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​U.S. President Donald Trump is shown on television monitor.

The Contradictions at the Heart of Trump’s Iran War Narrative

Just the Facts: The SAVE Act and the Future of Voter ID Rules

Just the Facts: The SAVE Act and the Future of Voter ID Rules

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Wisconsin Lawmakers Propose Ranked Choice Voting for All Elections

The U.S. Built a Blueprint to Avoid Civilian War Casualties. Trump Officials Scrapped It.

The U.S. Built a Blueprint to Avoid Civilian War Casualties. Trump Officials Scrapped It.

A protestor holding a sign that reads "Hey Congress Do Your Job."

Congress Isn’t Failing—It’s Choosing Not to Govern

Growing out of chaos

Butterflies emerging
stanley45/Getty Images
Debilyn Molineaux
By Debilyn MolineauxDec 10, 2021
Debilyn Molineaux

Debilyn Molineaux is the catalyst of JEDIfutures.org , a global initiative that helps people imagine and create just, equitable, dignified, and inclusive futures. She is best known for her pioneering work in civic innovation, having co-founded Bridge Alliance, Living Room Conversations, and National Week of Conversation. She formerly acted as co-publisher for The Fulcrum. Across these efforts, Debilyn has brought together unlikely allies to co-create solutions for democracy, governance, and social transformation.

Her work lives at the intersection of strategy, systems change, and spirit. A long-time practitioner of personal and collective growth, she brings a deep commitment to the inner dimensions of change that are often overlooked but essential to transformation. Debilyn speaks of the “interstitial spaces” — the connective tissue between people, institutions, and movements — where new possibilities take root.

She also hosts the podcast Terrified Nation, which helps audiences move from fear and despair into courage and action. Her voice is sought by impact investors, changemakers, and visionary leaders who want to align resources, imagination, and human growth toward a thriving future for all.

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Molineaux is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and President/CEO of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

The beauty of a butterfly does not happen easily. The transformation is a grueling period of cellular warfare. And for a time, there is nothing but gooey chaos.

Our society is in the middle of a human-level gooey chaos.

We see it in the information wars, the fractured relationships and the dysfunction of government. And we, the humans on planet Earth, are prone to fear for our future. Many of us dislike the rapidity of change and we seek solace about our future through order and predictability.

In the world of caterpillars and butterflies, the gooey chaos is the place between. The caterpillar dissolves and the butterfly is not yet formed. As humans, this place in between is very scary but like the caterpillar we contain imaginal discs of what we might become.

The imaginal discs, written into our Constitution and heralded by civil society, offer these possibilities for our future:

  • Government that is of, by and for all the people.
  • Strength through diversity.
  • More prosperity for all.
  • Equality before the law.

Which leads to what many have identified as an inclusive, equitable and beloved community.

The legacy of our founders endures today despite the obvious flaws they had and the inability to see that the words they spoke did not apply to all inhabitants of America.

It is our responsibility to live into the legacy of these words from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The imaginal discs of the butterfly create a new order. The gooey chaos is what nourishes the new order of the butterfly. In our current human equivalent, we need to co-create, re-create and re-imagine systems and participation that supports the vision expressed but never realized by our founders.

Let’s use this in-between time to discover our imaginal discs and bring them to life. Let’s emerge from this cocoon of gooey chaos and take flight into a beautiful garden of democracy.


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Trump never actually had a plan

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 23, 2026. President Donald Trump said Monday that there are "major points of agreement" in US- Iran talks which he said must result in Tehran giving up its nuclear ambitions and enriched uranium stockpile.

(TNS)

Trump never actually had a plan

US President Trump spoke at the Saudi Future Investment Initiative on Friday, March 27. He offered a pristine example of what he calls “the weave.” What detractors take for incontinent verbal rambling is, in his own telling, genius-level embroidery of a rhetorical mosaic.

While spinning his tapestry of soundbites, the wartime president declared that the Iranians “have to open up the Strait of Trump — I mean, Hormuz. Excuse me, for — I’m so sorry, such a terrible mistake. The fake news will say he ‘accidentally said’ (chuckle), now there’s no accidents with me. Not too many. If there were, we’d have a major story. No. Well, we had that with the Gulf of Mexico. Remember the Gulf of Mexico? And one day I said, ‘Why is it the Gulf of Mexico?’ ”

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Border Communities Know ICE’s Impunity All Too Well

Close-up of a rusty iron fence painted with stars and stripes at the American-Mexican border in Tijuana.

Border Communities Know ICE’s Impunity All Too Well

The Department of Homeland Security shutdown has officially passed one month as lawmakers continue to debate limits on ICE’s use of force. Though we’ve arrived at this legislative standoff due to aggressive, and sometimes fatal, immigration enforcement actions in cities in our country’s interior, for communities along the U.S.–Mexico border, such abuses are nothing new. As I reveal through my academic research, immigration agents have operated with near-total impunity at the border for decades.

I uncovered patterns of excessive violence, coercion, and abuse at land ports of entry, through which more than 200 million people including workers, students, and visitors legally enter the U.S. every single year. The link between agents’ actions on the streets of American cities and the way they operate at the southern border is inevitable—yet something the current conversation about ICE and potential reforms overlooks.

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The Exit Coalition: A Bipartisan Chance to Defend the Institution
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Photo by iStrfry , Marcus on Unsplash

The Exit Coalition: A Bipartisan Chance to Defend the Institution

In the year marking the United States Semiquincentennial, dozens of members of Congress—from both parties—will quietly make a consequential decision: they will not return. Most coverage treats this as routine political churn—retirements, career moves, the normal rhythm of electoral life. But in a Congress defined by constraint and dysfunction, these departures create something rare and fleeting: freedom to act independently.

Fifty-plus lawmakers across the House and Senate are not seeking reelection in 2026—well above the typical 25 to 35 members who step aside in most election cycles. Republicans account for roughly 40 of those departures, including nearly 35 in the House. Some are retiring outright. Others are pursuing higher office. A smaller number are simply stepping away.

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Protestors outside, holding signs that read, "Justice for survivors" and "National Organization for Women."

Protesters gather as Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan court house on January 06, 2020 in New York City.

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We Teach Prevention to Victims, Not Accountability to Power

Each time a major sexual assault case comes to light, the public conversation follows a familiar pattern. Awareness campaigns are launched. Safety tips are shared. People are reminded to watch their drinks, walk in groups, and trust their instincts. The focus quickly turns to what potential victims should do differently.

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