trump's journey to the presidency and the sprawl of his administration of unfit fools has been a warm-up act for the SCOTUS decision to overturn the Voting Rights Act. He was always and ever about race and otherness in America. We inherited the evil of racism generations ago; trump came along and gave permission and safe harbor for it to grow, to expand his lust for power, to bedevil this nation struggling with his erratic, vengeful and anti-democratic offenses. Pete Hegseth's pastor, Doug Wilson, would have us kill the 19th Amendment, women's suffrage. Since we represent more than half the American population and black folks another thirty percent, surely we can join forces, not only to overcome this bullshit, but to put the Republican party in its place once and for all: a dark hole which they cannot climb out of. Like the half-life of plutonium, they would be down there for a long, long time.
Let us not forget the original racist voter supression creation enshrined in the Constitution: the Electoral College, a “clever” invention to appease the states with lower population than states with larger numbers of voters. And the felon in our White House benefitted from that in his first run for President. We all know that Hillary Clinton beat the Orange Buffoon overwhelmingly. And yet, here we are.
Moving and memory laden reminder of how we arrived “Here,” Steven.
The shock of Jan. 6. The delay and incompleteness of accountability, stunning.
And the Darkness that remains because of the misunderstanding and inappropriate fear of people of color.
The darkness of Trump demanding tax payers pay the repugnant unlawful insurrectionists who were responsible for injury, death and destruction on Jan 6 is truly nauseating.
It’s almost unbearable to consider our current reality. But we must.
And as you concluded:
…”That’s why we need fighters not folders to take office.
That’s why we need to ensure massive turnout in November to ensure a blue wave that overcomes the racial hostility.
That’s why, this time, accountability must move to the top of the agenda and return justice and the rule of law to their rightful place.”
I have been asking myself the same questions you posed in your essays. As they say, hindsight is unobstructed. I remain convinced that if we are to succeed in remanding this autocratic regime, that we have to have MASSIVE turnout, à la Hungary, in order to send a clear message to this right wing minority that we are serious about preserving our democracy, with all its faults and complexities. We have to send a clear message that we will not relinquish our hard-won rights, thin and worn as they continue to be, without a fight. I remember Mark Kelley’s wife, some time after her brain injury, raising her fist and summoning all her courage, repeated, “fight, fight, fight!”. That was all she could verbally communicate but her resolve was clear. We have been wounded by this regime. We have been pushed down and pushed away and are living smaller lives within our repressed bubble. We know that the times we live in are not normal in that our dark past is being served up to us on gold plates and in gold ballrooms and gold monuments and gold watches and gold telephones and gold statues. We know. We are up to our eyeballs in fury and despair which coexist inside us every moment of every day that we are powerless to change this nightmarish reality. Those of us who cherished our country and want to lovingly be its custodians for all time are in despair. As the elections edge closer, my fear grows. I am afraid of the illegal shenanigans lobbed by fascists that will rob us further of our collective will to freedom and justice for all. I do not understand why this is happening…and that is the most wrenching thing of all. I used to ask the well-known question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Maybe it is time to ask it again…or maybe, just maybe, we need to ask, “Why do good people do bad things to good people?”. The midterms may provide that answer.
We have always been told the U.S. is the best country in the world. I think the second term of Trump has shown us it’s not the best country in the world. Racism has been present since the constitution was signed. Black and white people were killed to allow voting rights for every citizen. People don’t vote because they believe their votes don’t matter. When attaining wealth and power is the goal of many regular citizens feel ignored. We have a president who should be in prison, a Supreme Court that is racist and biased and nothing seems fair in this country anymore.
I worked in civil rights for many years, first as a private attorney and later leading a state civil rights agency under two governors. Over the last decade, we have been losing the battle over hearts and minds on issues, like voters' rights. I’ve come to believe the research showing many disengaged voters are not “low information,” but exhausted, distrustful, and immersed in media ecosystems dominated by grievance and identity. I would welcome more work on effective messaging that reaches people through respect, dignity, fairness, stability, and economic security.
