CURE News Digest: Monday, May 18, 2026
CURE News
AUTHORITARIAN PLAYBOOK
Self-aggrandizement & narcissism.
5-18-26 Open Windows - Ann Telnaes
“Vulgar and self-aggrandizing” by Ann Telnaes (editorial cartoonist & visual storyteller)
https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/vulgar-and-self-aggrandizingWhat are you doing on July 4, 2026?
5-15-26 The New Republic
“A Very Authoritarian Semiquincentennial Celebration” by Katherine Stewart
Stewart states that “...under the Trump administration and the Republican rubber-stamp chorus in Congress, we are being asked to settle for a festival of corruption, lies, bigotry, and divisiveness. The Trump Freedom 250 program is embedded with unvarnished Christian nationalist propaganda.”
https://newrepublic.substack.com/p/a-very-authoritarian-semiquincentennialWhat are our tax dollars paying for?
5-18-26 Letters from an American
“May 17, 2026” by Heather Cox Richardson
“Thousands of people gathered [Saturday] on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to engage in an eight-hour taxpayer-funded [emphasis added] evangelical worship event to “rededicate” the nation to Christianity….part of the Trump’s administration attempt to use the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to rewrite America’s history…”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-17-2026Putting a stake through the Voting Rights Act.
5-18-26 The Contrarian
“The MAGA Supreme Court is Incompatible with Democracy” by Jennnifer Rubin
https://www.contrariannews.org/p/the-maga-supreme-court-is-incompatibleCORRUPTION
Trump’s toadies.
5-18-26 Robert Reich substack
“Has Trump’s Republican Party Become a Criminal Enterprise?” by Robert Reich
“Today’s Republican Party no longer has any purpose other than achieving whatever Trump wants, which is making Trump richer and more powerful. The GOP is now Trump’s; it is no longer America’s.”
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/is-trumps-republican-party-now-a
“Trump publicly praised companies the same day he bought their stock.”
5-18-26 Popular Information
“The smoking guns in Trump’s new financial disclosure” by Judd Legum
https://popular.info/p/the-smoking-guns-in-trumps-new-financialRESISTANCE
Most of the court news shows the resistance is holding.
5-18-26 Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance
“The Week Ahead” by Joyce Vance
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-ahead-5b4“Minnesota women are showing the country what resistance can look like”
5-18-26 The Politics Chicks
38-minute audio podcast featuring Teri Leigh, & the Politics Chicks: Christy Branham, Monica Healy.
“Fierce Love MN Is Documenting the Helpers”
https://thepoliticschicks.substack.com/p/fierce-love-mn-is-documenting-theHumor works.
Cartoons for Democracy
This is a nonprofit organization run by women. It produces political cartoon postcards that you can purchase and mail on behalf of upholding democracy. Be part of the resistance and give it a try!
https://www.cartoonsfordemocracy.org/Quote for the Day:
“Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution. And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader.”
~Bill Cassidy, Louisiana Republican Senator in his 5-16-26 Louisiana primary concession speech
(quoted from 5-18-26 Robert Reich substack post)