To everyone outside the US who’s angry at Americans right now, especially those of us who hate Trump and feel trapped: Please understand this. We do not elect our president the way you think we do. Millions of us voted against him. Millions of us are terrified of the damage being done. We are not cheering this on. We are living inside it. If you’re wondering why we don’t just “revolt like the French” or “fix it,” here is the reality of being an American right now:

Our system is rigid, slow, and stacked in ways that make “just revolt” a fantasy. We don’t have a culture where mass strikes shut the country down overnight. We don’t have a centralized government you can pressure in one city.

We have fifty states, militarized policing, surveillance, debt, and jobs tied to health insurance. For many people, losing a job for protesting means losing healthcare and housing.

France is smaller than Texas. Organizing a “national” revolt across 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million square km) and 330 million people isn’t just difficult, it’s logistically close to impossible.

That doesn’t mean we’re complacent. It means we’re constrained.

Anger at US power is fair. Fear of US decisions is fair. But blaming every American, especially those who are fighting, exhausted, and scared alongside you, misses the mark.