Hello , my name is Michael Albert and I am the host of the podcast that's titled Revolution Z . After last week's diversion from fighting Trump to mostly talking about economic allocation , this week I am back to the need to stop Trumpist fascism .
So this is our 334th consecutive episode and it's based on , but significantly extrapolates from , an article I did earlier this week titled Trumpism a tale of three reactions . To get started , imagine you're about to crack open a new book and begin reading . The opening sentence goes like this it was the best of times . It was the worst of times .
It was the edge of wisdom . It was the edge of foolishness . It was the epoch of belief . It was the epoch of incredulity . It was the season of light . It was the season of darkness . It was the spring of hope . It was the winter of despair . We had everything before us . We had nothing before us . We were all going direct to heaven .
We were all going direct the other way . In short , the period was so far like the present period that some of the noisiest authorities insisted on its being received for good or for evil .
In the superlative degree of comparison only , you might think worst in the above sentence refers to the now ongoing Trumpian fascistic takeover of government , economy , culture , health , education and indeed all of US society and beyond .
Goodbye empathy , and you might think best in the sentence above refers to students , workers , moms , dads , daughters and sons assembling to instead win a fundamentally better future . Hello , solidarity . But Charles Dickens actually wrote the quoted sentence nearly 170 years ago to begin his book A Tale of Two Cities .
Please forgive that I have shamelessly adapted Dickens' title to become Trumpism , a Tale of Three Reactions in the article , but in this episode I have a new title Trumpism , accommodation , collaboration or Resistance . Consider reaction one passive accommodation . Many millions of people who Trump disturbs , worries , sickens or even enrages nonetheless remain quiescent .
They ignore unraveling social ties . They deny impending social suicide . It is as if nothing really extraordinary is happening . They look around , no big deal . They accommodate . Why ? I would wager that two long-nurtured beliefs fuel people's resignation . One you can't fight city hall and win .
They have the law , the money , the guns have it also Round one Fight over , they win . But two even if you do fight and you do win , what you implement will lead right back to the vile conditions you sought to overthrow . That's just how it is . There is no alternative . Yes , sure , fear undoubtedly also propels people to accommodate , we bow .
To avoid Trump's cruel wrath , I will cut your budget , I will fire and even arrest your ass . Oh no , please no . I am down on my knees and , yes , exhaustion or even eyes on only oneself likely play a part . Bedlam everywhere , my system can't take it . I must go where it is quiet myself .
But despite these latter possibilities , I think accommodation isn't mostly that people get scared , lazy or uncaring . I think accommodation is mostly that people feel that to fight Trump is a fool's errand . People believe we will lose big time and more . If we did win , our victory would just reinstall yesterday's horrors . Accommodationists feel doom is our destiny .
They counsel us not to fight but to hunker down . Survival is their aim .
When the dozens , hundreds or even thousands of lawyers in a big law firm , including the young ones who still have social ties and progressive feelings , are told by their groveling partner bosses to obey cuts and restraints and to acquiesce to Trumpian dictates , and they say yes , okay , boss , yes . And then they lawyer on . What is that ?
Or maybe they start to survey other possible job prospects , or even a new profession . What is that ? Both are passive accommodation . They are individuals seeking individual survival without even contemplating another path . Why don't they resist ?
Does it even occur to accommodationists to try what 50 , 20 , 10 , or even five partners say we give up , donald , please don't punish us . And a couple of thousand young lawyers stick their hands in their tailored suit pockets and return to their desk or start consulting job offerings , but for them to fight doesn't compute . That is accommodation intimidation .
Likewise , when malignant Musk fires long-standing employees with all sorts of socially consequential jobs , how many think to say no , it is time for us to refuse to go Versus . How many say where is the exit ? And can I have a little severance pay please ? I'm not saying that resistance is easy , but I doubt that it even rises as a possible thought .
It seems that so far , for many , their experiences , their training , their fears , all say hunker down , forget about fighting . The same holds , or initially held for universities , when groveling trustees tell faculty and students they must surrender to Trump , and in response many faculty and some students say okay , yes , boss , and return to class . What is that ?
It is again passive accommodation . It is individuals seeking individual survival . It is individuals not even noticing their potential collective power . It is understandable , for sure , but still , why don't they resist ? When Harvard did resist , others follow . That is better than not . But what about students ? But accommodation isn't just those two cases .
