Midwest Class Consciousness
Everyday folk with shared interests against fascism
I was trying to put myself in circumstances and examples in this post, and I think as a result, I used more masculine language, e.g., “brother.” I wanted to note that limitation in the text because I want this to be a unifying essay.
“Greenwood. We be out here” I responded (Threads) to a fellow blue dot in our red state.
It’s true. We do be out here. So, let’s start to talk about what’s next.
Three things are no longer productive: First, reading each new headline with righteous indignation. We knew what was coming. We warned people about what was coming. I stretched my communication skillset to the limit to try and disseminate thoughtful, well-researched messaging tailored to my audience, often posting several times each day to share what a second Trump administration would look like.
In the end, it’s all turning out how many of us said. What is that old press conference? “They are who we thought they were. And we let them off the hook!”
But it’s no longer productive to react to each new horror like you already saw the film. It’s time to leave that behind. It’s time to stop this performative max power shrug, “Seeee?! It’s like we saaaaaiiid!” Dayenu. Enough.
Second, we have to stop drawing generalizations about why people voted the way they did. Either our messaging wasn’t effective, or they weren’t listening. They’re all racist, and they all hate women! That’s a terrible thing to say about your compatriot!
I’ve been one to talk plenty about the America First Council and the 1939 rally. Other bespoke takes include Project Paperclip, Elon, and the space program.
All very interesting, but the postmortem doesn’t serve anybody. The future historians will deliver the analysis that we’re searching for in three-minute YouTube shorts. Document and archive it, yes, but leave the takes behind. It’s hard to make out why so many people threw so many other people under the bus.
But we do have to accept that they did.
Third, stop waiting for the Dems. That doesn’t mean we dismiss them of appropriate accountability for the shitshow that the party has become, but now is not the time for that conversation. We have to stop calling them in.
They gone.
The Dems left us when they put Joe Biden on that debate stage.
Listen, bro. I still rock a beer koozie I bought from the 2012 Obama campaign with Biden in his aviators saying, “Cheers, champ!”
I was Ridin’ with Biden and all that nonsense. But that was when dude was talking one term only. WTF happened with that?
The Dems abandoned us the night they put Biden on that stage. Period. They simply don’t have what it takes right now to mobilize an effective response at scale. I hate saying this because a tenet of the working party is to unite Democrats, but what we’ve all learned is that while we may have called ourselves Democrats, the established party that carried our banner shit the bed.
I’m following AOC, too, and I still Feel the Bern, but Fetterman ain’t carrying the resistance in his baggy ass cargo shorts. Stop trying to call in the Dems. They’re at home listening to old seasons of Pod Save America.
Shit. Where does this leave us? Looks bleak, bro. But let’s count the inventory. I’ve tried to convince you that the following behaviors are unproductive:
Reacting to each new horror with ‘I told you so’
Dissecting why voters voted the way they did
Waiting on the Dems. (In fact, we been waiting on those motherfuckers for a minute on some shit, amiright? Healthcare? Reproductive rights? Student loans? Hello?)
But we have an upside here. I mean, that’d be a shitty post if I didn’t.
Read those unproductive behaviors again:
“I told you so.” Centers me and my feelings
“Voters voted this way because…” Centers my powerful analytic mind
The Dems are beginning to unite. And did you see Hakeem Jeffries?” Centers my comfort.
Now watch this parlor trick. What if we literally just flipped those unproductive behaviors and looked at them as outward actions?
First, something happen that we saw coming? Each new horror is prioritized within the other issues, and we make a plan of action for how and when it could be addressed. Sort of like traige, and we’ll have to be calm, focused, and willing to build consensus. This requires some sort of community to discuss and share and question. If a Discord is what works, a Discord is better than nothing.
Second, people voted for Trump. I have brain cancer. I’d rather not either, but fuck, here we are.
These Trump supporters are our compatriots. This is who we are resisting with. I know some of you want to say, this is who we are resisting, but that plays into the division that is the authoritarian playbook.
Divide us against each other, while they continue to infiltrate and entrench.
