At what point historically do you begin to form a shadow government and a disciplined resistance? Does one wait for the sound of boots marching in the street or worse, a knock on the door at 3 AM? I suspect we've reached that point. Now it's a question of leadership and organization...
We can't wait. Now let's see how fast we can organize to take any and all action possible to throw this illegal regime out the window. Which I guess we could literally do if this was Russia, which Trump would like us to emulate. He is already throwing hundreds of possibly innocent people out of the country.
What does "any and all action possible" actually mean under the present circumstances? If it means acts of violence, I suspect that's precisely what the regime wants. Running around in the streets and throwing things will be tagged as "rebellion" and that will trigger martial law and a suspension of habeas corpus.
"Leadership and organization" would consist of constructing a visible, audible and credible alternative to the Trump-Musk regime. There was some talk awhile back of establishing a "shadow cabinet" on the model of Britain's shadow cabinets. Needless to say, the Democratic Party's currrent leadership both inside and outside of Congress did absolutely nothing with this idea. It's fair to assume that any such leadership and organization will have to come not from the top down, but from the bottom up. Which, when you think about it, is really as it should be.
Of course, none of this would happen overnight. Think of it as the start of a "25,000 li March."
Agree with the above. The aged leadership in the Senate is ill-equipped to deal with novelty, to this current threat with no recent precedent, extreme polarization, a failure of journalism, and pervasive technological threats to liberty. Changing Senate minority leadership should be a first step, and should not wait.
You're so right. I was musing about ways to throw wrenches into the machine, to disrupt, get attention, and signal dissent. Nationwide would be powerful but guerilla tactics on a more cellular basis could also be effective and need not be long term to be an effective means of delivering a message of dissent. The goal: to wake up the sleepwalkers.
And, of course, that is exactly one of the many reasons that the oligarchs made it that way, & want to keep it that way. The oligarchs want workers to be afraid to rise up against the oligarchs criminal behavior.
Too big?? So you want the United States chopped up?
Perhaps you’ve been reading too much of the plans of Curtis Yarvin, Peter Thiel, J D Vance, et al, whose plans are to break all the nations of the world into much smaller city-states ruled by one man called a CEO or Dictator who’s word is law??
I’d advise being careful what you wish for. I still believe in this big beautiful country & all it’s varied people. I sincerely hope that we will rise up & say NO to this horrible evil thing that is sitting in our WH.
You have to do what people in many nations have done before. Flock to the streets in the thousands, hold candles, because who holds candles cannot throw stones, plus cannot be mistaken for violent protest. Do this every Monday until the regime will flee to Russia.
That didn't work in Egypt. Holding candles? Are you serious? Throwing stones? America has more guns than people, and you think there would be stones or candles?
Well, context is everything. And yes, I am serious. Worked in my country after 40 years of totalitarianism. Also, I referred to peaceful protests vs violent ones which would give the admin an excuse to shoot. Americans are still free to protest and they do. Hope is more powerful than hate. Just saying.
A rebellion is what happens when you throw things around and lose. A revolution is when you actually overthrow a government that has taken over your country for it's own purposes with the aim of imposing the leaders will against the citizens wishes.
The revolution in Egypt, where I was living at the time, was a failure for one reason - its spontaneity meant that there was no one prepared to run the country after they got rid of Mubarak. The military took over for a year until elections were held, and the president they elected was so incompetent and greedy for power that he was driven out of office and imprisoned after only a year in office. We cannot have such chaos here.
What you say is completely true. What will need to happen first will be the purge of the moderate progressives. Not because they are bad. They are too mired in the past and in the passive self indulgent morally superior forgiving ways that led to the rise of MAGA. In other words woke!
Only then will leaders arise who have a coherent message and charisma and the strength to rally the oppressed.
The left has become the Hobbits of the Shire in Lord of the Rings. Until they are forced to face the demise of their way of thinking, they cannot lead, let alone resist.
Making an omelette requires the breaking of eggs. This will likely take at least a generation of suffering before the rise of the downtrodden.
I am afraid I agree. The failure of Hilary and Kamala was seeded by their utter belief in liberal values as a given, not as something that can be only too quickly shaken and toppled, which is what has happened. America is trying to try the crazies at the top by using the courts, and now that madman is saying outright that the courts, the law, and the constitution (because man-made) can be undone. Since he pardoned the Jan 6 criminals, then I guess he'd have to condone another storming of the capitol. But then, that would require a certain rational consistency. All the best with the marches and protests and pray every protester isn't labelled a 'monster.'
Revolutions are tricky things. Ukraine had several and although the third one got the thug to quit, russia took advantage of the situation and started horning in on Crimea and the Donbas almost immediately. Because the West was strangely determined to blame Saakashvili for his prompt reaction to russia's incursion into South Ossetia in 2008, the interim government in Ukraine hesitated to react strongly and lost the peninsula. One bomb on Balaclava would probably have stopped the stealth invasion, but russia was sneaky enough to send in its soldiers without any identifying markings... Revolutions in the past have often ended up being more brutal than anything that they had arisen against (France, Russia, China and Cambodia come to mind).
I don't think that they care whether they have a rebellion or not, they will bring in the military when they are ready. They probably have to purge more people. I assume Blacks and Latinos will be next to be removed from the military. I assume Hegseth wants an all White, male, Christian fighting force.
My point is that the military has offered career opportunities to many Americans where otherwise there are fewer than there are for whites. I don't see your point in mentioning the Alamo.
How on earth would a violent resistance even be possible in a country run by an amoral dictator with the world's biggest arsenal and military force? Trump would not hesitate to use any force he decides would impress Putin. And of course he would enact martial law.
Rest assured that Trump isn't smart enough to think of all this. There are people, many of whom helped write Project 2025, behind him, directing his movements.
The April 5 action is called “HANDS OFF: National Day of Action”
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They're taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we're taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!”
Yes Julianne! Why are there only 25 likes to this comment? This is how we the people express our 👍 or 👎 to the government’s actions. A big , peaceful protest showing that we the people do not condone the illegal actions that are taking place. Our democracy is based on the consent of the governed, and the rule of law. Stand up for this!
The fat, orange, waddling, pig face convicted criminal in the White House, along with his apartheid South African billionaire thug -- both long allied with Putin and his oligarchs, their white racist nationalists.
One thing we need to be doing is recognizing that Trump paid for a few hundred to be put in El Salvador concentration camp like prisons that people do not leave from alive. This is a death sentence for people in the USA, who have not been given due process. We need to demand that it stops.
Ed, I hear what you’re saying about the terrible events of October 7. Why do you think this discussion refers to terrorist threats in Israel? Do you believe that the Israeli intelligence community, notably among the BEST in the world, had any idea of an attack by Hamas? Has there been evidence that any of the remaining hostages are still living? Do you think the current US administration cares about their release?
The issues concerning warnings which may have been ignored are well understood in Israel and will be examined when the current emergency is over. I think the idea that the Government intentionally permitted the Hamas attack is absolutely baseless and nothing more than an excuse to somehow "justify" the attack. Returning hostages have confirmed that there are hostages who are still alive but that there is such a question only underscores how inhuman the continued holding of hostages or their bodies has been. None of this has anything to do with my unhappiness with Indivisible's largely one sided view of these events. Those who believe that antagonizing Jewish Americans serves the interests of progressive causes are making a terrible mistake.
As long as you are not neglecting to remember the numerous Jewish Citizenry in Central America -- at least Costa Rica and Honduras. And also the dual citizenship of this pro-Israeli constituency.
That I suspect would be playing into Trump's hands because there's nothing he would like more than to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and set the army on the protesters. It would play into all his familiar paranoid complaints and grievances. The law must be allowed to take its course and it may be, as Ron Brownstein has suggested, that the termination point for many of these cases (and there are 119 of them) will be those six conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Surely, the first duty of a constitutional court is to protect the Constitution and the separation of powers. They must be aware that members of the administration, including the president, have brazenly impugned the integrity of judges and threatened a number of law firms. We will soon see what they're made of. If they decide to give Trump the licence to act that he demands then they will have failed in the most important duty they have to the American people.
You write, "The law must be allowed to take its course". Even if, by some bizarre miracle, SCOTUS sided with the federal courts in a few of these cases, who enforces the law? I would argue that there is no more rule of law in the US that applies to the exec branch. Also, to answer the 1st commenter, there are already "boots on the ground" when ICE is rounding up people illegally (the Salvadorans are but one example) and Columbia University is in cahoots with ICE re Mahmoud Khalil. To quote an old, dumb movie, "We're THERE, dudes!"
