A Brutal Beginning: Orienting Ourselves Amid the Shock and Awe

It’s easy to feel discouraged in these times. The early days of the second Trump administration have been grim and destabilizing. In a flurry of day one executive orders, Trump’s edicts included momentous attacks on trans rights, an unconstitutional effort to end birthright citizenship, and policy changes that will imperil the natural world. One of Trump’s executive orders signaled the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization, jeopardizing national and global responses to future pandemics. Trump’s pardon of January 6 rioters sent a clear message to would-be MAGA vigilantes around the country that those who commit violence on behalf of his movement will have the support of the president. 

Meanwhile, migrants along the southern border wept as the CBP One app, which allows migrants to apply for legal entry to the US as asylum seekers, was cut off. 

At Trump’s inauguration rally, Elon Musk raised his right hand from his chest and extended his arm in an upward, diagonal motion, an action that many observers – including this writer and multiple historians – interpreted as a Sieg Heil salute. The Anti-Defamation League and some legacy publications normalized Musk’s action as an “awkward” gesture. The widespread insistence that the gesture must have been something other than a Nazi salute brings to mind George Orwell’s famous words from 1984: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

The brazenness and severity of Trump’s fascist politics, and those of his merry band of oligarchs, will continue in the coming days. It is a circus of horrors performed by brutish clowns, attempting to act out their bigoted, greed-fueled fantasies. They want people of conscience to feel overwhelmed by despair and disorientation, as though all is lost. They want us to surrender in the face of their extremity and furious momentum. If legal organizations manage to beat back some of the administration’s blatantly illegal maneuvers, such as their attempt to end birthright citizenship, they’re hoping you will thank your lucky stars and leave it at that – assuming that an occasional legal victory is the best we can do. It is not.

Trump and his team of oligarchs, including techno-fascists like Musk, want us to believe that the enactment of their political vision is inevitable, and they will exploit your sense of inevitability above all else. In these daunting hours, we must refuse to surrender to the right's edicts about who can and cannot be saved or who should or should not be helped. We must resist these ideas with our words, our actions, and our moral and political commitments. Feelings of fear and powerlessness are understandable, but if we surrender to fascism in our own minds, our feelings of helplessness will become self-fulfilling as Trump’s violence continues.

Steadying Ourselves

In moments like this one, it’s easy to become fixated on Trump’s every antic and utterance. After all, when one is watching a disaster unfold, the impulse to check for constant updates is a natural one. Many of us fell into this pattern during the recent wildfires in LA, scrolling relentlessly, looking for any new bit of information about just how bad a horrible situation had gotten. We do this out of worry and fear. We do it because we care, and we don’t know what else to do.

When the fires were raging, and I found myself scrolling into the night, I took a moment to ask myself what I could actually do to help. I then interrupted my time off to craft a list of resources for people affected by the fires and those who wanted to donate. I tapped into my relationships to find resources that were recommended by trusted organizers in LA, including a link to a spreadsheet that local organizers were updating in real-time. Once I had shared my list with my friends, social media followers, and newsletter subscribers, I found it easier to step away from the barrage of bad news. I was able to close my eyes and get some rest because I knew that, for the moment, I had done what I could.

Sometimes, “bearing witness” feels like the only thing we can do, but the relentless consumption of suffering and injustice does not change anyone’s material conditions. It may feel like we’re doing something, but during such moments, we are experiencing an impact rather than having one. Contributing to the reactive noise of emotional responses likewise has little effect on the tangible outcomes people are experiencing and can, at times, be harmful.

In our current moment, it’s important to remind ourselves that we are not helping or saving anyone by falling into patterns of shock and reaction. Absorbing each blow head-on and then performing our disapproval online is not “resistance,” which is something we all should have learned during Trump’s first term. Trump is a performer. Becoming a full-time viewer and critic of the Trump Show does not create safety or justice for anyone. It merely drives us mad.

Many have described Trump’s repeated policy blows as a “shock and awe” strategy. While the description is apt, it’s important to remember the objective of shock and awe attacks: to overwhelm a target, distort their perception of the battlefield, and destroy their will to fight.

