Hamas Can Only Lose if Palestine Wins

The tragedy playing out in Israel-Palestine now is a witches' brew with many chefs. The nihilistic malice of Hamas of course has contributed. But the ludicrously cynical politics of the Trump and Netanyahu administrations share equal blame. The surreal destruction and mob violence feel like the beginning of the end.

The Netanyahu government obliged Hamas by providing an open wound into which salt might be rubbed. Encouraged by the absurd Trump-Kushner "peace plan" (neither a plan nor a design for peace), Netanyahu unleashed his ultra-religious allies to pursue their most gratuitously belligerent goals in East Jerusalem. The expulsion of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood is a calculated assault on any concept of equity, fairness, or good faith compromise. 

The 200+ families in the targeted homes have lived there for more than seventy years, and are to be ejected on the strength of a 19th century deed of purchase.  That this should be allowed in a nation that will not grant thousands of Palestinian refugees the right to return to homes from which they had been expelled by Israeli forces in Lydda and Ramle in 1948 makes a mockery of any notion of justice. 

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a deputy-mayor of Jerusalem, summarized the principles being asserted by the Jewish settlers driving the expulsions quite succinctly: “This is a...Jewish state. It is here to protect the Jewish people.” In other words, the settlers seek to establish by open and blatant precedent (as opposed to tacit bias) that Israel is a nation in which only Jews will have the full protection of citizens. It is an ethno-nationalist vision ironically equivalent to Fascism. The message was not lost on Israel's Arab community, sparking the worst civic unrest between Jewish and non-Jewish citizens in the nation's history. 

The tragedy is made doubly absurd by the fact that Netanyahu is abetting his followers in a game that they cannot ultimately win. Chaos has little but upside for Hamas. Acting out Palestinian rage wins them political capital from some in the Arab community and opprobrium from others in the Middle East and beyond. Either way, it forestalls peace and keeps the wheel of conflict spinning, which is just as Hamas desires. Other than attacks on its leadership, Hamas has little to fear from Israel. It would be more expensive for Israel to re-occupy Gaza than to deal with occasional rocket attacks, so Israel possesses little leverage over Hamas's strategic decisions. 

Hamas will continue to enjoy purchase in Palestinian society as long as its people are captive to despair, humiliation, and rage. The only way that Hamas can be stopped is if the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people are recognized. Whether that happens through (an increasingly untenable) two-state solution or the merger of Israel and Palestine into a single state with full citizenship for all people, the violence and death will continue until justice is achieved. It feels like the beginning of the end, the only question is: "of what?" We may be witnessing the beginning of despair and the end of all hope for peace. Let us pray rather that it is the end of delusion and the beginning of a path back to sanity.

Joementum or "Joe Mama"?

President Biden's speech to Congress on Wednesday night left us with little doubt of his strategic thinking for the months between now and the midterm election of 2022. The Democrats have determined (in consultation with the Senate Parliamentarian) that three bills can be passed using the budget reconciliation process in this legislative calendar year. The first, the American Rescue Plan Act, has already been signed into law. On Wednesday night Biden laid out the parameters of two further major legislative initiatives: the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. If the White House can maintain party discipline within the Democratic Senate caucus, both of those bills will pass out of Congress before next November, and will not require any alteration to the Senate filibuster rules to be enacted as law.

 

 This is clearly Biden's plan for the Congressional campaign of 2022, and it is admittedly a bold and potentially effective strategy. On the one hand he cannot be faulted as "radical" for pushing through legislation that would require a change to the Senate rules enacted on a razor-thin mandate. On the other, his three bills combined commit the federal government to a transformational level of spending: $5.5 trillion all told. If the programs these bills entail can be efficiently executed, it will effect the greatest expansion of the public sector and intensification of the role of government in the United States since the days of FDR and the New Deal. 

 

Biden is playing to his strengths as a long veteran of government, someone with deep networks of relationships in both the legislative and executive branches. The successful federalization of the Covid-19 vaccination program, which has more than doubled the promised pace of distribution, suggests that Biden's instincts might prove quite shrewd. Putting the government to work actually solving problems is an obvious way to restore the civic trust that has collapsed in recent years and thrown our politics into chaos. Beyond this, increasing spending and raising taxes is a natural path to redressing the spiraling wealth inequality that has festered for four decades and eroded social cohesion.

