Cassandras in the Coal Mine

Yes, it's fascism, and we who have seen it coming for years have to get even louder now.

I’m one of those people, those incredibly irritating people who were talking about fascism 10 years ago, trying to warn anyone who would listen, anyone whose vote could help shield us. I set off so much derisive laughter—the dismissive chuckle of the Professor Emeritus who knew that both sides are equally corrupt; the eye roll of the tres chic ‘conscience voter’, the malevolent sneer of the Let’s Go Brandon guy with the hatchet shaped beard, the stifled bark of the Mercedes lady, the righteous disgust of the “Queers for Palestine” rep. The woman whose blond bob bounced with every step as she marched away.

Any notion that Trump would govern rather than dictate has been wiped away. His first executive orders pardoned vigilantes who attacked police, members of Congress, and the Vice President on 1/6/21, rolled back civil rights protections that date to 1964, the year when his family was refusing to rent apartments to Black families. And as you see above, they adopt the classic fascist technique of encouraging people to snitch on each other, thus silencing dissent. Last night Trump gave DOJ authority OVER the Supreme Court on the death penalty. Since he will appoint a toady as AG, he intends to have his own private executioner.

So, we were right, we Cassandras. Time to gather our winnings! Zero. A pile of chips to present to an empty bank. All the people who thought we were insolent to question The New York Times, the ones who tried to reassure us in 2016 that nothing would change, people who found us desperately uncool for supporting a frump like Hillary Clinton when the electrifying excitement of voting for a third party was available. “but…the Supreme Court….” we said, unheard. We’ll all suffer together now.

Then came eminent lawyers to tell us Bill Barr was ‘an institutionalist’, that Roe v Wade was settled law, that the Supreme Court would instantly reject Trump’s immunity suit. They were successful men who didn’t imagine that they, and the law they believed in, would be betrayed by other successful men. Good people, some of them great people, but everyone is gullible in the right situation and when trusted institutions are crumbling around you, it’s hard to believe your eyes.

A white man in a black suit will speak with the confidence of one who deserves respect— and he is likely to be respected. Women and people of color are used to being chuckled at, dismissed, talked over. Someday Heather Cox Richardson will be studied for the miracle she accomplished— a woman’s voice, day in and day out, setting the political events in context, in the most deft and honorable way, giving us a trail to follow. Through the collapse of the Republican Party, the Supreme Court, and the major media, she was calmly pointing out the danger signs.

Heather Cox Richardson now has more subscribers than The Washington Post. She may be the most trusted voice of this era. We need more wise, brave daily voices. I’d like to see N. Hannah Jones, Sherrilyn Ifill, Soledad O’Brien, maybe Claudine Gay, join the dread pirate HCR, ¹ in narrating this era for us. We need to hear Black women’s voices every single day. Have you noticed that Tanya Chutkan, Tish James, Fani Willis, are the ones who don’t bend away from the law, away from the Constitution, away from honor, toward the magnet of Donald Trump and fascists? They’ve earned their authority—through scholarship and professional experience, yes, but also through the lifelong trial of KNOWING AND NOT BEING HEARD.

Forced to listen to a woman at the National Cathedral, Trump was outraged.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde looked him straight in the eye and told the truth, in the most public way imaginable. Trump has demanded an apology for being asked to be compassionate.

Friends, Americans, Cassandras: we can follow Bishop Budde’s lead. I’ve spoken particularly of women here because I am one, and women have been specifically attacked. But clearly the world of Cassandras is as diverse as every other. We’ve had years of practice in speaking truth to smugness. We are badly needed. Our intelligence, our sensitivity, our view of the whole wide landscape, and most of all, our courage in speaking out, is essential.

Today the media is looking for a way to excuse Elon Musk’s Nazi salute. Cassandras have no time for that. I’ve noticed that many of us are older— we grew up among people who had direct experience with fascism. We sat at the dinner table hearing stories of those who escaped…and those who didn’t. How did the Germans let it happen? our parents asked. Now we know. Many of us are younger too, and they have been working for democracy, running for office, and working for the social justice that is the basis of the Democratic Party and anathema to Republicans. “In America, we hate Nazis” as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said.

We may have felt like lone voices crying in the wilderness, but we are many. We can take pride in our foresight. We saw what was coming even when the great newspapers did not. And we’re fighting for the Constitution and the law of the United States of America. Frankly, we’re also fighting for the morality that’s held sacred by all the great religions. The enormous democratic structure that lifted Kamala Harris’ campaign at the snap of a finger is still there, powerful, and growing. We can be frightened and hopeful at once, and we have to be now.

1. For the few who don’t know, the (TDPR) after Richardson’s name on Twitter stands, aptly, for “the dread pirate Richardson”.