Courage

We can climb out of hell. This is how.

The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University and WNYC flew me to New York to sit on a panel discussion about democracy on Monday.

I spent Monday morning at The Guardian’s offices across the street from the New York Stock Exchange on Broadway, calling dozens of progressive organizations to see which, if any, had been contacted by the FBI or Homeland Security or the FCC or some other federal agency after threats by Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers to—in the words of Stephen Miller—“disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks.”

No one told me the knock on the door had come yet. Most of the conversations were off the record. But I can say that, collectively, a sense of dread is unfolding. Not fear. Horror. Like watching an airplane on a collision course with a skyscraper, knowing you can’t do anything about it.

Investigating nonprofits because their members or funders or clients express political views disagreeable to Donald Trump is, of course, plainly unconstitutional, illegal and immoral—so much so that I find myself gasping at the brutal stupidity of saying aloud that this is their intent, as though the first federal judge who hears a case about it would not take that into consideration. The deep hypocrisy of these attacks, after almost two decades of conservative complaint about how liberal structures had “suppressed free speech” and attacked the nonprofit status of religious organizations, deserves to be shouted from the stage, as long as we still have stages and are still allowed to shout.

The show was Monday, before Disney decided that Jimmy Kimmel had to be sacrificed on the altar of autocracy and shareholder value.

As I was sitting in the waiting room, the hosts and panelists had a meta-discussion about how to talk about what is happening to America; what terms can and should we use to describe it. “Will I use the word fascist?” I was asked, nervously.

It depends on the context, I replied.

The central tenet of fascism is totalitarianism: no one can be allowed to challenge the power or policy of the government with impunity. Protest—even criticism and argument—must be met with as much force as necessary to make it stop, and any conflict with the law or social norms or moral values or even the state’s consistency with prior conduct can and should be ignored.

Charlie Kirk had a watchlist of liberal professors. After his death, others are making target lists of Charlie Kirk critics. Lawmakers are earnestly discussing the preemptive arrest of transgender people. Yesterday, Trump declared that antifa is a terrorist “organization.” Antifa—short for antifascist—now means “terrorist” in the United States. I believe that answers the question.

I joke about how much luck Trump will have arresting the leaders of a fundamentally anarchist movement. But I suppose that’s the point: Trump will call anyone challenging him a terrorist now.

The night Biden won the election in 2020, I wrote on Facebook (back when I still really used Facebook) that the fight wasn’t over and that administrative competence would not be enough to save us.

There is no real connection between them and the people who have to live with their decisions – even most white people. The general competence of these administrative leaders papers over the deeper rot: there is no correlation between what the broad public wants and what government gives them. People in the top 10 percent of income earners get what they want out of government policy. When others do, it’s an accident. Trump’s voters want to break a system that doesn’t care what they want, and if that means breaking the country ... well, if the country isn’t working for them, it’s not their country, is it?

If we revert back to politics that don’t solve this basic problem, we may be killing each other in the street like Serbs and Croats before we have another election.

At one point, as it was clear that other Democratic candidates of my choice weren’t going to win, I said to myself that any government that wasn’t shooting itself in the head every day would be a trade up. But as I look at things today, I have to ask for more. I expect Biden to win. I yearn for Biden to win. But I can’t just ask for the absence of pratfalls. The crisis of leadership isn’t over when he takes office. It’s just getting started.

Let’s take stock of where we are, four years and ten months after the 2020 election.

Donald Trump pardoned January 6 insurrectionists on the first day he took office and immediately issued executive orders that began ripping apart the federal government. Under the auspices of a policy that effectively terms “DEI” an act of racial discrimination against white people flow attacks on businesses and schools with antidiscrimination policies. Those attacks have resulted in million dollar capitulations from universities, and given air to the belief that any woman or Black person in a position of authority—except those who are loyal to the regime—can be presumed undeserving of their job.

As a practical matter, it provides an excuse for Trump to replace experienced federal leaders in law enforcement, homeland security and the military with quislings, and to brutalize anyone he wants with anonymous thugs he can pardon later for the crimes they commit today.

Trump has ordered masked agents to snatch people off the street, either to inter them like animals in concentration camps where they may be disappeared, or to fly them into countries where they will be tortured.

Mario Guevara, the Salvadoran journalist arrested three months ago while covering the “No Kings Day” protests in Atlanta, was issued a deportation order late Friday.

