For what they’re worth, here are 12 tips circulating online:
1. Don’t use the wannabe king’s name.
2. Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone.
3. Do not argue with those who support him – it doesn’t work and it makes them feel important. It makes them feel they’ve won something.
4. Focus on his policies. Do not focus on his personality traits, his physical appearance, or his mental state.
5. Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow.
6. No more helpless/hopeless talk. The numbers don’t lie: there are more of “us” than there are of “them.” Feel that support.
7. Support artists and the arts.
8. Be careful not to spread fake news. Fact check it.
9. Take care of yourself.
10. Resist! Keep demonstrations peaceful. In the words of John Lennon: When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.
11. When you post or talk about him, assign his actions to him; assign them to “the Republican Administration.” This will have several effects: the legislators will either have to take responsibility for their association with him or stand up for what some of them don’t like; he will not get the focus of attention he craves. His representatives will become very concerned about their re-elections.
Yes, this is so helpful. Thank you for sharing, Ellen!
#3 and #10 especially speak to "playing the system's game" both on individual and group levels, and this is where we can get stuck, burn ourselves out, and have our rage turned against us.
Ever lived with an abuser and thought that clear-headedness and logic ("if I can just find the right words, they'll understand and this will stop!") or violence returned for violence would lead to victory? It's a well-intentioned trap that only leads to deeper entrapment and exhaustion.
As "the only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor," then that's how we handle ourselves. My own thoughts have been turning to historic movements of nonviolence--Gandhi's satyagraha and Martin Luther King's nonviolent action which was the backbone of the Civil Rights Movement. How, even in my own sphere, can I resist with "non-violence and humor"?
I had lunch with an artist friend yesterday and we talked about resisting, taking care of ourselves, building community. She handed me a beautiful pack of handmade cards and said that for herself she goes up to her attic where she's laid out so much plain brown packing paper she's painted and stamped with handmade stamps she's carved herself and she makes these cards.
She loves patterns and colors and textures, and to keep herself going, she gives herself time to play. She also takes walks with a friend and meets on occasion with a group of progressive Christians (she is one herself) to talk about how to respond, and to pray with and support one another as they figure out how to act in the world in accordance with their beliefs and values which are so very different from those of so-called "Christian" nationalists.
What my friend wants--what she keeps feeling she needs to do--is to create space for people to gather for crafts and conversation, including people who hold different views or are on the fence about Trump, to build community in this way. She's thinking about bringing down from the attic some of her art materials and inviting people over to craft and to talk and maybe focus some of that talk around podcasts and short readings that have gotten her thinking and that speak to this moment we're all in.
As for me, I increasingly want to gather people together around stories and food, foster safe spaces where resistance can grow, from which we can resist in ways that may be counterintuitive or seem so small, but are also (I want to believe) one of the best ways to create lasting and systemic change.
This is so well done, Bonnie…I’m with you all the way but cannot voice it as nicely and gently as you. ( I’m one of those who asked Elissa to please speak up/stand up… I need to also thank her for being there, doing her best for democracy! ) Thanks for pointing this out. Humor needs to be kind, the name calling, cruel memes etc come across that we are upset and worried. Calm and cool and clever/witty will go much further. Thanks for nudging me to try, do better! 🫶☺️
Good points, Bonnie Jo. I call my MI senators and representative regularly. The last time I spoke to someone at Elissa Slotkin's office, I told him I'm so pleased she's our senator and I know she'll do us right. He didn't say anything for a moment or two, which let me know he didn't often hear that, before he thanked me.
This is the best-written essay on this topic I have ever seen, and as a political writer, I am humbled by your talent and insight. So all I can do is say something original:: You go, girl!
Thank you for this. I love your writing, and have been inspired by your commitment to place. We met once at a reading at Curwood Castle in Owosso; I would love to have you back. I emulate your hopeful goal of reaching out to others to find political common ground while staying true to your values; thanks for giving attention to farming and food. I hope that a shared affection for nature and places (from little streams and woods to the Great Lakes) can help us all find ways to move forward together. I tried to express this in 2020 https://tom4tnc.blog/2020/07/23/sunrise-or-sunset/
For what they’re worth, here are 12 tips circulating online:
1. Don’t use the wannabe king’s name.
2. Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone.
3. Do not argue with those who support him – it doesn’t work and it makes them feel important. It makes them feel they’ve won something.
4. Focus on his policies. Do not focus on his personality traits, his physical appearance, or his mental state.
5. Keep your message positive; they want the country to be angry and fearful because this is the soil from which their darkest policies will grow.
