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RESISTING THE “EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE” BLITZKRIEG  
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Max Elbaum
February 27, 2025
Convergence Magazine [[link removed]]

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_ MAGA’s fast-moving coup is upending the longstanding arrangements
that have undergirded domestic politics and the US role in the world.
What does this mean for the resistance, and how can the US Left
maximize our impact? _

,

 

No wonder all our heads are spinning. The foundations of the world and
the domestic order that everyone under 80 years old has grown up in
have been under strain for two decades. Now they are being cracked
wide open. A MAGA bloc that has meshed white Christian nationalists,
right-wing populists, and a Musk-led “broligarchy
[[link removed]]”
(now MAGA’s dominant faction) has captured the citadel of global
power. And it is conducting a Constitution-scrapping coup
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consolidate authoritarian rule and implement its
take-over-everything-everywhere agenda.

It is urgent to get caught up with the breadth of the changes
underway. Doing so requires the broad Left to sustain a difficult,
deep-going analytic conversation even as we intensify our practical
efforts to put roadblocks in MAGA’s path and build mass traction for
a vision of a post-MAGA future that centers multiracial democracy.

In that spirit, I offer four initial theses as one potential entryway
into the urgent political and strategic exploration this moment
demands.

1. There is no going back.

…the only question is what comes next.

The takeover of the US government that is currently underway aims to
change the US political and economic system and shift the map of
global politics in fundamental ways. 

This moment of epochal change has not come out of the blue. The US-led
neoliberal order–with its forever wars, growing gap between the
wealth of a few and the poverty of the many, and pathological inaction
on climate change–has lost its capacity to undergird social
stability or political legitimacy. An exit from that order in one
direction or another has been on the horizon since the 2008 financial
crisis.

The acceleration of the system’s “polycrisis
[[link removed]]”
intersects with a new phase of the 60-year backlash against the gains
of the “long ‘60s” upsurge, driven first and foremost by the
Black-led Civil Rights Movement. The political bloc organized around
this full-spectrum counter-offensive had gathered enough power by 2020
to prevent any accountability for its first attempt at a political
coup
[[link removed]].
MAGA spent the years after January 6, 2021 building out their
disinformation-demagogy infrastructure and making detailed plans
for coup number two,
[[link removed]] which
was to be activated whatever the vote count in the 2024 election, and
which is now fully underway.

The system of “checks and balances” codified in the US
Constitution is rapidly being replaced by the unchecked power of a
“unitary executive
[[link removed]],”
sparking a Constitutional crisis. Every part of the Right’s “long
march through the institutions
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is now being taken to a new level. Under the banner of fighting DEI
and an “immigrant invasion,” the post-Civil Rights Movement racial
order is being replaced by a 21st-century version of Jim Crow
[[link removed]].
Women’s and LGBTQI+ rights are being curtailed via
a theocracy-based gender-hierarchy regime
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and the very existence of trans people is being challenged. Government
bodies and policies that put restrictions on capital, protect
workers’ rights
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or have a “safety net” component are being dispensed with, as are
tens of thousands of federal workers. 

Foreign policy is now officially based on the doctrine of might makes
right. Multilateralism is out and the pretense of respecting
international law (already shredded by Biden’s backing for genocide)
is explicitly rejected. The groundwork is being laid for a global
alliance of oligarchs, dictators, and fascists (Netanyahu, Putin,
Orban, Modi, Trump et al). Using military threats, actual military
force, and/or economic warfare (tariffs and sanctions), Washington
will now take everything it can get from previous allies and targeted
opponents alike.

Even if every administration move is stopped tomorrow, there is no
going back to the pre-MAGA world. The combination of continuing
polycrisis and the damage that Trump and Musk have already wrought
means the only question is what comes next. 

2. The range of possible near-term scenarios is very wide

It matters that for all his skills as a demagogue, Trump remains an
unpredictable narcissist who surrounds himself with yes-men. The
potential for over-reach and strategic stupidity are heightened in a
movement with that kind of leader.

