This was the tipping point for me. I cannot forget Renee Good smiling at her murderer seconds before he shoots her point blank. And then our administration takes this warm-hearted woman, mother, and poet -- acting on her constitutional right of protest -- and makes her into the criminal.
I've been reading The People's History of the United States recently. It has been perversely comforting, in the sense that it reminds me our government has always done horrible things, and had horrible, greedy soulless millionaires (today's billionaires) pulling the strings the whole way. It's never been the shining city on a hill we were taught, not for very long anyway.
It has always been this way, just with ebbs and flows. We are in one of the horrible pendulum swings right now. Which historically precedes a moment of advancement, of which some will get clawed back by the dark side in time but with net overall progress.
It feels like cold comfort, I know, but like you I don't know what else to hold on to at the moment. Just that, as you point out here, it may not be as unprecedented as we think.
It's the naked racism for me. JD Vance saying out loud "we are going door to door" is literal Nazism. It's a cliche, but what dos Usha Vance feel, hearing all the racism? Did she think she was different? She's only protected because of her current position. Does she actually think that her children will not feel the effects? Remember, JD defended a right winger who said anti Indian things.
It's also the lying for me, Trump saying the ICE agent was hit (he wasn't) and was in the hospital (checked and released). Kristi Noem saying the agents were stuck digging their car out of the snow (good guess considering it's Minnesota, but no). The ICE agent filming on his phone with one hand and his gun in the other, calling her a "fucking bitch" after he murders her and walks away. The mind reels.
As the mother of a recent Hoosier grad (did you know IU has the world's largest alumni association?) I'm thrilled for this team, this coach, and my former marching band son!
The outright lying and extreme gaslighting is utterly ridiculous. There are multiple videos and eye witness accounts to this latest atrocity. The videos do not lie. Yet, they continue to try and gaslight and spin it into something it isn't or couldn't be.
Can't write a letter as I'm traveling. There is no escaping the horror of what is happening, even out of the country, even trying to focus on the mundane. On the cusp of adolescence the Cuban missile crisis left me believing I could die at any moment, not knowing Cuba did not have short range missiles that could hit my home in Miami. During Vietnam, the lies, the killing, the damaged soldiers returning to the US, the young girl burning from napalm running naked and screaming, mass illegal arrests. But it didn't feel as dangerous as this moment. We thought Nixon and Reagan were bad for democracy and basic decency but they were nothing compared to now. We threaten the whole world and I am so ashamed. I'm part of the left, believing no child should go to bed hungry, no one should be unhoused, that it is every American's right and obligation to speak up peacefully challenging bad behavior. Is it really possible to be shot by a government thug for this? Thank you for your thoughtful essay. All I can think to do is scream "STOP".
Thanks, Will, for helping me feel more hopeful in the midst of the storm. I look forward to celebrating my seventieth this weekend with children and grandchildren, and plan to give them all extra hugs. And tell them all I love them, a couple of times each. Because when I get 'caught' doing a good or right thing, I want them to know that's what brings peace in the midst of the ****storm.
So four years ago our daughter took a job in our neighboring state, and six months ago she gave birth to our grandson. We were in a position where we could drop everything we were doing, and move down to be with her. So here we are, um, in what is statistically the 'least diverse city in the United States'. It is almost impossible that ICE is going to come here anytime soon. Yay?
So it is entirely by chance that we've managed to, for now, escape the worst impulses of the Orange Corpuscle. But like previous fascist regimes, first they come for the most vulnerable, then they come for the second most vulnerable, until that day when they come for you.
I said the following on here a few months ago, Will, and you saw fit to give me a month in time-out because some Charlie Kirk fan on here had objections. So here it is. folks.
There will be no orderly remedy for this. Trump isn't going to allow unbiased midterm elections, and if he's still on this side of the grass, he ain't stepping aside in 2029. When they come for you, and they will, don't go quietly.
I’m not ok. I live in a Twin Cities suburb and I’m not ok. They went from kneeling on a black man’s neck to shooting a mom in the face and it only took about 5 years and 4 blocks. It feels like a breaking point, but other moments have felt like this. I remember genuinely feeling (for a few days) that the protests after the murder of George Floyd were beginning to lead to a racial reckoning that might actually make things better.
