It’s Time for Democrats to Reclaim Federalism

How blue states can—and must—defend the Constitution from a lawless federal regime

Federalism was designed to prevent tyranny—not to enable it.

Federalism, at its core, means shared power between the national government and the states. It’s the idea that no one entity holds all the authority—that both Washington and the states have roles to play in governing, and that each can serve as a check on the other when things go wrong. It’s how the founders tried to prevent any one branch—or one man—from becoming a king.

But under Trump’s second term, that safeguard is collapsing. The federal government is no longer a neutral institution or a flawed but functional system of shared governance. It has become a lawless force—disregarding precedent, breaking constitutional limits, and trampling the rights of the very people it claims to represent.

This isn’t just an attack on blue states. It’s an attack on every American—on our rights, our institutions, and the fundamental idea that power must be accountable to the people. The difference is not who Trump targets, but who chooses to resist. And if red states are unwilling—or unable—to defend their residents from authoritarian overreach, then blue states must be prepared to act.

We cannot afford to wait while Trump and his allies rewrite the rules, sabotage the systems, and gut the safeguards that hold this country together. Federalism isn’t just a relic of the Constitution—it’s our last viable defense. The states were never meant to be passive provinces beneath a king. They were meant to serve as checks against exactly this kind of lawless federal consolidation.

It is time for Democrats to reclaim the mantle of federalism—not as a tool of obstruction, but as an instrument of protection. Not to defy legitimate governance, but to uphold the very promises the federal government has abandoned: liberty, justice, and the rule of law.

If Washington has become the problem, then the states must become the solution. This isn’t rebellion. This is responsibility. And if Democrats don’t claim that responsibility, no one else will.

What Federalism Was Supposed to Be

Ask most people what “federalism” means and their eyes glaze over. For decades, it’s been used by conservatives as a cover—for segregation, for inequality, for cruelty. “States’ rights” was the excuse used to defend slavery. It was the excuse used to fight civil rights. It’s still used today to justify bans, book censorship, and attacks on vulnerable communities.

But that’s not what federalism was meant to be.

The Constitution wasn’t written to create one giant, all-powerful central authority. It was built on the belief that states should have power too—not just to run schools and fix roads, but to stand up when Washington goes off the rails. If the federal government ever turned lawless, the states were supposed to be the backstop. The line in the sand.

That’s where we are now.

Because Trump’s second term isn’t just political chaos—it’s a full-blown attack on the rights and freedoms of everyday Americans. He’s using the power of the federal government to punish critics, defund opposition, and override laws that protect people. And while red states either look away or help him do it, blue states still have the power—and the duty—to stand up.

Federalism isn’t about letting states do whatever they want. It’s about using state power to protect people when the federal government won’t. It’s not rebellion. It’s defense. And it’s the only reason we still have a path forward. The same legal structure that once enabled injustice can now be repurposed to stop it.

Trump 2.0: A Rogue Administration

This isn’t just another bad administration. It’s a hostile takeover.

Trump’s second term isn’t about governing—it’s about dismantling. What we’re witnessing is a full-scale assault on the system of checks and balances that once defined American democracy. Every branch, every safeguard, every source of accountability is being bent—or broken—to serve one man’s will.

Let’s be clear about what that looks like:

• He’s attacking Congress’s power of the purse. Under the Constitution, Congress—not the president—controls federal spending. But Trump has bulldozed that line. Through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)— run by Elon Musk, the billionaire who bankrolled Trump’s return to power—Trump has taken a chainsaw to the federal government. Entire agencies are being gutted or shuttered, programs defunded without a vote, and staff purged for political reasons. This isn’t cost-cutting. It’s sabotage. And it bypasses the legislative branch entirely, rendering Congress’s core budgetary power meaningless.

• He’s attacking due process and freedom of speech. His administration has secretly renditioned immigrants to CECOT, a Salvadoran mega-prison infamous for torture and abuse—outside U.S. jurisdiction and without due process. That’s not just unconstitutional—it’s a human rights violation. On the domestic front, Trump has targeted university students for their protected speech, ordering crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests, threatening to revoke Harvard’s non-profit status, and authorizing ICE to apprehend international students who engaged in peaceful demonstration—voiding their visas and deporting them in retaliation.

• He’s attacking the press. From weaponizing defamation lawsuits against CBS, Ann Selzer, and other critics, to pressuring the Associated Press over its refusal to adopt his preferred propaganda terms—like renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”—Trump has made it clear: journalism that doesn’t serve him will be punished. This isn’t about bias—it’s about control.

