I wrote this a few weeks ago, but I’m only now getting around to posting it. I’m not quite ready for 2025, a lot of us aren’t on this side of the pond. But time marches on, and here we are.

We are one month and one day out from Trump taking office. This time, it’s different. The assault on our norms, on our values, on democracy remains the same. For me, this time, I will do whatever I can to combat the things that are actually happening, avoid catastrophizing every time Trump says he plans to do something horrible, while also making sure I find joy and balance in life, because life is too short. Trump and the MAGA movement have robbed us all of so much – hope, optimism, decency and a path forward for all of us vs. pushing us back down where they think women, people of color, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community belong. They delight in it. Don’t give them that.

The key to authoritarian governments is to never comply in advance. I won’t do that. Right now, an unelected foreign billionaire angling to become a trillionaire thinks he’s president, and MAGA and the GOP are cheering it on. Senator Chris Murphy said this well – when we as Democrats warned about Trump’s anti-democratic tendencies and the danger he posed to democracy, it fell flat for too many voters. American democracy in its current state has far too many flaws, and voters took our warnings as a sign that we thought everything was fine. It’s not fine that we allow money and special interests to flood our politics. It’s not fine that rich companies continue to push to deregulate so they can pollute our water, avoid accountability when product safety rules aren’t followed, loosen financial regulations that protect us, and so on. But Trump and the unelected Musk want this. Most of us want to see a tax system that doesn’t disproportionately serve the wealthiest, a strong public school system, corporations that value their employees, a healthcare system that doesn’t bankrupt people, stronger gun laws, etc. So no, our current system doesn’t work. And Trump and Musk will make it worse.

Musk, again, a foreign billionaire who is completely out of touch with what life looks like for regular Americans and who spent $250 million to make sure Trump got elected, just spoke out against the continuing resolution to fund our government. And the entire GOP is following his orders. This is what we were talking about. Don’t stop talking. Loudly point out that this is not acceptable. Loudly point out that Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency is not an actual department – it’s made up, illegitimate, and being “run” by people who have no idea how the government works and how important the services our government provides are.

Trump will threaten and bloviate and covfefe his way through his presidency, and the guard rails are all but gone this time. He does not have a mandate – he received less than 50% of the vote, and the popular margin between him and Harris was one of the closest in decades.

People were angry, disinformation was rampant, and the election loss was devastating. But I hope we will all continue to fight back and do whatever we can to make sure Trump and his unelected billionaire cronies can’t fulfill their darkest desires.

Let’s enjoy our holidays and come back after the new year ready to push back hard so we can make this the turning point for our nation. We know this time around what we’re up against, and we know how to fight it. The promise of America is a beautiful one, and still worth fighting for.