Steven. why are you confident that everybody who is dissatisfied with Trump and GOP will suddenly turn to vote blue?... What do the Dems have to offer as a better alternative and what are they doing to embrace and rein in dissatisfied Trump voters, who they labelled deplorables, fascists, racists, white nationalists....which of course does not apply to the vast majority of these voters. They are simply dissatisfied, desperate and unhappy with what they see and want change!!! Look at the UK, within one year the two mainstream parties of more than 80 years, Labour and the Conservatives, could well be small minority parties..... with new parties promising change, drawing the votes....People seem desperate for change, almost any change, .... thus anything but the old parties..
What if all these dissatisfied Trump voters either give up and stay home or just vote for GOP as still the better of two evils?
Hans, I don't discount that for many the Democrats will not seem like much of a better alternative. But we have a binary system, so the Dems represent the only actual alternative that can oppose GOP rule. As for people staying home, I suspect that the GOP vote will be down in November, indicating dissatisfaction and lack of enthusiasm. I'm reminded that 89M eligible voters chose not to vote at all in 2024.
Thanks, Don, I agree, but if the binary system does not serve the people's needs, there will be a vacuum which could be a political opportunity for something new, A bit risk, something bad or something good but it can get hardly worse ..Look at Europe, where, unfortunately, far-right nationalism is filling a vacuum created by dissatisfaction with the old political powers. In America this resistance against Trump and MAGA could be an opportunity for a truly democratic movement without any old baggage because it is old powers that got you where you are. You constitution can lead the way... The Democrats seem not capable to fill this vacuum.
My opinion, the Dems must bring forth more solid, grounded, well-spoken people who will raise the electorate to action - some 'hell, fire and brimstone' if you will and tell it like it is, the honest truth, even if 'some' do not like it. I'm thinking of people have heard like Kelly, Vindman, Whitehouse, Grijalva, Raskin, Murphy, Sanders, Warren, Padilla & of course others. Some do not seem to have the energy to get this done like Booker & Jefferies. We must stop allowing the few to decimate America - every American citizen has the right to register and vote regardless how they speak and look. SCOTUS must uphold the Constitution regardless who appointed them. Members are Of The United States NOT OTP! And, since electoral college still in effect, must also have members of both parties present & watching that count and outcome - Vance is no Mike Pence.
Have said many times over - we must vote in numbers too large to ignore or question. Hungary did it so can the United States of America!
It's not so much the ghosts of America's racist past continue to haunt our country, it's more like zombies that we can't stop. They're always out there waiting for their chance to overcome us and, sadly, they're winning. This is a horror movie to which we must rewrite the ending to save our country.
Good piece, Steven. I just finished reading Carol Leonnig’s “Injustice”. And it really made me question Biden’s Pollyanna optimism and Merrick Garland’s passivity. They couldn’t get their act together to prosecute any of the three crimes Trump was charged with and guilty of!
One thing that struck me about the timing of the Supreme Court ruling is that SUFFS is on PBS. Shaina Taub had no clue when she wrote it or when it was recorded how relevant SUFFS would be. IF you have PBS, please watch it. Slavery is still very much alive and is legalized in ways people don't realize.
Thank you, Steven, for plainly stating the uncomfortable truth about the unconstitutional hypocrisy inherent in the nexus of institutionalized Christianity and naked racism in our national politics.
Thanks Steven: "Jews will not replace us" chants of the White Supremacist , Neo-Nazi at the Unite the Right rally 1917 in Charlottesville, Virginia caused Joe Biden to run and win in 2020, a free and fair election. My concern with President Biden was his calmness , quiet and timid way he handled things , the democrats never seem to get their messaging out into the public realm like the republicans , they seem to control the air waves, and print media drowning out all the good Mr. Biden did. Then you got Mr Merrick Garland moving at the speed of a slug. The Jan 6, 2021 insurrection should of sealed the deal for the democrats but the hesitation and wavering of Mr. Biden and finally making a decision not to run , putting Kamala Harris in the breach at the last minute with only a hundred days to run against a man who has been campaigning for years. Kamala Harris ran a fantastic race, lost the election by a breath . The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 was denied by Trump and the voting folks bought the lie. Eighty Nine folks sat that election out. It is going to take a massive turnout for these mid-terms , not a 50% turnout but a 85% turnout. Please don't sit this one out, Vote blue all the way and end this nightmare. Democrats please don't take this election for granted, the republicans are defeating themselves , got out there and help them.
trump's journey to the presidency and the sprawl of his administration of unfit fools has been a warm-up act for the SCOTUS decision to overturn the Voting Rights Act. He was always and ever about race and otherness in America. We inherited the evil of racism generations ago; trump came along and gave permission and safe harbor for it to grow, to expand his lust for power, to bedevil this nation struggling with his erratic, vengeful and anti-democratic offenses. Pete Hegseth's pastor, Doug Wilson, would have us kill the 19th Amendment, women's suffrage. Since we represent more than half the American population and black folks another thirty percent, surely we can join forces, not only to overcome this bullshit, but to put the Republican party in its place once and for all: a dark hole which they cannot climb out of. Like the half-life of plutonium, they would be down there for a long, long time.
