I applaud her analysis and agree with much of it, though I think the optimism is premature. Let’s see what happens today. Let’s see what happens in the coming days on the streets of Minneapolis. Let’s see what happens in Congress with funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
A Signal Achievement
As Rachel emphasizes, Democratic pushback will be responsible for whatever good comes out of this disaster. That said, be it remembered that the Stephen Miller/Kristi Noem/Kash Patel/Greg Bongino team’s clusterfuck represents a signal achievement on their part—and a big reason why things are looking up today.
The progressives are riled up.
Lots of ordinary people are riled up.
Not only that: big business is riled up.
With big business riled up, the Republican empty suit politicians are beginning to speak up.
Even the Second Amendment wingnuts are fit to be tied, because of the suggestion that folks lawfully carrying a firearm deserve to be mowed down with impunity.
One of the early morning talking heads pointed out that, with Homan in Minneapolis allegedly reporting directly to Trump—thus, allegedly, bypassing and cutting the Miller/Noem gang—“Trump will personally own whatever happens next in Minneapolis.”
That sounds right. And I would add this: to get out of this mess with some dignity, Trump would need to be a Washington or a Lincoln or a Roosevelt.
Trump is not a Washington or a Lincoln or a Roosevelt. Instead, Trump is best compared to Jubilation T. Cornpone.
Thanks to international readers in January from Bahrain, Canada, Colombia, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, UK, and Vietnam.
We love you all, but we especially love Canada.
My message to you: yes, I know very well that we’re acting crazy over here. I know very well that Humpty Dumpty has fallen, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put Humpty together again. I know that we Americans don’t really know where we’re going, and we don’t know how to get there. But I believe in the core of my being that we will ultimately survive, flourish once again, and once again act like good neighbors.
In the United States, WordPress is telling me that my readers come from Ashburn VA, Atlanta GA (no surprise there), Boston and Cambridge (maybe MA, but could be lots of others), Council Bluffs IO, Kansas City (don’t know which one), Jonesboro AR, Los Angeles CA, New York NY, North Bergen NJ, Quay (don’t know which one), Seattle WA, Tucker GA, and Tuscaloosa AL.
And now, my American brethren and sistern, please rise with me in body or in spirit and join in singing
For additional insight, check out the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board today, which is shitting in its pants because the clownish but lethal brutality in Minnesota is hurting Republicans.
At least, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board has its priorities straight.
The N.Y. Times piece is an excellent source of insight for those who need perspective on the events of the last few days. You probably want to read it for yourself; I’m not going to try to summarize it. But I will say this about that.
They’re Not Killing Nearly Enough People
So, here’s the deal. If you’re an authoritarian regime, you can put down opposition with brutal force—provided you can command enough state power (in other words, provided your own police and army don’t turn on you) and provided you are prepared to use enough brutality on your own population.
The Iranian tyrants just gave us an object lesson. So did the Chinese Communist Party in Tiananmen Square back in 1989.
But if you kill just a few people, you don’t terrorize the population. Instead you just royally piss off the general public. And you create martyrs, which is very helpful to your opposition. Case in point: the Boston Massacre of 1770. Other examples include the Peterloo Massacre in England in 1819, Bloody Sunday in Russia in 1905, South Africa’s Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, and the events at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma back in 1965.
They Have No Coherent Story and No Coherent Plan
Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem hired a bunch of White supremacist thugs and told them they enjoyed absolute immunity for whatever they might choose to do.
Just what the hell did they think was going to happen?
Then, when it happened, as inevitably it would happen, did Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem actually proclaim to the public that they were trying to impose authoritarian terror?
No, siree, they did not say that. What they said was that the public must disbelieve the evidence from the dozens of iPhones that were taking movies from all directions.
Then, on Sunday, when Miller and Noem couldn’t even get Orange Mussolini to endorse their lies, the official story changed to: He was carrying a gun, therefore it was OK to execute him in cold blood. A massively stupid response, on multiple grounds. And one that was particularly offensive to the National Rifle Association.
