Who Might Lead Us?
So, who might lead this fight?
Too many Democratic Party leaders have rolled over and played dead while Trump and his hench-people are dismantling our republic, while this wave of fascism breaks over us.
In this moment of absolute urgency, who are the politicians, who are the community leaders, who are the institutions and the individuals who are standing up?
Who are the ones who have given us hope? Who are the ones who we want to follow into the streets? Who are ready to lead the charge?
There are some.
J.B. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, is one.
“Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now,” Pritzker said recently. “These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.”
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy is another. “We need to keep bringing the fight to places where Republicans are hiding,” he said as he held Town Halls in location after location where Republicans have been hiding from their constituents.
I would follow Carl Rosen, president of the United Electrical Workers union. “When a segment of the population is first targeted,” he has pointed out, referring to those who have already been deported, “it’s not going to stop there. Eventually it’s going to be used against the labor movement and any Americans who want to stand up for justice. So, we were happy to join together with other unions in saying, ‘We are going to resist this.’”
Cory Booker, the senator from New Jersey, is also leading the charge. After his marathon speech on the Senate floor that galvanized the opposition, he led a sit-in on the steps of the Capitol over the draconian cuts to the social welfare safety net in the proposed Republican budget.
Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the old guy and the young woman, have energized massive crowds across the country with their rallies, including in some very red precincts.
Harvard University told the Trump Administration, in much more polite, academic terms, to go shove it. What a relief to see the school stand up after the capitulation of so many other colleges, including the shameful surrender by Columbia.
And finally—and I would never have imagined saying this—I’m inspired by the generally conservative, occasionally pompous New York Times columnist David Brooks. Although Brooks’ past positions perhaps have inexorably led us to the mess we’re now in, he has finally, admirably, stepped up.
In noting that what is happening “right now is not normal,” Brooks is calling for “a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. … The only way [Trump’s] going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.”
Yes.