Extra

To be effective, the Trump opposition needs to be brutally honest about the US political situation. Even though Kamala Harris lost the presidential election by 1.5 percent, Donald Trump acts like he won in a landslide. Even though Republicans barely held onto the House of Representatives, 220 to 215, they act like they have an overwhelming majority. Republicans intend to be the bully party and to force heinous cabinet secretaries and horrible legislation on the United States. Trump’s intention is to make us all bend to his will, 

It does not have to be this way. Democrats can form an effective opposition if they adopt new rules. 

Rule 1: We won’t be fooled again. Trump only responds to power. The opposition must learn to negotiate from strength. 

Trump owns the Republican Party. There are no moderate Republican legislators, Trump has purged them all. In the Senate, Republicans have a 53-47 Senate majority, and they will use this majority to ram through Trump’s cabinet picks. For example, they will approve Trump’s dreadful DOD pick, Pete Hegseth. (Senate Republicans can approve Trump’s picks by a simple majority vote. Most other Senate actions — except budget reconciliation — require 60 votes.) 

Do not assume there are “reasonable” people in the Trump administration or on the Republican side of Congress. On many issues — such as Trump’s cabinet choices — the opposition cannot negotiate with Trump or his acolytes. 

Rule 2: Understand where the opposition has power. After January 20, Trump has substantial but not absolute power. For most issues — such as tax cuts — Trump will need congressional support. 

The opposition has four sources of power: The House of Representatives, the federal bureaucracy, the states, and the courts. 

A. The House of Representatives. Because of their narrow majority, House Republicans will need Democratic votes to pass most legislation. Speaker Johnson is not strong, and he will have difficulty arranging straight party-line votes. 

B. The federal bureaucracy. Trump’s terrible cabinet picks will pit political appointees against experienced civil servants in key departments. For example, the Department of Defense has 3.4 million employees. It is ridiculous to expect Pete Hegseth, who has limited management experience, to be able to manage this bureaucracy. Expect turmoil in Defense, Justice, National Security, FBI, and Health & Human Services. 

The opposition should organize resistance within these bureaucracies. 

C. The states. States like California are the core of resistance to Trumps immigration purge. 

Trump’s agenda says nothing about key issues such as childcare and climate change. These issues will have to be addressed by the states. 

D. The judiciary. Some of what Trump plans to do is illegal, such as impounding federal funds allocated to states in the federal budget. The opposition must use the courts to block illegal Trump actions. 

The opposition must understand and use their power. 

Rule 3: Continually talk to voters.  

To learn an essential lesson from the 2024 presidential election, the opposition must study Trump how communicates. Trump won the 2024 election because Voters believed he’d could “fix” the economy. However garbled Trump’s message may have been, voters bought it. There are three Trump rules. 

- Trump rule 1: One of the reasons Trump is returning to the White House is that he constantly talks to his base. It would be a stretch to say that Trump is a good communicator, but he is an effective media presence. He’s in the media every day.  

- Trump rule 2: Trump repeats his core message over and over. In 2024, there were two core Trump messages: “Biden broke the economy.” “The US is being invaded by dangerous immigrants.” Trump’s base believes these messages. 

- Trump rule 3: Trump never acknowledges a mistake. If someone catches him in a lie, he admits nothing and responds, “That’s not the information I have.” For example, Trump advertised himself as the law and order candidate. He claimed that US crime had reached new high levels. When Kamala Harris pointed out that the FBI statistics did not support this, Trump responded: “You cannot trust the FBI.” 

During his four years in office, Joe Biden created an extraordinary economy, but Americans did not believe that. Why? Because Biden is not an effective communicator and Trump branded him as old and senile — untrustworthy. 

On January 29, Trump will return to the White House, and the opposition will have an opportunity to turn the tables on him, paint him as untrustworthy. 

Trump has a communication system that works. The opposition can create a form of this, On November 5, half of the electorate did not vote for Trump. Now they must be convinced to join the opposition. 

· Opposition rule one: The opposition must find an effective weekly spokesperson. I nominate Pete Buttigieg.  

· Opposition rule two: The opposition must host a weekly news conference that has three parts: first, a weekly segment that emphasize the reality that Trump is not “fixing” the economy. Second, responses to the Republican outrages of the week. And third, an extensive question and answer segment. 

· Opposition rule three: The opposition must refine its targeting strategy. Although it sometimes seems that Trump is exclusively on Fox News and Truth Social, the reality is that each day Trump is on a wide variety of media outlets including social media and podcasts. Trump likes to talk, and he spends a lot of time each day talking to his base. That is what the opposition needs to do. 

Bottom line: The opposition needs to learn to communicate.