The Chair, the Tyrant, and the Turning Point
“Tyranny wears many faces. But silence will never be ours.” - Mary Coughlin
The Chair, the Tyrant, and the Turning Point
A trauma-informed call to reclaim care, courage, and collective accountability
A trauma-informed call to reclaim care, courage, and collective accountability
Tyranny doesn’t always arrive with tanks and banners.
Sometimes it comes cloaked in procedure—
in bills that never see the floor,
in rules rewritten to protect power,
in the silence of leadership that refuses to listen.
Speaker Mike Johnson has not just failed to lead with care—
he has used his position to block bipartisan solutions, rewrite the rules to protect himself, and advance agendas that harm the most vulnerable among us.
A bipartisan proposal to support new parents? Silenced.
Funding for communities in crisis? Delayed.
Checks on executive overreach? Dismissed.
Voices of dissent—even within his own party? Muted.
This is not what trauma-informed leadership looks like.
In TIDC, we understand:
Safety is non-negotiable.
Voice and choice are central to healing.
Transparency and trust are how we build connection.
And equity is not a sidebar—it’s the soul of the work.
Johnson’s pattern of control is not neutral.
It is harmful. It is deliberate.
And it echoes the very systems of oppression we are called to disrupt.
We do not call for the chair to be vacated out of rage.
We call for it out of alignment—
with the principles we live by,
the justice we believe in,
and the people we serve.
To remain silent is to consent.
And we will not consent to tyranny dressed as order.
This is our turning point.
Not just to resist what harms—
but to rise for what heals.
We know what trauma-informed care looks like.
We know what trauma-informed governance demands.
And we know that real leadership is accountable, equitable, and transparent.
It is time to vacate the chair.
It is time to protect the people.
It is time to remember who we are.
As a mom, a nurse, and a citizen of this fragile, beautiful democracy—
I will not be silent.
I will not stand still.
And I will not stop believing in what we can become.
With unwavering love and unflinching resolve,
Mary
📣 Join us at Project 2026.
Sign The People’s Declaration.
And let’s reimagine what governance can become.
#VacateTheChair #Project2026 #ReimagineGovernance #CaringIsEssential #TraumaInformedLeadership #TyrannyWearsATie #WeTheFuture
