It's common to ask when do we start to put our foot down. Is it when a candidate smears an entire ethnic group with lies of a rapist, drug-smuggling culture? Is it when he attacks the immigrant parents of a soldier who fell in defense of his adopted country? Is it when he enables racist white supremacists by equating them with the good people protesting against them. Or is it when bombs start showing up on his opponents' doorsteps?
But perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Maybe we should be asking when do we finally stop fighting? When do we tire of standing up to hate and lies? When do we become numb and no longer realize how abnormal this behavior is? When does it become so normalized that those standing in opposition are tarred as the hateful, divisive ones?
Throughout history, tyranny has been enabled through the madness of crowds, where, in an "Emperor has no clothes" sort of way, a small group buys into an otherwise untenable lie, then bullies others into first fearing to call out the lie, then ignoring the lie, eventually forgetting the lie and finally accepting the lie as truth.
All one need do is watch the denial from conservative corners of the media regarding the legitimacy of the recent bomb attacks, the authenticity of the bombs or the true motives of the accused bomber to see the madness of crowds at work - all while the president's popularity nears its all-time high.
So the question is not when do we start to fight, but how in the world can we stop? This is not normal. It wasn't normal in 2015 or 2016 or 2017. And it is not only not normal, it is not right - no, it is flat-out wrong - in 2018. So, if you felt Donald Trump was wrong when he first announced but now think he's not that bad, understand that he hasn't changed, you have. Is that a change you are comfortable with? And, if this was a "right side of history" election in 2016, as it is proving to be a right side of history moment today, which side of history will you, your kids and your grandkids be able to say you were on when it mattered most? Will you be able to say you held true to your beliefs, your principles, or will you look back and say you were one that looked the other way, or worse, caved and enabled the further descent into Trumpian intolerance, anger and fear?
I think you know on which side I proudly stand.
