PROTEST TRUMP’S AMERICA.

Suddenly the media narrative switched from Tzar Trump’s non stop outpourings to covering the flood of protests across the country. These have been in evidence since the inauguration when over four million demonstrated in Women’s Protest Marches, in every nook and cranny of America. Even with that in mind the sheer weight of dissent in the week of President’s Day surprised everyone. In the wake of the Trump Presidency a countrywide protest has emerged which promises to influence the behavior of Congress in the short term and possibly its make up in the long term. 

The President, Vice President and the WhiteHouse Press Secretary helped stoke the media interest by belittling the participant citizens as either being bussed in, paid protestors or just activists. In addition George Soros, with no proof whatsoever, was credited as paying the million or so women who poured into Washington for their appearance at the March. Ads appeared in twenty cities entitled “Demand Protest” offering two thousand five hundred dollars for services in Washington. It was subsequently proved that the ad was a hoax. All this hullabaloo focused even more attention on the civil upheavals.

The the sheer volume of turmoil was as a result of Congressmen returning to their constituencies for a week's break. Traditionally, this is the opportunity for Town Hall Meetings for constituents. The voters were packed like sardines at the meeting halls and subjected the Republican lawmakers to incredible pressure. Orchestrating this escalating opposition was a web of integrating and informative entities which have been spawned in the social media in the wake of the election. The enormity of the nation wide groundswell protest is a real historical first for President Trump, both by its very existence this early in a Presidency and by its size and breadth. The outcry has been characterized as being even more widespread than the Vietnam War protests.

AGENDAS OF TOWN HALL MEETINGS 

A wide range of subjects were covered at the boisterous gatherings. The topic that received the most attention was the Affordable Care Act, (ACA), or Obamacare. In meeting after meeting protestors proclaimed its virtue and how their lives had been saved a result. Some argued that their finances had been rescued alluding to the fact that prior to the Act millions of Americans had been forced into bankruptcy by medical bills. The latter being the commonest cause of insolvency. Senator Cotton from Arkansas conceded that it had helped may Arkansians. 

The influential Iowian Senator Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee summed up the impact of the championing of the ACA, “There is a consensus among Republicans now that you have to be more cautious with what your’e going to do. That didn’t mean much to me in November or December but it means a lot now.” Congressman Sanford mused that two key provisions that would most likely have to stay: the provision that mandates coverage regardless of pre existing conditions and the ability to keep children on parents' insurance till they were twenty - six years old. There seemed to be a consensus that the increased coverage by the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare would not only be not touched but expanded. 

While these Town Halls saw Republicans put space between them and the President on several matters the ACA concessions were the most significant. The latter was the signature policy change of the campaign and ostensibly one that both Trump and the GOP legislators were ad idem on. Both the POTUS and the Vice POTUS, as recently as February twenty - forth, emphasized at the Conservative Political Action Conference that “Repeal and Replace” of the “disastrous” ACA is the legislative the priority.  On the very same day John Boehner, the former Republican Speaker said repeal and replacement was not going to happen and no one should know better than him as he had tried scores of times. There is no doubt that tone deaf Bannon and Trump might still try and replace it with some crummy alternative. If they succeed the consequences in the public place will be deafening.

Other concessions made by Republican legislators to their irate constituents included that the President should produce his tax returns, reservations on the President's behavior, investigations into the Russian scandal, (Darryl Issa even agreeing to an independent Special Prosecutor) and the dangers of the educational philosophy of Betsy De Vos. A number of Republicans ducked out of holding meetings completely resulting in them being held without them.

While the ACA is the issue that is emerging as the one that might impact elections the most, the Russian connection is the one with the most traction among GOP legislators at the moment. 

PROTEST ENTITIES 

While there are several established progressive organizations, who are waging opposition,three new protest organizations have hit the scene with a resounding impact: The Women’s March, Indivisible Movement and Michael Moore’s Resistance Calendar. 

The Women’s March

The organizers of the Women’s March on Washington have set up a countrywide network of groups. A visit to their website will give a roadmap of how far they have gone in expanding their operation. Although their initial march was hastily organized they were still able to collaborate with four hundred and three organizations. They proudly proclaim that they have graduated into a world wide movement - “Hear our Voice” is their cri de guerre.  Their organization is vast and extensive whether it be providing maps, coordinating transport, legal advice, fund collecting, exhorting activism and integrating with other protest movements.

They have planned Ten Actions For The First 100 Days. Their presence was in full force on President’s Day Week and probably was one of the driving forces in canvassing constituents to attend the Congressional Legislators meetings. The next major event, which is being planned like a military operation, is on International Women’s Day - “A Day Without a Woman” on March 8.

As the first Trump Protest Movement to take root they are now collaborating with twenty other organizations that range from the Indivisible group, who have produced the handbook for forming pressure factions, to Women’s Rights bodies throughout the world. 

