We can still fight back on the state level. States and local levels will lead the way for progress here
California got a state law to enforce net neutrality in 2018. This is a good part of what limited the damage of Trump overturning it the first time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Internet_Consumer_Protection_and_Net_Neutrality_Act_of_2018
Trump is often a paper tiger. He quite often backs down from fights the minute someone pushes back. He’s also been rather willing to throw people under the bus
He’s not yet a dictator as much as he might be trying to make himself one. Most of his power in this moment is from people complying assuming he is. He is a lot weaker in actually getting you to do something if you resist than he wants you to believe. Don’t do his dirty work for him
The fight isn’t over until it’s over
If they don’t testify, they can put people in contempt of congress which can be enforced by the Sergeant at Arms. This is something that did happen to Steve Bannon when he refuesed to testify for the Jan 6th committee. Not just a hypothetical power
The Sergeant at Arms is part of the house, not the executive
If Trump tries to illegally dismissing congress, they could just still meet and direct the Sergeant at Arms anyway
Chuck Schumer had that power last wee
And the senate would not need to be involved here. All but 1 house dems did vote against it when there was a real chance to stop it (it wasn’t 100% certain that republicans had the vors in the house)
House dems are livid at Schumer. The house has been better at opposing - it’s just that their powers are much more limited while in the minority are more limited compared to the senate.
Democrats have no subpoena power or ability to hold official hearings while in the minority
The context was in flipping the house. They would be in the majority in that scenario
If you for half a second think a Republican-led House
Again the context was flipping the house
I get the idea of wanting to stick it to the US, but it’s maybe not the largest source of pride when you consider what the industry looks like. Being slightly less bad than the US is not a high bar. It’s still quite horrifying
Intensive farming is the predominant method of producing meat, dairy products and eggs in Europe and elsewhere in the world
In the EU, over 300 million animals spend all, or a significant part, of their lives imprisoned in cages – from sows in farrowing crates to egg-laying hens in so-called ‘enriched’ cages.
[…]
While the EU ban on the use of barren battery cages came into force in 2012, nearly half of commercial egg-laying hens are still kept in so-called ‘enriched’ cages. Additionally breeding flocks and chicks are also caged, often in barren cages.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/231961/‘End the Cage Age’ report, October 2020.pdf
Don’t conflate national dems and state dem parties. The state dems are fighting back far stronger
Hell many are defying trump straight to his face such as Maine’s governor who told him in person that they’d not comply with his anti-trans stuff
Kathy Hochul is still enforcing NYC’s congestion pricing despite Trump directly telling her to stop and threatning federal funding
And so on
We’ve had multiple special elections already this year. Dems have had some massive overperformances in some of them.
For instance, Iowa saw a Trump+21 district state senate distict flip
Virginia had special elections earlier in January where dems had a couple of point overperformance compared to harris
Stop doing Musk’s and Trump’s work for him and claim things are over before they’re over. All this does is create cynicism and apathy that play straight into his power
Join on the streets too and vote in every damn election. They want you doing neither, so do both
That requires much more than just red states republican legislatures being complicit. That’s just a straight up military coup at that point. That’s not the scenario the earlier people were laying out
We’ve had hybrid senarios before. During Lincoln’s elections, many southern states didn’t even let him put his name on the ballot. He still won the election
If they don’t testify, they can put people in contempt of congress which can be enforced by the Sergeant at Arms.
