You're right that SCOTUS would uphold McCulloch and call this illegal. Republicans have already nullified the power of our courts by ignoring them whenever they want. Now that they've stopped abiding the rules, we will only suffer if we still follow them.
Trump's administration is currently violating active court injunctions, deploying agents into cities where governors denied consent, and prosecuting officials in ways that violate due process. The rule of law no longer applies to Republicans in the US and the facts bare this daily.
They're already breaking the law with SCOTUS sanctioned impunity. We can't decide our responses based on whether our resistance would be legally bulletproof when we are in a nakedly rigged game.
This asymmetry ensures authoritarianism wins. One side does whatever it wants. The other side pre-litigates every theoretical objection to fighting back.
People are being beaten and thrown in unmarked vans. Federal law enforcement has been purged of non-loyalists. Official government platforms publish propaganda blaming Democrats for shutdowns Republicans caused.
He already calls Democrats enemies of America. This happened literally yesterday.
Do you think there are punches Republicans aren't pulling?
Do you think they haven't already taken the gloves off?
They've brought a gun to the knife fight and made it illegal to fight back, so what do you do?
You fight back and you hit as hard as you as often as you can. When they go low, we knock them to the ground.
Acquiescing and following the rules they write does not stop authoritarians. They always want more and they're never satisfied. Appeasement doesn't work
Yes but..exactly how could the Feds come ‘take’ the money? I see them imposing financial penalties which would fail because the states have the money to replace fines. Or withholding of congressional approved payments
This will only work if a critical mass of s doll tates join in and the feds don't use the powers they have to shut it down before the end of the week.
The IRS can, does and will seize bank accounts in order to collect unpaid taxes. It is SOP. The fact that the escrow accounts are designed to and funded by withholding taxes, it would be the easiest, and likely the largest seizure in the history of the IRS.
Because the law codifies the intent to commit a federal crime, bringing federal charges at least as trivial, and probably less, than seizing the funds.
So, there is great risk and little hope of success for this mission. I don't think it even makes it to the runway, much less takes off.
OR a critical amount of the donor states. California is the 5th largest economy in THE WORLD. They basically pay for Washington and heavily subsidize many Deep South red states. But if California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Virginia (the 5th larger contributors to economy) all withheld, I think the government would shut down. Many maga want that anyway. So, let’s give it to them.
Shiva the destroyer clears the way for new spouts to grow healthy trees again. Perhaps this is the only way to save our demise critic Republican, get the reforms we the people want and need and stabilize our republic in decency, humanity and honor.,
Again, how could the IRS seize the escrow? Not like there’s a ton of paper money in a room somewhere. One state did it before but I cannot remember the state or year. The courts ruled in their favor, not DC. Bessent was so worried about it, he had a shit fit on TV and claimed involved states were encouraging people to not pay taxes. It is being collected and held in escrow, ready to send to DC if an agreement can be reached on many items. Like trump refused FEMA helping LA fires, wants to withhold funding for state universities etc. I like this option because no one dies to do it.
Your question presupposes that such an escrow, by any other name, would ever exist. A law as described will never happen. It would constitute a hard secession, which is treason and an insurrection. No state legislature will consider this. None are ready to abandon the Constitution just yet.
If we were to set that aside for the monument, an actual escrow requires the consent of both parties. So if the IRS doesn't agree, it isn't an escrow.
Setting THAT aside, the IRS does aggressively persue employers who do not remit federal taxtes withheld from employees. They have well established legal processes to do that, penalties and fines, levies, leans, interest and criminal prosecution.
Woke up this morning wondering, “What do we do now?” Was grateful for your Substack. Sent out gift subscriptions to friends with this message: “Good Morning. The news last night about the big horrific bill was devastating. This is a month-long gift subscription to the Substack I’ve been telling you about. Mr. Armitage’s articles are intelligent, well-researched, and he has a fighter’s spirit. May we prevail. Strength and Honor🌟”
Thank you for the kind words and support, and especially for sharing subscriptions with your friends.
