Do you ever feel like you are a cog in an unstoppable machine? I know at times I can feel hopeless and powerless- like I don’t know who I can trust or whether the next terrifying news story to break headlines will pose harm to me or someone I love- and that’s not by accident. Authoritarian leadership, by nature, emphasizes the government’s strong arm, bombards us with false information, and suppresses dissent from its people. The rhetoric from Trump’s campaign is meant to make us feel isolated. This regime pedals their propaganda in an effort to keep people silent for fear of retaliation. But while Trump sits on his grand stand fostering a culture of division and inequality, undermining earned benefits like Social Security and Medicare, painting hardworking families as violent aggressors, and ignoring the needs and concerns of the majority of Americans- we on the ground resist.
We reject the false narratives of individualism and hate. We remember that “Our interconnection and well-being is relational, that progress stems from cooperation, and that mutual care is a survival strategy, not just a moral concession. We know that our individual strength comes from the connections that sustain us, and that we will not let our collective well-being be sidelined by the dominance of individual interests imposed by those in power” (Roa Lopez, 2025). Despite the optics Trump wants to project, we, the everyday people of this country, are not backing down.
In an avalanche of bad news, let us take a second to be reminded of our unity. People from all over the country have stepped up to remind present forces of who we are and what we stand for.
When federal agents tried to use a luxury hotel in California as a base for Trump’s mass deportation ops, locals, including Mayor Gordo, didn’t wait for permission. They showed up chanting “ICE out of Pasadena” and forced the agents to flee. In Chicago, after deportation agents deployed tear gas near an elementary school during an arrest, over 500 community volunteers organized and sprang into action. Calling themselves the “Guardian Angels” parents and community members surrounded the school to ensure students could get to and from school without being threatened by masked kidnappers who break up families. In Portland, protestors hit the streets wearing inflatable costumes to protest the occupation of their city, combating the narrative that they are violent protestors whose home is a war zone. The sight of bouncy characters exercising their 1st amendment rights felt very Portland while making it difficult for right wing media sources to twist the story.
It doesn’t stop there. We are not only rebuking laws enforcing inhumane immigration policies, we are fired up about the lack of integrity in our democratic institutions, the erosion of environmental safeguards, and are putting our money where our mouth is to let corporations know we will not submit to billionaire interests.
On October 15th, artists Marshall Reese and Nora Ligorano installed an ice sculpture of the word “democracy” on the National Mall in Washington DC. As the sun stretched across the sky, the image of a melting democracy in front of the white house left a resonate message about how many people feel about the state of our country today. Boycotts have also been gaining steam, according to Claude Cummings Jr., President of the Communications Workers of America, “The Target boycott, #TeslaTakedown, and the Disney boycott have sent shockwaves through corporate America (Cummings Jr, 2025).”
Here in New Mexico we see the presence of a movement as well. Youth organization Yucca NM organized an impactful demonstration at the Balloon Fiesta against sponsor Exxon- highlighting the exploitative relationship between our state and predatory oil and gas companies who continuously harm our communities by defiling our land. We also saw union workers ban together to demand contract renewals. Faced with months of stalled contract negotiations, Creamland Dairy workers united in a bold strike, turning collective frustration into organized power to call for fair terms on the job. After only one week, on September 14, workers were successful in renegotiations. Their contract includes “Giving 6 dollar increases and 4 dollar increases over the life of the agreement” (Teamsters Local 492,2025).
You see, Trump wants us to think that he is a voice of many, but in truth, his toxic viewpoints don’t speak to as many people as he would like us to believe. In fact, according to a poll done by Quinnipiac University “Only thirty-eight percent of voters approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president, while 54 percent disapprove (Quinnipiac University Poll, 2025).” A poll from The Economist states that “Americans are not just disappointed with how he has handled bread-and-butter issues such as inflation and the economy. They also don’t like his approach to issues that were central to his appeal, like immigration and crime” (The Economist, 2025).
As representatives in our government continue to disregard the will of the majority in favor of policies that hoard wealth, we must not forget that we have the numbers to demand a dignified democracy.
AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reports that “Roughly 60% of the public feels Trump has gone too far in imposing new tariffs on other countries, using presidential power to achieve his goals, and in using the military or federal law enforcement in U.S. cities (Torres, 2025).”
The numbers are there, when 60% of people say Trump has gone too far, it’s not just data, it’s a call to action. A call to gather and to remember: Pueblo salva el pueblo. Our liberation will not come from the institutions that betray us, it will be claimed at the kitchen table, on the streets, and in the shared breath of those who refuse to be divided.
You know that feeling you get when you’re at a protest? That feeling of hope and solidarity? No one can touch that. That connectedness we have with one another is something divisive politics cannot strip from us. We get to decide to show up for one another, we get to break the curses of our violent histories, and we get to demand a say in our future.
Moving forward, fascists will continue to paint their efforts in the light of righteousness and those in protest in the shadows of violence- but never be fooled, “There is no action that any protestor in support of collective liberation could take that is more violent than the system they are trying to disrupt” (Ongele, 2025). Whether we come together in joy and power, or whether we join hands in grief and compassion, we continue to carry each other forward. Trump doesn’t speak for the majority of people, and he certainly doesn’t speak for the majority of New Mexicans.
It’s time for reform- and if you haven’t already, it’s time to join. Millions of people across the US will show up tomorrow, Saturday October 18, for the No Kings protest and I hope to see you there. In the words of Angela Davis, “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”