Government of the Abuser, by the Abusers, for the Abusers

This is our democracy, you f*ckers

I knew going into the second Trump presidency that the prevailing logic would be one of corruption: tariff exemptions for companies that buy their exceptions, preferential treatment for billionaires, tax cuts for the rich, etc.

I was not prepared, however, for this breathtaking level of abuse. Trump as racist and rapist, combined with the beat-your-children-for-Jesus crowd of Christian Nationalists (true story, the daycare at the infamous Baptist Bob Jones University had parents sign permission slips allowing the teachers to physically abuse the toddler and preschoolers in their care) means that the administration is driven to inflict pain and suffering on the people they were elected to serve. In a complete perversion of democratic ideals, Trump and his mediocre white men cadre clearly see their elevation to these positions of power as carte blanche to dominate, abuse, silence, and punish almost all of America for believing we have basic human rights and dignity.

In their minds, we are the ones that must submit to their alpha male rat-blending bullshit, put on our milk maid dresses and agree that people of color have no history, that helping our country transition into a representative democracy and insuring that institutions reflect the demographics of our communities have indeed made a few white men feel a little bit bad about themselves.

But here’s the thing: we’re not going along. Even our local school district sent out a tersely worded email explaining that we rely on $13 million dollars A MONTH in federal funds, lest we get too distracted by the anti-government cries of the lonely single men postulating at the end of a bar that you know what kids these days need: less socialist programs that give them the K-12 education that those same short-sighted, greedy mofos enjoyed themselves as children. But not kids these days! They don’t deserve food, not with your hard-earned tax dollars.

What’s scary is those lonely, short-sighted men are now in charge of state governments and running the country. In South Carolina, they passed a school voucher bill to defund public schools and reroute tax dollars to private, mostly religious, institutions, expressly forbidden by our state constitution. The SC Supreme Court, a very friendly group to our legislature in general, was like, sorry bros, we actually can’t do that. Not to be deterred, legislators have made it their top priority to try again this year. What a literal waste of time, instead of addressing the many ways we could improve our public schools in the state.

I’m so angry these people are weaponizing our governments against our own people, leveraging the power of state to discipline and kill us. But it has helped to see so many people already resisting—the judges issuing stays, federal employees refusing to leave, journalists and lawyers working overtime to fight back. I hope the Democratic Party leadership finds itself similarly energized.

In WGST this week, we discussed human sexuality and sexual rights. We watched the PBS documentary Stonewall Uprising, and I think students were shocked to see how persecuted LGBTQ folks were prior to the gay rights movement and the implementation of laws to protect them. I cried watching how brave those young people were to put their lives on the line, fighting with armed police and then courageously marching publicly in the first Pride parade in 1970, a risk when being out meant losing jobs, facing prison time and being exiled from their families and communities.

But I also thought: what an absolute waste, to dedicate all of that public money to harassment and abuse. And now we’re seeing it again: Trump and his cronies are overseeing an attempt to produce waste throughout our government, losing countless hours and dollars to their DEI witchhunts, disrupting vital work that keeps our nation functioning at its most basic level, all to satisfy white male nationalist egos that make the Reagan era, with its visa granting to undocumented immigrants, look like a woke paradise.

So, just like you wouldn’t let ICE in without a warrant, don’t let these abusers into your mind, your peace, your sense of self. They are the hysterical ones, shrieking without reason. While they smash, we keep going, we get organized, we do what we can in our families, communities and towns. And we dance, maybe to Jamie xx’s new album:

Stay fabulous, everybody, and in the rallying cry of British and American generals fighting the literal Nazis, and in words of Margaret Atwood, don’t let the bastards grind you down.