“We’ve held the line against Trump before and we will do it again,” is the refrain from environmental activists, holding back the existential horror of an unhinged, unleashed Trump/MAGA triumverate. It is followed by the invocation, “Donate now.”
“We know this is a profoundly disheartening moment. But despair is not an option. We’ve seen what a Trump administration is capable of, and we know that he will be more prepared this time around… Earthjustice is bigger and stronger than we were in January 2017, and we are ready to fight back. We took the threat of Trump’s Project 2025 plan at its word, and we crafted a blueprint of our own.
We have over 200 lawyers poised to take Trump to court, and we are already executing our state-based strategy to ensure that he does not block progress in the last years we have left to meet our climate deadlines. Donald Trump has promised an all-out assault on our health, our safety, and our future. He will break the law over and over again but he won’t succeed if we fight back together.”
It ends, “Donate now and your matched gift will not only fight back against the threats from President-elect Trump, but also champion a cleaner, healthier planet for all.”
They outline their plan to fight the Trump administration on every front by defending fair courts and preserving the rule of law. But Trump will continue his (and McConnell’s) mission to stack the bench with judges who gleefully dismantle government oversight and the protections it provides for clean air, water and climate (Trump’s Supremes already laid that groundwork with the Chevron decision).
They say they will “defend our right to live free from toxic chemicals and deadly pollution,” and acknowledge that after decades of litigation, the Biden administration took long overdue action to force the chemical industry and other polluters to clean up the toxins that are causing cancer, asthma and killing tens of thousands each year. The Supreme Court already undid that.
They say they will “defend climate progress and a near clean economy,” noting that Biden made historic progress ramping up clean energy, investing in new clean industries and helping communities withstand the dangers of our new climate reality. But apparently, not enough voters appreciated that, and have opened the way to Trump and the Republicans repealing and rolling back all of that progress.
But what are they going to do about it? What levers will they have?
“Defend Our Planet from the Trump Agenda,” intones the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “Trump and his allies have made their intentions crystal clear in the Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project: Dismantle environmental regulations. Drill on our public lands, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Slash clean energy programs. Greenlight polluters’ demands.
The antidote? “Make an emergency monthly gift to help NRDC defend our planet against Trump’s disastrous Project 2025 agenda. We need 100 new monthly donors to unlock a $55,000 matching gift to help power this important work.”
Noting that scapegoating of refugees and immigrants was a centerpiece of Trump’s campaign, HIAS writes, “In this dark moment, we will only strengthen our commitment to stand in solidarity with immigrant and refugee communities around the country, with Jewish communities, and with all marginalized populations who may now be in danger. We will not be intimidated into silence or inaction. We will fight every day for people seeking refuge..Join us.” Donate now.
How will they defend against the National Guard, military and local police mobilized to round up 11 million undocumented, ensnaring legal and naturalized immigrants in the process? Or Trump’s plan to immediately rescind the Temporary Protected Status of those who fled disasters and crisis, and to unilaterally close the border? One of Trump’s first actions in his first go around in the White House was to impose a blatantly unconstitutional Muslim Ban and tear children away from parents, which the Supreme Court rubberstamped so he knows he can get away with any kind of racist, religious or xenophobic prosecution.
“Today, November 6, is a hard day for America and for the Gun Safety Movement,” writes Everytown. “The 2024 Presidential race has been called for Donald Trump and JD Vance. This is not the outcome we wanted. But Everytown, Moms Demand Action, and Students Demand Action are not backing down. Together, we will do everything we can to continue our work to end gun violence—and we need your help.”
“We. Will. Not. Stop.” writes the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Our team of lawyers, advocates, and our broad coalition of allies are already preparing to do what we do best,” the organization promises. This includes: challenging harmful government actions in court to protect access to care; tracking and countering harmful policies and appointments that put health at risk; defending patients, helpers, and providers facing investigations or prosecution; and protecting interstate travel rights and shield laws.” Really? The courts so far have given you the finger.
“Trust us when we say this fight is far from over. With every case we bring, and every brave client we represent, we are one step closer to safeguarding reproductive freedom for all. Can we count on your support?”
But Trump and MAGA now control government and have the Project 2025 blueprint for making sure women are reduced to slaves of the state that includes enforcing the Comstock Act prohibiting distribution of abortion medication and contraceptives, even monitoring, restricting travel of pregnant women and prosecuting women who miscarry, and certainly will not have a Justice Department fighting for women’s right to emergency health care – that could negate the 7 of 10 abortion-rights ballot measures that passed (failing in Florida, South Dakota, and Nebraska). And the Imperial Supremes have all but invited new cases to thoroughly end reproductive freedom.
Indeed, all of these missives, ostensibly to console against the angst and grief and suggest hope, sound really so naïve and quaint – to tell distraut environmentalists, gun sense advocates, and women’s rights activists that they have won victories in the past and therefore will in the future.
But it’s also a sales pitch, notably sent literally moments after the anger and fear set in and when people feel most vulnerable, desperate and heart-broken with the realization that Trump and his crime syndicate will be back in control. And in one cynical respect (that’s how I feel today), all of these organizations have a new lease on their own life. Donate now.
But I wonder what is the money for, actually? To fight in court, when the Supreme Court has basically said corporations, not experts or those who actually care for The People, decide what is toxic and unsafe; that corporations and the wealthy can buy politicians, policy and judges; that women are not full citizens empowered with self-determination or autonomy; that a president (as long as he is a Republican) has Unitary Executive power to basically do whatever he wants, even assassinate his rival and prosecute his political opponents he has referred to as “vermin,” “lowlifes” and “evil”.
Money to elect representatives who will be responsive? How did that work out, exactly, when despite spending $1 billion on a campaign, it wasn’t enough to counter the money and influence of an Elon Musk and the other billionaire donors who also control the media landscape and have taken over all the branches of government? What power, what agency is there left?
The operating policy that enabled the corruption of the first Trump reign and imbues his Imperial Supreme Court is “Wad’ya gonna do ‘bout it?”
Americans have chosen this future wide-eyed, knowing who Trump is – and despite all that BS about wanting a politician who is forward-looking, optimistic, relatable, concerned about kitchen-table issues, a straight-talker, and oh, yes, not old like Biden – have rallied around a dictator wannabe, sociopath, racist, misogynist, xenophobe, decrepit degenerate.
So selecting Trump and the MAGAs to rule is a statement of who and what Americans really are and stand for. All those lofty words about values, ideals, e pluribus unum and what makes America so gosh-darn “exceptional” are and always were a sales pitch. Donate now.
