Here are three action opportunities to resist Trump and Republicans at the national and state levels.
ACTION #1: A national, 24-hour economic boycott will occur on Friday, Feb. 28. Please plan ahead so that on 2/28 you can:
NOT shop online or in stores; NOT make any purchases if at all possible. In particular, do NOT shop at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and other stores that have dropped their DEI commitments.
NOT use credit cards, debit cards, or any electronic payment systems.
NOT click on ads on social media.
If you must make an emergency purchase (e.g., food, medicine), shop at small, local businesses and use cash if you can.
Please SPREAD THIS MESSAGE. Talk about it, post about it, share it, and document your actions on 2/28!
THIS MATTERS because retail, financial, and other corporations only care about their bottom line. A noticeable blip in their business, even for just a day, will send a powerful message.
ACTION #2: Blue Wave is running a postcard campaign in support of Wisconsin Democratic Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford. Election day is April 1. The outcome of the race will determine the balance of power on the Court through 2028. Maintaining the 4 – 3 Democratic majority is essential to protecting constitutional rights in Wisconsin (such as access to women’s reproductive health services), supporting unionization, requiring fair electoral maps, and ensuring free and fair elections in 2026 and beyond.
The postcards must be purchased in packets of 100 and come with stick-on address labels. (If you don’t want to do 100, find a friend to share the work.) They have a VERY short message for you to write and are a great way to help win this election.
More information about Judge Crawford and her campaign is here. Donate if you can.
ACTION #3: There are two special elections for seats in the U.S. House from Florida on April 1. As you know, the balance in the House between Democrats and Republicans is very close and winning these two seats would narrow the margin and give Democrats greater strength. For now, donate if you can. I’ll share other ways to get involved in the future.
Gay Valimont(Democrat) is running in the special election for Florida’s 1st congressional district. (The special election will fill the seat left by Matt Gaetz, who resigned from office after Trump nominated him for attorney general. Gaetz later withdrew from consideration for that position.)
More information about Ms. Valimont and her campaign is here.
Josh Weil (Democrat) is running in the special election for Florida’s 6th congressional district. (The special election will fill the seat left by Michael Waltz, who Trump nominated to serve as national security advisor.)
More information about Mr. Weil and his campaign is here.
I strongly urge you to contact your US Senators NOW and demand that they block the confirmation of Trump nominees Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education and Dr. Mehmet Oz for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS oversees health care for more than 150 million Americans. Call if you can or email your Senators. Here’s a sample message:
Please speak out loudly and clearly, and do everything in your power, to stop Linda McMahon from being confirmed as Secretary of Education and Dr. Oz from being confirmed as Administrator of CMS. Both nominees are extremely unqualified for these jobs. Maintaining our public education and health care systems is critical to the future of our country. Neither of these nominees has the experience or expertise to oversee these critical systems.
Please stop these nominees NOW! If you have to stage a sit-in in the Senate chamber to get the attention of your colleagues, the mainstream media, and the public, please do so. Dramatic action is required to stop these dramatically unqualified nominees.
I strongly urge you to contact your US Representative and Senators NOW and demand that they stop Musk and DOGE from accessing your (and everyone else’s) IRS records. Here’s a sample message:
Please speak out loudly and clearly, and do everything in your power, to stop Musk and his DOGE group from accessing IRS records. I do not want them looking at my financial and tax information at the IRS.
Sharing IRS records with anyone outside of the IRS typically results in jail time. IRS employees who access records without authorization are seriously disciplined.
There is absolutely no justification for Musk and DOGE having access to IRS records and the potential for harm is immense.
The resistance to the coup and dictatorship of President Trump and co-President Musk is growing. Non-violent resistance has overthrown many dictatorships in recent decades. There are a wide range of actions we can take to resist Trump and his cronies. Don’t acquiesce; participate in the resistance and fight back.
(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)
President Trump and co-president Musk continue their deluge of destructive and generally illegal actions. Republicans in Congress and in the states are standing by mutely and acquiescing to everything Trump and Musk are doing. They are complicit in the coup.
Elsewhere, the resistance is growing. Democrats in Congress and on the ground are starting to find their voices although they need to speak out more frequently and more forcefully. Federal workers are starting to find their voices and, with the help of lawyers, to push back. Lawyers and the courts are starting to find their voices and to stand up for the rule of law.
All of us are starting to find our voices and are pushing back more and more, both individually and collectively. We need to be louder. We need to do more. We need to badger our elected officials into doing more. They are our elected representatives; they should represent us.
