A primer on the Trump resistance

2 February 2025, updated 3 February 2025

Source

This primer outlines strategies to oppose the dictatorial actions of Donald J. Trump, America’s Hitler (Heather Cox Richardson details the worst of Trump). I will update this primer regularly. I am not advocating illegal or violent activities.

• Get more politically involved.

  • Do not be afraid to act: there is some danger if we oppose Trump but there is a greater danger for society when we are silent. Would you rather live and die with integrity or spend your life as a coward?

  • Email or phone federal or state elected officials to oppose the worst of Trump’s edicts and to support reasonable policies. See https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials or use your search engine for contact information.

  • Vote Democratic at the federal and state levels.

    • Only Democrats will resist Trump. If you vote Republican, you are supporting dictatorship because almost all Republicans support the worst of Trump’s actions. If you don’t vote, you are doing nothing to support democracy.

    • Voting Democratic restrains Republicans in another way. As election results and polling show stronger Democratic support, Republicans are less likely to support Trump because they fear it will endanger their campaigns.

  • Get more involved than you were in the 2024 election by supporting a candidate, public official, institution or cause.

• Stop giving money or otherwise supporting Trump, Musk, Murdoch (Fox News) and the Republican Party; ditto with their supporters.

  • The above are motivated by money. They will notice when their funding slows down and this may restrain their actions more than anything else.

  • To the extent possible, sell their stock, quit working for them, don’t do business with them, don’t work in or visit their properties and don’t listen to them. They are doing evil, and you will gravitate towards evil the more you associate with them or their supporters.

• Shift your spending to small businesses.

  • Billionaires should be presumed evil until proven otherwise.

    • Billionaires should use their fortunes for charitable purposes. Instead, they often use their wealth and power to transform the U.S. into a country of, by and for the billionaires, at the expense of everyone else.

    • Stop giving billionaires your business or support, if possible, even if alternatives cost more money or time.

  • Buy from small businesses, whenever possible, because they cannot damage our country as billionaires have done.

• Think more seriously about governmental policy.

  • Most political issues are complicated - they cannot be reduced to a 30 second video.

  • Social media is inadequate - it does not typically provide more than emotional responses to complex issues.

  • You must be able to think and talk about serious subjects without getting emotional. Most of us can do that, but we have to practice.

• Boycott right wing media.

  • I ignore any media that repeats these lies: Trump won the 2020 election, widespread election fraud is common, climate change and COVID are hoaxes or vaccines are dangerous.

  • Right wing media damages your ability to think and may kill you. Trump’s COVID lies helped kill hundreds of thousands of Americans and his lies about the 2020 election inspired the 6 January 2021 insurrection that killed 9 people and resulted in 800+ criminal convictions.

• Consider moving to a blue state such as Michigan.

  • If you live in a red (Republican controlled) state, you should anticipate continuous attempts to deny voting rights, promote bigotry, limit healthcare for women and girls, provide false healthcare data, deny climate change and ignore other news that Trump dislikes. If you have a choice, do you really want to live there?

  • Blue states, although not perfect, are passing laws to do the opposite.

• Create new anxieties for Trump, Musk and Murdoch about their businesses.

  • These three are obsessed with making more money - disrupting the flow of money is the most important way to get them to change their behavior.

  • Support or engage in regular protests at the properties of Trump, Musk and Murdoch.

  • Be creative in finding ways to make them anxious about the health of their businesses.

  • Whether or not to engage in civil disobedience is up to you, but violence is counterproductive.

• Help those targeted by Trump.

  • Support individuals or organizations targeted by Trump, Musk, Murdoch or the Republican Party. This now includes programs promoting Black History Month (barred by many federal agencies), diversity programs and information about abortion. This list will continue to grow.

  • We may need to duplicate at the State level important federal programs being eliminated or rendered nontrustworthy by Trump.

Note: I cannot claim to know what is the BEST think for you to do. But I suggest you do what interests you or makes sense to you. This is a long term campaign - it’s easier to continue doing something that you want to do.

Do you have other ideas? Email me at NatPernick@gmail.com or reply below.

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The index to my prior essays (mostly post 5 November 2024) is here.

I have another blog on Cancer and Medicine.

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Email me at Nat@PathologyOutlines.com.

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