This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.
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
By Liz Theoharis and William D. Hartung
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.
Many of us are now asking ourselves, how did we end up here? Part of the answer is simple enough: the status quo, regardless of which party has been in power, simply hasn't been working for all too many Americans. Research compiled by our colleague Shailly Gupta Barnes of the Kairos Center indicates that some 140 million of us live either in poverty or one financial emergency away from joining the ranks of the poor. One out of six children in this country now lives below the official poverty line and the families of nearly half of all kids are in a state of economic precarity or food insecurity. Meanwhile, the average life span of white American males is actually declining, while more than 20 million people lost their access to health care in 2024 alone.
All of this is, of course, a far cry from the conventional wisdom that America's economy is doing well, based on statistics like the unemployment rate or the rate of economic growth as a whole, none of which capture the lived experience of so many of us. Indeed, the head of Moody's Analytics recently told the Financial Times that, while "high-income households are doing fine, the bottom third of U.S. consumers are tapped out."
Although the system isn't working for millions of Americans, a business-as-usual, market-based approach remains what's on offer in official Washington. This has been the governing modus operandi across party lines for the past 30 years and continues to enjoy bipartisan support, even as faith in government declines in the country as a whole. Without a viable plan that could change the basic living conditions of people in need, it's easier for right-wing populists to offer false promises of change or, even worse, provide scapegoats like undocumented immigrants to "explain" declining living standards and the outright desperation so many people now feel.
Of course, this propaganda is fueled by countless millions of dollars contributed by rich donors, often enough billionaires, who, for starters, want more tax cuts, more deregulation of business, unfettered access to government contracts, and free rein for cryptocurrency. It's reinforced by proponents of religious nationalism who organize around single issues like opposition to abortion, while falsely portraying moves towards racial and gender equality as "threats" to Christian values. Over the past several years, such interests have combined forces to usher Donald Trump back into the White House and dozens of "Christian nationalists" into the judicial and legislative branches of government, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
Contrary to mainstream accounts that put the responsibility for Trump's rise and then return to power on working-class voters (some of whom did indeed press the lever for him), the real victors in the November elections were the wealthy and powerful, many of whom used their public profiles and deep pockets to help propel the Trump-Vance ticket to victory. They and their corporations are now ready to receive ample government contracts and benefit from the erasure of corporate regulations. Meanwhile, religious extremists will welcome further encroachment on reproductive and LGBTQ rights.
Case in point: on the day that Donald Trump was pronounced victorious in the 2024 election, the eight richest men in the world were instantly worth another $64 billion. Nevertheless, much of the analysis surrounding the 2024 elections continues to emphasize the notion that Trump's victory was primarily due to decisions made by the working class and the poorest Americans.
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