Underestimating Trump

And the knock at the door

David W Fitzsimmons

Dec 05, 2024

Six months into the Trump Presidency, somewhere in suburbia, a cabal of liberal leaning neighbors gather.

How was your day?

Good. Sorry I’m late. Traffic’s a bitch. How was yours?

As good as could be expected…under these circumstances. Shut the door behind you. Please. Careful on the stairs.

I can’t believe he won, Henry.

Me, either. Have a seat. Say hello to the group.

Hi, everyone. So why the meeting in your basement?

We’ve got to be cautious. Is this everybody?

Appears to be.

Hey.

What’s up?

Hey.

Yeah. So why are you calling this meeting down here in your basement? What’s the big deal?

As leader of of our neighborhood cell I needed to talk to you all about something important.

What?

Prepare to underestimate Trump. Many will underestimate Trump. We will not.

What are you talking about?

Here. Read this.

Henry slid an open book to the center of the table. Everyone leaned in to see the passage he thought was so important.

Our fellow citizens won’t be the first or the last people to underestimate a tyrant. Here, you read this passage aloud, Iris.

Here?

Uh-huh.

Okay. “On February 2, 1933, … a leading newspaper for German Jews published an editorial expressing this mislaid trust:

“We do not subscribe to the view that Mr. Hitler and his friends, now finally in possession of the power they have so long desired, will implement the proposals circulating in Nazi newspapers. They will not suddenly deprive German Jews of their Constitutional rights nor enclose them in ghettos, nor subject them to the jealous and murderous impulses of the mob. They cannot do this because a number of crucial factors hold powers in check … and they clearly do not want to go down that road. When one acts as a European power, the whole atmosphere tends towards ethical reflection upon one’s better self and away from revisiting one’s earlier oppositional posture.

What does that last line mean, Henry?

The Jewish writer believed Hitler and his hyper partisan party would miraculously grow into the job and suddenly begin governing by compromising on behalf of all the people.

What’s the book?

Timothy Snyder’s 'On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century'. I got you each a copy.

Thanks, bud, what about resistance?

Yeah. What about taking action?

My friends, resistance will be modest at first. Like during the troubles in Ireland.

How did they resist?

Women in Dublin and Belfast who were sympathetic to the IRA, went out to the streets and sidewalks in front of their homes and banged pots and pans against the cement sidewalks and cobblestone when they heard about the passing of Bobby Sands. He’d been a leader in the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was a resister, resisting the occupation of his homeland by British troops. Mr. Sands had succumbed in British custody after 66-days of self imposed starvation. So we have people reacting with non-violent street protests and hunger strikes, hoping to grow their movement and shame their oppressors.

What happened after Sands died?

Martyrdom is an effective tool for change. Enlistment in the IRA cause grew.

But you’re leaving out the fact the “troubles” turned more violent, Henry. With years of assassinations and bombings.

Listen, we’re off track here. We’ve got to stick to civil disobedience.

Easy to say. How will Americans respond when they see American army soldiers taking undocumented parents away from their American born children and putting them on trains?

What can we do?

When the cattle cars start rolling south who will be willing to lay down on the tracks in front of those trains?

Who among you would starve yourself to death in protest? March and occuppy buildings?

It’s just beginning. Now’s the time to plan actions. Let me warn all of you. Trump will vilify you. You will be Donald Trump’s “enemy within”.

Who cares?

I’ll wear that badge proudly.

I guarantee all of you he will roll his tanks over you. Without a care.

And you can bet your asses country western songs will be written about you getting your ass kicked by real MAGA Americans who love this country.

To Hell with him! To quote Thomas Jefferson, ‘The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of-‘“

Watch what you say. Surveillance is everywhere. You want Trump’s Secret Service, or worse, his Proud Boys after you?

I say fight fire with fire. If Trump’s military is shooting American citizens on the streets of American cities…

Didn’t you hear me? Bugs and wiretaps and paid informers are everywhere. We cannot take up arms. Ever.

Why, Henry?

Martin Luther King knew that lasting chnage is only possible through nonviolent means. South Korea ended a coup peacefully in December. That was pure people power. Look at South Africa. Decades before some of you were born the oppressed Black Africans of South Africa rose up and got crushed by white South Africa. The armed struggle against apartheid did more harm than good in the early stages.

What?

How so?

The government was able to link the attacks to Communists—just like our FBI tried to link King to the Communists here.

It was evil and effective. They used it as justification for a brutal violent crackdown that led to years of harsh repression. And as you all know violence begets more what?

Violence.

That’s right, Lucy. And the fear that fuels that violence is stoked constantly by politicians who need it to maintain their iron grip on power. We can’t be afraid. We have to break the cycle!

This is all very interesting but the truth is he’ll never actually deport millions of…

Oh, really, Bill? And back in ‘38 a nation of dumbasses believed Hitler would never actually jail and kill his opponents.

Or actually kill millions of Jews.

Oh, come on, Sal. Trump won’t-

Oh won’t he? The rich and powerful and their strongmen have never given a damn about working men and women!

You’re really letting this get to you, Henry.

Here’s another story for you. Summer of 1917. Miners in Bisbee, Arizona, go on strike.

What does this have to do with-

The strikers were demanding better pay for the workers working up top. Most were immigrants from Mexico. The strikers were also demanding safer working conditions. Sounds reasonable, right?

