The time to laugh at a certified egomaniacal buffoon is gone. Confusion about his destination is gone. Doubt that he is on course to reach that destination is also gone. Does anyone who will read this article now doubt where Trump is headed? I suppose maybe some do, but certainly not too many. In fact does anyone who reads anything other than Fox News, or even anyone who reads only Fox News, or even anyone who reads nothing at all still doubt where Trump wants complete and total control. Law firms and courts. Schools and research institutes. Newscasters and comedians. Newspapers and TV Networks. Doctors and hospitals. Performers and athletes. Science and art. Senate and Congress. Police and military. Trump’s message is “hear me. Fear me. Obey me.” No? Okay, “feel my wraith.” That is his message. Take a knee or get smashed.

And beyond Trump we find Vance, Kennedy Jr. and Musk. And beyond those three thugs skulks Péter Thiel and all too many tech ghouls—eugenicists all. For Trump and Co., empathy is enemy. Knowledge and free speech are kryptonite. Kill the homeless. Why not? Eliminate Vaccines. Hooray! Let “only the strong survive.” That is where Trump and Co. are at. Their machinations are no longer “getting serious.” Their machinations are no longer “threatening.” Their machinations are Fascism with an orange overlay. It’s not rhetorically, not theory, but it’s right there staring at us.

You see it. I see it. We all see it. We can’t deny that. At dinner, we decry events before chomping a carrot or slurping some soup. On a walk with a friend we belittle events and maybe laugh before heading back home. We condemn them before going to bed or hours later while taking a morning shower. All day, we look around, we curse. We shiver or cry too. Trump’s support drops but his repressive reach grows. Now what? 

But hold on. Kimmel is back. That’s the power of resistance. Consumers left Disney. Hollywood unions threatened Disney. Piles of Hollywood notables cursed Disney. Collectively. In public. Resistance can Win. We need more. 

To judge how far things have gone wrong we might use a few measuring scales, like we use a thermometer for judging peoples’ temperatures, but instead of temperatures we want to register social trends. So we use an inequity measure. A misogyny measure. A racism measure. We use a censorship measure or a fear measure, a greed measure, a hypocrisy measure. Maybe we use a violence measure. A coercion measure. A suicide measure. Perhaps we use a passivity measure. A cowardice measure. And, yes, for sure we use an atmospheric temperature measure and a genocide measure. Can anyone deny that each and every such measure—and go ahead, think up a few more—shouts at us, “what the fuck is going on?” Then the indicator climbs past a line that demarcates danger, past a line that demarcates horror, and then on to a line that demarcates that only suicidal homicidal lunatics tread beyond here? I mean, really, this is not exaggeration. So now what?

Trump makes evil choice after evil choice and the ensuing actions all call for activist attention. Yes they do. Of course they do. Deportations. Tariffs. Sex trafficking. Genocidal war making. Cancelations. And more. We demonstrate. But all the horrible choices combine into one grotesque entity—Fascism. And I am anti-fascist. You are too, aren’t you? We all are, so shouldn’t anyone who is ready to protest any one Trump choice be ready to protest the whole fascist package? I think so. I bet you agree. Trump gets it too. The outpouring to defend free speech against the firing of Jimmy Kimmel was wonderful and it worked. Shouldn’t everyone involved now resist the rest of the fascist package too? And shouldn’t we too? Trump knows we should. He fears we will.

So our presumptive King decrees that something called “Antifa” is an international terrorist project. And that to materially support that thing, which is to say to support anti fascism, or to even write favorably about resisting fascism is terrorist. And seeing that, we need to see the obvious. We need to read his proclamation about “Antifa” as a large step toward decreeing that “to oppose His Highness is terrorism.”

This article is by Trump’s metric not just anti fascist, which it is, but also anti Trump, which it is. He has decreed I am a terrorist for writing it and that you are a terrorist for reading it. That’s where he’s at. We are all outlaws in the eyes of Trump. To dump Kimmel was to test the option of controlling all media. He had to back off. To declare antifa terrorist is to test declaring all opposition to Trump terrorist. Now what? 

I hope you agree with me that to cower in fear of Trump’s intentions will elevate him to King. On the other hand, to resist his intentions can end him. Yes, it is scary. Yes we wonder, what price we might pay. But still, can we all not only agree about where Trump and Co. are headed but also about what we all need to persistently do to stop this slip, slide to hell? We need to collectively “Smash Trump. Sink his administration. End both.” We all need to get act on the obvious truth that it is essential to resist in every way that can build still more resistance. To hunker down in fear, to cower, or even to pause is a recipe for disaster. 

