It was a potent symbol of the growing protest movement against Donald Trump. Greenpeace activists scaled a crane near the White House and unfurled a giant “Resist!” banner, which fluttered in the breeze, forming a fitting backdrop to the new administration.
The scale of the destruction Trump is visiting on this country—on immigrants, on our relationships with other countries, on women’s health, on people who depend on the Affordable Care Act, and on the press—is truly daunting. But as James Zogby told me when I interviewed him for Comment this month, “The will to resist is greater than the will to repress.”
The day after Inauguration Day, I took my daughter to the massive Women’s March on Washington, D.C., where the sheer size, spunk, and solidarity of the resistance were palpable. Afterward, I spoke with human-rights activists about what we can learn from people who have had the courage to fight abusive governments in other countries around the globe.
Take heart. For, as America Ferrera put it from the stage at the Women’s March on Washington, “Trump is not America . . . . We are America!”
“Trump is not America . . . . We are America!”
This whole issue of the magazine outlines the burgeoning resistance to the dystopian vision of America foisted on the public by the unpopular and dishonest Donald Trump.
In two pieces on sanctuary communities, we profile civic leaders who refuse to help the federal government round up immigrants for deportation. Mike Ervin, longtime Progressive contributor and disabled activist, writes about protesting at Paul Ryan’s church with a group of friends in wheelchairs, determined to tell congregants how destroying the Affordable Care Act will affect disabled people’s lives. Erik Gunn writes about teachers and parents in Racine, Wisconsin, who have beaten back a takeover of their school district by the same forces that are threatening public education nationwide. And Abby Scher profiles Jane Kleeb, the bold Nebraska Democrat who helped put together a coalition of ranchers, Native Americans, and small-town activists to block the Keystone XL pipeline, and is now preparing for the next chapter in a long fight.
These are tough times. But we are the progressive majority and together we are determined to resist.
We have big news at The Progressive magazine. We have launched a bold new website, which we kicked off with a new Resist! section, crowd-
sourcing photos from our readers of the protests on the day after the Inauguration all over the country.
We are going to pour our editorial energy into timely content online, and into helping to unite the grassroots activists who are determined to resist Donald Trump.
You will still be getting our beautiful print magazine, but we are moving to a bimonthly schedule. We will have bigger print issues, thoughtful, long-form features, and the same columnists, investigative reports, and great interviews you count on from us.
We hope that you will help us thrive, by continuing to subscribe to the magazine and by getting subscriptions for your friends. Now more than ever, we need our longtime subscribers to spread the word about the important fact-based journalism we practice in the face of direct opposition from the likes of Steve Bannon and Donald Trump. Please continue to be our allies in this endeavor; spread the word about the magazine, and its role in building a movement that can not only save but transform America.
For more timely content, check out our new website at www.progressive.org.
We are determined to do our part for the progressive movement in these trying times. And, as always, we count on you and appreciate you for all your support.