Jason Miciak

This election season's message is painfully simple — Democrats must show up as the adults and run as the parent and grandparent ready to deal with what remains of this adolescent mess.

Perhaps it will feel familiar to many, a rush to arrive and survey the damage, knowing someone has to take over, organize, and clean. It will not be the fundamentally unequipped, the delinquents, the kids. Once again it will be us, the Dems.

To the extent this administration adheres to any one ethos, it's not about making anything great. It's much more "because we could!" accompanied with a vacant smile, dopamine-lit eyes, someone reflexively acting in self-interest in the moment, no thought about tomorrow, or others, living second to second, fully adolescent, still impressed only that he can do it, never wondering if he should.

That is the Trump administration and all movement MAGAs — think Pete Hegseth.

In the same way that adult family and friends have for ages shown up at the car accident, the police station, the doctor's office, and taken over, Democrats must move from here to November, and beyond, holding to one core value, both as principle and character trait: "time to hand it to grown-ups."

It is a job as thankless as it is obvious, and all too familiar.

Democrats cleaned up after the George W. Bush administration's coddling of Wall Street nearly drowned the world's economy in a sea of CDOs and swaps. In 2021, Dems took over like a well-run PTA to ensure the world's most-necessary vaccine got distributed and a society rebooted amidst an epidemic killing millions. Democrats must move forward again today, ready to simply deal with the daylight after this administration's dark run. The job will be semi-familiar, though never close to this level, and yet the path to office and power, the path to opportunity to limit and clean, has never been clearer.

The "issues" barely matter anymore.

One can look at literally almost any action this administration takes, whether it is the Iranian war, the now unconcealed racism and misogyny at the root of the anti-DEI rampage, the grift-gift, decimation of the healthcare system to cover tax cuts to billionaires, doesn't matter — it's all done with teen glee, caring only about today and themselves, not the consequences for us or even themselves. And it's time to call it what it is, the inevitable result of wrongly empowered kids, entirely free of adult predisposition, never mind supervision.

They made football and video game memes amidst war, fired general officers for being women or Black — lacking all shame. Like kids everywhere, they do it "because they can." Any Democrat wanting to make a difference in stopping this or eventually helping to clean it up had best come forward infused with utter earnestness and candor. "It is time to stop, grow up, and clean up." Projecting any politics is malpractice.

It sounds simple, and yet it is also so damned powerful. The true gravitas granted by being "an adult in the room" acts as nuclear kryptonite to these super-kids. See Megyn Kelly's reaction to simple "adulting," when she recently referenced Hall of Fame Adult Pete Buttigieg and many other Democrats, catastrophizing like the mean-girl cheerleader willing to burn the town to a pile before allowing a rival prom-queen, promising to vote Republican even if Trump dropped a nuke because:

"That's when I think Democrat, that's what I think. That's smug, arrogant. I'm better than you. I look down my nose on you. Even though you've done three tours of duty. ... That to me, I could never vote for, never."

Perfect Trumpism, never sounding more high school, never more afraid of a teacher, a parent, someone judging what just happened and saying, "No, we should not be openly attacking the world, threatening genocide, embracing racism, paying off billionaires, now knock it off and go home." And that's because Kelly does, in fact, know that adults would step in and be better than this — much better. There is no reaching Kelly with any message.

But she's hardly the norm. Real people, real grown-ups still exist and terrify the GOP.

Maturity must be the platform.

I am not currently advising any single candidate, but the message to all Democrats out there now is to drop all political pretense. Instead, message out with a candid, "I care, and I will help fix it." Look at Mayor Mamdani in New York City and his approach — young, yet an adult in charge. Rising Texan star, precocious James Talerico, has some of the same juice; it's about approach, not age. Senators Chris Murphy, Mark Kelly, and Amy Klobuchar (Speaking of Minnesotans) long carried this message while also being the type everyone relies on when things get bad.

That is the message from this point forward. Adult supervision, the games are over, grow up, accountability is coming, and then assuring the world, "We've got this now." That is everything needed for a world needing saving.

Sad that it's so simple, isn't it? But simple doesn't mean easy, indeed — in this case, it's the exact opposite.

