At the base of the Trump/Musk war on American values is the question whether the cultural progress we’ve made really can be rolled back–whether the effort to excise references to women and minorities from government websites and bully corporations and universities into abandoning “woke” DEI efforts can successfully return the country to White Christian male dominance. No matter what other excuses are offered by Trump voters, it is that goal that elected Donald Trump.
Call me Pollyanna, but I don’t think it will be successful.
I don’t want to minimize the significance of Trump’s assault on our government and our Constitution–an assault conducted by a senile, intellectually-limited and very greedy man. (His elevation to an office for which he is manifestly unfit was a result of the MAGA bigotry he very clearly shares, but it facilitated his increasingly overt corruption. Want a favor from this autocrat? Buy enough of his “meme coins” and I’m sure he’ll be favorably disposed….)
I understand that what we face is frightening.
That said, America’s culture really has moved on from the bad old days. I’ve lived through the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the gay rights movement and the sexual revolution, and I can attest to the fact that the social environment we inhabit today (at least in cities…and probably even in most rural precincts) is considerably different than the one I was born into.
I thought about how far those changes have taken us when I went with members of my (mixed religion) family to a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at Indianapolis’ Athenaeum–a magnificent edifice that once served as home for our city’s pro-Nazi German American bund. It was a mob scene of Black, White and Asian folks wearing green, and I couldn’t help thinking how far the Irish have come from the early days of Irish immigration, when native-born “real” Americans criticized Irish immigrants for their supposed laziness and lack of discipline, their public drinking style, their religion, and their presumed capacity for criminality and violence. (Sound familiar?)
Today, Americans from a wide variety of backgrounds–including our local German establishments– don green clothes and drink green beer to celebrate St. Patrick’s day.
It isn’t just the integration of Irish and German immigrants. Over the past half-century, Blacks and women have become increasingly prominent parts of the workforce and the political world, intermarriages between people of different races and religions have soared, gay folks have come out and married…and while we’re still adjusting our attitudes about people who identify as trans, understanding and acceptance are infinitely higher than they once were.
That cultural progress has produced major changes in both law and public opinion. As the Brookings Institution has noted, it’s not 1968 anymore. “Seventy-six percent of Americans now say that discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities in the United States is a “big problem,” including 57% of conservatives, 71% of whites, and 69% of whites without college degrees. Pew Research has found that large shares of Americans recognize the existence of discrimination against minorities. “About eight-in-ten see discrimination against Muslims and Jews, as well as against Arab, Black and Hispanic people.” That percentage is considerably higher than those who believe–with MAGA and Donald Trump– that efforts at equity discriminate against White Christians.
The electoral successes of MAGA Republicans would have been impossible but for the frantic resistance of White Christian Evangelicals to these cultural changes. While the rest of us have been going about our daily lives, accepting (and often applauding) the changes in the culture, White Christian Nationalists have mounted a determined resistance. They are not a majority of Americans, but the real majority–the rest of us– have large differences in ideology and political identity. The cultish coherence of MAGA’s resentments and anger have allowed them to amass far more power than their raw numbers would entitle them to.
THE question that confronts us now is whether those of us who applaud–or at least accept– America’s social and cultural changes can resist the Trump/MAGA efforts to return us to a much meaner time.
Can those of us in the majority– Black and White, Hispanic and Asian, Jew and Muslim and atheist, the civically active and the politically apathetic– come together and resist the intense rage of the White Christian Nationalists? Can we ignore our very real differences and work together toward the shared goal of protecting the American Idea and restoring constitutional government?
If we can all be Irish on St. Patrick’s day, this Pollyanna thinks we can.
Thank you for the positive message. I like to think so too. We just need to elect people who also believe we live in a diverse society where all are equal. That is our biggest challenge.
“That cultural progress has produced major changes in both law and public opinion. As the Brookings Institution has noted, it’s not 1968 anymore.”
No, it is not 1968 anymore; it has been moved much further back to when laws against our cultural progress and law and public opinion are once again being activated against the laws of this country. The Constitution is being ignored and piece by piece being removed by Trump’s Executive Orders which are illegal and immoral but SCOTUS has unleashed him and added Musk and set them against the nation. It matter NOT what we believe, think or feel; Trump has been handed immunity and the rights of Kings, Emperors and Popes combined and his court jesters are forcing us deeper into oblivion and chaos as the courts are also being slowed or stopped by Trump’s Executive Orders as each whim comes to his scrambled brains.
THE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS MUST WORK TOGETHER TO END THE RULE OF THE MAGA MINORITY IN CONGRESS.
