No Kings
Donald Trump is not our enemy.
Donald Trump is not a king (yet), nor is he acting alone.
Donald Trump is the increasingly addled figurehead of an autocratic movement that is hellbent on ending multiracial democracy and replacing it with racism and oligarchy.
Trump may demand that we “terminate” parts of the constitution it is the Republican Supreme Court that declared he was immune from prosecution, and above the law.
Trump may practice open corruption through meme coins and grift, but it is the Chinese exchanges that manage his money, the oligarchs who pay him, and his aides who sue to make bribery legal.
Trump may proudly declare that he “took away freedom of speech” and describe his opponents as “the party of Satan”, “terrorists”, and “the enemy within” but it is his cabinet who organize the invasions of US cities and pervert justice with petty revenge.
Trump may declare he wants rough hours of violence but it is ICE agents, police, and soldiers who step up to make it happen by blowing in front doors, shooting unarmed civilians, zip tying children, and then bragging about it online.
Trump may declare that he wants to send people to foreign gulags but it is his cabinet that makes it happen, and it is civilian and military pilots who carry out the human trafficking.
Trump may want to protect pedophiles and procurers but it is the DOJ and the US House that step up to make it happen.
Trump may declare he wants open war on other nations any time anywhere, but it is the Department of State and the Intelligence Agencies that cover for it and the US military that vaporizes fishing boats for the viewers at home.
Trump may declare that he wants to gut “democrat programs” and end taxes for the rich, law enforcement on companies, and public heath. But it is the Republican Senate that drafts and passes the bills, and his budget director who carries it out.
Trump may declare that he wants to upend elections and ensure one party rule forever but it is state legislators who rush to answer his call and trade constituents for captives.
Trump is the figurehead, the dear chairman of this cultural revolution, but our opponents go much further than that. They include the Vice President who eagerly signed on to follow “America’s Hitler” as he calls him and works to amplify and excuse every racist, sexist, or abusive lie that Trump or any other Republican tells. They include his cabinet members who all knew who Trump was and what he planned to do and signed on to carry out his wishes and goad him to greater and greater extremes, right over the edge of insurrection.
Our opponents include the Supreme Court who chose to place him above the law and who now fall over to bless each seizure of power with secret dockets and cynical delusion. They include Republicans in the House and Senate who shielded him after his first insurrection and invented elaborate lies to shield the mob that sought their blood. Now they sit back and cheer while he drains away their powers, renders their laws a joke, and them along with it. Our opponents include state legislators who shred what remains of their legitimacy by terminating democratic accountability.
But their actions are in turn the fault of Republican party members, old and young, who have traded what principles they had for the power he claims, who worked to tie their fate to him election, after election, after election, and who now joke about gas chambers and call for military tribunals. Indeed our opponents include all Trump voters who chose him of their own free will and now sit silent while cities are attacked, freedoms are terminated, and fishing vessels burn.
Trump has always been clear who he is an what he has planned. His actions in 2020 are a matter of public record as was everything that went before. He made his demand to “Terminate the Constitution” online and at every campaign stop he spoke earnestly of deploying the military on US citizens, declarations of war against an expanding list of targets, and spoke approvingly of police violence. He told racist lies about pet eating on television and when called on it he doubled and tripled down. He spun false tales of gang violence out of a 70s movie and singled out group after group, women, immigrants, minorities, even the disabled for abuse.
On the trail his cabinet members went further describing America as a broken hellscape in need of his violent hand. They made open plans for domestic war, lied about crime, and wrote whole books about their plans to gut education and public health. They made their tainted Christian Nationalism a feature of the campaign embracing racism and violence, excusing adultery, covetousness, fraud and false witness for their golden idol. They have been clear in their plan to turn to brutality not Christian witness to maintain control.
None of this was hidden, none of this is surprising. All of his aides, party members, and voters heart it and made their choice. They supported it when it mattered because they wanted it to happen or because they are so indifferent that they don’t care what happens to anybody else. They made this choice once, they will make it again, and they will be like this long after he is gone.
So yes, no kings in America, not Trump, not Vance, not anyone. This is a fight for Democracy and with it, for the soul of our nation. It we be fought in every election, every protest, at every level, and in every town. It will go on far longer than this moment, and will always be far bigger than just one man.