Saturday 21 January 2017 3 million women marched against tyranny in the US. They were joined by women of every continent including Antarctica. Some of us feeling too old and decrepit stayed home, but joined the on line march and a series of 10 actions in 100 days. I am one of those.
Why do I join the Action plan? Because I believe our democracy is in jeopardy under this new administration and Republican Congress (both houses). I believe the balance of the world economy is likely to teeter and fall because of their power and influence. I believe we all could be in deep shit. I believe women and people of color in particular are at greater risk in terms of health, general welfare and protection under the law than they were a week ago.
Actions taken already are steps to remove health care from people, undercut and change Medicare and social security in significant ways, disempower environmental protections, remove basic privacy guarantees for women, the internet, government employees, and who knows what else.
Donald Trump and his staff have already set about lying to the press, giving them "or else" ultimatums and misrepresenting simple things like how many people were at the Inauguration. To their credit the press has pushed back and called a lie a lie. They may find themselves moved out of the West Wing and into another building off premises. To bolster his brand and make a fictional support from the CIA Trump took cheerleaders to the CIA to laugh at his jokes and applaud. He announced there we might take another crack at Middle East oil and go back in and fight to get it. He made it sound like an aside, but people were appalled. I am appalled.
He has denigrated the UN, NATO and other major alliances. He is renegotiating NAFTA, a trade deal I don't much like, but to take a frontal assault on all these at once is destabilizing. I suspect that is what he wants. A confused and disorganized political and economic world might be his for the picking. Note I say might. The level of protest right out of the gate gives me hope that this man and his right wing fascist associates can be stopped. Not in 4 years with another election. Not in 2 years by regaining the House and the Senate. But Now! Trump has lied about removing himself from his businesses. He has lied about his close association with Russia. It seems clear Russia intervened to get him elected. He has never revealed his tax returns. I think when all of that is investigated there will be so much evidence even a Republican Congress will impeach. I hope so.
Meanwhile Trump complains through his mouth pieces that all this criticism is demoralizing. I hope it is. We mean it to be. We mean it to be so uncomfortable that the thin-skinned demagogue finds the job too much trouble and quits. That won't solve all the problems, but it solves one. The Russian resource will be out of the White House.
As I write that I wonder if I have gone too far. Surely such things cannot be true--the president a traitor? Then I review what he is and what he's done. I often think that can't be true either. Yet in many cases his remarks are made in front of a camera. I saw them. I heard them. I see him for what he is and he must be stopped.
10 actions in 100 days to protest what he's done. The first action asked post cards be sent to our Senators. Done. The organizers suggested we write our hearts out about this. I just did.
Join me? Write your post cards and diary your thoughts. Then tell social media you did it.
