What we do now to fight Trump, move our agenda. Part 2 of 3.

We’re back, with more analysis of how progressives can best respond to the Trump era now, and create a path forward for our agenda.

Part 1 of this series (Short-Term) covered February through May of this year.  Part 2 covers May through till the end of the summer (Medium-Term). Part 3 will cover this fall through the 2026 elections, with some thoughts about the longer term.

This post will cover:

• A SWOT analysis for now through the end of August, or Labor Day.

• An outline of a few key actions we should take in each area (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).

• Top priority actions in each area are chosen for both immediate impact and how they should set us up for future success.

  
  

Maximizing Strengths

Engagement.

Engagement.

• Make it a long hot summer of fighting for our lives. I’m not seeing enough engagement beyond the usual white liberals. Maybe that’s just where I live, but I believe white liberals everywhere need to link arms more effectively and visibly with working people, poor people, rural people, blacks and Latinos.  We need to tell stories about one person at a time, how they’re being screwed, and how together we can stop Trump’s agenda.  Most important, turn up the volume wherever you live!  Indivisible is working on this issue.

• I’m seeing some good efforts toward targeting vulnerable electeds, but not enough.  Their constituents have to really get in their faces, in Congress and locally.  There are a few like Josh Hawley, who says he won’t vote for the Medicaid cuts and calls them “politically suicidal.”  We only need a few more like Hawley to stop the budget.

  
  

• Get good 2026 candidates lined up by Labor Day and unveil them in a big splash.  What we can’t get by Labor Day, we MUST get by January.  Zohran Mamdani’s current race for NYC mayor shows that great candidates are the best way to show people what we stand FOR, and get them excited and optimistic about making our country a better place.

Bernie Sanders said in a recent social media post, “If the Democratic Party won't fight for working people, we'll support candidates who will — independents, progressives, anyone willing to take on the billionaires and corporate interests.”  It’s not clear who he meant by “we,” but the bigger the “we,” the more successful it will be.

Policy Moves

It’s good that Ken Martin embraces the idea of a People’s Cabinet. So far, the Democrats’ version is only criticizing Trump, not giving policy alternatives. Also, the people he’s named are not exactly a varsity team.

There is a podcast called the People’s Cabinet, focused on policy alternatives, but it is run by and features status quo Democrats. Larry Summers, anyone? 

• Fight for a better People’s Cabinet. Maybe someone could start an Everyday People’s Cabinet? I would love to work on that. It’s too important to leave to the status quo Democrats.

  
  

• Be prepared to challenge Martin’s policy platform when/if it comes out, show ours has support, and call out the corporate interests that will no doubt be behind Martin’s.

Stronger comms – check!

• Elevate the voices who are creating credible and powerful messages.  Since we identified this as a key opportunity, there has been progress. Bernie Sanders, Greg Casar (CPC chair), Ro Khanna, Chris Murphy, Summer Lee, Johnny Olszewski, and others are always out there now at town halls, in Congress and in the media, naming specific solutions and introducing bills. Gavin Newsom is reaching out to Trump voters, hosting their media stars on his podcast.  Billboards are up in GOP districts calling them out for cutting Medicaid (a GOP lawsuit calls that “defamatory”).

We don't have to wait for the party to anoint new leaders.. These folks can become the de facto faces and voices of the party with our support.  With an emphasis on the working class, they can help us win back Trump voters as well as energize elements of the Democratic base.

 

Minimizing Weaknesses

Party can’t say anything they’re FOR, no progress on internal issues.

• Let's keep showing the way forward. In late March, Rep. Chris Deluzio of PA brought a group of rank-and-file Democrats from different parts of the ideological spectrum onto the House floor, and challenged the party establishment to embrace economic populism, rather than begging for donations from the rich and participating in the corruption. 

  
  

• Get the progressive community together in a network that can agree on:

  
  

  • A positive vision for our country that is no longer than a paragraph and does not include laundry lists of demographics or issues

  • A long-term strategy for achieving that vision

  • A short priority list of simple, effective, easy-to-describe policy solutions for the issues that concern Americans the most right now, and where the GOP is weak

  • Strong content around vision and policy, including key slogans

  • Name a strong People’s Cabinet

    
    

• Fight harder to take power and fix the national party structure - and look ahead to what it would take to elect more independents and build a multi party system. 

  
  

  As Michelle Cottle says in a recent NYT opinion about the party’s struggles, “If the sorry state in which the party currently finds itself isn’t enough to jolt it into action, it is hard to imagine what it would take.”  And if the sorry state isn't enough to motivate Democrats to actively seek an alternative, I don't know what will.

  
  

  I personally cannot understand how these people are still in power.  Any company in America who was bleeding customers for years, and then made a catastrophic bet like Biden/Harris, would have seen heads roll long before now. Most likely the board would have brought in an outsider to take the reins. 

  
  

  The party structure seems designed to protect the status quo and inertia above all. 

