The Grassroots Resistance, 2.0
November 11, 2024
After Election Night 2016, a national grassroots movement arose spontaneously. It spread organically across the nation. The only plan was to resist. The movement began in living rooms, church basements, and online. It soon swelled to tens of thousands. And then hundreds of thousands. And then millions. It did not wait for permission or ask for instructions. It overrode and ignored existing power structures. The grassroots resistance had a bias toward action. It offered community to the anxious and bold alike. In the end, the grassroots movement saved democracy. Literally. Not figuratively. Not metaphorically. Literally.
After Election Night 2024, we must renew the grassroots movement. At a moment that demands unity and action, Democratic Party leaders are inexplicably pointing fingers as they attempt to salvage their legacies and cover their footprints. The media is filled with opinion pieces that ignore the looming threat of tyranny and gleefully fan the flames of vanity and ego designed to deflect blame and create distraction.
Enough.
The way forward is through unity. Blame is the currency of people who worry about their Wikipedia entries and obsess over their follower counts and favorability ratings. We have real work to do. Some day in the future, exit polling and crosstabs in spreadsheets will help us win elections. Today, we have a nation to save.
We need a second grassroots resistance movement. The Grassroots Resistance, 2.0. The good news is that we have existing infrastructure. We have willing servants of democracy who are battle-tested and savvy, though weary. And we have smart, inspiring leaders willing to continue their leadership even as they hope for reinforcements and new voices.
The Grassroots Resistance 2.0 is not a replacement of the existing grassroots movement. It is a renewal of the fighting spirit within the existing movement, tempered and honed by the cold reality of a man who sought the presidency only to avoid prison and exact vengeance.
Resisting over the next four years will be difficult. The only thing that would be more difficult is not resisting.
As we recover from the insensible decision to re-elect a failed insurrectionist and aspiring dictator, we must return to the grassroots communities that sustained us over the past eight years. The urge to shelter in the isolation of sorrow and grief is understandable. As soon as you can, find your way back to the community that is waiting for you with open arms and renewed determination.
Leaders of the renewed grassroots movement must recognize that their returning troops are weary and disillusioned, even as they summon the courage to report for a third tour of duty. Create spaces for rest, reflection, and renewal. Recognize the need of people to talk about how they feel.
We will make it through this difficult period together. We must resist, delay, and defeat unlawful actions whenever we can and then move on quickly to the next battle. We cannot tarry over losses or demand time to regroup.
Many who read this will understandably say they are not ready to rejoin the fight. That is appropriate and reasonable. But we need you back. Take time to rest and recover. And then find your way back to the resistance movement that saved democracy after 2016. Literally. Not figuratively. Not metaphorically. We can do so, again. Literally.
Coda
To avoid dozens of unnecessary email corrections, I acknowledge that others are counseling against using the word “resistance” to describe our efforts over the next four years. My use of “resistance” is intentional. “Opposition”—the term suggested by others—implies that our actions are taking place within a functioning political system that observes the rule of law and gives voice and agency to the minority party—the “loyal opposition.”
Sadly, that is not where we are. The Supreme Court has authorized the president to operate in an extra-constitutional manner that is beyond the reach of the law. He will gladly accept their invitation to act unilaterally, even when the law does not give him that authority. His unlawful actions will be reviewed by rubber-stamp judges jockeying to replace two aging justices on the Supreme Court. There may be no opportunity for political opposition, which is the norm in a functioning democracy. At that point, our only option is lawful resistance.
Whether you see yourself as working in opposition or resistance, we are in the fight together. We are not going to win by correcting one another’s vocabulary. Let’s get to work—and let historians decide how to label our victories!
Two stories that will dominate the next few weeks
Many commentators are beginning to detail how the next Trump administration will seek to change our lives. Those articles are thoughtful, accurate, and detailed. I will let you find them on your own if you are looking for a menu of potential items we must face over the next three to six months.
For now, I will highlight two items that are likely to shape the news cycle in significant ways. I am trying to ease back into the news for those who are still in shock from an election night that is not yet a week in the past.
The transition process may be difficult and chaotic
The transition between presidential administrations is governed by the Presidential Transition Act. The Act imposes dozens of disclosure and ethics requirements on presidential candidates and presidents-elect as a condition of receiving briefings, security clearances, and funding. See Presidential Transition Act Summary • Center for Presidential Transition.
One requirement relates to ethics pledges to be signed by the incoming president and vice-president. Per the above article,
Not later than October 1, the Executive Office of the President, acting through the Federal Transition Coordinator, negotiates memorandums of understanding with transition teams regarding conditions of access to agencies, including agreement by transition teams to implement and make public their ethics plans.
To no one’s surprise, Trump has refused to sign the required ethics pledge. See Salon, "Consequences are severe": Trump's lack of ethics pledge delays transition process. Per the Salon article,
The lack of Trump's adherence to the requirements under the Presidential Transition Act has left him locked out of meetings and briefings with the current administration and heads of government agencies.
