This Week

Kaddish for America:

The choice.

It’s All Your Fault
Today, before we even understand where all the pieces of our bombed village are, Democrats are devoting time and energy to, instead of anticipating the next horrifying moves by magafascists, blaming other Democrats.
Of course finger-pointing and recrimination have been a perennial pastime for Democrats until the first Trump Era cast an illusion of unity on the party. Now, in the aftermath of the hot disaster known as the election ‘24, Democrats have been reverting back to form. In the moment when we need to focus on protecting people who will be targeted in the coming storm, in a massive Schindleresque mission, we waste these precious days attacking each other.
It’s like, if your house were on fire and there were limited water to fight it, you paused the rescue operation to blame your relatives for their water consumption and, if possible, beat them with the bucket . . . even though there are still many things in the home to be saved. The joy of Megafascists must surely be enhanced by how little it took to see this secondary defeat (when THEY are the arsonists.) These Democrat-hunting Democrats might look up and see the dark night that is descending.
In life, when unfortunate things happen and one has a choice of looking back, living in grief and guilt, or facing front, I think the course is always to ask, “What can we do now.” The inability to do that, I believe, is characteristic of a collapse that is more than political or tactical, but moral and strategic: the buildings in the bombed village, that weren’t hit, collapsing as well.
Democrats will not save the country if they cannot save themselves. Democrats will not take out the thoroughly corrupt Magafascists if their stronger urge is to take out each other.
Find the power in the next act, which will surely be one in which Magas own the carnage.
Stay calm, organize.

Become a Sustaining Donor This September

Between the reemergence of right-wing red-baiting and Donald Trump’s use of the chilling National Security Presidential Memorandum–7 to criminalize left political organizing, we’re seeing McCarthyism reborn before our eyes.

This assault on democracy cannot be ignored or wished away. Resisting it requires bravery in the face of threats and repression, a steadfast commitment to the truth, and the unwavering belief that we can—and will—overcome this darkness.

We must have an independent media that sets the record straight, unearths corruption and abuses of power, and advances a politics of justice and dignity for all if we’re to win this fight.

That’s why I’m writing to you today. This September, The Nation needs to add 100 monthly donors to sustain our progressive journalism. Your contribution makes the next investigative report, the next truth-speaking column, and the next pathbreaking essay all possible. 

I hope you’ll support our work with a recurring donation today. If you donate $10 or more a month, we’ll send you a brand new “Hands Off the Free Press!” sticker to recognise your commitment to our cause. Please, donate today. 

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

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