But this is where we stand. It doesn't matter why it's third down and 15; it just is. Life plays out this way for grown-ups every day, from intra-family to international. Inevitably, as bad as things get, whether it be troops in Iran or a drunken fight at a prom, testosterone-powered and poisoned rides eventually end. A typical Hegseth "because we could, brah!" butts up against a global "no more." The party ends, daylight comes, sober assessments get made, plans formed, find a first down and move the ball — that's what adults do.

It is also the Democratic platform from now until grown-ups govern — as compelling as it is needed, as true as it is sad. The simpler, the more mature, the more powerful. Stand ready to take over for the kids playing the most dangerous games. They hate that we know better and really hate already knowing that resolutions require consequences and rules. It will be extremely hard. Kids hate getting caught.

But the world has literally never needed us more. Fortunately, they're not asking for superheroes, merely adults.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist at Large, former associate editor of Occupy Democrats, author, and attorney. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, still seeking a few more beta readers for his latest soon to be released novel.

As we go about our spring, awaiting the latest drop of "The Pitt," putting money on the Final Four, or indefatiguiably scrolling dog videos on "X," it's all too easy to pretend that, as bad as things may be, they remain "managably bad," not so bad as to touch you personally, not "that bad," anyway.

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, please set that comforting thought aside, because things are aligned to get "bad" in a way that most certainly does impact you, badly. Summer is coming, and not just any summer.

This summer promises the confluence of several "once in a generation" moments, and it's best to prepare now. Prepare as one of the "better Americans" the world needs to see.

Things are bad even outside the current political climate. Prices continue to rise, rents are now well over one-third of income, job creation is a thing of the past, the stock market — long overly propped up by exuberant AI investment — is set to burst, and even as Oracle lays off 30,000 employees, AI hasn't yet even checked its coat at the job-loss dance.

And absolutely none of this is getting better while gas remains above $4-a-gallon — a price that may soon sound like a fire sale.

Of course, on top of all of this — and, indeed, exacerbating it plenty, the U.S. is at war, primarily going it alone, burning nearly century-old alliances in a fight the administration couldn't even fake justifying to citizens, too busy making video game memes, leading many to conclude the mission involves keeping Epstein off the front pages, and pleasing Israeli P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu, neither mutually exclusive, nor necessarily unrelated.

Indeed, we appear to be days away from American soldiers on the ground on Kharg Island, a formerly unknown piece of land that few knew functions as the fulcrum for global petro-transport, all threatening to toss global markets into further chaos.

The backdrop constitutes a nightmare of Elm Street order, and would under any administration, but the civilization-threatening dangers only increase exponentially given the nation is led by perhaps the single least adult, least competent, most self-interested, and corrupt administration in memory, perhaps history.

A normal president would have appointed a commission of business leaders and politicians working on how to best integrate AI into a workforce with government programs to create jobs, retrain workers, and develop supplemental income by taxing the billionaires, perhaps real talk about Universal Basic Income — it's time. But all of that presupposes adults in charge.

Instead, we have the "Save America Act," which simply makes it harder to vote, harder to respond to emergencies, harder to evict the people that ushered this in.

Summer is coming. Things happen in summer that don't during any other season; how many hot "firsts" in your life occurred during a summer night? Warmer days bring about more time outside, during later hours, often meaning more alcohol, less sleep. Darkness creates doubt, both on scene in the moment and then the impact in the light of day. This coming summer, riding the war, ICE, prices, Trump — all of it, would be notable on its own, long, hot, and very, very dangerous. But this is no ordinary summer.

Raising matters to Shakespearean tragic comedy level, America is celebrating its birthday this July — entering middle-aged, as countries go. And like many middle-aged birthdays, it comes with some reflection about where we stand, whether we even like ourselves, and where we go from here. Making it worse, rather than have a quiet party among family, we've invited the world to our bash, hosting the world's largest sporting event in FIFA's World Cup, where our best and worst will be on display.

The world will look to America, its host, and rather than see a grateful, generous, modest, and caring nation, the one that saved Europe and Asia post WWII, won the Cold War, and provides disaster relief, it will see Donald Trump — master of ceremonies at the UFC octagon built at the White House, face on a commemorative coin, overseeing a military parade the likes of which only a fascist could love, all taking place in and around what was formerly some of the most respected, hallowed ground on Earth. Masked stormtroopers we call "ICE agents" will be the "face" of America.

