The Battle Against Trump 2.0 Begins in the States
Tim Dickinson Rolling Stone
Protesters carry signs condeming Trump's racism. (photo: Getty)
Democratic governors are talking a tough game against the incoming administration — and activists are determined to hold them to their promises
In the days following the 2024 election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared he’d invoke a special session of the state legislature to help Trump-proof the Golden State. Gov. Tim Walz, the vanquished vice presidential candidate, returned home quoting Bob Dylan — promising Minnesota would be a “shelter from the storm” — and pledging to “stand up and fight” Trump’s “hateful agenda.” Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois delivered a message directly to Trump: “You come for my people, you come through me.”
For the governors, talking tough to Trump mixes principle, policy, and — of course — politics. The leaders who can match their rhetoric to real action, foiling the 47th president, will not only protect their states’ residents, but also boost their national profile at a rare moment when the Democratic Party doesn’t have a clear, next-in-line leader. “They’re all jockeying. They see an opportunity here, and they should see an opportunity,” says Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, the progressive grassroots giant with more than 2,000 chapters across the country. (Contrary to recent media narratives about a deflated Trump opposition, Indivisible has seen a surge in new activists rivaling the group’s launch in the aftermath of Trump’s 2016 victory.) “I would like to see blue-state governors trying to outdo each other,” says Levin, “pushing back against Trump 2.0.”
Even Democratic governors of red states are pledging to block damaging Trump rollbacks. Kentucky voted nearly 2-to-1 for Trump in November, and Gov. Andy Beshear tells Rolling Stone he’s not spoiling for a fight and can work with Trump when it benefits his state. But he points to his record as Kentucky’s attorney general during the first Trump administration: “I was one of the main plaintiffs defending the Affordable Care Act. That expanded Medicaid, brought health care coverage to 600,000 Kentuckians,” says Beshear, who made the short list for Kamala Harris’ vice presidential nominee and is seen as a strong 2024 presidential contender. “So you can bet, if they try to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, I’m going to be on the front lines defending it once again.”
Rising stars in the ranks of state attorneys general also see opportunity in their obligations — as they position themselves as a first line of defense against Trump’s overreach. “The best antidote to the threats is readiness,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta tells Rolling Stone. His team has been poring over the agenda laid out in Project 2025, the playbook for a second Trump term spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, and preparing litigation to respond — including on “immigration, the environment, gun safety, reproductive freedom,” and other civil rights.
Bonta says, “All we have to do is cross the T’s, dot the I’s, press print, and file.”
Governors Banding Together
Among governors, Pritzker has been out in front — positioning himself as the blue-state anti-Trump. The Hyatt hotel heir is a billionaire himself, worth nearly $4 billion, which counts as fuck-you money in an age when opposing Trump can carry significant costs, from increased security to the risk of retaliatory litigation, or “lawfare.”
In November, Pritzker launched a new organization, called Governors Safeguarding Democracy, that seeks to unify state-based opposition to Trump’s agenda. Unveiled with co-chair Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, GSD is built for “pushing back against increasing threats of autocracy,” Pritzker says. Polis expanded on the group’s purpose in an interview with Rolling Stone: “We’re all facing a potential onslaught; let’s pool together so we can share a common response.”
That “onslaught” includes Trump threats to revoke funding from states that don’t follow his reactionary agenda on erasing transgender identity from public education, or to block federal disaster aid from states that don’t loosen environmental protections. Safeguarding residents from ICE is also a priority. “We won’t cooperate with any federal efforts — especially illegal federal efforts that separate families — to deport hardworking, de facto Americans who’ve been here for decades,” Polis says. The group will also focus on “fortifying the institutions of democracy that our country and our states depend upon,” Pritzker says — whether that’s local election boards or state courts.
The governors group has not unveiled a roster of member states, but Rolling Stone has learned that more than 20 are involved. The group’s advisory board includes a formidable, bipartisan brain trust of former governors — Deval Patrick (D-Mass.), Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.), Bill Weld (R-Mass.), and Arne Carlson (R-Minn.) — as well as former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
GSD is currently probing how states can lock down databases to prevent the Trump administration from tracking undocumented immigrants who have received state driver licenses, for example, or from targeting activists who are arrested while protesting. Behind the scenes, GSD has been prepping states for the fallout from Supreme Court rulings that have undermined federal regulatory agencies, says Julia Spiegel, a former aide to Newsom who is GSD’s top administrator. “Anything from clean air and water to safe medication is potentially under attack now,” she says. “What are states going to do to create the regulatory infrastructure if the federal government is no longer going to be able to do it? Governors are working together to address these big questions — to make sure their state institutions can protect and provide the things of daily life that matter to people most.”