That kind of grassroots organizing is exactly how we build the infrastructure we need to win.
I know how heavy it feels to wake up to devastating news. What keeps me going is knowing there are people like you who channel that feeling into action rather than despair.
I'm going to keep providing the research, tactics, and strategic insights to turn that energy into effective resistance.
Thank you for the explanation of how public banking counters Wall Street's involvement to a State's finances- it'd be interesting to see how that would really work. For instance, how is Wall Street currently involved in how banking happens at the State level? If I have my mortgage with Wells Fargo or BoA, and my state creates a public bank, will I move my mortgage there? And get a better rate...? And conversely, how does Wall Street have undue influence in a State's finances and economy?
Elise, thank you. Your comment means a lot, especially the observation about the shift in energy here. You're right that the difference is palpable. When I look back at comments from even a few months ago, there was so much despair and paralysis. Seeing people ready to act, asking "how do we move this forward," that's exactly what this work is for.
I also get a daily dose of joy right here with our community.
I'm rereading Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" and I'm particularly inspired today by the way he weaves the personal inner experience into how we engage with the world around us. That connection you noticed, between giving people something concrete to do and watching them become hopeful and ready, that's Frankl's Logotherapy in action.
That's the beating heart of my mission with The Existentialist Republic. Purposefully directing our attitude and inner world can be wildly impactful for us. The world shapes us and we shape the world. We're the hammer and the nail, the sculpture and the clay.
Do we feel hopeless sometimes? Do we despair? Of course, it's natural when we look honestly at the suffering in the world. But action and meaning can save us. Despair if we must, but taking any action to try and make the world better in any way, detached from the ultimate success of that action (what even is success? That can be a slippery thing), just doing a thing because you know it's right and good, that is a treatment for despair. Not a cure, but a damn good treatment. The more of it we have, the more empowered we become, and that can turn things around. The real power of knowing why you're doing what you're doing and knowing it's good and just.
Thanks again for your thoughtful and encouraging words, Elise 🌲🌲🌲
SOFT SUCCESSION! Get the word out. Send this post out to everyone, including those in the state offices. Thank you again Chris. You have been saying this for months, it’s time WE THE PEOPLE get it done.
Who knows how to get this started? We need direction. I live in CA & well we are a hot bed of progressives & liberal’s. It won’t be hard to gather people & support this move.
Just have to say hello to a (former) fellow Californian. Somehow I’ve ended up in Michigan for the time being. The people are way less conservative than I thought they would be…the weather is way worse than I thought it would be. Lately, in the 20’s...count your blessings! And enjoy your Holidays... at the beach.
Let's do this. I'll start pressuring our new governor-elect in NJ. This is even MORE important to do since Trump recently pardoned ALL the masterminds behind Jan. 6th!
It's absolutely foolhardy for blue states to continue paying federal taxes. The federal government has declared us to be the enemy and is currently attacking us financially, legally and militarily. Our resistance actions are undermined when we continue to financially support the thing we are resisting.
I'm lovin' it!!!!!!! I'm thinking this article ALSO needs to go to my Governor Gavin Newsom! So far, this will be the third of your articles I've sent him. Off to the e-mail!!!
I love Gavin Newsom…my former Governor, as of six months ago. I’ve wished I was voting for him in the next election and, fingers crossed, he’s our next competent and sane President.
Again this is a most important avenue for states to take and show the federal government that we will not stand for all the bullshit that they continue to throw at us. I have just finished a letter to my Governor-Elect to urge her to take this step. I have also sent emails to both my senators urging them to support this type of action. It is time for the states to act and stand up and push back hard.
Excellent idea and supporting information. As was your post on how states can work together to provide affordable health care (which post I forwarded to my local representative). I will be forwarding this post, as well. Thank you, Christopher!
