By Jeremy Brecher,
Senior Strategic Advisor, LNS Co-Founder
In a previous Strike! Commentary I proposed a strategic perspective for defending society against MAGA tyranny. It outlined a “Social Self-Defense” based on combining civil resistance in social institutions and the streets with political resistance in the institutions of government. Social Self-Defense cannot be based on a preconceived plan; it will have to be created by the people who make it. We can learn lessons – both positive and negative – from past struggles against autocracy. But we also have to adapt those lessons to the unique conditions we face in the second Trump era.
Resistance to the second Trump regime was slow to start but is now emerging in myriad quarters. It ranges from communities organizing to protect immigrants and other Trump targets, to judges striking down unconstitutional Trump policies, to secret on-line resistance networks now joined by hundreds of thousands of government workers. How can these promising but fragile beginnings become a powerful vehicle for restraining, dismantling, and eventually eliminating the MAGA attack on society?
The experience of past popular resistance to threats to democracy in the US and worldwide suggest a number of principles to guide Social Self-Defense against the MAGA juggernaut. The following guidelines are not offered as rules to be obeyed, but as hypotheses to be debated — and tested in action.
Broad strategic perspectives for Social Self-Defense
Protesters at an anti-Trump rally in San Francisco stand in the rain, holding signs and umbrellas. Photo credit: Pax Ahimsa Gethen, Wikimedia Commons, CC by-SA 4.0.
Take tactical initiatives within a strategic retreat We need to accept that Social Self-Defense will not be able to protect every immigrant, make a safe abortion available for every pregnant woman, or halt the roll-back of all our rights. Unequal power makes it necessary to retreat where the power of the opponent is overwhelming, but still allows engagement where gains are possible. Acts like accompanying a threatened immigrant or providing safe abortion pills are humanly productive and worthwhile. They are also exemplary actions that can inspire others because they embody the principle that we help each other and protect each other because we are part of one society and one humanity. And they show it is possible to take an initiative within the context of an overall retreat.
Coordinate defense, pushback, and rollback. Social Self-Defense requires coordinating three strategic objectives. First, minimize the damage Trump does to people and planet. Second, terminate the Trump regime ASAP. Third, lay the groundwork for expanding protection of people and planet in the future. These are part of a continuous process: Slow the Trump assault by pushing back; then begin to roll it back; ultimately evacuate it from the stage of history.
Engage in both a “war of position” and a “war of movement.” Trump engages in lightning “blitzkrieg” type attacks and maneuvers designed to keep opponents off balance and achieve quick gains. Social Self-Defense must be prepared to deal with such a “war of movement,” both by rapid response measures to protect those endangered and by political jujitsu that reveals such actions as further examples of his depredations. Trump’s mistakes may also create sudden opportunities that should be rapidly taken advantage of — witness the intense nationwide backlash that forced the Trump administration to rescind its directive to place a freeze on all federal grants and loans. At the same time, we are engaged in a “war of position” designed to slowly but persistently seize new territory by turning the people against Trump and Trumpism, rebuilding the institutional structures of democracy and of society, and ultimately using them to eliminate the MAGA menace.
Political objectives of Social Self-Defense
Protest in support of DACA at Trump Tower in NYC, September 5, 2017. Photo credit: Rhododendrites, Wikipedia Commons, CC by-SA 4.0.
Aim to win the hearts and minds of the American people. Defeating MAGA requires winning, uniting, and activating the majority. They must be persuaded that Trumpism is bad for them personally; bad for the groups of which they are part; and bad for society as a whole. They must be able to see that better alternatives are possible and that their action can make a difference. Social Self-Defense may at times require actions that are currently unpopular, such as defending the rights of stigmatized groups or opposing criminal wars, but such actions should be conducted in ways that ultimately contribute to winning a majority.
Reach beyond the initial anti-MAGA base. For example, the large number of people who voted for Trump in response to inflation and inadequate wages can be appealed to by Fight for Fifteen-style minimum wage campaigns and debt-reduction initiatives. Those suffering denial of health care can be appealed to by programs like Medicare for All.
Undermine Trump’s wobbly pillars of support. Although some Trump supporters are motivated by para-fascist views on racism, sexism, and ethnic nationalism, others can be detached from his base. Trump won less than half the popular vote in the 2024 presidential election. His victory depended on contributions from billionaires on whom he may well turn; Republican politicians who hate him and will jump ship if they can do so without being smashed; workers who thought they were voting against inflation, low wages, and poor economic conditions, but who will find things even worse under Trump; men whose real economic and social conditions will not be improved by Trump; a substantial proportion of women and people of color whose conditions will be sharply worsened by the Trump regime; and government employees and military personnel who will be necessary to carry out Trump’s policies but who have already been severely harmed by them. High profile wealthy and powerful Trump supporters can be subjected to exposé, public demonstrations, boycotts, and demands that they withdraw support – as is already happening with Elon Musk. People who supported Trump can be appealed to on the basis of the harm that he is actually doing to them.
Fight to win social institutions to Social Self-Defense. To achieve permanent domination, MAGA must take over or eliminate the “secondary institutions” that can stand in its way, such as schools, religious congregations, trade unions, the medical system, and a host of others. These institutions and their networks, loyalties, and solidarities form the potential social base for either para-fascism or for Social Self-Defense. Many will be tempted to temporize with Trump. Most of them, however, will be subject to devastating attacks anyway. Unions, for example, may hope that they can escape Trump’s wrath by not threatening his power, but in reality MAGA’s goal is to break the power of unions and, to the extent possible, eliminate them altogether. Unions and other institutions need to understand that they have no safety other than to join a broad movement for Social Self-Defense. Activists within those institutions need to persuade them that resistance, and resisting collusion, is their only road to self-preservation.
