We have had enough! by Barry Rosenbaum

It has been almost a year since I wrote my first post on Ruth’s Not Just My Blog. I had not intended to start blogging, but after I wrote a response to a frequent contributor, Ruth reached out and asked whether I could turn my comment into a post. Since I was a novice, I asked her for some guidance, which she quickly and gently provided. This will be my 24th post for the year. I am grateful that Ruth has edited each of them. But for her encouragement, I would not have started, and since that initial foray, she has spent countless hours making my writings way, way better.

I call my individual posts musings. Collectively, I have thought of them as musings in the wind, though they are often little more than cries in despair. My audience is quite small, although it has grown over this year. (Heather Cox Richardson does not have to worry about a loss in readership share.) Truth be told, while I certainly like reaching an audience, I view my writings more as personal offerings added to the outpouring of condemnation of the current regime and expressions of hope for a future that we can and must create. I’m also about to become a Zaidy. I want my grandson and his descendants to know I was on the right side of history. I’ve written all my life, although until my retirement, it was in the form of briefs, memoranda, and laws. It feels right that my new form of writing, my musings, be one way that I engage in protest.

The utter cruelty and depravity of the Trump Administration continue to explode in intensity. This regime is wholly corrupt, manifestly evil, valueless, and repugnant to its core. It has unleashed domestic terrorists on our cities, farms, places of worship, and schools. It believes that millions are not entitled to this country’s foundational rights. It continues to ruin our economy. It does nothing for the millions of voters who bought into its lies out of economic despair. May the names of Trump, Vance, RFK, Hegseth, Bondi, Noem, Gabbard, and Miller, among others, be recorded in history for generations to come for what they are — purveyors of evil.

There are glimmers that the Administration is starting to implode. Witness the remarkable interview with Trump’s heretofore invisible Chief of Staff. Yet, even in this death spiral, it will continue to destroy while its core collapses. Lashing out like a wounded animal, it will strive to inflict devastation until the moment it is removed from power. The demolition of the East Wing is a perfect metaphor — it is the destroyer of people, the destroyer of institutions, the destroyer of history, and the would-be destroyer of hope and sanity.

Fortunately, Trump picked the wrong country to fuck with, to try to remake entirely into an homage to himself and his billionaire bros. It has taken a very long time for the American people to wake up to the insanity that is Trump. But there is now growing evidence that we are ready to put an end to this utter madness. A blue wave is coming in November 2026, and this wave may well turn into a tsunami. We must continue to do the work of resistance in whatever ways we can. We still have major battles ahead, and as Heather Cox Richardson has so elegantly reminded us many times, the outcome of this dire episode of American history is not preordained. However, I continue to believe that this current wave of outrage will reach such heights that it will overwhelm the regime’s leaders, collaborators, facilitators, motivators, and benefactors.

When we retake control of the federal government, we cannot settle for just replicating what has been destroyed. We must rebuild better – wiser, so that we create a government that delivers for and is responsive to all the people. Even before Trump, we fell far short of this goal.

Almost 250 years ago, the founders wrote these words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Our government must once again be grounded in these foundational principles. It is not for the government to decide who is worthy and who is not. It is we who must give consent to be governed.

 As we begin to right this obscene wrong, we will proceed in accordance with the law. But we will ensure that this time, justice is swift and evil is duly punished. As Bannon predicts, judgment day will come. All those participating in this malevolent takeover should be aware that this time, Donald will not be there to pardon them. As Rachel Maddow said recently, now would be a good time to decide which side you are on, because Trump is on his way out. The jail cell that they managed to avoid or escape from (through pardon) last time will welcome them anew. This time will be different.

We have had enough, and it will be stopped!!