My fellow Americans. We are at a time of great crisis. Our government is experiencing a hostile takeover by a madman backed by the billionaire class. I make no exaggeration in saying that this moment in American history is one of the greatest constitutional crises that our nation has ever faced. We are in our Germany 1933 moment, and how we respond to it is going to determine the fate of this great nation for the foreseeable future. Failure to respond to it well will represent a capitulation to the powers that be. Success will mean the continuation of our democracy.
Donald Trump tonight touted a mandate as if he won by such a massive margin that no one else ever did. We know this to be a lie. Trump's victory was by a narrow margin. 1.7% or so both in the popular vote and electoral college. He won by Bush 2004 margins all things considered. Just like with Bush 2004, that's not a mandate. That's a narrow win, with the promise of him souring. FDR had a mandate. Reagan had a mandate. This guy won, and he did win legitimately in my view, let's get this idea of it being "rigged" without proof our of our heads, we're better than that, that's what HE does, and that's why it disgusts me that tonight he returned to the scene of his failed insurrection 4 years ago, but let's face it, it wasn't by a lot.
Even more concerning than Trump's own sleights against democracy in 2021 is what he has planned in 2025. As we know, project 2025 is the agenda. He's already implemented a third of it. He has people in his administration who follow Curtis Yarvin and that ultra regressive "dark enlightenment" BS, who basically fundamentally reject Western democratic values at their core and want to push for some weird form of techno feudalism. Project 2025 is inspired by his playbook. Elon Musk is an adherent of that philosophy, as is JD Vance. Together, the Trump administration are trying to uproot American democracy as we know it. They're purging government agencies and filling the administrative state with loyalists. They're having Elon Musk hack government agencies with little to no push back. They're setting the battlefield to go to war with the courts, and to ignore their rulings if they rule against them. They're functionally attempting to defund medicaid and sabotage social security. Trump talked a big game about the alleged fraud that was cut, but those of us living in reality know it's nonsense. He is making rather small narrow cuts while at best taking stuff out of context, and at worst lying. On social security, he's making it sound as if there are millions of dead people still getting social security. All of these are lies in order to attack our institutions and weaken our trust in them. For decades, the republican party has declared war on reality. They fired the first shot with the repeal of the fairness doctrine, allowing them to establish a biased media presence that pushed what can only be described as a radical fundamentalist christian worldview on the masses. They questioned our institutions, casting doubt on climate science and evolution. Here we are, around thirty-five or so years later, and things have gotten so bad the anti vax brain worms guy is in charge of public health and a fox news host is secretary of defense. There's only like maybe two whole sane people in the trump administration and sane is a relative term (they're marco rubio and doug burgum btw).
It's been said that we are now in a post truth world. Everything, even basic concepts of reality are up for grabs, and in the minds of many on the right, their ignorance is as good as our knowledge. We dont need smart people telling us about climate change and vaccines, we dont need government bureaucrats who know what we're doing (until OOPS we just fired our entire nuke team by accident...way to go elon...). It's the "establishment" that's wrong, and donald knows best. The right will frame us as a ministry of truth for insisting we stick to science and some level of credentialism (even if I sometimes disagree with our censorious tendencies), but in reality, they're trying to push their own truth.
In 2025, we are experiencing a war on press. The billionaires have made it clear that they control the media, and they will cater to Trump's tendencies, rather than challenge them. They control the centers of propaganda, and they will use them to push right wing BS. The washington post is owned by jeff bezos, and he's promising to make opinion pieces about "free markets" or some crap. Elon Musk owns twitter and is an active member of trump's inner circle. Mark Zuckerburg is playing ball. So is google. Again, this is intended to be a realignment. A coup. They won, they claim a mandate, so they're pushing the overton window even further right.
I've made my disdain for corporate media and how weak and right wing the democrats are clear. They do crap like this too. They're complicit. They're like french generals. They fight the last war, they're defeatist to their core, and when they lose, they're complicit in enforcing fascism. The democratic party is as weak as ever and outside of some progressives with balls, few are rising to challenge trump. Most are just cowering, their tails between their legs, and pushing the meekest and weakest narratives possible against them. Then, in typical democratic fashion, they scold the ones who actually do want to push back against trump and his BS. It's pathetic. We're at the gates of fascism. Do better, democrats, do better.
