Do not resign. Defeatism begets defeat.
Christopher Wray surrendered the FBI without struggle. Sad!
Someone once told me: “Don’t let anyone fuck you for free.” This has since been an ethos. It is imperative to make it costly for people to do me harm. I can be hurt, but adversaries must work for it. LabCorp, for example, once sent me a surprise medical bill. Weeks later, they had certainly paid more money to the phone bankers and supervisors who took my calls than they extracted from me.
Timothy Snyder’s aphorism, “Do not obey in advance,” is a less crude and more popular expression of this, but I prefer mine because it acknowledges a harder truth—sometimes, you will get fucked.
Not everybody was raised with that sense of resistance. On December 12, 2024, as an early Christmas (or as I like to call it, “holidays”) present for the worst people in America, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced:
“I’ve decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down. This is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.”
To be clear: this is not the right thing for the Bureau or the country.
Historically, FBI Directors do not change between administrations—they serve for 10 years. In 2017, Mr. Wray took over the Bureau after James Comey was scandalously fired for failing to pledge his loyalty to the mad king. (The pee tape was also involved.) His term ought to last until 2027, but because President-elect Donald Trump imagined firing Mr. Wray and replacing him with weird McCarthyite simp Kash Patel (or “Kush Patel,” as I like to call him, because that sycophantic fool has got to be smoking something nasty), Mr. Wray decided to make life easier for the 🍊🤡 and worse for America.
Big mistake.
Like any other mistreated bureaucrat, Mr. Wray ought to have forced Mr. Trump to fire him so he could collect unemployment in the District of Columbia. So now Fuckface von Clownstick can install his sniveling minion. Thanks, Chris. You really put your country first.
I am bitter, but I suppose I do not blame Chris. He is not alone in giving up the fight. Defeatism is contagious. People online often sound proud of edgy doomerism, the "America is over,” “we will never win again,” “we’re fucked,” and "nothing can stop Trump" attitudes. It does make them sound super cool and cynical. But if you talk like this, ask yourself: What if you are convincing? What if someone with power comes to conclude you are right? If you believe fighting is futile, the path of least resistance is disengaging and securing your bag elsewhere.
Holocaust Survivor and psychologist Viktor Frankl asked people why they did not give up and kill themselves when they were hopeless. I have adapted that by asking peers dead set on defeatism why they do not simply play it safe, keep their heads down, and become Republicans. (More colorfully: “Have you considered surrendering and licking Trump’s boots with the rest of the kneelers?” The question shocks them, and they will exclaim, “Hell no! I am no monster!” An encouraging answer, but I respect monsters more than their food.
If we want the Establishment professionals to show spine and protect institutions, then we cannot act like Marvin the Paranoid Android. We need to project fighting spirit and inspire it in others. I get it. Hope is futile, America is dead, we are all fucked, etc. But there must be some ethical responsibility not to be a damn downer.
I especially reject the "Let Trump voters touch the hot stove and get what they voted for" approach championed by the Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last. It works great as a thought experiment. It is satisfying as spite. In a world where nothing happening to Mr. Trump’s voters affected anyone else, it would be just and good for them to taste the poison they insisted on cooking. But it is not morally correct. It does not help any long-term prospects for the Democratic Party, which must improve its long-term prospects.
75,014,534 good Americans voted for Vice-President Kamala Harris in 2024—1.5 percent less as did not. They voted Democratic because they wanted to oppose the bad stuff Mr. Trump does and promises to do. If we are not seen as fighting hard, pushing back, the suspicious parts of our base that do not trust us to fight are not going to accept failure as anything less than complicity with Trumpism. Hell, if we fight and lose, mean leftists on Reddit will still accuse us of enabling.
Insufficiently obstructing Mr. Trump will be more damaging to the Democratic brand than people in their mourning realize. There may be real value to going to the closet and getting some of the kitschy #Resistance garb out.
If those old pink pussy hats and #Resist shirts are too worn and ragged from mothbites, however, I would recommend checking out our merchandise store and purchasing the apex of Anti-Trump wear, the Trump is a Bitch shirt.
