These days, as after the 2016 presidential election, many people upset about the direction of the United States with regard to human rights, the environment, health care, predatory lending, climate change, and standing up to international antidemocratic aggression, among many things, started to think of themselves as the Resistance. This was even if their fight against the Trumpists was confined to reposting witty memes online.
My friend Jameson Ellis sent me a clip from The Onion this week headlined, “Local procrastinator promises to fix the world as soon as his schedule clears up.”
“I’ve been pretty busy lately, too busy, really, to stop these crises which threaten all of humanity. But I promise, by the end of next week or possibly the week after that I will make time to end these unjust situations once and for all.”
I’m cynical enough about the state of the world but cannot match Jameson bile for bile. Watching the election returns just over two weeks ago at his place in Sag Harbor, I was mostly quiet. Jameson, on the other hand, let loose volley after volley of unprintable invective about American voters. At the other end of the spectrum, a real estate agent, equal in biliousness but not in substance, has been sending gloating emails about how “my” side was going to see what’s what soon enough. (I love this job.)
I heard a liberal podcaster the other day lamenting the corniness of the term “the Resistance,” which brings to mind less the European underground during World War II than any one of the dozens of dystopian movies in which a small band of freedom fighters led by a chosen one overthrow an oppressive bureaucracy. In real life, it doesn’t work that way, sadly.
Instead of resistance, it seems to me that these times require resilience. The Trump presidency appears already at risk of implosion, thanks to his bizarre and mostly unqualified choices to lead key federal agencies. It will be difficult to resist the chaos that may soon be unleashed, but what they can’t take away from citizens of good conscience is our resilience to see it through to the end and then try to rebuild.