I don’t understand why anyone still cites poll numbers regarding DJT. He owns the DOJ and every federal law enforcement agency in the country, including the military. If he wants to ignore the law, or break it, it wouldn’t matter if 99% of Americans hate what he’s doing. If he decides to stay in power, no election, impeachment or any other action short of a military coup will force him out. And he knows it. And he’s not afraid of it.
Viewed through this lens, Americans can no longer focus on “preserving” democracy. We have entered the “hope of restoring” democracy territory, and this will be much, much harder to do, likely requiring much more drastic action than simply polling or protesting. Tell me why I’m wrong. Please.
For me, this kind of analysis is useful because it tells us what kind of things are likely to resonate with the marginally engaged and disengaged. We can use that to grow the opposition, and to motivate people to move from on-the-couch-disapproval to tangible action, like attending protests, speaking out, non-cooperation, and participating in mutual aid for those most impacted. With our democratic processes, particularly elections, being under attack, and with our first amendment rights under threat, we need as many people as possible to step up and participate in opposition as soon as possible. It's never going to get easier until we've won and made MAGA Republicanism utterly and permanently irrelevant.
History would suggest you are far too pessimistic. Off the top of my head, let me list a few protests and other direct actions (sit-ins, strikes) that achieved change, often in the face of violent opposition:
The Bonus Army March (WWI)
Labor strikes of the 1930s (esp the Flint Sit Down Strike)
The Double V and Montgomery Bus Boycott ( used to kick off the Civil Rights Movement)
Freedom Rides and Sit ins and the March on Washington of the 60s. The bus boycott led directly to a court case where SCOTUS ruled that discrimination in public transportation was unconstitutional.
The Selma March led directly to The Voting Rights Act.
The Stonewall Riots galvanized the LGBTQ movement
Wounded Knee led to the Native Rights movement
Standing Rock, The Women’s March, George Floyd, The Sunrise Movement.
These actions didn’t always immediately change laws, but they shifted public opinion, forced political leaders to act, and created lasting cultural and legal change.
I strongly believe the power of the people is as strong a force as exists in the country. When it is used, it makes enormous differences.
Polls are what will begin to separate the MAGA Senate snd House toadies from Trump snd this administration .
They don’t support Trump because they love, respect or admire Trump. They are merely hack grifters who want to stay in office, and they need his support. Once you see Trump’s approval rating in the 30s, you will see politicians start to peel away. And Trump’s a lame duck. After the midterms, you will see the politically ambitious start to stake out their own positions. Cruz, Hawley, Rubio, others.
I think that we need to first talk about the physiology of stressful moments. When we humans get scared, that has a chemical response -- and we start to think from the part of the brain focused on quick action rather than rational thinking. This can lead to "fight-or-flight" responses, such as overly white-and-black thinking that may not help us to best respond to a nuanced political situation.
One manifestation of this: During times when the political situation is particularly dire, it can be much more difficult to have well-reasoned strategy discussions on social media because some participants have the cortisol pumping away in their brains. To make matters worse, language is a virus -- and social media, which includes comment threads like this one, can infect a wide range of people all too rapidly.
This is why I think it is becoming more important than ever to self-monitor where we are at physiologically when we engage difficult political topics like whether American democracy is over. And if we are in "fight-or-flight" mode it may be a good time to take a walk rather than debate.
Now, to your question as to whether more drastic action is needed than polling and protesting: My sense is that although our democratic system is under severe stress, there are still potential checks and balances. We need to monitor on an ongoing basis what's going on in order to take full advantage of any leverage points in the system. We won't recognize those points if we default to a worst-case scenario such as categorically assuming that Trump will be able to ignore or break ANY law at will.
I'm not saying that the worst case can't happen, but rather that there are still other possible scenarios. If we keep our cool we may be more successful in achieving them.
In addition, I think that we need to do more than react -- we also need to come up with a cohesive vision of a healthy liberal democracy that is effectively dealing with the great issues of the 21st Century. I suspect that this will require fresh thinking not unlike what FDR's New Dealers brought to the table during the Great Depression. What does our New New Deal look like? And how do we make it happen?
A big reason why Trump 2.0 has been so successful is that it has robust strategies, such as embodied in Project 2025. We can learn from that.
Consider using the word "opponents" rather than "enemies" in the headline. They are enemies of Trump only if you accept as legitimate his personalist, authoritarian perspective. From the perspective of those of us who see them as legitimately pursuing their duties to suborn the rule of law and hold Trump accountable for his actions or simply expressing their objections to Trump's actions they are merely Trump's opponents, and they are being persectuted solely for that reason.
Isn’t the point of the headline and the newsletter itself that Trump considers these people enemies? Isn’t that the motivation for his attempted persecutions?
Trump's rant to Pam Bondi is more evidence that he's morphed from a run of the mill fascist to a total fanatic. The GOP, who could rid the country of Trump's poison, own this crisis and must be held accountable in 2026 and 2028.
Justice is likely dragging its feet because they don’t have cases. They’ll have to cook something up. What ever happened to Tulsi Gabbard’s Obama-led “treasonous conspiracy”? If there were any truth to that one wouldn’t it be the administration’s number one priority? But they will probably sloppily move forward. Show trials in America.
It may be fetching up hard aground. The DOJ can’t find any evidence of ties between the shooter and leftist groups. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/no-evidence-charlie-kirk-shooting-left-wing-groups-rcna232513
They can't find any real evidence, but I'm certain that they will try to sell us fake evidence.