  
  

  For example, the Democratic Congressional seniority system incentivizes people to stay in office forever, to get “their turn” to run committees. We’ve expanded the GOP majority ourselves, because 3 ancient Democratic Reps died in office IN THE PAST THREE MONTHS, one announcing terminal illness right after his re-election.  These seats won’t be filled until fall!  Half of the 30 House Dems over 75 have announced they’re running in 2026.

  
  

  DNC members and electeds who’ve seen enough have got to organize themselves, primary incumbents, develop a new structure, and get new leaders in.  If they don’t…hello, Rahm Emanuel for President!!  Here is the party structure as it currently exists.  Conveniently, there is nothing on the party’s website that gives the reader a short version.

  
  

  A takeover surely can’t be accomplished by Labor Day, and perhaps not even before the 2026 elections. But it needs to seriously get underway now.

How can we make our own Project 2025?  Our own Heritage Foundation?  Dems AND the left have neither.

• Read Inventing The Future, in particular, the section about the Mont Pelerin Society.

Starting in the postwar period, this broad network of right-wing actors and wealthy people created the philosophy of neoliberalism.  At first, people laughed. After decades of work, they achieved victory and made their ideas the governing philosophy in the Western world.

These are not nice people. It isn’t covered in this book, but they are responsible for what happened in Chile after a coup took out the socialist president, Salvador Allende, in 1973.  They are, however, effective.

Most importantly, the global Mont Pelerin isn’t part of any political party.  They push their right wing agenda by any means necessary.

Mont Pelerin included many think tanks and advocacy groups, including the Heritage Foundation, I believe. Democrats and the left have think tanks and groups too, of course.

What they DON'T have is groups working together to craft a credible strategic plan to reach the goal of political hegemony [victory]. They also DON'T have anyone who could create the likes of Project 2025. That's more because they don't have the leadership skills to create consensus and they lack the will to power, than because they don't have anyone who has deep knowledge of how the government works.

• We need to operate on two tracks: within and outside the Democratic Party.

Starting our own Mont Pelerin Society likely can’t be completed by Labor Day, or perhaps even by the 2026 elections. But the project of a progressive network, as I outlined above, is no doubt being discussed as we sit here. This network, which could operate like Mont Pelerin in many ways, is where we could start.

The left is particularly weak on strategy and organizational matters, and as a result, they struggle to define policy ideas.

• Bring together the CPC and more radical elements like Justice Democrats, Leaders We Deserve, Working Families Party and DSA, in a network, to create a unified progressive vision, strategy, and policy agenda as described above, to use for the 2026 elections and beyond.

  
  

It should adopt the Mont Pelerin approach, where each group has its own issues and projects that the network may not embrace, and that’s OK. But within the network, they develop consensus on things they promote jointly.

Also, I would adopt the Mont Pelerin agnosticism toward parties. The evangelical movement has done it to great effect. Push your agenda through electoral politics and other means, with no permanent allies, only interests.

• Once progressives have their own plan, work with the New Democrat Coalition (New Democrats) to find common ground on policy and overhauling the national Democratic party. The NDC’s brand is more “moderate” than the CPC, and has some members I find objectionable, like Wesley Bell. But they do a lot of things well.

CPC and NDC each have about 100 members in the House, and there is overlap between them. I’ve identified at least seven people who are listed as members of both: Dan Goldman, Sara Jacobs, Joaquin Castro, Shontel Brown, Don Beyer, Andre Carson, Sarah McBride. I would think they could lead the effort to work together.

We won’t agree on every policy issue.  But together, the two groups might have critical mass to make structural change for the better at the DNC.

You could do this by summer’s end, if you were committed.  I have to believe there are people out there who would fund such a project. 

It may not be possible anymore to fit these differing viewpoints and policy ideas into one party. But we have to contest for power within the party - we do have the best ideas - while also fighting in the court of public opinion. At the same time, we need to figure out how to elect independents and fight for electoral reform at the states.

Moderates are mobilizing around blaming us for the 2024 disaster and making sure that corporate Democrats remain in power. There’s no time to waste.

Maximizing Opportunities

The pain caused by Trump’s actions blooms everywhere, and that creates potential converts.

• Use every tool – mainstream media, social media, in person canvassing, murals, protests, town halls, tabling, letters to the editor, op eds, speaking at community groups and churches, stickers, posters, sidewalk chalk – to highlight the pain to every type of person.  That can include immigrants, LGBTQ, et al – but also must include white people, young men, and rural America.  EVERYONE is losing with Trump. That’s the opportunity.

• What can YOU do to help now? There’s a way to reach any community you may be part of, whether it’s your neighborhood, your professional network, or your Facebook knitting group.

• Communicate. ALWAYS include a policy solution for the pain’s source (not just “don’t cut,” but “raising taxes on billionaires would balance the budget AND pay for veterans suicide prevention”). ALWAYS use a key slogan – like Trump’s “Kamala is for they/them, Trump is for you” - and ALWAYS tell a story about one person.

