The Trump Resistance and the Uses of Outrage

I spent much of the weekend trying to recover from a big exam, and get away from the horror of Trump. I slept a lot. I kept to myself. I really needed a break.

As Andrew Sullivan recently wrote, one can only take so much insanity. 

"It’s just a matter of human endurance. You have to breathe at some point, to pace yourself, to find more spaces in your life and your soul where Trump cannot invade. There are only so many “truthful hyperboles” or tweet storms a person can withstand."

Or so much of this...



Before you start questioning your own sanity. 

So I wouldn't blame our poor traumatized American neighbours if many of them also felt like they needed a break, and dialled down their outrage for a while...



But as Paul Krugman writes, that would be a fatal mistake, because that outrage isn't only justified, it's essential.  

Inevitably, one hears some voices urging everyone to cool it — to wait and see, to try to be constructive, to reach out to Trump supporters, to seek ground for compromise. Just say no. Outrage at what’s happening to America isn’t just justified, it’s essential. In fact, it may be our last chance of saving democracy.

It is the only way to stop that dangerous demagogue and would be autocrat from turning the U.S. into an authoritarian state...



How does this happen? A crucial part of the story is that the emerging autocracy uses the power of the state to intimidate and co-opt civil society — institutions outside the government proper. The media are bullied and bribed into becoming de facto propaganda organs of the ruling clique. Businesses are pressured to reward the clique’s friends and punish its enemies. Independent public figures are pushed into collaboration or silence. Sound familiar? 

But an outraged populace can and must push back, using the power of disapproval to counter the influence of a corrupted government.

When neither the president nor his allies in Congress show any sign of respecting basic American values, an aroused public that’s willing to take names is all we have. 

And the only way to stop him from turning it into the United States of Crazy...

From the believe-it-or-not Department These are real headlines from the past few weeks of President Trump: pic.twitter.com/jnyO4dQ8S9

— RogelioGarcia Lawyer (@LawyerRogelio) February 24, 2017

Our progressive neighbours have no choice, but to fight that evil madness...



Or that growing fascism. 

Press secretary Sean Spicer is cracking down on leaks coming out of the West Wing, with increased security measures that include random phone checks of White House staffers, overseen by White House attorneys.

And we can help them in many small ways.

Which happily include urging Sean Spicer to go back to his old job...



As the Easter bunny at the Bush White House.

While we help shrink his monstrous master.

Also known as Dinky Donnie...



Hey, who wouldn't rather live in a normal world?

But the day Donald Trump was elected president, that option went out of the window...



Reality may not be quite what it used to be.

Like this painting in my neighbourhood.

But life goes on, the resistance is raging. 

And the future still belongs to us...