While all of this makes good sense, the political outcomes that we may expect from a course of "Bidenomics" are impossible to predict. Biden's approval/disapproval ratio stands at roughly 55%/40%: the exact inverse of his predecessor. This despite the fact that virtually all of the component policies of his governing initiatives (modernizing the electrical grid, expanding access to child care and education, etc.) poll better than he does personally, typically enjoying 60-65% approval among the electorate at large. It would seem that for 40% of the electorate one fact about Biden trumps all others (pun intended): he is not the other guy. 

 

This is a strange and vexing state of affairs, but the experience of the past four years should have inured us to it. There is of course, the chance that some tangible effects of Bidenomics might sway hearts and minds. If recalcitrant citizens see their businesses thrive and their quality of life improve, perhaps they will give Biden some assent that they now withhold. But I would not bet on it. If death counts climbing into the hundreds of thousands from Covid-19 did not change a person's mind about the other guy, a boost in her 401K is not likely to shift her opinion about his successor.

So what are we to expect, moving forward? It is likely that Democrats will lose control of one or both houses of Congress in 2022. It would be nice to think that Bidenomics will excite the Democratic base sufficiently to secure an extraordinary incumbent midterm victory, but no signs point to such a scenario. Biden's supporters are not any more moved to new opinions or enthusiasm than his opponents. The typical dropoff in Democratic turnout during a midterm election, in combination with gerrymandering and general demographic challenges are likely to yield predictable results. 

By the same token, however, the strange inertia that favors Republicans in 2022 is likely to favor Democrats, at least in the contest for the White House, in 2024. A 55/40 split going into a national presidential contest is a crippling disadvantage, even accounting for the exigencies of the Electoral College. We are always fighting the last war, so the public discourse is likely to imagine that 2024 will play out in ways similar to 2016 or 2020. But though the 55% of the electorate that currently approves of Joe Biden might be burnt out and apathetic, they don't suffer from amnesia. As polls open in November of 2024 they will remember very clearly everything that happened between January 20, 2017 and January 7, 2021. Will they be blithe about the prospect of four more years of the other guy? I would not bet money that I could not afford to lose on that notion.

So gridlock is probably in the cards, but for how long? That is hard to say. An energized base could give control of Congress back to the Democrats in 2024. If Biden is still at the helm then, and has a slightly expanded majority in the Senate (53-55 seats rather than the current 50) he would most likely be amenable to a move against the filibuster, and then things could really get interesting. But will our politics take us there? Who knows? As long as 40% of the electorate remains wedded to an abstraction, predicting what specific policy path will lead us out of our electoral impasse is impossible. If we can get to the point where real robust regulatory change (a reform of health care, voting rights, or policing laws, for example, as opposed to primarily fiscal policy) is achievable, we might see new coalitions and movements form around concrete ideas. But how we get to that point is anyone's guess. 

At the Crossroads

An ancient Chinese legend says that when the teacher Mo Di arrived at a crossroads he wept aloud, because a single misstep could result in an error of 10,000 miles. Mo Di's dilemma resembles the existential situation of American leaders right now, particularly that of President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Two basic strategies present themselves moving forward, and the wrong choice could be disastrous.

With the passage of the CARES act, one of the most robust and progressive pieces of fiscal legislation in the nation's history, Democrats have staked a claim to major achievements that they can run on in the election of 2022 and beyond. If (as seems likely) that landmark piece of legislation will be followed by a major infrastructure bill passed by process of reconciliation, the Democrats will be able to take credit for using the mandate that voters gave them in 2020 to take bold action. The question that Democratic leaders must confront is whether those two pieces of legislation, in combination with executive actions such as a renewed commitment to the Paris Climate Accords and the WHO, will be enough. 

Why are the choices so stark and the stakes so high? On the one hand, the opportunities to overcome Republican obstruction absent more aggressive action will quickly expire. If and when an infrastructure bill passes, it will be the last piece of significant legislation that Joe Biden will have the opportunity to sign into law unless the Democrats move to eliminate the filibuster. Action on health care, the minimum wage, immigration, voting rights, law enforcement reform, penal reform, and a host of other urgent priorities will be roadblocked until either the filibuster is curtailed, the Democrats win sixty senate seats, or the Republicans become willing to reach a negotiated settlement on these issues of national importance (i.e. when hell freezes over). 

