"This is the biggest opportunity for change we’ve had in my life time. Brought about by the cruelty and lawlessness of the Trump admin and the cold calculation of the Democratic Party elite that are waiting to get back to normal."
What I'm about to say is not going to sit well with many, but let's try and face the truth no matter how bitter: I'm deeply if painfully grateful that "they" are destroying this country in monstrous, humiliating, and impossible to ignore ways, because it seems to be the only way to wake "good" people up to the truth of ourselves. We must actively look for our own blind spots! (Self included, for I was self-deluded for a long time.)
Until every citizen says "no" to the insanity that is 'judging and punishing' instead of 'assessing and supporting', let the monsters remain. We cannot fix what we cannot see and identify! I hope we see the truth of how monsters gain power and learn to nip that shit in the bud for eternity, because monsters are here, eternally.
Another painful truth: Most of our monsters are born of parents who do not properly parent.
...
As for our need to work together, something I strongly agree with ... where was our training? How many of us, today, know how to work together in a coordinated group? I learned to be a happy part of a greater, coordinated whole in school programs like symphonic and marching band, theater, and more. Everyone WANTED to be there, everyone participated and did their best, and we had, in my case, great choreography and direction and financial support - and we won honors we can be proud of for a lifetime. Everyone doing well felt good, even great. And that, is a worthy goal as well as what it will take if we ever want to again be proud of our country and ourselves.
Another spot on essay Corbin. The detective strikes again. But what of the 'facts' you present. Plan vs. movement. Consolidation vs. cooperation. Bifurcation bifurcates, again and again. This behavior, purposefully employed against unity by those who wish to dominate, constantly breaks any honest attempts to unite. Gaslighting, Newspeak, Doublethink spin the tops, constantly. We are like dreidels, perpetual motion machines talking to mirrors in a darkened room.
For almost two centuries we all have heard Lincoln's lament - a nation divided against itself cannot stand. The media even call it 'spin.' And in 'murka we are addicted to the belief, yes belief, that we cannot move forward unless we have some Mega Leader, some bright, shiny human object who woos us. Obama was like this. But he was very short on performance, because his message was essentially 'learn to live with what you are given.' Hope something changes? Nah.
Now I am not down on Obama, quite the contrary. But he lives in big houses and flies around the nation making speeches and attending think tank discussions. We do not need any more leaders, we have way too many right now. Leaders love their roles, more than they love the idea of a unified population of doers. Corbin is a doer, but is not running for anything, and his traction is a narrow bike tire trying to pull a loaded dump truck.
Before we can move forward, progress, if you will, all of us require a doable, logical PLAN of action that we can UNITE around. That phenomenon create a TEAM. Everyone looks to a quarterback, but without all the other EQUALLY IMPORTANT players, a QB is Sack Bait. The policy, the plan, the program creates the need for the Team. We all know this, we all know what MUST be done, but there is no Playbook(s) on how to start DOING.
Most of us out here in the hinterlands have no personal power in the dreary world of politics. Most of us repudiate it, it stinks to high heavens. It is corrupt beyond comprehension. So a radically different vehicle is needed. I am not a strategist, so some kind of plan must emerge that most of us ordinary folk can latch onto, fit in a meaningful way, recruit others because we see we have the Vehicle to move things forward, to progress. I am a progressive. In my own life I can do this, but I keep out the politics because i know it is fatally toxic.
As Waiting for Godot puts it - What's to be done? Nothing. It's awful.
I have responded to queries from Democrats for donations
that when they have a unified message, I will be glad to donate. I have also urged them to read Corbin Trent on Substack. Thank you. Thank you for saying what must happen for Democrats to win.
Corbin is once again 100% correct. BUT how do we get a untied front? How do we get these well meaning organizations to unite? How do we get these candidates to unite?
Great piece. No North Star sums it up. Coincidentally, I just read this article in WaPo this morning that delves into the "No North Star" dynamics in gory detail. It was frankly depressing and your post was a timely antidote. Thanks for bringing your light and your thought leadership to this desert.
Well said Mae. To Corbin’s point about united fronts versus going it alone; how do we get these well intentioned action groups to work together? Why would they not combine and conquer? Can someone plan an old fashioned Iowa-like caucus to get them all in the same room and has out the best candidates and all pull together?
To Mae’s comment about monsters born of improper parenting; Maybe part of universal health care we include public daycare/ preschool to ‘help’ teach parents how to parent in addition to caring/feeding kids most at risk. A monumental task for sure, but think of how that could change the world. Why should Public Education begin at age 5? Don’t tell me you’re Pro Life and then abandon infants to become feral animals to be unleashed upon public school teachers.
Ok, so that may be too much of a ‘Modest Proposal’. The point is to find a common cause that would spark enough of us to actually get involved and make change happen.
