A remarkable thing happened this week. I don’t know how to explain it or what to do with it.
Last Friday, my grandson Sam (a high school senior in Charlotte) texted me a question: “What do you say when people ask you why you protest?” I wrote down eight things in response. Then added: “Please note my repetitive use of words that begin with C. It is a rhetorical device to aid the memory and employ a sharp consonant sound.”
He did not respond, but after our No Kings gathering in Greenville, S.C., I felt compelled to post my list on Facebook. Which I did (after tweaking a few things), and that is when it started: Likes, comments, shares — by the scores, then by the hundreds, now by the thousands.
Dwight Moody
This morning as I write: 15,000 likes, 1,600 comments, and 4,000 shares. By the time you read this, those numbers will have surged again. Check it out. Add your own like, comment and share.
I am sure these are more than the total such responses received by all my posts since I joined Facebook many years ago. I am astounded. I wish I could explain this. More than that. I wish I could replicate it or at least just use this mysterious success to strengthen my ongoing impact on social media.
The least I can note is this: There are a lot of us out there who dislike what is happening and are looking for ways to express our disgust. This rather small and personal episode is what Leonard Cohen called a crack: “There is a crack in everything; that is how the light gets in.”
There are other cracks in the fascist facade now being lowered over this American land, places where people are fighting back, resisting the stupidity and the tyranny, standing for justice, mercy and the common good.
For instance, seven major universities have said NO to Trump’s invitation to trade their independence and freedom for money and favor. Let’s name them: These include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Virginia, Dartmouth College and the University of Arizona. May this inspire other schools to join the resistance.
“People are fighting back, resisting the stupidity and the tyranny, standing for justice, mercy and the common good.”
About the same time, the secretary of defense issued new rules for reporters covering the Pentagon and its policies. Rather than comply with these restrictions, reporters staged, filmed and broadcasted a walkout. Participating were CNN, Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and NPR.
Where else is there resistance to federal efforts to violate norms, ignore law, suppress dissent, spread fear, reduce services and seize power?
The federal bench, to name one. Judges around the country are pushing back, issuing stays and demanding truth. Law professor Ryan Goodman has examined the 400 cases brought in federal court against the Department of Justice in 2025. Judges in these cases have accused the DOJ of noncompliance with federal orders 15 times, providing false or misleading information 35 times, and engaging in arbitrary or capricious conduct 50 times. Kudos to judges for calling their hand, professors for researching this and CBS News for reporting it.
Cracks everywhere! Light pouring in! Hope alive!
Sadly, there is little light coming from the Supreme Court, the Republican Party, or the white evangelical church. But these are minorities among us, and they are either fearful of Trumpian retaliation or complicit in it, eager perhaps for a resurgence of white Christian Supremacy.
Don’t give up. Don’t lose heart. Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Pray without ceasing. Prepare for more protests, more boycotts, even a general strike.
That latter is what we need. If the president pulls the trigger on his oft-threatened martial law, I predict a coast-to-coast, top-to-bottom strike, shutting down transportation, manufacturing, commerce, recreation, communication and more.
That will be one big crack, and the light will come pouring in, revealing the corruption and greed of this administration and showing a way forward to liberty and justice for all.
Dwight A. Moody is an author, minister, scholar and host of the media site The Meeting House.