When your enemy wants you disoriented, your ability to focus is an important means of self-defense. What matters to you in this moment? Most of us can meaningfully dedicate ourselves to one or two causes, at the most. What can you commit to doing something about? Where do you get trustworthy information about those subjects? Who do you connect with when deciding what to do about what you’ve learned? Is there an organization whose resources you will employ or whose calls to action you will answer? Do you have a friend group or solidarity network that will formulate a response together? Answering these questions is key to steadying yourself in these times. Remember: Vulnerable people don’t need a sea of reactivity right now. They need caring groups of people who are working together to create as much safety as they can. We need to create a rebellious culture of care. That will take focus and intention. It will take relationships and a whole lot of energy. 

We cannot afford to burn ourselves out in a state of panic and emotional upheaval. 

Supporting Trans Safety and Survival

One of the issues that is front and center for me right now is the safety and survival of trans people. On Tuesday, I spoke with Chase Strangio, the first openly trans attorney to argue before the Supreme Court. Strangio emphasized the severity of our situation. “After a campaign that used the demonization of transgender people as a central theme, President Trump wasted no time targeting transgender people in a range of day one executive orders,” Strangio said. “In addition to rescinding protections for transgender people, Trump directed agencies across the government to discriminate against transgender people.” 

In an executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government,” Trump declared that “it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.” This order, which will face numerous legal challenges, will make it more difficult for trans people to acquire federal identification, such as passports, that match their gender identity. The order will also impact incarcerated trans people, who Trump has declared will be housed according to the sex they were assigned at birth.

“The expansive sex discrimination order will result in the denial of medical care to transgender people in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, the denial of accurate identification for transgender people from the Department of State, Homeland Security and in personnel records, and the potential exclusion of transgender people from sex-separated spaces in federal buildings,” Strangio explained. “Yesterday’s actions both broadly situate transgender people as an inherent threat to others while exposing transgender people to serious and imminent harms.”

Obviously, these policies must be denounced and legal challenges to this executive order should be supported, but such actions are not enough. To support trans safety and survival, we must support trans-led organizing, like the youth-led effort Trans Justice Futures. We must also be willing to defend trans people against the hateful attacks Trump’s anti-trans policies will fuel. Community defense efforts, including bystander intervention training, will be crucial in the weeks and years ahead. Maintaining policies that recognize trans identity in commercial and community spaces, rather than capitulating to right-wing norms, will also be important. 

Some of us must also be willing to break the law when necessary to help trans people access care, safety, and shelter.

In some cases, trans people will need support as they flee areas that are increasingly unsafe for gender-expansive people. Some communities are already creating networks to support people displaced by bigotry and unjust laws. We will need more of those efforts as marginalized people attempt to escape dangerous conditions.

Trump’s Attacks on Migrants

Another issue I am deeply concerned about right now is the safety of immigrant communities. On Tuesday, I spoke with Detention Watch Network executive director Silky Shah, who stressed the peril that immigrant communities are facing. “With the first slew of executive orders and the passage of the Laken Riley Act in the Senate on Monday, the Trump administration and members of Congress, including Democrats, have unequivocally made immigrants and immigrant communities a target,” Shah said.

The Laken Riley Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain undocumented immigrants who are arrested and charged with crimes in the US – including low-level, nonviolent offenses. The deportation of immigrants detained under the Laken Riley Act would be expedited, even before they are convicted. The law would effectively empower police to sentence undocumented immigrants to deportation by mere accusation.

Shah stated that the Democrats’ rightward lurch during the 2024 election cycle “has culminated in the passage of one of the harshest immigration laws in decades and an unprecedented wave of anti-immigrant executive branch policies.” Shah compared the political atmosphere that Republicans and Democrats have cultivated to the “tough on crime” era of the 80s and 90s. “The racist and xenophobic rhetoric of this moment is poised to significantly expand both the immigrant detention system and the federal prison and jail system,” Shah said.

The Laken Riley Act would make police major players in Trump’s vision for mass deportations. “Trump’s executive orders will undoubtedly be a boon for local sheriffs, private prison companies, and military contractors alike to the detriment of rural and border communities and their long-term economic health,” Shah said. Shah warned that some elected officials will likely regret embracing this strategy. “Just as some elected leaders have since regretted the mass incarceration and warehousing of the working class, poor and disproportionately Black communities, those who sign on to this agenda will regret scapegoating immigrants as the ‘enemy’ of people in the US,” Shah said. “But it’s not too late for elected leaders to reject the Trump agenda. We don’t have to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

Another troubling aspect of Laken Riley Act is that it would allow the administration to rely on the norms of criminalization to invisibilize the harms the federal government is committing against immigrants. People in the United States are already conditioned to ignore police brutality and torturous prison conditions. Criminalized people are often written off as deserving of whatever harm they experience. These tendencies will surely be exploited by officials who plan to use the earliest stages of criminalization as a means to expel undocumented people.

