Thank you Joshua! For those who live in The South, full-blown oligarchy (no daylight between legislators and business interests) has already taken root, since SCOTUS gutted campaign finance regulations and then voting rights.
After moving here two years ago from the west coast, I’ve found community through interfaith/labor union organizing. In the closed political system that exists here, the key really is to keep perspective. For example, we may (probably will) lose our current fight to stop a school voucher scheme. But in organizing against it, we are building bridges with voters in rural communities, a key component of creating real change.
The work is painfully slow and feels small-bore but I am not seeing any other way to overcome the white patriarchal capitalism that is killing us.
Yes, Joshua- we have to choose battles. I’ve been helping to organize an event to bring local electeds and residents and experts together to address the flooding our neighborhoods experience with storms more & more frequently . It feels good to canvass more broadly in my neighborhood- ringing bells, handing out fliers, chatting with neighbors- I try to learn names (which I immediately forget) and shake hands :) People are so responsive to warmth and a smile - the smile part is hard but it’s so needed— Like trying to weave threads of a new safety net —
I don’t want to feel isolated and I don’t want my neighbors to feel isolated. Even when we make small conversations and check in on each other we’re building a community that might not have been there before.
As Dr. Pinkola Estes observes: stars shine brightest when they compress.
Rest, recover, pull in for strength and reach out as you can. Even a “how’re you doing today?” to a stranger will make your self-starlight shine more brightly.
1. There is great use in considering what we want the world to look like once oligarchs have failed. Building a consensus of ideas and approaches to civilisation in advance of the implosion of fascism and oligarch rule can help get us on the same page early on
2. Caught between ignoring musk and trump and letting their failures speak for themselves versus holding them to account and drawing their anti-democratic positions into the light. I think given the dominance of musk in our media, shining the light may be necessary.
3. Building from the ground up, over the next four years, sounds right. Conversations are where change will come.
Thanks for these very important words, Joshua. I particularly like these ones:
"So we’re past the point of asking, we’re past the point of demanding. This system is not built for the 99% and the political class is unwilling to stand up to fascism. We’re no longer begging, we’re at the point of building the power to get what we need and force change. It’s that or accept Nazism as the new normal. The choice is clear.
We are the only remaining barrier, the only bulwark. But fighting like hell doesn’t always mean rushing headlong into the breach. We must also spend time gathering forces, learning, building capacity, constructing organizations from the ground up and reinforcing those that already exist. All of this must be done urgently, but that doesn’t mean doing the first thing available to us. This is a marathon, a marathon we need to win. That takes strategy and smarts, and we’re up against billionaires who have, in some cases, been planning this takeover for decades. But we can win, we have the people, and now we need to build the power. As Malcolm X said, “We're not outnumbered. We're out organized.” So let’s get organized."
I'd say that to me this is not so new. George W Bush said publicly that the ultra-rich are "his base" (he called it then “the haves and the haves more”) and I guess this was 20 years ago (ish). At this stage the public seem to be in a daze. They simply overwhelmed by tech and entertainment, they lost the will to have an active role in their lives, they just exist and consume ‘stuff’. Humanity is defeated because there is no real opposition to this ongoing situation. Even religion and academia accepted this form of existence. While other fascist regimes took power by force and fear this time it was done by stupefying us with endless comfort to the point most of us just don't care anymore about anything. There is one place (in the west) at least that this kind of disconnect from human values has been especially acute and lasting (been going on for decades) and that is Israel. They tested the flirt with fascism over there in a permanent way. We therefore could be experiencing a form of Israelization. As an Israeli expat for 30 years I realized that this was foisted on Israelis by western elites. This experiment has worked extremely well and now they will do the same to all of us maybe not for “Zionism” but some other “greater good”. In the same way that Israelis accepted the emptying of meaning from their lives (for the glory of the state and the synthetically generated sense of entitlement) we are likely to be doing exactly the same. Sleepwalking into the darkness. Or maybe not sleeping at all but in full awareness and by choice. You are correct to fear that a form of this "Cheshire-cat fascism" is already here.
