We might as well admit it:  Donald Trump will never revitalize The Kennedy Center in Washington. It is dead, a victim of the President’s narcissism. Trump hijacked America’s living memorial to JFK. By adding his name to the center, Trump destroyed it. 

And the Trump-Kennedy Center won’t be fit to serve as a living memorial to Kennedy (or anyone other than Donald J. Trump) after Trump “renovates” the building with gaudy gold decorations and other design details better suited for a house of ill-repute. 

John F. Kennedy was a President who loved and listened to classical music, opera, and other fine arts. The national center for the performing arts was an exceptionally appropriate memorial. That makes all of us who have attended concerts, opera, and theater at the Kennedy Center, pausing during our visits to reflect on Kennedy’s memory, sad—and angry. 

Throughout my years in Washington, I regularly attended concerts and other programming at the Kennedy Center. I recall the building opening in 1971 and experiencing joy that the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) finally had a proper home, one with great acoustics, good seating, and a design that shouted out dignity. JFK, I imagine, was in heaven looking down on the memorial dedicated to his memory with a smile on his face.

I hate to think what JFK might have been thinking last Friday as workers installed Trump’s name on the side of the building. Let’s not go there.

Because the Trump-appointed Trump-Kennedy Center board of directors likely did not have legal authority to rename the Kennedy Center, a future Democratic President (yes, there will be one) will remove Trump’s name.  Also going will be what is likely to be a huge bust of Trump’s head, or of Trump raising his fist in the air after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in the Grand Foyer. The large portraits of Trump and J.D. Vance also would go, preferably on Inauguration Day. 

Unfortunately, removing the desecration Trump is wrecking on the Center will never reverse the fact that, courtesy of Trump, there is no longer a memorial dedicated to John F. Kennedy in Washington. Some crimes cannot be undone. 

 Trump killed the Kennedy Center. It almost would have been better had he simply razed it, just like he did with the East Wing of the White House. I don’t expect to ever attend another concert or play at the Center. Period.

But what should I do if I am in Washington and want to hear the NSO perform? Unfortunately, unless something is done, the NSO will have nowhere for its concerts, at least nowhere appropriate. 

One idea, one I would love to see, would be for donors, large and small, to build a new home for the performing arts in Washington, one that would not be funded, operated, or controlled by the federal government. It would be private, immune from the destructive impulses of a future Trump. 

Americans that want to see JFK honored again should fund the construction of a new Kennedy cultural center and create a sizable endowment to guarantee its independence from future Presidents like Trump. 

Ideally, the new Kennedy Center would, like the former one, include a world-class concert hall, a home for the Washington Opera, and a theater. It could also include high quality restaurants (no McDonald’s, please) and a small museum dedicated to JFK’s presidency. I would call the museum “The Camelot” museum and love to see “Camelot” performed in the new theater as the first production after opening.

What should happen to the “Trump Kennedy Center?” I would suggest Congress turn it over the Trump family with the stipulation that Kennedy’s name be permanently removed. Then the Trump family could take full responsibility for the facility. If the family wants to turn it into a venue for UFC cage matches or offer screenings of the upcoming Melania Trump biopic, titled “Melania,” of course, good luck to them.

President John F. Kennedy deserves to be honored with a cultural center that reminds all of America that Presidents can and should be role models that inspire Americans to ask not what the country can do for them, but what they can do for their country.

Happy Holidays! 

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

Season’s Greetings. I hope you are in the holiday spirit. Me? I’m trying to get there. My strategy is to follow the advice (for a change) of my mother. Knowing my propensity to find fault in others, she advised me not to say anything when I couldn’t find anything nice to say about someone. 

Given the holidays, I’m not writing about you-know-who today even though, in recent weeks, he has been providing truckloads of material for columns each week. (Oops—my mom would not be pleased.)

The holidays this year have already been a blessing. We have heard from many friends, some of whom seem to contact us (and vice versa) only during the holidays. It is always good to hear from friends, old and new, and discover how they and their families are doing. I count friendships as among the best holiday gifts.

