It’s been one of the most unsettling and upsetting two weeks in recent American history. Two weeks of Trump 2.0. Two weeks of massive federal funding freezes, stop work orders, and layoffs. Two weeks where organizations working with refugees–organizations like 122-year-old HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society–have had to consider closing, or at least massively downsizing. Two weeks in which immigrants, even legal immigrants, have been looking for places to hide. Two weeks of terror for transgender Americans. Two weeks of feeling that we’re back in “Trump’s America”—maybe even “Trump’s World”.

The thing is this: All that overwhelm—the sense that things are coming fast and furious (and “bigly”)—is the point. This is what one of my favorite commentators, Ezra Klein, has so rightly pointed out. “The message wasn’t in any one executive order or announcement,” he said on his New York Times podcast this week, “it was in the cumulative effect of all of them.” 

And so I have been continually reminding myself, especially when Trump’s agenda touches things you and I deeply care about, that what Trump’s administration is doing is throwing stun grenade after stun grenade. They are working hard to instill fear and paralysis. Why? To enable them to try to deconstruct the federal government for their benefit, to replace democracy with oligarchy, to remake America into their dark image. 

We know this tactic; they’ve tried it before. But this time, we won’t be fooled. 

And Ezra reminded us of something else: Trump is not a king, as badly as he may want to be. He is an American president, and his office does not have unlimited power. He declared birthright citizenship over. But that’s unconstitutional and he doesn’t have the power to do it. And within days the order was frozen by a judge. He froze federal funds, and a judge froze the freeze and his administration rescinded it. “The projection of strength obscures the reality of weakness,” Ezra said. What he and his administration want is for us to be overwhelmed.

Case in point was Tuesday’s meeting and press conference between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump in the White House. Seemingly out of nowhere, Trump suddenly suggested that the United States take “ownership” of Gaza, displace the Palestinian population and turn the coastal enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” 

J Street, and most others in our sector, were appalled: “There aren’t adequate words to express our disgust at the notion of forcibly displacing millions of war-weary Palestinians with the backing of the United States of America,” their statement said. “The President is proposing ethnic cleansing disguised as a real estate development.” And he was. But perhaps more to the point is that he was trying to act like the king. And now—just like with the funding freezes and birthright citizenship—his administration is scrambling to figure out how to walk it back. Because the president, for the massive power he does have, does not have the power to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip. He is not an emperor who can seize and “redevelop” territory located on the other side of the planet—not if we have the courage to push back to stop him. Ezra said it first: “Trump is acting like a king because he’s too weak to govern like a president.” For me, that lines up.

So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, know that it’s normal. We all are. But also know that that is what they want. That our paralysis is their success. Because when we are stunned and confused into inaction, they win.

While Trump and Netanyahu were speaking, our folks in D.C. came out alongside our friends at UnXeptable, an Israeli protest movement that has been vocal in its opposition to Netanyahu and his policies. They rallied to tell these two men what we really want, what we’ve been saying—screaming—for the last fifteen months: Maintain and extend this ceasefire, bring every hostage home, end this war, and get back to work building durable, mutually agreed-upon, political solutions to this conflict. NIF’s “Truth to Power” Award winner, Einav Zangauker spoke at that rally outside the White House. Einav, who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, is the troubadour of the more outspoken hostage families protesting to end the war and get the hostages back. Her son Matan is still in Gaza. 

There are a handful of things that have helped me navigate these past two weeks, that have kept me focused and ready to fight. I want to share three of them with you.

The first is the Ezra Klein recording I wrote about above. It’s only fifteen minutes, and it’s well worth a listen or a watch. The second is the latest episode of collaborative podcast, Groundwork. This episode, called “Unlearning Political Helplessness,” is about NIF grantees The Tzedek Centers, which were built to help Israelis build their civic capacity. What that means is teaching them the basics of how government works so that they can take their civic destinies in their own hands. We need to find this kind of power now, too..

Finally, as always, I’m inspired by our grantees. Last week, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, our flagship grantee, and Haaretz put on a conference about free speech in Israel. At that event, ACRI’s Deputy Director and Head of the Legal Department, Gadeer Nicola outlined one simple truth that I think all of us at NIF live by: “The true test of any regime claiming to be democratic,” she said, “is the status of the minority within it.” She continued:

The true protection of freedom of expression begins with protecting the narrative of the other. When the wind of fascism breathes down your neck, you don’t bow your head hoping it will pass, you don’t “sell out” parts of the public hoping it will satisfy the incitement machine. You fight fascism face to face, with the full truth, and without bending and compromising your principles. This is what history taught us. Otherwise, the winds of fascism will uproot everything… Finally, it’s important to remember this isn’t a lost battle… And we at the Association for Civil Rights will be partners in this journey. We will lead Jewish-Arab partnerships and work with anyone who holds these values dear—until it’s better here.

This is the message I leave you with now. We are fighting for a future that is more free, more equal, and more democratic—and we will never, ever stop.