I think having a common agenda is an excellent idea.
That's why I have written about the benefits of a Green New Deal *Plan*, emphasis on the plan part (eg, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/15/what-a-green-new-deal-should-look-like-filling-in-the-details/), that focuses on a set of national infrastructure projects that would provide at least 20 million good jobs (and at least 5 million manufacturing ones): an Interstate Renewable Electricity System, an Interstate High-Speed Rail System, an Interstate High-Speed Internet System, and a commitment to build millions of apartments in dense, walkable city and town centers that are accompanied by new/expanded transit systems -- among others.
If you lay out a concrete plan, I think it makes it much easier for working class voters to visualize what a better world would all look like. In addition, since such a plan could soak up all unemployment/underemployment/part-time work, with high-return work (not just make-work to give people jobs), it would fundamentally alter the job market to the working classes' favor, which would also attract working class voters. Everything else could be integrated into this program, such as national health care, free public education, etc.
So a national rebuilding plan, as Corbin advocates, is necessary, in my view, to a revived Left. A concrete set of plans that would give the country a set of positive, national goals (as opposed to the fascistic one of deporting millions of people) could unite the campaigns of dozens, or hundreds of progressive candidates
We must work to preserve free and fair elections in 2026, else this discussion is moot.
As Corbin points out, many incumbent Senators are safe until 2028, but every House seat is up for grabs in 2026 so it’s possible for progressive candidates to win a majority of seats in 2026 and remake government. Theoretically, we could win every seat. It’s possible. If candidates run as a unified slate with a clear pro-worker platform and concrete plan to enact it. A Declaration of Independents.
Trouble is, the authoritarian regime has already promised that voting won’t be necessary in 2026. And if they control every branch of law enforcement, including the United States Military, then who will stop them from cancelling or corrupting elections?
We absolutely should aim to take control of the House, and Independent Democrats should run as a united slate. But our message must also prioritize the preservation of free and fair elections. If the regime is permitted to dismantle our nation’s military, replacing it with ICE, their private army of bullies and thugs, then no power will exist to enforce fair elections, or elections at all.
Our Declaration of Independents must call on the military to protect itself from further corruption; from dismantling of the ideals of honor, justice, and a moral code of ethical conduct; of allegiance to the Constitution and protection of the American people from enemies both foreign and domestic.
Once our military is sufficiently weakened, and ICE’s power is unrivaled, there will be no one to stop them from bullying, threatening and brutalizing the American people into submission. And there will be no elections to save us in 2026.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together…..African proverb.
So how do you go fast and far? On the one hand, the real sense of urgency drives us to do something quickly. On the other hand, our organizational and individual egos demand we resist a full throated sharing of our power lest our hard work be perverted, swallowed whole, and/or overwhelmed by another organization where we lack organizational power and control.
What does unity look like if we can check our egos and work together? Is a Venn diagram from a collective of progressive organizations' mission statements a shared vision that we could all accept and work towards without sweating minor differences? Is a ”share a donation” solicitation from someone you support a form of unity? If Indivisible shared their nationwide network to facilitate collaboration amongst non-Indivisible local groups, would that be a form of unity?
I look forward to reading more about the concrete steps that lead to progressive collaboration and unity.
This old white woman is all in! Corbin, your explanations and coherent plans of action to create an updated New Deal, are the very best analysis and vision I've read -- and I read a lot. I look forward to your next segments.
Yes, we need unity! Unity, along with strategic planning and nonviolence are the three components identified by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict as necessary to defeat tyranny. I look forward to seeing your plan and hope it offers a paradigm shift in strategic thinking about building real democracy.
Hi, can we talk about unseating Rep Clark in Massachusetts? When people say “replace Democratic Party leadership” why aren’t people thinking about her seat?
Most of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation should be replaced with progressives who would be partners in a slate of Independent Democrats from around the nation that collaborate to rebuild New Deal policies. Because they’re nice, not good or effective but nice, people in Massachusetts are lulled into thinking we have representatives who work for our best interests. When they actually seem to do little else except maintain the status quo. As Corbin describes, we need a progressive slate that will run a unified campaign to replace corporate Democrats with progressive fighters for working people. Bethany Andres-Beck is such a candidate running in MA 6th district.
"This is the biggest opportunity for change we’ve had in my life time. Brought about by the cruelty and lawlessness of the Trump admin and the cold calculation of the Democratic Party elite that are waiting to get back to normal."
What I'm about to say is not going to sit well with many, but let's try and face the truth no matter how bitter: I'm deeply if painfully grateful that "they" are destroying this country in monstrous, humiliating, and impossible to ignore ways, because it seems to be the only way to wake "good" people up to the truth of ourselves. We must actively look for our own blind spots! (Self included, for I was self-deluded for a long time.)
