Rebellions Are Built On Hope
The annus horribilis that is 2025 is almost at end. The guardrails of American democracy lie in a broken heap. Fascist footsoldiers stalk our streets, beating pregnant women and arresting anyone whose skin is not sufficiently beige. The world economy is being held up by a ridiculous AI bubble that will inevitably collapse. The White House is being destroyed by a senile man-child surrounded by racist scum, grifters, and incompetents. To call the state of our world dire would be the grossest of understatements.
But yet there is hope.
This week a group of brave Minnesotans stood in the freezing cold to help two people trapped by a gang of vile terrorists. Community members, local politicians, religious leaders, all of them sprung into action on a moment's notice to offer assistance and document ICE's brazenly illegal actions.
Today ICE does not go anywhere in this city unobserved. Despite ICE illegally swapping license plates, wearing masks, and endangering innocent people by speeding and weaving through traffic, this community knows when they leave, where they go, and catalogues every crime they commit. It should not really be a surprise that that the moms that can plan multiple kids' events would be able to transform those skills into an intelligence network that puts the CIA to shame.
The community has also helped those kept in their houses by fear find comfort and solidarity. Meals are being delivered, neighborhood watches organized, and minority businesses supported. To say that all of this makes me immensely proud to be a Minnesotan hardly scratches the surface of it. This state has faced a totalitarian scourge and stood proudly for the rights of all.
The simple reality is this: there are not enough ICE thugs, not enough willing accomplices, not enough fear-mongers to stop all of us. Fascist regimes like the one in DC want us to be helpless, to be atomized, to be distracted and depressed. The fire-hose of garbage they spew is intended to do exactly that. Because if they do not they fall.
Friends, they are fucking losing.
Trump's approval ratings are the lowest they have ever been—even on immigration. We have seen good Democrats win, in New Jersey, in Virginia, and with the Mamdani victory in NYC. Fascism, incompetence, and rampant douchebaggery are not popular. Trump's approval ratings mean that the base he has held for years is wavering. That has not happened before, except perhaps in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th insurrection.
Our communities are organizing. Our people are standing up to fascism. They have received precious little support, but even against intractable odds the fight continues. Courage is contagious: when people see ordinary Americans stand up the Overton Window shifts just a little each time.
That, my friends, is hope. And as we know from a certain space princess from a galaxy far, far away rebellions are built on hope.
If you watch Congress you will not see it. If you are hoping for some outside force to save us, you will not find it. If you think our national political and media institutions will be anything but collaborators you are likely to be disappointed.
The true hope lies in the streets, in our neighbors, in those who are right now standing up. Fascist regimes are always damned to fall, and the way they do it is when the people stand up. The people are standing up. If you want to win, join us. Help your local immigrant community, stand vigil over a mosque or a Hispanic church, deliver food and supplies. No one is going to save us but us, and if we stand together we will win.
2025 was a trash fire of a year - but 2026 can, and will, be the year we change things for the better. It will not be easy, it will not be quick. But we will win, because our cause is just, our compassion is boundless, our bravery is immense, and our spirit is unbowed. Against this power, no regime can prevail.