The best way to stand up is to have national protest, national work strike,national call in days to Republican senators and house representatives. I have worked in politics for years and the one thing I know, elected officials will do anything to stay in office.
Businesses respond when they are losing their customer base due to their aiding of a fascist government. Use the tools we still have at hand.
I believe you to be absolutely correct. However, what is needed is leadership and organization coupled with a bold vision to unite and lead the resistance. Currently i don't see that. Without it we lose everything...and quickly.
We used to not be and the way this country works forces decisions against our favor. Vote or work and get paid. Protest or work and get paid. I used to ask people prior to an election if they're going to vote and many said no because they had to work. System is against us at least I think I understand it.
"We" created our own problems (to hfs yhrm for so we could be saved by ___ (Here's an example: Reagan, when he delayed the Iranian hostages to be released, so he could win the "rigged" election (hate that word but that's the game that was played). Nixon held up the Vietnam to end and broke into DNC hdqrs. but he's not a crook? The damn list is endless.) Some large portion of society is also overrun and overburdened with life and work. Many choose to just ignore it but not in a "passive" way per se but in a, "I can't take another bad thing happening to this country." I get it.
Another liar comes along and says don't pass the immigration bill so he could run on it. He never stops lying. I'm really unsure of the difference other than Mump came along later and used what he or putin had seen done before. But they also had the great and honorable McConnell to speed all of this along.
Not what I meant at all. I lived in Egypt in 2011 during their revolution where they ousted Hosni Mubarak. Those protests got him out. People in Egypt work too, for less money and no benefits. The "I have to work" thing is bullshit for the vast majority of Americans, and that includes voting. In Egypt's first free election people stood in line for 12 hours or more, so many that voting was extended for 3 days. Polls open as early at 6 am in the US, are open until 9 pm, and most states offer mail-in voting.
As with Trump, it's not whether you vote, but who you vote for. There are probably one hell of a lot of voters kicking themselves right now. Being stupid and uninformed is their fault.
Sounds great and after mump was put in office the first time, this happened (there were protests all across the country). So, while mump was trying to stay in office, he was burying himself in the hole of protections - the presidency ... for life like Xi.
It just doesn't seem to matter to the oligarchs. They get what they want, they rip us off, they make life worse for us and they aren't impacted if we don't like it. I was talking to a friend reminding how boycotts worked decades ago. They worked. They don't these days (I've watched them fizzle out).
I also told my spouse recently to make sure people know not to go to Chik a Filet (whatever it's called or spelled) the owner was on Rump's cabinet. Her response ... she had no clue what it was or why I suggested it (we don't go and a friend elsewhere drove me there only to be met with I'm not eating there (no clue who owned it but knew not to touch it). But we are having age issues where we do forget. When I learned that koch bros made Northern Quilted, I think I was just a one woman boycott 10 years ago and you see how effective that is. I still don't buy it.
Sherri, one problem with boycotts is that diversification. Koch Industries is a conglomerate of more than 20 companies. So it’s nearly impossible to boycott “Koch.”
I haven’t seen too many - any - Republican politicians folding under concerned calls from constituents. Take Lisa Murkowski. Admitted her office was flooded with calls and apologized for delays in answering the phone yet went right ahead and voted all nominees right through. And now she is asking Trump for a tiny bit of grace, yer kind sir, for just a little help for the Indigenous folk in Alaska. Just a bit or a ton too little too late me thinks I just don’t believe the Repubs in Congress have the balls to stand up to Trump. They are cowards and boot lickers. They are paid to do not much of anything. Who in the real world gets that plus benefits including insider trading info all for free?? Go on the streets along with unions yes. Get the Dems moving off of their butts years too late to Do Something to counter this besides the court cases. Get the young activist Dem leaders out in front along with the few firebrand seniors- Bernie, Liz Warren, Chris Murphy to take charge. Add Pete Buttie and where the heck is Oprah now that we need her powerful voice? Did ALL the rich folks move out of the US like Ellen?
Try calling your representatives. I do it all the time but I never get to talk to an actual human. Petitions do work, but as a retired court employee I can tell you, don't bother - courts have to decide in accordance with the laws, not consider petitions or other missives submitted by non-parties (amicus briefs are another thing altogether). Petitions sent to Congress can be effective.
