We’ve been here before. This is not 2016, when Donald J. Trump’s surge to victory shocked much of the nation. We know how Trump operates and can better anticipate what he might do when he takes office in January.
The bad news is that this time, with the Republican Party having taken control of the Senate and the Supreme Court having granted Trump sweeping criminal immunity for his actions in office, there are dramatically fewer checks on his power to inflict harm.
Nearly a decade ago, when Trump first announced his bid for president of the United States, the late Truthout columnist William Rivers Pitt warned: “We are talking about a fascist, one with many fascist friends who are loud and proud about their menacing white nationalism.… A fascist Mussolini would have recognized on sight, for it was Mussolini’s movement that coined fascism in a barn nearly 100 years ago, calling it the merger of state and corporate power. What is that, if not President-elect Donald J. Trump?”
Pitt was right — and Trump’s own former chief of staff agrees. Since 2016, Trump’s draconian inclinations have become even more clear: He incited a violent mob at the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the electoral process, vowed to bring in the National Guard to conduct mass deportations of millions of people, mused about shooting journalists and threatened to deploy the military to fight “enemies within.” Racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric have been central to his 2024 campaign, much like they were in 2016.
The majority of the American voters in this election cycle saw this and said, “Yes, more please.”
Not only did Trump win the election, but at the time of this writing, he is up in every single one of the seven battleground states. The red wave that wasn’t in 2022 is now shaping up to be a red tsunami. The ocean receded just to feed the flood.
In the coming weeks and months, as Democratic strategists engage in hand-wringing and finger-pointing over what went wrong, grassroots movements have a different task ahead: working within our local communities to build strength and solidarity.
Before November 5, I spoke with two organizers about how they have been working collectively in already hostile conditions — and about their commitment to continue this work no matter what new attacks on their communities occur as a result of nationwide political shifts.
“I think most importantly for any grassroots organizer, any radical organizer, any left organizer, is continuing to base-build in local communities.”
“We know that no matter what happens, no matter what the legislative bodies throw at us, no matter what elections do, that living in the Deep South means that your right to have children the way you want and the circumstances that you want is always going to be under attack,” said Kelsea McLain, deputy director of the Yellowhammer Fund, a mutual aid group focused on reproductive justice advocacy and resources in Alabama. “Ultimately they can do anything they want to us.”
The mutual aid group was well-known for its abortion fund, which was operating until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. After Roe fell, Alabama used laws that already existed to criminalize mutual aid funds like Yellowhammer for helping people obtain legal abortions out of state. “Even when there’s not a path forward for screwing up someone’s ability for accessing reproductive care in the way they need, the state will find a way,” McLain said.
Now, the group focuses on casting a broader net with its programming, investing in a mobile resource center to bring diapers, wipes, emergency contraception and safer sex kits to communities across the state. The Yellowhammer Fund has supported the legal defense of people who face criminal charges for lost pregnancies and trained a network of grassroots fellows on reproductive justice, political advocacy, self-managed abortion and steps to avoid criminalization. The fellowship program aims to empower people across the Deep South to serve as local resources in the face of increased criminalization, disseminating crucial information to their own communities about their reproductive health rights.
McLain said that while Trump winning the election is the worst possible outcome for abortion rights, “In some ways it might be the best possible outcome for people to get activated and engaged in the way that we need them to be for the next decade.” After all, she noted, the fight for reproductive justice did not begin at the ballot box, nor does it end there. “We need people to be active, engaged and aware of what’s happening.”
Kamau Franklin, an Atlanta-based community organizer dedicated to bringing power and resources to Black communities, has been organizing for 30 years. He’s been involved in efforts to fight gentrification and police violence and stop the construction of the massive police training center known as Cop City.
He said that in the wake of the presidential election, his community will continue “finding ways to organize around whether or not there are more cop cities, fighting against the genocide in Gaza [and] organizing against police violence.”
Stop Cop City organizers are all too aware that the broader left project must take on the state itself, regardless of who is in office. In Atlanta, activists have seen Republicans and Democrats joining together through law enforcement to suppress the Stop Cop City movement. Trump’s return to the White House and the Republican sweep of Congress stand to further erode free speech protections and embolden a new wave of state violence targeting protesters. But Franklin’s advice for the movement resisting this repression is universal.
“I think most importantly for any grassroots organizer, any radical organizer, any left organizer, is continuing to base-build in local communities,” said Franklin. “You have to get the energy up of people so they can understand they have to have power over their lives.”
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $150,000 in one-time donations and to add 1,500 new monthly donors.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy