We're living through MAGA'S Drunk Godzilla Era
Trumpism has never been weaker/Trumpism will keep on killing
The following is a truncated list of objectively true events that have occurred over the past few weeks:
-The United States and Israel declared war against Iran and Lebanon.
-As of this writing 5000 people, including more than 300 children, have been killed in that conflict.
-In a series of profanity-laden rants, the President of the United States threatened a variety of war crimes, including ending the entire Iranian civilization. He eventually backed off, declaring victory (disputed).
-Peace talks this weekend in Pakistan concluded with no deal in place. The United States was represented at those negotiations by Vice President J.D. Vance, fresh from a stop in Hungary, where he failed to rally support for Viktor Orbán.
-Trump, was not in attendance at those talks, choosing instead to make an appearance at a mixed martial arts fight alongside Joe Rogan and Vanilla Ice.
-After Orbán was defeated in the Hungarian elections, a direct rebuke to the broader conservative project worldwide, Trump spent the majority of the next twenty four hours on his own social media network posting memes of himself as Jesus and escalating his feud with the Pope.
-Among other insults, the President of the United States charged the head of the Catholic Church with being “WEAK on crime.” As for the picture, Trump Jesus is shown healing a figure who, depending on who you ask, is either a wounded soldier or Jeffrey Epstein.
-After deleting the Jesus post, Trump claimed the image depicted him not as Christ, but as a Red Cross doctor. The latter group is not known to wear Christ-like robes, nor to administer medical assistance by laying their beatific hands on Eptstein-soldier-patients.
How has it felt, getting blasted with alternating firehoses of legitimate human suffering and bottom feeder detritus? Speaking for myself, it’s messed me up pretty badly, man. I’ve been distracted, anxious and more likely than usual to get caught in headline-refreshing spirals. One day, I await word as to whether thousands of Iranians will be murdered by my government. The next, I yuck it up at famed charisma vacuum J.D. Vance calling Trump from a Hungarian rally and getting redirected to voice mail. This is a dangerous administration who kills people/These are small, sad men who never mastered basic object permanence.
I feel sheepish admitting this, a full decade into Trump’s chokehold on our lives. I should be able to act as if I’ve been here before. I mean, we have been here before. We have weathered this surreal/terrifying two-hander hundreds of times over. My youngest is currently in third grade. Trump has been erratic center of American politics for her entire lifetime.
And also, isn’t this always part and parcel of fascism? Strongmen take a funhouse mirror to reality. That’s how you convince human beings to turn their backs on one another, through a combination of actual cruelty and Dadaesque projections of bravado. The former is perennially terrifying. The latter is perennially ridiculous. I should be used to this by now.
But there’s something about this moment that feels distinct, even from all of Trump’s deeply tiresome past ebbs and flows. It’s the increasingly frenetic pace. The man’s thinner and thinner tether to reality. All that, yes, and also something more.
By so many measures, both Trump and Trumpism are dying in front of our eyes. I will not waste much time prognosticating as to the President’s mental and physical health, except to say that it is clearly not improving. Speculation abounds, and not without reason.
As for the broader MAGA political project, whether you measure it with polling data, its inability to actually make good on the promises that won it a second term, or a clear pattern of post-2024 electoral rebukes, this is not a movement ascendent. Trump has always been a vainglorious galoot, but he’s never been quite this harried and ineffectual. As for Vance? The most unpopular Vice President in American history? Is this your king?
But here’s the rub. These Emperors have no clothes, but they can still bomb Iranian elementary schools. They can still use ICE as their personal Gestapo. They can still kill Americans in the street.
That’s one hell of a pair of truths to hold at once. The king, for all intents and purposes, is dead. But he might take you down with him.
I worry about all this, from a social movement perspective. It’s hard to build when you’re metabolizing one head scratcher after another. Of course I’d rather have a strongman weakening-by-the-day then one blessed with both strategic lucidity and a popular mandate. But it is tricky to organize when your opponent is less a political movement than a critically ill, thoroughly sloshed Godzilla, still rampaging, though without clear direction.
Some days, the monster gets distracted and falls asleep. Then it roars again. A few days later, it does a stupid little meme dance for its social media followers. Before long, it will collapse for good, but that will be little relief to the residents of the apartment complex it destroys on its penultimate day of life.
