Like many, I am tired of waiting for the congressional Republicans to grow a spine, and for Democrats to get their resistance act together. Instead, I suggest aspects of a shadow government and an emerging new politics, with these components.
A candidate for president. Now.
Such a candidate would begin to assemble a new, broad coalition and issues that will focus attention on the resistance agenda. The candidate would not be a standard-issue Democrat and would appeal to independents and Never-Trump Republicans. He or she might signal that their candidacy might end when the primary season commences.
An impeachment trial.Â
If Congress won’t do it, citizens should. Present key evidence, with rebuttals, and make the case public for removal of Trump. It would be catnip for the media.
Select 20 congressional targets.
There might be 10 from each chamber, who are in swing districts and thus vulnerable to a primary. The goal is to squeeze out candidates who have given up on congressional independence and can be attacked for wimpiness. One hopes there would also be challenges from the right, meaning only one-third of voters are needed to remove them in the primary. Raise money to fund the challenges, and pick challengers who suggest a new, third party.
Develop political leverage that pinches.Â
Some candidates: secession by Northeast or West Coast; a general strike for government agencies; armed Minutemen doing field exercises; product boycotts for Tesla and Trump resorts.
Build a Defense Fund.Â
There will be massive legal expenses, so create a large pool of money to pay for lawyers (and seek volunteers). Create a mechanism for distributing the funding in a tactical way. The fund, along with the congressional targets, gives people an effective way to volunteer and send money.
The patriotism model.
The script for this is along the lines of De Gaulle’s Free France during World War II in England and France, and the patriotic tide that produced the American Revolution and pushed out the mighty British. That is: rallies, marches, websites, and modern versions of Sam Adams’s Committees of Correspondence. All are meant to focus the resistance and generate a new politics and a sense of hope.
Thanks for taking a shot at identifying real organizing steps dethrone the Trump regime. The suggestion for targeting specific districts and raising a legal defense fund could begin immediately if there was coordinated plan with leadership from the Democratic party with citizen groups.
The key is your first point: a LEADER needs to emerge. Someone we can get behind. Bright, charismatic, reasonable and balanced. I have not seen or heard anyone who inspires me to get up, get out, and take action.
Don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters. You want a leader, YOU be a leader. Find an issue and organize around it.
I would add this tactic: target the right wing media, starting with Fox and the Murdoch empire. They got dinged with the $750M lawsuit settlement. But that was a dart in the side of an elephant. There must be dozens of other litigiously actionable lies that they could be sued for. Where are the billionaires who could easily fund such efforts? Hello Bill Gates!
Gates is focused on his foundation’s work with global-health initiatives, which is still a plus for the country and its image. (A *benevolent* tech billionaire providing altruistic American soft power?)
Looking for other rich tech guys? Leading up to the election, Steve Ballmer released several videos on his USAFacts YouTube channel, objectively explaining issues like demographics and taxation, with a focus on data (“We give you the facts, you make up your own mind.”). They’re quite clear and informative. Here’s his entry on the federal budget, for example: https://youtu.be/aQoh9jdRZPM?si=z3SaHCKGTKtpj7j2 Ballmer also just announced he’ll release more “Just the Facts” videos this year.
And then there’s Mark Cuban, who started off in tech (the late Broadcast.com) and is one of the few rich guys to take on Trump and propose solutions benefiting most people. Look at this Bluesky thread where he explains high health-care costs (especially prescription drug pricing) and offers his solution: https://bsky.app/profile/mcuban.bsky.social/post/3lcxvn4jb3s23
“He or she might signal that their candidacy might end when the primary season commences.”
? I like this item but don’t understand that last part. Candidacy might end because … it wasn’t real?
(And … truly I hate to say this, but if it’s going to be a real candidate with the objective of taking the White House in 2028, it’s “he”, not “he or she.” It’s a white, heterosexual, Protestant etc. male. This is not the time to try that again.)
“Raise money to fund the challenges, and pick challengers who suggest a new, third party.”
Third party? We haven’t had enough of third parties yet? Otherwise, like this item. Particularly, we desperately need responsible conservatives who can rise above the half century of degradation of the Republican party. Funding conservative challengers isn’t necessarily just about gaming the primary.
I do not think it has to be a ‘he’ who is white, heterosexual, Protestant and male. I think there are females, AKA competent, strong and experienced women would would make fine candidates and presidents, too. But they need strong backing from the Democrats, if that’s the nominating party, and not the same old wimpy messages and, frankly, bad advice from consultants who apparently think it’s just fine to abandon people who vote and happen to live in the Midwest of the U.S. and seem to have outdated ideas about women and their leadership capabilities. I think there’s deep-seated and unacknowledged mistrust and unwillingness to acknowledge what women have done and can do in leadership positions in this country. It’s past time to deliberately and honestly take women seriously and take a woman’s candidacy for the presidency as a worthy endeavor, one worth working very hard for — no excuses or rationalizations about why ‘it’s not a good time’ to do so.
It’s true, there are those women. Maybe working very hard for that will change those voters’ minds. Convince them that the Democratic party didn’t nominate a woman and/or minority for president in this must-win moment just because they care about diversity more than anything. But how do you sell a high quality candidate – more competent, honest, reliable and sharper than Donald Trump? That bar is so low it’s immaterial.
At the moment, the country seems to be getting harder and harder to work with, and to me it seems to be heading for the abyss. If the next time we fail again, I don’t care to even think what will be left by 2032.
Thanks for voicing this. The desperate, manipulative pleas from every federal Democratic candidate in the nation left me resentful of and disillusioned with the Party and its priorities. I contacted ActBlue, but they said they had no control of how their lists were used.
“…but they need strong backing from the Democrats, if that’s the nominating party, and not the same old wimpy messages and, frankly, bad advice from consultants”
Yes, the Party is enmeshed in their status quo. Look at the enthusiasm of a whole generation of “younger” voters for Bernie Sanders, yet the establishment went, ‘Nah, too unconventional, confrontational, and doesn’t play by our rules.” And they lost the respect of a whole generation of voters.
But I do think that for our next candidate for President we have to have a white male, not a woman and not a person of color, or even a non-heterosexual. Someone who, I’m afraid, so many voters who don’t yet think like urbanites won’t automatically reject.
Granted, that eliminates a whole category of remarkably committed, honest, and gifted leaders. But we’ve got to pull ourselves out of the muck before we can wash off the mud and get back to work for the People. And for that job, you’d want the strongest candidate, one who appeals to a very broad swath of Americans. I loved Tim Walz and his woke ways, but I imagined the cringing of (over) half of the Country when he’d give his little Zen bow in thanks.
Well said. I would dearly love to see a woman leader emerge to bring America back to sanity.
David,
I fully agree with your position that the Resistance to the Musk-Trump regime needs to get much more active immediately. Passivity at this time is for whiners and wimps. They are not playing by the rules, so the Resistance should not play by the rules. Rather than forming a shadow government and attempting to impeach Trump (great in concept, but not practical in reality), I suggest the Resistance hit them where they are most sensitive: their money and power. Here are a few suggestions: Cancel your account on Twitter/X. Sell your Tesla — or better yet, order a new Tesla and cancel before payment is due. Book a reservation at a Trump hotel and cancel before payment is due. Find a friend who lives in Maine (Collins), Alaska (Murkowski), Kentucky (McConnell), Iowa (Ernst) or Mississippi (Wicker) and use their address to write, email and call their US Senators. These are all Republicans who have some skepticism about Trump, and they can be swayed. The Resistance just needs to flip 4 of them on key issues. The key to all efforts is to strategically and actively Resist.
Refine the fundraising model. No, really — I can’t be the only one was repelled at the constant drip, drip, of fundraising emails, calls, texts. I kept giving, they kept asking. I kept blocking, they kept finding new roads in. That didn’t affect my vote, but I think it definitely diminished many people’s ardor for voting the Democratic ticket. Yes, to fundraising. No to the endless phony pitches about “matching” funds. Yes, spend money more wisely next time.
