by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
Here are some things to think about if you consider yourself a member of The Resistance and you think any type of saving event may be around the corner.
1. We’re in the wilderness
We need to accept that there’s no Blue Wave that’s going to save us anytime soon. Even though Donald Trump is at 36% approval right now, that is the base and it has absolute power over the Vichy Republican party. So, we have at least, at the very minimum, two years before anything will happen to Trump in real terms. Trump could literally, and I’m not joking, strangle someone live on 5th Avenue on FOX News and the Republicans in Congress would say the victim had it coming.
So, save your outrage.
2. Don’t Rage, Engage
This is probably the most important thing. I keep saying this because I believe it. If we don’t engage with people who we disagree with, then tribal politics will win the day and Trump will only grow more powerful. It’s tough to this, of course. It’s too easy to just get mad, stay mad and not really do anything to do the very basics of democracy and civil society: talk to people you disagree with.
I have to admit that I’ve not really gotten to this point myself. I’m still too angry. But it’s something to strive for. That’s my goal down the road. Hopefully in a few months I won’t be as angry anymore and I’ll be able to do as I keep telling everyone else to do.
3. A dystopia may be around the corner
Another reason to engage, not rage, is that there is dark, dystopian future ahead of us should there be one major terrorist attack on American soil while Trump is president. This is a very real possibility. We may find ourselves in a truly fascist state a lot sooner than we realize. People are already commenting that Trump seems to almost baiting terrorists to attack the States. Probably because he is. He wants it. He really does.
4. Stop re-ligating the past
Lastly, we need to stop talking about the past and how things were different under Obama. That era is over. Those days are over. We’re now out of power and what’s worse, things are so extreme that we have to call ourselves The Resistance.
All of this boils down to a tough, narrow road ahead for The Resistance. History does not go in a straight line and we’re going to suffer a lot of setbacks before anything tangible happens that we can hang our hope on actually happens.
