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You’re Not Alone: Trump Coup Opposition Is Growing

[CREDIT: Women Forward] On March 1, the Women Forward grassroots political action group hosted a Livestream roundtable discussion with Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) & Rob Shriver, former Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) discussing opposition to the Trump Coup.

[CREDIT: Women Forward] On March 1, the Women Forward grassroots political action group hosted a Livestream roundtable discussion with Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) & Rob Shriver, former Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) discussing opposition to the Trump Coup.
[CREDIT: Women Forward] On March 1, the Women Forward grassroots political action group hosted a Livestream roundtable discussion with Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) & Rob Shriver, former Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) discussing opposition to the Trump Coup.
The President Donald J. Trump Coup is angling for Congress’s Constitutional spending power, ignoring Judicial independence, dismantling federal agencies, and claimed the punchline from French surrender jokes by handing Russia its heart’s desire on Ukraine, while some cheer.  But most Americans oppose this betrayal of allies, Constitution, and America.

If you’ve got a problem with any of that, you’re not alone. But it’s easy to feel that way, since social media drowns out informed dissent with a combination of lax moderation and the migration of many to new platforms. Some large news organizations have made strategically unnecessary concessions to the Trump Administration. And there is also Americans’ long-standing social agreement to avoid politics in conversation, reinforcing the sense that somehow, there is no widespread or organized opposition to Trump’s efforts to sell out allies and grasp outside the Oval Office into Congress and federal courts.

Social Media Isn’t Community. News Media Bend to Pressure

Not long ago, a large swath of people left Facebook for alternate platforms where misinformation, propaganda and community-wrecking behavior are not tolerated, or at least less dominant. BlueSky was among the top platforms benefitting from this, in case you’ve been wondering why your Constitutional, Rule-of-Law and Anti-Authoritarian point of view seems increasingly in the minority on Facebook or other familiar social media.

Twitter suffered a similar fate shortly after Elon Musk bought, gutted and transformed it from a trusted public information service into a money-losing rumor and propaganda mill. Now, Musk has apparently also bought his way into the Oval Office, influencing the United States Digital Service’s reorganization and  renaming it the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a nod to cryptocurrency dodgecoin enjoying his support.

The voice of reason isn’t only tuned out on legacy social media. High profile national news organizations have also conspicuously bent the knee to Trump, including ABC quickly settling Trump’s lawsuit about anchor George Stephanopoulos’ misspoken comment about Trump’s civil lawsuit loss to E. Jean Carroll. (The President would have had to prove actual malice, considered a high bar), and the Washington Post’s pre-election stifling of an editorial endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

And there is the tendency to ignore politics at kitchen tables and gatherings. It’s easy to mistake this silence for a acceptance, but remember that here in Rhode Island,  Vice President Kamala Harris bested Trump with 55.8 percent of the vote to his 41.8 percent. In Warwick, Harris scored a similar majority with 52.6 percent to Trump’s 44.8 percent. In Coventry, that was flipped, with Trump winning 55.2 to Harris’s 42.4 percent. But, state wide, there are surely people who have since changed their minds now that Trump has undermined the rule of law, grabbed power from Congress and courts, and needlessly gift-wrapped concessions in Ukraine negotiations.

Congress, Voters Oppose Trump Coup

The DOGE reorganization itself lacked proper Congressional authorization,  U.S. Sen Jack Reed says.

“On day one, President Trump lit the fuse on Elon Musk’s plan to hollow out the Federal Government by changing the name of an obscure technical office within the White House, the U.S. Digital Services, USDS, and called it DOGE, without congressional authorization, and giving it extraordinary reach into the operations of the Federal Agencies,” Reed said in a March 4 statement opposing the agency’s reorganization and mission.

Another sign of Musk’s influence is the unconstitutional, illegal and reckless federal personnel cuts the remade agency is inflicting on Americans, jeopardizing  basic function, similar to what happened to Twitter, now also renamed, also with substantially degraded public service.

‘If the administration cared about corruption at all, they would not have fired the Inspectors General. Corruption is needed for authoritarianism to thrive’

For weeks, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and Congressmen U.S. Rep Seth Magaziner and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed have been railing against the unconstitutional, economy-wrecking and national security destruction brought on by  the Musk – Trump Coup to gather Congressional power and ignore Judicial Branch curbs on his whims.

Indivisible Rhode Island has rallied against the Trump Coup  in a show of support for Rhode Island Congressmen’s opposition, and to also urge them to take stronger steps against it.

