Resistance affirms our character and conscience
November 12, 2024
The best use of your time today is to read the essay by Rebecca Solnit in The Guardian, Authoritarians like Trump love fear, defeatism, surrender. Do not give them what they want. While I urge you to read Solnit’s entire essay, the following excerpts were helpful to me:
[H]ope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it.
It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up. That we will assess our powers and weaknesses and recognize that the future we face looks grim, but we do not know how it will unfold, and neither do those we oppose.
How it will unfold depends in no small part on what we do. People too often think hope is smiles and sunshine, when it’s fury in the face of danger and oppression, and pressing on in the storm.
“Fight on” might sound like a lot now, but maybe you can at least not quit, even if you need to take time off, which is not the same thing as checking out.
Hold onto this advice: “Hope means we will keep showing up. At least not quit . . . even if you need to take time off.”
If you want to stop here (or after you read Solnit’s wonderful essay), I don’t blame you. The media coverage of the election outcome is becoming even more insufferable. Many commentators still seem to be taking joy by dancing on what they (wrongly) believe to be the grave of the Democratic Party. Everyone with a political agenda is interpreting the loss in a way that advances their interests and worldview.
The lack of humility and self-awareness of the commentariat is galling. None of them—not one—predicted this outcome. But that fact does not give them pause in declaring with pontifical certainty what the electoral outcome (allegedly) signifies.
Worse, most of the commentariat contributed to this outcome by normalizing Trump before the election. Having done so, they are amazed that Americans voted for an aspiring dictator who—according to them before the election—was a run-of-the-mill Republican who believes in free markets and small government.
So, I urge you not to look for answers from opinion writers in major media. Indeed, the “question” posed by the 2024 election outcome is not “Why did Democrats lose,” but “How will we respond?” That urgent question overrides efforts to slice and dice exit polls and assign blame for the loss.
Many are still recovering from the shock of the election outcome. Even as we do, we will face a flood of announcements about the incoming administration. Those announcements confirm the worst of what we feared about a second Trump administration.
Our warnings and alarm failed to pierce the awareness of the majority of those who voted last Tuesday. We must not relent. We must continue to raise the alarm so that the resistance emerges quickly and with strength.
In the discussion below, I address two of Trump's appointments and a worrisome procedural possibility involving the Senate. If that sounds like too much for you at this time, not to worry! Proceed directly to Concluding Thoughts. Everything I discuss below will be current in a week or month from now.
Trump's nominations for cabinet and senior staff positions confirm his mass deportation intentions
Trump ran on a platform of racism, misogyny, and white supremacy. Two of those platform planks—racism and white supremacy—were manifested through his pledge to engage in the “mass deportation” of ten million immigrants and their families. His first “nominations” confirm that he was deadly serious about that pledge. See NYTimes, Trump Transition Signals Focus on Deportations as Miller Assumes Influence. (Accessible to all.)
In the clearest signal possible, Trump has appointed Stephen Miller as the Deputy Chief of Policy, a position that will control the policy priorities of the incoming administration. Miller was one of the architects and head cheerleaders for Trump’s white supremacy agenda, including the child separation policy. See CNN, Former Breitbart Editor: Stephen Miller is a white supremacist. I know, I was one too.
Trump also announced that Tom Homan would serve as “Border Czar.” See HuffPo, Trump’s New 'Border Czar' Tells Democrats To 'Get The Hell Out Of The Way'.
Per HuffPo,
Homan served as the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during part of Trump’s first administration. He was a key figure in the effort to separate migrant children from their parents at the southern border with Mexico and a contributor to Project 2025.
[Homan] told Democratic governors to “get the hell out of the way” as the upcoming administration prepares its mass deportation plans — or face unnamed consequences.
“There will be a massive deportation operation because we have a massive, never-seen-before illegal immigration [wave],” Homan said during a Fox News appearance on Friday
Are you seeing a theme here? Dual architects of the “child separation policy” under Trump are again in key positions in his new administration. Trump ran on a policy of racism and white supremacy. He won on that platform. He is moving to implement those planks as the top priority of his administration.
Oh, and Tom Homan is a contributor to Project 2025—the master plan that Trump claims he never heard about.
If you favorite opinion columnist is telling you that the election was about inflation, they failed to listen to what Trump said in every rally and interview.
Trump urges the Senate to abdicate its role of “advice and consent” in confirming cabinet secretaries and senior officers in the administration
Timothy Snyder has counseled that a key aspect of resisting tyranny is “refusing to obey in advance.” Today, Trump demanded that the GOP Senate “obey in advance” by agreeing to go into recess so that Trump can appoint cabinet secretaries without Senate confirmations.
Although the issue of Senate recesses sounds technical, it may have a profound effect on Trump's ability to consolidate power in an extra-constitutional manner. I will give a brief summary here but recommend that you read Jay Kuo’s Substack essay in The Status Kuo, “Congressional Recession.” The details are set forth in Kuo’s article, so I will focus on the major points.
