Pillars of Support

Pillars.   Trump’s second Presidency means a profound shift, rights and norms and laws violated, the possibility of saving the planet greatly reduced, and extremes we can’t imagine yet. His cabinet nominees appear to be selected with the intent to destroy or render unrecognizable the very branches of government they’re supposed to lead. With the majorities in both houses of Congress as well as the Supreme Court in Trump’s hands, there are few guardrails left.

But although democracy is in peril, it’s certainly not finished if we hold our power.

Think about power as an inverted triangle, a shape that can be unstable. It has to be supported, or it would topple over.

The pillars of support for Trump obviously include social and news media that reach millions. And of course, he has money--the current total net worth of Trump’s cabinet nominees is $340 billion, over a thousand times Biden’s. That’s one big golden pillar.

But we the people are also a big pillar.

if we remove enough pillars of support — even though it's not all the pillars?

The upside-down triangle falls or at least weakens. That's the power of social movements!

Removing a pillar requires removing the support—it’s different than just pleading or asking for a change. It’s removing support from the upside-down triangle by refusing to obey, refusing orders, or using other tactics to withdraw our cooperation from a system that does not support us.

Remember that the MAGA playbook relies on convincing us that they’ve won, that there’s nothing more to do, and that pushing back is pointless. It’s not true. What we need to do now is talk about what each of us can do, and what we as a community can do together. This is not an abstract question. The shit is going to really hit the fan in a month. For now we need to focus locally where we can make a difference. Do you want to lobby at the state capitol, or do you want to organize in your neighborhood, to ensure safety and solidarity? Do you want to organize a march or strike or do something with arts as political resistance? Volunteer with legal aid or food banks?

The next few months will involve a lot of losing at the national level. We’ll probably see a few victories, too. But many things on which we’ve seen social progress are going to backslide dramatically. 

This means you have to pace yourself.

You can’t join every protest and action right away, because then you burn out. You get to “tap out and tap in.” Act like a choir where we take turns breathing but sustain the sound.

You need breaks. 

Let’s pace ourselves. Be conscious and protective of our mental energy. Remember that what we do matters, even when we don’t always see the results immediately.

So let’s breathe together, lean in on each other, and pace ourselves for the long haul.