Indivisible Movement

There is little doubt that the operation that has had the most impact at getting opposition mobilized is the Indivisible Movement. This movement was dreamed up by a few former staffers to legislators who created a manual as to how to influence Congress members. Ezra Levin, a co founder, detailed the philosophy behind the organization. He argued that Trump’s agenda depended on whether Congress backed it up or not. The twenty six page guide has been downloaded over a million times and a half times and six thousand protest groups have registered on line in all fifty states. Sixty thousand activists have called in for advice and two hundred thousand individuals have signed on to be “active”. There are seventy volunteers running the outfit with only one being paid. The fact that there have been massive turnouts at the Congressional Town Halls and legislators have been swamped like never before has to be largely due to their efforts. 

The comparison between Indivisible and the Tea Party is obvious. The latter revolutionized the Republican Party but were more involved in internally changing the GOP rather then taking on the opposition party, as is Indivisible. Also it took some time post Bush and into Obama's first term for the Tea Party movement to form while Indivisible was established two months before theTrump inauguration. The challenge will be to see whether this organization’s outcomes are translated into ballot box success.

Michael Moore’s Resistance Calendar.

The Academy winning documentary film maker is rallying the troops to the hustings. He has introduced a website which features a Calendar which gives details of any meetings or events, throughout the country, which provide an opportunity for “resistance”.  He has released “The Michael Moore Easy To Follow Ten Point Plan To Stop Trump”. Here he outlines tactics and has suggested the formation of “Rapid Response Teams” to lead the struggle. He wants Democrats to run for every possible office and says he is beginning to see results in that “it is raining candidates”. The plan exhorts citizens to call their Congressmen daily - he even has a smart phone application that helps facilitate the objective. The latter pressure should be accompanied by a visit to your legislator’s office every month. He spurs his followers on to “become the media” by piling on the activism on the internet. 

Faxes

According to a piece on the FiveThirtyEight website a popular method of pressurizing legislators is by fax. This is in addition to phone messages, which have jammed most offices and e mails. The article lists twenty Republicans that have received over a thousand faxes over about a month. The leader of the pack is Senator Patrick Toomey who barely won the key state of Pennsylvania. He has been credited with being the recipient of twenty thousand faxes. The reason there are stats on this metric is that Congress faxes are tracked by a company called Faxzero. Of the twenty - five legislators most faxed there are only a few Democrats. Apparently faxing is considered an effective way to get the representatives' attention and sites such as The Daily Kos give detailed instructions on how to get this done.

WILL THE PRESSURE HAVE AN IMPACT?

Jay H. Ell has only focussed on new additions to the progressive upsurge. While these show no signs of flagging, in fact their impact seems to be increasing daily, the question is will they make any difference to the balance of political power. Bannon and Trump in outlining “the final solution” have not fully taken into account the checks and balances that exist in the courts, the media, the citizenry, leaks from Governmental agencies and last, but most important, Congress. It would appear that at least some of the Republican legislators are giving the Trump agenda a long hard look. For starters Trump should get ready to rant and a rave on the expected tardiness and failure to produce a replacement for Obamacare. Maybe he will get some "repair" but whatever happens he is going to have blame someone for non deliverance of a key campaign promise. 

At the end of the day what really counts is repealing and replacing Trump and the Republicans. There are the 2018 Congressional Elections which are traditionally favorable to the Party not in power. Before that are a string of special elections which are going to be very telling. These will quickly answer whether or not the protests have had any impact or is the situation the way Trump perceives it to be? Is the Bannon strategy that Trump’s less than fifty percent support is still holding therefore no attempt need be made to appeal to anyone other than the faithful? Or are the polls right this time and Trump’s backing is now closer to forty percent with his approval rating even lower then the Media which is the “Enemy of the People”.

PROTEST SUPPRESSION 

There is a dark response to the national outrage. According to the Washington Post seventeen States are introducing legislation to crackdown on protests. The rationales that are offered for all encompassing restrictions on protest thinly disguise their intent. For example, safety legislation, the need to keep traffic flowing or to cut down on the spate of paid full-time provocateurs are examples of the justification argued for the restrictive legislation. Some of the legislation has draconian penalties attached to them such as seizure of assets. A Stanford Professor in Sociology, Douglas McAdam, has noted that this is not the first time in history that widespread protests have inspired a legislative backlash. It is not ironic in Jay H. Ell’s opinion that the last such concerted effort was against the Civil Rights Campaign. Then, like now, the move was racist. The former attack on liberty was to keep America white the latest is to make America white again.

The Supreme Court has again and again maintained that public places are sacred arenas for protest. It is an irony however that the most recent strengthening of those provisions reinforced the right of anti abortion protestors to exercise their first amendment rights to shame and bully women who were seeking reproductive advice. 

America is facing its first major threat of totalitarianism since Joseph McCarthy but this time it is a blanket attack on Democracy and is scarily being lead from the WhiteHouse. As Bannon stated at the Conservative Action Conference, there will be a long hard fight as they, (sic), will not easily give up their country!