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A PATH TO PUSHING MAGA OUT OF POWER  
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Max Elbaum
June 17, 2025
Convergence
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_ Only a new governing coalition capable of expanding political
democracy and beginning a process of structural change can push MAGA
back to the margins. Lessons from the 2020 election and the Biden
years help show a path toward that goal. _

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We have a treacherous road to travel before we can push MAGA out of
political power. But even as we prioritize resistance to the
administration’s daily barrage we need an eyes-on-the-prize vision
of a post-MAGA government. What kind of governing bloc is
both _POSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE_ and _CAPABLE OF PROVIDING MORE THAN
TEMPORARY RESPITE_ from fascism’s forward march? 

For determining what is essential in such a government and charting a
path to reach that goal, there is a lot to learn from the dynamics of
the 2020 election and what did and did not happen during the Biden
administration. 

There is no going back

The Biden years and the 2024 election made it clear that an
administration unable or unwilling to push through major political and
economic changes cannot beat back authoritarianism. The pre-2016
status quo (neoliberalism anchored by U.S. global hegemony) was and is
unsustainable. An exit from that order either in the direction of
autocracy/fascism or robust democracy and people-over-profit economics
has been on the agenda since the 2008 financial crisis. 

The strategists and power-brokers who laid the groundwork for Trump
2.0 have understood this for at least a decade. That’s why the MAGA
bloc, having captured all three branches of the federal government,
has been able to move so quickly toward the goal of consolidating
authoritarian rule. 

The narcissistic obsessions of their demagogue-in-chief (tariffs,
vendettas against Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift, etc.) are weak
points in their blitzkrieg. The re-emergence of the anti-MAGA
majority
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large protest actions
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major obstacles in their path. With a further uptick in
resistance—including non-compliance and other actions aimed at the
“key pillars
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of U.S. authoritarianism—along with heightened popular disapproval,
it may be possible to preserve significant democratic space, including
enough space for competitive elections and the basic right to
protest. 

If our resistance efforts achieve that goal, breaking MAGA’s grip on
power at the federal level and weakening its strength at the state
level is the next urgent step. But even that is not enough. If
today’s Project 2025 regime is not replaced by a governing coalition
that moves aggressively on a program of political democratization that
prioritizes racial and gender justice, pro-working class economic
reform, and an end to U.S. forever wars
[[link removed]], MAGA will
again brand itself as the change agent the country needs and come
roaring back. 

Elected officials and an energized mass base 

The governing coalition we need must have clout both inside and
outside the political system. 

On the inside, its partisans need to be in elected office at every
level. Wielding the power of the presidency and holding majorities in
both Houses of Congress is essential, not least to break the power of
the current MAGA majority on the Supreme Court. And given the
extensive powers reserved for state governments in the U.S. federal
system, eliminating some of the 23 GOP state trifectas and winning our
own trifectas in 15-20 states by 2028 is a necessary target as well.

The capacity to exercise power outside the formal political system is
equally important. No progressive program will make it from policy to
law to tangible change on the ground (and no new coalition will come
to power in the first place) without constant pressure and active
participation by an energized grassroots base. And that energy can
only be sustained by a cluster of combative, mass-based organizations
implementing a common strategy which their members shape and
“own.” 

Only this combination of elements can sustain the kind of
“co-governance” dynamic necessary for a durable and accountable
governing coalition. 

A short-lived glimpse in 2020

For getting to that kind of multi-leveled governing bloc, there are
important lessons from the 2020 election. That contest put President
Biden in the White House, flipped the Senate to Democratic control
(with Vice President Harris able to break the 50-50 Senate tie) and
expanded the Squad to six as Democrats retained control of the
House. 

Going into that election, mass protest was at a fever pitch. The day
after Donald Trump’s first inauguration saw the massive Women’s
March, at the time the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.
[[link removed]]  Militant
protests at airports across the country in response to Trump’s
“Muslim ban” were the next high-water mark in the stream of
anti-Trump protests. The George Floyd uprising at the height of the
pandemic then surpassed the Women’s March and still stands as
“very likely the largest collective action ever on U.S. soil
[[link removed].].” 

Much of the energy unleashed by all this grassroots ferment flowed
into the electoral arena, the lion’s share fueling Bernie
Sanders’s second presidential campaign. Most organized radical
groups in the country backed Bernie’s insurgent effort, either
participating directly in the campaign structure or using their own
distinct structures for electoral work. The result was a leap in the
sophistication
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existing and new formations approached electoral work and in the
connection and cooperation among different groups.  

Though Bernie did not win the nomination, the scale of his support
(and to a lesser degree, Elizabeth Warren’s) moved the party
leftwards and forced most primary candidates to support Medicare for
All. It put Bernie in position to represent U.S. progressives in
negotiations with the winning Biden team over the character of the
general election campaign and at least some components of
administration policy. This took the form of joint task forces which
produced a detailed policy statement that included recommendations
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funding universal prekindergarten,  expanding Social Security,
raising the national minimum wage, and eliminating cash bail, among
many other long-sought progressive programs.  

