It is hard to express my concern for America in the coming years. The election of Donald Trump to a second term as President comes with enormous peril for many.
Here are some thoughts about what we can and should do:
First, we need to support those institutions, groups, and individuals who have the resources to fight this fascist agenda in the courts, in Congress, and in the public sphere. Whatever mitigation can be done in advance will be done by these groups.
Since we care about others, we need to try and protect the vulnerable. This includes maligned groups such as the LBGTQ+ communities, as well as women in general.
This also includes ethnic minorities, and immigrants – legal or otherwise.
Then we need to do what we can to mitigate the harm that will befall our economy.
Part one: Organizations that are going to fight this out in advance.
This will include Democratic members of Congress, as well as many state power structures, like those in Michigan, plus local power structures, like those in Muskegon County.
This will also include NGOs such as the American Civil Liberties Union, whose sole purpose is defending the Constitutional rights of Americans.
Next: Protecting the vulnerable.
We like to think in terms of how things should be. But we now face the reality of how things are.
There was a time in this country when the minority groups I mentioned needed to hide their nature to avoid harm. This will depend on where one lives. A gay boy in Holton is at greater risk than one in Chicago, for an extreme example.
Individuals must be prepared to hide their nature from those who would harm them for it. It isn’t right, but it is practical.
The next thing we need is unity. We need to build groups that will help others, and offer shelter for those who are threatened.
This means making safe spaces for those who are at risk, and minimizing their contact with the evil that is emboldened by this election result.
At risk individuals need to stay in groups, and those groups need to include the rest of us. We all, especially mature adults, need to make ourselves available to be around threatened groups to diminish the threat from others. Whether it is giving rides, opening spaces in our homes, or organizing community centers.
The how and where and when are details I haven’t worked out, but the idea is basic. Make it hard for bad actors to confront targeted people, by sheltering those we can, and by camouflaging where necessary. This means going back in the closet for many.
One major risk going forward is women’s rights. Especially reproductive rights. While Michigan and many other states have protected reproductive rights in their Constitutions, many other places have not. And while Donald Trump ran his campaign promising to leave it up to the states, it is probable that the Christofascist forces behind him will not be satisfied with that.
Although it will take some time, years even, to move their full agenda forward, we should expect some national abortion ban to emerge. We should also expect restrictions on access to birth control, beginning first with minors.
The most effective thing that can be done in this matter is to work to reduce the number of unintentional pregnancies. You don’t need an abortion if you don’t get pregnant.
We need to massively increase the community engagement about pregnancy, and educate women (and men) about reproduction. This must not be limited to birth control devices and medication. It must also include rejection of sexual intercourse whenever pregnancy is a possibility.
It isn’t fair, and it isn’t right, but it is the moment we are in.
On this line, efforts need to be made to educate men about the risks they face. Too many men feel they needn’t be concerned about birth control because the onus is on women to keep themselves from getting pregnant. It is time to change that.
We need to lobby our government at every appropriate level to raise the burden on men who do not take steps to avoid unintended pregnancies.
Again, I am speaking in general terms, and I do not know exactly what would be most effective and practically possible. But this may include state funded paternity tests on demand, and strict enforcement of financial obligations. Perhaps this could extend to parents of male minors.
When it comes to rape we must take an all-effort approach. We must keep women from getting into risky situations. This means women pairing and teaming up to minimize their vulnerability.
We need to use the law to reduce rape. As bad as things get, I doubt anyone is going to legalize rape. The problem that most women face in court is proving the rape itself.
Until these men come to their senses, women should not put themselves in a position where rape is possible.
Some amount of rape occurs because of excessive drinking, or because of date-rape drugs.
Women need to guard against this by changing patterns of behavior. This may mean only double dating during early stages of a relationship, and avoiding being alone and in compromising situations.
Again, this isn’t how it ought to be, merely how it is.
And then we must use technology to our advantage. This isn’t just to protect against rape, but assault of any kind.
We should look into widespread use of body cameras whenever the situation warrants. I am not well-studied on the subject, but I remember hearing about apps that automatically upload video to sites so that victims can prove their claims against abuse of authority in traffic stops. This could become common wherever needed.
Men are much less likely to force themselves on a woman, or assault a trans person or minority, if they are aware that evidence is being collected.
The group that is most likely to suffer the soonest are undocumented immigrants. There is little doubt that Trump will immediately begin arresting people who cannot prove their residency, with the goal of deportation.
