First, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving. It’s an opportunity for us to give thanks as well as to celebrate Indigenous peoples. And to extol our common good — the ideals that bind us together, rather than the xenophobia, racism, and misogyny that pull us apart.
The Thanksgiving holiday is also an opportunity to become reenergized for the historic fight we face in coming months, when the anti-democracy forces of neofascism and bigotry seek to take over America.
Please try to avoid two large traps that some people are already falling into:
Denial. Some don’t want to accept that these anti-democracy forces are significant and growing, that Donald Trump has a realistic chance of being reelected president notwithstanding his attempted coup and upcoming criminal trials, and that if he succeeds, everything we believe in will be seriously threatened.
But unless we see this for what it is, we cannot possibly summon the energy and determination necessary to stop Trumpist neofascism.
Cynicism. Others are not in denial about the stakes ahead, but they are cynical that anything can be done to stop Trump and Trumpism from succeeding. They have basically given up on America.
But cynicism is a self-fulfilling prophesy. If we give up, the anti-democracy movement wins. And if we lose our democracy, there is nothing we are able to do — reverse climate change or combat widening inequality or overcome institutional racism or avoid nuclear war or reduce any of the other existential threats we face.
So let us use this day of gratitude to recommit ourselves to fighting for our ideals — for democracy, inclusion, tolerance, decency, and social justice — and refuse to be trapped by denial or cynicism.
My best wishes to you and yours.
Robert Reich,
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