Saturday Morning Covfefe: 5 Things That Matter

Five stories. One pattern.

If it feels like several unrelated things all crossed a line at once, that’s because they did. As the year winds down and distractions pile up, this week offered a clear look at how lies, law, and leverage are being used, and why paying attention now still matters.

1. The Lie Is the Point, And Being the Target Is the Warning

Let me be blunt: this story is a lie. It never happened.

A conspiracy site published a grotesque fantasy claiming my friend Stephanie Grisham was arrested for “treason,” taken to a secret military base, and tried to kill herself. It’s fake, and the graphic, cinematic detail is intentional. It’s written to feel real.

I worked with Stephanie in Trump 1.0. She took a public stand against a president who punishes truth-tellers. That courage is exactly why she’s being targeted now.

Stephanie Grisham addressed the lie directly, calmly, factually, and publicly. She shouldn’t have had to. But that’s part of the damage: the burden shifts to the target to deny a fictional crime, to reassure strangers, to correct a reality that never existed.

Here’s what people need to understand: these lies don’t stay online. When an administration openly retaliates against critics, attacks judges, and guts whistleblower protections, the line between fantasy and consequence collapses. Some readers don’t see this as fiction. They see it as permission. That’s how threats escalate.

The site admits, buried in its “About” page, that its content is “satire,” added for legal protection. Then it tells readers that fact-checkers are Deep State operatives, and the disclaimer itself is a lie. That’s not journalism. That’s radicalization-by-design.

And if they’ll do this to a former White House official, imagine what it does to everyday Americans who speak out. This is why calling it out matters. Because the lie isn’t a mistake. The lie is the strategy, and the targeting is the point.

🚨 You won’t find a link here. I’m using screenshots to document the lie without rewarding a business model that survives on clicks, outrage, and intimidation.

2. A Top U.S. Admiral Steps Down, And That’s Not Normal

A top U.S. admiral overseeing Latin America was pushed out mid-mission as the administration escalates lethal operations in the Caribbean and revives a Monroe Doctrine–style posture in the Western Hemisphere.

I wrote about this earlier this week: this administration’s national security strategy is shifting toward unilateral force, legal gray zones, and intolerance for internal dissent. When senior commanders raise concerns about legality, escalation, or civilian harm, they’re sidelined. This isn’t routine turnover. It’s strategy enforcement.

When senior commanders raise concerns about legality, escalation, or civilian harm, they’re sidelined. This isn’t routine turnover. It’s strategy enforcement.

⚓ A Four-Star Exit as U.S. Escalates in the Caribbean: NY Times

3.​​ When FEMA Reform Gets Leaked, Transparency Gets Canceled

This didn’t get much attention. It should have.

The Trump administration abruptly canceled a scheduled vote to overhaul FEMA, not because the work wasn’t ready, but because the final report leaked and officials were furious that the public had seen it.

Yes, really.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem even left a House hearing on threats early, telling lawmakers she had to attend the FEMA Review Council meeting. Hours later, that meeting was quietly scrapped. According to people close to the panel, the goal was simple: signal that the report wasn’t “final” and could still be changed.

Translation: control the narrative first. Decide the policy later.

This comes as governors from both parties complain about months-long delays in disaster aid approvals, despite DHS insisting FEMA is moving “twice as fast.” FEMA’s own daily brief shows that at least one disaster request has been sitting unanswered since August.

When disaster response becomes political, communities don’t feel it on cable news. They feel it when help doesn’t show up after the storm.

🌪️ Vote to Overhaul FEMA Canceled After Leaked Report: Politico

These aren’t unrelated scandals; they’re stress tests for how much power can move without permission.

4. “F— the Courts.” And They Meant It.

I’m not surprised by this. Because I’ve heard it before.

A federal judge has called a Justice Department whistleblower to testify in a probe that could lead to criminal contempt referrals after Trump officials defied a court order blocking deportation flights to El Salvador.

According to sworn testimony, a senior DOJ official told lawyers they might need to tell the courts “f— you” and move anyway.

Chilling? Yes. Shocking? No.

I sat in rooms during Trump 1.0 where lawyers warned policies like family separation would get the administration sued. The response was blunt:
“F them. Let them sue us.” That wasn’t talk. It was policy.

Here, Judge James Boasberg is asking whether officials willfully ignored his order. The planes took off anyway. Migrants were sent to El Salvador and locked inside CECOT. Now the judge wants testimony from Erez Reuveni, a former DOJ lawyer who says officials planned to ignore the court in advance.

This isn’t confusion. It isn’t ambiguity. It’s whether the executive branch thinks court orders are optional.

Also worth flagging, and this matters more than people realize:

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Trump’s bid to gut birthright citizenship. The arguments aren’t new. But the Court is treating them as open questions. Even before a ruling, that choice alone destabilizes a right settled for more than a century. More on this soon.

⚖️ Court vs. DOJ: Whistleblower Called to Testify: AP News

5. Voter Rolls Are the Latest Battleground

Last summer, I wrote a piece called "How to Rig an Election Without Touching a Machine." This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) kept running the play.

The Justice Department is now suing 18 states, plus Fulton County, Georgia, to force state and local officials to hand over unredacted voter data, including driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

This isn’t election security; it’s federal leverage. Every state targeted so far is one Trump lost in 2020. When states refused, DOJ escalated. Fulton County says it all: after prosecutors’ election case collapsed, the federal government stepped in demanding records from the election Trump lost.

Same obsession, same target, new tool.

I’m flagging this now because this is the long game. Once you see the pattern, you can’t unsee it. Democracy doesn’t fail in one dramatic moment; it’s hollowed out, lawsuit by lawsuit, demand by demand, until people stop believing their vote will count. And that, more than anything, is the point.

🗳️ DOJ Sues 18 States Over Voter Data Access: NPR

✨ One Thing for Your Soul

For nearly a month, August Beckwith, a nonverbal 29-year-old man with autism, was missing during a severe mental health crisis. He was extremely vulnerable and unable to seek help on his own.

He survived anyway. Not because of luck. Because people noticed him.

Members of Salt Lake City’s homeless community shared food, gave him warm layers and boots, and kept an eye on him while he lived on the streets. When he was finally spotted and identified by police on Dec. 10, August was reunited with his mom, alive.

His mother, Lori, didn’t just thank law enforcement and volunteers. She singled out the homeless men and women who helped her son survive.

“Some of the most profound generosity came from those with the least to give,” she wrote. “You kept him alive.”

In a week loud with cruelty, this is the thing worth remembering: compassion survives, often in the margins, often unseen, but very real.

💛 The People Who Kept August Alive: People

P.S. I don’t write this to alarm you. I write it because patterns only matter if someone is paying attention to them early. This newsletter exists to connect the dots before they harden into policy, court rulings, or irreversible damage. If this work helps you see what’s coming and why it matters, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It’s how I keep doing this independently, without corporate filters or party scripts.

Until next time,

Olivia