Trump didn’t detangle himself from his financial holdings in his first term in office, triggering years of emoluments violation investigations into the over 3,000 alleged conflicts of interest he accrued. Foreign dignitaries often paid top dollar to stay at the Trump International Hotel in D.C., as did Secret Service details protecting the then-president’s family.
So, Trump's incoming administration places us smack dab in the middle of where we left off—Trump ignoring the Emoluments Clause while he uses the Office of the Presidency as a profit-making opportunity.
It is not clear how the Biden Administration will proceed in the absence of Trump's compliance with the ethics disclosures required by the Presidential Transition Act. But it is clear already how Trump's cronies will act—they will simply disregard the provisions of the Act and begin to conduct themselves as though they have the mantel of authority—when they do not.
Case in point: Bryan Lanza, a Trump campaign staffer, announced on ABC News that Ukraine must give up hopes of defeating Russia’s war of aggression. Lanza said,
We’ve got news for President Zelenskyy: Crimea is gone.
Lanza’s comment effectively tells Ukraine that it must surrender a significant portion of its sovereign territory as a condition for peace. That is a breathtaking pronouncement for someone who—at the moment—is a contractor for the Trump campaign. Lanza may have hopes of obtaining a position in the next Trump administration, but he is currently a stranger to the US government and its foreign policy—because there is no transition process in place.
The Trump campaign later claimed that Lanza had no authority to speak for Trump.
Here’s my point: Trump's failure to engage in an orderly transition process is already creating chaos. More is likely.
The Biden Administration’s options are “bad” and “worse.” Should Biden demand adherence to the congressionally mandated transition process and risk chaos, or should he relent and allow Trump and his cronies to slither into office while evading ethics pledges required of every other incoming administration?
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith reportedly “winding down” his prosecutions of Donald Trump
Special counsel Jack Smith obtained two indictments against Donald Trump issued by grand juries in two jurisdictions. There is nothing in the criminal code that mandates that presidential election results override grand jury indictments. But Merrick Garland’s DOJ appears ready to abandon the prosecutions. See NBC News, DOJ moving to wind down Trump criminal cases before he takes office.
As explained in the NBC News article above, the DOJ will allow an internal DOJ policy memo to override the interests of the American people in continuing the legitimate criminal prosecution of Trump. By placing internal DOJ policy above the law of the US, Merrick Garland is continuing the egregious failures that have marred his entire tenure in office.
From his first day in office, Garland made clear that protecting the reputation of the DOJ was his paramount objective—even above that of prosecuting the first president to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. Garland delayed his investigation and prosecution of Trump until he was embarrassed into action by the efforts of the House committee investigating the events of January 6. By then, it was too late, and Trump was able to run out the clock on Jack Smith’s otherwise exceptional efforts to bring Trump to justice.
Garland should ignore the internal DOJ policy and continue the prosecutions. The interests of the American people override internal DOJ policy memos. Force Donald Trump to fire Jack Smith—as he has promised to do. Future historians can point to that act as the first confirmation that Trump's second term in office was just as corrupt as his first—even more so.
For four years, the majority of Americans hoped that Trump would be brought to justice for his crimes. It will be painful and maddening to watch him walk away from those crimes because the DOJ lacks the fortitude to honor its mission statement: “To uphold the rule of law.” Abandoning the prosecution of Trump makes a mockery of that statement and dishonors the men and women of the DOJ who work tirelessly to secure that goal.
A quick note on claims of election hacking
I am receiving a steady stream of emails from readers urging me to investigate claims of alleged election hacking. That conspiracy theory is gaining traction on the Threads social media app. The claim (as reported by readers) is that someone hacked the computer software of ballot machines on Election Day and that the software then disappeared.
If there was election interference, state and federal officials should investigate. I doubt that such claims are legitimate. Here’s why:
Exit polling by independent news organizations nationwide aligned with the electoral outcomes. Unless random voters across the nation were somehow willing to participate on the fly in a vast conspiracy, it is impossible to square the consistency between the exit polling and electoral outcome with a conspiracy to change votes after voters left the polling place.
Early on election day, Trump feared that high turnout in Pennsylvania signaled that Kamala Harris would win that state. So, Trump began posting comments on his vanity social media platform that claimed there was “massive fraud” in Philadelphia. If Trump knew that the vote would be hacked in his favor, why would he make public claims of fraud in a state he knew he would win through hacking?
Finally, like all claims of widespread conspiracy, they depend on the knowing participation and absolute silence of dozens or hundreds of co-conspirators. In the case of a nationwide election, there are tens of thousands of separate polling locations. A conspiracy to “hack” the machines at each of those locations would require the assistance of thousands of people. No conspiracy of that size could remain secret.
For those who will inevitably tell me that a single hacker can hack tens of thousands of machines, that is a bold claim that requires extraordinary proof. The reason that Russia has not been able to hack into US elections is because of the widely distributed, air-gapped, conflicting technologies used by various county-level jurisdictions. Moreover, voting and scanning machines are not connected to the internet! So, view claims that the 2024 election was “hacked” with healthy skepticism.
Opportunities for Reader Engagement
I encourage readers to continue to post opportunities for ballot curing in the Comment section. I will pin those opportunities to the top.
