{"id":10411,"date":"2026-02-21T08:33:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T16:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/?p=10411"},"modified":"2026-02-21T08:33:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T16:33:04","slug":"642-2-21-corbin-trent-a-simple-very-hard-thing-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/2026\/10411\/","title":{"rendered":"#642 2\/21 Corbin Trent A Simple, Very Hard Thing to Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corbin Trent, America’s Undoing<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the major challenges we face in the US is a complete loss of faith and trust. Trust in each other, our institutions, our government, and our own ability to effect change. As a society, we can\u2019t legislate or paperwork our way back to legitimacy and trust. We likely won\u2019t be able to count on the courts to defend us from our current calamity.<\/p>\n

Gavin Newsom flew to Davos to tell European leaders to \u201cbuck up<\/a>.\u201d He was upset that the\u00a0White House quashed his appearance<\/a>. Meanwhile, back home, he leads no protests. He calls for no shutdown. Running his mouth in Davos but refusing to put his ass on the line in America.<\/p>\n

Robert Reich had a similar message for Europe, writing from Berkeley that world leaders need to speak out. That their collective repudiation of Trump could be a tipping point. That they have the means to oppose him, and we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

What I can\u2019t, for the life of me, understand is why we\u2019ve decided we\u2019re powerless. Why do we need Europe to stand up to our bully? It defies reason.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t wait for Europe to stop our president. We can\u2019t wait for Europe to impeach our Supreme Court justices who have declared the president above the law. We can\u2019t wait for other countries to fix the brokenness that is American institutions. They can\u2019t fix Congress. They can\u2019t fix Wall Street greed. And they sure as shit cannot fix an American authoritarian system.<\/p>\n

This is our job. Our responsibility. Trump is a dark mirror of all we\u2019ve let rot in this nation of ours. We need to set things right ourselves. We need to step up for ourselves and for the rest of humanity. Giving people like Trump and those he\u2019s surrounded himself with in this administration this kind of unchecked power cannot be something we do not loudly and vigorously oppose.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s up to us.<\/p>\n

This week, a\u00a0five-year-old boy was detained and used as bait by ICE in Minnesota HYPERLINK “https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/c65430bb-e959-4cbb-8a94-23f717238f61?j=eyJ1IjoicWN5In0.j-2rPM8B2u-n1H9bL_LfJYVvTjzKhGruclACCYpomiI”,<\/a> and was grabbed in his driveway after preschool. Made to knock on his own front door. His family has an active asylum case. No deportation order. He\u2019s in Texas now.<\/p>\n

Yesterday HYPERLINK “https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/73e771c9-cd1a-4642-af3c-ddbb3cc6e873?j=eyJ1IjoicWN5In0.j-2rPM8B2u-n1H9bL_LfJYVvTjzKhGruclACCYpomiI”, HYPERLINK “https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/73e771c9-cd1a-4642-af3c-ddbb3cc6e873?j=eyJ1IjoicWN5In0.j-2rPM8B2u-n1H9bL_LfJYVvTjzKhGruclACCYpomiI” the El Paso medical examiner ruled a death in ICE custody a homicide.<\/a>\u00a0Geraldo Lunas Campos. 55 years old. Someone pressed on his neck and chest until he couldn\u2019t breathe. A witness heard him cry out, \u201cNo puedo respirar.\u201d Six people have died in detention in the first three weeks of this year.<\/p>\n

Protesters in Minneapolis were shot point-blank with less-lethal rounds.\u00a0Two blinded.<\/a>\u00a0A man was shot in the leg. Renee Good was shot in the face and killed. She was a legal observer. American citizens are detained and asked for their papers like it\u2019s Nazi fucking Germany. A woman was tackled to the sidewalk for asking, \u201cAre you ICE?\u201d A citizen was put in a headlock during his lunch break, shouting, \u201cI\u2019m a citizen,\u201d while they dragged him away.<\/p>\n

ICE agents ate lunch at a family restaurant, th HYPERLINK “https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/4573ca56-fd20-472b-b995-84d10293934f?j=eyJ1IjoicWN5In0.j-2rPM8B2u-n1H9bL_LfJYVvTjzKhGruclACCYpomiI”e HYPERLINK “https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/4573ca56-fd20-472b-b995-84d10293934f?j=eyJ1IjoicWN5In0.j-2rPM8B2u-n1H9bL_LfJYVvTjzKhGruclACCYpomiI”n came back after closing and arrested the workers who served them<\/a>. Schools circled. Buses followed. Maine just got \u201cOperation Catch of the Day.\u201d Tennessee is about to require local cops to work with ICE. This is what the White House wants every state to become.<\/p>\n

Yesterday HYPERLINK “https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/89f4a94c-8393-4265-a798-f6e55bdd1845?j=eyJ1IjoicWN5In0.j-2rPM8B2u-n1H9bL_LfJYVvTjzKhGruclACCYpomiI”, HYPERLINK “https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/89f4a94c-8393-4265-a798-f6e55bdd1845?j=eyJ1IjoicWN5In0.j-2rPM8B2u-n1H9bL_LfJYVvTjzKhGruclACCYpomiI” the Guardian published a piece about civil war simulations run at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/a>\u00a0Senior former military and government officials. The scenario they gamed out in 2024 looks like Minnesota right now. Courts probably can\u2019t or won\u2019t intervene fast enough. Service members may face orders to use force against civilians and state national guard units. Minnesota may be the first test of whether constitutional limits still hold.<\/p>\n

