The title of today’s piece is an adaptation of a quote from Pernell Plath Meier’s, novel In Our Bones, which is an exploration of one woman’s journey as democracy fails and authoritarianism takes hold.
I’ve spoken many times about how exhausting it is to keep up with the ever-increasing descent into darkness in the US. I’ve become mentally pretty resilient over the years, but the constant drumbeat of damaging lies, deceit and division is now reaching epidemic levels; it’s off the charts, even for me. If you find yourself mentally spiralling, you MUST step back and breathe, because if you don’t, you’ll be in no position to continue in this fight.
Often it’s the proximity to the narrative that wears you down, and this is NOT by accident; it’s a VERY DELIBERATE PLOY. If you would like to read more about maintaining a level footing during these stress-laden times, I highly recommend my friend Lori Corbet Mann. This psychotherapist does a great Substack that is well worth checking out.
The level of malign intent now emanating from this administration is the stuff of 1930s Germany; it truly is. There is no clearer indicator that Trump has no intention of holding free and fair elections, no more than he is prepared to negotiate with Democrats on the shutdown; He can’t afford to lose an election, because if he does, the Republican Party will be banished to the political wilderness for a generation. More importantly, there’s a high probability that post-election hearings represent a very real threat in his mind and the minds of those in his administration. For all intents and purposes, we are in the foothills of a civil war, which at this stage is only being waged with words. The question is, what happens when his lies no longer deceive?
Trump was elected primarily to improve the financial well-being of those who elected him. Instead, he is ignoring their plight and has chosen to serve only the top 10%, using ‘jam tomorrow’ lies and empty promises to placate the 90% he has abandoned, leaving them to tear each other apart to survive. If we are to get through this, we need common intent and the ability to speak out with one voice in objection to this premeditated subjugation.
I worry, not just for Americans, but for a global community sleepwalking into a world order where those who are lucky enough to have jobs are merely an expendable commodity. Time and again, we have heard ‘Even Trump wouldn’t do that’, or ‘Don’t overreact’, or ‘It can’t possibly get that bad’. What we do as humans is defer; we do it all the time. If we lose, we say, ‘best out of three’, or ‘I’ll think about that later', or ‘Just give it time’. It’s what we do, and it’s a terrible trait that is used against us by autocrats every day.
Trump has not only normalised the lie, he’s also normalised cruelty, hate, misogyny, homophobia, and political retribution, all while dismissing the rule of law. If that’s not a recipe for authoritarian rule, then I don’t know what is. The massive problem now is this: As of October 7th at 11 am, according to RealClear Polling, the Democrats have a 33.6% favourable rating and a 59.8% unfavourable rating, while Trump has a 44.1% favourable rating and a 53.2% unfavourable rating. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has 40.8% favourable and 53.9% unfavourable.
We can argue all day about how the polls are never correct and how the media constantly mistreat Democrats, but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt, and we can spend all our time whining about it or FIND ANOTHER WAY. The truth is that the public, for whatever reason, trusts Democrats less than Republicans at a time when the military is on the streets of American cities. That blows my mind, and it should terrify you, but it tells us all one essential thing. Trump absolutely controls the narrative. And that is a massive problem. I scroll through my various ‘for you’ pages and am immediately submerged in their false narratives, with little representation of the truth.
Democrats are right to have this shutdown fight; it has delivered a long-overdue and much-needed sense of unity. However, please refrain from getting overly excited when a Democrat wins a special election, thinking that Democrats have turned the corner and the public likes them again. THEY DO NOT. Voters are simply using a vote for the Democratic candidate to register a protest vote against what Trump is doing. What is even more problematic is that Democratic leadership seems more than content to accept this as a way forward; any win is considered a victory. Jesus, what happened to the ‘audacity of hope’, the boldness of ambition, and a focus on delivering a people-first agenda? Don’t Americans deserve a ‘better tomorrow’?
I don’t know about you, but I am grieving for the ambition, hope and audacity lost from what seems to have been a horrific act of political suicide last November. It’s left me feeling like I’m one of the many left behind, trying to pick up the pieces and believe again. We don’t have a book tour to cushion the blow and make us feel better. I don’t want to grieve anymore. I want to fight, but that’s impossible without strong leadership. The truth is, Republicans are not wrong when they say, this shutdown happened because Chuck Schumer is terrified of a primary challenge from AOC, and were it not for that, I genuinely believe he would have voted with Republicans to keep the government open as he did last time. For him, this is not about the American people; it’s about self-preservation.
It’s no secret that I have been a longtime evangelist for the work of AOC, from the day she ran against Joseph Crowley, then a darling and rising star of the Democratic Party establishment. I have watched her grow as a formidable political operator. As someone who has been surrounded by politics and politicians my entire life, I know a winner when I see one. I provided services to politicians and ministers in Westminster for approximately six years, which has given me a deep understanding of how politicians operate and connect with constituents to address their concerns. I wrote the software to help them.
What struck me about Alexandria was her natural ability to connect with voters. Her capacity, through her lived experience as a daughter of an immigrant, to put herself in the shoes of her constituents. She is one of the few politicians of this generation who understands ‘representation’ in its purest form. She constantly works within her constituency in the Bronx (an area which I actually know well from my time working in the music industry in New York during the late 80s).
