The thing that keeps me up at night is not America’s totalitarian drift. It’s the lack of fighting spirit among people who say they love this country. 

I mean, I get that right now the congressional Democrats don’t have any power. I get that there’s nothing they can do in the face of Donald Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional executive orders. Ditto for his disgusting pardon of traitors, liars, thieves and murderers. And I get that Senate Democrats are outnumbered by GOP counterparts who are bent on confirming the unworthiest administration of our lifetimes.

Powerlessness, however, isn’t the same thing as impotence. There’s a lot the Democrats can do, the most important of which is saying no to Donald Trump and telling the truth about America’s totalitarian drift.

Bill Kristol put it well when he asked: “What can [the Democrats] do now? Tell the truth — and do it clearly, and do it loudly. Tell the truth about Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel. Tell the truth about Trump’s cruel and damaging immigration policies. Tell the truth about Trump’s plutocrats and corruption and grift. Tell the truth about Trump’s assault on the rule of law. For now, the public’s wondering what to think about Trump. Explaining how damaging and dangerous Trump’s policies will be would be important. Do it forcefully. Do it often.”

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Here, though, is another problem – the part about “the truth.” 

That’s a complicated subject for liberal types, because we don’t agree on what it is. We don’t agree because the truth about the truth is usually tied up in who we think we are as individuals. It can get so complicated that liberals talk themselves out of a united front. That’s a problem these days – when one side seeks common ground in spite of differences while the other side seeks the other side’s annihilation.

I was thinking of this yesterday while watching a video posted by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I’m guessing you recognize AOC as one of the most outspoken liberals and one of the best communicators in today’s Democratic Party. In the video, she responded to Elon Musk giving the Nazi salute on Inauguration Day. She responded by flipping populism around so the “us” in “us versus them” is patriotic Americans and the “them” is fascists like Musk.

“This is the United States of America,” Representative Ocasio-Cortez said. “I don’t care what Elon Musk is doing behind the presidential seal, [but] in this country, we hate Nazis. [That’s] kind of like a foundational, defining thing. Two of the foundational things about American history is that we beat the Confederates and we beat the Nazis” (my bold). 

She went on: 

“I don’t know what side people may be on today, but I still am not rocking with anyone sympathetic to Nazis. And I will do that until I am six feet in the ground. Kind of foundational to me as a human being.”    

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AOC: I don’t care what Elon Musk is doing behind the presidential seal, but in this country we hate Nazis. Kind of like a foundational defining thing. Two of the foundational things about American history is that we beat the confederates and we beat the Nazis.

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2025-01-22T03:17:11.106Z

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This is the fighting spirit that we need. Tolerating the intolerant is what got us here. We now have a demented criminal president who is: 

• threatening to withhold federal funding from blues states; 
• suppressing federal research on viruses, including the covid; 
• using pardons to encourage murderers and other criminals; 
• purging the government of “DEI hires,” aka non-white people; 
• demanding interest rates bend to his moods and whims; 
• redefining the meaning of citizenship in terms of whiteness;
• and in general restoring the original white-power order.

It’s time to stop asking the haters to stop hating. 

It’s time to hate them.

Unfortunately, some of the reaction to AOC’s commentary suggests that too many people still don’t get it. They’d rather argue about “the truth” instead of telling it. They would rather be right than fight. It seems the most important thing is not fighting evil and all those who will serve evil, but appearing virtuous in the eyes of their peers. The consequence of this is the impossibility of speaking with one voice. 

I mean, with friends like these, who needs enemies?

If you are telling me that, ackshully, America has always been friendly to Nazis and to rightwing authoritarianism in general, you are not telling me anything I don’t already know. The genocide of indigenous Americans inspired Adolf Hitler – yes. The Jim Crow sadism of the former slaver states inspired Adolf Hitler – yes. Henry Ford’s antisemitism inspired Adolf Hitler – yes. All true. There is no debate. But I guess some people can’t help themselves. They gotta debate even though debating is beside the point of facing down totalitarian drift. 

What I like most about AOC’s commentary is that it puts evil at the center of our attention. She doesn’t say evil is a distraction from the real issues. She doesn’t say evil prevents us from finding compromise on things that matter to all of us. She doesn’t say evil is “playing politics” while she and the Democrats are trying to get things done.

No, she’s saying evil is evil, and we should hate evil.

That’s the fighting spirit we need.