We have yet to see an outright confrontation between the administration and the courts. There's been a lot of foolish talk, but mostly what's happening is that the administration is either slow-pedalling on court orders or obfuscating on the manner of its compliance and delaying the issue of enforcement action. It's a familiar Trump strategy. However, I do agree with you that there is a fundamental problem here. No constitutional expert seems certain about what should happen in these circumstances and the reason is that the Constitution seems to provide very little clarity. Trump hasn't sought to remove the constitutional guardrails, he's just ignored them and proceeded by means of administrative fiat (his executive orders). He's been aided in this by various emergency declarations that he has made regarding the border (national security), his tariffs (national security and the economy) and the rollback of environmental protections and abandonment of renewables (energy security). This has allowed him the latitude to use those executive orders and the Democrats have so far not found a way to challenge those fake emergency declarations. They may yet do so when they get round to actual opposition rather than silly in-fighting.
One underlying difficulty is that the Constitution actually says nothing explicit about judicial review. It's implied but not stated. Judicial review is a doctrine (not a law) proclaimed by Chief Justice Marshall and almost universally acccepted ever since.
Well there's the Supremacy clause (Article VI clause 2) of the Constitution and it ultimately derives from the notion of the rule of law. In the UK we trace it back somewhat fancifully to the Magna Carta.
But why does the third of your good comments on this thread turn to the Constitution, as if to the corrupted and perjured Clarence court that anymore means anything?
Clarence, Alito, and their far-right allies are as lost as MAGA.
Isn't it time for the blue states to ally with Canada, Mexico, most of western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and several other democracies?
The U.S. billionaires who ally now with MAGA-land can work out whatever they like with the BRIC states -- all of them in economic and demographic decline.
Don't the democracies of the world need to get rid of the parasite billionaires. Don't you agree, too, Russell, that their schools have got to rededicate themselves to priorities for democracy, for central place for essaying and whatever arts help us see and revel in "others"?
The courts aren’t going to save us because they have clearly demonstrated they don’t care about courts or laws. We waste time waiting for courts to shame them into behaving lawfully. Never going to happen. We must save ourselves. We need effective leadership for the democratic resistance and we need force to back us up. The only force not already obedient to them is the United States Armed Forces. He may have installed brown shirts at the top, but the rank and file may still be loyal to the American people and the values and laws, albeit imperfect, that have ruled our nation for 250 years. SUPPORT VETERANS GROUPS TO HELP LEAD THE RESISTANCE.
I believe that we've yet to see how the Trump administration's war on the rule of law (as it was described yesterday by a former conservative federal judge) is going to play out. Trump has told Laura Ingrahams of Fox News that he won't defy a court order, even though that's seems to be exactly what he's doing at the moment. As you know, the separation of powers is a core tenet of the rule of law and the independence of the jury is central to this. Judges are naturally jealous of their independence and we've had very strong statements from both the American Bar Association and the Federal Judges Association condemning the administration's attacks on the judiciary and on law firms. I wonder if SCOTUS can really afford to just ignore these considerations and allow Trump the wide latitude he seeks which would mean a huge increase in the scope of presidential power not just over the Congress, but also the judiciary. They have sworn to uphold the Constitution after all and to allow this sort of thing to continue unabated would even present a real risk to themselves.
I personally love this idea. Disabled American Veterans are neglected and isolated. They have taken leads in the Disability Civil Rights Movement previously -- those were largely from Afghanistan and Vietnam. The current Vet group, which I know intimately, are unfortunately more from the Bush wars. So fierce. May not agree with Trump. Accustomed to following orders. Formerly paid in a decent way and now employed in those space industry things.
I just read an article about a doctor here on a work visa doing kidney transplants. He went home for a visit (I believe it was Lebanon) and was detained on his return and was deported. I believe they sent him to El Salvador. He has an emergency court order for his release, but it was ignored. I just found the article. It was published by New Republic. Read it for yourselves. It’s a perfect case to illustrate what Timothy Snyder was talking about.
It was a Lebanese female nephrologist, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who was legally here on a work visa & was a professor at Brown University. Ice agents put her on a plane to Paris, then Beiruit, even though a judge had ruled that she should be allowed to remain in the US.
Judges need to start finding Trump & his officials in contempt of court!
I just checked and the hearing yesterday was postponed to give the doctor's lawyer more time. The firm who was representing the doctor bailed on her on Sunday. This is part of how Hitler destroyed the independent judiciary, threatening lawyers who represented Hitler's "enemies."
We see already that Trump will disobey the courts. What is the recourse ... the US Marshalls? No, they report to DOJ. I don't believe we can wait for the slow courts that will be ignored anyway. At the least, Trump needs to see that there are huge masses of people WHO DO NOT LIKE WHAT HE IS DOING.
I want to second Hope’s comments about rule of law. They have demonstrated that we are way past the point in which courts, even the Supreme Court can stop this rapid descent into totalitarian rule. They have no intention of obeying courts or public opinion. We are wasting time hoping that courts will shame them into acting with decency and lawfulness. This attack on the American people and our institution of government has no precedent in American history. They operate outside our system of protocols, procedures and laws. To them, the Constitution is just an old piece of paper. To have any chance of success, the democratic resistance must similarly operate outside traditional norms of procedure. We need to present a New Democratic Party, an alternative government, to the American people, comprising a designated person for every Congressional seat and governorship. A unified team that speaks in a unified voice. And we must actively court the United States Armed Forces to side with the people, against this lawless coup. Most soldiers come from working class families. The 1% don’t serve their country. When the president and his henchmen control ICE, the police forces and other men with weapons, only the military has the power to save us. Peace and love.
If peaceful protests fill every city and town square there is no army who could quell that. And I do not think the army would shoot candle holding protesters. They did not do so in East Germany where I grew up. And not in Ukraine 🇺🇦
When Trump in first term was threatening to ask the military to shoot migrants illegally entering the country, retired Gen. Martin Dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote on Twitter, "A wasteful deployment of over-stretched Soldiers and Marines would be made much worse if they use force disproportional to the threat they face. They won't." It hasn't stopped Trump sending troops to the southern border this time around as well, although they have no power to conduct any policing operations. He's quite mad, you know. He once asked official in Homeland Security to consider building a moat around 200 miles long and filling it with snakes and alligators to deter migrants.
That is true. But there is no army bog enough to quell protests around the country. It is a scare tactic. And it seems to work. But look at Eastern Europe right now. They do live in autocracy and still take to the streets. The US leadership has gotten nuts but it is still not an autocracy. We still have independent media, Judges who keep the admin in check and more or less free speech. I hope the American people will keep it so.
As though to confirm your point about the judiciary, Trump posted this yesterday on Truth Social about judge James Boasberg who tried to block his deportation of what he claims were Venezuelan gang members who had invaded the country: "This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President - He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!" Personally, I thought the judge had been far too lenient in view of the patently absurd explanations the government lawyer gave to explain why the administration had failed to comply with his ruling.
Boots marching is too late. If the police are nationalized and the military turned inward, then there is no hope except foreign intervention. It doesn't mean we can't at least die trying though. Put it to you this way, I aint going to no Trump prison.
The Democrats could in part be forming a shadow government by drafting legislation that protects us from the actions of Trump, DOGE and project 2025. They should not be drafting lengthy packed bills, but straightforward bills to address each action and if they cannot get them passed they can go to the press with them and use them as tools to educate.
If "they" come to your door at 3 am, they wouldn't be knocking. We've always been at "that point." The only thing stopping it has been humanity, morality and integrity, all of which are now gone.
The hideousness and shame of it - the fascist removal of "undesirables" - is the tipping point, or should be. Among the Democratic party leadership, we hear crickets. This is Chuck Schumer's real crime.
Dear Dr. Snyder. Thank you for your scholarship and writings. At the height of US involvement in the Viet Nam war, one of our most used chants was "Police State in '68." Close to 50 years later, this chant has become a reality. The struggle continues. Peace.
Thank you for explaining how words and images are used to bend the malleable mind to fear defenseless human beings. I wish everyone had read Madeline Albright’s 2018 book
On Fascism: A Warning. None of this would be surprising, just jarring. I’m glad she’s not here to witness her childhood relived in her second home country.
Watching Trump oversee so much inhumanity and lawlessness in the name of The United States is nauseating. Watching Republican and Democrat passivity is equally nauseating. Writing and calling elected representatives and media and street protesting seem more cathartic than consequential. I now fear that we should continue our actions, keep our expectations of effectiveness low, and expect this monstrous, mobster-like onslaught to implode or explode — eventually. Let each of us do what is enriching and not depleting, what is reasoned and not impulsive. With gratitude toward Tim Snyder for all he does, including helping followers think more clearly and with more knowledge.
Indeed. We can't all throw ourselves onto the bayonets of the enemy or survive the prison torture without breaking. But we can refuse to obey. Hitler succeeded because so many people cooperated and obeyed. Trump's hoodlums are a small number of people compared to the entire population. They cannot carry out the plans themselves. They need cooperative folks to help them. Don't cooperate. Don't go allow with the program. Don't act as if their lies are true. Don't keep your head down and your mouth shut, hoping that you'll be passed over.
I found something out about myself this weekend at our local rally. and maybe I am stupid. A man approached our group and started screaming and shouting pro trump. He said he was a Veteran, A captain in the Marines. At some point one of the gentleman in our group, who is also a Vet and I think in his late 70’s was face to face arguing with this man. I wasn’t going to step into the argument vocally to incite any more havoc, but I did step inches behind our member in case this was going to turn violent. Fortunately it didn’t.
"Watching Republican and Democrat passivity is equally nauseating. "
Inaccurate. Neither is passive.
Republicans are ardently and actively instituting a ChristoFascist state.
The majority of Democrats in Congress resisted with their NO CR votes but were betrayed by a Chamberlain Senate minority leader and a handful of Senate quislings.
Google Congressional Progressive Caucus. Then google individuals in the CSpan archives.
A recent CNN poll shows that the popularity of the Democratic party has fallen to its lowest ever level and much of the blame must lie with Chuck Schumer who is now a minority leader in his own party despite claiming to have the full confidence of his caucus. As you say, people are crying out for leadership against this administration's worst excesses (and they continue to mount) - we've seen clear evidence of that from those videos of angry town hall meetings held by Republican members of Congress, many of whom have been shamefully hiding from their constituents. One representative actually required constituents to register with the police before attending a town hall meeting.
Even my congressional rep, in a deeply blue district, only held an online town hall a couple weeks ago - nothing in person - and he had the chat turned off.
We all know what a total coward he is. Maybe good at joining some group of fellow impotents standing outside chanting silly slogans.
But when majority leader, and he had the chance to call a vote on Article 14, Section Three stopping insurrectionist from further public office, he did nothing.
We’re best agreeing to disagree. I see elected Republicans in Congress as similar to mechanical dolls: when Trump says “jump,” they do. Re Dems, they are not a coherent counterforce. There are many voices and groups but they have not changed the reality of Trump’s seemingly unshakeable power — for now. I look forward to an implosion or explosion of it — eventually.
Agree Dems are not coherent. Lin seems to think we should listen to the progressive faction, a perennial minority in the party, and that they can win national elections. They never have, and if, as Dan Pfeiffer puts it, it's the Dem brand that lost on Election Day, they are the cause of that loss.
Yes Lin, like you said the republicans are ardently working with trump’s take over of the US government, they are very much in it with trump , musk, and vance and they are enjoying every minute of it . And the democrats passive, and have no clue of what to do to protect this country. To the point that even many of them voted for the trump Bill and stroke the match of betrayal . It is nauseating. And republicans have no care of the dangers in which they are putting their own country in.
The WORST predictions for a second Trump administration are being proved true.
Trump is flouting court orders.
Trump is using the Justice Department as a sound stage to declare the illegality of any opposition to him.
He, with the backing of the “wealthiest person on earth,” is flinging meritless lawsuits against the for profit press to harass, distract, intimidate, and delegitimize them.
It might be important to remember that the number of eligible voters who stayed home was greater than the number who came out to vote. Voter turnout overall was lower in 24 than in 20, but in New Hampshire voter turnout actually increased between the two elections — and Harris carried my state. Also, so many Trump voters that I canvassed would tell me they didn’t believe Trump would do what he promised or that the Dem leadership was an even greater threat to democracy, the rule of law, and human decency than Trump appeared to be. A lot of them felt very well informed too. (Sigh) And they were certainly not always without a college education.
In some ways it was like they thought of Trump as an unstable relative who gets drunk or high too much but could be counted upon to do the right thing in a pinch. Then, I try to remember what Snyder has been pointing out for years about the high correlation of opiate addiction to Trump voting as measured at a county level across the nation. I try to imagine many Trump voters as people coping with chaotic family dynamics involving substance abuse and domestic violence where they are struggling to cope with volatile husbands, wives, children, parents, or siblings while maybe even scrambling to hold down three part-time jobs…
The eligible voters who stayed home were, in effect, Trump voters.
The ones who I tried to convince that Trump would be way worse for Gaza than Harris.
The ones who "don't do politics" or "don't pay attention to politics."
I guess they're going to find out that politics pays attention to THEM.
I'll bet they have time to watch "reality" shows instead of paying attention to the actual reality around them. I'll bet they have time to play games on their phones instead of reading any news at all.
Do I sound bitter? Well, I am. I hope they enjoy their worsening poverty, increasing prices, big bank fees, disappearing Medicaid, and eggs.
I sure won't enjoy it, but I hope they just wallow in it.
Except there are well funded and very motivated parties with lots of experienced instincts at transforming people’s pain, suffering, resentment, bitterness, shame, and guilt into rage directed at chosen scapegoats who may be the traditionally vulnerable, but could also be anyone. The worst case scenario is escalating reciprocal violence: a failed state. If the US fails as a state no one is secure - and I’m not only referring to financial security either.
Relatively stable and educated people have a certain sense of the world as rational, predictable with understandable mechanisms of cause and effect. It’s actually irrational on our part even if we steep ourselves in ideas like chaos and complexity theories, relativity, and quantum weirdness. That’s all kind of abstract and academic because we view the chaos, randomness, and passions of our lives as exceptional deviations from some imagined norm. That’s true in our individual and family lives as much as it is to our sense of culture and history. Do you think the Second World War with the Holocaust and Hiroshima were exceptional or was the exception for Europe the half century following the fall of the Third Reich? To what extent have Europeans and American come to grips with our history of colonial warfare and genocide? Aren’t constitutional democracies rather an exception than the norm if you think of history in terms of centuries rather than decades?
We tend to be shocked by “honor killings”, but honor with all its patriarchal violence is always the most celebrated value in unstable and warlike cultures which described Europe and the US well into the twentieth century and maybe was only thinly restrained (for appearances sake) by what Noam Chomsky referred to the civilizing principles of feminism, civil rights, and freedom of expression associated with privileged sectors of the baby boomers since the ‘60s. “Honor” is as much about fear of being shamed as it is about courage in the face of violence. People are going to be experiencing worsening poverty, increasing prices, big bank fees, disappearing health care and all kinds of humiliations and indignities. They are also going hear people they have always resented for their “out of touch” condescension blaming them for their own misfortune, something that “honor” requires them to reject. That makes them hot and dry tinder for the winds and flames of fascism.
Well - I live in the UK so I don't know many Trump voters (though Nigel Farage's basically neo-Nazi Reform Party got one vote in seven in July, and it was their first outing).
But I have four relatives in the US who are ardent Trumpites, and none of them is in a situation even remotely like what you describe. One is even a disabled vet! F*** knows why they'd even choose to support such a loathsome candidate in the first place. Or, if in fact it's about 'belonging', why they'd want to belong to a club like that.
It’s about shame and guilt which is related to cultures based on “honor” which is a way of protecting oneself against shame and guilt being imposed (in actuality or in the imagination) by others. It’s deeply connected to patriarchal violence, though it is most virulent in those who are insecure about their ability to protect their “honor”.
Thank you for saying it. I do jot like the voter bashing either. Also it overlooks the power of abuse. People have been believing the con man more than the Democrats messaging. So may be it is time to look into that and improve that?
I need to point out a grotesque error in my response to Pam. I know now as I knew then that the number of voters who stayed home was greater than the number of those who voted for Trump. It was, of course, also greater than the number of those who counted for Harris. Somehow a failure to proofread left the words on the screen proclaiming that it was greater than the total turnout. That kind of error does undermine my personal credibility in a number of ways though it does not undermine either my point or my intention. I still believe and HOPE that, as in Poland, there will be meaningful elections in the near future and those elections will not merely repudiate Trump but also MAGA enough to codify and institutionalize some important changes: perhaps involving healthcare, perhaps even more profound…
Chilling. I have already seen posts with people declaring that "THESE PEOPLE" are rightfully.... No due process, sent to a foreign adversary. It could be any one of us. More than half of me thinks the attacks on the Houthis this weekend was done so that he could with his Congress' consent declare we are in a state of war so the Aliens Act he is itching to put in place, can be. Treacherous Times,
On another note: One hopeful item yesterday with multiple discussions of, "The Coalition of the Willing," How do we participate? Thank you Professor Snyder. Sadly as I keep reading about the past I recognize the moment we are in today. Reading Fear, by Jan Gross. knowledge is power
The WORST predictions for a second Trump administration are being proved true.
