We Live on Borrowed Time

Oct 02, 2025

The President of the United States, thrice-elected leader of the Republican party, and Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces has labeled us “the enemy within” while his Senate-Approved “Secretary of War” screams about eliminating the laws that constrain violence, and tells members of the military to get with the pogrom or leave.

These are not random social-media trolls. These are not lone wolves whose lives are falling apart and who seek to compensate by shouting. These are the chosen leaders of their party, who enjoy over 90% support from their partisans and they are openly calling for war.

They are calling for war against the “animals” who live in America’s cities. They are calling for war against immigrants who foolishly see us as a shining city on a hill. They are calling for war against liberals, the queer, Democrats, even RINOs, anyone, anyone who gets in their way. And they are telling the military to get on board.

This is not an accident, they planned this meeting.

This is not a mask slipping, they have long talked this way.

This is not a performance for a hooting crowd, it is a directive from the Commander in Chief, and even if the brass doesn’t want to act on it, someone else will.

So I say again: we live on borrowed time.

Any group that has been named as an internal enemy; any person who has been picked as the outsider to the group; or been “put on notice” by their abuser knows that it is only a matter of time. And in this case it is not one bully or “biblical” husband, it is the leaders of a political party waging a cultural revolution1. It is people who who have militias, mobs, ICE, and now an army at their command. No Republican ‘leader’ has denounced this, they have instead deflected, lied, or even doubled down. Why they have chosen to do so is immaterial, that they have done so tells us everything we need. When the glass finally breaks they will join the crowd and cheer it on.

We live on borrowed time until some Proud Boy takes Trump at his word and follows Daniel Perry’s example2, We live on borrowed time until some member of the enemy is so menaced that they throw a rock or shoot back. We live on borrowed time until there is another peaceful protest that gets blown up, or a fake event that sets Trump off. We live on borrowed time until there is a crisis, because there is always a crisis from weather, from the economy, or in politics and someone decides it is time to change the subject and settle a score. We live on borrowed time until Trump is told that his time in office is up and he decides to take revenge, or until Stephen Miller starts picking targets closer to home.

As “Secretary of War” Hegseth likes to remind us, you don’t play nice in a war, you kill. And as Trump regularly shows us he finds violence against others to be desirable, even entertaining. Sooner or later one of them will give the order, or one of their followers will act alone with the clear expectation that their leader has pointed the way. When that happens Trump will not hold them back, nor will anyone around them. For all their performative concern Republicans will always find a way to rationalize his actions, and there is no line they will not follow him across.

We.

We the independents, we the Democrats, we the liberals, we the queer, and the immigrants; we the Native Americans, we the minorities, we the Muslims, the homeless, and the lost; we the city dwellers, we the RINOs, we the small-government conservatives, we the sick, and the working poor. We Americans live on borrowed time. We are all the enemy within whether we have chosen it or not. Authoritarians, Tyrants, and oligarchies always need enemies to put down and even if they don’t pick us today, tomorrow they will. President Trump has said it plainly. We live on borrowed time.

Sooner or later there will be a rupture and while Trump is more Nero than Julius he and his supporters are still marching on the Rubicon and we stand in his way. We cannot look to “moderate Republicans” to restrain him, they never have. The supreme court will only act when the stock market is at risk. And the titans of media and industry are rushing to pay tribute, and give out golden shares.

All that is left, is us.

What do we plan to do about it?