Happy MLK Day. We're Gonna Fucking Win.

The bully is on his back foot and baring his teeth and swinging furiously because he's scared and panicked and more than a little shocked by the resilience of his enemy.

The bully – the Trump regime and its Republican and media/tech allies – is reeling over the pushback he's gotten from the good, freedom-loving people of Minnesota in what was meant to be a blowout win for the regime. The bully has taken a punch straight to the mouth. He's tasting blood and he doesn't like it.

The federal government has invaded and occupied an occupation stronghold (I use this phrase because it's how such an action would be defined in a foreign autocracy) and the people there have banded together and told them to get the fuck out. Normal folks – nonpolitical folks – are being beaten and gassed and wrongfully detained – and yes, murdered – by a fascist paramilitary force working directly for the president, and they have not blinked. They have said with one voice: No, you can't come kidnap our neighbors as part of your everlasting fascist propaganda movie. It's a heartening thing.

I came across a revealing clip in my morning Bluesky doomscroll that spoke clearly to the desperation and low morale of the anti-American right. I wanted to share it with you, the good BFT readers and supporters, because you need to know on this MLK Day that these guys – these bullies – are staggering right now.

First of all, grow the fuck up. Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles, a true hater of the United States of America, devolves into a 12-year-old in criticizing his pro-America enemies in Minnesota fighting for their freedom without a shred of help from local authorities or elected Democrats who have utterly abandoned the people who elected them to office. My advice to Ogles and others who use this sort of offensive locker room language: Be an adult. Have some goddamn self respect (Ogles is nothing if not a bully; he recently told constituents they were "at war" with Democratic-appointed judges in the state, forcing courthouses to bolster security).

A bully who's winning the fight does not talk like this. If the people of Minnesota had stayed inside or fled the state in the face of authoritarian terror, Ogles would strike a serious and respectable tone. He'd repeat regime talking points and smile and tell various right-wing propaganda media outlets that the people of the United States stood down during ICE's invasion because they wholeheartedly support the sovereign. Ogles would not name-call, he would not whine, he would not search for words meant to hurt his opponents' feelings during a live TV interview if he believed his side was winning.

But Ogles understands he and his anti-American Republican colleagues are losing. He tastes the blood in his mouth and he does not like it one bit. Just know that this is not the language of strength. It's not the language of confidence. Ogles sees what the regime has done: Radicalize normal folks against his entire wretched party.

On this MLK Day – a day American conservatives have hated since its inception in 1986 – know that the bully is not having a good time, and that pro-democracy Americans are slowly realizing that in these advanced stages of small-d democratic decline, only power can save us now. We're going to win.

Follow Denny Carter on BlueSky at @dennycarter.bsky.social.