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As soon as President Donald Trump began his shock-and-awe assault on the federal government in January 2025, lists began bouncing around the internet with titles like 鈥�.鈥� They advised readers on how to respond to the chaos politically, personally, and when dealing with others.聽

Actions included 鈥渄onating to a cause鈥� or 鈥渃alling your senator.鈥� found comfort in texting photos of 鈥渟omeone floating in the ocean鈥� to friends, or 鈥渢wice-daily meditation.鈥� suggested 鈥淭ry to be everything that Trump is not: compassionate, honest, calm and decent,鈥� and that such efforts might charm Trump 鈥渋nto doing the right thing.鈥� This was not a joke. 

While this advice might reduce stress, it isn鈥檛 much help fighting a dictator. We can鈥檛 claim Trump is a fascist hell-bent on rolling back 20th-century progress and then respond to an enraged MAGA cultist by, as , placating them with empathetic sentiments like 鈥淚鈥檝e felt that way sometimes, too.鈥�

Playing nice ain鈥檛 going to cut it with people who want to kill you and your community. We need principles that build power now and for the long term. 

After Trump was elected in 2016, I helped found the . Our strategy was to build municipal power to fight Trump while shifting local politics to the left. We attracted a lot of interest because we were among the few independent multi-issue groups seeking to build grassroots power. Eight years later, the PMPC is still going strong.

Here are the organizing lessons I learned from the PMPC and from movements for worker organizing, immigrant rights, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, climate justice, Palestine solidarity, and abortion rights. These lessons may serve us well under Trump 2.0.

1. Tap people on the shoulder.

After years reporting on politics in Portland, I found the organizing scene to be rife with divisive social-media personalities who attack organizations around race, gender, and identity to gain attention, money, and clout. Because of this, the PMPC never opened our meetings to the public. Instead, we chose to 鈥渢ap people on the shoulder鈥� by recruiting organizers who were doing real work and had a solid reputation. This undercut outside attempts by provocateurs seeking to disrupt the work.

2. Play well together.

We also picked people who play well together. It鈥檚 not enough to have good politics or say the right things. Can they collaborate without being dominating or domineering? Are they self-centered, quick to anger, or prone to attack others? Do they seek compromise to advance our principles and vision? Do they do the grunt work or do they just want all the glory? Asking such questions helped keep us on track and get things done.

3. People with lots of time will waste your time. 

In my experience, an activist who has lots of time often lacks community, which may mean they alienate others or can鈥檛 work in a group. I have noticed such people often want to debate and discuss everything, including re-opening decisions that have already been made. Resist the temptation to organize everyone. If someone is a drain on your efforts, don鈥檛 let them guilt trip you into letting them in your group. 

They will sap energy, chase away existing members, and might be more effective as lone activists. Many effective activists who work alone are tenacious around issues like housing, police brutality, and climate change, and can make great allies but may not be cut out for group activism.

4. Build community.

People say this all the time, but what does it mean, in practice, to build community? We need to play together, create music and art together, cook and eat together, live and love together. Creating strong, layered bonds among individuals, groups, and communities helps us withstand state, corporate, and police repression. You are far likelier to have someone鈥檚 back who has been a close comrade for years than a stranger you met yesterday. 

A caveat: Be aware some people use group settings to act out issues about their upbringing, past trauma, or ex-lovers. They may be overly needy, try to turn meetings into therapy sessions, or demand constant emotional labor. We should take care of each other鈥攂ut no one has a right to make you their caretaker. 

5. Build capital.

Activists are often told to 鈥渂uild sustainable structures.鈥� Here鈥檚 an idea related to the previous suggestion, but is rarely spelled out: 鈥淏uild capital.鈥� Money is not a cure-all, but it can help tremendously. Many progressive public spaces are the result of an individual or group鈥檚 foresight to buy real estate years ago. One lefty magazine I know is funded largely out-of-pocket by the publisher. Another progressive news show received millions of dollars from a foundation bankrolled by Wall Street money. 

The left has unfortunately become puritanical about money. Groups like the Communist Party historically encouraged members to start businesses, make money, and give it to the party. 

This is a different strategy than starting worker-owned businesses or co-ops, which have their place in the organizing world. It is also not a form of charity. Instead, the strategy is to fund radical leftist organizing rather than delivering social services.

