3 Steps to Defeating Trumpism

History's roadmap for reclaiming America's future

Let's be clear: the fight we're in is not new. The relentless assault on democratic norms, the fusion of corporate power with authoritarian rule, and the stoking of division for political gain—this is a familiar sickness in American history.

As we navigate the damage of Donald Trump's second term and organize to reclaim our country, it feels like we’re fighting in the dark. But we’re not.

A map was drawn for us over a century ago by the most unlikely of rebels: a Republican president named Theodore Roosevelt.

His story is not a comforting historical anecdote. It is a tactical blueprint for how to break the grip of a corrupt, wealthy elite and defeat the politics of resentment. It is the roadmap we need right now.

The World He Fought: The Gilded Age Then, The MAGA Era Now

Before Roosevelt, America was suffocating in its Gilded Age. It was a nation ruled by corporate oligarchs—the "Robber Barons"—who treated the U.S. government as their personal subsidiary.

They owned the railroads, the oil, the banks, and they bought the politicians needed to keep it that way. They slashed wages, crushed unions, and polluted the environment, all while hiding behind a smokescreen of social Darwinism, insisting that their wealth was a sign of their inherent superiority.

The political system was a corrupt farce. Party bosses installed cronies in office. The Supreme Court sided relentlessly with corporations.

A wave of populist anger simmered across the land, but it was often misdirected, manipulated, and ultimately ineffective. The average American felt powerless, watching a powerful few rig the system for themselves.

This is the world Trump and the modern GOP have resurrected. The Robber Barons are now the billionaire class and dark money donors who have captured our courts and political system.

The party bosses are the MAGA kingmakers who demand absolute loyalty to one man. The goal is the same: concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few, while using cultural grievances to keep the rest of us divided.

Roosevelt faced down this exact model of corruption and authoritarian creep, and his counter-attack provides a playbook for us today.

The Progressive Playbook: Three Steps to Take Back Power

Roosevelt didn’t just tweak the system; he took a sledgehammer to its foundations. He showed us how a fearless leader can rally the American people to break a corrupt power structure.

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Play #1: Reclaim Government and Wield It for the People

The Gilded Age elite believed the government worked for them. Roosevelt fundamentally rejected this. His first move was to use the power of the presidency to sue J.P. Morgan's railroad monopoly—the most powerful corporation on Earth.

When he won, he sent a clear message: No person, no corporation, and no political machine is more powerful than the will of the American people. He used the government as a weapon for the public, not against it.

• Today's Mission: A progressive leader cannot be afraid to use the full power of the executive branch and the Justice Department to prosecute corruption at the highest levels and to aggressively regulate the corporate monopolies - from Big Tech to Wall Street - that have enabled right-wing extremism.
  
  It's about fundamentally reasserting that the government's role is to protect its citizens, not the powerful.

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Play #2: Build a Coalition of the Many, Not the Privileged Few

During the 1902 Coal Strike, Roosevelt defied a century of precedent. Instead of sending troops to break the union, he threatened to send troops to seize the mines from the wealthy owners. He sided with the workers.

This was the foundation of his "Square Deal"—the radical idea that a working person deserved as much consideration from the government as a corporate titan. He built a new political coalition based on economic justice for the masses.

• Today's Mission: We must reject the right's cynical culture wars and build a multiracial, working-class coalition united by economic self-interest.
  
  The path to defeating Trumpism is to champion unions, fight for a living wage, demand fair taxes on the rich, and prove to struggling Americans of all backgrounds that progressives are the only ones truly fighting for their economic future.

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Play #3: Defend the Public Trust and Our Shared Future

Roosevelt looked at America's natural wonders and saw a public trust to be protected from corporate greed. His conservation movement saved over 230 million acres of land for all time.

He understood that a nation's true wealth lies in the commons—the resources, institutions, and values that belong to everyone.

• Today's Mission: Our "commons" are under direct assault. They include not only our planet, threatened by the climate crisis, but the very foundations of our democracy: the right to vote, the rule of law, and the peaceful transfer of power.
  
  A progressive agenda must be centered on a fierce, unapologetic defense of these shared goods. This means passing a new Voting Rights Act, fighting for climate justice as a national emergency, and restoring the democratic institutions that the authoritarian right seeks to dismantle.

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The Path Forward is a Fight

Theodore Roosevelt's legacy is not a call for bipartisan compromise with a movement that rejects democracy. It is a call to arms.

It is a reminder that the only way to beat back a corrupt, authoritarian faction is with a fearless, populist movement of our own—one based on economic justice, democratic renewal, and a vision of a future that serves all of us, not just a wealthy and powerful few.

The MAGA movement is a dead end. It offers nothing but grievance and regression. The Roosevelt roadmap shows us the way forward, a path forged not in fear, but in the audacious belief that a government of, by, and for the people is still worth fighting for.