The Trump Resistance: A Progress Report – The New Yorker – The New Yorker

The protests over President Trumps refusal to release his tax returns are the latest manifestation of a popular movement with which Republicans increasingly have to contend.CreditPHOTOGRAPH BY RADHIKA CHALASANI / REDUX

Saturday was mild and cloudy in Philadelphiagood marching weather for the thousands of anti-Trump protesters who gathered at City Hall and made their way down Market Street to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. The atmosphere was upbeatfestive, almost. Many members of the crowd were carrying homemade signs, and their chants filled the spring air: What do we want? Trumps tax returns. When do we want it? Now. We want a leader, not a tax cheater. We want a leader, not a friggin tweeter.

Eighty-five days into the Trump Presidency, similar scenes played out across the country: from Los Angeles to Boston, from Seattle to Raleigh. In Palm Beach,about three thousandpeoplekicked up a racket near Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort, where the President was spending yet another weekend.

The First Golfer wasnt pleased. To avoid the protesters, one of whom was carrying a sign that said, Twinkle Twinkle Little Czar, Putin Put You Where You Are, his motorcade was forced totake a circuitous route backfrom Trump International Golf Club, where he had played his sixteenth round since taking office. (That figure comes courtesy ofa tally by the Palm Beach Post.) The following morning, Easter Sunday, Trump took to Twitter, grumbling, Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over!

The protests werent small, of course, and nobody paid for them. They were the latest manifestation of a popular movement that Trump himself has inspired, one that has established itself as an important presence on the national political scene, and with which Trump and his Republican allies and enablers increasingly have to contend.

During their two-week Easter break, many G.O.P. members of Congress were confronted by constituents upset over the Republican effort to dismantle Obamacare. Politico, which dispatched reporters to nearly a dozen town-hall meetings, reported, for example, that the Colorado representative Mike Coffman, a relative moderate, wasconfronted by a lifelong Republicanwho demanded that he commit to limiting premiums for people with prexisting conditions. In Graniteville, South Carolina, a crowd chanted You lie! at Joe Wilson, theRepublican congressman who famously shouted out the same phrase duringa 2009 address to Congress by former President Obama.

Of course, most of the people who are marching and protesting at Republican events might not be G.O.P. voters. But they arent all Democratic activists, either. Indeed, what is striking is how many people Trump has mobilized who previously didnt pay very much attention to what happens in Washington. He has politicized many formerly apolitical people; ultimately, this may be among his biggest achievements as President.

At anti-Trump rallies, the organizers tend to be activists, but the protesters are of all sorts: college graduates outraged by Trumps nativism; office workersangry that he wont release his tax returns; doctors and nurses worried about the health-care system; retirees worried about their grandkids; and Americans from all walks of life who think that Trump isnt fit for office and represents a grave danger to the country.

The troubles that Trump has encountered in office, far from diminishing the protest movement, have only encouraged itand for good reason. If the past three months have demonstrated anything, it is that, even in a political system tainted by money and influence-peddling, political participation does matter. Federal officials, judges, Democratic and Republican congressmen, even Trump himselfthey all pay attention to public activism and public opinion.

Take the Administrations two attempts to enact an anti-Muslim travel ban. Would the federal courts have blocked the measures without the mass protests that the first ban engendered? Or recall the Ryan-Trump health-care bill. While the defectionsof the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus played a big role in the bills failure, so did the protests at G.O.P. town-hall meetings and the campaign to highlight how the measure would undercut affordable coveragefor the old and sick.

These were two successes for the anti-Trump forces, as was the downgrading of Steve Bannon, the White Houses chief political strategist. To the extent that the goal of the resistance is to make sure the checks and balances in the American political system work as intended, and to prevent the emergence of an overweening Presidency, or a potential despot, it seems to be succeeding. Although Trump would never admit that he is backtracking, he has been forced to make some concessions to reality.But there is no room for complacency. Far from it.

Despite the tax-day protests, the President has no intention of releasing his returns, much less of setting up a proper blind trust for his business assets, or of separating his family from the conduct of government. Inside the White House, he appears to be relying more and more on his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Elsewhere in government, as theTimesreported over the weekend, he is busy installing former lobbyiststo oversee their former clients.

In many policy areas, the Trump Administration remains determined to roll back the clock in ways that will be difficult to stop. Protest marches wont prevent the E.P.A. from whittling away at environmental regulations, the Justice Department from failing to enforce civil-rights laws, or the National Labor Relations Board from ruling in favor of big businesses.

Then there is Trump himself. Throughout his career, he has shown a willingness to do virtually anything, and to take huge risks, to protecthis position. There is no reason to expect anything different now. In the past couple of weeks, he has pivoted to national security, ordered the bombing of Syria, presided over the detonation in Afghanistan of one of the biggest conventional weapons in the U.S. arsenal, and made threatening noises toward North Korea.

In foreign policy, unfortunately, Presidents are given wide latitude.Particularly during crises, Congress tends to defer to the Commander-in-Chief, and the judiciary cant pullhim back from the brink. But there is still the right to protest. And this seems like a good time for some peace rallies.

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The Trump Resistance: A Progress Report - The New Yorker - The New Yorker