Two Issues to Know About What’s Taking place within the U.S.
How are you feeling? The information cycle seems like a twister that’s sweeping us all up. However listed below are two issues I’m conserving entrance of thoughts about what’s occurring within the U.S. proper now (and please share your ideas within the feedback)…
1. Keep regular, keep targeted. The Trump administration created a particular plan for kicking off his second time period: shock and awe. They figured they’d flood the media and overwhelm the general public, in order that we’d get so muddled we wouldn’t know what to do after which simply…freeze.
“If you happen to overwhelm the media — if you happen to give it too many locations it must look, suddenly, if you happen to hold it transferring from one factor to the following — no coherent opposition can emerge,” defined Ezra Klein on his podcast final Sunday.
However don’t consider what Trump says, Klein urges. Trump makes wild, horrifying proclamations, however, as a lot as he could wish to, the President can not rewrite the Structure, and plenty of of his proposals are being stopped out of the gate. “Inside days, the birthright citizenship order was frozen by a decide,” writes Klein. “A decide froze the spending freeze earlier than it was even scheduled to enter impact, and shortly thereafter, the Trump administration rescinded the order, partly to keep away from the court docket case.”
This isn’t to say that issues usually are not dangerous — they’re. I don’t wish to decrease the wreckage. Persons are residing in immense concern, and plenty of are being harmed, together with trans of us, immigrants, federal employees, the checklist goes on. Even the threats Trump makes and the language he makes use of make individuals much less protected by selling racism, sexism and “us vs. them” considering.
As a substitute of freezing in shock, nonetheless, we will act collectively. “The tempo and frequency of those offenses is supposed to flood the zone with shit, as Steve Bannon put it; to confuse, bamboozle, and immobilize us,” writes Jay Michaelson, a rabbi, activist, and former professor, in his e-newsletter Each/And. “They promised that they’d do ‘Shock and Awe’ and that’s what they’ve executed. Nothing right here ought to be stunning. Don’t lose your composure.” We’ll stand agency.
2. Get the 5 Calls app, which makes it very simple to name your reps. You may make 5 calls in 5 minutes; they provide the cellphone numbers and let you know precisely what to say about main points (like defending the Division of Training or preventing in opposition to Elon Musk’s authorities takeover or opposing RFK Jr. for Secretary of Well being and Human Providers). It’s easy and easy, and these calls make a distinction.
Additionally, think about studying Indivisible: A Sensible Information to Democracy on the Brink, which gives crystal clear methods for preventing again over the following 4 years. Written by two very good, humorous individuals, this information felt bolstering to learn.
Please share your ideas beneath — these are extraordinarily troublesome occasions, however now we have a number of good individuals on this nation and a number of vitality and bandwidth. Sending large hugs and solidarity.
P.S. Poetry, if you happen to want some proper now.
(Photograph by Jess Woodhouse/Stocksy.)
