The New York Times published an in-depth article on Sunday describing how a broad network of Democratic officials, progressive activists and watchdog groups, among others, are “taking extraordinary steps to prepare for a potential second Trump presidency.”
Examples included Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s efforts to make his state a haven where women could seek abortions without fear of persecution. The article also cited an organization that is preemptively hiring a new auditor in case Trump directs the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the group during a second term.
On the one hand, we must applaud these officials and organizations for understanding that Donald Trump’s return to the White House poses a unique threat to our democratic freedoms. But the only sure way to stop Trump from subverting the government into a retaliatory campaign in which Trump loyalists will occupy key positions in the federal government — and from implementing a far-right agenda — is to defeat him this November. We should focus exclusively on keeping the barbarians out, not on figuring out how to minimize damage once they’re inside.
Trump is telling anyone who will listen what his dark goals are for a second term — from mass deportations to building sprawling migrant detention camps and expanding his presidential power. There is also his deeply troubling promise to “liberate” America from those who are not loyal to him.
We first heard this during his 2023 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where he promised his supporters it would be his “revenge.” He then vowed to target Democrats, “the fake news media,” Republicans in name only, globalists and others who oppose him, proclaiming: “We will free America from these villains and scoundrels once and for all.” He has repeated this promise to “liberate” our nation from those who oppose him, including at a rally last month in Wisconsin.
Is it extremely rare to hear an American politician talk about “liberating” the country from fellow Americans with whom they simply disagree politically? My guess is that you’ve never heard this, because we’ve never had a politician who promised to be a dictator “on day one” — and then claimed “after that, I’m not a dictator” — lead one of our two main political parties.
To put it bluntly, the forms of resistance employed to thwart Trump’s first-term agenda are unlikely to work against this bitter, angry criminal, who is obsessed with retaliation and purging America of those who do not bow to him.
Even the strategy detailed in Sunday’s New York Times article, which includes using the courts to delay a Trump second-term agenda, is much less likely to be successful this time. One reason for this is that in his first term, Trump managed to confirm more than 200 federal judges, including three U.S. Supreme Court justices he personally appointed.
Just look at how Trump-appointed Federal Judge Aileen Cannon appears to have slowed down Trump’s prosecution of allegations of withholding confidential documents, leading critics to say she is furthering Trump’s strategy of trying to delay his trial until after the elections.
And the country is currently watching as the GOP-friendly Supreme Court appears to protect Trump from being prosecuted before the November election for his alleged crimes in connection with trying to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election by dragging out a ruling on Trump’s full immunity claim.
From a legislative perspective, if Trump manages to win and MAGA Republicans manage to take control of the House and Senate, we could expect him to fulfill a laundry list of right-wing policy dreams that they have long coveted. It won’t be like Trump’s first term, when some Republicans opposed him to block his radical agenda — the most famous example being the late Arizona senator John McCain, who stopped Trump from repealing the Affordable Care Act with his vote.
Almost all of the Republicans who dared to oppose Trump are either out of Congress or have capitulated to his undemocratic government. Of the 10 House Republicans who voted in January 2021 to impeach Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection, only two remain in Congress (Representatives Dan Newhouse of Washington state and David Valadao of California).
Republicans in the Senate also capitulated. Senator Mitt Romney, a vocal critic of Trump, will leave office in January. Even Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who criticized Trump on the Senate floor after the January 6 attack, declaring that “there is no doubt that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.” , met with Trump last week and stated that the meeting was “totally positive”.
But even if Trump doesn’t have a GOP-controlled Congress, there is no limit to the damage he could inflict on the nation during a second term. Few restrictions would control him.
This is why resistance strategies for a second term only divert resources from the most urgent imperative: preventing Trump from winning a second term. This is the top priority—indeed, the only real priority—on which we must focus. Nothing else matters.
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