Normal Mondays Are a Thing of the Past
Over 5 million marched this weekend. Then came Monday. The bottom dropped out, and it's not an exception.
What’s the joke about Mondays?
That they’re cursed? That the coffee spills, the meeting runs long, the headlines suck? But at least you could blame it on the calendar. At least it was Monday, and everyone knows Mondays are like that. You grit your teeth, you get through it, and you move on.
But that version of Monday doesn’t exist anymore.
Not in a country like this. Not in a year like this. The new Monday isn’t a nuisance. It’s a test. It’s the day something cracks (some norm, some right, some basic expectation) and we’re expected to absorb it without flinching. We’re told to fold it into the week like it belongs there.
There’s no easing in anymore. No slow start. Just the thud of another headline, the tremor of another abuse of power. One more grotesque announcement to skim before a meeting. One more act of violence or repression we’re supposed to file under “news” instead of “warning.”
Political violence. Medical discrimination. Executive overreach. Military theatrics that wouldn’t look out of place in a failing state. Lies, boldfaced and wrapped in flags, paraded in front of cameras like they deserve our attention. And always, always, another violation of the line we swore couldn’t be crossed. Until it was.
It’s not a bad day. It’s a warning shot. And they’re counting on us to treat it like noise.
The Weekend: We Marched. We Were Everywhere.
Before the bottom fell out, we flooded the streets.
More than five million Americans turned out for the No Kings Day protests. All 50 states. Over 2,100 cities, towns, and rural counties. It was the largest demonstration in American history.
And no, it wasn’t just about the parade.
It was about what the parade represented.
A man demanding tanks, jets, and allegiance on his birthday. A president staging a tribute to himself on Flag Day, flanked by defense contractors, Fox News cameras, and a hand-picked crowd that couldn’t even fill a city block.
In response, the American people filled sidewalks. Packed curbs. Overflowed courthouse lawns and main streets and neighborhood parks.
We don’t pledge allegiance to a man. We pledge allegiance to the idea that no one is above the law.
Veterans marched beside teenagers. Grandparents beside teachers. In towns that hadn’t seen a protest since Vietnam, neighbors gathered with folding chairs and handmade signs. Not for spectacle, but for conviction.
The side-by-sides told the truth. A hollow parade in Washington, D.C., and five million people marching everywhere else.
They staged a parade. We delivered a reminder…
Then the Bottom Dropped Out
Monday didn’t feel like the start of a new week.
It felt like a reaction. A counterstrike. A door slamming shut somewhere behind us.
It started with the story being rewritten in real time.
Mike Lee, a sitting U.S. Senator, posted a meme of the man who had just assassinated a Democratic lawmaker and nearly killed another. The caption read:
“This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.”
No facts. No waiting. Just spin.
The killer had a list of Democrats and abortion providers. His motives weren’t vague… they were political, specific, and written down.
But none of that mattered. Within 48 hours, the lie was already taking root.
Elon Musk amplified it. Dozens of influencers followed. And just like that, a targeted act of right-wing violence got reframed as “leftist rage.”
That’s the first thing power does when it’s been challenged: it rewrites the threat.
And then it gets to work.
On Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs finalized a rule change that pulled the rug out from under every veteran who thought care was supposed to be a guarantee. A Trump executive order from January had opened the door. Monday made it official.
The VA deleted the language that had once barred discrimination based on political affiliation or marital status. Now, doctors and hiring managers are legally allowed to deny treatment or jobs to veterans - simply for being Democrats, or for being unmarried.
They don’t have to justify it. They don’t even have to pretend.
The VA called it a clarification. Trump’s allies called it a win.
Veterans’ groups called it what it was: a roadmap for retaliation.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Trump walked out of the G7 Summit in Canada. One day early, no explanation. Macron told reporters Trump had left to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Trump, halfway home, opened his phone and fired back:
“Wrong. He has no idea why I’m on my way to Washington… Much bigger than that.”
Then he mocked Macron, called him “publicity seeking,” and moved on.
No statement. No plan. Just ego and shadows in the middle of a growing international crisis.
And while the press was still catching up, ICE was already moving.
On Monday afternoon, new deportation orders went out targeting sanctuary cities, specifically those that had seen protest activity over the weekend. The language wasn’t coded. Trump called them “Democrat Power Centers” and told agents to “do all in their power” to escalate enforcement.
By nightfall, organizers in L.A., New York, and Chicago were back in rapid response mode. Hotlines reactivated. Legal observers reassigned.
People knew what was coming. They’d seen it before. Only this time, it wasn’t just about immigration. It was about sending a message to the cities that dared to protest.
We could feel the shift. It wasn’t strategy. It was punishment.
And underneath all of it, another layer was being laid.
Court filings revealed that DOJ lawyers were arguing for military intervention in Los Angeles - not under the Insurrection Act, but by framing the protests as a “rebellion.”
That word matters. It’s not metaphor. It’s a legal trigger.
If they had succeeded, it would’ve granted Trump power to deploy federal troops with almost no restrictions.
A judge blocked it for now but the argument is on the record.
They called peaceful protest a rebellion and tried to build law around that lie.
So let’s be clear about what Monday looked like.
A senator blamed a political murder on its victims.
The VA rewrote who gets care.
Trump walked out of a summit, escalated a feud with an ally, and left the world guessing.
ICE began sweeping up dissent city by city.
And the administration tried to turn protest into rebellion - not on cable news, but in federal court.
All of that happened in one day.
That wasn’t drift.
That wasn’t mismanagement.
That was intent.
It was only a Monday.
We’re Not Just Witnessing the News. We’re Living the Pattern.
None of what happened Monday came out of nowhere.
Every piece of it was telegraphed. Foreshadowed. Promised.
And now it’s here.
This isn’t a fire drill. It’s the plan.
Distract. Reframe. Escalate. Retaliate. Spin. Repeat.
But here’s what they still don’t understand:
We’re not afraid of Mondays.
We’re afraid of what happens when we stop paying attention to them.
And if five million people in the streets didn’t stop this,
then we’re going to need five million more.
This is not the time to collapse.
It’s the time to organize.
Because the most dangerous lie in this country right now
is that all of this is still normal.
It’s not.
It’s Monday. And we’re going to keep living it again-and-again.