BRIEF: It’s now or never

BIG THOUGHT

Time to do what’s right

Yesterday afternoon, we spoke with New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, and he said something about the way cities and institutions should and could work to resist the Trump regime that stuck with us.

Look, it matters when people stand up. We’re going to make choices along the way that influence where this goes. I mentioned earlier, you know, the law firms [WilmerHale and Jenner & Block] that stood up instead of caving, or Cornell standing up instead of caving. If everybody caves, you head down an authoritarian path much more quickly.

One key point Lander is making here is that people have agency. Too often, that’s something politicians and other elites seem to forget exists. They’re so boxed in by what they believe to be practical or possible that they assume human beings — including themselves — can do little but respond to facts on the ground.

And…that’s just not true. Somebody makes those facts. Columbia University, or law firms like Paul, Weiss, in cutting deals with the Trump administration, may have seen surrender as the only option, but that’s because they forgot they had a choice — they took Trump’s authoritarianism as a done deal and figured they could only react accordingly.

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That’s not true either, and that’s Lander’s other point. People thinking that way are doomers — it’s all finished for them. But authoritarianism isn’t something that gets declared and then it’s true — losing our rights is a process, and a slow one. And it is shaped by the choices people make as those rights are snatched away. That’s happening right now.

And that’s why it’s so critical to challenge Trump early (it may feel like ten years, but it’s only been two months). Making different choices now means slowing down or heading off authoritarianism before it gets too big. Because there is a point down the line where choices get a lot more limited. But we aren’t there yet.

Yes, electeds have been slow to recognize this. Institutions have been slow. But people have been showing up to fight lately. They’re making choices. We’re talking about countless activists and organizers. We’re talking about Senator Cory Booker. About Senators Warren, Wyden, Kelly, and Warnock as they organize to protect Social Security. The people who turned out to resist a tide of Elon Musk’s money to elect Susan Crawford in Wisconsin. The voters who narrowed the gap in two deep-red districts in Florida. Everyone who’s getting ready for Hands Off! rallies this Saturday. There are examples everywhere.

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SMALL STEP

Agency

As we were just discussing above, you have it. Agency, that is. And that’s what these small steps are all about. Waiting for your duly elected representatives to act can just mean more waiting. But when there’s momentum (and what we’re seeing from Cory Booker and others means that there is), lots of people are choosing to apply pressure. So let’s keep building on that momentum this week.

Call your reps to demand they step up on the issues that matter. Worried about tariffs? RFK Jr.’s decimation of the country’s public health infrastructure? Encourage your Democratic representatives to do what they can. Plenty of Republicans are uncomfortable with the end of free trade, so call them too. 5calls has everything you need to get started, whatever issue moves you to act.

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DEEP BREATH

Let the light in

The Lux Quartet (Myra Melford on piano, Nick Dunston on bass, Allison Miller on drums, and Dayna Stephens on saxophones) brings together four veteran improvisers with deep backgrounds in jazz, free improvisation, and even pop and rock for an hour of musical conversation and exploration at Bimhuis in Amsterdam. A meeting of the minds at a very high level (and a pretty good reminder of the beauty that America has to offer the world).

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A programming note: More Live conversation!

Join us this afternoon, Thursday, April 3, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, when we’ll be talking with messaging guru and political sage Anat Shenker-Osorio. We hope to see you all there!

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This post was originally published on The.Ink.