Let’s take a look at how the Democrats have handled—or rather, mishandled—Trump’s first days back in office.

The Trump Administration hit the ground running with Project 2025. From day one, we’ve seen a relentless onslaught of executive orders, Elon Musk’s takeover of federal agencies, and the swift confirmation of alt-right cabinet appointees—mostly going unchecked. While federal courts have momentarily blocked extreme policies like revoking birthright citizenship, these delays are just temporary obstacles as Trump’s administration works quickly to consolidate executive power and erode constitutional safeguards.

All of this has left us asking: Do we even have an opposition party?

Despite running on little more than “Trump bad,” Democrats are now failing to rise to the challenge of stopping him. They’ve turned their backs on the left and are normalizing the abnormal. They still trust in institutional norms to save us—norms that fled the country on Inauguration Day. Party leadership has hesitated to take meaningful action. In some cases, they’ve actively enabled Trump’s agenda. Michigan’s own Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin even voted to confirm Kristi Noem, a woman infamous for celebrating the slaughter of a dog.

Meanwhile, as Elon Musk wreaks havoc on federal agencies, Democrats have done little more than stage photo ops. They’ve attempted—and failed—to enter USAID, the Department of Treasury, and the Department of Education. They’ve given speeches at rallies and protests but have yet to deliver tangible results.

Now, to be clear, we recognize that Democrats don’t have the majority in Congress. We also recognize that some progressives are urgently demanding stronger action. We’re not naive enough to believe that Hakeem Jeffries can magically turn Trump into a socialist.

However, it’s disingenuous to claim the Democrats are powerless here. We’ve already seen a glimpse of what they coulddo—Senate Democrats managed to hold up the confirmation of Russell Vought for over 30 hours. Other groups have outlined detailed strategies for obstructing Trump’s agenda in Congress. If Democrats were serious, they could grind Senate business to a halt, delay Trump’s policies, and force Republicans to negotiate. Mitch McConnell wrote the playbook on obstruction—it’s time Democrats actually use it.

Instead, establishment Democrats seem more irritated by progressives demanding action than by the creeping fascism they supposedly oppose. According to reports, party leaders are frustrated by the volume of calls from grassroots groups. One House Democrat, speaking anonymously, complained that Jeffries "can be focused," but should also "be a brawler." Others are openly irritated that these groups are facilitating thousands of calls to their offices, pressuring them to do more. The frustration isn't with Trump—it's with the people demanding they fight back.

We warned Michiganders about Project 2025. We held rallies across the state. Thousands joined in. We made it a campaign centerpiece, rallying against Trump’s dystopian agenda to dismantle the federal government. Yet, now that he’s in power, it feels like no one is meeting the moment. Dems had months to mobilize, strategize, and implement safeguards. Instead, they’ve handed Trump an easy path forward.

You don’t fight fire with strongly worded letters unless your goal is to help it burn.

Where does this leave us?

With Trump in power, we cannot rely on a Democratic Party that has largely abandoned anyone who falls outside of corporate and establishment dems and normalized the MAGA movement. Calling our representatives isn’t enough. We must build power in our own communities—whether to protect undocumented immigrants, defend civil rights, or resist fascism outright.

And we cannot let establishment Democrats off the hook. Their complacency helped pave the way for Trump’s return. Voting “blue no matter who” is no longer enough—we need to primary these people and replace them with real fighters. Those who fail in this moment must be shown the door in the midterms.

Building that power starts now. It starts with staying informed, having hard conversations with our loved ones, and mobilizing grassroots action. We’ll be here every step of the way, keeping you updated on the latest developments in Michigan and beyond. 

We will keep you informed so we can keep calling these weak politicians out, and mobilize. Follow us on social media and check in here for direct calls to action—because if we don’t raise hell, no one else will.

MAGAs couldn’t even wait for the new year to start tearing themselves apart from the inside. In case you’ve missed the drama, here’s a brief recap:

Alt-right tech bro Vivek Ramaswamy took to twitter to bash American workers, throwing support behind expanding H1B visas in order for businesses to hire cheaper, higher skilled workers. As you can imagine, Trump’s rabidly anti-immigrant base did not take kindly to the suggestion of being replaced with foreign workers. 

Elon Musk quickly came to bat for Vivek, echoing his sentiments that H1B visas are necessary for businesses to recruit talent from overseas – and all hell broke loose. Laura Loomer, Steve Bannon, and other right wing extremists have gone to war with the DOGE bros online. 

You know us, we love the drama, but that’s not why we’re here. The MAGA Civil War has highlighted a much more pressing concern for America - money in politics. 

