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You’re reading Jennifer Rubin’s subscriber-only newsletter. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/jennifer-rubin/?method=SURL&location=ART&initiative=TOP" target=_blank>Sign up to get it in your inbox</a>.

This week, I answer readers’ questions, share another source of quality news and spot a green shoot — at the grocery store, of all places.

A reader asks: Can the president suspend the Constitution? Clarity on this could help to soothe nerves.

Answer: No! We might vigorously disagree with court rulings interpreting the Constitution (especially from an increasingly partisan and injudicious Supreme Court), but neither a president nor Congress can suspend the Constitution to achieve some policy or political end. The question for the second Trump term is whether <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> would have the nerve to violate a court order.

A reader asks: I bought your book “<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/resistance-jennifer-rubin/1138684405?ean=9780062982131" target=_blank>Resistance</a>” a couple of months ago but had not yet started it when you-know-who won the election. Can you give me a perspective on reading about a past victory in the midst of a present defeat? I love your writing but worry I might feel bad reading this under the circumstances.

Answer: Well, thanks for the purchase! I actually look at the book as a guide for how, in the face of a painful electoral defeat, citizens can organize to affect future elections and government action. Democracy is fragile and constantly at risk; no election is the final word on our future. I would love to see another flowering of new organizations, candidates, avenues of communication and civil engagement just as we saw after 2016. I am hopeful that, having created some social and political infrastructure, the tool kits and “muscle memory” of citizen-driven action will still be there.

A reader asks: What can those of us in states with two Democratic senators do to influence the Republican members of the Senate?

Answer: Great question. Social media transcends state borders. Using platforms to reach people in other states is critical. You can also support local and national organizations that are working for issues you care about; send money or volunteer for Senate challengers (anyone can phone bank, for example); and encourage your senators to be as aggressive as possible. For example, Democrats’ <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/politics/senate-biden-judges-deal/index.html" target=_blank>recent deal</a> to hold off on four circuit-court nominations raises concerns about Democrats’ tendency to make unnecessary concessions.

A reader asks: What is the plan to disarm disinformation?

Answer: If there were a unified plan, a silver bullet to combat disinformation, our democracy would be much better off! It will take an “‘all of the above approach” — media literacy training; elevating fact-based journalism (especially local journalism); increasing the number of online influencers who are pro-democracy and pro-truth; and exploring less didactic ways of communicating with voters (e.g., the Onion!). And, finally, we should work to reduce screen time overall. We need more face-to-face interaction, more book-reading and more volunteerism.

A reader asks: There is no doubt Trump enjoys trolling those who oppose him, and it’s easy to believe that his alarming Cabinet nominees serve as a test to the few remaining Republican senators who have not yet prostrated themselves before him. But isn’t it also plausible that the real reason for these picks is to destroy morale and hollow out government agencies of good, competent people so that Trump and the plutocrats can demonstrate to the public that government should never be expected to solve any of your problems?

Answer: Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The first few weeks of the transition remind us that the chaos, sloppiness, unseriousness and maliciousness evident in Trump’s first term will characterize the second. The fish rots from the head. A misogynist who is an adjudicated sex abuser will select advisers who are misogynists and alleged sex abusers. An election denier and conspiracy-theory provocateur will select a vaccine denier to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. A business leader found liable for massive fraud will pick dubious figures such as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The inside stories of how each were chosen and who gets blamed for them will be catnip for political reporters and pundits who will chew over the same few morsels of actual news for days.

But as with the campaign, insiderism and D.C.-centric focus threaten to push out critical information. Perhaps with each nominee or group of nominees, we could address some more substantive questions:

What does the department/agency do? How does it affect the lives of Americans?

What concerns the people who will be affected by an unfit choice (e.g., military personnel in combat serving under an incompetent defense secretary; handicapped children dependent on Education Department enforcement of nondiscrimination rules)?

How much power does the secretary/director have? What constraints will each face?

What can go wrong if incompetence, conflicts of interest or sheer ignorance distort decision-making?

How does the selection and outlook of the nominee reflect the president-elect’s 2025 agenda? How does it reflect an authoritarian effort to undermine functional government? How does this compare with the way other authoritarians assemble a team?

Such reporting might not be clickbait, but it would help voters understand what a president can and cannot do — and why “burning it all down” is dangerous.

In my effort to give more visibility to solid news outlets, I want to highlight <a href="https://statesnewsroom.com/" target=_blank>States Newsroom</a>, which, as its website explains, is “the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, with reporting from every capital.” The problem it <a href="https://statesnewsroom.com/about/" target=_blank>seeks to address</a> is striking: “Newsroom employment in the U.S. fell 26 percent between 2008 and 2020, with a 57 percent decline at newspapers, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center report. The number of newspaper statehouse reporters declined over 25% from 2014 to 2022 according to a 2022 Pew Research Center study.”

Its response is an affiliation of 50 state (plus the District of Columbia) newspapers that share some national stories (“<a href="https://azmirror.com/2024/11/21/dc/donald-trump-tells-u-s-senate-republicans-they-must-kill-journalist-shield-law/" target=_blank>Donald Trump tells U.S. Senate Republicans they ‘must kill’ journalist shield law</a>”) but also provide essential in-state news that can counteract disinformation (From the N.C. Newsline: “<a href="https://ncnewsline.com/briefs/gov-cooper-asks-congress-for-25b-for-helene-recovery-in-nc-what-his-request-includes/" target=_blank>Gov. [Roy] Cooper asks Congress for $25B for Helene recovery in NC. What his request includes</a>”). The operation employs full-time staff in 39 states; “In 11 other states, we work with and support already-established nonprofit newsrooms.”

“While the larger media companies — including The Washington Post, the New York Times and the TV networks — focus primarily on national stories, we have local, on-the-ground reporters in every state, keeping tabs on state legislation and politics for their local audiences,” Lara Weber, the outlet’s communications director, told me. “Our 200-plus reporters and editors are among the best in journalism today — Pulitzer winners, legacy newsroom veterans and a courageous group of next-generation reporters and editors.”

If pro-democracy, fact-based advocates and politicians think independent, fact-based journalism is vital, they should treat outlets like these on a par with national and regional for-profit companies, providing the same level of access to politicians and information. It is then up to pro-democracy organizations, websites, podcasts and social media influencers to amplify important stories that fill the news vacuum and/or rebut disinformation.

In the positive developments category, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/turkey-prices-ease-this-year-but-watch-out-for-the-sides-4e676215?mod=economy_lead_pos2" target=_blank>the Wall Street Journal </a>tells us, “The Farm Bureau projects the average price for a Thanksgiving turkey to fall 6.1 percent to $25.67, or $1.68 a pound, this year. The lower price comes amid lower costs for feed grains and despite lower production of turkeys in the U.S. thanks to the spread of bird flu in American poultry farms.” It might seem like all food prices are always going up, but it’s actually not true.

Yes, the price of some side dishes are up slightly, but the “unadjusted price of food both in-home and away from home has risen 2.1 percent in the 12 months through October.” So enjoy your meal!

Next week, I’ll have my online reader Q&amp;A, so please <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/04/jennifer-rubin-live-chat/" target=_blank>submit your questions</a>. Questions submitted after next Wednesday will go to my next Mailbag newsletter.

University of California at Berkeley, BA in history

University of California at Berkeley, JD

Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post. She is the author of “Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy from Donald Trump” and is host of the podcast Jen Rubin's "Green Room."

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