No Time for Despair
Fridays in Trumpland: 7.11.2025
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This week, I’ve gotten mad a bunch of times.
Yes, mad at the administration. Yes, mad at the horrific actions of ICE which only seem to get worse. Yes, mad at Stephen Miller, because how could you not be.
But I’m also really mad at a whole other body of people right now, as follows:
Every time I log on to Bluesky or any other social media platform, inevitably someone has dropped into my comments with things like “there isn’t going to be an election in 2026!” or “it’s all over, we had a good run!” or “we won’t make it to the 250th anniversary, not a chance!”
What I know when I read comments like that is that the people writing them are doing nothing to fight back.
I am growing ever more weary of those who are essentially throwing in the towel on democracy in advance, and telling everyone else to do it too, because “why are you surprised? Democracy is dead.”
I’ve said many times here that despair is contagious. In this era, though, it’s not just contagious– it’s dangerous, because it creates conditions where others think there is no point in fighting back.
And it’s doubly infuriating, because not only is that a lie, it’s also disproven daily if you’re actually in community with others who care. If you’re doing good work— even a tiny part of the time— you know without a doubt that all hope is not lost.
As Mariame Kaba says, and as is absolute fact, people are in motion everywhere right now.
A few examples from just the last week right here where I live:
Folks are organizing to escort immigrants to court.
Families are organizing early school supply drives for folks who may not be able to obtain school supplies due to anticipated tariff shortages come late summer.
The local food bank is engaging in a drive to increase non-perishable goods in anticipation of the full impact of the budget bill.
A new teach-in/book club has begun on Black authors writing about racial and class justice that is running all summer long.
Multiple faith leaders are coming together to talk about how to organize their congregations for direct action.
Weekly protests continue against Trump’s regime in the center of town, rain or shine.
I could go on and on and on and on and on.
It is impossible to believe all hope is lost if you are in community with any other person doing work on a similar path as yourself.
And it’s critical right now that you get in to community with people who are in motion, if you are not already, because as Isaac Newton once taught us, bodies in motion tend to stay in motion.
At the same time, lest we forget: community also brings joy.
Just in my own life this week, there are celebrations.
I get to meet my new niece soon at the first baby shower I’ve attended in years.
Another single mom friend has moved into a new apartment, and her son has access to a nearby park and big backyard for the first time ever.
Another friend just got a new job after years of staying home with her kids, and is really excited about what’s to come.
All of them are out there doing good in the world as well (not the niece quite yet, but someday!).
We get to celebrate and find peace in community when we are working alongside like-minded people. Not everything has to be dire and desperate all the time— joy is a part of the point.
The work right now has to include loving one another, celebrating the good stuff, peace in simple moment, even in the midst of struggle.
That peace, after all, is a part of what we’re fighting for.
Someone reminded me this week of the importance of stepping over thresholds.
It’s a part of a much longer story but suffice it to say that we were talking about how sometimes, when we’re stepping into a new way of being or a new awareness, fear is a part of the stepping over and into a new stage, because discomfort (and sometimes a lot of it) is a part of the leveling up.
Every day now, I sense the desperation of those in power. As they get louder and more violent, screechier and more unbelievable, I see the flop sweat underneath the scratchy-throated threats.
And every day, I find myself more and more aware that we are stepping over a cultural threshold into something new, something better, maybe even something we’ve never been before.
Times of great chaos like these are full of violence and panic and trauma, and none of those are to be minimized. These times are awful.
And also, at the same time, there is a tiny sliver of possibility blooming right now that we can’t neglect.
As my friend Anya Sammler-Michael has said, “this is an age of monsters, and it is also an age that is dying.”
On the flipside of my fear right now, and in the interstices of these waves of seemingly endless violence, I find patches of a tiny-but-growing anticipation for what comes next, after all this madness collapses into piles of ash.
What we are living through will not last. History has taught us that, over and over and over again.
And there is a real need to imagine a better future now, so we have a vision of what we’re aiming for. This is a part of the work of cultivating hope– hope which propels action, hope which is a verb, hope which creates a sense of what it will feel like when we get there, when all people are free and loved and equal.
This is not a time for despair— not because there isn’t reason for it, but because we can’t waste the time we have. There is work that needs to be done and we need to do it.
We have too much yet to be done to get to the other side.
Into the breach, my friends. Time to cross the threshold, and start stepping over.
There are battles left to fight, and struggle is ongoing, but there is also light ahead in the distance— if we’re looking for it.
See you next week.
Interested in learning how to build community for safety and survival where you live, and to move the needle forward in big and small ways that make a real difference right now?
I 100% agree! We cannot give up! Sure, I give myself little moments of despair here and there, but engaging in my community and finding ways to laugh at the absurdity of things is making a difference! Our time here is short! It is my intention to be the change while here! Your words and encouragement make a difference! Go enjoy that sweet niece!
We cannot give up. What seemed like the giant maga iceberg is slowly breaking up and floating away. Ice attorneys and some agents are quitting due to the inhumanity, others are outraged the Epstein story was buried, some maga folks are incensed the BBB will actually affect them. Read Rebecca Solnit s post today on FB. She lists all the modern dictators of the last 2 centuries and their violent endings. It's not pretty. We must stay in community, have hope and not despair.