We Can't Stop Caring

It remains in our power to create a more just future

(Photo by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

It’s been a long year—long, exhausting, some days overwhelming, too often bleak, always rife with reasons for rage. We are confronted by a White House occupant who doesn’t care about the Constitution and the rule of law, doesn’t care about equality, justice or his responsibility to represent all Americans, doesn’t care about the pain, suffering and death he causes. Were all this simply indifference or ignorance, I suspect it would be more tolerable. But every day we are reminded that he and his regime are working aggressively to destroy the democratic values, ideals, institutions and alliances that have shaped modern America.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but the more we confront it, the more we can overcome this hostile plan.

There’s a reason that the demolition of the East Wing hit so hard: It told us he could not care less about our history in his self-aggrandizing desire to build a ballroom for billionaires. That carelessness was evoked once again this week when his poisonous name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center, the living memorial to one of America’s most inspirational presidents who was committed to civil rights, the expansion of science and the nourishment that the arts provide.

Every day the evidence mounts that the police state Trump is building—backed by his weaponized Justice Department, vicious Homeland Security deportation operation and kowtowing Republican Congress—is indifferent to its responsibility to follow the law, treat our fellow human beings with basic respect and ensure that no harm would come to innocent people. We are learning how sadistically cruel and hateful people like Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth can be when drunk with power and convinced of their invincibility. I remain convinced that the day will come when each of them will be held accountable for their deadly criminality.

I’m not among those who held high hopes that the near-unanimous passage of the “Epstein Files Transparency Act”—which Trump signed 33 days ago—would actually lead to the illumination of the files’ content. But the grotesque mockery of this law by the Justice Department’s only partial release of heavily redacted materials on Friday—clearly intended to protect Trump rather than more than a thousand victims—is particularly infuriating. There’s no more obvious example of their dedication to serving Trump, flouting the law and rejecting the truth. (I’m glad to see Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie are pursuing inherent contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi.)

As much as so many of us hope that it will not take three years for Trump to be removed from office, it’s hard to take much solace in the inevitability of JD Vance ascending to the presidency. Just yesterday, he stood on the Turning Point “AmericaFest” stage to proudly proclaim “we have relegated DEI to the dustbin of history” and “you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.” This deeply craven and ambitious man proves over and over that—with greater power—he will extend Trump’s demagoguery and divisive messages of hate, backed up by billionaire oligarchs who lack any commitment to the common good.

Proving the regime wrong

I would go on, if my goal was to overwhelm you with the scale of destruction, corruption and criminality that defines the lawless Trump regime. But while it’s necessary to recognize and confront the daily onslaught, it’s important to not be overwhelmed or burned out by this sickening sludge of cruelty and violence.

They want us to be overwhelmed. They want us to become benumbed to the mounting horror. They want us to think their success is inevitable and there’s nothing we can do about it. This is how they win. It’s our job over the coming year to prove how wrong they are.

In ten days, it will be 2026, the anniversary of the birth of our nation and our founders’ pursuit of independence. This will be a special year, which—rather than dwelling on the grim fact that the Trump regime will still be in power—we should seize as an opportunity to stand up and speak out loudly about the values and ideals that have sustained American democracy. This is an opportunity to stand up for the diverse people and principles of liberalism that matter and to renew our promise to build a better America. That requires defeating the tyranny of the Trump regime which despises our diverse country and the idea of freedom for all.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “four freedoms” offer the clearest expression of this goal: Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. I think it’s worth repeating FDR’s vision delivered in his 1941 State of the Union speech as war was raging in Europe:

Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

He also quoted Benjamin Franklin to note that “no realistic American” can count on “a dictator’s peace” to provide security: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Demanding what’s right

Yes, the next year will be challenging—it’s why I’m taking off the coming days to rest up, recharge and be ready for the work ahead (and I hope you will, too). But I look ahead with great enthusiasm, excitement even, because it’s our opportunity to prove that we care enough about our country to stay engaged and drive the lawless regime from power.

That may sound like I’m thinking mostly about the midterms next November; and it’s true that a Democratic takeover of Congress will go a long way to slowing the illegality of the Trump regime and its largely unfettered ability to expand its sadistic rule. We can take some hope from Trump’s declining popularity and the emerging signs that there are handful of Republicans who will not simply follow Trump in lockstep.

But it’s critical to keep the pressure on. That means every American who is worried about the direction our country is heading should join in public protest—with stronger and more powerful voices in independent media helping to lead the fight that the legacy press has failed to recognize. We should never lose sight of the fact that there are more of us than there are of them. Sustained opposition is critical.

“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim,” Elie Wiesel reminds us. And we must become more demanding for what’s right, what’s true and what leads us toward a more just future. It’s in our power to prove that the sacrifice of so many Americans to sustain our democratic project was not in vain.

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A final note: Over the next two weeks, I will share a handful of previously published essays that I think continue to resonate and are worth reading. I may also jump in with a short post or two if events dictate.

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