Until every citizen says "no" to the insanity that is 'judging and punishing' instead of 'assessing and supporting', let the monsters remain. We cannot fix what we cannot see and identify! I hope we see the truth of how monsters gain power and learn to nip that shit in the bud for eternity, because monsters are here, eternally.
Another painful truth: Most of our monsters are born of parents who do not properly parent.
...
As for our need to work together, something I strongly agree with ... where was our training? How many of us, today, know how to work together in a coordinated group? I learned to be a happy part of a greater, coordinated whole in school programs like symphonic and marching band, theater, and more. Everyone WANTED to be there, everyone participated and did their best, and we had, in my case, great choreography and direction and financial support - and we won honors we can be proud of for a lifetime. Everyone doing well felt good, even great. And that, is a worthy goal as well as what it will take if we ever want to again be proud of our country and ourselves.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING. I AM A 93 YEAR OLD WHITE WOMAN WHO KNOWS YOU ARE RIGHT. PLEASE EVERYBODY, LISTEN.
Another very old white woman (86) who agrees with everything you said.
Hear, hear! from this 73yr young Grantifa. We need to find our joy.
Freude, schöner Götterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Another spot on essay Corbin. The detective strikes again. But what of the 'facts' you present. Plan vs. movement. Consolidation vs. cooperation. Bifurcation bifurcates, again and again. This behavior, purposefully employed against unity by those who wish to dominate, constantly breaks any honest attempts to unite. Gaslighting, Newspeak, Doublethink spin the tops, constantly. We are like dreidels, perpetual motion machines talking to mirrors in a darkened room.
For almost two centuries we all have heard Lincoln's lament - a nation divided against itself cannot stand. The media even call it 'spin.' And in 'murka we are addicted to the belief, yes belief, that we cannot move forward unless we have some Mega Leader, some bright, shiny human object who woos us. Obama was like this. But he was very short on performance, because his message was essentially 'learn to live with what you are given.' Hope something changes? Nah.
Now I am not down on Obama, quite the contrary. But he lives in big houses and flies around the nation making speeches and attending think tank discussions. We do not need any more leaders, we have way too many right now. Leaders love their roles, more than they love the idea of a unified population of doers. Corbin is a doer, but is not running for anything, and his traction is a narrow bike tire trying to pull a loaded dump truck.
Before we can move forward, progress, if you will, all of us require a doable, logical PLAN of action that we can UNITE around. That phenomenon create a TEAM. Everyone looks to a quarterback, but without all the other EQUALLY IMPORTANT players, a QB is Sack Bait. The policy, the plan, the program creates the need for the Team. We all know this, we all know what MUST be done, but there is no Playbook(s) on how to start DOING.
Most of us out here in the hinterlands have no personal power in the dreary world of politics. Most of us repudiate it, it stinks to high heavens. It is corrupt beyond comprehension. So a radically different vehicle is needed. I am not a strategist, so some kind of plan must emerge that most of us ordinary folk can latch onto, fit in a meaningful way, recruit others because we see we have the Vehicle to move things forward, to progress. I am a progressive. In my own life I can do this, but I keep out the politics because i know it is fatally toxic.
As Waiting for Godot puts it - What's to be done? Nothing. It's awful.
At the bottom of the the essay it says: “On December 9th I’ll be announcing a new initiative designed to bring power to the people, not the wealthy.”
I have responded to queries from Democrats for donations
that when they have a unified message, I will be glad to donate. I have also urged them to read Corbin Trent on Substack. Thank you. Thank you for saying what must happen for Democrats to win.
Corbin is once again 100% correct. BUT how do we get a untied front? How do we get these well meaning organizations to unite? How do we get these candidates to unite?
At the bottom of the the essay it says: “On December 9th I’ll be announcing a new initiative designed to bring power to the people, not the wealthy.”
Thanks I missed that.
Great piece. No North Star sums it up. Coincidentally, I just read this article in WaPo this morning that delves into the "No North Star" dynamics in gory detail. It was frankly depressing and your post was a timely antidote. Thanks for bringing your light and your thought leadership to this desert.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2025/11/16/democrats-lessons-crooked-con/
"Democrats spent a year at rock bottom. Have they learned any lessons?
It’s been a long year of arguments, wisdom-mongering and profanity for the professional left and its allies."
Well said Mae. To Corbin’s point about united fronts versus going it alone; how do we get these well intentioned action groups to work together? Why would they not combine and conquer? Can someone plan an old fashioned Iowa-like caucus to get them all in the same room and has out the best candidates and all pull together?
To Mae’s comment about monsters born of improper parenting; Maybe part of universal health care we include public daycare/ preschool to ‘help’ teach parents how to parent in addition to caring/feeding kids most at risk. A monumental task for sure, but think of how that could change the world. Why should Public Education begin at age 5? Don’t tell me you’re Pro Life and then abandon infants to become feral animals to be unleashed upon public school teachers.
