Donald Trump has taken over the D.C. police force under the pretense of lowering crime rates. Let’s call this what it really is: the latest dress rehearsal for Trump’s full-blown authoritarian takeover.
We saw what he did in California in June, deploying not just the National Guard but active-duty Marines (!) to Los Angeles completely unnecessarily — just because he didn’t like the protests against his administration’s extreme immigration enforcement.
Two months later, he’s pulling from the same playbook in D.C., making it the latest backdrop for test-driving dictatorship.
Every one of us should be extremely concerned about what’s next.
So what can we do? I’ve said this before but I will keep repeating it over and over because it could not be more important: When democracy starts backsliding, the #1 most important thing for people to do in their day-to-day lives is to stay in community. Talk to people. Don’t isolate, don’t ignore, don’t let the fractures Trump is pushing on us become reality.
They’re counting on us being demoralized, distracted, and just plain tired — that’s how they push the bounds of power further and further. But the truth is, way more people in this country believe in preserving democracy than not — and we need to hold onto that tightly.
So that’s the bigger picture: Join a group (Indivisible has great options!). Talk about this stuff with your friends and family on a regular basis. Connect with the people around you, even if you can only find the tiniest nugget of overlap to agree on.
But right now, in this exact moment, what should we do?
What I’m doing is taking a deep breath and re-committing myself to fighting for what I believe in. It helps, I promise.
Want to join me? Add your name here if you’re still in this fight — and don’t skip the deep breath part.
Our country’s values have been tested before. We’ve gone through challenging times and seen the messy back and forth of true progress. And we will certainly be tested again. Through it all, we need to stick together.
I’m with you.
-Sara Jacobs
