Democracy is Crumbling. Is Anybody Doing Anything?

Yes. And You Can Too.

This past weekend a federal district court in Massachusetts issued a nationwide injunction ordering Elon Musk and his team of young tech supremacists to stop accessing payment and other systems at the Department of Treasury, and further ordered Musk’s team to destroy any and all https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/nyregion/attorneys-general-trump-musk-suit.html

When I posted the news on social media, I was struck by how many readers responded with one of three responses: 1) well, it’s too late they’ve already downloaded all of our information; 2) yeah, but who’s going to make them comply; they’ll just ignore it or 3) even if they defy the court’s order and are held in contempt, who will arrest them? And won’t Trump just pardon them?

To be honest, each of these concerns is valid. But the frequency and tone of these responses suggested to me that something more than cynicism was at work. Certainly, people should push back against those who might suggest that the courts alone are the “answer” to this crisis moment. Many of us remember how many “experts” suppressed legitimate alarm during Trump’s first time by encouraging us to “just wait for Robert Mueller’s report.” I am a lawyer and so I believe in the power of law as a tool to fight against injustice. But as a civil rights lawyer, I also know that law alone is insufficient.

I don’t think that it is just skepticism about the effectiveness of legal challenges that is driving the cynicism and resignation I am hearing from people. Because I also see repeated posts and hear in conversation with people around the country the claim that “no one is doing anything.” Even newspapers have reported that there is no resistance this time. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/11/15/trump-presidency-liberal-media-resistance-00189655

And this is patently untrue. And yet people keep repeating it. Now I agree that most Democrats were unconscionably slow out of the gate until last week. And it’s true that we no longer have the central social media space of Twitter to reliably keep one another informed about campaigns as we did during Trump’s first presidency. But what I hear in the repeated insistence that “no one is doing anything” is the underlying belief that there is nothing that can be done. And this troubles me deeply.

I have come to wonder whether these expressions of despair and surrender are really masking an irrational longing for a magical way out of this nightmare. A hope that some deus ex machina will swoop down and spare us what we are facing. But this moment we find ourselves in is the result of the reckless voting of our fellow Americans in 2024, the failures of our media over decades, the critical political mistakes of our leaders, the short-sighted greed of the corporate community, and the longstanding lack of urgency about repairing the gaping cracks in our democratic infrastructure over far too many years. There is no magical way out.We are reaping what has been sown by many, many years of inattention to the eroding foundations of our democracy and we must face it.

To overcome or even slow the momentum of the forces arrayed against us will require our resolve, and an ecosystem of resistance – litigation, activism, organizing, direct action, communications, political pressure, and our voices raised to speak truth to power. We may not be able to score a knock-out punch, but we can score a series of technical knockouts against our opponents to reduce the intensity of their efforts. This will take all of us, committing to do what we can.

To insist that nothing can be done is to surrender to the pull of inertia. To numb ourselves and settle for watching our country’s demise, rather than fight it. If this seems like an option to you it is only because you are unable to imagine how truly bad it can get for our families, our friends, and our communities. I am clear that it can and may become not just worse, but intolerable for many, many people, and that none of us will be immune. That recognition makes it clear to me that there is no option but to fight.

Despair and believing that you are powerless is a form of “obeying in advance” (Timothy Snyder’s term) which ensures the victory of autocracy. I understand the exhaustion, anger, the feeling of being overwhelmed and the grief that those of us who believe in democracy, equality and justice are experiencing right now. And painful as it is, I have accepted that there are no guarantees that we can overcome all that we are facing. But I do know that unless we fight, we cannot prevail.

Fortunately, many people are in fact “doing something.”

Three of Trump’s Executive orders were halted at least temporarily by federal courts last week. A federal judge in Massachusetts issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the enforcement of Trump’s challenge to birthright citizenship, a critical and founding principle of our Constitution since the end of the Civil War. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/trump-birthright-citizenship.html Another federal judge halted Musk’s access to Treasury department systems https://www.npr.org/2025/02/08/g-s1-47350/states-sue-to-stop-doge-accessing-personal-data or ordered the destruction of any data Musk and his minions And another federal judge temporarily enjoined the effort to fire thousands of employees of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/07/g-s1-47224/usaid-freeze-judge-trump .

