#Resist Works

Vox's  Matthew Yglesias posted an excellent summary of #Resist successes so far:

The main concrete victories of resistance thus far are:

• House Republicans abandoned a plan to gut the Congressional Ethics Office.
• The Trump administration abandoned a plan to cancel Affordable Care Act enrollment advertising.
• The VA was granted an exemption from Trump’s hiring freeze.
• 500,000 green card holders were granted exemption from Trump’s immigration orders.
• The Department of Defense has secured permission to grant exemptions to the ban for Iraqis who work with the US military.
• Most dual citizens (Germans, most recently) seem to be getting exemptions from the Trump ban.
• A House Republican plan for a massive sell-off of public lands has been canceled.

More diffusely, resistance is already costing Trump politically. A planned trip to Harley-Davidson in Wisconsin was canceled because the company didn’t want to deal with the protests. Disney’s CEO canceled a planned trip to the White House. Maintaining a constant atmosphere of contentiousness has cost Trump the usual honeymoon period and saddled him with approval ratings that are already underwater.

Not listed is getting 2 Republican senators to align with Democrats against DOE nominee DeVos. Hopefully we can add that to the list tomorrow after the vote.

Why the #altgovt movement is important. @Alt_DeptofED @ALT_DOJ @alt_fda @ActualEPAFacts @alt_labor @Alt_NASA @AltHHS @AltForestServ pic.twitter.com/rA0XNOnFc0

— Rogue EPA Staff (@RogueEPAstaff) February 4, 2017

Two other articles:

• Slate's Jamelle Bouie : Protest Works
• Erica Chenoweth, Guardian OpEd, 3.5% of population can stop dictator.

Crucially, nonviolent resistance works not by melting the heart of the opponent but by constraining their options. A leader and his inner circle cannot pass and implement policies alone. They require cooperation and obedience from many people to carry out plans and policies.

 

Speaker Bercow just cancelled Trump visit to parliament. A proud moment for Commons. Racism and sexism not welcome here.

— Harriet Harman (@HarrietHarman) February 6, 2017