The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali:
Hope, like courage, is contagious.
However, in the face of immense hardships, chaos, and unbeatable opponents, apathy and cynicism are initially comforting because they are cheap and lazy. They don’t require an investment of time, effort, or an expansive imagination that could entertain a different narrative that doesn’t end in pain. Also, they allow you to hide in the shadows, like a spectator, praying that the Eye of Sauron, in this case, Trump and right-wing media, doesn’t find you and make you the latest villain in their endless culture war fueled by grievance, greed, and cruelty.
In the face of authoritarianism, complicity and obeying in advance are also easy. Why resist and stick your neck out just so Musk and DOGE’s chainsaw can chop it off and violent MAGA redshirts can step in and finish the job? That’s why so many Republicans have refused to publicly call out Trump even though, privately, they know he is dangerous, unstable, and unpatriotic.
Why stand up and call out Trump’s blatant lies and illegal acts and get targeted when you can just bend the knee and avoid the headache? That’s why corporate law firms Paul, Weiss, and Skadden have decided to be complicit actors in Trump’s dismantling of democracy and have offered millions of dollars of pro bono work to help him accomplish the mission.
Why be courageous journalists and press members and confront Trump and his minions over their blatant lies just so you can lose precious access, receive death threats, and be called “the enemy of the state?” This is why CNN and ABC News settled cases with Trump, and Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, has hollowed out the once-historic newspaper.
Why use the power of your corporate money and influence to stand up for your employees and consumers of color so you can attract 24-7 outrage from bad-faith right-wing hacks who will unleash anti-woke boycotts against you and your stores? This is why Target and Walmart have joined many corporations and universities to voluntarily abandon their “DEI” initiatives.
It’s the schoolyard bully scenario played out on an international scale. Trump, the insecure, vulgarian bully, picks on the weakest kid. He publicly beats him and demands that he give him his lunch money. The kid submits, and everyone else cowers in fear, knowing they’ll be next. The bully’s appetite grows, and he keeps coming back, demanding more and more. Eventually, one kid stands up and says, “No.” The bully yells and threatens to break his bones, but this kid has had enough and refuses to yield.
Inspired, another kid stands up to join him in saying, “No.” And then another. Soon, the bully is outnumbered by the majority, who always had the power but never had the courage and hope to stand up for themselves as individuals.
The school kids have had enough of the bully.
I am writing this on April 5th as thousands of Americans across the nation have come out on Saturday to stand up to the bullies known as Trump, Musk, MAGA, and the broligarchy. The Hands Off! demonstrations were organized in more than 1,200 locations across all 50 states by more than 150 groups. It isn’t just the “woke” (which is Republican for people of color) who showed up, folks. In many places, the majority are white folks and the elderly, representing Republican counties and districts. I’m talking about Utah, rural Virginia, and Florida. It seems that unleashing a disastrous trade war and imposing obscene tariffs that capsize the markets isn’t the best way to make America great again. It seems that attacking Social Security and Medicaid and firing thousands of federal employees pisses people off and inspires them to get off their butts and march in the streets. It seems people don’t want the broligarchy to profit off of their collective misery and see their President golfing and hosting $1 million a plate dinners at his Mar-a-Lago resort as people are at risk of losing their 401Ks.
Saturday’s Hands Off protests were a massive success, as places blue, red, and purple across the country held protests against the corrupt Trump/Musk/Project 2025 regime. The next 50501 protests will be on 04.19.2025.
