His May 5 article, "Gallows Humor and Talk of Escape: Trump’s Possible Return Rattles Capital" shows how a supposedly unbiased publication with the Times can be tone deaf and trivializing toward our moment of extreme national peril.
Granted, the story lays out its meager ambitions in the opening sentence: "It has become the topic of the season at Washington dinner parties and receptions. Where would you go if it really happens?" and then talks to a smattering of insiders encountered at those soirees, asking them where they would flee if Trump were re-elected. Portugal, Australia and Canada are popular destinations.
To be fair, the hollowness of past vows to escape overseas is mentioned. And the story ends with a scholar at the Middle East Institute promising to stay onboard the ship, bailing with all his might, even as it settles under the waters of totalitarianism.
But that isn't exactly balance. It's not enough. Far, far more people are going to stay put, and fight like hell, and have no intention of giving up on this country, ever. When do they get their story in the New York Times? Let me guess: never.
No matter. We don't need the Times to validate what we know to be true. There is a reader in Florida I sometimes trade emails with, and we had this exchange on Tuesday after he wrote to me in reaction to "Heads I win, tails you lose," my column on Trump's efforts to skew the election.
"I fear for this nation like never before," wrote Steve H. "I’d be one of the first to go ... Toronto may be the place to be. I really fear this election. Politics has already divided my family and it’s invaded my faith. I’m tired. I’m tired of the pointless hatred and nonsense. I wonder if Toronto would be far enough."
I thought about that, and tried to respond firmly but sincerely.
"Obviously, you haven't spent much time in Toronto," I wrote. "Forgive me for chiding you, but to even consider running away makes us the cowards that the right already considers us as being. I plan to stay, write whatever I can, resist however I can, even if that means suffering repercussions. I can't imagine a greater accolade than to be sent to prison by the second Trump administration. It' would be my crowning achievement. I encourage you to reconsider. As the great Samuel Johnson once said: 'I will be conquered. I will not capitulate.'"
This had an effect on him. Reconsidering our positions is the liberal superpower.
"You have the right attitude," he wrote. "My talk is cheap. I don’t care for colder weather anyway. Thanks for the advice. You’re right…running isn’t the answer, but it seems like it sometimes."
I thought I should recognize the shift and meet him halfway.
"Believe me, escape has its time and place — I like to say that all the optimists in my family are back in Poland in a pit," I wrote, trotting out a favorite line. "But the key is to take the last train out. Not the first."
He responded:
"I’m sorry to hear about your family members that didn’t make it. You’re right… work and fight until the end. I don’t think I cower from much. This is certainly the time in which all good men come to the aid of their nation. There’s a lot of good women and men who know better. I’m hoping and praying that intelligence will prevail."
As are we all.
"I fear for this nation like never before," wrote Steve H. "I’d be one of the first to go ... Toronto may be the place to be. I really fear this election. Politics has already divided my family and it’s invaded my faith. I’m tired. I’m tired of the pointless hatred and nonsense. I wonder if Toronto would be far enough."
I thought about that, and tried to respond firmly but sincerely.
"Obviously, you haven't spent much time in Toronto," I wrote. "Forgive me for chiding you, but to even consider running away makes us the cowards that the right already considers us as being. I plan to stay, write whatever I can, resist however I can, even if that means suffering repercussions. I can't imagine a greater accolade than to be sent to prison by the second Trump administration. It' would be my crowning achievement. I encourage you to reconsider. As the great Samuel Johnson once said: 'I will be conquered. I will not capitulate.'"
This had an effect on him. Reconsidering our positions is the liberal superpower.
"You have the right attitude," he wrote. "My talk is cheap. I don’t care for colder weather anyway. Thanks for the advice. You’re right…running isn’t the answer, but it seems like it sometimes."
I thought I should recognize the shift and meet him halfway.
"Believe me, escape has its time and place — I like to say that all the optimists in my family are back in Poland in a pit," I wrote, trotting out a favorite line. "But the key is to take the last train out. Not the first."