A second factor that produced what amounted to a Biden-Bernie alliance
was recognition by at least some sectors of Democratic Party
establishment that a shift away from neoliberalism was in their own
class and political interest. The Hewlett Foundation’s
2020 “Economy and Society Initiative to support growing movement to
replace neoliberalism” was the clearest expression of that
sector’s viewpoint. 

The result of these two factors was a general election campaign that
did not rely exclusively on an anti-MAGA message. The prospect of
winning changes that would benefit the majority of workers, poor
people, and constituencies facing special oppression was also present.
As a result, almost all the organizations that had backed Bernie (or
Warren) threw down against MAGA in the general election and provided a
big part of the margin of victory in battleground states. 

And after the election victory, the Biden administration’s initial
legislative priority—the Build Back Better
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numerous provisions long advocated by progressives, drawing from,
among other efforts, the extensive grassroots organizing for a Green
New Deal.  

Falling short leads to falling back

The political trajectory after that, however, was downhill. Any brief
summary is over-simplified. But the central dynamic is clear enough. 

Quick to recover from the wave of disapproval that followed January 6,
MAGA practiced all obstruction, all the time. The Biden
administration, still trapped in the fantasy that the “traditional
norms” of U.S. politics were operative, tried to reason with GOP
so-called “moderates” and the reactionary Manchin-Sinema duo
within the Democratic ranks. The narrowness of the Democratic
majorities in the House and Senate was a real problem; conciliating
the obstructors didn’t work and the Inflation Reduction Act and
other measures that finally passed were a shadow of the original
“Build Back Better” proposal.

The Biden team proved inept even at promoting what they did achieve.
And then, starting two years in, Biden made a whole series of right
turns. Administration messaging on rebuilding the economy shifted from
benefitting the majority to competing with China. Biden and other
mainstream Democrats capitulated to MAGA’s anti-immigrant crusade.
The President bear-hugged Netanyahu and became the main enabler of
Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

Though increasingly unpopular and frail, Biden refused to withdraw
until it was too late for a competitive presidential primary, thereby
preventing the launch of a campaign that might have energized
increasingly alienated progressives as Bernie did in 2016 and 2020. By
the time of the 2024 general election, Harris and mainstream
Democratic candidates for the House and Senate had little to run on
besides anti-MAGA sentiment and abortion rights.  

As a result, the political situation today is worse than 2016. A cadre
of loyal MAGA operatives is running the federal government and
implementing a well-prepared plan.  Mainstream Democrats, with a few
individual exceptions, are in near-total disarray, unable to formulate
much less agree upon or carry out a serious opposition strategy. The
broad Left has grown in both size and sophistication compared to 2016,
and important sections of it are working together and utilizing the
“Block and Build
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strategic framework. But we are still playing catch-up and only since
the Hands-Off demonstrations in April that we are able to draw
strength from an outpouring of bottom-up protest. Yet intensifying
climate change
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the rapid deployment of AI
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speeding up the things-must-change calendar.

Stay grounded and go beyond 2020

Digging ourselves out of this hole requires a process that accurately
assesses the difficult balance of forces, learns from what worked to
drive politics forward in 2020, and goes a lot further. 

Turning public disapproval into enough actions and votes to stop
MAGA’s advance is the immediate priority…we are in a tougher spot
than we were in 2020, so we need to reach for the additional types of
protest in our arsenal, such as strikes and other workplace actions,
civil disobedience, disruptive protests, and organized noncompliance.

MAGA’s drive for unlimited power is moving fast. But one of the
reasons for MAGA’s haste is that its program is unpopular and grows
more so by the week. Turning public disapproval into enough actions
and votes to stop MAGA’s advance is the immediate priority. Every
rapid response to an ICE raid, every town hall calling out those who
vote to cut Medicaid, every lawsuit/picket line combination to defend
federal workers, every protest against sending arms to Israel makes a
difference by energizing those already opposed to MAGA, exploiting the
fissures among Trump voters, or both. But we are in a tougher spot
than we were in 2020, so we need to reach for the additional types of
protest in our arsenal, such as strikes and other workplace actions,
civil disobedience, disruptive protests, and organized noncompliance.

If the next 18 months of resistance efforts succeed in protecting the
electoral process, big gains are possible in 2026 and then 2028 with
an all-out “margin of effort
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For a new governing coalition to be more than a holding action,
winning the presidency and larger Democratic majorities in the House
and Senate than were won in 2020 are necessary—but not sufficient.
The strength of progressives relative to the corporate and centrist
factions in the Democratic Party must be significantly greater than in
2020. Protecting every incumbent who will be targeted by AIPAC
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the Crypto lobby
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several incumbents with Squad-like progressives, are realistic
goals. 

