HEROES OF THE RESISTANCE
The resistance to the Trump administration, Musk and DOGE, and the Republicans in Congress is growing. You are all heroes for whatever actions you’ve contributed to the resistance. There are some heroes that I would like to highlight, including federal workers, some who continue to diligently do their jobs despite the chaos, threats, and demeaning actions of the Trump administration and some who have resigned or resisted being fired to protest.
(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)
The resistance is growing. Thank you for your participation! Thank you for pushing back and supporting the resistance in whatever ways you can, from donating money to in-person protesting to honking or waving in support of protesters you’ve seen. I hope you’re seeing, hearing about, and feeling the resistance from many people in many ways. I hope you’ve contacted your members of Congress to ask them to block or protest onerous actions of the Trump administration.
I hope you’ve participated in, seen, or read about the town hall meetings where both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have gotten strong pushback from their constituents. I imagine you’ve heard that the Republican leaders in Congress have recommended that their members NOT hold town hall meetings because of all the negative feedback they’re getting. That’s the result of all the feedback you and others have been delivering in-person and via all the various communication modes.
You’re all heroes of the resistance!
Another hero is Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, who spoke to Trump directly at the National Prayer Service after his inauguration and asked him to show mercy for immigrants and LGBTQ+ individuals. I hope other religious leaders will call out the inhumanity of many of the actions of the Trump administration. I urge you to ask religious leaders you interact with to stand up and speak out.
I want to highlight for you a few of the heroes in our federal government workforce. But first I’d like to acknowledge and thank every federal worker who’s on the job every day working hard to serve the American people despite the demeaning rhetoric and threats from Trump, Musk, and others. Many of them are working to hold the Trump administration accountable, but unfortunately we will never know about most of them and what they’ve done on our behalf. It’s important to acknowledge that, despite threats and risks, many of them are doing heroic work. It’s good for them to know we’ve got their backs and for us to know they’re pushing back from the inside as we’re pushing back from the outside. See We the builders for more on federal workers and how they and their unions are pushing back.
Nicholas Enrich was the acting assistant administrator for global health at USAID until March 2 when he was abruptly put on leave. He is a hero for working to keep programs functioning despite a workforce slashed from 783 to less than 70. And despite the freeze on funding. Funds were supposedly freed up by temporary waivers from the Secretary of State for lifesaving assistance. Enrich tried repeatedly to make the waivers work but was blocked at every turn.
He and others wrote a series of memos, which became public, documenting what was happening and what the impact would be. Despite his diligent work, Enrich was put on leave. [1]
The memos share estimates that without USAID’s work and funding more than 16 million pregnant women and more than 11 million newborns will not get medical care; more than 14 million children will not get care for pneumonia and diarrhea (among the top causes of preventable deaths for children under the age of 5); 200,000 children will be paralyzed with polio; 1 million children will not be treated for severe malnutrition; and 2.3 million children a year will die because they will not get vaccinated. There will be at least an additional 12.5 million cases of malaria this year, leading to 71,000 to 166,000 avoidable deaths.
USAID leaders estimated there will be a roughly 30% increase in cases of tuberculosis (TB). The increased tuberculosis infections and disruptions to treatment will cause TB to develop drug resistance, making future treatment options more difficult and costly. This will inevitably lead to more cases in the U.S. USAID staff forecast about 80 additional cases of multi-drug-resistant TB in the U.S. each year as a result. These cases will cost the U.S. millions in tax dollars because it costs roughly $500,000 to treat someone with drug-resistant TB.
There are many judges and public prosecutors who are heroes. Among them are U.S. District Judge Amir Ali. He has now ordered the Trump administration four times to pay the $2 billion owed to USAID contractors. U.S. District Judges William Alsup, Amy Berman Jackson, James Bredan, Tanya Chutkan, Jesse Furman, Beryl Howell, and Lauren King are also heroes. [2]
Eight senior prosecutors at the Department of Justice (DOJ) resigned rather than present a motion to dismiss the charges against NY Mayor Eric Adams. Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, led the way by resigning when ordered by deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove to file for dismissal of the case against Adams, apparently in exchange for Adams’s agreement to help the Trump administration implement its anti-immigrant policies. Kevin Briscoll, John Keller, Hagan Scotten, and four others also resigned. [3]
Trump has attempted to fire 18 Inspector Generals (IGs) in various departments of the federal government. At least eight of them have filed suits claiming they were fired illegally. The IGs’ role is explicitly to ensure effective and efficient operation of their agencies by detecting and preventing waste, fraud, and abuse, while making recommendations for enhanced functioning. Their track records are impressive. Here’s a list of some of them and some highlights of their work: [4]
Robert Storch, Dept. of Defense, 281 reports, 970 recommendations, $10.8 billion impact.
Michael Missal, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 10,000 recommendations, $45 billion impact.
Christi Grimm, Dept. Health and Human Services, 1,300 reports, $18.5 billion impact.
Carde Richardson, Dept. of State, $17 million impact in 8 months.
Sandra Bruce, Dept. of Education, 739 recommendations, $1.2 billion impact.
Larry Turner, Labor Dept., 400 recommendations, $75 billion impact.
Mike Ware, Small Business Administration and acting at the Social Security Administration, $14 billion impact plus $30 billion seized or returned to the U.S. Treasury.
Paul Martin, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), documented the waste of funding and aid, as well as the impaired functioning of USAID, based on Musk’s interference and personnel cuts, among other things.
Phyllis Fong, Dept. of Agriculture, 7,250 reports, $19 billion impact. She refused to leave when fired and had to be dragged from her office. Among other things, she was investigating Musk’s company, Neuralink.
Here's a quick list of some other heroes: [5]
Denise Cheung, a senior DOJ attorney, resigned after refusing to launch a fraudulent criminal investigation into grantees of an environmental program.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Georgia District Attorney Fani Wills each prosecuted Trump despite threats and personal attacks.
Brian Driscoll, acting FBI Director, and his deputy, Robert Kissane, refused a DOJ order to assist in firing FBI employees who had investigated the January 6 insurrection.
Ellen Weintraub, chair of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), is resisting Trump’s illegal attempt to remove her.
Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel, which protects whistleblowers and enforces the prohibition on federal employees engaging in political activity, is suing Trump for firing him illegally.
Gwynne Wilcox, chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), is suing Trump for illegally firing her. By firing her, Trump made the NLRB unable to function because it lacks the quorum necessary to make decisions. By the way, there are 24 cases against Musk companies pending before the NLRB. (Note: She was recently reinstated by a judge’s ruling.)
And many, many more.
[1] Murphy, B., & Barry-Jester, A. M., 3/3/25, “Internal memos: Senior USAID leaders warned Trump appointees of hundreds of thousands of deaths from closing agency,” ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-rubio-usaid-musk-death-toll-malaria-polio-tuberculosis)
[2] Reich, R., 3/3/25, “The Trump-Vance-Musk-Putin manosphere,” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-trump-vance-musk-putin-manosphere)
[3] Ifill, S., 2/28/25, “When lawyers stand up,” The Contrarian (https://contrarian.substack.com/p/when-lawyers-stand-up)
[4] Rubin, J., 2/14/25, “Undaunted,” The Contrarian (https://contrarian.substack.com/p/undaunted-aea)
[5] Reich, R., 2/13/25, “Profiles in courage,” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/profiles-in-courage)