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Remember Who the Enemy Is: Resistance Is Not Futile [1]
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Date: 2025-03-17
We are in a dystopian novel that could get much worse.
We need to remember who the enemy is.
The enemies are the fascists: tRump, Musk, putin, and the others who want to turn us into serfs and cannon fodder as they slurp us up for their insatiable egos.
tRump is not trying to make America great. He is trying to make America weak, by breaking the rule of law, by firing the experts in government who keep the water clean and the trains running. by making us unreliable, untrustworthy. That is why he is doing things like declaring Biden’s pardons invalid, like fighting with our neighbors (Canada and Mexico), by doing all he can to weaken our relationships. As long as he sits in the Oval Office he will be doing plenty to hurt us.
However, I am here to tell you that Resistance is not futile.
Of course, resistance does not work every time. But it works often. We can see how opposition to tRump is working in other countries: pretty damn well! From Lauren Jackson’s The Morning at The New York Times (March 13, 2025)
There’s a good reason nations are fighting back: Opposing Trump is helping world leaders domestically. Trump’s methods — insisting on tariffs, threatening to buy territory, insulting allies — have infuriated voters in Britain, Mexico, Ukraine and elsewhere. In Canada, for instance, the Liberal Party mounted an extraordinary comeback against the Conservatives this week. Mark Carney, the incoming prime minister, helped revive his party with a promise to oppose Trump: “Canada never, ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form,” Carney said of the president’s threat to annex his country. “Make no mistake. In trade as in hockey, Canada will win.” ✂️ Trump has given some populations abroad an adversary to mobilize against. Now they’re backing leaders who take a stand against him. It’s a phenomenon known in political science as the “rally ’round the flag” effect. When a country faces a crisis, public support for the leader or the current governing party often rises. Trump is fracturing America’s alliances. But the world leaders involved? They’re doing fine. Trump imposed global tariffs on metal and announced a 25 percent levy on all goods from Mexico and Canada. He fought with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. Soon after, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, welcomed Zelensky in London with a hug. Mr. Starmer has continued to back Ukraine. In each of these cases, the leaders and parties who stood up to Trump saw a lift in their domestic approval ratings, as my colleague Mark Landler has noted. Canada: The governing Liberals were set for a major election defeat. But in the last few weeks, as Trump instituted tariffs, the party’s polling has rebounded by at least 10 points. In the race for prime minister, Carney is now tied — and running ahead in some polls. The escalating trade war may simply induce Canadians to dig in. Mexico: President Claudia Sheinbaum, the country’s leftist leader, saw her support rise to 80 percent in one poll as she negotiated with Trump on tariffs. Tens of thousands rallied in Mexico City last weekend to celebrate her success in delaying the levies. Britain: Starmer has been careful to stay close to Trump. He hasn’t retaliated on tariffs. But he loudly backed Zelensky after Trump withdrew support for the war. As a result, the prime minister’s ratings rose. British voters now see Starmer’s Labour Party as better at dealing with foreign policy and defense challenges than the Conservative Party is. (Voters usually regard the Conservatives as better at defense.) Ukraine: Zelensky’s fight with Trump may have saved his job. As the war dragged on, his political opponents saw an opportunity to oust him. After his trip to Washington, his approval ratings rose, according to two recent polls, and his opponents have said publicly that now is not the time for elections.
Macron, too, has been empowered by his feud with tRump and putin:
x ⚡️West can send troops to Ukraine without Russia's permission, Macron says. "Ukraine is sovereign – if it requests allied forces to be on its territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or reject it," French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with Le Parisien. — The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) 2025-03-16T19:15:49.379Z
We need to stand up, and we need to encourage others to stand up. Because when we do that we inspire.
We need to be more unified. Many divisions we see — and some are caused by honest differences in opinion in how to achieve goals we agree upon, although not the route — but these honest differences are exploited by the enemy. So, please, support all who oppose the fascists, and agree to work on our differences.
Because, as we can see above, having a common enemy is unifying. Too often our side fights against the lizard brain, with arguments that are rational and true, as opposed to arguments that are emotional. But this is an opportunity.
And we need to do this as soon as possible, for our sakes, for our country’s sake, for the sake of the world.
More reading, if you’re up for it:
Marcy Wheeler emptywheel
One thing I am absolutely certain of, however, is that Democrats on both sides of this debate are framing it in terms of 2026. Those justifiably furious at Chuck Schumer are thinking in terms of primaries against any Senator who supports cloture. They’re demanding a filibuster so that elected Democrats, as Democrats, be seen wielding some power, so the party doesn’t look feckless to potential voters. Those afraid of a shutdown are discussing electoral consequences in 2026. Polls are measuring who would be blamed in the polls. This mindset has plagued both sides of Democratic debates for two months, with disastrous consequences. Democracy will be preserved or lost in the next three months. And democracy will be won or lost via a nonpartisan political fight over whether enough Americans want to preserve their way of life to fight back, in a coalition that includes far more than Democrats. You win this fight by treating Trump and Elon as the villain, not by making any one Democrat a hero (or worse still, squandering week after week targeting Democratic leaders while letting Elon go ignored). And Democrats, on both sides of this fight, are not fighting that fight. I’ve seen none of the most powerful voices — not AOC, not Bernie, not Jasmine Crockett, not Tim Walz, not Pete Buttigieg — put out a video talking about the fight over impoundment, about the stakes of having elected representatives of both parties fight for funding for their own constituents. Democrats who want a shutdown have done none of the messaging to those already hurt by Trump’s power grab work to make it a short term political win, to explain the tie between right wing capitulation to Trump and services shutting down. Instead, they’ve been fighting among themselves, mobilizing politically active Democrats.
And, look at how people in Hungary protested Orbán over the weekend!
x Budapest today. People are demanding that PM Orban resign. — Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) 2025-03-15T16:37:45.787Z
🐦 I do a lot of other writing. Newest offerings! Messing with the Myths: The Maxotaur and Messing with the Myths: The Book of the Living. Older offerings: the Crow Nickels (chronicles), a trilogy about crows who want to save birdkind from extinction: Hunters of the Feather, Scavengers of Mind and Familiars of the Flock (They’re really good! They’re really cheap! Buy and review or rate positively! And all available on Audible!) Other stories, based on Jane Austen novels — such as The Meryton Murders — and others based on history and Greek mythology, such as Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus, can be found here. All titles are available through Kindle Unlimited, but I only get paid if you turn the pages.
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