Democracy is at stake for this Presidential Election. You may know people who are worried about many other crises, and of course, those are all important too. But we need democracy to solve them. Abortion Rights? Climate Crisis? Immigrant Rights? LGBTQ Rights? Healthcare? Social Security? Student Loan Relief? Global Human Rights? Everything hinges on keeping a democracy that is accountable to voters.
If you, or someone you know, is thinking of staying home:
that is a vote for Trump.
If you, or someone you know, is thinking of voting third party:
that is a vote for Trump.
Trump has been very clear about what he will do if he seizes power.
A vote for Trump is a vote for Authoritarianism.
TP2B has assembled a collection of articles about the dangers of Authoritarianism. They are meant as a reference in case you have a friend or family member that doesn’t see the difference between Democrats and Republicans. When talking to people about the dangers of a Trump presidency remember to:
- Show empathy for the issue they are worried about. Ask them how they think Trump would help that problem. (No vote or third party is a vote for Trump)
- Find a shared value and lead with that.
- Talk about a specific problem rather than broad assertions about democracy. You could talk about another issue that you both care about.
Project 2025: The Far Right Playbook for Authoritarianism
This website discusses Project 2025, which is the published plan of the radicals supporting Trump.
The plan is chilling. Punishing and deporting non-Christians. Removing expertise and neutrality from government agencies. Eradicating DEI programs. Punishing and legislating the bodies of LGBTQ people. Punishing and legislating the bodies of Women. Ending Climate Change policies. Ending military Affirmative Action. Destroying Public Education. Abandoning democracy and people in other countries.
Other Resources:
The Atlantic Jan/Feb 2024 issue was devoted to the danger of Trump. You can read or listen to most of the articles at If Trump Wins. In addition to Democracy, various authors lay out the disaster that Trump would be for Climate, Immigrants, Science, and Women. There are articles on how Trump will use the judiciary and military and how he plans to punish blue cities and towns, roll back civil rights and rewrite history curriculum.
The New York Times How Trump Plans to Wield Power in 2025: What We Know By Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Charlie Savage Donald J. Trump and his allies are already laying the groundwork for a possible second Trump presidency, forging plans for an even more extreme agenda than his first term.
Protect Democracy is a website that measures and researches authoritarianism
The Atlantic A Climate Reckoning Is Coming for the Next President By Zoë Schlanger A second Trump term would be a disaster. And the U.S. would mostly be hurting itself.
MSMagazine Project 2025: The Right’s Dystopian Plan to Dismantle Civil Rights and What It Means for Women by CARRIE N. BAKER
Abortion, Every Day The Anti-Abortion Blueprint: An Oklahoma Bill Lays Out Republican’s National Abortion Strategy by Jessica Valenti The radical right’s plan to define fertilized eggs as persons, thereby prohibiting IUDs, emergency contraception, and IVF procedures, as well as abortion. Their ultimate goal is to ban contraception all together.
Axios.com Inside Trump’s plans to deport millions from the U.S. by Stef W. Kight, Courtenay Brown, Russell Contreras Donald Trump’s plan to crack down on immigration includes using a range of tools to deport millions of people in the U.S. each year — from obscure laws to military funds to law enforcement officers from all levels of government.
PBS Newshour Interview The Potential Impact of Trump’s Extreme Deportation and Immigration Agenda