So a while ago I mentioned I wanted to provide some resources here for those who want to do their part in resisting the incoming Trump regime. I was thinking in terms of comprehensive resources guides and pages devoted to key issues.
But there are already people out there doing that. Rather than duplicating their efforts I think I want to try a different approach.
Plunging into activism can be daunting; it’s hard to even know where to start. So what I want to do is to highlight discrete things people can do to resist Trump EVERY DAY.
So on a regular basis (hopefully every day) I’ll be doing short posts intended to spur this kind of day-by-day activism, drawing on the work of others out there who are organizing activism and preparing resources for activists.
This will mean:
- Posts about discrete things you can do right now, quickly and easily, to resist Trump, like signing petitions or contacting a congressperson on a specific issue.
- Information on protests, nationally and locally.
- Posts on social media activism: Hashtags to post in. Memes to pass around on Twitter, good articles to post on Facebook, that sort of thing. Meme-making threads.
- Posts linking to useful resources for activists or for anyone concerned about Trump.
- Posts linking to useful resources and/or advice on how to take care of yourself as an activist and as a citizen in Trump’s America. Links to resources on dealing with harassment, ideas for self-care, and so on.
- Mini issues guides: Links to useful posts and articles on specific subjects, eg Trump’s conflicts of interest.
- Links to individual articles/posts/videos that are useful and inspiring.
- Social media recommendations: people to follow on Twitter, YouTube channels to subscribe to, good subreddits to look into (and yes there are some).
- Regular brainstorming threads.
I’m working on the first couple of posts right now, but I’m also looking for ideas — both for specific posts and more broadly on what sorts of posts might be most valuable for you all. So post your thoughts and suggestions!
I’m going to join the IWW. There’s a general strike planned for January 20th. Don’t go to work or school and don’t go shopping. The coming months and years will require many general strikes, each one larger than the last.
@Victoria
It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating : take care of yourself first and foremost. Get yourself in a good place, and from there you can then think about activism. Self-care is not selfish, it’s one of the first and most essential steps to caring for others.
The thing with this whole anti-Trump thing is that we’re refusing the world that we’re being given. Instead we want a world where each of us matters as much as the next one, and where your well-being is more important than the contribution you make. Can’t have that world unless we apply those principles even now.
Talking about it here is already quite something, by the way. You’re sharing your own struggles and that’s important. Please keep on doing this and allow the rest of us to lend an ear and try to help you.
As for the drivers’ license, I ain’t got one either and I salute you, fellow non-goer-around-in-big-steel-boxes.
@kupo
Physical signature petitions tend to be more legit (though not ones you get in fundraising letters), mainly because hiring signature gatherers is an expensive way to mine data.
The best rule of thumb is to avoid vaguely worded petitions and those that seek the ridiculously impossible (“Tell Donald Trump to appoint David Futrelle as Secretary of State!”). With surveys, be wary of those that are subtly or not so subtly reinforcing your worldview and nudging you toward giving up personal information or making a donation.
Long time lurker, first time commentator.
My partner and I decided that we’re just not going to spend much money anymore.
Early this year, our household had a financial windfall due to both our careers having a great boost, and we lived it up a bit up this year. More eating out, replacing not so nice things with nicer things, going to the movies, and even thought about buying a new car. Normal DINK reactions to things going well.
With the election, we decided no more. As of January, we go back to our minimalist ways. Pay for what is needed to keep us healthy and content and no more.
It’s selfish but our reasoning is to protect us and to protest the circumstances of unrestrained capitalism that led to this terrible future. 1. The biggest reason is we’re both expecting another recession which both my partner and I struggled through. Stashing enough money to survive years of joblessness should be the new American norm. 2. We don’t want to feed into the numbers of the economy anymore. Why give Trump a good economy if he and his robber barons are just going to profit from it while the rest of us will foot the bill after this is all over?
@ Scildfreja Unnýðnes
…but Trump IS the president. Regardless of whether you hate his policies, regardless of whether he’s a vile person, regardless of whether or not he won the popular vote, saying that he isn’t president is deluding yourself.
@Dr. Spleen
He’s officially President, not God-Emperor as the usual shitheads call him. He doesn’t have absolute immunity or anything.
As for Scildfreja and meself, we can call him whatever we like, especially since he’s quite literally not our president. Doesn’t mean he’s only the US’s problem though, as shown by his recent comments about nukes…
I’m fashionably late, as usual, but….
@Snowberry? Could I see that song?
As for one for now, a summation and placeholder (with bits cribbed from all over the thread, special credit to @Scildfreja):
The race should have never been close to this
And I thought we as a country had love for our fellow man
But then the news, like a knuckle sandwich to the face, how it hits!
That’s an awful strange dream for an American
But we’re all linked together, and we rise to face the day
With the same probability that it always will
And we’ll keep rising and keep fighting ’till we’re really okay
And we’ve removed all the chaff from the mill
Hey, maybe I’m just a kid and I’m too naive to know
How the world works, and maybe someday I will see
That apparently I’m inferior, just like a herd of others
Because I think we all deserve equality (and have a [CENSOR MEOW])
But hey, maybe, maybe I’m right
And I’ll stand by my compatriots on a moonless night
Waiting for the order to, when night rolls over to day
Move forward through the rubble…and move things closer to “okay.”
