The Top 10 Posts from Let's Address This in 2025
Reflecting on the articles and stories that you cared about the most this year
As 2025 comes to a close, I’ve been taking time to reflect—not only on the stories we covered, but at what they revealed about who we are as a community.
Below, I share the top 10 Substack posts from 2025. I rank them by how many new readers and subscribers they brought to Let’s Address This. These articles not only sparked conversation—they helped sustain our work. They grew our community. And they demonstrated that we can build a national platform on authenticity and facts, not clickbait and hyperbole. And that is why I know we will continue to grow rapidly in 2026. And I must again emphasize that your gracious support is essential to keeping this publication paywall-free. You ensure that our evidence-based, universal human rights content remains accessible to anyone who seeks it. And for that, I am deeply grateful. Let’s take a moment to reflect on the year we’ve built together in 2025.
10. Trump’s Inauguration Fact Check
I watched Trump’s inauguration so you didn’t have to and broke down the gaslighting behind his talk of “unity,” alongside the violent and authoritarian Executive Orders he signed on day one. The 221 people who joined after this post made clear that our community is here for facts and truth—and that is what I will always promise to deliver.
9. 400 Cancelled Paid Subscriptions—My Response
When I shared that more than 400 people had cancelled their paid subscriptions amid a surge of anti-Muslim hate directed at me personally, I never could have imagined such a strong response from you all. But receiving over 235 new subscribers reminded me exactly why I am so committed to keeping this platform rooted in compassion and principle. Hundreds of you stepped forward, some even offering paid support, and shared the post. You reminded me that this community shows up because you believe in human dignity and truth. I’m humbled every time I realize this work is sustained by real people who choose values over convenience and solidarity over silence. Because of kind-hearted fighters like you, our paywall-free model continues to work—and I remain endlessly grateful.
8. Trump Signs Muslim Ban 2.0 & Hundreds More Destructive EOs
One of the things I hold closest about this community is how seriously you take this country’s fight against Islamophobia. I wrote this after Trump signed his Muslim Ban 2.0, a more sophisticated reboot of his original racist policy. He signed it alongside more than 200 Executive Orders, most of them regressive, discriminatory, and harmful to the safety and security of Americans. I’m grateful for the solidarity. You showed up with 287 new subscribers. As someone who still remembers running legal triage at airports during the first ban, this moment cut deep.
7. Project 2025 Is Here — How to Fight Back Starting Local
This post summarized what Project 2025 actually is. It is not theory, but a fascist blueprint already unfolding in real time. I outlined five concrete steps we can take starting at the local level. This post earned 362 subscribers to our platform because it brought more than mere information to our readers, but a meaningful plan to fight back. And since, countless have reached out and shared the action steps they are taking to demand accountability and protect our rights. That is beyond inspiring.
6. A Florida Judge Tried To Strip Me Of My Law License
In an already tumultuous year, this attempt to strip me of my livelihood (in the days after my father passed, no less) was extremely difficult. In this post, I shared how a Florida Chief Judge tried—twice—to strip me of my law license after I defended the due process rights of a Latino U.S. citizen. I published it over Labor Day weekend to be transparent about what this work costs, and why I still choose to do it. I was grateful that 370 new subscribers joined our community. It tells me that you care about the truth and due process—and stand with me as I fight back. My deepest thanks and appreciation.
5. Reflections on the Death of Charlie Kirk
When news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination broke, emotions across the country were raw. I hesitated to publish anything at all, but ultimately chose to write from a place of empathy—not because of who he was, but because of who I strive to be. I turned to my faith, Islam, which teaches us to act with justice even when we are met with enmity, and to guard our hearts against becoming what we oppose. The 480 new subscribers who joined our movement that day showed me that many Americans are searching for a way to walk through this moment without losing their humanity.
4. Trump’s Mass Anti-Immigrant Raids to Begin
It was frightening and stomach-turning when reports confirmed that ICE raids would begin the day after Inauguration. But we knew it was coming. So, I wrote this piece to debunk the most common lies used to justify this cruelty, to answer urgent questions families were asking in real time, and just as importantly, to offer concrete actions to protect one another.
You all responded—609 new subscribers in a single post. As ICE fascists terrorize our communities, I am consistently reminded that no matter how dark the moment, communities nationwide still stand fearlessly with our immigrant neighbors.
3. AG Bondi to Criminally Prosecute Private Entities for DEIA
This article shared leaked DOJ memos from then newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi directing the Department to “investigate, eliminate, and penalize” DEI/DEIA, including through criminal prosecution. It was one of the first concrete examples of how the Trump regime planned to govern, and it resonated with 746 new subscribers as it laid out the receipts and made the danger unmistakable.
2. MAGAs 7 Deadly Sins—So Far—And How to Fight Back
Published in February, I broke down seven of the most dangerous moves happening at the time, and seven actions ordinary people could take to push back. This detailed and researched piece earned 1,106 new subscriptions to our human rights platform. It reminded our readers of the powerful fact that legality and power is not always a measurement of morality and justice, that autocracy spreads is when people feel powerless, and thus why we must remain fearless and relentless to demand justice.
1. How Do We Stop the South African Billionaire?
No other post this year came close to the amount of new subscriptions earned with this one: 1,757 new subscribers to Let’s Address This. If there was anything capable of inspiring human rights defenders to act, it was our shared concern over Elon Musk’s power and his unprecedented access to private government data in the early days of Trump 2.0.
In this piece, I broke down how Musk and his team gained entry into sensitive Treasury systems and what ordinary people can do to demand accountability using the Privacy Act of 1974. I think what truly resonated with this community was the reminder that outrage alone is not enough—we can take action, together, and protect one another. This post became a rallying cry, and your response showed that when everyday people are given a concrete tool to fight back, you will use it.
Conclusion
I want to close on a bit more of a personal note. This was a difficult year for me personally. In a span of just a few weeks I lost my father, faced a racist attack in front of my children, and had to fight for my livelihood as a Chief Judge in Florida attempted to strip me of my law license.
Losing my father to Parkinson’s disease on March 28 is a scar that won’t heal any time soon. As the clock turns from 2025 to 2026, I’m finding myself experiencing a new sense of grief I hadn’t anticipated. Something about knowing that as life turns to 2026, my father will forever remain in 2025, frozen in time, in the last moments I held his hands. When he passed, tens of thousands of you—literally tens of thousands of you—reached out with immense love and compassion. I am forever grateful to this community in words I cannot express.
You show up personally, and you show up professionally. You prove that we can create a world where we meaningfully and sincerely care about each other. My vision is to carry that conviction into 2026 and beyond as we continue to build this platform to advance the causes of justice. My father poured himself into the work of upholding justice and human rights. It was among his greatest qualities. If I can live to accomplish a fraction of what he did, I would consider it a life well lived.
I don’t know what lies before us in 2026. But I know the fight against fascism and injustice will continue, and I know that we will get through it if we stand united and fearless. Indeed, the only way through is together. Thank you to the millions of people who read Let’s Address This in 2025, to the 156,000 free subscribers who trust my analysis and research, to the growing number of paid subscribers who help keep this platform paywall free, and to the new readers just now joining our community.
I am excited to build on a new canvass in 2026—partnered with each of you. Thus, I close with my favorite end of year message. On December 31, 1995, exactly 30 years ago today, legendary cartoonist Bill Watterson published his final ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ comic strip.
How beautiful and appropriate it was, and a timeless reminder of what we have before us in 2026. Let us make the most of it. Happy New Year, ya’ll!
Stay strong & thank you
Resolute! We must think in terms of possibilities. 2026 is Our year … For The People! Happy New Year! Thanks for your honest reporting!