Q&A Friday 👇 Post Q’s in Comments

Why aren't politicians ordering the arrest of ICE agents?

Fear of disrupting norms keeps many of these elected officials in line, but it's deeper than that. These are people who succeeded in life because of their ability to understand the rules and play by them. Most of them are lawyers, and that's the heart of being a lawyer. The system rewarded them for that orientation. It shaped them into who they are. And now we're asking them to play a completely different game, one where rules have to be broken, where the old playbook doesn't just fail but actively helps the other side. That's outside of everything that made them successful.

Their mindset runs something like this: "They're tearing the house down, which is dangerous and evil, but that doesn't mean I should start ripping out floorboards to hit them with."

That logic makes sense in normal times. It does not work against authoritarianism.

To extend the metaphor: yes, ripping out floorboards is dangerous. You could get hurt. But you can't leave the house. You need to stop them. And refusing effective action because it feels drastic becomes far more dangerous than giving them another second to do damage, especially when innocent people are already getting hurt inside.

As for fears about armed federal agents, National Guard confrontations, and personal safety for officials who take action: those are legitimate. But this is precisely why public pressure matters so much, and here's what most people don't realize. It doesn't take millions of people to change a politician's behavior. Or even thousands. A few dozen people, without even coordinating with one another, can do it.

The key is different forms of pressure, all happening at the same time. Every action is a nudge. Boycotts. Contacting donors. Showing up at their events, every single one. Showing up at their offices. Flooding their emails. Sending letters. The goal is to make it so they cannot exist without public anger reaching them constantly. Their staff tries to insulate them, but they're humans who move around in public. They're public officials, and we find them. We make sure they're held accountable. And that accountability, created effectively enough, turns constant spotlights into heat lamps.

We start as a nuisance. Then we become what they're thinking about when they're lying in bed at night. Then we become what they're talking to their partner about. Then we become what they're discussing with colleagues who are feeling the same heat. We're not just pressuring them. We're occupying their minds. We're deciding what conversations they have. They won't give in immediately. That's why it's called persistence. We build pressure until it's undeniable.

This applies at every level. State attorneys general prosecuting federal officials breaking state law, whether that's ICE agents, Trump, GOP leadership, or the Heritage Foundation architects behind them. State representatives passing laws aligned with resistance. City councils and county commissioners obstructing, denying, pursuing investigations and prosecutions at whatever level they have authority to act. Everyone does what they can where they are. The carrot and the stick. Do the right thing even if it makes you uncomfortable, because a civil mob keeps showing up, frequently, with specific demands, through so many channels that you can never escape the pressure. And they won't go away.

This is the only question in 2026 and 2028. Whether you're running for dog catcher or governor, we want to know what you're going to do. And we'll tell you what we need you to do to stop this and fix it.

We need politicians to be more scared of the public than they are of fascists. It's just behavioral psychology.