But I am absolutely sure that they are going to do even worse things than this. I have come to believe there is absolutely no bottom.
I live about 10 miles to the east of where Renee was murdered. There have been ICE officers all over area the past few weeks (I live in a suburb with a significant hispanic population). Yesterday I went to the Menards a mile from my house and there were ICE goons in the parking lot, and here’s what upset me. I didn’t yell anything. Now, they weren’t “doing” anything when I was there, but normally I am the kind of person who would say something smart-ass or angry as I walked by. And before Wednesday I think I would have.
Also on Wednesday, they went to a Mpls high school at dismissal time and shot tear gas into the crowd of students during dismissal when the students started yelling and chanting at them. Before students came out, a couple administrators came out to ask them to leave. The admins claim that the lead officer went up to them, and bumped one of them in the chest. Then said loudly “Why did you push me?” Then pushed him down in the snow and handcuffed him.
What if I walk by them in the Menards parking lot, tell them to google the Nuremberg Trials and be sure to stop by Spirit Halloween to return their costumes, and they do that to me? The whole point of the fallout from Wednesday’s murder is for them to show us that they can do anything they want and nobody will hold them accountable. They’re Jack, we’re Piggy, and they’ll do what they want because they are going to have fun on this island.
So I didn’t say anything. Would I have if they were chasing and arresting someone? I may not have. I allowed them to silence me. I don’t trust the system. I don’t trust the law or the Constitution. I’m giving them what they want. And that may be my breaking point.
2) I teach Middle School Literature at a small Catholic school in the suburbs. A number of my students are immigrants or children of immigrants, including a sizable number from various parts of Africa. I coach a girls basketball team at a different high school, where most of my team is students who are immigrants or the children of immigrants. I am terrified that these goons are going to show up at our school, or mess with my players. I have warned my family that if ICE does show up at either place they should be ready for me to be all over the internet because I won't stand by while they hurt my kids.
I started at this school 2.5 years ago, and I was given carte blanche for my curriculum (the joys of private school). My 8th grade theme for the year is the dangers of corruption in leadership and when we fail to show empathy to others. We read Animal Farm, The Giver, Lord of the Flies, To Kill A Mockingbird, and a memoir about a group of friends growing up under the rise of the Nazis. Let’s just say I felt like I knew what was coming and I wanted to prepare them. We start reading Lord of the Flies in a few weeks, and I’m struggling with how overtly to make the connections (I do have to be careful about being ‘political’). I think I can trust my 8th graders to do it themselves; they certainly did so with Animal Farm.
So, I’m not ok. I may be broken, but I’m not busted. I’ll keep fighting in some way, and I always have. But for the first time in my 50 years on this planet I’m genuinely afraid what might happen to me when I stand up for what’s right.
On the bright side, I watched Train Dreams last night, and as a middle aged white guy wrestling with existential questions on a daily basis - holy shit. Best movie of the year. (It supplants The Perfect Neighbor on my list, which tells you where my head is these days)
No one could have said this any more spot on than you, Will. Then and now, it’s about our kids (and in my case grandkids too). If only you were a politician and could blast this on the airwaves.
Beautifully said, Will. This is the week I've struggled more than any other; it does feel like a proverbial Rubicon has been crossed. I thought I knew how to mentally handle all of this once, but the truth is now that I realize I actually don't.
The thing I struggle most with is how not to keep all this inside while also not sharing too much of it with my kids. My older one can handle it; she's in her 20s. But my youngest, who's just turned 12, I try not to talk about it too much with him. I hope he doesn't remember too much from this time when he's older.
If nothing else, it's therapeutic to have others to talk about this with -- the only thing we can count on now, it feels like, is each other.
What disturbs me most is where are the criminals in charge finding people like the ICE agent who killed Renee Nicole Good? We all know from the KKK days that masking up gives people the cover to do unspeakable things. Is that it? I mean who raised these animals to go out and kill people, a mom, for God’s sake? And where the hell is Congress? They collect fat salaries and have great benefits and leave office very well off indeed. It is time for them to get out from under their desks and take back the power Trump has taken from them. I’m beyond angry. And no one is doing a thing, that I can see, to stop this insanity. If ICE hasn’t terrorized your town yet, get ready. I think Trump’s plan to become king started with ICE, brutality and intimidation. And it’s working. I’d like to see ICE agents leave their jobs because what they are doing is criminal but, I’ve come to believe a larger number of our fellow citizens than I ever thought are really bad people who should not be armed, masked and told to go out and kill people. Like you, it makes me physically ill. What gets my mind in a better place is that I’m teaching my granddaughter to weave. She’s a nurse. We’re both shattered by what our country has become but we spend time together, blocking out the world, and weaving. Find something that gives you joy and take some time out from the horror that is our country right now.
Thank you for writing, as you often do, many of the things I've been thinking this week. I've been horrified and aghast for a year straight now, but I've been able to compartmentalize. This week, that became a real struggle. As someone else said, it feels like we crossed the Rubicon, between Venezuela and Renee Good's murder. They're not even trying to pretend they're not evil anymore. Our sundowning dictator flat-out said to the press this week, "No one can stop me." Oh, and meanwhile, the world's richest man unleashed a CSAM party on the world, and no one did anything to stop him. This week has been BLEAK. I'd like to end this comment with something upbeat, but I got nuthin'.
Will, I’m sorry that you have to continue writing about our current nightmare instead of the near-infinite topics you’d rather be diving into, but Will, I’m very grateful that you do. I feel like you are channeling the turmoil that I—and surely many of us—feel. Thanks for doing this heavy lifting for us.
This is a moment that has shaken anyone with a soul to their core, myself included.
As to your question about “has it always been this bad?” I think in some ways, this moment is objectively worse. Or at the very least, a perfect shitstorm. Also think that in other ways, there have always been awful, dehumanizing times in America that people have had to live through. Social media and smartphones bring an additional layer of hyper awareness to our times that previous eras didn’t have. Are things objectively worse, or are we just now more acutely aware of how bad they are? I think it’s a little of both right now.
I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and try to not once lose sight of my agency to speak out, and to stand up for what is right. I definitely know that what America is, in the year 2026, is anything but.
I read writers such as you because you can express how I feel better than I can. The American electorate has foisted bad leaders upon us before, but has there ever been an election when a candidate actually had a track record of incompetence and corruption and tyranny and, then, during the campaign told us EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO and 49% of the voters said, "Yes,that is what I want?"
And their excuses now are absurd. There is a 4th generation family owned timber company in Asheville North Carolina that had to close and go out of business. A media company interviewed the despondent owner. The owner blamed Trump's trade policy for ruining a family business that thrived for 4 generations. The interviewer asked him who he voted for and he said the voted for Trump three times. The interviewer then asked him if he knew in November what he knew now would he still vote for Trump and he said, "Considering the choice I would still vote for Trump." One redo choice would guarantee him losing his business. The other redo choice offered a chance he would keep his family business and yet he would take the guarantee of losing his business if he had to do it al over again.
If that is how the Trump voters make choices we are doomed, unfortunately.
It shows self-awareness to recognize that EVERY point in history has had its own set of "world is collapsing" events, and that our own are not necessarily worse, unique, or more horrible than ever before. And that is a good thing to recognize.
But they are unique TO US. And it doesn't make our societal issues somehow easier to deal with or less emotionally impactful.
But I feel very safe to say that our fearless child king president is demonstrably the worst ever. The bigger picture, the kicker, is the absolute sickening feeling of realization that we, as a collective people, voluntarily elected this man, this soulless vacuum of a man, to power. We can only hope the sects of American society that most drove this dumpster fire of an executive branch into being are so thoroughly debased in history, as were the Nazis, that even the mere mention of Trump's name in the future stirs systemic revulsion and a "never again" response.
Sadly, I don't have the faith that will happen.
More sadly, I almost hope that things get way worse, so that the likelihood of a future Trump pariah is more likely. IOW, it MUST get worse, they must get way further out over their skis, in order to insure this MAGA movement doesn't grow another head in three years.
I feel a little less alone. Thank you, Will.
This was the tipping point for me. I cannot forget Renee Good smiling at her murderer seconds before he shoots her point blank. And then our administration takes this warm-hearted woman, mother, and poet -- acting on her constitutional right of protest -- and makes her into the criminal.
