How to Fight Back Against Trump 2.0

The time is right for marching in the streets.

by Richard Conniff

(Image: Chappatte)

“What can we do?” one reader asked plaintively, in response to a recent column on the Trump Administration’s evil and often aggressively stupid mismanagement of our government. “Yes, resist loudly,” said another reader. But “I need help knowing how.” I’ve been thinking about that and searching around to answer both comments ever since. Here are some results:

GET INTO THE STREETS

With apologies, I’d intended to make this the last recommendation on the list. But it has to come first because tomorrow, Saturday, April 5, more than 1000 “Hands Off!” protests will take place in towns and cities nationwide, with some starting as early as 10 a.m., and a big one in Washington, D.C., at noon.

The ambition is for everyday Americans to come together and tell the billionaires wrecking our government to take their hands off our healthcare, our wages, our Social Security, and our democracy. The Trump power grab, a “Hands Off” organizer told Newsweek, aims “to roll back our rights, strip workers of protections, and dismantle the foundations of democracy in service of tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. The stakes couldn't be higher."

To find the protest nearest you, visit the “Hands Off” website. If you don’t feel like entering your email, as required, just skip past to this page, which lists local protests around your internet hub. Plan on singing songs and carrying signs. Make it loud. The billionaires need to hear shouting in the street and the imagined sound of the guillotine skittering down its tracks.

PUNCH BACK HARDER

Lesson #1 in dealing with this Administration is that they operate like blackmailers: Let them get away with something the first time, and they just come back again and again, always wanting more. Columbia University buckled when Trump threatened to cut $400 million in federal funds. Encouraged, the blackmailers are now targeting $9 billion in federal funding at Harvard University, ostensibly on suspicion of antisemitism. (The reality is that Republicans oppose education because they know they can manipulate an under-educated, ill-informed electorate. There is a lot of me-smart-you-stupid hypocrisy in these attacks, as when J.D. Vance, Yale Law School 2013, husband of Usha, Yale College 2007, Cambridge University 2010, declared, “The universities are the enemy.”)

Among other blackmail victims, the once mighty law firm Paul Weiss curled up in a quivering heap when targeted by a Trump executive order—agreeing to betray its history by giving Trump $40 million worth of free legal services. Think of it as doing pro bono work for billionaires. The firm’s reputation promptly fell out the window. A lawyer on NPR remarked that every Paul Weiss client should now be questioning “why I'm paying $3000 an hour for a law firm that doesn't think it can win a legal battle over an executive order that has functionally already been enjoined." Then Skadden Arps, once also a prestigious firm, surrendered at $100 million, and Trump moved on to other legal targets.

Instead, be like three other law firms that Trump targeted—Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale. They sued the bastards to challenge illegitimate executive orders. So far, they’re winning early court fights.

If more of us stand our ground, we can win back our government. If you find it hard to identify with overpaid lawyers, who sometimes fight for the wrong side, be like David Shipley, until recently opinion editor at The Washington Post. He gave up one of the few remaining powerful jobs in modern journalism because Amazon billionaire, Post owner, and notorious coward Jeff Bezos ordered up a steady diet of pro-Trump editorials.

Be like Representative Al Green (D-Texas), who stood up as Trump was spewing lies to Congress and reminded him: “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.” (Trump won just 49.8% of the popular vote, not a mandate, nor even a majority .) Don’t be like those Democrats who stayed meekly seated as Rep. Green was escorted off the floor.

MAKE FUN OF THEM

Trump, Musk, and their gang of “manosphere” losers consider it their role to hand out cruelty to anyone lower down the ladder. And yet they are clearly sensitive to ridicule. So give it back to them in your own style. Consider, for instance, the people who made Elon Musk weep by explaining why he’s not the world-class video gamer he claims to be. (Sadly, the audio of Musk weeping in the Oval Office because Tesla stock and sales were cratering does not appear to be real.)

Think about one-upping the pranksters who projected the above image on a Tesla factory near Berlin just long enough to take the photograph. Then they uploaded it to go viral everywhere on Earth and maybe even on Elon’s beloved Mars. It was the work of the German satirical Center for Political Beauty and British political campaigners Led By Donkeys. "Frankly,” Musk responded, “they need better dirty tricks.” Consider that an invitation. If you’re no good at pranks, no worries. Just re-post the work of others.

STOP GIVING YOUR MONEY TO THE WRONG PEOPLE

You’ve seen how much it hurt Elon Musk to watch his Tesla sales plummet, and his stock lose more than half its value as car buyers and investors reacted to his appalling behavior. So extend that to Jeff Bezos at Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, and all the other Tech Bros and retail barons who have bent a knee to Trump.

