Why I Resist

“I don’t think we should think of norms as something that are less important than our laws — you know, the norms are really the fabric that holds the whole democracy together — without (norms) democracy starts to fall apart.”

- Sally Yates

I came across this Sally Yates quote the other day, and it really made me think. I’ve preached about the degradation of norms being the most dangerous precedent set by this POTUS since I started my Twitter account, and that is why I resist:

I don’t resist for me. I’m a firmly middle-class white male; Trump’s policies are not inherently dangerous to me in a strictly literal sense. Yes, the degradation of societal norms is dangerous for all of us — even his supporters, who will scoff at this as they wave their MAGA hats and watch their wealth (or even their very means to survive) evaporate in the coming trade war — but his policies do not target me specifically. From a personal standpoint, I would probably be fine if (puke) Donald Trump was President for another four years — as long as he doesn’t start a nuclear war in the process — but that’s not what I’m here for. I resist because his ideologies *are* dangerous to my friends and my neighbors, to people I love, and to people who have risked everything to protect this experiment that we call Democracy. I resist because his bloviating makes our country less safe. “But he talks like us!” - Well, Cletus, there’s a damn good reason you aren’t President.

From a National Security standpoint, the United States is more isolated on the world stage than perhaps any time in our history. It’s only a testament to the decades of goodwill we’ve built that France and the UK joined us in striking Syria after Assad’s latest chemical attack. Donald Trump will not be able erode that goodwill entirely, but he’s having a pretty good go at it.

I resist because I don’t want serial predators on the Supreme Court. I resist because I don’t CARE if you’re gay, straight, or trans — and neither should anyone else. I resist because I refuse to see my country taken (socially) back to the early 1960s. I resist because when Ronan Farrow publishes a piece, we shouldn’t have to remind everyone to give credit to his co-author and incredibly talented fellow journalist, Jane Mayer. I resist because as a man, I understand that it’s none of my business what a woman does with her body. To be clear: not all of these problems are Donald Trump’s fault, but he damn sure hasn’t done anything to help them.

I resist, because I don’t. Want. A. Damned. Russian. Spy. In. The. Oval. Office.

I want to return to normal. I want to go back to arguing about the second amendment, fiscal responsibility, and *gasp* TAN SUITS; I don’t want to spend my time worrying that the very fabric of our democracy is unraveling before our eyes. I grow tired of watching this President burn anything and everything to the ground to hide his own culpability, but until this chaos stops, I will resist.

Thank you all for reading, and thank you for helping keep me sane for the last year and a half.