Opinion | Stand united, Minnesota, and keep the focus on the source of the harm

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It is starting to happen. I can see it in the opinion pieces recently written. We must not blame one another. We must hold to fast to one another. Arms linked. In moments like this, we have a choice: We can fracture into smaller and smaller camps, or we can stand shoulder to shoulder and name the real source of harm.

Too often, especially on the left, we do the opposite. We “eat our own.” We scrutinize every word, every misstep, every imperfect response from people who are trying to help, and we turn that energy inward. We fight each other while the person doing the damage walks away untouched.

I’ve watched this happen again and again. When chaos and cruelty come from the top, instead of keeping our focus there, we start circling one another. And somehow, the person inflicting the most harm — President Donald Trump — slips out of the center of the story.

Let’s not do that again.

This is not about pretending we all agree. Disagreement is healthy. Accountability matters. But there is a difference between accountability and self-destruction. There is a difference between honest critique and feeding a cycle that weakens our ability to protect real people in real danger.

So why do we forget that when things get political?

When harm is being done — when families are terrified, when communities are targeted, when lies are broadcast as truth — the focus should not be on who on “our side” failed to use the exact right phrasing. The focus should be on stopping the harm. The focus should be on naming who is responsible for creating it.

We can say this clearly: Trump is the source of enormous damage in this country. His rhetoric fuels fear. His policies tear families apart. His lies undermine democracy. When chaos follows him, that is not an accident. It is the result of choices he continues to make.

Blaming each other instead of naming that truth doesn’t make us principled. It makes us ineffective.

We can hold complexity. We can care about nuance. And we can still say, without hesitation: the primary threat is not coming from our neighbors, our emergency responders, our organizers, our teachers, our writers, our advocates or our community leaders. The primary threat is coming from a political movement that thrives on fear, division and cruelty — and from the man who leads it.

It means asking, every time we are tempted to turn on each other:

Is this helping the people who are scared right now?

Is this stopping the harm?

Is this holding the real source of damage accountable?

If the answer is no, then maybe it can wait.

This is not the time to center ourselves.

This is not the time to perform purity.

This is not the time to fracture.

This is the time to stand united.

To name who is causing the harm: Donald J. Trump.

United we stand.

Divided we fall.