Make Trump’s actions increasingly ineffective. Use direct action to block MAGA policies, like sanctuaries to protect immigrants and trans kids and strikes and slowdowns to block harmful actions. Appeal to those who are in a position to impede implementation of Trump’s orders the way government workers defeated Trump’s 2018 government shutdown. In 2025 such actions already include both the principled resignations of high government officials who have refused to implement Trump’s illegal orders and the refusal of 97% of government employees to accept Elon Musk’s phony “fork in the road” offer of extended severance pay if they resign.
Show that Social Self-Defense can provide benefits here and now. Some people may participate in Social Self-Defense in hopes of realizing goals that may be achieved only in some distant future. But for many others such efforts may seem futile “pie in the sky” unless they can also give people a better life in the here and now. Social Self-Defense needs to use whatever means are available, from local community organizations to city and state government, to provide food, shelter, healthcare, security, climate protection, and other vital necessities. An inspiration for such actions can be the hundreds of initiatives embodied in what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called “The Green New Deal from Below.”[1] Adapting and expanding these can provide an in-the-flesh vision of what Social Self-Defense aims to realize, as described in a previous commentary in this series, “A ‘Constructive Program’ for Social Self-Defense Against MAGA Tyranny.”[2]
Techniques for Social Self-Defense
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello playing a set on Day 28 of Occupy Wall Street in New York. Photo credit: David Shankbone , Wikimedia Commons, CC by 3.0.
Use “political jujitsu” to turn MAGA’s power and aggression against itself. Repressive action by ruling regimes often backfires to reveal the regime as cruel and illegitimate. Popular movements have often used this dynamic to gain support and counter repression. An example: When New York City police brutally attacked a march by labor and other supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement and then arrested those they had attacked, public support for Occupy Wall Street soared and the police became wary of using such tactics. Call it winning by losing.
Project social self-defense as a benign, pro-social force. Paint two portraits, one of Social Self-Defense as the party of constitutionalism, order, and caring; the other of MAGA as the menacing party of chaos and disruption. This is crucial for effective political jujitsu, where each act of repression further undermines the support and legitimacy of those responsible for it. This generally requires a form of disciplined nonviolence in which the protestors present themselves to the public as the upholders of peace, order, and legitimate law and the authorities as out-of-control hooligans attempting to maintain their own power through illegitimate violence. This does not require a commitment to nonviolence as a universal principle, but it does require a commitment on the part of participants in an action not to turn to violence no matter what the provocation. This is sometimes accomplished by a formal agreement to act nonviolently. With such a commitment to nonviolence every act of repression and violence by the authorities can be highlighted as oppression, and even members of the public who do not fully support the goals of Social Self-Defense can be mobilized around opposition to its illegitimate repression.
Make direct action and action inside the electoral system synergistic. Neither one is likely to bring down MAGA without the other. While there are inevitably tensions among different organizations and strategies, the experience of the first Trump resistance shows that mass direct action can positively influence the political arena and that success of Trump opponents in elections is a crucial means to reduce and eventually overcome the power of Trumpism.
Cherish small victories. Every victory is valuable both for what it accomplishes in itself and as a building block for the ultimate defeat of Trumpism. Social Self-Defense can define its own criteria for success. Protecting one immigrant from attack or deportation is a victory. So is exposing one brutal act of repression or securing medical care for one person who has been denied it. The most important criteria for success are the growth of the movement and the expansion of its public support.
Fight stigmatization with inclusion. MAGA builds power by defining and stigmatizing its opponents. The key to undermining this strategy lies in a visible commitment to protecting the rights of all people. The spirit of inclusion has wide appeal.
Build unity and avoid splits. The first Trump Resistance was highly cooperative but never really unified. The Women’s March, for example, was supported by a very wide coalition, but it came to be riven by internal conflict — eventually resolved through discussion and negotiation.[3] Trump, a master of playing one group off against another, will no doubt try to buy some of us off and drive the rest of us back into our silos. Social Self-Defense needs ways people can act together while agreeing to disagree in other arenas. Those not engaged in factional disputes need to influence those who are to act in ways that are constructive for the movement as a whole. If a further incentive to avoid destructive factionalism is necessary, let us all keep in mind that Communist vs. Social Democratic factionalism paved the way for Hitler.
If Trump’s reign could have a silver lining, it might be the emergence of a Social Self-Defense strong enough not only to defeat Trump but to implement a long-term vision of how to protect and restore our planet and its people.
[1] More than 100 case studies of such Green New Deal from Below-style initiatives are presented in Jeremy Brecher, The Green New Deal from Below: How Ordinary People Are Building a Just and Climate-Safe Economy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2024. https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p088278
[2] Jeremy Brecher, “A “Constructive Program for Social Self-Defense Against MAGA Tyranny”, Labor Network for Sustainability, January 7, 2025. https://www.labor4sustainability.org/strike/a-constructive-program-for-social-self-defense-against-maga-tyranny/
[3] For details on splits in the Women’s March, see: Julyssa Lopez, “A Timeline of the Women’s March Controversy,” Glamour, January 18, 2019, https://www.glamour.com/story/timeline-womens-march-controversy; and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, “Turning the Women’s March into a Mass Movement Was Never Going to Be Simple,” The Nation, January 18, 2019. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/turning-the-womens-march-into-a-mass-movement-was-never-going-to-be-simple/