GSD is modeled on the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, which saw Democratic governors unite in defense of reproductive rights after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. That included organizing bulk purchases of abortion drugs — negotiated at a discount by the state with the largest purchasing power, California. The alliance also developed legislation, for introduction by member states, to safeguard the privacy of women who travel for abortion care and that of the doctors who treat them.
At the press conference launching GSD, Pritzker emphasized the need to remain agile and “swiftly respond to emerging threats.” Pressed for details, he insisted that a proposal by Trump adviser Stephen Miller to deploy National Guard troops from Republican-led states inside “unfriendly” blue states, as part of a mass deportation regime, represented “exactly the kind of question that [GSD] would be considering.” Pritzker insisted that the proposal was illegal — and Illinois “would certainly not cooperate.”
Holding Them to It
Activist leaders welcome such bold promises, but worry about empty grandstanding. “It is encouraging to see a lot of blue-state governors talking the talk. But we need to see them walk the walk,” says Levin. This is particularly true in the 15 states where Democrats control the governorship and the state legislature. “It’s not our job to tell Gavin Newsom, or Jared Polis, or JB Pritzker, ‘This is what you should do,’” Levin says. “It’s our job to say, ‘You better be fighting back with everything you got.’”
Polis has already emerged as a problematic figure in the view of many progressives. He is a former congressman and tech executive, with a libertarian bent, who is worth $400 million and could make a credible 2028 candidate. But the same week he garnered headlines as a leader of the Trump resistance, Polis lavished praise on the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary.
“That is the kind of appeasement of Trump that’s really dangerous,” Levin says. “It’s bad on its merits — because RFK Jr. is a wackadoodle who is going to do great harm to this country with his anti-science, anti-vax ideas.” But it’s also bad as a matter of opposition politics, Levin says: “Polis is creating a permission structure for other Democrats who would like to not do hard things.”
In fact, many blue-state Democratic governors have been striking an accommodating tone with Trump. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul touted issues she hopes the new administration will work on with her, including increasing federal tax deductions for wealthy state residents. She also declared, “I’ll be the first to call up ICE” to deport undocumented immigrants who break the law. (Hochul did not respond to an interview request.) In New Jersey, where Trump lost by just five percent, Gov. Phil Murphy has vowed to “seize” opportunities for collaboration with Trump “as fast as anybody.” (In an awkward straddle, Murphy also pledged to “fight to the death” if Trump violates the state’s values.)
Polis received withering criticism for embracing Kennedy, and Levin hopes the liberal blowback will steel other lawmakers against cozying up to Trump: “This isn’t the way. There’s not a pathway here if you want to become the next president,” he says. “You can say ‘No.’ When it comes to fascism, ‘No’ is a complete sentence.” (Asked by Rolling Stone to explain his seemingly incongruent support of an extreme Trump Cabinet appointee, Polis deflected, arguing that the purpose of GSD “isn’t specifically to oppose the Trump administration.”)
Trump appointees like “border czar” Tom Homan have vowed the new administration will lead a campaign of “shock and awe” out of the gates in late January. For grassroots groups, the battle plan is to throw up as many roadblocks as possible in an attempt to limit the damage.
They have no shortage of engaged activists. Since its formation in 2016, Indivisible has helped shape “resistance” politics with a famous field guide on how to effectively pressure elected officials. Indivisible has updated that guide for 2024, unveiling the new manual in a November Zoom call that drew 40,000 participants.
This surge of activist engagement is widespread. Amanda Litman is the co-founder of Run for Something, which recruits young progressives to seek office. She says her group has seen a record surge in the wake of Trump’s reelection, with more than 11,000 people signing a pledge to run for office in their own communities. “That’s the place where we can do the most good,” Litman says, “and also stop the most harm.”
