I realize this is more than a month old now, but it popped up today, centered in my email listing. It's timely today. Maybe more timely today--the first part anyway-- than a month ago. We are planning for the next big national day of protest on October 18th.
October 18th is the day of the next No Kings protests. There will be thousands of protests across the country. Find one or make one.
We made our own. Three of us-- encouraging each other and feeling somewhat foolish and vulnerable--marched at our county courthouse on President's day. We made signs and carried American flags. Now, we're a little resistance movement of our own, organizing on Facebook.
And we all need to outlast Trump. Can anyone see Vance or Miller as MAGA heroes with their enormous photos hanging as dear leader from the US department of labor like Trump does?
Regarding good trouble and fighting fascism, there is something that worries me. The civil rights protesters in the 50s and 60s had an advantage that we don’t have: the Soviet Union. Because it was part of US foreign policy to sell democracy and condemn totalitarianism, Jim Crow became an embarrassment that undercut our ability to dissuade countries from turning to communism. Is it a coincidence that slavery and Jim Crow were accepted for hundreds of years here, and only fell when it became an albatross of hypocrisy in the battle against communism? With a president who has no shame, who revels in the sadistic use of state power, there is no internal check to keep from us becoming a fascist state like North Korea.
Like JVL, I don’t know how to fix this, but I think it is something that we should consider when we attempt to analyze the problems and understand them as fully as possible.
Related to something to do, check out https://www.nokings.org/rise for a proposal of people hosting gatherings that can work together to identify ways to support, encourage and/or do non-cooperation to help put cracks in the pillars that support authoritarianism. The materials and ideas they provide seem actionable, reasonable and something I can do.
One thing that is really helpful is every time you say it, I feel a little less crazy, a little less alone. Thank you for that.
Yesterday on TNL you said troops in the streets is the 2026 playbook - true, terrifying, we need to be ready. To do what? I don’t know. I fear there will be “just shoot them in the legs” instructions soon.
JVL, I love that you and Shannon are raising kids that are so compassionate toward animals!
Re solutions, here's something simple I stumbled across recently. Because visibility is helpful, I just ordered a bundle of stickers: "No. In the name of humanity we refuse to accept a fascist America!" from refusefascism.org. They also have tees and caps, etc., with a variety of similar slogans.
I imagine there are other groups out there with similar merch, as well.
I remember what a comfort and a thrill it was in the 80s to see another car with a rainbow or, before that, a pink triangle in the window or on the bumper. Helps us to not feel so alone when we're out in the world, and let's others know they're not alone, too. It's small, but small things do add up.
Glad you were able to escape with your family for a bit!
I struggle with deciding how much of the horror (not just here in the U.S., but Gaza, Ukraine, Africa, et al) to subject myself to, in light of how little I am able to do to alleviate it.
This isn't new; I went through the same thing when I was heavily involved in the animal rights movement 40+ years ago. I couldn't justify looking away from accounts and footage of factory farms, slaughterhouses, laboratories, etc. when millions of animals were (are) experiencing unimaginable suffering every single moment.
I've learned that I need to temper my need to be well-informed with remaining sufficiently functional to be an effective and loving presence in the world. Prayer helps - and asking for guidance (especially when I have the self-discipline to do it hourly, which is less often than I'd care to admit).
With love and deepest gratitude for you, JVL, and for this good, kind community you're growing.
Excellent point about who is fighting a war...Back when the Soviet Army existed, the best fighters were the Ukraians and the Lithuanians...the Ukranians wont give in and wont give up. Putin, on the other hand, has a collapsing economy, a populace that is unhappy with the war, and is running out of options. Putoin is also a war criminal who seems to be able to travel to the US,.