Elon and Vivek aren’t supporters of H1B visas because they believe in the American dream for immigrants hoping to build a life here in the US. They want to enable massive corporations to exploit migrant labor. 

First, let’s talk a bit about what exactly an H1B visa is. This is a work authorization visa - and it costs thousands to obtain. First, a US employer must sponsor you - and in exchange for an employment contract that company often foots the bill for the visa. H1B visas are common in contract labor - where workers are hired as “contractors” through staffing agencies – without the full pay or benefits of their directly employed coworkers. The companies hiring these workers aren’t mom and pop shops - they’re massive corporations looking to expand their workforce as cheaply as possible. 

Don’t get us wrong - we support immigration and want to see an America where the process is made easier, fairer, and faster. But there is a reason that this is the form of immigration Elon and Vivek are supporting – their bottom line. 

We are looking at the result of decades of money pouring into our politics. Elon Musk contributed 277 million dollars into Trump’s election - and that’s just the money we know about. When you spend that kind of money, you’re expecting a return on investment. 

This issue isn’t unique to Elon, or Donald Trump, or even the Republicans. Harris, Biden, and Trump combined raised 4.7 billion this cycle. Both sides collected millions from dark money sources - donations undisclosed to the public. While Elon Musk remains the largest public backer behind Trump - he accounts for just a fraction of the 1.8 billion raised by his campaign. 

Is it any wonder that neither party campaigned on progressive policies for the working class? Proposals like Universal Healthcare made headway in the 2016 and 2020 cycles, with Kamala herself supporting Medicare for All in her 2020 primary campaign. Not a peep in 2024. While Democrats did take pot shots at reigning in corporate price gouging, there were no large calls to truly tackle income inequality, substantially tax the 1%, or most critically – get the money out of politics. The Democrats may not be as openly bent over, pants down for the rich – but they are just as complacent. 

All of this translates to a government that is more than happy to step aside and let corporate interests drain working class Americans. Trump is perfectly content to toss his buddies a bone and pivot his support of H1b visas - while simultaneously targeting low skilled migrant workers who farm our food (and in doing so, jack up our grocery prices). Why should he care that his tariff plan will hurt all but the richest 5% of Americans, when the rich are the ones contributing to him? 

The American middle class takes the fall. Our labor is exploited, our environment polluted, and our interests dismissed. You can’t hand a senator a $5 bill without getting a bribery charge - but you sure as shit can funnel millions to them through a super PAC.

Our voices are being drowned out by monied interests. Our political power is being squashed by the weight of the 1%. It is impossible for our government to truly serve the people until we get the money out. Until then, welcome to the American Oligarchy.

Like many of you our heads are spinning (actually blowing off our shoulders!) after the most limp and pathetic lame duck.  We thought we’d take a minute to remind ourselves of rosier times.

Democrats came out swinging when they took control in Lansing in 2022. They passed numerous tax breaks for working class families including expansions to the Earned Income Tax Credit and phasing out the retirement tax. They invested in our schools, providing free school lunches for K-12th grade and free community college beginning in 2025. They’ve tackled healthcare access and affordability, expanded protections for reproductive freedom and protections for the LGBTQ community. We finally passed sweeping, common sense gun restrictions to protect our communities. With a huge cherry on top for working Michiganders, Right to Work was overturned!

You’ve got to admit, they jumped out of the blocks with vigor and the 2023 holidays felt like everyone got political pressies. Our state was pushing forward in a way we haven’t seen for 40 years and the momentum going into one of the most important elections in our lives was set to steam roll MAGA.

Yet the energy to get done what was promised to voters quickly fizzled out - leaving behind a 2024 legislative year of little substance. Democrats hit the ground running – then tripped, sprained their ankle, and limped over the finish line with little to show for their final year in power.

Let’s be honest, the Democrats have shit the bed. They didn’t just drop the ball in 2024 – they dragged it out back and shot it ala Kristi Noem. The past month in Lansing has been a flurry of infighting, absenteeism, and a resounding display of the lack of strong leadership within the party. Democrats had a chance to use the final weeks of their trifecta to go out with a bang – and they squandered it. 

Let’s look at the week before Christmas. Republicans opted to start their holiday vacations early, abstaining from voting as they demanded the legislature roll back increases to the minimum wage granted by the MI Supreme Court and protested progressive legislation on the Democrats’ agenda. Good riddance, you may be thinking – except some Democrats joined them. Rep. Karen Whitsett, DINO in Chief, took up the MI MAGAs’ stance on blocking minimum wage increases and stayed absent in protest. 

