CRITICAL SASS – Resistance and the 3.5% Engagement Rule

Here we are at a critical juncture in the history of our Democracy, where the dire threat to our cherished way of life cannot be denied. And we know exactly what and who we’re up against. 

It’s an aggressively insecure, temperament-of-a-two-year-old, wannabe dictator, enabled by an ignorant, vengeful constituency and a cadre of suck-ups in Congress. Together, they’re throwing a tantrum that’s brought our country to its knees. 

ILLUSTRATION: Violet de Torres

How do we stand up to such outrage? Stop this monster from cheating and intimidating his way to total fascist control.

By now we know very well the Crimbecile’s M.O. Among 
his tactics—drilled into him by his ruthless father and other mentors in megalomania—is, whenever challenged, you “double down.” Accuse others of the crime you’re about to commit. Counter criticism with twice the criticism; one lawsuit with two; threats of justice with promises of ruin.

It’s easy and, I guess, entirely human for rational people to 
respond to such aggressiveness defensively. It’s like someone’s broken into our home and is headed for our kids’ bedroom. Not the time for a measured response; not the time for reason. 

So, folks, we take the offensive. Fight fire with fire. And here’s how we do it: we launch our own doubling-down assault. 

        What does “engaging” that many 
        people look like?

THREE-POINT-FIVE TO TURN THE TIDE
For those of us not savvy to the workings of political influence, lacking the resources to purchase the ear of our Congressperson, and not comfortable with door knocking, the best way to go after a tyrant is to simply show up with our voices and placards in a good old-fashioned street protest.

PHOTO: Madison Badger Herald – Lizzy Larson

But protests don’t even start worrying corrupt politicians until they reach a critical mass. And what is that threshold? Research by the Carr Center's Erica Chenoweth posits that “No government can withstand a challenge of 3.5% of its population without either accommodating the movement or (in extreme cases) disintegrating.” *

So…three questions. First: what is 3.5% of the US population? A bit more than 12,000,000 of us.

Second: What does “engaging” that many people look like? I know of no better way than persuading them to take it to the streets.

Third: What will it take to reach that pivotal threshold? Every single one of us bearing witness to what our eyes and ears—and history—warn us is a full-on rush to fascism by the Trump regime. Each and every American who values freedom responding to the alarm. 

The good news is that we’re well on our way! 

  Imagine being part of the absolutely stupefying 
  crowds taking to the streets that day.

WE’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER VOTE
The nationwide No Kings protests on June 14, 2025 saw somewhere between 4,000,000 and 6,000,000 Americans taking to the streets in 2,100 cities and towns coast to coast.

As impressive as it was to be among the multitude of protesters in St. Paul that day, I recall my clear-as-day reaction when I turned around and got my first good look at the size of the crowd: We’re going to have to at least double this…and maybe double it again.

So that’s the vision I’m promoting. At least 8,000,000 Americans showing up Saturday, October 18 to defy the goose-stepping thugs gutting our democratic institutions. A loud, clear, unified rejection of Trump’s reckless push to consolidate power.

What can each of us do to make October 18, 2025 the date history will come to recognize as the turning point in America’s rejection of fascism? First of all, we must simply imagine it, imagine being part of the absolutely stupefying crowds taking to the streets that day.

The we must talk it up, promote it on social media, make signs, include appeals in our email signatures, bring friends and neighbors with us to the event…and anything else we can think of to make our vision real.

For my own part, I take inspiration from the courage of that iconic—yet still-unidentified—Chinese man who stood up to a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989. We can do this!

PHOTO: New York Times

* From a BBC.com article by David Robson – 13 May, 2019

GUNS – IN DEFENSE AGAINST OR OF TYRANNY

The main argument behind some Americans’ militant defense of their right to bear arms is that the Second Amendment of The Constitution guarantees it.

They insist that one intent of that amendment was to enable citizens to protect themselves in the event of a tyrannical government—a debatable interpretation.

At any rate, how ironic that these gun nuts' justification of this country's firearms glut (now easily outnumbering citizens, and including assault-style weapons designed for military use) has taken a U-turn.

The outrageous personal arsenal excused for so long by MAGA extremists and the NRA as a defense against a potential rogue government, has now become a military asset in their defense of a rogue government. 

We tolerate these zealots, this misguided crusade, at our great peril. Since appeals to their reason, emotion and even basic human decency fall on deaf ears, they must be beaten with our protests and at the polls.

Let’s get busy!

BACK TO THE FUTURE – Clear Signs of What's To Come

Can you imagine, given the 20/20 clarity of hindsight, the mindset of the fair-minded, charitable folks who comprised the tepid early opposition during the ascension to power of despots? Think the Soviet Union, Italy or Germany in the early 1920s, Spain in the early 30's, and later Russia, Egypt, Venezuela, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nigeria...the list goes on. 

PHOTO COMPOSITE: Metro

All these places ended up as electoral autocracies,* brutal dictatorships of which few Americans were even aware.

Do you think those kind people who let such outrages happen were saying, "Hey, we can't let our political differences over Chavez divide us," or "We need to have a civil dialog with those on Abacha's side," or "Everyone's opinion is valid, even that of our Landsleute who support Hitler."