One of the tricky dynamics, in anti-authoritarian organizing, is that while you never want your opponents to fully have their act together (lest they inflict more harm), it’s easier to oppose a semi-competent threat than a bunch of yahoos stepping on rakes. Activists in the anti-apartheid movement often repeated the mantra that “movements need something to do.” When your opponent has a clear strategic direction, no matter how terrifying, there are no shortage of things to do.
When Trump first came back into office, his team had a plan. It was a ketamine fueled Muskian chaos plan, but a plan nonetheless. Even this January, Trumpism was still capable of quasi-proactive strategy: it sought to both break the spirits of a left-leaning American city while galvanizing its own nativist base. The new goal was to publicly terrorize Minneapolis for the cameras. Activists, famously, responded in kind. A movement swelled, and while the regime inflicted (and still inflicts) so much misery on that community, it has also been forced to retreat.
In the immediate weeks after Minneapolis, activist communities across the country planned as if they would be hit next. Whistles were distributed. Rapid response numbers were memorized. We had something to do, because it seemed like our adversaries too had a playbook. But they didn’t.
Instead, the drunken Godzilla, wounded and distractible, pivoted from domestic terror to half-hearted imperialism. Gas prices rose, approval ratings plummeted. Trump grew bored with his own war. Best to leave that to dorks like J.D. and watch some fellas kick each other in the head. As of this writing, it’s not fully clear what form a new anti-war movement needs to take, on account of the state of the war itself being a mystery box. For all I know, we might bomb the Vatican tomorrow instead of Tehran.
It would be easy to laugh off, except the caskets are still piling up.
That’s why I’m nervous. I’m optimistic, perhaps to a fault, that this is the beginning of the end of Trump’s blustery empire of dirt. But I worry that in the meantime, we will be stuck in the worst of both worlds— the monster continues its stumble-rampage, human beings keep getting killed, but we struggle to build and sustain a formidable counter movement.
You will notice that I’ve not waded into the perennially tiresome discourse about which of Trump’s actions are “distractions” and which ones matter. Not a game worth playing, in my experience.
Personally, it’s been far more helpful to consider the tightrope watch of my own attention. Whatever I’ve done this past week— watching Godzilla’s blitzed-out stumbles and trying to denote a pattern— surely isn’t the answer. But I don’t think there’s much use in shaming myself for feeling dizzy. Everything is real and nothing is real and there is no clear plan and the beast is dying but damnit, it just took out another house. That isn’t theoretically destabilizing. It’s too much. We all, the weary observers and opposers, deserve some grace for not always knowing what to do in the face of it.
It’s not, nor has it ever been the case, that I should ignore everything that comes from this administration, But it also remains true that the answer is always to tend to a project— a project of care, or political education, or power building— that will live far beyond this terrifying moment. Keep calm and carry on? Not exactly. That first part feels as impossible as ever. But we can always carry on. The monster will rage/the monster will bumble. We have to just keep building.
End notes (a lot of fun announcements this week):
As you probably know, my current humble building project is a relay of fifty gatherings in fifty states. And in case you missed it, WE’VE ANNOUNCED OUR FIRST DATES… STARTING NEXT WEEK!
WASHINGTON STATE: April 22nd with the Columbia City Neighbors Club in Seattle. 6:00 PM at Southside Commons (3518 S. Edmunds). They’re both celebrating their neighborhood and are excited to connect with both existing and nascent neighborhood gatherers in other parts of the region. It’s a potluck, AND I WILL BE THERE!. Info here.
Also: Seattleites. I’ll be in town all day, and will be offering another edition of “hang out office hours.” Basically the idea is, I’ll post up in a coffee shop. If you’d like to come hang out, sign up for a slot. Open both to old friends and people I’ve never met before! I’ll be at the Victrola Coffee on 15th in Capitol Hill from 9:00-3:00. Come hang!