He responded:
"I’m sorry to hear about your family members that didn’t make it. You’re right… work and fight until the end. I don’t think I cower from much. This is certainly the time in which all good men come to the aid of their nation. There’s a lot of good women and men who know better. I’m hoping and praying that intelligence will prevail."
As are we all.
The problem is that the MAGA cult members are anything but intelligent & worship a lying, cheating, incompetent businessman & traitor who lies when ever he opens his mouth!
ReplyDeleteI'm also going down with the ship if it comes to that. The myriads on street corners, living in doorways, under-passes, shelters were escapees of political upheaval and violence from their countries. Seems they went from bad to worse though, I often wonder if they wish they'd stayed put. Growing up it was drummed in to my head there would be a time when we (the Jews) would be rounded up again, so best not get too comfy. Gazans, Ukrainians, etc. never imagined they'd be reduced to rubble. We don't know what's coming for us.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going anywhere. The threat is real, and I plan to meet this threat head on. There is no alternative.
ReplyDeleteRemember being chided, "America: love it or leave it" during the Vietnam era? Very few took the bait and then the war ended.
ReplyDeleteFight, fight, fight. They love belligerence, give it to them. PS: I’d like to see what horns are inside all those trumpet cases in the photo. I see some Bachs…John Howell
ReplyDeleteI thought those trumpet cases — from the vault at Conn Selmer — looked like suitcases. But too many readers saw them as horn cases, so I swapped out for a more apt (I hope) photo.
DeleteYou fooled me. I thought they were just ordinary antique suitcases that one might have seen people use during the 30s and 40s.
DeleteHuh. This would have had a whole different resonance, given today's topic and the quote with regard to your Polish relatives. I didn't look carefully at that photo, but when I glanced at it, I thought it might be from an exhibit at the Holocaust Museum, or something.
DeleteFunnily enough, I vaguely remember seeing stacks of old suitcases when I visited THE Holocaust Museum (the original one, in D.C.) in April of '96. Then again, maybe it's not really so funny. They were near the piles of shoes...and the piles of hair.
DeleteI fear that all the angst and teeth-gnashing over the possibility of a second trump term will be a self fulfilling prophecy. Media acts like it is a foregone conclusion that he will win. That's certainly a possibility in this election, given the number of rabid MAGAfanatics stomping around. Still, I am hopeful. My 79th birthday is next week. I've seen a lot. I believe I'll see the survival of Democracy. If not, I'll go down the liberal, feminist, Democrat I've always been.
ReplyDeleteI love what your reader said, and it is good to know there are more thoughtful people living in FL than just the handful of my friends who retired there. I'm not going anywhere, and where would I go? My people have been here for hundreds of years, some as early as the early 1600's. Well wait, we did have a Tory or two who fled to Canada after the Revolution. Do I hear Canada calling? Probably not, it's just the wind. Furthermore, rightwing insanity has spread through Europe, too. Frankly, I think there are too many people on the planet and that is causing stress, which can cause selfish behavior. We stay. We fight. I am sure there is a Hamilton verse that will address this sentiment.
ReplyDeleteYet China is losing people, which I guess isn't a good thing either.
Deletejohn
I've had several friends say they're thinking about leaving if Trump wins, but they're wealthy so have that option. I'm not and have parent-care obligations so can't move. Imagining many friends and like-minded people leaving compounds my stress. It's encouraging that you and many commenters say they'll 'stay and fight' but I'm interested to hear what others are doing NOW to avoid that fate.
ReplyDeleteSome of my friends of means do write checks to candidates and organizations. Another wrote hundreds of postcards in the last election, which impressed me. When I was young I knocked on doors for candidates; not sure I can do that now. Living in the blue bubble that is Chicago it's tough to know what I can/should do from here to make sure Trump loses. What organizations are people volunteering with? Which groups are effective at reaching the 20-something demographic and people of color who are unlikely to vote and convincing them of the critical importance of supporting Biden despite their disappointment? There's plenty of pissing and moaning and stressing right now about Trump and the election but what I need is advice, guidance, and recommendations for ACTION. What specific steps can people recommend??