Maybe Liz Cheney and Kinzinger can, from their former position in the Republican party, bring the known viable party members to come together. But that will only work if the Democratic party members unite and realign their goals for ending the current dictatorship and renewing democracy, Rule of Law and full support of the Constitution of the UNITED States of America by working with Republicans. Only with unity will we be able to again proudly salute the American flag and point to the Statue of Liberty as the meaning of America and Americans.
Here are the facts. Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal” has sold 177,000 copies since 2001. During peak of its popularity prior to 2001, the book sold 1 million copies. Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” has sold more than 30 million copies and his courses continue to be offered with successful enrollment around the world. Trump University went bankrupt and failed.
Sheila, you are right. Movements that have made the world a better place to live including our own country will persevere and sustain all that we have worked for. Those who made their fortune in Sleepy Hollow call us woke. We never went to sleep.
Most of us will keep feeding the good wolf at the castle gate. There are some who feed the bad wolf who breeched the gate. The bad wolf will eventually fail to find life sustainable for him within the castle gate and be forced to leave to another realm far away. The good wolf prevails.
BTW … Dale Carnegie actually wrote: “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Trump, however, had a lot of help at the age of 38, to release: ”The Art of the Deal”. Tony Swartz, a journalist, though he vehemently denies, ghost wrote the book for Trump. Schwartz would later attempt to disown his role in the book and in helping to craft the Trump mythos as Trump rose to power in 2016. “I put lipstick on a pig,” he told the New Yorker. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.”
A man who loathes the media … thrives on manipulating coverage.
Trump’s time will come. Good will prevail.
The reference to the acceptance of “Irish” identity currently enjoyed on St. Patrick’s Day every year brought back memories of my German grandparents. They adamantly opposed their daughter’s marriage to a man of Irish ethnicity, so much so that all communication stopped for a couple of years after the wedding.
That tension never went away completely. Even decades later, on the rare occasion when they visited, even I, as a young teen, saw the thinly-veiled contempt and dismissal of my dad by them both. I didn’t like them much as a result.
We have made huge strides from the past oppressive treatment of women and minorities. What happens now when that progress is being stripped away so suddenly and completely will tell how strong and resilient those directly or indirectly affected are.
We here in Indiana has a classic example of the male WCN in the lt. gov. (I refuse to grant his title caps). He is a coward to boot as he has refuse to publish his schedule. Fear of his constituents? Hiding his agenda? Both?
As an aside, the most recent rants by dump/rat on social media are not being written by the senile malicious narcissist supposedly running things in the WH. Whoever is doing it now for the most part, are not even trying to hide it. The grammatical construction and punctuation, the lack of all caps emphasis clearly demonstrate that he is not doing it himself. When he does one himself, the contrast is stark.
Who exactly is in charge? Congress is pretty worthless right now. Both parties, with few exceptions, are cowardly sycophants, silent and cowering, Vichy-like, protecting their wealth and status with complicity and groveling, fearing their constituents’ wrath, hiding in arrogant disdain of those they represent. The storm will come. I hope it is non-violent but fear it will devolve into violent reaction, provoking declarations of emergency with even further erosion of citizens’ rights.
I’ve often wondered how a MAGA Republican can justify some of the things going on. I heard a piece on NPR that sounds like reasoning to justify almost anything. Apparently having empathy is now a political sin.
Here’s a link to an NPR story about the newest conservative “anti-value“. You can read the transcript, but the podcast is pretty chilling hearing the words quoted directly.
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5321299/how-empathy-came-to-be-seen-as-a-weakness-in-conservative-circles
In 1989, how did the resistance to the cultural revolution in China work out? It took years to undo the anti intellectualism. Let us remember the young woman who stood in front of a tank. That is what it will take to resist because the next step will be to use the military. Taking back the country, unfortunately, will require more huge demonstrations where Trump can not deny the anti-Trump sentiment is more than “derangement” syndrome. And it will take a few bold Republicans to defund Musk.
Great posts this morning! Norris hit the nail on the head.
One comment about JoAnn’s post: both parties are unified already. The problem is the country keeps sliding further to the right of the so-called political spectrum. The republicans slide right, and the democrats follow. That is why we have a massive issue in this country – neither party represents the working class. However, the republican propaganda claims they are the party of the people while the unions align with the democratic party. Musk and Trump target “libruls” and “wokesters.”
I have no idea what Bernie and AOC are saying in their rallies, but they are attracting huge crowds. As for a revolution, the Progressive newsletter I receive told me we’ve had record attendance at protests and marches since Trump and Musk started their slash-and-burn tactics.
