I will not be watching the inauguration nor posting about the inauguration. Instead, let's use this post to share ideas about how to resist.
My favorite ideas come from Indivisible, a practical guide for resisting the Trump agenda. I also like Daily Action. Somebody I'm in a Facebook group with has forwarded many of their actions that I have liked. I have not signed up to receive their daily action alerts because I refuse to give them my cell phone number but you may feel differently.
Please share your positive ideas about how to resist in our comments section. I'd like to keep the focus on constructive action and not griping. The time for sorrow is over. We need to get to work!
Meanwhile, here are some excerpts from the Indivisible Guide:
Donald Trump is the biggest popular vote loser in history to ever call himself President- Elect. In spite of the fact that he has no mandate, he will attempt to use his congressional majority to reshape America in his own racist, authoritarian, and corrupt image. If progressives are going to stop this, we must stand indivisibly opposed to Trump and the members of Congress (MoCs) who would do his bidding. Together, we have the power to resist — and we have the power to win.
We know this because we’ve seen it before. The authors of this guide are former congressional staffers who witnessed
the rise of the Tea Party. We saw these activists take on a popular president with a mandate for change and a supermajority in Congress. We saw them organize locally and convince their own MoCs to reject President Obama’s agenda. Their ideas were wrong, cruel, and tinged with racism — and they won.We believe that protecting our values, our neighbors, and ourselves will require mounting a similar resistance to the Trump
agenda — but a resistance built on the values of inclusion, tolerance, and fairness. Trump is not popular. He does not have a mandate. He does not have large congressional majorities. If a small minority in the Tea Party can stop President Obama, then we the majority can stop a petty tyrant named Trump.
The entire document is worth reading but here are some summaries:
CHAPTER 1
How grassroots advocacy worked to stop President Obama. We examine lessons from the Tea Party’s rise and recommend two key strategic components:
- A local strategy targeting individual Members of Congress (MoCs).
- A defensive approach purely focused on stopping Trump from implementing an agenda built on racism, authoritarianism, and corruption.
[...]
CHAPTER 4
Four local advocacy tactics that actually work. Most of you have three MoCs — two Senators and one Representative. Whether you like it or not, they are your voices in Washington. Your job is to make sure they are, in fact, speaking for you. We’ve identi ed four key opportunity areas that just a handful of local constituents can use to great effect. Always record encounters on video, prepare questions ahead of time, coordinate with your group, and report back to local media:
- Town halls. MoCs regularly hold public in-district events to show that they are listening to constituents. Make them listen to you, and report out when they don’t.
- Non-town hall events. MoCs love cutting ribbons and kissing babies back home. Don’t let them get photo-ops without questions about racism, authoritarianism, and corruption.
- District office sit-ins/meetings. Every MoC has one or several district offices. Go there. Demand a meeting with the MoC. Report to the world if they refuse to listen.
- Coordinated calls. Calls are a light lift but can have an impact. Organize your local group to barrage your MoCs at an opportune moment about and on a specific issue.
There’s no holding President Trump back, however, and I trust that even his own supporters will start to realise what a bad light “their” man is throwing on them and theirs. They don’t care much for ordinary people, especially now that it’s more difficult to turn them into cannon fodder. Expect massive investments in rider-less weapons (aka drones).
I’m kind of thinking there are countries that might want to test Trump. Soon. Like when China tested Bush right out of the gate. With Trump talking about rewriting trade agreements, that’s got to chap China’s ass. Capitalist pigs. Mao is rolling over in his grave.
We’ll find out soon how well he steers the ship. I seriously hope he does not mentally freeze. That could be a catastrophe all the way around.
I doubt there will be any attempt to do anything with the draft, in that the Pence White House will be looking to have their conflicts be more trade-oriented than military. When it comes to ISIS and other groups like that, Pence will simply order bombing raids. He won’t want Trump to have to explain lots of casualties coming back home as would happen if they instigated a ground war. I think they picked up one lesson from Iraq, which was that they got themselves into a stupid quagmire with that one and they don’t want to repeat it.
I agree with Bemused that the rioters yesterday did not help anyone’s cause. If anything, they just gave Fox News and the Right Wing a reason to dismiss the more important marches happening today. And sure enough, the Right happily went about referring to the rioters as “typical liberals” and “snowflakes” and other nonsensical phrases. I’d frankly be very curious to hear exactly who was rioting and who instigated it. It’s most likely just the same people who do this every time there is civil unrest, but it would bear examination to confirm that there wasn’t any covert involvement by some who wanted that to be the headline for the Left.
I realize that it looks unseemly for a bunch of people to choose not to be part of Trump’s coronation, but I also see it from John Lewis’ point of view. Make no mistake, Donald Trump has repeatedly conducted himself in a disgraceful manner, embarrassing the nation with his repeated personal swipes at anyone he thinks has insulted him. He has conducted himself in an offensive way, repeatedly saying bigoted and sexist things and generally trying to bully everyone else to his will. His conduct yesterday was typical of that behavior – he didn’t speak of bringing anyone together or of working with anyone or of acknowledging that most of the country did not vote for him. Instead, he pumped his fist and gave a vicious, angry, bullying screed that had to have shocked people both in the country and abroad. I can see why Lewis did not want to sit there for that.
