U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the 9/11 observance at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., September 11, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
I cannot say this any other way: We are in deep s----. These are truly scary and rough times.
Trump appears at the Justice Department and calls for his opponents to be jailed.
He “detains” students who have committed no crime but peacefully expressed their negative views about Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza.
He invokes the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to remove unauthorized immigrants, without evidence or hearing.
Sides with Russia, China, and North Korea against Ukraine.
Purges career officials and installs political hacks more loyal to him than to the United States. Fires inspectors general. Demotes senior prosecutors.
Threatens law firms that represented people he considers his personal enemies.
Pardons the hoodlums who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He and Musk mow down wide swathes of our government.
Republican lawmakers, fearful or unprincipled, say and do nothing.
Democrats are in disarray. Chuck Schumer green lights a continuing budget resolution that allows Musk and Trump to close down even more of our government.
And on it goes.
You have every right to feel depressed and enervated. You have every reason to despair.
But wait.
It’s possible that future generations will look back on this scourge and see something else — not just what was destroyed but also what was born.
Even prior to Trump, our democracy was deeply flawed. The moneyed interests were drowning out everyone else. Inequality was reaching record levels. Corruption — legalized bribery through campaign contributions — was the political norm (Musk is the logical ending point). The bottom 90 percent were getting nowhere because the system was rigged against them.
It’s entirely possible that future generations will look back on this awful time and see the seeds of fundamental reform.
Many of you are leading this. In hundreds of thousands of ways, you are beacon lights. You are the beginnings of positive change.
Whether it’s your appearances at Republican town halls, or your phone calls that are daily jamming the Capitol and White House switchboards, or your mountains of emails and letters, or your myriad actions protecting the vulnerable in your communities, or your grass-roots activism in Wisconsin and elsewhere: You are the groundswell of America’s new resistance, the green shoots of our future democracy.
The backlash to Trump is growing. His disapproval ratings have jumped nearly 10 points since he was sworn in. People are flooding meetings and rallies, demanding an end to Trump and Musk’s reign. Bernie, AOC, and other progressive politicians are drawing huge crowds.
These are terrible times — the worst I’ve lived through, and I’ve lived through some bad ones. (Remember 1968? Nixon’s enemies list? Anyone old enough to recall Joe McCarthy’s communist witch hunts?)
But as long as we are alive, as long as we are resolved, as long as we are taking action to stop the worst of this, as long as we are trying to make America and the world even a bit better — have no doubt: We will triumph.
Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.