I don’t understand why anyone still cites poll numbers regarding DJT. He owns the DOJ and every federal law enforcement agency in the country, including the military. If he wants to ignore the law, or break it, it wouldn’t matter if 99% of Americans hate what he’s doing. If he decides to stay in power, no election, impeachment or any other action short of a military coup will force him out. And he knows it. And he’s not afraid of it.
Viewed through this lens, Americans can no longer focus on “preserving” democracy. We have entered the “hope of restoring” democracy territory, and this will be much, much harder to do, likely requiring much more drastic action than simply polling or protesting. Tell me why I’m wrong. Please.
For me, this kind of analysis is useful because it tells us what kind of things are likely to resonate with the marginally engaged and disengaged. We can use that to grow the opposition, and to motivate people to move from on-the-couch-disapproval to tangible action, like attending protests, speaking out, non-cooperation, and participating in mutual aid for those most impacted. With our democratic processes, particularly elections, being under attack, and with our first amendment rights under threat, we need as many people as possible to step up and participate in opposition as soon as possible. It's never going to get easier until we've won and made MAGA Republicanism utterly and permanently irrelevant.
History would suggest you are far too pessimistic. Off the top of my head, let me list a few protests and other direct actions (sit-ins, strikes) that achieved change, often in the face of violent opposition:
The Bonus Army March (WWI)
Labor strikes of the 1930s (esp the Flint Sit Down Strike)
The Double V and Montgomery Bus Boycott ( used to kick off the Civil Rights Movement)
Freedom Rides and Sit ins and the March on Washington of the 60s. The bus boycott led directly to a court case where SCOTUS ruled that discrimination in public transportation was unconstitutional.
The Selma March led directly to The Voting Rights Act.
The Stonewall Riots galvanized the LGBTQ movement
Wounded Knee led to the Native Rights movement
Standing Rock, The Women’s March, George Floyd, The Sunrise Movement.
These actions didn’t always immediately change laws, but they shifted public opinion, forced political leaders to act, and created lasting cultural and legal change.
I strongly believe the power of the people is as strong a force as exists in the country. When it is used, it makes enormous differences.
Polls are what will begin to separate the MAGA Senate snd House toadies from Trump snd this administration .
They don’t support Trump because they love, respect or admire Trump. They are merely hack grifters who want to stay in office, and they need his support. Once you see Trump’s approval rating in the 30s, you will see politicians start to peel away. And Trump’s a lame duck. After the midterms, you will see the politically ambitious start to stake out their own positions. Cruz, Hawley, Rubio, others.
I think that we need to first talk about the physiology of stressful moments. When we humans get scared, that has a chemical response -- and we start to think from the part of the brain focused on quick action rather than rational thinking. This can lead to "fight-or-flight" responses, such as overly white-and-black thinking that may not help us to best respond to a nuanced political situation.
One manifestation of this: During times when the political situation is particularly dire, it can be much more difficult to have well-reasoned strategy discussions on social media because some participants have the cortisol pumping away in their brains. To make matters worse, language is a virus -- and social media, which includes comment threads like this one, can infect a wide range of people all too rapidly.
This is why I think it is becoming more important than ever to self-monitor where we are at physiologically when we engage difficult political topics like whether American democracy is over. And if we are in "fight-or-flight" mode it may be a good time to take a walk rather than debate.
Now, to your question as to whether more drastic action is needed than polling and protesting: My sense is that although our democratic system is under severe stress, there are still potential checks and balances. We need to monitor on an ongoing basis what's going on in order to take full advantage of any leverage points in the system. We won't recognize those points if we default to a worst-case scenario such as categorically assuming that Trump will be able to ignore or break ANY law at will.
I'm not saying that the worst case can't happen, but rather that there are still other possible scenarios. If we keep our cool we may be more successful in achieving them.
In addition, I think that we need to do more than react -- we also need to come up with a cohesive vision of a healthy liberal democracy that is effectively dealing with the great issues of the 21st Century. I suspect that this will require fresh thinking not unlike what FDR's New Dealers brought to the table during the Great Depression. What does our New New Deal look like? And how do we make it happen?
A big reason why Trump 2.0 has been so successful is that it has robust strategies, such as embodied in Project 2025. We can learn from that.
Consider using the word "opponents" rather than "enemies" in the headline. They are enemies of Trump only if you accept as legitimate his personalist, authoritarian perspective. From the perspective of those of us who see them as legitimately pursuing their duties to suborn the rule of law and hold Trump accountable for his actions or simply expressing their objections to Trump's actions they are merely Trump's opponents, and they are being persectuted solely for that reason.
Isn’t the point of the headline and the newsletter itself that Trump considers these people enemies? Isn’t that the motivation for his attempted persecutions?
Trump's rant to Pam Bondi is more evidence that he's morphed from a run of the mill fascist to a total fanatic. The GOP, who could rid the country of Trump's poison, own this crisis and must be held accountable in 2026 and 2028.
...in 2026, 2028 and beyond.
Justice is likely dragging its feet because they don’t have cases. They’ll have to cook something up. What ever happened to Tulsi Gabbard’s Obama-led “treasonous conspiracy”? If there were any truth to that one wouldn’t it be the administration’s number one priority? But they will probably sloppily move forward. Show trials in America.