Let's Do This: Choose the Right Way to React When You or Others Are Attacked by the Trump Administration
On multiple occasions since the start of the second Trump administration, I have received emails from readers who have become too afraid to contact their members of Congress out of fear that doing so will result in the federal government taking retribution against them. I wrote about two of these responses in earlier articles, “The Two Essential Strategies to Reducing Trump's Power”(see the second point in that article) and “Ask Us Anything: The Prequel: Be Not Afraid” (see the final question in that article). I urge you to read both of those responses, because I think it is important to realize that fear is widespread among anti-Trump grassroots activists right now. That fear needs to be acknowledged.
However, that fear also needs to be overcome, and ultimately discarded. This is because the threats from the Trump administration are not going to stop, and staying quiet won't make them go away. Just this week, on May 15, Trump threatened ABC News with a lawsuit over its coverage of the Qatari luxury plane affair. The next day, Trump threatened an investigation into the Kamala Harris campaign over celebrity endorsements. The day after that, the Trump administration announced what are almost certainly bogus federal assault charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver, for which she appeared in court and was released on her own recognizance yesterday.
Being quiet and keeping your head down won't make these attacks from the Trump administration stop. Also, as Columbia University learned, conceding to the Trump administration's demands also won't necessarily make them stop. In fact, there is actually nothing that guarantees Trump will stop coming after you and/or others, except possibly his exit from office on January 20, 2029. The only thing that keeping your head down and conceding does is to hand the Trump administration a preemptive victory by voluntarily surrendering your right to dissent without a fight.
There really is only one right way to respond to direct attacks and attempts at intimidation by the Trump administration, and that is to fight back. It is heartening to see that Rep. McIver and Democrats of all ideological stripes are doing exactly that. Rep. McIver rejected a plea deal from the Trump administration and Democrats have vowed to double down on oversight visits to immigration detention centers of the sort that led to the Trump administration's bogus charges against Rep. McIver in the first place. This is exactly what they should do, as giving in would just result in an escalation of attacks and intimidation tactics from the Trump administration.
You can support Rep. McIver by donating to her on ActBlue, here:
Look, I am not writing this from an ivory tower. One of the targets of Trump administration attacks is ActBlue, the fundraising platform from which I generate the majority of my income. While I have a backup plan in place in the event the administration is successful in this attack on ActBlue (a plan which I detailed in the Life in Activism article, “Five Things to Do When Donald Trump, or Anyone Else, Threatens Your Livelihood”), I have also joined in the widespread rallying to ActBlue’s defense.
You can help ActBlue fight back by splitting a donation to them and Bowers News Media here:
It isn't fun to have to fight back against illiberal, authoritarian, vengeance-fueled attacks like these from your government. It seems pretty obvious right now that the reason Republicans talked about the “weaponization of government” so much during President Biden's tenure was because that was exactly what they intended to do once they retook control of it.
However, even dark moments like these have a silver lining. In particular, finding the courage to speak up and fight back in the face of intimidating legal threats from the federal government can help you learn that you were more courageous than you perhaps gave yourself credit for being. This can serve as a personal revelation that can change your entire outlook on life. As the old Stoic quote reminds us, “the impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way becomes the way.” Or, in more modern parlance, “the obstacle is the way.”
Remember that fighting back can sometimes result in victory. Over 100 of the lawsuits against the Trump administration have secured at least some level of relief for the plaintiffs. After repeated defeats in court, the Trump administration abandoned its plan to revoke hundreds of student visas. At the same time that the Trump administration announced assault charges against Rep. McIver, it also announced it was dropping trespass charges that it had brought against Newark mayor Ras Baraka. While fighting back in no way guarantees victory, if you do not fight back it is guaranteed that you will lose.
There is a right way to respond when you are attacked, or when you see others attacked, by the Trump administration. Be sure to choose that way.
Over time, I got to thinking, can we be an existential threat to the racist corporate capitalist system and not be in danger of violent retaliation or false arrest? I am coming to terms with that the progressive platform is as much a civil rights movement as any.
bullies win when we back down. THEY backdown when stood up to. The first time is the hardest The second time becomes easier. By the time the 3rd tome rolls around, it is almost natural.
I can assure you bullies keep coming back. Think of this as a process, one in which the high ground starts where they do, and then gets taken over when they back down.
Be assured they do. See "tariffs/trump changing his underwear"
spoken by a salesman who has been thrown out of some of the best establishments in America. And proud of it