Dear Democrats,

 

Sit down. No, actually, stand up — because apparently I need to remind you that you still have spines, or at least the anatomical space where spines are supposed to go. I’m writing this because the country is on fire, the fascists are pouring gasoline, and some of you are over here asking whether we should maybe hand ICE a bigger flamethrower “for optics.” Absolutely not. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. You do not give more money to the ICEstapo. You do not reward an agency that has spent years terrorizing families, violating court orders, and now — under this regime — is openly behaving like the personal secret police of a man who thinks the Constitution is a menu he can send back to the kitchen.

If Republicans want to ram the SAVE Act through — a bill designed to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, a bill built entirely on xenophobia and lies, a bill whose only purpose is to give Trump a pretext to challenge the election results — then you filibuster that thing until the marble floors crack. And while you’re up there talking, don’t waste a single breath on “my colleagues across the aisle.” Read the Trumpstein Files. Out loud. Every grotesque, unredacted, stomach‑turning detail the DOJ is still trying to bury. Read the parts where victims’ names were left exposed while the powerful were protected. Read the parts where Trump’s name appears tens of thousands of times in the redacted files and over a million in the unredacted set. Read the parts where foreign governments are arresting princes, raiding properties, and toppling CEOs while our own government is still clutching the documents like a Victorian widow clutching her pearls.

Make the Republicans sit there and listen to the crimes they’re covering for. Make them hear the names they’re protecting. Make them squirm. Make them sweat. Make them wish they’d never heard the word “filibuster.”

And while we’re on the subject of public shame: boycott the State of the Union. Every last one of you. Do not show up to clap politely while a man implicated in the Trumpstein Files stands at the podium pretending he’s the victim of a witch hunt. Do not sit there while he lies about “law and order” with the confidence of a man who has never faced either. Do not give him the satisfaction of your presence. Instead, give your seats to the survivors. Fill that chamber with the people this government has ignored, redacted, silenced, and sacrificed. Let the cameras pan across the faces of those who lived through the horrors the DOJ keeps trying to hide. Let America see who the real patriots are.

And before anyone starts clutching their pearls about “decorum,” let me remind you: decorum is dead. The other side killed it, buried it, dug it up, set it on fire, and is now wearing its ashes as bronzer. You don’t win against fascism by being polite. You don’t negotiate with people who think democracy is optional. You don’t compromise with people who are actively trying to dismantle the country while demanding you thank them for the opportunity.

So here’s the deal: hold the damn line. No more money for ICE. No more pretending the SAVE Act is anything but a voter suppression fever dream. No more showing up to normalize a regime that treats the law like a chew toy. No more caving because someone in a green room told you voters like “moderation.” Voters like rights. Voters like democracy. Voters like not being hunted by their own government.

If you need inspiration, look around the world. Britain just arrested a royal. France is naming names and raiding properties. Spain, Italy, Germany — all opening investigations, forcing resignations, treating Epstein’s network like the international criminal enterprise it was. The UN is talking about crimes against humanity. The dominos are falling everywhere except here, where the DOJ is still redacting victims and shielding predators while telling us to “move on.”

Do not move on. Do not look away. Do not let this moment pass because you were afraid of a headline. History is watching. Survivors are watching. The world is watching.

Be the party that fought back.