The giant orange menace is miles in over his head when it comes to dealing with Putin. Putin knows which buttons to push, knows how to get a narcissist to do what he wants...and in private, you know Putin is looking at him saying "You owe, I manipulated the useful idots in your country to vote for you"...Putin might even congratulate the giant orange menace for putting his favorite girl, Tulsi Gabbard, in charge of the IC...she is carrying out Putin's wishes to gut the IC
When I read the comments to these pieces, I think there is a lot of focus on idiocy, and the Trump administration is providing enough of that. To assert that the "talking heads" want Trump in office to continue complaining is a bit twisted. I think the Bulwark has been good about telling is what we can do. In SC we are protesting all the time, all over the place. We have gotten some large crowds. We have candidates to run against Mace and Graham, to make a lot of reasonable noise, if nothing else. What I think is we may need a large protest in DC. Maybe in front of the Supreme Court. I'd like to see the pundits begin to talk about this. If Trump and the Court don't see us, they ignore us.
The most frequent criticism I get is that I’m all diagnosis and no prescription. And my response is always the same: If I knew how to fix this thing, I’d tell you.
It’s not like I’m holding back on the solution just to keep you reading. I promise.
I don’t know how to stop creeping fascism. No one does. That’s because these systems are too big, too complex to either be fully understood or consciously “fixed.”
----‐-------------------------
It's not like I'm holding back?Give me a break. You know perfectly well you and most all the other talking/writing heads are holding back. You ARE holding back, because you don't really want Trump gone.
You just want to milk this thing for 3&1/2 more years (at least), whining and whining about how bad this godawefull Trump/MAGA is, if only someone knew how to stop it(i.e. we just need to become a nation of hapless whiners like you).
What I don't understand is all the commentary on how bad things are under Trump and how worse they are going to be all seem to omit the one obvious constitutional solution to the constitutional crisis Trump is deliberately creating. That solution is calling a constitutional convention, as the constitution provides for, to write a new constitution and discard the old one, with it's manifest defects.
Of course in today's political climate every interest group would tend to want to through something in for itself. But if this process could out of realization of the present danger somehow circumscribe this tendency andoncentrate on the present danger which Trump and MAGA have made evident, the danger of the present constitution's allowance for a strong executive and it's elimination, the process would immediately resolve our present situation and it's dangers.
And of course a big advantage of this course of action is that it completely short circuits the overriding problem with most other courses of action, that is the present control of the GOP over the 3 branches of the federal government; executive, legislative, and judicial.
The lack of discussion regarding this obvious solution to our present difficulties creates a big question in my mind over the sincerity of the present Democratic Party /Opposition in complaining about the present Trump/MAGA regime. It's more like that old Mark Twain saw about the weather; everybody's always talking and complaining about it, but nobody ever does anything about it.
This is so well put! Count in the campus protesters whose entire theory of change, rested on the fact that they would be able to continue to protest, against financially viable universities, in a country where geopolitical decisions were made on sound rationale. Count in also people like suburban women I talked to who said “ I despise him, but I’ve always been a Republican.” So much of this was failure of imagination. But at the same time, I think some of it was just being willing to embrace some authoritarianism if it means being able to get shit done. As the abundance guys illuminate, government bureaucracy has so utterly shackled our ability to act in any meaningful way that it’s destroyed trust in the system. To defeat this scourge long term, Trump’s authoritarian project needs to fail, but also the Democratic project needs to streamline its ability to deliver.
Thank you for sharing about unplugging for a week and how it actually helps to bring you back to reality and shocks the system to not normalize the fascism that we are experiencing.
The only argument I would have with your commentary, is that I don't see this as creeping fascism. I see this as fascism steaming directly at us like a locomotive at full speed.
JVL, thanks for the message. Authoritarian regimes have to dedicate a lot of resources to keeping people afraid and outraged. At some point, the resource usage becomes too expensive and the regime collapses. Causing "good trouble" will help accelerate the collapse as it takes more and more effort to keep people in outraged and afraid.
Imagine if the government could dedicate resources to making people's lives better instead of angry -- what a concept.
I realize this is more than a month old now, but it popped up today, centered in my email listing. It's timely today. Maybe more timely today--the first part anyway-- than a month ago. We are planning for the next big national day of protest on October 18th.
October 18th is the day of the next No Kings protests. There will be thousands of protests across the country. Find one or make one.