As the negative effects of Trump’s and Musk’s actions are starting to hit home, more and more Americans, including in Republican districts, are starting to pushback. For example, the farmers in the Midwest whose agricultural products are not being purchased by US AID for foreign aid are complaining about the loss of sales and the potential impact on the prices they get for their products.
My previous post suggested actions to take. Everyone can do something and every little bit of protest and resistance matters. These actions and many more (198 in total) are listed in the book From Dictatorship to Democracy(Gene Sharp, 2012, CPI Group Ltd., UK). It was originally published as a pamphlet in Bangkok in 1993 by the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma. The original pamphlet and now the book are viewed by many as the go-to guide for non-violent resistance. It played a key role in the uprisings of the Arab Spring in 2010 and 2011. These pro-democracy protests and revoltstook place in the Middle East and North Africa. They challenged and toppled entrenched authoritarian governments in Tunisia, Egypt, and most recently, after a long struggle, in Syria.
Since 1980, regime change through non-violent resistance has occurredin numerous countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Slovenia, Madagascar, Mali, Bolivia, the Philippines, and the Ukraine. Significant non-violent resistance has taken place in numerous other countries including the Tiananmen Square protest in China and the protests in Hong Kong against the Chinese takeover.
Here in the U.S., we don’t face nearly as daunting a challenge as the people of these countries did, so I’m sure we can succeed. I’m not saying it will be quick or easy; it certainly wasn’t in most of these other examples. However, if we work together and each of us makes a commitment to do what we can, we will succeed.
As Sharp writes, dictators rely on the acquiescence of the people they rule. They need people to acquiesce to the authority they claim, i.e., to obey and often to cooperate or even assist the dictatorship. Refusing to acquiesce is a key piece of resistance.This applies not only to individuals but also to the organizations and institutions they are part of.
Dictatorships are inherently unstable because of lack of competency, inefficiency due to decision making based on favoritism and whims, internal strife due to personal and institutional conflicts and rivalries, and the instability of hierarchical power structures.
Sharp identifies three types of non-violent resistance:
Protest and persuasion
Non-cooperation
Intervention
Protest and persuasion can include:
Formal statements in speeches or in writing presented in the full range of media.
Symbolic acts, such as commemorating an event or person with a moment of silence or placing flowers at a relevant site, or by wearing buttons or relevant colors.
Physical acts, including protest rallies, marches, or sit-ins; as well as protest songs and acting performances in skits (such as SNL) or plays.
Non-cooperation is essential for effective resistance and has three sub-types:
Social actions, such as boycotts or cancellations of events, walkouts from social institutions or events, and turning one’s back at events.
Economic actions, including targeted or widespread consumer boycotts of companies, strikes (including a short-term general strike of all workers and all consumers), work slowdowns or sick-outs, and a refusal to cooperate from key experts.
Political actions, such as rejection of the dictator’s authority through speeches, writing, or actions; boycotting or blockading governmental buildings, agencies, or bodies; non-cooperation with government officials or agencies; and civil disobedience.
Intervention can include occupation of facilities, publicized fasting, overloading governmental administrative systems, exposing and publicizing the actions of and the individuals cooperating with the dictator’s regime, and mock trials of government officials.
There have been many local resistance actions and a national resistance movement is beginning to develop.
Friday, February 28, will be a one-day consumer economic boycott where customers will not buy anything and in particular will avoid using credit and debit cards and other electronic payment systems.
Saturday, April 19, appears to be developing as a day for nationwide rallies and marches.
These are unprecedented and dangerous times for our democracy. Things are worse than I thought they’d be. President Trump and co-President Musk are hard at work attempting a coup to establish a dictatorship. They want to create chaos, fear, and despair, while breaking our government and destroying our democratic institutions. We as citizens of a democracy must take action to resist the coup and the would-be dictators. There are a very wide range of actions you can take. See options below.
(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)
In November, just after the election, I wrote, “This is a post I never thought I’d write. In January, the United States of America will unequivocally become a plutocratic oligarchy with strong elements of fascism. … we and our country are in for some dark and difficult times. Take care of yourself and nurture the strength for the fights ahead.
I’m not giving up hope or the values and principles I espouse in this blog. Things will get worse, perhaps much worse, before we can turn things around. The fight for democracy has often been hard, and, as I’ve written before, democracy is not a spectator sport.
After a period of mourning and to rest and recuperate from the shock and horror, we all need to get to work fighting for our democracy and the vulnerable members of our society.” (The post is here.)
Well, things are worse than I thought they’d be. I never thought I’d write that there’s a bloodless (so far) coup underway and that our President (and co-President) are hard at work attempting to establish a dictatorship.
