Kolkata            I first came to Kolkata with the Organizers’ Forum more than twenty years ago.  Unlike the megacities of Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, Kolkata seems largely unchanged so far, something like the old India.  The streets were full and pulsating as we came into town after midnight from the airport, which had seen an upgrade.  Shops were open.  People were milling about.  Vendors were everywhere.  Traffic had not abetted.  I didn’t see any trolleys, although the tracks were still in place.  In some sections, there was now a bus lane with a wall separating this faster lane from the regular traffic, but expressways, not so much.  This was the same fast-moving, dirty, trash-along-the-side-of-the road city of my memories, but wonderful all the same.  Kolkata was old enough and politically out of favor, that the new internet firewalls weren’t in place, and I could finally access my email, which was a bright spot after few hours of sleep and a cold shower.  It will be interesting to discover what’s new and old in the city.  It’s a diversion from reading the papers online at least.

I read conservative columnist, David French, in the Times, who basically sang lyrics from the old hit, “Say a Little Prayer for Me,” as he tried to beg Chief Justice John Roberts to finally grow a set and confront the administration in what he, and most of the rest of us, understand is a full-blown constitutional crisis.  Another raised the specter of judicial orders, if a backbone was present in the court, that would strain to be enforced without control of the federal marshals.  He underlined Trump’s direct attack on the courts and their low standing in the public perception currently because of huge ethical scandals they have refused to address and the correct feeling that many of their decisions are simply partisan and ideological.  It wasn’t a pretty read since hope and prayer is definitely not a plan.  The other conservative columnist, Ross Doutart, had tried an alternate approach by failure and overreach.  His was less a prayer, than a call to caution, reminding this team, in essence of the old proverb that arrogance leads to a fall.  It’s hard to believe that Trump and Musk will spend much time reading these admonitions or will care, if they do.

On the other hand, there were some straws to grasp for those of us more practically minded.  Some new Trump agency heads have told their workforce to ignore Musk’s directive that they had 48-hours to send him an email on what they did last week, or they would be fired.  Not all of them, mind you, but some.

The best news, though still a slender reed, could be found in reports that some Congressional representatives out on the hustings with their town meetings, were wrong-footed as they came to praise Caesar, and got their butts kicked by their constituents, both Democrats and Republicans.  Some said too fast, too far.  Others were worried about cuts to the safety net, social security, and veterans’ benefits.  Some worried that this slash-and-burn system being initiated by “that guy from South Africa,” referring to Musk, could leave the whole country less safe.  For those with a memory back to the Obama days, this had the tone and temper of the Tea Party revolt at the grassroots then.

We’re not there yet, but for those of us who have given up on this administration caring about the much vaunted “rule of law,” popular pushback from the grassroots has real political power.  Trump and his team will absolutely get the message if this continues and intensifies.  None of them want this to be their last election, and even if Trump daydreams about a third term, he still loves the roar of the crowd, and they are starting to move away from him and his quickly.