In the first ten days of the Trump administration, when his sycophants are purring and praising, private corporate execs are rolling over and doing his bidding, and even many of his opponents in Congress have been somewhat muted in their response to his actions, three women – Phyllis Fong, Judge Loren AliKhan, and Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde -- have been audacious in their visible and vocal resistance.
Phyllis Fong
On Friday, January 24th, just four days after taking office, Trump fired seventeen Inspector Generals, the federal watchdogs over government agencies. Among these was Phyllis Fong, the Inspector General of the US Department of Agriculture. But Ms. Fong refused the firing, citing the position of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency that these firings “’did not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are ineffective at this time.’”[i] Having served in the USDA for twenty-two years under four presidents, she returned defiantly to her office on Monday morning, only to be escorted out by federal security agents.
Judge Loren AliKhan
On that same Monday, January 27th, the Trump administration issued a freeze on all federal grants and loans, causing chaos and confusion around the country, and creating a large outcry in response. The freeze was due to take effect at 5 PM on Tuesday, January 28th, but late in the afternoon on Tuesday, just minutes before the freeze was to take effect, in response to a lawsuit filed by four organizations representing nonprofits, public health officials, and small business leaders, US District Judge Loren AliKhan ordered an administrative stay on the freeze. The stay was a pause, with hearings on the matter scheduled for Monday, February 3rd, but the stay gave multiple opponents of the freeze time to rally before the country descended into chaos. By Wednesday, the Trump administration rescinded the order.
Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde
Finally, on the Tuesday after Trump’s inauguration, the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde lifted her voice and courageously spoke directly to the President, beseeching him to be merciful to those he has slated for persecution, in particular, immigrants, those fleeing war and persecution, and LGBTQ+ individuals. Trump was quick to condemn her remarks, calling her “nasty” and “a Radical left win Trump-hater.” Other conservatives joined in, with Georgia representative Mike Collins going so far as to say she should be added to the deportation list. All because she spoke truth to power. As she herself said in her sermon, “. . . we don’t always know where the truth lies, and there is a lot working against the truth now. But when we do know, when we know what is true, it is incumbent upon us to speak the truth, even when, especially when it costs us.” And the cost for these three may be particularly high, given that they are all women, and two are women of color.
In her sermon, Budde called for a unity that allows for diversity of opinions, but is upheld by its commitment to three things: 1) the honor and dignity of every person, 2) honesty, and 3) humility. These are also three of the foundations of Albert Camus’s ethic of rebellion[ii], and in their actions all three of these women exemplify the rebel, in Camus’s sense of the term.” All three said “yes” and “no” simultaneously – “yes” to their own dignity and integrity and “no” to being oppressed and silenced in the face of one who would use his power to do just that. Silence is born of fear or despair; rebellion gives birth to speaking out against injustice and oppression in the affirmation of dignity.
All three also acted out of a rebellious sense of solidarity – whether the metaphysical solidarity of making a claim on behalf of something that surpasses oneself – in the cases of Fong and AliKhan, the law; or on behalf of others similarly situated – in Fong’s case, her colleagues who had also been fired; or as compassionate action on behalf of the oppressed – as was so beautifully articulated in Budde’s sermon. As Camus stated so succinctly, “I rebel -- therefore we exist.”[iii] Even as individual actions, actsa of rebellion are necessarily in solidarity with the collective.
A final requirement of solidarity is a refusal to oppress in turn. As Budde said in her sermon, we are all capable of good and bad. Thus, we require a humility that recognizes our own capacity to act unjustly, and then refuses to do so. None of the women attempted to humiliate or degrade Trump in their actions or their speech. They simply acted on their own truths, out of their own integrity and in honor of their own and others’ dignity.
In sum, Fong, AliKhan, and Budde acted as Budde suggested we all do to build unity -- in affirmation of the dignity of every individual, honestly, and with a humility that refuses to oppress in turn. They deserve our admiration and respect. In these times when despair lurks around the edges of every news update and hope can be hard to find, I find hope in the rebellious courage of these three women.
As Camus wrote: “Some will say that hope lies in a nation; others, in a man. I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crudest implications of history. As a result, there shines forth fleetingly the ever threatened truth that each and every [one], on the foundation of [their] own sufferings and joys, builds for all.”[iv]
Sources
Bartlett, Elizabeth. Rebellious Feminism: Camus’s Ethic of Rebellion and Feminist Thought. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Camus, Albert. Resistance, Rebellion, and Death. Trans. Justin O’Brien. New York: Vintage Books, 1974.
Camus, Albert. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt. Trans. Anthony Bower. New York: Vintage Books, 1956.
mariann edgar budde prayer - YouTube
Trump criticizes ‘nasty’ bishop who made pro-immigrant and LGBTQ+ plea | Donald Trump | The Guardian
[i] Email from Phyllis Fong to colleagues, USDA inspector general escorted out of office after defying Trump order | Trump administration | The Guardian
[ii] See my Rebellious Feminism: Camus’s Ethic of Rebellion and Feminist Thought. Budde considered these three elements to be necessary for “unity.” In drawing the comparison to Camus, it is intriguing to me that Camus considered “unity” to be one of the key elements of an ethic of rebellion – clearly stating that such unity is diverse and multivocal, and in distinct contrast with “totality,” which is singular, monovocal, and imposed from without through coercion and propaganda – the kind of “totality” demanded by Trump and eerily present in his loyal followers and those who would collude with him, all of whom seem to speak with one voice.
[iii] Camus, The Rebel, 22
[iv] Camus, Resistance, 272. I altered some of the language to be gender neutral.