A Country of Dissent

With Trump in power, we must all be ready to fight.

I’m drinking my pitch black morning coffee, and I’m reflecting on President Obama leaving office and the years ahead of us. I feel both inspired by the growing resistance movement and filled with dread because of how those in power will respond. There is a specter looming over us. The coming years will be filled with viscous conflict and communal harmony. Some will die. Some will rise to leadership.

As an activist and a political journalist, some will say I’ve failed to remain neutral, but I truly believe that any journalist who says they have zero bias should not be trusted or listened to. Having an opinion and properly doing your job are not mutually exclusive. I can include Trump’s side of the story in my articles while knowing in my mind that he is an insecure bigot with a power complex.

Millions of people protested at the Women’s March, and it was the day after Donald Trump became the president. I feel this duality is where we currently reside. On one side of the coin we are witnessing the rise of an obscene and emotionally volatile leader, who had his people lie about attendance numbers and threaten the press right off the bat. On the other side we see the majority that does not support him and had an election stolen from under their noses taking to the streets and exclaiming that they’re not going to take it any longer.

We live in a schizophrenic time. There are beasts in the White House and lovers in the public square. The question becomes: How much pain will the opposition be forced to endure before they obtain equality? How much blood will be shed in the years to come? How loud will the chorus of dissident voices be? And what effect will they have? Every reality is conceivable.

What is sure is a war has begun. A war between Trump’s administration and the majority that sees President Trump as an imminent threat. Protests will become the norm. Trump’s vitriol will grow, and he will be seen as an embattled president. Some who stand up to him will become household names. He will lash out, and his eruptions will hurt many. However, his lack of temperament may be the key to his being kicked out of his office.

What is also sure is that how our activists use their numbers and their passion will be critical. Getting large crowds to assemble may influence some politicians, but what will be more powerful is if these activists can target specific goals and invade our institutions. Protesters must be willing to put the hard work in and outline the most vital objectives. These may include protecting reproductive rights, furthering criminal justice reform and protecting immigrants and the Muslim community.

It is important that protests keep getting attention and high levels of attendance, but there’s more needed. The politically active must become engaged in nonprofit work, government work, and they must find ways to legally challenge those in power. Our politicians are only so swayed by numbers, but they do react to organizations, fellow politicians and legal cases. These elements could turn massive marches into results.

“Without a clear path from march to power, the protest is destined to be an ineffective feelgood spectacle adorned with pink pussy hats,” Micah White wrote in The Guardian on Thursday. “It is all too easy to succumb to the false hope that a big splash is a transformative tsunami. Don’t be fooled. It is not.” White explained that he learned from the Occupy movement that getting media attention and putting together large protests was “never enough.”

Unless the actions go beyond shouting “My body, my choice” and actually put the pieces of the puzzle in place that will protect reproductive rights, the effect of all of this organizing will likely be that we all felt a little better for a while. This applies to anything we’re chanting about. This cannot become the case. You only get so many opportunities to actually make a difference, and the time is now. The momentum must not be dragged down.

We will be unified against hate and cut by it. We will survive, but we will never look the same again. President Trump may be the most dangerous president our country has ever had, but he also faces the biggest opposition force an American president has ever experienced. Let us revel over the death of apathy and seize this time of fervor. Get to work.