Let us not forget the original racist voter supression creation enshrined in the Constitution: the Electoral College, a “clever” invention to appease the states with lower population than states with larger numbers of voters. And the felon in our White House benefitted from that in his first run for President. We all know that Hillary Clinton beat the Orange Buffoon overwhelmingly. And yet, here we are.
I personally intend to go down “swinging” if I must go down.
Moving and memory laden reminder of how we arrived “Here,” Steven.
The shock of Jan. 6. The delay and incompleteness of accountability, stunning.
And the Darkness that remains because of the misunderstanding and inappropriate fear of people of color.
The darkness of Trump demanding tax payers pay the repugnant unlawful insurrectionists who were responsible for injury, death and destruction on Jan 6 is truly nauseating.
It’s almost unbearable to consider our current reality. But we must.
And as you concluded:
…”That’s why we need fighters not folders to take office.
That’s why we need to ensure massive turnout in November to ensure a blue wave that overcomes the racial hostility.
That’s why, this time, accountability must move to the top of the agenda and return justice and the rule of law to their rightful place.”
Don’t give up! Vote
💙🇺🇸💙
I have been asking myself the same questions you posed in your essays. As they say, hindsight is unobstructed. I remain convinced that if we are to succeed in remanding this autocratic regime, that we have to have MASSIVE turnout, à la Hungary, in order to send a clear message to this right wing minority that we are serious about preserving our democracy, with all its faults and complexities. We have to send a clear message that we will not relinquish our hard-won rights, thin and worn as they continue to be, without a fight. I remember Mark Kelley’s wife, some time after her brain injury, raising her fist and summoning all her courage, repeated, “fight, fight, fight!”. That was all she could verbally communicate but her resolve was clear. We have been wounded by this regime. We have been pushed down and pushed away and are living smaller lives within our repressed bubble. We know that the times we live in are not normal in that our dark past is being served up to us on gold plates and in gold ballrooms and gold monuments and gold watches and gold telephones and gold statues. We know. We are up to our eyeballs in fury and despair which coexist inside us every moment of every day that we are powerless to change this nightmarish reality. Those of us who cherished our country and want to lovingly be its custodians for all time are in despair. As the elections edge closer, my fear grows. I am afraid of the illegal shenanigans lobbed by fascists that will rob us further of our collective will to freedom and justice for all. I do not understand why this is happening…and that is the most wrenching thing of all. I used to ask the well-known question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Maybe it is time to ask it again…or maybe, just maybe, we need to ask, “Why do good people do bad things to good people?”. The midterms may provide that answer.
We have always been told the U.S. is the best country in the world. I think the second term of Trump has shown us it’s not the best country in the world. Racism has been present since the constitution was signed. Black and white people were killed to allow voting rights for every citizen. People don’t vote because they believe their votes don’t matter. When attaining wealth and power is the goal of many regular citizens feel ignored. We have a president who should be in prison, a Supreme Court that is racist and biased and nothing seems fair in this country anymore.
I worked in civil rights for many years, first as a private attorney and later leading a state civil rights agency under two governors. Over the last decade, we have been losing the battle over hearts and minds on issues, like voters' rights. I’ve come to believe the research showing many disengaged voters are not “low information,” but exhausted, distrustful, and immersed in media ecosystems dominated by grievance and identity. I would welcome more work on effective messaging that reaches people through respect, dignity, fairness, stability, and economic security.
