How to Take Heart From What Really Worked in the First Resistance
Women and men in these grassroots
groups met regularly, informed themselves about the local implications of Trump
initiatives—above all about his push with Republicans to repeal Obama’s
Affordable Care Act. Then they spelled out the dire consequences for patients
and hospitals and health clinics in their communities and states, speaking in
plain English to neighbors, friends, and co-workers. National surveys showed that,
in just one year, their efforts dramatically increased public understanding and
support for the ACA, helping Senator John McCain turn thumbs-down on its repeal and discouraging Trump and the GOP from trying again. Beyond
that big victory in 2017, many local grassroots resisters also ran for election
to school boards, state legislatures, and Congress, or supported good
candidates, helping propel the Blue Wave that crashed against MAGA in special
elections and in November 2018.
Flash-forward to now, 2025, when
a more ruthless MAGA Republican regime newly installed in Washington wants to
ram through an even bigger tax cut to boost the mega-wealthy; paid for by
shrinking Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, the ACA, and many
public school programs on which masses of Americans depend, in red states as
well as blue. Trump and allies want to push this all through in one big,
hastily assembled partisan bill, before most Americans even know what is
hitting them.
Who will warn people? Local news outlets are few and far between, lies
will spread on right-wing media, and Washington press will mostly focus on Trump’s
latest outlandish threats, lawsuits, or arcane congressional procedures. But
regular citizens need clarity about ways D.C. actions impact local communities
and everyday people. Grassroots resisters offered such clarity during the first
Trump-GOP administration—suggesting a straightforward four-step game plan for
new grassroots citizens’ groups today:
