The Road Ahead

In the wake of the devastating election results, a good friend sent me an essay that focused on the perennial question we face in life: What now? How do those of us who aren’t ready to submit to autocracy and neo-fascism respond?

The essay is lengthy; it includes several examples from around the globe and from history–examples that suggest productive ways to respond and resist. The subheading counseled that the key to taking effective action is to avoid perpetuating the autocrat’s goals of “fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.”

I found the following paragraphs particularly helpful.

Under a Trump presidency, there are going to be so many issues that it will be hard to accept that we cannot do it all. I’m reminded of a colleague in Turkey who told me, “There’s always something bad happening every day. If we had to react to every bad thing, we’d never have time to eat.” 

An elder once saw me trying to do everything and pulled me aside. “That’s not a healthy lifelong strategy,” she said. She’d been raised in Germany by the generation of Holocaust survivors who told her, “Never again.” She took it personally, as if she had to stop every wrong. It wracked her and contributed to several serious ongoing medical conditions. We can accept our humanity or suffer that lack of acceptance.

Chaos is a friend of the autocrat. One way we can unwittingly assist is by joining in the story that we have to do it all. 

So–as we select our paths, what are our options? The author lays out a number of them, beginning with “Protecting People.”  especially those who are being directly targeted– trans people, folks choosing abortions, immigrants.

This might mean organizing outside current systems for health care and mutual aid, or moving resources to communities that are getting targeted. Further examples include starting immigrant welcoming committees, abortion-support funds or training volunteers on safety skills to respond to white nationalist violence.

Another is“Defending Civic Institutions,” and yet another is “Disrupt and Disobey.”  The elements of each are discussed. My own choice was the last:“Building Alternatives.” 

We can’t just be stuck reacting and stopping the bad. We have to have a vision. This is the slow growth work of building alternative ways that are more democratic. It includes grounding and healing work, rich cultural work, alternative ways of growing food and caring for kids, participatory budgeting or seeding constitutional conventions to build a majoritarian alternative to the Electoral College mess we’re in.

As I have previously argued, our goal should not be a return to the status quo–elements of which facilitated the electoral rejection of  American principles of liberty and civic equality. When Trumpism collapses (a collapse that those on the resistance paths can hasten), we need to be ready with a vision for an improved social infrastructure–one more firmly based on America’s unrealized aspirations.

In the runup to the election, the Roosevelt Foundation’s Felicia Wong wrote about “three things that will be crucial post-election, no matter the outcome.”

First, the old order broke because it failed to keep its most important promise: that a rising tide lifts all, or even most, boats. At the most basic level, a successful and enduring political system must be able to provide for its people.

Second, most of the media has focused on Joe Biden and “Bidenomics” in its narrative about today’s economy. But the reasons we find ourselves in this most perplexing moment, with the economic successes of the last four years frustratingly muted, go well beyond the policies of the last four years. To understand our moment, we must look further back in time and also imagine further into the future.

And third, even amid today’s confusion, we can sense convergence on the outlines of a new political order—but some versions of our shared future are far better, while some are far worse.

As Wong reminds us, successful political orders must deliver a reasonably good life for most people. Neoliberalism fails to do that.

People have different talents, different skills, different time constraints. As we proceed to choose our resistance paths, we need to consider where we are likely to be most effective. Many of you will choose to work through the already burgeoning network of grassroots organizations. Others will focus on what the essay calls “performative” aspects of resistance–what I might call “educational” efforts to draw lines between Trumpism and its inhumane and damaging consequences.

Choose the pathway that works best for you.

27 Comments

  1. The Constitution is the Problem

    The result of this election may have an upside. We see the impact of too much money in politics. We see the weaknesses of the electoral college. We see again the outcomes of gerrymandering. All of these are the result of weakness in our Constitution.

    When the original Constitutional Convention was able to meet in secret they accomplished something that could not be done today. They argued over their own issues – the balance of power between large states and small, how slavery was to be dealt with, and finally reached compromises. In many cases their conclusions turned out to create our problems.