Yeah… I recently revisited American history and world colonial history, and by golly it’s all the same as Nazi fascism. Colonial capitalism created death camps long before Hitler. Of course our state curriculum history lessons don’t want us learning that, I had to seek it out and it took a lot of time too.
Thank you for this. I’m honestly relieved to see others taking the same approach that I’ve been planning to take and am taking. I, admittedly, spent way too much time plugged in to every horrible thing Trump did during his last term. Was I able to stay aware? Yes. Was it helpful? No. We have an opportunity to take a new path here. The only benefit we have of a second Trump term is that we know exactly what we’re getting. It’s fairly predictable. So it’s important to focus on not getting caught up stressing about all the things he’s doing and focus on taking care of ourselves and one another. Rest when you need rest. Create when you feel creative. It’s time to organize and think outside the box so we can build a better future.
We should disengage from Trump and the government to the full extent that we’re able to. The system is self-imploding. This is what a dying governmental system looks like. It will continue to devolve, removing energy from it will help it happen faster.
What we should do - radically focus on a new way of life and the local implications to policy. Don’t put energy into trump, put energy into the people he hurts. We need to create more community spaces to aid each other. We need money to go not to lawsuits but to these spaces, cooperative agriculture, buying forested land to protect it. The money is there and people are wasting it on a pathetic fight of a system that needs to die. Move on and start building anew. It’s past over.
you said you disagreed with this post in the beginning but in the end of your words you say we need to build anew, & that is what this blog post was about, too. I think you’re right about disengaging with the system, but we also need ppl within the system to be on our side, which will take a lot of communication & relationship building - but the ppl on the inside of the system need to work with our movement to sabotage & sink that system. specifically, we have to disarm dangerous US powers & weapons (and alt right men are weapons) using de escalation communication tactics & community safety networks because violence begets violence & we keep us safe so we need to show up for each other (aka build these networks in our areas of who shows up for you when you don’t call 12 ❌👮🏻♂️❌). and yes to what you said, & i would add: so much more. we need agrihoods (agricultural neighborhoods so food is free & part of your daily life in your own neighborhood), community kitchens, we need a new community organizing app that can’t be hacked or impeded on by big brother, we need human services & housing and the list goes on. but we need to talk to our neighbors and work together & meet in person, masked up for health & AI face scanners & secretly conduct our system building meetings. otherwise .. ya know, COINTELPRO
Another angle I left out is that there are always new recruits (for lack of a better word) who do benefit from idea based writing. People don’t go from “we can change the system” to “we need to build a new system” overnight. So it needs to exist. But people get really stuck and caught up in the drama of it. “Racist does racist thing” doesnt need the attention it gets. Like 2x a month maybe mega articles with a list of it all. Not many times a day
Totally agree with you. Upon reflection, I could have been clearer about the part I disagree with. For people with power to engage with and support a resistance to chaos and oppression within the system should absolutely use that power. But for people like me, which most are, it doesn’t make sense to track Trump’s actions to symbolically oppose them. It doesn’t help. It does make sense to engage with our skills to build anew
Name one instance of fascism that wasn't an oligarchy? Fascism is the capitalists' last resort to violently impose capitalism on those resisting their exploitation with revolution and/or democracy.
Multiparty democracy is another thing to build - find your local/state left orgs with a ballot line and let's get to work. Electoral politics is NOT everything but it's a piece of the puzzle. Here in Maryland, check out the Green Party as well as Andy Ellis's upcoming campaign for Governor as a Green (gogreen2026.com).
“It will fuse corporate power with state power, as fascism has always done, but it will also strip our government for parts and attack the working class specifically to reinforce the power of the ruling class, “
And yet people say some are in too much of a frenxy and are so sensitive when they say they are quitting Roblox over Co-founder and CEO David Bazsucki attending the inauguration.
Thank you Joshua! For those who live in The South, full-blown oligarchy (no daylight between legislators and business interests) has already taken root, since SCOTUS gutted campaign finance regulations and then voting rights.
After moving here two years ago from the west coast, I’ve found community through interfaith/labor union organizing. In the closed political system that exists here, the key really is to keep perspective. For example, we may (probably will) lose our current fight to stop a school voucher scheme. But in organizing against it, we are building bridges with voters in rural communities, a key component of creating real change.
