#ABC-Analyse

[caprisunr]

I hold my stance on the fact that Maddie and Chim know about Buck's feelings for Eddie. You only have to rewatch 7x04 to realise how they know more than they let out. We all know how Maddie probably has an idea about how Buck feels from the "Boy Crush" comment back in season two. Well, the comment goes hand in hand with Chimney's : "I am your basketball beard. I feel so bonded" Specially when we take into account how he didn't know about how Tommy and Buck would end up being a thing. The comment is directed at Eddie's persona in relation to Buck's actions. And in both situations Buck doesn't deny it.

Not to mention, Buck can't help but overshare, and he is so transparent with Maddie that he straight up confessed to want Eddie's attention this whole time. Only to misdirect his feelings later on in the episode because it just made sense that he harbored those feeling for Tommy the gay guy, than Eddie the 'straight guy' who also happens to be his best friend. —Tommy also was the one who showed up at his doorsteps and kissed Buck. So at that time it only made sense for him that 'Oh, yeah. Maybe I do like this guy.' If you guys are wondering what moment I'm referring to (Buck confessing to wanting Eddie's attention) this happens after Buck tragically sprains Eddie's anckle. He visits Maddie at dispatch to say the following: "I was pissed, you know. seeing him and Tommy become such good friends after only two weeks. I felt left out, and I guess I was trying to get his attention." Referring to Eddie's, in no moment of their conversation do they insinuate Tommy being the one that Buck has his attention set on.

"But you don't like basketball."

"I know. But now he's going with Tommy, and he's got it circled."

Buck goes out of his way to include himself back in Eddie's life in places where he wasn't before because he feels that Tommy is taking all that empty spaces he's left. All his actions are directed towards Eddie, which he is conscious of at the beggining that it is about Eddie. But at some point in the episode his feelings get mismatched and the lines blurr between the two guys who are very similar to the other. Buck becomes an unreliable narrator of his own emotions, which happens somewhere between Maddie's and his conversation at her house and spraining Eddie's ankle.

"Acdording to Christopher he's already been over three times. Eddie just met the guy like two weeks ago. Christopher thinks he's 'so cool'." I would like for everyone to notice the emotional distance between Tommy and Buck from his point of view, seeing in his monologue as he refers to Tommy as 'this guy' or 'he'. Doesn't bother to clarify who he's talking about, and the impersonal reference alludes to how little Buck actually thinks of the guy up to that point (his real thoughts slipping through). The only time he refers to Tommy by name is when he's mentioning Eddie's basketball game to show where his distress falls.

"My point is he's made an impression in a very short time." Buck is so afraid of being replaced by some guy who happens to do something cool, he doesn't even realise how hypocrital it is for him to say certain things such as this one. Considering, as we all know, how quickly acquaintance Eddie and Buck became and how quick Christopher took a liking on him. It got me thinking about how Buck must've felt like he had to work for it (introducing Carla) to be let in, and how easy Tommy's got it. And that's when the thought of how easy he is to remplace starts to kick in, where the feelings start getting misplaced.

"Get this. He said he agreed Revenge of the Sith is superior to Return of the Jedi. I mean maybe it's just me butt I don't think you lie to a child just to ingratiate yourself." Once again he shows how worried he is about being replaced, specially in Christopher's life. Buck speaks like a protective mother. And once again we've got the indirect despectiva speech; Tommy isn't just Tommy he is some guy who is trying to make himself look cool to be liked and take his place.

I have to mention again the " But now he's going with Tommy, and he's got it circled." Because not only does Buck say it once, but twice during : " Eddie on his fridge has a day calendar. Under take-out menu Thursday,"B-B-P-U-W Backlash Tommy. And it's circled". "

It's always been about Eddie and how Buck feels that Tommy is taking his place. And then later when Tommy kisses him after he says he was trying to get his attention because yeah that makes sense because he can't possibly like Eddie romantically and so intensely. That is his best friend, his straight best friend at that. So he throws it at the nearest guy who is going to actually reciprocate–most likely. Its easier to convince himself to like Tommy, than it is to like Eddie and potentially ruin his friendship. (Let's not forget how even him being with Tommy later on was about Eddie and how he would react to Buck liking men.)

