CommentsI recently received an email from a reader who suggested one very concrete step we individuals can take to resist a threatened action of the Trump administration–in this case, the determination to deport millions of immigrants and the likelihood that those carrying out that mission will be unconcerned with distinguishing between undocumented folks and people here legally.My correspondent noted that Thom Hartman and Heather Cox Richardson had recently made him aware of some “dark American history” that he had not previously known. (I had been equally unaware of these details.) Apparently, during the deportations of Mexican immigrants that occurred under Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower, a large percentage of those deported were American citizens who were unable to instantly prove their citizenship, and– once deported– were unable to obtain the documentation of their citizenship that would have allowed them to return.According to my correspondent, Trump’s announced choice for the head of ICE, Tom Homan, who had been the initiator of the “family separation” policy in Trump’s first term, was asked how he would prevent those atrocities from recurring. His horrifying response was that “we will just deport the entire families.” Problem solved…In the wake of that response, my correspondent’s proposal made all kinds of sense.Many of us know, and are friends of potential targets of this deportation campaign. My suggestion is that we start spreading the word with these friends that they actively acquire their proof of citizenship and make multiple copies of such which they entrust to those of us who don’t share names that put us on the deportation list.Then, if the worst happens and they are deported, they can contact us to get their documents sent to them, or brought to them before they get deported.I think this is an excellent suggestion. It has the benefit of simplicity–it’s an action that doesn’t require special skills or knowledge, and it has the further merit of being something concrete, an act that can help overcome the feelings of helplessness so many of us have been experiencing.Those of us who don’t have friends in these communities can help by spreading the word–posting the suggestion to social media platforms and telling our coworkers, friends and families.This is precisely the sort of suggestion we need–not tears, not undirected angst, not pontification and finger-pointing. We need to identify direct actions–like the one my reader suggested– that individuals can take to resist the coming unAmerican deluge.As we emerge from the despair and disbelief of the election–as we face the probability that at least some of the clowns, know-nothings, Russian “useful idiots” and Christian Nationalists being proposed for high-level government posts will actually be confirmed–we need to gather. We need to meet in the civic forums we already patronize, and in the many grass-roots organizations that were created in the wake of Trump’s first election. When we gather, we need to focus on concrete steps we can take to blunt the effects of what will inevitably be an immensely ugly time.A friend who is a Quaker pastor tells me that his congregation met and decided to raise funds for women needing to travel for abortions. Groups of lawyers–including but not limited to those in the ACLU–are planning strategic legal actions. Governors of Blue states are conferring about state-level protections for their citizens, and grassroots groups are meeting to map out actions they can take.Those dedicated groups that generated some 80 million postcards to voters might turn their efforts toward producing a continuing avalanche of letters to Senators of both parties (but especially Republicans) to send–and reinforce– a message: we’re watching and keeping score, and we’ll be ready when you run for re-election.Most people who regularly comment on this blog are demonstrably bright and thoughtful. So are a number of the “lurkers” that I know. If any of you have concrete suggestions like the one my reader shared–actions that each of us can take to protect the vulnerable, to educate and inform the public, and above all, to throw sand in the gears of the Kakistocracy…please send those suggestions this way. Demonstrations and petitions and posts to social media may make us feel better, may help with morale, but they aren’t a substitute for active resistance.Think. And share. And maybe, if enough of us do enough, throw enough sand, thwart enough abject stupidity, we can help America emerge from the coming Dark Age relatively intact.
Tag Archives: resistance
The To-Do List
On November 5th, America faced a turning point. The ability of We the People to make a positive choice–to begin what would be a necessary and arduous process of rehabilitating our democratic republic–was constrained by structural elements: obsolete electoral mechanisms, widespread civic illiteracy, economic unfairness, and an information environment littered with massive amounts of propaganda.
All of which fed age-old bigotries and hatreds.
When Trump won, We the People lost the America of our Founders’ aspirations, at least temporarily. That win–narrow as it was (somewhere between one and two percentage points, with approximately a third of eligible voters not bothering to go to the polls)–suggests that the next few years will see a ferocious assault on current norms of governance–on civil servants, on ethics, on science, on the belief that government should serve the public interest rather than further enrich the already-privileged.
