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A week into the Trump presidency, we have a few observations.
Donald Trump was inaugurated as the first Felon in Chief, and on Day One loosed his fellow insurrectionist felons on the country – a wannabe dictator pardoning potential paramilitary enforcers.
Also on Day One, the wannabe launched a frontal assault on the Constitution with the effort to eviscerate the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.
The government being assembled is a confederacy of oligarchs, merging the super rich with white nationalist and theocratic extremists. Plutocracy – the unprecedented concentration of wealth – is the swamp from which monsters arise. These include the spineless enablers who are bowing to threats or obeying in advance.
The scapegoats of this reactionary cabal – immigrants first among them – are already being violently targeted.
There is much more to be said, and we will be looking for the clearest analysts, the most effective responses to bring you throughout the year.
Perhaps the most important observation is that we believe the means still exist to rebuke the grasp for absolute power and the further enrichment of the super rich. It will require organization and coalition, flexibility, determination and perseverance. It will require that all-consuming capitalist greed be confronted with the solidarity of the working class, in all its diversity. Such ideals are very much a part of the American character and have rescued our nation’s democratic project more than once before. The Left is an integral and essential component of all this.
If you’ve already contributed to our fund appeal, a heartfelt thank you.
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- When readers do contribute, no matter how little, we feel really good about it. It reinforces our conviction that we’re in this struggle to achieve a better world together with lots of like-minded people.
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A luta continua,
The Portside collective,
Judy Atkins, Jonathan Bennett, Mark Brody, Barry Cohen, David Cohen, Ira Cohen, Jeannette Ferrary, Marti Garza, Greg Heires, Geoffrey Jacques, Will Jones, Maureen LaMar, Stephanie Luce, Ray Markey, John P. Pittman, Natalie Reuss, Lee Rossi, Nan Rubin, Meredith Schafer, Jay Schaffner, Kurt Stand, Ethan Young
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