A common view among militant anti-MAGA liberals is that, over the
course of Trump’s second term, MAGA will transform the US
government into something in between a liberal democracy and a
dictatorship
[[link removed]].
Tweaking a term Victor Orban uses to describe his rule in
Hungary—“illiberal democracy
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Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, writing in_ Foreign Affairs,_ describe
the arrangement to come as “competitive authoritarianism
[[link removed]].” Chris
Cillizza summarizes
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view this way:

What lies ahead is not fascist or single-party dictatorship but
competitive authoritarianism—a system in which parties compete in
elections but the incumbent’s abuse of power tilts the playing field
against the opposition… Opposition forces are legal and aboveground,
and they contest seriously for power. Elections are often fiercely
contested… And once in a while, incumbents lose.

Something like that could certainly be in the cards. But other
scenarios—most worse, but some better—are possible over the next
two to four years as well.

Worse scenarios are possible because predictions about a shift to
“competitive authoritarianism” assume this transition takes place
without economic crises
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wars
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protectionism has often spurred both of those
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large-scale popular upheavals, and/or a serious uptick in organized
and semi-organized violence
[[link removed]]. There is no reason
at all to adopt that assumption. On the contrary, the degree of shock
(with or without awe) Trump and Musk are applying to a Constitutional
system that has lasted more than 200 years–and to a global economic
and political order which has the US at its very center–makes some
kind of out-of-control catastrophe quite likely.

And in light of Trump’s “I am your retribution
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pledge, his pardon of all January 6 defendants
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and the cheers from the MAGA base for dehumanizing vitriol
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at immigrants, trans people, Palestinians, Marxists, and
“libtards,” assuming that some kind of new state-sanctioned,
lynch-mob enforced order “can’t happen here” is simply a
manifestation of denial. Descent into a system closer to outright
fascism (“techno” or otherwise), may not be the most likely
outcome of Trump’s second term, but it cannot be ruled out.

On the other hand, with or without economic crisis or war, the MAGA
project has vulnerabilities. It could stall and open the door for a
project taking the country in a progressive direction. 

The coalition that propelled the GOP to victory in 2024 has numerous
parts, and Trump’s governing program—as opposed to his campaign
messaging—does not appeal to all of them. The biggest divide is
between those people, largely working-class, who voted for Trump
because they thought he would address their economic hardship, and the
billionaires who want more wealth and profit for themselves. With Musk
in the lead, Trump 2.0 has governed so far solely in the interests of
the latter
[[link removed]]. 

Add to that the fact that even if all components of the MAGA 2024
coalition stay on board, they do not constitute a majority of the US
people. Trump won at the ballot box because a large section of the
anti-MAGA majority was either uninspired by or downright alienated
from the Democratic campaign and stayed home.

Also, it matters that for all his skills as a demagogue, Trump remains
an unpredictable narcissist who surrounds himself with yes-men. The
potential for over-reach and strategic stupidity are heightened in a
movement with that kind of leader. 

Can these factors be transformed from vulnerabilities into a political
force that blocks MAGA’s agenda? That depends on the scope and depth
of the anti-MAGA resistance. 

3. In the resistance, spread courage, be flexible, look for fresh
leadership

We can model courage, amplify it when it is displayed, and recognize
that courage will also be demonstrated by some people that surprise
us.

After a slow start compared to 2016, MAGA’s across-the-board assault
has begun to spark an across-the-board resistance
[[link removed]].
Organizations and leaders that fought hard to stop MAGA before last
November have pivoted and are throwing down. Bernie is on a
nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” tour
[[link removed]] targeting
working-class districts and AOC was threatened with arrest
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Trump’s “border czar” for providing “know your rights”
information to immigrants. The Working Families Party and Justice
Democrats are recruiting and training working-class people
[[link removed]] to run for office in 2026. 