Trump has twice marched troops through otherwise-peaceful American cities, largely as a show of force rather than in service to the enforcement of the law. The sinking of civilian boats from Venezuela in international waters—ostensibly crewed by drug runners—should be considered an act of state murder: the criminal penalty for drug trafficking is not a death sentence in the United States.

All of this is a militarized attack on the rule of law and democratic norms.

Opposition lawmakers have been arrested at an unprecedented pace, either at protests or on general principle. Others like Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook have been threatened with investigation and criminal charges for advocating for political change or holding Trump to legal account. Trump fired a federal prosecutor who refused to bring New York Attorney General Leticia James up on specious charges of mortgage fraud.

Trump’s executive orders mandating voter ID requirements and other election changes are legally unenforceable. But combine the up-gunned militarism with the rapidly increasing demonization and criminalization of political opponents and the suggestion that he has anything to say about how elections are run, and the authoritarian challenge to democracy becomes clear.

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Ok. Well, what do we do about it?

I asked Ken Martin, chairman of the Democratic National Committee this question on Saturday afternoon at a coffee shop in Alpharetta.

His answer? Win elections.

My reaction to that was to say that this seems like a necessary-but-insufficient response to the conditions. And he replied, essentially, that his job is to win elections. Martin said he has to work under the presumption that there will be elections, and that in the broad response to the authoritarian crisis winning those elections is the role of the party, because no one else can do it.

Martin is stumping for Debra Shigley, who is running in Senate District 21—the seat vacated by Brandon Beach to serve as treasurer of the United States under Trump. She’s running against a fairly standard conservative, Jason Dickerson, which allows for a general assessment of changing sentiment among affluent suburban voters. Shigley appears to be outperforming the district’s past electoral history, but we haven’t counted the votes yet. The odds are still tough.

About 100,000 people are registered to vote in each state senate district in Georgia. About 6,000 people voted early. I’m guessing turnout will be around 10-15 percent. Martin noted that in 44 of the 45 special elections held so far this year, Democrats had outperformed, highlighting a win in a +20 Republican district in Pennsylvania.

At the risk of paraphrasing uncharitably, what Martin said was that it is other people’s job to defend the country from the immediate consequences of unconstitutional criminality and brutality and corruption. If organizing the resistance helps the party win elections, great … but winning elections is the party’s role.

I find the lack of leadership by Democratic elected leaders right now almost as stunning as Trump administration’s attacks on democracy itself. Democrats, progressives—really, anyone who wants to live in a free country—are looking for someone to call a play.

But once you absorb Martin’s view, it begins to explain why Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries think a “strongly worded letter” to the Trump Administration is a job well done. They are assuming the public will hand them the ball in 2026 as long as they don’t make any mistakes and let the tide run its course. For people who are temperamentally risk averse, it is the safest course to an electoral victory, even though it is the most dangerous course for the country.

Our elected leaders are not going to save us.

So here’s my playbook.

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Seek Noncompliance.

First, everyone who believes in freedom, justice and democracy needs to stop cooperating with the Trump administration. Everyone. The Trump machine is gaining speed because there aren’t enough shoes wedged in the gears.

The dirty secret of totalitarian autocracies is that they can’t actually be everywhere at once. Trump is simultaneously purging the federal government of disloyal staff while trying to extend its power over every facet of American society. The federal government doesn’t have enough enough agents, lawyers and courtrooms to defend against a mass refusal to comply.

The United States government employs about 40,000 attorneys. About 75 million people voted for Kamala Harris. The math here is easy enough to understand.

Trump is going after the media and academia because those mechanisms can tell people they don’t have to cooperate and show the public what noncompliance looks like in practice.

The phrase “do not comply” isn’t strong enough, because it implies passivity. I am suggesting that you aggressively seek out opportunities to thwart compliance with the administration’s authority, in your associations with work, school and civic life. Force the government to take time, money and staff energy to respond. The Trump administration is asking for compliance with executive orders and policies that are often plainly illegal. A demand to eliminate DEI, for example, effectively demands acquiescence to racial discrimination, despite the Justice Department’s bizarro-world contention to the contrary. It is perfectly legal to photograph police officers, even masked ICE agents, and to broadcast their activities.

