“WE MUST HOLD”
When our son David was in elementary school, he played on a local soccer team. In his first year, most of the soccer games looked like a scrum in rugby – all the players surrounded the ball and sought to kick it free. Somewhere in one of those years, his coach had to be away for one of the games, and since I came to every game anyway, the coach asked me to sub for him as coach for that one game. I said “Yes,” but the problem was that I knew very little about soccer. When I gathered the players to get ready for the game, it was obvious that they knew more than I did about soccer. Caroline took a photo of my “coach’s” meeting with the team before the game began, and David can be seen rolling his eyes at my instructions. And, his response was accurate – I hardly knew what I was talking about.
I felt that sense of lostness for our country this past week as I watched some of the news coverage of the Trumpster’s and Hegseth’s talks to the leadership of the world’s most powerful military, generals and admirals who had been dragged from all over the world to hear speeches from men who had never served in the military, speeches designed to tell them to do something unconstitutional – send the national military into mostly Democratic cities, ostensibly to deal with the “crime” problem. Though they did not roll their eyes (as David did), their stony silence rang loudly – who are these guys?
And, that is the question for us as we face up to the fact that the Trumpster seems hell-bent on ending our democracy and establishing an oligarchy, an authoritarian government run by rich people. Whether he will act decisively to reduce the government during the shutdown, as he has said so often that he will do, his intent to shrink the depth and breadth of the federal government sees clear. In order to do this, he is eviscerating both the legislative and the judicial branches of government, a hollowing out that we must seek to prevent at all costs. Our resistance must be deep and strong. What can we do? Here are several suggestions, and I would welcome more from you.
We must speak up and act out. Wherever we encounter Trumpism, we must stand against it. We must resist with our words and our actions. Caroline and I have been to many protests around the metro Atlanta area, and we must continue those. Write letters to the editors, organize your friends and acquaintances (and call them out if necessary). There is no longer room for compromise or deals, hoping that Trump will stand down or dilute his work. His henchmen Russell Vought and Stephen Miller are feeling the vibe, and they intend to take it as far as they can. We must speak and act against these, wherever we are and whenever we are.
Second, none of us will survive this onslaught alone, so find like-minded friends and acquaintances and build communities of resistance. There are many groups out there who are already working on this, so join one or more of those. We will survive only by building cohesive and active communities of solidarity and resistance.
Third, register yourself to vote and make sure that all of your acquaintances are registered to vote. Though this seems simple, it is absolutely essential. We mounted a huge campaign to elect Barack Obama as president in 2008, and we must repeat that energy level again – our constitutional democracy depends upon it. This may sound dire or even trite, but Trump 2.0 has proved much more aggressive and destructive than he was in his first term. He must be stopped, first at the mid-terms and then in 2028.
Fourth, don’t forget the power of art to move hearts, minds and souls. Go to plays about this (or write one yourself); go to movies about this; write poetry about it (yes, we all are poets), share laments with others (as long as those laments do not paralyze you). Use the power of language to speak the truth and to call out the Trumpsters. It is no coincidence that Trump is seeking to curtail opposition speech and actions, because he knows how powerful speech can be as a tool of resistance.
And, finally (for now), be bold in your witness. Now is not the time to be timid or unsure about this. The Trumpster is on a mission to destroy us as a democratic people, whether he is alive to see the transition or not. We will not be able to count on the unseen hand of democracy to prevail. It is now up to us to speak out and act up. Order your steps and get going!
