Safety, Sanity and Sanitary Tips for The Trumpzilla Protest

By Gamal Hennessy

Resisting the Trumpocalypse is going to take many months and require long term thinking. But before we get there, we have to get through this weekend.

A lot of people I know (and a lot of people around the country) are planning on protesting the Pretender in Chief, as part of the Women’s March on Washington, but even during a normal inauguration there practical concerns to deal with. So as a public service to the millions of people who read this page, please allow me to provide you with some helpful information*:

Safety

Trump has already inspired violence at his campaign rallies. Protests in Ferguson and Flint have created violent tensions. This weekend might continue the trend. The Committee to Protect Journalists have listed some safety guidelines in advance of the inauguration that are, like the Moscow Rules, applicable to everyone, including:

• Ensure that you have a full battery on your mobile phone.

• Get familiar with the area you are going to.

• Work out in advance what you would do in an emergency.

• Always try to stay with a friend

• Wear clothing and footwear that allows you to move swiftly.

• Plan an evacuation route as well an emergency rendezvous point if you are working with others.

• Read body language to identify aggressors and avoid them whenever possible.

Laws

Trumpzilla may have already broken dozens of laws to help him get sworn in. We don’t have that luxury, but we do have rights of protest, assembly and free speech. The American Civil Liberties Union has a list of helpful questions and answers about what you can and can’t do during a protest on their website.

Bathrooms, Food and Phones

The Women’s March might be completely safe and without interference from law enforcement, but it’s still going to be a day of long lines, standing outside and a lot of waiting.  You’re going to need to charge your phone, use the bathroom and eat. It’s best to bring the necessary accoutrements with you, but if you are going to DC, the Washingtonian has put together a list of places to help you live off the land for the day.

Back to Basics

Finally, if you need information about what you can bring, what to expect and how to get in and out of the area, the city of DC has put together this set of general rules and tips

Stay safe out there and let this protest inspire you to action.

Remember the Moscow Rules.

Have fun.

Gamal

* This post focuses on DC, but the general advice is applicable to any protest in any city.

Trumpzilla Might Be the Best Spy Ever

By Gamal Hennessy

I’ve been interested in spies and espionage for my entire adult life. I write about spies in my Crime and Passion Series. I read books on real and fictional spies. I watch a ton of spy movies. When I got out of law school, I might have even applied to the CIA (but I can’t confirm or deny anything). I consider myself a proud spy nerd, which is why Trumpzilla’s latest scandal is such a guilty pleasure for me.

According to unconfirmed reports, Russian spy agencies have collected a dossier of compromising information against Trumpzilla

“The memos describe sex videos involving prostitutes with Trumpzilla. They also suggest that Russian officials proposed various lucrative deals, essentially as disguised bribes in order to win influence over him. Finally, they describe several purported meetings during the 2016 presidential campaign between Trumpocalypse representatives and Russian officials to discuss matters of mutual interest, including the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta.”

• Scott Shane, Adam Goldman and Matthew Rosenberg for the New York Times

All this is pretty wild stuff, but the implications of the alleged information are of special interest to spy nerds everywhere. See, when a spy wants to manipulate someone, there are four major ways to do it based on the acronym MICE (which stands for Money, Ideology, Coercion and Excitement). Under normal circumstances, a spy picks one of the four methods depending on his or her target. But if the memos are accurate, then Putin made sure to use all four methods on Trumpzilla:

• Money: Bribes
• Ideology: *
• Coercion: Sex Videos
• Ego: Stroking his ego by helping him beat Clinton

From the perspective of a spy nerd, gaining control of a United States president has to be one of the most successful operations in the history of history. The Trojan Horse, D-Day and Madam Butterfly all pale in comparison. Why fight a war or steal secrets when you can control an entire country on demand?

Of course, if you are an American (or live on the planet Earth in general) this might be the worst thing ever, especially if the Trumpocalypse wipes out everything everywhere.

Well played, Comrade Putin. Well played indeed...

Have fun.

