What can I actually DO about Trump?

[FusionChefGeoff]

I feel as if I am living in a parallel universe. My incredibly naieve hopes that it was all campaign hyperbole and his excesses would be curbed by advisors / the senate have been trashed and here seems to be no limit to what he can / will do next.

With 2 young kids and a freelance job which bills on hours worked, I'm time poor but desperate to do something rather than sit back, shaking my head sadly whilst the free world slowly goes down the toilet.

But I am clueless (see above) about the machinations of politics and what is a good route to effective protest seeing as it's not my country.

Any point writing to my MP? Any petition signing likely to do anything?? Any particular action / campaign groups I could get in touch / involved with?

[FreeNiki]

Half of the US electorate wanted this man as their leader. It's their decision.

I am more concerned about whether there will be a NHS when I am old or a minimum state pension.

Trump is not our leader and cannot serve more than 2 terms whereas the NHS collpasing is a big problem for this country.

[FreeNiki]

Nothing can be done. We are not Americans we have no say in who they voted for and no power to overturn his election.

He will dig his own grave. I dont know why peolple aren't out demonstrating about home grown issues such as our NHS, etc.

Forget Trump. Not our country and not our president and there is nothing we can do.

[lljkk]

Donations to the ACLU are a good idea.

Marches may be ongoing & the continuing protests will keep media interest up. There's talk of a Scientists' March on Washington, I am hopeing for a UK / London version I can join.

GrabYourWallet keeps a list of companies to boycott, that have supported Lord Dampnut. Crap, there's a chocolate shop in my hometown on that list.

I feel like an idiot b/c we bought something from Amazon last night & something was niggling at me not to... argh, but Amazon is more a marketplace. No point in hurting the other sellers who have nothing to do with Trumpery.

[OneWayTicketToMars]

There is also a Stop Trump protest being organised

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/stop-trump-protest-thousands-to-stage-demo-on-day-mps-debate-us-presidents-state-visit-a3456336.html

[OneWayTicketToMars]

Okay, feeling more positive today! There are a lot of good people on this thread and in RL with good intentions, I think the best thing we can do now is show our support against racism. If anyone is in London, please join the march on Saturday at 11am outside the US embassy.

[JosefK]

I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to assassinate him.

[shovetheholly]

"wouldn't it be awesome if he literally just exploded - pop - with all that anger while on telly. Very South Park."

Or spontaneously combusted.

An autopsy would reveal that prolonged use of fake tan and a heart that is dry and shrivelled make you go up like a tinderbox.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I get a bit nervous about foreign donations, we can lobby our government to intervene when another country goes too far, we can protest here to show worldwide condemnation of another countries actions, but to deliberately help fund political parties in another country? I think that interferes with their sovereignty in a way that makes me deeply uncomfortable.

[MsAmerica]

Are people outside the U.S. permitted to make small donations, either to candidates? If so, the next step it so ensure the election of Democrats in Congress. Failing that, contributions to particular organizations or businesses, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, The Nation magazine, etc.

[cdtaylornats]

We had Martin McGuiness and Jerry Adams here and as leaders of Northern Ireland compared to them Trump is fine, he hasn't murdered anyone.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

wouldn't it be awesome if he literally just exploded - pop - with all that anger while on telly. Very South Park.

[smilingmind]

What frightens me is that Trump is being used as a puppet.
Hillary Clinton said by Putin.
I don't know enough to comment on who but believe he doesn't have the ability to make informed decisions and if those with a different agenda are making them it is very frightening.

[Efferlunt]

Directly I'm going to subscribe to the New York Times which seems to really be devoting all its journalistic resources to report on some part the things that are going on in this administration.

Indirectly I'm also going to do everything legally possible to campaign to stay in the EU while they are separate issues I think we are so much weaker without the EU it leaves us with no choice but to behave in this boot licking way towards Trump. He's not going to do us any favours in return.

[ExitPursuedBySpartacus]

I keep expecting Trump to explode on live tv, like a hideously bloated cartoon character.

Sadly he appears to be all too real.

I can't see him lasting long though.

