Four days into the Trump regime and it seems as bad as I feared, or maybe worse. Immediately after the election, I posted some thoughts about activism on Facebook.

Donald Trump is a threat to American democracy; he’s not just some guy that I voted against. The GOP so that now it is explicitly and openly the White People’s Nationalist Party. So, moving beyond bitching & moaning, navel-gazing, etc.. Here’s what I’ve done recently:
1) Donated to and voted for HRC,
and since the election …
2) Donated to ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and Vote Riders
3) Phone-banked for the Dem Senate candidate in Louisiana’s December run-off.
4) Marked my calendar to phone-bank for Dems in midterm elections in 2017 (yes!) and 2018.
There are lots of ways to start fighting back now (volunteering with similar orgs, for example).

Just three months later and four days into his regime, that all seems rather quaint.

On top of his atrocious cabinet picks (including my bete noir, Jeff Sessions), his continued erratic, narcissistic, & authoritarian behavior, his grotesque inaugural speech, and his disturbing executive orders, he has begun to forbid federal agencies (including National Park Service Twitter accounts) from stating apolitical scientific facts.

“Oh yeah, but I’m going to give the ACLU a hundred bucks and make some phone calls on behalf of a guy running for Governor in Virginia. Problem solved. We got this.” … not exactly

The Woman’s March of 3.5 million people was a statement, but that could easily be an ineffective, ephemeral demonstration, like the “massive” antiwar protests of 2003. Those organizers started a 10 Actions in 100 Days campaign, starting by sending postcards to our Senators. OK, it’s a start.

Maybe my problem is that I want to do something NOW. And too many of the “NOW” actions are useless, or even counter-productive, notably posting on social media.

Some say we should continue to mock Trump. Apparently it rattles him. OK. Others (David Brooks) argue that we should reach out to the disaffected WWC voters in his base. A Venezuelan reporter made a similar argument, with analogies to Chavez. MAYBE.

When do we panic? The business of forbidding Federal agencies from stating basic facts seems rather panic-inducing to me. And *if* we are to move into panic mode, what would that mean, beyond using ALL CAPS when we Tweet?

I am worried and confused, and wish I could see a better direction. (By “better,” I only mean “effective and worthwhile.” Success is not guaranteed. If democratic America falls and becomes some sort of permanent Trumpian authoritarian regime, I merely want to have been doing the right thing, fighting that as long and as effectively as possible.)

• dump trump,
• minority president,
• not my president,
• trump resistance