Unmasking MAGA, Part 10: The Path Not Taken

Reclaiming What Was Never Lost

↑ Previous Chapter

Unmasking MAGA, Part 9: The Blue Collars

"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” —Abraham Lincoln

It’s Wednesday, January 20th, 2021.
8:00 p.m.

A few hours have gone by after the inauguration.
You’re on your couch. Your bed. A bus. Maybe scrolling through TikTok. Or catching up on YouTube. Or just thumbing through the same three apps again, like always. The day felt historic, sure. But also… heavy. Like too much weight resting on too little promise.

And then your phone buzzes.

“Hey—do you know what’s going on?”

Another text comes in. And then another.
Someone’s posted a photo of their TV: the Emergency Broadcast signal, but instead of sirens or instructions, the screen is quiet—white, clean, almost clinical. A row of large QR codes stretches across the middle. Underneath, the words:

PLEASE STAND BY
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WILL BE ADDRESSING YOU SHORTLY.

The codes are clearly labeled: YouTube. Twitch. Facebook Live. Instagram. Substack. TikTok. Even Spotify.

Below them:
whitehouse.gov/fireside

You click.
The website is stark. Just a dark background and a large embedded countdown:
1:43... 1:42... 1:41...

Below the countdown, buttons for each stream.
No commentary. No ads. No live chat. Just silence and time ticking down.

You’re not the only one watching. On Reddit, someone’s already posted a screenshot. Twitter’s losing its mind. There are rumors—obvious nonsense—about nuclear threats, martial law, the Pope. But something about this feels different. Too calm. Too quiet.

The countdown reaches ten seconds.
You can feel your heartbeat now.

3... 2... 1...

The screen fades into the Oval Office.

The camera is low. Intimate. The setting is easily recognizable: the Oval Office fireplace in the background, crackling faintly.
President Biden sits to the right of the frame. Vice President Harris to the left.

No music. No cuts. No flag-draped fanfare. Just them, the firelight, and a quiet that feels like the whole world is holding its breath.

Biden leans forward slightly. No notes. No script in sight.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans.

Let me begin with something simple.
There’s no attack. No invasion. No immediate danger to your life or home.

But there is an emergency.
Not one you’ll see in the headlines. Not one you’ll hear in a siren.
But one that’s been building—quietly—for decades.

And tonight, I need your attention. Not because I want to scare you.
But because I respect you.
And because the time has come—for all of us—to face something bigger than politics.

Tonight, we begin something new. Something long overdue.

Tonight, I’m speaking to you—not through the press. Not through pundits. Not filtered through left or right.

I’m speaking to you.
Wherever you are. Whoever you are.
Because you deserve to hear the truth directly, from the man you elected—not as a soundbite, not as a headline, but as a human being.

And the truth is this:

We have failed ourselves.

Democrats and Republicans both.
For a long time.
Going back to when I was Vice President.
To when I was a Senator.

Not any one man or woman.
All of us. No Exception.

And I—personally—am here to say it out loud, and to take responsibility for changing course.

We became arrogant. We assumed the future would take care of itself.
That the bridges our ancestors built would stand forever.
That the democracy they fought for would self-repair.

But nothing lasts without maintenance.

Our roads are crumbling. Our power grid is fragile. Our water isn’t clean.
But worse—our faith in each other is on the brink of shattering.

You felt it on January 6th. I know you did.
Maybe it was a riot. Maybe it was an insurrection. A distinction without difference in the grand scheme of things. Sure, it was wrong. But that wrong is eclipsed by what it represented.

When Americans are willing to give up on democracy, that says something much deeper—more dire—than any single act, no matter how dark, no matter how violent.
Because that kind of surrender… doesn’t happen in a day.
It was a symptom. Of decades of erosion. Of silence. Of pretending things were fine while Americans lost their dignity, lost trust, and lost each other.

But I don’t believe that’s who we are.

You’ve heard the old quote, often misattributed to Churchill:
’You can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.’

Well, we’ve tried everything else.

We’ve tried trickle-down. We’ve tried gridlock. We’ve tried cruelty. We’ve tried denial.

And now? Now it’s time to do the right thing.

To rebuild—not just our infrastructure, but our identity.
To restore—not just jobs, but dignity.
To reforge—not just policy, but purpose.

This will not be easy.
But it will be worth it.

And I promise you this:
From this day forward, I will not govern by hiding behind broken institutions.
I will speak to you—with you—every step of the way.

Some days, that will mean hard conversations.
Other days, it will mean updates on new programs, new opportunities, new progress.
And hopefully soon, it will be to commemorate milestones.

But I will be here.
Because we’re no longer going to be caretakers of the status quo.
We’re no longer managing decline.

We’re on a plane that’s just begun to move down the runway.

And yes—takeoff can be rough. Loud. Uncomfortable. A little scary.
But I promise you… once we lift off, you’ll see this country from heights it hasn’t known in generations.

And I will be here. In the cockpit. With you. All the way.

Until we land.
Together.
In the America we were always meant to become.

A nation united— not by our differences, but by our resolve.
With a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Good night. And tomorrow… we get to work.”

Fade to black.
White text appears:

Our First Modern Fireside Chat
January 20, 2021
See you Friday, at the same time.

Friday Morning: January 22, 2021

America wakes up to a political earthquake.

Sometime between Thursday night and sunrise, the White House had moved—fast.

The media can barely keep up.

MSNBC: “Modernizing America: Biden Signs Boldest Executive Action Package Since FDR”
Fox News: “Power Grab: Biden Thinks He’s a King—Or a God”
CNN: “Here Are All 20 Executive Orders Biden Just Signed—And What They Mean for You”
The New York Times: “A New Deal for a New Era? Biden’s ‘Modernizing America’ Program Shakes Washington”
Daily Wire: “Tyranny with a Smile: Biden Launches Leftist Utopia Overnight”

No advance leaks. No soft rollout. Just action.

A new presidential initiative—Modernizing America—had been signed into existence.
And with it came a blitz of executive orders that reimagined what federal power could be.

• Infrastructure? Transformed.

• Training? Free.

• Veterans? Prioritized.

• Student debt? Frozen.

• The Pentagon? Redirected.

• The imprisoned? Offered redemption.

• The undocumented? Offered a path.

• The sick? Promised answers.

• The hungry? Fed.

Twitter threads exploded. Reddit servers crashed. Cable hosts fumbled through the pages live on air.

The White House website launched a new portal—modernizingamerica.gov—and within two hours, over 1.5 million Americans had signed up for updates or training interest.

The opposition was instant.
But even they couldn’t stop the momentum.

Because this wasn’t just governing.
It was a vision.

The CNN breakdown looked something like this:

In a move that’s already drawing comparisons to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first 100 days, President Biden signed a sweeping package of executive orders late Thursday night, aimed at what the administration is calling a full-spectrum modernization of America. The program touches nearly every aspect of national life—from infrastructure and healthcare to education, labor, immigration, and technology.

While critics on the right decry the action as unilateral overreach, even progressives were caught by surprise. The usual complaints of not going far enough have been replaced with concern that none of it will survive court challenges—and that it could all be for nothing if it doesn’t.

• Biden launches "Modernizing America" – A sweeping federal initiative to rebuild roads, bridges, broadband, energy—and public trust. Includes workforce training, new jobs, and a digital portal at modernizingamerica.gov.

• New infrastructure corps deployed – A task force under FEMA, DOT, and the Army Corps will inspect every bridge, dam, flood zone, and crumbling road. Governors must submit priority needs within 30 days.

• Free job training for public works – Anyone unemployed or underemployed can now apply for free vocational training in energy, construction, and tech infrastructure. All through the Social Security portal.

• COVID relief returns for low-income households – Emergency checks and enhanced unemployment are reinstated for those still struggling in the pandemic economy.

• Student loan interest frozen – Federal student loans are paused. The Department of Education is ordered to prep a full forgiveness mechanism.

