What Should We Do NOW?
What comes next, after No Kings 2.0
Friends,
No Kings 2.0 was a huge success. More than 7 million (by some estimates, more than 8 million) showed up. We were peaceful. We were patriotic (many of us waved American flags). We stuck to one message: that we refuse to live under a dictator. We had fun (the costumes and signs were fabulous). We felt powerful in our solidarity.
And we are powerful.
What’s next? How do we use that power? What should we do now? I’ll leave to others bigger or more dramatic suggestions. Mine boil down to a dozen simple ones:
1. Organize for the 2026 midterms.
Millions of us just participated in one of the largest demonstrations in American history. The most important thing we do with that power is wrest back control of Congress from zombie Republicans who are rubber-stamping whatever Trump wants. Otherwise, we will continue to lose our democracy and rule of law to this tyrant. We must:
Counter-balance Republican gerrymandering in red states with, at least temporarily, Democratic gerrymandering in blue states (in California, be sure to vote YES on Proposition 50).
Work with local, county, and state grassroots organizations to identify qualified voters who rarely vote, and make sure they do so next year.
Organize young people to participate and vote.
Make sure everyone you know — including friends and relations who have voted Republican in the past — are aware of the stakes in the midterms, and vote against Trump Republican candidates and incumbents.
2. Protect the decent and hardworking members of our communities who are undocumented.
This is an urgent moral call to action. As Trump’s ICE continues its vicious roundups and deportations, many of our neighbors and friends are endangered and understandably frightened.
If you haven’t done so already, consider forming an unofficial “sanctuary community” that widely shares information about where ICE agents are located, where ICE raids are occurring, and how ICE is violating the rights of people here legally as well as the undocumented, and that takes videos of what ICE is doing and provides those videos to local and national media.
It’s especially important to protect access to schools, public hospitals, and courthouses. Undocumented parents should not feel afraid to send their children to school. Undocumented people who are ill, including those with communicable diseases, must not be afraid to go to clinics and hospitals for treatment. People who believe they are here legally should never be afraid to report to court.
If you trust your mayor or city manager, check in with their offices to see what they are doing to protect vulnerable families in your community.
If you haven’t done so already, I recommend you order these red cards from Immigrant Legal Resource Center and make them available in and around your community: Red Cards / Tarjetas Rojas. You might also find this of use: Immigration Preparedness Toolkit.
3. Help people who are losing their jobs and benefits.
Tump’s cruel budget is eliminating food stamps for hundreds of thousands of Americans and reducing or eliminating health insurance for millions more by cutting Affordable Care Act subsidies and making it harder for people to qualify for Medicaid.
The federal government shutdown gives Democrats bargaining leverage to extend the expiring Obamacare premium subsidies in order to head off a spike in insurance premiums for more than 22 million Americans.
But the shutdown is creating its own hardships — such as eliminating paychecks for two million federal workers. Trump is also using the shutdown to fire tens of thousands of federal workers.
As a result, our generosity is needed now more than ever — to support community food pantries, local food banks, community charities, and shelters.
4. Call your members of Congress.
Phone your representative and your two senators. If they’re Democrats, tell them that as their constituent you support the shutdown as a way to extend Obamacare subsidies, and ask them to hang in there.
If they’re Republicans, tell them that as their constituent you demand they join Democrats to extend the Obamacare subsidies, and also stop doing whatever Trump wants.
Never underestimate the power of a constituent phone call. Every office keeps track of how many there are and what they’re supporting or opposing.
The Capitol Hill switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. The switchboard operator will connect you to your representative or senators.
5. Protect LGBTQ+ and Black and brown members of our communities.
Trump and his lapdogs are already making life more difficult for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other people — through executive orders, changes in laws, alterations in civil rights laws, and changes in how such laws are enforced.
The Trump regime is also changing laws to favor white people and disfavor people of color. He is prioritizing white refugees over refugees of color. He is strong-arming corporations to eliminate programs that have fostered diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Trump’s rhetoric is encouraging hatefulness.
Please be vigilant against prejudice and bigotry, wherever it might break out. When you see or hear it, call it out. Join with others to stop it. If you trust your local city officials, get them involved. If you trust your local police, alert them as well.
6. Participate in or organize boycotts of companies that are enabling the Trump regime — starting with Tesla, X, Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, and Palantir Technologies.
Never underestimate the effectiveness of consumer boycotts. Corporations invest heavily in their brand names and the goodwill associated with them. Loud, boisterous, attention-getting boycotts can harm brand names and reduce the value of corporations’ shares of stock.