The real question here is when will the American public react to the wrecking of our institutions, our place in the world, and the establishment of autocratic governance? Since I am not optimistic about a nation of people who are profoundly complacent and unserious, I am not optimistic. But perhaps Vaclav Havel was right: “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
What will 'we' do? Everything possible. The American Revolution was not, at its inception, a general uprising, but gained adherents as it progressed and it's implicit message sank in.
America got through 248½ years as a democracy, but it won't make it to 250. Fascism has arrived, in the form of two malicious strongmen, Trump/Musk, joined at the hip. And fully in cahoots with Putin.
The question then becomes: How do we rid ourselves, and our world, of a diabolical danger like *that*?
After reading an essay by Timothy Snyder calling out what is happening as a coup, I posed a question to the paid members asking if a possible response to a coup is a form of counter coup. I wasn’t asserting specifics and am no political expert, but our Democratic leaders seem
overly passive and unorganized and Trump-Muskova are ignoring court orders and continue to rape a pillage our government unabated. My counter coup suggestion was both applauded and scolded by some saying our courts must be our only source of Democratic efforts. We can see that isn’t working. Even Gandhi advocated for a need for civil disobedience when the state had become corrupt or lawless. This is where we are in the US. I wonder if our “former” allies- the countries we had alliances with prior to this current administration might be willing to somehow come to aid in restoring Democracy. Vance just lectured foreign countries that they should stop being
Democracies and Hegseth blundered through his Nato speech. I don’t feel we can count on the courts and surely not SCOTUS to stop the rapid theft of our treasury and destruction of govt agencies. Some much more intelligent folks than I am - please share what options can we take to stop this and by what means. Putin has effective means to spike Navalny’s undies with a special substance and rid other political enemies by certain means. I’m not advocating for this but something has to change soon or most of us will be living with no Social Security, Medicare, loss of jobs and look like the USSR standing in lines for a daily loaf of bread.
I’m on and off positive but as of late my equilibrium isn’t quite up to snuff.
Thank you for your always lucid writing on where we are and where we’re heading.
I hope all the various government agencies have backed up their files on “secret” external drives! Especially files on the convicted felon in the Justice Department.
I wonder if any, except the 3 supreme justices adhering faithfully to the oath to uphold the US Constitution and our laws, talk with each other about what they have unleashed on living beings here and throughout the world?
I take time each morning to call this list NY NY
Charles Schumer (202) 224-6542
Hakeem Jeffries 202-225-5936
Kirsten Gillibrand DC (202) 224-4451
NY (518) 431-0120
NYC (212) 688-6262
These are the republicans — always interesting to sense how unusual they know it is to be called on by a non-Republican but it’s important. The various websites for these members, most of them NOT UPHOLDING THEIR OATH, do not allow non constituents to leave messages. I think that should be changed. They all bloody work for us whether we voted for them or not!
SENATE
John Thune, SD, GOP Senate Leader
202-224-2321
Chuck Grassley, IA, President Pro Tempore of the Senate
(3rd in line to the US President)
202-224-3744
John Barrasso, WY, GOP Senate Majority Whip
202-224-6441
Tom Cotton, AR, Republican Conference Chair
202-224-2353
Shelley Moore Capito, WV, Republican Policy Committee Chair
202-224-6472
James Lankford, OK, Vice Chair, GOP Policy Committee
202-224-5754
Tim Scott, SC, Republican Senatorial Committee Chair
National protests, strikes, and calls to our elected reps, yes absolutely. And would it help if we (and we're a large group) boycott the products and services of the broligarchs? Don't purchase anything from Amazon, cancel Prime, and shut down our Facebook accounts, buy a different manufacture's EV - no Teslas, etc.
It seems like a billionaire class coup d etat, when we consider all the billionaires supporting tRump/fascism. They seem to hate democracy, which we have seen for many years now. Their motivator is money, not democracy. Boycott!
Read what their idol Curtis Yarvin says about democracy and you'll get it: democracy is too inefficient and needs to be streamlined. Yeah, rite: stop seeing a government as a structure to do for the people what they can't do for themselves (Lincoln) and turn it into a corporation run solely for the profit of its CEO.