Back to Chim, there's also the scene when with Maddie they were discussing children right at the beggining of their relationships. They ask each other if they're the only people without kids that they know. It takes a second until they think of Buck. Because Buck is so integrated into the Diaz family, that it's impossible to think of him without Christopher tailing behind also.

Maddie and Chim absolutely know, or at least suspect about it.

[jackwhiteprophetic]

Guys I'm on my rewatch and WHAT THE FUCK. WE ALL THOUGHT THE KIM SCENE PARALLELED THE SHANNON SCENE???

BASICALLY THE SAME OUTFITS FOR ABBY+KIM. BASICALLY THE SAME MUSIC (but you guys can't hear that) VERY VERY SIMILAR SHOTS... WHY????

[octoberobserver]

lol maybe i'm reading too much into this and giving 9-1-1 far too much credit but—buck's silly coffee-maker quip of "ah, you are so perceptive," to tommy RIGHT BEFORE he hits him with "come on, evan, don't make me say it," about eddie being his competition is WILD. talk about perception

[warpedpuppeteer]

I know people think that canonly Buck is a snorer but hear me out! What if he isn't a snorer usually?? We know Chris told Carla he snores loud while he was sleeping on the couch during the sniper arc. And then what does Carla say?? That she's glad he's getting at least some sleep. Implying that Buck has been having trouble sleeping. And when you're bone tired as he probably is, you would absolutely snore too when you sleep. The implication of that scene was not that Buck is a snorer but that he was so distraught and worried about Eddie and was so busy taking care of Chris that he wore himself out. In this essay I will-

[panevanbuckley]

everyone watching hen before they go into the hotel after that earthquake and yet buck is staring at eddie. it begins guys

[thesunoficaruss]

he's so gorgeous I'm lightheaded

[karenandhenwilson]

Every time I come across a post where someone complains about any of the bashing tags, I have to shake my head and roll my eyes at them.

Every time I see a post where someone spent hours upon hours gathering the numbers of the bashing tags to then draw some kind of conclusions from it (which are, wonder oh wonder, always the same kind of subjective bullshit) I weep for the valuable time they wasted.

It's concerning and hilarious at the same time to see people look at nothing but the numbers of bashing fics and not once consider in their long-winded analysis how very faulty their data is (let alone that they considered even for a second that the number alone doesn't tell them anything about the content of those fics). Because those numbers are so screwed by several human factors. And they won't be able to recognize those mistakes in their analysis if they didn't go and read all those many, many fics and then some more who aren't tagged bashing.

What are those faults, you might wonder? Let's take a look:

1. AO3's grouping of tags

It's meant to make the search more efficient when people use tags that supposedly mean the same. Which works great in some cases, especially with variations of the same tag spelled or worded a little differently. But for the bashing tag, it often doesn't work so well.

There is a ton of fics tagged "not [character] friendly" or "[character] critical" that show up in the bashing tags but they truly aren't bashing. They're just viewing certain canon actions in a critical light, or making the mentioned characters the antagonists (not even necessarily villains) of their stories. And because there are people who'll harass everyone who doesn't worship their favs, authors tag their stories in this way to make those people aware they should stay away from these stories.

And then there are fics that show up in the bashing tag for no reason at all. If you go to the "Chimney bashing" parent tag, and go to the last page and the very first story, you'll find a lovely story about Chimney's journey through a very difficult part of his life. It's set in s2. Everything in the tags and summary makes it very clear that it's a Chimney-focused story and very positive about him. And still, it shows up (and consequently is filtered out) with the Chimney bashing tag. How many more of those stories are there in any given bashing tag which aren't that easily found?

2. People are overly cautious with tagging

This point also goes hand in hand with point 1, because the above-mentioned tag variations are often used by people who really don't bash the character but just want to warn the fans of those characters to give their stories a pass.

In the 9-1-1 fandom that's especially true for Chimney and Maddie. Because the BoB's aren't the first highly toxic group in this fandom. That trophy goes to a group of Madney Stans who made it their life's goal to harass everyone who even just looked at Chimney or Maddie in the wrong way. So people started to be overly cautious with how they tagged their fics where Chimney or Maddie aren't shown in the most positive light because then they could go "You saw the tag, you were warned, so shut the fuck up, asshole, you had every chance to never even start reading this fic".

