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Dear Progressive Reader,
On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump took to the airwaves to deliver an address to the American people in which he spent about eighteen minutes touting ([link removed]) his own accomplishments (“Over the past eleven months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history. There's never been anything like it, and I think most would agree.”). Meanwhile he also spent much of his time blaming ([link removed]) all of the nation’s current problems on the previous Biden Administration (“For the last four years, the United States was ruled by politicians who fought only for insiders, illegal aliens, career criminals, corporate lobbyists, prisoners, terrorists, and above all foreign nations which took advantage of us at levels never seen before. They flooded your cities and towns with illegal aliens. They decimated your hard-earned savings. They
indoctrinated your children with hate for America.”). In many ways the whole tirade, full of ([link removed]) hyperbolic inaccuracies, was reminiscent of the phrase après moi le déluge, attributed to ([link removed]) French monarch Louis XV, known for his corruption and indifference to the needs of the everyday people, whose death in 1774 would set the stage ([link removed]) for the French Revolution.
One topic that was much anticipated actually received no mention in Trump’s speech: the current military plans and actions toward Venezuela. Even as the President announced ([link removed]) the blockade of “sanctioned oil tankers” on Tuesday, then on Thursday, under the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, two additional small boats were destroyed ([link removed]) in the region, bringing the death toll to 104, none of whom have been tried or convicted of any crime. Speaking to Kristen Welker of NBC news on Thursday, Trump said ([link removed]) about the possibility of a war with Venezuela, “I don’t rule it out.” Writing in February 1990, following the devastating invasion by the U.S. military of Panama, another Latin American nation, the editors of The Progressive noted
([link removed]) , “No single action of the Bush Administration so disgraces the United States as the December invasion of Panama. It was illegal and unwarranted, and the President callously ordered it to bolster his own domestic ratings—no matter the cost in lives to American soldiers, Panamanian soldiers, and Panamanian civilians.”
Historian of Latin America Marc Becker, speaking Friday on WORT community radio’s “A Public Affair,” indicated ([link removed]) that in spite of media reports about dissatisfaction within Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro’s government would not be easily overthrown: “One thing I have observed in Latin American politics . . . is that as long as the military is on your side, you stay in power, if you lose the military support you fall.” Becker went on to say that Maduro has learned this lesson and has made sure the military is completely behind him. Well, it seems Trump has learned this lesson as well, announcing ([link removed]) on Wednesday evening in his nationally televised speech that “1,450,000 military service members will receive a special [reward], we call [it] warrior dividend, before Christmas, a
warrior dividend. In honor of our nation's founding in 1776, we are sending every soldier $1,776. Think of that. And the checks are already on the way. . . . Nobody deserves it more than our military.” Similarly, a little more than two months ago, Trump made sure ([link removed]) that even while others were working without income during the government shutdown, members of the military continued to receive paychecks.
This week on our website, incarcerated writer Rashon Venable reviews ([link removed]) the new book The Tragedy of True Crime; Terrance Sullivan examines ([link removed]) the re-classification of certain “professional degrees” by the Department of Education; and Matt Minton profiles ([link removed]) some of the courageous Iranian filmmakers resisting censorship and arrest. Plus, Ed Rampell reviews ([link removed]) the new documentary about the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement that spread across the country; Eleanor Bader looks at ([link removed]) the pushback by
activists against recent policies allowing jail or involuntarily commitment of unhoused people for merely living on the street; Brianna Nargiso Newton reports ([link removed]) on recent proposals to weaken the oversight of disparities in special education; Michael Felsen pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on recent affronts to the separation of church and state; and Anthony Pahnke opines ([link removed]) on the ways farmers can organize to oppose unfair trade policies.
Finally, December 17 marked the fifteenth anniversary of the launch of the Arab Spring. Beginning in Tunisia ([link removed]) , the uprisings against authoritarian rulers ultimately spread ([link removed]) to Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. While none of these led in the short term to lasting change, and many were brutally repressed, the nonviolent resistance models for civil society, many inspired in part ([link removed]) by the writings of Gene Sharp, remain as important lessons. As Sharp, who died in 2018, told ([link removed]) interviewer James L. VanHise in The Progressive in 2017, “It may not be successful. It may not be noticed even, at the time. But
it’s there as a potential.” As VanHise reminds us ([link removed]) , in what might be seen as a lesson for 2026, “Sharp’s great insight was that nonviolent actions often succeed when the ruler’s sources of power are severed.”
Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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