The resistance enters a new chapter

And Heads Up News is shutting down

I launched Heads Up News on Jan. 22, 2025, because I knew that the resistance against Donald Trump’s authoritarian, lawless, and cruel presidency was going to be a critically important part of the story going forward.

I also knew that the elite media would give it short shrift. (See my screed on that very subject just last week, in my Press Watch blog.) I thought Heads Up News could help fill the vacuum.

Plus, I wanted to write something that offered people hope even as we faced such a grim future.

That was hard for someone like me who has been a professional cynic his entire career. But I loved writing it. I think it was good for me.

Meanwhile, the vacuum I had feared was instead filled with so many wonderful alternative outlets. And special props to Rachel Maddow, who almost always devoted a big section of her Monday night shows to a powerful, inspiring montage of voices of protest around the country.

And then we won! The anti-Trump sentiment in the midterm elections was so overwhelming that it is now clear to everyone that a majority of Americans are angry and alarmed about what he is doing to our country.

Protesters and pro-democracy groups and heroic attorneys will still be an important part of the fight, but now the main job will be pushing Democratic congressional leaders to stand strong against Trump when they might otherwise wimp out, collapse, make shitty deals, and generally do what Democrats have too often done.

That fight will take place primarily on Capitol Hill, and it will be amply covered in both the corporate and alternative media. It’s where I’m turning my attention – but on a free-lance basis, contributing to other publications.

I’ve already written about what the No Kings movement wants from a Democratic Congress, for The New Republic. I distilled the wise advice to congressional leaders from some old Washington hands, for Salon (RIP). I wrote about how Democrats need a powerful but pragmatic plan, for MS NOW. Hopefully, there will be lots more to come.

This newsletter, however, is shutting down.

What Happens to Subscribers?

Subscribers who pay monthly are no longer being charged as of this week.

Those of you who paid for a $60 annual subscription can get a pro-rated refund — please just send me an email at froomkin@presswatchers.org and I’ll make that happen.

I’m not entirely shutting Heads Up News down. I want to keep the archives alive. And I want to be able to send you the occasional update on relevant things I’ve written elsewhere (I hope that’s OK).

And I will continue to write cynically for Press Watch, my media-criticism nonprofit.

Thank You

I’ve been so touched by your loyal readership and your very, very kind emails. Thank you so much.

And thank you so much for resisting, protesting, and voting as though democracy was on the line. Because it was. And we may just have saved it.

Yours,

Dan