Every day, it seems, the problems created during Donald Trump’s second term increase, with no respite from the political, economic, social, and other issues that subject us to stress, depression, anxiety, and medication.
The problem only increases when the end of this term seems far away on the horizon, and many doubt that it will ever be possible to reach a conclusion.
A good psychology is good social change. For us to be of any use in a Trump world, we must pay attention to our inner states, so we don’t perpetuate the autocrat’s goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion, and constant disorientation. As someone raised by a liberation theologian, I’m reminded of how we lean hard on community and faith in tough times.
In that spirit, I offer some ways to ground ourselves for the times ahead.
Trust yourself
TRUMP IS HERE at a time of great social distrust: There’s more distrust of the media, medical professionals, experts, politicians, community institutions, and membership groups. There are rifts among friends and family. Even our trust in predictable weather is diminished. Distrust fuels the flame of autocracy because it makes it easier to divide people.
Trust-building starts by trusting your own eyes and gut. This means being trustworthy — not just with information, but with emotions. If you’re tired, rest. If you’re scared, make peace with your fears. If you need to stop checking your phone compulsively, do it. If you don’t want to read this article now and would rather take a good walk, do it. Start with trusting your inner voice. Trust in self is foundational for a healthy movement life. I wrote some resources at FindingSteadyGround.com that you may find helpful.
Find others who you trust
IN A DESTABILIZED society, you need people who help ground you. Hannah Arendt, author of The Origins of Totalitarianism, uses the word verlassenheit — often translated as loneliness — to describe a kind of social isolation of the mind. Constant attacks on social systems turn us away from leaning on each other and toward ideologically simple answers that increase isolation.
In Chile in the 1970s and ’80s, the dictatorship aimed to keep people in such tiny nodes of trust that everyone was an island unto themselves. At parties, people would commonly not introduce each other by name for fear of being too involved. Fear breeds distance. We must consciously break that distance.
Find people you can regularly touch base with. Use that trust to explore your own thinking and support each other to stay sharp and grounded. For the last several months, I’ve been hosting a regular group at my house to “explore what is up with these times.” Our crew thinks differently but invests in trust. We emote, cry, sing, laugh, sit in stillness, and think together. All of us will benefit from actively organized nodes to help stabilize us.
Grieve
THE HUMAN THING to do is grieve loss. Humans are also good at compartmentalizing, rationalizing, intellectualizing, and ignoring — the damage this does to our body and psyche is well documented. But the inability to grieve is a strategic error. After Trump won in 2016, we saw colleagues who never grieved. They remained in shock. For years they kept saying, “I can’t believe he’s doing that.”
Release that which you cannot change
ON HER BEDROOM wall, my mom had a copy of the Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote this during the rise of Nazi Germany.
Trump has proclaimed that his first day will include everything from pardoning Jan. 6 insurrectionists, reallocating money to build the wall, pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and firing 50,000-plus government workers to begin replacing them with loyalists. It’s doubtful that day two will be much quieter. Amid that chaos, it will be hard to accept that we cannot do it all.
Find your path
LAST SPRING, I wrote What Will You Do if Trump Wins, a choose-your-own-adventure-style book. Differentiated pathways of resistance will emerge, as will plenty of opportunities to join the cause. You may be attracted to some pathways more than others. Your path may not be clear right now. That’s okay. Below are just a few paths. You can find more at WhatIfTrumpWins.org.
Protect People.
Defend Civic Institutions.
Disrupt and Disobey.
Build Alternatives.
Do not obey in advance; do not self-censor
IF AUTOCRATS TEACH us any valuable lesson it’s this: Political space that you don’t use, you lose. This is for all levels of society — lawyers advising nonprofits, leaders worried about their funding base, folks worried about losing their jobs. I’m not coaching you to never self-protect. You can decide when to speak your mind. But we must combat the slippery slope.
Put simply: Use the political space and voice you have.
Reorient your political map
A FEW MONTHS ago, I sat in a room with retired generals, Republicans such as Michael Steele, ex-governors, and congresspeople. We were scenario-planning ways to prevent Trump’s abuse of the Insurrection Act to target civilian protesters. For a committed antiwar activist, the phrase “strange bedfellows” doesn’t begin to describe the bizarre experience I felt.
A Trump presidency reshapes alignments and possibilities. How we position ourselves matters: Are we only interested in maintaining ideological purity and preaching to our own choir? Even if you don’t want to engage, we all must give space to those who do experiment with new language to appeal to others who don’t share our worldview.
Empathy will be helpful.
Get real about power
PSYCHOLOGICAL EXHAUSTION AND despair are high. We’re not going to convince Trump not to break norms and laws that get in his way. Marches and symbolic protests will not change his mind. We must recognize that his power is unstable, like an upside-down triangle. It naturally topples without support. Power relies on pillars of support to keep it upright. Describing these pillars, nonviolence strategist Gene Sharp said:
“By themselves, rulers cannot collect taxes, enforce repressive laws and regulations, keep trains running on time, prepare national budgets, direct traffic, manage ports, print money, repair roads, keep markets supplied with food, make steel, build rockets, train the police and army, issue postage stamps, or even milk a cow. … If people would stop providing these skills, the ruler could not rule.”
Power will need to emerge from folks no longer obeying the current unjust system. This tipping point of mass noncooperation will require convincing many people to take huge personal risks for a better future.
Handle fear, make violence rebound
OTPOR, A SERBIAN student organizing group, took a sarcastic response to regular police beatings by joking, “It only hurts if you’re scared.” Their attitude wasn’t cavalier — it was tactical. They refused to grow fear. When hundreds were beaten on a single day, their response was: This repression will only stiffen the resistance. Handling fear isn’t about suppressing it — it is about constantly redirecting.
Envision a positive future
WE’VE ALL IMAGINED how bad it might get. We would do ourselves a service to envision a positive future. As writer Walidah Imarisha says, “The goal of visionary fiction is to change the world.” We may mount righteous indignation that leads to mass noncooperation far beyond our expectations. Faith groups may play a critical role in leading morally charged strikes, tax resistance, and refusals to comply with unjust orders. Exposed political weaknesses could quickly turn many inside Trump’s organization against him. That feels far away from now. But possibilities remain.
Practicing future thinking gives me some hope and some strategic sensibilities. On the days when I can’t imagine good political possibilities, I zoom out to the lifespans of trees and rocks, heading into spiritual reminders that nothing lasts forever. All the future is uncertain. But a more hopeful future is more likely if we keep thinking of creative solutions.