G

* Ideology is a dubious concept when it comes to Trumpzilla, since the only thing he believes in is himself.

The Trumpocalypse is a Black Hole of Fake News

By Gamal Hennessy

There is a cliche in self-help circles known as “fake it until you make it.” No one exemplifies the power of this slogan more than our president elect. He took a fake name, bragged about his fake business skill, parlayed it into a third rate fake TV show, and then rode a wave of fake promises and fake news all the way to the White House.

Trumpzilla might be the product of our age, but it appears that ‘Merica isn’t really sure what to do with him now that he’s coming into power. His supporters, his staff and “his” party are all struggling to deal with him and according to The Nation, the press is too fixated on the fake to report on the real.

:Then there’s the Twitter feed. Filled with falsehoods and threats, it has become a crack-like addiction for reporters, successfully diverting attention from reporting about Trump’s corruption, incompetence, ignorance, dishonesty, misogyny, prejudice, and authoritarian tendencies, to name just a few of the new president’s charms. Favoring spectacle over substance, journalists fall for this gambit every time—like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football."

Eric Alterman: The Nation,  The American Press Is Under Threat as Never Before

In 2004, Stanley Bing wrote a book called “What Would Machiavelli Do?” with a specific chapter on bullshit. One of his main examples of successful bullshit was Trumpzilla, even back then. Bing wrote “...in the art of bullshit (and it is an art, not a science) Trump towers above all others like a Colossus.”

This might have been fine for shady real estate deals and banal reality TV, but now he’s made it. While he can’t only perform at the level of his ability (160 characters or less), we don’t have to.

Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception.” In the modern war of information, Trumpzilla’s Twitter is a weapon of mass distraction. Once we look past the smoke and smear campaigns, we can resist the Trumpocalypse and restore some semblance of our sanity.

Have fun.

G

The Active Struggle Against the Trumpocalypse ​

By Gamal Hennessy

The dark cloud of the Inauguration creeps closer. Obama is taking his “victory” lap, making his “farewell” speeches. All of us have to prepare ourselves for a 2-4 year resistance. There have been several pieces written in the past few weeks offering advice on fighting the scourge that is Trumpzilla, but Charles Blow was succinct in his oped piece in today’s New York Times.

"When politics seem out of your control, remember that community and culture are very much in your control. We help shape the world we inhabit every day. A life is a collection of thousands of decisions, large and small, made every day. Make those decisions with purpose and conviction, especially [during the Trumpocalypse]"

- Charles Blow, The Anti-Inauguration

His suggested list of activities are broad and varied:

• Protest him, his actions and what he stands for in public.

• Volunteer to help all the people he plans to attack

• Donate to the causes he plans to victimize

• Subscribe to credible news sources

• Read to educate yourself on the issues

• Write to the people in power to frame the discussion

• Love your tribe and let them know it

January 20th, 2021 can’t come soon enough. Until the final day of the Trumpocalypse, many of us will fight him and what he represents. This list and others like it will help. Some of us will not make it, but it is often the struggle that defines us, not the outcome.

Have fun

Gamal

Kidnapped by the Police

By Gamal Hennessy

There are pockets of American law enforcement using the tactics of totalitarian dictatorships. The New York Times recently published a story on a Justice Department investigation on the police departments in Louisiana. According to the report, police held people for days without any justification or even accusing them of a crime. The pattern of “investigative holds” (i.e. government sponsored kidnapping) focused on minority populations.

“Officers have routinely arrested hundreds of citizens annually without probable cause, strip-searching them and denying them contact with their family and lawyers for days — all in an unconstitutional attempt to force cooperation with detectives who finally admitted they were operating on a mere “hunch” or “feeling.””

— The New York Times Editorial Board

Systemic abuse by the police against minority communities is fundamental to ‘Merican culture. If killing people for flimsy reasons is condoned, and the prison industrial complex profits from mass incarceration, then being held in jail for a “hunch” doesn’t seem that bad. But when the Justice Department answers to Trumpzilla, how many of these abuses will be investigated and stopped? What would prevent the Trumpocalypse from adopting government sponsored kidnapping as a political tool to intimidate and remove elements of society that don’t fall in line? How soon will it be before isolated pockets of secret police become the norm?

