It's no time to give up

Things look bad. Trump might look ascendant. But we don't have time for pessimism. Let's get back to work!

Photo by Thomas Kinto on Unsplash

Yet another ruling on Friday by a corrupt and lawless U.S. Supreme Court that undermines our democracy. It’s almost enough to persuade one to give up and declare our American experiment dead.

That seems to be what the six-member Supreme Court majority thought in giving the president extraordinary powers—the status of unaccountable monarch. Empowered by the Supreme Court, Trump and his allies are systematically stripping away every vestige of our republic’s checks and balances.

Chief Justice John Roberts and the five other conservative justices believe Trump should rule like a king. And the Republican-led Congress agrees with them. Like the Supreme Court, Congress has repeatedly surrendered to Trump.

Just last week, Trump waged an illegal and unconstitutional war in Iran, and Republican leaders in Congress did nothing. They’re also doing nothing to defend their constitutional role in the appropriations process, allowing Trump to negate spending mandated by Congress unilaterally. They’re doing nothing to hold Trump accountable as he commits multiple impeachable offenses.

Trump’s lawlessness is staggering, but so is the willingness of Republicans to tolerate it.

So, if you feel like throwing up your hands and walking away from the democratic process, well, that’s exactly what Trump and his GOP allies want you to do.

It will be much easier for them to complete their project to destroy our democracy if the other side gives up.

Sure, the situation is dire. The threats to our democracy are real, as is the lasting damage Trump has already done. We are, indeed, on the verge of losing our democracy.

But we have not lost it. Trump has not won. And the outcome of the next election is not a foregone conclusion.

With the right leadership, enough citizen engagement, and a massive turnout in the 2026 midterms, we can begin to turn the tide.

The following is meant as a pep talk for me as much as for readers.

I get it. I sometimes want to give up and walk away. Some days, everything seems lost. It occasionally feels like it would be easier to check out of reading the news, quit caring, and just let things take their inevitable course.

Except that the course is not inevitable.

I don’t care what your most pessimistic, cynical friend might tell you, there will be a 2026 midterm election which—based on everything I read in the polls and the well-established history of midterm elections—does not favor Trump and the White House.

Do not forget that Trump’s last midterm election (in 2018), after far less chaos, saw the Republicans lose 40 seats in the House. Under no scenario—based on current conditions—are the Republicans favored to keep the House, assuming Democrats don’t give up.

If we continue to fight, march, and protest—and do everything within our power to generate a massive turnout in the midterms—taking back the House and/or Senate will begin the process of reclaiming our democracy. Winning the House or Senate will deprive Trump and the Republicans of the ability to pass any more disastrous legislation.

And it will mark the beginning of the process of reclaiming the White House.

Already, the weakness of Trump and his party is clear.

This is a president who did not win a majority of the votes in the 2024 election. He entered office historically unpopular for a new president, and, after six months in office, his job performance ratings are in the tank. On virtually every issue, he is underwater with the public.

His mass deportation policy is widely unpopular. His lawless use of the military in Los Angeles is even less popular. His blatant racism is not winning new allies but is alienating some of his own supporters.

The public does not like the way he went to war in Iran. Many in his own party feel betrayed by him, having believed he meant what he said in the campaign about staying out of foreign conflicts.

His tariff policies are a disaster and will likely tip the country into recession if we are not already there. A president elected primarily due to concerns about inflation is making almost everything more expensive.

His so-called One Big Beautiful Bill is in tatters, a victim not just of the Senate parliamentarian but also of attacks on it by members of his party, who recognize that it’s a disastrous piece of legislation that could cost them their majority next year.

And, still, Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and other Republican leaders persist in pushing the bill and its massive tax cuts for billionaires and its harmful healthcare cuts for tens of millions of Americans.

My point is that this is a president and a party laying the groundwork for a disastrous midterm.

I know, in the short term, Trump is causing considerable damage. Many lives will be lost and ruined by his reckless and heartless policies. The harm he has done to America’s standing in the world will take a generation or more to repair. The damage he’s doing to our healthcare system, our national weather service, our disaster response system, our colleges and universities, and the way he will soon explode the national debt—all of it is dangerous and destructive.

But it’s also very unpopular.

His tariff policy alone might be enough to cost the GOP control of Congress next year. If passed, the deep cuts to Medicaid might also do it.

But the cumulative effect of a couple of dozen highly unpopular policies will almost certainly cost Republicans control of the U.S. House—if we don’t lose heart and give up.

So, what are we to do in the face of all this unwelcome news? How are we to keep going when everything looks so bad and depressing?

Here are a few suggestions:

Focus on the suffering of others, not your own existential angst. Unless you are someone Trump is trying to deport, there’s usually someone worse off than you are. Focus on what we can do to help those people.

Put another way, let’s try to get out of our own heads and do what we can to help others. I don’t need to give you suggestions about the causes you should support. Conduct some research, identify a nonprofit or advocacy group, and write them a check. Or call and volunteer your time.

You’ll not only help make that organization a bit more effective; you’ll also feel more optimistic once you’ve focused your energies on helping others.

Find a candidate in a competitive state and send them a small (or sizable) contribution each month. And urge your friends to do the same.

You’ll not only provide real, tangible support to a progressive candidate in a competitive race, you’ll feel better for having done it.

Find ways to volunteer in that candidate’s campaign. Postcards to Swing States is already gearing up for this fall’s governors’ races in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Consider writing postcards in those races.

Those governors’ races, especially the one in Virginia, will be our first big chance to send Trump and the Republicans a strong message about the unpopularity of their policies. Consider ways you can help progressive candidates in those races.

When you and your progressive friends get together, don’t spend too much time talking about how hopeless things are. Focus, instead, on what you can do to change things. Offer each other positive ways you can work together for change.

Pessimism breeds pessimism. Don’t be that person.

Resolve to be courageous in some way next month. Maybe it’s attending a protest or a town hall meeting. Maybe it’s writing a letter to the editor of your local paper. Maybe it’s calling into a radio talk show and speaking out about a controversial issue. Maybe it’s posting a pungent statement about an issue on your Facebook page.

Whatever it is, take that step. You might influence some people to think differently about an issue.

Your courage is contagious.

And that’s what we need right now: More people willing to stand up and speak out. We need more people showing their friends and family how it’s done.

Don’t lose heart.

Instead, find your voice and use it.

Trump and his allies desperately want you and me to become discouraged and give up. Don’t do their work for them. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

If we stay alert, uncompromising, and engaged, I’m confident we’ll prevail in 2026 and beyond.