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Veteran to anti-Trump protesters: Quit being crybabies |
Stoking the fears of a Trump presidency, liberal activist groups have
launched campaigns online and around the nation to help people cope –
and even survive – their version of democratic doomsday.
Some are based on Trump’s mixed signals about illegal
immigration, while others seem aimed at a more generalized sense of
unease. One effort that launched this week, called
“WhatDoIDoAboutTrump.com,” is depicted by its organizers as a
non-partisan “website [that] turns Trump angst into action – online and
off.”
“Not sure how to protect yourself if some of Trump’s campaign promises become reality?” the San Francisco-based site asks.
It provides links to websites of organizations, such
as the American Civil Liberties Union, which advise people about what
steps to take or what they may face if Donald Trump follows through on
some of his promises. One link leads to “Welcome to the OH CRAP! WHAT
NOW? SURVIVAL GUIDE,” which describes itself as “a crowdsourced
collection of health, legal, and safety plans and resources + social,
digital and economic security related resources urgent now as an outcome
of the recent US election.”
Experts say scaring consituencies about politics is
standard operating procedure for activist groups, but what's different
this time are the intensity, and the fact that it has started well
before Jan. 20, 2017, when Trump will be sworn in.
Corinna Kester, one of the founders, says the group,
which includes a former national press secretary for the Democratic
National Committee, is not pushing an agenda.
“If people are upset about the election, we encourage
them to figure out how to get involved and work with that, from
donating to petitions to protests.”
We can say, in one sense, it is intensifying divisions in America.
- Fred Siegel, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute
Organizations and, in many cases, lawyers, are urging
people and groups they deem at-risk under a Trump presidency to take
action now to protect themselves. School administrators are assuring
students concerned about immigration raids that they won’t be spirited
away, some city officials are vowing to provide a sort-of buffer to any
federal attempts to strip benefits or programs. On Monday, the Los
Angeles Unified School District announced that it was setting up a
hotline and "support sites" in response to the deep anxiety among
students about Trump as president.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is organizing a rally of black
activists and lawmakers in Washington D.C. days before Trump’s
inauguration in mid-January to, as he told The Hill, “put the Democrats
on notice to use the confirmation hearings to really go after” Trump’s
nominees.
One of the most high-profile efforts aimed at
creating preemptive buffers against Trump policies are so-called
sanctuaries for immigrants who are here illegally.
Students at various colleges are pushing their
campuses to be designated sanctuaries. Some cities are moving toward
declaring themselves safe zones for such immigrants, saying they will
not report them to immigration authorities if they come across them
during the course of providing a service.
On Tuesday, the Santa Ana City Council voted to
designate the municipality a sanctuary, a non-binding action that they
may make enforceable through an ordinance, according to the Los Angeles
Times.
The Times noted that “the move is in direct defiance
of President-elect Donald Trump, who was critical of illegal immigration
and sanctuary cities during his campaign.”
“The day after Donald Trump got elected, our kids
were falling apart emotionally,” the Times quoted Councilmember Sal
Tinajero, who is a high school teacher, as saying. “They thought their
parents would be deported.”
“The reason you’re seeing this push now is that us
leaders ... want to tell them they are going to be protected. If they
are going to come for them, they have to come through us first.”
Trump has denounced such efforts as divisive and the
people who have protested his election as “crybabies.” His supporters,
as well as some who voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton or third party
candidates, say it behooves everyone to accept the results of the
election and work to be united.
“This sounds like a large group therapy session,”
said Fred Siegel, a historian who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan
Institute and professor at Saint Francis College. “There’s a way in
which this is all good and right in democratic terms.”
Siegel said the trend to organize in advance of Trump
assuming the presidency is intriguing, and more in line with the kind
of actions taken against policies and governments that are seen in
Europe, particularly France.
“We can say, in one sense, it is intensifying
divisions in American society,” Siegel said to FoxNews.com, “What that
represents is President Obama’s success in Europeanizing American
politics.”
“In France, the argument has always been when
something occurs in Parliament that is unacceptable to you, you take to
the streets. These [actions] are occurring in advance of – not in
response to – policy being initiated.”
Louis DeSipio, a political science professor at the
University of California-Irvine, said that the patchwork efforts to
organize against Trump and his expected policies reflect an
already-divided nation.
“President-elect Trump set out broad principles, and
wasn’t specific about some policies,” DeSipio said. “There will always
be people who are unhappy about an election. In any election, you can
see a complete reversal of fortunes. The challenge for any president in
this situation is to build bridges to some of his former opponents.”
President George W. Bush did so in response to
concerns – among those who did not support his election – over how he
would handle education and Medicare prescription costs, DeSipio said.
“He worked with Democrats, with Sen. Ted Kennedy, on both of those issues,” he said.
DeSipio expressed misgivings about efforts
underpinned by a refusal to accept Trump as president, a movement that
has a hashtag -- #notmypresident.
“Philosophically, I don’t accept it,” DeSipio said. “He was accepted by rules in place before the election.”
The approach of some groups to try to influence
policy and laws at the local level can be both healthier and more
practical in many cases, he added.
“We may get some criticism from Trump supporters,” said Kester. “But we’re all getting involved in a democracy.”