WHAT WORKS: How to Take Heart From What Really Worked in the First Resistance (New Republic)

As a political scientist who tracked citizen efforts in the first anti-Trump resistance and visited eight counties repeatedly to talk to leaders and observe meetings, I realize the place to start is understanding what really worked back then. Although marches and lawsuits sent powerful signals, they did not power the key victories. National Women’s March organizers who tried to mount annual reruns soon fell into factional infighting; airport demonstrations followed by lawsuits failed to stop the 2017 Muslim Ban, which the Supreme Court upheld. What worked instead were persistent, community-based efforts by 2,000 to 3,000 grassroots Resistance groups in every town, city, and suburb across virtually all congressional districts.

Women and men in these grassroots groups met regularly, informed themselves about the local implications of Trump initiatives—above all about his push with Republicans to repeal Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Then they spelled out the dire consequences for patients and hospitals and health clinics in their communities and states, speaking in plain English to neighbors, friends, and co-workers. National surveys showed that, in just one year, their efforts dramatically increased public understanding and support for the ACA, helping Senator John McCain turn thumbs-down on its repeal and discouraging Trump and the GOP from trying again. Beyond that big victory in 2017, many local grassroots resisters also ran for election to school boards, state legislatures, and Congress, or supported good candidates, helping propel the Blue Wave that crashed against MAGA in special elections and in November 2018.

Flash-forward to now, 2025, when a more ruthless MAGA Republican regime newly installed in Washington wants to ram through an even bigger tax cut to boost the mega-wealthy; paid for by shrinking Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, the ACA, and many public school programs on which masses of Americans depend, in red states as well as blue. Trump and allies want to push this all through in one big, hastily assembled partisan bill, before most Americans even know what is hitting them.

Who will warn people? Local news outlets are few and far between, lies will spread on right-wing media, and Washington press will mostly focus on Trump’s latest outlandish threats, lawsuits, or arcane congressional procedures. But regular citizens need clarity about ways D.C. actions impact local communities and everyday people. Grassroots resisters offered such clarity during the first Trump-GOP administration—suggesting a straightforward four-step game plan for new grassroots citizens’ groups today: [GAME PLAN AT LINK]

https://newrepublic.com/article/190574/trump-second-resistance-playbook