MAGA one year before the 2026 elections

This is the first of a three-part series assessing MAGA, developing anti-fascist strategies, and organizing for democracy and affordability in Maine and nationally.

Trump’s had a bad month so far. Although Senate Democrats caved on the shut down, Trump’s numbers have slipped as many voters blame the Republicans for SNAP cuts, federal layoffs and furloughs, and airport chaos. Yucking it up with Saudi Prince MBS failed to distract from his disorganized retreat on the Eptsein files, MTG’s mid-term resignation, and early Wall Street wobbles. Meanwhile, there is a noticeable shift in mood on the left. Katie Wilson won big in Seattle… as did centrists in New Jersey and Virginia. Mainers crushed a Republican referendum to suppress voting rights. Millions turned out for No Kings! rallies in October and significant and sustained opposition to ICE invasions has thrown sand into the gears of Trump’s pet militia. Trump’s chummy approach to his meetup with Zohran Mamdani might indicate he’s feeling vulnerable on the affordability front. All this is to the good, but don’t count MAGA out. 

Trump has accumulated a great deal of power. He has succeeded in remaking the Republican Party into a far-right machine and has done lasting damage to the liberal welfare state. He has remade NATO, crippled the Iranian challenge, and is openly pushing for a coup in Venezuela. The Supreme Court rubber-stamps 90% of what he does. And there is more to come. It is easier to destroy than to build. Moreover, Trump and the MAGA right are building a purified imperialist administrative state that will not “go back to normal” even if Schumer and Jeffries claw back a narrow majority in the House. There is little prospect in the short term for completely reversing Trump’s cuts and evisceration of democratic rights, and even dimmer prospects for reforms and spending on the (limited) scale of Biden’s (failed) Build Back Better.

No one has a crystal ball, but it’s worth thinking through potential scenarios. 

[Read next: Mainers don’t want Janet Mills for Senate]

The first scenario—and the most likely to my mind—is a Reagan-to-Bush-to-Clinton trajectory, that is, frontal Republican attacks on unions, civil rights, and democracy followed by centrist Democratic modifications of the worst excesses. Those modifications will come as a relief, but the danger lies in accepting a “new normal.” Clinton did little to undue Reaganism. Newsom, Shapiro, and Whitmer offer no systemic solutions to the problems ordinary families confront today. Mamdani and Wilson—along with Brandon Johnson in Chicago—may serve as major or minor outliers in fighting for pro-worker reforms, but these will not be championed at the federal level by the Democratic Establishment. Furthermore, the Supreme Court stands ready to strike down any transformative efforts that happen to sneak through. 

The second most likely scenario is a third Trump term, whether headed by Trump himself or his heir. We should not underestimate the MAGA elite’s determination to hang on to power by any means, legal or otherwise. A recession may undo them temporarily, but Reagan used the 1982 recession to smash unions, strip social spending, demoralize his opponents, and consolidate his popular and ruling-class support. Authoritarian figures are often able to ride out chaotic circumstances as long as there is no coherent alternative. If you had to bet on Schumer or Trump in a political brawl, who do you think would come out on top?

A third scenario could open up with a massive electoral rejection of MAGA in 2026 and some initial rise in social struggle, leading to an AOC-type victory in the presidential primary and a related qualitative shift in the level of class struggle, perhaps anchored by a national strike on May Day 2028. This scenario poses the greatest threat to the billionaires as a class and MAGAism as a movement. It’s the perspective we should fight for, but it’s also the least likely outcome in my view. Why? 

Despite Trump’s wobbles, the underlying balance of forces between the oligarchy and the working class still tilts strongly in favor of the rich. The billionaires tolerated the liberal welfare state—expansive public education, civil rights legislation, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—for a long period. From Reagan to Obama, both parties hacked away (sometimes drastically) at it over the long neoliberal era, but they did not eradicate it. The billionaires adapted and learned to get what they needed from the state under the given circumstances as they paid ever diminishing taxes in exchange for social control at home and global control abroad. 

Trump has opened a new path for them. And they are demonstrating an inclination to rule in a different way. They are not only surrendering to Trump out of moral cowardice, they are also plowing trillions into AI, oil, banking, military production, etc. Lip service to climate change is out, an ugly feeding frenzy is in. The bankers are sensing hundreds of billions in windfall profits by privatizing Social Security and public education. Besting China and breaking unions are their organizing principles and nearly a trillion dollars a year in military funds will buy off any “constitutional” brass in the Pentagon. The billionaires might have been slow to Trump’s party, but they’re drinking from the punch bowl now.

Against this juggernaut, elites in the liberal political class are unable to imagine a world beyond free-market neoliberalism. Like the billionaires, Schumer and Jeffries are not only political cowards, they see incentives for their own social layer in containing the resistance to those strategies that land them back in charge. This makes them a weak force in the face of Trump’s lust for power. However, they are not without resources: they have practically unlimited money, a small stable of national Democratic politicians who have figured out they must at least posture as radically anti-Trump, and, most importantly, no more than the beginnings of an organized opposition to their left. 

[Read next: The case for Troy Jackson]

Despite some recent counterexamples (Mamdani, UAW stand up strikes, ICE protests, etc.), the U.S. working class remains fractured. A historical process of sustained class struggle is the only means to construct new consciousness and mass organizations. This process could develop relatively quickly (several years), but we are starting from a very low level of organization, so it will most likely be more drawn out than in previous periods of heightened class struggle in the U.S. (1905–1919 or 1933–1938, for instance). There are other enormous challenges, including social media spectacle, generational activist discontinuity, the dispersion of working-class life, robber barons’ ability to withstand company-specific strikes, international production and distribution, etc. None of that is insurmountable, but it speaks to the continuing vulnerability of class-based challenges to both liberalism and MAGAism.