I also confess to liking snow, which is easy for me to do when I don’t have to drive in it. Snow is beautiful, as are rivers when they are frozen. A few years ago, a gaggle of more than 120 geese took temporary residence on Island Creek. I’m told they were sleeping while standing on the ice. I still cherish that memory.

Among the things that are remarkable about the season are the random acts of kindness and goodwill that I encounter. Sometimes, being the often-negative person that I am, I am surprised that people can be so empathetic, kind, thoughtful and cheerful in a world that sometimes seems upside down. I’m envious of these people and try to emulate them, remembering that goodwill is contagious. (Maybe if I hung out more with people of goodwill, I’d be a better person.)

I also like Christmas lights. Not the Clark Griswald variety—too much of a good thing is not a good thing. But the subtle decorations that I often see on houses at this time of year. I like seeing houses decorated. They remind me that there are people inside celebrating the holidays—and that there is more to life than politics, economics, and world news.

For several days last week, I watched ABC News with David Muir. I like his reporting, but I was watching because he is visiting small businesses that make and sell things made in America. Each night, a segment included some free advertising for small businesses that would never be able to reach a national audience. What is remarkable is how happy, functional, and positive the people are. 

Finally, I like reading about Christmas meccas—places like the European Christmas markets that make a special effort to become mini-Christmas-Disneylands to create a destination where entire families, can enter a wonderland of holiday gifts, foods, smells, lights, and so much more.   (Easton is becoming such a mecca and the Washington Post even reported on it.)

I will do my best to stay positive for the next few weeks and, with luck, even remain positive into the new year. On that last part, I may need some help. I’m worried about affordability (not a hoax), increases in the cost of health insurance, Venezuela and war, and a lot more. (Sorry, mom—I’ll keep trying.)

Happy Holidays.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

Donald Trump is his own worst enemy, far worse than the lunatics, communists, RINOs, and Democrats he believes are out to get him. The damage done to Trump’s legacy, history will tell us, was not the work of his enemies, but the product of the President himself.

The President was called a narcissist by those who knew him well before he ran for President and even before his fateful encounter with E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room. He did not just want to be in the press; he needed to be there. That need drove him to engage in things that often made him look ridiculous, crooked, or just plain stupid.

Consider him disguising his voice to give tips to reporters, usually in the hopes of prompting stories favorable to him. Many reporters were not fooled. Remember that scene in Home Alone 2, where Macaulay Culkin encounters Trump in the lobby of the Plaza hotel? The director did not want Trump in the movie. Trump required the cameo as a condition of filming in the hotel, which he owned at the time.

Some would describe these types of acts as buffoonery and harmless. But once Trump rose from several encounters with financial disaster in the real estate business and changed careers to entertainment, his weaknesses grew. Because his television show, The Apprentice, had a large audience (one that did not include this writer), he came to see himself as both famous and “great.”  And with that “greatness,” he came to see himself as a wise leader.

Trump was not a wise leader the first time he won the Presidency in a brutally nasty campaign that leveraged racism and misogyny to defeat the much-better qualified Hillary Clinton. He did not expect to win. He declined to create a traditional transition team and thus did not hit the ground running. He hit it with a large splat, making dozens of personnel and policy mistakes in four years best summed up as chaotic. Sometimes it seemed he was firing a Secretary of Defense or Chief of Staff on Twitter weekly.

Trump ended his four years in the White House with acts that would best be described as self-destructive were it not for Trump not being destroyed. Convinced that it was impossible for him to lose the election, he sought to retain power through lawsuits, lying, and violence. His effort failed, but even as he retreated to Mar-a-Lago to lick his wounds, he was unable to handle the truth.

Trump’s four years in the wilderness spawned an anger that drives him today. It also landed him in a world of stress that accelerated his aging while eroding his judgment, minimal to begin with. As a result, and thanks to a group of power-hungry right wingers who privately do not like or respect Trump, he found a team of oligarchs willing to fund him and use him as a vehicle to maximize the return on their investments. 

Trump’s new circle of political friends and advisors are different than those of his first administration. For the second time around, he found advisors who knew what keys to play on the piano to mesmerize conspiracy-believing white nationalists or who simply needed someone to sweep away the laws and regulations keeping them from enhancing their stacks of gold. 

