Showing Up & Walking Out

Two Ways to Make your Point

The Musk-Trump regime thrives on confusion, chaos, and capitulation. In the case of the moribund House and Senate Republicans, it has worked. Self-proclaimed hawks like Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) offer no resistance when Donald Trump threatens and prepares to sell out Ukraine. House Republicans who deplored the Democratic chairman of the Ways and Means Committee’s request for Trump’s tax returns during his first term have remained silent as unelected Elon Musk and his band of tech bro hackers demand the IRS give them “broad access to tax-agency systems, property and datasets… [including] the Integrated Data Retrieval System, or IDRS, which enables tax agency employees to access IRS accounts—including personal identification numbers—and bank information.”

Not everyone is cowed, however. Among others, two groups of Americans are rising to check the authoritarian assault on the Constitution.

On Monday, thousands of ordinary Americans across the country turned out to protest.

“Thousands of protesters opposing broad swaths of President Trump’s agenda took to the streets across the United States on Monday, calling Mr. Trump a ‘king’ on Presidents’ Day for his efforts to terminate thousands of federal workers and to fire prosecutors and independent watchdogs within the federal government,” the New York Times reported.

If Trump does not understand the essence of our constitutional system, at least some Americans do:

“No king, no crown, we will not back down,” chanted those who gathered a few hundred feet from the U.S. Capitol on the National Mall in Washington.

Many protesters opposed to Mr. Trump’s agenda embraced symbols of patriotism, waving flags and wearing heart-shaped earrings and beanies adorned with the U.S. flag. The members of an a cappella group sang the national anthem by the Capitol Reflecting Pool. The audience burst into applause after the final line: “And the home of the brave.”

Many Americans have expressed frustration with congressional Democrats for not doing more (although it is hard to pinpoint what “more” would look like). The protestors on Monday did not wait for elected officials to lead. They took it upon themselves in the best tradition of our democracy to make their voices heard.

Cynics will say this “won’t change any MAGA minds.” That isn’t the point. Rather, the protestors refuse to pretend that Trump’s conduct is normal. They amplified a simple message: The Musk-Trump duo is acting abnormally, unconstitutionally, and recklessly to benefit themselves at the expense of ordinary Americans. In clarifying the stakes, the protestors help stiffen the spines of elected Democrats and perhaps encourage others to demonstrate outrage.

Sometimes, walking out is the best response. That is what seven lawyers in the Justice Department did rather than aid and abet what they perceived as a corrupt bargain to dismiss the five-count felony case against New York Mayor Eric Adams. In defying the demands of the unctuous acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, they resigned with a flourish. (Two left behind history-making resignation letters. ) Their actions inspired more than 900 former New York prosecutors to sign an open letter, praising those who refused to act “on considerations other than the facts and the law, including to serve solely political purposes”:

To all of you, we communicate this: We salute and admire the courage many of you have already exhibited, and that will guide all of you as you continue to serve the interests of justice. You have responded to ethical challenges of a type no public servant should ever be forced to confront with principle and conviction, in the finest traditions of the Department of Justice. We know there will be more challenges ahead, and we have no doubt that those of you who continue to serve will uphold the Department’s values for the sake of the rule of law, just as you have always done. Please know that when you do, generations of former federal prosecutors are watching with pride and admiration and stand ready to support you in this honorable pursuit.

The lawyers’ defense of the rule of law may have encouraged four deputy mayors to resign rather than serve a mayor “whose personal interests risked outweighing the interests of New Yorkers.” Frankly, working for someone so clearly under Trump’s thumb is inconsistent with the oaths they took to represent the best interests of New Yorkers and to defend the Constitution and the laws of New York. In a similar vein, Adrienne Adams, the speaker of the New York City Council and a close Adams ally, told him to resign.

Perhaps the DOJ walkouts lit a fuse under City Hall. Maybe the heretofore-paralyzed New York Governor Kathy Hochul might have the courage to decide to remove Adams.

Meanwhile, across the federal government, small acts of conscience highlight the DOGE menace. “The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration left her job this weekend after a clash with billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service over its attempts to access sensitive government records, three people familiar with her departure said Monday,” The Washington Post reported. “Michelle King, who spent several decades at the agency before being named its acting commissioner last month, left her position Sunday after the disagreement, the people said.”

It can be a tricky call: Stay in government to minimize the harm to Americans and the Constitution—or leave to underscore the untenability of the Musk-Trump rampage? What is certain, however, is that meekly enabling illegal, immoral, and/or inhumane actions to save one’s own skin is unacceptable. That is how totalitarian regimes accomplish their aims—by spreading a sense of defeatism and inevitability.

Just think of the small and large acts of courage that a few—even one!—Republicans might take to slow down the Trump train. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Ak.) could change parties. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) could start voting against unfit nominees. A group of GOP lawmakers could insist that any budget deal include aid to Ukraine.

Democratic officials at the state and local level, as well as in Congress, can follow a model of defiance set by politicians such as Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and the nearly two dozen Democratic governors who are suing Musk-Trump to defend the Constitution.

In short, every American can do something—show up, walk out, call, sign up, demonstrate engagement. Democracy will be saved not by a cadre of politicians but by a movement of citizens like you who are determined to protect our American experiment in democracy.