On March 1, the Women Forward grassroots political action group hosted a Livestream roundtable discussion with Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) & Rob Shriver, former Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Stansbury  points:
  • “Melanie talked at length about what is going on behind closed doors. She said that all 215 Dem are communicating on a scale they never have before and the senators are doing the same. She said they are using their voting power and using actions to put sand in the gears and be unruly even if we’re not seeing or understanding at all. She is on the DOGE subcommittee and she is using her oversight authority on that committee”
  • Every Dem House member is on some sort of task force
  • Republicans who publicly say positive things are not doing the same privately.  They quietly ended mass layoffs for tribal programs because Republicans were speaking to the secretaries and to the administration, expressing disdain.  “So one way the letters are working, is that they get Republican electeds to act behind-the-scenes. That is probably the same thing that happened with Sen Jon Ossoff and how he got the admin to resume funding for the HBCU agriculture scholarship program.
  • “She said “don’t be fooled by the mirage they put on TV” Democratic AGs are meeting daily to decide how to push forward, which are the best lawsuits, what organizations to work with for those lawsuits.
Raskin points:
“Raskin spoke next and he answered a bunch of questions in the clearest terms I have heard so far. First, what do we do if (Trump) refuses to comply with the court orders?
  • “The judges can issue a contempt motion, which criminally we don’t have any standing for because that involves the DOJ, which is not on our side, but civilly it does not involve the DOJ. The courts can do things like seize property and impose fines, even on a daily basis. So for [Elon Musk] that would mean a fine of 100K a day until he does what the court ordered.”
  • “We are winning in court, and he is complying with some cases.”
  •  “We are winning in the treasury case, but that doesn’t imply our data is safe. There is a class action lawsuit that we can use. Thanks to a Reagan law from 1986.” “For us to have standing, we have to have proof that our data has been tampered with and right now we have speculation, not proof. But the idea is that the entire US will be able to be a plaintiff.”
  • Raskin said that they’re focusing on Republicans who are retiring or who are freshmen and didn’t know what they signed up for. He also said that he had Boebert and her family over for dinner. So if you’re asking how they’re talking to their Republican colleagues to try and talk some sense into them it’s really colleague to colleague conversations.
  • Raskin reiterated that the administration is offending and threatening a number of Republicans in moderate districts.
  •  Regarding federal agencies: “This is a case where Congress has standing and no one else does. That’s why the unions got ruled against, they just didn’t have the standing. He said we will have more info about this in the coming weeks. Democrats and Congress will probably be asserting their right to go to court themselves on behalf of the agencies.
  • Raskin also shared a copy of the Feb. 25 U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Staff Report Committee on the Judiciary, pointing out Trump’s widespread firings and questionable appointments at the Department of Justice threatening effective law enforcement, undermining public confidence in the rule of law, and creating networks of corruption and lawlessness that make our communities less safe. “Under President Trump, the DOJ has become an agency charged with ensuring that the President’s most loyal supporters can break the law with impunity.”
  “If the administration cared about corruption at all, they would not have fired the Inspectors General. Corruption is needed for authoritarianism to thrive, “Raskin said, “We have to find the language to explain this to people who either don’t get it or don’t think they care.”

Republican Congressmen facing scrutiny at town halls

Republican representatives have begun facing tough questions at town hall conversations with their constituents, who are worried about social security, the federal government ‘s ability to function, and firing of veterans,  who make up  about 30 percent of the federal workforce. Democrat Senators are pushing to reinstate the veterans, among thousands fired without cause, according to a report from The Hill.
NBC reports the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) has warned fellow Republicans to avoid town halls as a result.
Meanwhile, Raskin suggested people in Republican districts invite Democrats to speak at town halls. One member of the Democratic Caucus, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has begun his own tour of Republican districts in the Midwest, rallying opposition to Trump’s authoritarian policies and government catering to billionaires at the expense of working families.

Sanders launches proactive series of rallies against Trump Coup 

 

“We’re here today, to, in fact, make sure, that after so many people in our country have fought and fought, and died for Democracy, that we are going to stay a government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” Sanders said at a Detroit rally Sunday.

Sanders’ rallies have drawn tens of thousands of people in districts which went for Trump by slim margins during the November 2024 election. Several news headlines declare him the de facto leader of the resistance, thanks to his proactive moves to rally the opposition nationally.

People who support authoritarianism and the destruction of the federal government aren’t in the majority. That’s a mirage, and you can see through it with a little help.

Rob Borkowski
Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at editor@warwickpost.com with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

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