Trump seems to have had two principal criteria for selecting his cabinet and senior officials—celebrity and loyalty. He was more interested in how appointees look, how often they are in the press, than in their experience, integrity, or intelligence. Committed a felony? No problem. Wanna be ambassador to France? You got it.

That brings us to Trump 10 and a half months into his second term. He is an old man with “cankles” who frequently and publicly falls asleep at meetings and who, allegedly, has lost control of his bowels and “stinks.”  But, more bizarrely, perhaps recognizing that he is unlikely to live forever, is anxious to create a legacy but knows that his words and actions will not be enough to save the perception that he was twice a miserably failing, dangerous President—a dark chapter in American history.

It is impossible to scroll through the news without reading about the ballroom, Trump finally getting a “Peace Prize,” this one conjured up by FIFA as a thank you for free advertising for the World Cup, and peace agreements that frequently include provisions that may stop conflicts but always seem to include terms to create business opportunities for Trump and his friends. 

Trump is working hard to erase January 6 from the history books, but the video of police being attacked with flag poles repurposed as spears and pepper spray will not be erased by pardoning the thugs he gathered in Washington to do his dirty work. Nor will prosecuting James Comey or attempting to destroy the legacy of his predecessor, “Sleepy” Joe Biden do the trick.

If the Epstein scandal, allegations of war crimes, increasing evidence of grift, and what appears to be outright criminality by Trump, his family, and his business associates, don’t destroy Trump’s legacy, don’t forget that the Trump show still has almost three and half more years to go.

We have not seen the worst of Trump or Trumpism yet. Our only hope is Democrats will win the House (or House and Senate) next year, or for a combination of Democrats and Republicans to finally stand up and tell Trump the show is over.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy, sanity, and the rule of law.

Just as the Epstein scandal was temporarily disappearing from the daily news, The Washington Post reported a more horrific story. Self-dubbed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is reported to have ordered a second strike on an already-destroyed suspected drug smuggling boat to kill two survivors. If the story is accurate, the United States may have committed a war crime.

Those of us familiar with the history of the Vietnam War will remember the Mai Lai Massacre, where between 347 and 504 unarmed Vietnamese adults and children were killed. The Hegseth incident is, of course, much smaller, but the legal issue is the same. An illegal order was given resulting in unarmed people being killed.

Much is being written about who gave what order. Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, says he knew nothing about it and that Pete Hegseth denies giving the order. No surprises here, but if Trump and Hegseth are lying, it may not protect them from accountability. The bipartisan leadership of both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have announced investigations. 

A phrase featured on The X-Files television series comes to mind: The truth is out there.

Legal pundits are pouring over details of the attack that killed the two survivors. The issues are complex, but, assuming that the account is true, the answer is simple: Murder.

Among the issues involved is the legitimacy of characterizing Venezuelan boats suspected of smuggling dangerous narcotics as an attack on the United States. Another issue is why; after releasing video footage of the first attack on the suspected drug boat, the Department of Defense did not release the second or report that a second strike had been carried out. Was there a coverup? If there was a coverup, does that prove that whoever ordered it knew an illegal order had been given and executed?

Also, if Hegseth did not give the order, who did? And are Hegseth, Trump, or others responsible or was someone else insubordinate? Is someone going to be thrown under the bus? (As of this writing, the betting is on US Special Operations Command commander Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley.) 

I won’t review the Law of War or the U.S. Code of Military Justice, but the law is clear that killing civilians who pose no threat to U.S. military members, even in a war zone, is murder. Read 18 U.S.C. § 2441-War Crimes and judge for yourself.

In coming weeks, articles of Impeachment will likely be filed in the U.S. House of Representatives against President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and others. The coming House and Senate Committee investigations, which the President is unlikely to be able to stop, could not only assign responsibility for what appears to be a horrific war crime, but also document a coverup likely to put Watergate to shame.

When I started work on this week’s column, I was going to write about accountability and the absence of it in the age of Trump. If the Post reporting is accurate, and many in Congress, including Republicans, believe it is, accountability may finally come to Donald J. Trump.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy and the rule of law.

