10 Ways to stay clear and grounded with Trump in power. Nourishing inspiration from Daniel Hunter of Waging Non-Violence.

The information summarized below is a superabundance of resourcing and nourishment for those who are resisting this administration or for those who want to resist but need more information. The original article is called 10 ways to be prepared and grounded now that Trump has won. It was published on November 4, 2024 in Waging Nonviolence with the following heading:

The key to taking effective action in a Trump world is to avoid perpetuating the autocrat’s goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.

Daniel’s words come from his lengthy organizing experience and years preparing for the unfortunate return of the authoritarian menace led by Trump. Reading this again now (January 2025) I am amazed at how lucid his understanding was of what to expect. 

Below I summarize his ten recommendations with a brief snippet from each to give you a snack version of his wise and detailed essay. Hopefully, it will also inspire you to take time to savor his experienced views in full. People are so busy these days, slowing down to digest deep thoughts can be considered an act of defiance against the glance and swipe information machine. I have found that I needed to repeatedly go over his words in order to get them to penetrate my habituated and entrenched responses to political “reality”.

1. Trust yourself: Distrust fuels the flame of autocracy because it makes it much easier to divide….Trust-building starts with your own self. It includes trusting your own eyes and gut, as well as building protection from the ways the crazy-making can become internalized...

2. Find others who you trust: Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism” explored how destructive ideologies like fascism and autocracy grow. She used the word verlassenheit — often translated as loneliness — as a central ingredient. As she meant it, loneliness isn’t a feeling but a kind of social isolation of the mind. Your thinking becomes closed off to the world and a sense of being abandoned from each other...

3. Grieve: No matter what we try to do, there’s going to be a lot of loss. The human thing to do is grieve….If you aren’t a feelings person, let me say it this way: The inability to grieve is a strategic error.

4. Release that which you cannot change: Growing up my mom had a copy of the Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” Notably, that prayer comes from theologian Reinhold Niebuhr as he was watching the rise of Nazis in Germany….Chaos is a friend of the autocrat. One way we can unwittingly assist is by joining in the story that we have to do it all. 

5. Find your path: I’ve been writing scenarios of how a Trump presidency might play out….The initial weeks look chaotic no matter what. But over time some differentiated resistance pathways begin to emerge...”Protecting People; Defending Civic Institutions; Disrupt and Disobey; Building Alternatives”….Your path may not be clear right now. That’s okay. There will be plenty of opportunities to join the resistance.

6. Do not obey in advance, do not self-censor: If autocrats teach us any valuable lesson it’s this: Political space that you don’t use, you lose.…Put simply: Use the political space and voice you have. 

7. Reorient your political map: How we position ourselves matters: Are we interested in engaging with people unhappy with the regime — whether because they love the current institutions or are unhappy with Trump’s policies on them? Are we able to tell a story that explains how we got here — and do political education? Or are we only interested in maintaining ideological purity and preaching to our own choir?

8. Get real about power: By themselves, rulers cannot collect taxes, enforce repressive laws and regulations, keep trains running on time, prepare national budgets, direct traffic, manage ports, print money, repair roads, keep markets supplied with food, make steel, build rockets, train the police and army, issue postage stamps or even milk a cow. People provide these services to the ruler though a variety of organizations and institutions. If people would stop providing these skills, the ruler could not rule. (Daniel Hunter quoting Gene Sharp)

9. Handle fear, make violence rebound: Handling fear isn’t about suppressing it — but it is about constantly redirecting. One activist described to me two motions in the universe: shrinking or expansion. When Donald Trump directs the Justice Department to use sedition charges against protesters or arrest his political enemies like Jamie Raskin or Liz Cheney, what’s our response?

10. Envision a positive future: I don’t feel certain, and I’m not predicting we win. But we’ve all now imagined storylines about how bad it might get. We would do ourselves a service to spend an equal measure of time envisioning how we might advance our cause in these conditions. As writer Walidah Imarisha says, “The goal of visionary fiction is to change the world.”

How might you act on Daniel’s insights?

Thomas Jefferson held regular dinners at Monticello, inviting men and women to enjoy a delicious meal while discussing a philosophical or political theme. At the end of these gatherings he would invite each attendee share how they might take what they received from the discussion forward into their personal or public lives. I invite you into the same query—your answer is more important than ever.

I highly recommend checking out (and perhaps supporting) the platform that often publishes Daniel Hunter’s work: Waging Non-Violence where you can enjoy an alternative take on non-violent resistance with articles by intelligent thinkers who occupy this space.

---

Daniel Hunter coaches and trains movements across the globe and is a founder of Choose Democracy. He has trained extensively with ethnic minorities in Burma, pastors in Sierra Leone, and independence activists in northeast India. He has written multiple books, including “What Will You Do If Trump Wins,” “Climate Resistance Handbook” and “Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow.”