Donald Trump Has No Mandate, And We Must Never Stop Resisting Him, Period

Our challenge will be to stay vigilant even when we’re tired.

On Friday a man who openly bragged about sexually assaulting women, joked about murdering dissenters in the streets, proposed blocking an entire religion from entering the country, mocked disabled people, and launched racist tirades on social media was sworn in as president of the United States.

Instead of disavowing him and declaring his actions unworthy of America, we looked the other way. We elected him president, threw him a parade, and we made him the most powerful man in the world.

On Saturday millions of women and allies marched in the streets across the world to say that this is unacceptable. Good. Marching is good. Protests are good. But protests and marches are reactionary. If we’re going to survive four years of misogyny, racism, bigotry and fear, we’re going to have to be proactive.

There will be many who, in reaction to protests or action on behalf of the rights of minorities and marginalized people, will say, “This is why Trump won!” as though our insistence on treating everyone with dignity and humanity is so absurdly offensive they had no choice but to vote for a man who brags about sexual assault and bigotry. Don’t let them get away with that. The reality is Donald Trump won because of — and only because of — the Electoral College system.  

If there’s anything that gives me hope and reassurance it’s that more people voted against Donald Trump than voted for him. A majority of people in this country voted for someone else. No matter what he or his flunkies say, Donald Trump absolutely does not have a mandate to lead. (Even his margin of victory in the Electoral College was pitiful — 46th out of 58 elections!)

There will be those who will make you feel like you’re not seeing things clearly or that there’s something wrong with you when you speak out against his policies or proposals. We’ve entered an American epoch where facts don’t matter anymore. There are even false statements on the new White House website itself.

The next four years are going to be a battle of emotions. Trump and his cronies are going to make you feel like there’s something wrong with you for not supporting them and agreeing with them. They’re going to have you questioning everything you thought you knew to be true until you’re either too tired to fight back or you finally agree with them. It’s probably already happened to you. It’s already happened to me. 

Our challenge will be to stay vigilant even when we’re tired. There won’t be news reports or press releases to tell us every time something major goes down. In fact, there will be many things the administration tries very hard to keep quiet. They’ve already started.

So every time I feel like things are out of control and I want to give up, I remind myself of these truths: Donald Trump bragged about sexual assault. He joked about murdering dissenters in the middle of the street. He proposed banning an entire religion from entering the country. He mocked people with disabilities. He’s a racist. 

It’s easy to get depressed and give up, but that’s exactly what Trump wants. He wants us to stop paying attention and to stop fighting for what we believe in. We can’t do it. This may be our reality today, but it doesn’t have to be our future. 

Robbie Medwed is an Atlanta-based LGBTQ activist, educator, and writer. He plans on being so hyper-aware over the next four years that he knows exactly who’s doing what, who needs to be reminded that we’re not going away, and who needs to be sure that we’re not giving in. He absolutely still has faith in the system, but he also knows that the system only works when we participate. Decisions are made by those who show up, so he’s showing up. Follow him on Twitter: @rjmedwed