Will the world ever get back to normal?

Not exactly--because it never really was--but we do get a glimpse now and then of better times, both before and ahead.

Happy Juneteenth, a day to celebrate freedom and equality. It takes on increased urgency this year after we saw the Supreme Court eviscerating the Voting Rights Act in several steps, the latter of which came on the shadow docket and represented a green light to Republicans to create racist maps.

We’ve witnessed the bigoted attacks on President Obama and Michelle Obama this year, including at the groteseque UFC circus at the White House. And we saw that vile meme Donald Trump, a racist to the core, shared about the former president and first lady.

Watching the coverage of the dedication to the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago yesterday, however, was uplifting. It reminded us of a lot, and it seemed to wash all that slime away, at least for a day. We got a glimpse of the normal world. I enjoyed playing some of the clips on my Sirius XM show, opening with something positive and inspiring, rather than the usual attacks on democracy and massive corruption.

Trump wasn’t in Chicago—where former presidents, foreign dignitaries and many celebrities gathered—and his absence is what made it an event that reminded me of what the world was before and what it could be. Michelle Obama hit on so many things that Barack Obama has represented, and it was everything Trump is not—including a Nobel Prize winner.

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It was a burn of Trump without mentioning his name or even alluding to him in any overt way. I wish Obama himself would punch hard, but that’s not who he is. He’s got his flaws but again reminded us of a far better time—and of what’s ahead as we work toward November.

We’re seeing MAGA, the Trump regime, the GOP, and the orange menace himself melting down every day. This week we saw the stunning disaster of the Iran war in full, Trump’s complete surrender, which even his own MAGA base sees and from which he won’t recover. Republicans in the House and Senate are divided on that and other things and are beginning to resist Trump heading into the mid-terms.

The outrageous situation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, as many have now said, is a metaphor for this entire administration. A swampy green mess, it’s now belching up the brand-new blue coating Trump had spent 14 million dollars on—using no-bid contracts—as it just peels away and floats to the top. Waste. Fraud. Abuse. Incompetence. Failure.

The regime also backed off—at least partially—from its plan to put thousands of migrants in concentration camps, selling warehouses it bought for $700 million for that reason, as communities and local governments pushed back. As the New York Times reports, “in a major turnabout, the agency is planning to offload seven warehouses purchased for more than $700 million by either giving them to other federal agencies or selling them outright.” It doesn’t mean mass deportations are over by any stretch. But it does show we can put them on the defensive and spare at least some of the thousands from being imprisoned in terrible conditions.

And the GOP may be seeing that the gerrymandering of maps is creating a backlash that could take a massive bite out of it. In Georgia, after the governor called a special session, the Republican leaders in the legislature decided not to redistrict for 2028, clearly worried about energizing the Black vote—which is going to be energized anyway, because it’s way to late for the GOP.

Those of you who listen to my show know that the MAGA callers have almost gone silent. They used to call every day to defend Trump. But except for delusional John from Arizona recently, who defended Trump, saying, “I love inflation,” they’ve been running for cover. I think that shows they’re depressed, if not irked and angry about Trump, and many won’t be marching out enthusiastically to vote for the GOP. MAGA doesn’t ever die—and I’ll write about that in a future post and why we can’t ever let our guard down—but it does get fractured and eat itself up now and then, and that gives us opportunities.

So I’m looking forward to the fall.

For now, I’m traveling, off from my SiriusXM show (Joe Sudbay and Nayyera Haq will be guest-hosting the next couple of weeks), headed to Madrid and then on to Paris.

Before some of you tell me not to work or post here, understand I’ll be working, interviewing people about how the world is seeing us and also how, particularly on LGBTQ rights, Spain is light years ahead.

And of course I’ll also be covering all the other news here, even while getting some downtime too. I loved going to Medellín last year and writing here and covering the news with the perspective of being someplace else. It’s really the best way to work sometimes, and with Substack, including Substack Live, we have the technology to do it. Thanks to all of you for being part of it. And have a good Juneteenth weekend.