Trump is flouting court orders.
Trump is using the Justice Department as a sound stage to declare the illegality of any opposition to him.
He, with the backing of the “wealthiest person on earth” is flinging meritless lawsuits against the for profit press to harass, distract, intimidate, and delegitimize them.
What was done is grotesque. It makes me afraid to write to the representatives of my state for fear of being branded a subversive and a danger to our country, but I am going to write them anyway. I will use key points from the French senator's speech and that of Chris Murphy from Conneticut. When I saw the movie The Hunger Games some years ago, I knew we were already well on the road to where we are now. I wrote a letter of apology to Prime Minister Trudeau before he left office and to the ambassador to the US from Ukraine in Washington D.C. I only hope they received them.
Just start your own Saturday protest!! Don’t wait for anyone else or some organization to lead you.
Crisis demands that we all become leaders.
Just get out there with a damn sign and make a stink. Most cars and pick up trucks honk in support. It’s inspiring (and important) for others to see the American flag waved proudly by people who are not maga supporters.
Three weeks ago our little village protest saw 25, two weeks ago 45, last Saturday 70… including a West Point mom from across the River.
Just get out there.. see ACLU site for right to protest without a permit.
Our local group averages 70, 10 miles from my home in a red CT town. In another town I know a woman who keeps signs in her car and protests alone there. She keeps a spare sign in case you would like to join her and your timing meets hers.
What purpose would that serve, unless you meant to say, "12 million people prepared to take back control of our government to return it to 'regular order' "?
Elon (scrolling through comments): “Hmmm, Nice little list ya got there, MK. Too bad you and all the other posters don’t have the power to stop DOGE and US Marshals breaking up your little protest party.”
Stephen Miller( tapping fingers together): “Ex-cellent!”
Agent Krasnov (sitting at Resolute desk in Oval Office): “I’ll have a perfect, beautiful call with President Bukele of El Salvador to prepare for more secret deportations of ‘terrorists’ to his big, beautiful prisons. “
JD (wearing monkey suit, jumping up and down, banging cymbals together): “So much winning!”
I KNEW. And I know a lot of other people who knew, too. Europeans knew. People who've always feared this more than anything could smell it and feel it.
He was ALREADY her 'apprentice'! He's ALWAYS been like this. I'd be willing to put money on him only going on TV in the first place just to make himself a household name so people would vote for him.
He declared his ambition of being president one day in 1987. It was right after he returned from his first trip to Moscow - that trip where at the very least they treated him as 'a person of interest', and according to two former KGB agents he was actually recruited (as 'Agent Krasnov').
In 1989 he took out a full-page ad in the NYT calling in giant block capitals for the death penalty for five teenagers and very young men who became known as the Central Park Five. He ran it THREE TIMES. This is what he is like and has always been like. After ten years in prison, and following a confession and DNA evidence, the Central Park Five were completely exonerated.
(And on January 20 Trump signed an executive order not only reinstating the federal death penalty, but requiring judges to impose it 'wherever possible' - and giving himself, via the Attorney General, the power to impose it in cases where he decides a judge or court has been lenient, ie 'undermined' or 'defied the law'.)
As a property developer in NYC in the 80s he used illegal labour - you don't have to treat them well, as they can't complain.
As a casino developer & owner in the 90s he ROUTINELY didn't pay suppliers. Just decided not to pay them. He'd invite them to a 'meeting' whre there would be all these guys in suits hanging around, and he'd explain that he was going to pay the supplier half, and make them sign an agreement. Next time, it would be half of THAT. And so on.
Still made the place go bankrupt. In Atlantic City!
He has been saying all along that he was going to do exactly all the stuff he's doing now. All this green card stuff, the doctor from Lebanon, the Venezuelans - remember the so-called Muslim Travel Ban? Listen to his rhetoric on immigrants and foreigners. He didn't mke it up. He's copying it, sometimes word for word.
Even back in 2016 he was copying Hitler's rhetoric in his speeches, and copying Mussolini's body language, and his first wife Ivana said that he had kept H's speeches by his bed. And yet I was told I was stupid, hysterical, 'invoking Godwin's law', etc by a gazillion guys when I simply pointed this out with photos or videos to illustrate the point.
In 2024, he had a big banner & a slogan he repeated: 'Trump was right about everything'.
Mussolini had a slogan, which was inscribed in giant letters on the front of his HQ among other places, which said: 'Mussolini is always right'.
And THEN there's Putin, and Cambridge Analytica, and the links with Brexit. And the first foreign politician to visit Trump in November 2016 was the *openly fascistic* Nigel Farage, godfather of Brexit, whose *teachers* even had concerns about him when he was at school.
Trump has been practicing for this moment ALL HIS LIFE.
This Politico article is fascinating. Ty. He IS the same bombastic, self promoting clever fool as back in 1987. The havoc and damage he is doing to both America / world we could not have envisioned back then.
Nazi Adolf Eichmann reincarnated as Jew Stephen Miller. I guess Miller comes back as - anyone Republicans are targeting, that is, you and me, but first our most vulnerable neighbors.
At what point historically do you begin to form a shadow government and a disciplined resistance? Does one wait for the sound of boots marching in the street or worse, a knock on the door at 3 AM? I suspect we've reached that point. Now it's a question of leadership and organization...
We can't wait. Now let's see how fast we can organize to take any and all action possible to throw this illegal regime out the window. Which I guess we could literally do if this was Russia, which Trump would like us to emulate. He is already throwing hundreds of possibly innocent people out of the country.
What does "any and all action possible" actually mean under the present circumstances? If it means acts of violence, I suspect that's precisely what the regime wants. Running around in the streets and throwing things will be tagged as "rebellion" and that will trigger martial law and a suspension of habeas corpus.
"Leadership and organization" would consist of constructing a visible, audible and credible alternative to the Trump-Musk regime. There was some talk awhile back of establishing a "shadow cabinet" on the model of Britain's shadow cabinets. Needless to say, the Democratic Party's currrent leadership both inside and outside of Congress did absolutely nothing with this idea. It's fair to assume that any such leadership and organization will have to come not from the top down, but from the bottom up. Which, when you think about it, is really as it should be.
Of course, none of this would happen overnight. Think of it as the start of a "25,000 li March."
Agree with the above. The aged leadership in the Senate is ill-equipped to deal with novelty, to this current threat with no recent precedent, extreme polarization, a failure of journalism, and pervasive technological threats to liberty. Changing Senate minority leadership should be a first step, and should not wait.
Perfectly put.
Senator Shiff started a Substack post two weeks ago. It is excellent.
I’m voicing my opinion wherever I can that asks that the “Leadership” mantle be handed to the Junior Senator from California.
I think all he has to do is announce he's challenging Schumer.
Not sure what the rules of that road are but you’re right. The ball is in Shiff’s court.
You mean Schiff.
i think we use Martin Luther King and what we have learned about nonviolent protest.
mass nonviolent protest
Nationwide work stoppages?
Never happen in this country like it does in European countries.
Since people's health insurance is mostly tied to their jobs, they will be too afraid to be fired if they take part in a work stoppage.
They have us by the short hairs, so to speak.
You're so right. I was musing about ways to throw wrenches into the machine, to disrupt, get attention, and signal dissent. Nationwide would be powerful but guerilla tactics on a more cellular basis could also be effective and need not be long term to be an effective means of delivering a message of dissent. The goal: to wake up the sleepwalkers.
And, of course, that is exactly one of the many reasons that the oligarchs made it that way, & want to keep it that way. The oligarchs want workers to be afraid to rise up against the oligarchs criminal behavior.
The country is too big, and too divided.
Too big?? So you want the United States chopped up?
Perhaps you’ve been reading too much of the plans of Curtis Yarvin, Peter Thiel, J D Vance, et al, whose plans are to break all the nations of the world into much smaller city-states ruled by one man called a CEO or Dictator who’s word is law??
I’d advise being careful what you wish for. I still believe in this big beautiful country & all it’s varied people. I sincerely hope that we will rise up & say NO to this horrible evil thing that is sitting in our WH.
I'll advise being less aggressive and not getting personal with other people whose comments you fail to understand.