The work is painfully slow and feels small-bore but I am not seeing any other way to overcome the white patriarchal capitalism that is killing us.
Yes, Joshua- we have to choose battles. I’ve been helping to organize an event to bring local electeds and residents and experts together to address the flooding our neighborhoods experience with storms more & more frequently . It feels good to canvass more broadly in my neighborhood- ringing bells, handing out fliers, chatting with neighbors- I try to learn names (which I immediately forget) and shake hands :) People are so responsive to warmth and a smile - the smile part is hard but it’s so needed— Like trying to weave threads of a new safety net —
I don’t want to feel isolated and I don’t want my neighbors to feel isolated. Even when we make small conversations and check in on each other we’re building a community that might not have been there before.
As Dr. Pinkola Estes observes: stars shine brightest when they compress.
Rest, recover, pull in for strength and reach out as you can. Even a “how’re you doing today?” to a stranger will make your self-starlight shine more brightly.
Very helpful. Just a few thoughts:
1. There is great use in considering what we want the world to look like once oligarchs have failed. Building a consensus of ideas and approaches to civilisation in advance of the implosion of fascism and oligarch rule can help get us on the same page early on
2. Caught between ignoring musk and trump and letting their failures speak for themselves versus holding them to account and drawing their anti-democratic positions into the light. I think given the dominance of musk in our media, shining the light may be necessary.
3. Building from the ground up, over the next four years, sounds right. Conversations are where change will come.
Thanks for these very important words, Joshua. I particularly like these ones:
"So we’re past the point of asking, we’re past the point of demanding. This system is not built for the 99% and the political class is unwilling to stand up to fascism. We’re no longer begging, we’re at the point of building the power to get what we need and force change. It’s that or accept Nazism as the new normal. The choice is clear.
We are the only remaining barrier, the only bulwark. But fighting like hell doesn’t always mean rushing headlong into the breach. We must also spend time gathering forces, learning, building capacity, constructing organizations from the ground up and reinforcing those that already exist. All of this must be done urgently, but that doesn’t mean doing the first thing available to us. This is a marathon, a marathon we need to win. That takes strategy and smarts, and we’re up against billionaires who have, in some cases, been planning this takeover for decades. But we can win, we have the people, and now we need to build the power. As Malcolm X said, “We're not outnumbered. We're out organized.” So let’s get organized."
I do not wish to like this article but I wish to acknowledge it's importance. Thanks for the links at the bottom. <3
This is very fair. I hope the links prove helpful
I'd say that to me this is not so new. George W Bush said publicly that the ultra-rich are "his base" (he called it then “the haves and the haves more”) and I guess this was 20 years ago (ish). At this stage the public seem to be in a daze. They simply overwhelmed by tech and entertainment, they lost the will to have an active role in their lives, they just exist and consume ‘stuff’. Humanity is defeated because there is no real opposition to this ongoing situation. Even religion and academia accepted this form of existence. While other fascist regimes took power by force and fear this time it was done by stupefying us with endless comfort to the point most of us just don't care anymore about anything. There is one place (in the west) at least that this kind of disconnect from human values has been especially acute and lasting (been going on for decades) and that is Israel. They tested the flirt with fascism over there in a permanent way. We therefore could be experiencing a form of Israelization. As an Israeli expat for 30 years I realized that this was foisted on Israelis by western elites. This experiment has worked extremely well and now they will do the same to all of us maybe not for “Zionism” but some other “greater good”. In the same way that Israelis accepted the emptying of meaning from their lives (for the glory of the state and the synthetically generated sense of entitlement) we are likely to be doing exactly the same. Sleepwalking into the darkness. Or maybe not sleeping at all but in full awareness and by choice. You are correct to fear that a form of this "Cheshire-cat fascism" is already here.
Yeah… I recently revisited American history and world colonial history, and by golly it’s all the same as Nazi fascism. Colonial capitalism created death camps long before Hitler. Of course our state curriculum history lessons don’t want us learning that, I had to seek it out and it took a lot of time too.