 

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for reading The Spy today.

We live in troubled times, but there is much to be thankful for, especially on the Eastern Shore. 

I am grateful for my wonderful wife, Maria, who learned how to run a boat this year. I can hardly wait until Spring.

I’m also fortunate to have many friends, near and far. I’m sending them notes thanking them for being good friends. 

Music. Talbot County is blessed with rich opportunities to hear music live. I am grateful for Chesapeake Music’s fantastic June chamber music festival, for the Avalon Theater, and for the Gabriela Montero exceptional concerts held at the Ebenezer Theater. I love the Mid-Shore Atlantic Symphony. When Maria and I moved to the Eastern Shore many years ago, we didn’t realize we had arrived at a cultural mecca.

Speaking of friends, I must mention the birds. They’re magical. The Eastern Shore is blessed with herons, egrets, osprey, eagles, ducks, and, of course, Canada geese. 

Lucca. A 15-year-old goldendoodle–the best goldendoodle on the planet

Genuine Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs. There is no substitute. I’d like to see the “Maryland-Style” crabcakes peddled in Florida banned.

Rockfish. Don’t tell my friends, but I prefer it over grouper, Chilean sea bass, salmon, and walleye.

 No catastrophic hurricane damage on the Eastern Shore this year. Tropical Storm Chantal visited in July and Hurricane Erin passed offshore in August, but there were no direct hits. My fingers are already crossed for 2026.

The reopening of the federal government. The federal government should never have been closed. Now, with a little luck, families and friends travelling this Thanksgiving will be spared the nightmare of cancelled flights. And, more importantly, federal workers may be able to salvage the holidays. 

A short note to Congress and the President:  Please don’t close the government down again in January. Please. It’s harmful and it’s counterproductive.

Democracy. Given our political divide and the events of the past year, I’m more grateful than ever for Democracy. 

The Spy. I look forward to the Spy Daily Intelligencer arriving in my email box at 3 p.m. There is always something interesting to read. Thank you, Spy, for being our spy. Your insights and information about the Eastern Shore help make us a thriving community.

One last thing. Thank you for those of you who read my editorials, even those of you who disagree with my points of view. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to share my perspective on politics with you this past year.

That’s it. Happy Thanksgiving!

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean is an advocate for democracy and the rule of law.

These are dark days for democracy. I could be over-reacting, but I believe we are in the middle of a scandal worse than Watergate—and with my name, I should know. In Watergate, there was a crime followed by a coverup. Will history repeat itself with a coverup that ends a Presidency? 

The President is acting like he has something to hide. He is avoiding the press and, on Friday, directed the Attorney General to investigate Democrats who may have engaged in crimes at the invitation of Mr. Epstein. The Attorney General, of course, immediately announced that she has assigned a prosecutor to investigate.

What is going on here? One possibility is that Trump hopes Democrats’ fear that incriminating evidence on President Clinton and other prominent Democrats will be disclosed which will prompt them—the Democrats—to kill or limit the release of the files.

The second possibility is that the newly-announced DOJ investigation will be offered as justification not to release the files or to make further redactions—redactions that could remove all references to Trump.

Both possibilities (and there are others) sound like coverups.

I regretfully missed this year’s Waterfowl Festival. If I had been there, I would have recalled the saying, “if something looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” 

Where there is smoke, there is fire. The President is feeling the heat.

Tragically, the Epstein scandal is but one of several brewing around Donald Trump. The others involve violations of the Constitution, allegations of corruption, and illegal military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats. More than 80 people have now been killed. I suspect some of them did not deserve to die.

Don’t forget the illegal closure of federal agencies, the firing of federal employees, and the disgusting abuse of the judicial system. Representative Eric Swalwell has just been added to those being investigated for mortgage fraud. And the list will grow longer. 

If I sound disgusted with Trump, I am. And do not tell me I am suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”  I would not be as focused on Trump as much as I am if there were not so much to focus on—most of it extremely troubling. If what seems to be happening is happening, America has a corrupt President who has been swallowed by his own narcissism and obsession with power. 

