Are we being realistic about being able to restrain Trump?

[bigtree]

...Democrats have no legislative power right not that they can exercise with their own votes to hold the administration accountable.

The federal government isn't giving any heed to any entreaties from the public, the press, or even the courts to halt or limit their autocratic abuses.

Just arbitrarily deciding that the killing of Renee Good was 'self-defense' against a 'domestic terrorist' and refusing to even hold an investigation is effectively a signal to Americans that the Trump regime has no interest in democratic governance.

We are now under the thumb of a rogue regime that is operating with impunity behind a militarized force of mercenaries, and the republican party's refusal to stand up for basic democratic principles. It's basically a republican party coup of America.

We're all republican subjects now, just by virtue of their victory in a narrow election. That's not a traditional American condition; more akin to Russia or China who Trump openly reveres for their brutal dictatorships.

We can't even guarantee the next election; almost certain to feature intense interference from a president and administration that has already demonstrated they know no bounds; not the Constitution, not the courts, nor our nation's laws.

We're so fucked that we're basically just waiting to see what the deranged megalomaniac will focus his autocratic ire on next, as if some perfect accumulation of misdeeds by Trump will seal his fate.

In order to even begin to stand them down, we'll need to take to the streets in numbers which shut everything down. We're also waiting for that to happen in some organic fashion, but we're stifled by the reality that we only have ourselves now; little left of our collective effort to reconcile our differences through the exercise of our democratic form of government.

All of the tools of democracy, justice, and the public welfare we collected over generations and generations and put into practice have been bastardized by the man tasked with wielding them in our nation's defense.

Our democracy is in exile; a mere aspiration again; rather than the settled question that we've been defending with our lives and livelihoods. It resides in us; in our own spirit and aspirations fort the future of the country, not Trump's.

He's not in control of any of those. Trump's dominion is inow in total opposition to a democratic America. He has no purchase in freedom or liberty; he's a dangerous obstacle to those aspirations; not just an abstraction anymore, but a clear and present danger to Americans.

Our best defense is the energy and committment to liberty and freedom which our founders achieved through struggle and sacrifice. Americans won't waken to that reality easily because, we can always rationalize ourselves into some protected group, ostensibly immune from the consequences of tyranny.

But America has always been a collective enterprise. No man is an island, and we rise or fall together; united even as some are determined to stand against us. Regular order is dead, but we retain our own self-determination and initiative which will be vital as we navigate the reality of a self-interested government repressing us for their own edification.

I don't want to despair, I apologize for this, but we haven't even begun to resist in any manner which actually impacts the regime. We're operating on a wish and a prayer, with so many of our beliefs about our individual freedom already shattered along with the lives the Trump regime is threatening with the kit we provided them.

I can't look at any of this and be confident we can overcome it all - certainly not before the upcoming elections. And even then it's depressingly dicey, to say the least.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. What's the alternative? NT

[bigtree]

3. none

...we're locked into this.

Trying hard to not repeat myself.

[Kid Berwyn]

8. Do something to resist the sonofabitch.

Be like this guy:



https://www.metrotimes.com/news/metro-detroit-news/uaw-backs-suspended-ford-worker-condemns-trumps-vulgar-response/

He got his message through to the Pedophile Protector.

[mr715]

2. Let them govern without our votes.

Let them pass a CR, nuke the filibuster, and govern by fiat.

Keep our hands clean.

When the pendulum swings, we will build back what they have broken and be unimpeded by prosaic notions of "bipartisanship"

[bigtree]

4. I remember the old pendulum at the Smithsonian that demonstrated the world was turning

...now out of commission all around the nation.

Not obsolete, they just needed the space for something else called the 'Star-Spangled Banner preservation project.'

Just thinking out loud...

[mr715]

5. There is one in the UN Secretariat as well

It is a Foucault's Pendulum and they are really cool. Disorienting to see them, gave me a bit of vertigo to realize that while I feel as though I am standing still, the entirety of space and time are moving around me.

I wonder if this is a metaphor.

[RockCreek]

6. Thank you for asking these questions and making these points.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. The economic collapse won't be popular

Brute force won't succeed forever when the 401k's are in the toilet.

[RT Atlanta]

9. How was Mitch McConnell able to wield so much 'power' when the 'pukes were in the minority?

That man and his party were in lock-step and seemed able to throw a wrench into the machine every time something came up.

What is the equivalent of this that the Democratic team can/should be doing now?

What about using the courts and lawsuits like the NAACP did with civil rights? https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/thurgood-marshall

There are levers that can and should be actively pulled.

[bigtree]

11. he had a compromising number of Democrats who would bend to conservative initiatives

Last edited Wed Jan 14, 2026, 03:23 PM - Edit history (1)

...even in a narrow Democratic majority.

