This is Not a Drill

Hair on Fire Does Not Make for a Successful Resistance

This is Part II of my post yesterday entitled, “Breathe. Prepare. Resist.”

Last week’s election loss was traumatic for many of us. Not only was it unexpected but the idea that a majority of voters could support a man as flawed and dangerous as Trump is a blow to all those who believed in the good of the American people and, for that matter, in the “wisdom of crowds.”

Day after day the result of that shock to our collective systems has produced totally understandable howls of despair and justifiable alarms about the risks to our system.

I have been warning of those risks for nearly a decade now. I have not pulled my punches. I believe Trump and MAGA, unchecked, pose an existential threat to democracy, to our basic freedoms, to our national security and to the well-being of the entire country.

That is why, in my view, now is a time when we need to pause and make sure our heads are clear and actions are calculated to be as effective as possible. That was the point of my column yesterday. First, we must breathe, meaning gain perspective, understand what the election was and what it was not, understand its true causes and its lessons about the strengths and vulnerabilities of our system, our society, and of both political parties. Then, we must prepare for what is to come so that when it comes time to resist, we know where to, how to and we are successful.