This is Trump's America.
What are we gonna do about it?
It’s almost 7:00 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 6, and I should leave work and go home to walk and feed the dogs. Instead I am sitting at my computer, absolutely aghast at the images coming out of Chicago. I went to the University of Notre Dame for college, and Chicago was the big city to the west where we went for concerts, Cubs games, Senior Formal. I saw Hamilton there several years ago, and have friends and relatives living in or near the city. I love Chicago.
And the president of my country is currently waging war on it, on Chicago, a great city in the United States. This is so far beyond the pale that I sometimes think I’m going crazy or having an extended nightmare. But the images and the accounts are real (unlike the LIES issuing forth from Trump, Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, the whole ghoulish gang), and they make me sick.
They also make me feel helpless and desperate, which I don’t care for. So what can I do about it? What can we all do?
I’ve read several good ideas in the last few hours. Obviously, we should be SCREAMING at our elected representatives to rein in this reign of terror, and we don’t have to limit ourselves to our Republican representatives from Alabama. Members of the Senate and Congress who serve on committees like Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Appropriations, Veterans’ Affairs, and the Judiciary work for us too. Please take a look at this spreadsheet and find people to call and tell them THIS MUST STOP.
It’s also true that Democratic governors can arrest ICE agents for the crimes they are committing—breaking and entering, kidnapping, and assault, to name a few. Trump can’t pardon state crimes, only federal ones, and even if the arrests don’t result in trials, convictions, or prison time, they might slow down this sprint towards authoritarianism. They might also save lives. So let’s call some governors and state attorneys general as well.
And if at all possible, reach out to friends and family who might have voted for Trump but are now put off by the ruthlessness of his rule and the lawlessness of his administration. These people are out there, and we need them to switch sides. Because Trump and his minions and henchmen are on the wrong side, the wrong side of history and of morality. I believe this nightmare will end—most totalitarian regimes do topple—but good God, we need it to be sooner rather than later. And come out on October 18 to tell Trump again that we will NOT surrender to a mad and brutal king, not 250 years ago and not now.
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