This is it, folks: 2026. It’s the year where we revolt against those who made 2025 a living hell. It’s the year which we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in the US, yet we feel less independent than in that time. It’s a time where Europe should be an independent entity, but there are outside forces that don’t want this to happen. It’s a time where we should be free, but our freedoms are being restricted by force.
But let’s start with the facts that should give us an incentive to express our freedoms instead of submitting to autocracy:
- The United States of America has over 350 million inhabitants. Even if we subtract the number of MAGA supporters and those who voted for Trump in 2024, we’re still in the majority. Not even ICE would stand a chance against the population, let alone the Cabinet, the Republican-led Congress or even the media outlets that are either spewing lies and propaganda or those who are Trump’s billionaire puppets. We outnumber Trump Inc. by a ratio of ten to one.
- The European Union is a collection of 27 countries plus four more that have trade agreements. Plus talk is spreading around about the UK rejoining ten years after the infamous Brexit vote. All in all we have over 430 million inhabitants with a pluralistic democratic system that is unique and grants freedoms to everyone regardless of status. Despite the growing trend of far-right parties, they fall clearly into the minority because more than 85% of the population has experienced fascism in the past, let alone WWII and the splitting of Europe into East and West during the Cold War. The scars are still visible inside and out, and the majority would like to see fascism buried and sealed in concrete.
With this in mind, I ask all of you this: What are we afraid of?
We get intimidated by the threats of lawsuits for uncovering the truth, revocation of our citizenship for speaking up, be arrested in the streets for protesting peacefully and be disappeared for demanding the likes of Trump to up it (man up, fess up, give up, put up and shut up) on policies that don’t work except for the billionaires, let alone release files that have the likes of Epstein on them.
We are living in a culture of fear where we are in the majority, where our voices, our talents, our pride, our solidarity, and our empathy are what makes a country a strong and functional unit. Had we lived like we are living now in the past, America would still be part of England under the King. Germany, Italy and Spain would still be under fascist rule, and we would still have the Wall that featured the Soviet Union in the East and the countries in the West that are under different rules of government.
Peter Thiel once mentioned that democracy and freedom are incompatible. My response: That is the biggest bunch of bullshit I have ever heard. Democracy and Freedom have always been a fabric of a nation like the US, the UK, and a conglomerate of federal states like the EU. Add empathy, cultural awareness, unity, and we have a powerhouse. They are all compatible like a family, glued together by the people in the majority who live there, want to make a living there, and help others there. Anything outside that is simply bullshit.
This year 2026 will be a year where we fight back and take back what is ours. Trump wants to cut up the EU. We will not let it happen. We have seen through his plans and are acting accordingly with help from Canada. Despite surging far-right extremism, they have no chance as we will find ways to stop the trend, even if it means forming unlikely coalitions to make it happen.
The US is celebrating 250 years of independence, but this year will mark a redux in the fight for independence. We will boycott those who support Trump and Project 2025 (now 2026), take to the streets more often and unexpectedly, and come the mid-term elections November, find a creative way to recapture Congress, file for impeachment to remove Trump and his Cabinet, and circumvent the laws to force new Presidential Elections. Two thirds (at least) have had it with this dysfunctional regime, while the rest of the World is clearly tired of Trumpism. There will be many opportunities to ensure Trump is out of office before the year is over. History has repeatedly written of dictatorships falling when there were enough people to stand up and fight. See France, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Romania, the countries of the Revolution of 1989 or the African Spring 2011. They all experienced dictatorships but were all forced out in many ways by the majority. We have the numbers, the skills and talents, plus the desire for change. We just have to provide the will that we have to do it. And we have that.
Elon Musk once said that empathy is a sign of weakness. I say bullshit. Ignorance and hatred are signs of a weak person and a weak, failing nation. Empathy is one of the main ingredients to making a nation a great one. It belongs to a family consisting of different cultures, unity, democracy and freedom. These five elements will be key to victory as we will see Trumpism fall into ashes, a restart of American democracy, a creation of the United States of Europe, and the rise of an era where people live together under one roof regardless of background.
This is what I see as we go through 2026- the time we take out the trash, restore what is salvageable and start a new era where we all work together as a family of democracy, freedom, cultures, unity and empathy.
And with that in mind, let’s get to work! We have a lot to do. 💪🇪🇺
THE FLENSBURG FILES 