Trump wants to send spending back to the States and decrease the revenue from income taxes while at the same time closing America's borders and charging admission through tariffs and immigration. It's imprisonment of the American People. They have a manufacturing job imagined for all of us, sequestered in America, our only rights to go to work to squeak out a living while Billionaire Oligarchs and their Elected Elites enjoy the profits and Lord over us. (Literally, in 10 years Billionaires will be building their own lairs in subspace and declaring autonomy, which they will then arm with Nukes. Forthcoming.) It's perverse, and it should not be tolerated. We cannot allow another Republican or a Democrat to ascend to this kind of Unitary Executive power in the White House. The enfeebled Democrats will only do a lighter version of the tyranny imagined by MAGA/Project 2025/Oligarchs/POTUS. Democrats do not have an alternative, they are part of the same problem, not the solution, they are financed by the same beast, the Non-State Actor, the single greatest threat to the State. NSAs include both Billionaires and Global Jihad, and the Billionaires are as bad as the Jihadists. The White House has been overtaken by NSAs and NSA-thinking, both Jihadist and Jewhadist, and it must be stopped.
There are 5 parties in the US Constitution, the Three Branches, the States, and People. They are designed to check and balance one another so that any one of them cannot amass absolute power. In the course of the War on Terror, 4 of the 5 main characters are comatose and on life support, while one branch, a Unitary Executive, molests the entire Nation.
States and People are endowed with the authority to put POTUS in his place, plain and simple. I don't need a SCOTUS citation for that simple principal contained in the plain reading of the US Constitution. The only reason it has not happened is that all of the other 4 main characters have allowed the power grab in the War on Terror to happen. It's that simple.
The only chance to save American Democracy is for some Governor to stand up and take on the White House. POTUS is the most powerful Head of State in global affairs, but he is not the most powerful American citizen. We are. There are a number of ways to take down the White House, but the first and best one is to cut off its access to taxes and spending. This is a Treasury issue, and no one party, no one branch, no one man should control the Treasury the way Trump does. The System is broken.
I will not pay federal income taxes while POTUS is violating the Constitution, and POTUS is violating the Constitution in both foreign and domestic policy. The governors of CA, OR, WA, IL, and NY, at least, should cease paying all federal income taxes, order all US military personnel in their states to "stand down and return to base," take control of the National Guard in the state, and arrest all ICE agents in their states. They should seize all federal property. Make POTUS impotent and embarrassed before putting him on his ass. They should create their own spending programs to replace the federal ones, and create a new Treasury for it, a separate Treasury.
The US should partition along its historic lines, the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, the Mountain States, the Pacific Coast. We need 5 nations in America, 5 Constitutions, 5 Treasuries, and 5 President pinatas. I call it Democracy, a new word I just made up.
You're right that SCOTUS would uphold McCulloch and call this illegal. Republicans have already nullified the power of our courts by ignoring them whenever they want. Now that they've stopped abiding the rules, we will only suffer if we still follow them.
Trump's administration is currently violating active court injunctions, deploying agents into cities where governors denied consent, and prosecuting officials in ways that violate due process. The rule of law no longer applies to Republicans in the US and the facts bare this daily.
They're already breaking the law with SCOTUS sanctioned impunity. We can't decide our responses based on whether our resistance would be legally bulletproof when we are in a nakedly rigged game.
This asymmetry ensures authoritarianism wins. One side does whatever it wants. The other side pre-litigates every theoretical objection to fighting back.
People are being beaten and thrown in unmarked vans. Federal law enforcement has been purged of non-loyalists. Official government platforms publish propaganda blaming Democrats for shutdowns Republicans caused.
He already calls Democrats enemies of America. This happened literally yesterday.
Do you think there are punches Republicans aren't pulling?
Do you think they haven't already taken the gloves off?
They've brought a gun to the knife fight and made it illegal to fight back, so what do you do?
You fight back and you hit as hard as you as often as you can. When they go low, we knock them to the ground.
Acquiescing and following the rules they write does not stop authoritarians. They always want more and they're never satisfied. Appeasement doesn't work
The stakes are too high to keep losing.
Well said Christopher!
The time has come to defy the court
Trump won't stop until he's stopped!!!
