The Resistance Fighters Who Will Stand Up to the Deplorables

In the wake of Donald Trump's election as president -- something we can still hardly believe -- we've been encouraged by the progressive voices rising against Trump and his agenda. Here we take a look at some of the folks who'll help protect us against those we've called "the deplorables," borrowing a phrase from Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. This is not an exhaustive list, and we're sure many more will join in, including Clinton herself and the Obamas, once that "peaceful transition of power" period is over. Look over the list and feel free to let us know about others you think we can count on.

Shaun King

New York Daily News columnist and Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King has launched a project called the DJT Resistance. For starters, the project's website is calling for a boycott of Trump's hotels and other companies whose owners, founders, or executives supported his candidacy -- including PayPal, cofounded by gay entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Among the others are Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Pep Boys, Herbalife, MillerCoors, and two sports teams, the NFL's New England Patriots and Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, who recently won their first World Series since 1908. (You may have mixed feelings about the Cubs, though, as co-owner Laura Ricketts, a lesbian, supported Hillary Clinton while other Ricketts family members were Trump partisans, and club president Theo Epstein was a Clinton backer as well.) In any case, King's effort to hit Trump and his supporters in the pocketbook is a worthy one. "Now, in the days ahead, many of these companies will say, 'But our company does not actually endorse political candidates,'" the website reads. "When your CEO or Chairman or primary investor makes a public endorsement, or gives millions of dollars to fund Donald Trump, they deserve to be held accountable for that public position. We MUST make our money stand for the values and the people that we believe in. Otherwise, we are funding the very oppression, bigotry, and discrimination that we claim to hate." Look for King to stand up to Trump in the pages of the Daily News too.

Charles Blow

The New York Times commentator, who identifies as bisexual, was an early enlistee in the resistance. "I respect the presidency; I do not respect this president-elect," he wrote in a column published two days after the election. "I cannot. Count me among the resistance." He explained, "I remain convinced that this is one of the worst possible people who could be elected president. I remain convinced that Trump has a fundamentally flawed character and is literally dangerous for world stability and injurious to America's standing in that world. ... Businessman Donald Trump was a bigot. Candidate Donald Trump was a bigot. Republican nominee Donald Trump was a bigot. And I can only assume that President Donald Trump will be a bigot." Thanks to Blow for bringing his powerful and eloquent voice to the movement.

Anthony Romero

"We`re in for the fight of our lives," Romero, the gay man who heads the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a recent appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show. He is taking the president-elect at his word on his many alarming campaign promises. "To deport 11 million people," Romero told Maddow. "To target the Muslims for surveillance and for banning them to the country, for restricting a woman`s right to choice, for questions about surveillance, for opening up the conversation about waterboarding. ... The man is only as good as his word, so I take him at his words. Those words mean that we confront a major constitutional crisis if he`s allowed to implement the very policies." But Romero and the ACLU are ready. The organization received $9 million and attracted 150,000 new members in the first few days after the election. "Thirty percent comes from states that were carried by Donald Trump," he said. "Not just San Francisco, L.A., and New York. We've got new donors and new contributors from Alabama, from Montana, from Mississippi, from Georgia. And that for me gives me hope that, in fact, there`s a growing movement of people who are concerned about where we're going and want to take some action." Watch the segment below.

Cecile Richards

Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, is ready to stand up to attempts by Trump and congressional Republicans to end federal funding to the organization and restrict reproductive rights. She issued this statement upon Trump's election: "Planned Parenthood has been here for 100 years, and one thing is clear: We will never back down and we will never stop fighting to ensure that Planned Parenthood patients have access to the care they need, people who come from communities that need our continued support in this new reality -- immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQ community, people of faith, and more. Health care should not be political. Every morning, Planned Parenthood health center staff across the country wake up and open their doors, as they have this morning, to care for anyone who needs them, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, income, or country of origin. They will do so today, they will do so tomorrow, they will do so every day as they have for 100 years." Planned Parenthood, by the way, does much more than provide contraceptives and abortion services; it offers cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted infections, and many other services. The organization has seen a spike in donations since the election, and also an increased demand for long-acting contraceptives such as intrauterine devices, due to fears that insurance coverage under Obamacare will end under the new administration. Richards will continue to be a strong and articulate voice against the new administration's excesses, and she comes from a family of fighters. Her mother, the late Ann Richards, was treasurer and later governor of Texas (yes, there was a time when Texans elected Democrats to statewide offices) and a fierce advocate for civil rights and social justice. Ann Richards also worked to elect Sarah Weddington to the Texas legislature. You might know Weddington as the lawyer who argued for the winning side in Roe v. Wade, which established the right to abortion in every state in America. It's a right Cecile Richards is now fighting to preserve.