Socialists argue that fascism is a counterrevolutionary, extraparliamentary movement posing falsely as a challenge to capitalism. However, once they come to power, fascists rule in the interest of, and with the support of, the capitalist class. These two aspects must be considered simultaneously. In Germany, the fascist movement came before the fascist state. However, Italian fascism came to power earlier as a political force several years before it succeeded in completely remaking the state in its own image. For instance, resistance leader Antonio Gramsci retained his parliamentary immunity until 1926, four years after Mussolini’s assumption of power. In the Spanish, Chilean, and Argentine cases, varying combinations of fascist movements and military maneuvers via the armed forces led to fascist (or fascist-type) states. The German and Italian cases might be classified as “fascism from below,” while the Spanish, Chilean, and Argentine cases may be classified as “fascism from above.” The Jim Crow State in the U.S. and Modi’s India represent varieties of the species.

In my mind, what matters most here is directionality. It is less important to classify MAGA as a “fully” fascist movement and more useful to determine its potential to move in that direction. In my view, Mamdani was right, “yes,” Trump is a fascist. But does it matter how we define MAGA?

Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War, “Know thy enemy and know yourself and you will not be defeated in one hundred battles.” No one bats 1.000, but his point stands. If Trump and MAGAism are lurching towards fascism, we need to study their strengths and weaknesses, redress our own shortcomings, and develop specific initiatives to drive a wedge into their base. 

I will return to this question next week in Part 2 with some lessons from past generations and strategies we can pursue today to shift the balance of forces in favor of the working class.

[Read next: No Kings! speech by Portland city councilor Wes Pelletier]

#fascism #lifeInMaine #politics

What’s at stake in Maine in 2026

The following opinion piece does not represent the editorial position of Pine and Roses or of Maine DSA as a whole.

Graham Platner has broken the race for US Senate wide open while Troy Jackson promises to be the most pro-union governor in the state’s history. Less than two months ago, all bets were on Gov. Janet Mills sweeping the primary and facing off against Trump enabler Sen. Susan Collins. And, despite Maine labor’s enthusiastic support, Jackson was going to struggle to expand his base sufficiently to outpace left-leaning candidates like Hannah Pingree and Shenna Bellows. The most likely outcome appeared to be a governor one step to the left of Mills—barring an unexpected Republican gubernatorial victory— and a senate race between DNC centrism and the last vestiges of Republican “moderation.” A contest that Collins has repeatedly demonstrated she can win. 

Platner’s announcement in August created a buzz, but the 7,000 who attended the joint Bernie-Platner-Jackson rally on Labor Day turned up the volume, raising the potential for a radical turn. Both Platner and Jackson’s campaigns picked up Bernie’s crusade against the billionaire oligarchy. They intend to tax the rich to fund public education, healthcare, and elder care, champion unions to grow working-class power, end the genocide in Gaza and demand freedom for Palestine, and, as Jackson put it, “finally do right by the Wabanaki people.” Platner and Jackson are clearly in it to win and are amassing an army of volunteers, endorsements, and small contributions–Platner has taken in $2.5 million in little more than a month. Mills, especially, will be a formidable primary opponent, but working-class Mainers have a pair of horses in this race and they should take the opportunity to break free from politics as usual. 

[Read next: Trump’s Social Murder Bill Passes – Now What?]

As state co-chair of Maine DSA, I am speaking only for myself below. Maine DSA will follow its own procedures to decide when, and if, the organization endorses any candidate. We will have multiple, thorough discussions, we will listen to one another’s concerns—and there are always valid concerns when it comes to politics—and then we will vote democratically on our position. All Maine DSA members in good standing have the right to participate in this debate and vote on any potential endorsement. Of course, rank-and-file Maine DSA members are free to volunteer for any campaign at any time and do not have to wait for chapter authorization. 

However, in my opinion, Maine DSA ought to consider endorsing both Platner and Jackson for several reasons. 

1. Endorsing is good for the candidates and good for Maine DSA. We can help grow the movement as we grow ourselves. We are a small force, but we have a dedicated layer of experienced organizers and thousands of members and supporters who look to the chapter for direction. If there’s going to be a real fight against the oligarchy in Maine, we’ve demonstrated we will be a dedicated and useful part of that fight, from electing socialists to office to organizing tenants unions to raising the minimum wage. And even as Maine DSA sustains a wide array of working groups and committees, we ought to look for ways to prioritize state-wide efforts where we can become more than the sum of our parts. Where we can all move in the same direction, recruit new members, turn inactive members into active ones, and strengthen our bonds with unions and community organizations.

2. United front defense in a purple state. Maine is one of a handful of so-called purple states in which organized labor, community organizations, and the broad left have not been decimated by neoliberal attacks. That is, we have retained an important capacity for self-defense. This puts a target on our back from the Trump administration, but it also gives us the chance to serve as an example of how to resist the destruction of our hospitals, nursing homes, VA hospitals, and schools. To do so, we’ll have to organize against ICE across the state, continue to speak out against the genocide in Gaza, and defend our LGTBQ+ siblings. Additionally, we’ll have to build a united front movement capable of demanding and winning real taxation of the rich in Maine. Trump wants to defund Maine. We will have to pry open Maine’s own oligarchs’ wallets and stock portfolios if we want to promote job-creating renewable energy projects, fully fund our public schools, and use the legislature’s muscle to embark on an affordable and workforce housing construction boom. Platner replacing Collins provides us one more measure of defense nationally and Jackson has pledged to fight for the kind of budget and reforms that working-class Mainers so desperately need. We have to shift the balance of forces in our favor in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our schools, and in Augusta. It’s not enough to defend democracy and civil liberties against attacks, we need a positive economic program to improve working-class lives.

