It is up to us to defeat Trump and MAGA in 2024--and we will!
Don't count on the courts to save us from Trump, it's up to you and me.
“If you can’t fly — then run. If you can’t run — then walk. If you can’t walk — then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” Those famous words from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech in 1960 at Spelman College should be mounted on our walls as we head into the 2024 presidential election.
The reality is that we will win in 2024. You should believe that deep down. But as you also know deep down: It won’t be easy. We will need to run, walk, crawl and do whatever you and I and can do to make that happen because the stakes demand it.
It goes without saying that this year’s presidential election is truly the most important of our lifetimes—eclipsing even 2020 given how much more dangerous Donald Trump and his MAGA movement have become over the past few years.
As I’ve written about recently: “Not only can “It” happen here, “It” is happening and that “It” is the rise of Fascism courtesy of Trump.” Trump has embraced the use of violence to achieve his political goals—a signature trait of fascist movements—from his inciting the Jan 6 terrorist attack to defending those terrorists to refusing to denounce threats and violence by his supporters directed against his political opponents. Bluntly, MAGA and our democratic Republic can not co-exist since fascism is the enemy of democracy. That is why we must politically destroy MAGA this election.
However, what we can’t do—even for a moment--is depend on others to defeat the threat posed by Trump/MAGA. What I mean is that please don’t become emotionally invested in Trump being barred from the ballot by the U.S. Supreme Court by way of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Same goes for Trump disappearing if he is convicted of his crimes. Even if Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is able to convince a jury to convict Trump in either the Jan 6 case or the classified documents case that his offices are prosecuting, there’s no legal prohibition barring him being the GOP nominee. And given that blind loyalty is one of the characteristics of fascist movements, I can assure that the GOP will still nominate Trump.
If we become emotionally invested in those scenarios and they don’t come to fruition, it could cause some to believe Trump winning is inevitable or that the system is rigged in his favor. Obviously, it’s not. We beat Trump in 2020. In 2022, despite corporate media’s non-stop screams that a “red wave” was coming together with their polls designed to suppress Democratic turnout, we greatly over performed--holding on to the U.S. Senate while barely losing the House.
And in 2023, we truly achieved amazing results. For example, in Virginia, GOP Governor Glenn Youngkin raised tens of millions of dollars for Republicans in an effort to win control of the State senate. Given that the GOP already controlled the House of Delegates, Youngkin had promised if voters gave the GOP the Senate as well, he would enact abortion restrictions, pass measures to suppress academic freedom, roll back gun safety laws and more. What happened? Not only did Democrats hold the Senate, but we also flipped control of the House of Delegates and now control both chambers of the state legislature.
In the reddish state of Ohio, voters shocked the GOP by approving a constitutional amendment that guarantees a right to access abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was reelected in a state that Trump had won by 26 percentage points by focusing on reproductive freedom. And In New Jersey, Democrats held control of both chambers of the legislature despite concerns Democratic voters were not motivated.
I’m not saying there’s no chance Trump ends up being barred from the ballot by way of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment or ends up not being the 2024 GOP nominee—just don’t count on that to save us.
And even if that happens, the fight very much continues. I mean, have you seen the other leading GOP presidential candidates?! These people are as right wing as they come. There’s gaslighting Civil War revisionist Nikki Haley-- masquerading as a moderate--but who actually boasts a long history of opposing reproductive freedom and has said if given the chance, she would sign into law a six week abortion ban. Haley also supports restrictions on freedom of speech, has championed an extreme anti-LGBTQ agenda and has long opposed providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
Then there’s Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In a word, DeSantis is awful. He openly supports a national abortion ban, as governor signed into law cruel anti-LGBTQ measures, restricted academic freedom and banned books, openly supports the indefinite occupation of the Palestinian people and has vowed to pardon the Jan 6 insurrectionists. In fact, both Haley and DeSantis recently announced if elected president, they would swiftly pardon Trump meaning he would escape punishment for his attempted coup and Jan 6 attack.
These two people remind us that there are no good Republicans. Trump or not, the leading GOP presidential candidates would usher in a right wing, theocratic regime that limits freedoms based on their political and religious views--from forcing women to carry a fetus to term against their will to pardoning MAGA terrorists who waged a brutal attack on our Capitol.
That means Democrats—along with all others who believe in democracy and freedom--must prepare to come out big regardless of who the GOP nominates in 2024 given the threat they all pose.
As Barack Obama famously said: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” And in 2024, we are the ones that will once again defeat Donald Trump and MAGA.
Thanks for this essay, Dean. YES! We MUST save ourselves. Our parents and grandparents would expect no less. Every day, we must LIVE Democracy. I've long argued that Democracy is both a noun AND a verb. We're supposed to be active, every day, and in every way, to support our Democracy. It's more than merely voting, though that is the absolute MINIMUM. Write letters to your elected officials, talk with your neighbors about our situations, get people registered to vote. DO SOMETHING every single day. Our country needs ALL of us.
In addition to ALL the important things you pointed out, is to not fall into the trap of third-party candidates have set. A vote for them is a vote for “-“ (45). V🧿TE BLUE.