But what are they to do? Well, for starters, obstruct and filibuster every chance you get. When Obama won the white house in 2008, with a MUCH larger mandate than donald trump btw (but still far less than FDR and Reagan), what did the GOP do? They realized they would lose control of the narrative, and that they could be on the cusp of losing the country for a generation. So what did they do? They obstructed. And it worked. They obstructed their way through 6 years of obama, and then lucked into trump, who breathed new life into their dying party. I was a conservative once. I can tell you, the mood of the party in 2009 wasn't much different than the dems now. Except the GOP was willing to fight in ways that the democratic party is not. The GOP had clear minority approval of their agenda, but still, because they fought, they were able to carve our a gerrymander that guaranteed them a congressional majority through the 2010s. They obstructed obama out of a supreme court justice. They sabotaged Obama's agenda, and Biden's agenda. But when they get in office. We roll over. It's like we're paid to lose. No, we fight fire with fire.
Second, we actually explain to people in no uncertain terms what the GOP is doing. We dont act hyperbolic and cry wolf like we did in trump's first term. We do what AOC did tonight in explaining how the GOP is straight up gearing toward defunding medicaid, throwing 72 million people off of insurance. We warn people that they're trying to sabotage social security, with their claims of widespread fraud. There arent any 150 year olds getting benefits. That's ridiculous. And again, we raise the payrtoll tax cap, we can fund the program indefinitely. What the GOP wants to do is to cut these programs while giving the money to their billionaire buddies. We inform people of the right's insidious plans. Again. And again. And again. Just like AOC did tonight. We tell the truth. We spread the word. We inform people. We set the record straight. Trump's strength comes from his lies. But they are lies. We must stand in the truth.
Next, we need to come up with our own vision for America, campaign on it, and implement it. Say what you want, but the right fights for what they believe in. Democrats dont fight for anything. On social issues, we need to stand up for our liberties. We need a vision rooted in rights and liberties for all. Abortion rights, gay rights, trans rights, even religious rights. We need a separation of public and private moralities. Let people do what they want in their private life, but in public life, law is to be secular. We need to offer a counter to radical religious fundamentalism, while avoiding the pitfalls of so called "wokeism" and moral policing. Still, despite getting rid of the aesthetics of wokeism, we do need to acknowledge that systemic injustice is real and advocate for greater rights, freedoms, and equality where we can. To the left, yes, I am just tone policing you. but I'm not against your ideals. You just need to frame this stuff to not be losers with the public, and to avoid the pitfalls that alienate voters.
We need to stand up for democracy as well. If trump wants to be the party of authoritarianism and less liberty, we need to be the party of more liberty. We need to be the party of checks and balances. We need to be the party of democratic principles. But we need to not just stand in our existing principles, we must expand them. We should put democracy reform at the top of our agenda, so that the root causes that led to this mess in the first place are resolved. No greater threat to our system exists than citizen's united. All of this is happening because we think money is speech. But if money is speech, then some have a megaphone, and some have nothing. The results speak for themselves. The robber barons of the billionaire class just bought themselves a presidency. They're also funding the opposition in a way to make them weak and ineffective. If this isn't an assault on our democratic values, i dont know what is. We need stronger anti corruption laws, publicly funded elections, and money out of politics. We also should consider things like term limits for supreme court justices, the end of the electoral college, ranked choice voting, the end of gerrymandering, and open primaries. Forward's agenda should be the democrat's agenda. And the democrats need to get rid of their toxic 1990s era consultant class that thinks everything cool is bad, and that everything lame is a okay. We are so weak because of them, and they should be held accountable too, primaried, and thrown out of office by progressives. We need our own progressive tea party, people.
On foreign policy issues, we need to stand for democracy abroad, as well as at home. We should ally with like minded nations, like, ya know, Canada, and Europe, and totally NOT people like Putin, Xi, Kim Jong Un, etc. We should stand by Ukraine as they fight a war over their very existence, after being invaded by a hostile power after little to no prevocation. Putin's war in Ukraine is a raw, pre 1945 land grab. Plain and simple. And that should not be acceptable in the 21st century. At the same time, we should also reevaluate our relationship with Israel. I do not side with or agree with Hamas, BUT, we need to admit that Netanyahu is effectively committing a genocide, and that Trump's plans for Gaza are psychopathic and disgraceful.
We shouldn't pursue aggressive actions against our neighbors. Canada and Mexico should be our FRIENDS. Panama can own the canal as long as we can use it as we wish and they dont threaten OUR national security. Denmark can keep greenland as long as we can keep putting bases there for national and collective security purposes. We shouldnt have tariffs on stuff unless we absolutely have to. It just makes goods and services more expensive, and things are already expensive. America should rule the world through soft power, and be a country that is seen as relatively benevolent. The way trump wants to run it, we're no better than our enemies, because, surprise surprise, he wants to rule like a dictator like our enemies. Like, really, he doesnt share western democratic values. He is a wanna be authoritarian who may actually become an actual authoritarian. If we want a 51st state, we should consider puerto rico. Or washington DC. Of course the republicans don't want that because it might give us senate majority, surprise surprise.
