Screwing People Who Play by the Rules: Trump’s “Long Train of Abuses and Usurpations”

That sick feeling in your stomach? It's systematic betrayal. Name it and claim it to fuel your resistance.

Do you feel less safe now than you did six months ago? I definitely do.

This week, the president threatened to arrest the possible future mayor of New York, revoke Elon Musk's citizenship, and investigate a former cabinet secretary - all in the span of 48 hours. When Trump can casually threaten the world's richest man with deportation, what does that mean for the rest of us?

A friend texted me yesterday: "I hear the fireworks outside right now and I just feel so weird…I was a Young Republican when I started college, and went through ROTC. But I don't feel good about my country... I still want to believe. I want to feel patriotic. I want to hold on to that early love I had for this country. But I also feel sadness. Betrayal. Anger. I don’t know how to celebrate today, and maybe that’s okay. Maybe love of country, like any deep love, includes grief when it fails us."

I couldn’t have said it better.

I spent July 4th hiking alone in the mountains, processing an intense mix of grief, rage, and despair.

When Patriotism Starts to Feel Like Grief

If you spent the holiday feeling angry, scared, or heartbroken instead of patriotic, you're responding to something real.

You're not paranoid - following the rules really doesn't protect you anymore.

You're being punished for believing democracy would protect you.

Trump and his goons are not just targeting activists or outliers. They're targeting people who used democratic tools — elections, public programs, legal status, government service — to build a fairer society. That's what makes people like us dangerous.

This Is What Backlash Against Democracy Looks Like

Think about the terror of being a parent who spent decades filling out Medicaid paperwork perfectly, jumping through every bureaucratic hoop to keep your disabled child alive only to watch trillions in cuts that could force your kid into an institution or worse.

Consider the rage of being Zohran Mamdani - immigrating legally as a child, becoming a naturalized citizen, working your way up to elected office, winning a Democratic primary - only to have the president threaten to arrest you, calling you a "communist" and falsely claiming you're in the country illegally.

Imagine the humiliation of being a U.S. citizen or legit green card holder detained by ICE agents who don't believe your documents because you "look suspicious" - the exhausting reality that your legal status means nothing if you have brown skin.

Why They’re So Afraid of You

Every person I just described represents an example of the successful use of democratic institutions.

Disability rights activists spent decades organizing and won Medicaid to keep families together. Immigrant rights advocates fought for and expanded naturalization pathways. Civil rights movements used courts and voting to secure equal protection. These successes exist because people organized and pulled the levers of democracy.

That's exactly what threatens authoritarian power - proof that democracy can actually work for disadvantaged groups, not just the inner circle.

Picture the betrayal of being a legal green card holder who paid taxes for decades, raised American children, followed every rule - now detained while Trump doubles the number of ICE agents using a new budget larger than the FBI, DEA, and federal prison system combined.

Think about the disorientation of discovering your voter registration is at risk of being purged after voting for 20 years - realizing that even the act of participating in democracy makes you a target.

You did everything right — followed the rules, used the system, tried to make it better — and now they're coming for you. That's not a glitch. It's backlash.

When Cruelty Becomes the Point

It's like the bullies have taken over the school. Donald Trump is the principal, Kristi Noem runs detention, Kash Patel is the hall monitor, and the Heritage Foundation decides the curriculum.

They're targeting people from groups who proved democracy could work because that threatens their power. And because - let's be honest - they take visible sadistic pleasure in the pain of others. These are cruel people who light up when discussing how to "traumatize" their enemies.

This isn't just policy - it's performance cruelty. Trump tours "Alligator Alcatraz," a new ICE detention center built with redirected FEMA funds, joking about feeding escapees to alligators. Officials boast about "disciplining" universities and celebrate voter suppression as "restoring integrity." They don't just implement harsh policies - they revel in them publicly, sending a clear message: cruelty is not only acceptable, it's entertaining.

This presidential permission structure matters. When the leader of the country models sadistic glee, it legitimizes and emboldens cruelty at every level. The guy who showed up at a Minnesota legislator's home and shot her, her husband, and their dog wasn't acting alone - he was following a script written from the top.

No One Is Safe Once Loyalty Becomes the Law

Even the billionaires who helped build this regime aren't safe once they step out of line. This week Trump threatened to revoke Elon Musk's citizenship and destroy his companies the moment Musk disagreed with one policy - and unlike you, Musk can afford armies of lawyers. If he's not safe, what does that mean for the rest of us?

As one democracy expert put it this week: "When the president makes clear that if you say things he doesn't like, you will be singled out, and the full force of the state could be brought down on your head, then you're no longer free."

You’re Being Punished Because Groups of People Like You Succeeded

But here's what they don't want you to realize: you're being attacked because people like you proved the system could work.

We didn't fail the system - we used it too well. We didn't break the rules - we proved the rules could create fairness. That's exactly what threatens them most. Trump isn’t targeting policies. He’s targeting the movements that have historically succeeded at promoting just policies that expand access and inclusion to the promise of democracy.

Of course you feel betrayed. Of course you feel angry and scared and heartbroken. Who wouldn't? This isn't just fear. It's moral injury. The shock of realizing that the rules you upheld — the values you taught your kids — are now being used against you.

My friend was right about grief being part of love. The country we believed in - where following the rules and working for justice would be protected - that country is gone. We have to grieve that loss before we can build what comes next.

