Americans push back
“The Republican Party … is trying to destroy our democracy. That is pretty much incontrovertible,” declares historian Heather Cox Richardson. But remember, she emphasizes, how broadly unpopular that is, along with Donald Trump’s policies and job performance. Trump is running a reality-show presidency. The White House is obsessed with selling an image of strength for a president who is weak. Yet 46 percent of the American people per recent polling are strongly opposed to what Trump and MAGA Republicans are up to.
But weak in polling is not weak functionally. Republicans control all branches of our government and many state governments. Several states are at Trump’s insistence working feverishly to rig the 2026 elections so Republicans don’t have to face the wrath of voters. The time to push back is now, Richardson insists. Let neighbors know what’s going on. Use social media, post memes, show up to protests, incuding on bridges and overpasses.
“You are not normal people,” my friend Arshad Hasan told us when he lead my first campaign training. Normal people don’t spend their weekends learning to run political campaigns. Normal people do not hang out all day on the internet and on cable news channels. They won’t see those memes and social media posts. Public actions in high-traffic areas lets the offline neighbors see you think our nation is at risk. They get noticed (as I found out last week).
Public pushback works. Ask Rochester.
Chicago is gearing up big-time for Trump’s incursion:
A U.S. Army veteran who did a tour in Iraq said he was reminded of his military oath as Trump threatens to bring the National Guard to Chicago and other U.S. cities. The man, who declined to give his name, said he would tell National Guard members who are conflicted about Trump’s orders to “remember your oath.”
He said he was an immigrant himself and the United States “adopted” him when he moved here.
“I feel frustration, I feel sadness,” he said. “I’m scared for my family, I’m not scared for myself.”
[…]
David Villegas showed up to support his friends who he said have been affected by Trump’s anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric. By the time he was within view of the Trump tower, he jumped up and down with both middle fingers in the air.
“During Trump’s first term, I never felt like doing it,” he said. “But now with the second term and what he’s been doing recently, I felt the power to do so, just to take away the stress.”
Arrests continue. People are frightened and angry.
“They’re bullies with badges and guns,” Little Village resident Jose Sanchez, 42, posted to Facebook. “They’re terrorizing the community.”
I like this observation on community solidarity from Rick Perlstein:
For of us, resisting them has culturally become part of what it means to be a Chicagoan. These are from today and Sunday: two huge rallies in 72 hours, the second called with a days notice. Note how they all specifically tie together civic identity with resistance to tyranny. Not things scrawled on cardboard with magic marker: art, lovingly conceived and seriously executed.
I especially like the very-Chicago references to the Field Museum and Mrs. O’Leary’s cow.
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