Clarity and conviction
Happy Labor Day.
America changed this summer, and I am dissatisfied with my writing about it. With each touch of the “publish” button, there is a feeling of incompleteness that sits uncomfortably with the sense that there is really nothing left to say after 10 years.
What I said would happen has happened.
Three thousand seven hundred and thirty days have passed since Donald Trump came down his Trump Tower escalator, and began walking forward to this moment.
The story of this era is the story of that long walk, and the destruction of every institution that Trump passed by along the way.
A rotten man was able to sense the rot. He understood that there was nothing behind the facades of almost anything and everything, but weakness, decay and corruption.
His accomplishments are the necessary predicates for the destruction of American society. This should be better understood.
He had eradicated the ability of scores of tens of millions to comprehend what is real, and what is fantasy.
Trump has murdered the concept of facts and truth. He has replaced both with a sick dogma, which has, at its core, a terrible truth: what is true is what Trump and his minions declare it to be.
Do you appreciate the moral catastrophe of that? Does your family, your neighbors, your friends?
If not, soon they will.
When it comes to describing what is occurring in the United States of America I have been unable to consistently strike the nail on the head, or split the log cleanly.
It is frustrating as a writer when the words don’t come together to describe walls closing in, and danger bearing down.
What I have come to realize is that there is a bifurcation within The Warning community that perfectly mirrors a divide in the opposition around Trump that sits on a fault line of basic human nature.
Many people will observe what is happening, agree with the sentiments expressed about the insanity, but ask for a type of reassurance that everything will be okay, and that this too shall pass.
Of course, this creates tension for me because the core promise of The Warning is to never ‘bs’ the community that we have, together, built over three years’ time. You have a right to expect that I write what I believe, and say what I mean.
Recently, a very close friend of mine observed that
, of which I am a part — though just beginning — didn’t carry an optimistic and hopeful message in its content. Her perspective was that hope is an essential element in this moment.I agree with this to a degree, but I do not think that hope can come at the expense of clarity.
Clarity and conviction are what is required in this moment.
About what, you might ask?
My friend did.
I said, “America. We need to talk about the rock. We need to talk about liberty, freedom and happiness.”
“We need to talk about the cornerstones of our American faith, and renew a sense of obligation to preserve the most powerful ideas in the history of the world for the advancement of human dignity and freedom.”
She said, “Nobody knows what any of that means, and young people don’t care.”
My response was, “Then it’s gone. You should make arrangements to leave the country.”
I don’t have an answer to her belief beyond absolute certainty that my response was accurate, if brutalist.
There have been so many lies told to so many people in America over the last 25 years. The bill has come due.
This is what we have purchased.
Before there can be a new season of hope there must be hours of reckoning for the failed political leadership of a great political party that was called to defend America against MAGA — and failed.
The hope era won’t begin until the pathetic Schumer era ends. There is no hope or anything good that comes from the soul of appeasement and self-interest.
The efforts to maintain liberty in America demand new commitments that have been missing over Trump’s long rise to his inevitable despotism.
Stopping Trump was easy compared to the task ahead, which is defeating his movement and removing them from power. The people who failed at the former still steer the ship, and once again, the bow is pointed at the rocks as the blind lead the corrupt, who follow the meek, and say they do it for democracy.
I urge you today to watch one video.
Watch
and , a paragon of patriotism, probity and rectitude:Finally, I ask that you read every word of
’s assesment of this moment:
It has helped me sort through the hope question.
I know this: hope isn‘t a strategy, and the wolves are bearing down.
They seek to take something that many seem willing to give.
“Let’s see what happens,” as Trump says.
Steve, you often hit the nail on the head, but, it’s unsurprising that people reject the message. Everything we once counted on is crumbling and denial is the inevitable first human response. Your recommendations of the Luttig interview and Timothy Snyder’s heart wrenching post today were spot on.
We are facing the end of what was and the beginning of we know not what. We need truth tellers to help us find a new way. Please keep writing.
Steve, you’re right—clarity without action is despair dressed as wisdom. The truth is simple: no savior is coming. We are the remedy or we are the ruin. To march, to vote, to organize is not charity—it is survival. Every street is a forum. Every neighbor is a witness. Every ballot is a weapon.
If you claim to love freedom, then live like it. Speak as if your voice can move the earth. Stand as if your children’s future is watching. Act as if history will remember your silence. Liberty is not a gift; it is a burden we must carry, together, now.