6. Don鈥檛 just mobilize. Organize.

Many activists confuse mobilizing with organizing. Mobilizing is turning out people who agree with you, such as Get Out the Vote efforts for a candidate or asking friends to join a protest. Organizing means changing minds. The latter is harder, but the impact is far more significant and long lasting. We need to win people over to our side, and that means changing their consciousness.

I have interviewed thousands of people across the country, and with rare exceptions, their politics were a mess of left- and right-wing ideas, conspiracies, and falsehoods. People want to be heard鈥攕o actively listen to them, don鈥檛 lecture or berate them. Find a genuine point of agreement, steer the conversation in that direction, and build on it. Make them feel good about themselves and the idea that together we can make positive change鈥攁nd you might just win them to your cause.

7. Be ruthless.

The right understands minority movements can win if they are disciplined, single minded, and ruthless. Look at the anti-abortion movement, which never stopped trying to overturn Roe. v Wade and eventually succeeded in doing so. Despite extraordinarily low support, anti-abortion extremists are moving closer to a total ban on abortion in places such as Texas, where only . 

We don鈥檛 need everyone to agree with us if we build power and use it ruthlessly. Right now we have a president breaking the law to enact his thieving, white-nationalist, authoritarian agenda. Wouldn鈥檛 it be nice to see a president breaking norms instead to enact Medicare for all, oversee a just green transition, or protect immigrants?

8. If you don鈥檛 stand for something, you will fall for anything.

The Democratic Party is a cautionary tale on what happens if you compromise your principles. Last year, many people, , warned that Kamala Harris鈥檚 would cost her the 2024 presidential election. showed Gaza dragged her support down. By not opposing genocide鈥攖he worst political act possible鈥攍iberals got the worst of both worlds: a genocide that went on for 15 months and Trump. Or, as explained: 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 draw the line at genocide, you probably can鈥檛 draw the line at democracy.鈥� 

As if on cue, Democrats exposed their ideological bankruptcy following Trump鈥檚 inauguration. has repeatedly lamented that Democrats have no leverage. In March, outright surrendered by endorsing a government spending bill that hands Trump and Musk a 鈥渂lank check鈥� for their 鈥渁uthoritarian agenda,鈥� according to . 

In contrast, the movement opposing genocide was a master class in how to wield power. Muslim and Palestinian Americans led the campaign to until she agreed to end the genocide. Two days before the election Harris said she would 鈥渄o everything in my power to ,鈥� though it was too little too late. 

We build power by sticking to our principles and forcing Democrats to fulfill our demands instead of surrendering to a party that embraces war and Wall Street just as much as the GOP.

9. Democracy is overrated.

Many people who flock to dynamic movements are happy to do data entry, send emails, clean, and run errands鈥攖he small tasks that help organizing happen. Not everyone needs or wants to be a part of democratic decision-making within organizations. Horizontalism sounds nice, but over many years of reporting on protests, I have seen it repeatedly decay in the hands of the least competent and most intransigent individuals. 

I reported on Occupy Wall Street from New York City to Los Angeles, and I sat in on meetings that would meander for hours, debate pie-in-the-sky ideas like boycotting the internet for a month, or argue over where to place recycling bins. After such experiences, many activists never returned to the camps. There is nothing wrong with hierarchy or authority as long as it is earned, transparent, and accountable. Set the rules and practices for your organization, and people who don鈥檛 agree are welcome to start their own project. Not everything needs to be voted on. Not everyone needs to agree.

10. Act globally, think locally.

Knowing what to do often starts with knowing what not to do. For example, don鈥檛 give into suggestions to focus only on a single issue or local organizing. Trump is trying to deport pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil precisely to that can be used against all of us. 

Khalil鈥檚 case is at the intersection of multiple issues: brutal colonialism, free speech, Palestinian rights, campus activism, and immigration. Our struggles are inseparable. They also happen on a national and global terrain. If we focus only on local issues, then the right can pull the rug out from under us the way they have with 鈥溾�� to prevent progressive cities from passing rent control or higher minimum-wage laws in red states. It鈥檚 the same with single-issue movements. If we don鈥檛 have other people鈥檚 backs, then who will have ours when the fascists come for us?聽