(The following is “Part Three” of a three-part series about (1) the emerging Trump dictatorship; (2) Trump’s determination to stay in power at all cost; and (3) what people can do peacefully and non-violently to stop our country’s descent into tyranny.)
By Michael Randall
There is absolutely no doubt that Trump will pull every lever to subvert the 2026 and 2028 elections to stay in power at all costs. He is recruiting 10,000 ICE agents, expanding the raiding capabilities of Customs and Border Patrol units into the nation’s interior, and even using US armed forces to intimidate the American public. There will be more of these tactics to come.
Each of us has to decide what to do in the face of Trump’s masked para-military agents’ unlawful, increasingly abusive actions. What are we personally willing to risk related to our personal freedoms and our families’ safety from harassment, violent threats, and arrest? Be assured that among the 10,000 new ICE agents Trump’s government is feverishly struggling to hire during this fiscal year, there will be some warped individuals who would gladly tape you to a chair in the basement of a government building, attach battery cables to your body parts, and take a pair of pliers to your fingernails.
Neither Trump nor his people can articulate any positive goals or outcomes for our nation’s people. They have only an ardent desire to maintain their power and cause harm to those they hate. For example, at the September 21st memorial for slain Charlie Kirk, Trump told the audience, “I hate my opponents and don’t want the best for them.” What kind of unthinking “leader” broadcasts such a confession about his lack of character and his non-existent empathy for other humans. He is a damaged individual who thinks only of himself.
At the same event, Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff and migrant deportation architect Stephen Miller (a vile little man) said in a speech, “We are the storm. And our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion…. You have nothing…you are nothing. You are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy, you are hatred. You are nothing…. You have no idea the dragon you have awakened.” (As excerpted and reported in “NY Review of Books,” November 6, 2025).
How can peaceful citizens be effective in combating the excesses of this regime and help flush it into the sewer of history’s worst political movements? Non-violent peaceful protests are the only way, and are essential to maintain credibility and gain support from the rest of America.
We should volunteer with migrant support organizations, speak up against Trump’s policies that mimic Vladimir Putin and which scoff at American laws, our judicial system, political values, and norms. We can mock, ridicule, and satirize MAGA’s political leaders’ self-serving hypocrisies, cruelty, and lies. We can participate in the growing local and nationwide protests, give time and money to organizations that help immigrants, or which protest Trump’s growing dictatorship. The following are some ways to do that.
Provide financial support to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the National Immigrant Justice Center, Doctors Without Borders, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and other organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). So far, the ACLU has filed over 420 lawsuits to fight Trump’s violations of the US Constitution, protect voting rights and immigrants’ right to defend themselves in court, defend freedom of the press, and challenge this regime’s other unlawful activities.
Participate with millions of other Americans already taking part in Indivisible with an active Tillamook County group, growing nationwide “Hands Off” and “No Kings” protests. Take “Human Rights Observer” training from organizations like Consejo Hispano to track ICE agents’ presence in our communities, help peacefully record their actions, and make people aware of their illegal methods and aggression against our neighbors.
In Part One of this series, it was mentioned that American farmers’ crop export sales have plummeted because of Trump’s tariffs, and small businesses and major companies also have been wounded by them. Workers in the auto industry, aerospace companies, energy sector, home builders, machinery producers, and other supporting sub-industries and companies have been damaged to the extent that some of their employees have been laid off. Many communities and families have been hurt.
Boycotts have begun against major companies that made financial donations to Trump, or supported his policies in other ways, like Amazon, Meta, Walmart, Target, and Home Depot. Other industries’ companies, from agriculture to energy to tobacco to crypto have pushed money into the Trump administration to curry favor. Less visible (but still major) companies have contracts with the government to support ICE and its detention/deportation operations: GEO Group, Core Civic, and Palantir. Boycotts against them have begun and will grow.
Eventually, protests will have to become more potent, and involve activities that put more stress and pressure on Trump and the economy, such as employee walkouts, work stoppages, nationwide boycotts, schools going on strike, maybe an overall nationwide strike.
In addition to perseverance, nonviolent resistance also requires an enduring resilience, for as the national protest movement’s effectiveness grows, Trump and his lieutenants will respond with increasing force and violence. Flash bang grenades, pepper balls, high pressure water hoses, and tear gas cannisters may evolve into bullets.
Trust between people and nations is built over time, but destroyed in mere moments, as we have witnessed this year. When Trump’s days are over, America will have much to rebuild. Citizens and new political leaders’ will necessarily have to demonstrate respect and adherence to our laws and Constitution. Our currently opposed political forces will have to regain each other’s trust, respect, and friendship.
Series:
TRYING TO SEE: MAGA’s Enforcers At Your Door Soon? (Series – part 1 of 3)
TRYING TO SEE: Stay in Power At All Cost (Series – Part 2 of 3)