What citizens can do is know their values and have each other’s backs. You have been betrayed. None of you deserve it. You are all survivors of an abusive state. They will try to split this country into parts for resource extraction and they will encourage you to attack each other to make their job easier. Refuse them. Do not fall for stereotypes about “red” and “blue” states or pretend that an election in a country this corrupt is a representation of the people’s will. Never sacrifice your humanity or that of others. If you find yourself willing to negotiate another’s humanity, that is when they’ve won something real. That is when you’ll have surrendered your soul.

The work of USAID is not charity — it is strategic. Over the past 64 years, the agency has made the United States safer and stronger. As adversaries like Russia and China and non-state terrorist groups use their financial and informational might to curry favor and win allies in the Middle East, Indo Pacific, Africa, and Latin America, USAID is our counterweight. For the past week, Russia has been publicly cheering Musk’s murder of USAID. Why? They know if USAID isn’t helping Ukraine win the war, or stops tracking and answering Kremlin propaganda on Russia’s periphery, Russian influence will grow and American influence will retreat.

Christian Nationalists believe we are meant to suffer in this life in exchange for eternal blessings. Our earthly lives aren’t meant to be fulfilling. They shouldn’t have meaning. We have no reason to focus our energies on the many setbacks that happen here. Like watching one’s job be illegally eliminated by Christo-fascists who are ignoring the Constitution.