173 Comments

Trump is failing before he even gets inaugurated. Government workers like me save our sacred democracy from Project 2025 MAGAt fascism. While orange menace and muskrat have been squabbling, we have been preparing to undermine both of them: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/resisting-project-2025-from-within-government

Expand full comment

RULES FOR RESISTANCE ON JAN. 20 INAUGURATION:

*Media Blackout on Jan 20. Do not watch one second as it will show viewership. Some are boycotting for 4 days all coverage, analysis and commentary on the ceremony.

* Twitter Walk Off at noon Jan. 20. Delete your account. If you are worried someone may steal your handle, reinstate your account but block all comments. Do not interact. The algorithm will still read zero.

* Apply and petition your Senators for tickets to the Inauguraation. You are allowed 2 per person. Then do not show up.

* Place yourself and others along the parade route. Bring a Kazoo. Play the Imperial March from Star Wars as they go by.

Stay tuned for more.

Thanks to Malcolm Nance RESIST! ✊🏼🫶🏼

Expand full comment

AND Celebrate Martin Luther King Holiday instead!!! It falls on Monday January 20 as well!

Expand full comment

That is what I planned to do, 💯

Expand full comment

I like your ideas. I have no intention of watching the inauguration, but I hope it's smaller than his last one. I would like to be in DC to protest, but I can't afford to travel that far.

Expand full comment

There is something to be said for knowing the enemy. When I have dialogues with MAGA followers I make sure to use Trump's own words and Trump's own actions to argue my point. I do not want to listen to spin without knowing whZt the primary source material says.

Expand full comment

Exactly. When we remove ourselves from the source, we also lose access to our best tools for resistance. I will watch and listen because I want to be ready to resist.

Expand full comment

Know your enemy! Anticipate what they can do versus what they will do.

Expand full comment

That kazoo idea is brilliant. I wish my disabilities would allow me to travel to join you but I'll be looking forward to the coverage after the fact. Highlarious. 👏

Expand full comment

Addendum: refrain from visiting web pages that support GOP. Advertisers monitor the clicks . I boycott all MSM NOW. BUT…I question how anyone knows what radio or TV you may boycott. As far as I know, there is not metering process, only user surveys? True???

Expand full comment

Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) is a technology that identifies content playing on media devices, such as smart TVs and mobile devices. ACR works by analyzing the digital patterns and distinctive characteristics of audio, video, or images. It then compares this content to a repository of recognized media files or signatures.

ACR is used for a variety of applications, including: Content customization, Synchronization, Intellectual property protection, and Collecting user media consumption habits.

ACR is important for advertisers and content creators because it allows them to gather critical information about users' media consumption habits. This data is gathered automatically without any user-based opt-in or input, which offers greater depth and accuracy than user-offered data

Expand full comment

Thanks for the information, I’m 84, and have very little understanding of the way technology works. Your explanation makes sense to me, and I will leave my smart tv off for that entire 24 hours.

Expand full comment

That is status quo for me, Rose! But it might be fun for a lot of people to go onto a site all at once to crash the site. That's not a tactic for now, but something to keep in mind to protest egregious corporate support. It would take a lot of organizing, perhaps through one or more of the sites we frequent. Works better than boycott, which is absence. Easy to overlook absence. Not so easy to overlook an overloaded system.

Expand full comment

Thank you for sharing that information. My plan is to be in *boycott and blackout mode* for several days on TV, radio and internet. I already deleted my Twitter account a few days ago. I will check with my Senator's website regarding tickets, so I can have the pleasure of not attending. My only regret will be to not to witness any kazoo-playing that happens along the parade route!

Expand full comment

Yes! Yes! Yes! Roger wilco!

Expand full comment

I will watch the inauguration on my computer through the government feed. I frankly don't care if they know I am watching. I am an American and I have the right to watch. This is not about Trump. It is about my country, and I want to know what is going on that day, and I want to see it myself, not second hand accounts. I am dong this so that I am prepared to resist in the ways I have available to me. Kazoos don't meet my criteria for resistance: they meet my criteris for grade school level behavior. If I were there, I'd want to stand with my back turned to the stage. That comes closer to resistance than childish school pranks.

Expand full comment

Happy to hear of your efforts and will check your publication/s out.