[Read next: As Cumberland County goes, so go immigrant rights in Maine]

3. Don’t rely on the corporate Democrats. Trump and Stephen Miller declared war on the working class in Arizona this weekend. If Trump demonstrated his desire to tamper with elections in 2020, today he is organizing the (semi)legal and extralegal means to retain Republican control in 2026 and beyond. Unfortunately, the national Democratic Party appears incapable of confronting this reality. If they spent as much time fighting Trump as they have sabotaging Zohran Mamdani and Omar Fateh, we might be in a different position. Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have neither the interest nor the knowhow to oppose Trump. MAGA is becoming a mass fascist movement, the DNC is a fundraising operation for lawyers-turned-politicians. The DNC does not have the tools for this job, instead, unions, community organizations, and the left will have to forge them ourselves. 

4. Don’t throw out Platner and Jackson with the DNC bathwater. DNC paralysis should not blind us to recognizing certain places where a real fight against the billionaires is developing within the old form of the Democratic Party. 2026 in Maine is, I believe, one such place. This does not mean we should look to Platner and Jackson to “fix” things for us. As Eugene V. Debs put it while running for president, “I would not be a Moses to lead you into the promised land, for someone would lead you out again.” That is, Platner and Jackson are not, by themselves, the movement we need. All indications are that they want to play a part in a much larger working-class movement for radical change. They will have to prove that in practice, but the movement has to prove itself capable of sinking deep roots, bringing in workers from all over the state, and developing mechanisms and institutions for democratic input and decision making. If we don’t do that, then even if they win, Platner and Jackson will be left high and dry. 

5. Focus on building power in the medium term, but start with 2026. We know that 2026 is not the end of the fight. Our long term vision is to free humanity and the planet from capitalism’s destructive drive. We are not naive. Trump is strong. We expect that MAGA will be in power—or very close to it—for the next decade and they will only leave if a stronger force arises. The oligarchy has no intention of giving an inch. In order to change the balance of forces, we need a strategic, medium term vision. 

What does medium-term success look like? It means 25 percent of Maine workers winning union contracts (we’re at 13 percent now). It means a real fight inside and outside the Democratic Party to elect twenty-five or thirty socialists (we have 1 now), labor leaders, and genuine defenders of tribal sovereignty, LGTBQ+ equality, and freedom for New Mainers to seats in the Maine legislature. It means electing dozens of town, city (we now have 2), county, and school board officials who ground their legislative work in union and community democracy. It means a continuous process of united front action between working-class and progressive forces to expand our areas of influence. It means Maine DSA learning how to act like a socialist party. 

For any of those medium-term dynamics to stand a chance, we should look for short term opportunities that provide our side with maximum opportunities for partial victories and stronger unity. Helping elect Platner and Jackson is one such chance. Not only to win their seats, but to ensure that unions, grassroots communities, and left-wing organizations emerge stronger from the campaigns. Not simply as names on a donor list for the candidates, but in real terms for working-class organization. 

The stakes are high in 2026. Maine DSA needs a plan to help our class defend itself, and we need a plan to grow stronger. We have work to do beyond the Platner and Jackson campaigns, but they can serve as a unifying element we need to get to the next level of organizing and influence. It would be a serious mistake to stand aside or to support the campaigns in a purely individual and disorganized manner. Now is not the time for a bylaws fight, now is the time for serious debate, honest disagreement, democratic decision making, and united action. 

#LifeInMaine #MaineDSA #politics

As Cumberland County goes, so go immigrant rights in Maine

More New Mainers live in Cumberland County than any other county in the state. It’s not even close. So to play on an old saying: As Cumberland County goes for immigrant rights, so goes Maine. In Portland, some 34 percent of students are multilingual learners, speaking some 60 languages. Cumberland County will either look the other way as Trump terrorizes our immigrant neighbors, or it will build on the legacy of the Personal Liberty Laws during the days of the Fugitive Slave Act, when the state legislature made it illegal for local police and prosecutors to cooperate in any manner with federal slave catchers. That’s how the Underground Railroad worked in Maine. 

What’s happening now? ICE and Border Patrol are racially profiling, especially, Latino and African workers and disappearing them into concentration camps in Maine and across the country. Only a few of the stories have made the press because so many immigrant families are afraid to speak out. But the stories that have gone public are enough to demonstrate that ICE and Border Patrol are operating outside the Constitution. Nevermind Los Angeles, it’s happening right here in Cumberland County and throughout Maine. 

What is ICE? If it ever had anything to do with something called legality, it’s clear now that Trump’s ICE is the training grounds for an openly–if cowardly, mask-wearing, wannabe–fascist militia. The Big Beautiful Bill will make ICE larger than the FBI, DEA, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.

Why Cumberland County? The Cumberland County Jail is the largest ICE detention facility in Maine. At a meeting with representatives of the No ICE for ME campaign, Sheriff Kevin Joyce reported ICE detentions surging by more than 100% since Trump’s election. He claims he’s powerless to do anything other than follow orders from the Feds. But the contract signed between ICE and the Cumberland County Jail states on the first line that either party can cancel it with thirty days notice. 

This is where the Board of Cumberland County Commissioners (CCC) comes into play. These five elected officials have the power to vote by a simple majority to cancel the contract. Public protests at the last three CCC meetings have grown from 45 in May to 80 in June to more than 125 on July 21. So many people responded to No ICE for ME’s call to give public comment that the board tried to cut it short, refusing to hear from everyone in the meeting room who wanted to speak. That did not go well for the board. 

Board members are in a tough spot. They didn’t run for office in order to draw a line in the sand against a fascist ethnic cleansing campaign. It’s not what they signed up for. But this disaster isn’t what any of us signed up for. Despite tempers flaring at the last board meeting, I believe there is a majority that wants to vote to do the right thing and end the contract. To do so, they will have to follow their better angels by putting aside proceduralism and the public speaking to them in ways they are not accustomed to.