True that! I don’t care how he’s stopped...I hope there’s as much pain as we’ve had to endure.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2003039883576745/?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&fs=e
Chilling! 🥹
Yes but..exactly how could the Feds come ‘take’ the money? I see them imposing financial penalties which would fail because the states have the money to replace fines. Or withholding of congressional approved payments
Exactly. Let it be a fight. That's what it takes to win.
sadly , we are at the point of no return. Secession is our only option if we want to avoid dictatorship.
I agree. It’s gangrene and rather than infect the entire body politic I would secede and save what we can to fight another day.
This will only work if a critical mass of s doll tates join in and the feds don't use the powers they have to shut it down before the end of the week.
The IRS can, does and will seize bank accounts in order to collect unpaid taxes. It is SOP. The fact that the escrow accounts are designed to and funded by withholding taxes, it would be the easiest, and likely the largest seizure in the history of the IRS.
Because the law codifies the intent to commit a federal crime, bringing federal charges at least as trivial, and probably less, than seizing the funds.
So, there is great risk and little hope of success for this mission. I don't think it even makes it to the runway, much less takes off.
OR a critical amount of the donor states. California is the 5th largest economy in THE WORLD. They basically pay for Washington and heavily subsidize many Deep South red states. But if California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Virginia (the 5th larger contributors to economy) all withheld, I think the government would shut down. Many maga want that anyway. So, let’s give it to them.
Shiva the destroyer clears the way for new spouts to grow healthy trees again. Perhaps this is the only way to save our demise critic Republican, get the reforms we the people want and need and stabilize our republic in decency, humanity and honor.,
Again, how could the IRS seize the escrow? Not like there’s a ton of paper money in a room somewhere. One state did it before but I cannot remember the state or year. The courts ruled in their favor, not DC. Bessent was so worried about it, he had a shit fit on TV and claimed involved states were encouraging people to not pay taxes. It is being collected and held in escrow, ready to send to DC if an agreement can be reached on many items. Like trump refused FEMA helping LA fires, wants to withhold funding for state universities etc. I like this option because no one dies to do it.
Your question presupposes that such an escrow, by any other name, would ever exist. A law as described will never happen. It would constitute a hard secession, which is treason and an insurrection. No state legislature will consider this. None are ready to abandon the Constitution just yet.
If we were to set that aside for the monument, an actual escrow requires the consent of both parties. So if the IRS doesn't agree, it isn't an escrow.
Setting THAT aside, the IRS does aggressively persue employers who do not remit federal taxtes withheld from employees. They have well established legal processes to do that, penalties and fines, levies, leans, interest and criminal prosecution.
*of states join in
*probably more (trivial)
I’ve been saying it since day 1, why are we playing by a rulebook they threw out over a year ago! Dumb dumb scared
Woke up this morning wondering, “What do we do now?” Was grateful for your Substack. Sent out gift subscriptions to friends with this message: “Good Morning. The news last night about the big horrific bill was devastating. This is a month-long gift subscription to the Substack I’ve been telling you about. Mr. Armitage’s articles are intelligent, well-researched, and he has a fighter’s spirit. May we prevail. Strength and Honor🌟”
Thank you for the kind words and support, and especially for sharing subscriptions with your friends.
That kind of grassroots organizing is exactly how we build the infrastructure we need to win.
I know how heavy it feels to wake up to devastating news. What keeps me going is knowing there are people like you who channel that feeling into action rather than despair.
I'm going to keep providing the research, tactics, and strategic insights to turn that energy into effective resistance.
Honored to be in this fight alongside you. 🌲🌲🌲
It is an effective alternative to open civil war, which is getting closer.
💯💯💯
Public banking please. Yes withhold taxes. Our left coast can seriously consider secession.
Public banking has to be one of the easiest slam dunk policies any state could enact.
Of course, slam dunk with the voters isnt the same as slam dunk with donors 🙄
Not to be glib, but if they like doing business here, they can deal with it.
The conditions provided that allow their business to flourish need to be nurtured.
Go set up in Arkansas or Texas if they want something else. It doesn't always work out how they think it will.
