Make a New Year’s Resolution to Fight Trump
I fear that in a second Trump administration it will be much harder to keep the faith. The first Trump presidency seemed like a grotesque accident, a civic disaster that befell us because we were too blithely arrogant to see it coming. Trump redux, however, is something we’re lurching toward with eyes wide open. If he wins again, it won’t be a shock, and no one will be able to claim, as so many did before, that this is not who we are.
Before we can fight authoritarianism, we have to fight fatalism. My great hope for 2024 is that anti-Trump Americans can transcend exhaustion, burnout and self-protective pessimism to mobilize once again for the latest most important election of our lifetimes... But if you don’t want an even uglier and more despairing replay of those years, the time to act is now.
One place to start is with donations to grass-roots organizations working on voter turnout, which are desperately underfunded. (The Movement Voter Project has a clickable map with links to such groups all over the country.) You can also get involved with the campaigns to put referendums protecting abortion rights on the ballot in states like Arizona and Florida, efforts that could both undo cruel abortion bans and drive voter turnout.
Excerpt from Make a New Year’s Resolution to Fight Trump,
Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times, December 18, 2023. Link
The Danger Ahead
In his first term, Trump’s corruption and brutality were mitigated by his ignorance and laziness. In a second, Trump would arrive with a much better understanding of the system’s vulnerabilities, more willing enablers in tow, and a much more focused agenda of retaliation against his adversaries and impunity for himself. When people wonder what another Trump term might hold, their minds underestimate the chaos that would lie ahead.
A second Trump term would instantly plunge the country into a constitutional crisis more terrible than anything seen since the Civil War… The president would be an outlaw, or on his way to becoming an outlaw. For his own survival, he would have to destroy the rule of law.
From Trump himself and the people around him, we have a fair idea of a second Trump administration’s immediate priorities: (1) Stop all federal and state cases against Trump, criminal and civil. (2) Pardon and protect those who tried to overturn the 2020 election on Trump’s behalf. (3) Send the Department of Justice into action against Trump adversaries and critics. (4) End the independence of the civil service and fire federal officials who refuse to carry out Trump’s commands. (5) If these lawless actions ignite protests in American cities, order the military to crush them.
Excerpt from The Danger Ahead,
by David Frum, part of If Trump Wins in the January/February 2024 print edition of The Atlantic, December 4, 2023.
Link
Liz Cheney
To me it was just obvious that we cannot survive as a nation if we have a president who’s going to unravel the foundations of the Republic.
Liz Cheney, on The Beat With Ari Melber, MSNBC, December 6, 2023
Rob Reiner
Donald Trump, he doesn’t have any feelings, he’s not human, he’s a psychopath, and he has the makings…
This may—and he says it—he’s a fascist. He wants to rule as an autocrat, as a dictator, and we have a big choice… We have a choice. We can either choose fascism or democracy, and that is it, and that’s simple.
And, you know, we can argue about issue once we save the democracy.
Rob Reiner, on All In With Chris Hayes, MSNBC, December 6, 2023
If Trump Wins
For The Atlantic’s January/February 2024 issue, the editor and 24 contributors consider what Donald Trump could do if he were to return to the White House. Trump’s second term, they conclude, would be much worse.
Editor's Note: A Warning
America survived the first Trump term, though not without sustaining serious damage. A second term, if there is one, will be much worse. Link
By Jeffrey Goldberg
A MAGA Judiciary
In a second term, Donald Trump would appoint more judges who don’t care about the law. Link
By Adam Serwer
Trump Will Abandon NATO
If reelected, he would end our commitment to the European alliance, reshaping the international order and hobbling American influence in the world. Link
By Anne Applebaum
Why Xi Wants Trump To Win
A second Trump term would allow China to cement its grip on the developing world. Link
By Michael Schuman
Corruption Unbound
Donald Trump and his cronies left his first administration with a playbook for self-enrichment in a second term. Link
By Franklin Foer
Trump’s Polarization Of Science Is Bad For Everyone
A reelected Donald Trump would continue to attack studies that stand in the way of his agenda—and to make support for scientific inquiry a tribal belief. Link
By Sarah Zhang
The Danger Ahead
If Donald Trump returns to the White House, he’d bring a better understanding of the system’s vulnerabilities, more willing enablers, and a more focused agenda of retaliation against his adversaries. Link
By David Frum
Loyalists, Lapdogs, and Cronies
In a second Trump term, there would be no adults in the room. Link
By McKay Coppins
The Specter of Family Separation
Donald Trump and his allies have promised to restore their draconian zero-tolerance immigration policy. Link
By Caitlin Dickerson
How Trump Gets Away With It
If reelected, he could use the powers of the presidency to evade justice and punish his enemies. Link.
By Barton Gellman
Four More Years of Unchecked Misogyny
In a second Trump term, women would once again be targets. Link
By Sophie Gilbert
The Climate Can’t Afford Another Trump Presidency
His approach to the environment: ignore it. Link
By Zoë Schlanger
Is Journalism Ready?
The press has repeatedly fallen into Donald Trump’s traps. A second term could render it irrelevant. Link
By George Packer
The Proud Boys Love A Winner
A second Trump term would validate the violent ideologies of far-right extremists—and allow them to escape legal jeopardy. Link
By Juliette Kayyem
A Military Loyal To Trump
In 2020, the armed forces were a bulwark against Donald Trump’s antidemocratic designs. Changing that would be a high priority in a second term. Link
By Tom Nichols
Trump Voters Are America Too
If he wins a second term, perhaps we’ll finally dispense with the myth that “this is not who we are.” Link
By Mark Leibovich
What Will Happen To The American Psyche If Trump Is Reelected?
Our bodies are not designed to handle chronic stress. Link
By Jennifer Senior
The Left Can’t Afford To Go Mad
A second Trump term would require an opposition that focuses on his abuses of power—and seeks converts rather than hunting heretics. Link
By Helen Lewis
Donald Trump Vs. American History
He has promised to impose his harmful, erroneous claims on school curricula in a second term. Link
By Clint Smith
A Plan To Outlaw Abortion Everwhere
Activists hope a Trump Justice Department would criminalize the procedure, with or without a federal ban. Love
By Elaine Godfrey
The Truth Won’t Matter
If reelected, Donald Trump will once again churn out absurdity and outrage with factory efficiency. Link
By Megan Garber
A War On Blue America
In a second term, Trump would punish the cities and states that don’t support him. Link
By Ronald Brownstein
Trump Isn’t Bluffing
We’ve become inured to his rhetoric, but his message has grown darker. Link
By David Graham
Civil Rights Undone
How Trump could unwind generations of progress. Link
By Vann R. Newkirk II
Trump’s Plan To Police Gender
His campaign is promising a more repressive and dangerous America. Link
By Spencer Kornhaber