Who Will Be the Heroes Now?

It's not enough to worry about the coming danger. We need to pay attention to and support the opposition

(Photo by Ted Horowitz Photography via Getty Images)

This is a strange, in-between moment, rippling with uncertainty stirred by a deeply vengeful man bent on destruction who will soon retake the ultimate levers of power. His hasty dumping of unqualified nominees—each one providing a different version of reckless endangerment to our nation’s safety and security—underscores the serious questions about how bad the coming months and years will be.

Will they mete out punishments to serve their boss’ whims, ending justice as we know it? Will we be able to rely on the safety of our food and water and drugs? Will diseases long abated by vaccines re-emerge as new and unnecessary dangers to our children and ourselves? Can we trust that our military will serve the American people rather than be transformed into a weapon against us? Will we face new attacks by foreign adversaries because our allies can no longer safely share intelligence with us? Will we suffer serious economic decline fueled by billionaires and reckless ideologues focused on expanding their own fortunes while demanding sacrifices from everyone else? Can we be sure that in 2026 there will be another election?

In turn, who will be the heroes of this time? Who will stand up and speak out, refusing to be cowed or ruled by fear? Who will take action to stop the demolition of our democracy? Who with power will demand that the practices and principles that have successfully driven the American system of government be recognized and followed?

There are some early signs: Matt Gaetz was a road too far for Attorney General. The Senate chose South Dakota’s John Thune as its new majority leader, not Trump-backed lickspittle Rick Scott from Florida. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said categorically that he would not leave his post if Trump asked or tried to fire him. Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced she would oppose Trump’s nominees if they are not properly vetted by the FBI. “This isn’t about partisanship," she reportedly told close allies, "it’s about ensuring we don’t compromise the standards of public office." South Dakota’s other GOP senator, Mike Rounds, said this when asked about anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “Look, I believe in vaccines. I think they’ve saved millions of lives.”

Will there be other GOP senators who find their spine in the coming months to confront Trump’s reckless decisions? Will we see Democrats oppose the coming onslaught with all the vigor and virulence they can muster? These would be leaders to notice and encourage.

Let’s also pay attention to the critical role of state and local officials to protect their citizens and push back against the Trump-inspired federal efforts to deport millions of undocumented migrants and pursue myriad other actions that will cause damage to real people. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker best summarized this commitment: “You come for my people, you come through me.”

In this period, we will need fearless truth-tellers to remind us of the differences between right and wrong, true and false. They will be critical in asserting factual reality as the anti-government propaganda intensifies to justify extreme attacks on the agencies, procedures and resources established to create safety and security, particularly for at-risk people. Trump lackey and election denier Pam Bondi, nominated for Attorney General, has already pledged to prosecute the prosecutors.

Trump chose Russell Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025, to lead the Office of Management and Budget, even though Trump said he knew nothing about the project’s policy agenda. Vought has already pledged to help impound any funds approved by Congress if the next president disapproves of their intended purpose—demonstrating utter disregard for the legislative body’s power of the purse enshrined in the first article of the Constitution.

Let’s rewind for a moment: Since FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society, liberal government has sought to minimize suffering—indeed to provide a bulwark against decline, destitution and death—with programs like Social Security and Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid and food stamps for the poor, Head Start for low-income children. As much as these efforts represented a belief that government can make lives better, they also recognized that the capitalist system’s turbulence and inequality can and must be tempered.

Now, as Trump is inserting an increasingly power-mad billionaire like Elon Musk along with Vivek Ramaswamy to manage a made-up Department of Government Efficiency—with their promise to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget of just over $6 trillion—do we have any reason to believe their cuts (whatever the eventual scale) will serve the same people that FDR and LBJ recognized needed support? Or will Musk, one of the largest private government contractors and the world’s richest man, make decisions that serve his own interests? Tragically, we will soon get an answer to this not-rhetorical question.

We should not doubt that there are plenty of fellow billionaires—aided by a corrupt Supreme Court—who are cheering on additional tax cuts to increase their wealth, consolidate power among private interests and move the country toward oligarchy. The Republican nominee who conned voters into believing he cares about working people is now seeking to surround himself with billionaires, including Doug Burgum (Interior), Linda McMahon (Education) and Howard Lutnick (Commerce), along with Musk and Ramaswamy.

Who will be the heroes? Let’s pay attention to the government professionals who push back against the reckless savaging of their departments, the elected officials who speak out on behalf of working people, the judges and prosecutors and lawyers who resist the ravaging of our election systems and constitutional processes, the scientists and medical professionals who resist the measures that will endanger the nation’s health, the everyday people who refuse to be lied to or let their neighbors and friends be endangered. This is where we’ll find not just hope, but the makings of a positive future once this hostile takeover reaches its eventual dead end.

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