Summer of Our Discontent

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

-Frederick Douglass (1857)

“The truth is that things are going to get very bad.” This was the opening line from my November 4^th essay, “The Truth.”[i] It didn’t take any particular insight to see this even just a week after Donald Trump’s reelection as President. My hope was to encourage us to stiffen our resolve and prepare ourselves for the worst. Sadly, as bad as this moment is, I do not think we are yet at the worst. And so, it seems important to take stock of this moment and think through how we go forward.

Trump’s internal imperialism is in full swing. The occupation of D.C. by National Guard troops and the attempted takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington, D.C. under the pretext of crime emergency is an audacious and ugly move. Watching National Guard officers, ICE, Homeland Security, and a hijacked Metropolitan Police Department laying siege to the District[ii] is frankly nauseating. Moments of levity – the sandwich assault – are overwhelmed by watching ordinary Black and Latino residents in D.C. menaced, attacked, assaulted with impunity by these officers.

Painful as well, is hearing how easily media and ordinary people who should know better have allowed themselves to succumb to the ever-narcotizing effects of the invocations of “crime” to justify extralegal law enforcement power and brutality. How much autonomy, freedom, justice, and decency Americans have been prepared to sacrifice at the specter of containing crime - with all of its attendant racist messaging - is worthy of a long-study piece too lengthy for this platform. Americans have reliantly been vulnerable to this trope.

This time may be a bit different. Because leaders in D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, and other U.S. cities[iii] identified by Trump as targets for emergency law enforcement take-over, have shown themselves powerfully adept at demanding attention for the very real progress they have made in significantly lowering crime in their cities. And Trump’s extravagant claims of “emergency” - to justify wildly obscene tariffs, to justify mass deportations, and to attempt to overrun the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship - have grown dangerously comical.

On Friday D.C. fought back seeking a TRO in federal court after Trump’s AG Pam Bondi unleashed an overnight attempt to fully takeover command of the D.C. police and install the Administration’s own “Acting Commissioner.” The D.C.’s Attorney General, Brian Schwalb’s prompt challenge may have paid off with word coming late Friday of an agreement from the Trump administration to scale back that effort.[iv]

Trump will have even higher hurdles to scale in any attempt to overrun cities like Baltimore, Oakland, and Chicago – located in states with strong, fearless Governors who have a stake in protecting their autonomy (and enlarging their own political platforms).

The lesson of all of this is just as I argued in that November essay. Trump’s excesses will be hard to stop in total. But they can be slowed down, diverted, weakened, and undermined. For now, that will have to be enough. With all three branches of government seemingly in sync in furtherance of Trump’s dictatorial ambitions, we have to work with what we have.

What we have are ordinary people standing on streets they claim as their own demanding that ICE leave.[v] We have Americans filming police brutality, assisting those apprehended by ICE, escorting immigrants from court,[vi] demanding warrants and badge numbers, and calling down shame on their fellow citizens who conceal their faces as they separate families and tackle men and women doing honest back-breaking work.[vii] We have outraged Americans in Alaska lined up in protest against the visit of an imperialist authoritarian (I mean Putin this time, not Trump) and speaking still about the need to stand with Ukraine.[viii]

We are seeing organizing at the local level, the continuation of mutual aid efforts,[ix] and more in-person engagement as our fears grow about surveillance.

What we have are elected officials speaking in stronger voices and with clarity about fighting fire with fire.[x] We have elected officials who refuse to accept the inevitable, who leave the state to deny a quorum to a Republican legislature bent on muscleing through an anti-democratic super-gerrymander.[xi] We have Governors who have let it be known that the road to federal occupation in Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco, will not be as easy as to Washington, D.C. We are seeing elected officials who stand in support of, and amplify the voices of the victims who have been lost in the firestorm over the Epstein files.[xii] We see elected officials who demonstrate their willingness to do what it takes to salvage some measure of democracy from the wreckage of Trump’s authoritarianism and from the Republicans’ dastardly abdication of their constitutional responsibilities.

