Yeah it was a hard read. So is the truth. There was a lot of energy on Saturday at the protests . Lots of old white people like me as it should be . We need to do it again and again and get the young ones to come with us. Pramila Jayapal ( my representative) is running Resistance labs . Anyone in any state or country can join! There’s one this Sunday!
Thank you, Prof. Butler, for speaking truth here. It was encouraging to see many other white people of privilege out there on Saturday protesting. Thanks for your encouragement through these words. We need to continue.
Thanks for another great column, Dr. Butler! As you pointed out, Trump and his minions are using their Project 2025 "owner's manual" to twist the US into an even more distorted version of democracy than Victor Orban's Hungary.
I totally respect your feelings, but having lived through the entirety of the 1960s, the marches and assassinations, the fear, I think you are missing the reality that all of us face, which is the complete destruction of every institution in our country. These people have wiped Harriet Tubman, even the mention of slavery, out of descriptions of the Underground Railroad. The DOD is in the process of wiping out all mention of achievements of Black people in the military—including the Tuskegee Airmen and the Native American Code Talkers. They fired the general who headed the Joint Chiefs because he is Black. They are trying to rid the military of Blacks but also women of any race, Hispanics, Asians.
When we protested in the sixties, we wanted to improve the way the government behaved, but not many wanted to destroy our history. We wanted more coverage, not less. And the government eventually gave in and increased coverage of the things we asked for. The current government is dedicated to wiping out all that progress, which involved losing lives and worse. We cannot allow those losses to have been in vain. If MLK didn’t die for these things, what is the point of his death? And the deaths of the two Kennedy brothers, Medgar Evers, and so on? So many died. 55,000 American boys in Vietnam alone.
I think we need to stand up for all of these dead patriots. I truly don’t feel any one of us can afford to sit this one out. Frankly if I could leave the whole thing behind and flee to another country, I would, but I can’t. So if I’m stuck here I feel I must resist and hope that you will see how fucked we all are if we don’t.
It is just possible that Trump has saved us by crashing a system that was on a deadly path before he arrived. How to get all the fury at him into a coalition to work together to create a new system is the challenge.
Looks like you’re a spokesperson for Fox News! The previous administration certainly had its flaws. But it was not bent on destroying our country, our economy, our constitutional way of life, our history, or our allies in the world like Trump is doing every single day. he’s in office.
I don’t think you appreciate the non-democratic nature of the previous political system. It wasn’t created by Biden or Obama, but they were not willing to really fight for voting rights with all their hearts or stand against deportations (both actually deported more migrants than Trump has so far, but with less cruelty and more precise focus on the most vulnerable - those who violated rules or had just arrived and had fewer ties to their communities and thus fewer resources to fight back). Citizens United and growing wealth inequality shaped political options undemocratically. Mass incarceration disenfranchised Black and Brown voters. Etc. So thelastelection was only really among SEVEN “swing states” that had some democratic opposition in the electorate and Mike Johnson has never even faced a Dem challenger. Alabama, Missouri and North Carolina have endured gerrymandered legislatures that have changed voting rules and tried to disenfranchise voters even after the fact. So hurrah for the little wins (in WI supreme court and now maybe NC) but the system is not democratic enough to want to “go back” to it.
You don’t understand what I wrote. It relates to the deadly path we were on before Trump thanks to overshoot. A radically new system beyond zero sum politics is vital and we’ll only deal with that if the system we are in goes down. That’s what we’d “thank” Trump for.
Since virtually all of our communication is digital now,I would suggest that we build an analog system that is not venerable to any digital surveillance.
Those were both highly regulated and needed a court order signed by a judge to access. Now with the electronic surveillance that’s available we have no privacy online,or on our phones and devices.
I think folks to understand the reality that all of his chaos is intentional. While I don’t believe he is really capable of much, his billionaire cabinet are using his ego as a puppet. Let the stock market crash—then buy low and reap the profits. We all need to stand together—no one is going to come and save us.
Thank you for your great Substack! I have also been saying this for at least 10 years and I was appalled when he said he was running again and I actually was pretty sure he would win as I felt it would be a set up election although I did not how at that point then I saw all the oligarchy bro’s and musk with his sky link and it all started to fit together like a puzzle and heritage foundation and looking into them and their connection with Republican Party! They started planning in 1973 and Ronald Regan and both bush’s had a small part to plan when they were in office to put project 2025 in place! They had homework and they did it! But the plan was all for Trump to enact it! So he was the trigger pin!! And the Republican Party knew it and all went
Along with it! The maga party! Johnson in congress Thune In Senate and Supreme Court all assisted in America’s demise! And now there is now one to put through an impeachment because they are all involved!! So probably you are 100% correct a Revolution is the only way! But he also has a huge militia and white nationalists behind him! He himself is a white nationalist and not an evangelical anything! He is also a Russian asset!! For many years now!! So that means he will have Russian support if there is a war!! What the fuck it is awful it should never have gotten to this!!! And add immunity!!!
While you are correct that good vs evil morality is at the heart of many people’s view of the world, including the portion of Trump’s base that is significantly religious (probably around 35-40% from my estimates), I think it’s really funny that you don’t see that your side takes this good vs evil morality to its furthest extreme. In fact, the Left is not really any different from radical Christianity in this regard.
Yeah it was a hard read. So is the truth. There was a lot of energy on Saturday at the protests . Lots of old white people like me as it should be . We need to do it again and again and get the young ones to come with us. Pramila Jayapal ( my representative) is running Resistance labs . Anyone in any state or country can join! There’s one this Sunday!
