By definition, terrorism is violence aimed at effecting political change. The only way to defeat terrorism, therefore, is to remain unchanged. Wallowing in revenge and exploiting the opportunities it presents reveals you as the monster the terrorists claim you are, and it changes you, so you lose.
People who would never tolerate being repeatedly lied to by close friends and relatives keep returning to vote for “their” political party because they believe the other party is evil and must be stopped at all costs.
After massive floods killed more than 100 people in Texas Hill Country, some coastal progressives blamed the victims, assuming most were Trump-supporting Republicans who voted against climate change legislation and warning systems that might have reduced the death toll. Similarly, when Californians die in mudslides or earthquakes, victims are often blamed for choosing to live in such areas. Aside from being insensitive and cruel, this rhetoric is inaccurate; surely some of the flood victims in Texas were Democrats.
The Democratic Party is divided into two factions: left-wing progressives, such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and right-wing corporatists, such as Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer. Corporatists control the party, so most nominees are corporatists. They urge progressives to remain loyal and “vote blue no matter who” to defeat Republicans. However, when a progressive secures the nomination, corporatists often refuse to support them and may even align with Republicans to undermine them. This happened to Bernie Sanders and is now happening to Zohran Mamdani in New York City. The Democratic Party is only unified in one direction.
The Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill Act will cause at least 10 million Americans to lose their healthcare coverage due to sweeping budget cuts to slash taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals. That’s very close to the number of 2020 Biden voters who refused to turn out for Kamala Harris in 2024. Would they turn out for a Democrat in 2028 to express their displeasure? Not if the loss of healthcare has the desired effect.
One of the underappreciated ironies of the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies is that the people being deported went to extreme lengths to enter the country and would do almost anything to stay. Meanwhile, many native-born Americans, particularly those who are well-off, are applying for citizenship and residency permits in other countries because they do not want to live under Trump’s leadership.
You can hardly blame President Donald Trump and his Republican Party for thinking they can get away with and do pretty much anything they want. After all, they control all three branches of government. The media are compliant. It’s not like anyone is protesting in the streets. If you were them, you’d probably do whatever you wanted, too.
July 4th will see the second “No Kings” protests across the U.S. against Trump and his haughty style of governance. Once again, the soft American Left forgets the lessons of the 1960s and indulges in a performative series of demonstrations with no chance of striking fear in the hearts of the ruling class. Effective protest movements are sustained, happening frequently, even daily, while inconveniencing and terrorizing the rich and powerful with the fear that nonviolence might give way to real disruption. Gathering every few weeks, on a Saturday or national holiday when businesses and government offices are closed, while promising to remain peaceful, is a sad misdirection of organization and energy that ought instead to be directed into building a real Left opposition.
Trump ran for president in large part on a platform of economic nationalism that put America First while deprioritizing the interventionism that defined the Republican Party under Bush and the neocons. Now, however, he appears to be backing away from that pledge despite its importance to his electoral base. Not only has he enthusiastically supported Israel’s war against the Gazans and bombed Iran on Israel’s behalf, he is ensuring that NATO continues to provoke confrontation with Russia by requiring European nations to pay 5% of their GDP into the military alliance.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that the U.S. intelligence community had concluded that Iran had not developed nuclear weapons nor did it intend to do so. Then, without explanation, Trump said he agreed with Israel that Iran was weeks away from doing so. Next, the U.S. bombed Iran’s nuclear research sites, which the U.S. claimed had been totally destroyed. But a leaked DIA report indicated that damage was minimal, Iran’s enriched uranium had been removed, and the airstrike had only set Iran back by a few months. Finally, Trump denied the DIA report too, announced Iran’s nuclear program dead, and signaled a willingness to negotiate with Iran about normalization. Who can follow all this? Certainly not Netanyahu, who seems to have been conned by Trump into having to state that Iran no longer poses a threat.