In short, the Constitution charges the Senate with the obligation to provide “advice and consent” regarding presidential nominations to agency heads and other “officers” designated by Congress. US Constitution Article II, Section 2.
The power and obligation to provide “advice and consent” over nominations is a key aspect of the balance of power in the Constitution. Trump has just demanded that the Senate abdicate that power by going into recess.
Per the Constitution (Art. II Sec 2),
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate . . . .
The power to make recess appointments was included when the Senate was in recess most of the time during the early years after adopting the Constitution in 1789. Now, however, the Senate is effectively in session continuously, so there is no need to circumvent the Senate confirmation process.
Moreover, Trump will have a majority in the Senate, so there is no reason to resort to recess appointments. Unless, of course, Trump wants to diminish the constitutional oversight role of Congress by demanding that the Senate “obey in advance.”
And “obey in advance” is what Senator Rick Scott did when he promised to give Trump the power to make recess appointments. Senator Scott made the promise as part of his groveling to obtain the role of majority leader in the Senate.
Trump's demand for recess appointment power confirms his intention to “be a dictator on day one.” The sane washing of Trump by the media must stop. Abuse of the recess appointment power should be loudly and vigorously condemned by every member of the commentariat currently wasting their time scolding Democrats for supporting an agenda that recognizes the dignity and humanity of all Americans.
Two pieces of good news
Many readers worked to help elect Ruben Gallego to the US Senate (from Arizona) and George Whitesides (CA-27) to the US House of Representatives. Both were declared winners on Monday evening! Congratulations to everyone who wrote, called, texted, and canvassed for the winning candidates! Your hard work paid off!
Opportunity for Reader Engagement
Cure ballots for Democrats!
As of this evening, the House of Representatives has 15 very close races that have not yet been called.
Field Team 6 is the easiest resource to look up the states and see where and how to volunteer or donate:
https://www.fieldteam6.org/ballot-curing
One of the candidates we've been ballot curing for just won! George Whitesides (CA-27) went from being down by 3,240 votes four days ago to winning by 6,983 votes today.
California still accepts ballots by mail through tomorrow, Nov. 12, so the count goes on, and ballot curing needs go on. Our work makes a difference!
Concluding Thoughts
There is a LOT more news out there, but we are easing our way back into covering politics, so one day at a time. I hope today’s portion was the right size.
I have two thoughts to close today’s newsletter.
The first is that community is essential at this time. We need community to recover, and we need community to continue the fight. Don’t wait for someone to invite you into community. Will it into existence. Call on your leaders to make spaces to gather. Invite a friend into your home. Invite yourself into a friend’s home! Create community in every interaction with a colleague, a service person, a passerby in the market. People are hungering for community. If you offer it, they will join.
The second is that resistance is not merely about preserving democracy. It is about preserving ourselves. There is a famous story about an antiwar protestor (A.J. Muste) who kept a daily vigil in front of the White House. A reporter asked Muste whether he thought his nightly vigil would be effective in changing US war policy:
'Mr. Muste, do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night with a candle?'
"'Oh,' Muste replied, 'I don't do this to change the country. I do this so the country won't change me.'
Resistance affirms our character and conscience. Do not obey in advance. Do not cower. Do not wait in fear for the next bad thing to happen. Resist. For yourself. For future generations. Don’t let the outcome of the election change us. By resisting, we will preserve ourselves and our democracy. And that resistance will change the outcome of the 2024 election by reversing it 2026 and 2028.
Stay strong and be kind to one another!
Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
Los Angeles is covered by patchy clouds on Monday evening, so I cannot capture a new astrophotography image to include in this newsletter. I am including a second image of the comet classified as C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS). The comet is currently 126 million miles from Earth and is traveling away from us at 39 miles per second! See the comet tracker here: Comet C/2023 A3 Live Position | TheSkyLive.com.
Enjoy!
The debate goes on about why Harris and Dems lost. We lost because trump has some clear advantages. He is not hampered by having to tell the truth.or behave according to social or political norms. He knows what his base will believe and feeds their fears with lies. He has no remorse about anything he says or does and never admits to being wrong. In short, it is very hard to win against an opponent that has no moral boundaries.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Rick Scott is being pushed by the trump inner circle as Majority Leader in the Senate. He is a poster boy for everything that has gone wrong in the last decades. He built the largest for-profit health care company in the country (what possibly could go wrong with "for-profit" and "health care?") in the 90's and pleaded the 5th 75 times when his company came under investigation. Being the US, nobody was held accountable, the company ended up paying a record of more than 2 billion to settle the fraud claims.
Scott then went on to be elected Governor in Florida (where else, one might ask). And now perhaps on his way to succeed the turtle. A true partner in crime.