Hundreds of thousands marched under the banner of defiance across the US.
On April 5, 2025, hundreds of thousands poured into the streets from Boston to San Francisco, from Idaho to Oakland. They marched under a banner of defiance: #HandsOff. They waved signs, chanted slogans, and filled city centers with righteous outrage. Social media buzzed with images of packed plazas and crowded capitol steps. It was a show of strength, solidarity, and democratic resistance.
But what will it actually accomplish?
We are well past the point of symbolic resistance. The brutal truth is this: The left has no real power. Protest without leverage is performance. It may soothe the soul and stir the heart, but it won’t stop what’s coming.
Donald Trump has reclaimed the presidency, dismantled key pillars of government, and is now dragging the global economy to the brink—with no real checks, no credible opposition, and no plan in place to stop him.
The Republican Party has almost entirely capitulated to Trump’s rule. Whatever dissent existed in 2016 or even in the aftermath of January 6 has evaporated. What remains is a hollowed-out shell of a party, more cult than coalition, more grievance than governance. With few exceptions, they parrot his lies, legitimize his excesses, and stand ready to rubber-stamp his next outrage—whether that’s gutting regulatory agencies, weaponizing the Justice Department, or imposing sweeping new tariffs under a laughably flawed economic formula.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are celebrating a string of minor election victories in local and state races—as if that matters in a democracy that may well cease to function. It’s political whistling past the graveyard.
They remain a party of simpering wusses, issuing strongly-worded statements while the machinery of authoritarianism accelerates all around them.
The Republican Party has almost entirely capitulated to Trump’s rule.
There is no war room. No united front. No willingness to fight fire with fire. And no coherent vision for reclaiming a government that has been captured and corrupted from within.
In a particularly surreal twist, Trump has now declared April 2 to be “Liberation Day,” marking the occasion by slapping tariffs on virtually every foreign country—and a few non-countries for good measure. A 10% blanket tariff. 60% on Mexican goods. 34% on Chinese products. The rationale? Economic self-reliance. National greatness. Retaliation against countries who “rip us off.” The effect? Chaos.
The markets instantly tanked. The S&P 500 dropped over 9% in less than a week. Recession forecasts shot up. The global economy staggered. Walmart and Caterpillar issued warnings. And Trump’s approval rating, already fragile, fell to 43%—its lowest since he returned to office.
This isn’t just bad policy. It’s economic sabotage masquerading as nationalism. And it’s being implemented with mathematical formulas so sloppy that even the far-right American Enterprise Institute —hardly a bastion of progressive critique—had to step in and call it what it is: nonsense.
Trump’s “reciprocal tariff” formula is based on a crude misunderstanding of trade theory. It assumes that if we import $100 million from a country and export $50 million to them, then they must be taxing our goods at a 50% rate—a fallacy exposed in a recent AEI analysis.
Worse still, the administration further botches the math by misapplying key economic elasticity values—confusing the response of retail prices with that of import prices—and inflating their estimates fourfold.
We are well past the point of symbolic resistance. The brutal truth is this: The left has no real power.
The result? A wildly inaccurate and economically incoherent tariff regime that punishes allies, alienates partners, and raises costs for American consumers and businesses.
The AEI’s own correction of the administration’s model shows that, had they used even remotely accurate assumptions, most of Trump’s headline tariffs would have been capped at 10 to 14 percent—not 50.
But even this more modest regime would be economically reckless. Tariffs are taxes, and these ones will fall hardest on American workers, not foreign governments.
The historical parallels are grim. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 exacerbated the Great Depression. Trump seems determined to repeat that mistake on a larger, more global scale. All in the name of a fantasy: that America can wall itself off from the world and reindustrialize through sheer force of will.
It won’t work. Supply chains don’t care about nostalgia. Economies aren’t won through belligerence. And American greatness isn’t found in trade wars or nationalist slogans—it’s built through cooperation, innovation, and shared prosperity.
But here’s the darker truth: Even if these policies fail, even if the economy buckles under the weight of Trump’s hubris, the institutional scaffolding that might once have constrained him has already been dismantled.
The courts are increasingly packed with ideologues.