Grassroots groups in every targeted constituency (United We Dream
[[link removed]], “Rise Up for Trans Youth
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and hundreds more) are organizing their bases and pressuring
Democratic Party leaders and electeds
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join the fight. In the labor movement, resistance actions are coming
from the AFL-CIO leadership (including the “The Department of People
Who Work for a Living [[link removed]]”
initiative) and from rank-and-file initiative (the newly
formed Federal Unionists Network (FUN)
[[link removed]]). Choose Democracy has published
“What can I do to fight this coup
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their study of anti-authoritarian organizing worldwide.

And it’s not only pre-existing organizations that are engaging in
the fray. Like the FUN network above and #50501
[[link removed]], new organizations are springing up. And
like the 19,000 students
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the Fresno and Madera Unified School Districts
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California’s Central Valley who stayed out of school on the national
“Day Without Immigrants” protests Feb. 3, new people are stepping
into activist and leadership roles. 

Practical priority number one for the Left is to bring everything we
have to the battles underway: our energy and resources; our proposals
for action; our willingness to take risks; our commitment to “an
injury to one is an injury to all” as a guide to action. At the same
time, to maximize our contribution we also need to understand our
limitations. The political forces from Bernie leftward are not strong
enough to halt the MAGA offensive on our own. A far broader anti-MAGA
coalition is needed, as are new strategies and tactics for this new
period.

Those new approaches will not all be generated within our current
ranks. The resistance movement is already broad and diverse. It will
(and must!) become even more so, which means no single strategy,
however insightful, will guide all its parts. Polling shows majorities
disapprove of Trump and Musk and oppose bedrock elements of their
agenda, but it’s hard to predict what issue will turn public opinion
into activity that imposes political consequences on MAGA. 

Translating this combination of urgency and a sense of proportion into
action can make us most effective at playing the roles we are best
equipped to play.

We can bring a measure of leadership to each battlefront, but should
be alert to leadership potential in people first stepping forward from
working-class and specially oppressed constituencies, and nurture that
potential.

We can model courage, amplify it
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it is displayed, and recognize that courage will also be demonstrated
by some people that surprise us
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We need to build out the on-ramps into our organizations and networks,
and lean toward boldness in bringing people who get on those ramps
into leadership positions. 

Overall, we can think of ourselves as one of the smaller wheels that
move bigger wheels, and act accordingly. 

4. Aim for a leap in political and operational unity 

What’s needed is a large cohort of activists who are embedded in the
workplaces, neighborhoods, and cultural and religious institutions of
working-class life and act as catalysts to unleash the energy,
combativeness, and all-around political leadership potential of those
with whom they share the conditions of life. 

The Left has an opportunity to make not just an _important_ but
a _unique_ contribution to the broad resistance by offering a
positive, motivating, and convincingly realistic vision of a
post-MAGA-in-power society.

Gaining mass traction for such a vision is important for two reasons.
First, it strengthens the resistance. We learned from the 2024
election that opposition to MAGA is not enough to move a large portion
of the anti-MAGA majority into action; a positive vision of what
MAGA’s opponents are fighting _FOR _is required. Two, if and when
MAGA is pushed back, in the absence of a progressive force with a
credible post-MAGA vision, some variant of the “back to the pre-MAGA
status quo” perspective that characterizes a big section of the
Democratic Party leadership will win out. That kind of arrangement
will not address the needs of the US majority, and will leave the door
open for MAGA to posture again as an agent of positive change and for
future elections to look a lot more like 2024 than 2020.

Over the last several years, a broad swath of US radicals have
gravitated toward advocacy of participating in a broad electoral front
against MAGA while working to increase the independent strength of
social justice organizations. (_Convergence_ formulates this as
“Block and Build
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describing the political and economic arrangement this current is
fighting for, the most common approach as of now is to advocate for a
robust political democracy that is anchored in the interests and needs
of the multiracial working class. And in organizational terms, since
January 20 there has been a leap in interaction between groups in or
close to this political ballpark, and an increased measure of
cooperation in mass education
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practical organizing work. 

Building on that progress, leaps forward both on the
political/strategic and operational/organizational levels are now
required. 