Scott Bessent is touring right-wing propaganda outlets, explaining why Musk and DOGE had to work so fast. According to him, many lobbyists in Washington would stop the process immediately if they knew the plan. I definitely agree with that!
The problem is those doing the cuts aren’t very bright and don’t understand the uniparty roles in Washington. Musk keeps posting his ignorance on X, and so does Trump. Their sycophantic minions must stay out of the limelight because it’s cringeworthy every time they open their mouths!
Feuding with the judicial system is not a wise move for Trump or Musk. I lost count of the number of lawsuits that have popped up since the end of January. Roberts came out against the impeachment of a federal judge, causing Trump anxiety. The immunity blanket made him think he could do whatever he wanted, like an emperor. He assumed incorrectly!
I’ve been wonder how the token Blacks and women within the Trump initial administration are reacting to his anti-DEI Executive Orders rendering all of them as needless, useless and illegal citizens. The Trump Revolving Door Administration has been delayed by the chaos of a South African running the government as Trump concentrates on punishing his political opponents with rants, insults and Executive Orders.
The citizens of Ukraine are currently more united to save their democracy than Americans are. Will we have to resort to boots-on-the-streets of our cities and towns to recover our democracy and our civil and human rights by declaring war on the current administration? And we must question which side our United States Military will choose to support? Many do not realize or recognize the strong stand Trump, Musk and MAGAs have taken against our own Veterans Administration and our own military. Records of Blacks and Women are being removed from Arlington Cemetery and the Pentagon with no move to stop that action against our Military living and dead.
I believe that Ms. pollyanna is right, just, as others suggest, it will take some further turmoil to return to forward movement.
Hopefully, Roberts’ comments were something of a turning point in this struggle, along with Barrett’s recent recusal.
The MAGAHATS are angry with these two, presumably because they thought they had it in the bag, so to speak. It would be ironic if this SCOTUS, turns out to be the thing that injects some courage into the thus far useless congress.
Todd; both parties are “united” against one another. That is NOT what the United States of America has always stood for; disagreeing but agreeing to disagree to work UNITED to resolve the differences has been lost. You have the right to dislike and disagree with Barack Obama’s book, “The Audacity of Hope” all you want but that is the way our government used to WORK.
That is what it took for President Abraham Lincoln to struggle to UNITE both parties to pass the 13th Amendment to Abolish Slavery in order to bring an eventual end to the Civil War. The southern states were welcomed back into the UNION without retribution; Trump’s actions are uglier and more dangerous with his election to the presidency than they were when he fought his legally proven loss of the 2020 election.
“Together we stand, united we fall!” and we are currently falling into the MAGA abyss with no way out unless we come together as Americans.
Not sure what is meant by “the sexual revolution” being grouped and called out equally beside “the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the gay rights movement”. Are you saying that “hooking up” and “relationships” instead of love and marriage have made our culture so much better? Not so sure…
It’s nice to think that the only problem is the White Christian Nationalists (WCN). They are just tools being used by the Koch Consortium. Project 2025 isn’t about WCN, it’s about power and wealth.
The plan for this has been in the works since the 1950s. We thought the Chinese planned for the long run. Now that we’re seeing the end points of the Heritage Foundation’s wet dream, the Chinese look a bit slow with their Great Leaps Forward (five year plans). Bob Welch and Fred C. Koch are smiling up from Hell, seeing their ideas vindicated by the weak minded Americans.
No, Lester, the sexual revolution refers to womens ability to have autonomy over their lives because of birth control.
All great comments this morning. All but one are un-biased and well-informed.
My desire to “go back” to what we once were as a nation was when judges actually put convicted felons in jail. Had judge Marchand done that with the orange monster, we may have had an opportunity to sort things out. Now, however, we are stuck with the monster our gutless and corrupt judges have provided for us.
The American prospect. summary of mush (nope thats right)and doge 2 trillion scam.
,story, David Dayan, ed..”We found the 2 trillion.’
made for a good piece on whos,fooling who and some whys of musk just layed off
450 at the SEC etc..