Given what we already know about Trump and the disordered and personally-ambitious sycophants surrounding him, we are also likely to see an administration characterized–and, to an extent, stymied–by back-biting and internal struggles for influence. Given Trump’s demonstrable disinclination to do actual work, and his equally obvious lack of even the most basic understanding of how the American government operates, decision-making will be exercised by the quarrelsome and largely unqualified theocrats and neo-fascists with whom he is stocking his administration.
So the next few years will be ugly, and a lot of people will get hurt. The economy Joe Biden rescued, currently the strongest in the world, will certainly suffer. If Trump actually imposes his beloved tariffs, he will tank the excellent economy he is inheriting, which will hurt everyone. If he manages his massive deportation plan, crops will rot in the fields, grocery prices will skyrocket, and small businesses– restaurants, landscapers, builders and others–will be unable to find workers.
The next few years will see setbacks in the fight against climate change. If nutcase RFK, Jr. is given any role in public health, a lot of people will die unnecessarily. The very worst outcomes are likely to be global. (All those people thinking about leaving the country don’t seem to understand that–with Trump in the White House–no place will be safe.) Ukraine will be handed over to Putin, and he and other autocrats will no longer fear NATO.
Most ironic: the pro-Palestinian voters who deserted Harris because they disagreed with the Biden Administration’s Israel policies will discover that they’ve elected Netanyahu’s best friend. Trump has already chosen an ambassador to Israel–Mike Huckabee–who supports Israel annexing the West Bank, resettling Gaza with Israeli citizens, and has said that there “isn’t such a thing” as a Palestinian.
All of which brings us back to THE question: what should the reality-based community be doing while these tragedies (and some farces) play out?
We can certainly signal our disapproval–we can march, boycott companies that supported Trump (although a preliminary google search suggests that much of the billionaire class that donated to him are folks we’ve never heard of, or in the alternative, brands like Tesla that most Americans lack the resources to purchase anyway…), perhaps even mount targeted strikes.
We can stop ignoring the widespread media disinformation network–sending people like Pete Buttigieg to engage on their turf, and creating social media campaigns designed to penetrate the right-wing bubble. Popular entertainers–celebrities, movie and television producers, and other “influencers” should mount campaigns focused on combating propaganda.
And we can–and must–address the “to do” list to which I’ve previously alluded: identifying the structural issues that brought us to this point, the constitutional and policy changes that would ameliorate those problems, and figuring out how to implement those necessary changes when Trumpism has crashed and burned.
Because it will crash and burn. A movement built on denial of reality cannot change that reality. The effects of climate change have become too obvious and widespread to ignore, and failing to fund FEMA is unlikely to be a welcome response. Tariffs are a tax on the American consumer that will engender widespread pain and resentment. The assaults on women’s autonomy and LGBTQ+ rights will continue to generate backlash.
MAGA represents the triumph of a fundamentalist theocratic underground that has been active for decades. During the time it took to eke out a slim victory, however, the culture has been changing. A third of Americans have left organized religion. Marriages between people of different races and religions have proliferated. Workplaces have diversified. Attitudes have changed. Harris may have lost this election, but she was 100% correct when she declared that we are not going back.
Right now, we need a roadmap of how to go forward.
CommentsThe Road Ahead
In the wake of the devastating election results, a good friend sent me an essay that focused on the perennial question we face in life: What now? How do those of us who aren’t ready to submit to autocracy and neo-fascism respond?
The essay is lengthy; it includes several examples from around the globe and from history–examples that suggest productive ways to respond and resist. The subheading counseled that the key to taking effective action is to avoid perpetuating the autocrat’s goals of “fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.”
I found the following paragraphs particularly helpful.
Under a Trump presidency, there are going to be so many issues that it will be hard to accept that we cannot do it all. I’m reminded of a colleague in Turkey who told me, “There’s always something bad happening every day. If we had to react to every bad thing, we’d never have time to eat.”
An elder once saw me trying to do everything and pulled me aside. “That’s not a healthy lifelong strategy,” she said. She’d been raised in Germany by the generation of Holocaust survivors who told her, “Never again.” She took it personally, as if she had to stop every wrong. It wracked her and contributed to several serious ongoing medical conditions. We can accept our humanity or suffer that lack of acceptance.
Chaos is a friend of the autocrat. One way we can unwittingly assist is by joining in the story that we have to do it all.
