https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/05/brendan-ballou-how-to-resist-trump-00202381

Notes to the American People — and Government Workers — on How to Stop Trump

The lesson for me as we lurch from one crisis to another at the start of Trump’s second term is that public protest and outrage can actually be effective at stopping or slowing the illegal or unjust policies of his administration.

People in this White House are largely unmoved by protest, and may even see acting in the face of public outrage as a kind of strength. But the federal government is a big place, and while various forms of demonstration — petitions, marches, discourse both online and off — may not affect political appointees, they can greatly affect those officials who actually implement so many government policies.

I know such demonstrations mattered because I saw the effect they had on the internal fights over the travel ban. And while our “victory” in narrowing the scope of that order was small, other protesters and other government officials have been far more effective.

What these examples show is that resistance can work. But my own experience suggests such resistance works best if it’s targeted well. It’s largely ineffective for protesters to focus their energy on the government’s top decision-makers, such as the president and his political appointees.

Outsiders don’t just give insiders courage: They give them the arguments and language to best make their case.

The success of his initiatives depends on the perception of their own momentum. If that momentum is slowed, the damage of some orders will be contained; others may collapse completely.