OREGON: May 3rd at Reedwood Friends (2901 S. Steele Street, Portland) at noon. You all, this is going to be such a fascinating event. Reedwood is a faith community trying to bridge the gap between a whole bunch of theologies while also being good neighbors to the surrounding community, regardless of belief. They’ll be co-hosting this discussion with a few other faith communities and neighborhood groups, and not only will it be fascinating but there will also be pizza. I’m bummed I won’t be there personally.
CALIFORNIA: May 14th at Fog City Community Fitness (1649 Valencia, SF). 6:30-9:30 PM. What’s Fog City? Basically, think about everything you don’t like about gyms (exclusivity, bro-iness, lots of weird/bad body politics, Pete Hegseth, etc.) and then picture the opposite. All bodies welcome. Inter-generational, queer friendly, diverse, a safe place for kids, REALLY GOOD AT HOSTING POTLUCKS AND PARTIES. And on May 14th, they’re inviting you to hang with them too! Eat food, listen to music, maybe do some fun group workouts if you’re into it. OH, AND ‘LL BE A THIS ONE TOO.
HAWAII: May 16th. A community food truck party (with fire dance lessons) at Yellow House Kalaheo (corner of Papalina and Alelo, Kalaheo, Kauai). 4:00 PM. I’LL BE AT THIS ONE TOO!
A reminder: We’re currently reviewing applications for our hosts in COLORADO, IDAHO, UTAH, NEVADA, ARIZONA, AND NEW MEXICO. Due date May 1st. Definitely reach out with questions. Also remember that we’re looking for a wide variety of groups, of all sorts of sizes, from living room gatherings to more established spaces. Maybe you’re a middle school teacher who wants to bring the relay to your class? Or you’ve got a cool block club and you’d like to host us on your front porch? Never hurts to toss your name in the ring!
Today is Ruination Day, my favorite holiday. I used to write an annual piece, but then I successfully said everything new I had to say about the holiday. If you’re wondering why I love it and what it’s all about, this entry will help you get caught up.
Finally, an honest request. I hope this helps, both this newsletter and offerings like my Barnraisers trainings and the Relay. Goodness knows we know more things that help right now. I love offering all this, but if you’ve ever wondered “how can he afford to do this? Like as his job,” the answer is paid subscribers. I try to keep prices cheap, and I give really good perks, because I appreciate you all so much. But if you can pitch in, please do. It truly helps.
I keep reminding myself that it's Miller and Vought we need to be watching out for and that, more and more, DJT is, albeit terrifying in his own way, the distraction. By focusing on the fascists, I'm hoping to gather community that clearly recognizes the threat of fascism and, as we did in the 40s, coalesces and votes them out. Then our job is to rebuild, with an eye to full inclusion and equity, doing not for, but with. Israelis will have to figure out how to develop a centrist coalition government that allows them to vote Netanyahu out, get byond nation-wide PTSD, and rein in their military, hopefully with borders secure. Iran and the Palestinians will need to figure out how to rid THEIR countries of their own terrorizers, including those they've sent out to wreak havoc in other countries. I'm not sure we have any right to try to judge or interfere in their part of the world when our own house is in such disarray. I am heartbroken by the pain, suffering, hunger and poverty as well as loss of life around the world. At the same time, I KNOW that we need to address it successfully at home first, hopefully becoming a model for ways to do so abroad.
I think the most helpful template to consider when looking at the current administration is what is required when attempting to leave an abusive romantic partner. Because that is what is happening, according to all my instincts. The entire country (and, by extension, the world) is trapped in an abusive relationship with Donald Trump and his enablers/toadies/puppet-masters (depending on your sense of his actual agency).
The most dangerous time in an abusive relationship is always when you're trying to leave (seconded closely by the time immediately after you've left). This is why dv advocates talk about safety planning-- how to hide resources (if you can) in anticipation, where to go, who to trust with knowledge of your plans, and how to disappear. Can we all run and hide from these abusers? No, we can't. But we can work on building our local community resources to protect/support us, and we can also think strategically about what failsafes need to be put in place institutionally/systemically as soon as possible after we end things to prevent retaliatory violence or any sort of return to power. We have to take the threat of violence very seriously, just like any abuse survivor has to.
A large part of why we've ended up where we are today is because so many people, from politicians to media to regular citizens, has insisted on downplaying the very real threat that we've been dealing with for so long now.