The American right has been pushing the Unitary Executive theory since George W. Bush. Now it's being put into place. This is antithetical to the basic structure of the Constitution. This cannot stand!
Imagine if Al Gore had been given his due. Amazing how one tick in history can change everything. I do see the majority of people catching on sooner than we think, because everything happens quickly these days.
I often wish I could see the alternate history of that one exact moment as well. No other tiny change in history could have been more significant other than something like a nuclear detonation. With Gore they're probably would have been no Iraq and Afghanistan etc we'd have policies far along in regards to technology of green energy etc. The myriad ways!
Hard to know which of your (horrifying and necessary) revelatory comments is the most important to absorb. Please distribute them again, in whatever form will be read or heard by the most people possible. I strongly believe that the time is coming for us to take a hard look at what we really believe in and will take a stand for. One thing I sometimes imagine is a goon squad marching down my block, yanking people like me (I have a protest sign in my yard) out for rough treatment. I plan to go quietly and then start screaming at the top of my lungs, hoping someone will video the action and post it for millions of eyes to see. And that's only a hypothetical. Meanwhile, I'll keep calling my Senators, keep sending money to the resistors and keep speaking up to whomever is willing to listen. I live and die as a citizen of this country and denizen of this world. I owe allegiance to those things and that includes a willingness to take risks.
re "... a goon squad marching down my block, yanking people like me ...":
Whether it's a Hegseth-controlled military, a Patel-led secret police or, for that matter, the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers et al., Trump has a lot of options. He and Musk are leaving nothing to chance.
I don't think Trump wants to wreck democracy in the US to the benefit of Russia and China. His and his backers' initial aim is to turn the US into a similar dictatorial State format. in achieving this, he of course is more than happy to get their help in doing so. He then wants to divide up the world between the three dictatorship superpowers (and Europe seems to go to Russia). Once he successfully has established the US in that role, his personal greed and the unlimited greed of his backers will push the US to attack one or both other Superstates in their strive for single Global Hegemony. His White Christo Fascist backers see this as a way to destroy other religions. His big money and big industry backers see this as a fantastic business and profit growth model. This, of course, will not end well for the Global population.
Please someone tell me why we don't hear from Biden, Harris, and the officials from the last administration more often? We need that strong energy derived from the short but really powerful push during the Democratic campaign to loose ourselves of the fascist regime that has now taken over. Powerful voices, powerful protests, with the leaders at the front and unafraid to take action, is the path to 2026 election, to change the course of Congress and make a stand against the current onslaught of oligarchs from around the world. The force for democracy is growing much to slowly due to the bombardment of trump hitting on everyone and everything he can that is democratically sound. The time is now for freedom fighters to stand tall and rebel against this normalization of trump and musk.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, I believe you are one of the most valuable voices we have in this challenging time. I find your observations to be extremely perceptive; thank you for sharing them.
The massive disinformation campaign worked….and continues to work…until they have exacted the 2025 playbook..it won’t be a recognition too late…but it/they will carry their mark too long for hundreds of thousands.
The best way to stand up is to have national protest, national work strike,national call in days to Republican senators and house representatives. I have worked in politics for years and the one thing I know, elected officials will do anything to stay in office.
Businesses respond when they are losing their customer base due to their aiding of a fascist government. Use the tools we still have at hand.
Protests like this have worked in France and other countries. People should be aware of their power.
I believe you to be absolutely correct. However, what is needed is leadership and organization coupled with a bold vision to unite and lead the resistance. Currently i don't see that. Without it we lose everything...and quickly.
Americans are used to being passive.
We used to not be and the way this country works forces decisions against our favor. Vote or work and get paid. Protest or work and get paid. I used to ask people prior to an election if they're going to vote and many said no because they had to work. System is against us at least I think I understand it.