While the situation is daunting, Shah urges the public to rally together in support of immigrants. “We know that there is power in community,” she said. “Across the country, ordinary people have resisted the expansion of detention to prevent deportations, uniting for their immigrant neighbors and friends. Now is the time to build up community networks of defense and prepare to block new detention centers.”

If you want to organize to support and defend immigrant communities, Detention Watch Network's website can help you connect with one of their member groups. Even if you are engaged in autonomous group organizing, such as a neighbor-based community defense effort, relationships with experienced, trusted groups can be essential.

I live in Chicago, where fears are running high about Trump’s plans to attack our immigrant communities. The climate of terror people are experiencing can sometimes lead to false alarms about the presence of ICE agents, which can cause unnecessary panic. If you hear a rumor about the presence of Homeland Security, or you believe you may have witnessed a raid, the best move is to call a hotline operated by a group with experience vetting such reports. In my community, that group is Organized Communities Against Deportations, and their hotline number is 1-855-435-7693.

A Culture of Refusal

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker drew praise this week for declaring that the state of Illinois would not cooperate with Trump’s effort to eliminate birthright citizenship. “That’s unconstitutional,” Pritzker declared. “We will not follow an unconstitutional order.”

While such acts of refusal by public officials will be essential in the coming years, I noticed another act of refusal on Monday that I think may prove more instructive for everyday people. Firestorm Books, a bookstore co-op and social movement space in Asheville, North Carolina, released a “Statement of Noncooperation” on Monday. In an Instagram post, Firestorm wrote:

Our bookstore is no stranger to unwanted government attention; we’ve been threatened by city officials, visited by the FBI, and surveilled by police. Historically, the investigation and prosecution of activists has aimed to disrupt our movements for change, sow fear and isolation among participants, break intergenerational bonds, and criminalize struggles for freedom. But we can overcome these attacks through principled action and uncompromising solidarity.

The post went on to outline commitments that the co-op was making, such as minimizing the “non-required collection and storage of information about customers, authors, event participants, and others who engage with our co-op,” refusing to talk to law enforcement, and supporting community members who face repression, “regardless of ‘guilt’ or ‘innocence.’”

While the statement may prove reassuring to customers and people who attend events at Firestorm, the bookstore’s commitments are also valuable on a cultural level. The fact that a bookstore would publicly make these commitments highlights the fact that it is up to everyday people – and not simply politicians like Pritzker – to make choices that will protect our communities. While Pritzker’s argument is grounded in the fact that Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, Firestorm’s position privileges justice above the law. For everyday people resisting fascistic policies – such as state control of people’s bodies and the state-sanctioned disposal of human beings – defiance must be grounded in our sense of justice, rather than arguments about what’s legal. This is a crucial point, as we all know, wickedness and inhumanity have often been legitimized by legislators and the courts.

Firestorm’s statement should be studied by people of conscience, all of whom should devise their own set of commitments. In our organizations, our workplaces, our churches, and our own homes, we must grapple with what it means to refuse to cooperate with injustice. To enact Trump’s fascist vision, the administration will need public cooperation. 

Doctors, nurses, social workers, clerical workers, teachers, and other everyday people will be expected to submit to fascist norms and participate in acts of criminalization. We will be expected to report people, check boxes, and cooperate with authorities. We will be expected to passively observe acts of violence, as though we are helpless and can organize no intervention. We should all be asking ourselves what rules and laws we are willing to break. What lines are we willing to cross? What are we unwilling to passively accept? To create as much justice and safety as possible, we have to defy authority and disobey. 

Witnessing and disapproving will not save us. We must be willing to act and refuse to act on the basis of what we know is right. We must build a rebellious culture of care in defiance of a death-making culture of greed. We must reject the disposal of our fellow human beings. Rather than allowing this fascist oligarchy to invisibilize its violence by cloaking its harms in criminalization, we must be willing to become criminals. To be orderly and cooperative in a fascist state is not a virtue. We must be prepared to live and act defiantly, deriving no legitimacy from the illegitimate brutes who would govern us. 

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