Uh, yeah…

Until hundreds of armed vigilantes-

What’s a vigilante, Henry?

Lawless thugs.

Speaking of lawless thugs when Trump pardons his Proud Boys our orange Fuhrer will have his own army of-what did you call them?

Vigilantes.

Yeah.

Anyway back in the day hundreds of lawless thugs were hired to round up the strikers in Bisbee. Fathers. Husbands.Sons. Brothers. 1,186 strikers were deported, thrown onto cattle cars and dumped in the middle of New Mexico. Hundreds more were ordered out. Read your history. Americans have fired on their own plenty of times. In the 19th and 20th century many striking miners, laborers and protestors were cut down by their fellow citizens wearing badges.

So you’re saying whatever we do as a cell we can’t risk provoking Trump because—?

Don’t give him what he wants. An excuse for a violent confrontation.

We must shame him.

Emma’s right.

Shame won’t work, Henry. He’s shameless. His followers are shameless. We’re all just vermin to them. Or Satanists. Or baby blood guzzlers. Or worse. Oh, Hell, you study King and throw flowers at them. I’ll study the Weathermen and the Red Brigade.

Mike’s right, Henry.

Plan one violent act and I will turn myself in and turn you all in.

What? Henry! Are you serious?

Dead serious. Violence is not the way.

Screw it. I say we plan actions. We resist. We disrupt.

What do you say, Iris? You’ve been quiet.

My uncle was at Kent State when those students were shot and killed by the National Guard and he said-

Oh, come on, Iris. Trump would never order troops to shoot stu-

Sure he would. We can’t be naive. This is the scumbag that ordered children to be separated from their parents at the border. That praised Nazis! He even called for the execution of his Generals and political enemies. Do not underestimate that animal. Do. Not. Underestimate. Trump! How many times do I have to say it?

We get your point Henry. Trump’s going to do unbelievable things.

Yes and we have to figure out how to respond in a nonviolent manner.

And get ourselves killed. We’re talking in circles here. Trump won’t let anyone stand in his way. The Trumpists only want one thing. To destroy our government and remake the economy to benefit the-

Sh! Do you hear something? Listen.

Kill the light. Some one is upstairs. Shush.

Hello. Anyone home? This is your neighborhood watch buddy Jake Jenkins checking in on you, Henry. I got Millie here with me. We got a report of a possible illegal assembly in the area. Leaving my card in the door.
This is Millie, Jake’s wife. Listen, Henry, if you hear anything every tip is worth a reward.
Yeah. Elon Musk says he’ll double the money. So keep your eyes and ears open for the E.W.
The Enemy Within. Listen Henry, we noticed your Trump flag is looking a little ragged. And it’s not properly lit. I’ll have to report you. Sorry, but rules are rules. See you at the HOA picnic. Under his eye.
Under his eye. S’long.

Jesus. Are they gone yet?

Assholes. Rules are rules-except when the rules apply to their beloved felon.

Total Trump disciples.

They’re everywhere. It’s like invasion of the body snatchers.

Sounds like they got back in their truck. What is up with people like that, Henry? Sticking their noses in everybody’s business. Trying to run everybody’s lives.

Setting back civil rights 50-years!

Paulo’s right. We can’t just sit here and do nothing.

What choice do we have, Louise? We have families and jobs.

We are living in an occupied country!

Think of our kids.

She’s right. We’re in some kind of weird theocratic “fatherland” where they and every other oligarch-

Shush. Someone’s outside. They’re back! Kill the lights again.

Hello? Is anyone home? Open up. This is the Police. Police!

O shit. Nobody move.

Holy-

Shush. Shush! Quiet.

They kicked the door in! O God. They’re in the house!

Henry Hancock? 2113 Houndstooth Lane? We have reports of an unlawful assembly on these premises. Surrender now!

What? How did they-

Shit. I have a wife and kids and a job.

And we’re due a baby. This can’t be happening.

I can’t go to jail.

Is that stairway the only way out of-

We’ll give you to the count of ten to come up out of there.

Oh, shit, what’ll we do?

Come out now! Hands above your heads! Now! Ten! Nine! Eight…

Upcoming events worthy of your consideration in December: Saturday December the 14th makes for a tough choice between comedy, song and pageantry.

Tonight, Thursday, December 5th

Odyssey Storytelling. The theme this month is Upcycle: “The act of taking something no longer useful to you and giving it a second life and new function so that the finished product becomes more practical, valuable, and beautiful than it was.” Doors open at 6:30, The Screening Room 127 E. Congress Street https://www.odysseystorytelling.com/Upcycle

Begins Friday, December 6th for members:

Tohono Chul’s Holiday Nights!

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 6:00 – 9PM through Sunday, December 22nd

For info and ticket prices: https://tohonochul.org/holiday-nights/

Saturday December 14th

And Sunday as well. Reveille Chorus never disappoints!

For info and tickets: https://reveillemenschorus.org/

Saturday December 14th

Slap Happyz Productions and Brother John's present Comedy night with your Emcee Dave Membrila, Headliner Isaac the Magician, with Floyd Haas and Robby Cook.

Doors 8:30, Show at 9, At Brother John’s at 1801 N Stone Ave.