Disobeying in advance
A new trope is trending on social media news and blogs called “obeying in advance.” It comes from Yale historian Timothy Snyder’s 2017 book, “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.” Snyder’s first rule to resist tyranny is “Do not obey in advance.” Unfortunately it’s a lesson that has largely been ignored where it’s needed the most these days, specifically, among the very wealthy, powerful and influential.
When ABC donated $15 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library in order to make Trump’s absurd and easy-to-beat lawsuit against George Stephanopoulos go away, they were obeying in advance. When the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post refused to endorse Kamala Harris for president they were obeying in advance. When Mark Zuckerberg removed fact-checking from Facebook he was obeying in advance. When Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned from the Washington Post because they refused to print her cartoon showing Jeff Bezos (among others) on his knees giving Donald Trump bags of cash, it was because she thought they were obeying in advance. And indeed they were.
Obeying in advance is what the powerful sometimes do when it’s starting to look like a fascistic plutocrat is about to come to power and they want to stay on his good side. It’s how they hedge their bets. It exposes them not just as moral cowards but as complicit hypocrites. Sometimes it’s the very act of obeying in advance that makes the path of the dictator not only smoother but possible. Without their conscious cooperation the dictator in question might fail.
And those I mentioned above are not alone. Exaggerated accommodations in the form of advanced obedience are being extended to the 34-count felon and rapist by dozens of powerful people and entities, from Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to the legacy media to concierge judges and defeatist prosecutors to millionaires and billionaires. It seems people were already queuing up to kiss Trump’s ass before the election. Now those queues are starting to look like the lines into Star Wars from May of 1977. They’re wrapped around the building.
Well I say let’s disobey in advance. Let’s say no to any accommodations, to anything that makes Trump’s misbegotten presidency anything short of hell. Let’s make his life miserable wherever and whenever we can. Let’s remind him just how hated he is, how unwelcome he is, how we can’t wait for his “presidency” to end. Let’s remind him that on the day he dies there will be bacchanalias and celebrations across America the likes of which “nobody has ever seen before.” Let’s remind him, every single day, that even some of the skeptics among us hope there’s a Hell after all, just so he can go there.
And let’s get one more thing clear. Donald Trump will NEVER be “presidential.” Next time some idiot talking heads on TV try to suggest otherwise, let’s all get together and tell them — in texts, emails, social media posts or sharply-worded letters to the editor — exactly how much we disagree and how much we resent their attempt to make that particular silk purse out of that disgusting sow’s ear.
Donald Trump’s re-election is our chance to show the world just how much we hate him, and just how unafraid we are to say it out loud. Let the word go forth from this moment until he’s finally gone, that Donald John Trump isn’t just unwelcome, we hate his guts and look forward to the blessed day when he is finally gone for good, when we can laugh and celebrate over his obituary.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.