A tale of two speeches.

January 8, 2024

The last forty-eight hours should give hope to everyone seeking to preserve democracy. Why? Because the “commemoration” of January 6 by Trump and MAGA extremists was so vile that decent people everywhere recoiled in disgust and horror. Trump's unhinged “speeches” have become so alarming and brazen that anyone who harbors doubts will soon abandon any notion that supporting Trump is consistent with our constitutional democracy. In a closely divided electorate, Trump's depravity will repel persuadable independents and Republicans.

Of course, Trump did not “commemorate” January 6. He mocked those who defended democracy on January 6 and celebrated those who tried to end it. He called convicted felons serving time for assaulting the Capitol “hostages”—implying that the US government is a “terrorist” organization illegally holding people without due process. He promised to grant pardons to “a large portion” of the January 6 insurrectionists.

He said of the insurrectionists, “Nobody has been treated ever in history so badly as those people . . . in our country.” (Really, Donald? Ask enslaved people and their descendants, Indigenous Americans, women, immigrants from virtually every nation on earth, and LGBTQ people if they agree.)

At the same time, Trump continued his descent into grotesque indecency, madness, and barbarism. He mocked Joe Biden for his stutter and John McCain for physical disabilities caused by injuries inflicted during combat and torture as a prisoner of war. He rambled incoherently about water “dissolving” magnetic bonds. He praised China’s President Xi Jinping as a “brilliant man” for ruling the Chinese people “ruthlessly” with an “iron fist.”

There is more, but you get the point. All the above occurred in forty-eight hours in Iowa. Imagine how much more we will see over the next ten months. He is incapable of restraining himself; his lies will become more fantastic, his delusions grander, his madness more incoherent, his greed more rapacious, and his hate more depraved. All of that will make a difference. It already is. Read on!

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The NYTimes Editorial Board issues a warning about Donald Trump.

The New York Times Editorial Board published an editorial on January 7, 2024 warning against a second term of a Trump presidency. See NYTimes Editorial, A Warning About Donald Trump and 2024. (Accessible to all.) I recommend that you read the editorial in its entirety.

The Times Editorial Board writes, in part,

Our purpose at the start of the new year, therefore, is to sound a warning.

Mr. Trump does not offer voters anything resembling a normal option of Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, big government or small. He confronts America with a far more fateful choice: between the continuance of the United States as a nation dedicated to “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” and a man who has proudly shown open disdain for the law and the protections and ideals of the Constitution. [¶]

Mr. Trump’s four years in the White House did lasting damage to the presidency and to the nation. He deepened existing divisions among Americans, leaving the country dangerously polarized; he so demeaned public discourse that many Americans have become inured to lies, insults and personal attacks at the highest levels of leadership. His contempt for the rule of law raised concerns about the long-term stability of American democracy, and his absence of a moral compass threatened to corrode the ideals of national service. [¶]

Mr. Trump’s forays into foreign affairs remain dangerously misguided and incoherent. [¶]

He has announced his intention to abandon Ukraine, leaving it and its neighbors vulnerable to further Russian aggression. [¶¶]

Re-electing Mr. Trump would present serious dangers to our Republic and to the world. This is a time not to sit out but instead to re-engage. We appeal to Americans to set aside their political differences, grievances and party affiliations and to contemplate — as families, as parishes, as councils and clubs and as individuals — the real magnitude of the choice they will make in November.

The editorial is well-stated and long overdue. But it is worth reflecting for a moment how extraordinary it is that the nation’s “newspaper of record” would issue a stark and urgent warning against the leading candidate for a major political party. I am not a historian and I haven’t conducted research on the topic, but I doubt that the Times has ever issued a similar warning against a major party candidate.

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Read this: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder.

Professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University published a short book seven years ago (before Trump) that contained twenty “lessons” on how to avoid tyranny. The book is wonderful. If you haven’t read it, you should. Purchase “On Tyranny” from an independent bookseller of your choice, here, Bookshop: Buy books online. Support local bookstores, or visit an actual bookstore!

Professor Snyder also publishes a Substack newsletter called “Thinking About . . .” On the third anniversary of January 6, Professor Snyder published a summary of the twenty lessons from his book in a Substack article called, “On Tyranny.” The essay is brilliant, and I urge you to read it. It will provide you with strategies and tools for resisting tyranny and celebrating freedom.

Professor Snyder explains in his article:

For those who want democracy and the rule of law in the United States after 2024, I would only add: now is the time to organize, to prepare to win locally and nationally, and to talk not only about what is to be lost but what can be gained.

I wrote On Tyranny in a defensive mode; but freedom is something not only to be defended but to be defined and to be celebrated. As for me, I believe that if we can get through the next year, things could get better. Much better.

For now, three years after Trump’s attempt to end democracy and the rule of law in the United States, a reminder of the lessons. I recall them now in the hope that I won’t have to do so again a year from now.

Read Professor Snyder’s article. It will lift you up and give you strength. I guarantee it!

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We are the majority. Believe it! Act like it!

One of the most pernicious aspects of the unthinking loyalty of Trump's base is that we tend to overestimate the scale of Trump's support. Their stubborn, mindless, vocal support for Trump bewilders us and causes us to assume that it is broader and deeper than it really is. Those who support democracy and oppose Trump represent the strong majority of Americans. We need to believe that fact—and start acting like we believe it!

