Explain it to me like I am a six-year-old!
~Philadelphia (1993 film)
Our title is a quote from the 1993 film Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. Washington’s character, a lawyer named Joe Miller, insisted that his clients explain their legal complaints in clear and concise terms. Beyond that bit of wisdom, the film is a compelling story of courage and resoluteness in response to injustice.
Did you Know:
The new administration is ruling the country as a dictatorship. Trump clearly intended to be a dictator for more than just one day. His loyal MAGA elected officials and new appointees are implementing Project 2025, starting with the intent to establish broad executive power not authorized by the Constitution.
A classic strategy of authoritarianism is to ‘flood the zone’ with massive amounts of information and misinformation. This strategy creates chaos and overwhelms the public, making it easy to lose focus, to be confused and feel helpless. Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, is the architect of this strategy—using Project 2025 as his playbook.
Making meaning out of chaos is a form of resistance for this moment. H4D has done some homework over the past few days in order to give our readers a tool to help us all better understand what is happening. We have taken Joe Miller’s advice to share the important events that have happened over this past week and tell it like we are all six-year-olds.
Here are the highlights of just a few of Trump’s executive overreach and antidemocratic decrees:
Issued an Executive Order that demands an end to birthright citizenship. This Executive Order blatantly attempts to override the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. This order has been temporarily halted by a federal judge in Seattle.
Canceled the CBP One app that asylum seekers used to schedule an appointment with the U.S. Customs and Border Control officials, causing untold grief and chaos for those families who have been waiting for months to get an appointment in order to plead their case for asylum.
Pardoned about 1,500 January 6 rioters who were guilty of various crimes including insurrection and seditious conspiracy. Many of these pardons included those who were violent, causing bodily harm or death. Many had prior histories of criminal behavior including domestic violence, rape and drug trafficking.
Fired at least 17 Inspectors General. IGs are charged with investigating fraud, waste, and corruption in federal executive branch agencies. This is a violation of the law; the president does have the authority to fire IGs but needs to give Congress a 30-day advance notice with clear explanations as to the reasons. The reason given in his memo was ‘changing priorities’.
Fired career prosecutors of the DOJ who were involved in the special investigation and prosecutions of Trump during his first term of office, including stealing classified documents and keeping them at Mar-a-Lago and his role in inciting the January 6th insurrection. Many of these prosecutors worked under several different presidents of both parties, loyal to the rule of law, not to any one person. In the firing memo, the Acting Attorney General stated that the Department cannot trust them to faithfully implement the President’s agenda. This firing is a first step in the weaponization of the DOJ.
Initiated a trade war with Colombia after the country’s president refused to permit two U.S. military planes full of deportees to land in Colombia. Colombia had an agreement with Biden to regularly receive deportation flights, but those flights occurred on commercial and charter flights, not massive military planes used to transport weapons and soldiers. Trump threw a tantrum and unilaterally announced a 25% tariff on crude oil, coffee, and cut flowers. This will result in higher prices for American consumers.
Attempted to temporarily freeze all federal grants and loans. The White House defended the freeze insisting that the agencies receiving the funds may not be following the ban on DEI initiatives. The order imperiled government programs that fund schools, provide housing and ensure low-income Americans have access to health care. These federal funds also supported Head Start programs and NGO’s serving humanitarian needs across the world. The order is blatantly illegal and was facing significant legal challenges. Congress authorized these funds, a president does not have the power to ‘seize the purse’. Resistance works!
Trump assures the public that despite this reversal, he will continue to “root out woke ideology from the federal government.”
Let’s be clear. Everything listed above is outlined in Project 2025. They will continue trying to bypass the rule of law and claw back our hard-won freedoms. It has only just begun.
Why it Matters:
Project 2025 is a blueprint for unraveling the constitution and turning our liberal democracy into an illiberal democracy. It was developed by the Heritage Foundation in cooperation and consultation with Hungary’s strongman Viktor Orbán.
A liberal democracy is where the power of government is limited, the freedoms of individuals are protected by constitutionally established norms and institutions.
An illiberal democracy is where authoritarian leaders impose non-democratic practices behind formally democratic institutions and procedures. Elections are rigged to keep the strongman in power and individual freedoms are not protected or valued. It is a pseudo-democracy.
Our way of life is under attack. We must be able to explain what is at stake so that even a six-year-old would understand.
What We Can Do:
Practice becoming ‘literate’ in explaining the essence of what is happening. Become an information warrior of the simple facts. We need to be ‘explainers in chief’ for our families, our neighborhoods, our churches, and our civic organizations. Trump’s ambassadors will engage in propaganda and gaslighting to defend his actions. Our resistance is truth and clarity. A few great examples of this include:
Our statehouse is taking its cues from the White House and is helping to implement Project 2025 in Indiana. We need citizens who can explain the impact of the negative legislation that will come out of this General Assembly and Democrats to act like the opposition. Here are examples of each:
Rep. Ed DeLaney questions Secretary of State Diego Morales on the Ways and Means Committee
Go to hoosiers4democracy.org for more ways to resist the attacks on our freedoms, reclaim our power and rebuild what has been broken.
We can turn the tide on Project 2025 and look to a brighter future in 2026 only if we start working now. If we stay silent, complacent, overwhelmed, they win!
Yours in resolute resistance,
H4D team
Additional Resources:
For a compelling 2 minute read on the importance of not normalizing this moment and staying centered while informed, see This Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz.
For a great resource on practical and everyday ways that *you* can protect democracy, click here.
5 Calls is a quick and easy app that helps you contact your congressperson concerning the issues most important to you. It takes 5 minutes to make the calls. Check it out!
It is our duty to be informed of what is happening and able to distinguish the signal from the noise. Here are a few resources to help. These sources are not exhaustive.
A Native Son by Eddie Glaude (Substack newsletter and podcast)
Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson
The Contrarian by Jennifer Rubin and Norm Eisen
The.Ink by Anand Giridharadas
This is such a great resource, thank you for clearly defining the problem and providing steps that ordinary citizens can take to resist.
It took Hitler 53 days to end Germany’s Constitution. With a spineless Congress, a compliant Supreme Court, and a media ecosystem that thrives on disinformation and separation, t*ump may do it here quicker than that.
But if We the People stand up and resist in whatever way we can, for as long as we can, we might survive this time in history.
Thank you for this great information! It’s not easy being a blue dot in a red sea in Indiana 💙