The clarity hit me as I walked near a tree line this past week on the East Coast of the land desperately struggling to remain the United States: we don’t have a president of the United States. We have a president of the Confederacy.
That’s the rub of my short video clip above (and on Instagram and TikTok), but I want to use this space to briefly expand and then remind us of people fighting to create the nation we’ve always been capable of becoming. But first, on dictatorial dumbassery, Trump promised vengeance and retribution, and he’s delivering.
Here are some of the historical parallels revealing just how much Lost Cause ideology is driving his agenda and that of the formerly strong political party known as the GOP.
Use of Forced Authority in Historically Black or Liberal Cities
Just as the Confederacy exercised control over dissident regions, Trump’s deployment of federal troops in cities opposed to his ideology echoes tactics of subjugation as well as propaganda. The selective application of excessive force and intimidation tactics only in Black or Liberal cities with declining crime rates is a flagrant return to Jim Crow era abuses.
Erasure and Romanticizing of History
Confederate narratives often romanticize lost causes while minimizing the atrocities of slavery. Trump’s push to sanitize history at the Smithsonian, return Confederate names to military bases, and wine endlessly that accounts of slavery focus too much on how bad it was, reflects that same impulse.
Mobilization of Grievance as Political Strategy
Confederates framed their cause as defense of tradition and race. So much of their motivation was driven by a severe insecurity in their own power and fear of Black people doing unto them as they had done unto us. Today’s grievance-based rhetoric—“vengeance,” “taking back America,” punishing dissent, protecting against “white replacement”—mirrors all that. At the end of the day it’s a small mindedness and weakness of spirit: you lack faith in your own ability to hold your sovereign identity amidst a changing and diversifying culture. We’re also seeing an exploitation of that economic and identity-based grievance by thieves… people willing to scapegoat an immigrant or trans person or Black person so they can rob you of your Medicare and Medicaid and of your right mind.
Suppressing Critical Inquiry, Promoting Ideological Indoctrination
Southern states before and during the Civil War tightly restricted teaching that challenged slavery. They passed laws banning abolitionist literature, censored Northern textbooks, and criminalized teaching enslaved people to read. The defunding of education and censorship of true history today mirror these efforts.
I’m sure there’s more but this is what the trees revealed to me on my walk so I thought I’d share it with you (and I know it’s been a while).
I’ve been steady dropping deeper thoughts and analysis about this whole AI thing so make sure you check out some recent posts on the Life With Machines Substack:
In the meantime, here’s some other, more hopeful and actionable things I think you should be aware of
I’m so proud of my hometown. A few months ago I posted some videos just before a pageantry of fascism swept through Washington DC. Since then the current administration has unleashed military force on the nation’s capital. But the people are standing up. A prime example is the Free DC Project, which I urge you to support.
I was especially excited to see the people of Columbia Heights, where I grew up, standing in solidarity against the American Gestapo forces known as ICE.
In the spirit of highlighting resilience. We are in the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. There’s a great opportunity to stand in solidarity with folks in the Gulf South affected by that storm via solidarity rides, walks, boating etc. Please share with those who want to move their bodies to the beat of freedom and justice. Much respect to Taproot Earth for spearheading this week of commemoration.
And in some good news, the people of Southeast Georgia have helped preserve a major source of freshwater as well as as natural carbon sink in the Okefenokee Swamp. I had the honor of visiting this swamp while filming America Outdoors and was moved by the overlooked people facing overwhelming odds to preserve this crucial part of Mother Earth for the benefit of the many. A key figure in that struggle as been Reverend Antwon Nixon. He recently shared this victory story with me: their coalition stopped the mining project (!!) which threatened this incredible part of our natural world. They bought it and the mining rights, and they’ll protect it.
Even as we face the most unsubtle form of white supremacy and fascist brutality, built on a story of domination and separation from each other and the planet, there’s another story happening. People are awakening to the essential truth of our interdependence with each other and the Earth, and we are starting to behave accordingly. Take heart in these stories of resistance, resilience, and creative alliance. This is what will get us through the storm and in a position to build something better on the other side. All storms end.
Finally, I’ll leave you on a laugh from King Willonius who had some fun with the Cracker Barrel situation. Enjoy this satirical music video.
Share this post