Brad Rourke’s Blog
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Celebrate What?
Today America is 250 years old. Many are despondent or enraged over the loss of American democracy. I am at Antietam, site of the bloodiest single day in American history. Why am I here? What is there to celebrate? On September 17, 1862, roughly 23,000 Americans fell here in twelve hours. Five days later, Abraham…
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Trump Plane
(From my Notes to My Future Self series.) On July 1, Donald Trump took the first flight on his brand new Air Force One, a $400 million Boeing 747 given to the United States by the royal family of Qatar. The Air Force has spent months and up to $400 million more in taxpayer money…
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“The Point” — Responding to MAGA Comments Against No Kings 3
March 29, 2026: Note to my future self. Yesterday 8 million Americans demonstrated that in this land we will have no Kings.I received many derisive comments yesterday from MAGA who were mocking the historic protests.“He’s not a king he’s your daddy” is one example.“We haven’t had a king for 250 years so what’s your point?”…
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The New Year: Battle, Rest, Restore, Return
The new year. My social media feeds fill with invitations to set intentions. Resolutions. Better habits. Quieter mind. I am offered a pause to take stock of the self. I have great compassion for this urge. So many of my friends and loved ones have faced unimaginable trauma. The strain of 2025 is real. A…
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Frog, Pot, Bird, Flock
I have been thinking about the old frog-in-the-pot metaphor. We all know it. Put a frog in cool water and turn on the heat. The temperature rises slowly and the frog does not notice until it perishes. It is tempting to say we are in the time of the frog and the pot, as the…
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The Tools of Empire: How Private Tech Is Powering Autocracy
As we watch and worry about the dismantling of our democracy, the tools of empire are being built. The foundations were laid quietly, in the early months of the Trump administration. As Elon Musk wielded a public chainsaw, a small group of technologists and financiers stitched together databases under the guise of “efficiency.” What they…
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The Sandbag Republic: Law as Resistance
For those who fear autocracy is coming—or already here—there is real hope in the legal response that rose to meet it. Indeed, the legal defense of democracy stood up faster than many expected, and remains stronger and more nimble than we possibly could have hoped. Within a week of the inauguration, lawyers and nonprofits had…
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Become Ungovernable
On my way to downtown DC to march in the No Kings rally, I was unsure of what I would find. * * * * * We all knew what to expect as the year began. It had been laid out for us very clearly in the document called a Mandate for Leadership, otherwise known…
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Still No Kings
Find a No Kings 2 event near you and sign up: the live map is here. The matter was settled. The founders broke from monarchy and built a republic ruled by law. The crown was thrown aside. But the desire to be ruled is persistent. It lives on, waiting for someone willing to claim it.…
Brad Rourke 