In Praise of Little Victories
They do add up.
No podcast this week, so we’re delivering a little rant in print. We hope that’s OK.
One of the more striking ways this new regime differs from 2017 is the way WE have responded. Musk and his merry hackers continue to wreak havoc on Federal workers, government infrastructure, and our most private information…
The most unqualified, unaccomplished, and dangerous people continue to get rubber-stamped into the government…
Dear Leader continues to lie about everything (while the New York Times continues to sane wash it all)…
And we, the folks who used to call ourselves “The Resistance”… appear diminished. That is, if you are to believe the mainstream media, who barely acknowledge our existence. Hell, I’m hearing it from my family and friends.
“What are the Democrats DOING?” they keep asking.
It’s a question we’ve repeated ourselves. And answered. And asked and answered again.
If our response in 2025 looks different, it’s because the situation we are facing is not the same. MAGA’s puppet masters actually learned some lessons from their first time in office and have morphed into something exponentially more malevolent.
But we have evolved, too. And as Michelle Hornish says in her excellent weekly activist newsletter, “The hardest part of evolving is recognizing that evolution is required. We have to first come to terms with the fact that things have changed. That’s hard.”
It’s happening.
I see an opposition that is engaged, attempting to fight smarter, and taking initiative. If the politicians in DC appear flummoxed, the grassroots has been happy to take the lead. If some Democrats are complaining about the volume of calls they are receiving from all of us - they’re just gonna have to get used to it.
This last weekend was the occasion for in-person actions around the country.
The 50501 movement - which sprung up just a few weeks ago - organized demonstrations in capitals and municipalities in all 50 states.
Indivisible - which led the 2018 resistance - put out a toolkit to protest Elon Musk and take it directly to his Tesla dealerships.
Jonathan Larsen of the highly recommended “The Fucking News” reports that a number of economic actions are planned over the next couple of weeks:
Feb. 28: “Hit Them In their Profits” — a day not to spend any money on anything…
March 7-14: No Amazon buying. It’s just one week, people!
March 14: National strike. Call in sick. Call in angry. Whatever won’t cost you your job, but will help leave a Trump-shaped mark on the economy and America’s sacred quarterly earnings reports.
But How is This Helping?
The day after 45’s 2017 Inauguration, the Women’s March was one of the largest nationwide demonstration in this country’s history. Karoli and I participated together in downtown Los Angeles. It got a ton of press, and it felt really good to all march together in solidarity…
…and it didn’t really move the needle. The President continued to break norms and actual laws without lasting consequences - until we find ourselves today with the entire world turned upside down.
And I think that’s one of the reasons why our reaction this time around appeared more subdued. Until they unleashed all the actions they threatened in Project 2025 - plus DOGE’s unfettered trampling of the Constitution. All at once.
A lot of us have been setting our legislators’ phones on fire, trying to light a fire under all of them to fight… everything. I’ve found it more than a little frustrating.
California is such a populous state that calls to our Senators go directly to voicemail - and a lot of the time, their voicemail is full - so I have been leaving my messages to them in email. Which they reply to with bland form emails that try to assure me that they are doing all they can to protect my rights.
It’s not very satisfying.
My encounters with my newly elected Democratic Congressman have also been less than ideal. Thanks to redistricting, for the last four years I’ve lived in the only part of Los Angeles County that had a Republican representative. A lot of us worked hard to change that, and the only happy news I had in November was that we achieved it.
He emailed us after he was sworn in, and I have to admit - I was a little disappointed. His message was kind of… bland. There was no acknowledgement of the crisis that was about to hit us.
Subsequent emails had the same flavor. Now, I do understand that ours is a swingy purple district, he’s new, he needs to get settled in (despite the fact that everything is being burned down around us). And having the region ravaged by fire just a few days into the term wasn’t helpful. I told myself to be patient.
He eventually got his office staffed and my calls were now being answered by live people. Each time I called, I asked when he would be scheduling a town hall - and each time, I was told that there were none on the calendar.
On Monday, I attended the Not My President Day protest downtown - partly out of my frustration over feeling so ineffectual. On our way to the rally, I received an email from my Congressman’s campaign staff - inviting me to a fundraising event. I dashed off this reply:
Thank you for the invitation.
We have kept up a small monthly donation since the election. I might be persuaded to give more if he would schedule a town hall during this recess, or via Zoom after he returns to Washington.
I appreciate his messages regarding the absolute destruction the new regime is doing to our democracy. I need to hear more about how he is planning to fight it.
Today, I got an email letting me know he is holding a virtual Town Hall on tomorrow night. Followed by a second email from his campaign office, also letting me know about the Town Hall.
I’m sure I’m not the only constituent who has been begging for an opportunity to interact with him. But it sure does feel like a small victory.
And these Tesla and 50501 demonstrations also feel like the beginning of our power to fight back. Experts on fascism like Anne Applebaum and Ruth Ben Ghiat warn that getting rid of authoritarian governments usually involves massive citizen uprisings and showing up in the streets. That is not something we are used to in this country, and it is an action that will likely become dangerous with these guys in charge.
But every courageous act inspires others to feel courageous. And that is how an actual resistance is built.
One Last Thing
