this as the "break the glass" moment that it is.

To paraphrase the great Ms. Angelou.

Exactly what does a ‘national strike’ entail? I have heard this many times and really have no clue. Stop paying taxes? Stop going to work? Stop buying stuff?

I dead serious this isn’t a flame post… I need to be educated.

I am all for doing whatever we have to do to stop the insanity, but I don't understand the National Strike plan.

What steps and actions do we take? How will it affect the working class? What do we hope to gain from it? How does it weaken Trump and his minions?

Just like you, MiHale, I am not against the idea. I just don't understand it.

You stay home. Do not leave the house. Do not go to work, school, or spend any money. It will cripple the economy within a couple of days if enough people follow. It's all they need to see who is really in charge.
Here's a link to a Wikipedia article regarding it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_strike

For us that’s kinda easy….retired, live rural, stock up for winter every year to keep trips down into town. We garden and preserve our veggies for winter use and beyond. Usually have anywhere between 3 to 5 months of food stored. Can hunt and fish if needed.
Most people in this country cannot do a quarter of that. I could be wrong but I think a strike would take at least a month to start to be effective.

means no paycheck, which means no rent or mortgage payments.

What were those sit down strikers in Flint thinking?

just before the strike. And you buy only the things you need to survive.

When the strike begins, you buy NOTHING.

You stay home, you don't go to work...nothing.

It's a good idea that could succeed, but most of the American people don't have the will to do this.

There will always be an excuse why it can't be done. Therefore, we will never have the sheer number of people required to pull it off, because too many people can't even be bothered to get out and vote, let alone risk losing their jobs for a common cause. And too many people don't have the will to sacrifice themselves in this manner.

Thanks, Lucky..
Being retired and homesteading it’s easy for us. It would take at least a month for effects to be felt. Most people don’t have the stomach to last that long.

If enough businesses were idle for only three days, they would get the message. It is all it would take.

Weak and wimpy. We melt down when our cell service craps out.

We either stop acting like babies or we get run over. Your choice.

Just fill me in on who'll be paying my bills while I'm not working and I'm in.

Americans tend to think US workers can do what people in many European nations with national health care can do. We can't. Most workers here are indentured servants who have to behave how employers want them to, on the job and off the job. Step out of line too often and people end up with no health care, no matter how well they budget to be able to afford a few days striking.

I once heard a meteorologist explain that a hurricane starts when a butterfly in west Africa flutters its wings. That small flutter disturbs a tiny bit of air - - - which then disturbs a little more air and on and on and on until a Cat 5 hurricane slams into the US Gulf Coast. If you have never done this, do it -- during hurricane season, check the National Hurricane Center website daily and you will see the track of hurricanes -- they form as a minor disturbance off the western coast of Africa, gradually form into a storm, then a tropical storm, then a hurricane.

So maybe we need some butterflies. Maybe the same people who organized No Kings Day could organize a national strike day. No Kings Day grew to nationwide protests in over 3,000 locations. Imagine if we had 3,000 small strikes for two days nationwide. Then, a couple of weeks later 6,000 -- then 12,000 -- then . . .

Gandhi once said:

Last edited Sun Jan 11, 2026, 12:46 PM - Edit history (1)

Their kitchens aren't stocked. Lots of people go out to grab a bite. We shop local farmers' markets and Costco.
If there is a huge boycott we should know who and what to stay away from. What of our jobs?

The people who keep posting this idea don't have or need jobs and assume that none of us do either. It's completely out of touch with the lived reality of the average American. (I'm kind of embarrassed when I see it coming around yet again, but I guess it's a great dream at the intersection of liberalism and the idle rich. And they can dream too.)

Many have children, too, or family members in care. Would it include hospitals and health services? Should we pull our money out of the market (if we have any in there)?
Perhaps a list of the worst--top contributors to this regime would help. We could target them in a boycott to hurt them specifically. Don't use their services or buy from them. But, we must be prepared to hold until they are seriously crippled. It would send a strong message to others participating in this economy.