Expand full comment

He’s a lame duck from day one. He is also a shape shifter too. He says whatever he thinks will bring him money. He lied all through his campaign, as usual.

Expand full comment

Trump’s inability to swear in good faith to anything — marriage vows, business contracts, and the Presidential Oath (both times) — means he is unable to be our President. It’s not the vote count — it’s the Oath.

Expand full comment

And continues! Says one thing to one group and something diametrically opposite to another. Keep track of this stuff. It's ammunition for us to use against him. (Though I am less concerned about Trump than I am about the peculiar group of rabble behind him trying to scratch each other's eyes out to see who can get closest to the mike.

Expand full comment
4dEdited

I hope this is the beginning of a stronger, more “ballsy” Democratic Party. I am really tired of them giving in, trying to be nice, trying to compromise with MAGAs who just want to pillage our country for all it’s worth.

Expand full comment

No kidding! The Republicans have been off the rails since well before MAGA -- Nixon's "southern strategy" drove most of the sane Republicans out before Gingrich came along, and Reagan sure didn't help. And too many Democrats have been too nice, i.e., gutless. IMO the increasing number of women and people of color in Congress from the Reagan years onward has been a factor. They tend to be more in touch with how real people actually live, and more responsive to constituents because they're not from gerrymandered districts.

Expand full comment

Well, most of them. A few have been real doozies. Did nobody any favors, just distracted media attention from real news.

Expand full comment

Elise Stefanik just came up in a book I'm copyediting. IOW -- yep.

Expand full comment

Same. We need warriors in the Democratic party.

Expand full comment

They’d better step up and fight for us, but no one should be surprised if they don’t: They’re just as compromised as their GOP counterparts are. You really think Nancy Pelosi is better at picking stocks than Warren Buffet? Dems sucked at connecting with voters because they don’t dare tell them the truth — that GOP and Dems alike are in bed with big corporations and Wall Street. But they HAVE made it clear that none of them give a shit that most of their constituents are horrified that our taxes are funding the genocide in Gaza.

Expand full comment

Exactly. If they don't fight fire with fire they will continue to lose. Enough of this nice guy nonsense.

Expand full comment

Reverse psychology is a good thing to do. Will gain the trust of the MAGA followers as they see things fail, then turn on their leader.

Expand full comment

Brilliant strategy! Make him honor his campaign promises!

Expand full comment

With every "promise" he made, advertise the proposed legislation on tv, and roll a clip of him making the promise, but call it a pledge.

For the Visas, also state what musk said in one of his promises. Those visas expire, and require higher wages and benefits

Expand full comment

Just look at Trump failing! He’s a big lumpy!😂😂😂😂 Him and his clown crew!🤡🤡🤡 The can’t handle the smallest things!

Expand full comment

Literally too many cooks stirring the soup, and NONE of them have any idea what they're doing. The ignorance, arrogance, and lack of professionalism is appalling. None of them is in lockstep with the others. It's tempting to just stand back, get out of the way, and let them implode.....

Expand full comment

or too many crooks

Expand full comment

good one!

Expand full comment

About time, love using reverse psychology, best way to expose bullies and narcissist. I used this tactics quite a bit as a manager and was amazed how well it works.

Expand full comment

Works with small children as well

Expand full comment

That's appropriate here. We are dealing with people who act and think like toddlers.

Expand full comment

Nice. Put down the people we need to learn to communicate with. Nice start.

Expand full comment

It's a GREAT strategy! The trick will be to find and utilize better ways of communicating it to ALL citizens, and ALL the time. Relying on traditional, old school media is NOT going to even be close, as we all learned during the last election.

Expand full comment

Corporate legacy TV[ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN]lied like hell for trump. THEY CAN NOT BE TRUSTED. They are, in trumps own words FAKE MEDIA

Expand full comment

It's the ONLY THING he never lied about!

Expand full comment

I’m afraid his voters don’t pay attention

Expand full comment

They pay attn to HIM.... we have to use the same communication approaches. On the other hand, many voters don't pay attn to ANY political news at all. Some, owing to family and/or work demands, simply don't have the time. Others are, sadly, simply not interested. This means we need to find ways to CATCH & HOLD their attention, even if it's regarding only one issue.

