Somebody needs to do something. Not me, but somebody.

A fascist is in the White House. He’s dismantling the government and bending it to his own authoritarian vision. He’s tearing apart the constitution. He tried to freeze all federal funding and turned off Medicaid, for god’s sake. As a leader in the opposition party, I will say it loud and clear: Somebody needs to do something about all this. Not me, of course—but somebody.

We now have a limited window to avoid a catastrophic future. In order to prevent a worst-case scenario (and trust me, things can get much worse) we need a coordinated effort to curb his power grab. A radical revolution. We need to fight back. And as a public servant with a finger already on my nose to indicate that it won’t be me, I have to ask: who’s gonna step up and do all that?

At this point, it will take decades to recover from what he’s already done. If we fail to stop him, there’s no telling how far we will fall. From our battered climate to our fissured economy, we can’t risk crossing any more tipping points. For the sake of our children, their children, and the future of all humanity, I sit every day in the center of Washington, DC and pray that somebody, somewhere does something soon.

One thing we know for sure is that he will never reverse course on his own. We need to stop waiting for him to realize he’s wrong and take immediate, drastic action. We must act, and act fast. And as someone who had the idea that we should do something, I think someone else needs to actually do it.

Why someone else? Because someone else always takes care of things. I didn’t make the covid vaccines. Didn’t work on ‘em at all. But they got made. And now some people take them. Same thing happened with a bunch of other stuff. Like cellphones! I didn’t have anything to do with putting those together, and yet, voilà, they exist. And here I am, scrolling on mine, using my official congressional account to post the really good idea that somebody should do something about all this. Not me, though.

It has become abundantly clear that human beings are at the core of this barrage of terrible decisions, which means that human beings can also be the ones to counter our downfall with a united front. Which humans? It’s hard to tell. From the average citizen to elected officials, we’re all exactly equally responsible and have exactly equal voice and sway. So. Jury’s out.

The truth is, it won’t be easy. In fact, it’s going to be a hard, long fight. It will involve sacrifice, risk, and beating back against the currents of dictatorship. The crisis of strongmen at home and abroad is one of the greatest challenges we have faced in the post-nuclear age. But I still have hope: hope that someone, somewhere, will do something about it.

---

Do something. Order a copy of This Won’t Help.

Do something about all this. Read my essay collection This Won’t Help to your friends and enemies. Best when ordered in bulk. Don’t want to buy it online? Great thinking. Go to your local bookstore and ask them to purchase copies of my book in extremely high volume.

Here’s what some kind folks have said about This Won’t Help:

---

What I’ve been reading

The Executive Order Slush Pile, by

Dennard Dayle

Proposal: “Newer Testament”
Formal Title: Elucidation of Core Faith Values
Effect: Unsealing of a “lost” Bible verse starring key Administration members, allies, and contest winners
Rejected for: Deemed time-consuming, wordy

Dennard’s back at it for the New Yorker this week, slinging jokes so full of new worlds that Elon Musk wants to colonize them. Read everything he writes.

---

A note to subscribers: turning paid back on

Weekend editions, which feature a rotating ensemble of new pieces, writing-about-writing, and general ephemera, will become paywalled again starting in February. Billing will begin then as well, so update your preferences! Tell your enemies! Prepare, prepare, prepare!

Weekday pieces will remain available for all subscribers, free and paid.