This is the first episode of the This Time Tomorrow: Monologues for Democracy series.

Transcript

One of my favourite story-telling tricks is to start as close to the end as possible. So let’s start right now.

# Sound clip from Steven Bannon’s speech at CPAC [YouTube, RSBN, “Full Speech: Steve Bannon…”]. The clip ends where he does the Nazi salute. “The only way we lose is if we quit. The only way we don’t have victory is if we surrender. The only way they win is if we retreat. And we’re not going to retreat, we’re not going to surrender, we’re not going to fight. Fight, fight, fight.” #

On the morning that I’m writing this, Steven Bannon, Donald Trump’s former strategic adviser, nowadays one of the most powerful influencers on the MAGA side of the Republican Party, performed a Nazi salute at the Conservative Political Action Conference. I don’t need to remind you that this comes a few weeks after Elon Musk performed the same salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Another one of my favourite story-telling tricks is that you must not put a loaded rifle on the stage unless you intend to use it.

That one is a little tricky. There’s indeed a rifle on the stage… But we’re not the ones who put it there. And we must make sure it’s not used.

# Sound clip from Steven Bannon’s speech at CPAC. “The toughest part of this war is ahead of us. I’ve never promised you sunlit uplands. I said it’s ahead of us. Maybe decades. But it’s times in American history that people have to lay it all down. You’re expendable to get to the bridge to the other side, you know that. You’re not asking for a handout, you’re not asking for a pat on the head, right, you’re not asking for a thank you, all you’re asking for is ‘where is my musket, where is bayonet, and where do I go over the top.’” # [As Bannon was saying this, RSBN—a MAGA broadcaster—was hawking “Trump Combat Knives” on screen. See photo above.]

Now, more than anything else, I want to make clear who it is I’m talking to.

I’m not talking to the activists for democracy, and if you’re listening to this podcast there’s a chance that you’re one. In many ways, it’s the already converted, those who already believe in democracy, those who already believe in a fair and future-facing politics that we want to speak to.

We want to mobilise those who care enough to act. Those who want a better future not only for themselves, but for other people as well. Those who believe democracy is worth defending.

But I’m not talking to you right now, I’m talking to someone else.

You may be a man, or a woman, young, middle-aged or a pensioner. I don’t know your colour of skin or religion. But I know one thing about you, and it’s that you’re not sure what to think anymore.

You’re not sure what to believe.

Because things don’t feel right, things don’t feel good.

You may be looking out of your window at a once flourishing neighbour that’s gone slightly downhill in the last few years. You may not have serious financial or personal problems, but you are concerned about the people around you who do—the number of rough sleepers outside your grocery store, or young people being cut out of the property market, or the deteriorating state of public services. You’re worried that the people who paid in are no longer able to cash out.

Or you may be worse off than that. You may feel that the dreams you dreamt as a kid have not come true, and through no fault of your own. You did all the things you were supposed to do, you got an education, you worked hard, and yet somehow you’ve been evicted from the society of dreamers. Maybe you’re renting a poorly serviced flat in a less than desirable area, maybe you have a job you never quite signed up for, maybe you don’t think social mobility exists anymore, or at least not in a way it did when you were a kid. You’re worried that you’ll never have what society promised you, what your parents had.

Maybe you’re worse off still. Maybe you grew up in a rough part of town where a lot of people never went to high school or university. Some fell into trouble, others picked up where they’re parents left off, only slightly worse, slightly less able to get a job or a place of their own. Unable to rent a flat on your own, you may not feel you were evicted from the place where you grew up, but perhaps that an alternative no longer exists. All the exits are closed, and you feel invisible to the people in power, in the inner cities, the elites. You’re worried that everyone but you are getting a fair shot at life.

I don’t know exactly who you are, but I know that you’re many and I know you’re all united by the same discontentedness, the same sense of injustice, and an anger that is building towards fury. I know this because I’ve stood at the edge of democracy and peered into the abyss, only to find that my own, distorted face was looking back at me.

What are the people in power doing? They make promises and yet they perpetuate the same old politics that seem to create more problems than it solves. You don’t see progress, you just see nice words. Rubbish on the pavement, potholes in the street, you can’t get a doctor’s appointment, can’t find a nursery that is affordable, there’s mould in the bathroom and it’s too expensive to heat the flat and the list goes on and on and on. The politicians who talk so nicely, are they your friends, or is it time for something different? Is it time to stick it to the man?

Well, what does the man really not like?

It’s the people who say that the man is full of it, who say the man is only it for the elites. The people on the right who for years were described as fascists and whose only voters were uneducated idiots, racists and outsiders.

And as time passes, nothing changes—the only thing that changes is that the bad men are getting more popular. And like you they’re unhappy.

They’re unhappy with everything you’re unhappy with.

They speak to your anger and discontent.

They tell you there’s an enemy.

And they want you on their side.

Embrace it, they tell you.

Do people call you a racist? Own it. We don’t want to be in your club. They dare you to do it. Racist, fascist, sexist, transphobe, whatever it is. Wear it as a badge of honour. Of course, they wrap it all up in nice words, them too.

We’re not racists, we’re not sexists, we’re not this or that, we just believe in meritocracy, we believe in safety and security, in freedom, we believe that you should have the right to do whatever you want, and we believe that everyone but you are getting a slice of the cake, from the immigrants to the Ukrainians to the diversity hires to the establishment elites. You shouldn’t be shut up, you should no longer be silenced. You’ve been silenced for long enough. With us, you’re no longer silenced, your voice is amplified. We don’t like it here and we’re going to change things no matter what.

This is how the end begins.

# Sound clip from Steven Bannon’s speech at CPAC. “You’re expendable to get to the bridge to the other side, you know that. #

Do it, then. Do it, do it today: Perform a nazi salute. Tell yourself it’s OK, tell yourself it’s a Roman salute, not that such a thing ever existed before Mussolini.

Do it, do it at work.

Tell yourself it doesn’t mean what you think it means.

Tell yourself that the people who perform Nazi salutes are still on your side and that they are not coming for you too in the end, that you’re not expendable to them, that you’re not just someone going over the hill… And for what? For a society where tech billionaires bow to the King who lets them rob the state while all you get is to see your immigrant neighbours hounded out of the country, trans individuals told they don’t exist, less international aid for the poor, and gutted public services in the name of efficiency.

Start as close to end as possible. Start right now.

And if you’re not too far along, if you’re not knee-deep in Russian disinformation and far-right propaganda, if you’re listening to us, then this is the beginning. Join us against them. We have many fights to fight. Things need to get better for you and for all of us. We want better schools, we want fair distribution of society’s resources, we want to talk more about fair taxation, and we believe there is a way to fix the potholes, to fix the schools, and to get more doctor’s appointments, to make your life richer, and it doesn’t have to be at the expense of anyone else. It just takes work, and it’s not easy.

We have to be honest. The world’s not easy. But they don’t hold the answer. Their answer is in fixed bayonets. In close combat. In being ready to kill.

If you’re listening to Omri and Benni, then let me assure of you of this: politics is often complicated, the solutions aren’t always straightforward, but the people we talk to here are all in it for the same thing. For a future that is better for all of us. You could learn something, if you choose to listen. We’re close to the end, but we haven’t yet chosen it.

Let’s start now.

# Sound clip from Steven Bannon’s speech at CPAC #

Ted Verver-Greijer is the co-creator and producer of the podcast, “This Time Tomorrow.”

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thistimetomorrowpod.substack.com