If they do so, a large majority of Cumberland County residents will have their backs. As State Representative Grayson Lookner pointed out at a meeting with members of the board and the sheriff, a large majority of Cumberland County elected officials in the legislature voted for LD 1971, which prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE. Putting that into practice in Cumberland County means canceling the contract at the jail. 

If the board drags its feet–they have suggested holding a hearing in late September with a potential vote in October… or later–they will face mounting public protest. But more to the point, every day they delay only extends the county’s collaboration with ICE and the attack on our friends, family members, students, neighbors and fellow workers. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail explained why, under extreme circumstances, well-meaning advice to “wait” just a little longer for justice is no virtue at all. 

No one believes cutting the contract will send ICE running. They have $45 billion for concentration camps. We have to prepare to stop them from building one in northern New England in the coming months. And the best way to do that is to take a stand today in Cumberland County. Not later, not somewhere else, not someone else. Now, here, us. The Board of Cumberland County Commissioners can either be part of that movement, or they can stand in the way. 

For more information about No ICE for ME and how you help, sign up here.

#immigrantRights #LifeInMaine #organizing

A snippet of a conversation I overheard while voting in a small town in #Maine today: "Just let them try and send the National Guard here. We've got enough firepower to take 'em on!"

#Ayuh.

#MaineResists #District13 #USPol #MainePol #LifeInMaine

Maine unions and community unite for May Day

Hundreds of thousands of workers marched and rallied on May Day—International Workers Day—making it the largest International Workers Day since 2006 when two million immigrant workers left work to demand their rights. Protests were organized in 1,300 locations, large and small; no doubt the first May Day protest in most of these sites. Maine stood out with more than 5,000 participating spread over 26 towns and cities, from Madawaska to Orono to Portland, where almost 2,000 marched and rallied. And in Wayne—population 1,000—seventy people turned out for both morning and evening rallies, one of the highest per capita demonstrations in the country. 

Memory and sacrifice play a role in sustaining working-class culture. No 1886. No Haymarket Martyrs. No May Day. More recently, the 2006 May Day protests provided a living link to the past. And UAW president Sean Fain’s call for unions to align contracts and lead a 2028 general strike has introduced May Day to a whole new generation of labor organizers.

As the saying goes, the best organizing tool is a bad boss and Trump is one of the worst bosses possible. Repression and mass layoffs do not always provoke resistance, but this time targeted workers put up a critical mass of opposition. For instance, thousands of teachers from across the country responded to a call by the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers for walk-ins in March to protest Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education, including teachers at Deering High School and Rowe Elementary in Portland.

And many unions have been fighting the bosses all along, linking struggles in specific workplaces to the more general need to defend working-class rights today. The Maine State Nurses Association led a rally to protest Medicaid cuts in March, organized a mass town hall meeting to prevent the closure of the obstetrics department in the small town of Houlton, and saw some of its most active members take a leading role in May Day. 

Pair these factors with decades of bi-partisan misery in necessities such as housing, health care, education, inflation, and union busting alongside escalating racism, misogyny, transphobia and homophobia, nationalism, genocidal militarism in Gaza, and anti-immigrant bigotry and it’s not surprising young workers are angry. But objective conditions do not create action on their own. Organized forces with the credibility and capacity to think through a strategy and then put it into practice are required. Fortunately, Chicago’s working class has created this necessary element. 

[Read next: The future of housing is public]

According to Jesse Sharkey, past president of the Chicago Teachers Union and lead organizer with the newly-formed May Day Strong coalition, “Chicago became a center of May Day organizing this year for two reasons—first, there was a local coalition that got a lot of people involved. Activists from the immigrants rights community were extremely important in initiating it, and they held open meetings. They invited anyone who wanted to help organize. That drew in trade unionists, and many others. On a second front, Chicago was in the middle of initiating a national call for May Day protests… The call for that effort came from the Chicago Teachers Union and a handful of allied organizations such as Midwest Academy, Bargaining for the Common Good, and the Action Center on Race and the Economy. The NEA also played an extremely helpful role. In late March, we had about 220 people from over 100 organizations join us in Chicago to start planning for May 1 actions. The reason we were able to initiate such a widespread effort was because we have a past practice of closely linking trade union fights to wider working class demands. In places where local unions have worked with community and activist groups, we had networks of communication and trust. Then, once that effort had reached a certain critical mass, some of the big national networks like Indivisible and 50501 got on board and that really grew the reach of the day.”

It’s not that the CTU and immigrant community organizers in Chicago were the only ones thinking about May Day, but their action provided a framework to draw together and amplify similar efforts across the country and to nationalize the protest by providing a framework and resources for labor and community organizers in hundreds of towns and cities. Chicago didn’t create May Day 2025, but it did open a door. Here in Maine, a broad group of organizers came together to walk through that door. 

Maine DSA’s Labor Rising working group began discussing May Day plans late in 2024 and we eventually decided to help initiate an organizing meeting open to all community groups and unions. UAW graduate students participated in a preliminary meeting to brainstorm ideas and leaders from the Maine AFL-CIO convened statewide union conference calls. On April 12, more than 70 people attended a meeting in the South Portland Teamsters’ Hall where the group democratically planned Portland’s May Day and adopted the slogan Strength in Solidarity. Working groups took up all aspects of the action and all important decisions came back to the coalition for votes. By the latter part of April, the Maine Education Association and AFL-CIO leaders called for actions all across the state, amplifying the Chicago May Day Strong call and dramatically broadening what the Portland May Day committee could organize on its own. 

