The contagion of courage

Jo Ellen Grzyb, a member of this Substack community, noted in response to one of my posts that she’s seeing a lot of the phrase “courage is contagious.” She mentioned Bernie, AOC, Cory Booker, Tim Walz, Jasmine Crockett, and Elizabeth Warren.

She’s right. And in these darkening times, this contagion is critically important.

A staggering 36,000 people attended Bernie and AOC’s rally in Los Angeles; 34,000 attended their rally in Denver. These numbers are unprecedented.

Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of you turned out in your communities to condemn Trump and his regime. In front of the White House, protesters shouted “shame!”

This is the contagion of courage.

Every person who stands up to the Trump regime’s lawlessness and cruelty summons others to do the same.

Every prominent politician who stands up to Trump’s tyranny invites other politicians to stand up to it.

Every institutional leader who defies Trump’s orders encourages other institutional leaders to defy similar orders.

When Harvard has the courage to say no to Trump, leaders of other universities are fortified to do the same. When law firms such as Perkins Coie and Williams & Connolly stand up to his tyranny, they make it easier for other firms to join them.

It is not that America lacks courage. It is just that we’ve become so cut off from one another — so atomized and isolated — that many of us feel alone. That loneliness makes us feel vulnerable and fearful.

Likewise, the leaders of many of our institutions — universities, law firms, museums, media — are so disconnected from one another that they fear their institutions are vulnerable to Trump’s tyranny.

But when all of us are surrounded by courageous people and brave institutional leaders, all of us become more courageous. We gain strength from the courage of others.

The lesson of history is that tyrants cannot be appeased. Appeasement only feeds their insatiable hunger for power.

Tyrants prey on people who feel unsafe and vulnerable. That’s the attraction of Trumpism — offering a false sense of security and inclusion. That’s what Hitler offered as well, and Stalin, and all the other “strongmen” in history — who ended up murdering millions.

But without mass submission, a tyrant is powerless.

As we resist Trump’s tyranny, America gains solidarity.

As we gain solidarity, we feel more courageous.

As we feel courageous and stand up to Trump, we weaken him and his regime.

As we weaken Trump and his regime, we have less to fear.

Robert Reich, Substack