On Saturday morning, Feb. 15, I joined a throng of concerned citizens that filled the largest church in town to hear our soft-spoken but heroic congressman, Jim McGovern, summarize the unfolding catastrophe that confronts the American people (including Republicans who don’t admit it yet).

Before taking questions from the audience, Jim summarized the recently released budget tacked together by the new administration. If rammed through Congress, it will change everything for the worse — health care, food programs, climate response, anti-poverty programs, foreign aid, science, education, governmental integrity, civil rights and so on.

Anything since the New Deal that smacks of Democratic values and accomplishments is on the Trump/Musk chopping block. And any Republican who dares to oppose the party line will get a primary challenge financed by Musk.

The whirlwind has already begun: Tens of thousands of federal employees are being fired or urged to retire — a tragic and undeserved fate for those affected and their families and an incalculable loss of experience, institutional memory, and continuity for the entire country.

Meanwhile, America’s role as a responsible world power is being diminished: Foreign aid has been thrown into chaos, endangering lives worldwide. Ukraine (and Europe) may be shamefully abandoned by the U.S. as Trump kowtows to his Russian mentor, Vladimir Putin.

McGovern characterized the cumulative impacts of this far-right frenzy as pure “evil.” That word is not heard much these days when political discourse is sugarcoated with relativism (aka “on the other hand” or “whatever”). Many of our children and grandchildren have been inoculated against viewing the world in stark black and white terms. “Good vs. evil” sounds like a throwback to Jonathan Edwards (whose bronze bust loomed over the crowd inside First Churches).

But calling “evil” by its name may be a first step in the rocky road back to democracy. If “evil” is unchecked by the media, by schools and colleges, by churches, by the courts, by health professionals, scientists, economists, social workers, artists, athletes, entertainers, and other pillars of civilized society, we face a very grim future indeed. As many writers have observed, the temptation to play along with fascism is difficult to suppress for those who are not directly threatened, or think they can benefit from doing so (e.g. Eric Adams).

“Whatever” needs to be retired and “evil” called out when we see it. Thank you, Jim McGovern!

Rutherford H. Platt lives in Northampton.