Thank you for the explanation of how public banking counters Wall Street's involvement to a State's finances- it'd be interesting to see how that would really work. For instance, how is Wall Street currently involved in how banking happens at the State level? If I have my mortgage with Wells Fargo or BoA, and my state creates a public bank, will I move my mortgage there? And get a better rate...? And conversely, how does Wall Street have undue influence in a State's finances and economy?
Check out the Bank of Montana, we have a working proof of concept for public banking right here in the US!
They've been profitable every year for a century, provide better rates, and have robustly handled every recession.
aargh.
This is the most logical suggestion I’ve heard to combat all that’s going on.
All the blues let the reds try to survive financially without us
I've always liked the name US of Canada, which encompasses all the blue states along the coast and most along the northern border.
Jon Tester could swing Montana more blue, send gianforte packing to Tejas.
Elise, thank you. Your comment means a lot, especially the observation about the shift in energy here. You're right that the difference is palpable. When I look back at comments from even a few months ago, there was so much despair and paralysis. Seeing people ready to act, asking "how do we move this forward," that's exactly what this work is for.
I also get a daily dose of joy right here with our community.
I'm rereading Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" and I'm particularly inspired today by the way he weaves the personal inner experience into how we engage with the world around us. That connection you noticed, between giving people something concrete to do and watching them become hopeful and ready, that's Frankl's Logotherapy in action.
That's the beating heart of my mission with The Existentialist Republic. Purposefully directing our attitude and inner world can be wildly impactful for us. The world shapes us and we shape the world. We're the hammer and the nail, the sculpture and the clay.
Do we feel hopeless sometimes? Do we despair? Of course, it's natural when we look honestly at the suffering in the world. But action and meaning can save us. Despair if we must, but taking any action to try and make the world better in any way, detached from the ultimate success of that action (what even is success? That can be a slippery thing), just doing a thing because you know it's right and good, that is a treatment for despair. Not a cure, but a damn good treatment. The more of it we have, the more empowered we become, and that can turn things around. The real power of knowing why you're doing what you're doing and knowing it's good and just.
Thanks again for your thoughtful and encouraging words, Elise 🌲🌲🌲
I know you know how much I appreciate you… your energy and your eloquence are palpable.
SOFT SUCCESSION! Get the word out. Send this post out to everyone, including those in the state offices. Thank you again Chris. You have been saying this for months, it’s time WE THE PEOPLE get it done.
Who knows how to get this started? We need direction. I live in CA & well we are a hot bed of progressives & liberal’s. It won’t be hard to gather people & support this move.
Just have to say hello to a (former) fellow Californian. Somehow I’ve ended up in Michigan for the time being. The people are way less conservative than I thought they would be…the weather is way worse than I thought it would be. Lately, in the 20’s...count your blessings! And enjoy your Holidays... at the beach.
Let's do this. I'll start pressuring our new governor-elect in NJ. This is even MORE important to do since Trump recently pardoned ALL the masterminds behind Jan. 6th!
YES!
It's absolutely foolhardy for blue states to continue paying federal taxes. The federal government has declared us to be the enemy and is currently attacking us financially, legally and militarily. Our resistance actions are undermined when we continue to financially support the thing we are resisting.
I'm lovin' it!!!!!!! I'm thinking this article ALSO needs to go to my Governor Gavin Newsom! So far, this will be the third of your articles I've sent him. Off to the e-mail!!!
Heck yes, you're doing an awesome job!
Thanks for doing the work, Kathy!
I love Gavin Newsom…my former Governor, as of six months ago. I’ve wished I was voting for him in the next election and, fingers crossed, he’s our next competent and sane President.
Again this is a most important avenue for states to take and show the federal government that we will not stand for all the bullshit that they continue to throw at us. I have just finished a letter to my Governor-Elect to urge her to take this step. I have also sent emails to both my senators urging them to support this type of action. It is time for the states to act and stand up and push back hard.
Hell ya! If he refuses to return money to our state why should we pay taxes that only enrich the trump family and all his whims.
