Burke: Like a typhoon, confront the tycoon head on

By Tom Burke / Herald Columnist

Popular political wisdom says don’t confront MAGA supporters directly. Instead, try to engage by listening to their grievances and discussing their concerns. Oh, and don’t call them names and don’t pointedly confront them with the false (“alternative?”) truths they’ve gleaned from Fox News, X or Republicans.

In other words, be nice.

I am now approaching that strategy with a perspective I’ve borrowed from Donald Trump: “bull.”

We’ve reached the point where “nice” isn’t going to save us from the dictatorship Trump is trying to impose and the absolute power he’s trying to accumulate.

Only direct confrontation will.

Peaceful confrontation to be sure, but direct confrontation with the facts about the consequences of Trump’s actions, fueled by the grim determination to get through the next three-plus years undeterred in our commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law.

Now, I once sailed through the middle of Typhoon Bess in the western Pacific.

We deeked and dodged, tried to hide out in Hong Kong but got rousted from there, and finally had to face the music at sea.

The boat was American President Line’s President Jackson, a 564-foot-long Mariner-class break bulk (cargo) ship and built old-time-American-strong by Newport News Ship & Drydock. It was one of the world’s largest and fastest vessels of its type circa 1969.

And with winds over 85 mph and seas breaking over the bow shipping green water right up to the island, we had only one option: plow into the storm as we watched the wind veer from dead abeam starboard-side to dead abeam port-side and the inclinometer showing a roll so far port-to-starboard-to-port that we all sometimes held our breath wondering if we were going to come back.

Obviously we survived. And I took a lesson from the experience: Sometimes ya gotta just confront circumstances head on, hang on, and muscle through it.

That’s where we are today, and that’s the strategy for the next four years: Confront the MAGA mindset head on, hang on, and muscle through Trump’s authoritarian power grab.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., summed up the struggle when she said, bluntly, “This is not a drill. This is an assault on our democracy.”

And Trump’s assault, as outlined in the New York Times, is an inter-locking attack on the five key pillars of our constitutional republic:

• Separation of powers, showing complete disregard for the judicial branch and total disdain for Congress;

• Due process, making unilateral decisions such as firing federal workers, cutting university funding, punishing law firms for invented wrongdoing, and deporting immigrants to a prison in El Salvador.

• Equal justice under law, using federal prosecutors and agents as extensions of his personal and political operation.

• Free speech and freedom of the press, removing books from libraries; suing ABC, CBS and The Des Moines Register over coverage he didn’t like; and punishing people for things they said.

• Government for the people, enriching himself and his family with grifts unparalleled in presidential history.

And compounding his lust for power is his uncanny “ability” to choose the absolutely worst people to staff his regime, including RFK Jr., Kristi Noem, Pete Hesgeth, Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, Tom Holman, Karoline Leavitt, the three geniuses who are implementing Trump’s tariffs and economic policy (policy, what policy?) Howard Lutnick, Peter Navarro and Bessent, Kash Patel, and Stephn Miller.

They are a gaggle of gaffe machines and a danger to our physical and financial health.

Recently, polling for Trump is under water on every major issue starting with his overall performance at 54 percent disapproval to 38 percent approval.

More specifically people disapprove of Trump’s handling of:

• Immigration (54 percent disapprove, 43 percent approve);

• Deportations (56 percent disapprove, 40 percent approve);

• The economy (56 percent disapprove, 40 percent approve);

• Trade (57 percent disapprove, 38 percent approve);

• Universities (54 percent disapprove, 37 percent approve,);

• The conflict between Israel and Hamas (52 percent disapprove, 35 percent approve):

• The war between Russia and Ukraine (57 percent disapprove, 34 percent approve,), and:

• DEI (56 percent disapprove, 44 percent approve).

Further, 52 percent of those surveyed are dissatisfied, angry, or furious with Trump and his cronies.

Not good numbers for the Republicans in the midterms and more than worrying for the West Wing.

So how do we confront Trump?

With more “No Kings” demonstrations and other peaceful protests. With letters and emails and attending town hall meetings. And by getting the real facts, not Trump/White House/Fox News lies.

Does it work?

Yep.

Well, “TACO Trump” (Trump Always Chickens Out) caved on immigration last Thursday, reversing himself saying he now won’t be attacking undocumented agricultural or leisure industry workers; and the New York Times reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials ordered a pause in raids at agricultural businesses, meat packing plants, restaurants and hotels.

Then on Monday, according to the Washington Post, the White House reversed its reversal saying it now would go after these people. (Again, confusion reigns; chaos replaces order; and no one knows if Trump will reverse the reverse he just reversed.)

Earlier this year the pundits were saying the resistance was dead or faltering.

But Saturday and “No Kings,” proved they were wrong (again).

The resistance is more alive than ever. Perhaps not in the halls of the Republican Congress, but clearly on the streets and in the towns and villages across America.

And as Trump continues assaulting America’s pillars of democracy, which he is vowing to do, people will become even more determined and more effective.

And the more destruction he wreaks, the more we’ll understand and embrace Thomas Paine’s words, “Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it.”

Slava Ukraini.

Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.