May Day in Portland began with a rally at the University of Southern Maine to back UAW graduate students’ demands for a first contract, which the administration has stalled for more than 500 days. UAW graduate worker Miranda led the crowd chanting “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” We marched to the Post Office to hear from postal workers, including APWU president Scott Adams. “When our postal service is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” Members of the Portland Education Association led the rally at Portland High School and teacher Bobby Shaddox taught everyone to sing an updated version of Billy Bragg’s There is Power in a Union. “The union forever, defending our rights, down with the tyrants, all workers unite!” Headlining the stop, The Pelikanne, a trans high school student poet, shared their own revolutionary vision with all those assembled. From there, we went up the block to Monument Square to hear Jay Gruber, a member of the librarian’s union, and others at a brief rally before taking Congress Street to march to the final rally at Congress Square Park. Highlights at the final rally included Alana Schaeffer, president of the Metal Trades Council, representing 4,000 workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, members of the Maine Coalition for Palestine, Osgood from Portland Outright, Anthony Abdullah from the Maine State Nurses Association, and others. Twenty-five other towns held actions, bringing the total number of Maine participants to over 5,000, the largest Maine May Day anyone can remember. All in all, it was a good day for Maine workers.

[Listen to Maine Mural, DSA’s podcast, latest episode featuring Presente! Maine immigrants rights organizers]

We face a long, complicated road where political pressures to return to passivity and demoralization will persist. Trump is happy and he is strong. There’s no point in underestimating the damage he is going to inflict on working class communities in the coming years. We are not yet powerful enough to stop him. But May Day 2025 constituted a small step towards healing deep wounds in the American working class and it points us in the right direction. 

What did May Day teach us? Fittingly, the last word goes to Kirsten Roberts, a rank-and-file Chicago teacher. “The most important element of May Day 2025 is the explicit entry of organized and unorganized labor into resistance to Trump. Trump’s attacks are aimed directly at dividing the working class and turning ordinary people against one another while the billionaires rob and plunder us all. An agenda for working class unity can be built when we stand up for those most victimized and vilified by the right wing bigots AND when we stand together to fight for the things that the billionaire class has denied us—the fight for healthcare, education, housing, and good paying jobs for starters. For decades we’ve been told by both parties that funding war, incarceration, and border militarization are their priorities. May Day showed that working people have another agenda. Now let’s organize to win it.”

*Parts of this article will appear in an extended form examining May Day 2025 beyond Maine in DSA’s journal Socialist Forum.

#Labor #LifeInMaine #MaineDSA #politics

We need an anti-Trump united front in Maine

The April 5 Hands Off! protests were not the first against Trump and his cronies and they won’t be the last. Indeed, April 5 would not have been possible without unionized federal and postal workers and teachers and students marching and sticking up for themselves. But Saturday saw more than a million people demonstrate their willingness to fight back and that has changed the mood. Millions of people passed over from shock and awe to hell no!

But our unions, communities, and social movements are suffering from decades of free-trading and neoliberal attacks and racist, sexist, and anti-LGTBQ+ bigotry, all of which have weakened our organizing capacity. Trump does not yet care about opposition from below. He’s golfing. We’ll see which way the markets go in the coming days. Big investors may force Trump to modify his tariff trade war in their favor, or they may simply ride it out in exchange for massive tax cuts. And if the courts have shown a willingness to slow down his blitzkrieg, when it comes down to it, relying on the Supreme Court to reign in Trump means relying on Brett Kavanaugh… a grim prospect indeed. Either way, it would be a mistake to underestimate MAGAism’s staying power and the administration’s willingness to stick to its guns. Remember, Reagan used the 1981-82 recession to smash unions and attack social spending.

How do we confront this situation in the immediate and medium term? The long term matters as well but it will be conditioned by what we are able to accomplish in the coming few years.

[Read next: Thousands say Hands Off Maine!]

We all belong to some kind of organization or community. And some have deep roots and traditions anchoring them in decades or centuries of struggle. For instance, the Wabanaki people have endured 500 years of colonial assault and today form one of the most effective and sophisticated political powers in what we call Maine. The Maine AFL-CIO brings together more than 200 unions, representing 40,000 workers across the entire state with a proud history of strikes and struggles. The Maine Council of Churches builds bridges between congregations and faiths and has long stood for social justice. Advocacy organizations like Maine People’s Alliance, Equality Maine, and the League of Conservation Voters shine a light on discrimination and speak up for poor and marginalized communities. The Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, and Presente! Maine all give voice and provide legal and mutual aid to New Mainers. The Maine Coalition for Palestine and Bowdoin Students for Justice in Palestine have forced us all to confront our own elected officials support for the genocide in Gaza. The Maine Democratic Socialists of America is one of the new kids on the block, but has demonstrated an ability to work on multiple fronts, including winning office and important reforms in Portland. And Indivisible and Maine Resists provided the infrastructure for the April 5 protests themselves. There are, of course, hundreds of local and statewide groups I can’t list here. The point is, Maine does not suffer from organizing capacity. 

All these organizations have different levels of capacity and bring different expertise, resources, and priorities to the table. It is rarely possible to agree on everything, but under certain conditions, a great deal of unity can be created—not in the abstract—but in action. And this is exactly what we need today. Maine needs a united front to defend ourselves from Trump’s attacks and build a powerful enough movement to turn the tide back towards The Way Life Should Be for all of us. 

[Read next: Solidarity against Trump means joining an organization]

The first thing to keep in mind is that a united front is a process. Building unity between different social and political forces takes time, both to build up a set of common experiences and develop the necessary trust to withstand setbacks and differences of opinion. Some may say that time is precisely what we don’t have, instead, we must act now at all costs without patiently building up the durability of our own peoples movements. This is how Trump wants us to think. We can’t fall for it. This doesn’t mean we can’t act quickly, but it does mean that we must move together and, like it or not, that takes time to plan.