Excellent idea and supporting information. As was your post on how states can work together to provide affordable health care (which post I forwarded to my local representative). I will be forwarding this post, as well. Thank you, Christopher!
Thank YOU, Susan!
Truly, those emails, calls, letters, mentions on social media, all of it acts as nudges to influence things in the direction of justice 🌲🌲🌲
I’m ready let’s do this.
Your precise analysis is so important here on substack.
Thank you for all you do.
Amen!
'Whether the Supreme Court rules this constitutional or unconstitutional...'
trumPutiNyahuStein is doing a shitload (not referring to his diaper) of unconstitutional things and SCOTUS kisses his ass.
Doesn't what the trumpledickwadputinstein ass~ministration is doing constitute "Taxation Without Representation?
The Blue States, statistically and legitimately (per fact), support the Red States.
Their people pay higher taxes all the way around including that they pay State Income Taxes (where Red States do not pay a State Income Tax), yes.
However, they not only tend to have better healthcare, better Social programs, etc. but they still pay to support the Red States.
Taxation Without Representation.
Taxation Without Representation.
Taxation Without Representation.
I say that we do it!
Tell us how you really feel!
Yesss! DO IT! You know they would if the situation was reversed.
Great piece!
Trump wants to send spending back to the States and decrease the revenue from income taxes while at the same time closing America's borders and charging admission through tariffs and immigration. It's imprisonment of the American People. They have a manufacturing job imagined for all of us, sequestered in America, our only rights to go to work to squeak out a living while Billionaire Oligarchs and their Elected Elites enjoy the profits and Lord over us. (Literally, in 10 years Billionaires will be building their own lairs in subspace and declaring autonomy, which they will then arm with Nukes. Forthcoming.) It's perverse, and it should not be tolerated. We cannot allow another Republican or a Democrat to ascend to this kind of Unitary Executive power in the White House. The enfeebled Democrats will only do a lighter version of the tyranny imagined by MAGA/Project 2025/Oligarchs/POTUS. Democrats do not have an alternative, they are part of the same problem, not the solution, they are financed by the same beast, the Non-State Actor, the single greatest threat to the State. NSAs include both Billionaires and Global Jihad, and the Billionaires are as bad as the Jihadists. The White House has been overtaken by NSAs and NSA-thinking, both Jihadist and Jewhadist, and it must be stopped.
There are 5 parties in the US Constitution, the Three Branches, the States, and People. They are designed to check and balance one another so that any one of them cannot amass absolute power. In the course of the War on Terror, 4 of the 5 main characters are comatose and on life support, while one branch, a Unitary Executive, molests the entire Nation.
States and People are endowed with the authority to put POTUS in his place, plain and simple. I don't need a SCOTUS citation for that simple principal contained in the plain reading of the US Constitution. The only reason it has not happened is that all of the other 4 main characters have allowed the power grab in the War on Terror to happen. It's that simple.
The only chance to save American Democracy is for some Governor to stand up and take on the White House. POTUS is the most powerful Head of State in global affairs, but he is not the most powerful American citizen. We are. There are a number of ways to take down the White House, but the first and best one is to cut off its access to taxes and spending. This is a Treasury issue, and no one party, no one branch, no one man should control the Treasury the way Trump does. The System is broken.
I will not pay federal income taxes while POTUS is violating the Constitution, and POTUS is violating the Constitution in both foreign and domestic policy. The governors of CA, OR, WA, IL, and NY, at least, should cease paying all federal income taxes, order all US military personnel in their states to "stand down and return to base," take control of the National Guard in the state, and arrest all ICE agents in their states. They should seize all federal property. Make POTUS impotent and embarrassed before putting him on his ass. They should create their own spending programs to replace the federal ones, and create a new Treasury for it, a separate Treasury.
The US should partition along its historic lines, the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, the Mountain States, the Pacific Coast. We need 5 nations in America, 5 Constitutions, 5 Treasuries, and 5 President pinatas. I call it Democracy, a new word I just made up.
A well-written and thought provoking piece.