Michael Moore

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who has skewered conservatives in films such as Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, and Fahrenheit 9/11, plans to help lead an anti-Trump resistance movement. Given that Moore was one of the few on the left who predicted Trump's win, we're encouraged that he says the Donald won't serve a full term -- and Moore is determined to make that prediction a reality. "I don't believe anyone in the media who says we're going to have four years of Trump," he told the Los Angeles Times post-election. "This is a man who doesn't have any ideology; the only thing he believes in is Donald Trump. And that's usually a one-way ticket out of office." He added, "I'm going to be one of the people leading the opposition to him, that's going to stop him. It will be a mass movement of millions that will dwarf Occupy Wall Street." We hope you're right again, Michael.

Cory Booker

The junior U.S. senator from New Jersey is squarely in the corner of the anti-Trump movement. "There's a lot of us, I'm not the only one, that have this posture where we're preparing to be the resistance in the United States Senate," Booker said in a recent speech at the University of the District of Columbia. He has also predicted that Trump adviser Steve Bannon "won't build bridges, he will burn them." Speaking of burning, Booker gave a barnburner of a speech at this year's Democratic National Convention. "Love knows that every American has worth and value, no matter what their background, race, religion, or sexual orientation," he said at the convention. "Love recognizes that we need each other, that we as a nation are better together, that when we are divided we are weak, we decline, yet when we are united we are strong -- invincible!" Reminds us of another young senator who went places after a rousing address at the convention. Booker 2020, maybe?

Elizabeth Warren

Warren, the junior U.S. senator from Massachusetts, is a reliable champion of all underdogs, and she has pledged to stand up to Trump's bigotry and defend the laws and agencies that protect ordinary Americans from the excesses of big business, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she played a key role in creating. She's gotten some criticism for saying she'd be willing to work with Trump on policies designed to help the economically disadvantaged. But she's clear that she won't tolerate racism, xenophobia, and misogyny. To take on Trump, "Warren is uniquely qualified -- no one can talk economic anxiety better than her, but she also recognizes and speaks to the fact that this election was as much about racism as economics," Joan McCarter wrote at Daily Kos. In addition, McCarter noted that Warren is "extremely effective at getting under Trump's skin, at poking at his biggest vulnerabilities." The woman who Trump has called "Pocahontas" because of her Native American heritage, along with calling her "goofy," is going to get under his skin a lot.

Bernie Sanders

Sanders, whose campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination excited a lot of people even though he eventually lost to Clinton, has pledged that his "movement" isn't going away. Like Warren, he's come in for criticism for a stated willingness to work with Trump on economic issues, but Sanders, who'll be back in the U.S. Senate representing Vermont, says he'll stand against bigotry. "Our job is to bring tens of millions of people together," he told Stephen Colbert recently, "to say, number one, this country is not an oligarchy, it is a democracy. Number two, you're not going to split us up by attacking our Muslim friends or our gay friends or women or anyone else. We're going to stand together and fight for a government and an economy that works for all of us."

Rachel Maddow

The out, proud, and very popular MSNBC host will always speak truth to power. The day after the election, she provided some historical context with a report on a crisis the nation faced in 1962 -- the Cuban missile crisis, which saw the U.S. barely avoid nuclear war with the Soviet Union -- then gave her devastated viewers a call to action. "If you are worried or mad or scared about what this election did last night, there's no use raging against the election for long," she said. "Honestly, as a citizen we all have a to-do list, right? I'm not trying to be inspiring. I`m not trying to be comforting. I`m not even trying to be polemic here. I mean this in a really practical way. If you`re a citizen who believes this president-elect will do what he says he will do, then you do have a to-do list to make as a citizen. What are you going to do? What are you going to do in your life to try to protect what makes us us? What are you going to join? What are you going to volunteer for? What are you going to give your money to? What are you going to show up for and participate in that you haven`t done before that will help your country? We faced crises before as a country, sometimes they`re malfunctions, sometimes it`s the brink of nuclear war, most times, it`s somewhere in between. But we rise to the occasion. We always do. We improvise. We do what we can. We step up." Maddow will undoubtedly continue to step up for as long as it takes -- and to cover the stories others ignore, like New Jersey's Bridgegate, which has resulted in the convictions of two of Gov. Chris Christie's top aides, and the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda.

