Indivisible Chico

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy hosted 49 Nobel Prize winners at the White House for what he called “the most extraordinary collection of talent." The people’s house was treated as a civic temple of science, art, and public service—an affirmation that American power was supposed to be tethered to knowledge, curiosity, and a sense of duty.

This week, Donald Trump turned that same White House into the backdrop for UFC “Freedom 250,” an actual fight card staged on the South Lawn as a pay-per-view spectacle, complete with an Octagon, fan fest, and a full slate of knockouts broadcast for the world to see. What was once a place where laureates debated ideas is now a branded cage-fighting arena, merchandised and monetized, with the seat of government reduced to a marketing set for violence-as-entertainment.

America’s fall from grace is right there in that split-screen: from a White House that gathered scientists, writers, and public intellectuals to celebrate human possibility, to a White House selling pay-per-view fights on the lawn while democracy buckles under voter suppression, corruption, and obscene inequality. You don’t recover from that kind of moral and civic free-fall with just a new President or a better speechwriter; this is a generational repair job that will require rebuilding norms, expectations, and a basic sense of what public office is for.

The damage is not just aesthetic—it’s psychological and constitutional. When we normalize turning the White House into a stage for violence and branding while gutting faith in expertise, truth, and shared institutions, we teach the next generation that power exists to be flaunted, not to be earned or restrained. That is why this moment feels less like a blip and more like a warning: if we don’t demand more of our leaders—and of ourselves—then the story of America’s “fall from grace” will not be about one gaudy event, but about a country that forgot what grace was for in the first place.

You can attend an alternative event – a local watch party near you to livestream the 90-minute "Concert for the First Amendment," featuring an all-star lineup including Jane Fonda, Patti Smith, Bette Midler, Rufus Wainwright, Joy Reid, Wilson Cruz, Broadway Inspirational Voices, and more. It begins at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 14, EST. Find a watch party near you at https://www.nokings.org/. UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fights are extremely violent. They allow choke holds up to the point of blackouts. For this reason, it was banned in 36 states, banned on cable TV, and very nearly bankrupt when Trump revived it in 2001 by giving it visibility in his casino. UFC executives have been close political allies of Trump’s ever since. The 250 Freedom event is a private, for-profit event entirely run by the UFC, Paramount, and the advertisers (not the gov’t). It celebrates not the country’s 250th anniversary, but rather the UFC and Trump’s birthday. Therefore it is illegal to hold it on W.H. grounds. It is undeniably deeply corrupt, and an illegal use of public property for private profit. Sources: (1) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/12/trump-ufc-fighting-cage (2) https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/ufc-250-lawsuit-volcano-corruption-trump-white-house

No lies detected from Robert Reich!

It was never “guys like you.”

This country was built by people who labored, bled, and were discarded—enslaved Black Americans whose bodies built its wealth, immigrants who dug canals and laid railroads, workers in factories, mines, and shipyards who gave everything while others took the credit.

It was farmers who broke the land, buried their children, and fed the nation through impossible conditions. Fishermen risking their lives so others could feast. Everyday people—the ones mocked as “complainers”—who actually built America from the ground up.

Not trust-fund elites.

Not inherited wealth.

Not men who slap their names on buildings they didn’t build.

Let’s talk about “builders.” Contractors and construction workers built Trump’s properties—and many were never paid. He signed off on completed work, then refused to pay. When contractors sued, they were buried in counter-lawsuits designed to drag them into bankruptcy. Some paid their workers out of pocket and lost everything. Others were smeared, their reputations destroyed, making future work impossible.

This isn’t a one-off. It’s a pattern—vendors, suppliers, small businesses all saying the same thing: Trump doesn’t pay his bills. And if you push back, he tries to crush you.

That’s why he’s widely despised in the building trades across New York and New Jersey.

The real builders? They’re still here. Still working. Still carrying this country.

And they know exactly who did the work—and who just took the credit.

Donald Trump shouldn’t be allowed to turn the White House lawn into an ad for his own stock portfolio.

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