• Green energy upgrade audit begins – DOE and EPA will identify outdated grids, natural gas leaks, and blackout risks. Infrastructure dollars will follow the worst zones.

• Emergency public banking study underway – Treasury and the FDIC will evaluate the creation of federally backed public banks to speed up infrastructure projects and small business support in underserved areas.

• Worker transition plan modeled on TVA – A new commission will help workers in shrinking industries shift to jobs in energy, tech, or rebuilding America. Includes union partnerships and state-level coordination.

• Public broadband gap map in the works – FCC and NTIA will launch a national audit of internet access by census tract. Gaps will guide federal rollout.

• Pentagon funds reallocated to veterans and school lunches – $30B to modernize VA hospitals and build veteran housing. $25B to fund free school meals nationwide.

• Path to citizenship through public service – Undocumented immigrants can gain legal status after six months of service in infrastructure programs like energy, broadband, or construction.

• Inmates offered job training and sentence reduction – Non-violent federal prisoners can now earn one day off their sentence for every verified hour worked on public infrastructure. States encouraged to follow.

• New Civilian Service Corps created – Americans under 30 can apply for a program offering housing vouchers, stipends, and student debt relief in exchange for two years of civic work.

• Healthcare taskforce explores public option – HHS will study the cost and logistics of a national single-payer system. Private insurance can compete—but won’t be shielded from market pressure.

• Restaurants may qualify for subsidies – A joint HHS-Labor study will design incentives for restaurants with healthy food and fair labor practices. Modernizing America workers would get extra meal support when eating there.

• Veteran homelessness addressed head-on – Federal funding to build permanent and transitional housing near VA hospitals for homeless and aging veterans.

• Defense contracts face full audit – The top 100 military contractors will be reviewed for waste and fraud. Suspensions possible for those exploiting taxpayer dollars.

• Companies must disclose pay and tax strategy – Any company receiving more than $10M in government money must publicly report CEO pay, employee wages, taxes, and hiring practices.

• Media transparency pilot begins – A voluntary federal program will reward platforms that label AI-generated content, disclose political funders, and explain their recommendation algorithms.

• Social media protections for kids coming – The FTC and DOJ will design guardrails to limit algorithmic exposure for kids under 16—especially when it comes to disordered eating, hate content, and self-harm.

If even half of these policies hold up in court or gain traction in Congress, it would mark one of the most ambitious uses of executive power in modern American history. But perhaps more notable than the orders themselves is the message behind them: this is an administration that says it will not wait to be allowed to act—it will act, and let the public decide whether to follow."

All eyes now turn to tonight’s second “fireside chat,” where the president is expected to directly address the scope of the orders, the inevitable legal and political challenges, and what he wants from the American people in return.

And that night, the second fireside chat would make one thing perfectly clear:

This wasn’t a fluke. It was a fuse. And now it was lit.

The Second Fireside Chat

The evening came without incident.
No sirens. No alerts. No Emergency Broadcast Signal this time.

Just a quiet, steady hum of expectation.

By midday, as the country began to grasp the scope of the executive orders, a new link appeared on whitehouse.gov/fireside—another countdown, ticking toward 8:00 PM. The Oval’s fireplace now the backdrop. Same promise of direct words from the President.

By mid-afternoon, the internet had erupted into a frenzy of speculation.
Every platform tried to guess what Biden would say. Would he double down? Apologize? Clarify?

But as the clock struck 7:55, something strange happened.
The noise stopped.

X went quiet.
TikTok paused.
Livestream view counters increased by thousands on every update.

It was as if the entire internet… was coming to one place.

7:59… Tens of millions are watching across YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram Live—even Fox News is carrying the feed. CNN and MSNBC cleared their primetime slots without hesitation.

The country hasn’t seen anything like this in decades.

And then—just like before—the countdown hit zero.

The screen faded in.

The setting felt familiar.

Just like two nights before, the Oval’s fireplace crackled gently in the background.
Biden sat on the right, smiling. The Vice President on the left, slightly turned toward him, hands calmly resting on her lap.

And then he began to speak.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans.