Remember the Moscow Rules.

Has America Already Turned its Back on Trumpzilla?

By Gamal Hennessy

Trumpzilla claims to have lots of friends. He’s desperate for the photo ops with Kanye (while building his Legion of Doom). He pontificates about his love for Putin (especially since that whole election tampering thing). He even talks to the President of Taiwan (threatening to destabilize Asian geopolitics). Yes, a lot of people love Trumpzilla, but does America?

According to a recent article by George Edwards III of the Washington Post, Trumpzilla lacks four of the basic fundamentals of popular support:

1.       He has no mandate based on the popular vote

2.       The American people don’t support his policies

3.       Public opinion is polarized

4.       Our public opinion is not a malleable factor

Now keep in mind, a lack of public support isn’t necessarily going to end the Trumpocalypse. Trumpzilla will still try to run rampant over the Constitution and sell the country off to his friends. And we are the same people who just knew Clinton was sure to win the White House, so we could be completely wrong…again. We know ‘Merica loves Trumpzilla, but he might not have as many friends as he thinks. Maybe long term public rejection will subdue the raging beast and send him back to the tacky golf course he came from.

Have fun.

G

Who Gave the Trump Zombies a Monopoly on Social Media?

By Gamal Hennessy

As the Trumpocalypse begins to take shape on the horizon, the Resistance looks for new tactics to help in the struggle. Like everyone else in the modern world, law makers on all levels are using social media to get the message out and win the war of words. But that will change if the Trump Zombies get their way.

“House Republicans have proposed punishing representatives who shoot video or take photos on the floor of the chamber — a change in rules seen as a direct response to a dramatic sit-in in June by House Democrats demanding a vote on gun control legislation that was streamed live online.”

— FRANK THORP V: NBC News

So why is it that Trumpzilla can tweet anything he wants, any time he wants, and manipulate mainstream and social media at will, but any attempt by the Resistance to shed light on the process of government is met with a proposed fine? The hypocritical demand for asymmetric media access isn’t new. Totalitarian regimes do it all the time. But maybe if we get a chance to see how Washington is really governed, we can limit the damage Trumpzilla and his Zombies can do.

Have fun.
G

2016 Is Our Year of Brutality

By Gamal Hennessy

There are only a few days left in the year, and for many of us the end can’t come soon enough. Members of my generation have seen our icons fall in film and music. The wider world is bracing for Brexit, the Trumpocalypse and ongoing bloodbaths in Syria, Yemen and South Sudan. The most sensational brutality of the year might be a recent phenomenon, but the cruelty that has faded from the headlines and mainstream consciousness is embedded in the fabric of ‘Merican culture.  Police brutality and violence against people of color had a prominent place in the public consciousness this year, but not much has changed on the ground.

From Anton Sterling to Jessica Williams to Philando Castile to Korryn Gaines to Tyre King to Terence Crutcher to Taiwon Boyd to Levonia Riggins to Keith Scott to Alfred Olango to Deborah Danner we find a pattern.  The gender, age, and geographic location might have been different for each victim, but the outcome was the same. Our police use our funding to murder us and face little or no consequences for their actions.

And all this occurred under the administration of an arguably progressive, feminist, black president. Do we have any reason to believe police brutality will decrease under Trumpzilla? Is there any chance the motivations of police will change? What is the likelihood that people will stop labelling us as criminal simply because of our race? Our society shares several characteristics with the slave ships of the Middle Passage. Those similarities are likely to deepen once we replace Obama with Trumpzilla.

None of us are fortune tellers. We don’t know what 2017 will bring, but it’s safe to say some of us won’t make it to see 2018. All we can really do is listen, learn, fight, work, create and love the people who are important to us.

Good luck to everyone who reads this. Remember the Moscow Rules.

Have fun.