The precursor to the CIA published a marvelous handbook for sabotage in 1944. I would refer you to section 11, “General Interference with Organizations and Production,” which is the frankest field guide to being an asshole I’ve ever read. “Insist on doing everything through ‘channels.’ Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions. Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate ‘patriotic’ comments. When possible, refer all matters to committees, for ‘further study and consideration.’ Attempt to make the committees as large as possible—never less than five. Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”

There’s more. I present this as an example of the mechanisms of obstruction that offer plausible deniability as you confront the government. When challenged, make the federal government work to move forward. Force the administration to expend resources as you fight in court, or pressure suppliers, or refuse to engage, or just slow things down. Note that I am in no way advocating for you or anyone to break the law. As we have seen amply demonstrated of late, it is not illegal to be an asshole.

It’s not that any one act of noncompliance will save the day. It will be the collective weight of that noncompliance bogging down the system.

Show up. Speak out.

Donald Trump is rolling armored personnel carriers into Memphis this weekend, or so we are told. What he is not doing is rolling the National Guard into Illinois. Some of that is legal: Gov. JB Pritzker has to give his permission, and Trump doesn’t have it. But he didn’t have permission in Los Angeles, either.

When ICE started mobilizing in Chicago, they met a wave of massive resistance.

Politics still matters, said State Sen. Josh McLaurin, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, at a press conference Friday afternoon condemning the deportation of Mario Guevara. Trump is polling under 40% for much of his agenda, often far under, McLaurin said.

“The people in the streets of Chicago and Illinois more broadly … were very good at pushing back in the public sphere, narratively, against what Trump was trying to do, and Trump realized how unpopular his decision was,” McLaurin said. “Realize that your voice still matters. If you don’t like what is happening in your administration, if you think that we should be protecting free speech and that somebody should be saying something, you are the one to say it.”

Operation Midway Blitz netted about 550 arrests … in a city of 2.7 million with about 150,000 undocumented residents, in two weeks of work. Not that a meaningful result was the point.

“Trump Always Chickens Out” is a meme. But it also reflects his political reality. He is not an autocrat, yet. But he is looking for a clear running lane. He backed off of his tariff threats because industry leaders and political allies got in his grille … because people like you and I get in their grille.

Trump is cracking down on late night hosts and (illegally) using regulatory threats against large media companies because they broadcast public discontent. We talk about how the Fox News-watching audience doesn’t care about what Jimmy Kimmel might say, dismissing the “liberal media” for its “bias.” Please remember that while Fox News might get 2.5 million viewers on a good day, so does Stephen Colbert. Greg Gutfeld on Fox outdraws Colbert or Kimmel because he has a strong lead in and the septuagenarian Fox audience falls asleep with the TV on.

Collectively, there are far more people watching Trump get trashed on TV than there are cheering him on, and that reflects the audience reality.

Employers believe they will draw less criticism when they punish people for speaking ill of Trump—or Charlie Kirk, or whoever else becomes the cause célèbre on the right next week—than they will for ignoring it. You should not allow that to be the case.

This has to be doubly true for elected leaders who comply with the administration. Here in Georgia, Sheriff Keybo Taylor’s deputies aided ICE when asked for supporting information about Mario Guevara’s activities. The legally-questionable charges, and the seizure of Guevara’s cell phone, require an explanation that this elected Democrat has yet to provide.

If you live in Gwinnett County, you should probably go to the next county commission meeting—a commission with a Democratic majority—and ask your commissioners to withdraw funding from the sheriff’s office until he explains himself properly.

Politicians are not your leaders.

I’m not suggesting that you ignore electoral politics. You need to vote. But you will not find the kind of wartime consiglieri we need in the form of a candidate concerned with winning the next election. That person cannot provide the necessary leadership right now. Lawmakers are not your leaders. They are your representatives.

You need to be looking for a John Lewis circa 1965, someone ready to take a bullet for democracy if it comes to that.

Consider how Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church here in DeKalb County led a boycott against Target when the retailer’s leadership decided to roll back diversity initiatives at the store.

Sales had been sliding before the boycott landed. Nonetheless, foot traffic has fallen every week since, as have sales. CEO Brian Cornell stepped down last month. The cost of abandoning a $2 billion initiative to support Black suppliers has been a share price that has fallen about 35% since the inauguration—a $20 billion reduction in market capitalization.

The United Auto Workers union has been strategically organizing its contracts in a way that opens the possibility of a general strike in 2028. “We want a general strike,” UAW leader Shawn Fain told the national political conference in January 2024. “We want everybody walking out just like they do in other countries.”

No federally-elected lawmaker will advocate for a general strike, because it’s illegal.

The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, written in the wake of widespread strikes in resistance to a newly-elected Republican congress attacking the National Labor Relations Act, outlaws unions from coordinating sympathy strikes or political strikes across different workplaces and industries.

