Will there be a “Resistance 2.0” against Trump? | US elections 2024

WASHINGTON, DC – The scene instantly became iconic. A sea of ​​pink bonnets swept through the streets of Washington, the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump. On January 21, 2017, hundreds of thousands of women demonstrated in the American capital, promising to resist their new president tooth and nail.

Laurie Gillman, 58, proudly walked alongside these women. A resident of Washington DC, owner of an independent bookstore, she did not see Donald Trump’s victory coming in 2016. This time, the surprise was less great.

I feel a little more alone nowhowever, she confides.

In 2016, the shock pushed Laurie Gillman into action. But this year, she doesn’t have the same energy. We sense sadness in his voice, but also a little weariness.

We spent eight years being angry, being shocked […] to say that [Trump] didn’t represent who we were. And now, maybe that’s who we are after all… Or, well, the majority of usshe sighs.

For his new mandate, the president-elect will have free rein, with a Republican majority in Congress and a Supreme Court made up of conservative judges who have already rendered favorable decisions to him.

The résistance of 2016 – which managed to bring together progressives, independents and moderate Republicans – seems to have faded. Especially since Donald Trump has increased his support over the past eight years.

Donald Trump not only won the electoral college, he won the popular vote. The Democrats therefore do not have the same excuse [qu’en 2016]notes the American historian and professor at the George Washington UniversityTimothy Shenk.

Everything that [la Résistance] has done over the past eight years to ensure that Trump never returns to the White House has failed spectacularly.

Il need to change strategy

Ravi Mangla was part of the Résistance 1.0 against Donald Trump. Today national spokesperson for Working Families Partythe 36-year-old progressive is preparing for the second act of this resistance which will have to be different and more strategic, he recognizes.

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It’s not because people are not in the streets that nothing is happening.Ravi points out, giving the example of a Zoom call his group co-organized the day after Donald Trump’s victory and in which some 100,000 people participated.

We need to be smarter and more efficient this time.

Our activists are not planning a massive march immediately. They are more oriented towards […] the mobilization of several local groups which will then be aggregated at the national levelexplains Mary Small, of the progressive Indivisible movement, born the day after Donald Trump’s first victory.

Local and legal resistance?

Activists are not the only ones preparing for the Republican’s return as president. Democratic governors created the group Governors Safeguarding Democracy to resist possible offensives by the federal state. California, for its part, is preparing to massively sue the Trump administration.

The freedoms we hold dear are under attack […] California has faced this challenge before and we know how to respond.

L’American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also intends to turn to the courts, in particular to fight the Trump administration’s promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants using the military if necessary.

We will challenge him when he violates people’s rights. And there will be a host of laws that Trump will have to violate to deport a million people a yearthe legal director ofACLU Cecilia Wang.

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Historian Timothy Shenk believes that spontaneous protest movements will appear when Donald Trump implements his most controversial policies. When we talk about mass expulsions, you can imagine the reaction [de l’opinion publique] if, for example, a child was shotillustrates the expert.

Activist Mary Small also believes that public opinion will be an important lever. Trump loves power, but he also loves being popularshe summarizes.

The end of “the Resistance” does not mean the end of opposition to Trump.

And the Women’s March in all this?

A large demonstration will be organized in Washington on January 18, two days before the inauguration of Donald Trump.

This time it will be a People’s March and not of a Women’s March. Organizers expect 50,000 people to attend – around ten times fewer than in 2017.

Laurie Gillman won’t be there. She has already planned to spend the week of the inauguration with her daughter in California, out of a desire to escape politics. I don’t want to have to think about itshe explains, adding that several of her employees also took vacation during this period.

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Laurie’s activism will be carried out from her bookstore. A meeting place which, according to her, offers possible solutions for understanding her fellow citizens. Reading can help create dialogueshe believes.

A dialogue that promises to be difficult, in a deeply divided country.