On Earth Day 1993, I gave my first major speech, on behalf of the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC). It was at rally opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The experience taught me firsthand how the movements to protect our planet and the rights of working people are tightly linked.
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What should not have happened is that hateful people took to the Internet to make fun of Gus. But it did. For example, conservative columnist Ann Coulter wrote on the platform X “Talk about weird.” The comment has since been deleted but that does not erase the despicable sentiment behind making fun of a teenager who expressed his love for his father. Trump supporter and podcaster Mike Crispi referred to Gus as Walz’s “stupid crying son” and wrote on X “You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats,” while another Trump support, Alec Lace, who actually hosts a podcast about fatherhood, wrote “Get the kid a tampon already.”
In the Prologue of “Invisible Man,” the great writer Ralph Ellison schools us that “a hibernation is a covert preperation for a more overt action.” Proof of Ellison’s profundity is Vice President Kamala Harris’s emergence as Donald Trump’s worst nightmare: his opponent for president of the United States of America! The fake orange man is beside himself, acting weird, flailing about with figments of an unhinged mind, while ever smiling and confident Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, draw crowds of 10-15 thousand wherever they campaign across America.
America never, in its wildest imagination, thought that there would again come a President who would bring the kind of shame and criminality that former President Nixon unleashed in the Oval Office and before this Nation. But here we are again, and it’s far more than putrefied shame and criminality. Republican conservative white nationalist voters elected Donald J. Trump as America’s 45th President. Unfortunately, Trump not only disgraced the Presidency but governed as a criminal-minded delusionist.
As I sit here and contemplate as to where to begin, I am struggling with how to find the right words to pen that will come with passion, reflection (both self and collective), and a positive outlook toward the future. I am also skeptical that writing these words will potentially be faced with some disdain. However, it is my hope that the words are given more embrace and sustained and collaborative plans-of-action moving forward. Now that I have prefaced my thoughts, let me be fearless and persevere down this rabbit hole headfirst.
America’s political pundits are saying the race will be close. I say, it doesn’t have to be. The race will be close because advisors for both Presidential candidates have no clue about modern-day GOTV tactics and operations! American slaves were not allowed to work on certain jobs similarly to the way Black South Africans were denied job opportunities in apartheid South Africa.
The WCN movement is imbedded in the Trump-Vance candidacy and complements and animates the authoritarianism and white supremacy of Project 2025. It passionately supports the myth that the United States was founded as a white Christian nation and must be restored this “original” state, where only white native-born Christians are “true” Americans. In fact, however, the “founding fathers” were a collection of atheists, Unitarians, Deists, and liberal (not evangelical) Protestants, and nowhere does the Constitution refer to God, the Bible, or the Ten Commandments.
At the beginning and through her entire speech, Kamala referred to her mother and the life training she received from her mother, who was a trailblazer. Her mother was a scientist and was always turning her enthusiasm into action. Kamala was taught to be fearless, and her extended family was built on love.
China’s America watchers have the same tough job that faces Donald Trump’s campaign: coming up with a new game plan after Joe Biden passed the torch to Kamala Harris. China’s economic woes, Taiwan’s future, and global competition with the US make the analytical task for China more challenging
At the risk of being even more a skunk at the garden party, one also cannot ignore the story that President Biden has secretly reconceived nuclear strategy to adjust to the potential military cooperation of Russia, China, and North Korea.