The first question is whether Trump is trying to overthrow our Constitution. For me, that question was answered on January 6, 2021, but different people have different red lines. Will it be when he ignores judicial orders? Imprisons his first political opponent? Sends American citizens to foreign jails? Meets peaceful protests with violence? I’m not here to draw that line for others—only to say that all of us must know where we think it is, and act accordingly once the line has been crossed.
The next step is what I call the Reichstag test. When evaluating what people in office are saying or doing, I imagine them as delegates to the Reichstag in 1932. Would I agree with their words and the compromises they are willing to make if they were made back then? Are they normalizing Trump, allowing him and his minions to define what it means to be an American? Or are they standing for the beliefs and values of the people they claim to represent?
I understand that many elected officials are struggling with how to respond. The stakes are enormous, the pressures intense, and the political system they were elected under seems to have fundamentally changed overnight. Many fear for their careers; some even fear for their safety. And frankly, I don’t care.
Democrats in office have been given a historic opportunity to defend our nation from perhaps the greatest assault on the Constitution since its inception. Their actions in the coming years will determine how history remembers them. We have the right to demand that they either rise to the occasion or step aside, no one is forcing them to stay in office. But if they choose to remain—if they choose to represent us—then they must choose to oppose Trump in every way possible.
