America ain’t dead yet

We’re down but we’re sure as shit not out

With Val Kilmer’s recent passing, we’ve been on a bit of a movie marathon. That included a recent viewing of the fantastic Tombstone, in which Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp sends a warning to the men who killed his brother.

“You called down the thunder, well now you got it,” he says.

Donald Trump has called down the thunder. Elon Musk has called down the thunder. The plundering toadying billionaire class has called down the thunder. And as we’ve seen across the United States the last few days, well now they got it.

After months of being lost in the wilderness due largely to directionless or missing leadership, the people appalled by Trump and Elon’s looting and destruction of our nation are speaking out. And they are speaking out loudly. These rich, careless, cruel shit-eating ghouls have awakened a sleeping giant.

We’ve been seeing it building for a few weeks now. There were growing protests at Tesla dealerships. A surprising win in a state Senate seat in Pennsylvania caught our attention. Then Sen. Booker took to the Senate floor, breaking a racist scumbag’s filibuster record while inspiring citizens who had been repeatedly kicked in the teeth for months. Just when it seemed like a dearth of leadership would be the end of the opposition party, Booker gave us hope that the party’s leaders were finally hearing the angst and anger of the people they represent.

Then came Wisconsin. Elon went all in. He spent more than $25 million. He offered anywhere from $50 to $1 million in vote-buying schemes. He said the fate of western civilization depended on a state Supreme Court seat. He traveled to the state and put on a cheesehead. And he lost. Big time. The people of Wisconsin made good and goddamn clear that they are not for sale to the weirdo ketamine chainsaw guy who’s fucking with their social security.

And that wasn’t all. Republicans also saw their margins cut in half in ruby red districts in Florida. In local elections in Illinois, Republicans lost in unlikely places. The White House’s solution was to leak to Politico that Elon would be stepping back soon, before later denying as much.

Well that was part of the response. The other part was to charge undaunted right into his calamitous global tariff plan, sending the stock market to drops not seen since the pandemic – when this dumb motherfucker was also in charge. Trump dropped a bomb on the world economy, and then took off to one of his country clubs to play golf and hang with the Saudis. His aides fanned out across right-wing networks to inform us that we no longer needed things like money and cheap goods and that instead, good-ish factory jobs are coming our way in just a few short years.

Even Wall Street and CNBC joined the resistance as the markets fell off a cliff.

And it is very much a resistance. Large, angry, resolute and defying mainstream media rumors about its demise. It took to the streets this weekend. From coast to coast. From small towns to block after block of New Yorkers. In the sunshine and the rain. The American people showed up and spoke out this weekend.

It sure appears we are heading toward a summer of resistance, another inflection point in American and world history where we decide if we will be the best of us or the worst of us. And while Trump and Elon’s path of destruction is vast and ongoing, the momentum is with the people fighting back. If for no other reason than their hope has been partially restored after a season of crushing disappointment, loss and sadness.

We ain’t dead yet. In fact, we’re far from it. We’re pissed off, and we’re taking to the streets, the voting booths and anywhere else we can fight back against this endless parade of cruelty and bullshit from bad men who are destroying what generations of us built.

They called down the thunder, well now they got it.