"We" created our own problems (to hfs yhrm for so we could be saved by ___ (Here's an example: Reagan, when he delayed the Iranian hostages to be released, so he could win the "rigged" election (hate that word but that's the game that was played). Nixon held up the Vietnam to end and broke into DNC hdqrs. but he's not a crook? The damn list is endless.) Some large portion of society is also overrun and overburdened with life and work. Many choose to just ignore it but not in a "passive" way per se but in a, "I can't take another bad thing happening to this country." I get it.
Another liar comes along and says don't pass the immigration bill so he could run on it. He never stops lying. I'm really unsure of the difference other than Mump came along later and used what he or putin had seen done before. But they also had the great and honorable McConnell to speed all of this along.
Not what I meant at all. I lived in Egypt in 2011 during their revolution where they ousted Hosni Mubarak. Those protests got him out. People in Egypt work too, for less money and no benefits. The "I have to work" thing is bullshit for the vast majority of Americans, and that includes voting. In Egypt's first free election people stood in line for 12 hours or more, so many that voting was extended for 3 days. Polls open as early at 6 am in the US, are open until 9 pm, and most states offer mail-in voting.
As with Trump, it's not whether you vote, but who you vote for. There are probably one hell of a lot of voters kicking themselves right now. Being stupid and uninformed is their fault.
I agree . . . sadly those sorts of strikes/actions are not in the DNA of most USAns . . . we've become a very milquetoast population.
Sounds great and after mump was put in office the first time, this happened (there were protests all across the country). So, while mump was trying to stay in office, he was burying himself in the hole of protections - the presidency ... for life like Xi.
It just doesn't seem to matter to the oligarchs. They get what they want, they rip us off, they make life worse for us and they aren't impacted if we don't like it. I was talking to a friend reminding how boycotts worked decades ago. They worked. They don't these days (I've watched them fizzle out).
I also told my spouse recently to make sure people know not to go to Chik a Filet (whatever it's called or spelled) the owner was on Rump's cabinet. Her response ... she had no clue what it was or why I suggested it (we don't go and a friend elsewhere drove me there only to be met with I'm not eating there (no clue who owned it but knew not to touch it). But we are having age issues where we do forget. When I learned that koch bros made Northern Quilted, I think I was just a one woman boycott 10 years ago and you see how effective that is. I still don't buy it.
Sherri, one problem with boycotts is that diversification. Koch Industries is a conglomerate of more than 20 companies. So it’s nearly impossible to boycott “Koch.”
And here I am thinking they just made northern quilted. I agree and I still one buy that brand and they'll never notice.
I don’t buy it either!
lol. Thanks for the laugh. I don't have many these days.
I haven’t seen too many - any - Republican politicians folding under concerned calls from constituents. Take Lisa Murkowski. Admitted her office was flooded with calls and apologized for delays in answering the phone yet went right ahead and voted all nominees right through. And now she is asking Trump for a tiny bit of grace, yer kind sir, for just a little help for the Indigenous folk in Alaska. Just a bit or a ton too little too late me thinks I just don’t believe the Repubs in Congress have the balls to stand up to Trump. They are cowards and boot lickers. They are paid to do not much of anything. Who in the real world gets that plus benefits including insider trading info all for free?? Go on the streets along with unions yes. Get the Dems moving off of their butts years too late to Do Something to counter this besides the court cases. Get the young activist Dem leaders out in front along with the few firebrand seniors- Bernie, Liz Warren, Chris Murphy to take charge. Add Pete Buttie and where the heck is Oprah now that we need her powerful voice? Did ALL the rich folks move out of the US like Ellen?
Try calling your representatives. I do it all the time but I never get to talk to an actual human. Petitions do work, but as a retired court employee I can tell you, don't bother - courts have to decide in accordance with the laws, not consider petitions or other missives submitted by non-parties (amicus briefs are another thing altogether). Petitions sent to Congress can be effective.
My reps are Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch, Becca Ballint all fabulous Dems
And where did Kamala disappear to?
The real question here is when will the American public react to the wrecking of our institutions, our place in the world, and the establishment of autocratic governance? Since I am not optimistic about a nation of people who are profoundly complacent and unserious, I am not optimistic. But perhaps Vaclav Havel was right: “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”
What will 'we' do? Everything possible. The American Revolution was not, at its inception, a general uprising, but gained adherents as it progressed and it's implicit message sank in.
