Today is going to be a big grading day. But before I get started, I want to share with you a remarkable column by David Brooks of The New York Times (gift link) as well as a couple of eye-opening statements from the political right.
Moderate in his politics, deeply conservative by nature, Brooks is a longstanding anti-Trumper, but he leans toward the rhetorical rather than advocating any sort of specific action beyond voting. Now, though, he’s calling for a “comprehensive national civic uprising,” and closes by alluding to Karl Marx: “We have nothing to lose but our chains.” He writes:
It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.
Peoples throughout history have done exactly this when confronted by an authoritarian assault.
Earlier this week, another prominent anti-Trump conservative, Bill Kristol, posted a photo on Bluesky of ICE thugs detaining Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk and wrote: “Where does the ‘Abolish ICE’ movement go to get its apology?”
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of the last remaining moderate Republicans on Capitol Hill, spoke frankly about the fear that she and other members of her party feel about what might happen to them if they speak out against Trump. Just to say that out loud is an important step, although of course it needs to be followed by action. At a public forum she said:
We are all afraid. It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. And I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.
I don’t want to get carried away. Over the past decade, there has been no group less influential and consequential than the tiny band of Never Trump Republicans and conservatives. But we may be starting to see the stirrings of — well, of something.
Discover more from Media Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
First, credit to David Brooks for writing something that 1) needed to be said, and 2) probably runs very deeply against his natural inclinations. He said what needed to be said, and he did it without his usual both-siderism.
Credit, also, to Bill Kristol. I have long thought ICE needed to be burned to the ground and the ground plowed with salt. The organization has been flawed in its inception, flawed in its leadership, and absolutely corrupt in its execution. Indeed, I would argue that the whole Patriot Act needs to be blown up and its aims re-examined and re-pursued with legislation not written while people had not yet wiped all their comrades’ blood off their shoes.
Unfortunately, I can give Lisa Murkowski no credit at all. If she’s not willing to stand up for her constituents and the oath she has sworn to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, then she needs to resign immediately so that someone who IS willing can take her place.
Sorry, should read: ” … re-pursued with legislation NOT written while people …”
Lisa Murkowski has been speaking out against trump since the beginning of his first administration, and it has been at her own expense. She does it even when she’s afraid to do it. That makes her both brave and ethical. The fact that she picks her battles so that she doesn’t lose all her influence on battles she can’t win makes her smart and strategic.
Are you serious about Sen Murkowski? Do you think this magical replacement candidate is just waiting for the right moment? You need to grow up and deal with the world the way it is. Anyone willing to voice this opposition needs to be supported and not derided