We made our own. Three of us-- encouraging each other and feeling somewhat foolish and vulnerable--marched at our county courthouse on President's day. We made signs and carried American flags. Now, we're a little resistance movement of our own, organizing on Facebook.
The people will not yield.
And we all need to outlast Trump. Can anyone see Vance or Miller as MAGA heroes with their enormous photos hanging as dear leader from the US department of labor like Trump does?
I think not.
Regarding good trouble and fighting fascism, there is something that worries me. The civil rights protesters in the 50s and 60s had an advantage that we don’t have: the Soviet Union. Because it was part of US foreign policy to sell democracy and condemn totalitarianism, Jim Crow became an embarrassment that undercut our ability to dissuade countries from turning to communism. Is it a coincidence that slavery and Jim Crow were accepted for hundreds of years here, and only fell when it became an albatross of hypocrisy in the battle against communism? With a president who has no shame, who revels in the sadistic use of state power, there is no internal check to keep from us becoming a fascist state like North Korea.
Like JVL, I don’t know how to fix this, but I think it is something that we should consider when we attempt to analyze the problems and understand them as fully as possible.
Related to something to do, check out https://www.nokings.org/rise for a proposal of people hosting gatherings that can work together to identify ways to support, encourage and/or do non-cooperation to help put cracks in the pillars that support authoritarianism. The materials and ideas they provide seem actionable, reasonable and something I can do.
“This is fascism. It just is.”
One thing that is really helpful is every time you say it, I feel a little less crazy, a little less alone. Thank you for that.
Yesterday on TNL you said troops in the streets is the 2026 playbook - true, terrifying, we need to be ready. To do what? I don’t know. I fear there will be “just shoot them in the legs” instructions soon.
JVL, I love that you and Shannon are raising kids that are so compassionate toward animals!
Re solutions, here's something simple I stumbled across recently. Because visibility is helpful, I just ordered a bundle of stickers: "No. In the name of humanity we refuse to accept a fascist America!" from refusefascism.org. They also have tees and caps, etc., with a variety of similar slogans.
I imagine there are other groups out there with similar merch, as well.
I remember what a comfort and a thrill it was in the 80s to see another car with a rainbow or, before that, a pink triangle in the window or on the bumper. Helps us to not feel so alone when we're out in the world, and let's others know they're not alone, too. It's small, but small things do add up.
Glad you were able to escape with your family for a bit!
I struggle with deciding how much of the horror (not just here in the U.S., but Gaza, Ukraine, Africa, et al) to subject myself to, in light of how little I am able to do to alleviate it.
This isn't new; I went through the same thing when I was heavily involved in the animal rights movement 40+ years ago. I couldn't justify looking away from accounts and footage of factory farms, slaughterhouses, laboratories, etc. when millions of animals were (are) experiencing unimaginable suffering every single moment.
I've learned that I need to temper my need to be well-informed with remaining sufficiently functional to be an effective and loving presence in the world. Prayer helps - and asking for guidance (especially when I have the self-discipline to do it hourly, which is less often than I'd care to admit).
With love and deepest gratitude for you, JVL, and for this good, kind community you're growing.
Excellent point about who is fighting a war...Back when the Soviet Army existed, the best fighters were the Ukraians and the Lithuanians...the Ukranians wont give in and wont give up. Putin, on the other hand, has a collapsing economy, a populace that is unhappy with the war, and is running out of options. Putoin is also a war criminal who seems to be able to travel to the US,.
The giant orange menace is miles in over his head when it comes to dealing with Putin. Putin knows which buttons to push, knows how to get a narcissist to do what he wants...and in private, you know Putin is looking at him saying "You owe, I manipulated the useful idots in your country to vote for you"...Putin might even congratulate the giant orange menace for putting his favorite girl, Tulsi Gabbard, in charge of the IC...she is carrying out Putin's wishes to gut the IC
When I read the comments to these pieces, I think there is a lot of focus on idiocy, and the Trump administration is providing enough of that. To assert that the "talking heads" want Trump in office to continue complaining is a bit twisted. I think the Bulwark has been good about telling is what we can do. In SC we are protesting all the time, all over the place. We have gotten some large crowds. We have candidates to run against Mace and Graham, to make a lot of reasonable noise, if nothing else. What I think is we may need a large protest in DC. Maybe in front of the Supreme Court. I'd like to see the pundits begin to talk about this. If Trump and the Court don't see us, they ignore us.
