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It's Time To Summon The Warrior Within [1]

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Date: 2025-02-17

War is hell. War is an ugly, horrible thing. And war is something to be avoided — if at all possible. Any decent human being would feel that way.

But for those of us who cherish democracy and honor the rule of law, it is no longer possible. As Aragorn declared to Theoden in The Lord of the Rings trilogy: “Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.”

Generally speaking, we liberals and progressives are a gentle, easygoing, tolerant, peace-loving folk. We dislike conflict. We shun confrontation. We just want everyone to get along. I get it. Unfortunately, we’re now living in a time when having such an outlook may be a luxury we can no longer afford — at least for the time being. Because like it or not, we are in fact in a state of war. Whether or not you have personally declared war on Donald Trump, Donald Trump has already declared war on you.

We’ve all been living in a state of shell shock for the past three-plus months, some of us much more than others. To those sensitive souls who are still paralyzed with feelings of fear, confusion, panic and insecurity since the ascension of the fascist Trump regime, who do not fight because you are in no condition to fight, I have no quarrel with you. You are experiencing a normal human emotional reaction to extraordinary, abnormal events. You should take as much time as necessary to come to terms with what has happened to your country, to take care of yourselves emotionally, physically and spiritually, and to heal from the psychic wounds that have been inflicted upon you.

Rather I take issue with you, the Negative Nellies, the defeatists, the prophets of gloom and doom, the weak-willed accommodationists — all those who have already given up the fight against fascism...before the fight has scarcely even begun. But even worse than giving up, are your efforts to convince others to do the same. Yes, I’m aware of the arguments: “But Elon Musk has already penetrated federal government offices and has infiltrated their information systems. The damage is done.” “But the Republicans now control all three branches of government. The Democrats have no power.” “But Trump is now defying federal court orders. The courts have no recourse.” “But if we try to protest, Trump will just call out the military against us. We’re screwed.” And so on and so forth. Yes. I know.

To you I ask: What then is your proposed course of action? What do you suggest we do about it? Simply lie down and wait for Trump’s fascist machine to roll over us? Whenever I ask these very questions, I always receive the very same response: crickets.

Look, I’m not some kind of Pollyanna airhead. I grasp that the country is in deep trouble, and that it could get much worse. But a generous dose of perspective is sorely needed here. The fact is that we are still living in the very early stages of this conflict. All we know for certain is what has happened already, and what is occurring right now. We simply cannot know for sure, with any degree of accuracy, what is yet to happen...because nobody can foresee the future — and nothing is yet carved in stone. It’s like trying to survey the territory from the bottom of a well: everything looks dark and walled in...because the well is all we can see. Trying to extrapolate to the bigger picture — and the longer term — from such a limited and highly-skewed vantage point, is not just foolish — it’s downright stupid.

If you are one of those who has chosen to believe that all is lost on the basis of such a distorted, incomplete and premature view, you should acknowledge that it is only because your faith has failed you — not necessarily because the facts of the situation bear you out. And while you have a right to embrace your pessimism and abandon yourself to defeat, you are not justified in trying to undermine the resolve of the Resistance, merely to assuage your own feelings of inadequacy or to excuse your moral cowardice. Your weakness actually makes you complicit in the evil, however unwittingly. Far better to 1) acknowledge the limitations of your current perspective, 2) look forward to things appearing much clearer in the future as events continue to unfold, and 3) fight the good fight with determination and resolve, using the best weapons and information available in the moment...and refuse to give up — no matter how bad things may look in the immediate term.

For those of you who have not given up, and who are not completely incapacitated, yet are still stuck in feelings of passivity, fatalism and despair, would it help to remind you that your despair is an integral part of Trump’s master plan? In fact, he’s counting on it. That’s what his whole “shock and awe” strategy is all about: it is a form of psychological warfare, to neutralize the opposition by overwhelming you with as many awful, evil actions as possible, as rapidly as possible, for as long as possible, in order to disorient you, demoralize you, crush your spirit, and sap you of your will to fight. If he achieves that, he ultimately clears nearly all obstacles from his path. But here’s the key point: It works only if we buy into it. If we see through Trump’s machinations, if we resist, if we refuse to surrender to passivity, fatalism and despair, then we thwart a key aspect of his plan, and we make it that much more difficult for him to accomplish his objectives. So let’s deny him what he wants. This is a war, first and foremost, of the mind...so the primary strength required in order to wage it is mental strength. We are not without options, nor without weapons. Not by a long shot.

“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Now how do you feel? What you ought to be feeling right now is righteous indignation...and anger. Let that anger translate into a renewed determination to fight for the soul of your country. We need everyone onboard for this fight. This is a war that we simply must win.

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