12 Mar 2025
A few thoughts for a new Canadian friend, who wants to know why Americans aren’t in the streets. Fair question.
Hey Jean:
I went in circles for a while trying to write something as substantial as even our brief discussion deserved. The Trump era feels like a disaster to me and many others; he’s such a horrible person to contemplate knowing, never mind accepting as our president. As a twenty-something in New York City, I was nauseated by his regular appearances in the tabloids, and always disregarded him as spoiled, whining, ignoramus. What I missed, or ignored, was his ability to connect to the worst in human nature – variously hatred, greed, jealousy, or spite – and use these to unite people in opposition to the things they dislike or fear. That’s how he won two elections, and that’s what keeps him and his acolytes popular for now.
So what to do? Why aren’t we in the streets? In liberal circles like mine, it’s common to hear that the US is going to be fine because it has always been fine. The wisdom of the founders, their tri-cameral US constitution, the long arc of history, the eventual triumph of good over evil, reversion toward the mean all provide some hope. As horrible as he is, Trump is simply another blip in our collective history who will be gone soon, if not soon enough.
It’s hard not to panic, though! Trump combines a uniquely diversive politics with an almost comically abrasive persona to create a figure guaranteed to drive intelligent progressives crazy. After the 2024 election, things looked pretty dark, and the Democrats had to take some time to recover from Harris’ crushing defeat. We also needed to find ways to address the chaos that Trump unleashed upon taking office, with his cabinet of incompetents, creation of new departments, and evisceration of others. It’s been a tough few months, but there is much to learn from it all.
There are signs that US liberals are beginning to recover their spirits, something that’s being helped by the waning momentum of Trump’s victory and his inevitable incompetence. Take, for example, this speech by David Brooks, where he argues that the US can and will ultimately learn from Trump’s disruption to become a better, stronger nation. Or consider the reception that Bernie Sanders (one of Vermont’s own!) is getting on his nationwide tour highlighting the perils of oligarchy under Trump.
None of this means that we can relax, or that reversion to sane politics in inevitable. We need to work to come out of this, and actually use it as an opportunity to improve the US. Nicholas Nassim Taleb’s book Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder formally introduced the idea of Antifragility - changes and improvements that can come from even very significant stresses. In the current US political climate, it’s worth considering this idea and whether it might be applicable to the destruction that Trump is wreaking on the administration and the norms that have guided it for decades. Ezra Klein has developed this idea with specific regard to Trump in a recent podcast, where he advances the idea that Trump requires Democrats to take a hard look at themselves and admit that some degree of populism is not such a bad idea. It turns out that acting on common sense and what the center of your party says might be a better way to govern than being guided by the most strident voices. If Democrats feel that there’s nothing to be learned from Trump’s success, we’ll all lose.
This little note doesn’t answer the main question of why we’re not in the streets. There’s certainly a lot more we could do, with more energy, akin to Bernie’s, bless him. But perhaps remembering that democracy is at its best when it moves slowly is the best counter to Trump’s rushed and impulsive chaos.