Authoritarianism doesn’t arrive with tanks — it arrives when we shrug, numb out, and accept lawlessness as routine. Refusing to normalize abuse of power isn’t performative — it’s the core obligation of citizenship.
Most beneficial article I’ve read in a long time. Thank you, Jack.
We...are going to prevail. "But, what if we don't??" Simple: then we just won't. The one thing that will all but guarantee we don't, however...is adopting an attitude of, "It's hopeless. They've been allowed to do too much!"
The only sensible way to move forward...is with clear awareness of the consequences of failing...and a piss and vinegar mindset of, "We're going to make this happen!"
You are absolutely right, Jack, and I give thanks for your voice each time I read your works.Thanks for sharing this picture of you and your brothers,be proud my friend🤓 and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
Karen, that means more than you know..thank you. Those men taught me what real loyalty looks like: not words...not posture...but showing up when it counts... and standing the line together.
That mindset stays with you for life. I’m grateful you’re here...reading...engaging... and helping carry this forward.
And...thank you for the restack...it’s how this message reaches the people who need to hear it most!
Yes… absolutely! restacked… and shared (to FB. ). A very good article!! Sorry to be so late… I’ve been preparing for our snow storm all day. But, I’m back now. 👍
There is NOTHING NORMAL about any of this and I will never accept it or succumb to it!
Am I exhausted? Absolutely.. Concerned? Certainly.. Grieving for what we’ve lost? Every minute of every day… But.. I. Will. Never. Give. Up! That’s not an option.
Susan...this is EXACTLY it. Exhaustion doesn’t mean surrender. Grief doesn’t mean compliance. What you just named...is the posture that actually stops this kind of slide:
Refusing to let abnormal become acceptable...even when it costs energy...comfort...or certainty.
Hold fast isn’t a slogan...it’s a discipline. Thank you for saying this out loud...and for staying in the fight even when it’s heavy! That resolve matters more than people realize.
Neil Larsen...that means a great deal...thank you.
That line...is the WHOLE fight distilled down to its core. Not performative outrage. Not noise. An internal refusal to let wrong...become normal...even when it would be easier to look away.
That’s where this either holds or collapses. Knowing there are people like YOU... standing there...clear-eyed...grounded...unflinching...that’s what makes this worth doing. I stand with you too, brother!
Jack, How can women prepare quickly to be able to vote if the SAVE Act becomes law? Name changes need to be happening immediately. Requests for Birth Certificates need to happen before the backlog gets to large or time is late.
We must push this news to women with tips and timing help.
Clay, THIS...is the right read. If the SAVE Act becomes law...time becomes the choke point... and women with name changes will feel it FIRST. The smart move is preparation before the system jams.
That means securing a certified birth certificate now...aligning documents (birth certificate, passport, Social Security, voter registration), and accelerating any pending name changes.
Once demand spikes...backlogs will do the damage for them.
This needs to be pushed to women calmly...and FAST...checklists...timing help...no panic. Because the oldest trick in the book...is saying “you should’ve done it sooner” after the door quietly closes. Preparation isn’t fear. It’s DEFENSE.
Re-upping this for people who haven't done what I did (i.e., get divorced years ago, change back to my own original name w/o the hyphenated second one, then gradually updated all official docs so that they match what is on my birth certificate, have copies of all in a place where I can find them if needed). I don't know the official process in all cases, but hopeful that someone who does will chime in.
Fatigue? I am plenty fatigued. But things have gone way past cynicism, way past laughing it off as theater. There was a time when I might have done that. There is lots of theater, of course, almost everything they're doing is surrounded by theater -- too much to be laughed off or ignored -- but I'm not too tired to take note and understand what's happening.
J.B., that distinction matters. Fatigue doesn’t mean blindness...and it certainly doesn’t mean surrender.
You can be worn down and clear-eyed at the same time.
What you’re describing...is the shift from detached cynicism...to conscious recognition: seeing the theater... understanding the purpose of it...and refusing to let it anesthetize you. That awareness...despite the exhaustion...is EXACTLY what this moment demands.