On the other hand, it is clear that the outcome of the next two electoral cycles will not merely decide the direction of foreign and domestic policy, but the fate of American democracy itself. The majority of Republican office holders have embraced the malignantly fallacious narrative surrounding the terrorist attack on the Capitol that transpired on January 6. If the GOP remains committed to the lie that the 2020 election was illegitimate or "stolen" and the terrorists of January 6 were "patriots," then their own rhetoric will compel them to dismantle the machinery of pluralistic democracy once they achieve consolidated control of Congress and the White House in 2024. Over the last five years the GOP has effectively become a party committed to the establishment of white supremacist oligarchy, and they will complete the process of transforming the US into such a polity if, given their current configuration, they receive any kind of mandate to rule, no matter how narrowly technical or demographically anti-majoritarian. 

The Democrats thus must beat the Republicans in 2024, not simply to save the economy or the environment, but to save democracy itself. Which of the roads before them leads to that end? The choice is enormously consequential.

The Democrats could stop at the passage of the CARES act and an infrastructure bill and run on those achievements through 2024. This strategy has the advantage of providing voters with robust and tangible improvements to their quality of life without giving the Republicans much purchase for stirring up partisan division and anger. Fiscal legislation like the CARES act provides the political opposition with only limited opportunity for negative attacks: Republicans can only argue for the harm of specific provisions of the bill. A move to eliminate the filibuster, by contrast, would give GOP leaders a kind of rhetorical "blank check," empowering them to spin nightmare scenarios about what "radical Democrats" plan to do with the power that they "grabbed."

If Democrats opt for a cautious strategy they might well elect to avoid the rhetorical trap that a move against the filibuster would establish. Historically the party in power can be counted on to lose seats in the midterm election, and since Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress are razor-thin, the loss of at least one chamber to the GOP may be a foregone conclusion. Since there is little to gain from further action electorally, it might be deemed wise to avoid taking on unnecessary liabilities.

Two considerations argue against such caution. The first is that some minimum degree of legislative action is necessary to secure the integrity of the electoral process itself. Republican-controlled legislatures in twenty-eight states are moving to enact laws that will restrict voting rights, especially to low-income and minority constituencies that disproportionately vote Democratic. Unless Congress passes H.R. 1 (the "For the People" Act)  to curtail these voter-suppression  drives, the GOP may be able to rig the system so thoroughly as to engineer an inevitable Republican victory in both 2022 and 2024. Such an outcome would not only deprive millions of Democratic voters of their franchise, but amplify the most malignant and anti-democratic tendencies within the GOP itself.

A second principle that must factor into Democratic strategy is the future trajectory of the two-party system itself. The United States cannot survive in the long term if one of its two major political parties is committed to a fascist agenda. There are leaders in the GOP whose commitment to (small-d) democratic principles remains firm, but they are a minority who lack the power to set the course for the party as a whole. In order for Republicans like Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and Larry Hogan to pilot their party away from the path of white supremacist oligarchy, a general restructuring must be effected in our electoral politics. For that to happen, the GOP must be drubbed in at least one future electoral contest much more thoroughly than occurred in 2020 or even in 2018.

Republican leaders like Ron Johnson, Josh Hawley, and Ted Cruz, in endorsing the Big Lie about the January 6th terrorist attack, are effectively spreading the message that American democracy no longer works, and thus it must be replaced by a white supremacist oligarchy. In order to effectively counter that message, Democrats must enact policies that persuade voters of its opposite: democracy can and does work, and is thus worth preserving. Will the CARES Act and an infrastructure bill be enough to instill that confidence in a broad enough swath of the electorate to produce truly transformative electoral wins? 

 

Perhaps. But an alternative view would suggest that the Democrats have little to lose and everything to gain by "swinging for the fences." Moving to eliminate (or weaken) the filibuster will provide the Republicans with powerful short-term political ammunition, but it is the only way to clear the path toward meaningful change and robust action on urgent priorities. Moreover, though conventional wisdom might lead Democrats to give up the 2022 contest as "lost," the emergency of the moment calls for bold strategy. If Democrats retained or actually expanded their majorities in both chambers of Congress, such an outcome would be so unprecedented and alarming as to finally shock the Republican Party into a substantive change of course. Caution and conservatism rarely yields dividends in midterm elections. If the Democrats want to drive up turnouts and potentially reap big wins, it would behoove them to court controversy and generate buzz through audacious action

I do not envy Democratic leaders as they plot a political course over the next weeks and months. Under the best of circumstances the political stakes are nerve-wrackingly high in the early months of a new administration. But since the outcome of the next two electoral cycles will ultimately decide the survival or extinction of American democracy, the pressures of the moment are excruciatingly intense. At such moments it is tempting for citizens to sit back and rely on the strategic wisdom of those in power. By piloting the CARES Act to implementation Joe Biden and his Democratic allies have earned a degree of confidence from voters. But given how high the stakes are, we should all remain politically engaged, since any path forward will require the active participation of an informed and conscientious citizenry to yield positive results.

