“Je Suis Don Lemon!”
The anti-ICE uprisings in the US, the triumph of the Israeli hostage movement, grassroots protests worldwide, and as Trump desperately attacks journalists and clergy, have we reached a turning point?
Now they’re going after the independent journalists.
The arrest of Don Lemon was a blatant violation of press freedoms that are the cornerstone of our first amendment. But it was also a direct attack on the expanding field of independent journalism, which has picked up the slack following the shameless capitulation of legacy news operations, the ones that should also have been covering the protest at that church.
As an independent journalist on Substack, I take the arrest of Lemon and Georgia Fort personally, as an attack on my freedom and an attempt to intimidate me - and I’m encouraged by their determination to carry on.
As a religious leader, I can tell you that what Lemon did was NOT an attack on freedom of religion, which I also cherish. Whether or not you consider the interruption of a religious service unconstitutional, which I don’t (though it is rude, and it’s nice to know that the government thinks I can have arrested the congregants who stood up and interrupted me mid-sermon to object to some comments I made about Israel two years ago), Lemon stated clearly on the video that he was covering the event as a journalist. It is the attempt to arrest him for recording the protest that is unconstitutional - and unconscionable. As Ronan Farrow posted on X: 1
History shows a pattern here. When governments begin criminalizing the observation of dissent—using technical oversteps as justification—it’s often a warning sign. We’ve seen similar patterns precede press crackdowns in countries like Turkey, Russia.
Evidently Project 2025 didn’t count on the impact of millions of empowered, camera-bearing witnesses taking to the streets. What did Goebbels know from cell phones? The plan didn’t account for the courage of Stella Carlson becoming an independent journalist by standing her ground while in the line of fire to record the murder of Alex Pretti.
And meanwhile, a few miles away from Lemon and the church, a hundred clergy were arrested at anti ICE protests at the airport, and throughout the state - and country - clergy are lending moral leadership to the cause in a manner reminiscent of the civil rights movement. Trump’s toadies are going to fail if their goal is to divide religious leaders from journalists.
Clergy and journalists join hands in our devotion to the first amendment, both freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
In the spirit of the mass support given when the journalists of the satiric weekly Charlie Hebdo were attacked, I proclaim: Je suis Don Lemon! And also Je suis pastor Kenny Callaghan, who, like Lemon, was recently detained and threatened.
All the targets of autocracy need to come together to resist this suppression. And we have the means to do it.
We have entered the age of independent newsgathering. Now, everyone with a cell phone is a potential Edward R Murrow, enabling the rest of us to “see it now.” The cell phone camera is saving democracy.
And we are discovering that the real power is in the hands of the people.
Americans are not turning their heads and ignoring this catastrophe. We are gaining the courage to tell the story. It just took a while to clear our throats.
Just after the Renee Good murder, Shalom Auslander wrote an op-ed in the New York Times comparing Americans now to WW2-era Germans who didn’t speak up because they believed the lies their government told them or just chose to stay silent. He cites a German soldier’s diary he found at a flea market to demonstrate how Germans lived out their lives as if nothing were happening - and how his American grandparents assured him that “we Americans aren’t like them.”
And I wonder,” he writes, “if someday, at some distant flea market, a young man will chance upon an old iPhone from 2026, and scrolling through it — through pics of the owner’s friends, vacations, festive dinners — will wonder how this unbothered American went about his normal life as the country was descending into fear-induced psychosis at the hands of an autocrat.
“Thank goodness,” he will comfort himself, “we’re not like them.”
We may or may not be like them, but we have two things they didn’t have: resilient institutions and a camera in our hands.
Perhaps also dumber leaders, though we can’t count on that.
We’ve seen just in the past month that evil autocracies can do lots of damage when they turn off the internet, as they did in Iran. But images still have gotten out.
And man, did they ever get out in Minneapolis.
“America was born in protest,” proclaimed the USA Today.
That is what makes us different from other countries. That is why we can overcome the designs of the autocrats and modern-day Goebbels. Americans are not turning their heads and ignoring this catastrophe. We are gaining the courage to tell the story. It just took a while to clear our throats.
We are not powerless.
The Triumph of the Individual, the Power of the Masses
And it’s not just here. It’s happening, all over the world. The tide is turning.
People are rising up to defeat the axis of autocracy, and Trump, Orban, Khamenei, Netanyahu and Putin are groping to deal with spontaneous outbursts of people power. God willing, 2026 will be the year the tide turns, led by mass protests and key elections.
These aren’t “masses” as they might have been conceived a century ago, a homogeneous glob of humanity manipulated by its leaders and quashed by groupthink, where, as Ortega y Gasset wrote in 1930, in Revolt of the Masses, “to be different is to be indecent.”
He wrote, “The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and select. Anybody who is not like everybody, who does not think like everybody, runs the risk of being eliminated.”
