Goodbye Resistance, Hello Opposition

For those of us who refuse to get in line, to accommodate the rollback of civil and human rights, what is our choice? I think the answer is opposition.

1.

E​​ight years ago, a large chunk of this country was mobilized to protest against the incoming first Trump Administration, aghast at the “short-fingered vulgarian” and the crude victory he’d narrowly won thanks to an Electoral College fluke. The liberal establishment rose up as one, the Women’s March kicked off, and millions committed themselves to forming a muscular and well-organized resistance movement to Trump and his perverted MAGA ideology.

The assumption was that the election was an ugly aberration, and that the actual majority of good-willed people (after all, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote convincingly) would band together to “resist” the pull of the country toward extremism and incompetence.

What few will admit now is that it worked. The Resistance was a successful political movement to build a network of grassroots supporters spot-welded to institutional structures to symbolically oppose Trumpism and win the country back. It brought people into political activism who never were there before. We had clear goals. And we won a lot. The Resistance triumphed in the 2018 mid-terms, taking back the House, and it defeated Trump himself in 2020, while also capturing the Senate.

Then, with Joe Biden in office taking on Covid and the economy, The Resistance simply melted away. Legion were the postings in various Indivisible groups and on Twitter accounts of activists breathing a very public sigh of relief and positing that they were glad they didn’t have to worry about Washington DC every single day. Big marches became smaller; Zooms were easier and everyone could multi-task through them. Like an army demobilizing after the armistice, the broad center-left coalition turned in its uniforms and lost its mojo. The republic was safe.

Until it wasn’t. We all know the short version. We concentrated on governance, getting back to our day jobs, letting politics go. Ignoring the trolls. Taking the high road. Meanwhile, they stoked the fire of anger, intolerance, and resentment and let it burn across drought-parched hills and fields that we neglected to irrigate. The House fell. The Supreme Court used its radical right majority. Biden grew old and noticeably slower, despite vast policy successes and an empathetic governing style.

The world seethed, incumbents lost everywhere, and authoritarians gained. Populism - which never benefits liberalism, down through the ages - swirled in its classic helter-skelter scapegoat seeking ravagement. Conspiracy theorists harvested clicks. News media failed and reporters groveled for spoon-fed scoopery. Institutional trust continued to drop, and academic political scientists often looked the other way. The justice system seized up or crept along like garden snails on a summer patio. A handful of techno-oligarchs seized the levers of influence. Some of it was the endless pendulum swinging, and some of it was malpractice.

So we are here, and there will be no “resistance.”

2.

There are, to my way of thinking, two reasons for this. The first is fatigue. We are simply tired of this specific fight with Trump himself, with foolish and hateful MAGA neighbors, with the complicit and weak news media, with the decentralized and historically enervated Democratic Party.

And frankly, with ourselves. Because we didn’t get it done, and because each of us has become something of a one-note bore at the American garden party. We look in the mirror and an older and more shopworn version of ye olde resistance warrior stares back. And just as frankly, the rest of this country doesn’t look so hot in that particular looking glass. You morons chose this degenerate fool. You’ve got him. Let’s see how it goes. You broke it, you bought it. Enjoy the tariffs. Fuck around, find out. That’s also the fatigue talking.

The second reason is the lack of institutional strength. And in some ways that’s a lot tougher, because it’s not about vibes and the latest malarkey examining what “Kamala shoulda done.” It’s about long-term strategy, commitment, and structure. Americans’ trust in the Federal government is nearing an all-time low, according to the most recent Pew numbers, despite the evident policy successes of the Biden Administration. Trust in political parties, education, the corporate sector, nonprofits and yes, even scientists are all way down. This is an era of conspiracy theory, disinformation and a perverse sense that unseen forces are rigging the game against everyday people. (The irony is incredible: this is easily the most transparent age of information and data in human history).

Yet, some of that distrust is clearly earned - vast inequality of opportunity, limited benefits of living in a liberal democracy, rights curtailed and unequal justice all have bi-partisan reactionary appeal. The sense that the system is broken - or “rigged” - is pervasive across ideological lines, and everywhere in western democracies

Obviously, the path of far right authoritarianism is much worse than the by-products of any of these factors. A functioning liberal democracy supported by a free and vibrant civil society is the only antidote that can actually make our society better, fairer and more prosperous. Even in its inherently imperfect form. We have left that particular roadway, however - by a narrow plurality, yes - but nonetheless a clear result.

3.

For those of us who refuse to get in line, to accommodate the rollback of civil and human rights, to normalize Trump and Musk and their goons, to flee the country or simply hide away from public life, what is left?

I think the answer is opposition. That is to say, using every point of leverage, every fair court of law, every election - local and otherwise - and every possible venue to actively (rather than symbolically) oppose the take-over by this group of anti-democracy radicals. This is not just about marches and speeches and hashtags and virtue signalling; it’s about a long-term hands-on fight to push liberal democracy back to the center of this country’s public commons. I agree with the call to arms issued by pro-democracy lawyer Marc Elias last week:

Hoping that Trump fails is not a plan. We must develop and foster new movements, structures, tactics, platforms and leaders to oppose Trump and articulate a positive vision. In most democratic political systems, this is referred to as the opposition. Rather than a resistance, the concept of an opposition is more comprehensive and durable. It recognizes that there are no time limits to the effort.

Forceful opposition means, first of all, realizing where we are and how we got here - and just how tough this fight is going to be. We’re down. They have the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court. But we’re far from powerless. Their House majority is slim and the mid-terms are just 23 months away. There are 23 Democratic governors. Trump is Trump - which is to say thin-skinned, easily manipulated, pompous, rather stupid, and deeply incompetent. His nominations are already a disaster. Many courts (local, state and Federal) are still functioning the way they should. Trump’s overseas paymaster and hero figure Vladimir Putin is weakened by the Ukraine quagmire and the devastating loss of his foothold in Syria. Would-be dictator Elon Musk is already nibbling at Trump’s heels, eager to serve as co-President or worse. Things change quickly.

Political victories should be the paramount goal. “Obtaining power in our system of government means running well-funded and professionalized campaigns,” wrote Elias. “Now is not the time to unilaterally disarm in the service of some higher principles. All legal tactics must be on the table. Ideological fights must yield in service of winning. We must recruit and fund candidates who can win their state or districts.”

I’ll have more to say on this in future posts, but I want to add one critical thought: we have to buck up.

If I had a dollar for everybody who’s told me in person, via text, on Facebook, on Bluesky or X, just how afraid they now are, I’d be a rich man.

Well, I'm not afraid. There’s no time or purpose for fear. Previous generations defeated Hitler. Americans like you laid their bodies down for civil rights. They walked across beaches into machine gun nests. They crossed the Edmund Pettis Bridges into truncheons and horse hooves. So screw the fearfulness - and fear itself.

Everyone wants to live in interesting historic times when they’re tucked up with a treacly novel and a cuppa tea in a nice warm house. Well, now you’re living the story. Get to it.