A loose-coalition of anti-Trump groups are planning ahead of November to try to resist actions they fear could be taken by a second potential Trump administration, by preparing lawsuits and planning to intervene in immigration raids.
According to a report by the New York Times, groups like the far-left Center for American Progress (CAP) and Never Trump groups such as Principles First are teaming up to prepare lawsuits to stop feared potential crackdowns on illegal immigration and abortion access, and efforts to reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy or use troops to restore order.
“What Trump and his acolytes are running on is an authoritarian playbook,” Patrick Gaspard, the chief executive of the CAP Action Fund, the political arm of the far-left think-tank, told the Times. “So now we have to democracy-proof our actual institutions and the values that we share.”
Some things the groups are working on include a conference at New York University next month on “Autocracy in America – A Warning and Response,” making plans on fighting deportation and creating a model for volunteers nationwide to record and intervene in immigration raids, drafting potential lawsuits, and recruiting sympathetic plaintiffs.
Democrat governors have formed a group called the Reproductive Freedom Alliance to organize resistance to any potential federal actions to limit abortions.
Founded by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the group is allegedly non-partisan, but only consists of Democrat governors. They are working together to plan lawsuits, pass shield laws to protect abortion providers and patients. They have even begun stockpiling mifepristone, the abortion pill.
The far-left Brennan Center for Justice has hired journalist Barton Gelman from the The Atlantic, a mouthpiece for the anti-Trump establishment in Washington, to “help with scenario planning and tabletop exercises focused on what could unfurl during a Trump presidency.”
Brennan Center President Michael Waldman told the Times they were planning in the case of both a Trump and Biden victory.
“For Biden, we are preparing for the chance to pass significant legislation strengthening the freedom to vote, and for Trump we are mapping out how to limit the damage from an epic era of abuse of power,” he said.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung blasted those efforts as an attempt to stymie he will of the American people should they re-elect Trump.
“It’s not surprising Biden and his cronies are working overtime to stymie the will of the American people after they vote to elect President Trump and his America First agenda,” he said. “Their devious actions are a direct threat to democracy.”