Again, I am not advocating for a law to be broken. But I hasten to note that sit-ins at restaurants during the civil rights protests of the 50s and 60s were also prosecuted. John Lewis marching down the Edmund Pettus Bridge was declared an illegal gathering, just before the truncheons and tear gas emerged.

Document Crimes.

The Department of Homeland Security makes hyperbolic claims about ICE agents being attacked, arguing that the rate is up 700% in one release. ICE claims to have about 20,000 agents. If the number of attacks has risen from one to seven, the statement is factually true … and functionally irrelevant.

ICE won’t give actual numbers or meaningful details about the risks its agents run, because that would allow the public to weigh that against the plain problem of accountability for illegal activity that a masked agent creates.

It is legal to film ICE agents as they “enforce” the law. Blocking a camera is a violation of the 1st Amendment. Threatening you or demanding that you stop filming is a violation of the 1st Amendment. Agents are wearing masks not because they fear doxxing, but because they fear legal accountability when they commit crimes, as the president has repeatedly asked them to do when talking about how cops should be “violent” or to do “whatever the hell they want.”

Just like Ken Martin says the Democratic Party must proceed with the assumption that elections will occur, you and I must proceed with the assumption that someday, eventually, we will be able to drag this stuff into a court of law. An agent that breaks the law should—when sanity prevails—be stripped of their right to enforce the law and barred from positions of authority. That process begins today with the archival of documentation.

It’s not just ICE, of course. When interacting with agents of the federal government, record everything. Georgia is a single-party consent jurisdiction: you do not require permission to make a recording of a conversation you are participating in.

Make Friends.

The drawback to noncompliance is that, from time to time, the government will try to drop an anvil on someone’s head as an object lesson. Authoritarian overreach usually demonstrates the opposite lesson: that it is corrupt and capricious and unworthy of support, while making martyrs. But someone still gets hurt, and that prospect dissuades people from taking courageous action.

You need a posse.

I spoke with Danaka Katovich, the co-director of CODEPINK, last week. The antiwar protest organization has drawn threats of investigation for stunts of late, something they’ve been through before.

“It's a really critical moment for other organizations to stand in solidarity, loud and clear solidarity, with organizations facing repression,” she said. “Now's not the time for splitting hairs over smaller disagreements. If they come after one of us they will come after us all. Even if you don't agree with every intricate stance of our organizations, it's time to demonstrate real solidarity or else we will all lose.”

To fight effectively, you need to join organizations like the ACLU, Indivisible and others that will defend their members when the Trump Administration targets someone. Conservatives aren’t talking about stripping these groups of their financial resources arbitrarily: they’re deliberately trying to disrupt support for protest. The (failed) prosecution of anti-Cop City protesters is a good case example. The accusation that operating a bail fund was tantamount to material support for terrorism flies in the face of sixty years of American history and the Eighth Amendment to the constitution. Martin Luther King Jr. relied on a bail fund, for crying out loud.

Note that Georgia’s Republican legislature changed the law last year to prohibit people from bailing out more than three people a year, and to require bail funds to register as bail bondsmen. A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of SB 63 failed on procedural grounds in August; I expect it to be revisited in court quickly.

This is why I say make friends. You need to have a conversation with a group of friends, with an agreement to bail one another out of jail if this gets weird.

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I have been reluctant to use this newsletter as a medium for broad opinion, as I’ve done here. My preference is to provide original reporting, and you’ve got some of that with this story.

But the world is on fire today. I haven’t had time to wind my watch for months. I wanted to let you know that I’m still here, still plugging away and preparing myself to be in front of whatever happens to Atlanta if the tanks roll down Peachtree Street.

My chief concern as a reporter is that the journalistic infrastructure of this city is not quite ready for what’s coming. We’re a lot farther along than many places, something I attribute to the legacy of resistance built by John Lewis and the civil rights leadership of Atlanta. But there has to be a platform that is unconnected to the AJC-Cox Media landscape. It wasn’t the Chicago Tribune and WBZ that started building mutual support networks when Trump started waving his dick at the Miracle Mile. It was smaller organizations or neighborhood groups like City Cast Chicago that established early warning networks.

We need to be prepared, and in coming weeks I will be making those preparations here, among independent journalists and organizations, if only to be able to make lots of noise and scare off the bear before it comes rummaging through Atlanta’s curbside garbage cans.