This becomes complicated very quickly, and could lead to devastating consequences. To deport someone you need to prove where they originated from. The countries in question are not likely to want millions of extra people to house and feed, and may well refuse to accept them. How, for example, does Mexico know this person came from Mexico? If someone left Columbia because conditions there were intolerable, they might claim Mexico as home to avoid being sent to Columbia.
For this I will mention a dark chapter of human existence. The Holocaust.
Hitler’s early plans were to deport the European Jews. But since they were actually from Europe, no country could be found that would accept such numbers of immigrants, especially during the Great Depression. The Nazis even worked up plans to ship European Jewry to Madagascar. This would have been tantamount to genocide anyway, as those Jews wouldn’t have found infrastructure or resources to sustain them. But in the end, even this was impractical because of the numbers of ships that would be needed.
The Final Solution (death camps) was what they decided after they couldn’t make deportation work.
I don’t know that today’s dark forces would proceed to such an extreme answer, but Trump openly and publicly referred to much of our immigrant population as “vermin,” “animals,” and “criminals,” along with other horrific and dehumanizing terms, and his new border “czar” was the man who crafted the family separation policy that Trump implemented the last time he was in office.
The possibility is that millions of humans will end up in internment camps, while efforts to oust them from the country continue.
This bodes badly, and may well become the humanitarian crisis of our time.
For those who are citizens, and those who are here under the protection of immigration laws, it is time to ensure that you can prove it, and carry that proof with you at all times. As unthinkable as it was to me all my life, we’ve entered the “show me your papers” phase of American life.
I recommend getting a passport and passport card. The passport card can be used to cross the borders by land, and will definitely help replace your passport should it be lost or stolen while abroad, but what is best is that it can fit in your wallet. You can instantly prove citizenship without carrying around naturalization papers of a birth certificate.
For those who are undocumented, it may be best if you left before Trump takes office. At least it would be on your own terms, and you could avoid the horrors of an internment camp. I do not mean to treat this lightly. Nothing about this is good.
I cannot advocate that Americans shelter undocumented people. This could put you in jeopardy. Though I imagine there may be some religious institutions who can arrange some protections for them while fighting deportation. But for the time, underground railroads should be off the table.
I wrote a letter to the State Department suggesting that countries south of the border work out arrangements to take these people, along with some money and resources to house and feed them. This might be the best way to prevent massive suffering and even death. Though to be sure many will still suffer.
I also suggested that they speak to the companies who have hired these undocumented workers, and encourage them to move their plants and factories to wherever their workers are sent. After all, they are hiring them because there is a labor shortage in the states.
If you can’t move the workers to the jobs, move the jobs to where the workers are.
When it comes to workers and production, the loss of so many workers will create shortages of products, which will drive prices up. This, along with the proposed tariffs Trump is planning, will put a huge crimp on our economy. I cannot stress this enough. We will see great shortages of products, and what we get will cost us more.
The way to address this is threefold. First, we must plan to reduce our consumption, second, we must find ways of bringing down the costs of what we do need. And third, we should stockpile as much as we can to help us weather the storm that is coming.
We should all plan on gardens next year, if we can, and share the produce with others. We can set up produce-sharing networks through social media, so that the excess each of us grows can be exchanged with others for their excess.
We should develop cooperatives to buy in bulk and divide the shares.
And we should lower our general consumption.
We need to be careful about protesting. There is a strong probability that Trump will pardon the January 6 insurrectionists. They, along with paramilitary groups like the Proud Boys, Three-Percenters, and others will become Trump’s jack-booted thugs. After his inauguration, Trump will be looking for any excuse to rain violence on those who oppose him. Protests in the street, regardless of how peaceful they are, will be met with violence. That is the America the majority voted for. That is not a fight we want. At least not yet.
When it comes to force and repelling it, we should organize our own force structures. Not to project power, but merely to defend. Perhaps this can be done through the county and state authority. Perhaps it needs to be solely the creation of our own.
And lastly we must organize and work together. Strength comes in numbers, and by building community.
We have some established groups and institutions, both social and political. We need to join them and form new groups to implement the suggestions I’ve made, or perhaps better ones that are presented.
I still believe that most people want a peaceful and just society. Let’s make sure we give that a chance by meeting with people and discussing the subjects.
Abraham Lincoln famously said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
But you can keep right on fooling a lot of the people again and again if they never hear that they’ve been fooled.
We have work cut out for ourselves, and the whole world is at stake. And though none of us wanted to be in this position today, at least we are alive to do something about it.