What we have are Americans who are showing themselves fiercely and relentlessly committed to living in a democracy. Huge segments of our legal profession have fallen into cowardice and disrepute. But what remains are an amazing array of democracy fighters – civil rights and civil liberties lawyers, election lawyers, state AGs, retired lawyers returned to the front, law schools and professors standing up, and legal commentators and writers setting the state, providing the context and educating the public about what is really going on in the courts. Hundreds of cases are in litigation challenging Trump’s excesses. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/projects-series/trials-of-the-trump-administration/tracking-trump-administration-litigation

We are seeing judges – those nominated both by Republican and Democrats – who even in the face of abandonment and denigration by conservative justices on the Supreme Court, stand firm in adhering to the rule of law. We see them facing down physical threats and attempts at intimidation to conduct proceedings professionally, and to write and speak in ways that make clear the heavy weight of the claims that are brought before them, and the consequences for ordinary people.

We are not winning everything. But we are not losing everything either. Yes, we are in trouble as a nation. Our government is in the grip of cruel, white supremacist, fascist oligarchy. And as much as it pains me to say it, it is going to get worse. Maybe what we have to fight with will not be enough. I know that some are seriously contemplating leaving the country – a decision which I respect for those who have made that calculation.But for those who are resolved to remain, we must continue the fight. I do believe that we are growing stronger. We are learning more, and we are expanding our ranks. The President’s approval ratings are in the tank for a reason.

We still have a chance to stem the tide.

My greatest fear is that this is the stage when many people may decide to give in. To put their heads down and stay silent. To concede that we are fighting a losing battle. To lose faith and hope. Yes, we could use a little bit of magic – a dash of deus ex machina – to lift our chances of surviving this. But we can make what looks like magic happen by applying steady pressure. Magic is when your opponent’s help defeat themselves. Pressure creates the conditions for self-defeat. Fighting on multiple fronts exhausts our opponents (don’t believe we’re the only ones who are exhausted). Showing resolve makes your opposition doubt their invincibility. A sense of humor infuriates them. Creating beautiful things and showing love and compassion utterly confuses them. Remaining focused and strategic exposes their weak spots. Showing you’ll go to the wall increases their fear. Showing up with successive waves of troops confounds them.

My observation is that this is the time we need to shift some of our attention away from Trump and focus more closely on those without whom he would not be able to achieve his aims. That means Congress and state legislatures. Many Republican House members do not want their state’s legislatures to take up Trump’s gerrymandering demands. They want the same population in their districts that brought them into office in 2024. Changing their constituencies to eke out more Republican seats is against their self-interest.[xiii]

Members of the business community are beginning to see the effects of Trump’s tariff lunacy. Many farmers are living with the consequences of losing migrant workers.[xiv] As the holidays approach retailers will become increasingly nervous about how they’ll close out their books at year’s end.[xv] Corporate leaders have seen what happened to Tesla.[xvi] And Target.[xvii] They would rather not find their acquiescence to Trump leveraged against their all-important shareholder dividends. Law firms who chose to lay down with Trump are learning basic lessons about fear, squandered reputation, and loss of professionalism .[xviii]

As we emerge from this difficult summer, we have the power to apply pressure, not only on this Administration, but on those whose cowardice has left our democracy in shambles. We know how to march, to boycott, to demonstrate, to petition, to litigate, to argue, to demand, to publicly mock and shame. We must exploit cracks in their seeming united front and shift the calculation of self-interest.

These have been difficult days, seeing what is unfolding in D.C. Hearing the reports from the migrant detention center in Florida over the past two weeks has been devastating. But seeing law enforcement racially profiling, assaulting, and beating Black and Brown men was not brought to this country by Trump. Unless your head was in a bag from 2014 to 2020, you know what law enforcement has been permitted to do to unarmed Black people in this country. Nor are the conditions in Trump’s detention camps unfamiliar to those who know about the routinely devastating and inhumane conditions of incarceration in this country. Nor is racial gerrymandering a Trump innovation. Trump exploits this country’s existing weaknesses. He does not create them.

