There’s a lot to say and I have no organizational framework to get it out. So I’ll start here.

“In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.” — Article 48, Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention.

It’s not enough to say we’re living in wild times. The Artemis II mission is wrapping up, sending 4 people on a lunar flyby. AI is continually advancing in ways that are incredible, unsettling, and — in some cases — very stupid. And yet, a shadow looms over so much right now. The President of the United States made an historic, unprecedented remark:

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

That’s not some plea for some other nation to stop doing certain actions. That’s the President, signaling that the U.S. is preparing to wipe out an entire nation with military force if they don’t abide by demands to open the Strait of Hormuz. That kind of threat is quite literally against protocol set forth in the Geneva Convention. Trump is advocating to commit war crimes, and (as has always been the case), he doesn’t really care. That isn’t surprising.

What is surprising is how little the rest of the American government seems to care. We have some Republicans saying that these words are “negotiation tactics”— just tough-guy rhetoric. We’ve got Democrats like Chuck Schumer “condemning” the rhetoric. Condemnation and justification is currently doing fuck-all to steer the country to better international relationships, economic performance, health outcomes for citizens, and educational standards for the next generation. So thanks for that, Chuck.

It’s important to note that there are plenty of people that actually do see the issue with what’s happening here. A letter signed by 100 international law experts asserts that the attach on Iran in late February was a violation of the United Nations Charter. The Secretary General of Amnesty International said “the US President’s threat of extermination and irreparable destruction brazenly shreds core rules of international humanitarian law.” Even the DOD Law of War Manual acknowledges there are “…obligations to take feasible precautions in planning and conducting attacks and to refrain from attacks in which the expected loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, and damage to civilian objects incidental to the attack would be excessive.”

I am not generally surprised by the inability of the Democratic Party to get anything done here. Getting things done has been their achilles heel for decades, and their constituents are getting better at sniffing out the bullshit politicians who think soundbites are going to keep them around when elections come up. There’s real momentum there for progressive, compassionate people who actually want to make society a better place to step up and primary these political dinosaurs. We don’t need or want lukewarm politicians with zero inertia. We want people who recognize that shit ultimately needs to change, and that means getting into a room and forcing discussions to happen. Actual negotiation.

I am surprised that Republicans are continuing to fall in line with Trump’s rhetoric. They have a pretty clear lane to oust Trump as a senile, power-hungry grifter and put Vance in power instead. For them, it could offer a path to “boring” politics—the type of environment that allows them to dismantle society under our noses. That said, they’ve waited too long. If they don’t act, they will have to continually defend the ramblings of a criminal leader. If they do act, they will be under intense scrutiny for the rest of the presidential term, which could set up an opportunity for another Blue Wave that unseats the party ultimately seen as putting the country in this situation. They’re likely just hoping for ‘natural causes’ to make the decision for them.

There’s a way out of this. It’s long, it’s difficult, and it will require consistent pressure and dedication. It will mean that some of us get tired and need to take a break, and others will need to wake up and carry the torch, and vice versa. It will require the people who genuinely want the country to move forward to stop finger-wagging about the “right” way to organize, or compromise, or make progress. It has to start locally, in our communities and towns and cities. We have to elect the people who aspire to improve the world, but have the pragmatism to take action. We have to come together and agree that progress is better than the backsliding of democracy.