In our following episode, we speak with folks around the country about this unfolding reality. First, we catch up with Mia Wong, a journalist at It Could Happen Here, a daily podcast on Cool Zone Media about everyday resistance and the current crisis, then we speak with a participant in the publishing collective CrimethInc, about the emerging cracks in the current crisis and what this means about how we can respond, and finally we speak to folks in Olympia, WA and North Carolina about recent “Festival of Resistance” events that were organized in the lead up to Trump’s inauguration.

We are currently in the midst of a constitutional crisis. As we speak, the Trump administration is less than a month into its second term, and already the courts are running into roadblocks in their meager attempts to contain Trump’s blatant calls to disregard basic constitutional guard rails. As this is being recorded, multiple rulings by judges to stop the Trump administration freezing federal funds to basic government programs continue to be ignored. We are in the middle of the Rubicon being crossed: the executive branch is defying the orders of its own courts. What happens now is both determined by what people do and how the state responds to its own internal contradictions. Will the supreme court step in and side with Trump, or will the administration simply ignore any and all rulings, turning the state into a mechanism to carry out any and all of Trump’s dictatorial demands: as the US slips into an all out dictatorship with billionaires at the helm.

"Hundreds of Bakersfield area students walked out of classes Wednesday in protest of the Trump administration's policies on education and immigration, taking their flags, signs and shouts outside Kern County Superior Court on Truxtun Avenue." www.bakersfield.com/news/bakersf…

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T07:37:48.397Z

But resistance is building, and developing at various points of contestation. Across the country, as ICE ramps up deportations and is pushing to begin again deporting entire families and has begun setting up camps at Guantanamo bay, organizers are stepping up their organizing, forming Rapid Response Networks, organizing protests, and educating people about their rights. “Border Czar” Tom Homan even went on CNN recently to complain about people in Chicago being “too educated” about their rights, throwing a wrench into the gears of the deportation machine, as Trump demands increased numbers of removals. Communities in Colorado mobilized when ICE went door to door in an apartment complex at the center of far-Right conspiracies about “Venezuela gangs taking over” Aurora, CO, working to support working-class people targeted and documenting ICE abuses.

Eight Things You Can Do to Stop ICEcrimethinc.com/StopICEWe've produced a guide detailing many different ways you can act to prevent ICE from tearing families apart and terrorizing your community.This is also available as a PDF for printing. Please circulate these widely!

— CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective (@crimethinc.com) 2025-02-11T23:18:51.336Z

Meanwhile, thousands of people are taking to the streets against ICE, demanding an end to the raids, a strengthening of sanctuary city laws, and calling for solidarity with those targeted by the deportation machine. Most impressively, we’ve also seen weeks of student walkouts, most notably in Los Angeles, where hundreds of students across multiple schools have continued to carry out walkouts and rallies, writing anti-ICE slogans throughout the city. Mass protests have also led to clashes with police in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and beyond.

In multiple cities, thousands have also taken to the streets against Trump’s attacks on trans people, in an effort to call on hospitals to protect access to gender affirming care and resist the administrations draconian executive orders. Mass mobilizations have already taken place in Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlottesville, New York, and beyond.

Students Walk Out in Los Angeles: A Report from the Streetscrimethinc.com/2025LosAngelesAs Trump’s second term begins, some of the fiercest resistance is coming from the communities that Trump is threatening. In Los Angeles, students have engaged in weeks of walkouts against mass deportations.

— CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective (@crimethinc.com) 2025-02-13T09:01:26.705Z

Communities have also been pushing back against attempts by the far-Right to test these new waters. This past week, we saw folks in the historically Black neighborhood in Lincoln Heights, OH, arm themselves and push through a line of police to attack neo-Nazis who were being protected by law enforcement on a freeway overpass, holding automatic weapons and swastika flags. Community members burned one of their flags, wrecked one of their cars, and even left behind bullets spelling out the letters “LH” for Lincoln Heights.

Protests have also been taking place non-stop in Washington DC against Elon Musk and his team of far-Right minions, leading to some early attempts to blockade them from entering buildings and near constant rallies and protests by workers and their supporters.

Finally, demonstrations and acts of vandalism have also broken out against Tesla, with people calling for boycotts following Musk’s Nazi salute and move to dismantle and privatize social safety net programs. Several Tesla dealerships have been hit with graffiti and other forms of sabotage and there is currently a call for continued protests against Tesla on Saturday, February 15th.

With Trump back in power, neo-Nazi groups have been testing the waters, hoping to push communities they want to target into submission – instead people have been fighting back. Check out our roundup here: itsgoingdown.org/this-week-in…

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T10:11:36.105Z

We’re in scary territory, but also fertile grounds to organize in. People everywhere can see how the Democrats helped get us here and how their refusal to respond to demands from social movements and instead doubling down on expanding and militarizing the repressive functions of the state – who is now coming for everyone.

Music: 

Intros: Breakaway and Seaside Tryst