We are all targets now. It's official.
I've been reading The People's History of the United States recently. It has been perversely comforting, in the sense that it reminds me our government has always done horrible things, and had horrible, greedy soulless millionaires (today's billionaires) pulling the strings the whole way. It's never been the shining city on a hill we were taught, not for very long anyway.
It has always been this way, just with ebbs and flows. We are in one of the horrible pendulum swings right now. Which historically precedes a moment of advancement, of which some will get clawed back by the dark side in time but with net overall progress.
It feels like cold comfort, I know, but like you I don't know what else to hold on to at the moment. Just that, as you point out here, it may not be as unprecedented as we think.
But it's still fking horrible nonetheless.
It's the naked racism for me. JD Vance saying out loud "we are going door to door" is literal Nazism. It's a cliche, but what dos Usha Vance feel, hearing all the racism? Did she think she was different? She's only protected because of her current position. Does she actually think that her children will not feel the effects? Remember, JD defended a right winger who said anti Indian things.
It's also the lying for me, Trump saying the ICE agent was hit (he wasn't) and was in the hospital (checked and released). Kristi Noem saying the agents were stuck digging their car out of the snow (good guess considering it's Minnesota, but no). The ICE agent filming on his phone with one hand and his gun in the other, calling her a "fucking bitch" after he murders her and walks away. The mind reels.
As the mother of a recent Hoosier grad (did you know IU has the world's largest alumni association?) I'm thrilled for this team, this coach, and my former marching band son!
The outright lying and extreme gaslighting is utterly ridiculous. There are multiple videos and eye witness accounts to this latest atrocity. The videos do not lie. Yet, they continue to try and gaslight and spin it into something it isn't or couldn't be.
Can't write a letter as I'm traveling. There is no escaping the horror of what is happening, even out of the country, even trying to focus on the mundane. On the cusp of adolescence the Cuban missile crisis left me believing I could die at any moment, not knowing Cuba did not have short range missiles that could hit my home in Miami. During Vietnam, the lies, the killing, the damaged soldiers returning to the US, the young girl burning from napalm running naked and screaming, mass illegal arrests. But it didn't feel as dangerous as this moment. We thought Nixon and Reagan were bad for democracy and basic decency but they were nothing compared to now. We threaten the whole world and I am so ashamed. I'm part of the left, believing no child should go to bed hungry, no one should be unhoused, that it is every American's right and obligation to speak up peacefully challenging bad behavior. Is it really possible to be shot by a government thug for this? Thank you for your thoughtful essay. All I can think to do is scream "STOP".
Thanks, Will, for helping me feel more hopeful in the midst of the storm. I look forward to celebrating my seventieth this weekend with children and grandchildren, and plan to give them all extra hugs. And tell them all I love them, a couple of times each. Because when I get 'caught' doing a good or right thing, I want them to know that's what brings peace in the midst of the ****storm.
So four years ago our daughter took a job in our neighboring state, and six months ago she gave birth to our grandson. We were in a position where we could drop everything we were doing, and move down to be with her. So here we are, um, in what is statistically the 'least diverse city in the United States'. It is almost impossible that ICE is going to come here anytime soon. Yay?
So it is entirely by chance that we've managed to, for now, escape the worst impulses of the Orange Corpuscle. But like previous fascist regimes, first they come for the most vulnerable, then they come for the second most vulnerable, until that day when they come for you.
I said the following on here a few months ago, Will, and you saw fit to give me a month in time-out because some Charlie Kirk fan on here had objections. So here it is. folks.
There will be no orderly remedy for this. Trump isn't going to allow unbiased midterm elections, and if he's still on this side of the grass, he ain't stepping aside in 2029. When they come for you, and they will, don't go quietly.
I’m not ok. I live in a Twin Cities suburb and I’m not ok. They went from kneeling on a black man’s neck to shooting a mom in the face and it only took about 5 years and 4 blocks. It feels like a breaking point, but other moments have felt like this. I remember genuinely feeling (for a few days) that the protests after the murder of George Floyd were beginning to lead to a racial reckoning that might actually make things better.
But I am absolutely sure that they are going to do even worse things than this. I have come to believe there is absolutely no bottom.