Expect more thoughtful Americans to do nearly anything to disassociate themselves with the "patriotic hate-kitsch." We loathe who we've become, can't stand masked ICE agents killing protesters, and kidnapping undocumented workers. We don't support our "Secretary of War" bombing schools to distract from headlines. We're tired of being governed by oligarchs forcing us to work two jobs to barely pay rent, furious that two bags of groceries cost three figures, sigh upon hearing of more lay-offs due to AI, and tired of hearing about ballrooms, presidential crypto-schemes, presidential planes, and cognitive screens "aced" by a fading man.

It will be hot and, with the world's cameras pointed at the United States, expect decent Americans to show up to say "I'm not with them!" and "there is more to America than the man in the White House and those in red hats." As a means of self-cleansing alone, we'll want to distinguish ourselves from faux American-exceptionalism, false pride. It must be done.

But expect the man in the White House to use the situation to his advantage to claim every ounce of power that no previous president wanted. Between millions of us protesting what we have become and the militancy within the oligarchy-in-formation, something will almost surely break.

And please don't discount the possibility that it might be the stock market that breaks first (or at least concurrently), and thus your retirement, your job, your job prospects, "Dow 30k" for those of you who remember irrational exuberance. The only reason that the stock market is even in the mid-40,000 is a massive investment in AI — which, may be the single most destructive economic tool humanity ever created, even assuming it harmlessly does exactly what we ask, and in doing so disappears anywhere from 25%-33% of actual jobs performed by people in need of a paycheck to then go shop at Walmart.

It is April now, and you'd be a fool to think that this summer won't be the longest, hottest, most torrid on record — and it's time to begin preparations.

First, don't stray far from home — who can afford it with gas at $5 anyway? But more importantly, we have a president who is dying to utilize the Insurrection Act, federalizing troops — think "ICE" only better trained. The single last place you want to be if Trump federalizes policing is 2,000 miles from home. Stay close, spend your money on your neighbors.

We have the road map to summer success already. "No Kings" builds momentum with each event, decentralized, democracy at its finest, everywhere - let's repeat, only right in the middle of the festivities, the 250th, the World Cup. One word of caution, though - daytime only, strict curfews. Be responsible. He is dying to invoke as much police power as possible; don't hand him unearned gifts — it's also safer for you.

Welcome the world — the good people of the United States WANT you here. We are proud of who we really are, so let us show you. Let's show you how we protest peacefully, respectfully, away from areas where innocents might otherwise get caught up and get hurt. Trump introduced an "alternative Super Bowl Halftime Show" — perhaps the decent people of the United States could put together an alternative to the octagon and military muscle, focus on the gifts this country has given to the world, the science, the disaster relief, the art, there is endless material.

But everyone had better start to prepare now, put your summer plans in place. It is going to be hot and uncomfortable on many levels. Have no doubt, Donald Trump will likely feel his administration falling apart by summer, making this a dangerous place. Do what you can to make your corner of this country safer, helping your neighbors, building up a real national community, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood.

It is already getting hot and only getting hotter. Best to prepare. Lots of frozen drinks, care, humanity, and smiles, looking out for one another — find a way to help someone else. No ICE, no orange King. We are bigger than any one man or even one party. Let's send the world a message we can be proud of.

A lot of America is still pretty cool.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist at Large, a former associate editor at Occupy Democrats, author, and American Attorney. He can be followed on Bluesky, and reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, and is seeking beta readers for a soon-to-be-released novel.

There may have been no more honest action in this administration than when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted the Pentagon was predicated on war, tossing aside former assumptions that it engaged only in "defense." And here we are.

Only one year into his term, President Donald Trump ordered troops into a war without an articulable argument as to an Iranian threat, never mind justification proven by fact. Appropriately, the result ensures Trump's eventual personal demise, but sadly, too, the destruction of the American public's hard-earned global goodwill. But struggle back anyway.

Trump will eventually go, but unlike the first term, the war now vitiates any chance that decent nations forgive and forget, not this time. Of course, this is what happens when unserious people plow forward in a seriously dangerous and unforgivable cause.

Hegseth spends news conferences berating media coverage, before taking notice of the bodies of service members, all because even in war, content is seriously king.

Absolutely, the vast majority of the American public understands the administration's motivation with drone-like precision. Our Secretary of "War," under our president's predation, desperately needs an outlet to ensure his "bro" followers concentrate on it all being alpha-cool.

