Since his return to the White House, President Trump has punished individuals and institutions that refuse to bend the knee. In a guest essay published in the New York Times, Henry J. Farrell, a professor of democracy and international affairs at Johns Hopkins University, argues that collective action is the best defense against authoritarianism:

President Trump is trying to seize power that he is not entitled to under the law or the Constitution.

But Mr. Trump will fail in remaking American politics if people and institutions coordinate against him, which is why his administration is targeting businesses, nonprofits and the rest of civil society, proposing corrupting bargains to those who acquiesce and punishing holdouts to terrify the rest into submission.

This is one part of Mr. Trump’s bigger agenda to remake American politics so that everyone wants to be his friend and no one dares to be his enemy.

[…]

Those who oppose authoritarianism have to play a different game, creating solidarity among an unwieldy coalition, which knows that if everyone holds together, they will surely succeed.

Coordinated resistance stopped the National Park Service from removing interpretive signs at the President’s House for now.

In a recent editorial, the Philadelphia Inquirer acknowledged the impact of vigilance and collective courage:

Kudos to everyone who pushed back against Donald Trump’s attempt to whitewash the history of slavery at the President’s House site near the Liberty Bell.

Trump’s ridiculous executive order instructed the National Park Service to remove or cover up displays on federal sites that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

The arbitrary Sept. 17 deadline to remove the material has passed. For now, the President’s House exhibits remain untouched. But vigilance is still required, given Trump’s erratic policy approach and alarming cognitive state.

I am name-checked in the editorial. All That Philly Jazz is one of 255 signatories to an open statement pushing back against Trump’s attacks on arts and cultural institutions.

Mobilized by the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, we are standing together to resist censorship:

Arts and culture bring people together. They spark joy, foster belonging, enrich communities, and help us imagine new possibilities. Arts and culture also open space for complexity—for grappling with different perspectives, for hearing what we might rather ignore, and for facing what makes us uncomfortable. Cultural organizations, including art, culture, history, and science museums, as well as libraries, theaters, and dance and performance spaces, make these encounters possible. They are key to the functioning of a democracy, as they promote freedom of expression, encourage critical thinking, and create important opportunities for public discussion and dissent.

[…]

As contributors to the sphere of art and culture, and as representatives of US art and cultural institutions that create space for art, ideas, innovation, and public engagement, we stand firm in the shared values that make for a robust arts and culture landscape: free expression, active debate, responsibility, and care.

Add your voice to the resistance at collective-courage.com.

Harriet Tubman began her journey to freedom on Monday, September 17, 1849.

On Monday, September 15, 2025, the Washington Post reported on President Trump’s plan to whitewash the everyday brutality of slavery, including removing the photograph of self-emancipated Peter from Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia. The photograph of “a typical Negro” was first published in Harper’s Weekly on July 4, 1863.

Abolitionists used the iconic photograph to raise awareness of “how bad slavery was.” I recently viewed an original print of “The Scourged Back” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

President Trump wants to erase the truth that President George Washington enslaved nine Black people and signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 in the shadow of the Liberty Bell.

According to the Post, interpretive panels at the President’s House have been flagged for removal:

In his executive order, Trump singled out the “corrosive ideology” at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, where the founders signed the Declaration of Independence.

…

“This is not just a handful of signs that tell the story of slavery,” said Ed Stierli, senior Mid-Atlantic regional director at the advocacy group National Parks Conservation Association. “This is a place that tells the complete story not just of slavery in America, but what it was like for those who were enslaved by George Washington.”

Trying to extricate slavery from the President’s House exhibit would fundamentally change the nature of the site, said Cindy MacLeod, who was superintendent of Independence National Historical Park for 15 years until 2023.

Read more