New litigation is challenging the so-called “Department” of Government Efficiency, Musk’s cost-cutting operation, as violative of the Federal Advisory Committees Act https://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-action/lawsuits/doge-sued-to-follow-the-law-or-cease-operations/ . FBI agents have sued to block dissemination of the names of agents who worked on the January 6^th case. https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-fbi-justice-department-8460829a0874f91a95bc4a9d22e36fce Other cases are being developed that are challenging the illegal actions of the Trump administration, as well as anti-democratic measures that are being undertaken at the state level.

State Attorney General Tish James issued a letter informing medical facilities in New York State that New York State Law forbids discrimination against classes of people and that denying of care to transgender individuals to comply with Trumps’ anti-trans Executive Order will violate their obligations under state law. https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/letters/ag-james-to-hc-providers-re-tro-letter-2025.pdf

But the courts and law are not where all the action is happening. Last week alone there were rallies throughout the country – in all fifty states -- against the actions of Elon Musk and his team at Treasury, his actions against USAID, and his attempt to fire public service employees. https://apnews.com/article/50501-protests-project-2025-trump-state-capitols-ddd341171a54ba9b498cbfe7530e18ab; https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/protests-erupt-as-elon-musk-moves-to-gut-government-agencies ; https://apnews.com/article/50501-protests-project-2025-trump-state-capitols-ddd341171a54ba9b498cbfe7530e18ab Federal workers protested Musk’s insulting and illegal “buyout” offer. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/federal-employees-musk-protest-spoon.html. Other rallies were held in support of the rights of transgender people. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/nyregion/nyc-trans-health-care-youth-protest.html . Democratic members of Congress showed up at rallies and demanded entry to federal office buildings where Musk’s team was working. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/us/politics/trump-department-education-democrats.html

People are doing things. You will meet those people when you start doing things. The easiest form of advocacy is for you to pressure your representatives to oppose the Musk takeover and destruction of our federal agency infrastructure. In an IG Live this week Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared that the calls made by voters to members of Congress last week – both to Democrats and Republicans – is beginning to have effect. Note, for example, Republican Senator Moran public expression of concern about the effect of Musk’s actions against the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on Kansas farmers. https://www.yahoo.com/news/kansas-moran-davids-sound-alarm-195901729.html So folks in red states or districts, you especially need to make these calls. We need to help open up a wedge between Trump and congressional Republicans. That can only happen if they feel pressure from their constituents. If you are in a blue state or a Democratic district, you need to push your representatives to engage the battle relentlessly, to “leave no power on the table,” and to use all of the tools available to them to resist.

Democratic members of Congress began to increase their presence at rallies and outside federal agencies targeted by Musk in response to pressure from their constituents. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his support for Democratic Senators who have urged opposing all Trump nominees, after increasing calls and pressure from Democratic voters. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/chuck-schumer-democrats-trump-nominees-protest.html . We need to demand that Democrats create a real, dynamic, top-notch communications campaign. We need more Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), AOC (D-NY), Jamie Raskin (D-Md), Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), our two new Black women Senators, Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE). New faces, new voices. Short videos. Action items. Tutorials on Senate rules and committee jurisdiction. Teach, Listen and Act.

Fortunately, there are easy tools to help you reach out to your representatives. The organization Indivisible https://indivisible.org/coup has information about how to reach your representatives including talking points you may wish to guide you, and a toolkit on how to show up at your Senator’s home office in your state. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cru6DBkH5gadq3S-mVhiSU72mC2ZeDHXG93jeiemFH0/mobilebasic

There is even an app now, called 5 Calls: Contact your Congress https://5calls.org/ that you can download to keep the information available and at your fingertips. It is available in the App Store on Apple I-phones. Want to call your Governor every week? You can find contact information here. https://www.usa.gov/state-governor

There are rallies, marches and other direct action planned for the coming weeks in your states and in Washington, D.C., sponsored by an array of good organizations. Beware of phony orgs. Do a quick online search or make a call before showing up anywhere. Remember that marches must be non-violent. I fear that Trump would relish an opportunity to respond violently to incidents of unrest where violence breaks out.

