Chaos and confusion

You feel it. I feel it. We’re living it.

First, of course, there was the gobsmack of the victory. For him, not for our country.

Then there was the chaos sparked by the tsunami of gasp-worthy pre-inaugural announcements of cabinet and agency nominees.

Then it was the shitstorm of executive orders, 26 on his first day, now a total of 35, intent on: (partial list) fueling climate change, eroding trust in scientific research, expunging critical thinking from public education, demonizing and criminalizing immigrants, freeing and holding blameless violent rioters, endangering public health, endangering global health, bullying our neighbors to the north and south, and generally dismantling the foundations of democracy.

The result of all this is far greater than these individual atrocities.

The result is chaos.

And that’s the idea, isn’t it? Astonish us with a list of names that include a TV host, a reality TV personality, a hedge fund manager, an investment banker, a fossil fuel corporate exec, various ideological loyalists and election deniers, and a man who regularly paid women for sex, had sex with a 17-year-old girl, and used or possessed illegal drugs.

Meanwhile, deluge us with those executive orders, some unvetted by your own people, some too vague to comprehend, a few rescinded, a few paused, dozens met with challenges and lawsuits. Some standing as is.

And it’s all too much, isn’t it? And we don’t know where to turn or what to do. And that’s the idea. That’s the strategy. Confusion. Chaos. The result being an overwhelming sense of disempowerment, a numbed populace in retreat.

No. Not on our watch.

In rejecting that scenario-- even if at the moment we do not know where to focus or what to do—we reject powerlessness. We remember who we are. We remember the shoulders we stand on. We gather our strength.