THIS WEEK IN…
STANDING UP TO AUTOCRACY
From pushing prosecutions against perceived enemies despite a lack of evidence to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, as well as branding the anti-fascist movement “Antifa” a domestic terrorist group, even though no such designation exists under U.S. law, the Trump administration has clearly escalated its war on dissent. Considering these recent developments, one could reasonably question whether the United States remains a functioning democracy or is sliding into authoritarianism. The past few months have left the opposition seemingly exhausted, even hopeless and under the impression that resistance is futile. As George Packer writes in The Atlantic, “The regime’s “overriding goal is to render most citizens passive.”
Yet, the battle for U.S. democracy is ongoing, fought by people all over the country. As Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa tells late-night host Jon Stewart, the United States has not yet reached apocalyptic conditions but is still at the stage of Armageddon. Many of the fights against Trump’s agenda do not make splashy headlines, as did the massive backlash against Jimmy Kimmel’s temporary suspension, yet there are numerous examples of ordinary citizens showing what successful pushbacks look like and that fighting back can work.
New York Times Opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie explains in this video how the Trump administration is using propaganda in order to create the illusion we are already living in an authoritarian state despite all the ways society is pushing back.
@jamellebouie consider this a continuation of my previous video. genuinely worried that some of you have basically internalized the administration's own vision of itself!
♬ original sound – b-boy bouiebaisse
The most recent public display of resistance was the reaction to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. Disney’s decision to cut the show sparked a huge boycott from customers expressing outrage and concerns about the company’s values. Even some conservative politicians and commentators felt that the silencing of a comedian was an assault on free speech. Millions of subscribers to Disney’s streaming services cancelled or threatened to cancel their subscriptions to the broadcaster. Even Disney’s most ardent fans pushed back. STEPHANIE MCNEAL reports how The Jimmy Kimmel and Disney Drama Has Some Superfans Dumping the Mouse.
Resistance to the policies and actions by the Trump administration has a different face this time around. Most protests do not get the attention and coverage as the big Kimmel blow-up. That does not mean that Americans opposing the administration wait patiently, hoping to turn things around with the mid-term elections in 2026. Protests are local, smaller, initiatives more personal. Protesters at an ICE facility in Broadview near Chicago were hit with tear gas and pepper balls deployed by federal agents. “Pain only hurts,” Marine Corps veteran Curtis Evans told reporter Nicholas Slayton. Stacey Wescott’s photograph of Evans carrying the country’s banner went viral after the Chicago Tribune published it on its front page.
Every day, ICE agents snatch people off the streets or detain them in their homes or at their workplaces. Residents have come together to help protect their fellow community members. ALEJA HERTZLER-MCCAIN reports from Massachusetts, where an Episcopal bishop and 500 supporters accompanied a Honduran immigrant to her court hearing to protect her from being arrested. Alex V. Hernandez writes about a neighborhood in Chicago: In Little Village, Residents Are Blowing Actual Whistles To Warn Neighbors About ICE and Leilani Clark about a New Kind of Neighborhood Watch. Sonoma County’s ‘Adopt a Corner’ program aims to protect undocumented day laborers from ICE.
For the many powerful law firms that caved to demands from the Trump administration to avoid sanctions, there are still lawyers challenging the administration’s actions, writes Peter Stone: Legal groups resist Trump authoritarian moves with pro bono work.
JONATHAN SCHIEFER, senior researcher at the Harvard Business School, takes a scholarly and scientific approach to examine the success rate of autocratic transformation attempts. He argues that the American Democracy Might Be Stronger Than Donald Trump.
Political scientist Daniel Drezner writes about Trump’s efforts to “claim broad popular support for his actions” when in fact his administration has shown itself to be “unable to autocrat”, stressing the importance of showing citizens that resistance works: The Weakness and Incompetence of American Authoritarianism. And why it needs to be continually highlighted.
How unpopular are Trump and his actions? G. Elliott Morris provides the numbers: A lot of powerful people just don’t realize how unpopular Trump is. The backlash to ABC/Disney canceling Kimmel shows why it’s important for businesses and the public to understand that two-thirds of Americans are not Trump voters. After only 8 months in the office, pessimism about the direction of the country is (even) growing among Republicans, finds an analysis by AP-NORC: Only forty-nine percent of Republicans say things in the United States are heading the right direction down from seventy-five percent in June.
…IN OTHER NEWS
A new cohort of Democrats is challenging the party’s establishment. The push is led by younger politicians and activists frustrated by recent electoral defeats, the lack of clear messaging from the party’s leadership, the inability to address voters’ concerns, and an unwillingness to forcefully fight the Trump administration.
Sam Brodey and James Bindell profile some of the “new” democrats running for office in the Boston Globe: Tattooed, tough, and running: Democrats’ new 2026 strategy
The 26-year old Illinois Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh decided to launch her campaign in response to, in her words, Democratic leadership’s “culture of giving up”. A video of her being thrown to the ground by ICE agents during a protest outside a detention facility in Chicago recently went viral. Katie Knibbs has profiled her for Wired: She Fought the Far Right Online for Years. Now She Wants to Do It in Congress and Amanda Becker for The 19th: Kat Abughazaleh’s punk-rock House bid. The 26-year-old Chicagoan is betting that empathy and righteous anger can remake Democratic politics.