As people lose jobs as a result of the draconian cuts planned by Trump and Musk, now is a good time to start or join a Mutual Aid group in your community. People will need help given the abruptness with which people are being let go of their jobs or compelled to relocate. The American Friends Service (Quakers) offers helpful information on how to create a mutual aid network to support those in your community https://afsc.org/news/how-create-mutual-aid-network . But there are many existing mutual aid programs around the country that are doing great work.

And yes, I know many are afraid. We have seen the vindictiveness of Trump. But we will either act now or wait until autocracy has become so unyielding that we will no longer be able to exercise our basic rights. You will become less afraid when you feel part of a group, so try and pull together a group of friends, or join a civic organization so that you are not alone. But do not give away your power and our hope that we can prevail against some of these terrible excesses. Just be careful and strategic.

The good news is that some things our opponents do will create opportunities. Overreach is the coin of the realm for rightwing politicians, and we are seeing it already. When prominent members of the National Evangelical Association feel compelled to issue a letter calling on Trump to “rethink” his closure plans for USAID https://www.businessinsider.com/evangelical-leaders-respond-donald-trump-usaid-foreign-aid-cuts-doge-2025-2, and red states begin to understand the devastating financial effects of some of Trump’s policies on their own fiscal bottom line https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2025/02/09/what-does-usaid-food-for-peace-shutdown-mean-for-kansas-sorghum-crop/78300587007/ , we should expect to see some rollback. We saw this with the spending freeze that Trump was compelled to walk-back. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-revokes-spending-freeze-face-legal-challenges-2025-01-29/

But we will not prevail by their mistakes. It will be our actions that will determine whether we can hold back or slow down this freight train. The truth is that we will NOT be able to stop every terrible thing that this administration seeks to do. Elections really do have consequences – as many of us tried with tremendous urgency to make clear last year. But we can slow things down, win some battles, throw sand in the gears of others. If we save some lives, some jobs, some critical government agencies, some measure of press freedom, some medical and subsistence benefits, academic freedom for some schools and universities, and protect the dignity, safety and constitutional rights of some of our most vulnerable fellow Americans, it will be worth it.

And it will be from whatever remainder of democratic structure, values, and policies we are able to protect that we will have the space and platform on which to do the work of building an urgently needed new democracy in our country. So our fight today is worth it.

Lastly, make sure you have and can share good information. For those federal workers who are understandably concerned and on edge, Civil Service Strong has excellent resources with comprehensive information for civil service workers. https://www.civilservicestrong.org/resources The ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project’s Know Your Rights guide is a remarkable comprehensive resource than can walk immigrants and their families through different scenarios and concepts. The information is printable and is available in ten different languages https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/immigrants-rights. Keep it yourself, but also share with neighbors, teachers, and clergy. Some school districts are providing training for parents and teachers on how to deal with ICE https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/education/2025/01/17/nyc-public-schools-hold-trainings-on-dealing-with-ice-ahead-of-inauguration; https://abc7.com/post/santa-ana-unified-school-district-training-staff-case-ice-agents-show-campus/15847896/. Ask your school district if they have such a training program, and if not, tell them you would like to see one offered.

On a more pragmatic note, many of you have told me that you are looking for ways to keep up with news without becoming overloaded and without scrolling. I encourage you to get the SmartNews app. I have found it very helpful. It’s news without the noise. You can learn more here: https://www.smartnews.com/en

And don’t forget to support those organizations that are doing the heavy lifting for our democracy: the ACLU https://www.aclu.org/, NAACP Legal Defense Fund https://www.naacpldf.org/, Democracy Forward https://democracyforward.org/, Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Government (CREW) https://www.citizensforethics.org/, ProPublica https://www.propublica.org/, Slate https://slate.com/, Mississippi Free Press https://www.mississippifreepress.org/,and Wired https://www.wired.com/. There are many more. Please add your suggestions in the comments.

I hope this was helpful.

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