The Sergeant at Arms as I wrote. They are part of congress. They are not part of the executive branch
Under this process, the procedure for holding a person in contempt involves only the chamber concerned. Following a contempt citation, the person cited is arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House or Senate, brought to the floor of the chamber, held to answer charges by the presiding officer, and then subjected to punishment as the chamber may dictate (usually imprisonment for punishment, imprisonment for coercion, or release from the contempt citation).[18]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_Congress
The sergeant at arms of the United States House of Representatives is an officer of the House with law enforcement, protocol, and administrative responsibilities. The sergeant at arms is elected at the beginning of each Congress by the membership of the House.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_at_Arms_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives
even if in a hypothetical that it was just blue states that held elections, that would be enough to potentially flip the house. California and New York have enough potential and realistic house flips to change the US from red to blue
Because they do have power if they’re willing to use it. It can slow them down. For instance,
They have subpoenas. Make republicans have to spend all their time talking about all the horrible things they’re doing to the floor. Remove all their time to do said horrible things because they’re too busy testifying
If they don’t testify, they can put people in contempt of congress which can be enforced by the Sergeant at Arms. This is something that did happen to Steve Bannon when he refuesed to testify for the Jan 6th committee. Not just a hypothetical power
Elections are run by the states including for federal office. They are not run by the federal government
Nor are there is no provision anywhere to cancel elections due to war. They still happened during the US Civil war
Hell even if in a hypothetical that it was just blue states that held elections, that would be enough to potentially flip the house. California and New York have enough potential and realistic house flips to change the US from red to blue
Declaring that they won’t happen just plays into Trump’s hands. It makes people more cynical and less inclined to fight back
Call your senators (if dems) and demand change in the senate minority leader
Elected dems are showing rising anger, there is real chance to change leadership here
90% the things Trump suggests are not something he actually does. The trouble is you’re never sure which 10% are what he will do
He floods the zone with so much intentionally that it all looks like noise. Don’t get twisted by it all. It’s designed to make you numb and assume he is more powerful than he is. He’s done that this term and he did it during his first term
Follow his direct actions more than his words. Based on actions, I’d actually be a bit more alarmed for Panama invasion than Canada right now. He directed military to create plans for that. Watch it more closely
Protests flow in waves. After Trump was removed from office in 2020, it lost a lot of energy. The protests in his first term did successfully getting voted out of office and limited the damage. Now it’s growing again after a period of stagnation
Look at the AFD protests and you’ll see they too also died down and then started growing again
I believe most of those were based on intentionally misreading of the orders from my understanding. The recent one with sending people to El Salvador was more much blatant. Especially as people within the whitehouse are blatantly poking at the judge. For instance, yhey are retweeting the el salvador president “joking” and saying “Oppsie, too late” (they were ordered to turn the planes around before they got there)
It’s going to matter what the courts do from here out. They have the power to sanctuation. If Marshalls don’t enforce said sanctions, they have the power to deputize others to enforce for them if the courts are willing to do so
I think you mistake what I am saying. I am not saying their shouldn’t be larger numbers. I am telling you why it has been difficult to get those back again. But the movement is starting to grow again. Comparisons to the crescendos of other movements isn’t helpful to understand what it takes to make that happen
Yes, it’s not new which is also why protestors are burnt out. There were millions protesting across the US during his first term and that movement did work - it lead to him getting voted out in 2020 and limited his damage to be less than it was this time around
But five year have now passed between him getting voted out of office and so the movement against him lost energy. It has to be re-build essentially. Now people are much more cynical after he was re-elected. The 1st time people were absolutely pissed about him getting elected. No one like him had in their lifetimes. But now, it’s no longer “how could this happen?”, but “this is happening again”. That’s a much harder starting point for a movement - one with less hope
Plus, the US media environment is actively worse - making the news about pushback harder to find. The protest aren’t covered anything close to as much as they were in 2017. The US media is now much more concentrated in billionaire control than it was in 2017. Since then Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post and made changes, CNN’s new billionaire owner John Malone has shifted coverage, Elon Musk bought twitter, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the LA Times and blocked endorsements of Harris, and so on
There has been plenty more resistance that aren’t just protests right now too. For instance, in the courts with more success in getting him to stop things than you otherwise might think. Yes, he has been somewhat ignoring the courts, but mostly following them and they are blocking a lot. Hundreds of lawsuits are ongoing, many of which were filed on day 1 of his 2nd term. Here’s one tracker
There has also been more resistance from state and local governments too - at least ones where Democrats have control. States and cities have a fair amount of power in the US. For instance, many have been blocking collaboration with ICE using local police and such (which slows the federal government down a lot)
I think you misunderstand what I am saying. Once a movement has grown it can organize things more quickly, but you’re looking at things at way too short of a time scale here.
I assume you are referring to the recent protests in Germany based on your description. There were already growing protests of the AFD in Germany well before the CDU/CSU’s actions. That large protest wasn’t the first at all. There were protests growing earlier in 2025 and even some smaller ones going back to Jan 2024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024–2025_German_anti-extremism_protests
The fact that things are declining at such speed in a weird way makes getting protests spread harder. It’s a lot easier to unify around a single bad thing than five thousand things. Nothing feels shocking in that environment. Keep in mind that Trump’s strategy is to flood the zone with so many bad things it’s hard for anything to break through the noise. It’s designed to make people so numb they don’t think they can do anything. It takes time to remind people they can
Especially with the online social media environment in the US repeatedly telling Americans that no one is fighting back. Comments like “we’re cooked”, “why is no one doing anything”, “where are the people protesting”, etc. have more of a negative impact than you would think
The Tesla Takedown protests are all across the US and even expanding internationally. It’s growing a lot
I think they saying it is good that this is partially overturned because the the bans will kill trans youth