November 7, 2024
Daniel Hunter offers 10 tools for enduring another Trump presidency.
Now that Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States for the second time, many of the millions who did not vote for him are seeking comfort in the aftermath of the election results.
Journalist Daniel Hunter from Waging Nonviolence is offering 10 tips to help us prepare for and stay grounded during another Trump presidency. The guide emphasizes that to take effective action, one must resist contributing to the autocrat’s knack for inciting fear, isolation, exhaustion, and disorientation.
“Looking into an even more destabilized future is not easy. If you’re like me, you’re already tired,” Hunter shares. “The prospect of more drama is daunting. But authoritarianism isn’t going away no matter the election results.”
Hunter stayed busy throughout the election by preparing for the possibility of another Trump presidency. From outlining potential scenarios, creating trainings, and collaborating with colleagues experienced in living under autocratic regimes, he developed his 10 tips for navigating another Trump administration while maintaining inner peace.
“Thus, for us to be of any use in a Trump world, we have to pay grave attention to our inner states,” Hunter says is key to not perpetuating Trump’s “goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion, or constant disorientation.”
1. Trust Yourself
Amid widespread social distrust—where many lack confidence in the government, medical professionals, the media, and even family and friends—Hunter suggests starting by trusting yourself. He encourages tuning into your inner voice and becoming mindful of how what you see, hear, and feel affects your overall state. By checking in with your feelings and emotions, you might find yourself putting down your phone for a few hours, getting some rest, or making peace with your fears.
In essence, it’s “building protection from the ways the crazy-making can become internalized,” Hunter writes.
2. Connect with People You Trust
Hunter points out that social isolation is a foundation of fascism and dictatorship, urging readers to stay connected with affinity groups who share similar values. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” he emphasizes that loneliness is a core ingredient of autocracy. To counter this, he encourages going out, engaging in social groups, and finding like-minded people. These connections help build trust, allowing individuals to explore their own thinking and support each other in staying sharp and grounded.
“We have to consciously break that distance,” Hunter writes.
3. Allow Yourself to Grieve
Grief is a human emotion that should be embraced and not contained. And Hunter suggests we start by listing and allowing feelings that come to arise. He recalls staying up late with a friend after Trump’s 2016 win and just letting their emotions flow.
“We alternated between rageful spouts and tears. We grieved. We cried. We held each other. We breathed. We dove back into naming all the bad things we knew we’d lost and things we thought we’d be likely to lose,” he shared.
Through this process, Hunter and his friend were better able to mentally prepare for what the next four years would bring. Rather than bottling up their emotions and constantly saying, “I can’t believe he’s doing that…,” Hunter released his feelings on election night and began moving toward a place of acceptance.
“Believe it. Believe it now. Grief is a pathway to that acceptance,” he writes.
4. Let Go of What You Can’t Control
During a Trump presidency, there will be so many pressing issues that accepting we can’t tackle everything will be challenging, Hunter cites.
“Trump’s first day likely includes 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. There’s little reason to believe that day two will get much quieter,” he writes.
To resist the chaos that often fuels autocracy, Hunter advises letting go of the belief that we must address everything. While this can be difficult for natural activists, he warns that “the urge to act on every issue leads to poor strategy.” Instead of focusing solely on public venting or symbolic actions like rallies and protests, seek out more effective ways to engage.
5. Discover Your Way
Referencing his book of scenarios on how a Trump presidency might unfold, Hunter outlines several resistance pathways to counter the coming chaos. One pathway, “Protecting People,” focuses on supporting those directly impacted, such as trans individuals, people seeking abortions, and immigrants. Examples include creating immigrant welcoming committees, establishing abortion-support funds, or training volunteers in safety skills to respond to white nationalist violence.
Other pathways include “Defending Civic Institutions,” where people unite to defend establishments missioned on protecting civil rights, “Disrupt and Disobey,” where individuals intervene to stop bad policies or show resistance, and “Building Alternatives” in support of more democratic processes.
“Your path may not be clear right now. That’s OK. There will be plenty of opportunities to join the resistance,” Hunter notes.
6. Refuse to Comply in Advance, Avoid Self-Censorship
Hunter cites the two major media publications that “cowardly” refused to endorse a political candidate as an example of self-censorship. Trump didn’t need to directly threaten these media outlets; their own leadership instructed them to “sit this one out,” Hunter notes.
“If autocrats teach us any valuable lesson it’s this: Political space that you don’t use, you lose,” he writes.
Acknowledging the power we have to choose when to speak up, Hunter urges those who care to “use the political space and voice you have.”
7. Redefine Your Political Landscape
Hunter explains how a Trump presidency reshapes political alignments and potential outcomes. He emphasizes the importance of positioning ourselves to listen to people with differing political or personal views, and engaging with them to broaden our perspectives. He also encourages practicing empathy and facing the reality of who holds the power.
8. Face The Reality of Power
Taking to the streets for mass protests without a clear goal will only increase frustration, leading to disengagement and radical actions disconnected from any strategic plan.
“We’re not going to stop him from doing these things just by persuasive tactics or showing that there are a LOT of us who oppose them,” Hunter writes.
Citing the upside-down triangle as a power analysis tool, Hunter explains how strategically toppling Trump’s pillars of support can prove to be more effective. Mass noncooperation exposes people to greater risk and repression. However, it also presents the potential to achieve the kind of liberatory government we all truly deserve.
Hunter cited Trump’s 2019 government shutdown as an example, when flight attendants prepared for a national strike. This strike had the potential to ground planes nationwide, disrupting a key transportation network. Within hours of announcing their “immediate mobilization” for the strike, Trump backed down.
“This tipping point of mass noncooperation will be messy. It means convincing a lot of people to take huge personal risks for a better option,” Hunter writes.
9. Manage Fear, Turn Violence Back Against Itself
Managing fear isn’t about suppressing it; it’s about constantly redirecting it. Referencing activist and intellectual Hardy Herriman’s study on political violence, Hunter explains that making political violence backfire involves refusing to be intimidated and resisting those threats, causing them to lose their power.
Hunter uses the example of Bayard Rustin, who transformed police threats of arrest in response to outdated anti-boycott laws into a moment of courage. Rustin organized a group of civil rights leaders to go to the police station and demand to be arrested, positioning themselves as leaders and turning the repression into a powerful spectacle. Some leaders not on the police’s list publicly demanded to be arrested as well. Those charged were met with cheers from the crowd, holding their arrest papers high, turning the fear of arrest into a moment of triumph.
10. Imagine A Better Future
Regardless of who’s in office, there’s a whole world out there with beauty we can set our sights on instead of relishing on the state of the government and how it’s impacting our country.
“On the days when I can’t sense any of these political possibilities (more than not), I zoom out further to the lifespans of trees and rocks, heading into spiritual reminders that nothing lasts forever,” Hunter writes.
“All of the future is uncertain. But using these things, we’re more likely to have a more hopeful future and experience during these turbulent times.”
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