By Jesssie Seigel / February 10, 2025
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow frequently advises—concerning Republican policy makers—"Watch what they do, not what they say.”
To see through the barrage of lies and propaganda coming at us, applying that admonition is crucial. But I would add: for each action taken or attempted, ask: who will benefit? To understand what is being done by the Trump cabal and why, critically consider that!
Who will benefit from firing inspector generals? From Elon musk's patently illegal takeover of the payment systems at the Treasury Department? From closure of US AID? Who benefits from illegally requiring federal civil service workers to retire or be fired? From putting in place as heads of agencies loyalists who intend to destroy them? And who benefits from full scale attacks on the personnel of the FBI, the DOJ, and the CIA?
The answer? There are two clear beneficiaries of this dismantling of American government: the ultra-wealthy, anti-democracy collaborative behind Project 2025, and Donald Trump’s patron, Vladimir Putin. Secondary beneficiaries, of course, are a variety of other totalitarian adversaries across the globe.
The contents of Project 2025 have been known for close to a year. And the Trump administration is wasting no time in conducting the coup their Project 2025 document lays out. As Joyce Vance recently wrote in her column, Civil Discourse:
The authors of Project 2025 wrote, months before the election: “The fourth pillar of Project 2025 is our 180-day Transition Playbook and includes a comprehensive, concrete transition plan for each federal agency…Pillar IV will provide the next President a roadmap for doing just that.”
This so-called fourth pillar was not made public, but anyone who read the plans for each federal agency contained in Project 2025 knew where this was headed. It’s fair to say that people didn’t anticipate that it would be an all-fronts assault on day one of the new administration, but given the slow start Trump got the first time, the criticism of that, and the reporting that they were better prepared this time, it’s hard to say any of this is a surprise.
In other words, Democratic leaders were forewarned and should have been preparing for a needed counterattack. They did not prepare. Instead, they were taken flat-footed. Though a few fought back individually, most have only been spurred on by citizens who, aghast at the wholesale asssault on all their rights, have risen up across the nation in numerous ways—from spontaneous rallies to inundating their representatives and senators with so many phone calls that congressional phone lines cannot handle the quantity. In addition, some lawsuits are being brought, and some organizations like Justice Connection are being formed to advise and protect federal workers.
Some political leaders and journalists are urging the public not to give up—not to assume that the Project 2025 conglomerate’s fascist takeover is inevitable. Some claim that autocracy succeeds only when the people give up their power by capitulating and obeying in advance. That is a lesson Democratic Senate leadership needs to bring home to the 22 Democrats who recently voted to make Trump loyalist Doug Collins the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. (Democratic Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer does not appear prepared to hold their feet to the fire or maintain strict party discipline. He needs to resign his leadership position in favor of someone who will.)
In the meantime, i have heard the helpless cry from many: if our elected leaders won't fight, what can the average citizen who is not in a leadership position do?
It is natural to feel powerless and exhausted when the barrage is overwhelming and one has their own living to get, their own survival to see to, which—these days—can, by itself, be crushing.
The answer is to do what one can--what one feels able to do. Peaceful in-person protests and phone calls are a start. Though not everyone can attend rallies at a drop of a hat, making a phone call to your senators or represenatives is not a great burden on one's day. People should especially contact their Republican senators and representatives to make them understand they will pay a political price for anti-democratic votes. They should also call Democratic leaders—to support those resisting and read the riot act to those who are not doing so.
Whether or not one has the ability to do more, I urge those who care about retrieving our democracy, or who feel flattened under the weight of the current coup-in-progress, to read Indivisible's resource guide.
Indivisible alone anticipated and predicted not only the Trump regime's actions but the speed with which they would come. And Indivisible's guide provides a practical guide for resistance. In particular, it presents strategies to apply in a variety of situations, depending on where one is located geographically, what politicians are in place there, and what threats to your community may exist.
The bottom line: to each person's capability, it is a time for all hands on deck.
NOTE: Ordinarily, I would have highlighted some of Indivisible’s specific strategies within this article, but I am still nursing a broken wrist. So, whether or not you feel able to act on any of Indivisible’s proposed actions, to understand what can be done, reading their guide is a must. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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