One thing many Americans may not be aware of is how the recent transition in the U.S. is playing abroad.

I think it is safe to say that any nation or leader who supports democratic values is horrified and in shock. The administration has aligned with Russia and the murderous Vladimir Putin, as well as the heirs of the Nazi party in Germany, over our former allies and friends. That isn’t an opinion. It’s a cold, hard, horrific fact.

My friends throughout the world reach out regularly, baffled by the seeming compliance to an abandonment of our principles and fully aware that these actions will not only bring down our country as a superpower but hurt the rest of the world in the President Trump’s pursuit of world domination as a bully who is neutral on human rights. (And other countries short on natural resources may not be so willing to share if we aren’t allies but pariahs.)

That’s one of the reasons I write and protest, to make sure that others know this is the opinion of a few in a cabal led by a truly racist South African and the white Christian nationalism espoused by our vice president who claims and then perverts Christianity for power and not grace. True blasphemy!

That’s why I was heartened to hear from a professor in Sweden who wanted to use the Facebook photo of me at the most recent protest, with my sign with the a Bonhoeffer quote, in a power point lecture. Small, maybe, but a ripple effect. We need to stand up for what we believe in to encourage others and not go quietly or gently into the night.

Keep the faith, keep showing up and keep speaking up. You never know who may be encouraged  by your refusal to buy into the narrative that this is inevitable.  Because that is the only hope we have to not make it so.