I recently came across a lengthy Substack post from The Existential Republic, titled “It’s Time for Americans to Start Talking About ‘Soft Secession.” It was fascinating–and (assuming the accuracy of the reporting) immensely comforting. If even half of the sub-rosa efforts reportedly underway really are underway, the resistance is far more robust than I had imagined.
Evidently, Blue state leaders have been “war-gaming” a variety of scenarios.
For many state Attorney Generals and Governors, the legal briefs are already drafted. The strategy sessions have been running since December. “We saw this coming, even though we hoped it wouldn’t,” former Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum told The 19th days after Trump’s inauguration.
This is what American federalism looks like in 2025: Democratic governors holding emergency sessions on encrypted apps, attorneys general filing lawsuits within hours of executive orders, and state legislatures quietly passing laws that amount to nullification of federal mandates. Oregon is stockpiling abortion medication in secret warehouses. Illinois is exploring digital sovereignty. California has $76 billion in reserves and is deciding how to deploy it. Three sources on those daily Zoom calls between Democratic AGs say the same phrase keeps coming up, though nobody wants to say it publicly: soft secession.
Soft, because we aren’t looking at secession Civil War style. This time around–again, according to the post–Blue states are building parallel systems and withholding cooperation. They are creating “facts on the ground that render federal authority meaningless within their borders.”
The infrastructure for this resistance already exists. Twenty-three Democratic attorneys general now gather on near-daily Zoom calls at 8 AM Pacific, which means the East Coast officials are already on their third coffee. They divide responsibilities and share templates for lawsuits they’ve been drafting since last spring.
Yale Law Professor Heather Gerken calls this “uncooperative federalism,” an approach that doesn’t require states to actively resist, merely refuse to help. And as the article points out, without state cooperation, much of the federal government’s agenda becomes unenforceable.
Eight states have already enacted State Voting Rights Acts that exceed federal protections. Twenty-two states have implemented automatic voter registration. Colorado has created what election security experts call the gold standard: risk-limiting audits with paper ballot requirements.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully sued Trump during his first term, promised she’s “ready to fight back again.” During Trump’s first term, Democratic attorneys general led more than 130 multistate lawsuits against the administration and won 83 percent of them…
Pritzker has his staff exploring how to force Apple and Google to disable location tracking for anyone crossing into Illinois for medical procedures, preventing any digital trail that could be subpoenaed. Multiple governors are studying whether they can legally deny federal agents access to state databases, airports, and even highways for immigration enforcement. The discussions, according to sources, have gone as far as evaluating state authority to close airspace to federal deportation flights. States are creating pharmaceutical stockpiles, climate agreements, immigration policies. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has secured 209 electoral votes. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s 11 states have reduced emissions by 50% while the federal government rolled back climate regulations. The U.S. Climate Alliance’s 24 governors represent 60% of the American economy.
California doesn’t wait for Washington anymore. Neither does New York. Or Illinois. They’re building functioning governmental systems that operate independently of federal authority.
I strongly encourage you to click through and read the rest of the lengthy post, which has multiple examples of the ways in which “the same constitutional structure that allows red states to ban abortion permits blue states to stockpile abortion pills. The same Tenth Amendment that lets Texas deploy its National Guard to the border prevents Trump from commandeering state police for deportations.”
Of course, as we repeatedly see, constitutional restrictions mean nothing to our Mad King, and our rogue Supreme Court has signaled a willingness to overrule many of the eminently correct decisions of the lower federal courts. Nevertheless, I found the extent of the coordinated activities of America’s Blue states to be immensely hopeful, especially since the majority of Americans live in those states–and since (as the article also documents) the country’s Red states are economically dependant on Blue state taxpayers.
As the post concludes:
The phrase “soft secession” makes Democrats nervous. They prefer “resistance” or “federalism” or any other euphemism that doesn’t acknowledge what’s happening. But when democracy fails, when fair elections become impossible in certain states, when federal funds are withheld as political punishment, states don’t have many options left.
The infrastructure is built. The legal precedents are established. The money is there. Blue states have spent two years sharpening these tools…
As blue states prepare to deny federal agents access to their databases, their highways, maybe even their airspace, the soft secession isn’t coming. It’s here.
I tend to consider the “slippery slope” argument mentally lazy but I can’t see how we turn back from this country’s current path. Half of our political landscape is intellectually bankrupt, the highest court in the land is corrupt, Congress is intentionally impotent, and the media is still breathlessly focused on Biden tripping up a flight of stairs. Sure hope I’m wrong.
A while back I commented that states need to be forming “Underground” movements as European nations did during WWII. Apparently it has been going on along with my many repeated rants that Democrats need to be uniting as the Republican do when they put aside their differences and in-fighting and pass these illegal laws and go to the polls. They did NOT do any of that and gave the 2024 election to Trump. Sheila recently posted her reminder “I told you so.” It is a slight relief to know it has been going on; and is a reminder of the “Underground Railroad” which transported slaves to safe territories. We have often had “whistleblowers” inform us of vital information being covered up by government; the secret 2024 inauguration of Trump was blamed on the cold weather but we knew before they moved inside and locked the doors on the public who the billionaire owners of Trump and MAGA were and are. Long after the fact, the Pentagon Papers revealed the truth behind the years of U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam war. We built the Viet Nam wall to list the thousands of lives lost in that mistake, keeping secrets comes with a high cost in lives and money. Was that wall an apology to the victim’s families and the nation?
