The first week of President Trump’s return to power was a flurry of provocations, of attacks on the rule of law and raw exertions of power.
Part of the point, it seemed, was to bury his opposition in the blizzard, to rapidly follow each assault with another, often greater, affront to democratic norms. The effect was that many people, including many politicians, were left too stunned and disoriented to begin forming a cogent opposition.
But Trump’s pace of dictatorial executive actions probably can’t be sustained. At some point things will slow down, and in the lull the damage will be assessed. Terror and destruction produce evidence, and his actions against immigrants and transgender individuals, among others, will eventually manifest as cruelty meant to inflict suffering.
Then, I suspect, outrage will bubble and build as more citizens’ moral opposition to Trump’s methods gains clarity and purpose. People, especially young people, are simply not built to passively absorb oppression. At some point they inevitably react and resist.
We don’t know exactly how that resistance will be expressed, especially at this moment in which many Americans are still engaged in a “You touched the stove and now you’re learning what a burn is” kind of self-righteousness, as some members of demographic groups that shifted toward Trump reap the devastating dividends of their choices.
We had a way to prevent Trump’s return, but not enough voters acted to ensure it. Too many ignored the warnings and the signs. Too many fell for the false equivalencies. Too many were drawn in, like the woman in one of Trump’s favorite songs, “The Snake.”
For those who weren’t, who voted against him and tried to get others to do the same, the sting and disappointment is palpable. And this can express itself as a lack of sympathy for those who voted for Trump and now regret it — an inclination to disengage politically, with a side of schadenfreude.
I get it: Just before Christmas, I wrote that no one should feel guilty for taking a moment to unplug and regroup. But now that Trump has quickly shown his hand, any I-told-you-so impulse in the face of human suffering — even suffering self-invited by miscalculation — is counterproductive. It’s also a distraction from the crucial task of coalescing around a defensive strategy.
Whatever has happened and however people voted cannot be undone. All we have is the present and the future, and those of us who oppose Trump and his agenda must determine the posture that we’ll take in our best attempts to prevent the worst.
Among liberals, this will require some measure of reconciliation, a releasing of blame and a healing of wounds. Confidence has to be rebuilt. Power and possibility have to be reclaimed.
And for Trump and Republicans, it would be a mistake to believe that liberals’ temporary speechlessness will be a permanent silence.
Trump already appears to be burning the bridges his campaign built into some vulnerable communities. The brute force behind the enforcement of Trump’s immigration policies has become clear, including the possibility of raids at schools and churches. Many Americans angered by the Biden administration’s positions on the Israel-Hamas war now have to grapple with Trump suggesting that one approach in Gaza might be that “we just clean out that whole thing.”
In 2024, Trump said, “I have nothing to do with Project 2025.” Yet some of his top advisers are tied to the plan and some of his early initiatives seem to be following it almost to the letter.
Lots of Americans have already been burned for believing that Trump would somehow moderate the positions he took while campaigning. In many cases, just the opposite has proved true.
The question now is whether liberals can embrace their prodigal children, maybe the only way that they — possibly the country itself — will survive Trump’s tenure.
The key, as I see it, is to reunite and recalibrate, to weed through the chaos and concentrate on core issues, to resist the urge to panic and plan instead. Much of the power to resist will likely exist outside of Washington and with the people who can exert economic and cultural pressure on politicians, corporations and public figures.
Yes, congressional Democrats will oppose Trump as best they can from a minority position, and challenges to specific laws and orders will wind their way through the courts. But the people’s next formal participation in our national politics won’t come until the 2026 midterms.
In the meantime, resistance must be expressed in opinion polls and at the cash registers. The only hope we have is for liberals to get over their intramural disagreements and train their collective energy on the real threats.