What Comes Next

This is a passage, not a destination. The emotional whiplash you're experiencing - bouncing between rage and numbness, betrayal and disbelief, terror and defiant love - that's not weakness. That's the natural response to having your foundational beliefs about fairness systematically shattered.

Naming what's happening to us - systematic backlash against successful democracy - stops the gaslighting and helps you trust your own emotional responses again. Of course you feel like you're losing your mind. Of course you're grieving. Of course you're furious. You're processing the deliberate destruction of everything you were taught to believe about how this country works.

The path forward starts with honoring those feelings instead of suppressing them. Finding others who are carrying the same emotional load. Building new forms of mutual support for people navigating the same moral injury.

You're not crazy. You were right to believe. Your heartbreak is evidence of your humanity, not your failure. And you're not alone in learning how to stay human while everything burns.

In solidarity,

Paul

Remember: Stay human. Stay strategic. Shape tomorrow.

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Strategies for Staying Human in the Face of Authoritarianism

If you’re looking for practices, tools, and deeper reading to help you stay grounded under pressure, this growing list is for you. It includes some of my previous posts and a section for other resources. These are starting points for staying human in hard times.

Tools

Explore my growing library of tools designed to help you stay grounded, focused, and resilient. Some are free. Others are available for a small cost — and every purchase helps sustain this work.

My Posts

• When Trump Attacks Your Work: 75 Grounding Moves to Stay Effective and Human. You can't serve from empty. But stepping away isn't an option. Strategic positioning for public servants trying to do good work under siege.

• What Have You Been Carrying? A Self-Assessment for Navigating Authoritarian Harm. Your overwhelm isn't personal failure — it's a natural response to engineered chaos. This assessment helps you get unstuck and start strategizing.

• Resisting Authoritarianism for Introverts: An FAQ for Staying Human in Loud Times. A lot of resistance advice sounds like it's meant for someone louder. But what if your strength lives in quiet — and that's exactly what this moment needs?

• The Harms Are Cumulative. Your Overwhelm Is the Goal. Let’s Get Unstuck

  Trump and Musk weaponize chaos to exhaust our capacity for resistance. Recognizing the patterns of harm gives us the framework to protect our humanity and reclaim our strategic power. [Overview of the Authoritarian Harm Complex]

• Stay Human: 80 Tiny Moves for Everyday Resistance in the Authoritarian Harm Complex. What if staying human is one of the most powerful and most unappreciated forms of resistance? Shaping tomorrow and defeating tyranny takes more than big protest events and macro strategies.

• Stay Sane: 80 Tiny Moves to Resist Digital Despair and News Overwhelm in the Trump Era. Tiny moves live in the terrain between hypervigilance and retreat. They keep us agile and motivated.

• Staying Human Now #1: Start Where You Are. Authoritarian harm is real. So is your capacity to respond. These three tiny moves help you pace yourself with purpose.

• Staying Human Now #2: Define Your Waypoints. Confusion is the tactic. Navigation is the countermeasure. This tiny move helps you plan your own path.

• Staying Human Now #3: The Connection You Forgot You Needed. Authoritarian chaos thrives on disconnection. This tiny move helps you rebuild the ties that keep you human.

• What It Means to Stay Human in the Trump Era. Staying Human Now #4 - Trump’s actions are engineered to grind us down. Staying human is a key resistance strategy.

• From Authoritarian Harm to Clarity of Purpose. Looking Beyond Resistance: What if Our Collective Pain is Pointing to the Better Future Worth Fighting For?

• Befriend Yourself: A Strategy for Staying Whole While They Dismantle Everything That Matters. Trump and Musk want to disappear you into a cell of despair. Kindness to yourself is how you stay human—and begin your escape.

• When They Gut Your Mission: Start Here…. You’re still standing. That means you get to choose where to go next.

Blogs I recommend and have subscriptions to

• Invisible Threads. Veteran journalist Kate Woodsome is pioneering coverage at the intersection of democracy and mental health.

• The American Pamphleteer. “Because freedom won’t fight for itself—but together, we sure as hell can. Subscribe for bold, unfiltered takes on resisting fascism, building real community, and living with guts in chaotic times.“

• How To Resist. Great blog about sustainable ways to remain engaged in activism and mutual aid.

• Chop Wood, Carry Water. This blog is full of daily advice to take action and stay motivated.

• Your Time Starts NOW. If you like my content then you’ll love these posts by Lori Corbet Mann.

Other Resources

• ACT for Moral Distress, online course by Dr. Jaimie Lusk. “Navigate moral distress with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a powerful evidence-based treatment that allows us to hold our pain while taking valued actions.”

• In Tumultuous Times, Think Like a Hostage. “Guidance given to hostages can foster psychological flexibility in tough times.” Very clever article by Dr. Jaimie Lusk.

• Please drop additional suggestions for resources in Comments

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My Consulting Services

Need a new strategic plan that protects your mission and your funding during hard times? I help public service professionals and progressive organizations cultivate agility and resilience to navigate moral injury, authoritarian drift, and institutional harm without losing their purpose or humanity. Service include:

• Strategic plan revisions to meet the moment.

• Fundraising and communications.

• Developing resilient data systems to track unmet needs and the downstream harms resulting from authoritarian aggression.

Let’s talk. Direct message me to start the conversation. Or request a consultation using my website’s contact form: Progressive Strategy Now website

***From Progressive Strategy Now, a publication of Paul T Shattuck LLC. The views expressed here reflect my personal analysis as a researcher and consultant, and do not represent the positions of any employer, clients, or affiliated organizations.