Steven. why are you confident that everybody who is dissatisfied with Trump and GOP will suddenly turn to vote blue?... What do the Dems have to offer as a better alternative and what are they doing to embrace and rein in dissatisfied Trump voters, who they labelled deplorables, fascists, racists, white nationalists....which of course does not apply to the vast majority of these voters. They are simply dissatisfied, desperate and unhappy with what they see and want change!!! Look at the UK, within one year the two mainstream parties of more than 80 years, Labour and the Conservatives, could well be small minority parties..... with new parties promising change, drawing the votes....People seem desperate for change, almost any change, .... thus anything but the old parties..
What if all these dissatisfied Trump voters either give up and stay home or just vote for GOP as still the better of two evils?
Hans, I don't discount that for many the Democrats will not seem like much of a better alternative. But we have a binary system, so the Dems represent the only actual alternative that can oppose GOP rule. As for people staying home, I suspect that the GOP vote will be down in November, indicating dissatisfaction and lack of enthusiasm. I'm reminded that 89M eligible voters chose not to vote at all in 2024.
Thanks, Don, I agree, but if the binary system does not serve the people's needs, there will be a vacuum which could be a political opportunity for something new, A bit risk, something bad or something good but it can get hardly worse ..Look at Europe, where, unfortunately, far-right nationalism is filling a vacuum created by dissatisfaction with the old political powers. In America this resistance against Trump and MAGA could be an opportunity for a truly democratic movement without any old baggage because it is old powers that got you where you are. You constitution can lead the way... The Democrats seem not capable to fill this vacuum.
Sorry, thanks Steven!!! (Freudian slip?)
My opinion, the Dems must bring forth more solid, grounded, well-spoken people who will raise the electorate to action - some 'hell, fire and brimstone' if you will and tell it like it is, the honest truth, even if 'some' do not like it. I'm thinking of people have heard like Kelly, Vindman, Whitehouse, Grijalva, Raskin, Murphy, Sanders, Warren, Padilla & of course others. Some do not seem to have the energy to get this done like Booker & Jefferies. We must stop allowing the few to decimate America - every American citizen has the right to register and vote regardless how they speak and look. SCOTUS must uphold the Constitution regardless who appointed them. Members are Of The United States NOT OTP! And, since electoral college still in effect, must also have members of both parties present & watching that count and outcome - Vance is no Mike Pence.
Have said many times over - we must vote in numbers too large to ignore or question. Hungary did it so can the United States of America!
It's not so much the ghosts of America's racist past continue to haunt our country, it's more like zombies that we can't stop. They're always out there waiting for their chance to overcome us and, sadly, they're winning. This is a horror movie to which we must rewrite the ending to save our country.
Good piece, Steven. I just finished reading Carol Leonnig’s “Injustice”. And it really made me question Biden’s Pollyanna optimism and Merrick Garland’s passivity. They couldn’t get their act together to prosecute any of the three crimes Trump was charged with and guilty of!
So very well said. Love your courage and your passion. Keep it up!
One thing that struck me about the timing of the Supreme Court ruling is that SUFFS is on PBS. Shaina Taub had no clue when she wrote it or when it was recorded how relevant SUFFS would be. IF you have PBS, please watch it. Slavery is still very much alive and is legalized in ways people don't realize.
Thank you, Steven, for plainly stating the uncomfortable truth about the unconstitutional hypocrisy inherent in the nexus of institutionalized Christianity and naked racism in our national politics.
Thanks Steven: "Jews will not replace us" chants of the White Supremacist , Neo-Nazi at the Unite the Right rally 1917 in Charlottesville, Virginia caused Joe Biden to run and win in 2020, a free and fair election. My concern with President Biden was his calmness , quiet and timid way he handled things , the democrats never seem to get their messaging out into the public realm like the republicans , they seem to control the air waves, and print media drowning out all the good Mr. Biden did. Then you got Mr Merrick Garland moving at the speed of a slug. The Jan 6, 2021 insurrection should of sealed the deal for the democrats but the hesitation and wavering of Mr. Biden and finally making a decision not to run , putting Kamala Harris in the breach at the last minute with only a hundred days to run against a man who has been campaigning for years. Kamala Harris ran a fantastic race, lost the election by a breath . The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 was denied by Trump and the voting folks bought the lie. Eighty Nine folks sat that election out. It is going to take a massive turnout for these mid-terms , not a 50% turnout but a 85% turnout. Please don't sit this one out, Vote blue all the way and end this nightmare. Democrats please don't take this election for granted, the republicans are defeating themselves , got out there and help them.