BRIEF: Fear, bravery, dissent
Big thought, small step, deep breath — for April 18, 2025
BIG THOUGHT
Fear
“What do you have to say to people who are afraid? Or to people who represent people who are afraid?” Senator Lisa Murkowski was asked this week at a home-state town hall in Anchorage, Alaska.
We are all afraid. It’s quite a statement. But we’re in a time and a place where I don’t know…I certainly have not been here before. And I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right. But that’s what you’ve asked me to do, and so I’m going to use my voice to the best of my ability. And sometimes it will be viewed in a way that, well, that’s pretty confrontational. And other times it’s going to be using my mother’s charm that I learned as a young girl, and in direct communication with those that I have made relationships with, and able to affect some change that way. But I’ve got to figure out how I can do my best to help the many who are so anxious and are so afraid.
And it is indeed quite a statement. An extraordinary one, from a sitting U.S. senator, in the majority party — the party doing the scaring — still fearing retribution. The fact that she’s making this statement is a measure of just how much things have changed in America.
And this is a changed country, no mistake. It’s one where people are kidnapped for exercising their constitutionally protected rights. Where asylum seekers are sent off to a foreign gulag. Where the concept of citizenship is under attack. Where mass shootings continue to happen regularly. Where grifters, with only their own interests and cultish beliefs in mind, are hard at work removing the regulations and agencies that protect the health and safety not just of Americans, but of countless millions around the world.
It’s reasonable to be afraid of all that, as so many people are right now. Thus the question.
So what is Murkowski afraid of? We’re all in this together, and the consequences of doing nothing are a whole lot scarier for all of us than the consequences of speaking up for any one member of the Senate. That is their job, after all.
The thing is, there’s not that much to figure out if the Senator does want to do her best. With a 53-47 Republican majority, it would only take a handful of Republican senators to mount a serious resistance to the Trump regime, and perhaps begin to put a stop to it.
If they’re not too afraid.
SMALL STEP
Bravery
Republican Senators may be living in fear, but the American people — who face far scarier prospects as the institutions that keep them safe, healthy, and looking to the prospect of a brighter future are scrapped and sold off by the Trump regime — simply don’t have the luxury.
We’ve already mentioned this weekend’s upcoming actions, but now that the date’s upon us (and the map to all of the events is back up), we’re reminding you again about the national day of action planned for tomorrow — April 19. The 50501 Movement is organizing “The People Dissent,” a new round of protests, following on the very well-attended (millions of Americans were in the streets) Hands Off! rallies on April 5. Ultimately, it’s only the people making their voices heard together — and doing it repeatedly — that can make the case for change, so make your plan to get out there and speak your mind, with (hopefully) many millions of your fellow citizens.
Find a rally or other event near you or visit fiftyfifty.one for more information.
DEEP BREATH
A poem a day
We’re halfway through National Poetry Month, so it’s a perfect time to sign up for the Academy of American Poets’ Poem–a-Day service, which brings both classic works (on weekends) and the best new writing by contemporary poets (each weekday) to your inbox. If you’re a fan of the music of language (and who isn’t?), you’ll want to sign up and be challenged anew each day.
Don’t tell me about the excavators & bulldozers that wait,
like vultures, to ruin me.
Don’t tell me about the contracts you’ve made,
how the people are waiting to build their homes over my bones.
Tell me about the love you had for my body,
how you promised to sustain me.
— Jacqueline Jiang“If My Body Is Dying, Tell Me You Love Me”
A programming note: We’re back with Live conversations next week
We’ve been on the road this week, but we’ll be back next week with some very special Live guests. On Tuesday, April 22, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll talk with the economist Dani Rodrik. And on Wednesday, April 23, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be speaking with the writer, lawyer, and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. You won’t want to miss either one, so mark your calendars now!
To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert that we’re live, and you can watch from your iOS or Android mobile device. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Ink to access full videos of past conversations and to join the chat during our live events.
Exactly Zero sympathy for Murkowski and Republicans. Do your job. Impeach Trump Now! You can cry, that’s fine, no judgement for emotions from me, but do the job.
Congress would appear to be the only thing that can stop this mad man and it’s suppose to mean something to us that they’re scared? Sorry. Nope.
I was generally so angry yesterday about the whole situation we find ourselves in, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to listen to Murkowski with an open mind. This morning, I read her words and then watched the video, with empathy, and I couldn't find it. I feel played.
What could he possibly threaten her with that is so harmful that she won't use her platform, her voice, and her power – she's a United States senator, for fudge sake – her freedom? ... her life?... what? Did anyone ask her to specify the retaliation she referred to or did we all imagine what she meant based on our own fears, as I suspect she hoped we would. Because I can't see that the retaliation she will face – unless he's threatening to send her to the El Salvador gulag – worse than the loss of freedoms and the collapse of our democracy with all that entails that we will live, or die, under if Congress remains mired in its inertia.
If this were the before-times, I probably would have been sympathetic. Her fear seemed authentic. But it's the now-times, where our democratic, freedom-loving, kindness-to-others, open-minded, innovative way of life is ending. Each day a new atrocity is presented to us as if this is the new normal, and every day we become a little more accustomed to it, aided by the silence and inaction of those in power, like Murkowski.
The Founders left us with an outline of checks and balances to use if confronted with authoritarianism for this break-the-glass moment. If a branch of the federal government won't stay in its lane and flouts the authority given to a co-equal branch who attempts to rein in its base impulses, the other co-equal branch steps in. She is part of one of those branches, and if she is too afraid to step up with her colleagues, then they need to step aside for those who will take their oath to uphold the Constitution and their duty to the people they represent seriously.