• Organize.  ALWAYS listen at least as much as you talk. ALWAYS offer people a way to plug into the fight and try to get them to commit to something.

The budget fight makes it plain: it’s the people vs the billionaires. GOP divisions over the budget give us more time to make our case.

• July 4 is D Day for us: their next target date for a vote. The battle will likely go into the fall, but the end of September is a drop dead date for budget expiration.

• Here’s a great piece from my favorite guru Jonathan Smucker on the economic populism roadmap.

• Make plans for a massive action on July 4th weekend (The 4th is on a Friday). Indivisible, Our Revolution and Friends of Bernie Sanders are sure to be doing something – they can help you create an event in your town if there isn’t one - and you may well have a local group working too.

• Some actions should be more militant, like shutting down highways, occupying buildings, or visiting legislators’ homes.

• If you can get a candidate to declare they are running against a Congressional incumbent by summer’s end, that would be ideal!

  
  

Local organizing can help surface credible, working class candidates with main character energy for 2026.

Find out where people can sign up to become a candidate where you are, and get training and support. DSA, WFP and Run for Something offer that. You may not be able or willing to do it yourself, but you may know someone who can.

Congressional candidates are most important for our current crisis – you might have a strong local rep who would consider running for higher office.  But we have to challenge EVERY OFFICE WE CAN.  You’d be amazed how many incumbents run unopposed.

• Keep your eyes open, and if you see someone, try to recruit them. 

They should have roots in their district, have a personal network, be well spoken and capable of dressing professionally, and be honest and trustworthy.

 If they are well known in the community – such as a teacher, nonprofit leader or business owner, an activist on local issues, or an artist – that is a plus, but not essential. 

They should be a people person, have some access to money and a flexible schedule, but those things aren’t necessarily essential either.

Minimizing Threats

The pain could either bring people together on a different vision – or divide them further. Our country, always deeply divided, could break apart.

Some politicians – I think first of Chris Murphy – are skilled at bringing people together. They can lead, but we all have a responsibility, and an opportunity, to fight the division. 

Our country has been divided since before we even became a country – and often over the same issues, like race and slavery. Somehow we’ve held it together – barely. But today’s climate is a real and present threat.  Blue and red states could become separate countries.  (Have you seen the Handmaid’s Tale?  USA splits into theocratic Gilead and remaining US – Alaska, Hawaii, and Chicago.)

Whether it’s just personal conversations or getting a dialogue going in your neighborhood or workplace, we have to try. People need connection, although our culture has made it much harder to find today.  Our movement has to stand for that and make it happen.

Talk about how different kinds of people are getting hurt in a similar way.  Farmer has kid struggling in school, depressed, and there’s no help?  Urban latte drinker, same!  The “authenticity” so key to social media success can be useful in keeping it real.   Then, who is really to blame?

Local issues are an opportunity for people who don’t agree on everything to agree on something close to home, like the need for disaster relief and insurance in the event of a flood, hurricane or tornado.  Find a way to get to “yes, and!” I’m not saying it’s easy or that everyone is reachable.  But we can’t just give up on half the country.

Being lost leads to missed opportunities, like organizing small business and farmers.

• Identify the vulnerabilities the GOP has in your neck of the woods.  Brainstorm as many as you can!  Tariffs and uncertainty killing business?  (They are, and small business is under existential threat.) Are there groups, say your local small business community, that are organized and know how to get heard?  Can you work with them to get the word out to more people?

• Is there someone who’s directly suffering from GOP actions – a small business owner, a fired federal worker or professor, a nonprofit leader who can’t run their food bank without their government contract, a farmer who’s lost his school food contract or subsidy for sustainable energy/farm practices, a disaster victim – that you can convince to join you and help organize their people?  Maybe even get them to run for office?  At minimum, to write an op ed, speak at an event?

• When you get a fire going, make sure to let people know. Write about it, get the paper to write about it, hold local events, contact your local Democratic Party and see if you can get them interested.

To beat autocracy, we have to get much more organized – and militant – without much time to do it.

We can’t allow Trump’s brazen attacks to be normalized.  The average person honestly doesn’t care about Harvard and may even believe all immigrants are criminals. We have to show them why democracy and rule of law should matter to everyone.  

Let’s all remember that South Koreans just saved their own democracy.

• Be VISIBLE and vocal.  See “Maximizing Opportunities” for ideas. I particularly like the idea of picking a high-traffic corner and going there to wave signs at the same time every week. You want the opposition AND quiet supporters to know you’re there.

• Get with an organization, local, regional or national. Some can help you start a chapter.

• If you are comfortable with and well positioned to take more militant action, try to – securely – find more of your kind and make plans.  Imagine something Trump and his people could do that would make you feel, OK, it’s time to ratchet up. Imagine what that might look like and how you might do it. Get legal help and training.