The most common way for a leader to justify expanding their own power is to claim that it is in the name of safety. They will claim there is an emergency or crisis of some sort and there is no time for the slow wheels of the legislature or judiciary. They will point to a villain or villains that must be restrained for the safety of society or women and children. Proclamations and policies upholding the disruption of “law and order” are clues that power is being seized by the leader.
Americans are in the difficult position of needing to sort out which politicians are lying to us. Because both major political parties have participated in the manipulation of voters through “law and order” rhetoric neither party can claim innocence throughout recent history.
Americans have become increasingly vulnerable to being gaslit by whichever media networks or political parties had our ear first. It has become impossible for even one person in America to persuade even their spouse to switch media networks or political parties. The major media networks and their aligned political parties are now virtually one and the same now.
The gaslighting had never been extreme until Donald Trump boldly slithered onto our political scene. His primary campaigns for the presidency were pure publicity stunts. He just got to put his name out there over and over and over. He had nothing to lose, so each time he just pushed the envelope farther.
Every time he lost he would just blame it on anything and everything else. He could lie endlessly, about reality, about his opponents. He has been rewarded at every turn for saying more and more ridiculous things. Our disbelief of what he says and does leads to more coverage.
When he said he could shoot somebody in the middle of the street and he wouldn’t lose a single follower, he captured the absurdity of the cult-like following that was growing.
The facts about Trump have become irrelevant to Trump followers, 100% irrelevant. Trump followers believe that most of the negative information about Trump is falsely created by his opponents. They characterize any flaws or imperfections that might be attributable to him are “minor” and they will change the topic to other imperfect people (textbook whataboutism or false equivalents).
With Trump or anyone else, we need to be ready for the power grabs, the gaslighting and false equivalents. First, we need to keep them from winning elections. We do this by listening to as many sources as possible. It doesn’t help if you listen to three “news” sources and they’re all in the same bubble or silo. Know diverse people. Go to diverse places. Be with people who disagree with you. Listen to audiobooks and podcasts of people who are in different cultures (inside or outside the U.S.).
Second, when they do win elections, come together with some local groups that bring you joy because you will need to be emotionally well to endure the hard times.
Third, don’t fall for the boogyman version of safety or “law and order.” The crackdowns will come on less privileged people, people that are easier to vilify and less resourced, who cannot fight back as well. Come out to support and advocate for the injustices.
We need this nation and our government bodies to be on the long, slow path (too slow!) toward equity and inclusion because the maximum inclusion of all of our citizens is how we came to be so powerful.
We haven’t been great yet. We’ve had great moments and some truly great accomplishments. Until our rights and freedoms are actualized for all people in this land that we stole from Indigenous People and built with the labor of, and horror to, enslaved souls then we are still a dream unrealized.
America has been living on the idealized narrative that nice, reasonable, hard-working, straight, white, monogamous, Christian, cisgender dudes “discovered” America and established a country where everyone was free and equal. Everyone was given the same tools, opportunities, and education and anyone could be as wealthy as they were willing to work for.
The real story of our nation is, simply said, more complicated. We pretended that we were a land of equality and freedom because our white men wanted to be free from the English monarchy. What freedom our Black slaves wanted was surely neither solicited nor of concern to their captors.
Even though America bears the stain of our trafficking our sisters and brothers for our benefit, the story is not over. We are writing the story today and tomorrow. What we do now can be fixed and is relevant.
We can discuss and find solutions to all of the current inequalities and inequities. We do not need to behave badly in 2025. We do not need to carry out violence or hate toward any group of people, even if and when we do not understand them or their culture.
We are NOT REQUIRED to do harm in 2025, 2026 and beyond.
We will be told STORIES of how terrible certain groups of people are and all of the danger they represent. We are being told how new ways of doing things or thinking about things will be the undoing of our values or religion.
Those are the stories of fear and shame to manipulate voters.
America’s story can be about expanding people’s freedoms, rights, healthcare, education, food, housing, safety and happiness.
Safety means being free from fear, free from poverty, free from hunger, free from joblessness, free from being bullied, free.