I've had several friends say they're thinking about leaving if Trump wins, but they're wealthy so have that option. I'm not and have parent-care obligations so can't move. Imagining many friends and like-minded people leaving compounds my stress. It's encouraging that you and many commenters say they'll 'stay and fight' but I'm interested to hear what others are doing NOW to avoid that fate.
ReplyDeleteSome of my friends of means do write checks to candidates and organizations. Another wrote hundreds of postcards in the last election, which impressed me. When I was young I knocked on doors for candidates; not sure I can do that now. Living in the blue bubble that is Chicago it's tough to know what I can/should do from here to make sure Trump loses. What organizations are people volunteering with? Which groups are effective at reaching the 20-something demographic and people of color who are unlikely to vote and convincing them of the critical importance of supporting Biden despite their disappointment? There's plenty of pissing and moaning and stressing right now about Trump and the election but what I need is advice, guidance, and recommendations for ACTION. What specific steps can people recommend??
My sister lives in Minnesota and her daughter is gay, so Sis put a lot of time and effort into writing postcards in support of LGBTQ candidates. She says that's the way to go, especially if you're not so young anymore, and she highly recommends the process.
DeleteBut I think you have to work from home. Where's the fun in that? That makes it drudgery. The best part of my campaigning (in 2008-12-16) was meeting and working with people from all over the country and even the world, who came to Ohio to help Obama and Hillary win. We were successful twice. The third time? Not so much. Don't wanna go there.
MY question is...what did people in their 70s do to fight the Nazis in Europe? That's what it's going to come down to, because I think we're already toast.
There had to be many old folks involved in the Resistance, all over Europe. Churchill asked the people in France and elsewhere to "set Europe ablaze"...and they did. How did a geezer in some French or Italian city participate in the cause? Not asking for a friend. Asking for myself.
One thing that drives me absolutely bonkers is breezily shallow locutions about how "both candidates are deeply unpopular." I have been hearing versions of this since the 2016 election, and by now it's getting me in a face-punching mood.
ReplyDeleteThere is a fundamental, vital, elemental, and Earth-shatteringly consequential difference between Trump and his opponents, in 2016 and now. It's the difference between a decent human being with a long record of public service, and a completely worthless excuse for a human being -- a crook, letch and simpleton with a record of nothing but lies, failure and corruption and why even go on? It's not news.
So why do so fucking many people just REFUSE TO SEE IT???
Anyone who spews this "they're both" crap at this point in history has rotted potatoes for brains. It's just that simple.
Grew up three miles from Lake Michigan, and for 31 years now, my adopted home has been four miles from Lake Erie. Ontario is a 55-mile boat ride away, but it's not an option. Canada does not want American geezers seeking political asylum. Canada wants young and healthy entremanures, with businesses, jobs, and money. Not poor old Jews. They already have enough of those.
ReplyDeleteAs Yankee refugees, my wife and I would be put behind a fence, and then shipped back to Buffalo or Detroit on a prison bus, to await our fates,. Whatever they may be. So we will stay and fight the power, by any means necessary. There is no other choice.
Anyway, resistance is in my blood, and in my genes. Third-generation pinko, of Russian and Polish and Lithuanian origins.. My father's mother was a Bolshevik who fled Russia because she ran with the terrorists and there was a price on her teen-aged head...the Bernadine Dohrn of 1905. My mother spoke only Yiddish until she started school. Her mother left her family behind and emigrated, at 17, from the town where "Fiddler on the Roof" was set. Twenty-five years later, they all went up the chimney, and became ashes, smoke, and soap. The letters stopped coming to East Garfield Park. Were they on vacation in the East? Grandma knew better.