The White House supports that same need with video memes, "pow" — straight out of video games, literally. To be sure, the world, too, despondently sees the same mystifying behavior, one enjoyed by far too many of our fellow citizens, a "real action" movie that plays out to horrified audiences elsewhere.

A most serious war by the most unserious people ensures well-deserved consequences, ones as unbounded as imprecise, impossible to predict.

But again, here we are. Indeed, momentarily and embarrassingly, embrace exactly where we are, the world sure does. A president in a ballcap over bodies.

A "Secretary of War" obsessed with the media play:

The wartime president dancing the night away:

An insulting Orwellian assurance, higher gas prices, all needed to bring gas prices down.

See?

The world sure sees.

Of course, we soothe ourselves knowing Trump can't last. Indeed, again, the war ensures he likely falls even sooner. Just know, the world remains unsoothed knowing that the American voters who put these men in place do last, and again, unserious voters usher in the most serious result. "We" don't trust these people, nor do they.

But the global community's response — redirecting trade, shifting alliances, and abandoning assumptions — that reaction will last much longer than an impending national political solution. Dems will surely get their mid-term blue wave; meanwhile, the world will just wave.

But as undeniable and inevitable the result may be, Americans must expend every effort to at least minimize the extent. It is awfully tempting to just give up. It's done. We're gone, at least from where we were. But it can always get worse — always, the result more impactful and enduring unless abated, however that may be done.

Perhaps the only good news in all this is that unserious people who wage war without real analysis are just as vulnerable to paper bombs from files, revolts over coffins, or simply the public exhaustion that simply bursts forth in unanticipated ways, all against an administration just as flat-footed, just as politically unaware and unserious. Movements and cults stand impervious to pushback right up until they're not, and are, by definition, even more impervious to resurrection.

Trump and Hegseth seem astonished that Iran closed the Hormuz Straight, paralyzing the transport of energy across the globe. Assuredly, they'll be no less astonished if and when the American public's rage — one born of hard work and faith — paralyzes any dodge, any cover-up, freezing the situation in place. Nowhere to go.

See? The world will see that, too. And, no, they won't forgive and forget, the consequences cascading, exact end results unforeseeable. But the struggle to crawl back must begin somewhere, so let it start now, at least in some way.

The Trumpers tell us this all avoids Iran's nuclear threat. Fine. Force them to prove it and call your Congressional representative again. Because the administration is not ready to meet that demand straight up.

We know the administration wanted a diversion from Epstein revelations. Not fine. Save some focus on the Epstein matter because their every action, every speech, all of it, belies a resulting fear of their demise. Call your Congressional representative again.

Protest the war, project our seriousness, share the world's shock. Vote for God's sake... at least demand it. Congress definitely hears that message, even a third time.

The most serious action by the most unserious people, all of it unsustainable, consequences just as assurable, remains inevitable. Meet it all with serious action, still, because the world depends on us, even as it backs away. Rest assured.

It's all just so awful. But they've laid their seed of destruction, rest also assured.

Because war to avoid talk of rape? Well, these unserious "war fighters" finally found a battle way too serious. Make that call — the world is listening.

We live strongly tempted to believe that Donald Trump represents a one-off, the type of charismatic leader that captures a dangerous zeitgeist, the one the founders worried about, and one for whom a pending disposal, whether by scandal, term limits, or just old age, provides the country an off-ramp from insanity, the restoration of normality, the opportunity to at least grab some of the older greatness — warts and all.

Don't fall into that trap because while we wait, the real movement roots.

The world missed a critical point in time, an opportunity to atone for all that was "last time" while also the chance to cap everything coming, wasting the moment that was late January 2021. Oh, to go back, right, Mitch? As per always, the GOP let justice and righteousness fall 10 senators short in impeachment 2.0, all to ensure a bright billionaire future on the backs of working Americans.

MAGA-MORE took root as "Trump Two: Angrier, Hungrier, and Uncut" sailed in through a post-pandemic fog. Trump provided post-COVID clarity for a mean crowd, doing the only thing he ever did well, the only thing they ever wanted: instinctive anger and cruelty directed at all "others."

