Resistance 2025 -

This piece by SDS veteran Jeremy Brecher got my juices flowing. He reviews the currents of resistance to Trump 1.0 in consideration of their revival or continuation. I have no overall strategy on how to roll it all up into an indomitable force, but I would like to note some pieces of the puzzle.

I’d like to begin by dismissing the fevered calls from the further left. I don’t want to reject that left entirely, because within it can be found genuine inspiration from Marxist thought, something we could use more of. But alongside the intelligence is the hysteria, illogic, and MAGA-adjacent messaging. A sad example is the invasion of the Facebook SDS alumni page by outright Trump supporters. Another is the domination of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) by deluded, it must be said undemocratic socialist “Marxist-Leninists.” I use quotes because the command of Marx by these folks is weak. Hell, their command of socialism is weak.

The central issue of the hysterical side is the implicit support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the guise of “anti-war” sentiment. It’s an Orwellian kind of anti-war rhetoric that glosses over the invading side of a conflict, the virtual garrison state that is Russia. Meanwhile, the ostensible resistance to NATO in the Trump Administration, is avidly boosting the continuing blitzkrieg of Gaza by the Israeli Defense Force.

I can appreciate the NATO bashing. I’ve done plenty of it myself. But none of that overrides Ukraine’s right to defend itself from the carnage wreaked by its savage neighbor. There is one sort of argument that could be held if that neighbor was still the Soviet Union, but it is not, so that argument is irrelevant. No small number of cranks have failed to get the message: Russia is no longer Red. One seldom sees any left apologias for Russia as a socialist or even progressive society.

The MAGA Left chooses to vent about liberals. Its purported alternative is to just yell louder, to discourage practical politics, or to indulge in fantasies about general strikes. There isn’t going to be any goddamn general strike, and everybody knows it! Even the people who pretend to call for it. To babble about it is a retreat from the doable, practical tasks at hand, the first of which ought to be blocking the onset of fascism. It’s sabotage of progressive organizing.

Part of that resistance is inescapably electoral: elect Democrats instead of Republicans. For Congress or the presidency, third party ventures are likewise an indulgence in fantasy, or just posturing that sabotages more tenable efforts. So too with attacks on elected progressives for falling short in one way or another.

The poster child for the latter problem was the replacement of Rep. Jamaal Bowman with Democratic hack George Latimer, featuring idiotic babble from the ranks of Democratic Socialists of America, with whom Bowman took some pains to maintain amicable relations. How has that worked out? Rep. Latimer, now the member occupying Bowman’s seat with the benefit of $14 million from the Israel lobby, recently described Rep. Al Green’s outburst at the Orange Slob’s speech as “inappropriate.” Do you think Latimer is returning calls from DSA?

Third party efforts do deserve consideration for state and local races. Causing the victory of a Republican is less risky. There is less damage they can do, unlike Members of Congress or a president. It’s a way to grow organization. It’s a sign of left disorganization that it was not able to stand up credible candidates for the mayoralties of New York or Washington, D.C., which could enjoy enormous support and a realistic chance of winning. There is some hope now for NYC with the campaign of state legislator Zohran Mamdani.

Let’s get to the good stuff. What resistance did we see during Trump’s first term, and could it return?

My window on this was my semi-rural abode in Loudoun County, in Northern Virginia. Loudoun was on a national MAGA target list, and indeed it has been the target of repeated, vicious attacks for the past three years. I’ve covered those attacks on this substack.

Loudoun is wealthy and liberal. As such, it is strategic for state-wide elections, including for electoral votes in a presidential election. In great part on the strength of Loudoun’s transformation from Red to Blue over the past thirty years, Virginia is now a reasonably reliable supporter of national Democrats. Indeed, without it, the party would be severely handicapped. It’s been noted that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s criminal Dobbs decision, Virginia is the last Confederate state that has preserved reproductive rights.

So who holds up Loudoun? It’s the “wine moms.” We could add our burgeoning South Asian population, heavily in tech employment. The moms are inflamed by attacks on trans youth, which they understand correctly as attacks on LGBTQI persons of all types. Many of the Asians are Muslim, and many of those who aren’t recognize racist rhetoric when they hear it. In general Loudoun has good public schools and parents want to protect that system from ignorant Trump residents.

We recently had to replace our elected Member of Congress, who had to retire due to illness. The replacement was a South Asian. His replacement for the state legislature , also South Asian, garnered a 60-40 margin in a special election. The Republicans put up an Irish non-entity against him, hardly even trying. I note that in a near-by district’s special election, the Republicans put up another South Asian against the Democratic South Asian candidate, and he got smoked just the same, 60-40. The upshot is that Democrats dominate Loudoun and control the state legislature, which can limit the damage done by our soft-MAGA governor, not incidentally preserving reproductive rights.

Reliance on a liberal, suburban vote is not a good strategy for a Left in the longer term. We need to crack open the working class. It wouldn’t take many to tilt the electoral balance decisively to Democrats. It would take more to transform U.S. politics more deeply. How to do that? I have no clue. I do know that yammering about general strikes is not going to do it.

What else have we got? The other huge thing between 2016 and 2020 was Black Lives Matter. Here was a mass, multi-racial uprising. Will it return? I couldn’t say, except to note that the Left and DSA in particular missed the boat.

People may have forgotten the enormous pro-immigrant protests of years past. Here is one way an anti-racist movement could revive, since xenophobia is strongly colored by racism. That aside, undocumented immigrants know documented immigrants who know foreign-born U.S. citizens. The shift of Latin votes to Trump is set up for a backlash, as the Administration exploits the issue and inevitably commits atrocious, tangible abuses along the way.

I see the inter-penetration of Latins of all statuses as embodied in how my daughter describes the Cuban-American sea of Miami, as not especially aroused by fears of immigrants. People know people who know people. Miami is a stew of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and refugees from Venezuela, Haiti, and Central America. Get the picture?

One new thing in the mix is the Administration’s assault on Federal civil servants. We should not forget that this constituency is disproportionately black folks. Note the racism theme touched upon above.

In addition there are veterans and rural folks — forest rangers, fire fighters, national parks’ attendants, air traffic controllers. I talked here about Medicaid a few days ago.

Transphobia has been a difficult issue for liberals. Few look forward to seeing trans women going into girls’ sports or bathrooms. I’ve written before about how these concerns are way overblown. What remains the case is that LGBTQ persons will increasingly recognize transphobia as a threat to more basic rights, such as freedom to marry and serve in the military, and all that goes with it.

Historically, at least over the past twenty years, the Republican Party has been relatively indulgent of such interests. If gays want to be normal and patriotic, Republicans were all for it. Now, however, the rug is being pulled out from under them. The backlash here should not be underestimated.

What’s missing in this litany? Labor! Union density is in the cellar, and one of its last remaining places of refuge, the public sector, is under attack. In the final analysis, the strike tool, and mass civil disobedience in general, are the last resort against tyranny. How to gas that up, I couldn’t say. I don’t think anybody knows. If it does jump off, however, we ought to be ready to recognize and support it.