Help Me Help Us Dump Trump
March 20, 2016 3:55 PM Subscribe
Please help me identify groups working to stop Trump and prior examples that shed light on how to stop Trump.
I would like to give my time, energy, and money (if possible) to groups organizing to defeat Trump, and also keep track of other people working to stop Trump. I've seen vague references to groups (never named) planning to march against Trump, but haven't been able to find details. I'm looking both for groups to join and/or donate to and those I'll just want to keep track of (like PACs, Twitter accounts to follow, etc).
I'm already aware of the Stop Trump National Network Facebook group and the Our Principles SuperPAC.
Second, I'm looking for any prior examples that would shed light on how to stop Trump. How have people in the past successfully derailed a demogogue-like figure who attracts people with a bent for authoritarianism? (Also - examples of how people in the past could have done this but failed.) Anything from past major political campaigns to very local examples to ancient Egypt.
What I'm not looking for: reasons why I shouldn't be concerned about this; tips on how to support the people potentially running against Trump; suggestions to start my own group; musings about how to stop Trump that are not concrete and specific examples.
I've read this previous question - mine is kind of a flip side of that coin.
I would like to give my time, energy, and money (if possible) to groups organizing to defeat Trump, and also keep track of other people working to stop Trump. I've seen vague references to groups (never named) planning to march against Trump, but haven't been able to find details. I'm looking both for groups to join and/or donate to and those I'll just want to keep track of (like PACs, Twitter accounts to follow, etc).
I'm already aware of the Stop Trump National Network Facebook group and the Our Principles SuperPAC.
Second, I'm looking for any prior examples that would shed light on how to stop Trump. How have people in the past successfully derailed a demogogue-like figure who attracts people with a bent for authoritarianism? (Also - examples of how people in the past could have done this but failed.) Anything from past major political campaigns to very local examples to ancient Egypt.
What I'm not looking for: reasons why I shouldn't be concerned about this; tips on how to support the people potentially running against Trump; suggestions to start my own group; musings about how to stop Trump that are not concrete and specific examples.
I've read this previous question - mine is kind of a flip side of that coin.
What I'm not looking for: ... tips on how to support the people potentially running against Trump
Elections are literally a zero-sum game; there's no better way to oppose Trump than to strategically support his opponents.
If your home state primary hasn't happened yet, you might have time to register Republican (if necessary) to vote against Trump. Likewise you can encourage your friends and relatives to do so. Because of delegate allocation rules, in most cases the optimal strategy is to vote for the second most popular Republican in your state.
posted by telegraph at 4:27 PM on March 20, 2016 [13 favorites]
Elections are literally a zero-sum game; there's no better way to oppose Trump than to strategically support his opponents.
If your home state primary hasn't happened yet, you might have time to register Republican (if necessary) to vote against Trump. Likewise you can encourage your friends and relatives to do so. Because of delegate allocation rules, in most cases the optimal strategy is to vote for the second most popular Republican in your state.
posted by telegraph at 4:27 PM on March 20, 2016 [13 favorites]
Best answer: In pre-Franco Spain, in my opinion, the opposition made an especially crucial error in acquiring unnecessary enemies. Franco accrued followers as often from the "scared of the Socialists" camp as from the "wants a strong person in charge" camp. And the Republicans' military and political effectiveness was greatly reduced by internal posturing crap.
Given that I still see arguments over Orwell and the POUM and such on Facebook at least weekly (in SCW groups,) I feel confident in saying this problem is fundamental to the movement.
posted by SMPA at 4:28 PM on March 20, 2016 [6 favorites]
Given that I still see arguments over Orwell and the POUM and such on Facebook at least weekly (in SCW groups,) I feel confident in saying this problem is fundamental to the movement.
posted by SMPA at 4:28 PM on March 20, 2016 [6 favorites]
I read how immigrants are applying for citizenship so they can vote against Trump. So, those who support helping that effort.
posted by SillyShepherd at 5:04 PM on March 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by SillyShepherd at 5:04 PM on March 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
Mod note: Folks, please stick to a literal read of the question and don't debate the premises or each other. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 5:08 PM on March 20, 2016
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 5:08 PM on March 20, 2016
Best answer: I work for a national progressive advocacy organization and I can tell you that every single progressive advocacy group out there is at least thinking about this question, even groups that don't normally work on electoral politics. So in a few months, your options for this will be legion.
At the moment, the groups I've seen actually communicating about with some strategy are MoveOn.org and Color of Change.
posted by lunasol at 5:10 PM on March 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
At the moment, the groups I've seen actually communicating about with some strategy are MoveOn.org and Color of Change.
posted by lunasol at 5:10 PM on March 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
Are you a democrat or republican? If you are a republican, vote for Kasich and write letters to the republican convention delegates asking them to support Kasich (or Cruz). If you are a democrat, the best way would be to both throw some money at one of Hilary's dirty tricks super PACs that is doing oppo research on him and vote for Sanders if you think he can beat Trump. If you think HRC is the most likely candidate to beat Trump in the fall, vote for her instead.