So–as we select our paths, what are our options? The author lays out a number of them, beginning with “Protecting People.” especially those who are being directly targeted– trans people, folks choosing abortions, immigrants.
This might mean organizing outside current systems for health care and mutual aid, or moving resources to communities that are getting targeted. Further examples include starting immigrant welcoming committees, abortion-support funds or training volunteers on safety skills to respond to white nationalist violence.
Another is“Defending Civic Institutions,” and yet another is “Disrupt and Disobey.” The elements of each are discussed. My own choice was the last:“Building Alternatives.”
We can’t just be stuck reacting and stopping the bad. We have to have a vision. This is the slow growth work of building alternative ways that are more democratic. It includes grounding and healing work, rich cultural work, alternative ways of growing food and caring for kids, participatory budgeting or seeding constitutional conventions to build a majoritarian alternative to the Electoral College mess we’re in.
As I have previously argued, our goal should not be a return to the status quo–elements of which facilitated the electoral rejection of American principles of liberty and civic equality. When Trumpism collapses (a collapse that those on the resistance paths can hasten), we need to be ready with a vision for an improved social infrastructure–one more firmly based on America’s unrealized aspirations.
In the runup to the election, the Roosevelt Foundation’s Felicia Wong wrote about “three things that will be crucial post-election, no matter the outcome.”
First, the old order broke because it failed to keep its most important promise: that a rising tide lifts all, or even most, boats. At the most basic level, a successful and enduring political system must be able to provide for its people.
Second, most of the media has focused on Joe Biden and “Bidenomics” in its narrative about today’s economy. But the reasons we find ourselves in this most perplexing moment, with the economic successes of the last four years frustratingly muted, go well beyond the policies of the last four years. To understand our moment, we must look further back in time and also imagine further into the future.
And third, even amid today’s confusion, we can sense convergence on the outlines of a new political order—but some versions of our shared future are far better, while some are far worse.
As Wong reminds us, successful political orders must deliver a reasonably good life for most people. Neoliberalism fails to do that.
People have different talents, different skills, different time constraints. As we proceed to choose our resistance paths, we need to consider where we are likely to be most effective. Many of you will choose to work through the already burgeoning network of grassroots organizations. Others will focus on what the essay calls “performative” aspects of resistance–what I might call “educational” efforts to draw lines between Trumpism and its inhumane and damaging consequences.
Choose the pathway that works best for you.
CommentsWhere The Real America Must Go
We’ve just had a crushing blow to our belief in American goodness. Like many of you, I am frantic not for myself–I’m 83, and my likely duration in the Dark Ages won’t be long. But I have children and grandchildren, who are suddenly faced with a world far more precarious than the one we all thought we occupied.
I’m fortunate that one of my sons lives in Amsterdam, and one of my granddaughters lives in England. While the wave of fascism that is sweeping the globe will undoubtedly affect them to some extent, and the global consequences of electing an ignorant lunatic as U.S. President will be significant, their prospects aren’t as bleak as they would be here over the next years.
Or as daunting as the landscape that faces the rest of the family.
My youngest son–parent of the younger two grandkids–has taken what I believe to be the only rational position available to those of us who still occupy a sane and humane America. With his permission, I’m sharing the message he sent to his son and daughter, both of whom are currently in college, and both of whom were blindsided by the (previously) unthinkable results of the election.
Kids, I’m still struggling to process the election results and to contextualize it in a way that is not entirely negative. I keep coming back to a handful of facts and themes. First, WE (our family) are likely to be OK. While we are psychologically traumatized by the implications of the election — and the thoughts of how bad Trump might be for vulnerable people, minority communities, and non-citizens — our daily lives are unlikely to be directly or irreparably affected by Trump’s election. In saying this, I am not discounting the genuine risk to women — particularly young women of childbearing age — but WE are fortunate enough to have resources and options that likely mute those direct threats.
Second, and really based on the first point, WE now also have a greater obligation to help those who aren’t as fortunate as we are. I don’t know how or in what ways those opportunities will present themselves, but we have an obligation to help those who are going to be attacked or adversely impacted by Trump and Trumpism in the years to come.
