Mental Fight

 On a weekend trip to New England the last few days, my sister asked if I felt compelled to attend the massive anti-Trump protests around the country that occurred on April 5. I think we both agreed we'd rather do something fun with the kids (we ended up going to the zoo instead); but my sister thought I might feel guilty if we missed the protests entirely. 

I really didn't, though—which surprised me. During Trump's first term, I would have kicked myself if I didn't attend a local rally. I would have felt that I had failed in my duty as a citizen. But now, for some reason—even though Trump's second term is head-and-shoulders worse and more destructive than his first—I don't feel so obliged to march in the streets. 

It's tempting to blame fatigue, but I don't really think that's it. It's not that I'm too exhausted to obsess over Trump and politics otherwise. Indeed, spiraling about the authoritarian evilness and menace of this administration is pretty much all I spend every day doing. But somehow—my anti-Trump energy just doesn't take the form of marching and chanting this time. 

I've concluded the explanation is that it takes so much effort and brain power just to keep track of every Trump administration assault on democracy and the rule of law (a new one happens seemingly every hour), that I feel merely registering all of the day's news is victory enough. It's even more of a win if I then manage to write about it. I have nothing left over for anything else. 

This is maybe sad; but—on some level—it actually feels right to me. My body is telling me that reading the news, keeping track of everything Trump is doing, and bearing witness through writing (and through advocacy at the office), is exactly what I need to be doing right now. "Mental Fight," as William Blake dubbed it. Its importance should not be underestimated. 

Why is "mental fight" so needed in the second Trump administration? Why does it feel actually useful, and like what I really ought to be doing to help the resistance right now? I think it's because Trump's crackdown on civil society, his effort to chill speech, and his attempts to suppress the media have all raised the value merely of accurate reading and writing. 

In the first term, it was the opposite. Back during Trump 1.0, it felt like everyone on social media and in the news was saying the same thing. So merely expressing one's opposition to Trump online was "performative"—empty and futile. One therefore felt obliged to take to the streets to show that one was willing to actually "do something" about one's beliefs. 

But now, Trump is openly retaliating against people and institutions based on the mere expression of their views. He and his allies control a growing number of major social media platforms. He has bullied universities, law firms, and major corporations into silence. And so, as a result, merely "speaking out" has become a gesture again. Merely bearing witness is already something. 

Trump, in his very effort to stamp out dissent, has only raised its value. It requires courage again just to say what you actually believe about him on social media or the internet. So it becomes more worthwhile. It is no longer mere "performance." To be sure—power to the people who are marching and chanting as well. That's great. But reading and writing feels increasingly like "action" too. 

In a would-be authoritarian regime that openly wishes to police thought and prevent people from getting access to truthful reporting or dissenting viewpoints—mere truth, mere thought, mere speech is suddenly at a premium. "Mental fight" has therefore become more important than ever. That really is where the action is right now. Mental fight is the fight of the moment. 

And so, with Blake, may we "not cease from Mental Fight"— if not 'till we have built Jerusalem, at least 'till we have preserved our democracy.