Here are some ABCs to begin thinking about how to accomplish this. 

Bring together organizations facing a common threat who see the need to build solidarity to defend themselves and to defend the rights and well-being of others. No one organization or community claims to speak for all of Maine. If we want to create a real democratic power, we must recognize that power can only be assembled by mutual recognition. 

Make decisions openly and democratically. This is easier said than done, but it is essential for building an effective movement. Trump wants to destroy democracy, if we want to transform our community groups, unions, and organizations into centers of people power, then we should give people a place to practice it. We open the DOOR: Discuss and decide. Organize and act. Observe and assess. Repeat and improve. 

March separately, but strike together. Partners in a united front can agree on basic points of unity and basic norms of cooperation. All groups should promote common objectives and actions, for instance, we will all cooperate to organize at X time and Y place or places on May Day. However, each group retains the freedom to publicize and promote their own particular political program and organize their own independent actions. Trust and credibility are the ties that help bind us together when inevitable stresses arrive. 

Solidarity and action are the keys. A united front is not a political party. It is not a debating society. It is not a walk in the park. It is an agreement between organizations to take concrete action to defend one another and to tilt the balance of forces towards the common good. Rather than writing long treatises, united fronts work best when they focus on concrete action. 

Leaders, organizers, artists, participants all play a role. We ought to make it as easy to participate as possible. This means publicizing events and inviting people through all available means, but especially through face-to-face discussions. We need organizers who are willing to dedicate time to running committees. We need artists who can make our work beautiful and fun. And we need leaders. Leaders in a social movement are not appointed. They have to earn their stripes by strengthening common bonds and articulating mutual aspirations as well as developing useful strategies and tactics. 

Organize locally, coordinate statewide. Maine is a big state and no town or region has to wait for anyone’s permission to call a local meeting and start organizing. United fronts can begin in a town, a county, or a region, or among students at different schools, or members of different unions or community groups. The more organizing going on at the local level, the more powerful our efforts will be when we combine into coordinated statewide action. Local and statewide actions can be mutually reinforcing. 

What does this mean in Maine? A couple weeks ago, the Chicago Teachers Union hosted people from more than 200 organizations to plan for a mass action on May day. As Bernie might say, it’s going to be HUGE! We face different circumstances here and there is no ready-made blueprint. We may fail or only partially succeed at first. But practice makes perfect. And what other choice do we have? May Day in Maine is a good place to start. 

If you’re looking for a place to get involved, email [email protected]

#LifeInMaine #MaineDSA #politics

Solidarity against Trump means joining an organization

Sophie Garner is the state co-chair of the Maine Democratic Socialists of America. She spoke to thousands on April 5 assembled to demand Hands Off! federal union contracts, trans rights and immigrant rights, and democracy. More than 10,000 people gathered across the state in more than a dozen cities and towns. As Trump provokes a global trade war and continues flashing the green light for genocide in Gaza, protests look set to continue on International Workers Day, May 1.

Thank you for being here. I’m Sophie Garner, Chapter Chair of the Maine Democratic Socialists of America. I’m a grad student at Northeastern University and an advocate focused on violence prevention policy and research. I work for a national gun violence prevention organization, and most recently, I was a lead organizer on a ballot initiative to put an extreme risk protection order on Maine’s November 2025 ballot. I hope you vote yes this fall to protect our schools and communities from gun violence. 

When writing this speech, I realized I don’t need to list all the horrific things Trump and his billionaire buddies are doing—you already know. That’s why we’re here. 

[Read next: Thousands say Hands Off! Maine]

However, I want to talk about another reason we are here. We are here because we know that change doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in the streets, in our neighborhoods, in conversations among people who refuse to accept the status quo. It happens when we build community, not as a concept, but as a force that moves us forward.

But what does it mean to build community? And more importantly, where do you fit in?

Community isn’t just about showing up—it’s about bringing what you have, when you can. Every one of us has a skill, a strength, an experience that can push this movement forward. Maybe you’re an organizer who unites people, a strategist who crafts a plan, or an artist who shapes the message. Maybe you’re a teacher, a healer, a researcher, or a builder. Whatever your skill set, the movement needs you. If we want to end this nightmare and rebuild, we need our own infrastructure.

Too often, we think activism belongs to those with the loudest voices or biggest platforms. But history tells us otherwise. Movements are built by ordinary people showing up, consistently, with intention, and together.

And that’s the key: together.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the labor movement, where unions have proven that collective action wins. Better wages, safer conditions, dignity on the job. That same power of solidarity applies to every fight we’re in today—whether for reproductive rights, trans liberation, Palestine liberation, or any of the struggles happening right now. Not only are they interconnected, but they require the same commitment from all of us.

But let’s be real, while this might resonate with many of you, many of us are also exhausted. Change feels daunting.

I know many of you wake up, turn on the news and think: This country is so fucked—but at the same time, I need to walk the dog, finish work, and have free time? You ache for change. But you wonder, Where would I find the time to do anything? What could I even add to this?

I get it. We all do. Life is overwhelming, especially now. But here’s the hard truth: nothing changes if we don’t make the time.

Movements are built by people just like you—people with jobs, families, responsibilities. You don’t need to give up everything. You don’t have to burn out. But you do need to commit. Because no one is coming to save us. We have to save each other. 

So when you go home today, ask yourself: What do you bring to this movement? Who will you stand beside? Will you stand up for workers fighting for fair pay? For renters demanding affordable housing? Organizers knocking on doors, making calls, building the resistance? And after you reflect—act.

Because solidarity isn’t just a word, it’s an action. And it’s the foundation of every victory we’ve ever won, and WILL ever win.