Chuck Schumer

New York's Schumer will be the Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate next term, and he's ready to be an advocate for progressive causes. "I will do all in my power to prevent any backsliding on hard-won rights and to push back against a national discourse that allows for anything less than a full measure of respect for all Americans and would-be Americans," he wrote in an Advocate commentary. Then on Meet the Press Sunday, he said he'd work with Trump in areas of agreement but added, "On issues where our values are at stake, where the president goes in a divisive direction, where his campaign did before, we'll go against him and with everything we've got. We're not going to repeal or help him repeal Obamacare. We are not going to roll back Dodd-Frank. I think they should forget about that. We have 60 votes to block them. We're not going to help him build his wall. We have a comprehensive immigration reform bill that builds in much tougher border security and it had bipartisan support. ... So we're not going to oppose him just because it's Trump. But we're certainly going to stick to our values and oppose him wherever he opposes those." Trump actually praised Schumer's appointment, tweeting that he's "far smarter" than outgoing Minority Leader Harry Reid "and has the ability to get things done." Oh, you just wait and see, Donald.

Bill Maher

The Real Time host's post-election commentary called on liberals not to give up on living in America's "bad roommate situation" with Trump and his supporters. "Roommates can move out," he said on the season finale November 11. "Patriots can't. America needs you more than ever, right here, with me and the rest of the resistance, until we can really figure out how to make America great again, and don't ever let them forget, we're still here." Even though Maher has made some questionable comments in the past, like saying the issue of transgender rights needed to wait until after the election, we're with him in this fight. Watch below.

Keith Olbermann

We're glad to have the former MSNBC host back talking politics, in his new video commentary series on GQ's website, titled The Closer. He responded to Trump's election by excoriating the FBI's interference and Trump's appeals to fear of "the other," but pledged that a resistance would rise. "Those of us who warned against and pleaded against and fought against this madness will find avenues for dissent which will have enough support at least to impede this monster," Olbermann said. "Put any title you like in front of his name, this is still an aggressively self-destructive man, and it will be the goal of the resistance to help him in that task." He predicted that Trump, who he described as "this creature," "Freddy Krueger in chief," and "the first antidemocracy president of the United States," may well be brought down by disappointed Republicans. He closed by saying, "We shall defend our America, whatever the cost may be. ... We shall never surrender." Watch below.

Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee is keeping a close and skeptical eye on Trump and his supporters via her Full Frontal show. Shortly after the election, she called out those who were to blame for his victory. "It's pretty clear who ruined America: white people," she said. "Sixty-three percent of white men said if I can't be in charge, burn it down ... and a majority of white women, faced with a choice between the first female president and a vial of weaponized testosterone, said I take option B." She reminded viewers, though, that "America is still a great country and it is still worth fighting for. ... Let's get off the floor, especially you, white women. We got some karma to work off." A few days later, she offered a rundown of potential Trump appointees, including climate change denier Myron Ebell, the clueless Ben Carson, and job-quitter Sarah Palin. This isn't just a liberal's nightmare, she pointed out: "This is a nightmare for anyone who thinks job candidates should have relevant experience and education." She went on to sum up the Trump administration candidates as a "parade of misfits, zealots, deplorables, and extremists." Thank you for keeping us informed, Samantha.

Stephen Colbert

The Late Night host had difficulty carrying on with his election night special, as his mood and that of the audience became more and more downcast as Trump made his way to victory. But he's ready to fight back, making it clear during an appearance with John Oliver, who'll be a formidable resistance fighter as well, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Saturday night. "I'm all for giving him a chance, but don't give him an inch. Because I believed everything he said, and I remember everything he said, and it's horrifying," Colbert said. "He owes the checks and balances of Washington nothing, because they tried to stop him and they couldn't. And he's a vindictive person. So it's all going to be fine. Merry Christmas." Well, we know the "all going to be fine" was a bit of sarcasm. We can count on Colbert to tell the truth, not just "truthiness," about the damage Trump will undoubtedly try to wreak, and to stand strongly against him.

The Advocate

We at The Advocate plan to live up to our name and be advocates for The Resistance. We'll be covering all the news of the Trump administration and commenting on it, and we'll have weekly updates about the efforts to block the ghastly policies he has promised to put in place. To quote Victor Laszlo (played by Paul Henreid), a resistance fighter against the Nazis in World War II in the classic film Casablanca, "If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die." And as Laszlo says to Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) at the end of the film: "Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win."

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