Bellwether Mitch

Mitch McConnell's behavior in the recent impeachment trial may seem bizarre. Why vote to acquit and then give a blistering speech condemning the criminal liability of the man you just let off the hook? But strange as such antics seem, they follow a very clear cynical logic that flows naturally from Mitch's political career up to this point. McConnell has demonstrated nothing in his years as leader of the GOP Senate caucus more conclusively than his absolute contempt for the collective intellect of the American electorate. 

 

 He is counting on the foreshortened attention span of the American voter, and has prepared two alternative tactical options for use in 2022. If at that point Joe Biden's approval rating has fallen into the low 40's and the GOP seems nostalgic for the "good old days" of 2019-2020, he will emphasize his vote to acquit. If in the summer and fall of 2022 Biden's approval rating is in the mid-high 50's or low 60's and 2020 is a bad memory, Mitch will stress his scathing speech in condemnation of the "crimes" of January 6, 2021.In this way McConnell serves as a bellwether of the whole GOP. Mitch wants to be the Senate majority leader again, and thus has to be ready to tack in whichever direction the prevailing winds are taking the GOP come 2022.

 

It is thus a good sign that he anticipates that there might be a repudiation of the last four years. Next January 6 there will be two types of ceremonies held to commemorate the anniversary of what transpired at the Capitol. All of the Democrats will be at the memorial services to mourn those who suffered on that day, especially the Capitol police officers who were killed, injured, or traumatized by the terrorist crowds. At least some Republicans will attend those ceremonies, maybe most of them. But not all of them. 

 

Some Republicans will declare January sixth a holiday and give it a name: "Patriot's Day" or perhaps even "Insurrection Day," (on the grounds that insurrection in the face of "tyranny" is no vice). They will gather for austere but uplifting ceremonies to commemorate the "great patriotic uprising" that took place to "stop the steal."  What's-her-name and You-know-who will definitely be there. Will Ted Cruz attend? Josh Hawley? Again, it will all depend on Joe Biden's approval rating. 

 

Where Mitch McConnell will be on that day is anyone's guess. I doubt he will have the gall to go to a "Patriot's Day" celebration, but who knows? What is sure is that he will be doing a careful headcount of Republicans: are most of them at the mourning rites, or the celebratory festivals? He will shape his story about the impeachment trial on the basis of those numbers. The bright side is that if "pro-impeachment" Mitch emerges like the groundhog from his hole, it will be a sign that the tide of white supremacist nationalism is receding, and the threat to our democracy with it. But if "anti-impeachment" Mitch rises to greet us, the picture becomes much more dire. 

The very thorough case presented by the House managers in the impeachment trial has had a clarifying effect. Anyone who looked at the evidence that they presented, who watched, for example, the body-cam video of the Capitol police officer who lay supine and in cardiac arrest as the "MAGA"-hatted mob savagely beat him, cannot claim ambiguity any longer. If you approve of what happened on January 6, 2021, you no longer believe in the institutions of our democracy. 

 

Masha Gessen described the situation of the USA this last fall using an analytical framework developed by the Hungarian sociologist Bálint Magyar, which divides the dissolution of democracy into three stages: "autocratic attempt," "autocratic breakthrough," and "autocratic consolidation." In history, for example, Hitler's deployment of Brown Shirts and use of propaganda in the early Weimar years corresponded to "attempt," his rise to the post of Chancellor constituted "breakthrough," and the Nazification of Germany post-1933 corresponded to "consolidation." For Gessen, everything we had experienced from November 8, 2016 to November 3, 2020 had constituted "autocratic attempt." The campaign to "stop the steal" that transpired between November 3, 2020 and January 6, 2021 was a window of potential "autocratic breakthrough." If the faction who had howled to "hang Mike Pence!" on January 6 had succeeded in halting the peaceful transition of power, autocratic breakthrough would have been achieved.