On the domestic economic front, we need a new new deal. We need to acknowledge that what drives people to trump is the failure of the democrats to act. We live in an age of populism. Capitalism isn't working for people, and people think trumpism isn't the answer. it's not. Trump wants to take us back to the gilded age. His idea of when America was "great" was literally the 1870s-1910s. Ya know, when we worked 80 hours a week, children lost their limbs in factories, and like 5 people owned everything. As I said, he wants to gut medicaid, social security, and deregulate everything. By the way, this insane ideology isn't new. Reaganism was angling us for this. The robber barons didn't like not being able to be robber barons as much during the last new deal, so they launched a coup with Reagan to start rolling that stuff back, and now they're framing Trump as having a mandate as an excuse to double down and ramp that up. Trump offers nothing of value to normal americans here. Even if they see nominally lower taxes, deregulation will make their pay and working conditions worse, and gutting the welfare state will make millions and millions of people worse off. There's nothing great about 1870-1913. It was one of the crappiest eras in American history to live in, being born to late to take advantage of the hey day of western expansionism, and born too early to have labor laws. The horrid conditions of those time periods is why we eventually saw a new deal. In the 1930s when the great depression hit, it was cleae that the answer was either a new deal, or fascism from the right, or communism from the left. We are at that point now.
But, we can't just do what we did in the past. The left, even the progressive left, is rooted in old and dysfunctional ideologies. The centrist left is too timid and wants to do nothing. The far left is too extreme and wants radical change that sane people know never ends well. The answer isn't incremental fixes. Nor is it revolution. The answer isn't even a revival of the first new deal and its solutions as the seeds of destruction were in it. No, this second new deal needs to be more individualistic, to channel the concept of freedom that we picked up from our neoliberal era. We need programs that are simple enough where the right cant just claim are full of abuse. Programs that everyone benefits from, so no one can claim anyone is unjustly using the system. Programs that everyone benefits from, so everyone has a stake in those programs continuing to exist, where the popularity of such programs goes untested.
We need a basic income. We need medicare for all. Free college and student debt forgiveness. We need to finish the job with Biden's build back better. We need to fix the housing market. And you know what? We need to take aim at this weird work fetishization we got going on. Why the hell are we romanticizing jobs in an era where the core problem with the economy is that there isnt enough work available and that it doesn't pay enough. Why are we expecting these rich ####s to "create jobs" for people, when their core interest is to make a profit at all costs, and they're incentivized to short change workers and keep wealth for themselves? literally every problem with our economy and how it functions can, in some way, be traced back to this idea of work and work ethic, and that all property and all income should be tied to work. Sure, a significant part should. We do, after all, need to motivate people to do the necessary work for society to function. But people value work for its own sake, not for what it does for us, and have this inflexible moral ideal that the only legitimate way to acquire money is through work, and then we scratch our heads when people end up poor and all the money goes to the top. Our ideals are dysfunctional and cause us to suffer. From a humanist perspective, the only value in work is the product of it. The only reason we link property to work is as a motivator to work. Every time we have a discussion about work in this country, in the literature everyone wants to tip toe around this ideal, but we need to challenge it head on. We need to have an existential crisis around it, and move it into the dust bin of history. This doesnt mean we just abandon all work. As I said, some work is socially useful. And we do need to tie money to work to some extent as a motivator. BUT...we need to get over this weird fetishization of it and glorifying robber barons as "job creators", as if we should be grateful for the "opportunity" to polish their shoes. What I'm saying is we should work to live, not live to work. And we should recalibrate our ideals for this new reality.
And with that, I'll leave it there. But that is the state of the union in 2025. We live in dark times. And our immediate goal is to survive. To live to fight another day, metaphorically speaking. We need to resist trump and his dictatorial tendencies where we can. Filibustering in the senate. Aggressive campaigning and pointing out his BS at every turn. Challenging him in the courts. We need to fight this administration the way the tea party fought Obama. And then we need to push our own charismatic candidate with our own vision to actually win. As I said, on social issues, we should be for freedom and democracy. On foreign policy, we should stand with our allies and fellow democracies against the scourge of authoritarianism. Economically, we should address the root causes of peoples' economic pain by pushing new deal 2.0, as a counter to gilded age 2.0. If the right goes right, we go left. We should counter them on everything possible, both rhetorically, and in the actions legally available to us (I do not advocate for doing illegal things). We are in a battle for the 21st century, and the right has an 8 year head start while we've been sitting around twiddling our thumbs and thinking milquetoast centrism will save us. Our adversaries are radical, and we need our own progressive vision to counter theirs.
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