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This may sound contradictory, but I’m no longer shocked by anything Donald Trump says or does. But shame on me, because I should be shocked. We all should retain the ability to be shocked by the things Donald Trump does and says.
Like so many of you, I’ve grown immune to it. I’ve become numb to it. Every day of the week for the past 10 years, he has done and said hundreds of cruel, ignorant, stupid, dishonest, authoritarian things.
Every. Single. Day. For years.
And we’ve become numb, and we’re no longer shocked or outraged by it. Shame on us, because Trump wins when we’re no longer shocked, when we lose the capacity to be outraged. That’s Trump’s game, by the way. That’s how he’s succeeded, by the way—to get you and I to lose the capability to be shocked and outraged by the lawless, corrupt, dishonest, cruel, ignorant shit he says and does.
Let me give you an example. This morning, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, publicly called for the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois to be imprisoned.
Let me repeat that. The President of the United States today publicly said that the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois should be behind fucking bars. He called for their imprisonment. Publicly. We should all be shocked by that.
I read his post this morning, and I admit that I wasn’t shocked. My reaction was: That’s a fascist. He’s a fascist. That’s fascism. He’s militarizing our streets. He’s trying to create a police state. And now he’s demanding that his political opponents—state and local officials—are thrown in jail. Fascism.
But there was no surprise. That’s who and what he is. And then I stopped myself and said, “No, dammit! Joe, no.” Because that’s wrong. It’s so out of line. It’s so beyond the pale. To not be shocked by that is a failure on my part. Shame on me.
Then, you know the drill. If any other president had said that—Barack Obama, George W. Bush, any other president—if they had called publicly for two state and local officials that they didn’t like to be thrown in jail for no reason, it would be the biggest story in the world. If we had a functional Congress, there would be impeachment proceedings. Immediately.
But because it’s Trump, we just shrug. Because it’s Trump, we say, “That’s just Trump.” Because it’s Trump, we just look away. Because it’s Trump, we ignore it. Because it’s Trump, we are no longer shocked. We are no longer outraged. That’s on us. He wins. When we stop being shocked, when we stop being outraged, he wins. We lose.
He should be tossed out of office because of that. He should be impeached for calling for the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois to be jailed. Or the 25th Amendment should be invoked. He should be removed from office. This is fascism. This is what fascist dictators say, and we don’t allow that here. But it’s here because we’ve normalized it.
That’s why I’m melting down today. I caught myself, corrected myself, and shamed myself today. I slapped myself upside the head today and said, “Damn you, Joe Walsh. You’re part of the problem. You’re enabling him by not being shocked.”
Every time he opens his mouth, he tells a lie, and we don’t even pay attention to his lies anymore. That’s our fault. We’re to blame for that. When we, a free people, lose the capacity, the interest, the passion to be shocked and outraged, we lose our democracy, a dictator rules over us, and tyranny takes over.
It’s a lesson for all of us. Don’t ever stop being shocked and outraged by what he says. Retain the ability to be shocked and outraged, and we defeat him—and we defeat fascism. Lose the passion for what we believe in so strongly, lose the ability to be shocked, then he wins—and fascism is here.
Be shocked by him every day. Be righteously outraged by him every day, by everything he does. Be righteously shocked every day, at everything he does.
That’s the only way we defeat who and what he is.
This Week
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Tuesday with Rev. Benjamin Cremer (click if you missed it!)
Wednesday with April Ajoy (click if you missed it!)
Thursday, 7pm ET (Ask Me Anything! Paid subscribers only!)
“Welcome to the Party, Pal!”/Friday, 12pm ET (with Mike Nellis)
Donald Trump is threatening every American who opposes his fascist agenda. I will never stop criticizing Trump or anyone who violates our American social contract.
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THIS WEEK’S INTERVIEWS & QUOTES
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