In 2016, a lot of my communist friends were saying "Trump will construct a fascist regime. There will not be a legitimate, democratic election in 2020. He will attempt to hold power beyond two terms. We must arm ourselves for a civil war that is surely coming."

They laid out exactly how this would happen. How mainstream media and establishment politicians would condemn his actions without taking concrete steps to counteract them. How neo-nazi paramilitary groups would be normalized. How a popular base of resistance needed to be built.

I was raised in a liberal household, and taught to see the world through a liberal lens. It instilled in me an enduring belief that education, opportunity, and progress could solve all problems. I'm sure I will never fully shake that belief, but I now understand it is pernicious.

I am becoming more comfortable recognizing that all political change involves violence—either structural or personal, either threatened or actualized. I am working to overcome my squeamishness and to ask myself what I will be capable of doing when my community needs me.

In 2016, my revolutionary communist friends spelled all of this out (not for the first or the last time). They were dismissed by a lot of people as an alarmist fringe. I was theoretically on their side but still held reservations. But they nailed all those predictions/warnings.

I've identified as some combination of anarchist and communist for a good decade. But over the past few years I've been realizing how much work I have to do to excise liberalism from my heart if I am ever going to be able to make a serious contribution to good in this world.

I hope I succeed in doing that work inside of myself. I hope you succeed in doing that work inside of yourself, as well.