Trump's Chaos is Our Moment: Rebuilding America from the Ashes

Trump is accelerating democracy’s decline—he’s also exposing institutions hollowed out by privatization and corporate capture. Our task isn’t just to save what’s left; it’s to build something better.

Welcome to the Fight

A lot of you just joined us—welcome. You’re stepping into this fight at a breaking point. Thank you to those who’ve been here. Before we move, let’s get one thing straight—this isn’t about me. It’s about who we are as a country and whether we’ll still have one worth passing on.

Who I Am

I grew up in East Tennessee, in the foothills of Appalachia, watching factories shutter, towns rot, and the American Dream turn into a goddamn punchline. My family’s furniture business? Gutted by NAFTA and CAFTA. We tried everything—CNC machines, precision techniques—but none of it mattered. The game was rigged.

I rebuilt myself through culinary school, started a food truck with $2.37 in the bank, and then heard Bernie Sanders in 2015 say out loud what I’d known my whole life: the system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed—to bleed us dry. So I sold my business and went all in: co-founded Justice Democrats, helped elect AOC, helped write the Green New Deal.

This isn’t a resume. It’s proof that we don’t have to accept collapse.

The System Isn’t Broken—It’s a Weapon

Let’s stop lying: Trump didn’t break America. He just ripped the curtain off.

• The FDA approved OxyContin as “less addictive” while Appalachia drowned in pills.

• The DOJ lets Congress trade stocks like a damn casino.

• Every regulatory agency is a revolving door for the industries they’re supposed to police.

Trump didn’t corrupt this—he exposed it. And Democrats? They’re too busy salivating about the opportunity in the destruction as a way to go back to normal to admit the truth: that normal led to this. They aren’t making the case for stronger government—they’re conceding the Republican argument, just promising to manage decline slightly better. They are saying DOGE is right but just doing it poorly. Dems, as they are now, won’t lead us out of this hole.

Right now, the oligarchy is wobbling—the stock market’s in chaos. Corporate suits don’t know which way is up. Good. That’s our opening.

The Theft of a Generation

If you’re new here, here’s what we’ve uncovered:

• What took one income in 1950 now takes three.

• A house that cost 2 years of wages now costs 10.

• College that required a summer job now demands lifelong debt.

This isn’t “stagnation.” It’s decline. According to the RAND Corporation, since 1975, $79 trillion has been stolen from working Americans and handed to the top 10%. That’s the war we’re in.

The Builder Doctrine: How We Take It Back

When was the last time America built something that mattered? Not a bank bailout. Not a tax cut. Something that changed lives.

• The Hoover Dam.

• The Interstate System.

• NASA.

We didn’t do these because they made shareholders rich. We did them because they made us stronger.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped building. We outsourced, privatized, and let billionaires loot the future. Now? China’s out-America-ing America—using our playbook to dominate industries we invented.

The Builder Doctrine is simple: When markets fail, government builds.

• Affordable housing? Build it.

• Life-saving drugs priced out of reach? Make them ourselves.

• Rural towns strangled by telecom monopolies? Public broadband, now.

This isn’t radical. It’s how we won the 20th century.

China is Winning with Our Tools—And It’s Our Fault

Here’s the hard truth: China’s not beating us with sweatshops. They’re beating us by doing what we used to do.

• 40% of their energy is renewable. We’re at half that.

• Their power grid is faster, smarter, and more reliable.

• They plan and build for the decades ahead. We can’t even fix potholes.

They didn’t cheat. They built. While we let lobbyists turn the government into an ATM for Wall Street, they took our blueprint and used it.

This Isn’t About Isolation—It’s About Independence

Globalization didn’t fail because it was global. It failed because it was rigged.

We weren’t ‘outcompeted.’ We were sold out—by lobbyists, the Chamber of Commerce, Milton Friedman acolytes, and politicians who swore trickle-down wasn’t the scam it obviously is.

This isn’t about walling off the world. It’s about standing on our own feet—making what we need, trading from strength, and never again letting our survival depend on the whims of monopolists or other nations.

The Fight Ahead

We won’t fix this by asking nicely.

• 2026 and 2028 aren’t just elections. They’re a reckoning.

• Gerrymandering, Citizens United, a corrupt Supreme Court? We tear it down.

• That’s why I stand with leaders like Saikat Chakrabarti, taking on Pelosi and building a movement to rally others to rebuild our country.

This moment won’t last. The window Trump’s chaos opened will close. Either we kick it wider, or we let them nail it shut.

Join Us

I’m still swinging hammers in East Tennessee. But I’m done begging for scraps.

This Substack and our podcast are blueprints—not just for complaining but for building something better.

New here? Dig into the archives. Been with us? Share this.

We are not victims. We are builders.

And we’re just getting started.