Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, who studies focus groups, told NPR, “When I ask voters in focus groups if they think Donald Trump is an authoritarian, the #1 response by far is, ‘What is an authoritarian?’”
Assessing and recalibrating. There is no sense in beating up ourselves, or turning on our allies. The election of a deeply corrupt, criminal, billionaire, with no morals, no conscience, no respect for the Truth, the Constitution or The Rule of Law has deep & disburbing consequences for all of us on the planet.
We have a million worries: The Climate Catastrophe, Mass Deportation of Humans, National Abortion Ban, the downgrading and demeaning of all minorities. Looting & Pillaging of our Government, Destabilizing the $, destroying the middle classes, the stomping on the underclasses. Crony Capitalism of the Worst Sort, American Oligarchs unchained and joined with the ugly Authoritarians across the globe.
Now the question seems to be: How to keep our heads? How to organize? How to resist? How to keep Hope alive? How to channel the worry, the fear into Power, The Power of Love? Heady shite. There have been other times and places folks have faced this reality. There are heroes and other powerful counterbalancing voices, ideas, road-maps, strategies to be found.
Be sure read this from Rebecca Solnit:
Authoritarians like Trump love fear, defeatism, surrender. Do not give them what they want
I was asked to talk about hope. First of all, hope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it. It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up. That we will assess our powers and weaknesses and recognise that the future we face looks grim, but we do not know how it will unfold, and neither do those we oppose. How it will unfold depends in no small part on what we do. People too often think hope is smiles and sunshine, when it’s fury in the face of danger and oppression, and pressing on in the storm.