Trump’s path has been revealed and also comprehended. Rather than redundantly rehash what’s obvious even more than I frantically did above to unabashedly evidence that not just intellectual ridicule but moral outrage is now warranted, I’d like to here consider the choices of anti-Trump actors who also happen to seek participatory, self managing, equitable, feminist, solidaritous, culturally intercommunalist, internationalist, and ecologically wise people’s institutions. Or the choices of people who seek much or even just some of all that. The choices of people who are well left of mainstream. Of people who want another world. Is that you? I hope it is. I believe it is. But what can we “lefties” who want fundamental change add to what Sanders, AOC, Mamdani, Pritzker, and even Newsom and quite a few in mainstream media who are as left leaning at this point themselves advocate? As resistance grows, diversifies, and even escalates how might seekers of fundamental change uniquely and valuably aid and also augment wider resistance to Trump and Co.?

I think this question is perhaps a little trickier than it may first appear. Many voices throughout society now advocate outreach, civil disobedience, and even mass disruption. Indeed, Sanders, AOC, Mamdani, Pritzker and even Newsom not to mention various late night comedians now use their large megaphones to militantly urge serious resistance. There needs to be much more from them, of course, and from the media notables who collectively forced Disney to re-employ Kimmel. But such big megaphone calls against Fascism are already undeniably growing. Our smaller megaphones regrettably reach less far into the population. While we can add our voice to very slightly further amplify their current messages, can we bring anything more than repetition to the fight against fascism? Can we add words or deeds sorely needed but not already widely present? 

I think we can, but I also think it is a tricky task. We can respectfully urge that full success is not just to get Democrats back in the saddle. We can urge dissenters to more clearly advocate positive program alongside vigorously rejecting Trumpist fascism. We can respectfully propose specific tactical, strategic, and programmatic formulations designed to arouse forward-seeking passion that continues past when Trump is gone. 

But to reduce and reverse global warming, to curb and cease international violence and U.S. militarism, to diminish and eliminate exploitation, hunger, racism, misogyny and curable diseases will all benefit from and likely even require that we end Republican rule of Congress, the Senate, the Judiciary, the Cabinet, and the Oval Office. So to that extent, to resist and then get beyond Trump we will have to get more Democrats into diverse offices. To deny that is idiotic. I am sorry, but it is. If you don’t see that, please look again. 

My point is, to stop Trump needs the widest possible support, the most possible voices, the broadest possible range of actions, and not just the most militant, most woke, and most revolutionary voices and actions. But it is simultaneously true that to inspire sufficient participation, particularly from working people, anti-Trump activists need to begin to point beyond removing Trump. Working people will not become active partisans of ending Trumpism only to enshrine pre-Trump business as usual. Is to understand and act in light of that truth the left’s unique contribution? Maybe it was a few weeks back—but not anymore. That recognition and commitment is now also widespread and is even issuing forth from a considerable subset of Democrats.

My question becomes can leftists constructively support that call to resist but simultaneously cast shade on the idea that any Democrat—even Sanders, AOC, Mamdani, or Pritzker—can fully deliver on it? Can leftists usefully claim that when the dust clears if we just support Democrats’ calls to roll back Trump and Republicans, the seemingly progressive and even radical Democrats who urged and participated in that absolutely necessary resistance may then revert to Democratic Party business as usual or, if they continue to resist, as I think many would, may get silenced by a resurgent Democratic Party mainstream?

We could do all that, and I get that we have valid, insightful, and dead-on accurate critiques of the Democratic Party—though not of every Democrat via their mere association with that party. Indeed I have continually conveyed such criticisms since roughly 1967, and now too. But even so, I have no difficulty to simultaneously appreciate what Sanders, AOC, Mamdani, and Pritzker are saying and doing as a critically important part of needed Resistance—a part that I have to acknowledge is much bigger than “the left” can itself muster. And I also have no problem saying that come 2026 I want to see Democrats beat Republicans as widely and severely as possible. And I have no trouble saying that comes 2028 I will, if still around, and if there is an election, work for and want to see a hopefully still highly progressive AOC/Pritzker ticket trounce whatever slug the Republicans serve up. 

