Hi there, everybody. It's 4 o'clock in New York with pro-democracy forces now wide awake and surging in terms of their numbers and courage.

Dug in on one side and Donald Trump, with his band of autocratic enablers on the other, the country in some ways feels like it's engaged in a game

of chicken, waiting to see which side's going to blink first, a stare down, if you will, where the stakes

are nothing less than the future of American democracy. Today, though, following the fatal shootings

of two people in Minneapolis at the hands of federal immigration officers, and subsequently the

breathtaking durability and scope of protests from ordinary citizens braving the bitter cold to

protect their neighbors, hitting the pavement in protest all across our country day after day.

It is the Trump side doing the blinking.

Now, why could that be?

Well, because the gears of democracy, cobwebs, and all are finally creaking back into action on three separate but important fronts today.

First, in state houses from coast to coast, New York Times reports this, quote,

ever since the second Trump administration embarked on its large-scale deportation efforts,

Democratic-leaning states have proposed and passed in some instances countermeasures,

such as banning masked or unidentified law enforcement officers.

Last month, a dozen legislators from seven states announced that they would coordinate legislation

in 2026 to complement the

litigation already being used by Democratic attorneys general to challenge immigration policies.

But after the killings of both Mr. Preti and Renee Good, a resident protesting ISIS presence in the

Twin Cities, those endeavors have gained more urgency.

That's according to lawmakers and immigration rights groups.

The jet fuel, possibly animating that urgency, happens to be the second of those three fronts we talked about.

That is us, the American people at large, in growing numbers, because voters right now are making it abundantly

...