Democratic legislators can't issue subpoenas in the minority, but there are already myriad lawsuits being fought by Democrats from Congress to the statehouses with Dem AGs long engaged in that legal effort.


The DNC has long been engaged in the legal fight.

Just this month:

DNC, DCCC & DSCC File Lawsuit Against Trump’s Illegal Executive Order Ending Free and Fair Elections
https://democrats.org/news/dnc-dccc-dscc-file-lawsuit-against-trumps-illegal-executive-order-ending-free-and-fair-elections/


ICYMI: DNC Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief Opposing Republicans’ Attack on Mail-in and Early Voting
01/13/2026
https://democrats.org/news/icymi-dnc-files-supreme-court-amicus-brief-opposing-republicans-attack-on-mail-in-and-early-voting/


DNC Moves To Intervene in RNC vs. DeMarinis To Ensure Eligible Maryland Voters Aren’t Illegally Purged from the Voter Rolls
01/12/2026
https://democrats.org/news/dnc-moves-to-intervene-in-rnc-vs-demarinis-to-ensure-eligible-maryland-voters-arent-illegally-purged-from-the-voter-rolls/


BREAKING: DNC Counters Republican Attack on Mail and Early Voting at Supreme Court
01/09/2026
https://democrats.org/news/breaking-dnc-counters-republican-attack-on-mail-and-early-voting-at-supreme-court/

[Just_Vote_Dem]

15. Thanks for this

Our pushback is happening behind the scenes and in courts, and I think that people tend to look at the headlines and think very little is happening, because what we're seeing are the monsters monopolizing the media

[RT Atlanta]

17. this is how the NAACP was successful

n/t

[betsuni]

20. Republicans won a 54 seat Senate majority in the 2014 election so not in the minority during the Garland thing.

House was R majority from 2011. I can't remember, what did they do in the minority that threw a wrench into things besides the usual obstruction?

[leftstreet]

10. Dems need to shutdown the govt again

And if they're expensive consultants haven't explained it to them, they're wasting a lot of money:

A shutdown over ICE will be perceived much differently than the ACA subsidies

[bigtree]

13. I'd like to see that

...and there's increasing support in the Dem caucus for making that stand.

I wouldn't interpret the silence right now about the ultimate confrontation Dems will make because they're still trying to get the Senate to agree to a vote on ACA, even as they're discussing a response to DHS in caucus and Whip meetings this week.

It's a good tome to call them and remind them of where you stand.

[Bev54]

21. The rest of the world is not waiting to see, they are already moving on without US.

The US is a very dangerous country right now and between that and the economic downfall coming, it is going to be a world of hurt and I really don't think a lot of people in the US have any idea. People only see what is happening in the streets, not what is going on behind closed doors.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. "... we're basically just waiting to see ..."

The people out in the streets in a cold Minneapolis and St. Paul aren't waiting to see.

[bigtree]

14. a majority of Americans weren't in the streets

...so take from that what you will.

In my own view, both parties enabled this with xenophobic responses to immigration which don't seem to have the courage to declare that immigrants enhance our economy and our society, even the undocumented folks; and their continued support for the regressive immigration laws that restrict due process and criminalize administrative violations to the point where the federal government can act against individuals in this country with such disdain for their rights and humanity.

[kentuck]

16. They want you to think you have no power.

It is that way with all autocrats.

But they are more cotton candy and sand than beef and concrete.

[bigtree]

19. never been as afraid of cotton candy

...as I am worried about leaving my home.

Ultimately, we have a shot at prevailing IF we can hold a free and fair election.

At my most pessimistic, though, I can easily envision Trump disrupting it so far out of any credibility or outcome that we'd need a new one to counter it.

The fear is that he'll be so unpopular and realize it, to the point that he'll do anything to keep it from playing all the way out. I'm not encouraged by the responses to him so far, and this is a reversal of opinion about the state of our democracy for me.

All he needs to do is turn the elections into shit that can't be reconciled, and I think he has a good shot at it; at least as good a shot as we have avoiding that outcome

[thought crime]

18. The mid-term election is a critical point in our history

Trump & Co are trying to establish hegemonic power, and if they succeed in preventing a fair election this year, and continue to erode the power and integrity of the Justice Branch, then they will have done it. If democracy does not survive, then we will be living in a totalitarian society and the best we can do is adapt or to leave if we are allowed to.

[BigmanPigman]

22. National boycotts will hurt them where they live.....

The pocketbook. It worked with Jimmy Kimmel and it will work better than a general strike.

We've broken the 3.5 mark with huge protests now we need to move to the next step in activism...$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[BannonsLiver]

23. So we're willing to fight to the death in a futile attempt to defend Garland who was incompetent.

But Trump is mean and suddenly it’s time to surrender. Mkay.