JFC my friend. I’m definitely not numb.. what I am is fvcking pissed. I’ve never voted for the Orange Shitstain. EVER.. but I barely recognize our country right now. My Dad USN LT. upheld the Constitution and NEVER would he EVER imagine that a sitting President would kowtow to Russia
Thank you for continuing into taking that deep dive Jack. I could tell immediately who you were in that photo. A great reminder of trustworthiness under uncertain circumstances. Built by unification of the same goals, not by politics.
Keep rocking our world into the calm as we need it now more than ever. Steady as we go.
Thank you, Alexa. That recognition means a lot. Trust built under uncertain circumstances leaves a permanent imprint; you learn what real unity looks like when the stakes are real and the mission matters more than ego or politics.
That’s the calm I’m trying to hold...and pass along here. Steady doesn’t mean passive. It means grounded enough...to endure...and clear enough...to act when it counts.
Jack, I appreciate your essays, and I appreciate greatly the sentiment behind them. However, I don't understand how mental gymnastics will help deal with what we're seeing right now. People can tell themselves "I won't accept this. I won't tolerate this. This is wrong," over and over, but if no action accompanies those thoughts, how does anything change? How do we hold these lawless people to account? What am I not understanding here?
Elizabeth, that’s a fair challenge...I like it...and it cuts past slogans.
Mental posture isn’t the end of the work...it’s the PRE-condition for it.
When people normalize abuse...they stop documenting it...funding resistance...showing up in courtrooms...supporting journalists...backing whistleblowers...or voting with clarity instead of resignation.
Lawlessness...survives on apathy...long before it survives on force.
Accountability doesn’t arrive as a single heroic act. It’s built through sustained pressure across boring...unglamorous channels....courts...records...elections...institutions that still function because people refuse to disengage.
The danger isn’t thinking “this is wrong.” The danger is SKIPPING that step...and drifting into acceptance. That...is when ACTION collapses.
In short, let me spend 5 minutes with someone...and get a clear sense of their attitudes and thoughts...and I will tell you with a high degree of accuracy...who is going to take meaningful action...and...who..will not.
That's how powerful our attitudes and cognitive frameworks are. It's the foundation of everything else.
K Jack, I'm gonna spit it out...yesterday, was a hard day...We watched Jack Smith testify to the absolute truth while republicans on the committee tried to twist his testimony into a perverted narrative of what actually happened on January 6th...The saving grace of that shitshow was when big Harry Dunn wrapped his arms around Michael Fanone; it was if he wrapped his arms around us all...Then we learn Ice has a memo circulating that is in direct contravention of our 4th Amendment Rights to warrantless search and seizure in our homes...Here's the kicker; yesterday a young combat Veteran was arrested by Ice in Minnesota, a clear violation of his Rights as an American Citizen. A photograph of this young American was posted on social media of him dressed in his Class A uniform clearly showing the award of the Combat Infantryman's Badge. He is a Grunt; that award ties him directly to my generation in Vietnam and on to my grandfathers at Bastogne; this man is my Brother in Arms! I can guarantee that every Grunt across this nation of ours had the same visceral reaction...attack on my Brother is an attack on us all and changes our perception from opposition, to enemy...I want to thank big Harry Dunn for wrapping us all in his arms...
I can identify with this more than you know. I spent 30 years taking nuclear submarines to sea supporting the United States. Nothing drove the reliance upon shipmates more than the loss of USS Thresher and Scorpion. It takes just one error by one person at the wrong time to kill 130 people instantaneously. Nothing drove this home like walking through the reactor tunnel ( a hallway across the top of the Reactor compartment) during a fuel offloading and seeing that the only thing separating me from being crushed by the relentless ocean was two and a half inches of HY-80 stainless steel. The ocean doesn’t care who makes the mistake, so I resolved then that it wouldn’t be me.
I’ve come across too many people that say, I vote every election and that’s all I can do. No one listens to me anyway. Jack’s newsletter has motivated me to take my once-in-a-while Substack postings to everyday and focus on what the voter can do to be heard. I will call the posting, A View from the Cheap Seats, Fixing America’s Political Parties. I yelled in silence for 30 years defending the rights of everyone to express their opinion, whether I agreed with them or not. Now I will yell to the rattling of my keyboard using my opinion and research to try and make things better.
