Trump’s unequivocal defense of white supremacy

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Daniel Little

It doesn’t get much more explicit than this … Trump equates the achievements of the Civil Rights movement with discrimination against whites … George Wallace and Lester Maddox back on the national stage.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/trump-charlottesville-white-nationalists.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ElA.LYG4.y46hG_84ebBK&smid=nytcore-ios-share

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The John Lewis Example

Posted on January 12, 2026 by gdkrenz

Friends, the news gets more chilling every day. On the one hand, there are good signs that Trump’s coalition is fracturing; on the other hand, he is getting more and more brazen in his statements and in his actions, aided and abetted by the Project 2025 fanatics in his orbit. Here is my communication today to my Congressional representatives. I know that symbolic action has its limits, but right now we are not even getting that from our elected leaders.

I am writing as a terrified American.

Ten years ago, House representatives led by John Lewis held a sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives to push for a gun-control bill following the Pulse Nightclub massacre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_House_of_Representatives_sit-in).

That sit-in was legislatively unsuccessful, but it was symbolically galvanizing.

WE ARE NOW IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION THAT JOHN LEWIS WOULD RECOGNIZE WITH HIS TYPICAL MORAL CLARITY.

  • ICE has shot to death a young mother, Renée Nicole Good, in Minneapolis. The shooter said “f*ing bitch” after the shooting. At a minimum, this was unprofessional behavior of an extreme nature, and the officer should be immediately fired; at worst, and more likely, it was murder and he should be immediately prosecuted. Meanwhile, another agent, when a woman identified herself as Good’s spouse, said on video, “Did you have intercourse?” He should be fired immediately. So far no action has been taken. The Administration has engaged in a series of lies about the event, even though all Americans can see the truth from the videos. Now hundreds or additional ICE agents are being sent to Minneapolis. ICE is out of control and essentially acting as an ill-trained, racist and misogynistic vigilante force on behalf of trump’s efforts to control American citizens. This is just the beginning.
  • After an illegal action to invade Venezuela and capture its president, Trump has declared that we — or rather “he” — will control Venezuela indefinitely and will serve as its “acting president,” all in violation of international law and our own laws.
  • Trump has indicated that “we will get Greenland” and refused to rule out military force, even if that destroys NATO. He is threatening Cuba and Columbia. He is intent on overturning the current world order based on his own interests, his own ego, and the fantasies that constitute Project 2025, which his minions like Stephen Miller and Russell Vought are using to drive a new, Christian-Nationalist, white-supremicist America.
  • Trump has stated to the New York Times that the only check on his action is his “own morality.” This is the declaration of a tyrant.
  • Trump said that the Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Act were “bad for white Americans,” further fueling white resentment and laying the ground for more racist action.
  • Trump has expressed his regret at not seizing voting machines, laying the groundwork for undercutting the 2026 midterm elections.
  • This is, as I am sure you know, a short list.

Trump continues to get away with things just because he has learned he can do them without immediate and strong adverse consequences.

I understand that the major culprits here are the Congressional Republicans. But when I look at the Democrats, I see almost nothing but temporizing, when what we need is a five-alarm fire.

Take a lesson from John Lewis. Hold a sit-in on the house floor to draw attention to the crisis. Show that you are present and standing up for the American people, just as hundreds of thousands did in protests this past weekend.

This feels like a tipping point for our nation. The cornered animal will stop at nothing. Don’t wait and later regret your inaction.

We the people need to know that you are leading.

Please.

Thank you for your service in this difficult time,

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The Wrath of Stephen Miller

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Daniel Little

[here is the Atlantic article without a paywall …]

Stephen Miller is now acting as an accelerant for the president’s most incendiary impulses and shaping the lives of individual Americans in nearly every realm, @AshleyRParker, @michaelscherer and @NickMiroff report. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/stephen-miller-trump-white-house/685516/?gift=wJKU4MSSbaZAFRm84mZhD5x0TtuZN0tVUIjlNZPiOXA

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ICE OUT rally in NYC

Posted on January 11, 2026 by gdkrenz

A great rally in NYC today, with the sun coming out literally as the march down 5th Avenue began! A fantastic turnout for a winter day and on short notice. As always, lots of people peaceful, courteous, helpful, and absolutely committed to our democracy and to justice for all of our citizens.

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Stephen Miller’s hate

Posted on January 11, 2026 by Daniel Little

This Atlantic piece sheds a lot of light on Stephen Miller’s hate-based advocacy and influence in the White House. What it doesn’t address is how he came to be the dangerous bigot he is today, and was at the age of 17. See the reference in the article to torture …

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/01/stephen-miller-trump-white-house/685516/

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ICE OUT rally in Ann Arbor

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Daniel Little

Enthusiastic turnout for ICE OUT rally in Ann Arbor this morning …

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Good and Evil (Gary Krenz)

Posted on January 8, 2026 by gdkrenz

I am essentially at a loss for words about the killing of Reneé Nicole Good. This is a wrenching, grievous moment — of course especially for those close to Good, and for those who were eye witnesses, and for the citizens of Minneapolis, and also for all of us as Americans. 

I do not want to use the word “tragedy,” which can imply unavoidable or “fated” catastrophe. It is very clear that this was avoidable and that nothing about this killing was fated.

“Atrocity” would be a better term. We have all had access to numerous videos and analyses. I am not going to rehearse the analyses or discuss the shooting as such, other than to say that I believe it is an atrocity.

I do want to say that what I have seen around this is a great deal of additional evil.

  • It is evil that ICE agents refused to allow a physician to give aid to Ms. Good; it is evil that they did not attempt to render first aid, as they are procedurally required to do; it is evil that they failed to bring in their own medic team.
  • It is evil that Kristi Noem immediately labeled Good a “domestic terrorist” and lied to the American people that the shooting officer had followed standard procedure in order to protect his own life. DHS policy expressly prohibits firing into a vehicle under the exact circumstances we have seen here.
  • It is evil that J.D. Vance dismissed Good’s murder as a “tragedy she brought on herself” and blamed the “tragedy” on a “vast left-wing conspiracy” that has supposedly placed ICE agents under constant threat. 
  • It is evil that Trump, despite being shown video by NYT reporters that appear to contradict his statements, doubled down on his claim that Good “acted horribly” and tried to run over the ICE officer.
  • It is evil that the first impulse of various Fox News anchors was to dismiss Good as a person “who had pronouns” in her email signature, the idea being that she is “one of those” and ergo, it seems, her death is not to be regretted.

Increasingly, evil is the point of the Trump administration and its propaganda machine. Stephen Miller might “dress it up” as “power,” but none of this is exercise of power in any morally legitimate sense.  We the people are under attack.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat has an excellent post on this, “Reneé Nicole Good, Enemy of the State.” She writes: 

“Good could not be seen as a life worth saving. This is a blunt statement, but it is important to understand what we are dealing with. This is where dehumanization leads. It starts with those who are the targets of many autocrats, such as non-Whites, immigrants, Muslims, and members of the LGBTQ community, and extends in time to anyone who does not accept having their rights taken away and their free speech silenced.”

I also want to point to an article from June by Marilynne Robinson in the NYRB, “Notes from an Occupation.” 

Shortly following Good’s killing, ICE moved on to a nearby high school, pepper-spraying people, breaking windows and dragging people into custody. This is indeed an occupation.

And the evil will, I fear, escalate. Part of the problem with evil is that, once you take the turn, you have a tendency to double down, because to admit the evil carries with it too much guilt. This seems to be the MO of quite a few people in the administration. 

As Satan says at the key turning point in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, “Evil, be thou my Good.”

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Opinion | Lee Bollinger: Universities Need a New Defense

Posted on January 7, 2026 by Daniel Little

Opinion | Universities Need a New Defense https://share.google/uKToFompF8mG1QfcS

A developed, serious, and complex effort to rethink the case for the independence of universities based on their crucial role in our democracy. Traditional arguments (scientific knowledge, education of the young, places for freedom of thought) are correct but insufficient. Lee Bollinger is a rigorous thinker about the first amendment, the Constitution, and the role and values of the modern university in the US. This is part of a book that Bollinger is publishing this year.

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letter to our representatives in Congress (Dan Little)

Posted on January 6, 2026 by Daniel Little

Friends,

Gary Krenz is right in his most recent post “We”. We face a truly dangerous crisis in our country because of the impetuous, irrational, and narcissistic decisions being made by Donald Trump. At the moment the most volatile of these crises is the threat of the use of military force against our neighbors (for example, Columbia, Cuba, Mexico, and Greenland). Given that Trump acts without regard to law or consequence, none of these actions can be considered unlikely.

I wonder if any of us can think of effective ways of waking up the Congress to the growing catastrophe that Trump is creating — in this case, for the collapse of alliances with trusted allies, for any sense of legitimacy about the motivations of the US government, and for the reputation of the US as a responsible member of the nations of the world? Trump has said what he would like to do in the coming months in terms of “remaking” the western hemisphere; it is up to us to find ways of saying “No! We will not wage war indiscriminately to complete Donald Trump’s incoherent dreams of imperial supremacy!”.

At the moment, the strongest possible form of resistance against reckless use of military force and renewed acts of capricious warfare, lies in the US Congress. Our senators and congressmen and women must stand up and take action to ensure that more military attacks (acts of war) will not occur due to the impetuous whims of our president.

I’ve sent a letter to Senators Slotkin and Peters and Congresswoman Dingell urging action. Here is the text of my letter.

Dear [elected official], I am writing to you with a sense of very great urgency. The attack against Venezuela a week ago undertaken by the Trump government was a violation of the United Nations Charter, a violation of US law, and a gesture of complete lawlessness and contempt towards our own Congress — the voice of the American people. Trump is now making threats of the use of military force against other countries in the hemisphere, including Columbia, Mexico, Cuba, and Greenland. Trump’s unhinged impulsiveness and the unthinking bellicosity of his administration make these threats highly dangerous. Even some of the closest allies of the United States have condemned the invasion of Venezuela as unjustified under international law and a violation of the non-aggression clause of the United Nations Charter. The fig leaf that this was a “law enforcement operation” is fundamentally unsupportable. Lethal force was used, at least 80 persons were killed in Venezuela during the action, and the seizure of the sitting president of Venezuela has no legal justification whatsoever.

It is pressingly urgent for the US Senate and House to take decisive action to prevent other acts of war in the coming weeks and months. The War Powers Act should be applied and strengthened, and the exclusive authority of the Congress to declare war should be asserted. The United States is now in the position of an outlaw nation, following the lead of Vladimir Putin in his attempt to seize Ukraine and likely encouraging China to take military action against Taiwan.

The brakes must be applied now. We face a current and pressing emergency. No president should be free to create conditions of war against other nations without powerful legal justification, and Trump’s actions have no such justification.

Please devote your considerable powers of persuasion to bring Democrat colleagues and those Republican elected officials who will still respond to rational and principled argument, into strong opposition to Trump’s reckless use of American military power.

Sincerely, Daniel Little, retired professor, University of Michigan-Dearborn and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

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We

Posted on January 5, 2026 by gdkrenz

We — yes, we — are in an emergency situation. 

We — yes, we — have illegally, according to our own laws, and in defiance of our UN agreements, invaded Venezuela and “arrested” President Maduro on charges that have no true legal rationale, his illegitimacy not withstanding. The Administration’s claims that this was a law enforcement action and not a military invasion are farcical. And it is clear that the real basis of this invasion has nothing to do with drugs: Venezuela is responsible for a relatively small percentage of opioids flowing into the US; Trump pardoned a far greater drug trafficker, Juan Hernandez, just a while ago; Trump contacted oil CEOs before the attack, but not Congress, as required by law. 

We — yes we — are in this for the oligarchy, the oil-igarchy, and Trump’s id, nothing else.

We — yes, we — have now suspended child care benefits to five blue states, based on allegations of fraud in Minnesota, although those allegations are suspect according to Minnesota’s own investigations. Even if the allegations end up to be correct, leave it to the Trump Administration to trump up a local issue into an excuse to harm the underprivileged nationwide.

We — yes, we — are destroying the world order that we, yes we, helped build. 

We — yes, we –are responsible for this. We elected Donald Trump; we — yes, we — are represented by him whether we like it or not.

We — yes, we — are the only recourse we have to reverse this, to end this tyranny, to live up to the ideals that our elected President has so trampled on.

We — yes, we.

Please.

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