 

What the impeachment trial shows and Mitch McConnell's prevarication confirms is that autocratic breakthrough has not been successfully evaded, only deferred. We hover on the precipice, we sit under the sword of Damocles. We are not one term, one month, or one week away from the dissolution of our democracy, we are one election removed from that end. The next time the MAGA faction captures the White House will be the last democratic election our Republic achieves. 

 

So watch Mitch. He will show us which way the GOP inclines. If he emphasizes his post-acquittal "fire and brimstone" speech in the lead up to the 2022 election, then the grip of the MAGA faction is loosening, and the danger to our democracy is receding. If he underscores his vote to acquit, the red-hatted mob is on the rise, and autocratic breakthrough draws nigh. 

 

This is not a call for malaise or despair, but for vigilance and vigor. Most of the country remains ready to give democracy a chance if it can be made to work. So let's make it work. If that can be achieved, if all of the improvements to people's lives that will keep Joe Biden's approval rating above 50% can be cultivated and preserved, the threat of autocracy won't be completely dispelled. We can, however, push the clock back, so that those who want to dismantle the Republic will not be perched on the cusp of autocratic breakthrough, but will be back at the first square of "autocratic attempt."

Fellow Democrats, Please Ignore What's-Her-Name

The current news cycle has been dominated by sturm und drang about a certain freshman member of Congress. While the Representative in question certainly purveys ludicrously toxic views and has been malignantly engaged on social media for several years, the current furor feels contrived. We have known that this person was headed to Washington for months now, her social media activities were a matter of public record. The current shock and awe is....curious.

To be fair, the events of January 6 have lent some real urgency to the situation. Talk of violence in the Capitol can no longer be treated as an abstraction. The new member's colleagues cannot be blamed for viewing her with suspicion, and insisting that her behavior be regulated. 

But even allowing for a level of legitimate concern, the current moment of stridency is highly suspect and politically foolish. GOP voters sent this person to Congress out of the same impulse that has been gaining force on the political right for five years: a voracious desire to "own the libs" and a ravenous yearning for lulz at the expense of "the system." All of the current gnashing of teeth and rending of cloth plays directly into those pathological impulses. 

Moreover, there is a degree of cynicism at play. Certain interests in both the Democratic Party and the media are casting about for a bete noire to replace the one that skulked away on January 20. This is understandable, but its being so does not make it wise or even acceptable. The Democrats do not need and cannot use their own version of AOC to serve as a whipping post. However much such theatrics may serve in the short term to distract some voters on the left, in the long run it can only detract from Democratic electoral prospects in 2022 and 2024.

Any and all attention given to What's-Her-Name (hereafter WHN) can only increase her celebrity and cachet among GOP base voters. The votes to expel her in the closely divided House do not exist. Attempts to do so will only set off guffaws from her supporters about the impotence of the libtard snowflakes. There are only two steps to take in confronting WHN:

1)If she tries to bring a gun into the Capitol, call the SWAT team.

2)Who were we talking about, again?

The Democrats live beneath the sword of Damocles. In the ordinary course of politics, given how thin their majorities are and the general trend of past midterm elections concerning the party in the White House, one would expect them to lose both the House and the Senate in 2022. If that happens and they have achieved nothing by way of alleviating the misery in which millions of Americans live (many of them since long before the pandemic began), the entire nation will suffer a calamity. 

If the current Congress proves to be a "Do-Nothing Congress," not only will voters hand power back to the GOP, but they will make sure that they give it over to the most maliciously racist and authoritarian elements of the Republican Party. Their logic will be clear and incontestable: "We gave the Dems the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they did nothing. It must be because they are owned by Wall Street. Let's try the fascists. They may be lunatics, but they at least have the courage of their convictions."

Take heed, Democrats. You don't like Congresswoman WHN? How about Governor WHN? President WHN? That is what you are opening the door to if you allow yourselves to be distracted now. GET STUFF DONE. GET STUFF DONE NOW!!! Pass the $1.9 trillion relief package. Pass voting rights legislation. Create a public option to make health care more affordable. Raise the minimum wage. DO IT NOW, OR ELSE.

Could doing those things be politically risky? Could it require eliminating the filibuster? Might it cost you the election in 2022? Sure. WHO CARES? The alternative is DISASTER. In the face of such ludicrously asymmetrical risks there is only one choice. IGNORE WHN. GET STUFF DONE.

