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Dear Progressive Reader,

I recently had an opportunity to re-watch the 2007 film Charlie Wilson’s War ([link removed]) , which chronicles the secret arming of Afghan rebels against the 1979-89 Soviet invasion. As the film points out, a major part of the U.S. strategy ([link removed]) in that war was to attempt to “bleed the Soviet Union dry” by drawing them deeper into the conflict and forcing them to spend their resources on military weapons and equipment. Many argue ([link removed]) that it worked. The Soviets withdrew ([link removed]) from the conflict in February 1989, and nine months later the Berlin Wall came down ([link removed]) , and two years after that, the Soviet Union disolved
([link removed]) .

It occurred to me that in many ways, the Trump Administration seems to be engaged in a similar fiscal frontal attack on all of the progressive public programs built over the past century. Cutting funds for things like public broadcasting ([link removed]) , arts ([link removed]) and humanities ([link removed]) , so-called DEI programs ([link removed]) , and even a tiny grant ([link removed]) “that teaches first responders how to use the lifesaving overdose reversal drug naloxone.” And, as more and more government support is being cut, private foundations are scrambling
([link removed]) to try and fill ([link removed]) the gaps.

In 2011, Wisconsin’s newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker levied a similar attack against public sector unions in effort to “defund and defang ([link removed]) ” organized labor. The immediate result of Walker’s Act 10 budget bill was to curtail public sector union bargaining rights, but the longer term effect was to limit the resources of those unions to participate in other activities—including providing support for Democrats running for political office—and to “kill progressive political efforts ([link removed]) ” nationwide.

It would not be a stretch to postulate that Trump and his acolytes see the possibilities of this strategy (perhaps even reading and following the “Grand Chessboard ([link removed]) ” analysis of Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor and former CIA Director William Casey’s Cold War ideology ([link removed]) ). If the progressive foundations and Democratic-Party-supporting donors are spending all of their funds filling the gaps left by cuts in federal support, will they have any resources left to put toward electoral politics in 2026 and 2028?

In 2016, on the eve of Trump’s first Inauguration, Aaron Dorfman, president of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy posited ([link removed]) a series of five steps that foundations and donors could take to most effectively combat the Trump agenda (in its earliest version). Dorfman concluded by imploring: “Our nation needs foundations and wealthy individuals to be part of the resistance. It's time to get busy.” Now that the Trump Administration is actively targeting ([link removed]) both nonprofits and the lawyers that might defend them, it increasingly seems like time is running out ([link removed]) .

This week on our website, Lily Spanbauer looks at ([link removed]) the importance of public libraries; Mike Ervin examines ([link removed]) the problems of letting private corporations make a profit from public health; Hank Kennedy shines a light ([link removed]) on the way tariffs hurt union workers; and Marc Martorell reports ([link removed]) from Germany on the strains in U.S.-Europe relations, even as we commemorate unity in the fight to end fascism in World War Two. Plus, Tanya Greene of Human Rights Watch pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on the impacts of making police less accountable; Sarah
Bobrow-Williams makes the case ([link removed]) for racial equity in public health; and Eric Protein Moseley opines on ([link removed]) the importance of listening to the voices of unhoused people.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - This year, on June 14, we are celebrating the 170th birthday of Robert M. “Fighting Bob” La Follette, with a special day of online fundraising to honor our founder and his vision for a true peoples’ democracy where corporate interests do not hold undue influence over our political system. Please join us this year to #FIGHTBACKPRESSFORWARD ([link removed]) and make a gift to help keep the independent voice of The Progressive alive and thriving.

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