Writing about Trump is not fun, believe me. Reviewing Trump’s words and actions to prepare to write about them is a challenge, which is why sometimes, as I write about Trump, I try to avoid the sordid details.

As I was writing this column, I thought about Maria Grant’s recent piece in The Spy about pieces of music to listen to when depressed about the state of the world. Her piece prompted me to make a list of my own. 

My list consists of songs about Trump and the mess he has created. I share my list with a cautionary note: Sexual abuse of underage girls (or of anyone) is not funny. Similarly, Trump’s policies and actions not only reflect badly on him, but they also hurt people—people who depend on the government for social services and support and the people who work for the federal government. 

So, please do not mistake my list as making light of this dark period in our national history.

Here’s the list:

You’re No Good Linda Ronstadt. Very simply, Trump is no good. 

Smiling faces Sometimes by The Temptations and The Undisputed Truth. Trump smiles a lot (for example, when he is awake and in social settings like the recent “Gatsby-themed” celebration at Mar-a-Lago). When Trump is smiling, he often is lying.

Liar, Liar by The Castaways. President Trump may not have won the Nobel Peace Prize, but he belongs in the Guinness Book for the number of lies by an American President. 

Money by Pink Floyd. Money is the most important thing in the world for Trump. I don’t think he realizes that he can’t take it with him. . . 

Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey. The President loves gold, even more than the title character of the James Bond movie, Goldfinger.

Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham, and the Pharaohs. This one is a reference to possibility of major trouble for Trump in the Epstein files.

Stray Cat Blues by The Rolling Stones. The Stones regret releasing this song, which appeared on the album, Beggar’s Banquet, but it fits when thinking about Trump’s one-time best friend, Epstein.

You’re So Vain by Carly Simon. I have never encountered anyone as vain as Donald Trump. And hope I never will. 

I’m a Loser, The Beatles. Trump lost the 2020 election. He’s on track to lose the 2026 mid-terms unless we, the people, stop him.

They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Ha! by Napoleon XIV (Jerry Samuels). Have you read Trump’s social media posts of the last 10 months? If Trump is ever prosecuted for crimes he is alleged to have committed both as President and as a private citizen, he will have the defense of insanity available.

I have additional songs on my list, but politics is serious business. Those of us who cherish democracy, civil rights, human decency, and empathy need to get to work on the 2026 mid-term elections and in supporting democracy. 

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

President Trump describes himself as a consequential President. Regrettably, that is true. There is little doubt he will leave America different than it was when he took office. 

Donald Trump has worked hard to be consequential. But he hasn’t done this by working with Congress. Instead, he has aggressively expanded Executive Power beyond that exercised by any recent President. (Trump also has worked overtime to make sure he is remembered after he leaves office, unfortunately through stunts like proposing to rename the Kennedy Center after himself, building his ballroom, festooning the White House in Gold, and, planning to hold an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at the White House next June.) 

Many of us have been horrified by some of Trump’s actions. The firing of thousands of federal employees shortly after Inauguration Day comes to mind, as do the recent military strikes on suspected drug boats, and the unnecessary and irresponsible closure of the federal government. 

But many others, presumably including the President’s MAGA base, praise Trump’s actions, citing “successes,” including border security and “cutting government waste,” as well as ICE raids and deportations, “ending DEI at elite colleges” and, ironically, “ending the weaponization of the Department of Justice.”

One friend of mine who is reluctant to criticize Trump suggests that fear of change prompts opposition to Trump’s policies and actions. As the friend puts it, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.”

President Trump has broken a lot of eggs, but what is often more disturbing than the particulars of some of the eggs being broken is how he went about breaking them. When legislative authorization did not exist, as was the case with the Trump tariffs and dozens of other actions taken via Executive Orders, he has moved forward without one. 

In Trump’s mind, his ends justified the means. To me and the eight million people worried that Trump sees himself as a king, the ends don’t. Simply put, even if I were to agree with Trump policies, he should not pursue them in violation of the Constitution. 