An Open Letter to My Republican Compatriots Who Voted for Joe Biden

 

Dear Friends, Republicans who Voted for Joe Biden in 2020,

       I write as a Democrat, a citizen, and a fellow American to thank you. You saved our Republic. You rescued the American experiment in democracy from destruction. That has been a fair supposition since November 3, but the terrible events of January 6 made that absolutely clear.

       Why is that so?  The numbers tell the tale. Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives received 3.9 million fewer votes than Joseph Biden on November 3. Those were your votes, my friends. That represents more than half of Joseph R. Biden's margin of victory in the last presidential election. 

        What would have happened if Joe Biden hadn't had your 3.9 million votes? Perhaps he would have lost the Electoral College. More likely than that and even worse, he would have won the Electoral College by the slimmest of margins. 

         If that had been the case, the past two months would have been much worse than what we have experienced. Though Donald Trump would still have lost the election, all of his fraudulent challenges to the integrity of the vote would have gained much more traction. Perhaps a handful of his court challenges would have produced recounts or delays. Perhaps a few dozen more election officials, emboldened or shaken by the closeness of the tally and the passion of the mob, would have falsified reports, lied about outcomes, or sabotaged tallies.

        If that had happened, all of the ugliness and violence we saw break loose at the Capitol last Wednesday would have happened much sooner, and would have been much worse. As large, angry crowds gathered to protest Donald Trump's moves to steal the election, the fascist criminals who perpetrated the attack on January 6 would have had their choice of dozens or hundreds of very soft targets. Instead of settling for storming a fortified federal building at the incitement of the President, they could have just brought their assault rifles and bump stocks to an open, public place and started murdering people in the name of "America."

        By giving Joe Biden a clear and unimpeachable victory in both the popular vote and the Electoral College, you saved our nation from that awful eventuality. Future generations will praise your patriotism, wisdom, and foresight. We all owe you a debt of gratitude.

       But the fight is not over yet. The fascists who attacked the Capitol still have shelter inside the machinery of the Republican Party. As long as Donald Trump controls the GOP, extremists will be able to piggyback on Republican politicians. 

       The problem is with the primary process. At this point (slightly) more than half of Republicans can see that Trump is a con man and a fraud. Unfortunately, the group that still believes Trump's lies is very passionate, very vocal, and very active. They can be counted upon to vote in Republican primaries in disproportionate numbers, thus all of the equivocation and civic cowardice on the part of GOP officials that gives aid to extremists is in deference to that cultist wing of the party.

     The answer again lies with you, my friends. You must rise to the urgency of the moment. You must be as passionate and motivated in your wisdom and sobriety as the Trumpists are in their derangement. We need a Republican faction of the "radically sane" to take back the GOP and make it the Party of Lincoln once again. If you can manage that, it will not be an exaggeration to say that you have rescued America a second time.

      I give you my thanks again, and extend you my very best wishes for the new year. Let us stride forward in the confidence that though we may disagree on matters of policy, we share a love of America and the democratic principles on which it is founded.

                       Sincerely,

                       Andrew Meyer

An Open Letter to Governor Phil Murphy (D-NJ)

 

Dear Governor Murphy,

           I write to you as a resident and citizen of New Jersey out of concern for the growing threat of white supremacist terrorism to the government and people of our state. The attack on our nation's Capitol on January 6 has emboldened the terrorists who planned and perpetrated that crime. They have broadcast their intentions over social media to stage further attacks, in Washington DC and across the nation, on Sunday January 17 and again on January 20 during the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

          Panic would of course be counter-productive at this juncture. The criminals who are broadcasting this message are doing so precisely to stoke fear and sow chaos. They hope that the people of New Jersey will overestimate their numbers and overreact to even innocuous disruptions, turning on one-another in our distress. That must not happen.

         But neither can the threat of these attacks be dismissed as wholly insignificant. On November 1 caravans of right-wing thugs blockaded highways and bridges at several points in the Garden State, ostensibly to show their support for Donald Trump. That was an act of domestic sabotage that may be prelude to more violent seditious acts to come. 

         As a citizen of your state, I would like your assurance that preparations are being made against this danger. Please assure us that state and local law enforcement agencies have been put on high alert, that the National Guard has been mobilized, and that steps have been taken not only to protect government offices and elected officials but also key infrastructure (power stations, internet servers, radio stations, etc.). 

         Calm is vital. Terrorists only win if they can induce panic. But the preservation of calm relies on awareness of two principles. 