With such a narrow majority, it doesn’t take many sit outs to block critical legislation. When Rep Alabas Farhat decided to skip out on the job alongside Whitsett, Democrats were unable to pass the “homeless bill of rights,” legislation enacting protections for Michigan’s unhoused population. 

After a plague of infighting and sit-outs blocking any bills from progressing, House Speaker Joe Tate finally authorized a “call of the house” - a legal measure to enforce attendance. Yet just an hour later he adjourned - ending the session until December 31st and leaving behind government transparency bills, gun reforms, maternal health, child labor, water affordability bills, and more

MI Democrats seem to have forgotten how they won Lansing in the first place – so let’s remind them. The 2022 sweep came off the tailwinds of Prop 3. After the fall of Roe, the issue of abortion brought out a surge of voters. With the Reproductive Freedom for All Amendment on the ballot, many reps were guaranteed wins by doing nothing more than supporting a pro-choice agenda. 

Others, however, ran on policies they never implemented. Whitmer herself promised to implement transparency of the governor’s office - yet the bill doing just that is now one of those languishing in the House without a vote. Speaker Joe Tate himself fought against the measure and prevented a floor vote. Meanwhile, some reps have worked hard to do what they promised voters – only to now be forced to sit and watch the clock run out before their bills can be brought to the floor. 

In part, this is the result of bad leadership. House Speaker Joe Tate has failed to reign in the party and put them to work even as the clock runs out. Even without absences, party leadership has failed to pull together a substantial effort to get legislation through the house. If we were to give the benefit of the doubt that MI Democrats did not expect to lose the House this election (which we don’t) – they still have had over a month to get their agenda straight. If anything, their loss makes the moment that much more pivotal. They still fumbled it. 

Yet this is also the result of operating within a system that is broken. It’s hard to pull the party together on policy, let alone progressive policy, when the majority is bought and paid for. House Speaker Joe Tate himself has taken $100,000 from DTE - the same company consistently jacking up rates while unable to keep the power on any time it rains. Michigan Realtors PAC has contributed hundreds of thousands to Democrats and Republicans alike while the cost of housing soars. Meanwhile millions of contributions have swept Lansing from dark money sources. When our political parties are built on a broken foundation, is it really a surprise that they fail to serve the people?

At this point, the best we can hope is that Democrats learn from this disaster when campaigning in 2026. But then again, Democrats don’t have a great track record of learning from their mistakes, do they?

For many of us, 2024 has felt like the longest 10 years of our lives. And for good reason – we understood the assignment. Around the country we mobilized, hit the pavement, and put our blood, sweat, and tears into the progressive causes we care about. Here at Distill Social, we gave it our all - and that’s worth celebrating. So enough licking our wounds, let’s look at what we got done this year. 

30 Million Video Views

You heard that right. Across Tiktok, Instagram, and Twitter our videos collectively totalled 30 million views. That’s three times the population of Michigan. That’s 9% of the total US population and 20% of total voters in the 2024 election. And we used that viewership to promote progressive, issues based content. The facts without the filters - direct to voters.

170,000+ Followers

More than 170,000 people trust us to serve up the bitter truth. On Tiktok, we have built the largest progressive account in Michigan. Our followers allow us to get out the news the mainstream won’t cover, to spill the tea on MAGA bullshit, and educate Michiganders about the issues that matter.

Ground Game

This year we took our following offline. We organized over 5,000 event attendees across the state of Michigan to take a stand against Project 2025. We mobilized over 1,800 volunteers to send over 200,000 pro-choice postcards to Michigan voters. We sent out 25,000 stickers promoting progressive values and then chased down every single recipient to make sure their ballot was cast. We’ve proven that we can use our social media platform to mobilize sustainable, grassroots organization. 

Just Getting Started

We could not be more proud of the work we, our volunteers, and our followers accomplished this past year. We may not have achieved the results we wanted, but we’ve demonstrated the capacity to build a movement – and that is exactly what we intend to do. This New Years we are celebrating the hard work done and gearing up for our fight in 2025. 

To do that, we need to keep growing. We are competing with a right-wing media apparatus that controls the mainstream media and dominates the discourse online. For us to cut through the noise, we need you to help amplify our voice. Follow us across platforms. Share our videos with friends and family. Donate to help us continue to organize. 2024 may be over, but we’re just getting started.

