Feeling Liberated Yet?

Hey, everyone. It’s been one hell of a week, hasn’t it? To sum it up: I’m so damn sad and so damn angry that we have such a terribly stupid person in the White House. And so, so many people are going to be hurt because of him. It’s all so unnecessary, and it makes me damn proud again that I worked my ass off to try to help get Kamala Harris elected. I just wish it had been enough to avert this.

I have a LOT to say about all of it—tariffs, third terms, and more—in tomorrow’s Social Spotlight, “Destroying America for Fun and Profit,” which is FREE to all subscribers as a big THANK YOU for being a part of our community. We are so grateful!

I also want to invite you to be a part of our first FOUNDING MEMBER event next Wednesday, April 9, at 8pm ET. Every founding member of The Social Contract is invited!

• If you’re already a founder, keep an eye out for our email with more details about this event.

• If you’re not a founder yet, please upgrade now. You’ll be helping to support the best resistance community on Substack (in my humble opinion) and our small but mighty staff—regular Americans like you who are fiercely pro-democracy and independent af.

• Extra incentive! Two founders will be selected at random next week to share a virtual Happy Hour with Joe and help write the Friday Night Tequila Tweet!

Okay, onto today’s poll. Last week I asked you how we can best defeat MAGA, and a whopping 78% of you said we should unite under one big Democratic tent. That’s pretty decisive. On that note, I have another question for you. The Democrats had a good week (more on that below), so let’s do a temperature check. Tell us how you’re feeling, and we’ll include the results in next week’s issue.

• SUBSTACK LIVE: This evening, I was joined by Mike Brock from the outstanding Substack “Notes from the Circus.” If you missed it, check it out.

• THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK OUR READER SURVEY! Your feedback is helping us tremendously as we do or best to make the Social Contract Substack as engaging, informative, useful, and inspiring to our community as possible!

Here are our Heroes of the Week…

• COREY BOOKER. Sen. Booker easily became the face of the Democratic Party resistance this week, when he held the Senate floor for a record-setting 25 hours and 5 minutes. “I’ve taken the Senate floor and will speak for as long as I’m physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis,” he said. Bravo, Senator! Keep it up.

• WISCONSIN VOTERS. Thank you, Wisconsinites, for giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk a much-needed smackdown in your state Supreme Court election on Tuesday. Susan Crawford handily defeated her Trump-endorsed challenger, Brad Schimel, to maintain a liberal majority on the court in the key battleground state. And Musk, already down on his luck, wasted $19 million on the race. Poor guy. Maybe he’s the victim of a Ponzi scheme lol.

• STATES AND VOTING GROUPS. Cheers to the 19 states and voting rights groups challenging Trump’s executive order on voting. The Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to regulate elections, not the president. Full fucking stop.

• JOE NEGUSE. Rep. Neguse rightfully called out former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s hypocrisy during a hearing about “judicial coup d’etats” on Tuesday morning. Well done.

• LYNNE MCFARLAND. This 80-year-old grandmother from Nashville, Tennessee, showed us what civil disobedience looks like. Way to go, Lynne!

• HONORABLE MENTION. Cheers to our friends overseas, who have a better idea of how to handle their corrupt politicians than we do. When France’s Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement this week, the judgment immediately barred her from running for public office for five years. Accountability…what a concept!

Did we miss anyone? Send your heroes our way!

Good Reads for This Week…

• The Normalization of Autocracy —Notes from the Circus

• Will the Deep Fracture Between Tech Oligarchs and White Working Class Nativists Split MAGA? —The UnPopulist

• Focus Groups: Black Male Voters and the Trump Phenomenon —The Great Transformation with Mike Madrid

• Abandoned in a Foreign War Zone —The xxxxxx

• The False Things Trump Said About Tariffs During His Announcement —The Washington Post

I was delighted to join a distinguished panel at the “2025 and the Future of Democracy” discussion hosted by the Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University yesterday. Most of all, I really enjoyed speaking with students about the state of our politics. I tend to be a bit dark about America’s future. Engaging with this younger generation always gives me hope. I’ll be sure to post a link to a recording if/when one becomes available.

I was back on with my buddy Michael Cohen this week for Walsh Wednesday! Check it out.

For those of you who can read Spanish, I was featured in this article in El Confidencial, too!

Hey, I want to hear from you!

What do you think of The Social Contract with Joe Walsh? What are your thoughts about what’s happening this week? How can we fix the political mess we’ve created in our country? How do we mend our frayed social fabric and rebuild an America that works?

Tell us your story and share your ideas with us. Email our editor at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.