Jamelle Bouie (of the NYTimes) has addressed the issue of the relative size of the anti-Trump majority in his newsletter article today, Trump Doesn’t Actually Speak for the Silent Majority. (Accessible to all.)

Jamelle Bouie writes, in part,

What’s been lost — or if not lost then obscured — in the constant attention to Trump’s voters, supporters and followers is that the overall American electorate is consistently anti-MAGA.

Trump lost the popular vote in 2016. The MAGA-fied Republican Party lost the House of Representatives in 2018. Trump lost the White House, and the Republican Party lost the Senate in 2020. In 2022, Trump-like or Trump-lite candidates lost competitive statewide elections in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Republicans vastly underperformed expectations in the House, winning back the chamber with a razor-thin margin, and Democrats secured governorships in Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin, among other states. Democrats overperformed again the following year, in Kentucky and Virginia. [¶]

Too many commentators have spent too much time fretting over Trump’s voters — and how they might react to the effort to remove the former president from the ballot — and not enough time thinking about the tens of millions of voters who have said, again and again, that they do not want this man or his movement in American politics.

Because 2016 was not the only election that mattered. Trump’s voters are not the only ones who count.

It is inevitable that the media and the public will give outsized attention to someone who threatens our safety and security. That is a feature hard-wired into our brains by millions of years of evolution. Our task is to overcome those primal fears and shift our attention away from the threat and focus instead on our strength and the promise of a better world the day we defeat Trump for the third time.

We can do that. We are doing that. We just need to keep it up!

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Jumpstart your activism for 2024!

It has been challenging to remain active and positive through the battles of the last seven years. The wonderful Field Team 6 is sponsoring a workshop on Saturday, January 13 from 4:00 to 5:00 PM Pacific. The workshop is called “Jumpstart for 2024 - Tips for Joyful, Sustainable Activism,” and is described as follows:

Sharon Lord Greenspan and Cathy O'Krent will discuss strategies for remaining positive and active through the political adversity and chaos we face every day.

This meeting of like-minded folks will leave you feeling refreshed, regenerated, and with the tools you need to get back to full strength . . . so you can get back out there, and kick some a$$ from a place of joy as we head into the 2024 election cycle!

The link to sign up is here: https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/409295/

The workshop will be a great event by inspiring presenters. Sign up to renew and recharge for 2024!

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A quick note about our Burnout and Sustainability seminar.

Many of you who attended the Today’s Edition Burnout and Sustainability seminar have asked about the follow-up materials and video. We are working on it—but a funny/sad thing happened after the session. My wife and I (and our extended family) went through multiple rounds of lingering respiratory viruses, RSV, Norovirus, and stomach flu that we kept passing back to one another. With two granddaughters in preschool for the first time (with whom we have daily contact), my wife and I are re-experiencing all the illnesses shared among toddlers in a group setting. We are emerging from a sixty-day (plus) fog of illness and are finally feeling better this week. So, we intend to turn to our deliverables ASAP. Thanks for your patience.

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Concluding Thoughts.

There is more to discuss, including the possible breakthrough among congressional leaders (but not rank-and-file members?) for a top-line spending agreement. If the deal is completed, Congress will avoid a government shutdown—thereby achieving the minimum acceptable level of constitutional performance. More on that in later editions this week.

I highlighted several articles in today’s edition that counter the incessant negative narrative about Joe Biden and finally—finally!—speak about the danger presented by Trump. We should not take for granted that shift in the narrative.

As I wrote above, Trump will only become worse as he speaks continuously on the campaign trail. He will receive more and more negative press. The narrative will shift against Trump, thereby creating more space for the positive narrative about Joe Biden to emerge.

And, at the very least, people will realize that Joe Biden isn’t mumbling about water dissolving magnetic bonds or promising to “build a giant dome over the US.” The Trump campaign will undoubtedly release explanations and rationalizations for those nonsensical statements, but Trump will continue to make similar statements. Remember “injecting bleach” and bringing “the light inside the body” to prevent COVID?

So, that’s the good news. People will be reminded of the monumental ignorance and unhinged ramblings of a madman. The bad news is that we will be subjected to those rantings on a regular basis. Yes, we should try to ignore them to the extent possible, but they are relevant to political discourse. Trump is a danger because of his bad intent and his disconnect from reality.  

Balanced against the Trumpian dreck is the earnest, straightforward plea of Joe Biden urging Americans to defend democracy. If you haven’t watched it, Joe Biden’s speech on the third anniversary of January 6 is worth your time: Biden speaks at Valley Forge ahead of Jan. 6 anniversary.

After I included a link to Biden’s speech in Saturday’s newsletter, a reader sent a note saying that he watched the video of the speech. His conclusion? “It was boring.”

I had many thoughts in response to the reader’s comments. Here are two responses that I considered sending before I simply deleted the reader’s email and moved on:

First, we should welcome “boring” over “depraved, maniacal, hateful, narcissistic, cruel, and fascistic” every day of the week.

Second, defending democracy isn’t about entertaining you. It is about defending democracy. If that isn’t enough motivation, I suggest you sit through several hours of Trump's speeches and then re-watch Joe Biden’s speech. Let me know what you think when you are done.

Stay strong! Talk to you tomorrow!