[throwingpebbles]

And we can ensure we educate our children too. This book looks great:
<a class="break-all" href="//www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1847806635/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">//www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1847806635/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[throwingpebbles]

Good suggestions here: www.scarymommy.com/muslim-ban-how-you-can-help/?utm_source=FB

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Exit, one difference between the States and China, is that no one is holding up China as a fine example. Unfortunately, many here are holding up Trump as a fine example and are pushing for us to follow them.

China does not have a history of upholding human rights for a long time. The US does (though imperfectly, just as we do imperfectly), we need to do our bit to make sure that the US is not lost to fascism.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

One thing we can do is fight against our government and certain papers either overtly or tacitly supporting him. Our country is going to end up helping enable his foreign policy. We won't be winners in it, there is no special relationship as far as the US is concerned, Trump did not say let's make America and the UK great again.

There's a demo on Saturday, starting at 11am outside the US Embassy, marching to Downing street. Parts of the government are listening to us - they held a three hour emergency debate yesterday. If we had all stayed silent, that would not have happened.

Write to your mp, ask them to denounce the ban. Start a local facebook campaign, get others on side. Keep it peaceful, keep it polite, but keep it strong. Denounce fear, hate and othering wherever you see it. Talk to your children, not about fear, but about being against bullying, encourage them to stand up for what is right.

[shovetheholly]

I think resistance can be fun too.

I am contemplating advertising a circus where refugees are imported from the camps they are living in on the continent to be fed to tigers for entertainment. The point being to draw attention to the glaring chasm in moral thinking about immigration: that the good Daily Mail reading section of the populace will be outraged at this violation of human rights, but not at the appalling situation in which these people are being left in camps.

[JellyWitch]

I intend to email my MP and donate to ACLU as well as giving moral support to my American friends who are horrified by this turn of events.

[throwingpebbles]

I hope you are right josef either way, the worst thing any of us can do is "nothing"

[JosefK]

I didn't mean to suggest not to worry. You're right that Trump commands a terrifying level of power.

However, the military are largely opposed to him as are the US intelligence services. They will want him gone because he is a liability.

Trump is not the kind of diabolically intelligent demagogue that could build a new quasi-fascist order. He is an idiot.

It's like a cross between a none too bright neo-Nazi thug and Homer Simpson has been elected leader of the free world.

[MakingMerry]

I hope you're right, JosefK, because his actions seem out of touch with reality to me. However, I don't think Trump will be impeached without civil society protest in the US. I think there's a risk with saying 'don't worry, he's not tenable as a president' that it suggests people don't have to do anything. Trump may not have huge armies but he is still in charge of the world's most powerful military and while he may not have the support of the networked under 40s, he does have the power and the capital of the oil industry behind him. Neither of those things are negligible.

There's also the issue, as I think I said upthread, that his behaviour is so extreme that it normalises anything which falls short of it, so that in the UK - 'it's not as bad as Trump' could be used to justify policies which otherwise might never get off the ground. Even if he's only in power a year, that's a lot of legislation which could end up on the statute book and it's much harder to repeal a policy once it's enacted. So I do think if people in the UK are worried, the time to contact their MPs is now, rather than waiting for a year to see what happens.

[JosefK]

I understand yourr fears, but you should rest assured that Trump's presidency is not tenable. He cannot last.

His travel ban has not only already incured the vehment opposition of Democrats, but a fair few Republicans.

What is more, he cannot impose a mid-twentieth century style of autocratic nationalism in an interconnected modern world. He thinks he can be like Assad and Putin, but Russian and Syria are culturally very different places to the US - places that have never known democracy.

In the West it is different now. Hitler and Mussolini had big militarised power bases. Trump's power base consists of a small inner circle of cranks and corporate bandits. His support predominantly comes from a white, rural, disenfranchised demographic who voted for him out of misguided desperation.

He will find himself up against the reality of a globalised world (with all its good and bad sides) and internet-empowered under 40's who will not tolerate his craziness.

Although it's obviously awful, in another sense it is good that he is doing completely derranged stuff within his first week, because if he carries on like this he will be impeached.

I give him a year tops.