Every word Richardallen states was gospel but what we are seeing as it happens, locally, nationally and globally, makes it difficult to have more than slight hope of a future for America. I, too, hope I am wrong.
“As blue states prepare to deny federal agents access to their databases, their highways, maybe even their airspace, the soft secession isn’t coming. It’s here.”
Is there an even stronger secession movement going on within Red States such as Indiana, the Mississippi of the north, and the openly Confederate states? Are “we” really getting away with anything? The euphemism of “United States government” today isn’t fooling anyone but the Republicans who keep voting for it.
Let’s face it, Project 2025, designed to compromise the bedrock principles on which the Republic was founded, needs to be resisted in just as organized a manner as what empowers it.
Trump is trying to pull off the elevation of Trump over the elevation of the Republic and hopes to fashion the power of one over the power of all.
That has always been unacceptable to the American People. It was, it is, and it will always be. It’s time for us to stand tall and present an implacable front, to own the streets and the legal system.
Democrats can do that, and as the only legitimate American Party left standing, it must.
Pete is spot on in his comments today. As Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said to Chicagoans yesterday in his second memorable speech pushing back on Trump’s threat to “occupy” Chicago:
“To Chicagoans, what you can do is look out for your communities and your neighbors. Know your rights. Film things that you see happening in your neighborhoods and your streets and share them with the news media.
“Authoritarians thrive on your silence. Be loud for America.
“To everyone listening, but most especially to the press, refuse to pretend that any of this is normal.
“I refuse to concede that the abject cruelty that we’re seeing play out with the execution of Trump and Steve Miller’s policies are okay or justified.
“I refuse to fall into the pundit trap that demands we sacrifice vital constitutional rights if it’s being done in the fake guise of fighting crime.”
Let’s own the streets and unfailingly employ the legal system to fulfill our duty to stand up for the Constitution. “Be loud for America!”
States are trying- wish I could the same about far more Federal Politicians- Schumer and my two CA senators are living in another world.
Today we are living with “been there, done that” having become “what goes around comes around” and the post I saw on Facebook said it best.
“Trump is the worst president since Trump”!!!
Clearly, the Democratic Governors of Blue States have much straighter spines than the DNC, which has repeatedly shown its utter incompetence and corruption. The soft secession will work, especially if the Blue States can withhold sending revenues to Washington. That will flat out cripple the federal government’s power, which Trump/MAGA has been using, rescission of federal monies to control institutions and the states.
Talk about voting with your feet. Upon graduation, where are you going to work and establish your roots?
I would strongly encourage the Blue State Governors/AGs to jointly issue demands to the DNC about the September 30th CR needed to keep the government open. Trump said there will be no deals on the table and told MAGA to hold the line. Schumer bailed them out in the Spring, but the states have their own cards and should openly demand that Schumer and Jeffries withhold any votes unless their demands are met. Make it very loud and very public.
MAGA needs Democrats’ assistance to keep the federal government open. Period. Don’t screw this one up, or you can kiss the midterms goodbye. If the DNC leadership listens to Ken Martin’s ideas, they are screwed.
p.s. There is a reference to shutting off Google tracking at their borders so the federal government or Red State AGs can’t track women heading into Blue States for abortions, etc. How many people knew that Google on your computer and phone was a tracking device? It’s more than that…Julian Assange warned us almost 15 years ago about Google. Our phones are also listening devices. I was at dinner with my daughter and mentioned going to get ice cream after. A few moments later, I received directions on my MAP app to the closest ice cream joint. The Blue States will need to inform their citizens about how to opt out of the federal surveillance grid.
p.s.s. Now, nearly all of our newer cars are tracking us since they are tech devices. “Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law.”
“Trump is the worst president since Trump”!!! I love it!
This does all sound hopeful…keeping fingers crossed.
The recent display of Putin, and “friends” in China just might make some MAGA fruitcakes take notice of just how dumb Trump is…maybe.
It seems that we are witnessing another switch in political party stances. Where once the Democrats used the idea of “Federalism” to advance their agenda and Republicans yelled “State’s Rights”, now we have Trump and Co. claiming federal power to advance their plan to return us all to the 1950s as Democrats resist using “State’s Rights” to keep them at bay. No one should be surprised that the public is confused.
What will be interesting to see in states where the majority of voters have been gerrymandered such that they are a distinct minority in government, is when those excluded voters openly rebel against the red wankers trying to destroy our Constitution. What will the minority do when all the money they used t get from blue states suddenly vanishes and they’re forced to experience and antebellum environment?
I think the “soft secession” has a lot of potential to become very hard, very quickly when the dispossessed majority find their way to rebellion. Stay tuned.
This would comfort me immensely if I didn’t have impossible family obligations holding me in Texas. Still, one son and his wife are planning to get out soon so at least there is some comfort in knowing that they will escape Gilead, even if the rest of us cannot.
This is the first glimmer of hope I’ve seen. The DNC with all their relentless pleas for more money are not doing anything productive. I want to support these grassroots groups. Does anyone know how?
This is the first glimmer of hope I’ve seen. The DNC with all their relentless pleas for more money are not doing anything productive. I want to support these grassroots groups. Does anyone know how? Where to find information?