Courage is contagious
We cannot normalize hate
I am in bed before dawn playing solitaire on my phone when I hear a helicopter overhead. I wonder if it's ICE agents coming to rappel onto my roof so they can knock my door in and drag me off to El Salvador.
Granted, that seems farfetched, but so is the recent history of this country.
Cardinal Richelieu said, "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." Thus we who speak up stand figuratively on the gallows. I am ornery enough that I don't let this bother me.
At the same time, I am mindful of what a man sitting next to me with his cappuccino at the bakery said about the current madness: "It hasn't affected me yet." It is a failure of the imagination that for many people the problem has not hit home in a way that cannot be solved by turning off the TV.
Speaking of which, at a televised hearing on Capitol Hill on February 11, Attorney General Pam Bondi showed she has reduced her job to that of a mobster's lawyer. She was as nasty as could be. She paid no respect to the constitutional oversight role of Congress. She refused even to turn and look at the eleven survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's child sex trafficking seated behind her.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett told the survivors, "Thank you for having more courage and moral clarity in your pinky fingers than the entire Department of Justice."
As Bondi paged through her book of insults, Rep. Becca Balint said, "This is not a game, Secretary." Bondi replied, "I'm Attorney General." Balint said, "My apologies. I couldn't tell."
Bondi's attacks and unresponsiveness were useful in displaying her utter soullessness and contempt for the law. That will not help Trump with the supporters he betrayed on the issue with his cover-up.
Trump is attacking on multiple fronts at once. He named white supremacist Jeremy Carl to a State Department post. Carl claims that "white erasure" is weakening this country. Why do people complain about being called Nazis when they won't stop behaving like Nazis?
Trump has declared his intent to impose stringent voter identification requirements in the name of combating what he claims without evidence is massive voter fraud, "whether Congress approves it or not." Voting is a fundamental right. The president has no right to infringe on it. The cost of complying with his expected executive order amounts to a poll tax. He is doing this to suppress voters who do not support him.
Amid his mad rampage, it is important to recognize that he is no less a threat because he does it so crudely as to appear comical. He is but the latest in a long line of malignant clowns.
Speaking of clowns, Republican congressman Andy Ogles accused Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show of broadcasting "gay pornography."
Why do so many homophobic politicians appear to need a cold shower at the slightest manifestation of gayness? This is fake straight fragility to go along with fake white fragility.
Trump said no one understood a word of the halftime show. That is how casually he tries to erase 59 million Spanish speakers.
Florida Senator Rick Scott called for American Olympic athletes who criticized Trump to be stripped of their uniforms. First, they have as much right to express their views as he. Second, they could hardly bring greater discredit upon America than Trump himself has done.
There are many constructive ways of responding to the fascist surge: be sure to vote, of course, but also participate in public demonstrations; support legal groups fighting Trump and his cohorts in court; support advocacy groups or podcasters you like; donate to political candidates; and raise your voice online and in your community. You can plaster protest signs on light poles. You can organize fundraisers.
One crucial thing we can do is not succumb to Trump's gaslighting. Despite our legitimate concerns, we can decide not to declare that we're all doomed. We can resolve to be hopeful and say we'll get through this challenging time together. This is the opposite of the angry mob Trump incited at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
We are in the midst of a battle for our country. We need to celebrate small victories; ignore the trolls; remember who we are and our obligations to those we love; and refuse to accept the normalization of hate.
Richard Rosendall is a writer and activist who can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2026 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.