Here is what the anti-Trump resistance has to remember: Determined individuals have made even Adolf Hitler pause one his evil schemes.
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The year is 1941 and Adolf Hitler is at the height of his power. Germany is winning the war, and the “Führer” is widely popular. With his henchmen maintaining an iron grip over the Third Reich, any act of opposition can get you arrested, tortured, and executed.
In other words, Hitler is in a position to do whatever he wants.
On August 24, he uses that unrestrained authority to take an action that seems contradictory to his pursuit of a “master race” and the extinction of “life unworthy of life”: He signs an order suspending “Aktion T4,” which was a euthanasia program (initially) targeting children with disabilities that would later serve as a model for the Holocaust.
Why would Hitler do that?
Because thousands of Germans protested against it, and even an absolute dictator and the epitome of evil does not need bad publicity.
Initially, it was some parents who protested outside one of the facilities that performed the killings in 1939, the year the program began. Those protests were broken up by the police and the SS.
Then, the mother of one of the children who ended up being murdered, inspired a letter-writing campaign that resulted in “laundry baskets full of mail” being sent to Berlin.
Finally, some courageous members of the clergy spoke out about Aktion T4 from the pulpit.
In the end, that pressure was enough for Hitler to pause the program, even though he could have had the lives of every single protester snuffed out with a snap of his fingers.
Yes, it’s true that thousands of people, most of whom were surely “good Germans” and some of whom were probably good Nazis as well, only stood up to the state because it was “German” children who were being killed, and the program was only a tiny part of the massive genocide the Third Reich was planning — but it was still a win over an all-powerful enemy.
So, why the history lesson?
Because it is important that those opposing Donald Trump realize that they are not weak.
Sure, it might have felt that way after a devastating loss in November when things seemed particularly dire: Trump had just crushed the Democrats’ hopes that Kamala Harris could right the ship Joe Biden had run into the ground, Republicans gained full control of Congress, the Supreme Court was in the incoming president’s back pocket, and the criminal justice system had failed them.
For weeks, it seemed as though a deflated resistance had been beaten into submission.
That was especially true because there was no leader they could rally around. That is still the case. The opposition continues to lack a standard-bearer, and it will be interesting to see who will ultimately fill that void.
However, for now, it does not need a leader… because it has Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and they are doing their utmost to make sure the opposition movement grows organically.
Completely drunk on power and hellbent on turning the country into an autocracy, they breathed life into a resistance movement that is not only re-forming but has the potential to grow in size.
That’s because many of the policies Trump and Musk are pushing through right now are not only fundamentally un-American, they will also hurt GOP voters or people they care about.
For years, Trump has had an uncanny ability to get away with some of the most egregious lies in the history of US politics, e.g., about who won the 2020 election, whether Russia helped him win in 2016, or whether he is some poor innocent schlub who is being targeted by a “weaponized justice system.”
The reason why those lies worked is because most voters are too lazy to read indictments or congressional reports, and they simply believe the propaganda they are being fed.
But there are some truths that Americans hold to be self-evident.
One of them is that Vladimir Putin is a bad guy.
Trump may not realize this, but his blind allegiance to the Russian leader is one of those things that does not sit well with Americans — especially those who have been raised with the understanding that the Soviet Union/Russia is intent on destroying the United States.
They may not support giving Ukraine more money, but they sure as hell know who started that war.
There are other firmly held truths: Americans know that people who attack cops without provocation should not be pardoned, that US presidents aren’t kings, and that the Constitution forbids anyone from running for a third full term in office.
However, what will really fuel the resistance is what Musk is doing to the federal government.
That’s because those civil servants whom Musk and Trump make out to be the bad guys, and that evil government they hear about on Fox News, keep them safe, put food on their tables, and provide them with health care and countless other services.
To him, federal bureaucrats are people who get in his way, telling him what he can’t do in a world that otherwise has virtually no rules for billionaires.
But to millions of Americans, federal bureaucrats are husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, parents, and friends. And they are now being maligned and harassed by an unelected South African-born egotist to whom all of this is just a game.
Anybody who knows a civil servant will also know that hundreds of thousands of them are now living in fear of losing their livelihoods.
And those Americans who don’t know anybody who works for the federal government at least have an inkling that their government works for them.
Or, if they don’t, they are about to find out.
That’s because those civil servants whom Musk and Trump make out to be the bad guys, and that evil government they hear about on Fox News, keep them safe, put food on their tables, and provide them with health care and countless other services.
There is a reason why Americans don’t like it when Republicans temporarily shut down the government every couple of years or so: Because without a government, the checks and services provided by Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Veterans Administration, the Federal Housing Administration, and other agencies funded by their taxes will stop coming.
Now, guess how much the average American will hate it when Musk destroys the government permanently.
And that brings us back to the resistance.
In the past few days, we have seen viral clips of voters confronting Republicans at various town halls and voicing their anger over Musk’s effort to destroy the government (and the lives of public servants).
What should be really concerning for Republicans is that Americans aren’t even feeling the consequences of DOGE’s decimation of the federal government yet.
While GOP leaders may try to dismiss this as the work of Democrats or paid agitators, they are advising House Republicans to stop doing these types of in-person events because they are bad publicity.
That may be smart, but it also shows that they’re vulnerable on the issue, which will only lead to more protests and angry questions, which will lead to more viral clips and more press coverage.
This is something that could very well get out of hand for Republicans.
That is why GOP senators privately voiced their concerns to the White House that Musk’s efforts are bad for them.
Things are so bad that some Republicans are already speaking out publicly, even though Trump and Musk threaten members of Congress who deviate from the party line with primary challenges.
What should be really concerning for Republicans is that Americans aren’t even feeling the consequences of DOGE’s decimation of the federal government yet.
Just wait until food is contaminated, kids get sick, checks don’t arrive, insurance is canceled, and planes keep crashing (or any of the thousands of other bad things that a functioning government routinely prevents).
Then things will get really interesting… especially because it’s becoming apparent that this administration is not doing anything to bring prices down (quite the opposite, in fact). Instead, Musk is creating the kind of government he thinks he deserves while Trump is focusing on sideshows like renaming bodies of water and threatening Canada..
There is one final point that is important to mention — and it takes us back to the history lesson from the start of this editorial.
While there may be some similarities between 1930s Germany and the modern-day United States, it is infinitely easier to resist in today’s America than in the Third Reich in 1941.
And if people back then could muster the courage to speak out while risking their lives, Americans who hate to see what is happening to their country have no excuse for doing nothing now.
