A year on from Trump's victory, resistance is everywhere

A year on from Trump’s victory, resistance is everywhere
Rebecca Solnit
Americans have shown a tremendous amount and variety of opposition – more than some may realize
Sun 9 Nov 2025 06.00 EST

snip//

When people tell me that there’s been no resistance to the Trump administration, I wonder if they’re expecting something that looks like a guerrilla revolution pushing out the government in one fell swoop or just aren’t paying attention, because there has, in fact, been a tremendous amount and variety of resistance and opposition and it’s mattered tremendously. When will it be enough is a question that can only be answered if and when all this is over and we find out what comes next. Another source of disappointment seems to come from the expectation that there will be some sort of obvious and logical building up toward regime change, rather than the reality that tipping points in particular and histories in general are unpredictable animals.

Resistance is everywhere, both geographically and in terms of the constituencies participating: civil society and civil servants; human rights, climate and environmental groups (who in many cases had plans in place before the election and hit the ground running when the new administration came in); religious leaders and institutions, elected officials at all levels from city councils to the US Senate, the military, lawyers and judges, educators and students, librarians, of course, medical professionals, journalists, editors and publishers, people in the arts. Of course there’s been shameful collaboration, submission and silence from many figures in most of these constituencies as well. It has been striking that the most wealthy and theoretically most powerful have, in this crisis, often been the first to surrender. It’s non-elites who have stood on principle even when it means taking risks.

It wasn’t clear beforehand what the focal point of opposition would be, and the early protests against Doge and the Tesla Takedown actions were in response to the administration and Musk’s attacks on the federal government. Though activists and organizations are defending everything from renewable energy to reproductive rights, the heart of active resistance is now solidarity with those under attack by the border patrol, ICE and the other agencies assigned to terrorize, brutalize, kidnap and violate rights across the country. This manifests in myriad ways from volunteers striving to protect immigrants and refugees when they show up for their immigration-court appointments to neighbors walking kids to school when their parents are afraid to leave home to the lively protests in front of ICE in Portland, Oregon, and the extraordinary neighborhood activism across Los Angeles, and then Washington DC, and then Chicago.

As Sarah Conway reported in New York Magazine: “In their free time, or, in some cases, by actively taking time off work, everyday Chicagoans are building rapid-response teams to keep eyes on the streets and follow the movements of federal agents. Some pass out whistles in bars and laundromats; others keep vigil outside Home Depots and taquerías. Activists have begun locating agents’ suburban hotels and hosting noisy protests outside. Some take shifts patrolling their neighborhoods on foot, in cars, and on bikes to alert neighbors to the presence of federal agents and to document their aggressive tactics and arrests.”

The Catholic church has shown up, from a midwestern church that put cardboard silhouettes in the pews to represent members of the congregation afraid to attend to Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV. The new pope, seemingly in direct opposition to loud-about-his-Catholic-conversion JD Vance, has repeatedly spoken up for immigrants and the poor. It’s not just Catholics, though: ministers and rabbis have participated in protests, and more than 200 Chicago-area clergy signed a letter titled Jesus is Being Tear Gassed at Broadview. Many cities have reaffirmed their statuses as sanctuary cities and their policies of not cooperating with Ice.

more...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/09/trump-resistance-is-everywhere