I don’t want to dump on your Xmas or whatever, but I’m tired of being slammed about the head by the news every morning, and I’m even more tired of being shown once again that no one has done anything to stop Trump.
There have been plenty of times during this tumultuous year when Trump & Co.’s savage assaults on our laws, our historical precedents and our collective idea of common decency (to the extent there is one) seemed to be unprecedented, even though those assaults were following the well-known script of Project 2025. To give the devil his due, the Republicans’ coordinated attacks based on that take-no-prisoners game plan have been well-nigh flawless.
But is the cruelty of Trump’s second term really something out of the ordinary? Well, yes and no.
Yes, if only on the basis of its sweep and scope: multiple murders executed by the American military on people aboard Caribbean fishing boats, U.S. military excursions into American cities, ruthless elimination of federal government agencies and personnel, blatant defiance of judicial orders, the dismantling of green energy, the dissolving of longstanding diplomatic relationships, indiscriminate and frequently illegal arrests and deportations, rampant corruption, a stunningly inept cadre of sycophants (but sycophants who have successfully helped Trump “flood the zone” since the inauguration), et al. Plus a determined effort underlying all of Project 2025 to move everything backward in order to benefit the powers that be.
No, in that our current blue-state horror at all of the above and more was shared in the past by decent Americans’ abhorrence of slavery and then by their revulsion at the longstanding reign of Jim Crow and KKK hangings well into the 20th century. Plus, decent Americans’ retrospective disgust with the genocide perpetuated against native Americans, remnants of which persist today. (Something not even hinted at in our schools until relatively recently, and about to expunged from the classroom once more, along with much else.) Not to mention the enormous disparities of income and well-being throughout America’s history, never really addressed until FDR made an attempt (an effort which has been vilified by Republicans ever since).
True, we’re about to have a socialist mayor of New York City. The political currents abroad in the population are in obvious conflict, but except for aberrations like Zohan Mamdani, that conflict has been almost entirely suppressed. (Do you think rallies matter? They don’t.) This, even though (and maybe because) destructive change throughout the country is spreading so rapidly.
Our disagreements over matters of live and death, and the motivations behind those disagreements, are nothing new. But the instant dissemination of those disagreements via today’s technology is new. The onslaught of Project 2025 feels like something that has never happened before.
The statement Trump that made to his supporters on January 6, 2021, suggesting that unless they acted immediately they “would not have a country any more” applies even more to blue America today. Yet most of us keep our heads down and go about our business. We go to “No Kings” rallies and pretend we are doing our part. We read the New York Times, America’s “paper of record,” despite the increasing amount of sheer trivia, shopping tips and distracting games it offers up each day. We tell ourselves that somehow everything will be OK in the end.
What if, instead of fighting in the courts (which has proved largely ineffective), we actually brought some power to bear on protecting our rights as Americans? What if progressive, left-leaning voters actually did what Trump has longed claimed we do, and took up arms? I’m not referring to AR-15s, but to the use of strong political and financial defiance and pressure to change what’s happening to our government. Blue states and their citizens are powerful. California is the world’s fifth largest economy all by itself. New York is the world’s financial and cultural capital. We could use secession as a lever to try to force true reform and generate a more equal distribution of power, e.g., get rid of the Senate and expand and impose term limits on the Supreme Court. If we can’t manage that, then secession itself would be better than what we’re experiencing now. Does voicing this possibility make me eligible for immediate rendition? Probably.
I’m not suggesting that we start planning assassinations, or ready a blue army to invade Texas. But I am suggesting that unless we figure out a way to achieve some decisive, concrete wins against the heartless bastards implementing Project 2025, and do so soon, America will devolve into Trump’s ultimate shithole country. One with a gigantic, gold-plated White House State Ballroom.
Here’s hoping we will be a better people in 2026.