Thank you for this powerful and urgent framing. I recently published a post mapping how the authoritarian blitz is landing in people’s lives and bodies: The Harms Are Cumulative. Your Overwhelm Is the Goal. Naming these patterns of downstrean personal consequences increases our strategic agility in the face of compounding harm.
OMG 😳 I felt it, I knew it but seeing it in writing makes my stomach do flips … after the election in November I could feel it coming and I had a break down but now … 🤢
Thank you. I am reading "From Dictatorship to Democracy, A Conceptual Framewoek for Liberation", by Gene Sharp. This book along with "The Power of the Powerless", by Vaclav Havel and Timothy Snyder, "On Tyranny". Don't give up... Now is the time to stand up. Find a group to rally with, make your voice heard. I appreciate your guidelines but I refuse to relent
I was informed before. I was an activist before. But now that I have read this I am terrified that it is too late to stop what is happening. Thanks for putting my scattered thoughts and fears into focus.
And the scum pretending to be the Democratic Party leadership has lain back and let it happen. I believe they think they will get part of the spoils, but they are probably in for a nasty surprise.
I think the people who have been "loyal" to the Democratic party as voters are the ones who are in for the worst of the surprises. The Dems have never been there to actually "save" us from anything, just there to be in power every once in awhile to give us the working people some bread crumbs to placate. Now they don't care. They're all in on it as long as the money keeps flowing their way.
The people you are referring to didn’t believe the Dems were going to “save” them. They just correctly believed fell they were the best choice of the candidates in the elections. And they are not surprised about anything. I am not surprised about anything.
They failed, but you failed in whatever your better tactics might have been too, Karen. Keep your focus on the real enemies, not the easy ones.
Great piece. I hope readers will appreciate not only what the Trump team and GOP are doing within these Project 2025 tactics, but how the Dems are falling in line and either standing back and allowing them to execute or actively helping to assure they get done. The Dems were never our saviors and never will be. Both Red and Blue are beholden to the corporate oligarchs than their constituents and the sooner the masses realize this, the sooner we can leverage our power through our solidarity.
Civil resistance is our hope to combat these forces and we are starting to see the beginnings of these movements and the impact they are having to combat the fascists in our government.
Karen, please, this is no longer a one issue situation of democrats vs republicans. This is now a fight for the existence of our democracy and what’s left of our country if we survive. We need all of you, all of us, to make it past the destructive forces tearing our nation apart.
To be sure this is a shit-show but to pick up the shit and throw it at each other is only going to get us all smelly and even less able to fight the real enemy. 🥺
I'm fully aware of who the real enemy is. I'm trying to tell people in these various threads the Dems aren't going to save us and they need to let the old party go. There are still people in general and in this thread who think we have to do all the "banding together" work within the current confines of this construct... This imperial colonial capitalistic White supremacist system. And I am saying I reject that system and will follow the lead of others, especially Indigenous peoples, who are organizing outside that system.
I wasn't necessarily surprised by it myself, I ended up switching to a different party for voting finally in this last election. I mainly meant for a lot of people who went hogwild crazy for Harris like it was gonna fix things.
Politics thrives on excitement. It was a relief after Biden finally let go. 40,000 black women organizing a zoom call the first day, record donations coming in. Very little time left. Are we supposed to be angry that people let their optimism briefly show? Yeah it looks so foolish in retrospect. Maybe we just mad at ourselves for ever having hope.
Guys. Please consider that Trump likely stole the election. Please look at the data coming out of the Election Truth Alliance. Research a “Russian tale” in statistics and note how Trump won every single swing state often times with bullet ballots. I believe Kamala could have won the election if it weren’t for their interference.
I saw her politics as what they were, the same as Biden, who was openly supporting, funding and abetting a genocide. In a way I had never been exposed to in my short life. I knew of the wrongness of post 911, but not to the degree I got to in late October 2023. So I did not have much hope placed in that particular switcheroo stunt. If the DNC really wanted a chance, they would have asked him to not run again from the get go. They let it go this way on purpose, bc it was apparently all part of the plan.
Don't kid yourself, the Dems do it too. This is not some special playbook only the Repubs use. Both parties politicians are complicit in and directly or indirectly perpetuating this whole system. One side just always plays "good cop" and one always plays "bad cop."