          The first is that for terrorists, success breeds success. Leaving the Capitol vulnerable produced dramatic images, which produced fear in the general public and enthusiasm in criminal extremists, which in turn produces new vulnerabilities. It falls on you to prepare the state so that these terrorists cannot score another propaganda victory and further leverage their influence.

           The second principle is that calm must be cultivated from the top. We need you to get the message out that the state is prepared and that violent extremism will not be tolerated. If you are forthright and determined, we the people will respond with civic courage and unity.

           Thank you for your service during this difficult time. Please accept my best wishes for your health and safety, and that of all who serve with you.

                          Sincerely,

                           Andrew Meyer

An Open Letter Opposing White Supremacist Violence: Addressed to Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ04)

 

Dear Senator Menendez, Senator Booker and Representative Smith,

           I write to you as a constituent and a citizen, out of concern for the growing threat of white supremacist violence to our democracy. The attack staged against the Capitol on January 6 was not only a tragic disgrace, but demonstrated the woeful vulnerability of our nation's most sacred institutions. The threat posed to your safety and security, and to the business of government in general, was intolerable. Those whose negligence (or collusion) contributed to this debacle must be held accountable. 

        Now reports proliferate of more obscenities planned in coming days. The terrorists who staged the attack of January 6 have been emboldened, and show every indication that they mean to escalate the level of violence and destructiveness directed against our government and its elected officials. THIS MALICE CAN NOT STAND.

      Our President has proven himself faithless in the execution of his duty to protect the Republic. It falls to you, our elected representatives, to ensure that preparations are being made to protect our democracy from these gathering threats. Have provisions been made for the security of the Capitol, the White House, and other institutions? Is law enforcement and/or the military prepared to meet these criminals with the force necessary to repel them? 

     We your constituents are owed answers to these questions. Please contact me directly with your assurances that the urgency of the situation is being met. Moreover, please pass along the word to the Congressional leadership of both parties that a coordinated response to this terrorism must be prepared and announced to the public at large.

      I thank you for your service, and extend my best wishes for your health and safety during these troubled days.

                 Sincerely,

                 Andrew Meyer

Merry Shitmas

 Yesterday's obscenity in the US Capitol achieved a weird kind of alchemy. On the one hand it was absolutely pathetic. With regard to the election of 2020, the goons who stomped around the Rotunda and vandalized Speaker Pelosi's office accomplished exactly as much as they could from the outset, which was absolutely nothing. In the realm of political identity, however, they drew boundaries that will force all Americans, especially those who seek elected office, to choose sides and stake claims.

The spirit of the moment was perfectly encapsulated by one thug, who when asked by BBC reporter Robert Moore why he was assaulting Congress, replied, "Because they work for us." The operative word there is "us," as in "us, not you." It doesn't matter that a majority of Americans voted for Congressional representatives who disagree with the ostensible object of yesterday's riot, we in the majority are all wrong. The government belongs to the minority of right-thinking people who wear red hats and worship pictures of the President.

This is of course how every Fascist movement in history has operated. Many of the goons trying to smash the door of the House Chamber no doubt really believe that the election had been "stolen," just as many of Hitler's Brown Shirts believed that a Jewish cabal had betrayed Germany in World War One. The fact that many accept the lie separating the "right" from the "wrong" doesn't make it other than a lie. If history teaches us anything, it is that a movement to destroy democracy must make the truth its first casualty.

Mr. Trump was quite clever in staging yesterday's little piece of reality-TV farce. Moving forward, January 6, 2021 will be a new sign that distinguishes the "wakened" from the deluded. Anyone who wants to continue to claim an ownership stake in "our government" will have to remember January 6 as a day of great patriotism, a surge of righteous rage. Donald Trump will be ready to address the ceremonies to commemorate this great day that will undoubtedly be held on January 6 next year. Any politicians like Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley who want to ride to power on the crest of the MAGA wave will have to be ready to put on a red hat and wax nostalgic about the day that blood ran in the Capitol. 

These "Shitmas" celebrations (a vulgar label, I know, but it aptly describes all that yesterday accomplished, which mainly amounted to throwing feces like a feral chimpanzee) will have a clarifying function for the rest of us. We will be able to recognize anyone who puts on the hat and stands next to Mr. Trump on the podium as a traitor, not so much to the US, but to the principle of democracy itself. If you want to know whose electoral opponents to donate to or what campaign to volunteer for, keep an eye out next January 6. Any politician who wishes us a Merry Shitmas is begging to be given the "Perdue and Loeffler" treatment.