Join Lawyers Defending American Democracy in a special webinar on the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket
On November 13 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Lawyers Defending American Democracy is hosting a special webinar entitled: Hiding in the Shadows - The Supreme Court, the Shadow Docket, and the Future of Judicial Independence.
Featured speaker Stephen I. Vladeck, is a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center and the author of the bestselling book, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic.
Professor Vladeck will be interviewed by journalist Ann E. Marimow, the Supreme Court Correspondent for the Washington Post.
Concluding Thoughts
I watched a 30-minute national network news program about Trump's victory and transition plans. The network treated Trump as if he was a run-of-the-mill president-elect who is not a twice impeached convicted felon sexual abuser who promised to revoke the network’s broadcasting license. The moral collapse of the US media is shocking. Just shocking. The grassroots movement must step into the void once again.
I am receiving dozens and dozens of recommendations from readers for resources to help make it through the coming weeks and months. I don’t have the ability to read or recommend them all, but one stood out: A newsletter from Waging Non-Violence, 10 ways to be prepared and grounded if Trump wins | Waging Nonviolence. While I don’t agree with everything in this newsletter (written by Daniel Hunter), it is deeply thoughtful and filled with good advice for staying grounded in this difficult time. Top recommendations (with explanations) include:
Trust yourself
Find others who you trust
Grieve
Find your path
Do not obey in advance and do not self-censor
If you are looking for ways to navigate your way back into political resistance, I suggest checking out the newsletter.
I also invite readers to post recommendations in the Comment section about resources to help people regain their equilibrium.
I close with this thought: I am moved daily by the stories that readers share in their private emails to me. Based on that input, I again urge everyone to contact friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Many people are suffering in silence. Be a blessing in their lives by asking them how they are doing. We are living through a collective national shock. Let’s not pretend otherwise. We will make it through this period by coming together in community, solidarity, and kindness.
Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
Below is an image of the Flaming Star Nebula. The image was captured during high winds in the LA basin over the weekend. It appears to me that some of the stars in the background are “smeared” due to atmospheric turbulence. The computer processing software used to stack images should have “averaged out” the fuzziness of the background stars. Not quite sure what happened. But I will make another attempt soon.
The Flaming Star Nebula is 1,500 light-years from Earth and 1.5 light-years in diameter.
Enjoy!
Yes, definitely resistance, not opposition. Things are definitely gonna get ugly. Four additional points:
1. Biden should absolutely require that the incoming administration (I can't even bear to mention the principal figure's name) conform exactly to the black-letter requirements of the Presidential Transition Act: sign the ethics pledges and do whatever else is called for. To let the orange criminal and his henchmen skate out of fear that a messy transition will be chaotic and damaging would be to give in to extortion. I have no doubt the orange criminal would unhesitatingly try to leverage the prospect -- or even the overt threat -- of chaos to extort acquiescence to his ignoring the Act. The transition is going to be a mess in any case. Anything untoward that occurs is on the incoming guy, not on Biden.
By the way, Garland ought to be jumping out of his shoes to prosecute Lanza under the Logan Act. I know, ain't gonna happen; am just sayin'.
2. Point taken about the Smith prosecutions and continuing them through the inauguration. On the other hand, as Joyce Vance has explained, Smith's winding the cases down now gives him the chance to fully document all that has happened and all the evidence he has, for the historical record. He would not have that chance if he kept going and were summarily fired on January 20th at one minute past noon. Further, it's likely a very safe bet that every scrap of evidence and documentation would mysteriously disappear immediately and the revision of recent history would thus begin with some major erasures.
Either way you slice it, it's an extremely bitter pill to swallow, the more so that it's clear that AG Garland totally fell down on the job. Coulda woulda shoulda. It's far too late now, goddamn it.
3. As Benjamin Franklin supposedly said, three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead. The idea of widespread voting fraud involving hundreds of people in many dozens of election offices all around the country, which is what it would take to roll up a margin as great as what we ended with, is nonsensical on its face. Please stop beating the conspiracy drum, y'all -- as Rebecca Solnit put it in her essay yesterday, "Not being them and not being like them is the first job."
4. Speaking of Solnit, see this fairly long and very thoughtful essay, which dovetails with Robert's spot-on concluding points: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/09/authoritarians-like-trump-love-fear-defeatism-surrender-do-not-give-them-what-they-want.
In resistance and solidarity,
Resident of a solid blue state that just elected a staunchly anti-Trump governor and attorney general
Beautiful Robert - Thank you! Communities are coming together --my Indivisible group just met up yesterday.
Regarding the election out come - I don't think there was hacking involved per se-- but sustained disinformation, bots, nazification of X/Twitter -- over and over and over; I phone banked a lot and heard these MAGA lies -- and try as I might, it was difficult to change minds, or at least get an "oh, I'll look into that" -- so much disinformation for so long. Add in the most recent connection to Putin from tRump & Musk -- add in Jill Stein, the R's and more, I think we just experienced a Kremlin coup.
As you say, we have our work cut out for us -- Grassroots 2.0