There are certainly bad Dem's too, but I haven't seen this level of constitutional destruction in my lifetime happen while Democrat were in power. Does there need to be reform? Yes, but not this way! I agree with other comments that we need unity among those of us that see our country falling into fascism and try to prevent as best we can!
Very true, Project 2025 directives are causing major horrific damage. However, Dems could have done MANY things to codify and put in more permanent protections when they had super majorities and they just simply refused to do it. Repubs are more deliberately blatant and persistent, but Dems are still guilty of laziness and apathy. They like being the "underdog" coming back up through a midterm surge to "save democracy" and "take it back" in the House and/or Senate. But this song and dance gets repeated over and over again, with the same results of Repubs constantly coming back, erasing progress and eroding past protections and rights. This fight will be a long one and it can't be with only two parties. We can't keep taking one step forward 5 steps back every 2-4 years, which the Dems seem totally fine with doing bc as long as it gets them elected, they don't care about the long term.
Ok I get it but at this point who cares? The dems screwed us and the GOP screwed us and ALL that matters is that we pull together and STOP what is being done NOW. Nothing, literally NOTHING, is more important right now. Save the partisan nonsense for later, that’s what the billionaires want us to do. Bc the rich are the enemy. NOT our fellow citizens
I do agree with that! I have been disappointed with the late reactions from the majority of Democrats. Maybe we will get a third party Americans can rally behind?
My critical thinking skills are just fine, thanks! Most of the Dems are expressly not part of the working class, and only care about them as long as the working class continues to vote for them. Equating this to blaming victims is ridiculous and an overreach. It's okay if people had hope for the last election and are disappointed. There's still hope, I believe that. I just don't believe any real progress is going to come from the Dems. Even as an independent, you're still trying to think within the construct of the system... The system that is currently working exactly as intended, which is to keep us all down and the rich richer.
Hi, thanks for your reply. I know you're coming from a good place. I guess the reason why I want to make sure that the blame is placed on both parties because they are both complicit in making this happen. Dems are just more passive, then reactive after the fact, and Republicans are just more direct and in your face about it, which is why it's harder to ignore when they're in power. People literally "tune out" when Dems are in power, which is where much of this framework began. And frankly, I don't think almost any of the Republicans are capable of, nor actually feeling, any guilt on most if not all of what they are participating in or actively doing. Some of them are very sinister and know exactly what they are doing, and others are just willfully ignoring the harm that they are causing because supporting this stuff suits their ideologies. Some of them might also just be frankly afraid of all the rich people, who are aligned with Trump. My hope stems from the fact that this type of cycle has happened before and people have risen up and been able to organize to fight it back. And that there are a lot more people who are now aware of the mechanisms that have led us to this point and how the fascists are now actively trying to harm us all. And just having that awareness, opening that door, can help some people not just blindly follow the Democrats or other false progressives as they begin to try to push their savior complex on us when the midterms come around. And yeah I'm with you on the current system not at all working for us (it's working great for the rich!)...so anything we can do in our own communities to connect with each other, support each other outside the construct of capitalism and forced individualism will help. And we do this so we don't become further isolated, which is what these fascists want. They want to overwhelm us to keep us scared, withdrawn and inactive.
Thank you for your brutal bluntness. The American people need to hear this. We can’t afford to live in denial about the authoritarian cage that’s being constructed to imprison us. Once completed, it may take years to break out. They’ve already taken years away from us in their pandemic lockdowns. Stealing our children’s future. This unprecedented attack on democracy and civil society demands drastic action. They’ve succeeded in terrorizing us because they control government data systems and a paramilitary force- ICE and secret police- by which they terminate employment, cut off income, threaten, intimidate and abduct dissenters.
The only entity powerful enough to stop them is the United States Armed Forces. We must not permit them to complete their corruption of the DOD. The American people, along with leadership in the Democratic Party must call on the U.S. military to stop obeying their orders; to reject the president’s henchmen he installed in DOD leadership; to reinstate the fired generals; to occupy Washington D.C., secure all government installations, rehire federal workers and restore what they have destroyed.
Our military must arrest those who have waged this war on the nation, including Republican co-conspirators, and hold new elections in November that are fair and uncorrupted by money. Elect veterans, patriotic regular Americans, working people to federal, state and local government. Defend the Constitutional and remake government so that it promotes justice and fairness for working people.