posted by AugustWest at 5:39 PM on March 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by AugustWest at 5:39 PM on March 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
Something that is going to be really important this year is fighting the effects of voter suppression efforts, many of which are going to go into effect for this election and many of which disproportionately affect populations that are likely to oppose Trump. This means stuff like helping people figure out what ID they need and how to get it, possibly organizing transportation to facilities where people can get state IDs if they need them, and encouraging people to vote early if they can so they can avoid artificially-created long lines on election day. You can look around for organizations in your state (or nearby states if it's not an issue in yours) that are going to be working on this stuff. If you're a lawyer, law student or paralegal, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law might need volunteers in your area. (I think they occasionally use non-lawyer volunteers.) I think the League of Women Voters is also active on this issue, and you could contact them and ask them if they're doing anything locally.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:39 PM on March 20, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:39 PM on March 20, 2016 [10 favorites]
Best answer: Make America Awesome is an anti-Trump Super PAC.
posted by andoatnp at 6:08 PM on March 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by andoatnp at 6:08 PM on March 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
Mod note: A couple of comments deleted. Once more: Please stick to the parameters of the question. OP is not asking about supporting other candidates because they already know about this, not because they don't think it's a valuable effort. (Also, if for any reason you think this is the place to leave snarky comments about other candidates, or anything else that is not answering this question, you need to go elsewhere.)
posted by taz (staff) at 1:46 AM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:46 AM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
What I'm not looking for: tips on how to support the people potentially running against Trump
In our current American political system, supporting whoever is the Democratic nominee against Trump is your best bet.
However, you could put your efforts into trying to prevent Trump from even becoming the Republican nominee to begin with. Currently, there is a growing sentiment among Republican leadership that they should "break" the convention and nominate someone other than Donald Trump. This will require a lot of political courage and commitment though because Trump is winning the process Republicans have set up and is getting the most votes. They may need a push from voters and regular people like you.
You could write to and lobby Republican leadership to do something about Donald Trump. That would include contacting Republican state parties and the national RNC, Republican governors/legislators at both the state and federal level, and even the so-called "superdelegates" who will vote at the convention. (You could also reach out to influential PACs and Super PACs, but I doubt that would be very effective.) I don't know if you're a Republican or not or if you're willing to lie about that, but you can point out a simple truth that Trump really doesn't represent the values of the party.
Personally, I really only see these two paths as the viable ones: supporting the Dem nominee or urging the GOP to break the convention. I think the problem with supporting any sort of communications and ad efforts is that Trump is weirdly immune to all of the horrible truths that exist about him. Ads work against other candidates, but not him. People will be studying why Trump was able to re-write the campaign book for years to come, but I think at least part of it is that primaries attract a certain type of voter and there's nothing the rest of us (non-Republicans and/or non-primary voters) can do about it. I don't know what will happen in a general election, but right now anti-Trump campaigns seem to only make him stronger. Personally, at least during the primary season, I think the focus needs to be less on trying to convince voters and more on making sure Republican leadership uses their power to turn on him.
Further reading:
Republican leaders map a strategy to derail Donald Trump (NYT)
Conservatives pin hopes on convention fight to stop Donald Trump (CNN)
Anti-Trump forces contemplate the end: After a week of bruising losses, many Republicans are ready to give up the fight (Politico)
posted by AppleTurnover at 2:27 PM on March 21, 2016
In our current American political system, supporting whoever is the Democratic nominee against Trump is your best bet.
However, you could put your efforts into trying to prevent Trump from even becoming the Republican nominee to begin with. Currently, there is a growing sentiment among Republican leadership that they should "break" the convention and nominate someone other than Donald Trump. This will require a lot of political courage and commitment though because Trump is winning the process Republicans have set up and is getting the most votes. They may need a push from voters and regular people like you.
You could write to and lobby Republican leadership to do something about Donald Trump. That would include contacting Republican state parties and the national RNC, Republican governors/legislators at both the state and federal level, and even the so-called "superdelegates" who will vote at the convention. (You could also reach out to influential PACs and Super PACs, but I doubt that would be very effective.) I don't know if you're a Republican or not or if you're willing to lie about that, but you can point out a simple truth that Trump really doesn't represent the values of the party.
Personally, I really only see these two paths as the viable ones: supporting the Dem nominee or urging the GOP to break the convention. I think the problem with supporting any sort of communications and ad efforts is that Trump is weirdly immune to all of the horrible truths that exist about him. Ads work against other candidates, but not him. People will be studying why Trump was able to re-write the campaign book for years to come, but I think at least part of it is that primaries attract a certain type of voter and there's nothing the rest of us (non-Republicans and/or non-primary voters) can do about it. I don't know what will happen in a general election, but right now anti-Trump campaigns seem to only make him stronger. Personally, at least during the primary season, I think the focus needs to be less on trying to convince voters and more on making sure Republican leadership uses their power to turn on him.
Further reading:
Republican leaders map a strategy to derail Donald Trump (NYT)
Conservatives pin hopes on convention fight to stop Donald Trump (CNN)
Anti-Trump forces contemplate the end: After a week of bruising losses, many Republicans are ready to give up the fight (Politico)
posted by AppleTurnover at 2:27 PM on March 21, 2016
CAIR is encouraging mosques to become vigor registration centers, so Muslims can vote. Many are alarmed at the GOP threat and many have started voting Democrat since 2001.
posted by SillyShepherd at 9:17 AM on March 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by SillyShepherd at 9:17 AM on March 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by roomthreeseventeen at 3:58 PM on March 20, 2016