100 Days of the Messy Resistance

By Molly Osberg | April 27, 2017 | 2:14pm

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Trump’s first 100 days have been messy—and not just for the president, though a federal judge recently struck down yet another controversial executive order. For those of us opposed to the policies and agendas furthered by this administration, it’s been a long few months as shock turned to grief which turned, in many cases, to action. And while the idea of the first 100 days is an arbitrary metric in the first place, for as many columns on Trump’s campaign promises abandoned there have also been summaries of “the resistance,” as its “weaponizing data” or infiltrating Harvard or shouting punchy slogans on tax day.

But for all the optimism that comes with projecting a unified “resistance,” the first 100 days of living in Trump’s America has forced complicated, divisive conversations among people whose goals, if not experiences, are aligned. Here are some of those diverse tactics that mattered.

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The Women’s March, The Women’s Strike, and the People Who Opposed Them

Essentially from the moment it was announced, the post-inaugural Women’s March on Washington was mired in controversy: Its name was changed to less directly recall a ‘90s movement for black self-determination, its organizers were berated and shuffled around, its collective vision was slammed when it (briefly) partnered with a pro-life group and (permanently) removed language about sex workers from its states goals.

And while the march itself was massive, drawing three times as many people as the Trump Inauguration itself, questions about the legitimacy and self-awareness of such a broad movement remained, as was in evidence with a much-circulated photo of Angela Peoples holding a sign reading “White Women Voted for Trump” in front of pink hat-clad women taking selfies.

In the months following, the Women’s Strike would ignite an adjacent conversation over whether striking was an act of privilege or solidarity.

The People Running for Office

Muslims and scientists and female immigrants and “millennials” are running for office in unprecedented numbers in an attempt to counteract an administration that has skewed whiter and more male than many in recent history. Earlier this month, in a surprise near-victory, the filmmaker Jon Ossoff almost outright captured a seat in Georgia’s House (there will be a runoff in June). It’s been a reminder to conservatives of just how endangered they are, even in states that were previous strongholds. But while Ossoff is a young and politically inexperienced candidate, his rise to prominence wasn’t exactly radical: The candidate’s platforms skew towards the pragmatic center and his campaign was bolstered by significant establishment funding.

The Activist Lawyers

In the frantic, awful nights following Trump’s first aborted travel ban, lawyers and activists flooded the nation’s airports, the former hunching over laptops and banging out ad-hoc habeas corpus petitions while the latter handed out coffee and shouted down the ban. Though it would take two days for the federal ruling to come down preventing the DOJ enforcing the unconstitutional “travel restrictions,” the efforts on the part of the airport protesters had a significant impact on the way the ban was rolled out and subsequently enforced.

When restrictions eased that Sunday and green card holders were cleared, an attorney at Dulles Airport told Think Progress he thought it was thanks to those crowds: “It’s the lawyers doing this, and the demonstrators,” he said. “DHS blinked.”

The Campus Protesters

As white nationalists have mainstreamed and have commanded moderate fees to speak on college campuses and elsewhere, young people and activists have dissented in occasionally well-orchestrated but always filmable ways. Recently, those confrontations have expanded out into cities like Berkeley, where broad coalitions of right-wingers, trolls, militiamen, and Trump supporters squabbled (and came to blows) with leftist protesters and anti-fascist groups.

Whether or not you believe literal Nazi-punching is a reasonable response to the people emboldened by the Trump administration, such protests will continue to create an ideological fault line, as speakers like Ann Coulter pull out of public events—and many progressives continue to disparage such shows of force.

The People Shouting Down Their Reps

In February, as the GOP prepared to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something they hadn’t yet thought of (but don’t want for themselves), their already charged-up constituents flooded local town halls and busy phone lines to ask the important question: What exactly is the plan here? With the question of how many thousands of people might die without access the health care back on the table, the effort has doubled down, and Republicans are turning to Facebook and phone-in town halls to prevent the “YouTube moments” in which they are often exposed as incompetent or heartless.

The Hypocrisy of the Sanctuary City

On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order against sanctuary cities who decline to collaborate with ICE and the administration’s deportation policies. But for all the posturing around urban centers and their relative liberalism, the older, more entrenched policies of progressive politicians have come under fire. In New York, for example, Mayor De Blasio’s “broken windows” policies have been shown to disproportionately criminalize undocumented people, putting them in further jeopardy.

The Government Employees (Actually) Sowing Dissent in the Ranks

While it’s unlikely that many of the “rogue” government staff Twitter accounts were run by anyone actually connected to the government—the National Parks Service account notwithstanding—there have been a number of other instances of civil servants exposing the extent of the chaos during the administration’s transition. In February, when climate denialist Scott Pruitt was set to be confirmed, EPA members vocally protested, a virtually unheard-of act for federal employees.

Elsewhere official government Twitter accounts posted jabs at the social media-obsessed president, and people familiar with the government contracting process trolled the people soliciting proposals for the border wall—”It’s like amateur hour” over there, one told me.

The People Making Ivanka Trump Unfashionable

Since before Trump was elected, Grab Your Wallet has been listing companies worthy of a boycott. The effect of boycotts on a company’s bottom line is up for for debate, but it must be embarrassing to have to rename your fashion line so people will buy it.