Ok, so that may be too much of a ‘Modest Proposal’. The point is to find a common cause that would spark enough of us to actually get involved and make change happen.
At the bottom of the the essay it says: “On December 9th I’ll be announcing a new initiative designed to bring power to the people, not the wealthy.”
Looking forward to each episode.
I think having a common agenda is an excellent idea.
That's why I have written about the benefits of a Green New Deal *Plan*, emphasis on the plan part (eg, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/15/what-a-green-new-deal-should-look-like-filling-in-the-details/), that focuses on a set of national infrastructure projects that would provide at least 20 million good jobs (and at least 5 million manufacturing ones): an Interstate Renewable Electricity System, an Interstate High-Speed Rail System, an Interstate High-Speed Internet System, and a commitment to build millions of apartments in dense, walkable city and town centers that are accompanied by new/expanded transit systems -- among others.
If you lay out a concrete plan, I think it makes it much easier for working class voters to visualize what a better world would all look like. In addition, since such a plan could soak up all unemployment/underemployment/part-time work, with high-return work (not just make-work to give people jobs), it would fundamentally alter the job market to the working classes' favor, which would also attract working class voters. Everything else could be integrated into this program, such as national health care, free public education, etc.
So a national rebuilding plan, as Corbin advocates, is necessary, in my view, to a revived Left. A concrete set of plans that would give the country a set of positive, national goals (as opposed to the fascistic one of deporting millions of people) could unite the campaigns of dozens, or hundreds of progressive candidates
We must work to preserve free and fair elections in 2026, else this discussion is moot.
As Corbin points out, many incumbent Senators are safe until 2028, but every House seat is up for grabs in 2026 so it’s possible for progressive candidates to win a majority of seats in 2026 and remake government. Theoretically, we could win every seat. It’s possible. If candidates run as a unified slate with a clear pro-worker platform and concrete plan to enact it. A Declaration of Independents.
Trouble is, the authoritarian regime has already promised that voting won’t be necessary in 2026. And if they control every branch of law enforcement, including the United States Military, then who will stop them from cancelling or corrupting elections?
We absolutely should aim to take control of the House, and Independent Democrats should run as a united slate. But our message must also prioritize the preservation of free and fair elections. If the regime is permitted to dismantle our nation’s military, replacing it with ICE, their private army of bullies and thugs, then no power will exist to enforce fair elections, or elections at all.
Our Declaration of Independents must call on the military to protect itself from further corruption; from dismantling of the ideals of honor, justice, and a moral code of ethical conduct; of allegiance to the Constitution and protection of the American people from enemies both foreign and domestic.
Once our military is sufficiently weakened, and ICE’s power is unrivaled, there will be no one to stop them from bullying, threatening and brutalizing the American people into submission. And there will be no elections to save us in 2026.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together…..African proverb.
So how do you go fast and far? On the one hand, the real sense of urgency drives us to do something quickly. On the other hand, our organizational and individual egos demand we resist a full throated sharing of our power lest our hard work be perverted, swallowed whole, and/or overwhelmed by another organization where we lack organizational power and control.
What does unity look like if we can check our egos and work together? Is a Venn diagram from a collective of progressive organizations' mission statements a shared vision that we could all accept and work towards without sweating minor differences? Is a ”share a donation” solicitation from someone you support a form of unity? If Indivisible shared their nationwide network to facilitate collaboration amongst non-Indivisible local groups, would that be a form of unity?
I look forward to reading more about the concrete steps that lead to progressive collaboration and unity.
This old white woman is all in! Corbin, your explanations and coherent plans of action to create an updated New Deal, are the very best analysis and vision I've read -- and I read a lot. I look forward to your next segments.
Yes, we need unity! Unity, along with strategic planning and nonviolence are the three components identified by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict as necessary to defeat tyranny. I look forward to seeing your plan and hope it offers a paradigm shift in strategic thinking about building real democracy.
James Talirico is Christian nationalism.
See also https://open.substack.com/pub/sherrilyn/p/now-what?r=3hkyi&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Hi, can we talk about unseating Rep Clark in Massachusetts? When people say “replace Democratic Party leadership” why aren’t people thinking about her seat?
Most of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation should be replaced with progressives who would be partners in a slate of Independent Democrats from around the nation that collaborate to rebuild New Deal policies. Because they’re nice, not good or effective but nice, people in Massachusetts are lulled into thinking we have representatives who work for our best interests. When they actually seem to do little else except maintain the status quo. As Corbin describes, we need a progressive slate that will run a unified campaign to replace corporate Democrats with progressive fighters for working people. Bethany Andres-Beck is such a candidate running in MA 6th district.