The most frequent criticism I get is that I’m all diagnosis and no prescription. And my response is always the same: If I knew how to fix this thing, I’d tell you.
It’s not like I’m holding back on the solution just to keep you reading. I promise.
I don’t know how to stop creeping fascism. No one does. That’s because these systems are too big, too complex to either be fully understood or consciously “fixed.”
----‐-------------------------
It's not like I'm holding back?Give me a break. You know perfectly well you and most all the other talking/writing heads are holding back. You ARE holding back, because you don't really want Trump gone.
You just want to milk this thing for 3&1/2 more years (at least), whining and whining about how bad this godawefull Trump/MAGA is, if only someone knew how to stop it(i.e. we just need to become a nation of hapless whiners like you).
What I don't understand is all the commentary on how bad things are under Trump and how worse they are going to be all seem to omit the one obvious constitutional solution to the constitutional crisis Trump is deliberately creating. That solution is calling a constitutional convention, as the constitution provides for, to write a new constitution and discard the old one, with it's manifest defects.
Of course in today's political climate every interest group would tend to want to through something in for itself. But if this process could out of realization of the present danger somehow circumscribe this tendency andoncentrate on the present danger which Trump and MAGA have made evident, the danger of the present constitution's allowance for a strong executive and it's elimination, the process would immediately resolve our present situation and it's dangers.
And of course a big advantage of this course of action is that it completely short circuits the overriding problem with most other courses of action, that is the present control of the GOP over the 3 branches of the federal government; executive, legislative, and judicial.
The lack of discussion regarding this obvious solution to our present difficulties creates a big question in my mind over the sincerity of the present Democratic Party /Opposition in complaining about the present Trump/MAGA regime. It's more like that old Mark Twain saw about the weather; everybody's always talking and complaining about it, but nobody ever does anything about it.
This is so well put! Count in the campus protesters whose entire theory of change, rested on the fact that they would be able to continue to protest, against financially viable universities, in a country where geopolitical decisions were made on sound rationale. Count in also people like suburban women I talked to who said “ I despise him, but I’ve always been a Republican.” So much of this was failure of imagination. But at the same time, I think some of it was just being willing to embrace some authoritarianism if it means being able to get shit done. As the abundance guys illuminate, government bureaucracy has so utterly shackled our ability to act in any meaningful way that it’s destroyed trust in the system. To defeat this scourge long term, Trump’s authoritarian project needs to fail, but also the Democratic project needs to streamline its ability to deliver.
Thank you for sharing about unplugging for a week and how it actually helps to bring you back to reality and shocks the system to not normalize the fascism that we are experiencing.
The only argument I would have with your commentary, is that I don't see this as creeping fascism. I see this as fascism steaming directly at us like a locomotive at full speed.
JVL, thanks for the message. Authoritarian regimes have to dedicate a lot of resources to keeping people afraid and outraged. At some point, the resource usage becomes too expensive and the regime collapses. Causing "good trouble" will help accelerate the collapse as it takes more and more effort to keep people in outraged and afraid.
Imagine if the government could dedicate resources to making people's lives better instead of angry -- what a concept.
Thank you for the shot of K-Pop in his mermaid outfit, JVL. Shots like those are a great break from reality. Welcome back to 1930s Berlin.
We need a Project 2028. But who is someone with the skills to put something like that together?
One thing that I think has been overlooked:
In addition to D.C., Trump also mentioned federalizing Chicago, Oakland, and Baltimore.
Why those cities, I wonder? Well, Chicago is Obama’s city, Oakland is Kamala’s city, and Baltimore is Wes Moore’s city.
Trump is targeting the cities linked to prominent black politicians—which shouldn’t be surprising, given that he’s a racist asshole.