I haven't touched a single Tommy bashing fic, and I don't think I'll ever do it. I'd still happily take a bet that there are fics tagged "Tommy bashing" that truly don't bash him. Fics that are Buddie endgame where either Tommy and Buck just break up in a easy and friendly way, of fics from Eddie's POV where Tommy would be naturally the antagonist and where the authors want to warn mulitshippers about that content. Because not all Buddie fans are BoBs. I even think this might be a significant number among the Tommy bashing fics because there might be a lot of otherwise very silent Buddie fans who don't want to be lumped together with the BoBs.

3. People not tagging their bashing

There are a significant number of Buddie fics I've had to close over the years because of the untagged Eddie bashing. Because somehow, as long as Buddie is endgame and everything else is forgiven in the end, it's not bashing if Eddie gets violent with Buck or even worse Chris.

There are some Abby fics that might be read as bashing by some people but aren't tagged as such because the authors feel it's so near any canon actions it shouldn't be considered bashing. (One recently published comes to mind immediately for Abby. I believe there are such fics for all the characters.)

So, any kind of numbers drawn from AO3 about the bashing tags are really inconclusive because those numbers aren't accurate. (And then, it's of course also kind of insane to try to draw any conclusions from the number of bashing tags about their content or origin or intent in the first place.)

But in the end:

The bashing of characters is not the problem.

To claim that bashing is somehow unique to 9-1-1 is as hilarious as it's wrong. Go to NCIS and you'll find bashing of all the main characters, tagged as such. Go to Criminal Minds and especially for those stories that will ship either JJ or Will with someone else, more often than not you'll find them bashing the other of those two. And I could go on.

(As a side note: I found it especially amusing that the same people who'd complaint the loudest about Chimney and Maddie bashing and who started a whole harassing campaign about that would at the same time wallow in Will bashing and hate on everyone who liked Will.)

Bashing of characters is as old as fandom

And that's fine, good even. It very much falls under "ship and let ship". People view characters differently, people like or hate characters for different reasons. And that's all okay.

The problem is the harassment.

The bashing tag is a warning, so people who like those characters know to stay away from it. So the bashing tag is an active precaution against accidental harassment. So that people don't stumble over fics they could've known from the very start they would hate.

The problem is when people don't tag the bashing because they want others to be unable to avoid their fics. We have seen that go to an extreme with certain BoBs.

The problem is when the bashing tag is taken as an invitation to harass the authors over their choices and opinions and life experiences. We have seen that taken to the extreme by a certain group of Madney stans.

(And the only difference between those Madney stans and the BoBs is, that the Madney stans managed to get 90% of the tumblr fandom to blindly follow their accusations without checking for themselves, while with the BoBs half of that 90% had learned from that previous experience of making asses of themselves and another part were just on the other side of the harassment now. But BoBs tried and succeeded to make up for that with certain misleadingly tagged fics.)

[noya-noya-noya]

one of my favorite things about the whole buddie dynamics is the fact that while Buck is healing and beginning to choose himself (armchair scene) there's still a part of him that thinks he's only going to get love by risking his life, and that his life IS expendable. an "if I die, that's fine, but i sure would be sad if someone else dies" mentality.

it reminds me of that one line in inochi no kirawareteiru "Frankly, we don't care a bit if we, ourselves died but we'd be pretty said if the people around us died".

and Eddie... Eddie has been assuring him consistently that he is cherished, he is important, and he gets him out of his head when he's starting to spiral.

1...

Buck: I just, I wish I could- Eddie: Fix it? Buck: Yeah, yeah. I know I'm the guy who always wants to fix everything. Eddie: Hey! It comes in handy when you have a bunch of holes in your wall.

2...

Buck: They never wanted another kid. They just had me for parts. Defective parts, as it turned out.

Eddie: Hey, that's not on you.

3...

Eddie: I'd eat a couple extra slices. You look like you're wasting away to nothing.

Buck: Eddie--

Eddie:I will say, honestly, you being laid up is working out for me. I mean, you're no abuela, and you're half a Carla, but you'll do in a pinch.

Buck: You want me to watch Christopher?

Eddie: It's easy. He's not very fast.