America got through 248½ years as a democracy, but it won't make it to 250. Fascism has arrived, in the form of two malicious strongmen, Trump/Musk, joined at the hip. And fully in cahoots with Putin.
The question then becomes: How do we rid ourselves, and our world, of a diabolical danger like *that*?
Sadly, (and I hope not) the solution will probably involve political violence.
I fear so, too. And if we're not willing to risk that, if and when it comes, we should hang our heads in shame.
After reading an essay by Timothy Snyder calling out what is happening as a coup, I posed a question to the paid members asking if a possible response to a coup is a form of counter coup. I wasn’t asserting specifics and am no political expert, but our Democratic leaders seem
overly passive and unorganized and Trump-Muskova are ignoring court orders and continue to rape a pillage our government unabated. My counter coup suggestion was both applauded and scolded by some saying our courts must be our only source of Democratic efforts. We can see that isn’t working. Even Gandhi advocated for a need for civil disobedience when the state had become corrupt or lawless. This is where we are in the US. I wonder if our “former” allies- the countries we had alliances with prior to this current administration might be willing to somehow come to aid in restoring Democracy. Vance just lectured foreign countries that they should stop being
Democracies and Hegseth blundered through his Nato speech. I don’t feel we can count on the courts and surely not SCOTUS to stop the rapid theft of our treasury and destruction of govt agencies. Some much more intelligent folks than I am - please share what options can we take to stop this and by what means. Putin has effective means to spike Navalny’s undies with a special substance and rid other political enemies by certain means. I’m not advocating for this but something has to change soon or most of us will be living with no Social Security, Medicare, loss of jobs and look like the USSR standing in lines for a daily loaf of bread.
I’m on and off positive but as of late my equilibrium isn’t quite up to snuff.
Thank you for your always lucid writing on where we are and where we’re heading.
I hope all the various government agencies have backed up their files on “secret” external drives! Especially files on the convicted felon in the Justice Department.
I wonder if any, except the 3 supreme justices adhering faithfully to the oath to uphold the US Constitution and our laws, talk with each other about what they have unleashed on living beings here and throughout the world?
I take time each morning to call this list NY NY
Charles Schumer (202) 224-6542
Hakeem Jeffries 202-225-5936
Kirsten Gillibrand DC (202) 224-4451
NY (518) 431-0120
NYC (212) 688-6262
These are the republicans — always interesting to sense how unusual they know it is to be called on by a non-Republican but it’s important. The various websites for these members, most of them NOT UPHOLDING THEIR OATH, do not allow non constituents to leave messages. I think that should be changed. They all bloody work for us whether we voted for them or not!
SENATE
John Thune, SD, GOP Senate Leader
202-224-2321
Chuck Grassley, IA, President Pro Tempore of the Senate
(3rd in line to the US President)
202-224-3744
John Barrasso, WY, GOP Senate Majority Whip
202-224-6441
Tom Cotton, AR, Republican Conference Chair
202-224-2353
Shelley Moore Capito, WV, Republican Policy Committee Chair
202-224-6472
James Lankford, OK, Vice Chair, GOP Policy Committee
202-224-5754
Tim Scott, SC, Republican Senatorial Committee Chair
202-224-6121
HOUSE
Mike Johnson, LA, Speaker of the House
202-225-2777
Tom Emmer, MN, GOP Majority Whip
202-225-2331
Lisa McClain, MI, Republican Conference Chair
202-225-2106
Kevin Hern, OK, Republican Policy Committee Chair
202-225-2211
National protests, strikes, and calls to our elected reps, yes absolutely. And would it help if we (and we're a large group) boycott the products and services of the broligarchs? Don't purchase anything from Amazon, cancel Prime, and shut down our Facebook accounts, buy a different manufacture's EV - no Teslas, etc.
Yes, plus target, google, walmart, due to opposing DEI.
It seems like a billionaire class coup d etat, when we consider all the billionaires supporting tRump/fascism. They seem to hate democracy, which we have seen for many years now. Their motivator is money, not democracy. Boycott!