The size of the country is not what is being challenged, but the difficulty of getting such a large country to act in a unified manner.
You have to do what people in many nations have done before. Flock to the streets in the thousands, hold candles, because who holds candles cannot throw stones, plus cannot be mistaken for violent protest. Do this every Monday until the regime will flee to Russia.
That didn't work in Egypt. Holding candles? Are you serious? Throwing stones? America has more guns than people, and you think there would be stones or candles?
Well, context is everything. And yes, I am serious. Worked in my country after 40 years of totalitarianism. Also, I referred to peaceful protests vs violent ones which would give the admin an excuse to shoot. Americans are still free to protest and they do. Hope is more powerful than hate. Just saying.
A rebellion is what happens when you throw things around and lose. A revolution is when you actually overthrow a government that has taken over your country for it's own purposes with the aim of imposing the leaders will against the citizens wishes.
The revolution in Egypt, where I was living at the time, was a failure for one reason - its spontaneity meant that there was no one prepared to run the country after they got rid of Mubarak. The military took over for a year until elections were held, and the president they elected was so incompetent and greedy for power that he was driven out of office and imprisoned after only a year in office. We cannot have such chaos here.
What you say is completely true. What will need to happen first will be the purge of the moderate progressives. Not because they are bad. They are too mired in the past and in the passive self indulgent morally superior forgiving ways that led to the rise of MAGA. In other words woke!
Only then will leaders arise who have a coherent message and charisma and the strength to rally the oppressed.
The left has become the Hobbits of the Shire in Lord of the Rings. Until they are forced to face the demise of their way of thinking, they cannot lead, let alone resist.
Making an omelette requires the breaking of eggs. This will likely take at least a generation of suffering before the rise of the downtrodden.
I am afraid I agree. The failure of Hilary and Kamala was seeded by their utter belief in liberal values as a given, not as something that can be only too quickly shaken and toppled, which is what has happened. America is trying to try the crazies at the top by using the courts, and now that madman is saying outright that the courts, the law, and the constitution (because man-made) can be undone. Since he pardoned the Jan 6 criminals, then I guess he'd have to condone another storming of the capitol. But then, that would require a certain rational consistency. All the best with the marches and protests and pray every protester isn't labelled a 'monster.'
Revolutions are tricky things. Ukraine had several and although the third one got the thug to quit, russia took advantage of the situation and started horning in on Crimea and the Donbas almost immediately. Because the West was strangely determined to blame Saakashvili for his prompt reaction to russia's incursion into South Ossetia in 2008, the interim government in Ukraine hesitated to react strongly and lost the peninsula. One bomb on Balaclava would probably have stopped the stealth invasion, but russia was sneaky enough to send in its soldiers without any identifying markings... Revolutions in the past have often ended up being more brutal than anything that they had arisen against (France, Russia, China and Cambodia come to mind).
I don't think that they care whether they have a rebellion or not, they will bring in the military when they are ready. They probably have to purge more people. I assume Blacks and Latinos will be next to be removed from the military. I assume Hegseth wants an all White, male, Christian fighting force.
If the government decided to purge the military of Blacks there wouldn't be many soldiers left.
Still the Buffalo Soldiers were perhaps the more significant factor in the Alamo (so say many black persons I've known)
My point is that the military has offered career opportunities to many Americans where otherwise there are fewer than there are for whites. I don't see your point in mentioning the Alamo.
How on earth would a violent resistance even be possible in a country run by an amoral dictator with the world's biggest arsenal and military force? Trump would not hesitate to use any force he decides would impress Putin. And of course he would enact martial law.
Rest assured that Trump isn't smart enough to think of all this. There are people, many of whom helped write Project 2025, behind him, directing his movements.
April 5th there will be a nation-wide action of citizen protest. Check to see if you can join a protest near where you live.
The April 5 action is called “HANDS OFF: National Day of Action”
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They're taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we're taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!”
From Indivisible ad
https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/?org_ids=41275
Thanks for the link!
And if there isn’t one already organized, start one yourself.
Super easy, very gratifying and good to be out in the elements, shoulder to shoulder with your neighbors.
No permit necissary if you don’t block the sidewalks or crosswalks and don’t use megaphones. Make a cardboard megaphone. Works just fine.
Yes Julianne! Why are there only 25 likes to this comment? This is how we the people express our 👍 or 👎 to the government’s actions. A big , peaceful protest showing that we the people do not condone the illegal actions that are taking place. Our democracy is based on the consent of the governed, and the rule of law. Stand up for this!
Who's organizing it?
I think it may be Indivisible.
" . . . if this was Russia., you say, Leigh.
But it is Russia.
The fat, orange, waddling, pig face convicted criminal in the White House, along with his apartheid South African billionaire thug -- both long allied with Putin and his oligarchs, their white racist nationalists.
One thing we need to be doing is recognizing that Trump paid for a few hundred to be put in El Salvador concentration camp like prisons that people do not leave from alive. This is a death sentence for people in the USA, who have not been given due process. We need to demand that it stops.
Indivisible. If there is not one in your area then start one.
Also look at fiftyfiftyone.org
It appears I should have typed fiftyfifty.one
Sorry for the incorrect website I listed above.
I need to edit all the time, Teresa.
It's easy on Substack. Just click on the three dots upper right of your text. Then click on "edit," do the edit, and click "save."
too ant-Israel for me. Otherwise, I love them,
Why?
I find these statements to be grossly unfair and fail to take into account the dangers faced by Israeli citizens from a terrorist group that murdered, kidnapped and raped so many on October 7, 2023 and continues to hold hostages https://indivisible.org/resource/indivisible-statements-israelpalestine-crisis
Ed, I hear what you’re saying about the terrible events of October 7. Why do you think this discussion refers to terrorist threats in Israel? Do you believe that the Israeli intelligence community, notably among the BEST in the world, had any idea of an attack by Hamas? Has there been evidence that any of the remaining hostages are still living? Do you think the current US administration cares about their release?
The issues concerning warnings which may have been ignored are well understood in Israel and will be examined when the current emergency is over. I think the idea that the Government intentionally permitted the Hamas attack is absolutely baseless and nothing more than an excuse to somehow "justify" the attack. Returning hostages have confirmed that there are hostages who are still alive but that there is such a question only underscores how inhuman the continued holding of hostages or their bodies has been. None of this has anything to do with my unhappiness with Indivisible's largely one sided view of these events. Those who believe that antagonizing Jewish Americans serves the interests of progressive causes are making a terrible mistake.
As long as you are not neglecting to remember the numerous Jewish Citizenry in Central America -- at least Costa Rica and Honduras. And also the dual citizenship of this pro-Israeli constituency.
That’s unfortunate.
That I suspect would be playing into Trump's hands because there's nothing he would like more than to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and set the army on the protesters. It would play into all his familiar paranoid complaints and grievances. The law must be allowed to take its course and it may be, as Ron Brownstein has suggested, that the termination point for many of these cases (and there are 119 of them) will be those six conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Surely, the first duty of a constitutional court is to protect the Constitution and the separation of powers. They must be aware that members of the administration, including the president, have brazenly impugned the integrity of judges and threatened a number of law firms. We will soon see what they're made of. If they decide to give Trump the licence to act that he demands then they will have failed in the most important duty they have to the American people.
You write, "The law must be allowed to take its course". Even if, by some bizarre miracle, SCOTUS sided with the federal courts in a few of these cases, who enforces the law? I would argue that there is no more rule of law in the US that applies to the exec branch. Also, to answer the 1st commenter, there are already "boots on the ground" when ICE is rounding up people illegally (the Salvadorans are but one example) and Columbia University is in cahoots with ICE re Mahmoud Khalil. To quote an old, dumb movie, "We're THERE, dudes!"
We have yet to see an outright confrontation between the administration and the courts. There's been a lot of foolish talk, but mostly what's happening is that the administration is either slow-pedalling on court orders or obfuscating on the manner of its compliance and delaying the issue of enforcement action. It's a familiar Trump strategy. However, I do agree with you that there is a fundamental problem here. No constitutional expert seems certain about what should happen in these circumstances and the reason is that the Constitution seems to provide very little clarity. Trump hasn't sought to remove the constitutional guardrails, he's just ignored them and proceeded by means of administrative fiat (his executive orders). He's been aided in this by various emergency declarations that he has made regarding the border (national security), his tariffs (national security and the economy) and the rollback of environmental protections and abandonment of renewables (energy security). This has allowed him the latitude to use those executive orders and the Democrats have so far not found a way to challenge those fake emergency declarations. They may yet do so when they get round to actual opposition rather than silly in-fighting.
