Op-Ed: Searching for resistance and hope in 2026
February 2, 2026 | By John Bossange
Every day, I admire patriotic Americans who give us hope by demonstrating against the radical Trump dictatorship.
I’m struggling to imagine an effective coalition of massive peaceful resistance that could topple President Trump’s oligarchy, even after the recent tragic shootings by ICE in Minneapolis. This worries me and should worry all Vermonters. ICE is here, and our state could easily become another Minnesota, targeted because of our compassion for immigrants and our long-standing resistance to ultra-right-wing politics.
A dictator controls the important levers and, right now, MAGA has its thumb on all of them, creating its own self-serving anarchy and chaos. The actions of ICE are a perfect example of this. Unfortunately, there is little effective resistance coming from the press, Congress, the military or the courts. They have been silenced by threats, neutered, or stocked with personnel from the massive Heritage Foundation’s bullpen of MAGA loyalists recruited over the past decades.
Fear is dominant and in control today, poisoning American democracy and culture, and silencing too many of us. And as we know, fear is the core operating gear of fascism, no matter the dictator.
Given what’s occurred so far, it will take time to return America to its imperfect and forever-evolving democratic experiment. What frightens me the most is that we may not have time before the dictatorship is fully institutionalized into our culture and becomes tolerated as the new normal.
Maybe Trump’s financial billionaire donors will begin to turn on him because he has imposed more drastic tariffs and shredded long-standing and profitable global alliances with America’s traditional trading partners. This will cause their European and Asian investments to tank, and that would be a serious blow, especially if the Trump family fortune continues to grow at the same time.
Many economic partners are pulling away from the United States to conduct their financial business and relationship building elsewhere. Would their financial losses cause those donors to form a powerful group of resistance to topple the dictatorship? I can’t see it. Billionaires negotiating with other billionaires will keep all of them happy.
Secondly, I’m not sure if there will ever be enough infighting between Trump’s inner cabinet members, family, and supporters to cause an implosion. Given the self-serving, ideologically driven egomaniacs fighting over issues of control and positions of power within the White House and the MAGA world, it is still a possibility. That’s why some dictatorships have collapsed. But I’m not counting on that happening here. People are making too much money off the presidency.
Thirdly, we could use some help from the MAGA evangelical community. I always thought that sooner rather than later, good devout Christians would realize that God would never send a racist, misogynistic, antisemitic felon anywhere to promote the teachings of Christ. Jesus would have nothing to do with President Trump or his Proud Boys now wearing ICE gear. But given the tribal nature of most religions, I can’t envision the evangelical community turning on the president any time soon.
Finally, is the president’s declining mental health and growing erratic behavior, recently witnessed at the Davos conference, a concern for the Heritage Foundation?
Who knows? For many, the president’s age and health issues are quickly catching up to him, and he has become embarrassing to watch. But the foundation leadership may see his rants and lies as a welcome distraction as they rob our treasury, defund programs Americans depend on, deregulate government oversight, and privatize essential services for profit.
In 1781, America won the Revolutionary War primarily because we had enough courageous patriots who resisted a British king. Their resistance persevered, and eventually, we were able to unite as a country. We will need another large group of courageous patriots to resist in 2026. I don’t see any other force out there to end this madness. My searching is done.
It’s up to the American people again. Please get out and get involved. This is my hope. Demonstrate peacefully, however you can. Living under dictatorship is not who we are. ICE is not who we are. Tolerating a president like Trump is not who we are. And a passive citizenry is not who we have ever been.
Resistance works. Find your way.
We are all that’s left to restore our Constitution and our democracy.
John Bossange is a resident of South Burlington.