Finally, as horrible as many people have shown themselves to be, know that OUR community is still OUR community, and made up of all the same loving, caring, funny, positive-values-holding people. I am trying to focus on these facts in the days, weeks, and years ahead… OUR community will help us weather the dark storms ahead, and we must do our part to help our family and friends weather it as well.
I love you! We will be OK, even if we are currently suffering deep psychological wounds from this election and its implications.
I can’t add to that.
I think that message sums up both the challenge we face and the obligations we must now assume. The challenge is a concerted effort by a cohort of people who believe Hitler “had some good ideas” to remake the United States into a 21st-Century fascist state. There are far more people in that cohort than most of us recognized or still want to believe.
Our obligation is twofold: first, to resist that transformation with every fiber of our beings, with every tool we can muster, with every grassroots organization we can create or support; and second, for those of us who are privileged, who are fortunate that our circumstances (or religions or skin colors) buffer us from the full effect of authoritarian animus, to work wherever and whenever we can to ameliorate the adverse impacts on those less fortunate.
Speaking of community: I’ve been doing this blog for several years, and have been gratified by the genuine sense of community that has grown up among the regular commenters, few of whom know each other personally. With the exception of a couple of trolls who weigh in now and then, you disagree with civility, share your knowledge freely and offer each other–and me– much needed moral support. You are one of the communities my son referenced in his text to my grandchildren.
Like many of you, I am still in shock. But when we emerge, we need to figure out how to save our world–how to gift our children and grandchildren with an America that is recognizable and future worth inhabiting.
CommentsHate Clicking
Welcome to the Resistance!
A few days ago, in a comment to this blog, Norris Lineweaver posted a link to an article from Medium, describing “hate clicking”--a mechanism employed primarily (at least, so far) by young, technically-savvy people, but available to everyone who has a computer. It falls into a category that Pew calls “digital disruption.”
The rest of the country got a hint of the possibilities when young people used their social media skills to artificially inflate the Trump campaign’s count of registrations for the Tulsa rally. The campaign flaunted the phony numbers, boasting that it reflected the President’s popularity–and vastly increasing media attention to the actual, pathetic turnout.
The article notes the Trump campaign’s expensive, aggressive online presence, and its enormous number of paid online advertisements. It also points out that these ads aren’t really about soliciting votes; they are intended to generate data that can then be used for purposes of fundraising and merchandise sales. And as the author also reminds us, industry practice is generally to charge by the click. Each time an ad is clicked it costs the advertiser anywhere from a few pennies to a few dollars.
Here is where you come in. Every day (and up to a couple times a day) Google “Trump” or “Trump Store” or “MAGA Hat” or something similar and then click on the ad links. Look for the ones that say “Ad” next to them, those are the ones they are paying for.
If thousands of us do this a few times a day it will increase the campaign’s online ad spend while producing nothing of value for them. It is probably not helpful to refresh and click again more than a handful of times per day because online advertising platforms often filter out repetitive frequent clicks from the same computers and don’t bill for them.
The article then goes into considerable detail about the most effective ways to click and distort the data being gathered, while costing the campaign extra money.
There you have it. Easy peasy. As someone who’s spent a few days doing this, I can say that it feels good to throw a wrench in Trump’s historic investment in digital advertising. Yes, it does mean looking at it a bit more than I’d like, but the fact that it’s costing them money — that holy grail of human virtue from Trump’s point of view — makes it worthwhile.
The author cautions that this tactic is not intended to take the place of the other important ways to get involved in the upcoming election. He does not recommend “hate clicking” as a replacement for phone banking, voter registration, or donating money–as he says, It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.
But for those of us who feel angry and powerless when we read about Trump’s interminable assaults on competent government and the rule of law, the prospect of using the “down time” required by the pandemic to actually do something is a gift.
I still remember when–back at the dawn of the Internet Age–many of us thought the World Wide Web would improve democratic (small-d) participation. We failed to anticipate the extent to which this new medium would disseminate hate, misinformation and propaganda, and actually set back the cause of thoughtful democratic deliberation.
It has been very demoralizing.
This report on “hate clicking”–in addition to offering a tool for political action that I hadn’t previously considered–offers something else: a suggestion that, as the medium matures (along with a generation for which its possibilities are intuitive), it may fulfill at least part of that original promise.
For good or ill, it may increase participation.
Comments