They will go down as the most heroic generation in American history, not just fighting for some idea of justice in some far off land, but saving the United States of America from descent into fascist tyranny. by traitors to the American dream and this great experiment in democratic nationhood that was conceived and fought for in 1776.
You’re speaking my language. We cannot allow the corruption of the military to continue. We need to establish an American government in exile, at least practically speaking even if we call it something else. They can provide the framework to allow our allies to help us and authority to ensure that trump and dump don’t escape accountability for their treason
If the military industrial complex, and other like minded beings, over the last 75 years have corrupted government agencies (state and federal) as well as the court systems then time is waning.
Following the Constitution and the Bill of Rights has become a joke over the last 40 years.
So if you see something that might seem radical( within a short period of time) then yes, time is of the essence, for not only the US but the entire world not to be enslaved.
To make the world an overall better place, and save it from a devious well planned event over a long time period, I say - Let's cut to the chase and make it happen!
My question is what are we actually going to be able to do about this? We can’t count on fair elections cause look what they’re doing in NC. protesting is not going to get us anywhere. Sad to say I don’t think we’re going to be able to reclaim our country in a nonviolent way, and that only leaves us with a civil war. And the question is who are the ones who are capable of spearheading it? This is not an option that has taken lightly, but at this point in time, he has gained too much loyalty and purged too many, and we don’t have anyone in any position to remove him, and all of those who he put in place. He is replaced everyone with his own corrupt loyalists so I see no other option. Can anyone else offer any better strategy?
Clarify who is writing, what are the original sources, help me verify these words, please. Trump does propaganda at its worst. I need to investigate what I read.
Thank you for this powerful and urgent framing. I recently published a post mapping how the authoritarian blitz is landing in people’s lives and bodies: The Harms Are Cumulative. Your Overwhelm Is the Goal. Naming these patterns of downstrean personal consequences increases our strategic agility in the face of compounding harm.
https://paultshattuck.substack.com/p/the-harms-are-cumulative-your-overwhelm
OMG 😳 I felt it, I knew it but seeing it in writing makes my stomach do flips … after the election in November I could feel it coming and I had a break down but now … 🤢
Thank you. I am reading "From Dictatorship to Democracy, A Conceptual Framewoek for Liberation", by Gene Sharp. This book along with "The Power of the Powerless", by Vaclav Havel and Timothy Snyder, "On Tyranny". Don't give up... Now is the time to stand up. Find a group to rally with, make your voice heard. I appreciate your guidelines but I refuse to relent
I was informed before. I was an activist before. But now that I have read this I am terrified that it is too late to stop what is happening. Thanks for putting my scattered thoughts and fears into focus.
And the scum pretending to be the Democratic Party leadership has lain back and let it happen. I believe they think they will get part of the spoils, but they are probably in for a nasty surprise.
I think the people who have been "loyal" to the Democratic party as voters are the ones who are in for the worst of the surprises. The Dems have never been there to actually "save" us from anything, just there to be in power every once in awhile to give us the working people some bread crumbs to placate. Now they don't care. They're all in on it as long as the money keeps flowing their way.
The people you are referring to didn’t believe the Dems were going to “save” them. They just correctly believed fell they were the best choice of the candidates in the elections. And they are not surprised about anything. I am not surprised about anything.
They failed, but you failed in whatever your better tactics might have been too, Karen. Keep your focus on the real enemies, not the easy ones.
Great piece. I hope readers will appreciate not only what the Trump team and GOP are doing within these Project 2025 tactics, but how the Dems are falling in line and either standing back and allowing them to execute or actively helping to assure they get done. The Dems were never our saviors and never will be. Both Red and Blue are beholden to the corporate oligarchs than their constituents and the sooner the masses realize this, the sooner we can leverage our power through our solidarity.
Civil resistance is our hope to combat these forces and we are starting to see the beginnings of these movements and the impact they are having to combat the fascists in our government.
Two examples are:
Generalstrikeus.com
Shutdown315.org
I encourage all to give these movements a look and if you like what you see and hear - get involved and be part of the solution.
Love and peace to all!
Karen, please, this is no longer a one issue situation of democrats vs republicans. This is now a fight for the existence of our democracy and what’s left of our country if we survive. We need all of you, all of us, to make it past the destructive forces tearing our nation apart.
