Honestly, for at least some of us, it’s hard to imagine that Donald Trump is once again president — yes, president! — of the United States, no less that he was sworn into office the second time on — can you believe it? — Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That gives irony a bad name. Tell me it doesn’t feel like someone’s bizarre fantasy or the ad for a truly bad (or do I mean weirdly dark and grimly comic?) TV show. But reality itself? It’s still difficult to believe. And yet it happened. And it’s already old news that Donald Trump is indeed back in the Mar-a-White House, preparing for his all-American MAGA version of — yes! — manifest destiny, whether in relation to Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada, or the rest of us.
Once upon a time, had you told me that such a thing was going to happen (twice!), I would have thought you mad. Donald Trump of The Apprentice, Donald Trump of all those bankruptcies, reelected president of the United States? Not so very long ago, that would have been the most ludicrous, unbelievable version of fiction imaginable. And yet, as significant parts of Los Angeles have been burning and 2024 was just declared the hottest year in recorded history, here we are in a hell on Earth the second time around with a climate-change-denying president back in the White House, thanks to 49.9% of American voters and the coffers of all too many billionaires.
In such a world, it’s easy, if you don’t happen to be one of those billionaires, to imagine only the worst and feel all too hopeless, which is why TomDispatch is launching the latest season of You Know Who with a piece by two TD authors, Liz Theoharis and William Hartung, who suggest that all is not — is, in fact, anything but — lost, that it’s still possible to imagine building a better world.
That may feel like a long shot to many of you reading this piece today, but just remember that, a decade ago, Donald Trump as president a first (no less second) time would have felt even more improbable. With that in mind, let Theoharis and Hartung take you on a little ride into a (future) America where things may be distinctly less grim. Tom
Toward a Better World
Building a Movement for Social Justice in a Time of Peril
With the return of Donald Trump to the White House, advocates for peace, social justice, racial and economic equality, fair immigration policies, climate renewal, trans rights, and other movements for change are bracing for hard times. The new administration will be doggedly opposed to so many of the values we hold dear, as well as programs that have helped keep millions of Americans above the poverty line.
Only recently, newly reelected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson reaffirmed his commitment to an “America First” agenda, which distills the most harmful aspirations of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 into 10 priority areas, including slashing social welfare, healthcare programs, and public education; supporting increased military spending to promote “peace through strength”; unleashing a nightmarish version of immigration enforcement; and restricting voting rights.
Read More