In less than a week, the United States will inaugurate a fascist as president. Millions of people, especially those that are marginalized, rightfully fear what the future will bring. But that fear isn't necessarily a bad thing.
What's clear is that the next four years are going to be hell for marginalized people. Trump himself has promised to create a mass deportation force and ban all Muslims. His vice president is in favor of electrocuting queer kids until they become straight and using AIDS money to fund it. His attorney general (the man in charge of defending civil rights) has said that the NAACP and ACLU are "un-American" He also once called a black civil rights lawyer "boy." His national security advisor believes that the fear of Muslims is "rational" and that Islam is a "cancer." And, of course, his chief strategist is a blatant white supremacist.
Some people claim that we shouldn't worry about Trump because US political institutions will protect marginalized people. But this ignores all the horrible things that have happened to marginalized people throughout US history, often with the support of these same institutions.
Besides, Trump doesn't necessarily have to be a blatant tyrant to do significant damage. For instance, Reagan wrecked havoc on marginalized people and almost all of his policies were within the confines of the law. Reagan and his administration started the racist "War on Drugs," cut necessary services for low-income people and literally laughed as the LGBTQ+ community was almost completely wiped out from AIDS. No political institution stopped him from doing any of that.
Others have argued that marginalized people shouldn't be concerned because we've survived worse. Black people survived Jim Crow, Native Americans survived a genocide, the LGBTQ+ community survived the AIDS epidemic, etc.
This is a nice sentiment, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't be afraid. It is true that marginalized people, throughout history, have survived a lot. But a lot of innocent people still suffered and died in the process.
And the even scarier part of all this is that Trump is only the beginning of our problems. All across Europe, there has been an intense right-wing backlash, primarily fueled by white racial anxiety. If Marie Le Pen wins in France next year, she will join the UN Security Council, along with Donald Trump, Theresa May, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
In the United States, Trump has opened the floodgates. By all means, he should have lost the election. His campaign consistently descended into chaos, he got decimated in both debates and his incompetence was so blatant that it was almost comical. Yet, he still won primarily because of white racial anxiety.
Trump's win sends a political message that blatant white supremacy is not something to be avoided. In fact, explicitly embracing white supremacy is now a winning strategy. Even if Trump himself turns out to be a minor threat, there will be more like him in the future.
Considering all this, I would argue that it's rational to be afraid. Fear can actually be a good motivational factor for organizing. So instead of trying to convince ourselves not to be afraid, we should instead use that fear to build the resistance.