I do understand the notion of “respecting the process.” But the issue at hand is that Donald Trump has never respected the process. He repeatedly said everything was rigged against him, he repeatedly demeaned everyone who was trying to work within the actual electoral process and he repeatedly encouraged violence and viciousness towards those with whom he disagreed. At what point did Donald Trump ever show respect for anyone else when he wasn’t thinking he was being magnanimous after bullying them? Given that Trump has no respect for the process, and given his documented hatred for most of the other people involved, anyone attending this event would have to either be an ardent supporter or a reluctant attendee trying to at least put on a good face. But how can one put a good face on a situation where you have Sean Spicer, Rush Limbaugh and all the various personalities on Fox News repeatedly, angrily screaming “WE WON! YOU LOST! GET OVER IT, SNOWFLAKE!” and demanding that the rest of the country now just let bygones be bygones and happily support our new Tweeter in Chief? In other words, the Right Wing has openly tried to bully everyone else into getting in line behind Trump, including by spending their day watching Trump and Pence be crowned.
I fully understand why John Lewis and the others felt they needed to make a statement against this kind of bullying. I fully respect them making that statement, and I really appreciate the Dems who said that they intended to spend the day with their constituents in their districts trying to get some real work done. That’s a fully honorable thing to do, and I’m glad they did it.
And again, I don’t give any credence to Right Wing howls about them making a principled stand against bullying, when the Right never gave any respect to Barack Obama. Sure, they sat at his inauguration – which they immediately ridiculed for a flub that happened when John Roberts and Obama tripped over each other’s words. For the Right, that day was about making fun of President Obama, not celebrating a peaceful transition of anything. And people like Newt Gingrich finished that day by plotting to obstruct every single thing Obama did. And let’s not forget Rush Limbaugh feeding the flames the prior week by screaming “I HOPE HE FAILS!” Sure, the Right really supported a peaceful transition and got behind Obama all the way, didn’t they? Only if you were completely asleep for the past 8 years would you think so.
“But we can make sure they don’t get away with this stuff in darkness.”
Especially when Dense Pence and Der Fuehrer III attempt to REINSTATE THE DRAFT! Mark my words folks: sooner or later they WILL attempt to do this — I GUARANTEE IT! Because always remember this: the wars that Pence is ITCHING LIKE HELL to start (especially with ISIS and Iran) NEED TROOPS — HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THEM!
The protesters in Washington are playing right into the hands of the Trumplicans who’d like nothing better than an excuse to deny the First Amendment to certain categories. America has done that in the past, e.g. by allowing neo-Nazi groups, rampant anti-semitism, etc. while also banning anything related to Communism, even the books. Even today, I’m told that people can graduate in political science without reading Marx (!?). That sort of thing can and will come back under Trump/ Pence, especially if we try to condone any form of violence. Let “them” continue to take that totally un-American route.
I still haven’t made up my mind on the boycott of the inauguration by Dem Reps. Although I, myself, found it impossible to watch that event, they should have had more stomach, if only in the name of “peaceful transition”. There are days where I’m actually a tad relieved that Trump won. Just thinking about what his lot would probably have done still terrifies me. And there’s no possible doubt that he would have been all too happy to see the blood flow.
I have the Boycott Trump app on my phone and higher recommend it. I don’t always use it but it’s a handy resource when I’m trying to decide on a brand or product.
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me"
If you see something, say something.
When these guys try to bully you, stand up to them. Tell them no.
When these guys try to rewrite history, correct them before they can get away with it.
When these guys try to dismiss the misery they are causing, call them on it.
I also recommend for those attending Town Halls and such as part of the Indivisible approach, which I commend: Make sure your objections are based in actual policy. Don’t worry about whether or not the Russians hacked someone’s email. If you’re at a Town Hall for your congressperson, then have a discussion with them about what they are doing at the Capitol. What made the Tea Party protests so nasty was that they would disrupt Town Halls to insist that President Obama wasn’t even born in the country and say other nonsensical things. We will need to stay on more relevant and appropriate ground than that. If we do that, and if we continue to talk to each other, and if the Dems have any sense of backbone over the next four years, we may at least be able to keep people aware of how much damage the Pence White House is doing.
Remember that we cannot stop it, since acting President Pence has sufficient control over Congress and has a compliant Tweeter-in-Chief to sign his actions. But we can make sure they don’t get away with this stuff in darkness.
“Perfect. Another disengaged President and another VP chomping at the bit to start another war or two.”
Yes — FOR CHILDREN OF PEOPLE NOT FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO “HIT THE BIRTH LOTTERY” TO FIGHT AND DIE IN!
;^(
From this moment onward, I will drive 25 miles to the Lowe’s store in Nanuet, NY instead of The Home Depot store that is within walking distance of my home in Mohegan Lake to get wood pellet fuel for my pellet stove. Here’s the reason why: I’ve heard that the founder of Home Depot (Bernie Marcus) is a DIEHARD SUPPORTER OF DER FUEHRER III.
Remember: $$$$ TALKS — BULLS**T WALKS!
The tiger may turn out to be a pussycat.
We’ll see.