7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Protect Yourself from the Trump Administration
It is entirely rational to fear the Trump administration. In their words, they’ve recently said that:
- They want a new House Un-American Activities Committee.
- They want to change the laws, so it’s easier to go after people who write “negative” articles about them.
- They want their followers to “turn on the hate.”
- They want to force an entire religious group to register with the government.
- They want their followers to “knock the crap out of” protesters.
- Their leader said he “alone can fix” the United States.
These statements add up to fascism, “an authoritarian right-wing system of government— extreme, of intolerant views or practice.”
“The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant, America.” John Weaver, Republican strategist
The stark reality is that Americans live in an all-seeing surveillance state with vindictive men at the controls of a system that allows indefinite detention and military targeting of American citizens at the President’s discretion.
And there’s no absolute safeguard preventing America from sliding into despotism and tyranny.
Preparing for Life in Trumpistan
As far as I know, the only way to deal with anxiety is by doing something, anything in its face.
So, for my benefit, I made a list of actions to help protect me and my loved ones from political persecution, right-wing trolls, and demobilizing depression.
It seems absurd, even paranoid to write this. But in the future, I’d rather say I overreacted than know I didn’t do enough.
“Institutions will not save us.” We can only save ourselves, and each other.
Maybe the Trump administration will implode. (I suspect that might happen, whether from hubris, dissent, or unwillingness to do the job.)
Still. History shows that we should prepare for the worst. We should listen to our fear, and use it as fuel to push on and fight for our values.
“My grandmother’s fear saved the family. My grandfather’s sweet confidence and optimism would have killed them.
So when you tell me, a noted soother and calmer of others, that I should tell Muslims and women and people of color that they have nothing to fear from Trump, I think that perhaps you want me to be like my grandfather.” — Hugo Schwyzer
1. Encrypt Your Digital Life
The Trump administration controls a vast, powerful surveillance system, unlike any ever known in history. We know for a fact that the government has already used it to spy on everyday American citizens.
Once communication is intercepted or disrupted, it becomes much harder for people to organize, protest, and resist. So it’s important to encrypt our digital lines of communication.
But keeping communication private is only part of the reason to lock up our digital platforms.
The alt-right has hacked and digitally harassed innocent people in the past because of their beliefs. Look what happened to this mom who was bullied by alt-right stooges for adopting black kids. And remember what happened to Leslie Jones?
There are already 4,740,000 results for people searching for how to keep their communication private from the Trump administration.
Here are five great resources to help you encrypt your digital life:
- How to encrypt your entire life in less than an hour
- 5 Privacy Protection Tips for a Trump Presidency
- Worried about the NSA under Trump? Here’s how to protect yourself
- Trump won, now protect yourself from the surveillance state
- How to encrypt your internet communication during a Trump presidency
2. Take Excellent Care of Yourself
This isn’t just feel-good “take a break; you deserve it” advice. This is advice that says “you need to stay in the ring for a hundred bruising rounds — so pace yourself.”
This is going to be a long haul. We need to stay fresh.
Take media breaks. This is easier said than done (especially because we also have to stay informed). Scanning through bad news can be weirdly addictive.
I’ve given myself permission to indulge in reading Westworld spoilers and other fluff, just to take a break from the long stream of disaster porn in my Facebook feed (and everywhere else online).
Taking care of yourself goes beyond taking a media diet. Do all the things you’re supposed to do. Eat well. Exercise. Sleep, or try to.
But also do the things you enjoy, that you really love. It’s not selfish. You’re taking care of yourself for a bigger cause. It’s your patriotic duty.
One of the best ways to take care of yourself is to connect with community. I don’t mean on Facebook — I mean in real life. Research says that “the single biggest predictor of human happiness is the quality of [a person’s] relationships.”
Don’t isolate. Spend time with friends. You’ll feel safer. Get out and meet people. It feels good, but it’s also useful.
When people spend time together, movements spark and catch fire.
3. Stay Informed — Without Burning Out
As mentioned, keeping up with the latest news can become counterproductive.
However, it is essential to stay informed. I don’t know if knowledge is still power in the age of willful ignorance and magical disregard for facts, but knowing what’s going on gives us the ability to plan, react, and lead.
I manage most of my online media consumption with a unified feed in Feedly. That way I can visit one page instead of getting sucked down the doom drain.
It also frees me a bit from Facebook’s news algorithm.
I suggest making your Feedly a mix of mainstream news, public media, smaller independent sites, and influential blogs (including blogs of non-profits fighting the good fight).
Don’t forget to add the Onion and other humor sites. And it’s a good idea to add a couple of feeds from pr0-Trump sites, so you know what’s going on in the upside down world.
Optimize your social media habits. Learn how social media can influence the process.