6. No more helpless/hopeless talk. The numbers don’t lie: there are more of “us” than there are of “them.” Feel that support.
7. Support artists and the arts.
8. Be careful not to spread fake news. Fact check it.
9. Take care of yourself.
10. Resist! Keep demonstrations peaceful. In the words of John Lennon: When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.
11. When you post or talk about him, assign his actions to him; assign them to “the Republican Administration.” This will have several effects: the legislators will either have to take responsibility for their association with him or stand up for what some of them don’t like; he will not get the focus of attention he craves. His representatives will become very concerned about their re-elections.
12. Use humor (at times).
Thank you for this!!! It is brilliant and thorough.
Yes, this is so helpful. Thank you for sharing, Ellen!
#3 and #10 especially speak to "playing the system's game" both on individual and group levels, and this is where we can get stuck, burn ourselves out, and have our rage turned against us.
Ever lived with an abuser and thought that clear-headedness and logic ("if I can just find the right words, they'll understand and this will stop!") or violence returned for violence would lead to victory? It's a well-intentioned trap that only leads to deeper entrapment and exhaustion.
As "the only thing they don't know how to handle is non-violence and humor," then that's how we handle ourselves. My own thoughts have been turning to historic movements of nonviolence--Gandhi's satyagraha and Martin Luther King's nonviolent action which was the backbone of the Civil Rights Movement. How, even in my own sphere, can I resist with "non-violence and humor"?
I had lunch with an artist friend yesterday and we talked about resisting, taking care of ourselves, building community. She handed me a beautiful pack of handmade cards and said that for herself she goes up to her attic where she's laid out so much plain brown packing paper she's painted and stamped with handmade stamps she's carved herself and she makes these cards.
She loves patterns and colors and textures, and to keep herself going, she gives herself time to play. She also takes walks with a friend and meets on occasion with a group of progressive Christians (she is one herself) to talk about how to respond, and to pray with and support one another as they figure out how to act in the world in accordance with their beliefs and values which are so very different from those of so-called "Christian" nationalists.
What my friend wants--what she keeps feeling she needs to do--is to create space for people to gather for crafts and conversation, including people who hold different views or are on the fence about Trump, to build community in this way. She's thinking about bringing down from the attic some of her art materials and inviting people over to craft and to talk and maybe focus some of that talk around podcasts and short readings that have gotten her thinking and that speak to this moment we're all in.
As for me, I increasingly want to gather people together around stories and food, foster safe spaces where resistance can grow, from which we can resist in ways that may be counterintuitive or seem so small, but are also (I want to believe) one of the best ways to create lasting and systemic change.
I don't mind his name so much if it doesn't get the honorific with it. Ukraine has a president; we have trump.
This is so well done, Bonnie…I’m with you all the way but cannot voice it as nicely and gently as you. ( I’m one of those who asked Elissa to please speak up/stand up… I need to also thank her for being there, doing her best for democracy! ) Thanks for pointing this out. Humor needs to be kind, the name calling, cruel memes etc come across that we are upset and worried. Calm and cool and clever/witty will go much further. Thanks for nudging me to try, do better! 🫶☺️
Good points, Bonnie Jo. I call my MI senators and representative regularly. The last time I spoke to someone at Elissa Slotkin's office, I told him I'm so pleased she's our senator and I know she'll do us right. He didn't say anything for a moment or two, which let me know he didn't often hear that, before he thanked me.
Hi Linda! I even used the wrong image, but I fixed it, so anybody who goes to the site will see the correct image with you mentioned and your website.
Oops! I meant to thank you for sharing the image! I'll go put it in as cutline!
This is the best-written essay on this topic I have ever seen, and as a political writer, I am humbled by your talent and insight. So all I can do is say something original:: You go, girl!
Thank you for this. I love your writing, and have been inspired by your commitment to place. We met once at a reading at Curwood Castle in Owosso; I would love to have you back. I emulate your hopeful goal of reaching out to others to find political common ground while staying true to your values; thanks for giving attention to farming and food. I hope that a shared affection for nature and places (from little streams and woods to the Great Lakes) can help us all find ways to move forward together. I tried to express this in 2020 https://tom4tnc.blog/2020/07/23/sunrise-or-sunset/
Oh how I long for politics to return to those long, wonky discussions on public television....
Gosh, I miss those PBS discussions! So delightfully dull and civil. 😄
Thank you for reminding us to very carefully consider our listener/reader before we choose our very best words.
To express appreciation for good works.