What she has managed to do during her time in Congress is learn how to play the politics game and place herself, dare I say it, in a populist progressive position that highlights the Republicans’ fear of her appeal, as is evident from their attempts to paint her as a communist. I know that she’s the beneficiary of a great team that helps her navigate the complex world of politics. However, she has not achieved what she has without perceived missteps along the way, more recently, on supplying arms to Israel in the Gaza conflict. She voted against Marjorie Taylor Greene to block $500 million in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system, putting her clearly in the crosshairs of those opposing Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
This led to her constituency office being vandalised, and to Award-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha writing that ‘Ocasio-Cortez had failed the Palestinian people and was complicit in the atrocities in Gaza’. In reality, her vote was NOT to continue to supply arms to Israel; it was to continue to supply interceptor missiles for the Iron Dome system, which is a missile DEFENCE system protecting Israeli citizens from missile threats from a growing number of sources at the time.
Her ability to be nuanced in her approach to using her vote, far from being condemned, should be applauded, not attacked in search of populist appeal. For the record, this is what she actually said about the conflict on the floor of the House during the Biden administration, a position she has made clear on several occasions since:
Why am I spending time on this? Because it brings me to my next point. This is a woman whose finances are transparent and who takes no AIPAC money. For me, she sets the gold standard for the effective representation of those who elected her to serve them in Congress. She’s extremely media savvy in a world dominated by social media and celebrity and uses her profile to fantastic effect for the greater good. What more could you want from a politician? Just two problems. She’s a woman and the orphan daughter of an immigrant who came to the US seeking a better life. Republicans speak of her with disdain, calling her a ‘bartender’(which she has been known to very effectively lean into on occasion). What they fail to mention, is that she graduated with degrees in Economics and International Relations. Yet another example of how they dictate the narrative.
I mention this for context, because those of you who follow me on X and my notes here on Substack will be aware of my effusive praise for a new Democratic candidate from Maine who is running against Susan Collins. His name? Graham Platner, and it deeply saddens me that he is able to convey what AOC has been attempting to communicate since 2018, while being called a communist, a Marxist and a socialist.
The reason he has an easier time articulating the argument is that he’s perceived as a rough, tough ex-Marine who served 10 years in the military, who is just telling some hard truths. Each of their messages is aligned perfectly, and I suspect their success at the ballot box will equally be mirrored if my gut feeling is correct. The simple question is, why is it easier for Graham than for AOC? Let me be clear, I absolutely love this guy. He’s the first US politician in a long time that I’ve heard of who is a guy many could see having a beer with and discussing the world's problems. THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRATS SO DESPERATELY NEED. I literally want to bottle what he’s selling and have all the Democratic candidates take a dose.
In this moment of existential threat, I am worried, not about Trump; he wears the badge of the enemy proudly on his chest and in every disjointed sentence he vomits. I am far more concerned about Democrats who seem on the whole to have simply lost their way and seem too invested in the special interests that fund them. I want people to wake up because democracy is on the line, and self-preservation seems to be the order of the day for far too many elected representatives, who, by the way, should ALL be forgoing their salaries during the government shutdown.
On a footnote, anyone who believes that Trump’s so-called ‘peace deal’ is about preventing the murder and forced starvation of Palestinian children in Gaza is utterly delusional. This is purely about an opportunity for personal gain for him and his family business. Jared Kushner has emerged from the shadows to assess the real estate potential of Gaza, now that US taxpayers have covered the costs of demolition work in advance of development. Once Hamas has handed back all the hostages, don’t be surprised if Israel makes up some excuse to continue the slaughter and make the case for expulsion of the Palestinians, because Netanyahu will get no pushback from Trump.
I have never been more fired up to win this fight, and I am quite prepared to die on this hill as I’ve said before, because independent commentators like me are going to become an oasis in a desert of disinformation and failure to report the truth by corporate media. Your support has never been so crucial as it is in this moment.
We not only have to write about the truth, we also need to produce visual content for those who consume their truth on the internet, and I can’t do that effectively without paid subscribers. I make no apologies for making this point daily, in the hope that you understand, and that a brief mention does not undermine the validity of my work.
Read PART TWO
I agree with everything you have written except for this: “He can’t afford to lose an election, because if he does, the Republican Party will be banished to the political wilderness for a generation.” Trump can’t afford to lose an election personally, so that is indeed why he he will try to do everything he can to prevent one. However, he doesn’t care at all what happens to the Republican party for the next generation. They were merely a tool for him to gain power, regain power, and keep power. He is a malignant narcissist, just like Hitler. He doesn’t care what happens to anybody except for him, because that is the nature of the ultimate narcissist. He certainly doesn’t care what happens to an entire party, not even if it reflects negatively on him in the media, since he will just lie and spin like he always does. He won’t take any responsibility if he loses an election and he definitely won’t take any responsibility for anything that happens to the Republicans afterwards. He will claim success in everything he has ever done and blame any failure on someone or everyone else. He will continue to call any attempt to hold him responsible a witch hunt.
We have worn anxiety like a heavy load for so long it is hard to take off
This is so true for me and many friends. Thank you for beginning your piece with a mental well being check.
I too am a huge fan of AOC. She seems to be guided by a true moral center instead of money. She is a true public servant. I think she has been sidelined by the Democratic establishment because she is not beholden to AiPAC and the like. I also think she is not taken seriously because she is a beautiful woman (so, misogyny), and the fact that she is part of the immigrant experience.
If it takes a white man from Maine with her same views to be noticed, then so be it. We need leadership.
And those poll numbers are really disheartening. I think most people who still like Trump have no idea what his regime will do to them. Or maybe they don’t care so long as they “own the libs”.
Okay, I’m taking a mental health break now.