The Summer Of Our Discontent
Raising voices and votes against tyranny
"I have seen a summer day that slowly opens like a rose," begins the 1981 song "An American Hymn" by composer Lee Holdridge and lyricist Molly-Ann Leikin.
I hold onto that image even as President Trump's signing of his cruel and fiscally reckless megabill on America's 249th birthday makes me wonder if we'll make it to the 250th.
His assaults on public health, science, institutions of higher learning, the free press, the rule of law, and democracy itself are relentless. He undermines our standing abroad by withdrawing medical and nutritional aid that saved millions of lives and built goodwill towards America, and embraces dictators while berating our democratic allies. He profiteers from his office. All but a few Republicans in Congress fell in line even after criticizing his big ugly bill.
The good news is that Democrats continue to fight for the interests of working Americans. Innumerable court challenges and massive demonstrations across the country have shown widespread opposition to his bullying. Millions are making it clear that we will have no king.
Trump's signature legislation is built on the reverse-Robinhood notion that the wealthiest don't have enough, while the poorest have too much.
This glorification of selfish excess was illustrated by the lavish $50 million wedding celebration of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice. One associated event, fittingly, was a Great Gatsby-themed party. The smash-up awaits.
Another tech billionaire who attended Trump's second inauguration, Elon Musk, is being threatened with deportation for criticizing Trump's megabill for adding trillions to the national debt. Musk may lose his government contracts. Deportation without due process would be illegal; but so was Musk's slashing of federal agencies as head of an agency Trump made up without congressional action.
Republicans have long pushed the myth of the undeserving poor, despite the poor working harder and being paid less. It remains shocking that millions face loss of their healthcare, and poor children face loss of school nutrition programs.
How can a nation founded on egalitarian principles allow a new age of robber barons while peddling the stale lie of trickle-down economics? The answer is an amalgam of Republican pols not wanting to lose their jobs, social media drenched in culture wars, and voters swallowing the lie of both-sidesism and staying home on election day.
The threat our nation faces is overwhelmingly caused by Republicans knuckling under to the grifter-in-chief. Every Democrat in Congress voted against Trump's bill. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries gave the longest speech in House history denouncing it.
One feature of the bill is a massive increase in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Trump already threatens to arrest and deport Zohran Mamdani, the winner of the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. Count on Trump to send swarms of ICE police to Manhattan to create chaos to justify lawless interference with the decision of New York voters.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem previously pledged in Los Angeles, "We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city."
Is there a clearer way of saying elections don't count?
Trump's MAGA mob essentially demands that rose petals be strewn in his path despite his open criminality while fuming over the imagined crimes of others.
Trump exploits the military to build his strongman image—holding a military parade on his birthday and having a flyover featuring B-2 bombers for his megabill signing—despite his own history of disrespecting military service. Some service members talk of refusing unlawful orders, exemplified by Trump's use of Marines to quell domestic political protests in Los Angeles.
Such refusal can lead to prison and loss of benefits, though "just obeying orders" is no defense in a criminal trial. It is a risk true patriots consider when they see their nation's values being undermined by a would-be dictator who avoids consequences for his crimes.
Republicans preach Christianity but do not practice it. Matthew 25:49 says, "In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
We must call out hypocrisy by performative patriots. We must lend our time and resources to the fight.
Luke 12:48 says, "Of those to whom much is given, much shall be required." Let sources of wisdom that steeled our forebears remind us of our own strength in the summer of our discontent.
Richard Rosendall is a writer and activist who can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2025 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.