We Need Trevor Thomas In Congress And Trevor Thomas Needs Your Help Now
I like Trevor Thomas. Trevor first came on my radar when he was working for SLDN, working to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Remember all those “Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” we published in 2010? Thank Trevor for making that happen. Trevor worked tirelessly for SLDN, providing so much information and advocating day and night to repeal DADT. But even before I knew Trevor, he had worked for the LGBT community at HRC, since 2007. And when DADT repeal was sewn up, in January of 2011, Trevor went to work for a group I admire greatly, Equality Matters, part of the Media Matters family. He’s had five years of successful campaigning for our issues. Now he’s campaigning for us again — this time, hopefully, his campaign will lead him into Congress.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=dME7qql824o%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US
Trevor Thomas, who happens to be openly gay, is running for Congress, for Michigan’s third district in Western Michigan, the Grand Rapids area. Here’s his website.
You should vote for him if you can. You should support him in every wary that you can.
You can support Trevor Thomas by clicking here now. Please do!
Here are a few words from Trevor’s campaign about why he’s running and about the multi-millionaire Tea Party Republicans he’s facing.
Trevor Thomas, 28, filed in February to challenge tea-party freshmen U.S. Rep. Justin Amash in Michigan’s 3rd district — the seat of President Jerry Ford. As the only person not self-funding in the race, Trevor comes from a working class family — his mom and dad met on the lines of General Motors where they worked together for more than 30 years.  According to campaign pollster Mark Mellman, Justin Amash is unpopular with a re-elect of 33 percent. Trevor is in the margin-of-error, but first he must win the democratic primary against local establishment pick Steve Pestka, 60.
Pestka is socially conservative and does not support a woman’s right to choose and does not allow exceptions for rape and incest. Trevor, who helped repeal the discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, spoke out at Netroots Nation for the DREAM Act and is pro-choice. Trevor was just endorsed by Governor Jennifer Granholm and Lt. Gov. John Cherry. Knowing the district leans red, his campaign slogan, “A campaign for us all”, was unveiled as Trevor was introduced at his kick off by former Kent County/Grand Rapids GOP party chair Bob Eleveld.
Today, The New Civil Rights Movement is joining other prominent blogs, listed below, and coming together to say we don’t want Tea Party politicians in Congress, and we don’t want Republican politicians in Congress, and we don’t want so-called “moderate Democrats” who aren’t progressive Democrats in Congress.
Remember the 14 months of war in Congress over “Obamacare”? If Congress had been filled with more real Democrats, more real progressives, we could have had a single payer system and not faced the threat –a very real threat, as we’ve learned this week — of the Supreme Court striking down the most important Democratic achievement in 50 years.
Here’s more about Trevor, from his campaign:
Trevor Thomas is running for Congress against a Tea-Party Republican in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and he needs help. Â Trevor, who is openly gay and helped repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ by working with the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, is at a critical fundraising deadline in the next 24 hours.
Trevor’s up against a lot.  Both his opponents are self-funding millionaires. Trevor is a member of the 99%, coming from a working class family — his mom and dad met on the factory lines of General Motors where they worked together for more than 30 years.  He filed in February to challenge freshmen U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, but now also has a Democratic primary opponent who doesn’t support a woman’s right to choose and called Trevor’s work on LGBT issues “extreme.”
This is the seat once held by President Jerry Ford. Â Trevor’s message centers on the values of Jerry Ford – a man who believed in clean water, the Civil Rights Act, LGBT equality, and a woman’s right to make her own personal health care decisions. To this day, the district still leans red, which is why Trevor has already started reaching across the aisle even as he maintains solidly progressive stances. His inclusive slogan, “A Campaign For Us All,” was unveiled at a campaign kickoff where Trevor was introduced by longtime Republican and former Kent County GOP Party Chair Bob Eleveld.
After working as a reporter in the community, Trevor went on to work for Governor Jennifer Granholm who has now endorsed him in the race.  You can watch Trevor’s interview with her on The War Room with Jennifer Granholm, aired last Friday night and focused on his race being one of the youngest in the country.
Trevor needs our help so he is not outpaced by two multi-millionaires. Â Let’s stand with him now.
The New Civil Rights Movement is proud to support Trevor Thomas, who is openly-gay, and has done battle for the LGBT community. Now, he wants to help all Americans.