In recent conversations, I have been surprised to find otherwise reasonable people tell me that while they don’t agree with “everything Trump is doing,” they hesitate to suggest that Trump is destroying the Constitution by violating it. 

Do you agree with President Trump that his ends justify his means?

I don’t. I want the President to act in accordance with the Constitution—and I mean with the Constitution as written, not as the current Supreme Court sometimes interprets it. I do not want suspected drug boats to be destroyed in a macho “shoot first and let God sort it out” attacks, even if fewer shipments of deadly drugs headed to America are intercepted. 

And I don’t want federal agencies and programs authorized and funded by Congress to be closed via Executive Orders. I want Congress to determine the laws of the land. I want the President to carry out those laws. Period.

The Constitution and democracy have become endangered species because we have a President who believes he is above the law. That is scary. It is also why Congressional power must be restored in the 2026 mid-term elections. 

Don’t forget that election day 2026—November 3rd— is less than a year away. It’s time to get busy.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

The election results are in from Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. Republicans and MAGA lost. Democracy won. 

Last night, dare we say it, was a turning point. The voters spoke. They’ve had enough of President Trump, MAGA, Stephen Miller, ICE raids, blowing up “suspected” Venezuelan drug boats, relentlessly (albeit unsuccessfully) pursuing the Nobel Peace Prize, demolishing the East Wing of the White House, pardoning business partners, as well as fraudster George Santos, and wrecking political retribution on James Comey, Letitia James, John Bolton, and Jack Smith. And don’t forget DOGE, Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth,  JD Vance, USAID, and the legions of fired federal employees.

I could go on, but you don’t need to watch the video of Trump’s “Gatsby-themed” party at Mar-a-Lago to know that when voters returned Donald Trump to the White House, he won, not the American people.

But let’s not be too quick to declare the Trump era over. It’s not. And, as President Trump himself wrote last night, he was not on the ballot. The House and Senate remain in Republican hands, as does the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump’s presidential term has more than three years remaining.

A lot of damage can be done to democracy in three years. And don’t fool yourself into thinking that Trump will learn something from last night’s Democratic wins. Trump will double down on claims of election fraud and efforts to require voter ID, eliminate mail-in ballots, and other “reforms” intended to deprive the right to vote to many.

Trump will also accelerate efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, slow down legal immigration (except for white South Africans), and use the upcoming 250th anniversary of U.S. independence to celebrate his own Presidency and MAGA.

It is too early to throw out those “No Kings” placards and signs. The No Kings movement and other protests against destructive Trump policies are needed now more than ever.

Last night’s election returns resulted, in part, from the good work those of us who participated in the No Kings protests have done this year. Like it or not, more work remains to be done if Democrats are going to win back the House of Representatives a year from now.

So, let’s not count chickens before they are hatched. But let’s also welcome the light at the end of the tunnel. Voters last night delivered something more than wins in their respective States. They offered hope for the future. Yes, America, Trump’s “Golden Age” won’t last a thousand years, regardless of how many memorials Trump builds for himself in the next three years.

But there’s more. Republican officeholders across America received a message from voters last night. That message was that blindly following Donald Trump and his “movement” can be dangerous to your political career.

Here are a few of the things that were won last night, thanks to Democratic voters.

Trump and MAGA have a new, powerful motivation for ending the destructive government shutdown. Voters are angry and, despite claims to the contrary, know it was Trump and his lemmings on the Hill who closed the government.

Republican legislators now know that blindly following Trump can be political suicide. Expect more Republicans to break ranks with Trump on his political appointees, and especially on legislation not in their constituents’ interests.

The public is increasingly aware of corruption in Washington. Even voters who like the MAGA agenda are asking how the Trump family has made billions since January. As one friend told me last week, “The Trump presidency is a house of cards, and the wind is blowing.”

The public knows the President is obsessed with retribution against his political enemies. Could last night’s vote convince more Republicans to speak out against it? I expect it will.

I could go on, but my point is that America had a good night last night, but there is work to be done. Our fundamental civil rights remain in jeopardy, especially our right to vote.

While we celebrate last night’s Democratic wins, we cannot forget that.

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, goldendoodles, and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.