Dispatches From the Front Lines of Trump’s War on Democracy

“My generals” running the Pentagon? “My lawyers” running the Department of Justice? “My” main money man and his group of young techies illegally shutting down programs Congress voted to support and fund?

What we have here is a hostile takeover of the U.S. government with no resistance from the Republican congressional majority despite Congress’s clear constitutional duty to stop this nonsense. The election may have bought Trump temporary White House naming rights, but not the whole ballpark.

He clearly believes he’s entitled to treat the U.S. government as “Trump, Inc.” And he’ll keep thinking that until some people stop him.

In fact, a whole lot of people are mobilizing to do just that. And not only through the courts. (below see a summary of legal actions compiled by the organization Partners for Democracy).

Americans Are Fighting Back Against Trump’s War on Democracy

People Are Showing Up

So many showed up to protest at recent Republican Town Halls that party leaders counseled their members to no longer schedule them. In Vermont, a state where the Town Hall meeting began, 34,000 attended virtually. Senator Bernie Sanders went to Republican districts and drew a crowd of 4,000 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, 2,600 in Altoona, Wisconsin, a town of less than 10,000 residents. About 9,000 showed up in suburban Detroit.

People Are Voting

The first election test of Trump’s presidency: A Democrat won an Iowa state senate seat in a district Trump had carried months earlier by 22%. Next: Republicans are spending heavily to save two open GOP seats in Florida that Trump won by more than 60%. Both elections are April 1, the same day as a politically defining election for a Supreme Court justice in Wisconsin.

People Are Sending A Message to Politically Timid Private Companies

In a warning shot to big business too timid to stand up to Trump, on boycott day, February 14, Target app user traffic, representing the firm’s most loyal customers, dropped by 14%, while one of its rivals, Costco, which has resisted bullying, saw a 22% increase in web traffic. More organized boycotts are planned:

• Nestle: March 21-28

• Walmart: April 7-14 and May 20-26

• Second total economic blackout: April 18

• General Mills: April 21-28

• Amazon: May 6-12

• Target: June 3-9

• McDonald's: June 24-30

• Independence Day boycott: July 4

People Are Registering Disapproval in Polls

Washington Post Polling shows widespread disapproval of Trump’s actions:

• 83% oppose Trump’s pardons of those convicted of January 6 violence

• 70% oppose the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico

• 70% oppose dismantling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

• 67% oppose freezing funds for public health agencies

• 65% oppose trying to take the Panama Canal

• 64% oppose the Canadian tariffs; 59% oppose the Mexican tariffs

• 59% oppose the dismantling of the Agency for International Development

• 58% oppose the laying off of large numbers of federal workers

People Are Tuning into Anti-Trump Media

The MeidasTouch podcast, critical of Trump, has surpassed the Joe Rogan show in listeners to become #1.

Pod Save America, hosted by former Obama operatives, has enjoyed a 70% audience increase since January.

People Are Signing Up to Run for Public Office

Since the 2024 election, more than 15,000 people have signed up to run for political office with Run for Something, an organization that recruits and aids prospective candidates.

People Want to End The Scourge of Unlimited Political Money

Utah became the 23rd state to pass a resolution petitioning Congress for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution voiding the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and allowing Congress and the states to ban unlimited, undisclosed money from elections.

Support was overwhelming: 20-4-5 in the state Senate and 63-9-3 in the House. See the resolution here. More than 200 members of the U.S. House have signaled their support.

The resolution has also cleared the state House in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Known as the For Our Freedom Amendment, it’s spearheaded by American Promise, a bipartisan group working toward ratification in nearly every U.S. state.

People Are In Court Fighting Trump’s Illegal Actions

So far, over 100 court actions have been brought by state attorneys general and many private organizations and individuals, and many are proving successful. Most rulings are preliminary, however, and Trump will almost certainly appeal any adverse final decisions. But here are some highlights so far:

• The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a lower court directive for USAID to pay out $2 billion in foreign development assistance that DOGE had paused.

• Trump’s executive order to deny birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants has been preliminarily enjoined by several courts.

• Trump’s executive order suspending refugee admissions and processing has been preliminarily enjoined.

• A court preliminarily denied DOGE-affiliated individuals access to any Treasury data systems containing non-anonymized personal information or confidential financial information.

• A court preliminarily enjoined the Trump administration’s blanket freeze on the funding of federal grants, loans and assistance programs.

• With limited exceptions, a court preliminarily enjoined ICE and CPB from conducting immigration enforcement in or near the plaintiffs’ places of worship.

The full list of judicial challenges can be found HERE.

The Battle to Save Democracy is Engaged

Many Americans are despairing that nothing can be done to restore constitutional democracy. Some even talk about leaving the country. Big mistake. Trump has unleashed a challenge to democracy not seen since the Civil War.

But he’s also unleashed a "do something" spirit in defense of democracy that arises each time our system of government is threatened. Stick around and join the fight. It’s just getting started.

Comments? Criticism? Contact Joe Rothstein at jrothstein@rothstein.net