To be sure this is a shit-show but to pick up the shit and throw it at each other is only going to get us all smelly and even less able to fight the real enemy. 🥺
I'm fully aware of who the real enemy is. I'm trying to tell people in these various threads the Dems aren't going to save us and they need to let the old party go. There are still people in general and in this thread who think we have to do all the "banding together" work within the current confines of this construct... This imperial colonial capitalistic White supremacist system. And I am saying I reject that system and will follow the lead of others, especially Indigenous peoples, who are organizing outside that system.
I wasn't necessarily surprised by it myself, I ended up switching to a different party for voting finally in this last election. I mainly meant for a lot of people who went hogwild crazy for Harris like it was gonna fix things.
Politics thrives on excitement. It was a relief after Biden finally let go. 40,000 black women organizing a zoom call the first day, record donations coming in. Very little time left. Are we supposed to be angry that people let their optimism briefly show? Yeah it looks so foolish in retrospect. Maybe we just mad at ourselves for ever having hope.
Guys. Please consider that Trump likely stole the election. Please look at the data coming out of the Election Truth Alliance. Research a “Russian tale” in statistics and note how Trump won every single swing state often times with bullet ballots. I believe Kamala could have won the election if it weren’t for their interference.
Totally agree
I saw her politics as what they were, the same as Biden, who was openly supporting, funding and abetting a genocide. In a way I had never been exposed to in my short life. I knew of the wrongness of post 911, but not to the degree I got to in late October 2023. So I did not have much hope placed in that particular switcheroo stunt. If the DNC really wanted a chance, they would have asked him to not run again from the get go. They let it go this way on purpose, bc it was apparently all part of the plan.
I am so tired of the bad faith arguments of the far left. You’re always all or nothing, so now we’ll have less than nothing.
And that’s different than we are going to take Gaza how? We don’t need to buy it we just take it.
You are speaking about the GOP playbook.
Don't kid yourself, the Dems do it too. This is not some special playbook only the Repubs use. Both parties politicians are complicit in and directly or indirectly perpetuating this whole system. One side just always plays "good cop" and one always plays "bad cop."
There are certainly bad Dem's too, but I haven't seen this level of constitutional destruction in my lifetime happen while Democrat were in power. Does there need to be reform? Yes, but not this way! I agree with other comments that we need unity among those of us that see our country falling into fascism and try to prevent as best we can!
Very true, Project 2025 directives are causing major horrific damage. However, Dems could have done MANY things to codify and put in more permanent protections when they had super majorities and they just simply refused to do it. Repubs are more deliberately blatant and persistent, but Dems are still guilty of laziness and apathy. They like being the "underdog" coming back up through a midterm surge to "save democracy" and "take it back" in the House and/or Senate. But this song and dance gets repeated over and over again, with the same results of Repubs constantly coming back, erasing progress and eroding past protections and rights. This fight will be a long one and it can't be with only two parties. We can't keep taking one step forward 5 steps back every 2-4 years, which the Dems seem totally fine with doing bc as long as it gets them elected, they don't care about the long term.
Ok I get it but at this point who cares? The dems screwed us and the GOP screwed us and ALL that matters is that we pull together and STOP what is being done NOW. Nothing, literally NOTHING, is more important right now. Save the partisan nonsense for later, that’s what the billionaires want us to do. Bc the rich are the enemy. NOT our fellow citizens
I do agree with that! I have been disappointed with the late reactions from the majority of Democrats. Maybe we will get a third party Americans can rally behind?
My critical thinking skills are just fine, thanks! Most of the Dems are expressly not part of the working class, and only care about them as long as the working class continues to vote for them. Equating this to blaming victims is ridiculous and an overreach. It's okay if people had hope for the last election and are disappointed. There's still hope, I believe that. I just don't believe any real progress is going to come from the Dems. Even as an independent, you're still trying to think within the construct of the system... The system that is currently working exactly as intended, which is to keep us all down and the rich richer.
