What to do now

I’ve started writing a post multiple times this week, only for it to be overtaken by events before I could finish. So, for now, I’m not going to try to summarize all the things that have happened since Trump took office, but just jump in with a few thoughts about what we can be doing right now. (That said, if you have specific questions about what the hell just happened, send them my way and I’ll do my best to explain.

1. Speak truth. In the face of this enormity, it’s important to name what’s happening. Sam Bagenstos, who was the General Counsel at HHS until two weeks ago, had a great post this morning about why it’s important to write about the illegality of what Trump and Musk are doing. The point is not to say “this is illegal, so the courts will fix it and we don’t have to worry about it.” Bagenstos is not naive about the power of the courts and how much damage will have already occurred even if they rule against Trump. But if we let them claim that this is politics as normal, or that they’re violating technicalities that only lawyers care about, we’re giving up more than half the battle.
2. Document the harm. If you need data that has suddenly disappeared from the Census website, if your doctor doesn’t have access to the pages that provide evidence-based recommendations, if you got a stop-work order, if you can’t access the portal you need to get paid, don’t just sit and stew. Write down what happened, and the impact it’s having, and share with your members of Congress, with the press (NY Times form), with the groups suing the administration (National Council of Nonprofits form), and with your uncle who voted for Trump.
3. If you’re not directly impacted, help the folks who are. In particular, there’s been an immediate cut off of support to both international aid and domestic refugee resettlement groups. I’m hearing in some cases, groups aren’t being paid for work they’ve already done and staff are either already being laid off or will be imminently. If you’re in the DC area, Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area has been the major resettlement agency. And check in on your friends and neighbors who are federal employees.
4. Call your members of Congress, especially if you’re represented by a Republican.
   • Stay calm, don’t yell at the underpaid staffer who is answering the phone, but be clear about the specific harms you’re seeing, and the danger of letting unelected and unconfirmed wildcards have access to the government’s financial systems and personnel records. (Seriously, if I had my money in a bank with this poor controls, I’d pull it out.) I’m not betting on the spine of Congressional Republicans, but if enough people call them and show up at their town halls, they might realize that it’s in their interest to speak up.
   • If they’re Democrats, tell them that they need to speak out more vocally, and that they should not be supporting any of the nominations at this point, and that nothing should be moving under unanimous consent. If they don’t know what to do, they should say “what would Mitch McConnell have done?” and do that. They probably can’t stop this shit from happening — unless they convince at least some Republicans to join them — but they should be using every opportunity to call it out.
5. What about protests? I think Mariame Kaba is right that the most impactful protests right now are against institutions that have pre-complied — that are shutting down anything that could vaguely be called DEI, that are taking away care and services from trans kids. Trump doesn’t care if people protest against him, but your local library or hospital might. (see picture below of protests outside of the UVA hospital).

That said, if Indivisible or MoveOn decides that we’ve reached the point where we need mass action, I’m going to trust them.

Finally, take care of yourself. Pick something you can do, then look away from the screen for a little while. Get outside. Call a friend. Bake something good. Cancel a subscription you don’t need.