• He’s sabotaging the federal government from within. Trump isn’t just defunding or neglecting federal agencies—he’s turning them against their own missions. The Department of Education is now run by those who want to eliminate it. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is chaired by people who side with predatory lenders. And perhaps most disturbingly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—a man who has publicly spread anti-vaccine conspiracies and undermined public health for decades—is now in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. The goal isn’t reform. It’s demolition.

• He’s hijacked the Department of Justice. The DOJ now answers to Trump, not the law. It has been used to retaliate against his enemies, shield his allies, and pressure local officials into compliance. In one recent example, DOJ officials approached New York City Mayor Eric Adams and suggested that his federal corruption investigation might go away—if he agreed to help Trump implement his unlawful immigration crackdowns. This is not justice. It’s mafia politics with a federal seal.

Some courts—particularly at the district and appellate levels—have served as speed bumps in Trump’s lawless demolition of the federal government. Even with conservative appointees on the bench, many judges have upheld the rule of law. But the Supreme Court, increasingly dominated by partisan loyalists, has only rarely stood in the way.

The media, meanwhile, remains paralyzed—trapped in a cycle of false balance, afraid to plainly name what’s happening. While Trump dismantles democratic norms, many major outlets are still asking whether it’s “fair” to call it fascism. That hesitation is part of the problem.

And Congress? Both chambers are now controlled by Trump loyalists. They’re not slowing the collapse—they’re accelerating it. Whether through silence or complicity, Congress has abdicated its role as a co-equal branch of government.

If the federal government won’t uphold the Constitution, then the states must. If Washington has surrendered to corruption and coercion, then state governments must become the last firewall—for the rule of law, for the people, and for whatever is left of the promise of American democracy.

At a time like this, resistance isn’t radical. Refusing to resist is.

The Case for Blue-State Resistance

“The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.”
—Abraham Lincoln

Ironically, those words were spoken in defense of a Union under siege by states abusing the concept of federalism. Today, they speak just as urgently to states trying to defend the Union against a lawless federal government.

Let’s be clear: blue states are not just allowed to resist Trump’s authoritarian regime—they are obligated to. This is not about party. It’s about sovereignty, duty, and survival.

Trump’s second term has revealed what many feared but hoped would never come to pass: a federal government turned against its own people, weaponized to protect the powerful and punish dissent. And in the face of that reality, the time for half-measures is over.

This is not a moment for the Democratic Party’s usual risk-aversion—the “we’ll act when we’re sure we’ll win” playbook. This is a moment for courage, conviction, and moral clarity. As Theodore Roosevelt put it:

“The best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

Blue states must do everything—from the smallest symbolic act to the boldest constitutional maneuver.

That means refusing to allow state resources—personnel, databases, infrastructure—to be used in support of unlawful federal actions. It means declaring state facilities off-limits to agents carrying out unlawful detentions or surveillance. It means shielding residents from targeted federal overreach with state-level legal protections and civil rights enforcement.

But it also means going further.

We must think anew. And act anew.

State compacts—agreements between states to jointly administer programs and protect rights—have long existed in limited, technocratic forms. But in this moment, they must become something new: a framework for lawful, democratic governance in a time of federal collapse. Compacts on healthcare, education, housing, data privacy, reproductive freedom, environmental protection, and even voting systems must be built to sustain what federal agencies no longer can or will.

And states must be prepared to go further still.

In cases where federal agents break the law—especially when violating standing court orders, as in the Abrego Garcia case—states must prosecute. The Supremacy Clause does not shield federal actors when they act outside their authority or in direct defiance of judicial orders. In Maryland, where Garcia was abducted in violation of a federal injunction, state prosecutors may well have the legal and moral standing to pursue charges.

This isn’t about theater. It’s about defending the rule of law when no one else will.

If the courts fail, if Congress rolls over, if federal agencies are hijacked, then the states must take their place as the last functioning layer of democratic government. That means building new institutions, testing new legal boundaries, and yes—being willing to lose a few battles in the name of fighting the war that matters.

This is not a maximalist vs. incrementalist debate. This is an all-of-the-above moment.

We either defend the republic now—state by state, law by law, compact by compact—or we lose it. Not all at once, but piece by piece, as the machinery of government is turned into an engine of repression.

The occasion is piled high with difficulty. And we must rise with it.

If You Believe in This Fight, Help Keep It Alive

There’s still more below, I just need a moment of your time.

The American Manifesto isn’t backed by corporations. There are no ads, no paywalls, no billionaires funding it.

