Listening to Karline Leavitt the other day, I was impressed by how easily she brushed off protestors. She claimed that Trump has all the power.
This is what everyone gets wrong: We think power is the ability to fight and challenge each other one-on-one in a fair battle (or unfair battle, I suppose). But it isn’t. Power is influence; it is change; it is having an impact.
So, what does it take to claim power? How does one stand against a strongman? There are hundreds of examples in history, and the truth about what works and what doesn’t will probably surprise you.
And there is an interesting question I don’t know the answer to: the Trump-Musk Regime has been great at capturing the hearts and minds of their cult followers. When does the other side catch up? How will they (we) do it? Some of the answers exist in history, and this story starts in India, but first, why not subscribe?
And leave a comment - let me know what you think. I’m new to this whole thing so any feedback you have is very welcome.
And now…
Gandhi and Salt March
Everyone knows Mahatma Gandhi. But do we really understand what he did?
Most of the time, when we talk about power, we define it by force—who has the biggest guns, the most money, or the strongest political control. And that’s what Leavitt was implying: Trump has the power; the protesters have none.
But that’s not always how power works.
One of the best examples of this comes from Gandhi and the Salt March of 1930. If you’ve seen the movie Gandhi, you know this scene. If you haven’t—watch it. Or better yet, read the book. You won’t just learn about Gandhi; you’ll learn what’s possible.
At the time, the British controlled every aspect of Indian life—including the basics, like salt. Indians were banned from producing their own salt and could only buy it from the British, who taxed it heavily. And if you know anything about Indian cuisine, you know how important salt is—not just for flavor, but for survival.
So Gandhi did something audacious. He didn’t call for riots. He didn’t stage an armed rebellion. Instead, he walked.
For 24 days, Gandhi and his followers marched 240 miles to the Arabian Sea, gathering supporters along the way. And when they arrived? He did the unthinkable.
He picked up a handful of salt from the ground—and in doing so, broke the British Empire’s law.
That’s it. No weapons. No war. Just a simple act of defiance that shook an empire.
But it didn’t stop there.
Gandhi planned to escalate—to seize a British-controlled salt factory. The British called it a raid—but this was unlike any raid they’d ever seen.
The “Raid” That Wasn’t a Raid
Gandhi’s followers planned to simply walk in and take control of the saltworks. They had no weapons, no armor—just white dhotis, their traditional attire. But they prepared like an army:
* They organized in columns, moving forward in waves.
* They carried stretchers, knowing there would be injuries.
* They had a leader, Sarojini Naidu, since Gandhi was in jail.
On the other side? The British police. Armed with steel-tipped batons designed to break bones.
The first row of protesters marched forward.
The British beat them down.
The next row stepped forward.
They were beaten down, too.
Then another row. And another. And another.
No one fought back. No one raised a hand to defend themselves.
And the British didn’t stop.
American journalist Webb Miller witnessed the brutality. He described how the British soldiers knocked down protesters like bowling pins, one after another, in a mechanical, merciless fashion.
By the end, 320 were wounded. Two were dead.
The British still held the saltworks.
But they had lost.
How Nonviolence Defeats Violence
Gandhi and his followers refused to play by the British rules. The British wanted an armed rebellion—something they could crush with force. Instead, they got a moral catastrophe on the world stage.
Nonviolence exposes the truth. When an aggressor attacks an unarmed opponent, the moral authority shifts. The aggressor loses credibility—not just in the eyes of the world, but often in their own eyes.
In fact, many British soldiers suffered PTSD from these events. It turns out that beating defenseless people is psychologically damaging—even to the oppressor.
The 3.5% Rule – How Small Groups Create Change
This brings us to something fascinating—the 3.5% rule.
Political scientist Erica Chenoweth studied hundreds of movements over the last century and found something stunning:
* Nonviolent movements are twice as effective as violent ones.
* No movement that reached 3.5% participation ever failed.
That’s a small minority—but enough to tip the scales.
So, when we hear someone say “Trump has all the power”, the reality is:
No, he doesn’t. Power belongs to those who understand how to use it.
The Role of AI and Social Control
But there’s a counterpoint. Historically, governments struggled to maintain absolute control because they needed one enforcer for every citizen. That wasn’t scalable.
AI changes that.
With social networks policing thought and AI monitoring conversations, are we entering a world where dissent can be controlled more efficiently than ever before?
Joe, you told a story about an experiment where people in a waiting room stood up every time they heard a tone—just because others did. Over time, newcomers adopted the behavior without questioning it.
That’s what AI can do to society.
So the question is: Is nonviolence still enough in a world of AI-driven social control?
Final Thoughts – Where Do We Find Power?
Leavitt thinks power lies only in force. But history shows power is contextual.
Protesters in the streets may hold more power than the person in the Oval Office—if they know how to use it.
So here’s what to consider:
* Where in your life are you fighting the wrong battle?
* Where are you playing by the enemy’s rules instead of changing the game?
* Where are you accepting a false narrative of power?
And maybe most importantly, when do the take action to stop the destruction of our country.
Because at some point, if we don’t take action, if we don’t become the 3.5%, real change won’t happen.
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