You Defined Trump's First 100 Days as Being about Resistance

Trump's first 100 days were about the people-powered and inspired resistance, from protests to state legislatures to individual lawmakers to governors to school superintendents to federal workers.

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Donald Trump’s first one hundred days have been such an attack on basic freedoms, economic security, privacy, the social safety network, and our national security that his first 100 days have been defined by who has had the courage to stand up to him and who hasn’t.

The resistance is hot and it is inspired by all of you.

From simpering plutocrats to bootlicking law firms and universities to servile Democratic Senators kissing the ring and the reliably spineless cowards comprising the majority of Republican lawmakers, we’ve gotten a very clear picture about who values the democracy upon which they rely for their own financial benefits and power.

But rather than focus on the gleeful oligarchs abandoning the country that helped them become wealthy enough to be flagrant predators of its land, air and living beings, it is the people-powered and inspired resistance from state legislatures to individual lawmakers to governors to school superintendents to federal workers that defines Trump’s first 100 days.

None of this resistance would be happening without the most vital ingredient, which is the people who are protesting consistently and peacefully around the country.

Here are a few ways you have inspired people to fight back.

Will Not Scrub DEI from Our Schools

States like Michigan, Maine, Illinois, and Pennsylvania refused to scrub diversity, equity, and inclusion from their schools, even as Trump required state education departments to sign a letter pledging to do so in order to continue receiving federal K-12 funding.

This is based on the Trump administration’s self-serving and inaccurate (to the point of parody) interpretation of civil rights laws. It appears they want civil rights laws to be about protecting white, conservative, straight men from competition.

Michigan’s state superintendent said he will not sign Trump's anti-DEI certification, even as the University of Michigan caved immediately to Trump.

And by the way, students, staff, and faculty asked if the climate had gotten better after five years of U-M DEI efforts, and surprise!

Eight times as many students said the climate had gotten better as said it had worsened since the original plan launched. The impact on representation has been real, too: between 2016 to 2024, the number of Pell Grant recipients grew by 33%.

And recently, New Jersey joined this fight.

19 states are suing over Trump’s order to end DEI programs.

The only people who would see inclusion as a violation of civil rights are people who know they can’t compete with all people, and so they need to rig the game via exclusion. Inclusion is not unfair, it is actually the supposed idea behind a free market — competition.

If everyone can compete, it compels hard work and then ideally, merit prevails.

Boycott El Salvador

Not only the master of calling it like it is in an rather epic speech in New Hampshire last Sunday, in which he called for mass protests and said Republicans must not know a moment of peace, as well as calling out the Democratic Party’s response to Trump via a culture of incrementalism that has allowed the Republican Party to run over Democratic values, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also took a cue from Trump on executive power.

If Trump can use executive power to steal rights from people, the Democrat hopes to use it to boycott those who help Trump’s attacks on due process.

Following Trump’s attacks on due process, Pritzker is directing state agencies to review their investments in and ties to El Salvador in an effort to restore the balance of power, as Republicans, who lead both chambers of Congress right now, are complicit and silent as Trump attacks constitutionally protected freedoms.

“The United States Constitution guarantees due process. We are witnessing Donald Trump erode our fundamental Constitutional rights in real time, and we must fight to restore the balance of power. The State of Illinois will stand up for the Rule of Law and do everything in our power to stop the Trump administration from ripping apart our most basic rights,” Pritzker said in a statement.

Punishing Commercial Airlines that Aid Attacks on Due Process

In New York, a rather clever State Senator has introduced an act to punish commercial airlines that participate in deportation without due process.