The "Big Distraction" strategy, explained and how we can push back
Let's look at the receipts.
I’ve been hearing from so many of you who feel like you’re being pulled in a dozen different directions. It feels like as soon as we wrap our heads around one crisis, another one is quietly moving through the halls of power.
If you feel exhausted, you aren’t alone. But there is a reason everything feels so overwhelming right now, and it’s not an accident. It’s a strategy.
While our attention is naturally fixed on the start of the war in Iran, which began on February 28th, there is a massive shift happening behind the scenes. It feels like they are using the headlines to cover up what’s actually happening to our rights here at home (and take our attention away from the Epstein files, too!)
The War Bill: The bill for just the first six days of war was $11.3 billion. That is nearly $2 billion every single day for a war that Congress never actually voted on.
The New Request: The Pentagon has now sent a $200 billion supplemental request to the White House. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the cost by saying, “It takes money to kill bad guys”.
The Voting Bill: While those billions flow overseas, Republican senators are on the floor debating a voting bill called the SAVE Act. A dozen states are also moving their own versions of laws designed to keep millions of eligible Americans from voting.
Why This Matters
This is about priorities. When we are told there is “no money” for school lunches or healthcare credits, it’s a choice, not a fact.
To give you an idea of what that $200 billion request actually means:
It could fully fund the school lunch program for every child in the U.S. for the next decade.
It could fund the starting salaries of 4.2 million new teachers.
It could replace every single lead pipe in America’s drinking water supply and still have $150 billion left over.
At the same time, the SAVE Act isn’t solving a real problem. Noncitizen voting is already illegal and “vanishingly rare”. Instead, this is about control. Senator Mike Lee even pointed out that Democrats are favorites to win the Senate in 2026, and his response was to push this bill to change the rules before the election happens.
Under this act, you could no longer register to vote online or by mail, and even your driver’s license wouldn’t be enough to prove your identity.
I see this as a classic Big Distraction. They don’t want us to notice our power being taken away in the other.
The goal is to exhaust us until we tune out. If we are too tired to look at the receipts or too overwhelmed to check our voter registration, they win. But the antidote to that exhaustion is showing up anyway.
We have to remember a very simple truth: Voters pick their leaders. Leaders do not get to pick their voters.
How to Take Action
We don’t have to just sit back and watch this happen. Here are two small, concrete things you can do this week:
Call your senators: Tell them to vote NO on the SAVE Act. You don’t need to be an expert. Just call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, give them your name and zip code, and tell them you oppose the bill. It takes three minutes.
Mark March 28th: This is No Kings Day. People across the country are going to show up to remind the government that our tax dollars and our votes belong to us.
If you have plans for No Kings Day or just want to share how you’re participating, email me at shout@breakingthefeed.com. I’m here for you.
Con cariño,
