October 14, 2025
It’s now been two weeks since the federal government shut down. As government employees collected a final partial paycheck last Friday, they wait for the stalemate to end—many continuing to work without pay, and under new threats from Trump of (illegal) permanent layoffs.
At the center of the shutdown is healthcare, which Republicans in Congress slashed for millions of people in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” passed this summer—another burden piled onto poor and working-class people already struggling to get by.
These days, it often feels as though we are beholden to the whims of a dysfunctional federal government. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Recently, Mother Jones’s editor in chief, Clara Jeffery, called for a “soft secession” to push back against the Trump administration by aligning blue states through legislation and economic support.
While this idea may sound radical (or theoretical), it’s certainly possible. In fact, at NPQ, we’ve published articles on how leaders and individual states can support each other to serve their people when the federal government fails. In essence, a “soft secession” calls for states to align to safeguard their residents, funding, and values. This moment calls for us to reclaim our power and invest in solidarity and innovation across the civil sector to protect democracy, civil society, and we, the people.
In solidarity,
Coty Poynter
Managing Editor