Building a better world starts with small, powerful decisions—to contribute what you can, when you can. When we bring our skills, energy, and commitment to the movement, we turn collective power into real change.

One important step we can all take together is celebrating May Day, International Workers Day, which is May 1st. We’re planning a protest in Portland, and we’d love to see actions all over the state supporting workers. If you’re interested, please get in touch with us. 

[Read next: New England DSA protests ICE detentions]

But my big ask here today: Join an organization. If you don’t have a political home, make one. We’d love to have you—Maine DSA needs you. Join us at mainedsa.org/join. If not us, then plug into an organization that’s already doing the work.

Please do not just go home and wait for the next protest. Protesting is only one piece of this. Make a commitment today towards building this resistance movement. 

Show up. Bring your skills. Be part of the fight.

Because movements don’t just need supporters—they need builders. And that means you.

What do we do when workers are under attack? Stand up, fight back!

What do we do when immigrants are under attack?

Stand up, fight back!

What do we do when our LGBTQ friends are under attack?

Stand up, fight back!

What do we do when our communities are under attack?

WE stand up, and WE fight back!

[Read next: The method to Trump’s Medicaid cut madness]

#LifeInMaine #MaineDSA #organizing #politics

We’ll need popular resistance to defend trans rights in Maine

Pine and Roses’s Todd Chretien sat down with Rose D. and Marianne M-W. to talk about Trump’s attacks on trans athletes in Maine.

TC: We’re here at Otto’s pizza in Portland with Rose and Marianne and we’re gonna talk about trans liberation and Trump. To begin with, Donald Trump has gone on the attack against Maine, threatening to withhold $260 million in education and state funding all over the question of trans athletes participating in sports in Maine. So, first question, do you think Trump is serious and how should we respond? 

M M-W: I think that sometimes Trump is just vibing on the mic, but now that the Justice Department has threatened a lawsuit against the state, I think the threat is transitioning from free association into something real that we need to be prepared to respond to. What actually comes of this is a different question. Is the state violating Title IX? No. Can the federal government withhold federal funding without the consent of Congress? No. But will the courts stop him? It’s unclear. 

TC: I’m glad you mentioned the courts. Gov. Janet Mills was completely right to stand up to Trump and say, “I’ll see you in court.” She’s gained a lot of credibility for that and rightly so. But the Supreme Court is run by a supermajority of ultra conservatives. So when Mills said, “I’ll see you in court,” it became a rallying cry, but also pointed to a weakness. 

M M-W: I think there is a pretty significant chance that this goes all the way to the top and the Supreme Court rules in Trump’s favor. Then what happens? Will the state just immediately fold or does that create a further crisis? I think that’s more of an open question and might be something we need to consider strategy wise. I think the liberal reflex to take things to the court has been a relic of the postwar liberal Warren court years. With a couple of notable exceptions,  the court has not been a friend to progressives and socially liberal causes in a long time. We need to move away from relying on the courts to enforce or establish progressive social liberties. For the moment, however, there’s not a lever that a moderate Democrat governor like Mills has to pull other than the courts. We will probably need popular resistance. I hesitate to suggest that anyone should make a high school basketball game a site of protest, but we will need popular resistance to demand that trans kids be allowed to play. We will need regular members of our communities—parents of the cisgender kids on the teams—to say, “this kid is just one of the kids on this team and they deserve to play.”  We need to ensure that whatever the Trump administration throws at us meets popular resistance in Maine as well as legal and legislative pushback. We shouldn’t look to Governor Mills to lead that. 

TC: Rose, you’ve been doing a lot of organizing work in the more rural District 2. There’s a stereotype that the state is split into a blue part and a red part around Portland. Based on your experience, do you see the potential for solidarity with trans athletes and trans people in general that Marianne is referring to, not only in and around Portland, but also in District 2? 

RD:  Absolutely. Right now I’m helping some students who live in northern and central Maine get ready to testify on a bill that would codify trans rights into the state Constitution, and queer people live in all parts of our state. There are definitely people outside of greater Portland who really care about these issues. Whether that’s because it affects them personally or they know people or it is something that they are really passionate about. There are people who are willing to speak out and stand up. 

TC: That’s a very important point to stress. But we do have a political problem in the state. State Rep. Laura Libby from Auburn has made a name for herself by outing a trans athlete minor. She has been censured by the state legislature for doing so, but is also raising millions of dollars for her gubernatorial campaign and has been championed endorsed by Trump. They are not just relying on the courts to push this through. They want to take the state back for MAGA. Do you see somebody like Laura Libby as purely opportunist? Or is there support for what she’s putting forward? Do we have a majority on our side in defense of trans rights in Maine? 

RD:  I think it might be both. There is definitely a way in which a lot of this has been manufactured from nothing. Yet it has become a flashpoint issue for the Republicans. And I think you’re starting to see that in opinion polls. Unfortunately, Trump’s attacks on LGTBQ+ rights is one of the only things that Trump’s not losing support around. He’s really dropping off on the economy. But he’s maintaining support for attacking immigrants and trans people. So I think both. The trans attack was manufactured, but I also think now that it has been manufactured, it does present a more serious risk. We need to figure out a way to confront it. It pains me to say we’re very lucky to have Janet Mills because she’s been such a frustrating governor for progressives and socialists in so many ways. But LGBTQ+ rights in general and abortion rights in particular are the two things where she has been consistently really good. However, specifically trans rights seem to be the one area where some elected Democrats seem more willing to throw us under the bus. So I think there will be a danger. If Libby runs for governor, it will be important to watch what Democrats do. Will they take on trans rights as an issue to be fought for or an issue to avoid and concede, like Kamala Harris did on so many issues during her presidential run. 

