[[link removed]]

A MOVEMENT-BASED OPPOSITION TO TRUMP AND MAGA  
[[link removed]]


 

Jeremy Brecher
October 9, 2025
Common Dreams
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Social self-defense against the MAGA juggernaut can be the starting
point for creating the world we want beyond MAGA. _

,

 

As President Donald Trump
[[link removed]] launches illegal
armed attacks against American cities, peaceful civilians, and people
in foreign countries that have not attacked the US, it may look like a
sign of strength and a harbinger of a future of total domination. But
Trump’s turn to such extreme forms of violence is less an expression
of growing power than an attempt to distract from the growth of
opposition, the loss of public support, and the splits within the
ranks of his own supporters. It is a sign not of strength but of
weakness.

This report lays out a strategy to take advantage of that weakness to
defend society against Trump’s MAGA assaults. That strategy is based
on the principle of “social self-defense”—that all the people
and institutions harmed by Trump’s autocracy can and must come
together to protect society against his assault.

Resisting and eventually eliminating Trump and his MAGA tyranny
requires more than his loss of popularity. It requires a concerted
opposition that can rally powerful social forces to undermine his
means of domination. In our two-party system, the responsibility for
opposition lies on the opposition party—the Democratic Party.
Unfortunately, with a few outstanding exceptions, the leadership of
the Democratic Party has so far failed in its duty to oppose Trump’s
burgeoning autocracy.

In response to the intensifying attack on democracy, millions of
people in thousands of locations have joined actions to oppose his
juggernaut. In the absence of adequate resistance in the electoral
arena, an alliance of popular movements is functioning as the primary
opposition to Trump’s authoritarian rule.

The emerging movement-based opposition aims to halt and undo the harm
that has been done by the Trump regime, but it is not directed toward
returning to the world as it existed before Trump.

This “movement-based opposition” has emerged rapidly during the
first year of Trump’s presidency._ _It is represented by the mass
nonviolent resistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in
Los Angeles and elsewhere and the 5 million participants in No Kings
Day and other national days of action. It is developing significant
power as more and more people see and experience the harm the Trump
administration and the MAGA Congress are inflicting on individuals,
groups, and society as a whole. This movement-based opposition is no
longer a marginal force but is now MAGA’s most powerful opponent.

Sometimes called a non-electoral or independent opposition, such a
movement-based opposition is a convergence of social movements that
performs some of the classic functions of an opposition party without
the goal of itself taking power in government. It draws diverse
constituencies out of their silos to combine their power, but uses
direct action rather than electing candidates as its means to exercise
that power. Like a political party, it brings together different
constituencies around common interests, exposes the lies of those in
power, and wins support for alternatives.

This movement-based opposition can mobilize popular rejection of the
MAGA agenda, block Trump’s initiatives, prod Democratic politicians
into action, split off Republicans, and help lay the groundwork for
“people power” nonviolent uprisings—aka “social
strikes”—if they prove to be necessary to overcome authoritarian
rule.

Trump’s authoritarian juggernaut is currently entering a more
violent, militarized phase. At home, this includes the huge expansion
of ICE, the military occupation of American cities, and the political
repression using the assassination of Charlie Kirk
[[link removed]] as a pretext. Abroad,
it means the bombing of Iran; the illegal, unprovoked attacks on
Venezuelan boats; and ongoing collusion with genocide in Gaza
[[link removed]]. Who knows what else is in the
works.

The opposition is also entering a new phase. This was heralded by the
resistance to ICE and military occupation in Los Angeles that included
community-based support groups; constant identification, tracking, and
filming of ICE agents; mutual aid support for targets of ICE attacks;
ongoing opposition from state and city officials; refusal of the
Dodgers to let ICE enter their stadium; and refusal of grand juries
to indict
[[link removed]]—out
of the 38 felony cases filed by Trump’s US attorney, only seven have
resulted in indictments. Opinion polls indicate that such exposure of
ICE abuses had led public opinion in California and nationwide to
shift against Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.

Chicago, Washington, DC, New York, Memphis, and other cities are
readying for similar resistance. An estimated 25,000 demonstrated in
DC against the occupation of the city. The National Guard troops sent
into Los Angeles and Washington, DC have been widely reported to be
antagonistic to their assignments. The majority of Americans are
opposed to Trump’s deployment of troops to American cities and feel
their own rights and freedoms would be less secure as a result. The
opposition to Trump’s plan to occupy Chicago with the National Guard
met so much resistance from Chicago citizens and unions, the mayor of
the city, and the governor of Illinois that he initially reversed
himself and announced that he was not going to send the troops
because a railroad executive had advised him
[[link removed]],
“You’re gonna lose Chicago, sir.”

As Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr
[[link removed]]. gutted
America’s vaccine programs and other defenses against Covid-19 and
other health threats, major medical associations such as the American
Academy of Pediatrics denounced the new policies and promulgated their
own treatment standards. Top officials in the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health agencies publicly
resigned in protest—and hundreds of CDC employees, including some in
full service uniforms, gathered outside the agency, cheering and
clapping for the three officials who had quit. Four states, flouting
Trumpian policy, announced a “health alliance” that made its own
science-based standards for vaccination. Florida’s plan to eliminate
all vaccine mandates was reversed in just two days following a
furious backlash
[[link removed]] from
medical experts and political opponents.

There are three mutually reinforcing strategies for the movement-based
opposition’s struggle against Trump’s domination: nullifying his
initiatives, voting his supporters out of office, and mass “social
strikes” that mobilize enough people to make his continued rule
impossible.

The emerging movement-based opposition aims to halt and undo the harm
that has been done by the Trump regime, but it is not directed toward
returning to the world as it existed before Trump. That is clearly not
what the people want, and it offers little hope of solving our real
problems. The movement-based opposition includes many different groups
with different visions of the future. It is based on agreement about
the immediate aim, plus agreement to disagree about other things. It
should encourage discussion of areas of disagreement while bracketing
them when they might interfere with immediately necessary
collaboration.

The process of working together and defining common interests itself
can help identify new areas of agreement and encourage mutual
acceptance of differences. Indeed, Social Self-Defense against the
MAGA juggernaut can be the starting point for creating the world we
want beyond MAGA. As Abraham Lincoln said of the Civil War, it can
become the means for a new birth of freedom.

For a growing database of more than 500 organizations that seek
volunteers for many forms of social self-defense, go
to [link removed]

_For the full Labor Network for Sustainability Report on which this
piece is based go to “A Movement-Based Opposition to Trump and MAGA
[[link removed]].”_

_Jeremy Brecher [[link removed]]
is a historian, author, and co-founder of the Labor Network for
Sustainability. His book, "Climate Insurgency: A Strategy for
Survival," or free download at his personal website. His other books
include: "Save the Humans? Common Preservation in Action" (2020),
"Strike!" (2020), and, co-edited with Brendan Smith and Jill Cutler,
"In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond"
(Metropolitan/Holt)._

_Common Dreams [[link removed]] is a
reader-supported independent news outlet created in 1997 as a new
media model._

_Our nonprofit newsroom covers the most important news stories of the
moment. Common Dreams free online journalism keeps our millions of
readers well-informed, inspired, and engaged._

_We are optimists. We believe real change is possible. But only if
enough well-informed, well-intentioned—and just plain fed up and
fired-up—people demand it. We believe that together we can attain
our common dreams._

* Grassroots Organizing
[[link removed]]
* MAGA
[[link removed]]
* Social Movements
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]