I want to begin tonight not with a plan, but with a thank you.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for caring. And thank you—for believing that we can still do big things.

What we did yesterday was big. I know that.
The executive orders we signed weren’t tweaks or talking points. They were actions. Bold ones. Ambitious ones. Some might call them too ambitious.

And that’s fair. I understand the concern.

Because the truth is—I don’t have a magic wand. I’m not a king. And I don’t want to be.

What I signed yesterday… some of it may be challenged in court. Some of it might not survive.
But all of it had one purpose: to show you the full scale of what we can do—if we choose to do it.

Because I’m tired of asking what we’re allowed to do.
It’s time to start asking what needs to be done.

We can’t wait another ten years for Congress to agree on school lunches, or clean water, or internet access, or a place for veterans to sleep.

We needed to act. So we did.

Now comes the hard part.

Some of this will stick. Some won’t. But we didn’t do this just to make headlines. We did it to give you something to fight for.

Because for this to last—for it to become law—we need you.

We need you to call your representatives.
We need you to show up at town halls.
We need you to demand that the people you elected match the urgency of the moment.

You deserve a government that doesn’t ask what’s possible within the system. You deserve a system that answers to what’s possible for the people.

I don’t expect everyone to agree with everything we proposed. That’s democracy. But I do expect one thing:

Don’t let anyone tell you this can’t be done.

Because we already started.

Right now, there are veterans logging into the new portal to enroll in training.
There are bridges being surveyed. Broadband access being mapped.

I understand many of you are asking:
Can we really take money from the Pentagon to pay for school lunches?

Let me tell you something.

I can’t think of a war more worth fighting than the war against child hunger.
And I can no longer justify building a military to defend a country that won’t even feed its children.

Some of you are asking if we can really take that same money to rebuild the VA.

To that I say this:
If you were willing to give up your life for our country, our debt to you doesn’t end when you come home.
It doesn’t end when you’re discharged.
It ends when you do.

And until that day comes, you will not be forgotten.
You will not be abandoned.

And to those wondering if we can do the same to house our homeless veterans—
Let me be blunt:
We’ve built military bases in every corner of the globe.
It’s time we build homes for the people who served in them.

And yes—there are prisoners, and immigrants, and unemployed workers who just signed up to rebuild the country they’ve been told they don’t belong in.

Well I’m telling you now: They do.

If you pour your sweat and blood into rebuilding this country—you’re one of us.

That’s the only label that matters now. Not red or blue. Not insider or outsider.
Just American.

And I know exactly what some people are already saying.
How are we going to pay for all this?
Isn’t this just going to drive up the debt?

So let’s talk about it—plain and simple.

Yes, this will be expensive. Big things always are.

Since 2010, our national debt has gone up by about $14 trillion. That’s a fact.
But here’s another fact: in that same time, our national wealth—our total net worth—has grown by over $68 trillion.

Let me say that again:
We added $14 trillion in debt, and gained $68 trillion in wealth.
That’s private jets, yachts, mansions, and stock portfolios—
while bridges continue to crumble and schools continue to close.

If there’s one thing America knows how to do, it’s turn debt into prosperity—
but it’s finally time for everyone to get their fair share.

We are all going to make sacrifices.

Some will have to roll up their sleeves.
Others—who don’t have to worry about work—will have to open their wallets.
Because we are one country.
And we will rebuild it—together.

So no, I’m not a king.
But I am your President.
And I won’t hide behind gridlock. I won’t use inaction as a shield.

I have acted. I’ve taken the first step.
But I can’t do this alone.

The courts will strike some of this down—of that, I have no doubt.
But when they do… then it’s your turn, like I said moments ago:

To call your elected officials.
To show up at town halls.
To come out into the streets—peacefully—and tell your government that you are ready.
That this is not just a vision.
That this is reality.

I’m sitting here because you believed in me.
And now, I’m telling the world—I believe in you.

That’s the road ahead.

Good night.
And tomorrow… we take another step.”

Saturday Morning: January 23, 2021

The morning after the second fireside chat, the country woke up to something it hadn’t seen in years.