@Dr. Spleen
I refuse to call him my president. He does not represent me and I sincerely doubt the validity of the vote totals that led the electoral college to vote for him. I would be deluding myself if I were to quietly accept this. I would be deluding myself if I were to “just give him a chance.” I would be deluding myself if I were to find a “middle ground.” I would be deluding myself if I were to say, “he can’t possibly follow through on his campaign promise to _____.” I am not deluding myself now; I’m fighting.
@ Dr. Spleen
I refuse. He does not represent me nor my wants and ideals. I am not going to give a single inch because I distinctly recall the last few times we did we had done pretty mucheverything Nazi Germany was doing, and oh look the parallels are one to one. It’s not Poe when you got literal nazis on his side, or literal calls to label and ban minorities.
I just finished watching season 2 of Man in the High Castle. It was quite a different and more experience than watching season 1 last year was because it almost feels like the Nazis might as well have won WWII for all the good winning the war actually did us.
I know that’s melodramatic but it’s how I feel 🙁
@Mnemosyne
I also plan on going on general strike on 1/20. I will be going to one of the women’s marches on 1/21 as well.
@Victoria,
I completely understand why you feel so powerless – that’s a very difficult situation. Disagreeing with family is hard enough, but when you’re dependent on them it’s fraught with problems. I don’t know what kind of communication you have with your parents, but is it possible to talk to them about how you’re feeling, without a fight becoming inevitable? When I was a teenager my mum was actually great about this – we established some issues that we just did not and could not agree on, and we did our best to steer clear of them. Sometimes we’d try to talk them through, although that wasn’t easy. It’s a little thing, but it can make home life less stressful.
Re doing things to help, people up-thread have already offered excellent suggestions. Remember that movements are not made by one or two exceptional, heroic, often astonishingly good-looking individuals (although we tend to view them that way). Activism is often a series of small, seemingly mundane gestures by great numbers of people. And all of us are still trying to get on with our everyday lives at the same time.
What a rambly, long post! I will finish with this: I don’t have a license either, can’t drive (not even in games), never will – and I’m technically a full grown-up with a kid, and job, and all that. So don’t worry about it.
Please keep us posted if you want to about how you go 🙂
@ kupo @ Ooglyboggles
I think that there is a failure of communication here. The way I see it, saying Trump isn’t president is akin to saying that global warming doesn’t exist. While both Trump being president and global warming are bad, you can’t deny either. This isn’t to say that you can’t make attempts to stop both.
Not calling Trump president isn’t anything like denying global warming. We are aware that he won the electoral college and that he will be in the white house running the government (into the ground).
But we also recognize that there are huge questions about how he became president — most notably the Russian hack, the FBI interference, voter suppression. Absent these factors I think it is safe to say that he would not have won the election. (If he colluded with Russia on the hacks he should be in jail, not the white house.)
So yes he is technically the president, but an illegitimate president. Hence we refuse to use the term, to deny him the symbolic legitimacy it gives him.
He will also, due to his financial and business conflicts of interest, be violating the law the moment he takes office. If he puts the interests of another country ahead of those of the US in an attempt to help his businesses abroad, he will literally be committing treason .Another reason not to give him legitimacy.
The fact that he lost the popular vote is just the shit cherry on this shit sundae. We can’t un-president him because of this but we can work to eliminate the electoral college. And we can use this fact both to needle him and his supporters and to challenge his ridiculous talk of a “landslide” and or a mandate.
I think I will be calling him “popular-vote-loser Trump.”
Also, lots of great ideas here! I like the idea of a weekly “what I did to oppose Trump” thread. And I’ll definitely do some posts supporting organizations that are going to be hit hard because of Trump/Republicans (planned parenthood, for example) or that have become much more necessary because of Trump (civil liberties watchdogs, etc).
If you have thoughts on some organizations worth highlighting (beyond the ones already mentioned in the thread) let me know.
And I definitely want to do more on self-care. I’m also thinking of promoting Trump vacation days — that is, people deliberately ignoring all things Trump for, say, a day a week in order to get some relief.
On the Trump filter, I actually ran that photo through a bunch of less-extreme filters. But the results weren’t recognizably Trump. Somehow this filter captured his essence better.
I think the idea behind not calling Trump president is also more about not acknowledging him with the title President and the respect and deference that usually (well, used to) goes with the office, not denying reality. Example: at best, the anti-Obama crowd called him “Obama” and did not use “President” when referring to him, if they could help it. Of course, respect was completely absent from that, too.
Like disowning a family member: even if there is a biologically defined connection, you refuse to acknowledge that person as occupying that role in your life.
Hence the “Not MY President”.
My term for the Angry Cheeto: President-Electoral Trump. The “Electoral” is a reminder that it was the electoral vote, not the popular vote, which the Cheeto won; it’s also a way to minimize whatever propaganda value may come with calling him just-plain “President Trump”.
Pretty much OT: MTV made a video of ‘New Year’s resolutions for white guys’. The resulting Twitter meltdown has been pretty damn funny. Highlights here.