I live about 10 miles to the east of where Renee was murdered. There have been ICE officers all over area the past few weeks (I live in a suburb with a significant hispanic population). Yesterday I went to the Menards a mile from my house and there were ICE goons in the parking lot, and here’s what upset me. I didn’t yell anything. Now, they weren’t “doing” anything when I was there, but normally I am the kind of person who would say something smart-ass or angry as I walked by. And before Wednesday I think I would have.
Also on Wednesday, they went to a Mpls high school at dismissal time and shot tear gas into the crowd of students during dismissal when the students started yelling and chanting at them. Before students came out, a couple administrators came out to ask them to leave. The admins claim that the lead officer went up to them, and bumped one of them in the chest. Then said loudly “Why did you push me?” Then pushed him down in the snow and handcuffed him.
What if I walk by them in the Menards parking lot, tell them to google the Nuremberg Trials and be sure to stop by Spirit Halloween to return their costumes, and they do that to me? The whole point of the fallout from Wednesday’s murder is for them to show us that they can do anything they want and nobody will hold them accountable. They’re Jack, we’re Piggy, and they’ll do what they want because they are going to have fun on this island.
So I didn’t say anything. Would I have if they were chasing and arresting someone? I may not have. I allowed them to silence me. I don’t trust the system. I don’t trust the law or the Constitution. I’m giving them what they want. And that may be my breaking point.
2) I teach Middle School Literature at a small Catholic school in the suburbs. A number of my students are immigrants or children of immigrants, including a sizable number from various parts of Africa. I coach a girls basketball team at a different high school, where most of my team is students who are immigrants or the children of immigrants. I am terrified that these goons are going to show up at our school, or mess with my players. I have warned my family that if ICE does show up at either place they should be ready for me to be all over the internet because I won't stand by while they hurt my kids.
I started at this school 2.5 years ago, and I was given carte blanche for my curriculum (the joys of private school). My 8th grade theme for the year is the dangers of corruption in leadership and when we fail to show empathy to others. We read Animal Farm, The Giver, Lord of the Flies, To Kill A Mockingbird, and a memoir about a group of friends growing up under the rise of the Nazis. Let’s just say I felt like I knew what was coming and I wanted to prepare them. We start reading Lord of the Flies in a few weeks, and I’m struggling with how overtly to make the connections (I do have to be careful about being ‘political’). I think I can trust my 8th graders to do it themselves; they certainly did so with Animal Farm.
So, I’m not ok. I may be broken, but I’m not busted. I’ll keep fighting in some way, and I always have. But for the first time in my 50 years on this planet I’m genuinely afraid what might happen to me when I stand up for what’s right.
On the bright side, I watched Train Dreams last night, and as a middle aged white guy wrestling with existential questions on a daily basis - holy shit. Best movie of the year. (It supplants The Perfect Neighbor on my list, which tells you where my head is these days)
Thank you, so much, for this. It is very human and very real and stronger than you are giving yourself credit for it being.
No one could have said this any more spot on than you, Will. Then and now, it’s about our kids (and in my case grandkids too). If only you were a politician and could blast this on the airwaves.
Hitler=Putin=Trump. You are right Will. We used to be the good guys, now the world hates us.
Beautifully said, Will. This is the week I've struggled more than any other; it does feel like a proverbial Rubicon has been crossed. I thought I knew how to mentally handle all of this once, but the truth is now that I realize I actually don't.
The thing I struggle most with is how not to keep all this inside while also not sharing too much of it with my kids. My older one can handle it; she's in her 20s. But my youngest, who's just turned 12, I try not to talk about it too much with him. I hope he doesn't remember too much from this time when he's older.
If nothing else, it's therapeutic to have others to talk about this with -- the only thing we can count on now, it feels like, is each other.
