Good news on abortion rights in Texas, housing in Florida

A newfound aggression in Iowa, too

Welcome to a premium Wednesday edition of Progress Report.

Conservative media began to chisel away at the connective tissue of our shared reality during the early days of the Obama administration, setting the stage for Donald Trump to conjure the violent, paranoid MAGA hellscape alternate reality in which something like 40% of the country now dwells. Having never faced any consequences for stoking an insurrection, Republicans are now using the raid on Mar-a-Lago as the basis for a dark, stupid fantasy about the federal law enforcement deep state targeting conservatives for mass elimination.

That stuff metabolizes almost instantly nowadays, so it took just over 48 hours for one of their sicko zealot followers to sneak into an FBI field office in Ohio and try to shoot up the place. I don’t suspect that the shooter was a regular New York Times reader, but the first few days of mainstream media coverage of the raid have straddled the line between the two American realities.

Many of the stories filtered it through the lens of partisan politics; others questioned the judgment of a historically cautious attorney general’s decision to investigate a guy that has spent the past seven years committing increasingly brazen and publicly visible crimes. An opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal even straight-up argued that Trump should just be allowed to do crimes.

Then there was the “analyst” paid and platformed by mainstream news media that suggested the raid would backfire.

John Whitehouse+ @existentialfish

CNN commentator on August 9: "Anything short of finding the nuclear codes at Mar-a-Lago is going to hugely backfire on the Biden administration"

Sure, it’s become clear that the FBI was indeed searching for nuclear codes at Mar-a-Lago, but there’s never going to be any comeuppance for partisan hacks and terrible news producers that put this kind of garbage into the world. The news cycle churns forever forward, the coverage dissipating into the past while its toxic exhaust poisons the minds of millions.

On the bright side, Ted Cruz hasn’t tweeted all night. Little victories.

Speaking of victories, last night’s newsletter has me determined to further elevate the stories that progressives need to read, foster the sense of communal mission, and highlight local wins. As such, Progress Report will going forward devote one of its newsletters every week to uplifting the big wins, good news, and positive developments that most people might otherwise miss.

That starts now. Would you mind hitting the little heart near my byline and date at the top so that more people on Substack see this post and we can start hyping up good news and wins?

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Reproductive Rights

Texas:

The Dallas City Council sent a message to Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Greg Paxton on Wednesday when it voted to not use city resources on investigating or prosecuting for having, performing, or helping with an abortion:

The resolution requires that any investigations tied to abortions be assigned the lowest priority, except in certain criminal cases. One example would be if an abortion is evidence of a crime such as sexual assault.

“It is our responsibility as local elected officials to do everything we can at the local level to protect bodily autonomy and uphold reproductive rights, especially as our state continues to undermine them,” said council member Adam Bazaldua, who wore a t-shirt and pin that said “bans off our bodies.”

Balduza, who first proposed the measure, brought his 10-year-old daughter with him to the meeting and had her sit next to him up at the front as he repeatedly shot down conservatives’ attempts to block the vote.

Nebraska

Gov. Pete Ricketts, an exorbitantly wealthy man not used to getting whatever he wants, put out a statement this week whining that there suddenly weren’t enough Republicans willing to back a 12-week abortion ban for him to convene a special session of the legislature.

This is Nebraska, which nearly has a Republican supermajority. There’s a change happening in this country — suddenly, conservatives are becoming terrified of the issues most associated with their movement, from abortion to white nationalism and election denialism. And thankfully, Democrats are picking up on it and pushing back even in rural, red regions.