Expand full comment

I'm tired of hearing that Dems didn't message correctly. I call BS. The red state electorate has been brainwashed to believe that Dems don't deliver and will not listen to any other story. A huge portion of the electorate in Pennsylvania appeared to not be aware of who was on the ballot. That kind of willful ignorance can't be breached by "better messaging." Dem messaging can certainly improve, but some voters are beyond reach. Regular folks in Europe and Australia knew exactly what the Dems stood for just by listening from afar.

Expand full comment

I agree 100%! I thought Dems messaging was good; it is just that it wasn't being told through enough channels other than Corp/Legacy media.

Expand full comment

Or, to be more accurate, too many of the so-called legacy media weren't doing their job. To a large extent, the best way to get around that is the one-on-one campaigning of getting out and talking to our neighbors. That's where a lot of US let down the campaign. My town is a good example of that: the Dems failed to see that the R's were quietly training and funding hand-picked candidates. Despite being warned, they thought that they could get by with doing the same-old, same- old things they've done for years-the same old clique talking to each other, despite the efforts of some to get them to open their eyes.

Not until the end did they see what they were up against, and it was too late by then. Dems lost soundly, and in the process lost a fine experienced and dedicated rep to our legislature. Her replacement is a right-wing no-new-taxes with NO idea how the legislature decision-making process works. The town was (and remains) split, but now the people who tried to change direction have gone quiet because they were so soundly dissed and discouraged. Our town online forum has gone back to posts about lost dogs, free items to give away, and how wonderful our town is (in the face of plenty of evidence to the contrary).

Me? I'm the former chair of the town Dem committee who finally gave up and started working on trying to save Congressional seats, and soon-to-be former JOP. I am now a resistor, trying to figure out next steps to make a positive difference. Also quietly looking for a different place to live that feels safer. Wish me luck.

Expand full comment

Along with getting out & talking to friends/neighbors there needs to be a Democratic left-wing noise machine. The new 'media' square reaches millions which going door to door reaches fewer. No getting around that. I do wish you luck and thank you for all you for our democracy.

Expand full comment

I agree. Sadly, so many just don't want to be bothered by Politics. Growing up, all I ever heard was "Politicians are crooks" and that resonates with the kids. They too grow up thinking the same, wondering why bother, the system is rigged! So many don't understand and don't bother to educate themselves. Yes, as we have all seen, many Politicians have succumbed to bribes but as time has gone by, I have realized and come to appreciate just how important our vote is and as a woman, the struggles others overcame to win the vote for us and for people of color. I have not taken it for granted. There is very good reason to mistrust Politicians, as we have seen theoughout the years, and possibly more so in recent years. But isn't that our job? As voters we need to keep them in check, hold them accountable, expect nothing less than what we expect of ourselves. And saying this, makes me wonder about those that voted for him. It saddens me to think so many have such very low expectations.

Expand full comment

Best way to get to disillusioned Americans.

Trump made promises to regular people so they would vote for him and then seems to have forgotten everything when Elon funded his campaign. (Didn’t we see that coming?)

Make him keep those promises to regular people. Trump convinced more than his base to vote for him.

No one voted for Elon.

Vivek lost in the primaries.

Expand full comment

I love the reverse psychology approach by Dems! When used strategically, reverse psychology can challenge someone's typical thought process, potentially leading to new perspectives and more creative solutions to problems.

Expand full comment

Great to hear our Democrats going on the offense, it's about time. I'll be writing my senators and congressional rep. We say no to privatizing Medicare, no, to Medicare Advantage.

Expand full comment

The late Roy Cohn’s advice to Trump was, paraphrasing here, Never go on defense — it’s the weaker position. Always go on offense — attack, attack, attack. Might be why Trump answers any threat or criticism with a lawsuit.

Expand full comment

Exactly 💯 percent the democratic party I've been waiting for 💙💙🌈🇺🇸😎💪😎🇺🇸🌈💙💙.

Expand full comment

As long as they do not depend on legacy TV to spread the story

Expand full comment

FINALLY!!

Dems are figuring out how to expose Trump‘s practice of lying and misinformation about what he stands for and what he says he’s going to do to help the MAGA mushrooms - but the next challenge is going to be whether the media actually covers this and how do you counter the propaganda that’s gonna be put out by FAUX news

Expand full comment

Bernie’s purpose in Congress is to kick Democrats in the behind when they need it.

Expand full comment