Much of what Trump wants to accomplish requires maneuvering legislation through a tightly divided Congress, and that should give activists hope, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said on the Indivisible call. She pointed to the unlikely defense of Obamacare in 2017, when Republicans held larger margins in Congress. “Anybody who was going to bet money was going to say, ‘It’s gone. Just kiss it all goodbye,’” Warren said. But the ACA survived because activists cajoled key Republicans into standing against Trump. “We get things done with an inside-outside game,” Warren told the activists. “Either one is powerful, but together, they are multiples more powerful.”
Leah Greenberg, Indivisible’s other co-founder, underscored that there is both power and safety in solidarity, particularly when it comes to opposing the parts of the Trump agenda where he can act alone — like initiating mass deportation. “If millions of people are out there saying ‘No,’ saying, ‘This is not what our country should be,’ that raises the cost of repression,” Greenberg said.
“Our work,” Greenberg continued, “is defining Trump 2.0 and its apologists by their worst and their most devastating policies. It begins now.”
State AGs Gear Up
While activists are readying to oppose Trump in the streets, perhaps the most promising preparation comes from state attorneys general who are ready to take Trump to court.
Trump’s 2016 victory caught many state attorneys general flat-footed. That’s not the case for Trump 2.0. “We are light-years ahead of where we were when Trump was first coming into office,” Bob Ferguson tells Rolling Stone. Ferguson is Washington state’s outgoing attorney general — who has just been elected its governor. He served through the entirety of Trump 1.0 and has the battle scars to prove it. Ferguson filed the lawsuit that blocked Trump’s initial “Muslim ban” — a 2017 prohibition on people entering the United States from seven majority-Muslim countries.
Trump ultimately faced more than 150 multistate lawsuits — a record — which curbed many abuses, including family separations at the border. Ferguson insists that Democratic attorneys general are organized and unified — and strongest when they act together, recalling one case, defending an environmental regulation, when 17 states showed up in court: “That was persuasive.”
California Attorney General Bonta has no interest in Trump’s supposed mandate. “More Californians voted for Steve Garvey than voted for Mr. Trump,” he says, pointing to the former L.A. Dodgers star who got trounced as the state’s GOP Senate candidate. “California does not want what Trump is doing, and we will push back and fight back with all of our authority.” (The Golden State, it should be noted, was not enthusiastic about what California native Harris had to offer; she received 1.8 million fewer votes than Joe Biden did four years ago — accounting for most of her popular-vote defeat.)
The special legislative session called by Newsom in early December — whom Trump lambastes as “Newscum” — proposed a $25 million boost to the state’s legal team as it prepares to go toe-to-toe with Trump. California had a strong track record against Trump 1.0, fending off attacks on mandates for zero-emission vehicles, for example, and protecting DACA — the program safeguarding undocumented people brought to the United States as children from deportation. “We are ready to do that again if there’s any attack on lawfully present immigrants,” Bonta says, “or U.S. citizens.”
Reproductive freedoms are top of mind. This includes the dark prospect of a national abortion ban, Bonta says, insisting his team has already been preparing “arguments and identifying the pathways for a challenge.” Just as conservatives steered lawsuits against Biden policies through ideologically sympathetic courts — hoping to reach the archconservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals — Bonta is also strategizing about favorable court venues: “We’ve given it thought,” he says, “where to file.”
Unlike in 2016, the nation’s highest court is now dominated by a conservative supermajority that has shown extreme deference to Trump. “That’s important for sure,” Ferguson concedes, but he underscores that lower courts have recently been stocked with Biden appointees, and that during Trump 1.0, “only a fraction of the litigation ended up at the U.S. Supreme Court.”
As Washington’s governor-elect, Ferguson takes seriously the threats by Trump to strip federal funding from states. But he also has confidence that such defunding is “easier said than done.” He points to a court victory that blocked Trump from stripping funding for a military base in Washington state and reallocating it to constructing the border wall.
Ferguson raises the concerning prospect that a second Trump administration may also be better prepared — and able to “tighten up” some of the “sloppy” legal work that made Trump 1.0 easier to defeat. Then again, Ferguson says, that may be giving Trump too much credit. “From what I’ve seen so far from President Trump, in the rollout of his Cabinet, it’s more of the same,” he says. “If he’s rolling out executive orders in the way he rolled out Matthew Gaetz, he’s going to get beat in court.”
