It’s good to have Rachel Maddow back in the saddle on a nightly basis on MSNBC at 9:00 p.m. She brings a degree of enthusiasm and passion to her work that may be there for others, but that she seems somewhat uniquely able to project. If you’ve been eschewing the “blab shows” since the election out of angry disgust with how the election turned out, I recommend the revival of the nightly Rachel show as a tonic.
After all, there is a lot that needs to get done now, and while many are searching around for a leader of the opposition to Trump, I think that Rachel is a good place to get started.
I have to admit I got a little lump of hope in my throat from her nightly broadcast this Tuesday. She focused on the rising tide of demonstrations that are beginning to develop nationwide, including potent ones in unlikely places like Parkersburg, West Virginia.
It is getting up and getting out by millions of Americans that will be the key to winning our nation back from Trump/Musk. The court system, bless its heart, is becoming the first line of defense against the egregious disregard for the rule of law that Trumpists are currently engaging in.
Their reaction is to ignore the court decisions, of course, but this is where the next and most important line of defense comes in: the willingness of Americans to get out onto the streets and use every megaphone available to rise up in protest.
Another leader of the resistance that I respect is former Clinton administration treasury secretary Robert Reich, now speaking out loudly and effectively on a daily basis through his Substack account.
Reich can back up his opposition to the Trump-Musk coup with solid numbers and economic theory. In one of his reports this week, he intoned against Musk’s obscene appearance before the press in the White House’s Oval Office.
He wrote this Tuesday, “I’ve spent more than a dozen years in the federal government, and I can tell you that the vast majority of civil servants I’ve had the honor of working with are dedicated and hard-working. They are delivering critical services to Americans and protecting them from corporate malfeasance.
“For the richest person in the world to be given a bully-pulpit in the Oval Office to impugn their integrity is beyond shameful. Musk has the integrity of a slug. Since Trump was elected president, Musk’s fortune has increased $270 billion. If you think that’s an accident, you haven’t been paying attention.”
Yes, my friends, it is time we gear up and get ready for one of the most massive periods of public protest in our nation’s history. It is time to apply some WD-40 to our marching equipment, clear the cobwebs from our brains and our vocal chords and get some exercise in good old all-American demonstrating!
My knees are not what they used to be and I shouldn’t be too far from a place to relieve myself for too long. I think the person who invented the combination of a walking stick that unfolds into a seat should win a Nobel Prize. But this octopus is ready to get layered in warmer duds and to hit the bricks.
Won’t you join me? Tune into Rachel, read Mr. Reich, sign up for “Indivisible,”“Blue Sky” and other activist operations and let’s get going!
We can’t wait to see if the courts can, in and of themselves, stem the Trump-Musk fascist onslaught. We will have plenty of support from people here and abroad who are in no mood for what these criminals are hoping to impose. The anti-fascist mass demonstration in Munich this week should be an indicator. Those who’ve grown up with a more sensuous experience of fascism want no part of it, ever again.
There is plenty of ignorance to overcome in America. But now the shoe is on the other foot for Trumpists. Once the anti-establishment, they are now the establishment, and their base is very quickly coming to hate what this new establishment is and will be doing to them.
Welcome them! There are only two parties here now: American and Fascist.
