebrates freedom and diversity and denounces tryanny and racism. Write letters and opinion pieces to newspapers. Publish a blog; start a podcast; a community fireside chat. Engage in community volunteer events. All of these actions can build a positive presence in the community that celebrates diversity, inclusion, freedom, and non-violence that can greatly influence the political and social climate.
This is what I am taking steps to do in my own life. The question is, how much motivation do people have to put their phones down and step away from their video games to put the energy and time in to do this work?
Oh I’m certainly not the only one, but we are also certainly a minority. The network is there—but again, here in deep red Tennessee, it’s screaming at a brick wall. I think that’s why I felt the visceral “ugh” when Beth said it’s important to keep contacting Republican representatives because they are the ones with power… because of course they are but mine never wield theirs for good.
My direct participation in protests, op eds, etc. is also complicated because my husband works for a federal judge and his ethical obligations prohibit any activities that could be perceived as biased or partisan. So I have my hands tied with what I can publicly do in order for him to remain employed/keep our family’s health insurance. Perhaps that’s contributing to my feelings of helplessness. With so many restrictions it feels like the least I should be able to do is communicate with my reps, and doing so feels almost counterproductive at this point — because it will not influence them one iota and gets me deeply agitated and anxious so I’m less present in my life and community.
So far I’ve been leaning hard into educating my kids about what is happening, how it parallels events in history, and the various ways it can look to stand up and be on the right side of history. Volunteerism is a wonderful idea; I volunteer at their school, but I’m also very slow at work right now so perhaps I’ll talk to my firm about whether the would let me take on some pro bono work.
But I also would love to financially support the types of community organizing that you are talking about, so it would be great if we could maybe make a discussion thread on here for people to pop in links for various groups accepting donations for this fight as it spreads into more and more communities.
It makes my heart less achy to get these responses in this community—to see the various ways all of us are showing up and figuring out how to navigate this terrifying and uncertain time. Thanks for doing your part in your community and giving me a little more hope and some ideas about doing my part in my own. ♥️
I've been thinking so much about the damage this is doing to real law enforcement, but this is the first place that I've heard someone else mention it. It seems to me that if we wanted to "back the blue," we wouldn't want thugs pretending to be police killing people and causing chaos in the streets that the actual law enforcement officers then have to attempt to de-escalate. The real police officers are being put in so much danger because of all of this.
So thankful for both of you and your witness. This was such an important episode. Thank you thank you.
Just thank you for the way you help me process the news. I’ve always listened but my husband watches y’all and he said he could tell by your body language that y’all have had it. And I think I realized it also when you both posted on social media over the weekend. In a weird way, this feels almost exactly like where we should be for 250- revolting against a mad king.
Thank you, as always, for this episode, Beth and Sarah. As unpleasant as it must have been to record, it’s so incredibly cathartic to listen to. You’ve both shaped my thoughts and feelings about the news and state of the world since 2020, and I always look to both of you when I need some grounding and a voice of reason amidst the chaos. Like Beth mentioned, even your IG stories are helpful for your community (including your parasocial community) to watch - I watched both of your stories like a hawk over the weekend to calm my nervous system. 😮💨 Thank you for showing up and putting your voices and yourselves out there in these scary and turbulent times. You’re doing more than you know.
There was a great (short) episode of Throughline (NPR Podcast) today. It is part of their series called "America In Pursuit" as part of their 250 celebration (right up Sarah's alley) and their story today was about how the US Postal Service was instrumental in the revolution and our political culture (right up Beth's alley!) It is great and worth the short listen and mentions a longer book to read called "How the Post Office Created America: A History" by Winifred Gallagher
Feeling so many of the same things commented on here. Kindred spirits that are not accepting what our government is serving.
The Correspondent is an excellent book - loved that Katie Couric had the author on in her virtual book club to discuss it. She shared that she wrote it in her closet.. and other lovely insights.
I am a HUGE thank you note fan. As kids, we were mandated to sit at the dining room table and write out our thank you notes after birthdays or Christmas… or any reason we were gifted anything. My son had the same expectation put upon him but he’s now 40 and long ago moved to texts or emails. I worry expressing simple gratitude with a written note has lost its importance with the younger online generations. 🤷🏼♀️