The shitstorm that flies out of the White House has caused many people to turn away from reading, watching, or listening to what is called “the news.” What’s the point? The threats of war, promises of peace, and declarations of peace while a war rages all seem aimed at creating an atmosphere of chaos.
Small boats, far from the U.S., are bombed and people killed for supposedly smuggling drugs into the U.S. from Venezuela. Venezuela is bombed, its president Nicolás Maduro and his wife are kidnapped, brought to the U.S., and charged with narco-terrorism. But a little more than a month before former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was pardoned by Trump, after being convicted in a U.S. court of being involved in smuggling more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.
Another war is on the horizon. The U.S. has again set its sights on Iran, moving a massive naval armada off its coast and the surrounding waters, to reinforce Trump’s threats to overturn the Iranian regime. At the same time, officials from the U.S. and Iran are conducting talks supposedly focused on Iran’s nuclear program.
The decades-long START treaty, which limited nuclear weapons held by the U.S. and Russia, has expired. And Trump is talking about starting nuclear weapons testing. This is the chaos created by those who rule today.
And here, in addition to the attacks by ICE around the country, the attack on the outcome of the 2020 elections is back on the table. The FBI, along with the Director of National Intelligence, invaded the Fulton County, Georgia, election office, seizing ballots that had been cast in the 2020 elections. Trump is raising the threat of canceling the 2026 elections. And if they are held, saying they should be under federal, not state, control. This could mean ICE and others being posted at polling places.
That’s the daily reality presented by the tv, radio, newspaper, and digital news networks controlled by a small group of billionaires. It’s a chaotic world that seems beyond our control – now.
But we do know the reality of the world we live in. We know that our basic expenses are rising. But our wages aren’t. So, people work overtime if it’s available or pick up another job, which can be hard to find. Layoffs are the highest for any January since 2009, with over 108,000 job cuts. This means more people are working jobs that are understaffed, with more work put on those who remain. SNAP benefits have been cut or eliminated for many.
The education of young people was disrupted by the pandemic. Instead of increasing the number of teachers to reduce class size, the opposite is happening. Class sizes are increasing, and many teachers are seeking work elsewhere.
The cost of healthcare is increasing, with higher co-pays if people have benefits. And the cuts to Medicaid will mean that 10 to 14 million people could lose coverage. And cuts to subsidies for “Obamacare” will mean that an estimated 2,400,000 people could lose coverage. And access to healthcare will be compounded by the closing of many public hospitals and clinics around the country.
That’s the reality that can’t be denied, no matter how much they talk. And where is the money going? Into the pockets of the billionaires, who are paying less taxes and enjoying more government contracts.
And then there’s ICE. And that seems to be the beginning of where the line is being drawn for many people. The brutal attacks by these heavily armed paramilitary forces on working-class families that are part of our communities is too much. Racially profiling and arresting and disappearing people into private detention centers is too much. And the daylight executions of white people involved in their defense only to be called terrorists, have left no room for doubt that this is an attack on us all. This is a reality that cannot be denied.
Tens of thousands of people around the country are organizing rapid response teams to turn out when ICE shows up in their communities, and at their schools, hospitals, and other workplaces. Millions of people have demonstrated their opposition to Trump’s increasingly authoritarian regime.
We do the work that makes this society run. Nothing happens without us. When we stand together, we can begin to understand the power we have to change things. We saw that power demonstrated in the streets of Minneapolis when tens of thousands of people decided not to go to work. Our power needs to be organized.
We don’t have to turn away from the news of their wars around the world and the war on us here, at home.
If we don’t like that news, we have the power to make our own.
We really don’t have another choice.
