I’ve had the same conversation with many friends in the last few days: what is wrong with the Democrats? Why aren’t they responding to the Trump-Musk emergency with the speed and energy required to stop them from (to use Steve Bannon’s repugnant language) “flooding the zone with shit” at “muzzle velocity” and drowning the body politic? It’s as if everyone believes Trump is all-powerful and resistance is even more futile than with respect to the Borg.
There are answers to those questions, of course, though none of them is worth the oxygen required to speak them. Some Democrats still believe, contrary to all evidence, that Congressional collegiality and bipartisanship are real and that showing they will go along to get along will somehow make things better. Some voted for terribly corrupt and incompetent appointees, or even the egregious Laken Riley Act, doing away with due process. Some Democrats are in purple districts and fear they will not be reelected if they oppose Trump, a distinction without a difference, since if they vote with Trump they may as well not be in office. Some Democrats seem to actually believe that playing by rules that no longer exist will somehow inspire voters to support them, but speaking for myself, this behavior makes me wonder if they’ve been replaced by pods of some sort, a la Invasion of the Body-Snatchers.
I have tremendous and growing respect for Indivisible, “a grassroots movement of thousands of local Indivisible groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda,” led by two former Congressional staffers who know politics inside and out. They have called out the failure of Democrats to respond quickly and strongly to the authoritarian coup that is currently underway, and instead of proposing yet another petition or any of the other weak initiatives that have become so popular in the social media era, they offer concrete, specific, impactful, and doable actions that everyone can take.
Tune in to 15 minutes of a massive video call Indivisible leaders took part in Sunday night and get a quick rundown from co-Executive Directors Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin. You can see that segment starting at 17:12 on YouTube.
You can also find a detailed guide to the actions needed for the Senate to stop Trump here. And there’s a whole toolkit focusing on visits to local and DC Senators’ offices to directly present them with much-needed truth about the impact of the last two weeks and what voters want them to do.
One thing that Greenberg and Levin point out is that Mitch McConnell, when he was in Senate leadership, used every one of the tactics they spell out to successfully slow down and block appointments and legislation proposed by Democrats. So we know they work.
I often take comfort in ancient wisdom that teaches us when facing crises that humanity has been here before and survived. One such crisis offers insight into Trump’s script.
My husband and I read the Torah portion assigned to each week and talk about what it means to us. In the first few portions of the book of Exodus, Moses is born, grows to maturity, and reluctantly assumes his assigned role in leading the Israelites out of slavery. Moses’ mission begins in Chapter 3, where God tells him that the suffering of his people, enslaved in Egypt, will be heeded, then deputizes Moses and his brother Aaron to go to Pharaoh and plead for their freedom.
The exodus from slavery is the central story, the lodestone and essence, of the Torah. I think about it all the time because the world offers us so many flavors of tempting enslavement that it’s especially important to remember that the temptations are a snare and the escape is everything.
Over the first few portions in Exodus, Moses and Aaron return again and again to Pharaoh, threatening horrific plagues as the penalty for refusal to let the people go: water turning to blood, lice, boils, enveloping darkness, killing of the firstborn and many more. Yet Pharaoh rejects their entreaties, leading the Egyptians to experience nightmarish suffering again and again. But there’s a catch. While briefing Moses, God repeatedly shares that Pharaoh’s heart will be hardened as these painful spectacles unfold. Moses’ and Aaron’s pleas will be futile because Pharaoh’s refusal is foretold. Why?
The answer is given repeatedly. Here’s how it appears in Exodus 9:14-16, in the voice of God telling Moses what to say to Pharaoh:
“…I will send all My plagues upon your person, and your courtiers, and your people, in order that you may know that there is none like Me in all the world.
“I could have stretched forth My hand and stricken you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been effaced from the earth.
“Nevertheless I have spared you for this purpose: in order to show you My power, and in order that My fame may resound throughout the world.”
You can argue about these passages forever. Was it cruel? Was it necessary to produce the largest and most memorable theatrical display in biblical history? Would there have been a Torah without its central tale of the extreme difficulty of obtaining freedom—say, if Pharaoh had said yes the first time he was asked? And all of those would be worthy arguments.
But I bring up the story for another reason. Simply stated, Trump thinks he is God, but specifically, the God of this story, as if Trump’s actions to end democracy and enrich his friends were the same in merit as freeing an enslaved and harshly oppressed people. Trump’s belief in his own might is his one and only negotiating tool. His desire is to bring fear and suffering to those who oppose him, and if that fails at first, he redoubles the punishment.
But in reality, he is Pharaoh, sending his troops after the escapees even after he has allowed them to leave. The text tells us that Pharaoh’s chariots overtook the people at the edge of the sea, and they lost heart. “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness?” But Moses lifts up his hand a first time, as God instructed, and the waters part, allowing the people to cross on dry land. Then he lifts his hand a second time, and the Egyptians—horses, chariots, and riders and all—were drowned.
I am not a biblical literalist. To me, the entire text must be read as metaphor. It is more important to me that we have the Exodus story than that it reflect any kind of historical fact. I am not alone in a nonfundamentalist perspective, as accompanying the main sacred texts are mountains of midrash, stories that explain or add to the texts, expressing the human desire to make meaning. The midrash tells that as the people waited at the shore for the waves to part and save them, even as they lost heart, Nahshon ben Aminadav, a brave and righteous man, stepped into the sea until it nearly reached his nose. Then the waters parted.
Trump may think he’s God, but I think he’s Pharaoh, in line for loss after loss. All we need is a cadre of Nahshons to lead the way.
“Mary Don’t You Weep” is a song by Aretha Franklin that focuses on this story.