What disturbs me most is where are the criminals in charge finding people like the ICE agent who killed Renee Nicole Good? We all know from the KKK days that masking up gives people the cover to do unspeakable things. Is that it? I mean who raised these animals to go out and kill people, a mom, for God’s sake? And where the hell is Congress? They collect fat salaries and have great benefits and leave office very well off indeed. It is time for them to get out from under their desks and take back the power Trump has taken from them. I’m beyond angry. And no one is doing a thing, that I can see, to stop this insanity. If ICE hasn’t terrorized your town yet, get ready. I think Trump’s plan to become king started with ICE, brutality and intimidation. And it’s working. I’d like to see ICE agents leave their jobs because what they are doing is criminal but, I’ve come to believe a larger number of our fellow citizens than I ever thought are really bad people who should not be armed, masked and told to go out and kill people. Like you, it makes me physically ill. What gets my mind in a better place is that I’m teaching my granddaughter to weave. She’s a nurse. We’re both shattered by what our country has become but we spend time together, blocking out the world, and weaving. Find something that gives you joy and take some time out from the horror that is our country right now.
I'd make a large wager that many of them are pardoned J6 rioters. And the rest wish they had been there.
I did wonder about that. Sad commentary on humanity, isn’t it?
Thank you for writing, as you often do, many of the things I've been thinking this week. I've been horrified and aghast for a year straight now, but I've been able to compartmentalize. This week, that became a real struggle. As someone else said, it feels like we crossed the Rubicon, between Venezuela and Renee Good's murder. They're not even trying to pretend they're not evil anymore. Our sundowning dictator flat-out said to the press this week, "No one can stop me." Oh, and meanwhile, the world's richest man unleashed a CSAM party on the world, and no one did anything to stop him. This week has been BLEAK. I'd like to end this comment with something upbeat, but I got nuthin'.
Will, I’m sorry that you have to continue writing about our current nightmare instead of the near-infinite topics you’d rather be diving into, but Will, I’m very grateful that you do. I feel like you are channeling the turmoil that I—and surely many of us—feel. Thanks for doing this heavy lifting for us.
This is a moment that has shaken anyone with a soul to their core, myself included.
As to your question about “has it always been this bad?” I think in some ways, this moment is objectively worse. Or at the very least, a perfect shitstorm. Also think that in other ways, there have always been awful, dehumanizing times in America that people have had to live through. Social media and smartphones bring an additional layer of hyper awareness to our times that previous eras didn’t have. Are things objectively worse, or are we just now more acutely aware of how bad they are? I think it’s a little of both right now.
I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and try to not once lose sight of my agency to speak out, and to stand up for what is right. I definitely know that what America is, in the year 2026, is anything but.
I read writers such as you because you can express how I feel better than I can. The American electorate has foisted bad leaders upon us before, but has there ever been an election when a candidate actually had a track record of incompetence and corruption and tyranny and, then, during the campaign told us EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO and 49% of the voters said, "Yes,that is what I want?"
And their excuses now are absurd. There is a 4th generation family owned timber company in Asheville North Carolina that had to close and go out of business. A media company interviewed the despondent owner. The owner blamed Trump's trade policy for ruining a family business that thrived for 4 generations. The interviewer asked him who he voted for and he said the voted for Trump three times. The interviewer then asked him if he knew in November what he knew now would he still vote for Trump and he said, "Considering the choice I would still vote for Trump." One redo choice would guarantee him losing his business. The other redo choice offered a chance he would keep his family business and yet he would take the guarantee of losing his business if he had to do it al over again.
If that is how the Trump voters make choices we are doomed, unfortunately.
It shows self-awareness to recognize that EVERY point in history has had its own set of "world is collapsing" events, and that our own are not necessarily worse, unique, or more horrible than ever before. And that is a good thing to recognize.
But they are unique TO US. And it doesn't make our societal issues somehow easier to deal with or less emotionally impactful.
But I feel very safe to say that our fearless child king president is demonstrably the worst ever. The bigger picture, the kicker, is the absolute sickening feeling of realization that we, as a collective people, voluntarily elected this man, this soulless vacuum of a man, to power. We can only hope the sects of American society that most drove this dumpster fire of an executive branch into being are so thoroughly debased in history, as were the Nazis, that even the mere mention of Trump's name in the future stirs systemic revulsion and a "never again" response.
Sadly, I don't have the faith that will happen.
More sadly, I almost hope that things get way worse, so that the likelihood of a future Trump pariah is more likely. IOW, it MUST get worse, they must get way further out over their skis, in order to insure this MAGA movement doesn't grow another head in three years.
Jeff