Reading the national news these days is a form of self-punishment. Every incompetent action, bad-faith policy and focus on supposed “enemies of the State” by this administration makes my teeth grate. There is even an occasional oath and curse word uttered by me when reading, but most times there is a lot of head shaking. I knew that the Trump regime was going to be bad, but it has exceeded my expectations, and there appears to be no bottom to what Trump and his ass-kissing lackeys will attempt to do. With the Congress, Senate and even the Supreme Court enabling, encouraging and siding with Donald J. Trump’s descent into authoritarianism and single party rule, there is little that anyone can do to rectify this situation. The White House has been literally trashed, with the East Wing demolished, the Kennedy Center renamed to the Trump-Kennedy Center, and many other ridiculous and obsequious nonsense is happing every day, such that it could cause anyone who actually loves their country (but never unconditionally) to lose heart and succumb to despair. What we have is a unitary presidency, based on the fever dreams of the far rightwing conservatives who were appalled at the fall of Richard Nixon and sought to make the president a law unto himself, as long as he is Republican. (They wouldn’t want a Democrat to have the same powers, of course.)
Our nation has unwittingly become its shadow form, espousing ideals and beliefs that are completely contrary to those that were used to found our nation. A president acting like a dictator who is lawless and enabled for egregious overreach, with a compliant Federal law enforcement seemingly doing the work of a mob family, where news corporations and institutions are forced to comply to the whims of the dear leader with money and obedience. Where graft is not hidden but a public spectacle of presidential power, and where the whole point of power is to harm those people identified as undesirable, such as federal workers, migrants seeking asylum, foreign workers, and those who are poor and without opportunities. It is regime that appears to reinforce white privilege and Evangelical Christianity, but only rewards the rich and powerful. It is a place where corruption and lawlessness knows no boundaries as long as it is promoted by the president and his supporters, and where Congress and the courts have abrogated their powers, functioning as an instrument of the imperial presidency. It is also a nation that threatens allies, encourages despots, turns it back on the poor of the world, and seeks to start wars of conquest. This is not the nation that I believe in. It is more like some petty but dangerous banana republic with nuclear weapons.
In this winter of Trump’s first year of his second presidency, transitioning to his second year in office, I am filled with contempt for his cabinet of minions and the population of idiots who voted for Republicans over a year ago. Latinos came out in large numbers to vote for this scoundrel, and now ICE agents are rounding up Latinos even if they have green cards or are citizens. ICE and Homeland Security have become the Gestapo of the Trump regime, pushing forward their pogrom against brown and black people. The list of crimes and abuses of power is now so large that it must be astonishing to everyone what is happening here in our country, if they are paying attention.
It would seem that those minorities who voted for Trump, and the disaffected who worried about the Biden economy, and the poor white southerners who wouldn’t vote for a brown-skinned woman presidential candidate can now experience an even more chaotic instability, with inflation via tariffs, rising unemployment, and the loss of entitlements and government sponsored assistance. It has become a FAFO scenario, and unfortunately, we are all being collectively punished for the foolishness of a minority of disaffected voters. Those Muslims who voted for Trump or someone else to protest the genocidal war in Gaza and the Biden’ administration complicity now have a president who considers them to be undesirable migrants who should be somehow deported despite their citizenship. When deportation does occur, it isn’t to the place of the deportee’s origin, but to some maximum security prison in El Salvador.
Yes, all of this is quite bothersome, and I have found that to retain my positive outlook I need to be selective when reading the news. Too much will enrage me, and too little will isolate me, so I have to find a middle ground of being informed but avoiding too many news-worthy details that would make me angry. While typically there is magic and wonder in my heart at the events of the Winter Solstice, Christmas, and Chanukah, as well as the hope and optimism of the New Year, this year I feel that all the crimes pushed by Trump and his minions has spoiled the season for me. This is because, deep down, I really and truly hate and despise this man and those who passionately support him. The Trump and Maga crowd can all go to hell, as far as I am concerned. I have no pity for any of his supporters who are traumatized or injured by the actions of a regime that I don’t even consider to be American. They voted for these clowns, and so they deserve to experience the trauma and bitterness of their foolish choices. As for the rest of the many victims of this regime, I feel deeply and compassionately for them, but helpless to do anything to change their outcomes.
