Is today’s moment that different from all prior moments? Haven’t we endured extreme subterfuge forever? “Defense Department”? “Serve the people”? “Health and human services”? “Workers rights”? “High technology”? “Home of the free”? “Beacon of Hope?” Even “destroyed the city to save it.” Is today just more of yesterday? Is Trump just another turd on top? Just more odious? Does something make this crisis different from all other crises? 

Truth be told a whole lot is certainly familiar. Look back at Nixon, Reagan, and McCarthyism. At George Wallace. When didn’t we have lots of gilded gain for the already rich and powerful and a tiny trickle down for us, plus fire hoses and bayonets, of course? But what about Trump’s totalizing payload of vicious vengeance? What about Project 2025’s ramrod realignment of government to serve only those above? 

What about Trump’s Federal Bureau of Prosecution? What about the Joint Chiefs of Trump? We have certainly seen stomping “enemies within” and greed deemed good before. But have we seen compassion deemed bad? The apex predators vacuum up what we produce. We should praise them? We should cheer their gilded gorging? We should sing while we slave? Have we seen un-friendly fascism before? 

Trump wants no dissent. Musk wants no fight back. Vance wants to keep his job. Can anyone reading this not see that their ultimate agenda is to have us on our knees? What’s happening? What’s their goal? What’s their method? Most important, what’s our solution?

What’s happening? Trump, Musk, Vance and their buddies are dismantling the already tenuous tools meant to limit executive rampaging. They elevate macho hate and self-centered I/me/mine-ness as the essence of accomplishment. They embrace exclusion and repression to hammer those who don’t succumb to the carrot of simple celebratory “my team uber allies” obedience. They torture truth and eviscerate education so the next generation knows only bullying or being bullied. They do it one agency at a time. One vulgar speech at a time. One weaponization at a time. One child at a time. All at once. Blitzkreig.

What’s their goal? Ski in Greenland? Sunbathe in Panama? Wave the Stars and Stripes over Canada? Get real. Their goal is to be kings of the social hill. Their goal is to have merit reflect only wallet size and command presence. Their goal is for the many below to eagerly obey the few above. They want absolute hierarchy from the top of the Stratosphere to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Obey upward. Stomp downward. Damn the Judiciary, Trump alone judges. Dismiss Congress, Trump alone legislates.

Do I exaggerate or does Trumpism seek absolute hierarchy such as we have never seen before other than in feudal kingdoms, the Third Reich, and every perverted apocalyptic dystopian Hollywood offering in which violence stars and masses die? The FBI and military turned into Trump-troopers. Do we really need more evidence that they seek fascism forever?

What’s their method? Trump has told us loud and clear. Lie, deny, denigrate. Create so much noise and confusion that only his voice rises above the cacophony. Create enough chaos and fear to shock and awe us to sleepy silence. Crush vaccines to make America healthy again. Crush schools to make America smart again. Crush immigrants to make America welcoming again. Crush science to make America wise again. Crush public goods to make America equitable again. Impose tariffs to make America affordable again. Crush unions to make children work. Crush sexual diversity to liberate love. End Medicare to extend life spans. Fire everything that’s independent to ensure diversity. Eliminate accountability to enforce efficiency. Expand imperialism to enforce peace. Celebrate, advocate, and become Nazi to inspire the world. 

Yes Trumpism is similar to things we have known, sort of like concentration camps resemble house arrest, Ebola mimics a headache, and a fleet of tornadoes with a blanket of firestorms mirrors an unexpected rain on an otherwise pleasant Little League game. I don’t mean to deny the horrors we have known. They have been more than horrible enough to deserve revolution. But what Trump now trumpets is not just more of the same. Am I alarmist? Am I exaggerating? You think so? Get your eyes out of your pocket. Pick your ears up off the ground. A new fascism really is unfurling its flag.

What’s our solution? That is what we who write, we who organize, and we who demonstrate have to figure out. Black robed judges who yesterday sipped mint julep on Plantation porches can actually help if we sufficiently prod them. Cowardly politicians who yesterday camped in front of mirrors to groom for meetings with big donors can actually help if we sufficiently compel them. But from where arises the prodding and compelling?

From her/him/they, us, our. And the good news is our resistance picks up momentum. Teachers say “not in my school and not with my students you don’t.” Farmers say “not to my product and not to my benefits you don’t.” Old men say “not to my Medicare you don’t.” Young women say “not to my body you don’t.” Workers say “not to my hours, my salary, and my job you don’t.” Consumers say “not to my protections you don’t.” Canada, Panama, Greenland, and more say, “not to our country you don’t.” 

Private introspections scream danger. Collective educationals reveal truths. Public polls show Trump, Musk and Vance seriously slipping. Here and there a black robed judge wields an anti-fascist gavel. Two, three, many Governors say keep out of our state or face our wraith. Other countries roar in unison. Good news. And yes, I know that many judges cow tow, many governors genuflect, and many countries cower. But conformity has widening cracks. That’s the news to expand.

First one dissenter stands. Then another. Then ten. Momentum grows. First over there, then across the dinner table, next door, across town, across country. Thousands then millions. That is how resistance grows. We don’t cede an inch. When they say jump, we reply, who the hell are you? You are nobody. You jump. When they say you are fired, we reply not by you. We disobey. We stay. We fire you. When Trump tells the courts, you say I am breaking your law. Big deal. Let’s see you stop me. We tell Trump, you say we are fired. Big deal. Let’s see you remove us. And hey head of the Joint Chiefs and fellow cowering Generals. Show some backbone. 

I know resistance can contract just as quickly as it expands. To prevent that I know our activism that welcomes doubt into dissent and that propels dissent into resistance has to steadily escalate from a demo a month to a demo a week. From saying no to one command to refusing all commands. From mobilizing those already on our side to strategically organizing with our words, examples, and deeds those not yet on our side. From vague to clear. From doing only in the moment to doing while constantly eyeing future consequences. From saying I don’t have time to saying we must together make time. No act is too small to count. No act is too large to rule out. 

Grow commitment while we expand outreach. Enlarge militance while we provide space for new arrivals to partake as they prefer. Welcome every kind of dissent. Mutually support not just every seasoned activist but every first time cautious questioner. Forget blame and guilt. Call in those who disagree.

Smile when a judge gavels against Trump. Clap when a Governor backs down MAGA. But realize that such steps are just our popular resistance having pushed officials to resist. Don’t snatch self-denying defeat from the jaws of movement-affirming victory by thinking the system saved itself. Realize we and ours drive change. When Democrats rise and Trump/Musk/Vance are driven from attacking the public to defending themselves, having warded off calamity, don’t go home. Fight on to win another world. 

What are some positive first steps beyond resisting reaction that can facilitate fighting on? How about to seek a big wealth tax and health care for all and to nationalize pharmaceuticals and end the Electoral College and Citizens United? How about to win a $20 an hour minimum wage, plus community control of police, plus an end to fossil fuels? How about to universalize free higher education, massively build low cost high quality housing, and undertake a massive media makeover? How about to general strike into existence a thirty hour work week and then to seize our turn to remake everything?

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