Frustrated by Trump? Five concrete ways to take action

Channel your sadness, anger, and frustration into productivity

09 Sep 2016

  1. White liberals: You almost certainly know some Trump voters. They are your friends and family from back home. So don’t “hate Thanksgiving” and tune out the racism — understand, empathize, then use your privilege to persuade. You are our only hope for winning them over.

  2. Trump won because he got out the vote, so everyone needs to become politically active starting today. Register yourself for now. Once midterm elections come, travel to swing states to register voters, or call them if you can’t. Winning back Congress is the only way to slow Trump and maybe restore the Voting Rights Act.

  3. Donate to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, or many other organizations that protect rights. They’ll need it come January.

  4. Techies: Tim Cook grew up as a gay teen in 1970s Alabama. I hope you understand his obsession for end-to-end encryption and differential privacy now. Push your employer to redesign their systems around these, or one day your data might be used to round up Muslims.

  5. Parents and teachers: The Trump presidency can be a teachable moment. It’s important for kids to learn that power doesn’t make a person right.

Thanks for reading! If you’re enjoying my writing, I’d love to send you infrequent notifications for new posts via my newsletter. You’ll receive the full text of each post, plus occasional bonus content.

You can also follow me on Twitter (@kevinchen) or subscribe via RSS.