Resisting Trumpism

A Public Notice

Trump was awarded victory on November 5, 2024, with the pernicious assistance of Vladimir Putin, Fox News, and other anti-democratic influencers, in what was perhaps the last somewhat “free and fair” election in American history.

Since 2016 Trump has successfully transformed the Republican Party into a personality cult whose members include a sizable disinformed portion of the American public.  Talk of dictatorship has lately grown more ominous.  The death of democracy looms.

Meanwhile, our remaining task as citizens is to prevent his consolidation of power before the 2028 election.  If fascism “wins” that year, America will join Russia, Hungary, Turkey, and other illiberal democracies where elections falsely appear to reflect the will of the governed.  The coup will be complete.

Tools for Resisting Trumpism

The following organizations operate projects that oppose Trump’s anti-democratic agenda.  Each welcomes membership, activism, and financial support.

· American Civil Liberties Union — www.aclu.org

· Common Cause — www.commoncause.org

· League of Women Voters — www.lwv.org

· Human Rights Watch — www.hrw.org/united-states

· Citizens for Ethics in Washington — www.citizensforethics.org

· Anti-Defamation League — www.adl.org/what-we-do/combat-extremism

· Americans for Separation of Church and State — www.au.org/get-involved

· Freedom from Religion Foundation — ffrf.org

· Democracy Docket— www.democracydocket.com

· American Humanists — americanhumanist.org

· Indivisible — indivisible.org

· … and others.  Do your own research.

Renewing the Alarm

Below is a reprint of an op-ed I wrote in early 2020 in worried anticipation of Trump’s run for re-election.  It was repurposed as the introduction to my small book of haiku quintets warning of political and national catastrophe.

Here, I simply renew the alarm I sounded four years ago, which has become piercingly loud as Trump enters his second term.

Is Trump America’s Caesar?

The shelf life of this small volume may be brief, as the watershed election of November 2020 is fast-approaching.  Thereafter, this flashing-red poetic alarm will be seen as either (1), a prescient forewarning of the greatest geopolitical disaster since the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BCE, or (2) chicken-little faithlessness in the resilience of American democracy.  We shall see.

In that year, 2047 solar circuits ago, one of the Western world’s early experiments in democracy collapsed when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, entered Rome without a fight, and declared himself Emperor for life.  The ensuing Roman Empire continued under the harsh rule of dictators for the next 422 years, in turn ushering in 500 years of Europe’s Dark Ages.

Trump’s aspirations to dictatorship are clear.  The Republican Party’s sycophancy is also clear.  With his toadies Barr and McConnell, Trump has seriously weakened institutions of government that have held up the American house of cards for the past 231 years.

Whither the American Project?

If reelected in 2020, by strategic voter suppression and Putin’s eager aid, Trump will have four more years to finish the job, immune to pesky legal challenges and further impeachment attempts.  If history’s pattern holds true, our Soviet-style rigged “election” of 2024 (America’s Rubicon) will fail to result in a peaceful transition of power, the hallmark of democracy.  The path will then be clear for an era of authoritarianism of uncertain duration.

Trump will thereby join the club of autocrats who gained power first by democratic election, then proceeded to corrupt their government to become perpetual strongmen.  The names Putin, Erdogan, Maduro, and Lukashenko come to mind as members of that exclusive club to which Trump aspires.  Readers will also recall that Hitler was democratically elected in 1932.

Hence my worried words.

A Haiku Quintet

In retirement I write haiku quintets, fifty-word microstories, and other minimalist bits, many of which address this moment in history.  Here is one.  Find more at www.dandana.us where you can also subscribe to my free substack to receive more as they spill out of my keyboard. 

How Did We Do This? an angry old man deluded in grandeur, pomp, and misplaced grievance damaged little boy, his father’s failed redemption for his public shame a sociopath devoid of all empathy and human kindness our democracy’s flawed electoral system birthed this freak mutant oh, America! our nation’s embarrassment, how did we do this?