Federal agencies have been gutted. Civil service protections are being eroded under the guise of “efficiency.” The press is under relentless attack. Congressional oversight is toothless. And a new generation of Trump-aligned officials is being installed at every level of government.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump’s Orwellian invention, has become a wrecking ball aimed at everything from environmental regulations to labor rights. And the judiciary—the last hope of institutional resistance—is beginning to bend. Case after case is being slow-walked, sidestepped, or dismissed. We are inching closer to one-man rule.
Donald Trump has reclaimed the presidency, dismantled key pillars of government, and is now dragging the global economy to the brink — with no real checks, no credible opposition, and no plan in place to stop him.
Which brings us back to the protests.
Yes, they were impressive. Yes, the photos from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and beyond will inspire. But we cannot mistake visibility for power. We cannot confuse catharsis for strategy. We have danced this dance before: the Women’s March, the George Floyd uprisings, the immigrant rights protests. Each time, millions marched. And each time, the system remained intact—if not more fortified than before.
The only real obstacle left to Trump’s agenda is the federal judiciary. And even that firewall is cracking. What happens when it falls? When executive orders override congressional will? When enforcement agencies become tools of political retribution? When dissent itself becomes criminalized?
We are not theorizing anymore. We are watching it unfold in real time.
And yet, the Democratic Party clings to civility politics, to decorum, to procedural norms in a post-norm world. They issue sternly worded tweets while Trump dismantles the postwar order. They fundraise off fear while offering no vision. They call for “unity” in a country increasingly divided by design.
It’s too little. It may already be too late.
The economy will be the next to fall. Already, inflation is climbing again. International investment is pulling back. And working-class Americans—the ones Trump claims to champion—will bear the brunt.
Rising prices. Job losses. Stagnant wages. And when the downturn hits, who will be blamed? Not the architects of the disaster, but the usual scapegoats: immigrants, minorities, coastal elites, “globalists.”
And the cycle will continue—unless we break it.
Breaking it requires more than protest. It requires power. Strategic, coordinated, sustained power. Legal, political, cultural, economic. It means building parallel institutions, investing in grassroots infrastructure, reclaiming the courts, and articulating a real alternative—not just opposition. It means ending our obsession with symbolic victories and refocusing on the structural.
It also means telling the truth, even when it hurts: Trump is not a fluke. He is a symptom of a deeper rot—of inequality, racial grievance, economic dislocation, and democratic decay. And unless we address those root causes, we will keep marching in circles while the walls close in.
What happened David, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Talk about doom and gloom.
“What remains is a hollowed-out shell of a party, more cult than coalition, more grievance than governance.”
That describes the Democrat Party to a tee.
As far as tariffs, do you know who has pushed for tariffs for decades? The Democrat Party. But now because it’s Trump that has instituted tariffs, democrats say bad man.
“Historically, Democrats have backed tariffs as a way to protect American workers, industries, and jobs, particularly in sectors like manufacturing. They’ve also used tariffs as a tool for negotiating trade deals that benefit U.S. interests, especially when they see other countries engaging in unfair trade practices.
For example, in the past, Democrats have advocated for tariffs on certain imports to protect domestic industries from foreign competition that could undercut American wages or production standards.”
“The economy will be the next to fall. Already, inflation is climbing again. International investment is pulling back.”
The markets are down now because the tariff policies just went into motion. But give it a little time and let’s see how it shakes out. Trump has a way of always landing on his feet. Don’t underestimate him.
“Trump is not a fluke. He is a symptom of a deeper rot — of inequality, racial grievance, economic dislocation, and democratic decay. And unless we address those root causes, we will keep marching in circles while the walls close in.”
That’s just the thing, Trump is ridding the country of the rot that has been deeply imbedded by both parties. You know, what the Vanguard would describe as the “dark underbelly”.
Nah Keith, I woke up just fine — it’s the country that’s having a meltdown. And if Trump’s the cure for the rot, we might want to check the side effects.
“And if Trump’s the cure for the rot, we might want to check the side effects.”
There’s going to be side effects, we’re talking about decades of rot from within. The transition is not going to be perfect by any means and mistakes will be made but something needs to be done.
Almost verbatim the talking points from the administration
Just as your articles often reverberate democrat talking points…
The Democrats are calling themselves simpering wusses? There’s not a single thing in this article that comes from a Democratic talking point. The harshest critique comes from the American Enterprise Institute, a right wing think tank.
“Just as your articles ***often*** reverberate democrat talking points…”
While most Democrats have not supported tariffs – I’m a free trader btw, there have been Democrats over the years — particularly those aligned with labor unions or representing manufacturing-heavy districts — who have supported selective tariffs or trade protections. For example:
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has long advocated for tariffs on Chinese steel and measures to combat unfair trade.
Hillary Clinton, during the 2008 and 2016 campaigns, criticized trade deals like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, at times signaling support for tougher trade enforcement.
The Democratic Party platform in the early 2000s included language supporting fair trade and sometimes tariffs in response to dumping or labor abuses.
However, no Democrat in recent decades has embraced across-the-board tariffs as a core policy tool the way Trump has. His approach is much more sweeping and unilateral — and has largely redefined the conversation around tariffs in U.S. politics. And in my view, will be an economic disaster in a world so tightly linked in terms of supply chains.
We’re already seeing some benefits of the new trade policies:
Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins:
“So I think we’ll see in short order, a really positive outcome from this. We already have 50 countries that have come to the table over the last few days, over the last weeks that are willing and desperate to talk to us. We are the economic engine of the world, and it’s finally time that someone, President Trump, stood up for America.”
Seems like a very minor something coming at a very very heavy price…
Aside from the concerns about the fall out from tariffs, my biggest concern is democracy is being hollowed out
Institutions that once restrained power — courts, journalism, civil society — are under assault.
Elections still happen, but power is increasingly bought, not won. The real decisions are made in boardrooms and back channels and outside of the traditional institutions of power where there are elections and accountability.
Or perhaps it’s not even true…. “The White House will not release the list of 75 countries that have reached out on trade deals, despite requests from NBC News.”
That was the single most depressing, hopeless article I have read in my life.
Congratulations?
“The brutal truth is this: The left has no real power.”
The brutal truth the last four years is the far-far-left had way too much power. And hubris. And thus the manifestation of the karmic-reply: Donald Trump #poop-emoji#
“Protest without leverage is performance. It may soothe the soul and stir the heart, but it won’t stop what’s coming.”
I agree with this. I’ve essentially said this to some friends who’ve attended. One did have a reply I liked that gave me some hope and that maybe there was a purpose – that the rallies could have the effect of waking up some more reasonable republicans to band together to temper Trump’s bulldozer/chain-saw-like implementation strategies.
“Donald Trump has reclaimed the presidency, dismantled key pillars of government, and is now dragging the global economy to the brink — with no real checks, no credible opposition, and no plan in place to stop him.”
No plan? How about dressing in black and knocking over conservative-themed booths on college campuses? That’s a plan.
“The Democrats . . . remain a party of simpering wusses.”
No argument there. It was worth reading the article just to hear that phrase. Well done, DG. I’m going to use that.
“We have danced this dance before”
Then maybe it’s time to dance the dance that you cannot dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RB9U2VmXWw&t=4s
I’ve lived through (aware of): Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden . . . and I’ve heard the doom before. This president is going to be the end of America. So me? I’m going to a City Council meeting, not the Capitol, and after the council meeting, I’m going to walk by the Davis Cemetery and whistle.
What’s next, you ask?
Additional stock market losses tomorrow, from what I’m seeing on the news. But I guess we’ll see.
Seems like some voters weren’t taking Trump seriously when they voted for him, regarding the tariffs. Nor were they expecting some of other things he’s done so far.
Last time, it seemed like there was a lot of “tweeting”, but not that much “action”.
I see that there’s a developing rift between Musk and Trump, regarding some issues.
Probably a good percentage of people who were voting for Trump, did so because they were either partisans who would vote for any Republican or did so because they were frustrated with the party in power. It’s a relatively normal explanation for voting behavior, it’s just in this case, it led to something well out of proportion with what most people actually wanted.
Well, today – those same people would be happy with him for saving the stock market for now again (sort of).
Should have invested a bunch of money yesterday, I guess.
Trump (or any president, I guess) has the power to be the ultimate “insider” trader. (Not that Trump is seeking any more money for himself, I would think.)
I was relieved
“It appears that some options traders had information in advance. Who could they be?”
https://boingboing.net/2025/04/09/coincidence-unusual-options-activity-before-trumps-tariff-reversal.html
(I guess we’ll see if this turns into an “actual” story.)
(Perhaps it’s somewhat automated/pre-programmed.)