The last four years are a blur.
The Muslim ban. Kids in cages. Killing the individual mandate. Charlottesville. Extorting Ukraine. Firing Comey. The GOP Tax Scam. Record unemployment. 220,000 dead Americans. Daily mass shootings. The ascent of white supremacy. Police brutality and Trump’s gestapo. Neutering the EPA. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett.
The assault has been nonstop, and it has deeply impacted all of us. We’ve lost relationships, jobs and houses. Our physical and mental health has suffered. Almost a quarter million of us have died — just from COVID.
It’s no wonder we’re on pins and needles as we wait for Election Night returns to stream in.
Now — breathe. Remember for a minute not what HE did, but what WE did.
- We came to the defense of our Muslim brothers and sisters at airports across the US.
- We took to the streets in the Women’s March, Tax March and March for Science.
- We saved the ACA by showing up and speaking out at town halls in every corner of the US.
- We rallied to defeat a pedophile and elect a Democratic senator in Alabama at a time when the country desperately needed a win.
- We came to the defense of children and families at the border by collectively declaring that Families Belong Together.
- We let the kids take the lead and stood with them against gun violence as we Marched for Our Lives.
- We ran for office (or supported those who did).
- We crushed the midterms, taking a 35-seat majority in the House of Representatives, solidifying a crucial check on Trump and McConnell and electing the most diverse freshman class in history.
- We applied pressure and impeached the motherfucker.
- We created a new and improved infrastructure for political activism, anchored by new, mission-driven organizations like Black Voters Matter, Sister District, Swing Left, Indivisible, DemCast and Run For Something.
- We built new digital infrastructure and redefined “digital activism.”
- We poured into the streets in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and declared without equivocation that Black Lives Matter, turbo-charging a movement to end systemic racism and injustice.
- We came together as a virtual community to cope with a global pandemic that upended everything in our society.
- We didn’t let COVID destroy our activist spirit: we’ve remained as determined as ever to end this regime, logging countless hours postcarding, phone banking, text banking and engaging in digital activism.
In the end, Trump lit a fire. Us. We have (collectively) rediscovered a long-dormant passion for participative democracy, inspired and supported by the experienced activists who’ve been at this for decades.
Now, we are the only ones who can extinguish the fire. But we won’t.
We’ve pulled back the curtain. We know that our problems won’t disappear regardless of what happens this week: we have a planet to save, a democracy to repair, voting rights to fight for, disinformation to fight against, injustices to overcome, equality to demand, representatives to birddog and an imperative to reform SCOTUS.
We aren’t “The Resistance” anymore, because we’re not playing defense. We’re fighting for something. We’re on offense now. We’re finally understanding our power, and we won’t let it go.
Right?
Because no matter what happens with the 2020 election, whatever comes our way, now we know we can face it. Together.