How about the union that isn't ready to strike for its own workers and even for all workers ? How about the parent who bemoans Trump but then changes nothing else ? Soldier on with no significant change ? That too is accommodation . How about the nonprofit that cuts its activities before Trump even strikes ? Accommodation Okay , but what leads to accommodation ?
There are lots of answers . Here is one that is reasoned , calm and embodies elements of caring and responsibility as well . Protect myself , my future , my job and my family . Okay , I can do that . Fight against Trump and my own immediate groveling boss . Fight against just my own circumstances , much less fight to achieve a better world . No way , I can't do that .
I surrender on that wider front . I don't want to distract from what I can do in crazed pursuit of what I cannot do . We need to hear that reaction and to realize that for activists to ask working people to push endlessly on what they quite reasonably see as an unmovable obstacle or at best a revolving door , will move few , if any .
To resist , to go back to Bidenism will not inspire workers' involvement . In contrast , we have to communicate positive intent and long-term strategy to inspire involvement . It is simple For people who rightly mistrust institutions to decide to sustainably resist Trump . They need reasoned hope . They need positive , achievable aims .
They need to feel that their involvement will matter . It follows that if we are to overcome accommodation , we need to address people's hesitancy , including their isolation and defeatism . We need to offer more than defensiveness that seeks only to get back to the status quo before Trump . But what about reaction two active collaboration .
What constitutes collaboration and what does overcoming collaboration require from us ? To be collaborationist is to knowingly support Trump . Active collaboration doesn't merely advocate confused choices that impose unanticipated collateral damage . Active collaboration sees fascism around the corner and celebrates its presence , or at least knowingly enables it .
Active collaboration is Trump's billionaires . It is not head-in-the-sand accommodationist denial . It is eyes wide open collaborationist support . Will the list of collaborationist college trustees grow well beyond Columbia University ? Will the list of collaborationist law partners encompass nearly all the biggest firms ? Will cowering politicians continue to genuflect and abet ?
Will some union presidents reject strikes ? Some collaborators are deeply racist , misogynist , nationalist and or corporatist . They are personally Trump-like proud boys . Indeed , some collaborators are personally less of all that or , in some cases , likely barely even any of all that , at least at the outset of their involvement .
But despite their differences , do collaborators have commonalities other than moral decrepitude ? I think maybe they do . Collaborators lack , or at any rate jettison , human empathy . Collaborators may not overly rush to sadistically crush everyone who Trump targets , but collaborators do seem to exhibit near zero sincere fellow feeling for the targeted .
Indeed , often collaborators appear to have near zero empathy for anyone other than themselves and , in some cases , their families , or perhaps even a small circle of friends . They seem to have zero sense of hypocrisy or perhaps incredible powers of denial , even as they rail at characteristics that they themselves exhibit in the extreme .
Collaborators want all for one where the one is themselves . Incredibly , collaborators also want one for all where the all is just them .
Do collaborators bow to Trump out of devotion or do they bow out of abject fear when a college's trustees or a law firm's partners or a government department's bosses or your state's politicians hear Trump's orders and comply despite that ? They know the horrific implications for others . That helps Trump , whether it is a profile on cowardice or a profile in greed .
Either way , it collaborates For those in their employ or on their campuses or in their districts . To then obey the collaborator's instructions is to accommodate . Truth is , it is all bad . But to be principled and effective , our resistance needs to address active collaboration , quite differently than we address confused or denialist hopelessness .
We need to energetically , respectfully and even sympathetically reach out to hear and talk with the currently accommodationist population and even with the horribly misinformed , disoriented and highly hostile population . But we need to unstintingly , militantly oppose knowing collaborationists . So we come to reaction three resistance . What is resistance ? How does it win ?
Resistance doesn't gleefully cowardly or knowingly aid Trump . Nor does resistance merely privately dislike or even hate Trump . Resistance doesn't delude itself that Trump isn't utterly horrendous and socially suicidal . Resistance doesn't deny the excruciating pain the recently born and the as yet unborn may suffer if they are sacrificed to Trumpism .
