As I write this, I’m watching Stephanie Miller (one of the few news-related programs I think I’ll be able to watch for a while) and they keep talking about saving democracy. Well, guess what? We just had a very democratic election, with no indication of significant voter irregularity.
And the Republicans won in a walk. What does that mean?
We did this. This is who we are. Trump just held up a mirror.
Let’s face it: it means that America is way more racist, ignorant, misogynistic, gullible, fearful and hateful than most of us would care to admit. Yes, that may sound harsh, but regardless of whether or not the campaign should have done this or that (the finger-pointing will go on for years), there is no justification whatsoever for making a criminal who has promised to be another Hitler the most powerful man in the world.
We did this. This is who we are. Trump just held up a mirror.
There is one big difference here, though. For the first time in American history, a presidential candidate of one of the two major political parties openly promoted and even embraced abhorrent behavior, instead of discouraging, denying or avoiding it. That’s new.
And it proved to be the path to victory.
Like it or not, that’s democracy in action. Get used to it. What Trump has shown is that there is no bottom. You can do whatever you want and there are no consequences. And now, there’s no going back.
Democrats clearly failed to successfully “play the room.” So for now, until we learn how to get through to enough people to put together a winning margin, the best thing to say is: nothing.
Angels and Demons
When Lincoln talked about “the better angels of our nature,” the unavoidable flip side is that our nature also embodies “worse angels” that we should strive to overcome.
Trump has turned this on its head. Rather than striving for excellence, today’s Republican Party is all about letting the “worse angels” run wild, letting our most abhorrent instincts run free. It’s proven to be a winning strategy for Hitler and other tyrants throughout history… and now we see that America is no exception.
There’s no going back. Pandora’s box has been thrown wide open, and where it ends is anybody’s guess. But history provides no shortage of examples of how this goes, and forewarned is forearmed.
If you look at the faces in a Trump crowd, you’ll see that they’re having the time of their lives. Trump tells people who have (rightly or wrongly) felt ignored or disrespected that instead of feeling ashamed, that they should be proud. They’ve been right all along… and have now proven it by putting their guy – a convicted felon – in the White House. It’s “Take that, all you ‘woke’ assholes who think you’re smarter than us.”
So trying to tell Trump voters they’re wrong will be like trying to take candy from a baby. Not only will they not give up their candy; they’ll hate you for trying to take it. And besides, there’s always plenty more candy in the jar. So direct argument will fail.
Messengers and Messaging
Now that the die’s been cast, the only way to counter a Trump “high” will be to come up with candy that’s somehow sweeter than theirs. (Kamala’s running on “joy” may be a variation of this.) But messages alone can’t do this. We also need messengers.
I think Kamala did the best job she possible could have, but she was hamstrung by a variety of circumstances, the greatest of which, IMO, was her inability to, as Vice-President, stray significantly from White House policy positions. This meant that it was never possible for her to rise to the truly messianic level that Trump exhibited in front of an audience of millions on an almost-daily basis.
Whatever you want to say about Trump, he has real star power, established through a hit TV show, millions of dollars in media training and billions worth of free, fawning media exposure from Fox News. That’s the machine we’re up against.
Which brings me to what I think we need: just as Republicans have their messiah in Donald Trump, we need our “rockstars,” too. But not just for democracy. (Remember, it’s democracy that provided the 2024 election results.)
We need to identify charismatic figures who can “play the room,” while standing up for the “better angels of our nature” as well. It’s a tall order, but I think that’s what it’ll take. Think Navalny. Know anybody?
I do think that a majority of Americans are good-hearted people and that we’ll rise to the occasion. Perhaps we will. Perhaps we won’t. But either way, our standing as a symbol of light and liberty for the entire world is gone forever. That’s just some of what’s been lost. And that’s only the beginning.
We need to fight to salvage what we can, because that’s just who we are. Whether the rest of the country can get past their hate, fear and ignorance remains to be seen. But we’ll do everything we can to try to bring people together and restore what we’re sure to lose over the next few years… perhaps forever.
Taking Action
When we do take action, we’ll need to identify specific things to organize against. But I say that now is not the time for direct action, unless it’s focused on something that’s concrete and imminent (e.g., the Gaetz nomination.)
I think that taking to the streets as part of a resistance movement is not only pointless and a waste of time right now, it will also almost certainly be counterproductive. Certain groups will try to organize against the inauguration – don’t take the bait. The new Trump administration hasn’t done anything wrong… yet. So protesting against something that might happen makes us look petty, resentful and weak. We don’t want that. The wrongdoing will happen soon enough, believe me.
Instead, now is the time to make friends and form alliances. Attend school board meetings? Definitely. Find your closest Democratic club? Sure. Follow what your City/Town Council is doing? Absolutely.
But for the most part, I say that it’s best to keep our powder dry for now and save it for when there’s some chance of success… even if that success is only planting a flag for later action. George Washington’s overriding strategy was to keep his army as intact as possible until he had a reasonable chance of winning – I believe we will need to do the same. Whether or not there will be enough pieces to put back together when and if Republicans can be ousted is anybody’s guess.
Good News and Bad News (mostly bad)
Speaking of which, the “good” news is that Trump lies about everything, so it’s unlikely he’ll actually follow through on many of his campaign promises. (Remember the wall that Mexico was going to pay for?) For example, take his pledge to deport 11 million people. It simply isn’t possible without crashing both the government and the economy; the logistics are monstrous. So that won’t happen – at least not the way Trump said it would. The bad news, though, is that Republicans always fail – catastrophically – and when they do, they’ll continue to double-down and pin the blame on someone else, most likely anyone doesn’t look like them. You heard it here first.
Anyway, as I said above, now is not the time for major action, unless it’s focused on something specific. Instead, we need to use this time to organize and warn – as agreeably as possible – about what’s coming. The point here is to make friends and to strategize for how to react to Project 2025 policies as the right-wing begins to implement their plans to dismantle government.
In Closing
Remember: The billionaires who have hijacked our government number only a precious few. There’s just a handful of them. But there are millions of us.
So the job right now is to make friends with like-minded people. The rest will come later.
Click here to join our mailing list, stay strong – and stay tuned. More to follow.
Thanks for your time and welcome to the fight!
– Franklin Adams