Movement.

Capitol Hill’s switchboard crashed by 10:17 AM. Overloaded. Unprepared. Jammed with calls from Americans demanding their elected officials act on what the President had proposed.

Social media—already electric—erupted. Activist networks that had spent the last four years in defensive mode snapped into high gear, now armed with a singular message: “Back the plan. All of it.”
Volunteer sites launched overnight. Marches were being scheduled. Template scripts for calling your senator were passed around like memes.

And the opposition?

Oh, the opposition was loud.
Fox News. The Wall Street Journal. The Heritage Foundation.
They called it unconstitutional. Reckless. Radical. Dictatorial.
They tried to summon the fury of their base.
But something was… off.

Where just days before, the message and the audience were in perfect lockstep, now there was static. Chaos. Confusion.

Because the resistance wasn't coming from liberals or progressives.

It was coming from inside the house.

The first cracks were small. A Fox anchor asking why it should be controversial to feed children. A war veteran-turned-pundit going off-script to say the VA should have been fixed years ago. A populist senator posting—then deleting—a tweet that seemed to support infrastructure jobs for prisoners.

And then it started to spread.

The Warhawks were furious. Redirect Pentagon funds? House veterans with federal money instead of building more drones? It wasn’t just unthinkable—it was blasphemy. Their think tanks issued statements. Their surrogates hit the airwaves. But they weren’t met with applause. They were met with questions. Why is feeding kids less important than funding Raytheon?

The Corporatists panicked. Biden hadn’t just proposed regulation—he’d dared to act without them. He’d bypassed lobbying. Threatened their contracts. Opened the door to public banks, media transparency rules, and real worker transitions. They called it socialism. But for the first time in decades… nobody flinched.

The Institutionalists flailed. People like Mitt Romney and Mitch McConnell didn’t know which way to turn. The old arguments about “executive overreach” sounded flat. Toothless. Because the country wasn’t asking whether Biden had the authority. The country was asking why they hadn’t done anything while bridges collapsed and kids went hungry.

And then there were the Populists. The self-proclaimed men of the people. The loudest voices in the culture war. They were supposed to be Biden’s loudest enemies.

But now?
They were being outflanked.

How do you scream about freedom and dignity… when the other guy is giving people jobs, training, and a pathway to belonging? How do you rage against government… when millions are logging into a .gov website to reclaim their lives?

Some tried to pivot.
Some tried to lie.
Some just froze.

But the silence was louder than the shouting.

The machine was jammed.

And for the first time in years, it was the right that didn’t have the plan.
The first counterpunch was the only one they knew.
By noon, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had made it clear:

“This president will be met with resistance at every turn. We will not rubber-stamp a radical agenda.”

The phrase echoed something he’d said about President Obama over a decade earlier.
Back then, he’d pledged to make Obama a one-term president.
Now, it was Biden he intended to stonewall—no matter the cost.

By early afternoon, legal challenges began pouring in.

At least three conservative legal foundations—backed by Heritage, AEI, and the Federalist Society—filed suits in district courts across Texas and Louisiana.
Their goal wasn’t just to win eventually.
But to stall immediately.

Temporary restraining orders. Emergency injunctions. Venue shopping.
The strategy was clear: choke the orders in red tape before they could take root.

But even this early, it was obvious: the real battle wouldn’t be in court.
That morning, NBC’s Garrett Haake put it this way:

“It’s important to remember—Democrats do technically control both chambers. But just barely.
In the Senate, it’s a 50–50 split, with Vice President Harris as the tiebreaker. That gives Majority Leader Schumer control of the calendar and committees—but not a clear path to pass anything that isn’t budget-related.
In the House, Speaker Pelosi has a paper-thin majority, which means every vote counts—and the president can’t afford a single moderate to peel off.”

“What we’re seeing right now isn’t just about policy—it’s about pressure.
The executive orders lit the match.
But the White House knows: if this is going to turn into real legislation, they’re going to need a firestorm from the public.”

And that’s exactly what they would get.