A suggestion to get us out of the starting gate: Stand With Ukraine March & Rally in downtown Seattle this Sunday, Feb 23rd. The march will start at 1st & Pike (near the market) at 12 noon, followed by a rally at Seattle Center at 1pm. See link below for details. As US Sen. Ron Wyden pointed out at Town Hall a few nights ago, we have to be the cavalry!
https://uaws.org/ua/2025-stand-with-ukraine/
Forget all that. I awoke this morning at 3 am. with a completely different idea: stop paying my federal income tax. Trump is draining The swamp, saving us all loads of money. They don’t need mine anymore. I don’t have withholding; I pay quarterly, always have since 1970. With the federal workforce evicerated they likely won’t catch up with me until I’m dead. I’ll file, just no checks. What about the cash? Since I don’t need it, charity. For me, to my favorite: Bloodworks Northwest. Of course, choose your own recipient.
Keep in mind that one of the stated objectives of the MAGA movement is to gut the IRS and fire most of its auditors. Once this is done, big corporations and the 1% (with the assistance of well-paid tax lawyers) can avoid paying federal taxes without repercussion. This is a smart business decision with a great ROI (nevermind the ethical issues involved). As Trump says, only suckers pay taxes.
That is the only explanation that makes sense…Gordon Bowker, I will gladly donate a print of prized o-negative blood to your favorite org.
Thanks David for your thoughtful suggestions for facing the lawless antidemocratic Musk-Trump regime. I like many of your ideas on rallies, boycotts, legal representation, citizen impeachment trials, and more.
The sooner the better for action, so I would urge readers also to now call, write or visit their members of Congress and demand an end to de facto president Musk and his high tech geek terrorists’ illegal and unconstitutional attacks on our agencies and the theft or erasure of our most sensitive government information. I think many of my fellow Social Security recipients are worried especially about illegitimate access to their financial data, cessation of payments, or the wiping out of their accounts. Seems the Musk gangs are adept at erasing files and historical records, as happened with their recent firing of nuclear safety experts. This issue of tampering with and stealing our official documents is nonpartisan and hurts citizens of every political persuasion. Flood the Congress with your concerns. Musk must be stopped. (And boycotting Tesla is also a good idea.)
I also Like Marilyn’s action suggestion above of joining in the March for Ukraine in Seattle this coming Sunday. Outrageous and shocking that Americans stabbed democratic, sovereign Ukraine in the back to appease the rapacious Russian war criminal Putin who initiated a brutal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and whose forces have committed thousands of war crimes against that country’s civilians and soldiers alike for the past three bloody years. Another shameful chapter in the history of titular president 47 & 49. All for a Trump Tower near Red Square?
I”m sorry I missed that march for Ukraine. The prospect of Putin and Trump muscling aside other elected leaders (take that, Macron!) and inviting Zelensky only to dine on crumbs from the table, fills me with shame.
DB;
“Armed militiamen doing field exercises”. To what end exactly?
If you’ve previously supported gun control in principle, based on the above I can only assume that your true belief is for “gun control” that ONLY applies to those who hold political views differ from yours. That is, “I support gun control except when the guns are used to intimidate MAGA supporters”.
So much for principle. You’re disgusting.
Seems like a weird take to me. Thanks to the courts’ desire to misinterpret the 2nd amendment to the US constitution, there is hardly any gun control, so it’s kind of irrelevant to Brewster’s suggestion.
But for those who would be guided by what the 2nd amendment actually says, this would be the one protected case anyway. At this point it’s hard to precisely picture what it’s going to do for the security of a free state, but in a couple years we may have a very different perspective.
Easy answers,
Sporting hunters, myself included, find your comment disgusting as well, and doltish.
I will gladly defend you from a MAGA quail or duck. Democrats and liberals own guns.
It is possible to support gun control AND own a gun. Look at Canada.
Re reading this article and call-to-action, I’m not sure why I focused on the clumsiness of the Democratic fund raising model;
in light of Trumps’ horrifying speeches / actions of the last few weeks, Ukraine and Gaza, the dismantling of hard working federal workers, relentless cuts in federal aid that will sure inflict severe suffering on the world’s vulnerable people — I would say, get louderl. At one point, we need to stop talking about failures. One thing I admire about some Republicans is their relentless determination to focus on the future.