It’s just one person, fighting like hell to expose the truth and give you the weapons to push back.

If you value this work—if you want this movement to keep growing, keep calling out fascism without fear, and keep fighting for the future we deserve—then I need your support.

Join the fight. Become a supporter. Every contribution keeps this mission alive.

Because silence is surrender. We do not surrender. We are #TheRelentless.

This Isn’t Secession—It’s Survival, Renewal, and Preservation

Let’s be crystal clear: what we are calling for is not secession. It is the exact opposite.

Secession is what happens when a state gives up on the Union. What blue states must do now is refuse to give up—on the Constitution, on the rule of law, on democracy itself. While others surrender to authoritarianism, we are demanding that the promises of the American republic still mean something.

Secession is rejection. This is refusal. Refusal to comply with lawlessness. Refusal to legitimize repression. Refusal to stand by while the federal government betrays its own charter.

If anything, blue-state resistance is the last expression of faith in the American experiment.

We are not leaving the Union. We are defending it—when others won't.

We are not tearing up the Constitution. We are standing in the empty space where it should be enforced.

We are not undermining national unity. We are confronting the reality that true unity cannot exist without shared values, shared protections, and shared accountability. Otherwise, it’s just submission dressed in stars and stripes.

Renewal comes from moments like this—not from blind obedience, but from choosing to live up to the principles too many have abandoned.

Preservation means doing what is necessary to keep those principles alive. Not in theory. In practice. In the laws we pass. In the people we protect. In the systems we rebuild.

And make no mistake: we will rebuild.

What blue states do now is not just for their own residents. It’s a signal to the rest of the country—and the world—that the American idea is not dead. That somewhere in this fractured nation, the fight for democracy, dignity, and decency still burns.

Let those who mock federalism understand this: we’re not wielding it to hoard power. We’re wielding it to protect people. We’re not twisting it to justify injustice. We’re reclaiming it to resist tyranny.

Because the only thing worse than being accused of rebellion is becoming complicit in betrayal.

If Not Us, Then Who?

We know what needs to be done. Now the question is—who will do it?

To the governors of states still committed to democracy: You are no longer just executives. You are stewards of the last functioning layer of constitutional government. Use every tool at your disposal—executive orders, lawsuits, emergency declarations, interstate compacts, and bold public messaging. Don’t wait for permission. Act.

To the state legislatures: Pass laws that shield your residents from unlawful federal action. Create compacts with other states to rebuild the institutions being gutted in Washington. Protect civil rights, public health, reproductive freedom, and the environment—even if the federal government won’t. Especially if it won’t.

To attorneys general and state prosecutors: When federal officials break the law on your soil—especially in violation of court orders—investigate them. Prosecute them. The Supremacy Clause does not give anyone the right to trample your courts or your citizens.

And to the people—those watching from the sidelines, wondering what this moment demands of you: this is your fight, too.

To the millions who have already marched, protested, rallied, and raised their voices: thank you. You are the heartbeat of this resistance. But we need more than protest. We need persistence.

The road ahead will not be free—but neither is the cost of doing nothing.

Rebuilding the systems that are being sabotaged—healthcare, education, disaster relief, economic protections—will cost money. That means taxes. That means tough budget choices. That means shared sacrifice.

But it will also cost time. And time may be the most precious thing we have left.

We know people are exhausted. You're working two jobs, raising families, caring for others, just trying to survive. But if each and every one of us can set aside just one hour a week—to organize, to volunteer, to attend a meeting, to canvass, to testify, to educate, to protest, to vote, to build—we can still turn this around.

One hour a week. That’s 0.6% of your life. And it may prove the greatest return on investment you ever make—for yourself, for your children, for your country.

Because there is no longer a “free” option; there is no “later” to do this. There is only now. The only question is what you’re willing to pay for: the cost of rebuilding, or the cost of surrender.

One buys freedom. The other buys silence. And eventually, shackles.

If we don’t act, the future will be written by those who already sold the country to oligarchs, to theocrats, to tyrants with golden toilets and hollow souls. But if we do act—if we rise with the occasion—we can still reclaim what they’re trying to destroy.

The longer we wait, the more this government becomes unrecognizable. The more our rights become negotiable. The more this moment slips into history as the time we could have saved something, and didn’t.

This isn’t about politics anymore. It’s about responsibility.

It’s about whether the Constitution still lives—or becomes just another dead document, buried under cowardice and corruption.

If not us, then who? If not now, then when?

Join the Fight, Amplify the Truth

Because silence is surrender. We never surrender. We are #TheRelentless.