Three Wins Today: Sept 14, 2025
No, everyone is not bowing down.
Just because you know about X doesn’t mean everyone does. It’s hard to grasp how some people didn’t vote, or voted for Trump just because they heard he’d lower prices. It’s hard to grasp how some people just think Charlie Kirk was just an old school style right wing pundit. In some cases, yeah, they’re just lying and racist, but in others, they didn’t know. Hell, I don’t know half the things he said.
There’s this pervading idea that if you don’t know everything immediately you are automatically one of the bad ones. There’s this lack of willingness to teach and educate, and this expectation that if they don’t know they should just “Google it.”
No one should be “Googling” anything anymore, in my opinion, unless you really know how to get accurate information from the website. Cause they don’t make well-researched web pages easy to find.
Some people are truly evil, but a lot more people are just ignorant and naive. If we want to create a better world. If we want to make sure there is still an educated population, we must be willing to have discussions and not write people off on sight.
I remember before Trump was elected a second time, Alex Wagner went to a union hall to ask who they were voting for. These are people who work full time jobs in factories. When they come home they’re with their families or decompressing, they’re not watching the news, they’re just making sure they have enough energy to continue putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads. Trump said he’d lower taxes, he said he’d make it easier to afford a house, he was lying, but how would they know that?
Not everyone is a news junkie or chronically online, and when we write those people off because of how they voted, because of how they didn’t vote, because of a comment they made based on what they heard one time, we’re losing.
Compassion for those who aren’t as aware of what’s going on as us is a huge part of what’s gonna save Democracy.
And, don’t misunderstand me, I do not think everyone is ignorant, some people are just terrible. But when we assume everyone is just terrible, we lose our ability to change hearts and minds, and we need to change hearts and minds to win.
And on that note here are some wins!
Also, find out how Doomerella feels below!
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Fri, Aug 29 - According to University of Minnesota’s Students for a Democratic Society, the school has ended their years long deal with ICE. Until August, the school leased their gun range out to law enforcement including ICE, but ICE is no longer allowed to use it:
The U's backdoor deal with ICE existed for years, long before Cunningham claimed the University was "politically neutral" and acted appalled at the abduction of one of her own students. This move comes at the behest of student protest and mounting public pressure. We rallied for the release of Dogukan Gunaydin, we held two anti-ICE protests with hundreds of attendees, we brought the contract to the movement, and the admin was forced to respond.
This is what happens when people just do. Anyone can realize something needs to change and find a way to change it. Public pressure works, not every time, but most of the time. And there is no excuse for not trying. If you don’t try, it will work 0% of the time.
Portland, Oregon
Fri, Sept 5 - As it became clear that Portland will likely become one of the next cities on Trump’s list of depraved cities he wants to go to war with, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson released a statement:
Like other mayors across the country, I have not asked for – and do not need – federal intervention. We are proud that Portland police have successfully protected freedom of expression while addressing occasional violence and property destruction that takes place during protests at the ICE facility in Portland. We anticipate that the site, and the half-block surrounding it, will continue to be a focus of protests. Portland will continue to rise to the moment as a proud sanctuary city, taking legal action to stand up for our community and our rights.
It also seems, at least according to Google, that this page, explaining what Portland being a sanctuary city means, went up, though it could just have been updated (I really wish dates were on things).
Mayor Wilson is making it very clear that Portland will not back down and will even take legal action if they show up. Given the fact that Trump backed down from Chicago and seems to be going to Memphis instead, I have no doubt if they work together and stand their ground, he’ll TACO again.
United States Tennis Association
Sun, Sept 7 - Following the announcement that Trump would attend the US Open Men’s final, and USTA’s announcement that all dissent against him must be silenced on TV, Nancy Levine Stearns, who played college tennis, resigned her USTA membership:
I played NCAA tennis for the State University of New York at Albany many years ago. I still play. Today, in memory of my relatives who perished in Europe at the hands of fascists, I resign my USTA membership. I encourage all USTA members to resign in protest.
The next paragraph is even more heartbreaking. For those of us who don’t follow tennis, you might not know the theme of this year’s Open:
This year’s U.S. Open theme art celebrates Althea Gibson, the first Black woman to win the tournament, with the slogan “breaking barriers.” Meanwhile, Trump is targeting a Black woman, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. His administration is ginning up bogus charges and attempting to fire her.
I’m sorry, WHAT? You dare to have this as your theme and then silence dissent against the president? What the hell country is this?
I also want to mention that Disney’s ABC and ESPN didn’t follow the rules and aired the booing anyway. USA Today opinion writer, Nancy Armour wrote:
A seconds-long clip of a president being booed on a U.S. Open broadcast shouldn’t be a big deal. But so many guardrails have been erased by Trump and his minions, and obeying the USTA’s edict would have been one more. Good for ABC and ESPN for recognizing that.
So, thank you Nancy Levine Stearns, ABC and ESPN for standing up, and I hope it’s just not on my radar and you’re not the only one who did so.
I hope you enjoyed learning about some people standing up while so much of our social media feeds are about those bowing down.
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
You are so right that not everyone is able to closely follow the news. For most of those of us who do, I think it was obvious who Trump is, and no surprise how he has behaved as President. But I keep remembering the time I was canvassing, and the man who answered the door said he had six kids and a full time job and was recently widowed and just didn’t have time to go vote. Much less, obviously, to figure out who the candidates were and what they stood for.
I don't always read your posts about Daily Dems doing the work, but I do read these wins every night. Like a vitamin. And re: your intro: someone on Bluesky today related an exchange with a friend who had never seen the Charlie Kirk quotes that we all know so well as racist, misogynist, antisemitic and all of his other garbage, and the poster had never seen the Charlie Kirk quotes that sound perfectly reasonable, sane, kind, loving. Both were shocked. But it was a reminder that the algorithms and media have really sorted us into different realities.