Thanks for this, Jack, and for all your columns, that help me stay calm in the face of this dumpster fire of an administration. And I loved seeing you in that photo! #HoldFast
Was it Sinclair Lewis who said that when fascism comes to America it will arrive wrapped in the the flag and carrying a bible? Cuz, man…that was spot on.
“The world will now begin to ask: am I to seriously lend my money to an America in which Trump will simply squander and waste it on obscenities like building Gestapos?”
“The world, looking at the obscenity above, sees this. Here is a nation that is living off of us. We are its credit card, its bank. We are its largest investor, its largest creditor, and its largest trade partner. In this, think of Europe in particular.
And what is this nation doing with all of our capital, which we have worked so hard for?”
“This nation is taking our capital—ours—and using it to do obscene and grotesque things. Which have no value, create nothing, only destroy, ruin, and devastate. It is not doing positive and meaningful and beneficial things with it. When we lend to it, what does it do? It builds Gestapos, which abduct children. Where is the return on that, lesser minds will ask. Wiser ones will say: that is a horrific way to squander what we have worked so hard for.”
As always your articles invigorate me. I had a moment last Saturday the 17th I turned 71 on that day and was feeling a little blue. I reread some of your articles and that again helped me. In addition I started watching my dvds on the tv series Z Nation it was striking to me that the zombie apocalypse episodes were like watching what is occuring now and the fortitude of the characters not giving up but continuing to push forward. As always thank you for letting this old lady vent about everything. #HOLDFAST
Authoritarianism doesn’t arrive with tanks — it arrives when we shrug, numb out, and accept lawlessness as routine. Refusing to normalize abuse of power isn’t performative — it’s the core obligation of citizenship.
Most beneficial article I’ve read in a long time. Thank you, Jack.
Jane...I REALLY like reading that. Thank you.
-Jack
One of your best ❤️
Frannie, thank you. I'm glad you liked it.
We...are going to prevail. "But, what if we don't??" Simple: then we just won't. The one thing that will all but guarantee we don't, however...is adopting an attitude of, "It's hopeless. They've been allowed to do too much!"
The only sensible way to move forward...is with clear awareness of the consequences of failing...and a piss and vinegar mindset of, "We're going to make this happen!"
-Jack
You are absolutely right, Jack, and I give thanks for your voice each time I read your works.Thanks for sharing this picture of you and your brothers,be proud my friend🤓 and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
Karen, that means more than you know..thank you. Those men taught me what real loyalty looks like: not words...not posture...but showing up when it counts... and standing the line together.
That mindset stays with you for life. I’m grateful you’re here...reading...engaging... and helping carry this forward.
And...thank you for the restack...it’s how this message reaches the people who need to hear it most!
-Jack
Yes… absolutely! restacked… and shared (to FB. ). A very good article!! Sorry to be so late… I’ve been preparing for our snow storm all day. But, I’m back now. 👍
Ditto!
There is NOTHING NORMAL about any of this and I will never accept it or succumb to it!
Am I exhausted? Absolutely.. Concerned? Certainly.. Grieving for what we’ve lost? Every minute of every day… But.. I. Will. Never. Give. Up! That’s not an option.
Thank you for this, Jack. An excellent piece!
#HOLDFAST
~Susan
Susan...this is EXACTLY it. Exhaustion doesn’t mean surrender. Grief doesn’t mean compliance. What you just named...is the posture that actually stops this kind of slide:
Refusing to let abnormal become acceptable...even when it costs energy...comfort...or certainty.
Hold fast isn’t a slogan...it’s a discipline. Thank you for saying this out loud...and for staying in the fight even when it’s heavy! That resolve matters more than people realize.
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
You speak for me. Thank you for the summary!!
We’re in this together. We have to be!
Support Minnesota’s general strike!
🔥🔥🔥🔥 100%!
"Refuse to normalize lawlessness."
"internally Mentally Morally"👊🏻 🇺🇸 ⚖️
The most awakening post I've read from you JACK.
I hope you realize the good you do for all of us with your words.
I stand with you Brother 😎👊🏼
Neil Larsen...that means a great deal...thank you.
