Don’t Look Away:

A Call to Action in the Face of the MAGA Storm

Like it or not (and I am firmly in the not category), in just a few short days, Donald Trump will return to the presidency. I can still remember the sigh of relief I breathed in November 2020, believing the national nightmare was over—that the era of Trump was behind us for good. I was wrong, as I imagine many of you were, too.

Now, we face a harsher reality: a more extreme Donald Trump, returning to the White House, backed by an emboldened Republican Party in Congress and a Supreme Court ready to greenlight their agenda. If you’re feeling the same dread I am, know you’re not alone.

This moment feels like the days following the 2024 election, that creeping despair settling into the bones. I wish I could offer you assurances that the next four years won’t be as bad as they seem. But to do so would be dishonest. The truth is, our resolve is about to be tested—not just as Democrats, but as Americans.

Civil rights? Vulnerable.
Environmental protections? Endangered.
Wealth inequality? About to deepen.

We’ve already seen cracks forming. Some journalists, tech companies, and even members of our own party have bent the knee to Trumpism, perhaps hoping to avoid the inevitable attacks. Spoiler alert: they won’t be spared. Neither will we.

Still, for all the doom and gloom, we have something worth fighting for. The American experiment in democracy was never a guarantee—it’s something we’ve fought to preserve every step of the way. It took suffragists breaking societal norms to secure women’s right to vote. It took boycotts, sit-ins, and protests to gain civil rights for people of color. It took rebellion at Stonewall to demand LGBTQ+ equality.

Now, it will take all of us.

But let’s be honest: if we’re going to make it through this, we need to change. Not just as a party, but as a people. Republicans show up to every election—local, midterm, presidential. Democrats? We show up in fits and starts, often too little, too late.

We’ve let local GOP incumbents run unopposed for far too long. We’ve dropped the ball on midterms, believing presidential elections are the only ones that matter. That stops now.

The 2026 midterms will be our first chance to put up some guardrails against what’s coming. But it only happens if:
a) We recruit Democratic candidates for every single race.
b) We show up to vote.

That work starts today. We need to recruit, train, and support candidates who can challenge the MAGA stronghold at every level—school boards, city councils, state legislatures, Congress. We need to break through the apathy that has plagued our voter turnout for decades.

Protests will come. Join them if you like. I’ve organized my share of protests, and I’ll always support people taking to the streets. But let me be blunt: protests without voting are just shouting into the void.

So no, I won’t be watching the inauguration on Monday. But if you do, and if that despair creeps in, channel it into something else: motivation.

America isn’t perfect—it never has been, and it never will be. But it’s worth fighting for. So let’s do the work. Let’s save our country. And as RuPaul would say, “Don’t f*** it up.”