While I pass the time of the holiday season of 2025 in a dreary sense of sorrow for what could have been, and a dread of what might yet come, I realize that this is yet another winter season of my discontent. I am not young, and I have seen the conservative movement in this country grow ever more powerful, exclusive, and powered by White Christian Nationalism. It started with Ronald Reagan, and has proceeded with George W. Bush and Trump 45. Now, with Trump 47, our democratic republic is in serious danger of becoming a autocracy fueled by the money of oligarchs and led by rightwing extremists. This is a transition from a pluralistic democratic society to one that is exclusive, racist, bigoted and fascist. If our nation is to change and go in what I consider to be the right direction, will I still be alive to see a brighter and better nation emerge from the darkness? Or, will I see this decline continue until I, too, am a victim of its hate and brutality?
As a boomer who knew the previous generation in our country who fought the Nazis in Europe and the Imperial Japanese in the Pacific, I never thought I would see the day when fascism became a popular political option in our own country. It saddens me, but I also see the danger to myself personally. This is because I would not fit in country that is run by fascist Christian Nationalists, and it is likely that the goons from ICE will soon turn their attention to other “enemies of the State” and expand their jurisdiction to arrest and detain even citizens. We are actually close to that kind of autocratic state.
Here we are together facing this terrible possibility at the turning of the year, when we say goodbye and good riddance to the year 2025, and face the new year, 2026. However, there are signs that bring hope of a populous backlash against the Trump regime and that the rightwing autocratic movement is starting to show signs of losing its grip on power and that the days left to them to change the government and to establish a permanent power base are numbered. Next year there will be midterm elections, and the consensus based on the public mood does not bode well for the Republican party. They moved too quickly and aggressively pursued their Project 2025 agenda, and now it is seen as too great of an over-reach, and the American people are justifiably angry, dismayed, and firmly opposed to what has been done to them and their country.
If the Democrats win big next November and take the House and perhaps even the Senate, then Trumpism is doomed. If there is a massive political shift next autumn, it will likely carry into the Presidential election in 2028 as well. I believe that people are alarmed, angry, and deeply opposed to what Trump and his minions have done since gaining political power and pushing their MAGA policies and Project 2025 onto an unwilling electorate. I suspect the aftermath will be one where a number of MAGA principals will find themselves prosecuted by a newly empowered, independent, and Democratic DOJ. There will likely be a corresponding Project 2029 to right the wrongs perpetrated by Trump and his regime, and I hope that the Democrats take the notion of “no more Mr. Nice Guy” to heart and eradicate from our political body any tendencies toward White Christian Nationalism. I would like to see the racists, bigots, and the hosts of the stupid redneck people who empowered MAGA to go underground once and for all. I would also like to see the perpetrators and architects of the MAGA regime prosecuted and jailed for breaking the laws of the land.
We are country that contains people from all over the world, and there is no place at our democratic table for racists, bigots, and rightwing anti-democratic fanatics. Out nation is certainly not perfect, and the injustices that we have done to our citizens over the decades, and the injustices that we have done in the world can be readily atoned for if we vow to continue our work to make our country more just, both within and without, and fix what we have injured or broken. We have to remember that a just nation guided by laws, both national and international, and one that is dedicated to peace and prosperity, mercy and compassion for everyone, is a nation that people who practice faiths such as Neopaganism, Witchcraft, magic and occultism can feel safe knowing that their rights are protected. As practitioners of a minority religion that espouses ritual magic and occultism, we are like the canaries in the coal mine. If there is a sudden change from democracy to autocracy, we will be some of the first to be prosecuted and imprisoned. So, we need to be civically engaged, kept informed, and to vote our preferences both wisely and compassionately, to ensure that our nation of many races, ethnicities, genders, sexual preferences, and political persuasions stands firmly for democracy, equality, and justice for everyone.
Frater Barrabbas
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