One political friend sent my article to experienced pols in D.C., and here’s what they had to say, hoping to sober me up:
“It would take quite a commitment of time, energy and money to accomplish even half the items on this list, so I don’t see it happening.
“A candidate for president. Now. No sane person would want to come out and make this commitment; even if it were withdrawn in a year or two, as it would trigger a host of complex legal matters under Federal Election law, not to mention Trump’s Justice Department or his surrogates in red states going after some the wealthy/public individual so bold as to put himself out there.
“An impeachment trial. While it would be catnip for the media, Trump has repeatedly shown that he will use legal process to shut down anyone who challenges him. Not only that, he probably could have the Justice Department defend him now that the Supreme Court has granted him absolute immunity.
“Select 20 congressional targets. Very expensive undertaking
“Develop political leverage that pinches. I think this one is the most logical. Just like the tea party bs in 2010, there are thousands of people who are going to be pissed off as a result of their friends and family losing jobs, increased prices as a result of tariffs, inability to find labor for their businesses, delays in receiving tax refunds and other government services, etc.
“Build a Defense Fund. There will be massive legal expenses, so create a large pool of money to pay for lawyers (and seek volunteers). Create a mechanism for distributing the funding in a tactical way. The fund, along with the congressional targets, gives people an effective way to volunteer and send money.
“The patriotism model. I think that anyone who is not a politician would be jeopardizing his/her livelihood and freedom. We are in a McCarthy like environment.”
“Jeopardizing his/her livelihood and freedom”? That in itself speaks to the need. Had Americans played it safe back in the day, we’d be more or less another Canada. Which at the moment doesn’t seem so bad, compared to what’s coming if they put their heads down today.
Seattle has long been a leader in the Sister-City movement. Why not use that leverage to recruit and promote Kyiv Sister-City associations across the country? By so doing, we would marshall support for Ukraine and send a clear message of foreign policy priority to the Trump/Vance administration.
You know, that’s a great idea. Kyiv/Seattle Sister City.
The Patriotism Model worked during the Vietnam War. It was mostly led by vets in the VVAW who knew what sacrifice was. Nixon’s administration made the protests difficult and full of jeopardy. Did it work?
Start by refusing to buy ANYTHING this coming Friday, the 28th. No purchases. This national campaign is a silent step towards notifying those dependent on our income that they need to take our disapproval seriously.
David,
I appreciate your multipronged approach to resistance. I wonder how best to address the Fox State Propaganda machine and how it has seemed to capture large sections of the country? Also, we have learned a lot about cognitive bias (e.g., disconfirmation bias) and how the right has learned to misinform, lie and manipulate ‘public’ opinion by using these biases. How do we treat these infections in the body politic?
Even with the eventual departure of the dumpsterfire from the stage, we now have right wing institutions like Heritage and the Federalist Society who have produced an army of ideologues, so this conflict is not going away soon.
Without going into character disorders and psychopathology, Felon47 is a case of arrested development at about the seven year old level: basically, everyone is an object to be manipulated to get what he wants – power at a primitive, coercive level. And, with his billionaire oligarch buddies, he would like to drag a complex society back to a feudal level where the 99%+ of us are their serfs. Tariffs? Sounds like a regression to mercantilism.
A major challenge, I my opinion, is how can we support the development and maturation of the emerging generation(s) to understand, see beyond, and reject this crude view of the world? (With special attention to young men, who seem particularly at risk to this form of social disease).
Would a public health/medical model be worth looking at for effective treatments? Take a look at the book, Influencer, to consider how Guinea Worm has been eradicated (almost) by use of a six-fold method of influence to create change.
Enough, just a few more thoughts to add our daunting task.
Thanks David and commenters. See also Michael Kazin’s five suggestions in the current (Winter 2025) issue of Dissent. His #2, “run candidates for office who are wage-earners or small business owners themselves,” references Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.