    Judging by their opinions expressed at the time, they knew their work would need adjustments as times and circumstances change, so they included a procedure to make amendments. The requirements to get an amendment passed require a two-thirds majority vote in both house of Congress and then ratification by three-fourths of the states.
    These rules are so restrictive they have stymied too many changes that have majority support.

    The Republican solution to this seems to be to ignore the Constitution and proceed to create an autocracy. Their solutions offered in Program 2025 would go so far as to align the US with the other autocracies of the world.

    So Democrats face a huge task, but here we are, caught in a vicious cycle. We can’t fix the current Constitution while working under the constraints of the current Constitution. Is there a way to break free? What kind of organization could be set up to solve this situation?

    Here is a partial list or what needs to be changed:

    Elections for national offices need to be standardized. All states should report the results in the same way – total votes for each candidate;

    Gun regulation should be organized the same way drivers’ licenses are. Military guns should be forbidden;

    Personal privacy needs to be protected, for example with respect to abortion;

    Terms for Supreme Court judges and Ethics guidelines.

    The U.S. Constitution brought into being the concept of democracy. It spread to many other countries who emulate our principles but without the details that are currently hamstringing us. We have continued to brag that we have the best way to organize government but we are only bragging to ourselves.

    In reading page after page of analysis of why Trump won, every Op-Ed that I have read has so far missed a crucial point. David Frum gets closest to it in his essay in The Atlantic, near the end:

    Or maybe the truth is that democracy is always a close-run thing, always in contention. If so, then we too must – as people in other failing democracies have learned to do – find new ways to champion wobbling institutions and threatened ideas. For supporters of the American experiment in liberal democracy our only hope is education, organization, and the creation of a coalition of people dedicated to defending the spirit of the Constitution, the ideals of the Founders, the dream of freedom.

    Maybe because Frum is Canadian-American he says the spirit of the Constitution, perhaps hinting that the Constitution is not sacrosanct.

    The Democrats must start planning ahead. We need to start formulating a platform for the future that sticks close to the current Constitution and might be sellable to the rest of the country. Maybe starting with the Electoral College is a place to start.

  2. Nothing happens without planning, and first, we ought to be clear about the mission.

    We depended on our party to represent us, which it failed to do in 2024. I would posit that the party still must fulfill that mission. How can we be part of that?

    It is critical to “our” success that fully supporting the Democrat party is our path and purpose.

  3. Peter, the party represented us just fine. BUT the voters didn’t do their duty. The party put up the best candidate we could possibly have. BUT the voters clutched their pearls, stayed home and watched the bare majority sweep to victory everywhere. Yes, Congress will be a close call for the next two years, but the damage that will be done will make chaos look like football halftimes.

    Yes, the Constitution needs tweaking, BUT the SCOTUS needs to go stand in the corner with a dunce cap on. Citizens United? Please. An open invitation to what we just saw: MONEY corrupts so easily. BUT we won’t get any of the necessary tweaks until an un-corrupted party takes charge of our government instead of the emerging cast exiting the Republican clown car.

    THAT all means that voting is more important than ever. Remember, the orange hairball told his drooling audience that there won’t be any more elections. That should satisfy the lazy voters who didn’t. Now they don’t have to feel guilty.

  4. I still can’t figure out why, out of 244 million eligible voter, only 162 million voted in 2024, which is even less than the 166 million who voted in 2020. Fully one third, 82 million, didn’t even bother to vote. The most precious of democracy’s gifts to us as a nation, squandered as if it didn’t matter. Shame on those who shunned the sacred opportunity to exercise the ability to choose who leads our country.

  5. It would seem that in the traditional oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” the “Constitution” will be replaced by “The President,” who, along with SCOTUS Justices, is above our laws.

    What could possibly go wrong?

  6. I’m going to focus on keeping Trump alive! To me, a “President Vance” is far more scary than a lame duck Trump!

  7. Sorry, Vern, the DNC has been failing the people for decades by slowly shrinking into identity politics for votes. This election outcome was a culmination of events and decisions made decades ago. Every Democratic POTUS since Reagan accepted and promoted Neoliberalism. None of them have been progressive, and when Bernie Sanders was popular, the DNC and their media sabotaged him.