Hi, thanks for your reply. I know you're coming from a good place. I guess the reason why I want to make sure that the blame is placed on both parties because they are both complicit in making this happen. Dems are just more passive, then reactive after the fact, and Republicans are just more direct and in your face about it, which is why it's harder to ignore when they're in power. People literally "tune out" when Dems are in power, which is where much of this framework began. And frankly, I don't think almost any of the Republicans are capable of, nor actually feeling, any guilt on most if not all of what they are participating in or actively doing. Some of them are very sinister and know exactly what they are doing, and others are just willfully ignoring the harm that they are causing because supporting this stuff suits their ideologies. Some of them might also just be frankly afraid of all the rich people, who are aligned with Trump. My hope stems from the fact that this type of cycle has happened before and people have risen up and been able to organize to fight it back. And that there are a lot more people who are now aware of the mechanisms that have led us to this point and how the fascists are now actively trying to harm us all. And just having that awareness, opening that door, can help some people not just blindly follow the Democrats or other false progressives as they begin to try to push their savior complex on us when the midterms come around. And yeah I'm with you on the current system not at all working for us (it's working great for the rich!)...so anything we can do in our own communities to connect with each other, support each other outside the construct of capitalism and forced individualism will help. And we do this so we don't become further isolated, which is what these fascists want. They want to overwhelm us to keep us scared, withdrawn and inactive.
Thank you for your brutal bluntness. The American people need to hear this. We can’t afford to live in denial about the authoritarian cage that’s being constructed to imprison us. Once completed, it may take years to break out. They’ve already taken years away from us in their pandemic lockdowns. Stealing our children’s future. This unprecedented attack on democracy and civil society demands drastic action. They’ve succeeded in terrorizing us because they control government data systems and a paramilitary force- ICE and secret police- by which they terminate employment, cut off income, threaten, intimidate and abduct dissenters.
The only entity powerful enough to stop them is the United States Armed Forces. We must not permit them to complete their corruption of the DOD. The American people, along with leadership in the Democratic Party must call on the U.S. military to stop obeying their orders; to reject the president’s henchmen he installed in DOD leadership; to reinstate the fired generals; to occupy Washington D.C., secure all government installations, rehire federal workers and restore what they have destroyed.
Our military must arrest those who have waged this war on the nation, including Republican co-conspirators, and hold new elections in November that are fair and uncorrupted by money. Elect veterans, patriotic regular Americans, working people to federal, state and local government. Defend the Constitutional and remake government so that it promotes justice and fairness for working people.
They will go down as the most heroic generation in American history, not just fighting for some idea of justice in some far off land, but saving the United States of America from descent into fascist tyranny. by traitors to the American dream and this great experiment in democratic nationhood that was conceived and fought for in 1776.
You’re speaking my language. We cannot allow the corruption of the military to continue. We need to establish an American government in exile, at least practically speaking even if we call it something else. They can provide the framework to allow our allies to help us and authority to ensure that trump and dump don’t escape accountability for their treason
Well let's view it from a different perspective.
If the military industrial complex, and other like minded beings, over the last 75 years have corrupted government agencies (state and federal) as well as the court systems then time is waning.
Following the Constitution and the Bill of Rights has become a joke over the last 40 years.
So if you see something that might seem radical( within a short period of time) then yes, time is of the essence, for not only the US but the entire world not to be enslaved.
To make the world an overall better place, and save it from a devious well planned event over a long time period, I say - Let's cut to the chase and make it happen!
My question is what are we actually going to be able to do about this? We can’t count on fair elections cause look what they’re doing in NC. protesting is not going to get us anywhere. Sad to say I don’t think we’re going to be able to reclaim our country in a nonviolent way, and that only leaves us with a civil war. And the question is who are the ones who are capable of spearheading it? This is not an option that has taken lightly, but at this point in time, he has gained too much loyalty and purged too many, and we don’t have anyone in any position to remove him, and all of those who he put in place. He is replaced everyone with his own corrupt loyalists so I see no other option. Can anyone else offer any better strategy?
Nope. It’s gonna come down to a fight. And we might as well bite the bullet and realize that.
Thank you for this writing, now if only I can get my neighbors to see it, hear it and feel it.
I moved to Portugal in December before he got back in office and I’m never coming back. Good luck to you all.
Clarify who is writing, what are the original sources, help me verify these words, please. Trump does propaganda at its worst. I need to investigate what I read.
It’s all happening now. Sources and references aren’t needed. Freedom of speech and expression are the next to go.
Unless… We can get Trump OUT! Like ASAP!
I feel the weight.
We’re in deep trouble, and many don’t realize it.
Who protects the Constitution if the three branches of government and military do not? We The People.
WHAT A sadly honest:
that it's the truth; now.
www.x.com/onlizine53
There
aught
toto be
a law.