‘I’m looking at 2026 midterms at a litmus test for oligarchy as a fundamental thing.’

Tony Mensah is a community resource advocate and American University graduate with a degree in Public Relations and Strategic Communications. He and Charles Butler met for brunch at a local Black-owned cafe and talked about Mensah’s feelings following the 2024 election, his anxieties and hopes under the new administration and how the election has impacted his personal relationships.

Charles Butler: So, talking about the election, how are you feeling now?

Tony Mensah: I mean I’m not too shocked in terms of the outcome of the election. Concerned like most other people in terms of economic prosperity and whatever else but yeah, not surprised.

Butler: Okay, economic prosperity. How do you think that will be impacted by the administration?

Mensah: It depends on what the prosperity is leaning towards. I think for working-class and middle-class people there will be more pressure to create opportunities to make money. There will be a lot less stability. I don’t know if the initial three, four-week, month gauntlet is reflective of all the chaos or if it will be effective in destabilizing things. I think the world has a way of balancing things out. But I think the administration is interested in creating opportunities for wealth at higher levels to be amassed and consolidated. I think if you’re starting out or in a difficult place it’s going to be harder for you to find support. But I could be wrong.

Butler: What are some ways you think people can protect themselves from that or prepare themselves?

Mensah: Well one, I think learning. I think that’s the foundation. Learning things that you may not want to know about. You know, what are supply chains? What are things going on in the political atmosphere or world that might affect a product you want or a need you have; I think that’s important. I also think consolidating on what you really need is going to be important for people. And then finally just figuring out what you can invest in that’s growing.

Butler: In what ways will you resist the administration?

Mensah: It always goes back to knowledge. I think it’s obviously different levels of resistance that people can take. You can be out in the streets, you can be organizing, you can be raising funds, creating mutual aid. I think the organizing and mutual aid part I’m interested in, but I think my most valuable skillset is communication and knowledge. Like the pursuit of knowledge but also being able to communicate it in ways that people can understand or find comfort in. And that’s how I resist.

But also, I don’t look at it as resistance.  I look at is a function of a healthy democracy. The same people that say trickle-down economics. Like how many times has trickle-down economics actually been the reality of people’s wealth? Never. But it’s at the grassroots level of your alderman or your congresspeople. It’s in creating programs. Even the Black Panther movement, people think it was just like this militant force or whatever but no, they did food programs, they did education. So, it’s the same thing we’ve always done as Black people: providing opportunities and finding ways to create those spaces because we don’t have them the way we used to have them. We used to have church as a function, which, people aren’t as religious anymore. We used to have more businesses where that was the gathering place. So, finding ways to bring back–I guess they’re calling them ‘third spaces’–but spaces outside of our homes or the internet or work where we can really have community and develop frameworks for how we are going to survive.

Butler: In what ways do you think Black people are specifically affected by or vulnerable to being targeted by this administration?

Mensah: People might look at me crazy when I say this, but I don’t Black people are ever not under target. I think DEI and these other frameworks for things were given as these begrudging concessions that were fought for. There are people being more emboldened to do things against communities of color; that’s something we saw in the last administration; hate crimes rose and different struggles for power.

Butler: Have the results left you at odds at all with your friends and family?

Mensah: No, I think I’m pretty intentional about the people I spend my time with and it’s not to say that people who have different beliefs than me are horrible. There’s validity in even conservative thinking and right-wing ideology if you apply the right kind of lens on it and criticize it in the proper way. Same with different leftist perspectives. But someone who disagrees with my existence is maybe an associate at best. That’s not a friend.

Butler: Fair enough. Do you think social media impacted your beliefs going into the election or has it shaped your reaction to it since?

Mensah: I think social media definitely sensationalized certain things I was feeling. Even if I was having what I might call a rational mindset about the political state of the world. I think it’s encouraged me to be more mindful of how information is shared and like how we can be innovative because for every action there is a reaction. So, I think social media is an effective tool to learn and it’s also an effective tool to distract yourself and believe whatever you wanna believe.

Butler: What do you have looking forward to in this administration?

Mensah: I don’t have too much I’m looking forward to—you said the next election?

Butler: From this administration but I guess the next election. Are you looking to 2028 as the relief?

Mensah: I’m looking at 2026 midterms at a litmus test for oligarchy as a fundamental thing. It’s easy to say right now because he’s putting out a lot of orders and people getting fired that “it’s over,” but there has been resistance. Like judges and there have been protests and things like that outside. It might not be this sweeping thing where we are all fighting but America is such a big country.

Butler: Especially nowadays when everything is so fragmented with social media. It’s so hard for one group of people to get on one accord.

Mensah: Exactly, if you look at the George Floyd movement in 2020, how much of that was because everybody was stuck in the house and could focus on the same things. So, I’m looking forward to how resistance evolves and I think that America is changing and the social dynamic and empire of America is no longer what it was 20 or 30 years ago and so I look forward to seeing how America fights for sustainability in an era where it’s no longer the dominating superpower.