But now that’s changed. It is the power of the individual that the masses are celebrating. And where Karl Marx thought religion was the opiate of the masses, we are seeing on pulpits across America that religion is in fact the stimulant, waking the masses up. Minneapolis has been a turning point. Hundreds of clergy flew to Minneapolis to protest and many were arrested.
The American Catholic church is taking cues from the pope and projecting a strong anti-ICE voice. This past week, 300 Catholic leaders asked that Congress reject ICE funding and approve protections for migrants in any funding bill to prioritize family unity and alternatives to detention.
For Trump, losing the Catholics over ICE is akin to LBJ losing Walter Cronkite over Vietnam. Increasingly, the masses are emerging from their Sunday masses ready to protest.
In our day, to be part of these mass protest movements is to stand up for individual rights, including the right to be different and the right to vote one’s conscience. All you need to be a leader of grassroots change is to be willing to go outside in subzero Minneapolis chill and when a sadistic, psychotic bully/murderer sprays pepper spray on a woman nearby and a local nurse rushes to give comfort before being summarily executed, hold the camera steady and refuse to run and hide.
Like Kayla Schultz:
Kayla Schultz is why I am hopeful. Stella Carlson is why I’m hopeful. They and all the other accidental journalists who bore witness to the evil, while the White House bore false witness against the murder victims.
And across the country, with the No Kings rallies and last Friday’s National Shutdown that brought millions of Americans to the streets from their jobs and classrooms2, we are seeing the empowered individual inspiring the masses at a time when several crucial elections (hopefully) are about to take place.
And around the world, the empowered masses are echoing the call.
Over 50,000 people walked the streets of Budapest in December to demand the resignation of Viktor Orban’s government. It followed the publication of videos this week showing staff at a Budapest juvenile correction facility physically abusing children. Viktor Orban’s main challenger, Peter Magyar, led the march. And elections are happening there in April. Should Orban lose, as appears likely according to current polls, the first autocratic domino will fall. We know that Putin and Trump will do anything to keep that from happening, but they might be powerless to stop a popular mass movement. We can only imagine the brutality that awaits in these springtime “Hungary Games” for democracy.
The return of the final Israeli hostage this week marked a massive triumph for grassroots resolve and action. While the movement to return the hostages had international assistance, including bipartisan support from the U.S., the power of the Israeli street was undeniably the indefatigable moral force that fueled this crusade through 2 1/2 years of brutal war and a government that often tried to push the issue aside. The free-the-hostages movement had its roots in the democracy protests that led up to October 7 in Israel’s and Judaism’s cultural/religious imperative demanding that no hostage ever be abandoned. In what other country could the return of a corpse be greeted with banner headlines, and even muted celebration, as happened last week?
Of course, Israel’s long national nightmare is far from over, and neither is the generational nightmare for Gazans, but many Israelis feel that they can begin to move on and address the severe ruptures that have afflicted their society since long before October 7.
They can begin addressing the collapse of their democratic institutions at the hands of the corrupt autocrat leading their government, he and his band of racist bomb throwers. Israeli elections will be no later than this October, but if a budget cannot be passed, as early as late spring. Polling is complicated there, but all recent surveys (not conducted by Israel’s shameless propaganda channel 14) show the opposition gaining the only realistic path to forming a new government. And if the opposition parties find a way to incorporate the Arab vote - which would not be unprecedented - they could win easily.
There are a number of other elections to watch in 2026.
On Feb. 12 in Bangladesh, the first elections since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government were ousted from power in August 2024 by student-led protests.
In Thailand next Sunday, where the reformist People’s Party is running in the lead, polls show.
On May 31 in Colombia, and in Brazil in October, where the hemispheric influence of Trumpism (and his infatuation with Jair Bolsonaro, deposed with the help of a popular revolt) will be tested.
São Paulo, Brazil—January 8, 2024—A demonstration on Avenida Paulista in favor of democracy, calling for punishment for those involved in the 2023 attack and former President Jair Bolsonaro's arrest. Shutterstock... And then there are the American midterms in November.
The world could be a much safer place next year at this time, if the voice of freedom can prevail on the streets of these countries and carry over to the voting booths. Or we could be headed toward dystopia.
All we need to do is take to the streets peacefully, never back down to intimidation, keep those cameras rolling, fight the fascists in the courts, in the media, and yes, fellow clergy, on the pulpit too.
Save the vote, all over the world, and watch the dominoes fall.
So as 2026 enters its second month, I am heartened, hopeful and reassured by the resolve of the American people, and people all over the world.
We are all Don Lemon.
See Ronan Farrow’s thread on the topic:
Click to see the organizations and business that lent support.
