Day One of the Resistance!

January 20, 2025

At last! Trump can no longer peddle delusional fantasies while heckling from the sidelines at Mar-a-Lago. He is in charge, responsible for everything good—and bad—that happens. He will, of course, blame Biden for leaving him an economy in chaos and a world in flames (not true!). Too bad for Trump. That’s not the way it works. The buck stops at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, no matter how many fingers Trump points at others. For good or ill, the president is held responsible by the American public for everything that happens

And the good news for us is that we no longer live in suspended animation, forced to shadow box against an incoming president able to criticize without offering solutions or taking responsibility. It is Day One of the Resistance. We occupy the moral high ground by default. And the media—Bless their hearts!—will direct their incessant negativity against Trump—who has famously thin skin.

Not that things will be easy. But we will have a new clarity of purpose and better-defined targets. And, if past is prologue, Trump will need Democrats to keep the government running. As is frequently the case, it is easier to be the loyal opposition than to be the party charged with governing.

Governing is hard—and Republicans have rarely demonstrated the ability to do so in the last half-century.

So, although Trump's desecration of the Constitution and the Bible will be a low point for the nation, January 20 will mark the beginning of the end of his presidency.

We are now officially the resistance, the opposition, and the defenders of democracy. Let’s lean into our new role with confidence and determination that our cause is just.

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Trump keeps his promise to be a dictator on Day One

The TikTok “on-again-off-again” ban seems like it is a political hot potato that relates to either national security or free speech—depending on which pundit is grinding their axe.

But deeper constitutional issues are implicated by Trump's pledge to issue an executive order on Monday to “extend” the ban imposed by congressional legislation. Worse, the national media and political establishments seem willing to roll over to Trump's self-help in unilaterally overriding a congressional mandate.

If Trump is given a “free pass” by the media and the political establishment to act like a dictator on his first day in office, we are truly on our own in this fight.

The short version of the story is this:

• TikTok is owned by a parent company (ByteDance) that is subject to the laws of China.

• Chinese law mandates that all companies under its jurisdiction cooperate with clandestine intelligence-gathering efforts by the Chinese government.

• TikTok has, in fact, cooperated with China in the past by spying on US journalists.

• Republicans—including Trump—lobbied to ban TikTok in the US unless its parent company divested TikTok to a non-Chinese controlling shareholder.

• Congress passed a law with significant bi-partisan support requiring ByteDance to divest ownership of TikTok or face a ban in the US on January 19, 2025.

• ByteDance took no steps to divest itself of TikTok.

• On January 18, President Biden announced he would not enforce the ban on January 19 but would leave enforcement up to Trump.

• TikTok nonetheless “went dark” on January 19, claiming that Biden’s statement did not provide sufficient guarantees against sanctions if it continued to operate in violation of the ban.

• On January 19, Trump announced that he would issue an executive order unilaterally extending the date imposed by Congress for divestiture by 90 days and holding harmless any company that participated in violating the ban.

While the above facts are interesting, the only one that really matters is that Trump asserts the authority to override a congressional law by issuing an executive order.

That is not how the Constitution works. The president’s obligation is to “faithfully execute the law,” not to override it.

Given that Trump has promised to violate the separation of powers on day one, one would expect a wave of protest in response. But as of Sunday evening, the only mentions in the legacy media are breathless recitations of the facts that praise the “impressive politics on all sides.”

So, Trump treats a binding congressional law as optional, and no one cares (so far). It is a dangerous precedent that deserves condemnation from everyone—not gossipy stories about how users of TikTok coped with a four-hour ban.

GOP Senator Tom Cotton, who is a China hawk, was not happy with the cavalier treatment of the congressional ban. Cotton issued a warning on Twitter that stated the obvious—that companies that violated the ban could be held liable notwithstanding Trump's meaningless executive order. Cotton wrote,

Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs. Think about it.

Some companies are heeding Senator Cotton’s reminder of ruinous liability for violating the ban. As of Sunday evening, at 8:00 pm Pacific, the Apple App Store did not offer TikTok for download. In place of the TikTok app, Apple posted the following:

Apple is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates. Pursuant to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, apps developed by ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries — including TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, and others — will no longer be available for download or updates on the App Store for users in the United States starting January 19, 2025.

As of Sunday evening, I could not locate TikTok in the Google Play App store.

Starting an administration by treating Congress as a subsidiary of the Executive Branch is a dangerous way to begin. That’s the point of what happened with the TikTok ban. Everything else is irrelevant.

Trump's pre-inauguration lies

Trump held a pre-inauguration rally in which he told dozens of lies. CNN has done an excellent job of fact checking those lies. See CNN, Fact check: Trump makes false claims about his 2024 victory, the 2020 election, immigration and more at DC rally | CNN Politics.

I recommend that you check out CNN’s excellent itemization and refutation of Trump's lies. The ability to refute them in casual conversations and online interactions with friends will be important in the days ahead.

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Trump's executive orders on Day One

Trump plans to sign 100 executive orders on January 20, 2025. See USA Today, 'Shock and awe': Trump plans 100 immediate executive actions. Here's what could be coming.

A report suggests that Trump will sign the illegal TikTok executive order in the Capitol Rotunda—further defiling the seat of democracy attacked by his supporters four years ago. See Politico, Trump could sign TikTok order in the Rotunda.