Read what their idol Curtis Yarvin says about democracy and you'll get it: democracy is too inefficient and needs to be streamlined. Yeah, rite: stop seeing a government as a structure to do for the people what they can't do for themselves (Lincoln) and turn it into a corporation run solely for the profit of its CEO.
Democracy conflicts with the authoritarian nature of capitalism, so they prefer a political system to match capitalism. This is why they like fascism.
The American right has been pushing the Unitary Executive theory since George W. Bush. Now it's being put into place. This is antithetical to the basic structure of the Constitution. This cannot stand!
Imagine if Al Gore had been given his due. Amazing how one tick in history can change everything. I do see the majority of people catching on sooner than we think, because everything happens quickly these days.
I often wish I could see the alternate history of that one exact moment as well. No other tiny change in history could have been more significant other than something like a nuclear detonation. With Gore they're probably would have been no Iraq and Afghanistan etc we'd have policies far along in regards to technology of green energy etc. The myriad ways!
Hard to know which of your (horrifying and necessary) revelatory comments is the most important to absorb. Please distribute them again, in whatever form will be read or heard by the most people possible. I strongly believe that the time is coming for us to take a hard look at what we really believe in and will take a stand for. One thing I sometimes imagine is a goon squad marching down my block, yanking people like me (I have a protest sign in my yard) out for rough treatment. I plan to go quietly and then start screaming at the top of my lungs, hoping someone will video the action and post it for millions of eyes to see. And that's only a hypothetical. Meanwhile, I'll keep calling my Senators, keep sending money to the resistors and keep speaking up to whomever is willing to listen. I live and die as a citizen of this country and denizen of this world. I owe allegiance to those things and that includes a willingness to take risks.
re "... a goon squad marching down my block, yanking people like me ...":
Whether it's a Hegseth-controlled military, a Patel-led secret police or, for that matter, the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers et al., Trump has a lot of options. He and Musk are leaving nothing to chance.
I don't think Trump wants to wreck democracy in the US to the benefit of Russia and China. His and his backers' initial aim is to turn the US into a similar dictatorial State format. in achieving this, he of course is more than happy to get their help in doing so. He then wants to divide up the world between the three dictatorship superpowers (and Europe seems to go to Russia). Once he successfully has established the US in that role, his personal greed and the unlimited greed of his backers will push the US to attack one or both other Superstates in their strive for single Global Hegemony. His White Christo Fascist backers see this as a way to destroy other religions. His big money and big industry backers see this as a fantastic business and profit growth model. This, of course, will not end well for the Global population.
Please someone tell me why we don't hear from Biden, Harris, and the officials from the last administration more often? We need that strong energy derived from the short but really powerful push during the Democratic campaign to loose ourselves of the fascist regime that has now taken over. Powerful voices, powerful protests, with the leaders at the front and unafraid to take action, is the path to 2026 election, to change the course of Congress and make a stand against the current onslaught of oligarchs from around the world. The force for democracy is growing much to slowly due to the bombardment of trump hitting on everyone and everything he can that is democratically sound. The time is now for freedom fighters to stand tall and rebel against this normalization of trump and musk.
Without a reckoning , all our threats are laughing matters…though I stand my ground.💙
Feb 28 - No commerce protest day! I will definitely be participating in this. See Steve Brodner's substack for info on this. Thank you, Ruth.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, I believe you are one of the most valuable voices we have in this challenging time. I find your observations to be extremely perceptive; thank you for sharing them.
Brilliant. Terrifying. When does the resistance begin?
Here is a link to Powell's Bookstore for Rising: https://www.powells.com/book/rising-9781774582510
Powell's is a wonderful independent bookstore if you'd like to avoid supporting Amazon.
The massive disinformation campaign worked….and continues to work…until they have exacted the 2025 playbook..it won’t be a recognition too late…but it/they will carry their mark too long for hundreds of thousands.
From sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman: Humanity is in a crisis, and there is no exit from that crisis, other than the solidarity of other humans
From the Down to Earth Substack Feb 12:
The bottom line is this — take care of yourself and take care of those around you.
Pay attention only to what is truly important to you and tune out the rest of the noise.
And above all — KEEP GOING!!
Where are former POTUS's, VP's etc etc etc. Hiding?