7. Support groups litigating against Trump.
Some of the most important measures for resisting Trump are occurring in the federal courts. Groups behind this litigation include the American Civil Liberties Union, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Defense Fund, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Common Cause. They deserve your support.
In addition, Lowell & Associates, Democracy Defenders Fund, and the Washington Litigation Group are representing clients battling to get their jobs back, avoid prosecutions, and recoup millions of dollars that Trump has illegally blocked.
8. Spread the truth.
Get accurate news through reliable sources, and spread it. If you hear anyone spreading lies and Trump propaganda, contradict them with facts and their sources.
Here are some of the sources I currently rely on for the truth: Democracy Now, Business Insider, The New Yorker, The American Prospect, The Atlantic, Americans for Tax Fairness, Economic Policy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Guardian, ProPublica, Labor Notes, The Lever, Popular Information, The Bulwark, Heather Cox Richardson, and, of course, this Substack.
9. Join coworkers in getting employers to resist Trump.
If you work for a university, law firm, media company, museum, or any other organization that is being pressured (or could be) by the Trump regime to surrender its autonomy to the regime, urge them not to.
Join with your coworkers, colleagues, and alumni to pressure boards of directors and trustees, explaining that it’s impossible to appease a dictator. Join with other organizations or companies in the same industry to demand resistance. Most labor unions are on the right side — seeking to build worker power and resist repression. Support them by joining picket lines and boycotts and encouraging employees to organize in places you patronize.
10. Push for progressive measures in our communities and states.
Local and state governments retain significant power for good. Join groups that are moving our cities and states forward, in sharp contrast to regressive moves at the federal level by Trump and his lapdogs.
Lobby, instigate, organize, and fundraise for progressive leaders and legislators. Support higher taxes on the wealthy and on big corporations to finance affordable housing, health care, child care, and elder care.
11. Meanwhile, keep the faith. Do not give up on America.
Remember, Trump won the popular vote by only 1.5 points. By any historical measure, this was a squeaker. In the House, the Republicans’ lead is the smallest since the Great Depression. In the Senate, Republicans lost half of 2024’s competitive Senate races, including in four states Trump won.
America has deep problems, to be sure. Which is why we can’t give up on it — or give up the fights for social justice, equal political rights, equal opportunity, and the rule of law. The forces of Trumpian repression and neofascism would like nothing better than for us to give up. Then they’d win it all. We cannot allow them to. We will never give up.
12. Finally, please be sure to find room in your life for joy, fun, and laughter. We must not let Trump and his darkness take us over.
Just as it’s important not to give up the fight, it’s critically important to take care of ourselves. If we obsess about Trump and fall down the rabbit hole of outrage, worry, and anxiety, we won’t be able to keep fighting.
Be careful. Be strong. Hug your loved ones. We will win this.
All excellent, professor. There’s also the “3.5% rule” (E. Chenoweth) that suggests that if 3.5% of the population rises up with non-violent protest there’s a correlation with saving democracy, a high likelihood to succeed with change. I don’t do math in public but I think that equates to roughly 12 million.
Growing up the media that stuck to our ribs was Television. We could never have dreamed of the advancements the future would hold as to how we viewed ourselves and the world in which we live. Personally, no child under the age of 16 should be allowed to possess a smartphone. Computer access should be confined to the home where parents at least can have some sort of control over what their children are viewing. All kids need is a simple communication device, and it shouldn't even have texting ability, make them learn how to speak coherently. Back in the 1950's and early 60's I watched programs like Ozzie and Harriet, the Stu Erwin Show, Donna Reed, My Three Sons, My Little Margie, The Mickey Mouse Club, Soupy Sales, Shock Theater-which I could never stay up long enough to watch, People are Funny with Art Linkletter, Lawerence Welk- with that damn bouncing ball and the Lennon Sisters, Father Knows Best, The Honeymooners, and the list goes on. These shows, for the most part, expressed a moral compass that taught us the difference between good and unacceptable behaviour. Today I watched The President of the United States appear in a cartoonish rendition of a sick joke where he piloted a fighter jet while dropping human feces on the good people of this country who were demonstrating on "No Kings Day." And we wonder why our Democracy is falling apart. Where have all the flowers gone--long time passing? What will happen to us when we're led by a man who has no integrity? Perhaps George Santos can give him a little direction. I feel a sense of regret that the people of color in this country weren't given more shows that their kids could learn from, other than Amos and Andy.