For the protests Trump is hoping for one of two outcomes:
- The protests escalate and he seizes power just like Hitler did: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/hitler-public-order/683098/
- People roll over, stay silent and comply with the administration out of fear.
If fact I wonder if #1 would be more ideal for Trump because it would be a unifying cause for Republicans who are currently divided and soon face economic uncertainty. Remember that Trump's polling was worst in April during times of greatest economic uncertainty. However let's not give him either of those. Let's humiliate Trump by making all the people he brought in, in hopes of escalating useless and bored. Imagine the pictures of them standing around with nothing to do. It will foil the well used dictator playbook for seizing power.
The reality is a vast, vast majority of the protests are going to be peaceful no matter what. The problem is that the media even the mainstream media will focus on any violence there is so we need we really need to be as perfect as we can so let's do everything we can to ensure that every single protest remains as peaceful as possible and also take charge of the narrative too.
What we need to do is protest peacefully and lawfully, be a little more spread out, stay away from situations that are violent. I'd also recommend staying away from police and military. Use the time to expose Trump's corruption and educate people and bring new people to the movement and maybe even help register people to vote. By building a broad peaceful coalition we can reach even those who are stuck in echo chambers where they will only see what little violence there is and not notice the peaceful protests. The only way to break through is to protest peacefully in your city so they can see that protests are peaceful or get previously neutral people involved in protesting who will talk to their friends who will in-turn talk to their friends and so on eventually reaching those in echo chambers.
I'd recommend bringing American flags, say we love our country, we believe ALL Americans have equal rights and that we support the constitution and upholding American tradition like separation of power, that no one is above the law and that there are no kings in America. The more people who do that the more chances the media will be forced to show this which disrupts the false narrative that we're not patriotic, in fact I feel we're way more patriotic than the people who still worship traitors like the confederates, those who want to destroy our country and those who feel that only Americans who have the right skin color, gender and socioeconomic status deserve rights.
Online and in person we must strongly push back against those who call for violence, balkanization or civil war. These things will be devastating to everyone. I can tell you that I'm a blue dot in a red state, I have lots of friends and family members who are as well. Nearly all of us are too poor and too deeply rooted in our communities to move. This could literally be deadly for us and millions of innocent people who don't support what's going on now and even if not deadly lots of us could one day be subject to a oppressive regime in a spin-off of part of America, that would be horrible. If we make it to the midterms we can win enough elections and make our country better in all 50 states peacefully and legally.
Remember: broad peaceful coalition, bring more and more people over, eventually even some Trump supporters will see the light and we'll resolve this peacefully. I know we can do it!
PS: Hands-off put together a list of articles about de-escalation training here: https://actionnetwork.org/user_files/user_files/000/122/370/original/Hands_Off!__De-escalation_resources_(4).pdf
The YouTube link in the PDF wasn't stripped of tracking so use this link to watch their de-escalation training: https://youtu.be/_Pgmn9QRr48
I also saw an interesting idea of having monitors in high visibility vests and using whistles whenever they see even initial signs of violence, in the original suggestion they advised sitting but I read some persuasive comments that mentioned sitting down could be dangerous, instead I think leaving is the best approach.
You absolutely can and it’s been done before.
When?
Well it’s going to depend on your definition of fascism. If you’re going to go off of self proclaimed fascist governments there are no examples but that’s a tiny number to draw conclusions from and that definition wouldn’t include Trump anyway.
But in terms of overthrowing dictatorships, this has happened many times, and while fascists may be ideologically distinct from other authoritarian regimes, the way they rule and ways they can be defeated are fairly similar.
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/01/can-nonviolent-struggle-defeat-a-dictator-this-database-emphatically-says-yes/
But for me I’d say Korea in the 80s was a good example of a fascist regime that was stopped nonviolently. Pinochet is another example.
Most examples of overthrown dictatorships seem to be after they were already in place for atleast a few years to sometimes dozens of years. This is not the current situation in the so called USA where we see an rising and escalating fascist regime trying to take hold.
In general I think choosing nonviolence because it worked in the past and it seems efficient is not the way to go. Instead look if its the best for you individually and collectivly in your specific circumstances and if its in line with your ethics/morals and with you current emotions and goals. Nothing is won by denying yourself and others the way you/they want and can resist your/their best way.
I agree with what you wrote. We cannot predict precisely from history which tactics will be most effective because each circumstance is unique.
But I just want to debunk this idea that nonviolent resistance can’t work against a violent enemy. It’s simply not true.
I am also wondering how peaceful movements that succeeded would have continued if they failed eirh their strategies. Would they have turned (imo rightfully) violent and would that have worked or not? Or the other way around for movement labelled as violent.
I think thats a important point to bring up in discussions. I want people to be informed about as many options as possible in the hope of them being able to actively choose the ones best fitting for them.
There are certainly examples of movements that went from nonviolent to violent. The Syrian resistance is one such example. In contrast, Maoists in Nepal were able to achieve some political gains by ceasing their war and forming a conventional political party. So there are many possible tactics and I agree with you that they should all be considered and the most effective one chosen for the particular circumstances.
That said, I feel that this selection needs to be strategic and chosen through deliberation with different resistance factions. I don’t really feel there is an effective process for this right now, partly due to excessive animosity between various anti-fascist groups.