Resistance knows that Trump's full success would herald a blindingly dark and infinitely dystopian future . So resistance actively fights Trump . Resistance enlists others to actively fight Trump . Resistance includes anything anyone can do that will help stop Trump . But here is the main thing about resistance it has to win .
Resistance is not mainly about feeling good or looking good , though it helps if one does feel fine , and feeling good may even be necessary for sustainability . Resistance is not mainly about being brave and steadfast , though that too , helps , and courage may even be necessary for effectivity .
Resistance is also not mainly about seeking and finding truths , though again , that helps , and honest accuracy is indeed necessary for worthiness Most difficult to manifest resistance is not only about narrowly aiding self , but is also about collectively aiding others . Our battle is zero sum . It will take time , but if in the end we don't win , trump wins .
If in the end we don't win , we lose , and that is unacceptable . But how do we win ? Before trying to answer , I should admit that I feel this message echoes commentaries that appear all over alternative and even , to a considerable extent , mainstream media .
This episode's message is redundant of my own and others' past formulations , and yet it simultaneously seems to me that the points raised here need the repetition . I know you have often heard messages like this , as have I , but I also know that to stay on course , I need to keep hearing , reading , calls to resist and ideas about how to do so . How about you ?
It is excellent that sensible stuff is said and written , heard and read , and that is certainly happening , but it is another thing for the sensible stuff to percolate far into our brains and emotions to thereafter guide our choices . We have to deeply register and not deny the sensible stuff . We have to deeply remember and not forget the sensible stuff .
The real bottom line is that Trumpian darkness could last lifetimes unless we bring on a new dawn . This is not false news , it isn't even exaggeration , but still these worst of times can become the best of times . What kind and what scope of resistance can make that happen ?
Resistance will grow if it reaches out to successfully overcome feelings of hopelessness and despair , feelings of impossibility and feelings of futility . To do that , resistance must envision positive gains as well as ward off horrible ills . It must chart paths to success . It must make clear how people's involvement matters .
Growing resistance will in turn win if it raises sufficient costs to elites that they have to give up their agendas to avoid losing more than they would gain by continuing to pursue their agendas . To avoid losing more than they would gain by continuing to pursue their agendas . This is a general observation , even a general rule . Trump and Co are amoral .
They can't even comprehend appeals to care for others . Trump and Co understand only power and wealth To grow and inspire enough commitment to win , resistance must make demands and use words and deeds that awaken desires for much more than survival . It must conceive , communicate and seek positive program To then beat Trump and co .
It must threaten their power and wealth . Trump and co will comprehend that , yes , the rich and powerful profiteers and supremacists will manipulate , deceive , bait and switch , overload and repress even more than they have done so far . That is their societal role . But if we are intent and strategic , that won't stop us .
The bigger obstacle to beating Trump and then advancing toward fundamental change resides within ourselves . It is self-denigrating baggage that we carry . It is crippling doubts that we harbor . It is tendency to nitpick , undermine and even assault one another .
It is an inclination to go it alone for self , rather than to work together , for all Society's pliers bend our minds and wills . But the good news is that we can bend back . On the one hand , these times are even worse than they appear . On the other hand , these times are also better than the best we intuit . We just have to seize them .
When teachers seek not only better pay and conditions for themselves , but also better education and inspiring care for the children and communities they serve , that is part of a winning path . When nurses seek not only better pay and conditions for themselves , but also better and free health care and healthier conditions for all , that is part of a winning path .
When workers in any industry seek better pay and conditions for themselves , but also unite with other workers and surrounding communities to aid them too , that is part of a winning path . When students seek protections and improvements on campus , but also to defend targeted communities off campus , that is part of a winning path .
That is part of a winning path when women seek control of their own bodies and lives , but also support others who seek health , dignity and well-being that is part of a winning path . When minorities seek room to breathe and equity for themselves , but also for all others who are disenfranchised and denied , that is part of a winning path .
And , yes , when all too few politicians seek to name Trump what he is and to rail at him , but also to build sustainable organization and positive program , that too is part of a winning path .
Healthcare for all , excellent free education for all , a higher minimum wage and shorter work week without loss of income for all , a more progressive income tax for all , a wealth tax for the exploiters , a rebuilt industrial base with dignified work to sustainably provide needed products and living incomes for all , international solidarity for all and finally , of course ,
a massive program to save the planet from ecological nightmares for all . But yes , those like thinking properly refined could have one legitimate target the military . You get the idea To beat Trump and to reach a better America and a better world .