At the same time, I also have no trouble saying that beyond that very desirable result, and hopefully aided by it, movements need to seek many more gains including a new polity, a new economy, new kinship, and new culture. Hell, this dual perspective—end Trump, seek another world—is way easier to hold than it is to walk and chew gum at the same time, or whatever that phrase was, because while to stop Trump and win electoral gains isn’t the whole point, and while acting as though electoral gains are the whole point can interrupt achieving the whole point, to stop Trump and win electoral gains is nonetheless an undeniably critical part of the whole point. 

The upshot is that we who want fundamental change beyond mere survival have a tricky balancing act to navigate. We need to celebrate serious Democratic Party involvement in resistance—hell, we should even welcome grey flannel corporate college trustees and rich law firm partners and anyone else who resists—and yet, at the same time, we must keep alive and continue to grow widespread awareness that mainstream resistance to fascism is not the whole show. 

Bu we should not bash and dismiss everyone who doesn’t yet display our own personal image of profoundly revolutionary sentiment so as to display how profoundly more revolutionary we are than they are. Why? Because first, to bash other dissenters ironically reveals how miserably isolated and operationally blind to reality we are and makes us even more so. And second, because to bash people who are now rejecting Trump and even others who he is hurting but who are not yet rejecting him, or even others who still support him demoralizes, divides, and jettisons when we instead need to inspire, welcome, and unify. But can the left advocate and participate in wide outreach while we also maintain our longer term aims?

I think we can. Experienced leftists with years and even decades of practical experience do sometimes actually know some things of value to convey. You might consult as one excellent example, Jeremy Brecher’s recent writings. On the other hand, we old folks are often seen as arrogant know-it-alls precisely because that is how we sometimes act. So we have to listen. We have to ask and not just pronounce. We have to not just appear humble, but be humble. But we should also say and do what we think can help. Honestly, this isn’t rocket science. We need to consider how our words and actions affect others, not solely how they feel to us. 

Back in July, with that in mind, I wrote the following paragraphs to conclude a very loud article I then offered that urged participation in the then upcoming No Kings demonstrations. I suppose my article’s tone may have felt premature if you read it back then. Maybe even hysterical. But I can’t see how it could feel premature or hysterical now. So here goes:

“You are not a Proud Thug. Good. Glad to hear it. You are not brandishing a Swastika. Good. Glad to hear it. You have good values. You care. Great. Glad to hear it. Me too. But there is still a decision to make. Will you look the other way and in doing so abet Trump? Or will you openly resist to block Trump? The choice is simple. Our teacher, our professor, our boss, our parent, child, or mate who may disagree—has no gun with which to threaten us. We can disobey. And the time has come to decide to do so. Will we place our heads in sand, put our eyes in our pockets, and continue with our lives as usual—or will we hold our heads high, open our eyes wide, see Trump’s disgusting path and resist? 

“Resistance is rising all around. It is multi focus, multi tactic. It is the higher calling. We all know it. I could write word after word. I could tout fact after fact. I could present analysis after analysis. I could paint images of hate and images of love, images of regimentation and images of freedom. I could talk of history and of today, I could talk of today and of tomorrow. I could talk of strategy and of tactics. You can talk too. And indeed, we need such words. But really, even before all that, what we need now is simpler. You know, I know, we all know what is happening here. The means are a little muddy but the bottom line is crystal clear. Trump lies about everything except what he wants. About his wants Trump has been clear. He wants total control. He wants absolute power plus the corruption that goes with it. So which side are we on? 

“Resist however we can. Resist today. Resist this Saturday [the first No King’s Day]. Resist until Trump, Trumpism, and fascism are driven into history’s dustbin. Don’t weep over the pain they impose. Don’t cower in fear of them. Organize to make Trump less than zero. And then, after eliminating Trump, struggle on for the true revolution that we really need. Struggle on until we win a worthy world. 

“Deportations, censorship, profits, inequity, abortion, rape, racism, indignity, tariff wars, shooting wars, genocide, fossil fuel suicide—all of that and much more imposes one unified extensively entwined world of pain. Call that the totality of oppression. To transcend it we need a total struggle. All for one and one for all. Consequences in command. Wage it to win it.”

The final sentence that followed those paragraphs was: “June 14th No Kings, and then beyond.”

And now I note to close that “No Kings” is back. It is to occur October 18th. Let’s support it, assist it, organize for it, go to it, and then also volunteer to join with others to continue the grow resistance until we end Trump and Co. and then until we win a better world.