Under occupation

For the past two days, the new Trump administration has been demonstrating that it is far easier to break things than it is to build them.

— Heather Cox Richardson, January 22.

Keeping track of all that breakage may be a practical and emotional challenge. For the practical side of things, there are resources:

• Federal Register (see executive orders for yourself; note lag times in posting them. Compare with earlier presidents.)
• Glenn Kessler (selected examples)
• FactCheck.org (selected examples)
• Tracking Trump's Cabinet nominees (the site promises to update)

Less convenient: keeping up with the news. (Did you see this item on California water?) Maybe it's less important to scan for every single scandal that comes along, but cultivate the reflex to fact-check dubious and polarizing claims from those in power, as well as self-styled heroes of the resistance.

Politicians in the Democratic party are far from united in how to cope with all this breakage. Here are some thoughts from a trusted commentator:

... [T]here's a whole debate raging in the Democratic Party of what to do about Trump, with an early consensus forming that we can't just be the party of "the resistance" forever,  (nbcnews.com)  and I can see that point—pussy hats don't necessarily appeal to your average swing voter—but I think it's misguided, because the Republican Party is no longer a normal political party, it's a cult of fealty to their God-Emperor and if the Democrats don't push back with every tool in the toolbox, the Democratic Party will be banned (designated a terrorist organization or something), and there will be little room for discussing the finer points of Trump's economic agenda. Likewise, tuning out the "culture war" makes sense in some ways (although it misreads the moment—Harris never ran on culture-war issues, and she still lost), but the now-typical Democratic line that trans issues are a "distraction" from kitchen-table issues isn't quite right, because to the Republicans, trans issues are just the early fault line they're using to cleave apart America's multiracial democracy. Democrats need to push back on every issue, gum up the works in every way they can, because picking and choosing your battles right now may make some sense on a messaging level (no reason to chase after every single perceived Trump slight) but it makes no sense on the level of the political machinations of our fragile republic.

Coping emotionally may be just as big a challenge as keeping informed. (By the way, I was fascinated by Ashley Parker's article on the apparent competition in Washington, DC, to be at the top of the persecuted list.) Yes, "shock and awe" may be the tactic, but I'm looking for a more systemic metaphor to help me absorb and respond to what's going on.

That's where "under occupation" comes in.

Hebron, Palestine. Graffiti. 2019.

"Occupation" implies an alien power imposing control on us. "Alien" is a loaded term—I remember when I was an alien here—and I can't really claim that Donald Trump and his team are from outside the U.S. (with a few exceptions), despite their apparent affinities with certain authoritarian leaders on the global stage. And racism and nativism are certainly not new to America.

Here's the "alienation": MAGA priorities seem to diverge so dramatically from the generally bipartisan postwar consensus in favor of equal rights, free trade, workplace safety, educational reforms, greater access to health care, international collaboration and collective security, independent civil service and judiciary, and at least some improvements in energy and environmental policies, that the word "alien" may not be too far off the point. Any ideal that isn't linked to myth-based nationalism is dismissed or ridiculed.

All of these areas of postwar progress are now under simultaneous and coordinated (if at times sloppy and chaotic) attack, with potentially disastrous short-term and long term consequences. It's that "simultaneous and coordinated" quality, imposed from a central executive, that I'm comparing to an occupation.

The word "occupation" also implies that this control is coercive, even violent. If we don't think this danger applies to ordinary U.S. citizens minding our own business, we are probably not immigrants, we are likely of northern European background, and we fit into the new administration's preferred gender categories. (Full disclosure: I'm a former alien, an immigrant.) Also, our denial may be based on layers of financial security that most people don't have.

If we are Christians in denial, maybe we've managed to smother our testimonies on wealth, hospitality, and mercy in favor of a dominion agenda.

I don't want to push this "occupied" metaphor too far. It's certainly not perfect. For most of us life is pretty easy in comparison with, for example, Palestine, or Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. But it does help me think more systematically about how not to inventory obsessively each new piece of evidence of all this breakage, but rather to contribute toward resilient communities of mutual care, communities who welcome the vulnerable people among us.

My father and his extended family lived under actual occupation in Norway (1940-1945), and they told me a lot about what that was like. Some interesting features:

• Circulating accurate information was a vital service, far riskier in the Nazi years than it is so far in the USA. (Radios were banned, so considerable ingenuity went into concealing them. Alternative newspapers were another source of news—also at great risk.)
• Teachers, pastors, judges, and other organized groups in Norway learned to practice nonviolent resistance as communities, defining the red lines that most of them would refuse to cross. My cousin Axel Heyerdahl told me how much he had admired his own teachers who joined that campaign.
• Those who had particular resources (such as isolated cottages to hide fugitives), jobs (my grandfather spent most of his war years in the coastal lifesaving service), and physical stamina could undertake high-risk missions to undermine the occupiers. Smuggling Jewish people and British pilots into Sweden was one example from my own family.
• In opposition to the resistance movement, there were people who actively supported the occupation. Aside from the actual collaborators at the top, such as Vidkun Quisling, the most famous example might be the great novelist Knut Hamsun. And in between these two groups of committed antagonists, there were thousands of people who simply tried to get along without being noticed by the authorities. Some of those became collaborators for convenience' sake. Some fell in love with enemy soldiers and bureaucrats. Some changed position during the war. 
• One of my grandfather's concerns as a member of the resistance army was to persuade hotheads not to engage in violence against Germans, which would only result in increased repression. By extension, in our own time, resistance doesn't require demonizing Trump supporters or committing our own sins of rhetorical mayhem. As disciples of the Prince of Peace, we are never allowed to forget that even our "enemies" are made in the image and likeness of God. We pray that their eyes would be opened to their captivity, even as we too seek to be free.
• During our walking tour of Oslo's World War II and resistance-related sites last summer, our guide pointed out that five years of deprivation—little or no meat, fat, dairy products, etc.—actually led to better health for some people. (Do we see analogues in our own time? Increased capacity to discern priorities? I'm not sure, but I thought I'd ask.)
• Finally, Germany's thousand-year Reich lasted twelve years in Germany, five years in Norway. Those were very costly years, but they ended.

I've found that the metaphor of occupation helps me to withstand the barrage of bad news, put it all in context, and focus on faith and resilience in community. What metaphors, filters, or tasks are helping you to cope? Where do you find resilience and mutually sustaining friendships?

---

Three Quaker yearly meetings and two monthly meetings collaborate with Democracy Forward to sue the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the removal of restrictions against ICE raids on "sensitive locations," specifically places of Quaker worship. Among the plaintiffs: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and New England Yearly Meeting. Story in Friends Journal. Complaint document.

Nancy Thomas has an important strategy for hope.

Kristin Du Mez asks her "fellow enemies" at Christian colleges and universities to consider some implications of the MAGA regime.

In his new substack blog, Quakers and the End of Scapegoating, Tom Gates promises us "Part exploration of Rene Girard's groundbreaking 'mimetic theory,' part Bible commentary, and part dialogue with early and contemporary Quakers."

A conversation with Brian about racism, racial identity, and the "push to choose."

The Doomsday Clock is one second closer to midnight.

Finally, the Daily Quaker Message reminds us: Obey God Only.

---

"If you walk with Jesus...." More from The Jumping Cats, Moscow.