The Resistance. My friend Regan first brought it to my attention in an email on December 19, a full month before the inauguration. The Resistance. It recalls the scrappy human soldiers in the futuristic clips from the Terminator movie franchise. Nicaragua’s Sandinista freedom fighters in the seventies. My college roommate Tom commandeering the microphone at an outdoor music festival and shouting “F*ck the administration!” into the night.
The Resistance. It sounds playful or foreboding, my first thought was maybe even a little silly, like children playing war with croquette mallets as rifles. I read the email. Regan called for nonviolent action. “Request free inauguration tickets from your representative and then don’t show up.” What better dig at Donald Trump than empty seats at his inauguration.
The Resistance. I see it with a hashtag on Facebook, my only social media. Memes, funny or serious, sometimes both; long testimonials from fired federal employees; concerned diatribes from health care workers and aid organizations; linked articles of Elon Musk with his chainsaw. I sat on my hands and waited, too shocked and disgusted to throw my hat into the ring, to throw my opinions out into the world.
Last Tuesday, that abruptly changed. My country’s president blamed Ukraine for the Russian invasion. He called Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator. He cozied up to our chief adversary in a way seemingly torn from the pages of Orwell’s 1984. He tried to extort a mafia-esque protection tax from a European ally. A paragraph in an op-ed by David Ignatius summed up my feelings succinctly:
Trump is an outrage-generating machine. He appears to take perverse pleasure in saying things that shock, and I normally ignore the daily presidential detonation. But this time was different. The tragic loss of life in Ukraine will mean nothing — and a true resolution of the conflict will be impossible — if we can’t distinguish between the attacker and the victim.
I posted this quote on Facebook and officially joined #TheResistance, one of the vocal millions pointing out the dangerous absurdities happening in Washington. It’s not enough, but it’s a start. On Wednesday night, I emailed my congressional representative and both senators (two Republicans and a Democrat):
As a constituent, I’d like to request that you stand up against President Trump’s rule by decree method of governance and insist on a return to our established (and legal) parliamentary procedures and legislative process that have been in use for 250 years.
Today, I posted on Facebook about Coke v. Pepsi in the DEI war: PepsiCo has vowed to rollback their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Coca-Cola has reaffirmed theirs. Drink Coke!
I fully expect pushback on this controversial topic. I’m unconcerned. I have a secret weapon. Last week, a friend suggested that when someone tells me they oppose DEI, I should challenge them. I should ask, specifically, what they dislike: Diversity, Equity or Inclusion? Make them say it. “I’m against diversity. I’m against inclusion.”
The Resistance is about truth. The Resistance is about education. The Resistance is about conversation. The only solution is to point out the absurd, the inconsistent and the hate.
Join The Resistance.
Equality v. Equity
The Other Stuff 
I’m not sure ridicule will undermine the “faith” that Trump followers have in him. Sadly, it seems that many amongst the vast herds of Trump supporters often chose to “believe” what he says, knowing it is untrue but choosing to pretend that it’s true anyway.
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Well, yes there is that issue of blind support, although the news is full of reports of people filled with regret right now about their vote. Probably overblown media hype, but if cracks exist in Trump’s exterior, now is the time to jam in a screwdriver to see if we can open them up.
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That is a healthy sign.🪛
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👏👏👏👏👏
It’s in times such as America is facing right now that “Silence is golden” is as harmful as joining the MAGA crowd.
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The left was eerily quiet in the first two weeks after the election. Those first few days were a gut punch, and I think many of us had trouble catching our breath. Hopefully that’s past. I worry though about threats over dissent. The thought police may be coming (to borrow an Orwell theme).
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In Colorado, I have two Democratic senators; my 3rd district congressional representative is a maga cultist. Every day, I send multiple emails to these three guys covering a range of topics, and my emails to my 3rd district rep are decidedly…um…not very polite but 100% factual. This rep took over when the insufferable Lauren Boebert fled to a safer, redder district to get re-elected. I hear back occasionally from my senators, but never once from my representative. In addition to emails, I sign and send about twenty or more online petitions each day. I’m poor so I can’t donate to candidates or causes; I’m deaf so I can’t do phone-banking; I can no longer drive and can’t walk well anymore so in-person volunteering isn’t an option. I have no social media (I ditched Facebook and Twitter three years ago). I’m doing all I can but it feels woefully inadequate and hopeless.
My rural area of southwestern Colorado is a maga cesspool of hatred and racism/bigotry. My small town of Cortez even has its own little hate group—Montezuma County Patriots (apparently they have a FB page, but Google works to find them). It’s a mess.
Keep up the resistance, Jeff. Hopefully, at some point people will wake up and realize what’s happening and things will change.
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Wow, you’re putting me to shame. I better step up my game. It’s hard to think up concrete action to take that will have an obvious impact on those around us. Scary what you say about Cortez. That area has caught our eye on a couple of trips as a retirement possibility. Better cross it off our list. My area is super conservative, but the people are all still pretty nice to be around. I don’t see much hard core MAGA.
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I’m right there with you, Jeff.
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👍
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I’m in. Trump silences people through threats. He strikes fear in the civilized. But he can’t destroy all of us. Resist.
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“He can’t destroy all of us” Hopefully that’s true. He’ll certainly try.
Where’d you go?
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Thanks for asking. I’ve had some family issues that have demanded my attention. I’m coming back to writing soon!
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Thanks, Jeff. I’m all in. And proud to be part of this growing movement, doing what I can in ways large and small each and every day.
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Fight the fight Frank.
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Great post. I am planning on writing my senators and representatives also. Every time I turn on the TV, I wonder what Trump and Musk screwed up that day. So, doing something is better than doing nothing. I figure it is like the old saying, when a pebble is tossed into a lake it creates ripples.
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Hopefully we can create enough ripples to disrupt the tidal wave trump hath spawn.
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Well said, Jeff. I like that I learned about Pepsi v Coke in this post. Another boycott to add to the list. Thanks for the information and encouragement.
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For me, Pepsi isn’t really a boycott. I’ve always been a coke guy. Now that’s only caffeine free diet coke which I affectionately call chemical water and try to minimize to one or two cans per week.
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When you’re on a website to explore music and you stumble on the cult of the soy boys who are resisting but couldn’t defeat a wet paper bag. Guess I’ll drink more Pepsi and laugh at these responses.
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LOL. Pretty clever for a Trumper.
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MD SAHID ALI
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