Unprovoked attacks on Iran. A sustained assault on immigrants and those who try to protect them in US cities. Abandoning the government’s basis for regulating CO₂. Cutting funding for basic assistance programs and scientific research. Slashing taxes for wealthy elites. Bankrolling a genocide and using it as an opportunity for real estate development. 

It has been just over a year since Trump took office, and the list of his “accomplishments” tells a tale of terror, devastation, and despair wrought upon our nation. Each one of these sentences relates a story unto itself – those who were unfairly targeted, those who sought unjustified gains, those who for their own benefit enabled the lucky to get luckier still. 

But when you look at the list from another angle, you see that Trump is not so unique after all. Yes, he is a powerful distillation of American hegemony, but that hegemony has been with us all along. Attacks on Iran recall attacks on Libya and Iraq and Panama and Vietnam and Chile and Korea and even Iran itself in the past. Deportations now are an escalation of deportations that have occurred for the past 100 years. The undercutting of climate regulations amplifies the lack of real commitment to sustained climate progress that has been an issue in this nation for decades. Countless administrations and Congresses have failed to provide adequate care for the American people. And the genocide is the result of American policy going back 50 years and more. 

That is not to say that all politicians and both parties are the same. There are real and substantial differences in policies that make a difference in people’s lives. But it is to say that neither Democrats nor Republicans operate with the interests of the American people at heart. For what reason do we repeatedly attack foreign countries, pouring out American blood and money in military operations against nations and people who constitute no threat to us? For what reason do we ruthlessly deport immigrants who are here to work and support their families, often fleeing conditions in their home countries imposed by our own sanctions? For what reason do we slow-walk climate policy, achieving at best new incentives for the energy industry instead of regulation that will make the substantial difference we need? For what reason do tax rates for the wealthy stay low while we cannot achieve the universal medical coverage and college for all that other countries provide? For what reason do we continue to finance the slaughter of people trapped in an open-air concentration camp on the other side of the globe? 

We do all of these things because wealthy elites want them, wealthy elites pay for them, and their political lapdogs carry out their wishes. And those same wealthy elites finance political education that convinces large swaths of the American public that other nations and other kinds of people are their enemies, while convincing others of us that the only change possible is incremental.

The result is the disillusionment of the American people, the acceptance that we can’t have the healthcare, education, and jobs we want and need – either because immigrants and Black people are taking from us, or because our fellow citizens don’t want those things. 

Don’t believe it. Americans as a whole want healthcare, education, and sustaining jobs. We want regulation of fossil fuel companies and other carbon emitters. We want those who immigrate here to work and follow the laws and care for their families to be able to have a legal path to stay. And we don’t want our tax dollars used to kill people in countries on the other side of the globe who are no threat to us.

There is no justification for the war we have just started against Iran. American intelligence agencies have repeatedly found that they are not working to produce nuclear weapons. In fact, our attacks give them further justification for restarting their nuclear program if they are able. But at present, they constitute no threat to the US. And although there should be major concerns about Iran’s killing of its own people during protests there, these concerns don’t justify our bombing and consequent killing of even more Iranians. To the extent that it even exists at this point, this is a violation of international law. It is a violation of morality. It is a violation of common sense. And it is a violation of the wishes of the American people. 

Once again, the USA directs its enormous military might against a nation across the globe. Once again, we attempt to justify our actions with flowery language and humanitarian intentions. Once again, we bring our history as the great purveyor of violence to bear upon innocent people who were no threat to us. Once again, we bring the shame of historical judgment and worldwide opinion on our own heads. 

Once again, the American people must protest against our own government starting an unjustified war against innocent people thousands of miles away. And we must do this while protesting deportation and genocide and the cutting of services and on and on. It can be overwhelming. I invite you to take a breath, sit for just a moment. We can’t all take every action. There are those of us who work against war, those who work against deportation, those who work for fossil fuel regulation or healthcare. But we must make clear that these efforts are interrelated. Those working on climate must speak out against deportation. Those working on healthcare must show up to a protest against war. We must focus our actions while broadening our connections. This is how we fight. This is how we win.

Please follow this blog by subscribing at the bottom of this page. And please follow me on Instagram, TikTok, and Mastodon: