The Crack of Dawn #796

10/9/2025

10/9/2025

Newsletter #796

The Crack of Dawn

The point of Zen is to be present. The past is gone; the future hasn’t happened yet. So I do my best to stay in the present moment. However, at this moment, I can see the future all too clearly, and I don’t think most people are seeing it. Of course, I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I don’t think so.

Donald Trump is monomaniacal. All he really cares about is power; unlimited power, which he presently holds. He has much more power right now than he’s ever had before. Trump controls every part of the government—executive, congressional, and judicial. At this point, nothing stands in his way. Nothing except his total incompetence, and that of every single person he’s appointed to a powerful position. So far, that hasn’t stood in his way.

Therefore, if Donald Trump must retain power at any cost, he cannot lose the midterm elections. All indications right now are that the Republicans may very well lose both the senate and the house. If that is so, Trump will lose his unlimited power, and he will not let that happen. Therefore, he must stop the midterm elections. To achieve this, he must control the voting, particularly in the big cities where most of the people live. Coincidentally, the three biggest cities —New York, Los Angeles and Chicago (with a combined population of 16 million people)—are blue, democratically-held cities. These cities are Trump’s enemies; if he loses those three cities, he’s lost the election, and he’s lost his power. Therefore, Trump cannot lose this election.

He intends to stop the elections in as many blue cities as he possibly can, using the military. To make sure this plan will work, he has already tested it out on Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., with completely positive results—nobody stopped him. Not Congress, not military leaders, not the enlisted men. Everybody did as they were told. And the lame, timeworn excuse of quelling riots and lawlessness in crime-ridden, ghetto cities, worked. It’s patently untrue, but once again, nobody stopped him. Presently, troops are poised to invade Chicago and Portland. ICE is already in these cities, making trouble. Any time Trump wants civil unrest, he has ICE there to do it, and he’s already doing it. Armed masked men in unmarked vehicles presently roam the streets randomly apprehending any brown or black person who might be foreign, with the ability to “disappear” them forever? Who better to start civil disobedience anywhere you desire, that must then be quelled? ICE, of course; that’s why they exist. ICE’s job is to make trouble.

Sadly for Donald Trump, the one fly in his ointment so far was the dismal reception he and Pete Hegseth received by the 800 top generals and admirals. The idea of using American cities as a “training ground” didn’t appear to go over all that well. Hegseth told the military brass that they could either agree to the president’s agenda, or retire. And they have begun to retire. Since Trump has already fired most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it really doesn’t matter. He doesn’t require the assistance of the top brass because they don’t personally control the troops: lieutenants, captains, majors and colonels run the show, and they’ve already proven in L.A., D.C., and are presently assembled outside Chicago and Portland, that they’ll do as they’re ordered. We know that; we’ve seen it.

Mahatma Gandhi, 1931

All right, I have an idea. We must follow in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi—non-violent protest, in large numbers. Large enough numbers to disrupt the tyrant’s plan. We on the left, whom our president—the man elected to look out for all Americans—calls “scum,” “vermin” and “evil” have one thing going for us—numbers. Unlike picking on immigrants, or Jews, or the LGBTQ; 750 million people (including me) voted for Kamala Harris. 750 million people are not a minority. 750 million people are not chopped liver. So, using Gandhi’s tactics, we the left must thwart Donald Trump at all turns. Unlike Gandhi, we have the advantage of social media. Getting the word out is easy. On the day of Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, afraid that their right to abortion was under threat (and it was), 500,000 women showed up in Washington, DC to protest. For the recent No Kings protest, five million people showed up. Numbers that large are not necessary to achieve this goal. If Donald Trump invades Chicago, the left needs to immediately get ten- to twenty-thousand people there to obstruct Trump’s invading army. The presence of that many people—which is just a tiny fraction of the whole—will gum up the works, plus steal the news cycle. If Trump invades Portland, the process must be repeated, over and over if necessary.

Okay, you may be asking how can this be implemented, particularly so fast? The answer is the internet: Youtubers specifically. I have contacted four of my favorite liberal podcasters—David Pakman, Adam Mockler, Keith Edwards and the folks at Meidas Touch—who between them have over twenty million subscribers (I will contact more). Will they take this seriously? I don’t know (I have included my letter to them below). I sent them this idea as a comment on all four of their websites. It would be great if one of them—David Pakman or Adam Mockler, for instance—stood up and took the lead. Someone really ought to stand up, take charge, and galvanize the movement. In any case, this approach worked for Gandhi and the Indian people when they rose up against the extremely authoritarian domination of the British. Gandhi’s non-violent, en masse, protests caused the British to leave with their tail between their legs, after ruling India for a hundred years.

It could work here. We can depend that just like everything Donald Trump does, his election time invasion will be handled in some truly half-assed fashion. When he invades Chicago, if his soldiers (the Texas National Guard) encounter 10- to 20-thousand calm, happy people, the invasion will be stopped. To make sure the people are calm and happy, I suggest adopting a Reggae theme, and use Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up” as the anthem. Also, in the name of calmness and happiness, I suggest as much pot smoking as possible (which is legal, so you can’t be busted for that). This way, the soldiers won’t be confronting agitated protesters waving signs; they’ll confront peaceful, fun-loving people having a party—celebrating freedom. The national guard, even if they’re from Texas, don’t want to shoot happy Americans. I honestly think that’s true.

This is my bully pulpit. I have nearly two hundred subscribers. I have assiduously and intentionally avoided the topic of politics for most of these 796 newsletters. I can avoid it no longer. As I have recently been making music, I asked my friend and writing partner, “Are we fiddling as Rome burns?” I believe we were (and we will continue to do so), but circumstances compelled me to at least try to come up with an answer to this catastrophe that we are presently experiencing.

I am a 100%, true blue American. I am a patriot. I know and greatly appreciate American history. I believe in the constitution. Me and all my kind are the real Americans in this situation. Trump and his minions are traitors. I firmly and unshakably believe that we, the liberal left-wing, are in the right.

Shall we submit without a fight? I say no. We can fight back, avoid violence, and still win. There is ample historical precedent to believe this.

Here is my letter to the liberal YouTube podcasters (David Pakman, Adam Mockler, Keith Edwards and the Meidas Touch).

Hello David (Adam, Keith, Meidas Touch): like your show a lot; long, long time viewer; am a subscriber; here’s an idea—following in the steps of Mahatma Gandhi (but with the advantage of social media), wherever trouble is brewing—like Chicago right now—get as big a crowd as humanly possible and non-violently protest. Obviously, it must happen quickly. And consistently. What Gandhi had that we also have are numbers—75 million people voted for Kamala Harris. Give it a theme—I suggest Reggae, use Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up (For Your Rights)” as a theme song. It’s a non-violent protest, and it’s a party celebrating freedom. 500,000 people showed up to the woman’s pink pussy rally in 2016. You get 50,000, or even 10,000 people to show up in Chicago; Trump won’t accomplish anything but humiliation. ICE won’t know if they should shit or wind their watches. Keep doing it. If it’s Portland next; get people to go there, as many as you can. Between you and Brian Tyler Cohen, Meidas Touch, Adam Mockler, Occupy Democrats, etc., you guys could do it. It worked for Gandhi twice: once in South Africa, and again in India. Using the exact same method, it worked for Martin Luther King. It will work now, too, if someone just steps up and does it. I nominate you. Josh Becker.