Here’s the list of other blogs that today are participating in a “blogswarm” to help elect Trevor Thomas:
–Marcy Wheeler at EmptyWheel
I hope you’ll consider contributing to Trevor’s campaign if you possibly can. If you can’t, please share this with all your friends and family.
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.
 |
Roughly 140 Environmental Protection Agency employees have been placed on administrative leave after signing a letter warning of political interference in the agency’s work—prompting critics to accuse the Trump administration of ignoring their First Amendment rights.
Calling the letter “a remarkable rebuke of the agency’s political leadership,” The New York Times reported on Monday that more than 270 EPA employees had signed the public letter “denouncing what they described as the Trump administration’s efforts to politicize, dismantle and sideline the main federal agency tasked with protecting the environment and public health.”
On Thursday, the Times reported that 144 workers had been suspended, other news outlets put the number at 139.
In that public letter, signatories said they are joining in “solidarity with employees across the federal government in opposing this administration’s policies,” and that they “stand together in dissent against the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.”
READ MORE: ‘Stop Talking’: Johnson Suggests Jeffries Is Lying in Marathon Budget Speech
They detailed their five primary concerns, including, “Undermining public trust,” “Ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters,” “Reversing EPA’s progress in America’s most vulnerable communities,” “Dismantling the Office of Research and Development,” and “Promoting a culture of fear, forcing staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being.”
On Thursday, the 140 or so employees who allegedly had signed the letter with their official titles received emails saying they had been placed on leave for two weeks “pending an administrative investigation,” The New York Times reported.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” Brigit Hirsch, an EPA spokesperson, said in a statement, according to Bloomberg Law News.
“The letter, addressed to EPA head Lee Zeldin, alleged the agency has used its communication platforms to ‘promote misinformation and overtly partisan rhetoric,'” Bloomberg added. “One example the signatories cited was a March statement laying out the administration’s deregulatory agenda, in which Zeldin referred to ‘the climate change religion.'”
READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms
Nicole Cantello, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 704, called the move “blatant retaliation,” The Hill reported.
“We don’t swear an oath to the Trump administration, we swear an oath to the Constitution and so we don’t feel like we violated that oath or that we did anything wrong by signing this letter,” she said.
Cantello, on social media, wrote that EPA workers “have the right to freedom of speech, just like every other American.”
Addressing EPA Administrator Zeldin directly, she said: “See you in court.”
Some denounced the administration’s move.
Attorney Mark Zaid, who handles national security and whistleblower cases, wrote: “Apparently retaliation has already begun. This is what defines this Administration.”
He also offered to “provide pro bono consultation to examine current situation.”
The New York Times’ Trip Gabriel asked, “What First Amendment?”
READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report
Image of Lee Zeldin via Shutterstock
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in an apparent attempt to prevent the Republican Speaker, Mike Johnson, from passing President Donald Trump’s massive budget bill in the dead of night, has been delivering a speech on the floor for over six hours, and may break the record of 8 hours and 32 minutes set in 2021 by then GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Speaker Johnson reportedly allowed minimal time for debate on what Trump calls his “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which cuts Medicaid by about $1 trillion, and forces cuts to Medicare and SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, by hundreds of billions of dollars while carving out tax breaks that largely favor the wealthy. An estimated 17 million people could lose insurance as a result of the legislation.
Once Leader Jeffries concludes his remarks—which he began around 5 AM—Johnson will put the bill to a final vote, and he’s anxious to get the legislation to the President’s desk before Trump’s arbitrary July 4 deadline.
READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms
“What is contemplated in this one big, ugly bill is wrong,” Leader Jeffries said, as NBC News reported. “It’s dangerous, and it’s cruel, and cruelty should not be either the objective or the outcome of legislation that we consider here in the United States House of Representatives.”
Jeffries also called it “cruel” to cut Medicaid.
“Republicans are trying to take a chain saw to Social Security, a chain saw to Medicare, a chain saw to Medicaid, a chain saw to the health care of the American people, a chain saw to nutritional assistance for hungry children, a chain saw to farm country and a chain saw to vulnerable Americans,” Jeffries added.
Speaker Johnson, speaking to reporters, appeared displeased.
“If Hakeem will stop talking, we’ll, we’ll get the job done for the American people,” Johnson, using the Democratic Leader’s first name, told reporters.
