Between Nov. 6 and Jan. 20, a lot of people (possibly as many as 48.3% of voters who cast their ballots for Kamala Harris) retreated to a glum state of denial, depression, and disbelief. Couldn’t watch the news, didn’t read emails, avoided thinking about politics. We stuck our heads under the covers, turned out the lights, and felt just a little better.  

There is a real danger that 48.3% of American voters, or at least some of them, will never emerge from hibernation to re-engage with politics. The 2024 presidential election seemed to present such clear choices — between responsible, forward-looking government and vindictive strong-man autocracy. Yet, the majority of voters chose a twice-impeached misogynistic liar and bully, who candidly proclaimed his plans for revenge on his “enemies.”

People felt like giving up. What good is it to uphold justice, if the wealthy can wiggle out of all charges, all punishments, simply by bullying or buying the judges and lawyers? How is it democratic when an elected autocrat takes a hammer to all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives? Or erases the existence of trans people with a stroke of a pen? Or halts all government spending, no matter what sorts of work, research, or aid that spending supports? Contracts can’t be paid. Supplies can’t be purchased. People can’t be hired. Government work and government employees are cut off at the knees, until the new regime assures itself that everything passes their loyalty test.

The situation we are in, one week after the inauguration of the 47th president, is designated by the administration itself as “shock and awe,” a term used by George W. Bush to describe the U.S. bombing of Iraq in 2003. The Trump team is using that phrase to describe the effects of their stream of executive orders not on an enemy — but on the American people themselves.

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Shock and awe are paralyzing. A demoralized populace rolls over and doesn’t fight back.

Until something happens to jolt us out of our blue funk. Two things are having that effect on this writer.

The first is the outrageous pardon of over 1,500 convicted rioters who participated in the attack on the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021. These were not “hostages” as Trump likes to call them: They are people who exercised the right to counsel, who were tried in federal court, and who were sentenced for their crimes. Law enforcement hunted them down with help from private individuals and social media. They were not tourists, but a violent mob that assaulted Capitol police officers, vandalized the building, and defecated on its floors. It was all on tape, which everyone in the country has seen. 

Their release, presumably because our president sees them as his personal army, underscores that this administration does not obey the rule of law. It demonstrates further this administration’s contempt for police. It should shame every member of Congress who spent that day hiding or fleeing, in fear of their lives.

The second thing is Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington. She turned to face the president during the interfaith prayer service at the National Cathedral, and pleaded with him to show mercy toward vulnerable and frightened people threatened by his shock and awe proclamations: people who feared the break-up of their families, people who feared the loss of jobs, people whose civil rights were curtailed, people who did not see how they fit into the new “America” of a transactional administration that caters to the rich. 

Her voice was quiet and steady.  She spoke a message that is entirely consistent with the teachings of Jesus. Like the riots on Jan. 6, 2021, her words have been played on the news, and everyone in the country has seen her speak truth to power.

It takes courage to do what Bishop Budde did. It can’t have been easy, given the circumstances. She has experienced what usually happens to people who speak truth to power: some have wished her dead, deported, or silenced.  

However, this 65 year-old gray-haired woman has shown us that it is possible to climb out of our beds, confront the reality of what is happening, and stand against it. Those who are dismayed at this administration’s actions and proclamations must become the squeakiest of wheels. We have to raise a ruckus, shout and holler, post and write, to remind this nation, and all of its people, that 43.8% of Americans are NOT going to stand by idly while this shock and awe campaign shapes the direction of the United States going into the future.  

It’s OK to begin to resist with baby steps. It's not OK to roll over and play dead.

— Community Columnist Barbara Mezeske is a retired teacher and resident of Holland. She can be reached at bamezeske@gmail.com.