IT CAN HAPPEN HERE...IT HAS HAPPENED HERE

How To Survive The Age Of Trumpistan
Margret Mead once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has,”
 I never imagined she meant alt-right extremists and neo-Nazis.
(Nor did she I'd bet).

But it worked for them.
(It will work for us, again too, as it has in the past at times.)


One thing has become apparent.
Institutions will not save us.
We can only save ourselves, and each other.

It took Putin one year to take over the Russian media.
It took only four years to dismantle its electoral system.
Russia's judiciary collapsed unnoticed.

The capture of institutions in Turkey was carried out even faster, by a man once celebrated as the democratic leader who would lead Turkey into the EU.

Poland, in less than a year, has undone a quarter century’s accomplishments in building a constitutional democracy.

While the United States has much stronger institutions than Germany did in the 1930s, or Russia does today, the problem is that many of these institutions are enshrined in political culture rather than in law, and all of them—including the ones enshrined in law—depend on the good faith of all actors to fulfill their purpose and uphold the Constitution.

Our national press is among the first institutional victims of Trumpism. There is no law that requires the presidential administration to hold daily briefings, none that guarantees media access to the White House. Our journalists face a dilemma long familiar to those of us who have worked under autocracies: fall in line or forfeit access. Journalism is difficult and sometimes impossible without access to information.
The power of the investigative press—whose adherence to fact has already been severely challenged by the conspiracy-minded, lie-spinning Trump campaign—will grow weaker. The world will grow murkier. Even in the unlikely event that some mainstream media outlets decide to declare themselves in opposition to the current regime, or even simply to report its abuses and failings, the president will get to frame many issues. Coverage, and thinking, will drift in a Trumpian direction, xenophobia  will become further normalized.

There is no safeguard preventing America from sliding into despotism and tyranny.

Unifying, teaming up, and working in groups can make a real difference.
It’s also empowering and therapeutic.
(Plus, if nothing else, you want people around who will notice if you suddenly go missing.)
Vast numbers of people and organizations are mobilizing across the nation to resist becoming Trumpistan.  They are working to protect each other, our rights, and the environment.
Join in or start one. It's good for your mental health as well as democracy.

Cut Your Spending - Build Up Cash Reserves 

62% of Americans have less than $1000 in their savings accounts. Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency.
We’re a nation of economically vulnerable, dependent people.
 And it’s not just low-income people;
 many upper-middle class families limp paycheck to paycheck.
It’s hard to fight tyranny when you’re worried you might lose your home.
It’s hard to stand up and fight for values when you’re beaten down from a long day at work.
The opposition knows this...they count on it.
It's strength to know you have  a decent emergency fund if something goes wrong,
if you lose your job, or Trump's offhand nonsensical remarks cause the markets crash.
(Or the more likely scenario of a trade war crippling our economy ...or a real war erupts with Iran.)

Savings can give you peace of mind.
It provides a degree of independence from a government of vindictive operators.

Donald Trump is President.
It’s so ridiculous it’s hysterical.

We need to laugh about it. Not just to feel good — for laughter heals — but also to deploy a powerful shield and spear against the pompous people now in charge.

Mark Twain said, “The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.”

Indeed, humor was Norway’s secret weapon against the Nazis.

I don’t want to overstate the power of humor.
Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump didn’t save the election.
I for one was so busy laughing at Trump that I didn’t take him seriously until it was too late.
But we’ve also seen how being mocked destabilizes Trump.
We’ve seen how it temporarily delegitimized Sarah Palin.
Insightful humor can change the world.

We have to keep laughing, keep mocking,
keep using humor to call out hypocrisy and abuse of power.

“To submit to a world where we say the words President Trump without anger or laughter is to surrender our idea of what the office means.” — Jonathan Chait

KINDNESS 
The Trump election was based on fear.
And now that he’s empowered by the office, there seems to be more fear than ever.
Kindness is the antidote to fear.
Our greatest fears are of being alone, unneeded, unsafe.
 Kindness shows that we are present for each other.
Kindness ripples through community, powerfully adjusting how people think, feel, and relate.
Kindness is the opposite of fascism.
But it takes practice. And it’s in decline in this age of Trump.
We need to be kind to each other.
We need to be kind to Trump supporters.
We need to be kind to ourselves.
Being kind rewires our brains, our relationships, and our communities.

Kindness is the anti-Trump.

This all being said,
Assert Your Values and Never Stop Resisting!
Evil settles into everyday life when people are unable or unwilling to recognize it.

In normal times, we may be tempted to work with this administration...try to compromise, etc.
This is fruitless in these abnormal times—damage cannot be minimized, much less reversed.
It will be soul-destroying.

In an autocracy, politics as the art of the possible is in fact utterly amoral.
Those who argue for cooperation will make the case,  that cooperation is essential for the future. They will be willfully ignoring the corrupting touch of autocracy,
from which the future must be protected.

Remember the future.
Nothing lasts forever.
Donald Trump certainly will not, and Trumpism,
to the extent that it is centered on Trump’s persona, will not either.
Failure to imagine the future lost the Democrats this election.
They offered no vision of the future to counterbalance Trump’s all-too-familiar white-populist vision of an imaginary past.
They had also long ignored the strange and outdated institutions of American democracy that call out for reform—like the electoral college, which has now cost the Democratic Party two elections in which Republicans won with the minority of the popular vote.
That should not be normal.
But resistance—stubborn, uncompromising, outraged—should be.