That line...is the WHOLE fight distilled down to its core. Not performative outrage. Not noise. An internal refusal to let wrong...become normal...even when it would be easier to look away.
That’s where this either holds or collapses. Knowing there are people like YOU... standing there...clear-eyed...grounded...unflinching...that’s what makes this worth doing. I stand with you too, brother!
-Jack
Jack, How can women prepare quickly to be able to vote if the SAVE Act becomes law? Name changes need to be happening immediately. Requests for Birth Certificates need to happen before the backlog gets to large or time is late.
We must push this news to women with tips and timing help.
Clay
Clay, THIS...is the right read. If the SAVE Act becomes law...time becomes the choke point... and women with name changes will feel it FIRST. The smart move is preparation before the system jams.
That means securing a certified birth certificate now...aligning documents (birth certificate, passport, Social Security, voter registration), and accelerating any pending name changes.
Once demand spikes...backlogs will do the damage for them.
This needs to be pushed to women calmly...and FAST...checklists...timing help...no panic. Because the oldest trick in the book...is saying “you should’ve done it sooner” after the door quietly closes. Preparation isn’t fear. It’s DEFENSE.
-Jack
Great question Clay.
Can you expand on this comment? What exactly do ppl need to do?
Re-upping this for people who haven't done what I did (i.e., get divorced years ago, change back to my own original name w/o the hyphenated second one, then gradually updated all official docs so that they match what is on my birth certificate, have copies of all in a place where I can find them if needed). I don't know the official process in all cases, but hopeful that someone who does will chime in.
Fatigue? I am plenty fatigued. But things have gone way past cynicism, way past laughing it off as theater. There was a time when I might have done that. There is lots of theater, of course, almost everything they're doing is surrounded by theater -- too much to be laughed off or ignored -- but I'm not too tired to take note and understand what's happening.
J.B., that distinction matters. Fatigue doesn’t mean blindness...and it certainly doesn’t mean surrender.
You can be worn down and clear-eyed at the same time.
What you’re describing...is the shift from detached cynicism...to conscious recognition: seeing the theater... understanding the purpose of it...and refusing to let it anesthetize you. That awareness...despite the exhaustion...is EXACTLY what this moment demands.
-Jack
JFC my friend. I’m definitely not numb.. what I am is fvcking pissed. I’ve never voted for the Orange Shitstain. EVER.. but I barely recognize our country right now. My Dad USN LT. upheld the Constitution and NEVER would he EVER imagine that a sitting President would kowtow to Russia
Thank you for continuing into taking that deep dive Jack. I could tell immediately who you were in that photo. A great reminder of trustworthiness under uncertain circumstances. Built by unification of the same goals, not by politics.
Keep rocking our world into the calm as we need it now more than ever. Steady as we go.
Thank you, Alexa. That recognition means a lot. Trust built under uncertain circumstances leaves a permanent imprint; you learn what real unity looks like when the stakes are real and the mission matters more than ego or politics.
That’s the calm I’m trying to hold...and pass along here. Steady doesn’t mean passive. It means grounded enough...to endure...and clear enough...to act when it counts.
YES...steady as we go!
-Jack
Jack, I appreciate your essays, and I appreciate greatly the sentiment behind them. However, I don't understand how mental gymnastics will help deal with what we're seeing right now. People can tell themselves "I won't accept this. I won't tolerate this. This is wrong," over and over, but if no action accompanies those thoughts, how does anything change? How do we hold these lawless people to account? What am I not understanding here?
Elizabeth, that’s a fair challenge...I like it...and it cuts past slogans.
Mental posture isn’t the end of the work...it’s the PRE-condition for it.
When people normalize abuse...they stop documenting it...funding resistance...showing up in courtrooms...supporting journalists...backing whistleblowers...or voting with clarity instead of resignation.
Lawlessness...survives on apathy...long before it survives on force.
Accountability doesn’t arrive as a single heroic act. It’s built through sustained pressure across boring...unglamorous channels....courts...records...elections...institutions that still function because people refuse to disengage.
The danger isn’t thinking “this is wrong.” The danger is SKIPPING that step...and drifting into acceptance. That...is when ACTION collapses.
