We must make our focus keeping the barbarians outside the gate, not figuring out how to lessen the damage once they are on the inside.
That was my immediate thought Sunday when I read NY Times in-depth article, “The Resistance to a New Trump Administration Has Already Started.” The piece featured a wide network of Democratic officials, progressive activists and more who are engaged in “extraordinary steps to prepare for a potential second Trump presidency.” Examples include Democratic Governor Washington State Jay Inslee’s efforts to make the state a safe haven for women seeking reproductive freedom to an organization hiring a new auditor in case a second term Trump directs the Internal Revenue Service to target them.
On one hand, I truly applaud these officials and organizations for grasping that Donald Trump back in the White House poses a unique threat to our freedoms and democratic Republic. Far too many don’t understand this threat.
But on the other hand, the only certain way to prevent Trump from using the government to wage a campaign of retribution, ending civil service protections so that only Trump loyalists will be in key positions in the federal government--as well as ushering in a far right wing agenda being peddled by his allies--is to defeat him this November. Again, we must make our focus keeping the barbarians outside the gate, not figuring out how to lessen the damage once they are on the inside.
Trump is telling all who will listen his dark goals for a second term—from mass deportations to building in essence concentration camps for migrants to expanding executive power. There’s also Trump’s deeply concerning vow to “liberate” America from those not loyal to him. We first heard this during his 2023 speech at the conservative gathering CPAC where he promised his supporters to be their “retribution.” He then alarmingly vowed that if elected to target Democrats, “the fake news media,” Republicans in name only, the globalists and others who oppose him, bellowing, “we will liberate America from these villains and scoundrels once and for all.”
He has repeated this pledge to “liberate” our nation from those who oppose him, including at a rally last month in Wisconsin. When have you ever heard an American political figure speak about “liberating” America from those who politically oppose him or her?! You can’t find it because we never had an aspiring fascist—who has pledged to be a dictator on “day one”— lead one of the two main political parties.
To be blunt, the forms of resistance utilized to stymie some of Trump’s agenda in the first term are unlikely to work against this bitter, angry convicted felon who is hellbent on retribution and purging America from those who won’t bend a knee to him. Even the strategy detailed in Sunday’s NY Times article of using lawsuits as a form of resistance to slow down a second term Trump agenda is far less likely to be successful this time. The reason being that in Trump’s first term, he was able to confirm more than 200 federal judges including three U.S Supreme Court justices that he personally appointed.
Just look at how Trump appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon has slowed Trump’s prosecution in the classified documents case--which has rightfully led critics to say she is “playing into Trump’s strategy of delaying the trial until after the election.” And we are currently watching the GOP controlled Supreme Court appear to protect Trump from being prosecuted before the November election for his alleged crimes in connection with attempting to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election by dragging their feet on rendering a decision on Trump’s claim for total immunity.
From a legislative point of view, If Trump were able to win and his MAGA GOP were able to also take control of the House and Senate, we can expect him deliver for them on a laundry list of right-wing policy dreams from national abortion and birth control bans to further weakening civil rights protections for LGBTQ and Black Americans and worse. This won’t be like Trump’s first term when some Republicans stood up to him to block his radical agenda—with the most famous example being the late Senator John McCain preventing Trump from repealing the Affordable Care Act with his vote.
The Republicans who have dared to stand up to Trump are almost all out of Congress or now capitulated to his undemocratic goals. Of the ten House Republicans who voted in January 2021 to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, only two remain in the House. Senator Mitt Romney--a vocal critics of Trump--will be leaving office this January. Even GOP Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell who slammed Trump on the Senate floor after the Jan. 6 attack with the words, “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” last week met with Trump and dubbed it “entirely positive.”
But even if Trump does not have a GOP controlled Congress, there are no limits to what this second term Trump would do to achieve his goals through his expansive view of executive power and surrounding himself with people like the Project 2025 crew who dream of a MAGA dictator.
And given Trump’s vow to pardon the Jan 6 attackers, he will 100% offer pardons to others to incentivize them to help him achieve his second term goals ranging from punishing those who sought to hold him accountable to mass deportations to whatever else he fancies. Trump will even pardon himself for his crimes—those he committed in the past and those during his second term. Do you really doubt the GOP Supreme Court will uphold that?!
If Trump wins, there are few things that can rein him in. That is why diverting efforts at this point to second term resistance strategies is dangerous given the threat Trump poses. Rather, the top and only priority must be utilizing all resources to defeat him. Nothing else matters.
You’re absolutely correct, Dean. The focus should be on what the GOP is doing to try to give Trump the win even when he loses. There isn’t enough focus on what Bannon & Mike Flynn are doing to cause mayhem at polling locations especially in battleground states. They know Trump cannot win in a fair fight and they have a plan. I don’t expect the MSM to investigate or cover it.
Defeat him in November and also harden democracy against the clearly planned coup attempt using the extremists already in office. We need to get our legal ducks in a row NOW to make sure the election and transition go smoothly/ are not derailed. Consider volunteering as election workers esp if you’re in a swing state or district.