A very flawed proposal, for sure. We need a doable one.

From Minneapolis to DC would work better.

People could join up as it moves across the country. If it goes on long enough, eventually the corporate owned media will talk about it. Then as it gets closer and closer to DC, the pedo Trump humpers will get nervous. They will cry and whine about it.

A caravan like the fake one that was coming from South America. It will make the MAGA nervous. If the pedo sends troops, the caravan can just stop and wait, until the troops allow us through. Yeah, they'll send chemicals and try to arrest us but how are they going to get everyone out of their cars, trucks, vans and caravans?

No violence necessary. No threats, just say we are going to DC to petition our government to remove pedo Trump. That's all. We just want him fired and we have to a right to express that.

Doesn't even have to be 10s of millions of people. People can join for awhile then go home and join up when it gets to DC.

but can 300 million cats be herded? I'm old and economic pressure is the only tool in my toolbox.

It's called "canned tuna."
I bet you could herd 300 million with the right bait.

Until Everyone, Everywhere, Walks Off Their Jobs!

strikes/marches across the nation at the same time.

That's a filthy Commie-pinko European action.

Furthermore, if we did stage a General Strike, the Administration would rub its hands gleefully and invoke the Insurrection Act, and there are enough dumbasses in the military who would accept that as an excuse to act like assholes. Yes, unlike ICE, some of them do need an excuse, however flimsy.

-- Mal

econonic. This country and most of it's citizens care about only one thing first and foremost and that is the ecomony. The US is defined mostly by it's economy, not quality of life for everyone. So, commit to a month or more of not buying anything except the bare necessities of life - and I do mean bare. It can be a win-win for those of us committing to it because a lot of people might learn just how little they need to have a comfortable life, and their budgets and savings would benefit from it. It might even lead to permanent lifestyle changes.

But as someone else said, Americans don't do sacrifice. Even here on DU you'll find quite a number of people who wouldn't commit to it even if we all know it would work.

We'd be much more able, and easily as willing to gamble our livelihoods on protest that changes things. But we don't. So, wanting to keep our access to healthcare, keep our kids fed and a roof over us, we have to be a little more patient and a little more subtle

There's a real dislike of Europe and Social Democracy in the US, and the knee-jerk reaction of many to any "European" action would be rejection. It is not a measured and reasonable response to economic reality. And really, it is quite clear that economic reality does not drive the decisions of Americans, or their votes, or we would have the sort of social safety net Europe has.

I'm not sure what the motive is, but I feel like it is some sort of subconscious need imbibed with American brand Mother's Milk that demands that we do everything differently from the rest of the world, and that automatically defines "different" as "better."

-- Mal

Even the worst government isn't able to kill everyone. Good's death is both a crime and a tragedy, but stop treating Trump like he's more capable than he is. Particularly when the only proposed solution has never happened. Trump will be beaten the way other horrible presidents have been, through voting.

ICE will be at voting places in 2026. People who are fearful of being targeted will not vote. And that's the least of it.

It's going to be a true clusterfuck, at best

The comments on this tread are disturbing. Don't people have any idea what working and living conditions were like before organized Labor? Yes, people went on strike and they risked their jobs, struggled to pay bills, risked being arrested or beaten, etc.

Very few people are willing to risk their jobs and put their families into harm. Labor strikes were targeted at certain employers.

I’d like to think a national strike would be helpful, but it instead deepen the divide and make it easy to vilify anyone who participates as traitors trying to hurt America.

I think there are far too many ill-informed people in the middle or center-right, and far too many deranged unstable people capable of carrying out paramilitary functions or stoichastic terror, to allow a general strike to be fruitful.

We need bomb-defusers more than anything, and a process for de-MAGA-fication of friends and family. I haven’t seen anything approaching what we need for that — no process that can be duplicated, no cult deprogramming methods, and no robust truthful media, either.