No more innocent liberal surprise.

Friends, please don’t make the mistake of thinking that Trump’s seemingly random and ill-informed actions are not part of President Bannon’s strategy.

They’ll bleed the public of money, culture, education, health, and community. They’ll sow chaos and violence. And they’ll beef up institutions that can enforce their coup: police & military.

This is truly disturbing to contemplate but do not look away! Turn toward the fear (as Pema Chodron would say), open your eyes and your heart. Batten down your hatches however you can and prepare for the worst. Then mobilize, speak out, tuck your body into places so the wheels of fascism don’t turn.

Stop being surprised that Trump is doing everything he said he would. He may well be the greediest man alive. History will remember how we responded.

Pema Chodron quotation

RESIST

Bayard Rustin’s call for civil disobedience and direct action tells us that “the only weapon we have is our bodies and we have to tuck them in places so wheels don’t turn.” Even if it that’s not your jam, everyone has a role in creating a society where we divest from things that punish and invest in real community-based measures that keep us safe. It will take community organizers, cultural workers, farmers, caretakers and builders. Now is the time to go big; we have everything to gain.

– Charlene Carruthers, 31, the national director of Black Youth Project in The New York Times‘Resist’ Is a Battle Cry, but What Does It Mean?, 2/14/17.

 

Bayard Rustin on resistance

 

Image: New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer – Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c18982, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1305647