Trump’s aides have released details about one particularly loathsome order. Trump will sign an order declaring that the federal government will mandate that there are only two sexes—male and female—and that sex is determined at birth. See The Free Press, EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s Day One Executive Order on ‘Male and Female’.

Trump has highlighted this issue because it gained traction during his campaign. There is a substantial amount of confusion and resentment about gender identity and the efforts of the Democratic Party to protect the rights of transgender people.

A frequent rejoinder is that “there are only two biological genders, male and female.” Assuming for purposes of argument that biology is the sole determinant of gender (it is not), it is simply not true that there are only two biological genders.

A significant number of infants are born with ambiguous genitalia—having characteristics of both male and female, e.g., a penis and ovaries or a uterus and testes. Doctors are then forced to “guess” which “biological sex” predominates. The opportunities for making the wrong “guess” about the “biological sex” of a person with ambiguous genitalia abound. See PubMed, Sex Assignment and Diagnostics in Infants with Ambiguous Genitalia − A Single-Center Retrospective Study - PMC. (“Ambiguous genitalia affect 1 in 5,000 live births. Diagnostic procedures can be time-consuming, and often the etiology cannot be established in this group of individuals with differences/disorders of sex development.”)

Those who argue that chromosomes determine biological sex ignore the fact that humans are born with chromosomal variations that include X0, XXY, XXYY, XXXY, and XYY. See Variations - The Association for X and Y Chromosome Variations.

The issues of gender, “biological sex,” and genetic markers of gender are not as simple as “God made two sexes.” But Trump doesn’t care. With Trump, the cruelty is the point. Trump has identified a group he believes he can punish to gain favor with his base. Democrats and people of good will must continue to stand for the dignity and equality of transgender and intersex people everywhere.

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Trump launches “meme” cryptocurrency with implied “market” value of billions of dollars

On the eve of his second term in office, Trump launched a new “meme” cryptocurrency with the identifier $TRUMP. See Trump launches his own $TRUMP meme coin, price soars overnight - CBS News.

A “meme” cryptocurrency is one that has no inherent value and is backed by nothing other than the willingness of other investors to pay for electrons on a computer server. Think pyramid scheme, Tulipomania, and Bernie Madoff.

Apart from the lunacy of the venture, there are serious ethical and legal issues raised by the incoming president’s launch of his own cryptocurrency, especially in light of his open musing about having the US purchase crypto currencies as part of its “reserves.” See NYTimes, Trump’s Cryptocurrency Surges to Become One of the World’s Most Valuable (Accessible to all.)

It would be bad enough if Trump were only duping gullible followers. But the crypto-bubble threatens the national and global financial systems.

Per the Times

[E]conomists and even some longtime crypto investors said the new digital coin, known as a memecoin, might also emerge as a landmark moment in the speculative history of crypto trading and the potential dangers it poses to the financial system. Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency tied to an online joke or a celebrity mascot.

“If people want to gamble, I don’t really care,” said Lee Reiners, a former Federal Reserve economist who is now a lecturer for a center studying global economic markets at Duke University. “What I care about is when this crypto bubble bursts — and it will burst — it will end up impacting people across the economy even if they don’t have direct investment in crypto. And this new coin is making it worse.”

Trump will become wealthier—on paper—at the risk of harming hundreds of millions of Americans who rely on the stability of the financial markets. Let’s hope that the media focuses on that aspect of the story, rather than breathlessly reporting how much Trump is allegedly “worth” because of a cryptocurrency based on an inside joke.

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Concluding Thoughts.

Join me, Jessica Craven, Jess Piper, and my Managing Editor, Jill Bickett, at 8:45 a.m. Pacific / 11:45 a.m. Eastern for alternative programming to the Inauguration. We will be reading and discussing foundational documents, speeches, and poems that highlight the promise of America. This is not a “watch party;” it is a “watch something else that is worthwhile” party.

There is no “link” to the event. Just open the Substack App at the appointed time, and you will see a notification that Jessica, Jess, and I are live on Substack.

Monday will be a difficult day for everyone who cares about decency, justice, and the rule of law. So, start the day by staring at the galaxy in the image below. The galaxy is known as Messier 33 (M33), or the Triangulum Galaxy. Under dark skies, viewers can see M33 with the unaided eye—the farthest object visible from Earth with the unaided eye.

The light from M33 that will reach us on January 20, 2025, began its journey 2.7 million years ago, long before our human ancestors ventured out of Africa.

Also, reflect on the fact that there are an estimated 40 billion stars in the Triangulum Galaxy. If you attempted to count the stars in M33 and counted one star every second, it would take you 1,207 years—or until 3232 AD.

By comparison, if Trump serves his full second term, he will be president for 1,460 days. After inauguration day, Trump will be down to 1,459 days.

Of course, we can’t use the vastness of space and time to make ourselves feel better by minimizing the challenges we face. But those measures should cause us to appreciate how incredibly fortunate we are to find ourselves in this place at this moment. It is worth fighting to make the most of it.

From the moment the first cell twitched to life on Earth about 3.8 billion years ago, every one of your ancestors, tracing back to that primitive cell, managed to survive and reproduce so that you could be here now. We stand at the pinnacle of billions of years of evolutionary success. With that background, we should be bold and fearless as we continue our part in a grand cosmic saga.

Hope that perspective helps to get us through tomorrow!