DC, Sep 28 : As President Donald Trump 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 his own ranks. 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. 

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.   This “movement-based opposition” has emerged rapidly during the first year of Trump’s presidency.

It is represented by the mass nonviolent resistance to ICE in Los Angeles and elsewhere and the five 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” non-violent uprisings – aka “social strikes” — if they prove to be necessary to overcome authoritarian rule.   As I write in September, Trump’s authoritarian juggernaut is 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 as a pretext. Abroad, it means the bombing of Iran, the illegal, unprovoked attacks on Venezuelan boats, and on-going collusion with genocide in Gaza; 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 — out of the 38 felony cases filed by Trump’s U.S. 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 suddenly reversed himself and announced that he was not going to send the troops because a railroad executive had advised him, “’You’re gonna lose Chicago, sir. It’s a great city. You’re gonna lose Chicago.’”