This is a crosspost with Fugue Plague, a dormant politics newsletter I started earlier this year when I wasn’t sure how to get my big feelings about Gaza out. Feel free to subscribe (it’s free!)
The Democrats lost the presidential election in the United States, which means that in just a little bit over 70 days, Donald Trump is going to return to the White House and resume his attempt at building an autocracy at the heart of the American Empire. As you can imagine, there has already been a lot of wailing and rending of garments from Democratic Party faithful who, in their attempt at trying to understand how their “perfect campaign” could have faltered, are now lashing out at just about every group under the sun who, if you tallied everyone in each attacked group, would not equal the 15 million or so people who voted for Biden in 2020 and just straight up didn’t vote this year (or even the 4 million or so that would have closed the gap between Trump and Vice President Harris).
We have some observations of our own. For example, the Democrats could have primaried Joe Biden at the start of the year or even beginning late in 2023 in an attempt at finding an ideal candidate who could replace him. They didn’t do that. They could have taken the issue of the Gaza genocide seriously and committed to an arms embargo or held Netanyahu’s feet to the fire on a ceasefire agreement. They didn’t do that either. They could have spent any amount of time energizing their base and making sure that Democrats were committed to voting everywhere; instead they wasted weeks and months courting “Centrist,” “Moderate” and “NeverTrump” Republicans who, it turns out, just fucking voted Republican straight-ticket anyway.
On a more minor note, the Democrats also didn’t take voter concerns about the economy very seriously, only adding it as a lip-service-paying talking point later on. Anecdotally I saw a lot of liberal pundits get in knockdown, drag-out fights on social media over this particular point; they dug in their heels and swore up and down that the economy was actually doing just fine, and people upset about food prices or the cost of gas were just imagining things or otherwise just not very economically literate. In a similar vein, the Dems woefully underutilized Tim Walz as someone who could actually make the connect between the party platform and “Regular Folks”-ass voters. They also suppressed what was easily the best motivator in their campaign: calling Republicans fucking weirdos. (Tim Walz isn’t to be universally praised or deified; his positions on Gaza, as well as actions against protestors he’s taken as Minnesota Governor, don’t exactly warrant accolades (to put it very lightly).)
But the bottom line takeaway we have is, the Democrats once again just didn’t take white supremacy and other bigotries seriously. They didn’t see what’s going on in the Republican Party as the formation of a fascist, christian nationalist party. And they don’t see that their own repeated moves to the right on everything from immigration to healthcare have created new entry points for the same fascist agitators that walked right into the Republican Party’s front doors. Put simply: they were so preoccupied with the Long Brunch following the end of Trump’s first term that they made no effort to defend against or plan for the resurgence of his bullshit this year. And man, what a fucking disappointment that has been.
Instead of taking responsibility for their failures to meet the present moment on a systemic level, the Democrats – strategists, pundits, anonymous House members – have taken the opportunity to reflect that this week gave them and used it to instead attack trans people, third party voters, leftists and Gaza supporters for losing the election. It’s enough to make anyone paying even a marginal amount of attention laugh. No, aside from the Democratic Party establishment’s total ineptitude, what lost them the election – and what let Trump win – was white people. According to AP VoteCast, 56 percent of white voters went for Trump. They made up 84 percent of his electorate. White supremacy and other bigotries are what clinched this election for Trump, plain and simple.
It’s tempting to respond to the Democratic pundits and strategists who, in their panic, seem to think Strasserism is the best pivot point moving forward with barbs of our own. Fuck knows they deserve it. But that would be a colossal waste of time; time we don’t have. Our job now is to shore up our communities, bolster existing organizing efforts with cash and resources and our time, and get ready to hunker down for a long proverbial winter.
What You Can Do
Look, we are not a Perfect Activist With Three Or More Decades Of Organizing under our belt. We don’t have perfect answers or readymade solutions to things; we’re not going to be the ones to single-handedly foment the revolution. The thing is, though: neither are you, and neither is anyone else doing meaningful organizing right now. The goal at this moment isn’t to come in guns blazing, riding a white horse ready to rock against the full might of the American Government; the goal is to ensure that we and the people we love – and the people around us – all make it through the next four years (and possibly well beyond) relatively unscathed. If you’re looking for guerrilla warfare tactics, we don’t know what to tell you; but if you’re looking for practical shit you can do to help immediately without much experience, we’ve got you covered.
As we see it, there are three categories of work we should engage with in the next few months: education, make donations, and organize.
Education
Political education is not easy, and often it isn’t cheap either. Nobody loves the idea of spending weeks and months with their nose stuck in a dense tome of Theory, especially with so much that urgently needs our attention. Unfortunately we also don’t have the luxury of remaining ignorant about the issues that are about to most immediately affect marginalized people come January 21, 2025. If we don’t have basic knowledge of anti-fascist organizing, the politics of the border, reproductive justice and trans healthcare rights, the impending climate catastrophe and so on, we’re going to be woefully unprepared in dealing with the fascist state in these realms.
Right now, anarchist publisher AK Press and socialist publisher Haymarket Books both have free ebook packages right now that broadly deal with everything mentioned above and more. These bundles include titles like Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown, Street Rebellion by Benjamin Case, Joyful Militancy by Carla Bergman, Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit, and Let this Radicalize You by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba. Between the two, that’s sixteen free books you can crack into basically right now.
If you’re looking for physical books, consider ordering from either Firestorm Books or Detritus Books. They always have a good selection (though NB: Firestorm was affected by Hurricane Helene on account of, well, being located smack in the middle of Asheville, NC).
For longer-term free resources, sites like CrimethInc., LibCom.org, and the Anarchist Library are incredible for theory and analysis to practical how-to guides on everything from wheatpasting to practicing good opsec after being doxxed. We particularly like and recommend CrimethInc.’s zine library.
Donation
In order to immediately spring into action once shit hits the fan, existing organizations are going to need money and other resources. It is impossible in a short article like this to name off every org deserving of funds, and people will of course have their own additions to this list as time goes on.
Reproductive justice
- In Our Own Voice
- SisterSong
- Center for Reproductive Rights
- Reproductive Freedom for All (Formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America)
Transgender rights
Gaza genocide relief
- Anera
- Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
- American Friends Service Committee
- Chuffed – this is a fundraising site like GoFundMe that directly pushes users to help fund verified Palestinian fundraisers.
General mutual aid/legal funds
Organization
Finally, we’ve gotta organize. In addition to finding opportunities with the above orgs, we’ve got to engage with existing groups in our areas and those already working on the ground on several areas of conflict. If you want to help feed people, there’s Food Not Bombs. If you’re interested in starting a tenants union, there’s Tenants Together and the Autonomous Tenants Union Network. Three Way Fight is a great site for information on antifascist organizing. No More Death/No Más Muertes organizes along the southern border. And in every city, people are organizing their communities and neighborhoods as we speak.
We need to have each other’s back in this moment. There are a bunch of ways to get involved at whatever level you feel comfortable doing so. It’s gonna take everything we have to get through the next four years and beyond, but we are capable of doing so.
Response
[…] to make donations and lend support. Many of these links are flat-out copied from Kaile’s site No Escape/Fugue Plague and the rest were solicited from members of our Discord server. You are very welcome to join the […]