No, we build relationships and start hanging out, where it’s safe and welcome to do so. I know that’s not everybody, and those who no one is looking after are who we look after the most, but most of you dudes out there, especially in my context of the Midwest, are as privileged passing as caviar and creme fraiche. We have to get a little uncomfortable.
But, no proselytizing, you little disciples. Just go build some class consciousness like a big boy. You can do it! Go fucking bowling or something. Show that you both are traumatized but fairly well adjusted Americans who like the same shit, and your kids know each other, and bitch about some potholes. Boom, old Dave’s not as likely to throw your ass under the bus, and after a couple of hangs, he may even help you install your rain barrel when the public sector workforce is decimated, regulatory mechanisms all go belly up, and we lose sanitation.
This thing about calling in the Dems. That’s third.
Here’s the deal man, I think it’s still useful to unite under a short hand shared ideology. But it’s not really a party anymore. The party is defeated. Not in an election, but defeated. Period. Whatever we are, we’re not really the party, at least those of us who feel betrayed and abandoned. There’s a whole lotta drama going on with leftist internet right now, and libs are still angry at Blue MAGA over the election and yada yada. I think it’s fairly clear that we gotta get this shit figured out, while also mobilizing a resistance from the floor up.
All I think I know is that those of us who are here and engaged, we are a grassroots movement of everyday folk with shared interests against fascism. That’s going to have to get you by for a little bit.
Across most of the Midwest, we have a boring ass life. Some of the folk out here got a hair up their ass and put out life-size Trump cardboard cutouts, but even those folk are putting their kids on the school bus with your goddamn kids. In every city, there are a couple of affluent parts of town, but they’ve managed to cut themselves off pretty well with only a couple of direct ways up there. On the southside where I live in my town, we ain’t got the money down here to split ourselves up into many more classes than upper level and lower level peasants.
Like I’m not erasing disparity, but the top dawgs around here may have 3.5 million in a house, and some folk in trailers, but what I’m saying is that Elon Musk is on track to be worth $1 trillion, so the 3.5M to $65k is not the issue here, dude.
Also, don’t get out there and fuel the left-right divide. Like, I only use my koozie indoors. For real. But it’s totally fair to clink a bottle and say, “Did you hear Elon is supposed to like be with a trillion dollars or something?” Then just follow where it goes. Don’t try to educate or argue, you snobby liberal! This is your compatriot. This is your brother. I bet neither of you are real cool with Elon’s rich ass, in the end. That’s a real softball to get yourself started. I mean, who can defend one man having more wealth than the bottom half of America? Understand that it’s us against the billionaire class, not us against each other.
Your mates are all for the other team, and you’re getting smoked. It may be that feeling sometimes out there in your community, but that guy may have some pharmaceuticals you could use if healthcare is disrupted. See what I’m saying?
My optimistic side wants to say this: I see the same parents at school pick up, as I do at the bus stop, as I see coaching my kid’s basketball, as I drink a driveway beer with while trick or treating with the kids on Halloween, who I’ll see at someone’s funeral, or my kid is friends with their kid, and they’ll be having an overnight at their house. Or at the gas station or the grocery, you get it. I just think this continues to be most of America. We are a country that mostly hates each other in private.
But the truth is, it’s out in the public now. And that makes being out there a little more risky. I feel that. Like I’m talking shit on Trump and wishing people a Shabbat Shalom in a ruby red ass small town in a red state, where the Lieutenant Governor is a self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist and pastor, and the Governor just banned DEI and pulled funding from the only Black university. He’s also toying with making public reports that name women who have had abortions. Scary.
So all that shit I just said about being out there with your community feels a little more risky now. Even since that Halloween I was talking about. What? Three months ago? And I’m freaked out about that. Out there in the world feels a little more overwhelming every day. And that’s why I think we’re already late on this. We need to really lean into our neighbors right now, and social activities in your community.
Also, read longer form stuff than just social media. Like don’t scroll Notes on Substack like a Bluesky feed. Treat it like a menu for that evening’s reading, know what I mean? Steal back some patience and focus. Speaking of, thanks for the patience to read this. xx. <3 -a.