Buck: After everything that happened?

Eddie: A natural disaster happened, Buck.

Buck: I lost him, Eddie.

Eddie: No, You saved him. That's how he remembers it. And now, it's his turn to do the same for you.

Buck: I was supposed to look out for him.

Eddie: And what, you think you failed? I failed that kid more times than I care to count, and I'm his father. But I love him enough to never stop trying, and I know you do too.

Eddie: Buck...there's nobody in this world I trust with my son more than you.

Eddie: Thank you for not giving up

4...

Eddie: Are you hurt? (shooting scene)

5...

Buck: Now, listen, I had an entire fire truck fall on my leg, and hey, look at me now.

Eddie: *shakes his head*

Carson: That sounds horrible.

Buck: No, horrible was the blood clots you get after. Mine was in my lung. I was coughing up blood. And they put you on these blood thinners and...

Eddie: Buck.

(I always saw this as Eddie shaking his head because Buck was making fun of what happened to him and not because Buck might scare Carson because Carson wasn't really that scared anymore at that time)

6...

Bobby and Buck arrives at the firehouse, Eddie is alone and opens his arms, waiting to hear the news.

Bobby: Clean bill of health from the docs.

Eddie: Glad to hear it.

Eddie: Show-off.

Buck: I had to do it.

Eddie: No, I know you did.

7...

Doctor: We'll do our best.

Eddie: Do more!

and of course 8...

Eddie: Because, Evan you came in here the other day and you said you thought it would have been better if it had been you who was shot. You act like you are expendable, but you’re wrong.

there's probably a lot more but these are the top ones that I can think of.

i think for someone who lived their whole life looking for purpose (and somehow putting themself in harm's way is something they are accustomed to do) and having someone who has their back, defending them not just from others but their own mind as well, consistently, is a match incomparable.

[m--rtyr]

i honestly think there would be less bucktommy hate if we had an 18 ep season and had them have some of the important conversations that people want them to have. like about Tommy's past behaviour.

like i think if Buck just kinda went up to Chim and hen after him and tommy started dating and was like 'you guys are cool with this right?? like i know you're friends with him but i know how he used to be with you two as well' and then we had Chim and hen reassure him that Tommy did his part to improve and has shown that he's learnt from his mistakes (and i'm fully saying that these two would've jokingly pressured him into paying them repairations during Black History Month/Asian Heritage Month/Pride month) and that they're happy they've both found someone,

and that, y'know, they've both found themselves and a way to be comfortable in who they are. i think the couple would be viewed more favourable.

i'm not saying the fans would all rush to love him, but i think a lot of the hate wouldn't be as severe if we got more time to know him/see how other characters were about him, and we got his former behaviour more directly addressed.

i do think we are shown that he did change over the begins episodes, and the fact that Chim begins was roughly about 20 years ago + Tommy is clearly friends with/friendly with Hen and Chim now (willing to potentially die and/or lose his job for them, at the least) like theres definitely implied improvement.

but media literacy is dead. you guys saw two fully grown men mutually flirting and went ' >:( i can't believe tommy made a joke in this really emotional moment' so like yeah maybe it did need some more episodes and more explicitly stated improvement for Tommy.

and if i end up doing my '118 out of hours' fic i'll definitely write some more stuff that i think could've helped them out a little

[becausebuckley]

first line meme!

rules: share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

thanks @inell for the tag!! i’m doing this for the five fics i have published and i’m adding a sneaky sentence for an unpublished fic hehe

if you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged!

lifeline (love me anyway)

It’s funny, Buck thinks later, how this one revelation makes everything make sense, while also making it hurt that much more.

long day, longer night

It’s been a long day.

slow as falling snow

Eddie blames television for this.

won’t be alone for the rest of my life

Eddie doesn’t know where to begin.

i belong to you, now

It’s kind of new, this thing with Eddie.

cut like diamonds and sink like stones (unpublished)

If anyone asked him about it, Buck would say it’s not a problem.

ooh yeah i definitely see pattern here. i like a short opening sentence that allows me to go into some exposition before diving into the action or dialogue. in almost all cases here, the opening sentence stands on its own (only lifeline begins with a longer paragraph i think). i like to use it as a jumping off point, something that kind of sets the scene but mostly just allows me to elaborate further. so fun to think about this stuff!

