At a rainy protest in front of Senator Chuck Schumer’s office in midtown Manhattan Thursday, the target could be identified by the chants: “Elon Musk has got to go.” Organized by Indivisible, a volunteer-driven group of progressive Democrats and part of a larger nationwide effort to pressure senators, especially Democrats, to do more to stop Musk, an unelected billionaire, and his unauthorized interference with the very operations of government — probably unprecedented for a private citizen whose specific job in the administration has never been approved by Congress.
After an eerie silence during the first weeks of the second Trump administration, something like “the resistance” feels like it’s slowly coming back to life. And while we are in its earliest days, the effort seems more focused and politically mature, more informed by an understanding that oligarchy is the main enemy of the American people. Gone, thankfully, are the “pussy hats,” the childish name-calling (remember “Orange Man” and “Drumpf”?), and the paranoid anti-Russia conspiracy theories.
This pushback, though so far smaller in scale than at this time during Donald Trump’s first term, has been targeted and savvy in calling attention to the administration’s worst appointments and in its focus on Musk. Jacobin readers might roll their eyes at liberal groups like Indivisible, but they are the ones doing the work of opposition right now. And they’re not letting Democrats off the hook.
“Chuck Schumer, grow a spine,” the Midtown protesters threatened. “We won’t vote for you next time.”
As one of the signs at the Midtown protest pointed out, “No one voted 4 Musk,” and he isn’t popular. Democratic polling, even before his recent antics, found over half the population viewing him unfavorably. That anti-Musk sentiment is growing and is not limited to fervid MSNBC watchers.
At times, even many supporters of the MAGA movement have…
Auteur: Liza Featherstone