Needless to say, these are unprecedented and dangerous times for our democracy. President Trump’s and co-President Musk’s actions have been far more aggressive, far-reaching, and damaging than I think anyone expected. Trump seems to be focused on foreign matters and Musk on domestic ones.
Their goal is clearly to create chaos, fear, and despair. They’re trying to break our government and destroy our democratic institutions. They don’t care about democracy, the rule of law, or anyone but themselves and their cronies.
In the maelstrom of all they’re doing, it’s important to sort the wheat from the chaff and focus on what’s having a crucial, and generally immediate, effect. A lot of what Trump is doing and saying is just hot air and smoke meant to distract from the really important actions.
Right now, I’d urge us to focus on the coup (that is what it is) they’re executing by single-handedly and illegally asserting control over government agencies and spending. We also need to focus on their efforts to destroy the rule of law, which is a cornerstone of democracy and an essential element of their coup.
They’re asserting dictatorial powers over the federal government and its spending, denying any role for Congress. So much for the checks and balances between the legislative and executive branches of government clearly spelled out in the Constitution. (By the way, don’t believe for a second that Trump and Musk have any allegiance to or intent to uphold the Constitution. When Trump swore at his inauguration to uphold the Constitution, that was the first lie of his second term.)
They’re flouting privacy laws by accessing information and data, including your and my personal data, without any authorization. They’re making each of us and our country less safe and secure.With the chaos they have caused at the Department of Justice and the FBI, we are more at risk for everything from ordinary crime to identity theft. Their breaching of sensitive federal government computer systems makes the government and each of us more vulnerable to hackers and cybercrime. The focus of the Secretary of Defense on the Mexican border and purging diversity, equity, inclusion, and transgender individuals from the military has diverted attention from real foreign threats. This makes usmore vulnerable to terrorism and foreign attacks of all kinds.
Oh, and by the way, none of their actions have done anything to reduce inflation or bring down the price of groceries. Quite to the contrary, Trump’s spat and threatened tariffs on Columbia have spiked the price of coffee. And the failure and anticipated failure of the CDC to tackle the bird flu, have spiked the price of eggs. Not to mention the impact of tariffs on prices.
We as citizens of a democracy must take action to resist the coup and the would-be dictators. There are a very wide range of actions you can take; there’s something everyone can do, and every little bit helps.
I encourage you to contact your U.S. Representative and your Senators. Urge them to do whatever they can to block the illegal actions and coup by President Trump and co-President Musk. Call if you can (and if their voice mailboxes aren’t full) and try both local and Washington phone numbers. Or email them using their contact forms or email addresses. (You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.)
Here are some other ways to protest and resist. I also encourage you to be creative and come up with your own.
Wear a button, a T-shirt with a message, and/or a color symbolic of resistance.
Boycott X (formerly Twitter), Tesla, Amazon, The Washington Post, Facebook, etc. and/or protest in front of stores of companies that are capitulating to Trump.
Communicate. Talk to others, like and share resistance messaging on social media, and/or send letters to the editor of media outlets or submit online comments.
Join the protests in the streets.
Support those protesting and those resisting (e.g., government employees Trump and Musk are trying to fire, lawyers and non-profits filing lawsuits, etc.).
Give financial support to media that are standing up to Trump, to lawyers and organizations who are suing Trump and Musk, and to those organizing protests.
Get organizations you belong to and their leaders to speak out, e.g., religious organizations and clergy.
U.S. political campaigns are awash in money. American oligarchs are buying our elected officials, thereby corrupting all facets of government.We must reform campaign financing to preserve our democracy. Matching small campaign contributions with public funds in a system that restricts the size and source of campaign contributions is the most effective answer to big money in our elections, particularly within the context of current Supreme Court rulings.
(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)
My previous three posts have focused on how a miniscule group of billionaires (aka the American oligarchs) are buying our elected officials (here), using super PACs to do so (here) and expecting a return on their “investments,” all of which corrupt our government (here). They also highlighted how big donors are using non-profit organizations that don’t have to report donors to hide their identities and how super PACs are violating the law by coordinating with candidates’ campaigns. Unfortunately, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) is failing to enforce campaign finance laws. Meanwhile, Congress has failed to act, although bills to reform campaign financing have been on the table. [1]
In the 2024 election campaigns, donors who spent at least $5 million spent more than twice as much as they had in the 2020 presidential election cycle. About 44% ($480 million) of all the money spent on Trump’s campaign came from just ten individual donors. The wealthy individuals spending tens and hundreds of millions of dollars on campaigns are motivated by greed (they expect a return on investment for their spending), as well as a desire for power and influence. Elon Musk (Tesla, X, Space X, Starlink, etc.) is the most visible of these oligarchs. He appears to be motivated primarily by a desire for power and influence. Jeff Bezos (Amazon and the Washington Post) and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta, Facebook, and Instagram) appear to be motivated primarily by greed and fear that Trump would retaliate and hurt their businesses if they didn’t support him. Peter Thiel (vulture capitalist and sponsor of J. D. Vance) appears to be motivated primarily by a desire for power and influence. Trump and J. D. Vance appear to be motivated primarily by a desire for power, although wealth may be a close second.