TC: I think it’s a really good point. Some of the Democrats who voted in favor of censuring Libby say things like, I don’t agree with the state policy supporting trans athletes, but I’m against outing minors on social media. District 2 Congressman Jared Golden is the prime example. How can the left construct a coalition of people who are strong enough to stand up for trans rights without cutting deals with those Democrats who are willing to throw people under the bus?

M M-W I think one thing we have going for us is that Democratic primary voters are more supportive of trans rights than Democratic elected officials. I think we need to do everything we can to make sure that Jared Golden is not the Democratic nominee for governor. I think we also need to reaffirm social liberalism as a left wing value. As a trans woman, I don’t need the general public to really know a lot about what it means to be trans, but I need people to respect my right and the rights of all other trans people to live the lives that we want to live. And we need to affirm that letting people live the lives that they want to live as a core value for socialists and progressives more broadly. 

I’m from away—as we say in Maine—so I’m a bit hesitant to speak about Maine values. But I’ve lived here for six years and it seems to me that letting people live their lives without interference as much as possible is the way people like it in Maine, whatever their political backgrounds. And so I think that if we frame this as a fight to allow people to be who they are and live the lives that they want to live, we can rally a lot of people. We’re not gonna convince Libby or any of her hardcore supporters. We’re not gonna convince MAGA people who claim to support freedom or whatever. But I think we can win over a coalition from mainstream liberals to Berniecrats to socialists. 

TC: A silver lining to Trump carrying up this attack and Libby carrying his torch is that he’s in danger of overreaching, for instance, now he’s threatening all Title IX support for sports. He’s really threatening all sports, threatening all schools, threatening the entire system of government. He’s already laid off VA workers in Maine. He’s already laid off park rangers. He’s already laid off USDA workers and Farm Service Agency workers. How do we talk to people about the real danger he poses to trans people and expose how he’s trying to divide and conquer. 

M M-W: What we need is to act with the understanding that trans rights are a working-class issue, not an abstract concept. Trans rights are made up of the same things that all working class people need, healthcare, education, housing, secure employment with a living wage, etc. How do we convince people that eroding trans people’s rights will set the stage for eroding every working class person’s rights. And fighting for trans liberation means fighting for universal healthcare and housing. It means fighting for workplace protections and unions. If you sacrifice trans people, you’re only opening the door for Trump to attack you. 

And look at who is attacking all the groups you mentioned. It’s the same guy who can’t shut up about trans women on Twitter. The billionaires removing transphobia from the hate speech policies on their platforms are the same ones backing Trump’s evisceration of the federal government and his plans to privatize everything. I don’t necessarily expect everyone to make trans rights their own personal cause, or really even understand anything about trans life, but we do need to understand that giving the billionaires an inch on anything emboldens them and furthers their agenda.  

RD: I feel like part of it, at least, is that they don’t like trans people, they hate trans people because of how we represent a kind of broader shift in culture. What it’s ultimately about is gender politics. Thinking back to during the election—JD Vance and the childless cat ladies and all that—the thing that threatens them is women in general having any rights. They want to end abortion rights! They’re coming for us because we’re an easy target right now, but it’s part of a broader push. And it’s not just trans women who are affected by these kinds of policies. Think back to the Olympics when conservatives generated controversy over an Algerian boxer, a cis woman, basically just because of how she looks. It’s about policing everyone. I think we need to train people to know who the real enemy is, because it’s the same no matter who you are if you are a working person in this country.

#LGBTQ #LifeInMaine #politics

Maine DSA’s Statement in Response to Trump’s Threats

Donald Trump’s latest threats to illegally strip federal funding from Maine schools, if we don’t “comply with executive orders,” is nothing less than an authoritarian attack on our communities, our values, and our rights. Maine will not be bullied into submission by a power-hungry fascist billionaire who has repeatedly targeted marginalized groups for political gain and in this case, transgender children. This isn’t just happening at the federal level—a Republican in our state house jeopardized the safety and privacy of a Maine child by making an inflammatory post over her participation on her sports team appropriate for her gender identity. This prompted national public ridicule aimed at this child by adults. Despite community outrage and the censure of this House member, politicians remain unapologetic about endangering trans youth—so long as it propels their agenda. This could be your child.

Maine DSA is working hard to provide tangible hope and solutions to vulnerable communities, despite, and in spite of, all the transphobic backlash from the current administration. Through the newly established Bodily Autonomy Working Group, we are organizing for trans and reproductive rights across the state. Our first major project is a clinic to support individuals who need to change their name legally or get their birth certificate amended; more details will be shared about this soon. Furthermore, we are working on supporting legislation at the state and local level, planning to host events that foster welcoming environments, collaborating with local like-minded organizations, and more. Therefore, we are asking for your financial support to help us accomplish this by donating specifically to our working group. If you cannot financially contribute to our working group right now but still want to help, please message us on our socials or email [email protected].

Historically, the people of Maine have demonstrated a commitment to fairness, inclusion, and the fundamental belief that all people deserve dignity. Our own state motto, Dirigo—meaning “I direct” or “I lead”—reflects the path we choose to follow. We reject any attempt to undermine our sovereignty or to punish us for upholding basic human rights. The people of Maine—tenants, farm workers, trade unionists, teachers, parents, students, and LGBTQIA+ communities—will not be intimidated and we will not back down.

Rather than bending to the fear stoked by this administration, we call on every Mainer—and all Americans—to organize, resist, and fight back. In the face of sporadic executive orders, written to cause panic, do not comply. Our strength lies in our solidarity. We will continue to stand up for trans rights, and for the fundamental belief that every person deserves safety and respect.

We Will Win If We Are Organized.

Join the movement. Take action. Protect Trans Kids.

#LifeInMaine #MaineDSA #TransRights