Quote of the Day

The Trump phenomenon was preceded by a great betrayal of the American people by those who should have known better.

It was not just the big things, such as NAFTA or the repeal of Glass-Steagall or the Citizens United decision. It was also a pattern of small things; compromises with ethics and justice in public policy that didn’t each amount to much, yet cumulatively formed the threat to our democracy of death by a thousand cuts. Destroying economic guardrails plus repealing safety and environmental regulations in favor of vast accumulation of wealth by a relative few. The withhold of resources required for a life of health, happiness and dignity for the average American. The cancerous tumor of wealth, power and influence held tightly in the grip of a political, media and economic elite. All of this has been going on for decades. A Republican President started it, and no Democrat ever stopped it.

. . . [W]e are where we are. For now we must endure this moment. In time we will transform it.

Resist what’s happening? Yes, of course. And we must also think deeply about what we will do on the other side of what’s going on now. Coming to power at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt famously said, “It is time for the country to become fairly radical for a generation.” So much had gone wrong, and nothing short of fundamental correction could fix things and get the country back on track. With the New Deal, Roosevelt succeeded at that. And we will, too. We’ll face the difficult task of creating anew from that which Trump and his administration have destroyed and are destroying.

It will take more than “expertise” to do that. We will need humility. We will need understanding. And we will need grace. We will be different people from having gone through all this. We are becoming different people even now. In the words of Existentialist philosopher Albert Camus, "In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." Millions of us, in the midst of this winter, are finding that summer. And we will bring it forth into the world.

– Marianne Williamson
Excerpted from “In the Midst of Political Winter”
Transform
July 26, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
We Need Human Connection to Heal Democracy and Build Shared Prosperity – Alvaro S. Sanchez (Common Dreams, July 20, 2025).
Trump Brings the Authoritarianism We Propped up in the Middle East Back Home – Juan Cole (Common Dreams, July 24, 2025).
It’s Up to We the People to Save a Flailing America From Spiritual Death – William Astore (Common Dreams, August 5, 2025).
25 FDR Quotes We Need to Recall – Now More Than Ever – Harvey J. Kaye (Common Dreams, August 6, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• An Invincible Summer
• The Choice Before Us
• A Deeper Perspective on What’s Really Attacking American Democracy
• Progressive Perspectives on Corruption in U.S. Politics
• Cornel West on Responding to the “Spiritual Decay That Cuts Across the Board”
• Active Hope
• Cultivating Stillness
• Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
• Why “Revolutionary Love” Gives Michelle Alexander Hope
• Hope in the Midst of Collapse
• Balancing the Fire

Image: Artist unknown.