Readers abroad, you may not have heard the phrase, “If you see something, say something.” It’s something we here in the U.S. see all the time in public places and on trains and at airports. The idea is that if you see an unattended package on a seat in your train car, let the conductor know. This idea is part of the response to the new threats we face in the post-9/11 world.

I want to put the saying to another use today. We’ve all read about Donald Trump’s recent outrageous statements. I’m not going to spend time here trying to diagnose the reasons for the Trump phenomenon. There’s plenty of blame to go around. Whatever the reason that he has found as much support as he has given his toxic and un-American brand of politics, the questions is, what do ordinary people have to do to now?

If you see something, say something. I see something really troubling going on in our politics. It’s important for every American—whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or unenrolled—to say that we are not going to register members of religious minorities in the United States, and we are not going to turn away refugees fleeing a war on religious grounds. We are not going to close houses of worship. We are going to nip this in the bud.

I think it’s important that we not simply assume that Trump is a flash in the pan, that he can’t possibly win, and that the people he represents are ignorant rubes whom it’s safe to ignore. So I’m taking a moment today to express firm opposition to Trump here on Letters Blogatory, and I encourage those of you who have your own websites, Twitter feeds, or whatever, to do the same.