If you, like me, consider Donald J. Trump to be one of the most vile people on earth, and you consider his ugly, revenge-fueled MAGA agenda to be a dangerous assault on democracy, justice, human rights, and the American economy, then of course you have been smacked hard in the face. The rapid-fire announcements by Trump that he will appoint a coterie of unqualified and dangerous extremists, oligarchs, and conspiracy theorists — about as awful a list as we could have reasonably imagined — only adds to the climate of chaos and feeds the worst fears. And, of course, if Emperor Trump faces another major crisis, he’ll utterly mismanage it, like he did COVID.  So, yeah, you may not feel great right now. 

But don’t despair. Don’t give up. We can fight and win against Trumpism in this second round. 

Here are eight ideas for making that happen.

1. Don’t make cable news your cliffhanger series

We watched too much cable TV news during Trump 1. This time, don’t spend every evening wondering whether you or Donald Trump won the day.  The two of you are just doing different things. You don’t need daily analysis from every pundit, especially not MAGA Scott on CNN. When Wolf Blitzer says, “Everybody stand by — we’re getting some new information in The Situation Room,” don’t get all excited.  He always says that. 

Watch the TV news when there’s real reporting. Get most news by reading the legit news outlets. Also: Read books. Watch movies. Watch sports. Play sports. Cook. Farm. Sew. See shows. Tutor a kid. Deliver meals. Visit museums. Take walks. Or, better yet, run for office. 

2. Remember that American democracy has always been seriously flawed

Trump’s threats to tear through all the guardrails of our republic and rule as a dictator are awfully disturbing. But our country has never been a democratic paradise. Remember: The nation’s founders enshrined slavery of humans in our Constitution. Our immigration policies have been deeply racist. Women were not guaranteed the right to vote until 1920.  That year, the US attorney general rounded up and deported hundreds of immigrants because of their alleged political views. Japanese-American citizens were locked in camps during World War II. The CIA secretly overthrew elected leaders overseas. States still mandated racial segregation and discrimination into the 1960’s, and the FBI sent Martin Luther King an anonymous letter urging him to commit suicide. More recently, the Bush-Cheney regime authorized torture against people suspected of terrorism.

OK maybe that doesn’t make you feel much better. But the general push toward a more open, free, and fair America has been marked, again and again, by turbulence and serious abuses. The stain represented by Donald Trump and his MAGA cohort is only the latest threat. We also have it so much better than people in many other countries, and even in the worst dictatorships, people find meaning and humor in their day-to-day lives. Stay positive. While sad would-be oligarchs like Jeff Bezos have now kowtowed to the cartoon dictator, many of our institutions, governors, and citizens will stand firm. We can, and we will, overcome, and get democracy back on track. 

3. Stop thinking you’ll put Trump in prison

Just face it: Trump is gonna get away with his 2016 and 2020 election cheating, his incitement of the January 6 riot, and his blatant theft of classified documents and stuffing of those documents in his country club bathroom. Jack Smith is quitting, the Justice Department doesn’t prosecute sitting presidents, the New York judge isn’t gonna lock him up, and the Georgia prosecution is stalled. Republicans in Congress will never impeach or remove Trump no matter what he does. He’s probably never going to pay much for his business fraud verdict or for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll.

We all know now that Donald Trump is, officially, a criminal. And the criminal cases brought him a lot of misery, such as making him sit in a courtroom and not talk. Don’t expect more, or expect Trump to stop being corrupt. Focus more on curbing his abusive policies. Trump may never get his real comeuppance. But we definitely can make him sweat more, and make him lose. 

4. Don’t waste time shunning Trump supporters 

The Trump supporters in your world are either gloating or posting on social media that we should stop being negative toward each other and work toward positive solutions and outcomes. Yeah, because that’s what their man Donald Trump has been promising to do.

But don’t expend energy making a big show of turning your back on MAGA friends, family, neighbors, or calling them out. It’s just silly. They know what they did, and if they don’t they’ll soon find out. They will have to live with the absurd consequences, such as ballooning deficits to finance tax cuts for Trump’s rich friends; higher consumer prices from Trump tariffs; proliferation of consumer scams by banks and crypto companies; Tulsi Gabbard being put forward as Director of National Intelligence, RFK Jr. running health, Kash Patel and Sebastian Gorka and Boris Epshteyn doing anything; Donald Trump drawing lines on weather maps and then denying it while holding a Sharpie; Lara Trump being a senator; and much more.

5. Disqualify Trump’s extreme and corrupt lieutenants

Speaking of RFK Jr., Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth and all the other absurd, divisive, corrupt, and unqualified people Trump wants to lead our government, their crimes are worth your time. Keeping them tied up in messy confirmation hearings and media scandals, and keeping at least some of them out of office, is a worthwhile pursuit that will delay bad policies and drive Trump nuts.  Educate yourself on the nominees, do your own deep digging on their backgrounds, and join campaigns to deny them their posts.

6. Hold accountable collaborating corporations and Democrats 

The cowardice and obsequiousness of Bezos, one of the world’s richest men, is one of many warnings that we may be entering a proto-fascist era where corporate oligarchs assist a budding dictator for mutual corrupt benefit. Don’t expect other corporate chieftains to instead join the resistance full-on, but with sufficient pressure from consumers, some of them may decline to bend to Trump extremism. Don’t buy from the collaborators; take your business elsewhere to punish these bad actors for their reckless abandonment of democracy.

As to Democrats, don’t waste time with angry finger-pointing about who screwed up 2024 strategy; focus instead on innovations that can motivate voters and help them sort out fact from Russian- and MAGA-fueled fictions. And where opportunistic Democratic lawyers and lobbyists take cash to help facilitate Trump abuses, as former Clinton lieutenant Jamie Gorelick and others did in Trump 1, call them out.

7. Join lawsuits against Trump’s illegal actions

Trump-appointed judges have spent the past four years swatting down Biden regulations, in an unprecedented and unprincipled arrogation of power. But some of those judges also joined with colleagues on the bench to squarely reject Trump’s absurd efforts to overturn the 2020 election. There’s only so much illegal horseshit the courts will tolerate from Trump. Hundreds of lawyers have already laid out plans to attack Trump’s illegal decrees and action in court — on matters from abortion to immigration to civil and LGBTQ rights, to education, climate change, health care, worker rights, attacks on civil servants, and weaponization of the Justice Department. Join and support those efforts, as lawyers, paralegals, researchers, plaintiffs, witnesses, advocates, and demonstrators.  

8. Build street protests over Trump’s many unpopular policies

The voters wanted cheaper eggs, and to blow up DC by throwing out the ruling party, which, you will note, they have done basically every four or eight years for decades. That doesn’t mean they like most of Trump’s policies. We can mobilize to pressure legislators to stand up and stop Trump from doing bad things, like further restricting abortion and contraception; weakening health care and increasing medical costs; making college even more expensive; attacking LGBTQ kids just for being who they are; deporting millions of people who enrich our economy and society; turning the Justice Department into a vehicle for lawlessness and revenge; worsening the fossil-fueled climate change that is ravaging our communities; silencing free speech; allowing Putin free reign in Europe; and turning America into a shady, corrupt, Musked-up crypto state.

There are hundreds of national and grassroots organizations ready to fight to protect our people and our freedoms.  Work with them.  Support them. Start your own group. 

Learn the facts. Call your legislators. Take to the streets. Make a difference. Millions of patriotic Americans will be by your side.