One underlying difficulty is that the Constitution actually says nothing explicit about judicial review. It's implied but not stated. Judicial review is a doctrine (not a law) proclaimed by Chief Justice Marshall and almost universally acccepted ever since.
Well there's the Supremacy clause (Article VI clause 2) of the Constitution and it ultimately derives from the notion of the rule of law. In the UK we trace it back somewhat fancifully to the Magna Carta.
I like your threads here, Russell.
But why does the third of your good comments on this thread turn to the Constitution, as if to the corrupted and perjured Clarence court that anymore means anything?
Clarence, Alito, and their far-right allies are as lost as MAGA.
Isn't it time for the blue states to ally with Canada, Mexico, most of western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and several other democracies?
The U.S. billionaires who ally now with MAGA-land can work out whatever they like with the BRIC states -- all of them in economic and demographic decline.
Don't the democracies of the world need to get rid of the parasite billionaires. Don't you agree, too, Russell, that their schools have got to rededicate themselves to priorities for democracy, for central place for essaying and whatever arts help us see and revel in "others"?
The courts aren’t going to save us because they have clearly demonstrated they don’t care about courts or laws. We waste time waiting for courts to shame them into behaving lawfully. Never going to happen. We must save ourselves. We need effective leadership for the democratic resistance and we need force to back us up. The only force not already obedient to them is the United States Armed Forces. He may have installed brown shirts at the top, but the rank and file may still be loyal to the American people and the values and laws, albeit imperfect, that have ruled our nation for 250 years. SUPPORT VETERANS GROUPS TO HELP LEAD THE RESISTANCE.
I believe that we've yet to see how the Trump administration's war on the rule of law (as it was described yesterday by a former conservative federal judge) is going to play out. Trump has told Laura Ingrahams of Fox News that he won't defy a court order, even though that's seems to be exactly what he's doing at the moment. As you know, the separation of powers is a core tenet of the rule of law and the independence of the jury is central to this. Judges are naturally jealous of their independence and we've had very strong statements from both the American Bar Association and the Federal Judges Association condemning the administration's attacks on the judiciary and on law firms. I wonder if SCOTUS can really afford to just ignore these considerations and allow Trump the wide latitude he seeks which would mean a huge increase in the scope of presidential power not just over the Congress, but also the judiciary. They have sworn to uphold the Constitution after all and to allow this sort of thing to continue unabated would even present a real risk to themselves.
Agreed, but the Supreme Court controls no paramilitary force to back up their rulings. Their authority can be easily swept aside.
I personally love this idea. Disabled American Veterans are neglected and isolated. They have taken leads in the Disability Civil Rights Movement previously -- those were largely from Afghanistan and Vietnam. The current Vet group, which I know intimately, are unfortunately more from the Bush wars. So fierce. May not agree with Trump. Accustomed to following orders. Formerly paid in a decent way and now employed in those space industry things.
I just read an article about a doctor here on a work visa doing kidney transplants. He went home for a visit (I believe it was Lebanon) and was detained on his return and was deported. I believe they sent him to El Salvador. He has an emergency court order for his release, but it was ignored. I just found the article. It was published by New Republic. Read it for yourselves. It’s a perfect case to illustrate what Timothy Snyder was talking about.
https://apple.news/Ah1yyyZIsRPuLaeF7LCFlDQ
It was a Lebanese female nephrologist, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, who was legally here on a work visa & was a professor at Brown University. Ice agents put her on a plane to Paris, then Beiruit, even though a judge had ruled that she should be allowed to remain in the US.
Judges need to start finding Trump & his officials in contempt of court!
So the question is what is the judge who gave the order going to do?
I think the judge set it for a hearing on Monday (yesterday). I haven’t heard any more than that.
I just checked and the hearing yesterday was postponed to give the doctor's lawyer more time. The firm who was representing the doctor bailed on her on Sunday. This is part of how Hitler destroyed the independent judiciary, threatening lawyers who represented Hitler's "enemies."
See "If the Marshals Go Rogue, Courts Have Other Ways to Enforce their Orders."
"[T]he court may appoint individuals other than the marshals to enforce civil contempt orders" [https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/if-the-marshals-go-rogue-courts-have-other-ways-to-enforce-their-orders/?utm_source=Democracy+Docket+Newsletters&utm_campaign=1a3cb11fab-20250314_DailyDocket_LF&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-9812d8a903-602342326&mc_cid=1a3cb11fab&mc_eid=d7fa9568d3].
We see already that Trump will disobey the courts. What is the recourse ... the US Marshalls? No, they report to DOJ. I don't believe we can wait for the slow courts that will be ignored anyway. At the least, Trump needs to see that there are huge masses of people WHO DO NOT LIKE WHAT HE IS DOING.
Read the above article from SandyG shared just above your comment!!
Let’s hope!
I want to second Hope’s comments about rule of law. They have demonstrated that we are way past the point in which courts, even the Supreme Court can stop this rapid descent into totalitarian rule. They have no intention of obeying courts or public opinion. We are wasting time hoping that courts will shame them into acting with decency and lawfulness. This attack on the American people and our institution of government has no precedent in American history. They operate outside our system of protocols, procedures and laws. To them, the Constitution is just an old piece of paper. To have any chance of success, the democratic resistance must similarly operate outside traditional norms of procedure. We need to present a New Democratic Party, an alternative government, to the American people, comprising a designated person for every Congressional seat and governorship. A unified team that speaks in a unified voice. And we must actively court the United States Armed Forces to side with the people, against this lawless coup. Most soldiers come from working class families. The 1% don’t serve their country. When the president and his henchmen control ICE, the police forces and other men with weapons, only the military has the power to save us. Peace and love.
If peaceful protests fill every city and town square there is no army who could quell that. And I do not think the army would shoot candle holding protesters. They did not do so in East Germany where I grew up. And not in Ukraine 🇺🇦
When Trump in first term was threatening to ask the military to shoot migrants illegally entering the country, retired Gen. Martin Dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote on Twitter, "A wasteful deployment of over-stretched Soldiers and Marines would be made much worse if they use force disproportional to the threat they face. They won't." It hasn't stopped Trump sending troops to the southern border this time around as well, although they have no power to conduct any policing operations. He's quite mad, you know. He once asked official in Homeland Security to consider building a moat around 200 miles long and filling it with snakes and alligators to deter migrants.
That is true. But there is no army bog enough to quell protests around the country. It is a scare tactic. And it seems to work. But look at Eastern Europe right now. They do live in autocracy and still take to the streets. The US leadership has gotten nuts but it is still not an autocracy. We still have independent media, Judges who keep the admin in check and more or less free speech. I hope the American people will keep it so.
As though to confirm your point about the judiciary, Trump posted this yesterday on Truth Social about judge James Boasberg who tried to block his deportation of what he claims were Venezuelan gang members who had invaded the country: "This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President - He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!" Personally, I thought the judge had been far too lenient in view of the patently absurd explanations the government lawyer gave to explain why the administration had failed to comply with his ruling.
Boots marching is too late. If the police are nationalized and the military turned inward, then there is no hope except foreign intervention. It doesn't mean we can't at least die trying though. Put it to you this way, I aint going to no Trump prison.
He's a mad man, John.
A syphilitic, obese, rancid, pig face waddling, hate-filled pustule.
I am 72, and I've been thinking the same.
Maybe it will be up to us old people to take on the fascists.
The Democrats could in part be forming a shadow government by drafting legislation that protects us from the actions of Trump, DOGE and project 2025. They should not be drafting lengthy packed bills, but straightforward bills to address each action and if they cannot get them passed they can go to the press with them and use them as tools to educate.
Thinking along same lines.
If "they" come to your door at 3 am, they wouldn't be knocking. We've always been at "that point." The only thing stopping it has been humanity, morality and integrity, all of which are now gone.
The hideousness and shame of it - the fascist removal of "undesirables" - is the tipping point, or should be. Among the Democratic party leadership, we hear crickets. This is Chuck Schumer's real crime.
Harold, we had a shadow government for four years. "Let's go Brandon!!!"
Dear Dr. Snyder. Thank you for your scholarship and writings. At the height of US involvement in the Viet Nam war, one of our most used chants was "Police State in '68." Close to 50 years later, this chant has become a reality. The struggle continues. Peace.
Thank you for explaining how words and images are used to bend the malleable mind to fear defenseless human beings. I wish everyone had read Madeline Albright’s 2018 book
On Fascism: A Warning. None of this would be surprising, just jarring. I’m glad she’s not here to witness her childhood relived in her second home country.