251 years ago today, American patriots in Boston famously protested British taxes by throwing a shipment of tea into the harbor. This act of rebellion would eventually lead to the American Revolution and has been immortalized in elementary school history lessons. The taxes being disputed? Import duties - otherwise known as tariffs. 

Tariffs were enough to spark the birth of our nation, an event MAGAs hold dear as they brandish “1776” flags at Trump rallies. Yet the same people who constantly revere the wisdom and heroism of our founding fathers are now applauding the implementation of the same taxes they had rebelled against. 

The iconic slogan, “no taxation without representation” has been used by the right for decades. But it seems MAGAs find the phrase exclusive to the taxes coming out of their paychecks, and not those that will drive inflation. Not the taxes that inspired the phrase to begin with. 

Hypocrisy in the Republican party is hardly new. The fact that their base doesn’t care about their hypocrisy isn’t new. But at what point do we stop letting them claim the title of “Patriots?” MAGAs have stormed the US Capitol, Trump has refused to protect and defend the constitution, SCOTUS has granted monarch-esc immunity to the office of the presidency, and now the implementation of tariffs that will devastate the cost of living in the United States. How many times will we let them spit on the ideals of our founders before enough is enough?

Our founding fathers would be appalled. They would be ripping “Don’t Tread on Me” flags out of the hands of MAGAs and asking them, “what the fuck is wrong with you?” And with any luck, some red hats would be getting thrown in the Boston Harbor.

The Michigan legislature is back in session this week. This brief period between election day and before newly elected reps take office is known as a “lame-duck” session. Reps who are retiring, term limited, or just straight up lost, have this brief period to push through final legislation. 

For Michigan, this lame-duck session is the curtain call on the state’s Democratic trifecta - having lost the state house majority this election. Since 2022 much of the progressive legislation we’ve seen has hinged on party line votes and the Democrats’ majority; gun reform, repealing right to work, free school lunches and community college, reproductive rights, and protections for the LGBTQ community. 

So now they’ll use this final moment to pass single-payer healthcare and universal basic income for Michiganders, right?

Well, no. With less than two months before Democrats lose control of the state house, let’s look at what we can expect. 

What are Dems likely to pass?

Infighting has already ensued within the Michigan Democratic party as representatives push their agendas forward. With limited time – and in some cases, limited support – the bills most likely to pass are those with a unified party backing them. Bills to ban guns at polling places and ballot counting centers, firm up insurance coverage for birth control, and require schools to provide safe-storage information for firearms, have already passed the house this month. 

With Governor Whitmer’s backing, the Dems are also likely to fall in line on bills to expand economic development. Legislation to open up the Governor and Legislature to public record requests and school safety reform, are also looking favorable. 

What would we like to see pass?

Progressive reps are still fighting hard to push through more meaningful legislation. Betsy Coffia continues to champion her bill to allow undocumented Michiganders to obtain driver’s licenses. Rachel Hood is hoping to pass sexual education reform. Meanwhile, bills to hold polluters accountable for their own cleanup costs, ethics reform, and lobbying legislation have been left in their respective committees for months. It’s well past time these bills are brought to the floor for a vote. 

Yet getting anything done will require party unity and most importantly - actually showing up to work. On the house’s first day back after the election, DINO Karen Whittsett’s absence held up the passing of a slate of legislation. That day Democrats passed legislation regarding the skin care procedures an esthetician or cosmologist can perform… yes, truly the most pressing issue for Michiganders. Meanwhile, Reps like Rachel Hood have floated the possibility of leveraging the threat of absenteeism in order to push through their own bills. 

Look, we love a good fight for a progressive agenda - but it’s a little too late for political games. Our moment in the majority has passed and it’s time our reps in Lansing start taking that seriously. With an incoming Republican majority in the state house and DC, Democrats need to unite to fight back. Republicans did just that in their own lame-duck session in 2018 - jamming through more than 300 pieces of legislation. These last few weeks could be a monumentous, final hurrah – giving Michiganders a glimpse at the light at the end of the MAGA tunnel. Or, we can succumb to infighting and let the moment be wasted. 

Whatever happens next, stay tuned with us for the tea.

Monroe County Commissioner Mark Brant will be starting his new term from a West Virginia prison – where he’s serving an 18 month sentence for knowingly renting land to folks running an illegal marijuana business. Drug dealers and felons rejoice! The job hunt just got easier for ex cons – and current convicts – just run for election as a MAGA Republican. Mark will be collecting his $15,000 per year salary from behind bars. As for actually doing the job he was elected to do? No worries, says Mark, who assured the press he will still have phone privileges. 