I was stunned to learn that two local ‘christian’ institutions told employees that they and their families should withdraw from/avoid participation in the local Episcopal parish. AND … were obeyed by those employees. And they wonder why Marion is said to be ‘where Christianity goes to die …’
thankfully in not from NoDak.. the real world of this country is spread out and doing fine. My issue has been here in NoDak and everyone has a opinion of what they think,and want to believe America is outside of these fortified walls that surround this dust bowl. then its back to America via 18 wheels. since im white, im approached as white, hey those f,,, indians,,,etc,,Mandan,where i do buisness just hammered greenpeace for 660 mil, to pay off tiger/swan for their private military to invade and antagonize a protest. I contacted the corp for NPR prairie public radio,and asked, how come your frail and hidden local news never said a damn word about this up coming or ongoing court case that impacted everyone besides the white lords world here? no answer, maybe because i unloaded on there past 30 years ive been here listening to their spineless local news coverage. its all suger and summer days in NoDak according to the fossilized dave thompson who runs this right wing NPR..and ya wonder why the right wing legislature just axed any chance of school meals even making it to a vote,but they granted a big property tax cut via the energy,(gas and oil) big money.but ditched the 1$ buck a barrel tax 2 years ago, and education never gets squat unless your a univ that alum sees as white first. anti trust out the window as they allow anyone to bring in its big money to buy up anything (or anyone) here in NoDak. Armstrong the gov, just flew in from DC (u.s.congress) to become gov of this venture capitalist free for all. im secure the rest of America will come back to their senses as soon as we get some backbone and show some facts where there needed, im getting mass amounts of donation stuff in my mail. my PO box is stuffed with,damn thares that DNC DSCC shit again. the ACLU is getting its yearly early. the demos need a push, they are already behind. (still talking about done deal you lost,move on.)
im waiting for doge to attack the DOT and reverse the davis-bacon act of prevailing wages.(project 2025). then ill see my smile as i watch the trump workers i deal with have another issue… I warned them fair and square. but the prevailing wage is one reason why we have a highway crew that is solid and gets many months of work done is less time. reality check coming…we have unions here in NoDak, few if any. and they too lack any motivation to help the worker get ahead. but then again some pay subpar to other unions out side of this POX news casement.
Todd;\
the lobbyists,both sides, whos paying who? dont mean squat now. it means they proxy controls the room where its done..there is no more working class. its now one color,one agenda one king one moron and a congress that was bought and sold to wall streets/billiinaires demands. 40,years of ignorance has given us a nazi regime in the face of the world. and we have nothing to hold it together.
One of the main criticisms of the Democratic Party such as it currently is that it has not done anything in the present moment to even appear that it is engaged adequately representing the dismay of the Americans that are paying attention to the heinous actions of the Trump/Musk fascist authoritarian regime.
Jim Jordan type Republicans would have been having a stroke trying to get Trump impeached right now if this would have been Biden doing anything remotely close to what is happening.
Even if it might or would be folly to expect an impeachment to be successful…at least it would be strong “fake news” in the “legacy media” that might stimulate thought and conversation amongst everyone that is getting hurt or just hosed by this tidal rise in fascism. Maybe people that don’t know better might have to start understanding what fascism is if it is in their face in mainstream media covering actual impeachment action by an opposition. Maybe the plethora of important reasons for impeachment would be out there for at least more people to have to ignore if it is in their faces in language they can understand. But the Democrats have said and done very, very little like they’re just waiting for Carvil’s I told you so mid terms. People need to get off their asses NOW before we are living in a Putin style America and can’t say shit without being poisoned, shot, or imprisoned for speaking the truth.
Sorry for the poor proofreading on my pissed off part
Empathy as weakness? That is one of the most vile and disgusting things I have ever heard. What a sick man Elon Musk is. Oh wait ” He’s as useful as a bowl full of worms.” To use his own terminology.
Jack and Jeff,
The labor unions have been neutered to nothing over the years, with little or no fight by the D party and the unions because they’ve been captured by the oligarchy and put to bed.
As a result, the working class found a new home wearing red hats and applauding for an idiot. They also believe an administration entirely of billionaires is looking out for them. LOL
Einstein called that insanity!
As Trump’s massive theft unfolds, maybe the MAGATs will wake up. The unions need to be there, building a grassroots movement. Take the unions back and away from the current union leadership that has sold them out. Worker committees need to represent workers. Start walking off the job and cripple the economy. If we want an actual opposition party, we must do it ourselves. It will not come from the Ds.
Henry Steele Commager, historian: “It is the people who make constitutions work. Where people are ignorant or apathetic, where they distrust democracy and are frightened by liberty, constitutionalism will fail and tyranny will take its place. But, where people are enlightened and alert, where they are inspired by faith in themselves and in democracy, where the spirit of liberty flourishes, constitutionalism will succeed.”
Hmmm….where are we???
I think we have come a long way when the only groups the MAGA crowd can publicly vilify are the trans community and alleged Venezuelan gang members. All other formerly attached groups have too many allies now.
Sorry–all other publicly “attacked” groups.