We need to have projects , cells and organizations that empathize with and work to assist every person who suffers injustice . We need to collectively seek positive program that inspires and empowers . But what does seek mean ? How do we seek programs successfully ?
Partly we evidence and inspire growing numbers by displaying mass turnouts at marches , rallies and town halls too . That is happening . Partly we evidence growing militants and commitment by proliferating and escalating civil disobedience via encampments , blockades , sanctuaries , occupations and , perhaps most critically , strikes . Not yet as much as we need .
Perhaps most critically , strikes Not yet as much as we need , but I think it's coming soon . Imagine employees of gutted government departments and firms not rushing out their door to seek private income elsewhere , but binding themselves to their desks to collectively overcome injustice right where they are .
Imagine teachers at every level teaching truths as they know them openly , in every classroom and even in the evenings to community residents . Imagine mutual aid , collective defense and especially , widespread collective disobedience , all demanding positive gains .
Imagine major unions holding moving , disruptive support strikes on behalf of immigrants , federal workers , women and more . Imagine all that . It's easy if you try . Yes , lawsuits can help resistance , but lawsuits alone will not win . Rich trustees holding the line against fascism can help resistance , but rich opposition to Trump will not alone win .
Entreaties to Trump to obey law , quite like entreaties to be moral , are an activist currency that Trump and his collaborators literally cannot comprehend .
If teachers , nurses , workers in factories and warehouses , workers driving trucks and producing them , students , women and oppressed cultural communities wait on the generosity of elites to abide law , much less to display morality , we won't win . Resistance must instead actively force elite compliance by raising threats to power and to wealth that elites fear .
That aim can inspire wide and deep participation . That aim can win . We can't do it overnight , of course . It takes organizing , but we can do it if we try , and it looks to me like people are trying and it is working . Can I please add a last point ?
One of the deadly obstacles to our success is for us to feel we can't keep up with all of Trump's horrible announcements . We are buried in bad news . We can't have sound opinions about all of it . We managed to get a tentative grip on one issue and suddenly that issue disappears . Something else demands attention . It is too damn much . We can't keep up .
We are shocked and awed . Where is my pillow to rest my aching head ? I think there is a cure for shock and awe that is quite consciously meant to bulldoze us into passivity . We don't each need to become expert on each and every idiotic Trumpian policy threat On that front . We only each need to oppose Trumpist fascism in all its manifestations .
Put differently , for every new manifestation that Trump launches , there is one key recognition what Trump unleashes is never an attempt to solve a problem on behalf of a suffering constituency . It is always instead part of Trump's plan to remold society in his own image . The economy is indeed sick , but Trump's bullying tariffs aren't a solution .
Immigration indeed has real flaws , but Trump's disgusting deportations are not a solution . Government agencies are often very far from wonderful , but Trump's gutting them to then privatize them is not a solution .
Education and health care are very often utterly misdirected , but for Trump to orient them further towards stifling students and profiting off illness is no solution . Trump's policies don't aim to solve problems , but only to serve wealth and power in all its varied forms .
We don't have to become expert in every last idiotic , insane , cruel , trump-serving , elite-serving , billionaire-serving nuance of each day's new Trumpist tweets . We instead need to understand our overarching situation , which is actually , sadly , quite simple . We must understand that Trump's agenda augurs hell , and then ideally also .
The place where we really ought to stretch our minds is that we should imagine , refine and pursue that which we together collectively positively seek a truly better world . That seems like a good place to stop . People are moving positively in good directions and in steadily growing numbers , but there is an offsetting impression that I have which troubles me greatly .
How do I ask this ? Where are the young people ? Youth in their 20s , even in their teens ? It is purely anecdotal , but I have the impression that they are not turning out in large numbers at the general events , and I am not hearing about on-campus events . It seems hard to understand .
I hope it just means young people are on campus and in high schools or at work , but also meeting , reaching out , getting themselves ready and are about to explode onto the scene . At any rate , I sorely hope so . And all that said , this is Michael Albert signing off until next time .