    I’m not sure who the strategists for Kamala were, but they failed epically in not distancing her from Biden. She moved toward Liz Cheney versus the progressive base, so voters stayed home. If you remember, Biden avoided the youthful voters because he got booed at every event. The same goes for top Democrats like Clinton. Hillary just smugly chuckled at the boos. How do you think that went over with young voters? Kamala was seen as an extension of Biden, who shut down the unions, war protesters, and the working class.

    You can’t have a plan unless you first accept the problem. If your actions as Democrats are anti-Trump (reactionary), then you’ve fallen into the two-party con job put forth by the oligarchy and their media.

    For decades, the oligarchy has solely benefitted from every decision made by both parties. It’s not an accident that we have the worst income and wealth inequality in our history. After four years of Project 2025, this country’s wealth and income gaps will be obscene. Nothing will get done if Americans can’t see what’s happening and agree on the problem.

    As a quick side note, especially there is a rumor that one of Putin’s aides has warned Trump publicly that there is an internal plan to eliminate him before he takes office. I’ll be trying to verify this story today.

  8. Rubio as Secretary of State? The clown car is being uploaded to the cabinet, and it did not take this election to show how corroding big money is in elections.

  9. First, a little historical nitpick, we didn’t give birth to democracy, that was Greece. What we created was the democratic REPUBLIC, if we can keep it. They did this in order to make sure that they could maintain control within the class of property owning white men.

    We should know by now that the Constitution means nothing to tRump because there are no consequences for bypassing it. We should have seen that in 2021. What we did was require incoming Presidents and their teams to sign an “ethics pledge” that the President elect has ignored, so far. If there are no consequences, why bother?

    We got the government we deserved, once again.

  10. Todd still has himself and other progressives painted into a corner. The Democrats (after axing Biden) put up a candidate that had Trump beaten in every respect. But the progressives had to blame Biden for the fighting in Gaza generating an opportunity for the good to become the enemy of the perfect. Yes, yes all politicians lie and take money from billionaires who only care about themselves, but there is no equivalency between Harris and the guy so many non-republicans helped elect. And now like Trump they want to blame Democrats.

  11. There are many young voters who are crushed by the recent election losses. We elders owe it to them to show them that this setback is not defeat. Since I first voted for McGovern in 1972, I’ve seen swings from Nixon to Carter to Reagan to Clinton to Bush/Cheney to Obama to Trump I to Biden/Harris, and now to Trump II. (I left out a couple that weren’t very swingy.) And we’ve seen the Trump movie before. Trump wins on lies and hate, he enacts deeply unpopular policies, Republicans suffer loses in the midterms, and the next president is a Democrat. This time, Trump will have no Act 3. There is no one with his malevolent charisma to whip up a frenzy like he does. So we must not despair, and we must help the younger voters not to give up as we wait for the next swing.

  12. Daleb, you sound delusional. Kamala never had Trump beat. The so-called “close polls” came from the media jockeys calling a horse race, but she never overtook Trump. Period.

    And yes, no matter how much you want it not to be true, Biden is a self-admitted Zionist who supports the genocide of Palestinians – murdering Arab women and children. The United Nations condemned it, but our Congress (all owned by AIPAC) voted to ignore the accusations and promised not to hold our government accountable. And, if you think our media is going to hold a Zionist accountable:

    “The Jews are so dominant, I had to scour the trades to come up with six Gentiles in high positions at entertainment companies. When I called them to talk about their incredible advancement, five of them refused to talk to me, apparently out of fear of insulting Jews. The sixth, AMC President Charlie Collier, turned out to be Jewish.” ~ Joel Stein, Jewish

    https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-dec-19-oe-stein19-story.html

  13. I’m kinda tired of those who want to blame Harris and the DNC for the election losses. Sure, she flubbed a couple of answers to questions and Biden could have stepped aside earlier. But she and other Democrats were up against a 24/7 intraveneous feed of disinformation from Fox News and the like, a Senate and Electoral College that are weighted toward smaller, conservative states, a House of Representative that now skews heavily right because of Republican gerrymandering of districts, and voter suppression in Republican controlled states. These forces just rolled over Democrats despite their admirable efforts.