Did those troubled by political winds of change really believe they had to consider—or at least tolerate—their poor, aggrieved compatriots' claims? "He may be obnoxious, but we like his policies," or "This guy's going to rid us of 'vermin'."

And, once it became clear what their compatriots' righteous indignation had wrought, how much worse than simply "obnoxious" things had become, could anyone have admitted just how badly they'd been duped? 

That, folks, is where we are in 2025 in the United States of America. Our country, this exemplar of Democracy, this beacon of hope to the oppressed, has elected as its leader (for the second time) an aggressively insecure con man without a single redeeming quality. A man easily played by the flattery of present day dictators—and of our own country's shrewdest oligarchs—who has promised exactly how he intends to dismantle democratic institutions.

PHOTO: Vanity Fair

       We know this man...and we know history. 

WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE
Since the Trump catastrophe started playing out in his first term I've imagined a tactic which, at least on its surface, seems it should work when trying to communicate with someone who believes such a charlatan deserves a chance. It goes like this: I start by acknowledging the person's beliefs—and if I'm having a good day I might even concede a couple of style points.

But then I ask them exactly what words, deeds and results from the man they support might cause them to start questioning that support. I suspect they might have trouble imagining such developments, but I press. What about if he disparaged veterans? Like shaming US soldiers who "allowed themselves" to be captured as prisoners of war.

What if he declared Jesus Christ a loser for having gotten caught and crucified? What about the Epstein files finally coming to light and showing he was a steady client of Sweet-16-Girls-R-Us? 

What about someone finally defeating the Ft. Knox-like impregnability around his academic transcripts? Or the "bone spurs" diagnosis that helped him dodge military service five times? Or his tax returns? 

Oh, hell, those are all softball questions. How about these: What if sound evidence emerged that Trump is actually working for Vladimir Putin? Or if someone caught him on a hot mic ridiculing folks stupid enough to vote for him?

AFRAID AROUND THE EDGES
Okay, you get where I'm going with this. Not one of these gaffes—screw-ups that would prove career-ending for any American in any profession—seems to matter in the slightest to Donald Trump's hard-core MAGA base. They, with considerable coaching from their esteemed leader, have made themselves immune to any ideas, any facts, any information but that spoon-fed them by Trump and his de facto state media. 

I know, I should know better than to imagine the perfect squelch to make these folks suddenly realize the error of their ways. At least the most ardent of them.

PHOTO: Shutterstock

But how about those few tentative supporters who might be starting to wonder, even just a little, about their Supreme Leader's qualifications and judgement? Is there any chance at all that some of these troubling realities—the kind so skillfully eclipsed by the banner of fear and grievance authoritarians have always raised—might see the light of day?  

The challenges to such doubts grow more formidable every day: the Crimbecile has relentlessly cast doubt on the democratic institutions—including free and fair elections—that have traditionally protected Democracy. He's purged career professionals who choose integrity over blind allegiance. 

He's ensured that any Congressperson who questions him is summarily "primaried" out of the job. He's coerced his base to abandon legitimate news media. He's bought and paid for the Supreme Court...I could go on.

        I must use the modest tools I have 
        to defy this loathsome little man.
 
SHOVEL VERSUS PEN
Alas, if only my right-leaning countrymen and women were not so afraid of history, if they could see the devastation the enabling of despots like theirs has always, always wrought. We cannot let that happen again.  

PHOTO: The White House

So...what to do? Do we, like those magnanimous citizens who accommodated other dictators, wring our liberal-elite hands and keep choosing the high road, while this egomaniacal charlatan's busy dig-
ging a tunnel under us and everything we believe in? Or do we heed the lessons of history, take the gloves off and fight to take away the shovel?

Since he's figured out how to Krazy-Glue that shovel to his tiny hands, maybe I can at least try to block his digging. I know I have only slightly more influence than the average Joe Sixpack Trump's counting on to love his worst failings. But I must use the modest tools I do have to 
defy this loathsome little man.

So I write. I submit opinion pieces to the media. I put defiant posts on Facebook. I talk to friends and family members. I make signs and placards. I stand in public protest with my like-minded compatriots.

I beg you: please don't be patient with the first American dictator. Don't think Let's give him a chance. Don't assume the system will somehow rein him in. We know this man and we know history.

Please don't believe the promises of a pathological liar. Don't hope a man who's selfishness is legendary will somehow have the slightest concern for you. Don't buy the patriot pose from a man who dodged the draft and who's repeatedly disparaged and dishonored our veterans. Don't buy the Bible bit from a deeply immoral convicted felon. Don't expect a shyster who's never once achieved legitimate success to suddenly succeed at leading a nation.

Join me in defying this aggressively insecure little fool. Find a way to speak out, and then do it. And keep doing it! 
And join me as we hit the streets in the next nationwide NoKings! protest on Saturday, October 18.

Roughly 5,000,000 of us showed up back in April. We must aim for nothing less than doubling that turnout! 

* “Popular Dictatorships: Crises, Mass Opinion, and the Rise of Electoral Authoritarianism,” by Aleksandar Matovski – assistant professor in the Naval Post-Graduate School's Department of National Security Affairs