I’m from the United States of Exhaustion

Where every invasion of a city is a distraction.
Where every invasion of a city is a test.
Where every atrocity is meant to confuse and exhaust.

We’ve seen the pattern enough times to know it isn’t random. Trump knows exactly what he’s doing. When he sends in his forces, ICE raids, militarized police, and federal agents in unmarked vans, it isn’t about law and order. It’s about control. It’s about shifting the headlines. It’s about testing us to see how far he can go.

And while we’re watching the chaos in the streets, something else always happens in the shadows. Files vanish. Rights erode. Scandals get buried. That’s the playbook. Shock the people, distract the press, and chip away at democracy while the country is too tired to fight back.

But make no mistake, these aren’t one-offs. They’re tests. He’s asking: Will the courts stop me? Will the press hold me accountable? Will the people pour into the streets? Or will exhaustion do the work for me?

So far, exhaustion is winning.

If America were not so tired from COVID and the nonstop assault on our democracy, every single invasion of a city would bring the whole country to its feet.

Do you remember the protests of 2020? Millions of us marching after George Floyd’s murder? That’s the kind of response this moment calls for, but even bigger. Yet instead of revolt, we shrug.

And I get it. We are tired.

2019 was the last year that felt even remotely “normal.” Since then, it’s been one crisis after another: the pandemic, economic collapse, climate disasters, the fall of Roe, the endless chaos of Trump himself. We’ve lived in survival mode for years. Survival mode doesn’t leave much energy for revolution.

But here’s the hard truth: that’s the plan. He thrives on our exhaustion. Authoritarians don’t need the majority cheering for them. They just need enough people too numb, too distracted, or too hopeless to resist.

That’s why these tests matter. Because one day soon, it won’t just be Los Angeles or Boston or Chicago. It won’t just be ICE raids and the National Guard showing force in one city. It will be something bigger. A sweeping crackdown. A move designed to paralyze the country right when our voices matter most.

And I know when that day will come: the midterms.

Why? Because that’s when he has the most to lose. Elections are the one place where Americans can still push back, and he knows it. If he can flood that moment with fear and distraction, he can hold onto power. Every city invasion we’ve already seen is a rehearsal for that. He’s testing the locks, looking for the weak spots, planning for the day when the whole house comes down.

And while he’s testing, the betrayals keep piling up.

When he launched a new immigration crackdown in Massachusetts, he wasn’t protecting Americans, he was betraying them. He ripped apart families, wasted resources, and left communities terrified.

Meanwhile, the real crises facing this country, costs of living, healthcare, climate, and wages, went ignored. Every raid comes with a price tag, paid by taxpayers, while hospitals are closing and schools are underfunded. That’s the betrayal. The cruelty wasn’t the point, it was the cover. A distraction. A test.

At the very same time, the White House moved to review the Smithsonian’s content in ways that could reach into classrooms nationwide. That isn’t about balance. It isn’t about history. It’s about censorship. It’s about rewriting the American story until cruelty looks like strength and silence looks like order. Families who trust schools to tell their children the truth are being betrayed by a government that wants to decide which truths are allowed. A leader who fears truth is unfit to lead. A government that controls what children learn is a government preparing for obedience, not democracy. Another distraction. Another test.

And then there was the US Open. Broadcasters were asked not to show the crowd’s reaction to Trump during the men’s finals. Think about that. An entire production was told to censor what Americans really felt when he appeared. That’s not small. That’s propaganda. That’s editing reality. It’s another betrayal of the American people, denying them the right to see themselves reflected truthfully. If he can erase boos at a tennis match, what else will he erase? If he can manipulate something as small as a tennis match, imagine what he will do with an election. Another distraction. Another test.

And in case you were wondering, he was booed as usual. And loudly. Most Americans despise him.

These aren’t isolated moments. They’re a warning.

History shows us the pattern. Hitler staged “emergency” crackdowns to measure obedience before consolidating full control. Exhaustion was always the weapon.

The people were not asked to accept tyranny in a single night. They were asked to accept it piece by piece, raid by raid, crackdown by crackdown, until resistance felt impossible. Until neighbors looked away. Until fear was stronger than outrage.

And right now, America is failing the test.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Americans filled the streets after Bloody Sunday. During Vietnam, millions protested until leaders were forced to listen. During the AIDS crisis, activists staged die-ins until the world could no longer look away. Our history proves we can resist. But today? We’re too tired. Too divided. Too unsure of where to even begin.

That’s the danger of exhaustion. It normalizes the abnormal. It makes us accept what we know we should never accept. We tell ourselves, “at least it’s not my city,” until it is. And by then, the precedent is set.

Yes, we are exhausted. But history won’t give us a pass for that. Generations before us faced wars, depressions, dictators, and pandemics, too. They were scared. They were worn down. But they stood up anyway. Because the cost of silence is always higher than the cost of resistance.

And this is what makes Trump unfit. A president’s job is to protect the people, not terrorize them. To unite the country, not divide it. To uphold the truth, not erase it. But every test he runs, every distraction he deploys, every betrayal he commits proves he is incapable of leading a democracy. A leader who rules by fear is not a leader at all.

Now it’s our turn.

We have to decide if we’ll be a nation that shrugs as our cities are invaded, or one that says no more. We have to decide if exhaustion will be our excuse or if it will be our fuel. We have to decide if we will meet these tests with silence or with action.

And I know it feels impossible. I know it feels like one more thing on top of a pile that’s already too heavy. But the truth is, we don’t get to choose the times we live in. We only get to choose how we meet them.

So the question is this: will we resist, or will we let exhaustion win?

Because one day soon, it won’t just be a test.
It will be the real thing.
And if we fail to fight back now, we may not get another chance.

That’s why we act now. Not just at the ballot box, but in our communities, in our conversations, in the streets if we must. We push the media to tell the truth. We support the organizations fighting on the frontlines. We make our leaders feel the heat of our demands. We refuse to normalize any of this.

If you’re tired, rest. But then get back in the fight. Because democracy doesn’t survive without defenders.

We are being tested. And how we answer will decide whether America stands, or whether exhaustion becomes the tool that takes it down.

I know what the American spirit is. We come from strong people. We come from descendants of enslaved people. We come from immigrants who crossed oceans with just a dream in their pocket. We come from Indigenous Americans who were forced to march beyond the limits any human could be asked to do. And we survived. I still believe in America, and I hope you do too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather