The State of Our Union is Fed Up

Americans across the country are mounting small and big acts of resistance against Republicans’ incompetence and cruelty

By Maria Peralta

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those they oppress,” Frederick Douglass famously stated in a speech to abolitionist colleagues as he reflected on the history of human struggle.

Republicans are learning the limits of their tyranny as Americans across the country denounce their gross incompetence, cruelty, and lawlessness, and reject their aiding and abetting of Trump’s and Musk’s destruction of essential government programs that will hurt children, seniors, veterans and other vulnerable Americans.

As wannabe-dictator Trump prepares to address Congress tonight, Americans are planning protests at state capitols, community rallies, teach-ins, and taking part in other forms of resistance throughout the week. Parents, teachers and students will be mobilizing as part of the Protect Our Kids campaign—to clap back at the Trump administration’s threats to cut the U.S. Department of Education funded programs. Seniors, people with disabilities, and their families will be out on the streets demanding that Congress keep its hands off of Medicaid. And later in the week, civil rights leaders are calling for more economic boycotts of some of the country’s largest corporations to protest their walk back on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The planned events are following weeks of energized protests by outraged Americans making phone calls and converging on Congressional offices and at town hall meetings to demand accountability from their Representatives. On President’s Day state houses were lit up by thousands of protestors demanding Elon Musk’s removal, a third Trump impeachment, and respect for our constitutional rights. Consumers are organizing rallies in front of Tesla dealerships to call out Musk’s DOGE rampage and his self-dealing as he fires regulators that oversee his companies’ contracts. National park lovers are marching up steep hills and through desert brush and waving upside down American flags in protest. Federal workers and union leaders in DC and other cities are waging robust battles in federal court alongside allied organizations. And this past Saturday, hundreds of people lined the streets at a Vermont ski resort town where JD was vacationing to denounce his ambush of Ukrainian President Zelensky at the Oval Office.

The protests are having an impact. Trump’s approval numbers are slipping, and more Americans disapprove of Musk and his axe-wielding cuts to government programs. Consumer confidence is also falling as families facing high prices at the supermarket watch Republicans cut essential programs to pay for billionaire tax cuts.

The turning tide should come as no surprise. In addition to their lawlessness, bullying, and cozying up to dictators, the irony of a regime eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion in the name of “excellence” while its leadership displays stunning incompetence is lost on very few. Among the evidence of that incompetence:

• FAA staff firings in the face of recent airplane crashes and serious incidents.

• USDA staff firings of employees working to stop the bird flu.

• VA staff and contract cuts that hurt veterans’ health services.

• Claims of cuts to government contracts that were already dead.

These are not the moves of the best and brightest.

Americans demand accountability from their elected representatives. And as with other resistance movements throughout history, from the Indian independence movement, to the French resistance against the Nazis in WWII, to Lech Wałęsa’s Solidarity movement against Soviet repression, ordinary people are driving the demand for change. We are seeing Americans beginning to rise up now. With the midterms looming in 2026, Republicans will ignore the power of the collective resistance at their own peril.

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Maria Peralta is a strategic campaigns consultant with over 25 years of leadership experience in progressive politics, labor organizing, voting rights, and democracy. Most recently, Maria served as National Political Director for the Service Employees International Union.