[caprisunr]

Eddie growing up with a father that was barely in attendance for most of his life tracks with his behaviour. Ramon is seen mostly as having a repressed temperament, though Eddie has mentioned how he [Ramon] would often be on his case in less than friendly ways —multiple times Ramon's actual personality comes to the surface by making half-assed comments and elevating his voice to stay atop Eddie's.

Growing up with someone who was absent and the times he was present was more of a drilling sargent (insisting on Eddie taking his place during his departures) than he was being an emotionally aware and present father, makes Eddie's patterned responses when conflict is brought up come together in a tragic odyssey. He is reluctant when it comes to expressing his emotions: repressed > withdrawn with himself, but aware and patient of others —Eddie tragedy is akin to Orestes in a way that he is constantly demanded to step as an older sibling, and he takes the responsability of being the man of the house in front of his father's inevitable absence. Eddie, as in the myth, grows resentment for his father.

But Eddie's trauma that (as Carl Jung puts it) 'splinters off his ego' , doesn't only come from Ramon exigency, but also Helena enabling her husband and eventually being a perpetuator of a (mild) more throughout version of his abuse in a more controlling manner; While Ramon probably displayed his dissatisfaction with Eddie's passiveness and lack of guidelessnes, Elena was contempt with it and demanded for Eddie to 'listen to her' at all times feeding his psyche with the negative and complex sides of himself that he would never be able to fix (unless he let's her take control of his life.)

Eddie's complexness comes from the split personalities that shaped his childhood —a father that asked him to step in and be a man, and a mother that told him he wasn't enough to be one.

God gets attributed a lot when it comes to Eddie's neurosis, but from what we've seen of his parents I think it gets attributed way too much whilist his parents don't get enough credit for their disastrous parenting styles. God is used as an impulse to defend (back up) a perversive version of the world and himself. But the main malfactors are his parents. —'Catholic Guilt' at the end of the day steams from the way you are taught religion as a list of sublimited activities. There's a long-lasting impact that lingers especially in already vulnerable members of the community (abuse victims, minorities, disabled, low income...) and how that feeds into his [Eddie's] insecurities and deep rooted fears causing repercussion.

Eddie animus complex where the acceptence of his own identity becomes troubled by the need to prove himself; he is whole and there is nothing missing in the way he operates. He is a whole man, a whole father, and a whole husband. That combined with his push and pull orestes-ness, in which he is continously asked to step in, but punished for it. —Elena as castration complex instilling the idea that he is going to continue dragging Christopher down and he's not capable of maintaining his family together, that he is not a whole man much less a father at all.

[jackwhiteprophetic]

Thinking about how terrifying it would have been for Bobby to wake up after his relapse and see Buck, who he's already lashed out against BC of his past and his addiction, there, trying to help save him and how much that would have fucking TERRIFIED him because it would remind him of himself as a child, and how this bleeds into their relationship and Bobby keeping Buck at arm's length slightly, because if Buck is gonna be there to help him he CANNOT be Bobby's child, because Bobby believes he will destroy him, and then S2 ends with Bobby's notebook and past (with Guillermo being the first name on the list?) almost killing Buck, and Bobby takes care of Buck and blames himself and now because Bobby let himself see/treat Buck as his kid, he can't let Buck go back to work and be destroyed by Bobby again. But Buck almost destroys himself to stay at the 118 (like how baby Bobby chooses to stay with his dad) because he has nothing else. Bobby is so fucking terrified of admitting to himself that Buck is like a child to him, because he thinks he's destined to destroy everything that is close to him.