The vision of a multiracial working-class democracy, and the strategy
to gain enough governing power to put the country on that path, must
be fleshed out and made more concrete. The key issues that process
will need to address include: 

* Getting specific about different strategies for power at the
local, state and federal levels, and in red, blue and purple areas; 
* Deepening both components of an inside/outside strategy—fighting
inside government and Democratic Party structures and engaging in
disruption and mass non-compliance outside those structures; 
* Understanding the ways in which today’s fights around gender and
patriarchy are central to the MAGA vs. anti-MAGA conflict; 
* Figuring out how to win or “win back” sectors of the Black,
Latino/a and Asian-American constituencies that have drifted toward
MAGA;
* And, since without an internationalist vision any progressive
movement in the US is vulnerable to an imperial version of patriotism,
developing our foreign policy vision in today’s rapidly changing
global landscape.

As the Left takes up these and other matters, I think drawing on the
framework of fighting for a Third Reconstruction can be of great help.
This framework roots us in US history, sheds significant light on the
ways democratic and class struggle intersect and interweave and
highlights the driving-force role of the Black working class. The
Third Reconstruction outlook is already part of Left discussion
(See Peniel E. Joseph
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William Barber
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Davidson and Bill Fletcher, Jr
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and my own writing
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and propels those who take it up to look (or look again) at the work
of W.E.B. Dubois, which is valuable even beyond its bearing on this
framework.

Even the best radical vision and strategy needs to be offered by a
force embedded in the conditions and struggles of workers and the
oppressed. And here too there is a foundation to build on.
Increasingly, both veteran and new activists agree that skilled paid
staffs alone are insufficient for building a durable working-class
movement. What’s needed is a large cohort of activists who are
embedded in the workplaces, neighborhoods, and cultural and religious
institutions of working-class life and act as catalysts
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unleash the energy, combativeness, and all-around political leadership
potential of those with whom they share the conditions of life.
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) makes a large contribution here
and could make a bigger one if the organization shed its political
ambivalence—in some factions, downright opposition—toward
positioning itself solidly within the broad anti-MAGA front and seeing
the strengthening of the front’s progressive wing (not just its
socialist component) as a prime strategic task. 

Facing a common threat, organizations building bases among workers and
the oppressed are breaking out of silos. Cross-organizational dialogue
and cooperation are on the rise even as outward-facing activity is
intensifying. 

As this process moves forward, a few centers of gravity are emerging
for forces that oppose MAGA and center working-class interests. Two
show particular promise of being able to bring together large portions
of today’s progressive trend, forging a political force whose
participants range from elected officials to scholars, podcasters,
professional organizers, and grassroots activists.

One is the Working Families Party, which has built working alliances
on the national level with MoveOn, Indivisible, Public Citizen, Seed
the Vote, the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and Showing Up for
Racial Justice and with numerous state-based power building
organizations in the states where it has active operations. WFP has
thrown down hard for Palestinian rights and was the initiator of
the largest post-election mass call
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participants registered and 200 endorsing organizations. 

The second is the motion in the labor movement generated by UAW
President Shawn Fain’s call for unions to align contract expiration
dates for May 1, 2028 and prepare for a nationwide strike
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That initiative taps into the new militancy bubbling up from
rank-and-file workers and the growing support for unions fighting for
the interests not only of their members but of the working class as a
whole, manifested especially in the work of Bargaining for the Common
Good [[link removed]].

The political landscape is changing fast. Perhaps other formations
with comparable savvy and reach will emerge. The key point is that
even as we go all-out in day-to-day resistance to the MAGA blitzkrieg,
we need to be investing in an effort that can spearhead the
development of a united radical force where the whole adds up to more
than the sum of its parts. 

_[MAX ELBAUM is a member of the Convergence Magazine editorial
board and the author of Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn
to Lenin, Mao and Che 
[[link removed]](Verso
Books, Third Edition, 2018), a history of the 1970s-‘80s ‘New
Communist Movement’ in which he was an active participant. He is
also a co-editor, with Linda Burnham and María Poblet, of Power
Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections 
[[link removed]](OR Books, 2022).]_

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