Why it Must Be 100% Resistance, 0% Capitulation Towards Trump
We must not fall for his latest nasty, cunning tactic
This post is for those of us across the Western world, who wholeheartedly believe in classical liberal values. Values like free speech, freedom of the press, academic freedom, and yes, free trade. It is a reflection on what I think our strategy should be in the next four years, given the constant threat of Trump repeatedly trampling on freedoms left, right and center.
The events since ‘Liberation Day’ have given me a whole new perspective on how Trump 2.0 could unfold, and it has sadly led me to take an even more pessimistic approach towards what is happening. Let’s recap what has been happening so far. Firstly, Trump threatened to impose ‘reciprocal’ tariffs of up to 49% on almost every country in the world (including even uninhabited islands). He then engaged in an unprecedented trade war escalation with China. In response, stock markets around the world went on a roller coaster ride, tumbling again and again. After a week of this madness, he finally announced that the ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on most countries will be delayed for 90 days, because these countries did not announce plans to retaliate against those tariffs. In response, the stock markets surged, as if the crisis was all over. However, there will still be a 10% US tariff on almost every country on Earth, there is still the prospect of a messy US-China trade war, and on top of that, this ‘relief’ has come about explicitly as a result of most countries kowtowing to Trump’s bullying, and that the threat of those ‘reciprocal’ tariffs is still there if they don’t continue to kowtow to Trump. Also, given Trump’s self-imposed 90-day deadline, there could be more drama to come as soon as late June or early July, even if the world continues to kowtow to Trump for the time being.
I think this proves two things: firstly, we can’t rely on free market capitalism to have a spine on anything. Even after Trump launched the biggest assault on free trade in my lifetime, and then gave some partial ‘relief’ that still left us much worse off than the previous status quo, the markets still rewarded him for this, and the billionaires are on team Trump once again. This is plain cowardice, because it was all Trump’s fault in the first place. None of this would have ever happened had Kamala Harris won last year’s election. Secondly, Trump is actually doing something smart, cunning, and truly dangerous for our future. Think about this: if Trump is allowed to get away with this behavior, he will be able to gradually whittle away free trade, as well as other freedoms, simply by using this tactic again and again. Remember, he still has 3 years and 9 months to go, so he will be able to achieve a lot of what he wants if he is allowed to get away with it so easily. Realistically, there will probably be very little left of free trade, economic freedom, and even other freedoms, after another 3 years and 9 months of this. This is the scary reality we are staring at, and we must stare it in the face, to gain some clarity.
Given that we are facing a serious threat to erase our freedoms by a three steps forward, one step back, rinse and repeat campaign over the next four years, and we know that most government leaders, billionaires, CEOs, and the media that they control will not come to save us, but rather, they will likely play the role of the accomplice, we need to take a strong and unwavering stand for our own freedoms. Nobody can save us but ourselves. It really is an existential question: are we willing to have our freedoms permanently erased, to have freedom recede decades or centuries, simply to avoid some pain in the next four years? The rich and powerful are indeed willing to make this trade, because of their vested interests. They are truly afraid of Trump in this regard. They are truly cowards in the face of Trump’s bullying. The media that they control with their billions will likely reflect their stance, praising Trump for easing the pain even though he alone was responsible for inflicting it in the first place. As for the rest of us, we have nothing to lose by going 100% resistance, 0% capitulation against Trump’s assault on freedom. Indeed, I believe this is our only hope to defend our freedoms, to reduce the harm Trump can do as much as possible, and more importantly, to ensure that Trump’s authoritarianism isn’t gradually normalized, so that our freedoms can be fully restored once his administration is out of power. Appeasing Trump and his allies simply isn’t a responsible option, given the likely consequences. Sacrificing any false illusions of comfort and peace during these four years to defend fundamental freedoms, that will have an impact for generations to come, is worth every penny of the sacrifice, in my opinion.
We didn’t ask for the war, but since Trump and his reactionaries brought it on, we can’t shy away from the fight, no matter how painful it might be. And I need to make this clear: this is a time of war, because Trump is waging war on the most fundamental freedoms that have come to define the post-Enlightenment West. It is a war in which Trump, Musk, Bannon, Navarro and Hegseth are on one side, and the ideas of John Locke, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, the Founding Fathers of America, and all the other famous thinkers of the classical liberal cannon are on the other side. It is therefore a war in which we can’t afford to not pick sides.
The other thing is, during times of war, we can’t pick and choose which people are our allies. The West had to go into war as allies with the Soviet Union in order to defeat Hitler and Nazism, and to end the Holocaust. Nobody ever accused President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill of kowtowing to Stalin for this. It was simply objective fact that we needed the Soviet Union on our side to win the war. After the war, the West and the Soviet Union parted ways, of course. But in that moment, to reject working with the Soviet Union because of our ideological differences would be the irresponsible course of action, because it would have meant that much of Europe would continue to live under fascism, and that the Holocaust would continue to go on. Thus, working with the Soviet Union was the responsible thing to do. Similarly, I believe those people who are saying how it is bad that Bernie Sanders and AOC are two of the most popular figures among the growing anti-Trump movement, or that these leading figures of the anti-Trump movement are too into ‘economic determinism’ and are supposedly ‘culture denialists’ are totally missing the point. I mean, disagree with the woke left all you want. I’m personally no fan of wokeness, to put it mildly. I’m pretty sure Roosevelt and Churchill were also not big fans of Soviet Communism. But just like Roosevelt and Churchill did back then, we need to work with the allies we’ve got, and face off against what is the biggest threat to freedom in this moment, with all that we’ve got. Failing to do so is basically rooted in the failure to acknowledge how big a threat Trumpism and reactionary populism is to the future of freedom in the West, and would be an error of historical proportions. Note that this also doesn’t mean losing our principles, like the ‘resistance’ arguably did back in 2017–2020. Rather, it is just a matter of prioritizing our fights. We can continue to speak out on our actual beliefs and values, while prioritizing our fights in the moment. Roosevelt and Churchill didn’t adopt a single plank of Stalin’s platform, but that didn’t stop them from fighting Hitler together with Stalin. I think this is the kind of clarity we should aspire to right now.
Finally, a word about finding compromise and common ground. I have always advocated finding compromise and common ground with those who disagree with us in good faith, as long as they are also willing to engage in a calm and rational discussion. This has always included Trump supporters. However, this doesn’t mean we should give into the tactics of a bully, which is what Trump himself is doing right now. A bully that is hellbent on taking away our freedoms via aggressive threats is not someone who can be reasoned with at all. 100% Resistance, 0% Capitulation is the only responsible option here.
Originally published at https://taraella.substack.com.
TaraElla is a singer-songwriter and author, who is the author of the Progressive Conservative Manifesto, the Moral Libertarian Manifesto and the Moral Libertarian book series. She is also the author of her autobiography The TaraElla Story.
