Office Hours: So What's Our Game Plan Now?

In face of Trump’s emerging police state?

Friends,

Demonstrations against Trump’s emerging police state are growing, not just in Los Angeles but around the nation. In New York yesterday, demonstrators walked through the streets after assembling in Lower Manhattan near a large government building that houses federal immigration offices and the city’s main immigration court.

Thousands gathered in Chicago, chanting anti-ICE and anti-Trump slogans while marching through the city.

This coming Saturday, in response to Trump’s display of military might in Washington (ostensibly to honor the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S. Army but also to honor himself and his own birthday), many of us will be protesting in “No Kings Day” events across the nation. See here.

Trump says anyone who protests during his military parade in Washington will be met with “very big force.”

All of which raises some basic questions: What is the purpose of our protests, in concrete political terms? What should our strategy now be in the face of Trump’s emerging police state? How do we avoid playing into Trump’s hands?

I’ve heard four basic answers: