President Trump’s decision today to federalize the DC police and deploy National Guard troops to the city is a good reminder of the importance of what we discussed Friday: the necessity for the political opposition to narrate Trump’s abuses of power and the contents of the U.S. Constitution, to be crystal clear on what will be reversed when Democrats are back in control of the government and how they’ll provide civil and criminal accountability for those who have broken the law. It makes it even more relevant to review and remember the critical importance of the consent of the governed.

It’s part of American civic culture to marvel at the process of the peaceful transfer of power. We hold an election under a specific set of rules. The winners of those elections inherit a vast array of powers. The president gains control of the military and a vast federal bureaucracy. The president has a huge array of prerogative powers. What he or she says goes, in specific realms. Legislators make new laws. Judges make rulings on imprisonment, people’s redress of harms, etc. etc. The marvel is that a whole population of more than 340 million people freely accede to this power. We have ordinary criminal conduct which is policed and punished. But focus in on the fact of that free compliance. The vast majority of us never come into real contact with the coercive power of the state. And yet virtually everyone, even the most diehard opponents of this administration, recognize that this president has a whole bundle of legitimate powers and we will comply with them.

Why is this?

I want to let everyone know that The Josh Marshall Podcast will be returning on August 20th, back to our regular weekly schedule and excited to be back.

No big push from me today. But I am really happy to see and really happy to report that we’re now highly likely to reach our goal in this year’s TPM Journalism Fund drive. We needed/need to raise $500,000 this year. And we’re currently at $458,443 after three and a half weeks. It looks like we’re probably get there early next week. I thank you; our whole team thanks you. We really appreciate it.

One of the things about running or being involved in TPM is one gets used to or accustomed to things that are pretty amazing and a pretty big deal. That’s a delicate balance. I never want to take them for granted. But we rely on them. And our reliance is mainly vindicated. The annual drive is high on those list of things. It’s a lot of money. I mean, it’s a half million dollars. That’s a lot of money. I always go into them with a measure of trepidation. Are our people going to be there for us? I try to get my head into it in a certain kind of way, thinking about my arguments, getting my thinking coherent and clear about what we’re trying accomplish in the current environment and so forth. I work on getting my game face on.

Like anything in life you need to be clear about what you want to say and what you’re trying to say to be able to say it.

As I’ve said before the whole endeavor is like a big organizational trust fall and we’ve been able to rely on you to catch us each time. We really, really appreciate that, even as it has become an annual thing and in some ways “routine,” though really never routine.

Finally, the vast majority of you who contribute are members. But I want to remind everyone that while the Journalism Fund is a critical part of our operation these days, the site exists because of membership fees. No paying members, no site. There’d still be a TPM without the Journalism Fund (probably?) but it would be smaller and much more crimped and threadbare, less leaning into deeper investigative pieces, more quick-hitty, etc. Certainly no expansion and quite possibly the opposite. Our members are our true and most important trust fall. Occasionally I’ll hear from members who say, I wish I could contribute but can’t this year. I really encourage anyone for whom it is an easy lift to contribute. But I always tell those people, if you are a member that is all we ask. You are 100% in good standing with us. Your membership is the thing. You are 150% carrying your weight.

At the moment we are closing in on another potential milestone: 36,000 paying members. We have 35,749 paying members and 38,438 total members, the delta between the two being free student memberships and community (financial hardship/fixed income) memberships. Those “free” memberships are in turn made possible by $70 increments of contributions to the Journalism Fund.

Let me conclude by again thanking you. This is a joint enterprise of the TPM community. Thank you for having our backs.