By writer Sylvia Salazar:
https://latinolens.tonolatino.com/p/the-bright-side-5-speaking-up-works?r=dze5h&triedRedirect=true
April 27, 2025
It is easy to miss the good when there is so much noise. But this week, the wins were loud and clear.
From courtroom victories to grassroots pressure that forced change, there is so much to celebrate. Here is your dose of good news to remind you that progress is still happening all around us.
⚖️ Justice Is Having a Good Week
Trump is getting pummeled in courtrooms everywhere. This week alone:
- Judges blocked him from using a law from the 1700s to disappear immigrants without a hearing.
- Judges ordered him to bring back two men he illegally sent to a prison in El Salvador.
- Courts stopped his attacks on transgender Americans.
- Judges blocked his attempts to hijack election systems and hand over voter rolls to billionaire donors.
- They ruled against his efforts to punish sanctuary cities.
- They stopped his ideological punishments against schools.
- Judges forced him to reverse the mass termination of foreign students’ visa registrations after dozens of restraining orders and court challenges exposed the move as flagrantly illegal.
- And a Republican governor vetoed one of his book bans after realizing just how unpopular it was.
The courts are not having it. And neither are the people.
📣 When We Speak Up, It Works
It was not just judges delivering wins this week. Public pressure also forced major reversals.
After medical researchers and advocates raised the alarm, tRumP’s team reversed its decision to cut funding for the Women’s Health Initiative, restoring critical research on cancer, aging, and chronic disease.
And thanks to public outcry, tRumP’s minions also walked away from plans to create a centralized autism registry that would have raised serious privacy concerns.
And in small towns and big cities alike, people are showing up.
My friend Matt, who lives in a small town in central New York, told me that for the past seven weeks, rain or shine, 150-300 people have been gathering on a bridge every Saturday to demand change.
They are not doing it for media attention. They are doing it because they believe their voices matter.
And they do.
🎉 Even More to Celebrate
- Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for fraud and identity theft.
- Colorado expanded abortion access by signing a new law that covers abortion care for Medicaid patients and state employees.
- Harvard University sued tRumP and his team to protect academic freedom after a political attack on its research funding.
One story from Tennessee this week felt especially powerful.
The cruel bill to deny undocumented children the right to an education is officially dead for the year.
But the fight to stop it was not just happening in courtrooms or hearing rooms. It was happening in the courage of people like Lynne McFarland.
Lynne is 80 years old. When lawmakers advanced the bill, she refused to leave the committee room in protest.
State troopers spent several minutes trying to convince her to leave. When she still would not move, they had to carry her out and arrest her.
She stood her ground for the students who could not be there to defend themselves.
I want to grow up and be like Lynne.
And for a little extra joy:
PublicSquare, a MAGA-friendly “anti-woke” business directory, is now being used by anti-Trump voters to boycott Trump-aligned businesses. 😂
Sometimes life delivers the perfect twist.
📉 Bad News for Trump
This week will bring us to the 100 days of this regime, and the numbers are brutal:
- New York Times/Siena: 42 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove.
- Fox News: 44 percent approve, 55 percent disapprove.
- AP/NORC: 39 percent approve, 59 percent disapprove.
- Washington Post/ABC News: 39 percent approve, 55 percent disapprove.
Trump has tied his own record as the only president in modern history to post net negative approval ratings just 100 days into a term.
