What to Do? Stay the Course and Stay Focused.
It's now been over 24 hours since the inauguration. Sadly, nothing has surprised me, so my outrage is subdued. Those who didn't expect this, I understand the outrage. Much of what we've been seeing has been a distraction. Some calculated, some not. But human nature has been and is always being played, particularly by algorithms, corporations, bots, AI, and the like. I try to work outside my emotions for that reason. Stay focused and stay the course.
One clue I had that the inauguration was going to go through was to pay attention to people who would know. In particular, Jamie Raskin's quote hit me hard (I had shared it in an earlier post for that reason) and Marc Elias had said in no uncertain terms that we are on our own. He said: "This brings me to the toughest part: the fact that we are on our own. Institutions that assured us they would be in the fight for democracy are already backing down. People who claimed they saw Trump clearly for what he is now have voluntarily put blinders in front of their own eyes. There is no segment of civil society that has been untouched by this capitulation. Some in positions of great power are preemptively acting powerless." On Bluesky the day before inauguration, he wrote," Lots of institutions and leaders have capitulated. In the days to come, even more will bend a knee. They want it seem inevitable or smart. It is not." He would know. I didn't want to post Marc Eilas's words at the time because I knew emotions were raw.
But we are still here, we can be resilient. We need to be smart...and focused. There will be people who want to derail us, scatter us, un-focus us, make us fearful or uncertain. But we can't let them. We can work to stay safe, focused, and clear-eyed.
What can we do?
Identify and support our courageous allies through messages or whatever support they ask for. Jessica Denson, Election Truth Alliance, Smart Elections, Mark Elias, as examples (please feel free to add more!), and try to bring other courageous allies into the fold. I'm thinking Alexander Vindman, AOC(?), Jasmine Crockett, possibly Mark Cuban and just about any former Republican (i.e. George Conway, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, etc.). I find the latter have proven their courage, realism, and willingness to fight for our country. Follow these people on social media. The same can't be said of most of the Dems who just seem out of touch, idealistic, and maybe even fearful, unfortunately. Perhaps many in the GOP are also fearful. I wonder if we get momentum on our side we might be able to turn some people we didn't think possible. Maybe even a supreme court justice or two? Let's not feel defeated. We never know.
Our purpose should be to continue to INVESTIGATE the 2024 election. We need to EXPOSE the FRAUD that the current administration is. We have people with data, science, and technical backgrounds working on this. But remember, we know that there are people who will reject science outright. We can't convince them and waste time on them, but the scientific method is VALID, otherwise we couldn't cure and prevent the diseases we have, and Elon wouldn't have his Starlink. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The trouble with science is that it's not understandable to the average person. We need to work on messaging too. And get trusted voices to vouch for it. I believe the data is very very convincing, but I understand that it may still be difficult for most to understand that.
We need to convince people to REJECT the authority of the current administration, because it is ill-gotten and illegitimate. This is where working to spread information on social media and in real life is very very important, still.
Support any and all efforts that will advance our cause, bring awareness, etc. Working out hashtags that will get through, underground resistance efforts and sharing of ideas, class-action lawsuits are all very helpful. Be consistent and relentless. Keep the conversation going. Keep your eye on our thought leaders and keep messaging as consistent as possible. Always.
As I've said before, I believe that our next step is to ensure free and fair elections or we will have no chance. We need to advocate for hand-counted paper ballots, like...yesterday. I started to do that on BLuesky today. Perhaps we need a new hashtag for this. #HandCountBallots. Since US elections are at the state and local level, I believe that's where we need to start. Reject electronic tabulators. We were told we needed them by the electronic tabulator manufacturers themselves. Huh. We should probably start advocating in the bigger precincts, in the bigger counties all across America. Smart Elections may be able to help, but it's a big lift. MAGAts should agree with this, but I'm sure as soon as we ask for it, those at the top will start pivoting and tell us how important electronic tabulators are or how they can be secured. That is just BS.
Manage stress. Try not to let the daily/hourly outrage get to you. It doesn't help. Know that it's going to be constant. There will be people who will work to block things the new administration is trying to implement, through traditional channels like lawsuits and legislation. Focus on the long game instead.
These are just my thoughts. Feel free to add yours. Hope this helps.