We are not in a drill. This is not a warning about what might happen someday. This is happening.<\/p>\n

One of the most troubling aspects of this moment is the assumption that we will have more leverage and power as an opposition sometime in the future. Generally, that\u2019s not how these things unfold. The Iranian protests have largely died down. Rebellions don\u2019t get more powerful as authoritarians take control. We get less so.<\/p>\n

Federal agents are killing and shooting Americans. They are rounding up children and using them as bait. People are being murdered in custody. If not now, when?<\/p>\n

Eight days from now, on January 30, funding runs out for the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the State Department, and others.<\/p>\n

All of them weaponized. Defense used to threaten Greenland, threaten Venezuela, bomb Caracas, and kidnap their president. They\u2019re talking about American troops in American cities. Already done it with the National Guard and the Marines. The State Department wielded its influence to intimidate our allies. DHS is using paramilitary forces against American citizens, against children, against anyone in their way.<\/p>\n

We cannot fund any of this and pretend we\u2019re opposing this administration.<\/p>\n

Shut it down. All of it.<\/p>\n

Democrats say they\u2019ll vote against the Homeland Security bill. The Progressive Caucus says they\u2019ll oppose immigration enforcement funding without reforms.<\/p>\n

Not enough.<\/p>\n

Shut down DHS. Shut down Defense. Shut down the State. Shut it the fuck down. And ask the American people to stand with you.<\/p>\n

Ask us to stand with each other. Ask us to get into the streets, to get involved in our communities, to support one another, to make sure people can weather the storm. Because we must put the brakes on this train.<\/p>\n

A lot of things are already funded through the end of the year. Food stamps. Veterans\u2019 benefits. Much of the government\u2019s basic operations. This isn\u2019t about destroying the country. This is about drawing a line. This is about leaders doing something unprecedented, disruptive, and dangerous because the moment demands it.<\/p>\n

We need our leaders to put up a fight that looks like it matches the stakes.<\/p>\n

If their efforts are just lawsuits and whining and bemoaning the lack of normalcy, it\u2019s hard for Americans to stand strong. To be bold. To be brave. We\u2019ve seen what this administration is willing to do. Tear gas. Grave bodily harm. Shooting us point-blank in the face. Killing American citizens. Ripping families apart.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t respond to that with thoughts and prayers any more than we can respond to school shootings that way.<\/p>\n

We have to say enough is enough. We must make our voices heard. The only way to do that is to yell together, loudly.<\/p>\n

The only way our leaders can lead is if they show us the stakes are high enough that they\u2019re going to do something unprecedented and disruptive and dangerous. Shut the government down as long as it\u2019s being led by people willing to disregard the Constitution and basic human rights.<\/p>\n

Stand up now. Together. Before it\u2019s too late and gets so much harder to do.<\/p>\n

In 2013, we stopped a war with our voices. Obama was ready to bomb Syria. Ships in the Mediterranean. Bipartisan consensus. Then the American people\u00a0flooded Congress with phone calls, letters, and visits<\/a>. The count flipped to 248 No versus 50 Yes in the House. MoveOn\u2019s 8 million members mobilized tens of thousands of calls. Antiwar vigils in 224 cities. On the right, libertarians threatened primary challenges. The yes votes vanished. We did that.<\/p>\n

The stakes are bigger now. The rot isn\u2019t overseas. It\u2019s in our driveways.<\/p>\n

Eight days. Make the phones ring. Tell them to shut it down. All of it. Tell them we\u2019ll have their backs if they have ours. Leave messages. Be loud.<\/p>\n

Call Hakeem Jeffries at (202) 225-5936<\/p>\n

Call John Fetterman at (202) 224-4254<\/p>\n

Call Catherine Cortez Masto at (202) 224-3542<\/p>\n

Call Ilhan Omar, Progressive Caucus Whip at (202) 225-4755. Tell her to hold the line. No bipartisan cover.<\/p>\n

Call Henry Cuellar at (202) 225-1640. Tell him to walk away from the table. He represents the Rio Grande Valley. He got his Trump pardon, time to nut up.<\/p>\n

Finally, call Chi Oss\u00e9 at (212) 788-7354. Tell him history is calling. Tell him to run. Tell him he has our support. He can run and beat Jeffries. Petitions start in 5 weeks<\/strong><\/p>\n

We beat fascism before. Here at home and worldwide. We can do it again.<\/p>\n

But not by waiting. Not by funding the machine while we wring our hands. And not by asking Europe to save us from ourselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/i>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corbin Trent, America’s Undoing One of the major challenges we face in the US is a complete loss of faith and trust. Trust in each other, our institutions, our government, and our own ability to effect change. As a society, we can\u2019t legislate or paperwork our way back to legitimacy and trust. We likely won\u2019t be able to count on the courts to defend us from our current calamity. Gavin Newsom flew to Davos to tell European leaders to \u201cbuck up.\u201d He was upset that the\u00a0White House quashed his appearance. Meanwhile, back home, he leads no protests. He calls for no shutdown. Running his mouth in Davos but refusing to put his ass on the line in America. Robert Reich had a similar message for Europe, writing from Berkeley that world leaders need to speak out. That their collective repudiation of Trump could be a tipping point. That they have …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,45,467],"tags":[476],"class_list":["post-10411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-forum","category-international-politics","tag-corbin-trent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10412,"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10411\/revisions\/10412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/us-chinaforum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}