My heart tells me that reason and sanity and goodness and democracy will prevail, but my head, at 76, knows otherwise. This is the summer before the war, the last summer of relative tranquility in America. Then the Orange Ogre will be back, the kindly old driver will be shoved out the front door, and the bus will head over the cliff and into the abyss. In plain English, it looks like we're fucked.
Too old for snow removal anymore...doctor's orders. So I'm not gonna keel over in Cleveland with a snow shovel in my hand. That hand may be holding something else instead. Is there a bullet with my name on it? At my advanced age, it's more likely to be a heart attack, after running a mile or two. If one is on his last legs, there are other avenues. An old man wearing a backpack walks into a bar and asks for a beer. The punchline? He's a Boomer. As Churchill said, when England faced a German invasion in 1940: "Take one with you."
I have no illusions about surviving the gathering storm. No hurricane shelter for me. No streetcar rides in Toronto. Orange Julius won't just be the worst POTUS in my lifetime...he'll also be the last.
There are SO many more highly qualified people then these two to represent the United States. Come on America, we can do better then this.
ReplyDeleteEric, just stop. just fucking stop. there is no comparison between the 2. just fucking stop.
DeleteThank you, pgw, for calling out Eric. The ultimate in false equivalence.
DeleteEric is right. I will vote for Biden, who is sane and a good man. But if you think we couldn't have found a better candidate than JB, I'd like to know what you're smoking pgw.
DeleteRespectfully, NV
Please don't paint all of us who've "left for Canada" with the same brush - it's simply not fair to suggest we've 'given up the cause' or 'got out on the first train' or even, 'got out while the gettin' was good' rather than choosing to 'be on the last train out' as many of us left, (some time ago in some cases) for other reasons.
ReplyDeleteThere are those of us who remain proud and strong - who continue to fight the good fight, and are committed to taking a stand to defend the nation and our democracy - even from abroad.
We aren't afraid to be a part of the fray, we just fight from a different position.
I don't think my remark can be seen as a blanket condemnation of anyone who ever moved to Canada for any reason. Unless you're someone who moved to Canada and feels conflicted about it.
DeleteLeave it to Paul Simon to capture this year's zeitgeist, and perhaps for many decades to come.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI hope that you read this, Neil.
ReplyDeleteI subscribe to both the NYT and S-T. It's not a contest, but your "Heads or Tails" column was far superior. What about a regular 8-hour-a-day, 5-day-a-week guy like me? The NYT doesn't seem to cater to people like me, other than the fact that I like to read newspapers.
"They're all the same" my friend said in Summer of 2020. My explanations about the election being manipulated into the House of Representatives fell on deaf ears. Post January 6th, he still didn't understand that the far Right doesn't play by the rules. This month I found him reading 1984 and finally realizing the danger. So that's a little hope. But arriving home that night, from an adjacent carport came the sounds of my neighbors praising Drumpfs accomplishments in their regular Conservative circle jerk, a familiar habit of white men retired to Florida. I don't want to live in their Drumpftopia, but I don't want to leave either. I faced a similar situation in1972 and chose protest. If it gets as bad as The Cowardly Liar can dream of, I won't fear the repercussions of fighting back. Older and wiser, with less physical strength, but also less to have taken away, I'll be ready to do whatever is necessary. I've been spied on, handcuffed and shuffled off to a faraway Brig. The worst they can do is kill me.
ReplyDeleteNo one is coming to save us so we all had better work like our lives depended on it (because they do) to make sure a second Trump term never happens. If we fail, then we are going to have to resist and fight back in whatever way we can. If running away is not the answer then trying to cope or locking yourself away in your house until it is over or you die—whichever comes first—is not an appropriate response either. Most of us have never been asked to fight for our country. Now we are being asked.
ReplyDeleteNothing short having hundreds of thousands of liberals moving from blue states to red states would solve the problem. The system is rigged, the founders fucked up. The electoral college problem, the two Senators for each state problem, and the life appointment to the Supreme Court problem all made this "grand experiment" doomed from the start. We are lucky to have made it this far. {sigh}
DeleteNV
My husband reads your columns in the print version of the Sun Times. Yesterday, after reading your column, he said, "Neil's really putting himself out there on This one (Heads I win, Tails you Lose).
