We Take the Fall
Nothing is enough

ELIZABETH GEORGE
July 20, 2026

At the end of the day, it’s on us—the voters of America—that Donald Trump is destroying not only the reputation of the United States but also the country itself. Those of us who didn’t vote for him any of the three times he ran for President, those of us who would have endured burning bamboo slivers placed under our fingernails before we ever would have voted for him might be able to say “Don’t blame me. I voted for Hillary” or “I voted for Harris” or “I voted for Biden.” But the reality is that, no matter whose interference or whose money put him into the Presidency, we have him as our President. We also have a Congress that he controls. We also have a Supreme Court that he controls (please don’t soothe yourself with the idea that the conservative justices are “voting their consciences” when they grant him unlimited power). We have a Justice Department controlled by him. We have a table full of Cabinet heads controlled by him. And all of this is on us—on our shoulders—because so many of us cannot stir ourselves to do anything about the situation.

It feels overwhelming because Trump and his GOP minions are making it feel overwhelming. They’re pouring into the vast pool of American life one outrage after another until we feel that we’re drowning in them, without having the ability to swim to safety. So, we do the only thing that appears to offer a handhold for us: we turn off the nightly news; we cease reading the daily newspapers (if, indeed, we even take a daily newspaper any longer); we tune in to streaming services for diversions; we throw up our hands in a mock surrender that isn’t a mock surrender at all. It’s the real thing.

Not long ago, the heads of the countries belonging to NATO met. It was during this conference that Donald Trump defended his actions in starting an unprovoked war with Iran. It seemed to be his belief that the other NATO countries owed the United States their participation in this unprovoked war, especially since the NATO countries “owed” the United States not only their liberation from Nazi Germany in World War II but also their very continued existence. During one of his public statements—which was broadcasted on television—he called the Iranian people “scum.” He was not referring to the Revolutionary Guard, and he was not referring to the current government of Iran. He made it clear that he was referring to all of the Iranian people as “scum.”

If you can, I’d like you to sit with that for a moment: a President of the United States calling an entire nation of people “scum” with absolute impunity, a President of the United States who appears to believe that he can say anything he wishes to say and do anything he wishes to do without anyone in power holding him to account for his words and his actions. Indeed, there was such silence from people in high governmental positions after Trump said this, that I began to think I had imagined it. Except…I hadn’t.

The perplexing question to which I have absolutely no answer is this: when is enough going to be enough? When is enough going to be enough for the Supreme Court? When is enough going to be enough for both the Senate and the House of Representatives? When is enough going to be enough for the Heads of States that still pay calls upon the White House? When is enough going to be enough for the billionaires who gayly support him, for the corporations that cooperate with him, for the Universities that have bent the knee to him, for the Congressional hopefuls running for office? Most of all, when is enough going to be enough for the American voters who—with every chance to stop him—have continued to support for him through their indifference and their inaction?

There is nothing subtle about Donald Trump and there never has been. He has worn every dark facet of his personality and every base impulse and unsavory aspect of his character openly from the escalator ride straight into the present moment. Yet only one person has refused to be cowed by him: E. Jean Carroll. For years, she maintained her position that he had defamed her, and she was finally awarded what she was owed from the defamation suit that she brought against him. In the meantime, the former “fixer” who had for a time spoken out against Trump—Michael Cohen—now claims that his current relationship with Trump is “cordial and growing” and he declares that he and Trump have met privately and are “putting the past aside and moving forward.” The why of this is an interesting question. Trump’s involvement with people is always transactional. Michael Cohen will be no exception.

Trump is now setting his sights on our November 2026 elections. As always, there is nothing subtle about his approach to undermining both the election itself and voters’ faith in the election. He has never had to be subtle before, and, as he perceives it from his past successes, there is no reason to be subtle now. So, he is applying to the election accusations, innuendos, and outright declarations so that anything less than a majority of victories for GOP candidates across the country will be questioned, will be denounced, will be the subject of recounts and court cases and protests and public disruptions that can be declared terrorist-sponsored, terrorist-organized, or—and this appears to be his latest baseless allegation—communist-inspired. The voting machines will have been tampered with; a foreign country will have been involved; Antifa will have been behind all of it; the “deep state” will have once again made itself known as the real power behind the perceived power of the government.

You and I know that the only way to win in this situation that Trump is orchestrating—because, believe me, there will be no stopping it—is to storm the polls in numbers so vast, so calm, and so patient that nothing Trump and his mewling cronies say will have the power to convince anyone other than the most blinded of his cult members that the election was anything but absolutely authentic. If that means packing a lunch, snacks, and adequate water for a lengthy wait in line to vote, we do that. If that means ignoring insults and imprecations from those with the intent to intimidate, we do that. We decide that, in a world of Michael Cohens and E. Jean Carrolls, we’re not going to engage in “putting the past aside and moving forward.” We are going to become E. Jean Carrolls, engaged in the process of putting an end to the toxicity that has seeped into virtually every area of American life.

I wish there were an easier way to eliminate the myriad calamities and crises we will be faced with in the coming years as a result of Donald Trump’s two Presidencies. And if you who are reading this have a way in mind, please let me know. Like you I am sick to death of Donald Trump and his obsequious cohorts. Like you, I want him gone. But failing having him gone before 2028, we must render him powerless. As of this moment, November 2026 is the only method we have to do it.

© 2026 Elizabeth George
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104