Mariana Mcdonald

Summer Days 2024
or
Fighting Fascism in the Midst of Genocide

Summer Days

Imagine this: it’s late June, in a crucial election year. The person you thought you’d have to convince people, including yourself, to vote for shocked 50 million observers with his undeniable difficulty communicating clearly, setting off three-plus weeks of tormented national discussion, debate, handwringing, and blathering, about what it means for a November win. That is to say, an unlikely November win.

The next day, Trump’s Supreme Court overturns the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, deciding that federal government agencies cannot determine policy in their areas of expertise and responsibility, and asphalting the road to ever-diminished regulation.

As people worldwide scramble to decipher it all, SCOTUS within 72 hours issues its historic constitution-shredding decision to let Trump do whatever he wants, basically, with impunity.

The stakes of the 2024 US election appear as flashing neon lights around the globe, pulsing ominously. The planet reels at the prospect of a King Trump reign of retribution, exploitation, decimation of human rights, deregulation, and off-with-their-heads vengeance.

And it’s only July 1.

The next two weeks are tension-filled, with disagreement and debate about what Biden should do, as increasing numbers of Democratic leaders urge him to “pass the torch.”

Then comes Butler, Pennsylvania and a scrawny 20-year-old with an AR-style assault rifle, whose attempted assassination of Donald Trump missed by an ear, turning the candidate into a would-be martyr and provoking endless self-righteous talk about the dangers of “political violence” (during which discussion no one mentions schoolchildren killed by gun violence, or Black persons murdered in cold blood by police).

Are you exhausted yet?

You are not alone—over 300 million people in the US (not to mention millions around the world)—are dizzy from the ever-changing winds whipping around us.

Which brings us to day 24 in our saga. We are greeted Sunday July 21 in the early afternoon with the news that Biden has, indeed, stepped down, ushering in a new stage of uncertainty and debate.

I joined the millions feeling a wave of relief washing across the political shores, a sense of sudden and qualitative release from a burden that seemed doomed to clinch Trump’s chances of being elected.

Now a Black woman presidential candidate—the most likely and wise choice—is poised to take on the MAGA king wannabe racist misogynist dictatorial old white man.

It’s stark. What could be more emblematic of where this country has come, the stakes of the election, and the vision of what this country is, than this new lineup?

Project 2025

As each of these life-changing events unfolded (Biden’s debate debacle, SCOTUS overturning Chevron, SCOTUS declaring Trump’s immunity, the assassination attempt, Biden stepping down) in just 24 days, it has been against a growing backdrop of discovery and condemnation of the Christian Nationalist right wing’s Project 2025—their wet dream fantasy for the United States, a 900-page declaration of war on the US people.

Posts on social media and videos on YouTube have gone in just a few months from “Have you heard about this?” to more systematic critiques of specific plans in Project 2025, and how they would affect distinct groups of people. Those distinct groups include, but are not limited to, the following:

Women;

Children;

Indigenous people;

People of color;

Immigrants;

Workers;

Veterans;

Disabled people;

The elderly;

Federal government employees;

Trans persons;

LGBTQ+ persons;

Students;

Taxpayers;

People who participate in and support the arts;

People who need health care; and

People who want to protect planet Earth.

And while it is essential to understand the specific way/s the proposed 2025 policy changes would affect distinct populations, it’s quite important to realize and talk about how this plan overall is a blueprint for a right-wing Christian Nationalist takeover of the United States. The goal of the Christian Nationalist movement is not to cut back on government—but to destroy it. Its goal is not to limit democracy, but to eliminate it. Democracy is viewed by Christian Nationalists as getting in the way of their vision of theocratic, white supremacist, patriarchal, authoritarian, and vengeful rule in this country.

I’ve been learning about Project 2025 for a while. As I’ve explored its hefty diatribe, I’ve come to see that it is, unquestionably, a declaration of war on the US people, with sharp and steady aim at women. And I’ve realized that Project 2025 behooves us, and should spark us, to give voice to our vision of the kind of world we want, and the kind of change we want to see. That vision is necessary if we are to realize hopes and dreams for the United States in 2025 and beyond: for a multiracial, anti-patriarchal, Earth-protecting democracy, prospering in peace and striving for equality.

All this and genocide too

As the battle for US democracy is being duked out, the live-streamed genocide of the Palestinian people has not only not abated, but instead has absolutely accelerated and has become even more heinously brutal and criminal, as the unsustainable Zionist project desperately spins out of control and implodes.

The fight for a permanent cease-fire continues, despite the claws of AIPAC attempting to shred the vocal cords of those who seek an end to the war. The fight against genocide, occupation, and the US government’s military support of Israel continues to grow in the United States and around the world.

All those who love peace, freedom, and equality must protest and stand up to Israel’s horrific attacks on Palestinians. It is our duty, especially those living in the United States, whose taxes are being used to pay for the bombs that maim and kill Palestinian children. We need to declare that this is not in our name and we will not tolerate it.

We must make support of genocide a costly political liability as much as it is already a scourge of morality and international law.

What is to be done?

We have our work cut out for us, no matter what Democratic slate ends up running against Trump.

We need to mobilize the progressive and peace-loving people of this country, all those who find democracy essential, precious, and fundamental to our nation, to step up in whatever way they can in the coming months, to support and participate in a free election that irrefutably and unquestionably rejects the authoritarian and dictatorial plans of Trump and his Christian Nationalist supporters.

While the task is daunting, it’s clear that we have the ability to face it with energy, enthusiasm, and determination. It’s full steam ahead, to the election and beyond.

Friends in the poetry community will appreciate my summing up our challenge with a little bit of alliteration:

Defend democracy—defeat Donald!