4. Join a Group (or Start One)
When Margret Mead supposedly said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has,” I never suspected she meant alt-right Republicans.
But it worked for them. It will work for us, again, as it has in the past.
Unifying, teaming up, and working in groups can make a real difference. It’s also empowering and therapeutic. (Plus, if nothing else, you want people around who will notice if you suddenly go missing.)
Vast numbers of people and organizations are mobilizing across the nation to resist the Trump administration. They are working to protect each other, our rights, and the environment.
From going to meetings about local politics— which gives us a chance to rebuild from the ground up — to joining a protest, there are many ways to get involved in these groups.
5. Cut Spending. Build Up Cash Reserves. Stash Funds.
The least fun suggestion on this list. However, approximately 62% of Americans have less than $1000 in their savings accounts. Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency.
We’re a nation of economically vulnerable, dependent people. And it’s not just low-income people; many upper-middle class families limp paycheck to paycheck.
It’s hard to fight tyranny when you’re worried you might lose your home. It’s hard to stand up and fight for values when you’re beaten down from a long day at work.
It’s strength to know that you have a decent emergency fund if something goes wrong, if you lose your job for speaking out, if Trump says something offhand that makes the markets crash, or if a trade war with China cripples our economy (or a real war erupts with Iran.)
Savings is peace of mind. It provides independence from a government of vindictive operators.
The only way to increase savings is to earn more and spend drastically less. Not fun, as I said. But if you cut expenses and consider a temporary second job, it might take less time than you think to stash at least three months savings in the bank.
Additionally, it might be smart to move money from a big bank to a local, community-run credit union.
I also think it’s smart to keep a small sum of money outside of the banking system. I don’t think banks will collapse, or that people will have their bank accounts seized for speaking out. That seems insane. But you never know. The economy moves fast.
6. Laugh
Donald Trump is President. It’s so ridiculous it’s hysterical.
We need to laugh about it. Not just to feel good — for laughter heals — but also to deploy a powerful shield and spear against the pompous people now in charge.
Mark Twain said, “The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.”
Indeed, humor was Norway’s secret weapon against the Nazis.
I don’t want to overstate the power of humor. Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump didn’t save the election. And some of us were so busy laughing at Trump that we didn’t take him seriously until it was too late.
But we’ve also seen how being mocked destabilizes Trump. We’ve seen how it temporarily delegitimized Sarah Palin. Insightful humor can change the world.
We have to keep laughing, keep mocking, keep using humor to call out hypocrisy and abuse of power.
“To submit to a world where we say the words President Trump without anger or laughter is to surrender our idea of what the office means.” — Jonathan Chait
7. Be Kind
This sounds kind of stupid. But so much of the Trump election was based on fear. And now that he’s won, there seems to be more fear than ever.
Kindness is the antidote to fear. Our greatest fears are of being alone, unneeded, unsafe. Kindness shows that we are present for each other.
Kindness ripples through community, powerfully adjusting how people think, feel, and relate.
Kindness is the opposite of fascism. But it takes practice. And it’s in decline.
We need to be kind to each other. We need to be kind to Trump supporters. We need to be kind to ourselves.
It all sounds so treacly. But there is science behind it. Being kind rewires our brains, our relationships, and our communities.
Kindness is the anti-Trump.
Assert Your Values and Never Stop Resisting
Evil settles into everyday life when people are unable or unwilling to recognize it. — Teju Colea, Time for Refusal
Good may come from the Trump administration. That will not make the Trump administration good.
We must not allow Trump’s neo-fascist, racist, misogynist, xenophobic and reckless statements to become just another part of everyday life.
Live in opposition. Don’t compromise values. Don’t pretend like any of this is normal, or acceptable.
I’m not talking about icing out Trump supporters. It’s incredibly important to engage with them. And like I said, we should practice kindness as a restorative tactic. But we need to be firm about our values.
“Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.” — Masha Gessen
We need to be clear about why we refuse to accept Trump as an acceptable choice to control America.
There is no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s already told us everything we need to know about where he wants to take our country.
“Evil settles into everyday life when people are unable or unwilling to recognize it. It makes its home among us when we are keen to minimize it or describe it as something else.” — Teju Cole, “A Time for Refusal”
I must note that as a straight white man, I have less to fear in Trumpistan than many others. I’m not Muslim, I was born here (of parents born here), and I don’t have a pussy to grab.
But even as a white dude, I fear for the future of my country. I fear for people who don’t look like me, I fear for the loss of democracy, I fear for the future of our children who could grow up in a diminished, even dystopian nation. I fear for wild nature; I fear for the economic prospects of people in small American towns.
I fear rule by petty bullies unaccountable to checks and balances.
It’s entirely rational to fear the Trump administration.
It’s time to get to work.