This huge spending on campaigns corrupts who runs for elected offices, who wins, what issues governments address, what policy alternatives are considered and adopted, and how laws are implemented and enforced (or not). The oligarchs’ spending buys access to elected and regulatory officials. It allows them to influence policies such as regulations and tax laws, as well as enforcement of them. [2]
More and more of the money spent on congressional races is coming from out-of-state donors, highlighting that big spenders are looking for a return on their investments, not just supporting their local congressional candidates. It also means that our elected officials are more likely to be responsive to wealthy special interests than to the constituents who actually live in their congressional districts.
The huge amount of money in supposedly democratic, one person one vote, elections is obscene. The buying of our elected officials by wealthy interests is corrupting all facets of our governments.To preserve democracy, we must reform campaign financing laws and push back against the power and influence of the oligarchs.
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis faced these issues roughly a century ago. As a lawyer, often doing pro bono work in the public interest, he successfully challenged the powerful railroad, street car, electricity, and banking companies, as well as their wealthy owners.
The current situationmakes clear how right Brandeis, a fervent supporter of democracy, was when he wrote almost 100 years ago, “We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” How true those words ring today. [3]
An ancillary effect of the incredible cost of election campaigns is that elected officials must spend substantial time fundraising from the day they get elected. This diverts time, energy, and attention from policy making and legislating, as well as from interacting with constituents.
Before Republicans took control of the House in 2022, The Freedom to Vote Act (S.2747) was developed and introduced in the Senate to address the issues of big money and dark money in our elections. It included most of the key provisions of the For the People Act and the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, which had previously been passed by Democrats in the House. Unfortunately, Republicans in the Senate blocked these bills and there is no hope for such reforms at the national level with Republicans fully in control now. (For more details see this previous post.)
The Freedom to Vote Act included provisions that would have: [4]
Reformed the campaign finance system by
a) requiring enhanced disclosure of all major donors by any entity spending more than $10,000,
b) ensuring super PACs are truly independent of candidates, and
c) strengthening enforcement of campaign finance laws.
Created a system for matching small donations with public funds in U.S. House campaigns that states and candidates could opt into. It would have matched each dollar of small donations with $6 of public funds in exchange for limiting the size of donations. This would eliminate the need for candidates to rely on large donations from wealthy special interests with their corrupting influence.
Given the control of the federal government by Republicans, oligarchs, and the six corrupt Supreme Court justices, people working to limit the influence of wealthy interests in our elections will need to focus at the state and local levels for now. State and local governments can enact laws implementing all of the provisions for the Freedom to Vote Act above: enhanced disclosure and transparency for campaign spending, requirements that super PAC and other outside spending is truly independent of candidates’ campaigns, public matching funds for small contributions to campaigns, and strict enforcement of campaign financing laws. [5]
Matching small campaign contributions with public funds in a system that restricts the size and source of campaign contributions is the most effective answer to big money in our elections, particularly within the context of current Supreme Court rulings. Such systems have been in place in multiple states for some time and in New York State starting in 2024. A number of municipalities also have such systems, including a very successful one in New York City since 1988. (See this previous post for more details.)
Given that the state and national parties set the rules for their primaries, they could address campaign finance reform. They could, for example, ban super PAC money and dark money in party primaries, as well as require strict disclosure of donors. So far, the Democratic National Committee has refused to consider such campaign finance rules, despite a push from some internal groups to do so. Apparently, it is still too wedded to big donors to be willing to work for government of, by, and for the people, as opposed to wealthy special interests.
I encourage you to contact your local and state elected officials, as well as state and national party officials, to ask them to enact campaign finance reforms. The corrupting influence of big money in our elections must be reversed if the U.S. is to be a democracy where all voters have a fair, if not equal, voice in our government. Money should not drown out the voices of citizens, and even candidates, in our elections. And voters have a right to know who is spending money to try to influence their vote. Justice Brandeis summed it all up by saying, “The end for which we must strive is the attainment of rule by the people” as opposed to rule by the oligarchs who are buying our elected officials and government.
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