Friday, November 25, 2016

VIDEO: DIY resistance to Trump agenda

What You Can Do, Starting Today

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY01JD9Okwc

The election is over and the time is nigh for liberals and progressives to stand up, dust themselves off and begin working on defeating President-elect Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant, anti-Obamacare, anti-woman, anti-pretty-much-anything-that-makes-us-proud agenda.

Firebrand progressive Elizabeth Warren was one of the first to lead the charge, telling Rachel Maddow last week that: “We are not turning this country over to what Donald Trump has sold.  We are just not.

Below is a list of 6 easy ways liberals and progressives can work to defeat Donald Trump and his oppressive agenda.


1. VOLUNTEER

Volunteering time or money to organizations and groups supporting liberal and progressive causes like Planned Parenthood gives them strength in numbers and helps build a grassroots coalition to defeat Trump’s agenda. 

All it takes is a few dollars or a couple of hours of volunteer time a week. As Elizabeth Warren told Rachel Maddow a couple of weeks ago: “Volunteering is a way to say we’re making these groups stronger.”

2. HOLD YOUR LEGISLATORS ACCOUNTABLE

Contact your federal, local and state legislators and tell them the issues that matter to you and remind them that as elected officials they work for us – the people. You can also remind them that if they are not prepared to do battle against Trump’s agenda you will remember that during the next election, when we can replace them with candidates willing to stand up and fight for liberal and progressive ideals. As filmmaker and activist Michael Moore wrote in his morning after the election to-do list: “Any Democratic member of Congress who didn’t wake up this morning ready to fight, resist and obstruct in the way Republicans did against President Obama every day for eight full years must step out of the way and let those of us who know the score lead the way in stopping the meanness and the madness that’s about to begin.”

3. ADVOCATE TRUTHFULNESS

Don’t idly stand by while Trump supporters and Republicans make false claims about having a mandate from the people, that we are sore losers. Use Twitter and Facebook, email and phones to remind people that Hillary Clinton has won the popular vote by over 1.7 million votes, and that margin is increasing as absentee and provisional ballots continue being counted. Remind them that Trump won the election due to an “arcane, insane 18th-century idea called the Electoral College” that Constitutional scholars say is a shameful remnant of slavery that must end.

Remind everyone that Democrats picked up 6 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and picked up 2 seats in the U.S. Senate that a runoff election is scheduled for Louisiana on December 10th – that it is possible that Democrats might pick up another Senate seat there.

Challenge that loudmouth at Starbucks, Twitter and Facebook spouting out his or her illogical, unsubstantiated opinion.

4. SUPPORT PROGRESSIVE ORGANIZATIONS

Yesterday was the time to lick our wounds and mourn for what could have been, but today it’s time we regroup, we organize, we find the resolve to fight back; and we can do this by supporting progressive organizations that are out there in the trenches – with boots on the ground – fighting the good fight each and every day. Here is a List Of Pro-Women, Pro-Immigrant, Pro-Earth, Anti-Bigot Organizations That We Need To Support to get you started – today!

5. SPEND YOUR MONEY AT COMPANIES SUPPORTING LIBERAL AND PROGRESSIVE CAUSES

This way you can actually use your money to send a message that reflects OUR values and priorities. There are millions of businesses in this country who are constantly vying for your patronage. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you are contributing to those who will use your hard earned dollars to fight for the left? Here is a list of 10 Great Progressive Companies Where We SHOULD Spend Our Money.

6. BE AWARE OF COMPANIES SUPPORTING TRUMP AND THE CONSERVATIVE AGENDA AND BOYCOTT THEM

Identify companies supporting Trump’s agenda and his efforts to undermine personal freedoms, the rights of immigrants, women’s reproductive health access… Protest With Your Wallet! Boycott These 28 Businesses Who Sell Trump Products! 


Samuel Warde is a writer, social and political activist, and all-around troublemaker.