A Month Later

It had been four weeks since the first executive orders.

The fireside chats hadn’t stopped.

Every Friday. 8 PM. On the dot.
Broadcast across every platform, syndicated by every channel.
They weren’t just updates.
They were ignition.

Because every week, the same cycle repeated:

• A TRO lands midweek.

• Organizers mobilize.

• Friday night… another spark from the Oval Office.

• Marches flood the streets that weekend.

It was like fuel to an engine.

And it only got stronger.

Because even where lawsuits blocked implementation, they couldn’t block preparation.

Cabinet secretaries kept moving.
They gathered data. Ran forecasts. Drafted rollout plans.
And every new report—every map, projection, budget outline—was uploaded to the Modernizing America Portal.

A broadband gap analysis from the FCC.
A VA hospital audit from HHS.
A clean water assessment from the EPA.

Each one made the vision feel more real.
More tangible.
More possible.

And as that vision sharpened in people’s minds—so did their loyalty to it.
To the idea of it.
To the promise.

So when the opposition attacked…
It didn’t feel like politics.
It felt personal.

Every attack on the program became an attack on the people who believed in it.

That’s when it changed.

The louder the opposition got, the stronger the movement became.
And with every court ruling—every lawsuit, every injunction—the public didn’t waver.
They surged.

It became clear: obstruction was self-defeating.

Each “victory” in court was answered by a wave of pressure on Congress.
Phone lines crashed.
District offices went dark.
Moderate incumbents saw their careers hanging by a thread—and not because of Democrats.
Their own base was turning.

Even Fox, OANN, and Newsmax started bleeding viewers.
Every time they ran a segment attacking Biden, the numbers dropped.
The narrative wasn’t holding.
The audience wasn’t buying it.
The echo chamber was cracking.

And then… it started to break.

By the end of March, something unexpected was brewing.

Someone had registered magaforbiden.com.
They were selling blue MAGA hats.
At first, people laughed. No one could figure out if it was a joke, a prank, or some kind of scam.

But then they started selling.
Fast.
The red hats vanished from the media, sidewalks, even selfies. It was like a uniform had been shed overnight.

The message discipline that once defined the right?
Gone.
Were Republicans losing MAGA?

In Congress, something else was shifting.

Speaker Pelosi began a new strategy: bring a vote to the floor every week.
One bill. One program.
Make Republicans vote no.

The first two weeks?
Party-line rejections.

The bills moved to the Senate, where they died without 60 votes.

Week three? Lisa Murkowski flipped.
Week four? Mitt Romney. Susan Collins. Shelley Moore Capito.

And then…
it happened.

The Dominoes

It happened on a Tuesday.
The Senate passed the first bill—60 to 40.
It wasn’t the biggest one. But it didn’t have to be.
It was the bill to modernize the VA and build housing for homeless veterans.

And that was enough.
Enough to make it real.
Enough to prove the country hadn’t just been listening. It had decided.
For some, it was just a vote tally on C-SPAN.
For others, it was something else.
Bars erupted. Living rooms held tears. Town halls overflowed.

And in the Oval Office, the President spoke—just for a moment.

“This is not the finish line.
This is just the liftoff.
Now we keep climbing.”

And we did.

The next bill passed 62–38. Then 64–36. Then 68.

They came like dominoes.

One after the other. Week by week.

By the end of July, when the first Modernizing America crew deployed in Georgia, the opposition had faltered.

In what played like poetic justice, the coalition that had once dominated social media was being consumed by the very algorithms that brought it to power.
With every supporter lost, there were fewer likes. Fewer shares.
Fewer reasons for the machine to promote rage over reality.

By late August, Congress passed a bill covering the final policy that had been blocked in court months earlier.

And by then, over 35 million Americans had signed up to be part of Modernizing America in some shape or form.

The climb was complete.
America was at cruising altitude.
Clear skies ahead.
A bright future awaiting her arrival.

The Path Not Lost

But that’s not how it happened.
We never took off.
There was no first Modernizing America crew. No blue MAGA hats. No dominoes.