[pluvioloulou]

As someone who was a film student and has quite literally studied the ins and outs of editing, it irks me a bit to see people interpreting it as something it's not

If you didn't notice, the scene has a set pace and cutting back to characters that were already shown for someone else and doing a more or less 'shot-reverse-shot' would disrupt the fluidity of the scene

And plus like prev said, it was established by the way they edited it that Buck and Tommy were shown as significant others and Eddie was just next to get his award

I didn't think it was anything special or a hidden message and if it was, Eddie is Buck's best friend and someone who he considers family so it's not that strange

It looked pretty obvious to me why when Buck got his medal the camera cut to Eddie, and it wasn't the subliminal hint that the b*ddies (and some "journalists" yikes) think it was lol. It was just practical. By that point, it had already been CREARLY established that Buck and Tommy are each other's significant other: when Tommy got his medal the camera cut to Buck (and Buck was smitten, wasn't he?). Doing the exact same thing again when Buck was awarded his own medal would have been redundant and, frankly, unnecessary. So, when it was Buck's turn the camera cut to Eddie, the next firefighter in line, and you can also feel the difference with the previous scenes: we see Eddie (who is not even looking at Buck, mind you) WHILE the chief is calling his name.

Their constant conscious misinterpretation of what is obvious and the downplaying of Tommy's role in Buck's life is really starting to piss me off. Also, the fact that they keep on attacking Lou (and Tommy) for the most ridiculous reasons is not helping.

[lover-of-mine]

Okay, so analysing mcdanno from a yaoi pov is making me realize that the thing that makes buddie different is that they fully shy away from the way that Buck and Eddie are weird about each other and the draw a very clear line with physical contact. H50 makes a joke out of the concept that there might be something extra and it kinda trains the audience to take moments where lines are crossed as The Usual because there is no line. They have pet names, they make the jokes about being married themselves, they know and they lean into it. And Mcdanno together would just add sex because the physical line in their dynamic doesn't exist. They touch casually, they hug pretty frequently for 2 dudes on a procedural, they lean closer to each other, they have thumbs on necks and hands reaching out for comfort in random cases. The only actual difference from a relationship there would be literal sex. But since they trained the audience to not take it seriously, you don't question why it's not happening. The thing with buddie is that there are very clear lines between them. They have a lot they don't talk about, Buck never initiates physical contact, they were incredibly awkward going in for that hug before Eddie left. And even though they have a few casual touches from Eddie over the seasons and that happened more frequently since the switch to abc, they keep that physical line between them very clear because most of the time Eddie is casually touching Buck is with intent, he's snapping Buck to attention because it's not something they do. Along with Not Talking when it comes to stuff that matters and would tumble them into talking about their feelings or draw a clear line on what they mean to each other. The fact that that physical space exists creates the question of why it is there and it's also something that would make established buddie different from the lead up. And the fact that they won't talk about stuff like the will or the ndes creates the question of what they're hiding. That creates the opening to make them a couple in ways the audience will differentiate from their friendship, they just need to cross one of the lines. And that's the thing that's handled the most differently.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Marc Murphy :: Drawn 6 years go today. It was rejected and called unfair and alarmist.

* * * *

At 100 days—it is still a coup.

April 30, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

The media landscape is littered with analyses of the first 100 days of Trump's second term. Indeed, this is the third newsletter I have devoted to aspects of the 100-day mark. (See At 100 days, we have them on the run! and The grassroots gets its 100-day report card--and it is very good!).

I return to the topic because I believe that the media is largely missing the point in assessing Trump's performance at 100 days. The simplest, most direct explanation of Trump's first 100 days in office is to view his tenure as an ongoing coup attempt that seeks to overturn the Constitution and democratic norms.

That statement explains virtually everything Trump has attempted during his first 100 days in office. But instead of acknowledging that grounding truth, the media resorts to euphemisms and “just so” stories that imply rationality, coherence, and legitimacy in the actions of a mad king who seeks to become the state—“L'État, c'est moi.”

The most common sane-washing of Trump's first 100 days is that he is seeking “to expand the powers of the presidency” or “to reshape America.”

While there is a kernel of truth in both articulations, they omit the existentially significant qualifier “by overturning the Constitution.” Failing to include the unlawful means by which Trump seeks to “expand the presidency” or “reshape the nation” is journalistic malpractice of the highest order.

A lesser form of journalistic malpractice involves cataloging the various executive orders signed by Trump and tallying the dollars cut by DOGE while failing to mention that virtually every order and cut violates the Constitution.

Most stories that center on “the list” of things Trump has attempted in his first 100 days do not include a single sentence noting that most of his executive orders have been successfully challenged (thus far) in courts across the nation.

Does it matter when the media omits that Trump's orders are universally regarded as unconstitutional and unlawful?

