by MARIA J. STEPHAN
Federal workers, faith leaders, unions and ordinary Americans are already showing the power of collective defiance and how to make cruelty backfire.
The Trump-Musk administration has moved rapidly, ruthlessly and often illegally to consolidate authoritarian control and empower billionaires at the expense of ordinary people. In an administrative coup guided by Project 2025, the White House has sought to dismantle the separation of powers and deny critical services, punishing working people at home and abroad.
Making good on his promises of revenge and retribution, Trump has sicced the Justice Department and IRS on perceived enemies, notably those who believe in a more diverse, equitable and inclusive America. The administration is cruelly scapegoating historically-targeted communities, including immigrants, trans people and the poor in an attempted divide-and-rule strategy. It has all but endorsed political violence and intimidation through the pardoning of nearly all of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. These actions threaten our most fundamental freedoms and the safety and well-being of our communities.
Like all autocrats, Trump and his oligarchic henchmen are trying to overwhelm, disorient and distract. They want people to believe that they are invincible, and that any resistance is futile. But autocratic regimes, including this one, are weaker than they appear — and we are stronger than we think. Their kryptonite is their reliance on ordinary people, in different parts of society, to carry out their orders and go along with the status quo. They rely on workers’ labor, business revenue, civil servants implementing policies, religious leaders offering moral and organizational backing, and police and military obeying orders to arrest and repress. Support can be given, and support can be taken away.
The long history of popular resistance to government tyranny in this country and globally shows how broad-based movements can prevail, even in the face of cruelty and abuse. They have relied on a wide range of nonviolent tactics, including those grounded in love, humor and hope, all while engaging in collective defiance and remaining resilient and disciplined.
Noncompliance and backfire
Organized noncooperation, which involves withdrawing social, political and economic support from autocratic regimes via strikes, boycotts, walkouts and other forms of collective stubbornness, has been critical to the victories of pro-democracy movements. The most powerful campaigns of the U.S. civil rights movement — including the bus boycotts, lunch counter sit-ins and worker strikes organized by groups like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee — dismantled systems of racial apartheid through disciplined non-compliance. Planning and preparation for these campaigns, which faced violent backlash, happened in Black church basements and Quaker meeting houses.
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