Charlie drew attention to the dispiriting, indeed shocking, poll that suggested only a minority of young-adult Americans would fight for their country if it were invaded by Russia. I suspect the true number is higher than that — would Millennials really just flee? How would that work, exactly? Most of us don’t live near a border, and the highways would be jammed up and impassable anyway. The airports would presumably be bombed and unusable. Millennials would either fight, or be crushed. “Meh, I guess I’d just stay out of it” wouldn’t be an option.
What I’d like to ask is: Whatever happened to The American Resistance (2016–2020)? Whatever happened to those brave armies of pussy-hat wearers who marched for democracy? Millennials already have lots of practice fighting fascism, thugs, and authoritarians, don’t they? We were assured throughout the Trump Era that he was the new Hitler, an actual Nazi, and the greatest threat America had ever encountered. If Millennials were willing to fight one domestic despot as recently as two years ago, where has their fight gone now that a foreign despot is running amok? Surely all the fight rhetoric we heard for four years wasn’t just play-acting. Was it?