Thank you, Prof. Butler, for speaking truth here. It was encouraging to see many other white people of privilege out there on Saturday protesting. Thanks for your encouragement through these words. We need to continue.
Thanks for another great column, Dr. Butler! As you pointed out, Trump and his minions are using their Project 2025 "owner's manual" to twist the US into an even more distorted version of democracy than Victor Orban's Hungary.
I totally respect your feelings, but having lived through the entirety of the 1960s, the marches and assassinations, the fear, I think you are missing the reality that all of us face, which is the complete destruction of every institution in our country. These people have wiped Harriet Tubman, even the mention of slavery, out of descriptions of the Underground Railroad. The DOD is in the process of wiping out all mention of achievements of Black people in the military—including the Tuskegee Airmen and the Native American Code Talkers. They fired the general who headed the Joint Chiefs because he is Black. They are trying to rid the military of Blacks but also women of any race, Hispanics, Asians.
When we protested in the sixties, we wanted to improve the way the government behaved, but not many wanted to destroy our history. We wanted more coverage, not less. And the government eventually gave in and increased coverage of the things we asked for. The current government is dedicated to wiping out all that progress, which involved losing lives and worse. We cannot allow those losses to have been in vain. If MLK didn’t die for these things, what is the point of his death? And the deaths of the two Kennedy brothers, Medgar Evers, and so on? So many died. 55,000 American boys in Vietnam alone.
I think we need to stand up for all of these dead patriots. I truly don’t feel any one of us can afford to sit this one out. Frankly if I could leave the whole thing behind and flee to another country, I would, but I can’t. So if I’m stuck here I feel I must resist and hope that you will see how fucked we all are if we don’t.
It is just possible that Trump has saved us by crashing a system that was on a deadly path before he arrived. How to get all the fury at him into a coalition to work together to create a new system is the challenge.
Thanks Sue!
Looks like you’re a spokesperson for Fox News! The previous administration certainly had its flaws. But it was not bent on destroying our country, our economy, our constitutional way of life, our history, or our allies in the world like Trump is doing every single day. he’s in office.
I don’t think you appreciate the non-democratic nature of the previous political system. It wasn’t created by Biden or Obama, but they were not willing to really fight for voting rights with all their hearts or stand against deportations (both actually deported more migrants than Trump has so far, but with less cruelty and more precise focus on the most vulnerable - those who violated rules or had just arrived and had fewer ties to their communities and thus fewer resources to fight back). Citizens United and growing wealth inequality shaped political options undemocratically. Mass incarceration disenfranchised Black and Brown voters. Etc. So thelastelection was only really among SEVEN “swing states” that had some democratic opposition in the electorate and Mike Johnson has never even faced a Dem challenger. Alabama, Missouri and North Carolina have endured gerrymandered legislatures that have changed voting rules and tried to disenfranchise voters even after the fact. So hurrah for the little wins (in WI supreme court and now maybe NC) but the system is not democratic enough to want to “go back” to it.
You don’t understand what I wrote. It relates to the deadly path we were on before Trump thanks to overshoot. A radically new system beyond zero sum politics is vital and we’ll only deal with that if the system we are in goes down. That’s what we’d “thank” Trump for.
Thank you for bringing the truth so clearly, as you always do.
Well said.
Just joined after hearing you in Ruth Ben-Ghiot’s class today. You were terrific. I am looking forward to reading and hearing more from you!
Yes, me too!
Yep, the house is on fire! What’re we gonna do?!
Since virtually all of our communication is digital now,I would suggest that we build an analog system that is not venerable to any digital surveillance.
Snail mail and land lines?
Those were both highly regulated and needed a court order signed by a judge to access. Now with the electronic surveillance that’s available we have no privacy online,or on our phones and devices.
I think folks to understand the reality that all of his chaos is intentional. While I don’t believe he is really capable of much, his billionaire cabinet are using his ego as a puppet. Let the stock market crash—then buy low and reap the profits. We all need to stand together—no one is going to come and save us.
Thank you for your bluntness and clarity.
Thank you for your great Substack! I have also been saying this for at least 10 years and I was appalled when he said he was running again and I actually was pretty sure he would win as I felt it would be a set up election although I did not how at that point then I saw all the oligarchy bro’s and musk with his sky link and it all started to fit together like a puzzle and heritage foundation and looking into them and their connection with Republican Party! They started planning in 1973 and Ronald Regan and both bush’s had a small part to plan when they were in office to put project 2025 in place! They had homework and they did it! But the plan was all for Trump to enact it! So he was the trigger pin!! And the Republican Party knew it and all went
Along with it! The maga party! Johnson in congress Thune In Senate and Supreme Court all assisted in America’s demise! And now there is now one to put through an impeachment because they are all involved!! So probably you are 100% correct a Revolution is the only way! But he also has a huge militia and white nationalists behind him! He himself is a white nationalist and not an evangelical anything! He is also a Russian asset!! For many years now!! So that means he will have Russian support if there is a war!! What the fuck it is awful it should never have gotten to this!!! And add immunity!!!
Positive energy for freedom please
I've been thinking of a lyric from a different Talking Heads song, "Once in a Lifetime" --
"And you may ask yourself, 'My God, what have I done?'"
All depends on definition. I stand with freedom.
While you are correct that good vs evil morality is at the heart of many people’s view of the world, including the portion of Trump’s base that is significantly religious (probably around 35-40% from my estimates), I think it’s really funny that you don’t see that your side takes this good vs evil morality to its furthest extreme. In fact, the Left is not really any different from radical Christianity in this regard.