It's Not a Distraction

I am beyond tired of hearing various lawless, unconstitutional, tyrannical stunts from this administration are “distractions” and we should not be focusing on them. Let me be clear, we can multitask. Because yes, this regime is doing multiple horrific things per day, but it is a tactic that MAGA operative, Steve Bannon, has called Flooding the Zone. Getting the American population overwhelmed into inaction is the strategy. 

Shipping immigrants to international concentration camps and prisons without notice or due process is not a distraction. Arresting judges for managing their courtrooms is not a distraction. Arresting a mayor for peacefully touring a privately run immigration detention center is not a distraction. Filing charges against a sitting member of the House of Representatives for conducting peaceful oversight of the same facility is not a distraction. Kidnapping international students for op-eds and leading peaceful protests is not a distraction. Stripping away crucial public safety nets is not a distraction. 

There are multiple ways to combat this. The Hands Off and No Kings protests are excellent examples. The peaceful marches and protests against the ICE Gestapo’s mass kidnappings are effective. Calling, emailing, and mailing elected officials is effective. Letters to the editor, op-eds, local meet ups, volunteering with local aid organizations are effective. Mutual aid of providing transportation, sharing assistance and civil rights organizations, sharing resources local and out of state to assist those in need of services are all immediate ways to show solidarity and help members of our communities. 

“I don’t know where/how to help.” Look local. The homeless shelters, food banks, soup kitchens, domestic violence shelters all need volunteers and donations. Local chapters of LGBTQIA+ organizations such as The Trevor Project, Rainbow Railroad, and Pride. Reproductive health organizations such as Red State Access and Planned Parenthood have a variety of ways you can assist. Veterans support organizations are always looking for ways to assist our veterans. Local political organizations are great for networking as well. If in person activities are something you cannot do, there are emails needing to be sent and responded to, phone calls to make, texts to send. If you happen to be capable, white hat hacktivist collectives such as Anonymous are putting in a ton of work to gather and publish evidence of corruption and getting critical information such as the privately owned air services deporting immigrants and the passenger lists. Those with investigative skills, check out Task Force Butler, they are a group of vets and civilians gathering evidence for law enforcement and victims of hate crimes to prosecute neo-Nazi hate groups such as Blood Tribe. Go to town halls, county council meetings, town council meetings, or school board meetings. Long lasting change starts at home and grows. Local groups network with others to grow and be more effective. Run for office. It does not need to be a national or statewide office, start with your town or county. Mentoring younger folks and teaching them civics, practical skills such as changing their oil, how to use basic tools, how to actually cook, how to grow and preserve food, and foraging skills among and that list goes on. Taking the King Center’s variety of courses in non-violence, civil disobedience, and many more. Be loud on social media platforms if that is more your style. First aid is a critical skill. Take some EMT classes, advanced field triage training including IFAK (Improved First Aid Kits), and Stop the Bleed training. If possible, Search and Rescue trained individuals are always necessary. Art in various forms is resistance. We need a diversity of tactics to combat this flood of fascism.

Register to vote and then vote in all elections! More than seven million people sat out the last presidential election for a variety of reasons and now we all have to pay this extremely high price. Research the candidates beyond their ads. Look at their voting records, policy pages, public social media, do the open records requests for local and state office campaign contributions, use OpenSecrets.org for national office campaign donations. Make sure to support candidates with good policy and not bought by corporations, lobbying groups, and dark money political action committees. 

Remember the leaders willing to be apologists for the fascists, the ones saying we should go further to the right, the ones touting the richest  of the population should get more tax cuts, the people willing to throw marginalized communities to the rabid bigots for power, the ones refusing to fight against the atrocities. Support and campaign for primary challengers against party “leaders” and those who are literally dying from dementia and cancer to stay in power. While Governor Gavin Newsom is currently doing a valiant job combating the regime’s illegal commandeering of the California National Guard and the deployment of Marines from 29 Palms, do not forget he called the illegal kidnapping and deportation of Armando Kilmar Abrego Garcia and hundreds of others to the El Salvadoran concentration camp without any due process a distraction. This is after giving friendly platforming of far right nationalists on his podcast. Do not forget that in 2028. Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Hakeem Jeffries have been softballing this entire administration with “strongly worded letters” and sabotaging those in the party actually fighting back. Remember that in 2026.