Trump is soon to be back in office, even more dangerous than before. His agenda of mass deportations, attacks on trans people, deregulating the fossil fuel industry, uncritically supporting Israel’s genocidal war machine, and more has tens of millions of people downright terrified.

As we head toward Inauguration Day when Trump will re-assume power, many are asking, can anything be done to stop him from carrying out his agenda? If so, what? Does protesting even work anymore? What do we do now?

We have to be honest about where we’re coming from. In 2020, twenty million people courageously hit the streets against police brutality and systemic racism but no significant victories were won. Since then, while not without exception, we have generally seen fewer protests and smaller protests. Despite mass public opposition in US society, Roe v. Wade was overturned. Despite over a million in the streets last fall and widespread outrage, both parties continue to fund the genocidal war on Gaza.

These defeats and the current state of the world have left many feeling hopeless about our power as ordinary people to do anything about the problems we face. In particular, there is skepticism about whether protesting and building movements is worthwhile. While the hesitation that exists among millions of people to take to the streets following Trump’s election is in many ways understandable, inaction is the worst thing we can do and absolutely must be overcome.

People Have Always Protested

As long as class society has existed, people have protested. In the 12th century BC, tomb builders in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt downed their ancient-era tools and went on strike after not receiving their payment of wheat rations for eighteen days. During the strike they marched, staged sit-ins at the office of the vizier (the pharaoh’s right-hand man), and blocked access roads and pathways to the Valley. After thirteen days of striking and protesting, they won, including backpay.

From slave revolts in Ancient Rome and Greece to peasant riots in the Middle Ages, from the demonstrations that kicked off the bourgeois revolutions that overthrew feudal monarchies to establish capitalism, to modern-day protests against the massacre in Gaza—it’s always been a natural instinct of the oppressed and exploited to organize and fight back.

But not only is protesting inevitable, it is critically necessary. In his most famous speech, abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass declared “If there is no struggle, there is no progress… Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Those words are as true today as when they were spoken in 1857, and in these dark times we would do well to hold them close.

But while Douglass was right that without struggle change can’t be won, that doesn’t mean that every struggle does lead to change, and certainly not that every demand made leads to concessions from those in power—especially when those in power are led by power-hungry right-wing billionaire Donald Trump. It doesn’t take an expert in history to know that.

So the question facing millions of angry and scared people across the country following the election is what kind of struggle leads to progress? Socialist Alternative has a unique take on this question.

What Happened Under Trump’s First Term?

Trump’s first election was met with immediate shock and outrage. Despite losing the popular vote by three million, he won the absurdly undemocratic electoral college. As soon as it became clear Trump had won, Socialist Alternative branches across the country called protests and tens of thousands came out.

On Inauguration Day, again tens of thousands attended demonstrations and students across the country walked out of class in protest against Trump. The next day, the Women’s March went down as the then-largest day of protest in US history, with five million protesting across the country. This brought resisting Trump into the mainstream, rattled Trump and his advisors on day two, and set the stage for what was to come.

In the months and years that followed, while of course Trump pushed through many terrible attacks (thanks in part to the Democrats’ repeated failure to mount an effective opposition), some of the worst aspects of his agenda did not go forward. How? By the power of mass protests and working class action.

Pushing Back The “Muslim Ban”

When in his second week in office Trump announced an executive order known as the “Muslim Ban,” banning entry into the US from nine Muslim-majority countries, he was met with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets in opposition. Mass rallies took place in cities across the country, followed by protests outside and occupations inside airports, where ordinary people from the banned countries—simply returning from trips abroad to their homes in the US—were being detained, turned away, and sent back.

Then, the taxi drivers’ union in New York City struck against the ban, refusing to transport passengers to and from JFK airport where a large-scale occupation was taking place. Thousands of Comcast workers also walked out in protest. In response to this outpouring of opposition, the ban got challenged in the courts, significantly delayed, and ultimately watered down from its original form.

Shutting Down The Shutdown

In December 2018, Trump began a 35-day government shutdown—the longest in US history—over Congress’ refusal to allocate $6 billion to fund a wall on the US-Mexico border. 800,000 federal employees were either furloughed without pay or forced to work with their pay delayed until the end of the shutdown, all of this right during the winter holidays.

The American Federation of Government Employees union organized rallies outside federal buildings across the country, and thousands of TSA workers began a spontaneous sick-out, with approximately 10% of TSA workers calling out sick in early January. Shortly after, air traffic controllers followed, leading to a full shutdown of LaGuardia airport in New York City.

Then Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, called on all flight attendants to occupy Congressional offices until the shutdown ended and invoked the threat of a “general strike.” Within hours, Trump proposed a bill to reopen the government.

Three Key Takeaways

What do both of these examples have in common? Protests followed by workers’ action, and the threat of even wider working class action, forced Trump to back down. Another parallel is that struggle and working class action played the decisive role, not the Democrats. For all the #Resistance that establishment Democrats spoke of during Trump’s first term, they did nothing meaningful to stop his agenda. Instead they repeatedly took credit for what was actually achieved by the class struggle.

As we head into the uncharted territory of Trump 2.0 it is imperative that we hold close the central lessons from 2016-2020:

1. Trump CAN be forced to back down, but it takes mass action.

2. Protests work, especially when followed up by workplace and coordinated strike action.

3. The Democrats cannot be counted on—we need struggle and a new working class party.

Unions are going to have a particularly important role to play in the coming years, as the most organized section of the working class. Union leaders like Shawn Fain and Sara Nelson should abandon their failed strategy of trying to court the Democratic Party and instead help build a new pro-worker, anti-war party that organizes, protests, and strikes against Trump’s right-wing, anti-worker agenda.

Even with such a party, the fight would not be easy. Not just Trump and his billionaire right-wing friends, but the whole ruling class, including the Democratic establishment too, would fiercely oppose us. It’s the whole system that’s rotten.

This is why, ultimately, a working class party would need to adopt a socialist program for revolution, because even if we stop Trump’s attacks, our problems go far beyond the man himself. We will never achieve peace, equality, and the high standard of living we deserve under the profit-guzzling, warmongering system of capitalism.

Next Step: All Out for January 20

We have less than two months until Trump steps back into the Oval Office, this time surrounded by a more loyal and hardened right-wing group of advisors and cabinet. The thoroughly Trumpified Republicans will control the presidency, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court. It won’t be easy, but the increasingly hard-right Republicans can and must be pushed back.

Mass protests on Inauguration Day in every major city and walkouts in colleges and high schools would go a long way to put Trump on notice that we’re going to fight him every step of the way. It would show millions of terrified people that they’re not alone, and that we can, and must, stand up to Trump and the far right.