Shut Up About Trump—It's Not Resistance

Why Obsessing Over American Politics is a Waste of Time

American politics has become the most absurd, energy-draining soap opera in modern history. Every few years, people pick their teams—red vs. blue, left vs. right—foaming at the mouth over manufactured talking points, as if their favorite millionaire politician actually gives a damn about them. Meanwhile, the planet burns, wealth concentrates in fewer and fewer hands, and industrial civilization barrels toward ecological collapse. But sure, let’s obsess over the latest scandal, the crazy tweets, the next election cycle, and the same tired arguments that never lead to real change.

Do people not see the pattern? Every administration, no matter the party, serves the interests of corporations, the military-industrial complex, and the insatiable machine of economic expansion. The wars don’t stop, the surveillance doesn’t stop, the destruction of the biosphere doesn’t stop. Yet every election, the masses delude themselves into thinking this time will be different. It won’t. Because the entire system is designed to maintain itself at all costs.

This isn't cynicism; it's reality. The economic and political machine is built on exploitation, violence, and control​. The left and right may bicker over cultural issues, but when it comes to maintaining industrial society, plundering resources, and keeping power centralized, they are in lockstep. As David Harvey explains, neoliberalism—a bipartisan project—has systematically transferred wealth upward while gutting social programs, all under the guise of "economic freedom"​.

Yet, people continue their impotent rituals: debating on social media, worshipping candidates, treating politics like sports. It’s all distraction. Real power lies in dismantling the systems that are destroying the world—not in electing another puppet to manage the decline.

If people spent even half the energy they waste on political theater, instead building local resilience, fighting ecological destruction, and breaking their dependence on the industrial economy, we'd be in a much better place. Instead, they’ll keep obsessing over polls, cable news, and meaningless debates while civilization rots from the inside.

But Wait…. Donald Trump and DOGE are dismantling the federal bureaucracy, eroding our liberties. We can’t just ignore fascism!

But we should….

Even if Trump’s DOGE is slashing the federal bureaucracy to the bone, even if his administration has drifted toward outright authoritarianism, obsessing over it is still a futile distraction. Why? Because American politics is a managed spectacle.

Let’s be clear: If Trump’s administration is dismantling regulatory agencies, gutting social services, or concentrating power in a strongman government, that’s bad. But was the federal bureaucracy ever truly working for the people? Or was it always a machine designed to protect capital, manage dissent, and serve corporate interests? Before DOGE came along, did the EPA stop the oil industry? Did the SEC prevent Wall Street’s pillaging? Did the DOJ hold war criminals accountable? No. The system was already rigged, already corrupt, already serving power, just with a more polite face.

The real trap here is mistaking bureaucratic stability for justice, or assuming that defending the status quo is resistance. A more bloated, entrenched bureaucracy wasn’t going to save us from climate collapse, the destruction of ecosystems, or the ongoing economic cannibalism of neoliberalism. People are horrified by Trump’s destruction, but the system he’s wrecking wasn’t benevolent—it was an empire in decline, grasping for relevance in a collapsing world.

And here’s the kicker: even if Trump is genuinely a fascist, history shows that centralized industrial societies tend toward authoritarianism anyway. When empires start collapsing, they don’t turn democratic and kind—they crack down, they consolidate, they manufacture enemies. Today it’s Trump’s DOGE. Tomorrow it’ll be a Biden 2.0 surveillance state under the guise of "restoring order." Either way, the machine grinds on.

Fascism isn’t the disease—it’s a symptom of a civilization in freefall. The real work isn’t fighting to restore some mythical pre-Trump normalcy; it’s breaking free from the entire industrial death march before it drags everything down with it​. So no, spending your life screaming about Trump 2025 isn’t just futile—it’s playing into the hands of a system that wants you distracted while it devours the planet.

End rant…