We stayed grounded.
And now the skies are darker than ever.
Today, Donald Trump is back.
He governs not just with ambition—but with vengeance.

His White House doesn’t hold fireside chats. It stages immigrant purges.
His cabinet doesn’t dream of building a better country. It dreams of erasing the one we’ve built.
The Supreme Court is on his side.
So is the House and the Senate.

We lost the cockpit.

But we didn’t lose our power.
Because power is never absent.
Because power is not just a force. It is a choice.

And before you say it can’t be done—look around.
Look at what is being done.
Donald Trump just deployed the National Guard and the Marines into the streets of Los Angeles—against their will.
He nearly tanked the markets on “Liberation Day” with his “reciprocal” tariffs.
He leads a regime filled with incompetents, grifters, loyalists and bootlickers.

And yet… he still commands support.
Ask yourself why.
Not because the American people are fascists.
Not because they crave oligarchy or endless war.
But because the people who once believed in this country—who worked the fields, the factories, the freight lines—were abandoned.

They were promised dignity and got decline.
They were promised opportunity and got crumbs.
So when Trump came along—offering even a twisted vision, soaked in rage and wrapped in lies—they took it.

Not because it was right.
But because it was real.
And if that’s the bar—if all it takes to rally a movement is to act like you mean it—
Then imagine what happens if we do it for real.
Imagine if that energy weren’t built on resentment—but on renewal.
If the American people weren’t told to resist—but to rebuild.

This week, over five million people marched in protest.
The largest demonstrations in U.S. history.
Surpassing even those of the Civil Rights Movement—even those of the anti-war protests against Vietnam.
And what were they marching for?
Nothing tangible.
No plan. No proposal. No vision.
Just resistance, just survival.

Now imagine what would happen if we offered a future.
A blueprint.
A government that speaks plainly, acts boldly, and puts the people first.
That kind of movement? It doesn’t need a supermajority.
It only needs a spark.

So here’s how we begin.

We don’t need the White House.
We don’t need Congress.
We don’t even need permission.
We need one thing: a state willing to lead.

Because everything you just read—every program, every order, every principle—can be started today.

• Train workers through state universities.

• Modernize infrastructure with state budgets.

• Build housing for veterans. Map broadband access. Audit clean water.

• Create laws that activate until federal action replaces them.

• Do all of it, all at once, with resolve, not caution; with pride, not timidity; with the people, not through pundits or the press.

• Build the future as though it’s inevitable—and I promise you: the people will inevitably follow.

If even one state shows what’s possible,
then the next election won’t just be winnable—
it’ll be ours for the taking.

We don’t have to beg for faith.
We can define our future.
By choosing to use the Power we have—for the people.
We can show the people what good government looks like—and they will back it.
Because The Path Not Taken was never lost.

Because this is what makes us America:
Even in our darkest hour…
Even when all we can see is a path to the cliff’s edge…

We remember who we are:
The builders of bridges.
The reclaimers of hope.
Masters of our destiny…

We carve a new path—
And we walk it.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Note from the author:

It’s 11:57 AM, 06/18/2025, as I write this comment. I finished this final chapter last night.
When I chose the two quotes that frame it, I did so because they spoke to the heart of the story I hoped to tell.
I didn’t realize then the deeper, darker irony of pairing them—
Not until I stepped back from the work, thinking I had completed it, did I see what they truly meant together…

Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. weren’t just men of great words.
They were men of action—men who dared to reimagine what America could be—and were assassinated for it.
Almost a hundred years apart.
And yet, united in their belief that this country could be better, and that the people would rise to meet the moment, if only given the truth and the chance.

We find ourselves today in challenging times—certainly distinct from Lincoln’s and King’s, but echoing them in too many ways.
I hope that their lives, their words, and their sacrifice remind us what we fight for.
Remind us what courage looks like.
And remind us of the difference even one person can make—even if they never live to see the legacy they leave behind.

The path they walked is still open.
The only question is whether we have the courage to follow.

---

---

← Back to the Beginning of the Series

Unmasking MAGA