In short, let me spend 5 minutes with someone...and get a clear sense of their attitudes and thoughts...and I will tell you with a high degree of accuracy...who is going to take meaningful action...and...who..will not.
That's how powerful our attitudes and cognitive frameworks are. It's the foundation of everything else.
-Jack
K Jack, I'm gonna spit it out...yesterday, was a hard day...We watched Jack Smith testify to the absolute truth while republicans on the committee tried to twist his testimony into a perverted narrative of what actually happened on January 6th...The saving grace of that shitshow was when big Harry Dunn wrapped his arms around Michael Fanone; it was if he wrapped his arms around us all...Then we learn Ice has a memo circulating that is in direct contravention of our 4th Amendment Rights to warrantless search and seizure in our homes...Here's the kicker; yesterday a young combat Veteran was arrested by Ice in Minnesota, a clear violation of his Rights as an American Citizen. A photograph of this young American was posted on social media of him dressed in his Class A uniform clearly showing the award of the Combat Infantryman's Badge. He is a Grunt; that award ties him directly to my generation in Vietnam and on to my grandfathers at Bastogne; this man is my Brother in Arms! I can guarantee that every Grunt across this nation of ours had the same visceral reaction...attack on my Brother is an attack on us all and changes our perception from opposition, to enemy...I want to thank big Harry Dunn for wrapping us all in his arms...
Exactly, James. 👍
I can identify with this more than you know. I spent 30 years taking nuclear submarines to sea supporting the United States. Nothing drove the reliance upon shipmates more than the loss of USS Thresher and Scorpion. It takes just one error by one person at the wrong time to kill 130 people instantaneously. Nothing drove this home like walking through the reactor tunnel ( a hallway across the top of the Reactor compartment) during a fuel offloading and seeing that the only thing separating me from being crushed by the relentless ocean was two and a half inches of HY-80 stainless steel. The ocean doesn’t care who makes the mistake, so I resolved then that it wouldn’t be me.
I’ve come across too many people that say, I vote every election and that’s all I can do. No one listens to me anyway. Jack’s newsletter has motivated me to take my once-in-a-while Substack postings to everyday and focus on what the voter can do to be heard. I will call the posting, A View from the Cheap Seats, Fixing America’s Political Parties. I yelled in silence for 30 years defending the rights of everyone to express their opinion, whether I agreed with them or not. Now I will yell to the rattling of my keyboard using my opinion and research to try and make things better.
Thank you, Jack, for the inspiration.
Well said Steven! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
#HoldFast …….and LOUD!
Thanks for this, Jack, and for all your columns, that help me stay calm in the face of this dumpster fire of an administration. And I loved seeing you in that photo! #HoldFast
Was it Sinclair Lewis who said that when fascism comes to America it will arrive wrapped in the the flag and carrying a bible? Cuz, man…that was spot on.
Once again, thank you for your sensible post.
AND
PLEASE READ. SAVE AMERICA’S SOUL!
“The world will now begin to ask: am I to seriously lend my money to an America in which Trump will simply squander and waste it on obscenities like building Gestapos?”
“The world, looking at the obscenity above, sees this. Here is a nation that is living off of us. We are its credit card, its bank. We are its largest investor, its largest creditor, and its largest trade partner. In this, think of Europe in particular.
And what is this nation doing with all of our capital, which we have worked so hard for?”
“This nation is taking our capital—ours—and using it to do obscene and grotesque things. Which have no value, create nothing, only destroy, ruin, and devastate. It is not doing positive and meaningful and beneficial things with it. When we lend to it, what does it do? It builds Gestapos, which abduct children. Where is the return on that, lesser minds will ask. Wiser ones will say: that is a horrific way to squander what we have worked so hard for.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/umairhaque/p/america-is-becoming-something-monstrous
As always your articles invigorate me. I had a moment last Saturday the 17th I turned 71 on that day and was feeling a little blue. I reread some of your articles and that again helped me. In addition I started watching my dvds on the tv series Z Nation it was striking to me that the zombie apocalypse episodes were like watching what is occuring now and the fortitude of the characters not giving up but continuing to push forward. As always thank you for letting this old lady vent about everything. #HOLDFAST
Exactly.
Thank you.