That is why this terrifying time of Trump must result in a true transformation of our national soul. It must create in millions more Americans an understanding that we rise or fall together.

So I continue to spend a good portion of my time thinking about and planning for the changes – should we ever get to make them – that will be necessary for a new, healthy, strong democracy. My eyes remain “on the prize.” I am not just working towards the end of Trumpism alone. I am working for the opportunity to launch another “re-founding” of democracy in this country.

Trump is a unique and dangerous accelerant, it is true. But he inherited a country primed for his particular brand of exploitation. When we feel assaulted on every front as we increasingly do, we must rebuild our inner resolve to survive this time, so that we can build a better country for our future and that of our children.

We’re resisting in all the right ways. If you see a future for yourself or your children in this country, don’t stop now.

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[i] https://sherrilyn.substack.com/p/the-truth

[ii] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trumps-d-c-takeover-escalates-with-surge-in-arrests-and-homeless-encampments-cleared

[iii] https://www.npr.org/2025/08/14/nx-s1-5501273/trump-dc-takeover-cities-mayors-police-national-guard#:~:text=In%20Baltimore%2C%20for%20example%2C%20Scott,property%20crimes%20are%20down%2013%25.

[iv] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/15/us/trump-administration-dc-news

[v] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08/13/us/trump-news; https://rollingout.com/2025/08/14/ice-checkpoint-angers-d-c-residents/

[vi] https://www.daylightsandiego.org/religious-leaders-escort-immigrants-leaving-court-ice/ ; https://www.wcvb.com/article/volunteers-immigration-courts-hallway-arrests/65456598

[vii] https://dcist.com/story/19/06/28/amid-rising-fears-of-ice-raids-d-c-residents-train-to-bear-witness/ ;

[viii] https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/us/video/alaska-trump-putin-summit-protests-ldn-digvid

[ix] https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2025/02/20/black-and-brown-communities-continue-long-history-of-mutual-aid/ ; https://readlion.com/liberal-texas-groups-create-fund-to-help-illegal-immigrants-pay-for-college/; https://www.gulf-times.com/article/708633/opinion/la-residents-build-aid-network-for-immigrants-living-in-fear;

[x] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2025/aug/15/gavin-newsom-calls-on-democrats-to-meet-fire-with-fire-in-redistricting-fight-with-trump-video

[xi]https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/us/texas-democrats-walkout-redistricting-map-gop.html

[xii] https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/thomas-massie-epstein-files-survivors-b2806867.html

[xiii] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/14/gop-redistricting-00508626

[xiv] https://www.newsweek.com/trump-mass-deportation-farms-breaking-point-2064190; https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5353065-immigration-raids-ice-texas-farmers-workers/; https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/22/metro/trump-deportations-sow-fear-among-vermont-migrants-farmers/; https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-farmers-strained-by-tariffs/65640519 ;

[xv] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-13/trump-s-tariffs-are-going-to-ruin-christmas-in-the-us ; https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/business/trump-tariffs-christmas-china.html

[xvi] https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-shares-fall-amid-delays-distractions-fading-ev-dominance-2025-07-24/ ; https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/24/tesla-tsla-shares-today.html.

[xvii] https://fortune.com/2025/08/13/target-foot-traffic-boycotts-dei-july-number/

[xviii] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/29/paul-weiss-brad-karp-trump-fallout-00420354; https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/law-firms-trump-law-student-recruiting-00007900; https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/67cf71f1f27ef68a8f5c5c70/681556767aaf90530377195f_2025.05.02%20%5B185%5D%20MEMORANDUM%20OPINION%20granting%20MSJ%20and%20denying%20MTD.pdf