"Thank you for explaining how words and images are used to bend the malleable mind to fear defenseless human beings."
This talk with powerpoint speaks exactly to your comment.
Claudia Koonz - "How the Nazis Made Anti-Semitism Respectable"
.https://youtu.be/usL9bmrnQRk?si=ZH7X5C8-BZ2N9jDo.
Thank you for this!
I am in the middle of her book right now.
Watching Trump oversee so much inhumanity and lawlessness in the name of The United States is nauseating. Watching Republican and Democrat passivity is equally nauseating. Writing and calling elected representatives and media and street protesting seem more cathartic than consequential. I now fear that we should continue our actions, keep our expectations of effectiveness low, and expect this monstrous, mobster-like onslaught to implode or explode — eventually. Let each of us do what is enriching and not depleting, what is reasoned and not impulsive. With gratitude toward Tim Snyder for all he does, including helping followers think more clearly and with more knowledge.
Rule Number 20. Be As Courageous as You Can.
Indeed. We can't all throw ourselves onto the bayonets of the enemy or survive the prison torture without breaking. But we can refuse to obey. Hitler succeeded because so many people cooperated and obeyed. Trump's hoodlums are a small number of people compared to the entire population. They cannot carry out the plans themselves. They need cooperative folks to help them. Don't cooperate. Don't go allow with the program. Don't act as if their lies are true. Don't keep your head down and your mouth shut, hoping that you'll be passed over.
I found something out about myself this weekend at our local rally. and maybe I am stupid. A man approached our group and started screaming and shouting pro trump. He said he was a Veteran, A captain in the Marines. At some point one of the gentleman in our group, who is also a Vet and I think in his late 70’s was face to face arguing with this man. I wasn’t going to step into the argument vocally to incite any more havoc, but I did step inches behind our member in case this was going to turn violent. Fortunately it didn’t.
Dr Snyder, I trust you have an exit plan. Keep your important self SAFE.
We need YOU
"Watching Republican and Democrat passivity is equally nauseating. "
Inaccurate. Neither is passive.
Republicans are ardently and actively instituting a ChristoFascist state.
The majority of Democrats in Congress resisted with their NO CR votes but were betrayed by a Chamberlain Senate minority leader and a handful of Senate quislings.
Google Congressional Progressive Caucus. Then google individuals in the CSpan archives.
A recent CNN poll shows that the popularity of the Democratic party has fallen to its lowest ever level and much of the blame must lie with Chuck Schumer who is now a minority leader in his own party despite claiming to have the full confidence of his caucus. As you say, people are crying out for leadership against this administration's worst excesses (and they continue to mount) - we've seen clear evidence of that from those videos of angry town hall meetings held by Republican members of Congress, many of whom have been shamefully hiding from their constituents. One representative actually required constituents to register with the police before attending a town hall meeting.
Even my congressional rep, in a deeply blue district, only held an online town hall a couple weeks ago - nothing in person - and he had the chat turned off.
That's both disgraceful and ignominious.
Schumer has cancelled a book tour owing to “security problems.”
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/03/17/politics/schumer-book-tour-postponed
Who's going to buy his book, Frau K.?
We all know what a total coward he is. Maybe good at joining some group of fellow impotents standing outside chanting silly slogans.
But when majority leader, and he had the chance to call a vote on Article 14, Section Three stopping insurrectionist from further public office, he did nothing.
Don’t know. But I’m curious about the “security problems.”
It would certainly be extraordinary if he feared fellow Democrats or party faithful. It's more likely surely in the current environment that he has received antisemitic death threats - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/17/leo-terrell-trump-neo-nazi-tweet
We’re best agreeing to disagree. I see elected Republicans in Congress as similar to mechanical dolls: when Trump says “jump,” they do. Re Dems, they are not a coherent counterforce. There are many voices and groups but they have not changed the reality of Trump’s seemingly unshakeable power — for now. I look forward to an implosion or explosion of it — eventually.
Agree Dems are not coherent. Lin seems to think we should listen to the progressive faction, a perennial minority in the party, and that they can win national elections. They never have, and if, as Dan Pfeiffer puts it, it's the Dem brand that lost on Election Day, they are the cause of that loss.
Yes Lin, like you said the republicans are ardently working with trump’s take over of the US government, they are very much in it with trump , musk, and vance and they are enjoying every minute of it . And the democrats passive, and have no clue of what to do to protect this country. To the point that even many of them voted for the trump Bill and stroke the match of betrayal . It is nauseating. And republicans have no care of the dangers in which they are putting their own country in.
Well said
The evil is crashing through our doors!
The WORST predictions for a second Trump administration are being proved true.
Trump is flouting court orders.
Trump is using the Justice Department as a sound stage to declare the illegality of any opposition to him.
He, with the backing of the “wealthiest person on earth,” is flinging meritless lawsuits against the for profit press to harass, distract, intimidate, and delegitimize them.
And, dammit, we tried to tell those ignorant voters what was coming, but eggs.
Damn them.
It might be important to remember that the number of eligible voters who stayed home was greater than the number who came out to vote. Voter turnout overall was lower in 24 than in 20, but in New Hampshire voter turnout actually increased between the two elections — and Harris carried my state. Also, so many Trump voters that I canvassed would tell me they didn’t believe Trump would do what he promised or that the Dem leadership was an even greater threat to democracy, the rule of law, and human decency than Trump appeared to be. A lot of them felt very well informed too. (Sigh) And they were certainly not always without a college education.
In some ways it was like they thought of Trump as an unstable relative who gets drunk or high too much but could be counted upon to do the right thing in a pinch. Then, I try to remember what Snyder has been pointing out for years about the high correlation of opiate addiction to Trump voting as measured at a county level across the nation. I try to imagine many Trump voters as people coping with chaotic family dynamics involving substance abuse and domestic violence where they are struggling to cope with volatile husbands, wives, children, parents, or siblings while maybe even scrambling to hold down three part-time jobs…
The eligible voters who stayed home were, in effect, Trump voters.
The ones who I tried to convince that Trump would be way worse for Gaza than Harris.
The ones who "don't do politics" or "don't pay attention to politics."
I guess they're going to find out that politics pays attention to THEM.
I'll bet they have time to watch "reality" shows instead of paying attention to the actual reality around them. I'll bet they have time to play games on their phones instead of reading any news at all.
Do I sound bitter? Well, I am. I hope they enjoy their worsening poverty, increasing prices, big bank fees, disappearing Medicaid, and eggs.
I sure won't enjoy it, but I hope they just wallow in it.
Except there are well funded and very motivated parties with lots of experienced instincts at transforming people’s pain, suffering, resentment, bitterness, shame, and guilt into rage directed at chosen scapegoats who may be the traditionally vulnerable, but could also be anyone. The worst case scenario is escalating reciprocal violence: a failed state. If the US fails as a state no one is secure - and I’m not only referring to financial security either.
Relatively stable and educated people have a certain sense of the world as rational, predictable with understandable mechanisms of cause and effect. It’s actually irrational on our part even if we steep ourselves in ideas like chaos and complexity theories, relativity, and quantum weirdness. That’s all kind of abstract and academic because we view the chaos, randomness, and passions of our lives as exceptional deviations from some imagined norm. That’s true in our individual and family lives as much as it is to our sense of culture and history. Do you think the Second World War with the Holocaust and Hiroshima were exceptional or was the exception for Europe the half century following the fall of the Third Reich? To what extent have Europeans and American come to grips with our history of colonial warfare and genocide? Aren’t constitutional democracies rather an exception than the norm if you think of history in terms of centuries rather than decades?
We tend to be shocked by “honor killings”, but honor with all its patriarchal violence is always the most celebrated value in unstable and warlike cultures which described Europe and the US well into the twentieth century and maybe was only thinly restrained (for appearances sake) by what Noam Chomsky referred to the civilizing principles of feminism, civil rights, and freedom of expression associated with privileged sectors of the baby boomers since the ‘60s. “Honor” is as much about fear of being shamed as it is about courage in the face of violence. People are going to be experiencing worsening poverty, increasing prices, big bank fees, disappearing health care and all kinds of humiliations and indignities. They are also going hear people they have always resented for their “out of touch” condescension blaming them for their own misfortune, something that “honor” requires them to reject. That makes them hot and dry tinder for the winds and flames of fascism.
Well - I live in the UK so I don't know many Trump voters (though Nigel Farage's basically neo-Nazi Reform Party got one vote in seven in July, and it was their first outing).
