It’s great to be part of #TheResistance

It’s been one of the great experiences and privileges of my life to be part of #TheResistance. That’s the generally accepted Twitter hashtag for this growing movement of Americans against the reactionary, imbecilic and dangerous regime of Donald Trump.

I don’t know if there’s been anything like it since the Sixties and the anti-war movement. I was on the fringe of that resistance. Not a big part of it, but sympathetic. Back then, the issue was, of course, Vietnam. I had watched the war build up, from the early days in ’63-’64 to LBJ’s massive increase in troops, which led to the historic street demonstrations that continued long after Nixon swept into office. I was against the war, more or less—couldn’t see any good reason for it, and I certainly didn’t buy into the (now completely discredited) domino theory. But I wasn’t a huge anti-war person, because by ’65 or so, I’d become part of what would later be called the hippie movement, and our slogan—“turn on, tune in, drop out”—precluded major involvement in political causes in favor of a more introspective lifestyle. Still, I went on a couple protests against the war, including the 1966 one led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that marched from Central Park to the United Nations.

The anti-war movement, when you think about it, didn’t really amount to much, beyond lots of headlines. The war didn’t end in ‘67’, or ’68, or ’69, or ’70, or ’71, or ’72, or ’73, or ’74. It took until April, 1975, for it to be over. Nixon had famously declared, six years earlier (Dec. 1969), that the war would shortly be over due to his “secret plan” to end it.

Nixon had no such secret plan. He simply lied. But still, enough Americans believed he would end the war that they elected him over Hubert Humphrey.

Nixon was the most infamous liar of his day, and the most mendacious U.S. President ever, until—well, you know. Now we have another person who was elected President by telling lies that gullible people believed. His latest was yesterday, when he promised he would achieve “a great peace deal” between Israel and the Palestinians.

He won’t. He’ll do his best to kill a two-state solution, which means that the right wing Netanyahu regime will continue, and the two sides will be further apart than ever—and the dangers to Americans will exponentially increase. But let’s give Trump the benefit of a doubt: we won’t be able to say he lied about “a great peace deal” for a couple more years. Then we can say it—and when that happens, assuming he’s still alive, he’ll find someone—Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the New York Times, ISIS, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Democrats, the crooked media, Planned Parenthood—to blame.

Which brings me back to #TheResistance. It may be (and I hope it is) that, someday, our children and grandchildren will ask us what we did to oppose the imposition of fascism upon our democracy. For me, it began on August 22, 2016, the day I announced my retirement and told readers that this blog would transition from one about wine “to demolish[ing] the Republican Party, which deserves it.”

A week later (Sept. 1), I mentioned Trump for the first time, in a piece I headlined “Dr. Donald’s Trumpsparilla: Selling quack nostrums to gullible Americans.” I can’t say I saw through Trump’s lies earlier than anyone else; I think all Democrats did. He’s still at it, lying left and right, and his supporters are still buying it—so far—because (near as I can tell), although they know he’s an asshole, he’s their asshole.

So I’ve been a member of #TheResistance for going on six months. We’re winning: the Puzder fiasco is an early sign of our gathering strength. If anything, I’m more fired up than ever, because the dangers posed by this #IllegitimatePresident (another good hashtag) are more apparent every day. As many of you know, I don’t have kids—hence, no grandkids—but if I did, someday I would have loved to sit down with them and tell them about these glorious days, when Americans of every stripe united to end the tyranny of Donald Trump. How will this resistance end? Remember, Nixon—in his hubris and anger—managed to get himself impeached and had to quit. Even his fellow Republicans eventually decided that he was too much. That’s what I think is going to happen to Trump. Another hashtag: #GoneBySummer. If you’re not part of #TheResistance, doing whatever you can to fight, “I hope someday you’ll join us.”