Reports of the death of the Resistance have been exaggerated: analysis

Commentators declared the so-called Resistance “dead” and “futile” after President Donald Trump’s win in 2024, said Atlantic writer Quinta Jurecic. “The opposition movement against Trump had been embarrassing, ineffective, a performative failure that did nothing ‘besides making the #Resisters feel good about themselves,’ said critics.

But with the country now nine months into Trump’s second term Jurecic said “reports of the death of the Resistance turn out to have been exaggerated.”

“The movement looks different than it did the last time around. It’s more hard-bitten. But it retains the same underlying idealism about the American project that led first to the explosive growth of the coalition, and then to its dismissal by cynics.”

When Trump returned to the White House in 2025, the streets were quiet on Inauguration Day and immediately after, said Jurecic, and some on the right saw this as evidence of a “vibe shift,” a broader turn toward right-wing cultural dominance and away from liberal and progressive ideas.

“The rapid capitulation of major civic institutions, such as social-media companies and law firms, only emphasized the supposed shift,” said Jurecic, which contributed to an environment where resistance seemed pointless.

“Maybe even worse than pointless: It had been kind of cringe. Meaning: unself-conscious; overly sincere; insufficiently insulated from criticism by [a] protective layer of irony … and, worst of all, ineffective,” said Jurecic, referring to the rash of pink p—— hats and interpretive dancing peppering protests.

But the dismissals of the so-called cringe factor ignore why cringe was essential to the movement, said Jurecic. The people behind all the cringe were the kind of minds that believe in the rule of law.

“Cringe … can be a powerful tool with which to cut through the nihilism of Trump and those around him, which draws its power from its insincerity, its refusal to distinguish between truth and falsehood, its willingness to mock and degrade previously treasured beliefs,” said Jurecic. “As one protest sign put it at a demonstration early in Trump’s second term: BE CRINGE. SH—— MATTERS.”

“Idealism helped motivate Trump’s opponents during his first term,” Jurecic added. “But it has the potential to carry even more weight during his second, given how the president’s anti-democratic project is not as constrained as it was the first time around.”

The Trump administration appears to have certainly noticed his opposition this time. June protests got relatively little attention from Trump and congressional Republicans, but in October, the party “has busied itself” attacking the demonstrations as a “Hate America Rally.”

Read the Atlantic report at this link.