The Great Recoil
The embrace of Trump’s corruption isn't an accident—it’s a calculated backlash against the last decade of progress.
If the past two years have clarified anything, it is this: a staggering number of influential people and institutions would rather accommodate a corrupt mafia regime than share even a drop of power with the rest of us.
The Trump Regime doesn’t even bother to hide its corruption, shakedowns for cash, or attempts to shut down any and all political dissent. Trump frequently mocks those who have capitulated to him in TruthSocial posts, implying that the millions they’ve already given him aren’t enough and that they’re still beholden to him. And yet resistance and defiance have primarily come from grassroots and local efforts. Other sectors, such as business and academia, seem content to play Trump’s game. By now, they have to realize it’s a losing battle for them, but they still seem to think bowing to Trump nets them more than standing up for our collective rights and freedoms.
It’s a backlash to a lot of the political activism we’ve seen since Trump was first elected in 2016. #MeToo, the protests after George Floyd’s murder, and the cultural shifts that stemmed from both. It’s increased unionization efforts, Biden’s pro-labor, anti-trust policies, and the many social changes around the COVID-19 pandemic. The moral arc of the universe might bend towards justice, but it also seems to slingshot America into a fierce backlash every time we make progress.
Earlier this year, I wrote that the left-right binary of American politics was broken and that tolerance or embrace of fascism was a more helpful way to view the spectrum of political activism. Since I wrote that piece, a few folks have pushed back, suggesting that what we’re dealing with is the wealthiest 1% and their enablers against the rest of us. I understand the critique, and that’s a version of what’s happening. But some centers of power can be moved and persuaded, especially as Trump’s approval rating continues to fall. Trump also has plenty of people with little or no power who are more than happy to support him.
To put it another way, Donald Trump serves himself. There are plenty of people and institutions willing to pay the piper, in the hopes of preserving their own wealth and social capital. Some seem to view it as the cost of doing business, while others seem more than happy to embrace a fascist America. I’d argue that every faction, both pro and anti-regime, has levers of power and spheres of influence. The MAGA coalition is just all in on preserving its own power and amassing even more of it for a select few.
Trump’s superpower has always been his ability to hold MAGA together, and he’s been more successful the second time around -- bringing Silicon Valley and a chunk of corporate America fully on board. But the cracks are also starting to show. He’s a lame duck president; the widespread assumption is that Democrats will win back majorities in next year’s midterms, and there’s growing speculation about Trump’s advanced age and obviously declining health. MAGA’s influencers are openly fighting one another online, and various centers within the movement are attempting to position themselves as MAGA’s future over other factions.
I don’t know what the future holds or how much longer Trump holds onto power, and I’ve stopped trying to predict. But I don’t think his backers plan to give an inch when he’s no longer a factor. They’re playing the long game, and they’re playing for keeps. What gives me hope is that some of the biggest organizing successes from this year were actions such as the Target Boycott, Tesla Takedown, and the spontaneous canceling of Disney+ subscriptions over Jimmy Kimmel. That local communities have come together to protect their neighbors from ICE, resist the occupation of their cities, and pressure their elected officials to show solidarity in various forms. If we got going a little later than some of us (myself included) would have liked, I think it’s because we instinctively knew this was a bigger fight than Trump and his MAGA cult.
Personally, this last year has radicalized me. I’ve always thought of myself as a pragmatic progressive. Someone who wanted to get the most that we could using the levers available to us. But having now lived in the future that Donald Trump, Larry Ellison, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg want, I’m done with incremental thinking and actions. I don’t think the enablers and capitulators have any business leading America, and when we regain power, I intend to push our own leaders as hard as I possibly can for systemic change, big swings, and real punishment for those currently dismantling America.
ICYMI
A Complete Guide to the Jeffrey Epstein Document Dumps (Wired) You know I love a good tracker resource! Wired has put together this handy guide of all the various Epstein documents floating around the internet, thanks to various releases and dumps. A good one to bookmark.
Cracks Have Emerged in the MAGA Coalition (The Guardian) “Fractures have emerged in the Maga coalition; Trump’s approval is sinking; the Democrats, long anemic and risk-averse in the opposition, showed signs of life in elections last month; and the cumulative effect of a series of long-running scandals, most particularly the Epstein affair, seem to have alienated core components of the Trump faithful.”
Chokehold: Donald Trump’s War on Free Speech & the Need for Systemic Resistance (Free Press) An analysis of the Trump Regime’s systemic attacks on freedom of speech and political dissent from Free Press. Includes a thorough timeline of actions taken, and a call for continued resistance to the Regime’s assault on all of our rights and freedoms.
Right-Wing Media Are Poised to Escalate Attacks on Women as MAGA Cracks Emerge (Media Matters) “The right-wing media and policy ecosystem appears poised to escalate its attacks on the basic rights of women as a weakened President Donald Trump lurches toward the end of the first year of his second term. The campaign to roll back decades of material gains for women is coming from both the gutter sexists and the would-be high-brow elements of the conservative media world, and it could serve as a rallying point for an increasingly fractured MAGA movement.”
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Coda
Next week is the last newsletter before the holiday break. Then I’m taking the rest of the year off to get some much-needed downtime with my family. I’m already counting the days!
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Brilliant framing of the capitulation problem. What gets me is how these elites seem totaly fine with burning down the institutions that actually made thier wealth possible in the first place. I've had a similar shift from pragmatist to someone who thinks we need structural change, not just policy tweaks. The backlash cycle is real and exhausting.
About that 1% vs. the rest of us. If only. Republicans have long relied on the millions willing to vote against their interests. Just because they think Dems and libs are icky and they never bother to think things through.
Then Trump came along and they got entertainment value into the bargain. Voting was never so much fun.