Thank you Joshua, viewing from the UK but it’s close enough to know it’s a heinous battle which is frightening but essential.
Thank you for this. I’m honestly relieved to see others taking the same approach that I’ve been planning to take and am taking. I, admittedly, spent way too much time plugged in to every horrible thing Trump did during his last term. Was I able to stay aware? Yes. Was it helpful? No. We have an opportunity to take a new path here. The only benefit we have of a second Trump term is that we know exactly what we’re getting. It’s fairly predictable. So it’s important to focus on not getting caught up stressing about all the things he’s doing and focus on taking care of ourselves and one another. Rest when you need rest. Create when you feel creative. It’s time to organize and think outside the box so we can build a better future.
I disagree with this post. I think there’s a better option you’re leaving out that’s more grounded in reality.
The reality- https://ourfiniteworld.com/
We should disengage from Trump and the government to the full extent that we’re able to. The system is self-imploding. This is what a dying governmental system looks like. It will continue to devolve, removing energy from it will help it happen faster.
What we should do - radically focus on a new way of life and the local implications to policy. Don’t put energy into trump, put energy into the people he hurts. We need to create more community spaces to aid each other. We need money to go not to lawsuits but to these spaces, cooperative agriculture, buying forested land to protect it. The money is there and people are wasting it on a pathetic fight of a system that needs to die. Move on and start building anew. It’s past over.
you said you disagreed with this post in the beginning but in the end of your words you say we need to build anew, & that is what this blog post was about, too. I think you’re right about disengaging with the system, but we also need ppl within the system to be on our side, which will take a lot of communication & relationship building - but the ppl on the inside of the system need to work with our movement to sabotage & sink that system. specifically, we have to disarm dangerous US powers & weapons (and alt right men are weapons) using de escalation communication tactics & community safety networks because violence begets violence & we keep us safe so we need to show up for each other (aka build these networks in our areas of who shows up for you when you don’t call 12 ❌👮🏻♂️❌). and yes to what you said, & i would add: so much more. we need agrihoods (agricultural neighborhoods so food is free & part of your daily life in your own neighborhood), community kitchens, we need a new community organizing app that can’t be hacked or impeded on by big brother, we need human services & housing and the list goes on. but we need to talk to our neighbors and work together & meet in person, masked up for health & AI face scanners & secretly conduct our system building meetings. otherwise .. ya know, COINTELPRO
Another angle I left out is that there are always new recruits (for lack of a better word) who do benefit from idea based writing. People don’t go from “we can change the system” to “we need to build a new system” overnight. So it needs to exist. But people get really stuck and caught up in the drama of it. “Racist does racist thing” doesnt need the attention it gets. Like 2x a month maybe mega articles with a list of it all. Not many times a day
Totally agree with you. Upon reflection, I could have been clearer about the part I disagree with. For people with power to engage with and support a resistance to chaos and oppression within the system should absolutely use that power. But for people like me, which most are, it doesn’t make sense to track Trump’s actions to symbolically oppose them. It doesn’t help. It does make sense to engage with our skills to build anew
Name one instance of fascism that wasn't an oligarchy? Fascism is the capitalists' last resort to violently impose capitalism on those resisting their exploitation with revolution and/or democracy.
Elon - anyone else getting Dr. Strangelove vibes with his salutes?
Clear as a Highjacking 🛑🤨
Multiparty democracy is another thing to build - find your local/state left orgs with a ballot line and let's get to work. Electoral politics is NOT everything but it's a piece of the puzzle. Here in Maryland, check out the Green Party as well as Andy Ellis's upcoming campaign for Governor as a Green (gogreen2026.com).
“It will fuse corporate power with state power, as fascism has always done, but it will also strip our government for parts and attack the working class specifically to reinforce the power of the ruling class, “
How is this different than Biden/Obama/Bush?
Joshua. Any particular reason why my comment seems to have disappeared?
I can see this comment
And yet people say some are in too much of a frenxy and are so sensitive when they say they are quitting Roblox over Co-founder and CEO David Bazsucki attending the inauguration.