Yesterday, in broad daylight, Alex Pretti was executed.
Let’s be clear. What killed this poor man was not law enforcement. It was lawlessness.
The problem is not whether or how Alex Pretti complied with the law.
The problem is that federal agents, sent to sow chaos, are out of compliance with our Constitution.
Are out of compliance with the scope of their role. And are out of compliance with principles of public safety.
So, the question I’m asking is why don’t these agents comply with the law?
Any narrative that suggests that Alex Pretti was anything other than innocent is pure fabrication. The Administration is lying. But you can trust your friends. You can believe your own eyes.
What happened is horrifying. And, of course, it’s not new. This country has a long memory of Jim Crow terror, night patrols, and violence carried out with the blessing—or the silence—of those in power.
Still, many of good conscience this weekend are rightly feeling heartbroken, furious, helpless, and confused.
If you are scared, that makes sense.
If you are angry, you have a right to be.
If you are not sure what to do next, you are not alone.
I’m deeply grateful for, and inspired by, UUCA Associate Minister Rev. EN Hill, who stood in the cold in Minneapolis this past week, alongside hundreds of clergy, representing the body of holy love in the streets. Church people know simple, ancient good things–like that showing up matters. Especially when so much is at risk and the stakes are so high.
We are now in a moment when political violence is being normalized. When cruelty is defended as order. When fear is being weaponized in American streets. Today, it is Minneapolis. Tomorrow, it could be Atlanta. That is sobering to say out loud. It is also necessary.
I do not know what the future holds. I do not know how all of this will unfold. I do not yet know what UUCA will be asked to risk, or where solidarity will require us to stand. I do not know what our most vulnerable neighbors will need, or how they will call on us for protection and partnership.
But here is what I do know.
UUCA is not a bystander congregation.
UUCA is not a silent congregation.
And UUCA is held and fueled by a Love that our Universalist ancestors claimed never quit and left nobody out!
UUCA, you are powerful beyond measure—because of your history, your relationships, your commitments, and your hard-won wisdom. You have not been caught off-guard. You have been watching. You’ve been strengthening networks and joining Signal groups. You’ve been weaving strategic ties across difference. You have been preparing.
And you are not alone. You have neighbors. Partners. Shoulder-to-shoulder companions.
With strong UUCA Board leadership, with long-time movement veterans among you, with the boundlessly deep resource of music and joy, with Rev. EN’s steady courage, and with Rev. Taryn returning next week, this congregation is well-resourced—not only spiritually, but strategically.
We are a people of tenacious hope. Of stubborn, resilient love. We won’t back down. Nor will we be hardened or embittered or cornered. We will sing. We will rest. We will rise.
Let me say this, my sibling Unitarian Universalists: this engagement, ahead of us, is going to cost something. It may cost comfort. It may cost convenience. It may cost reputation. It may cost time and money and the illusion that someone else will handle it.
And still, we are called.
Some of you will offer care and compassion.
Some will show up on front lines.
Some will make sure things at home are steady and strong so others can do what they need to do on the streets.
All of it matters.
In the coming days, there will be opportunities to gather, to pray, to listen, and to discern concrete next steps together. Watch for those invitations. Bring your whole self. Feel it all.
Thank you for the discernment you are already doing about the part you will play.
Thank you for the preparation you are undertaking for UUCA to be a force for the Beloved Community—not in abstraction or in theory, but in neighborhoods, households, and in real lives.
Gratefully, mournfully, and with resolve,
Rev. Jake Morrill Senior Sabbatical Minister UU Congregation of Atlanta
“Not the Battle of Lexington or Bunker Hill, not the surrender of Burgoyne or Cornwallis, were more important events in American history than the battle of King Street on the 5th of March, 1770,” said John Adams.
The soldiers were obviously acting in self-defense, and it will all blow over soon, said the British command occupying Boston.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” wrote the philosopher George Santayana.
Trump and his goons cannot remember the past, because they never knew history in the first place. But they are bloody well condemned to repeat it.
Facing MAGA 