The number of anti-Trump protests across America in January alone was staggering:
January 2026 (source: Wikipedia)
January 3: Protests were held nationwide against Trump’s 2026 United States strikes in Venezuela.[894] At a protest in Paris, protesters burned an American flag.[895]
January 4: Protests continued in the United States and Europe against Trump’s 2026 United States strikes in Venezuela.[896]
January 7: Protests were held in several major cities including Washington, DC, Minneapolis, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Boston, Baltimore, Madison, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Philadelphia, Denver, San Diego, San Francisco, Louisville, Columbus, Cincinnati, Tucson, Phoenix, Atlanta, New Orleans, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Miami and Orlando following ICE‘s killing of Renée Good.[897][898][899]
January 8: Protests continued nationwide following ICE‘s killing of Renée Good in Minneapolis. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz authorized the state’s National Guard to support local law enforcement after protesters in Minneapolis clashed with federal agents.[900] In Portland, Oregon, several people were arrested at protests following ICE‘s 2026 Portland shooting.[901]
January 9: At least 30 people were arrested and later released in Minneapolis protests following ICE‘s killing of Renée Good.[902] In Washington, DC, the Washington National Opera announced that they were leaving the Kennedy Center after 55 years, following its renaming to the “Trump Kennedy Center”.[903]
January 10-11: Over 1,000 continuing protests were held nationwide following ICE‘s killing of Renée Good.[904][905]
January 12: In Phoenix, Arizona, anti-ICE protesters drowned out an Arizona Republican press conference pushing to criminalize protestors for “obstructing” an arrest.[906] Hundreds of students walked out of classes across the country in anti-ICE protests.[907][908][909]
January 13: Several career prosecutors in the United States Department of Justice‘s Civil Rights division resigned after learning that there would be no civil rights probe in ICE‘s killing of Renée Good.[910]
January 14: An ICE agent shot and injured a person during protests in Minneapolis after he allegedly assaulted the agent.[911][912] Hundreds of students walked out of classes in Minnesota and Wisconsin in anti-ICE protests.[913][914]
January 16: In Eagan, Minnesota, over a dozen ICE vehicles were vandalized.[915] An anti-ICE protest decrying the killing of Renée Good was held at Michigan State University.[916]
January 17: In Copenhagen, thousands of protesters rallied at the U.S. Embassy against Trump’s threats to take over Greenland.[917] In Minneapolis, Trump supporter and pardoned January 6 United States Capitol attack rioter Jake Lang was chased out of downtown by hundreds of counter protesters.[918] Anti-ICE protests were held in Broadview, Illinois, Waukesha, Wisconsin, Plano, Texas, Ocala, Florida and Denver.[919][920][921][922][923]
January 18: In Saint Paul, Minnesota, a group of protesters disrupted a church service where a local official with ICE apparently serves as a pastor.[924]
January 19: In Saint Paul, Minnesota, a group of protesters held an anti-ICE sit-in at a Target store in protest of Target aiding ICE operations.[925]
January 20: Free America Walkout
January 21: In Davos, Switzerland, hundreds of people protested Trump at the World Economic Forum, with some burning American flags in protest.[926] In Las Vegas, students walked out of classes in anti-ICE protests.[927]
January 22: In Cleveland, hundreds of students walked out of classes in anti-ICE protests.[928] 3 people were arrested at an anti-ICE and United States Border Patrol protest at Ohio State University.[929]
January 23: 2026 Minnesota general strike
January 24-25: Protests were held in several major cities during a winter storm with subzero temperatures including Washington, DC, Minneapolis, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Boston, Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Fort Wayne, Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City and San Francisco following ICE‘s killing of Alex Pretti.[930][931]
January 26: In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Long Beach, California and Chandler, Arizona, students walked out of classes in anti-ICE protests.[932][933][934] Another anti-ICE protest was held in Philadelphia.[935] Republican candidate for Minnesota governor Chris Madel dropped out of the gubernatorial race, stating that he could no longer be a member of the Republican party following ICE‘s killing of Alex Pretti.[936]
January 27: In London, Cleveland, Madison and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, anti-ICE protests were held.[937][938][939][940] In Clive, Iowa, a counter protest was held at a Trump rally.[941] In New York City, over 60 people were arrested at an anti-ICE sit-in at a Hilton Hotels & Resorts hotel where ICE agents were said to be staying.[942]
January 28: In Milwaukee, Los Angeles and San Francisco, students walked out of classes in anti-ICE protests.[943][944][945] Over 100 people protested ICE in Janesville, Wisconsin.[946] In Dilley, Texas, several protesters were arrested outside of the ICE facility where 5-year old Liam Ramos and his father were being held.[947] Bruce Springsteen released the protest song Streets of Minneapolis.
January 29: In Chicago, 7 people were arrested at an anti-ICE protest at a Target store in protest of Target aiding ICE operations.[948]
January 30: 2026 United States general strike
I remember the day you were interrupted very well. You handled like the mensch that you are. Who knew it would be something you’d mention years later in this insane context! Keep up the good works! We are all right behind you!
Next No Kings march is March 28.
And we must keep our eyes on election shenanigans planned by the regime.