@Troubelle: Later. I’m getting to bed, then I’m going to be too busy with holiday gatherings and events to care that much about non-emergency things. I do promise to get back to you on that, though.
@Dr. Spleen, not calling him President isn’t about denying reality, or wishful thinking, or power-of-positive-thinking. It’s – well, it’s a lot more basic than that.
Please forgive me as I get technical. The second-to-last paragraph has the actual conclusion if you’re busy :p
According to the connectionist model of memory, concepts are all linked together in one big web in our minds according to the experiences surrounding those concepts. Many Americans receive positive experiences associated with their country and its symbols as they’re growing up – the encouragement and approval of parents, teachers and others is a very strong motivating factor which persists with us into adulthood. The Flag, the President, the White House, the word “America” or “American”, other symbols of patriotism, are all tied to one another and, from each other, to things that we value. The love of parents and friends, the feeling of summer or freedom or whatnot.
(Note – this certainly doesn’t apply to everyone. I’m talking about the subset of people who have some feelings of love for America and who don’t hate their national symbols. That’s probably a lot of Americans, though)
On his election, Trump became tied to those feelings by way of this semantic network. This is why so many people felt viscerally upset – this slime-coated pustule of a man had embedded himself into very personal emotions by way of this patriotic symbol network.
The good feelings associated with the President and other patriotic symbols now activate on mention of Trump. This will have two effects.
1) Trump won’t seem as bad. He’s subconsciously associated with good things.
2) Those things that made us feel good won’t feel as good anymore. The symbols of the “patriotic symbol network” won’t inspire such feelings of happiness as they did once.
More clinically, the concept of Trump is being connected to these positive concepts, so the neural structures fire at the same time, meaning that their emotional feedback will normalize. Where it normalizes to will depend on the individual, but overall it’s gonna be a net negative.
This has an effect on motivation. While stress hormones are vital in motivating action, they are poorly suited for creative thought or long-term activity – both of these are incredibly important in fighting out a political engagement. You need the “feel good” hormones as well for that, plus obviously ample food and rest. You also need those stress hormones to go away from time to time – it works best when the periods of stress are short and interspersed with periods of happiness. A nullification of the positive feelings of that “patriot symbol network” is going to cripple ones’ ability to actually take action.
(Pay attention to that one, guys. You need the good feels too, and schadenfreude doesn’t count!)
We need to maintain that strong emotional polarity – Trump as a revolting element in our politics, but cognitively isolated from the things that we thing are worth work to improve. We must sever the associative tie between Trump and the Presidency. Refusing to use the word for him does this by injecting an explicit and conscious wedge to break this link, reinforced by the fact that it’s a physical action (speaking is very much a physical thing, and very different from just thinking it).
As an added bonus, it reduces the association between Trump and the Presidency with others who hear it, too. Someone above mentioned that this is why many people just call him Obama instead of President Obama – this is mostly about the reduction of status to avoid the speaker from feeling small, but there’s a knock-on effect of making Obama less associated with the Presidency, too. This same mechanism will reduce the connection strength between Trump and the Presidency (by a very small amount) as well.
That’s my ramble – all very off-the-cuff and uncited, unfortunately. Can’t be bothered to dig up the references from my books! It all boils down to just breaking the association between Trump and the symbols of patriotism in order to keep him from being normalized, though.
Huh. I could’ve just used that sentence and been done with it. Guess I’m in a rambly mood. There you are!
@David, I installed the Kittens-Replacing-Trump-Pictures plugin and am much happier with that result. Though I coudln’t tell right away, to be honest, given how many kitties are on your website normally 😀
Also, merry christmas!
@Victoria, <3 much love and well-wishing. That's really tough. Come here and vent whenever you want to.
@Vicious Christmas, I live quite minimalist myself! I find it a good habit to be in just in general. I hope that it pays off and you weather the storm just fine, and that there are sunny days afterwards.
Probably necro’ing at this point but I was out all day yesterday:
Snowberry – Everything doesn’t have to be a song, chants are a thing, too, and don’t require music!
Judas Peckerwood – You’re quite right about petitions! I was an enthusiastic signer for years and now get mostly political emails from pols all over the country asking for $$. These balloon my inbox during (ever longer) elections. Although nowadays (just this last election season) it’s morphed into endless requests to fill out “one minute surveys” first. Yeesh! Don’t be like Hambeast, kids, follow Judas’ advice!
Scildfreya and Cubist – Thanks for the latest new names for trmp: Squatter in Chief and President Electoral!
@Vicious Christmas
Cos I just got my job, and I’d like to keep it? The economy doesn’t belong to Trump. A recession doesn’t really hurt him. It would hurt me tho. And millions besides. I get the sentiment, I’m not telling you to spend money, and I ain’t picking on you. Just a gentle reminder that we’re in this together. I hope 🙂
Confirming that it worked – I only had to put up with five minutes of omnicidal nonsense instead of the full two hours, and CARE’s getting $90! As I said, win-win.
Well done – and taking my hat off to you for sticking to your guns in the face of egregious dodgy-uncle-ing, SFHC 🙂