As Mark takes remote work to a whole new level - we have to reflect on how exactly something like this happens. Mark managed to keep his trouble with the law out of public scrutiny until October, when he was finally forced to resign. Yet by that point, it was too late for his name to be removed from Monroe County ballots. Worse, no Democrat had bothered to run an opposing campaign against him: with Mark running as an incumbent in a thoroughly red county, it’s hard to blame them. Which is why Mark won handily - securing a landslide victory with 90% of the vote. 

Worse, prior to Mark’s resignation county officials and MI State Senator Joseph Bellino Jr. were aware of the situation. MAGAs in power knew Mark was staring down a prison sentence and did nothing to inform the public. Why would they? The “party of law and order” nominated a 34 time felon to the top of the ticket. What does a pesky 18 month sentence matter in little’ol Monroe County? 

The same party that screams about the non-existent crisis of  “migrant crime” consistently turns a blind eye to criminality within their ranks. It’s little surprise then that Mark, despite his previous resignation, made sure to swear in for his new term at the county clerk’s office prior to reporting to federal prison. A new term that he will spend over a quarter of in prison. We really need to drill that in - an elected Michigan official will be serving a year and a half of his four year term from a prison over 300 miles away. 

Inequalities within the American justice system aren’t new. People of color are far more likely to serve time for non-violent drug offenses despite the fact that white people use and sell narcotics at the same rates. White, affluent men get slaps on the wrist for crimes that land the rest of us behind bars. Corporations treat legal fines as the cost of doing business. 

But this is something new. MAGAs are turning a blind eye to literal criminal convictions. Crime no longer matters unless it’s committed by a spanish speaker they can turn into a villain. Within their own ranks? They’ll cover up, lie, and when forced to admit the truth, brush off felonies as “not a big deal” or “fake news.” From the White House to Monroe County, criminal charges don’t matter so long as you’re wearing a red hat.

We hate to say we told you so. After months of denials from the Trump team regarding Project 2025, they’ve wasted no time packing key appointments with individuals involved with the dystopian agenda. America bought the lies and evasion – and now the mask comes off. Project 2025 is no longer a proposal. It is being set into action. 

Contributors to Project 2025 are being tapped across the country. Michigan’s very own Pete Hoekstra, chair of the MIGOP and a co-author of Project 2025, has been appointed as ambassador to Canada. If you’re already muttering, “what the fuck” to yourself, we have bad news. It gets much, much worse. 

Russell Vought has been tapped for Director of Office Management and Budget - a role he wrote about extensively in his contributions to Project 2025. The OMB, he says, should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process” and “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.” As director of the OMB, Vought will have the power to make this vision reality. His position makes him responsible for pushing the administration’s agenda across government agencies – which will be a key part in strengthening Trump’s power over the federal government. 

Next we have Tom Homan, another co-author of Project 2025. Homan has been selected as Trump’s “Border Czar.” Project 2025 details plans for mass deportations and even denaturalizing and revoking birthright citizenship from immigrants. Homan has already proven himself capable of executing cruelty, having played a key role in Trump’s family separation policy during his first term. 

Homan isn’t alone in bringing Project 2025’s radical agenda for immigrants into reality with Stephen Miller appointed as Deputy Chief of Staff of Policy. Miller’s “America First Legal” was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until the heat of negative press caught up. Miller may have asked for the name to be removed from Project 2025, but his promises to oversee Trump’s vision of mass deportation falls right in line with the agenda. Miller has already promoted using the military in deportation efforts, the construction of detainment camps, and denaturalization. Sound familiar?

Meanwhile, other Project 2025 contributors have found themselves appointed to the very roles they wrote about. Brendan Carr wrote the chapter on the Federal Communications Commission. In his writing, he disparages “big tech” for attempting to “drive diverse political viewpoints” and wants social media users to be able to “choose their own fact checkers.” Well, congrats to Carr, who’s landed himself as chairman to the FCC - a position he says “is empowered with significant authority that is not shared” with other FCC members. 

In the case of John Ratcliffe, his own former chief of staff Dustin Carmack wrote the chapter regarding his new position as CIA Director. Both Ratcliffe and Carmack co-authored portions of Project 2025, sharing an adversarial view of China. Ratcliffe already has a history of politicizing national intelligence when he declassified unverified Russian allegations about Democrats during the 2016 election - even though he admitted it may not be true.

This is the tip of the iceberg. We are less than a month out from election day and already Project 2025 is being set into motion. The lies and denial are over. The Trump Administration is laying the groundwork to execute a Christian nationalist takeover of our federal government – just like they told us they would.