Yes.

Why?

Because failing to acknowledge that Trump's actions violate the Constitution diminishes efforts to resist his unlawful actions by reducing them to mere policy disputes or “horse-race politics” stories. See, e.g.,

CNN, Democrats mark Trump’s first 100 days with speeches, sit-ins as party looks to project strength against administration.

ABC News, Dems say Trump's first 100 days gives them better chance of flipping House in 2026

PEW Research, Ratings of Trump and Key Policies 100 Days Into Second Term.

But there is more—the cognitive dissonance being experienced by most Americans who understand that Trump is seeking to overthrow the constitutional order by violating laws and ignoring court orders. When they see their political leaders “go along to get along” in the insular institutions of the House and Senate, they are bewildered.

For example, on Tuesday, fifteen Democrats (and one independent) joined with Republicans to confirm David Perdue as US Ambassador to China. See The New Republic, 16 Democrats Just Voted to Confirm Another Trump Appointee

Even as Trump claims that the Constitution and the rule of law no longer apply to him, Democratic Senators are still voting to confirm Trump's nominees—harkening back to an era when it was “impolite” to offend the president by voting against a nominee with a pulse and full head of hair.

Have Democrats not learned the lesson of Marco Rubio—a notionally “reasonable” Senator who has become the most depraved Secretary of State in US history, presiding over the deliberate starvation of millions of children and the deaths of tens of millions of people around the globe from easily preventable diseases?

The normalization of Trump's lawlessness is bewildering for the grassroots movement that is (again) serving as the last bulwark of democracy. I confess I frequently feel like I am living in the Kafka novel where a human-sized insect is living in the bedroom, and all anyone wants to talk about is how much the grocery bill has increased since the insect took up residence.

We are experiencing a coup. For the second time in our nation’s history (the first being November 2020 to January 2021 under Trump), we are living through a coup attempt.

That is a remarkable and exceptionally rare state of affairs. Virtually nothing else should matter. Every instinct should be on high alert, every evolutionary defense mechanism should be triggered, every collective memory burned into the unconscious survival mechanisms of clans and tribes over millions of years should be screaming—“Danger! Not again!”

There are occasional exceptions to the media’s failure to discuss Trump's ongoing coup. In Monday’s NY Times, the op-ed page collated the views of 35 constitutional scholars across the nation. With few exceptions, they described Trump's actions as unconstitutional and unlawful.

And yet, on Tuesday, the framing of the first 100 days by the Times’ editorial board is that Trump is “attempting to reshape America.” That anodyne description omits the essential qualifier “by attempting to overturn the US Constitution.” [I haven’t read the 15 opinion pieces that follow, all of which appear to be critical of Trump, but none of which seem to assert that he is engaged in a coup.]

There are hundreds of examples of Trump violating the Constitution in his first 100 days in office. Rather than describe how each of his actions violates the Constitution, I note the following broad principles:

The Constitution prohibits the president from doing the following:

Withholding funds appropriated by Congress.

Closing or suspending the work of an agency, department, or program established by Congress.

Violating laws enacted by Congress to protect civil servants from arbitrary or politically motivated terminations.

Punishing private institutions based on their political speech (such as law firms, universities, and broadcast networks).

Violating court orders.

Ordering politically motivated investigations and prosecutions by the DOJ, FBI, IRS, FTC, etc.

Denying due process to migrants and citizens alike.

Denying the writ of habeas corpus to migrants and citizens alike.

Imposing tariffs without congressional oversight or review.

Repudiating obligations assumed by international treaties.

That short list encompasses virtually every unlawful order and action undertaken by Trump in his first 100 days. But the list does not capture the cruelty and inhumanity with which those constitutional violations have been effectuated.

No retrospective analysis of Trump's first 100 days that omits either the unlawful nature of Trump's actions or their perverse cruelty is worth the electrons used to record and transmit the story.

We are engaged in a great battle to determine whether the Constitution will endure in the face of an ongoing coup attempt. That thesis should be the start of every story about Trump's first 100 days. And every story should conclude with the heroic efforts of grassroots activists and ordinary citizens who have risen to the defense of the Constitution.

The story of Trump's first 100 days in office is that at the 100-day mark, it is still a coup.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]