ReplyDeleteOne reason Washington insiders are considering where to relocate if Trump prevails in the upcoming election is Trump's vow of retribution and revenge. That might go beyond incarceration!
I plan to 'stay', regardless of the election outcome, but I'm an anonymous nobody, I will not be a target of Trump's retribution (although the state of IL will surely feel the 'sting' of Trump's wrath, despite harboring such residents as Darren Bailey and Mary Miller.
If Trump wins in November, and Neil gets thrown in the clink, I promise to drop my cloak of anonymity and publicly protest on Neil's behalf.
Until then, I'm comforted knowing I live in Cook Co instead of FL.
I was serious about the badge of honor remark. I said something similar when Trump was in office: https://www.everygoddamnday.com/2019/08/burn-me.html
DeleteWe're both serious, Mr. S. Me about going down on my feet rather than on my knees. You about the accolade of being sent to prison. But it's not so much fun when the cell door closes and locks. It's an unnerving exprience. You are totally helpless, and at the mercy of those who can threaten, intimidate, beat, starve, torture, rape, or even murder you. Just for shits and grins, never mind for your politics.
DeleteDoesn't matter if it's Chicago cops, or some jerkwater sheriff's deputy, or the military, or the new thought police. There's a reason they call it the slammer. Once you hear that sound, they own you...literally. And so do the real mugs and the real thugs. Those stale jokes about biker cellmates named Tiny are based on reality. Don't ask. Use your imagination.
True, my longest "stretch " was twelve hours after Kent State, and a few hours at Town Hall for scalping Cub tickets. That was just jail. it was not prison. Still haven't hunted down a copy of "Drunkard"...so I don't know if you've ever been taken into custody and locked in a cell. The honor of going to prison for your politics probably lasts about as long as a fresh pack of cigarettes. Which is the coin of the realm in the joint. Or was. I don't think you can even smoke anymore. And that's gotta hurt. All things considered, I'd rather get smoked.
Haha Gritz, I did a 8 hour stint in the Belmont Station for "scalpjng" two $5 tickets for $15 {total} in the 80's. The multiple squads swarmed upon me in front of a very crowded Wrigley as if I were a mad bomber. The judge laughed his as off as he let me go.
DeleteNV
I was arrested in September of '84. Two older plainclothes cops cuffed me and marched me away. Took the tickets, too. Eventually, the captain at Town Hall let everybody out, long after the game was over.
DeleteAfter the Cubs lost the playoffs to San Diego in October, I was in court, along with a LOT of other people who'd been busted for scalping. The judge said, "Since the Cubs did so poorly, I will not make it any worse. I will have mercy on everyone here, and they will just be fined." So that's what happened. A lot of big-time scalpers were friends of mine. But I quit the racket after my arrest.
Well I and my wife aren’t going anywhere. Doesn’t matter who wins.. I wish I could say we would be in the streets battling the evil oppressors but for us those days are far behind. I have always been good at sarcasm as a method of resistance but that requires the opponents to understand what sarcasm is for it to work. So that’s out. Maybe depending on how bad it gets for some members of our society and they need to flee We could be part of a resurgence Underground Railway? Who know? But maybe common sense will break out at the last minute and prevail. If that happens I might start thinking that the Christian God loves American after all.
ReplyDeletemy god people. we live in one of the best countries in the world. certainly the most powerful. we survived trump once and its a 50 -50 chance we won't have to again. our system of checks and balance held up fairly well. be politically active. its important. get out the vote. it takes effort. engage with young people, it could happen. vote for the candidate of your choosing. its how this system works. then accept the results. certainly dont choose violence. the majority of your fellow citizens aren't the assholes you think they are. its like I tell my grown sons. its not always the way you want it to be. get over it.
ReplyDelete