So here we are, the world a stage for a man ranting through a dangerous retribution tour, resulting in the vast majority of the globe, including 60% of Americans, counting down days. But others have calendars, too — the MAGA pure-bred, those who see Trumpism as a mere baptism in a growing religion, none more committed and dangerous than Bishop Peter Thiel, currently converting "Palantir" into a war chest and a tech-juiced para-military. Palantir money and power currently await next-gen MAGA.

Yet again here we are, facing election 2026 — we hope — with another moment in a particularly dangerous time. War, possible recession in the wind, a long, hot summer, and top-tier players positioning, ever building. Thiel often leads the way.

Everyone understands that Vice President J.D. Vance, once a fairly harmless, almost tolerable, anti-Trump "hillbilly," now functions as a Thiel torpedo, for now restrained only by fealty to Trump — waiting, planning. Vance kept his cymbals quiet in the drumbeat to bombs on Iran for a reason. Too risky, the war, the politics, and Trump (Get used to the distance).

Over on the side, Thiel somehow found time to leave his Palantir planning for a week to visit Rome and give a talk on the future. Note, quickly, he didn't speak at the Vatican, where he'd have to justify himself to the relatively liberal, pro-immigration, pro-poor people Pope Leo. Instead, Thiel found MAGA Catholics and similar right-wing zealots to talk about ... Well, we don't know, because he specifically limited these seminars to invitees. So, behind closed doors, no recording devices, the gods only know what they talked about. But we can bet he's positioning himself as singularly essential in a Hard-Right global totalitarian future.

He is not there extolling the virtues of Jeffersonian democracy.

History clearly teaches that "Hard Right" always means singular power, functioning fascists, committed to doing whatever it takes to overthrow Classic Western Liberalism, which, notably, includes the rule of law and democracy. We feel that tension already building in one man's MAGA movement, Trump. Except it only begins there and, through the likes of Thiel, readies to really grow.

Because not only is Thiel tied to Vance, but also the increasingly dangerous Elon Musk, newly-minted media mogul Larry Ellison, far-right Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, along with too many others, ready to use whatever tethers MAGA together post-Trump.

Problematically, this group has the goods to get it done, "it" being big-brother Orwellian control made ever easier by overruning old school media (Thanks, Ellison!), tightening social media, and a lot else, all of it now combined with AI and the surveillance state made possible by Palantir. This column won't go harmlessly unnoticed — nothing will.

Past totalitarian movements came with inherent risk; you might lose your life or your stuff. It required commitment and bravery. Not this one. These people's "stuff" includes not just guarded luxurious compounds, multi-citizenships, and White Houses, but also every international electron netting the globe, satellite to screen, all monitored in real time according to a real plan by the ever-ready AI and — again, surveillance. Certainly, there's no risk to their lives, not with billions, even trillions, at their disposal, all projected forward with drones, robots, driverless vehicles, monitored by Gen-Z generals sitting behind screens. "Control the world and get a sandwich, all from the luxury of home, risk-free!"

That's a tempting opportunity for them. After all, if they happen to fail it will likely encompass little more than nations paying them to go away. Don't think it's not possible.

This is depressing. Except the world still has this "moment in time 2.0," perhaps the last chance. A ton of tools may be falling together. In a world of memes, the "Epstein class" resonates hard. The war in Iran gives the American public a prequel of what the world looks like when ruled by whim, dictators bombing when they "feel it in their bones," with a recession looming, the billionaire reckoning, and AI set to take over perhaps one-third of society's jobs. It really is now or never.

And it's not too late. Try as they might, the Trump-GOP hasn't been able to wipe away American fondness for elections. After all, the GOP wouldn't be considering nuking the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act if it could win elections. Americans like democracy, preserving the right not to be shot in the street, not have their media monitored, all that. We are the ones who feel unsettled, knowing that this time we may lose our lives or our stuff if we just let it happen.

What to do?

Someone smarter than me has to put together a plan under which enough of us unify. I can contribute, even with something all too obvious. If one needs direction, wants a read on the future, a figure to fight, start seeing Trump as nothing less than a harbinger, the mascot of the Epstein class, entry-level fascism, look farther, look to the Epstein class as both memes and monsters, to Musk, to Ellison, and the true north on this one, watch Thiel, the guy who perhaps is willing to risk it all.

Fair is fair. They will all certainly be watching you. Stare back. Because in some ways, they already have all the money, all the tech, most of the anger, and a vicious plan. They have everything except hearts and minds. So steady yours and don't waste another moment.