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Blessed Unrest: Resist, Persist, Insist [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-21

Sometimes I wonder if the effort is worth it—speaking truth to power in Trump’s America with a daily post, though I’ve missed a few days since November 5, 2024. Most posts take hours of research to get the facts—those pesky things—right, and to dig into history to place Trump’s actions into a broader context. On most days, it’s easy to find something worth writing about to counter the relentless firehose of malevolence aimed at dismantling America. Occasionally, a post takes more than a day to write. And once or twice, I was so dispirited I couldn’t write at all. Certainly, I did not envision this vocation at this time in my life—too old to march, I write.

I understand it might feel overwhelming—both to write and to read. We’re all just trying to hold on in the midst of this endless, Category 5 whirlwind of cruelty, corruption, and banality.

I marvel and cringe at the MAGA faithful who still believe that everything Trump does is good, right, and honorable—even as he enriches himself and harms the 90% of us who are not ultra-rich or feeding off their scraps.Yet, as consumer sentiment plummets and poll numbers wobble, it’s clear some on the fringes of the MAGA tribe are starting to peel away. How could they not?

When we ask, “How much is too much?” we’re staring into an abyss. Trump’s narcissistic appetite cannot be sated. His narcissistic wounds cannot behealed. nd so, we must brace ourselves for one outrage after another.

Sometimes Trump is compared to Humpty Dumpty, destined to undo himself with a spectacular fall. But it’s more likely that America is Humpty Dumpty—and she may never fully recover from the damage he is doing. So much harm in just four months. And yet, we must endure four years.

At the 100-day mark, I compiled a list of 100 terrible things Trump had already done. Like Santa, I checked it more than once. There was nothing nice on that list—all far worse than naughty. And somehow, I forgot to include his pardon of the January 6 felons—an omission that says as much as the list itself.

While considering whether to write this post, I turned to music—a refuge from Trump and the news of the day. Sara Bareilles’s 2013 song “Brave” started playing. It’s been streamed 336 million times on Spotify, a testament to its power. The song was a 2011 collaboration between Bareilles and Jack Antonoff of the band Fun. Part of Bareilles’ motivation was the struggle of a very close friend who was trying to come out. You can see the music video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4 and read the lyrics at https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sarabareilles/brave.html.

Bareilles sings, “Everybody’s been there, everybody’s been stared down / By the enemy / Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing / Bow down to the mighty / But don’t run, stop holding your tongue.”

However, too many of the mighty have bent the knee—Zuckerberg, Bezos, Target, McDonald’s, Paul Weiss, and eight other major law firms. They’ll be remembered not as bold leaders but as collaborators. Cowards. Traitors. The branding is already writing itself. Legally, we might call this moment res ipsa loquitur—“the thing speaks for itself.”

And then there is Elon Musk, still the richest man in the world. Musk said on March 28, “I mean, you have Tim Walz, who is a huge jerk [projection?], running around on stage with the Tesla stock price, where the stock price had gone in half. And he was overjoyed.” Then Musk, one of the least self-aware people in America, continued, “What an evil thing to do. What a creep. What a jerk. Like, who derives joy from that?” (Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musks-reaction-tim-walz-144228735.html) The clueless genius who took great joy in firing thousands of people, who destroyed thousands of lives, is unable to recognize or atone for what he did—blind, chainsaw Musk—the definition of evil, of a creep and a jerk.

May 17–18 marked the 16th consecutive week of Tesla Takedowns—ongoing protests at Tesla showrooms across the nation. As targeted boycotts go, this one has real teeth. Elon met karma. “What goes around comes around.” Like Twitter, has he destroyed another brand?

In the just announced 2025 Axios Harris Poll 100 Reputation Rankings, Musk’s Tesla fell 32 positions to No.95. The only five worse companies or brands in the survey were The Trump Organization, Wells Fargo, Facebook, Musk’s X, and Spirit Airlines. (Source: https://www.bing.com/search?q=Tesla%E2%80%99s+Reputation+Collapses+In+New+Study)

On May 20, Musk declared he would no longer fund political campaigns: “I think I’ve done enough.” Too much, Elon. Too damn much.

The song “Brave” was featured on Bareilles’ 2013 album, “Blessed Unrest,” a fitting title for resistance in our time—not a holy war, but holy work—because America is worth it. Antonoff described the song “Brave,” “as a real civil rights anthem at a time when thereare no civil rights anthems and there’s a giant need for civil rights anthems.”(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ115BH19ak) Perhaps he overstates it, but I’ll take it.

Bareilles sings in the chorus, “I just wanna see you / See you be brave.” That’s what we need now. From each other. From ourselves. Brave—not because it’s easy, but because it’s necessary.

Each post may feel like a drop in a bucket, but with everything else—as the Old Testament prophet Amos wrote, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream”—our collective refusal to be silent in the face of authoritarian rot. The road ahead will be harder still, but if we speakup, stand up, and support one another, we will endure. This is not just resistance; it’s remembrance. It’s resolve because the truth matters. And because courage, however weary, is contagious.

Day 122: days left to January 20, 2029: 1,340 days

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