It will take longer than four years to build an organizing and media
infrastructure and financial base strong enough to make progressives a
majority of non-MAGA Representatives and Senators. But we can and
should aim to punch above our weight in numbers seated in Washington.
Key planks in our program for structural change (Medicare for All,
expansion of voting rights and an end to the _Citizens United_ role
of money in politics, overhaul of the tax system to tax the rich,
PRO-Act and related expansions of trade union rights) command majority
support. 

As struggles against authoritarianism intensify, participants and
their supporters move toward more combativeness and more openness to
radical ideas. And though it is dormant, the willingness among
mainstream Democrats to explore a shift away from neoliberalism has
not completely disappeared. 

Toward synergy: a presidential run, Left unity, and grassroots
organizing

These factors could give us leverage in contending with the corporate
and centrist forces for influence in the anti-MAGA front. A key tactic
will be finding a progressive to make a serious bid for the
presidential nomination. 

Win or lose, an insurgent campaign promoting an anti-oligarchy,
pro-working class program will be essential for gaining more influence
on the 2028 Democratic election campaign and incoming administration
than progressives had in 2020. It will allow us to define the election
as a chance to both repudiate MAGA and make the shift away from
neoliberalism that was glimpsed but not accomplished in 2020-2021. An
insurgent campaign is also needed to increase our influence on U.S.
foreign policy, immigration, racial justice, and other issues which
are crucial for putting any new governing coalition on a durable
foundation. 

Maximum Left unity behind the candidate running in the “progressive
lane” of the 2028 Democratic primary will be critical. This is
another lesson from 2020 (and from Bernie’s 2016 campaign and Jesse
Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 Rainbow efforts) that is applicable in 2028
and beyond. Given the undemocratic structure of the U.S. electoral
system, a presidential campaign is one of the very few ways to
galvanize united action by different sectors of the broad Left and
project a distinct vision and program before the country. 

Thus, it is no surprise that informal discussions are already underway
in progressive circles about potential candidates, with many
speculating that AOC is positioning herself to fill that spot. 

An equally important lesson from Bernie and Jesse’s runs is that
grassroots-based organizations with a clear political strategy
operating at scale are needed to consolidate the energy unleashed by
any insurgent campaign. It is therefore urgent to seize the
opportunities that now exist to make leaps forward on that front. The
new stirrings of labor militancy and the shift among major unions
toward embracing a broader progressive agenda—including opposition
to U.S. backing for Israeli genocide—is especially promising. The
UAW-led initiative to align contract expiration dates and conduct
united labor actions on Mayday 2028
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a potential focal point for activity that starts today. It also holds
out the prospect of synergy with a progressive presidential campaign
in spring 2028.

There is also potential for accelerating the motion toward strategic
alignment and organizational cooperation in the broad Left, especially
between groups that already have adopted a power-building strategy
that meshes electoral and non-electoral work. 

Everything we have will be needed to protect the results of elections
if they are competitive and if anti-MAGA wins. Trump did not accept
defeat in 2020 and there is no reason to expect today’s GOP to
accept defeat in 2026 or 2028. 

Putting the pieces together

The challenges we face are daunting. Progressives alone do not have
the strength to prevent MAGA from consolidating authoritarian rule.
Even the much broader gathering of all anti-MAGA sectors needs to
become more combative and united to accomplish that task. And if we
succeed in ousting MAGA, the coalition that comes to power will need
to have enough strength inside and outside government to kick-start
significant changes that are felt on the ground. It is unrealistic to
expect that every part of our agenda can be won quickly. But we must
win enough to spark the enthusiasm in the majority of the multi-racial
and gender-diverse U.S. working class and broader population while at
least neutralizing a sizeable number of 2024 Trump voters. 

All we can say with confidence today is that the strands that could
produce such an outcome exist. The anti-MAGA majority is re-emerging.
There is motion toward revitalizing the labor movement at both the
leadership and rank-and-file levels. Strategic ideas drawn from the
experience of fighting authoritarianism in other countries
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taking hold within the anti-MAGA opposition. Power-building
progressive organizations have grown in sophistication and are united
on most elements of a program that could kick-start a cycle of
political and economic change. Important voices within the progressive
world are locating that program within the deep patterns of U.S.
history, promoting the framework of a Third Reconstruction
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highlights the synergy between democratic and working-class struggles
and the special role of the Black Freedom Movement.

If all these strands mature, we can achieve what today’s
circumstances allow and make 2028 a turning point in the long march
toward a different world.

_Max Elbaum [[link removed]] 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 
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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)._

_Convergence Magazine a magazine for radical insights – helping
people who animate movements for social, economic, & environmental
justice understand the balance of power and_

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