Walk away from companies—like Target, Walmart, Ford, Meta, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Amazon, and McDonald’s— that not so long ago proudly announced their DEI initiatives, then abandoned or scaled them back in anticipatory obedience to the Trump administration’s racist executive orders.

Take your money to Costco instead. It’s seen foot traffic increase for 13 straight weeks since it decided to stand by its DEI program. Meantime, Target’s abandonment of DEI has led to eight straight weeks of loss.

One good piece of advice. Don’t just walk away. Step up to the counter and let the person behind the desk know why you’re no longer planning to shop there. (Fair warning: I just quit Amazon Prime, which did not give me a chance to say my goodbyes.)

DONATE TO THE RESISTANCE

Give till it hurts the Trump Administration’s relentlessly illegal and often unconstitutional efforts to trash public health, the environment, the economy, and civil liberties. Give, that is, to nonprofits successfully suing to block or delay the administration’s misadventures.

For now, I’ll keep the list of recommendations down to just two issues (more another day on organizations fighting for public health and civil liberties):

On the environment, consider supporting Earthjustice (“Because the Earth needs a Good Lawyer”) the NRDC, which helped write some of the laws it now defends, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Andrew Mergen of Harvard’s Emmet Environmental Law and Policy Clinic recommends also working to build broad support for the environment through local or regional red state initiatives. “I’m a huge fan of the Appalachian Citizen's Law Center,” he says. It works on public health and the environmental effects of resource extraction in Appalachian mining communities. “Small but mighty.”

The second issue worth supporting is our beleaguered free press. I’m keeping my New York Times subscription, with mixed feelings. But I’m fed up with The Washington Post, even if Bezos hasn’t mucked around so far with the news side. I’m switching my subscription to The Guardian, which has been fearless in covering Trump’s bad behavior. The Atlantic also deserves your support, not least for exposing the incredible, massively inept breach of national security before the recent attack on Houthi bases in Yemen.

Pro Publica also deserves your support. It is extraordinarily effective at its business of “investigative journalism in the public interest.” Inside Climate News does great coverage of the biggest survival story of our time. Yale Environment 360, where I was a longtime contributor, provides clear, evidence-based stories on environmental topics from parking lot solar to South Africa’s “tiny plants” poaching crisis. I am also deeply grateful to readers who support my work here on substack, as paid or free subscribers, and especially to those who help by sharing posts and spreading the word.

TRY NOT TO HATE ORDINARY PEOPLE ON THE OTHER SIDE

This is a hard one, I know. But calling people who voted for Trump “MAGA dumbfucks,” a term I have seen endlessly repeated on social media, is counterproductive. You should unfollow, unfriend, block, or mute anyone (any bot?) using that kind of language.

How should you talk to what often feels like a brick wall of unreason? Don’t talk, says Sam Sankar, a litigator at Earthjustice. It’s a lawyer’s tactic for drawing out the other side:

If you put me in a room with a solid Trump supporter and said, “Look, I'll give you a million bucks if you can bring this person over to your side,” I know how I would do it. I would just listen, and listen, and listen … I would listen, and I would just say, “Oh, so why do you think … Oh interesting. So where would I read more about that? How would I learn more about this? Tell me more about that.” And you draw people out, and you keep drawing people out until they express their own doubts and reservations about their position. And then you sort of work with that.

Then he added, “But I don’t … I don’t want to listen to their shit. Oh, man, I really don’t.” For those of you who also cannot stomach it, he offers one other piece of advice:

Stay informed. Don't hide out. It's so appealing to just say, “I'm taking a news holiday, I'm stopping reading this,” whatever. You don't have to do it daily. Daily can be damaging … But sitting down and doing some long form reading—not just the quick headline scanning—is important. The long form reading makes you the sort of person that, when you talk to people, you can give them more than just “Oh, I hate this,” or “I hate that.”

OK, that’s all for now. It’s time to publish, so you all have time to make your posters for tomorrow. Mine says, “HANDS OFF SCIENCE.”

I’ll be looking for yours on the street tomorrow.

OTHER READING AND VIEWING

“Inside Elite Law Firms, Protests and Quitting After Trump Deals” NY Times, April 2, 2025

I’m definitely not recommending “Netflix and chill.” But there are some good movies worth viewing to understand the courage and the risks of resisting authoritarian power. IMDB has a list of its 20 best resistance movies. Here are two of my favorites from recent viewing.

“Sophie Scholl: The Final Days” (2005, in German, with subtitles) tells the true story of a group of Munich students resisting the Third Reich. It’s available free on Hoopla (an app available through your public library) and for rent on Apple.

“Jojo Rabbit” (2019, in English, Academy Award for best adapted screenplay) is a satirical treatment of Adolf Hitler and the students who resist him. It’s up to you whether you can stand pointed comedy in this context. The conclusion may also leave you in tears. Available on Max, and for rent on Apple and Fandango.