  14. The way forward will be long and maybe impossible to achieve because we have lost our belief in the possible. It has happened to so many dominant governments throughout history, mostly autocratic, of course. Whenever a slight majority manages to attain power with the intent to suppress, oppress and exterminate opposition, even potential ones, deadly outcomes result.
    Imagine a “news” host running the most powerful military in the world with an $800B budget. Access to the nuclear codes, purging the Pentagon of anyone loyal to the Constitution, not the Executive. If the rest of the world is smart, they will quickly move to ally themselves with more sane partners or risk a third world war that could end our time as the dominant species.
    HCR noted yesterday that the U.S. has finally and completely lost its place as the world’s leader. It will be a long time, if ever, before other countries will be willing to trust our leadership and promises of partnership.
    The legacy I hoped for the next generation and beyond has been altered from one of progress to one of profound regression. I will not live long enough to see the results one way or another. Hope. Is it realistic?

  15. Paula – facts don’t support you: “Between Sept. 16 and Sept. 22, Pew asked nearly 10,000 adults where they most often got their political news. Of the 8,000 unique responses, 13% said Fox” . Fox ain’t great, but…

  16. jacobinmag.com Peter Lucas..
    interview with painters union pres, Jimmy Williams. seems he had the idea down for keeping his union educated. and spread the word, every working person, outspoken, seems few if any media watched and supported his take.

  17. as far as NATO question and like Euro slants. it stands to say the Euro Union isnt gonna sit back and let the east of them decide who wins and dies. trump has steped over the line. and will cause a backlash. when America sees that the euros will spit on the ground in front of America, then trump will spew his hate again. Nato and the Euro union is not going to allow trump to dictate his ‘global view to the euro nations.. maybe the euro union will tell it like it is. trump ia a wanna be dictator looking to reenact nazism. arrest murdoch anyone? seems Germany may bar him from entering Germany again..DW.com
    is a euro like BBC. you may want to engage in its ongoing real news.

  18. Lester: Paula is correct. It isn’t just Fox and Sinclair, and thinking it is is misleading. There is an entire, far-reaching rightwing ecosphere in which Fox is almost moderate. That is the subject of tomorrow’s post.

  19. Sheila,

    Of course I agree about the ecosystem and have been “reporting” on it to a nauseating degree. She went out of her way to mention Fox and, as you noted, it is a relatively minor part. We agree.

  20. Paula, you can’t blame voters for not voting for someone they don’t approve of or dislike their message. The party’s responsibility is to put forth a candidate that appeals to the most voters. First, a genocidal maniac with dementia, and then Harris in the last minute, who wanted to continue with Biden’s plan. The donors drove the DNC’s decision, so it was flawed from the start!

    As for Russia’s hint of a Trump assassination, you don’t have to read between the lines of Putin’s aide. It was rather straightforward:

    https://newrepublic.com/post/188284/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-election-obligations

  21. The referenced article begins with the advice, Trust yourself, which “includes trusting your own eyes and gut.” My eyes, my gut, told me Harris was going to win in a landslide. A part of what’s been so mind-blowing is that what I saw and what my gut made of it has been countermanded by Trump’s win. I’m aware of conspiracy theorizing, and I’m aware that, given the right circumstances, no one is immune to it. I have a hard time believing that Trump won fairly—that there wasn’t some sort of tampering going on, besides the vote suppression that Republicans continually engage in. This feeling has been exacerbated by Trump’s MSG reference to a “dirty little secret” that he and Mike Johnson shared in order to ensure Republican victories (https://newrepublic.com/post/187596/trump-secret-mike-johnson-madison-square-garden-nyc-rally). I have no evidence of any wrongdoing (other than the typical voter suppression and bomb threats in Democratic precincts on election day), and yet I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying, “Stop the Steal.” The upshot: I’ve never been more wrong about anything in my life. What’s the remedy for that?

