My followers on Twitter today were in meltdown mode—and no wonder. Trump’s acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf has said the administration will not stop with Portland. They intend to go to Chicago, Philadelphia, and other cities ruled by “liberal democrats.” (What are they after? See my post from yesterday.)
We also learned that Trump is consulting John Yoo, the former government lawyer who wrote the legal justification for waterboarding. The Trump administration is seeking advice on how to skirt the constitution and rule by decree.
Some of my followers were persuaded that we will soon be living in a dictatorship. One thought we already are a dictatorship. I gave a stern pep talk. You can read it here. A second one is here. (I added this pep talk when people thought “don’t panic” meant “don’t worry.” A follower told me that in this particular pep talk, I was describing a real thing called “catastrophizing.”)
Then came the Portland mamas, to renew our confidence in the tenacity of the human spirit.
Today was day #53 of the Portland protests. It was day #3 for the Portland moms. Here they are, arriving:
You can see they’re wearing bicycle helmets and masks. Here they are singing “Hands up, don’t shoot.”
It’s nonviolent protest in action. (I’m not crying. You’re crying.)
The danger with protests is that bad actors will infiltrate and turn them violent. These moms know how to make sure that won’t happen.
Moms showing up, joining hands, and singing makes it very difficult for Trump to spin the narrative that the feds have to crack down on those evil violent protesters in cities run by Democrats.
Moms in Philadelphia (another city Trump is threatening) are also organizing.
Each night, when the feds continue making trouble, the moms come back in larger numbers. I’ll confess that my initial reaction to the protests was a wish that everyone would go home and let Trump’s thugs punch air. But then Trump can claim victory.
This is so much better.
