We're going to have to build it all ourselves

The centrist establishment -- the media, the legal system elites -- is obeying in advance and following a policy of cautious appeasement. We'll need to build the new Resistance on our own.

Every authoritarian cabal needs not only its stormtroopers but also its Quislings, its collaborators, and more passively, its Chamberlains, its appeasers, those who may not actively or knowingly carry water for the cabal but through their own Pollyannaish optimism about the cabal’s motives or eventual reasonableness, or their own naive belief in consensus building and compromise, enable and empower and help to manifest the cabal’s seizure of power.

Live shot of the old establishment dealing with the resurgence of Trump.

The latter group claims to be methodical, rational, cool, calm, and collected; they tsk-tsk the more outspoken as being alarmist, hysterical, radical, extremist, “just as bad as the other side.”

They are cautious, above all. Some are cautious out of complacency, thinking that these temporary problems will soon pass on their own. Others are cautious out of professional and cultural temperament, being taught that the middle ground is always safest. Still others are cautious out of the paralysis of privilege — they are the winners of the old system, they have much to lose, and they dare not move a muscle to upset the cabal for fear of having everything taken away from them.

This is the story of America’s centrist establishment elite in the 2010s and 2020s — the DC-NYC media and political axis, the Gang of 500, the legacy media poohbahs and gatekeepers, the coddled and sheltered elites with lifetime tenure in the inner rings of the establishment, and sadly, the upper strata of the legal elite.

They have by turns underestimated Donald Trump, profited off him, prematurely written him off, enthusiastically embraced his resurgence, failed to combat him with any sense of urgency, and now are bending over backwards to appease and placate him.

Donald Trump is old news, the establishment elites said in 2021, 2022, and 2023. He won’t get the nomination; DeSantis will.

But now, the legal elites are dropping the immensely meritorious prosecutions against him without even attempting to fight. The media elites are kissing the ring and are ready to silence and jettison any criticisms of him if it means that they can receive more favorable treatment from the incoming administration. The political elites are far more inclined to attack the Democratic Party for speaking out too much, for not speaking out enough, for moving too far to the left, for moving too far to the center, for existing — rather than attacking Trump and his cronies and asking serious questions about his foreign support or the degree to which he has sold himself to the highest billionaire bidders.

Both the far right and the far left are to blame, this centrist “conventional wisdom” always holds. They are the officers of the Titanic, blaming the ship or its passengers, rather than the iceberg — or themselves.

Sometimes, tragedy brings clarity. And one thing above all is now clear: no one is coming to save us.

No existing institution or insider is coming to the rescue. Not the prosecutors, not the media outlets, not the political bigwigs.

Instead, we are going to have to save ourselves.

On media and content, regardless of what happens to MSNBC, we need to pretend — today, right now, this instant — that the network no longer exists or has been turned into a twisted alt-right perversion of itself. We may want to hope that Mark Cuban or someone else in the pro-democracy world buys the network, we have to act like it will not happen.

If an outlet like the Washington Post or the New York Times infuriated you with its cowardice or its cynical sanewashing of Trump, cancel your subscriptions if you haven’t already — and replace them independent, pro-democracy news and commentary outlets, including here on Substack. Follow more podcasts. Listen to the Progress channel on SiriusXM, which puts the lie to the longstanding canard that left-of-center talk radio doesn’t work.

Get onto Bluesky and Spoutible right now — and follow as many Resistance accounts as you can (and if you happen to follow mine at the links above, all the better!).

On political organizing, we need to build our own movements. Those of us who are part of this digital Resistance need to start organizing in person — and to build new communities, new gatherings, new organizations that span both the digital and the IRL worlds. Rather than be the audience that other organizations reach and rally, we should be reaching out to one another and rallying ourselves — and taking action together.

And on legal action, we need to stop waiting for fickle elected and appointed prosecutors to save us — if those prosecutors fail to take assertive action to protect democracy and the rule of law, and to fight corruption, fraud, and fascism, then we must vote them out. Or we must vote out their bosses. Or both.

Finally, it is long past time for us to enter the legal arena ourselves — by supporting the heroic lawyers and organizations who are already doing the work that needs to be done and bringing about accountability and justice, winning case after case both during the first Trump administration, during the last few years, and right up to the present moment. Once again they will be called upon to defend democracy and the rule of law from a rogue administration, and to defend voting rights, free elections, and free and equal access to the ballot. These efforts are underfunded and underappreciated, but they are absolutely vital to the broader movement.

There is much more to say about all of this after the holiday. But in the meantime, I cannot possibly say enough how thankful I am for all of you, and especially for those of you who have shared this newsletter with more friends and compatriots. A very Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!