  22. Just turned the boob tube only to get the news that Matt Gaetz will be the next AG? The pundits are saying he can’t get 50 votes in the Senate. Why do they think tRump wants the Senate majority leader to accept recess appointments? Talk about the wolf guarding the hen house, in this case the wolf is rabid!

  23. Thanks, Sheila. My take is that the rise of MAGA media has a lot to do with it. Rupert Murdoch started Fox for the specific purpose of pushing back against mainstream media. Murdoch believed that Nixon’s presidency could have been saved if there were alternative media to accuse Woodward and Bernstein of ulterior motives, of being liars, to attack them personally, to call for outing those who gave the reporters the information that brought Nixon down.

    Now we have more than just Fox out there–and, not only do they spread lies and conspiracy theories, one of their over-arching messages is that mainstream media cannot be trusted because: 1. they lie; 2. they are the alter-ego of the Democrats and the “libs”; 3. they are trying to take Trump down by “lawfare”; 4. they push the “woke agenda” of pushing for sex change surgeries for young children, pornography in school libraries, CRT, genetic boys playing in girls’ sports; 5. abortion on demand, at any stage of pregnancy, and even after birth. They even push the Trumpian lies of migrants are stealing and eating pets, “poisoning the blood of America”, and are “murderers, rapists, animals, vermin” who are invading small towns. Of course, these are lies, but they have lots of viewers who believe this crap.

    Trump could not exist as the threat to democracy that he is, nor could these lies be spread without MAGA media, because mainstream media would NEVER publish the lies and racist, xenophobic, misogynistic swill they serve up daily. They hire experts, like Jonathan Turley, to champion some perceived First Amendment “right” to lie, spin the facts, attack Democrats, and spread conspiracy theories, and to accuse anyone who pushes back of engaging in “censorship”. Then, you have the endless podcasts and social media that spreads right-wing conspiracy theories that people lap up.

    Perhaps the only good thing that will come of this election is the almost-certain disaster that Trump will do to our economy–he WILL fail–but he won’t be able to blame Democrats. His tariffs will drive up the cost of everything–in fact, several major retailers, like Auto Zone, Columbia Sportswear, Stanley Tools and Black & Decker have already said that they will have no choice other than to raise prices. His tax cuts will mostly benefit the very wealthy, and the national debt will soar. His proposal to not tax Social Security benefits will dry up the Fund by the end of this decade and probably force those who had planned to be able to retire within 6 years to change their plans. COLA increases won’t happen, either. There are many retired people whose only source of income is Social Security.

    Trump has no plan for how to come up with the estimated $350 billion it will cost to capture, incarcerate and deport 11 million people, so that will probably be tacked on to the national debt–or, maybe, he’ll just steal from the budgets of other agencies, like the military. If he does do the mass deportations, then that will drive up food and other prices. Rep. Katie Porter pointed out that the meatpacking industry relies on migrant labor to process and pack our meat. Homan, who is tapped to be “border czar”, promises to conduct raids at businesses known to employ migrants, and to round them up and haul them away. If he does this to companies like Tyson Foods, for example, if they can even find replacement workers they’ll have raise wages because meatpacking is dangerous and dirty work that most Americans don’t want to do.

    Then, there’s the fresh produce, much of which is picked and packed by migrant labor. What will happen to perishable fruits and vegetables if there’s no one available to pick them and they are left to rot? US Agriculture has heavily depended on migrant labor for decades. Instead of Trump’s BS promise that grocery prices will “fall precipitiously”–they will go up.

    Then, there’s Trump’s fealty to Putin. Trump will almost certainly try to take away funds to help Ukraine and try to pressure Zelenskyy to just let Putin “do whatever the hell he wants”, which is take over Ukraine. That means all of the Ukrainians who have died defending their homeland will have died in vain.

    Trump will once again insult our NATO and EU allies because Putin doesn’t like NATO–it’s the main thing holding him back from his pledge to reunite the former USSR countries.

    Yes, we are in for a disaster all right, but maybe a full-blown disaster what it takes to wake up the people who follow MAGA media and who believe the racist, xenophobic and misogynistic lies they serve up. Maybe they will return to mainstream media that follows journalistic standards. We can only hope.

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