But I have four relatives in the US who are ardent Trumpites, and none of them is in a situation even remotely like what you describe. One is even a disabled vet! F*** knows why they'd even choose to support such a loathsome candidate in the first place. Or, if in fact it's about 'belonging', why they'd want to belong to a club like that.
It’s about shame and guilt which is related to cultures based on “honor” which is a way of protecting oneself against shame and guilt being imposed (in actuality or in the imagination) by others. It’s deeply connected to patriarchal violence, though it is most virulent in those who are insecure about their ability to protect their “honor”.
Thank you for saying it. I do jot like the voter bashing either. Also it overlooks the power of abuse. People have been believing the con man more than the Democrats messaging. So may be it is time to look into that and improve that?
I need to point out a grotesque error in my response to Pam. I know now as I knew then that the number of voters who stayed home was greater than the number of those who voted for Trump. It was, of course, also greater than the number of those who counted for Harris. Somehow a failure to proofread left the words on the screen proclaiming that it was greater than the total turnout. That kind of error does undermine my personal credibility in a number of ways though it does not undermine either my point or my intention. I still believe and HOPE that, as in Poland, there will be meaningful elections in the near future and those elections will not merely repudiate Trump but also MAGA enough to codify and institutionalize some important changes: perhaps involving healthcare, perhaps even more profound…
Starkly insightful. Thank you.
Fascism is here. Do not turn away.
Chilling. I have already seen posts with people declaring that "THESE PEOPLE" are rightfully.... No due process, sent to a foreign adversary. It could be any one of us. More than half of me thinks the attacks on the Houthis this weekend was done so that he could with his Congress' consent declare we are in a state of war so the Aliens Act he is itching to put in place, can be. Treacherous Times,
On another note: One hopeful item yesterday with multiple discussions of, "The Coalition of the Willing," How do we participate? Thank you Professor Snyder. Sadly as I keep reading about the past I recognize the moment we are in today. Reading Fear, by Jan Gross. knowledge is power
Eternal vigilance, Professor Snyder. Thank you.
(Please nobody go looking for typos)
PS don't let the typo critics muffle your voice. Your columns are easy to read and understand. Keep them coming.
The WORST predictions for a second Trump administration are being proved true.
Trump is flouting court orders.
Trump is using the Justice Department as a sound stage to declare the illegality of any opposition to him.
He, with the backing of the “wealthiest person on earth” is flinging meritless lawsuits against the for profit press to harass, distract, intimidate, and delegitimize them.
Exquisitely written. A beautiful education. Thank you.
What was done is grotesque. It makes me afraid to write to the representatives of my state for fear of being branded a subversive and a danger to our country, but I am going to write them anyway. I will use key points from the French senator's speech and that of Chris Murphy from Conneticut. When I saw the movie The Hunger Games some years ago, I knew we were already well on the road to where we are now. I wrote a letter of apology to Prime Minister Trudeau before he left office and to the ambassador to the US from Ukraine in Washington D.C. I only hope they received them.
Fear is important to acknowledge, so that we may enlist courage to put it aside.
Well said.
Thank you, that is so true, and I am trying to do that. Thanks for the bolstering acknowledgement.
Please Phone Them
Thank you, I will.
We need 12 million people to descend on DC and camp there until resignations are forthcoming.
April 5.
In addition to Washington D.C. and State Capitals, Check Indivisible to see if you have a local protests to attend https://indivisible.org/
Just start your own Saturday protest!! Don’t wait for anyone else or some organization to lead you.
Crisis demands that we all become leaders.
Just get out there with a damn sign and make a stink. Most cars and pick up trucks honk in support. It’s inspiring (and important) for others to see the American flag waved proudly by people who are not maga supporters.
Three weeks ago our little village protest saw 25, two weeks ago 45, last Saturday 70… including a West Point mom from across the River.
Just get out there.. see ACLU site for right to protest without a permit.
Our local group averages 70, 10 miles from my home in a red CT town. In another town I know a woman who keeps signs in her car and protests alone there. She keeps a spare sign in case you would like to join her and your timing meets hers.
What purpose would that serve, unless you meant to say, "12 million people prepared to take back control of our government to return it to 'regular order' "?
1. We have to start somewhere besides talking to one another.
2. World-wide recognition that 12 million people are against Trump and that he is not America!
3. Visible support for our Dem reps. We need more Bernie, more AOC, more Murphy.
3. Lots of press coverage, lots of social media vids, lots of TikToc
4. Shared energy for the fight to “regular order.”
5. Coordination of actions with local groups
What have I not thought of?
Elon (scrolling through comments): “Hmmm, Nice little list ya got there, MK. Too bad you and all the other posters don’t have the power to stop DOGE and US Marshals breaking up your little protest party.”
Stephen Miller( tapping fingers together): “Ex-cellent!”
Agent Krasnov (sitting at Resolute desk in Oval Office): “I’ll have a perfect, beautiful call with President Bukele of El Salvador to prepare for more secret deportations of ‘terrorists’ to his big, beautiful prisons. “
JD (wearing monkey suit, jumping up and down, banging cymbals together): “So much winning!”
(This comment is satire, ICYWW)
Thanks, RH….made me laugh. Sadly, I bet that is what they say on April 5. (We paid $5 million to El Salvador, right? Some clever way to save $$)
Leni Riefenstahl is applauding from her grave. Who knew years in The Apprentice would prepare Trump to be her apprentice.
I KNEW. And I know a lot of other people who knew, too. Europeans knew. People who've always feared this more than anything could smell it and feel it.
He was ALREADY her 'apprentice'! He's ALWAYS been like this. I'd be willing to put money on him only going on TV in the first place just to make himself a household name so people would vote for him.
He declared his ambition of being president one day in 1987. It was right after he returned from his first trip to Moscow - that trip where at the very least they treated him as 'a person of interest', and according to two former KGB agents he was actually recruited (as 'Agent Krasnov').
Here. have a look at this: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/02/donald-trump-first-campaign-speech-new-hampshire-1987-213595/
He hasn't changed a bit, has he.
In 1989 he took out a full-page ad in the NYT calling in giant block capitals for the death penalty for five teenagers and very young men who became known as the Central Park Five. He ran it THREE TIMES. This is what he is like and has always been like. After ten years in prison, and following a confession and DNA evidence, the Central Park Five were completely exonerated.
(And on January 20 Trump signed an executive order not only reinstating the federal death penalty, but requiring judges to impose it 'wherever possible' - and giving himself, via the Attorney General, the power to impose it in cases where he decides a judge or court has been lenient, ie 'undermined' or 'defied the law'.)
As a property developer in NYC in the 80s he used illegal labour - you don't have to treat them well, as they can't complain.
As a casino developer & owner in the 90s he ROUTINELY didn't pay suppliers. Just decided not to pay them. He'd invite them to a 'meeting' whre there would be all these guys in suits hanging around, and he'd explain that he was going to pay the supplier half, and make them sign an agreement. Next time, it would be half of THAT. And so on.
Still made the place go bankrupt. In Atlantic City!
He has been saying all along that he was going to do exactly all the stuff he's doing now. All this green card stuff, the doctor from Lebanon, the Venezuelans - remember the so-called Muslim Travel Ban? Listen to his rhetoric on immigrants and foreigners. He didn't mke it up. He's copying it, sometimes word for word.
Even back in 2016 he was copying Hitler's rhetoric in his speeches, and copying Mussolini's body language, and his first wife Ivana said that he had kept H's speeches by his bed. And yet I was told I was stupid, hysterical, 'invoking Godwin's law', etc by a gazillion guys when I simply pointed this out with photos or videos to illustrate the point.
In 2024, he had a big banner & a slogan he repeated: 'Trump was right about everything'.
Mussolini had a slogan, which was inscribed in giant letters on the front of his HQ among other places, which said: 'Mussolini is always right'.
And THEN there's Putin, and Cambridge Analytica, and the links with Brexit. And the first foreign politician to visit Trump in November 2016 was the *openly fascistic* Nigel Farage, godfather of Brexit, whose *teachers* even had concerns about him when he was at school.
Trump has been practicing for this moment ALL HIS LIFE.
This Politico article is fascinating. Ty. He IS the same bombastic, self promoting clever fool as back in 1987. The havoc and damage he is doing to both America / world we could not have envisioned back then.
Nazi Adolf Eichmann reincarnated as Jew Stephen Miller. I guess Miller comes back as - anyone Republicans are targeting, that is, you and me, but first our most vulnerable neighbors.
I guess they don't make jews like Jesus any more.