“It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the truth,” Johnson claimed. “So he’s really spinning a long tale in there, but we’re excited. The people will see the effect of this bill—the extraordinary legislation.”
Johnson offered no evidence to support his accusation.
READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report
“It’s going to get the economy humming again, really, at a record pace, and it will help every American,” he added.
“So the sooner we can get to it, the sooner the Democrats will stop talking, we’ll get this bill done for the people, and we’re really excited about it.”
Critics blasted Speaker Johnson.
Walter Kimbrough, a three-time HBCU president, responded by posting a meme quoting the famous historian Alexis de Tocqueville, that reads: “It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
Speaker Johnson: “If Hakeem would stop talking, we’ll get the job done for the American people. It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the truth. So he’s really spinning a long tale in there.” pic.twitter.com/ih931XJnjE
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) July 3, 2025
READ MORE: ‘Special Place in Hell’: Top Dem Slams ‘Cult’ of ‘People Who Take Food Away’ From Kids
Image via Reuters
Well-known veteran Democratic strategist James Carville is out with a second dire warning about President Donald Trump and the 2026 midterm elections.
Earlier this week, Carville, a political consultant and strategist since the 1970s and now a political commentator, warned that Trump might try to rig the 2026 elections in one way or another—including, he suggested, by possibly trying to cancel them.
On Wednesday night, he offered up another possibility: martial law.
On NewsNation (video below), Carville predicted a “Democratic blowout” in this November’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, and that President Trump will be forced to see the writing on the wall.
READ MORE: Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report
“I think he’s gonna read the election,” Carville said. “And I think he’s going to see this big, beautiful bill, is about 25 points underwater. It’s going to be 30 points underwater,” Carville added, referring to the Republican budget bill that guts Medicaid and Medicare, and is likely to pass the House and head to Trump’s desk for a July 4 signing.
“He’s going to see a massive defeat coming, and he’s going to try to do anything he can to extricate himself in that defeat,” Carville warned.
“And I would not put it at all past him to try to call martial law or declare that there’s some kind of national emergency in the country, or anything like that, because the hoofprints are coming, you can hear ’em, and they’re gonna get a shellacking in November of ’26.”
READ MORE: ‘Special Place in Hell’: Top Dem Slams ‘Cult’ of ‘People Who Take Food Away’ From Kids
Mediaite noted that “Bill O’Reilly and Stephen A. Smith also joined the panel discussion, with O’Reilly mocking Carville’s mention of ‘martial law,’ calling it a ‘scare tactic’ and arguing the economy will dictate the midterms.”
On Tuesday, Carville spoke about Trump with former CNN journalist Jim Acosta.
“I don’t put anything past him, nothing,” Carville warned. “To try to call the election off, to do anything he can. He can think of things like that that we can’t because we’re not accustomed to thinking like that.”
“You know people come up to me all the time and say, ‘James. I’m really scared,’” Carville told Acosta on “The Jim Acosta Show.”
“I said, ‘you should be, you have every reason to be scared. Don’t kid yourself,’” Carville added.
Watch the video below or at this link.
READ MORE: Trump Threatens to Block NYC Democratic Mayoral Nominee He Calls a ‘Communist Lunatic’
‘What First Amendment?’: 140 EPA Workers Suspended After Opposing Trump Agenda
‘Stop Talking’: Johnson Suggests Jeffries Is Lying in Marathon Budget Speech
Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms
Trump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report
‘Every Reason to Be Scared’: Strategist Worried Trump Could Try to Rig or Cancel Midterms
News3 days ago‘Special Place in Hell’: Top Dem Slams ‘Cult’ of ‘People Who Take Food Away’ From Kids
News3 days agoTrump Appeared Unaware His Budget Bill Cuts $1T From Medicaid: Report
News3 days ago‘Every Reason to Be Scared’: Strategist Worried Trump Could Try to Rig or Cancel Midterms
News3 days agoTrump Threatens to Block NYC Democratic Mayoral Nominee He Calls a ‘Communist Lunatic’
News2 days agoDemocratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms
News2 days ago‘Stop Talking’: Johnson Suggests Jeffries Is Lying in Marathon Budget Speech
News2 days ago‘What First Amendment?’: 140 EPA Workers Suspended After Opposing Trump Agenda