Let’s Talk About a “Civic Uprising,’ Says Prominent Lefty

Dan Froomkin is a moderately influential left-wing columnist who writes a navel-gazing substack column titled “Heads Up News,” among other projects. He’s also editor of “Press Watch,” a navel-gazing critique of the press that Froomkin calls “an intervention for political journalism.”

A recent entry from Press Watch was titled, “The Trump regime should be covered as a criminal enterprise.” Mkay, whatever.

Froomkin has written for everybody who is anybody in the left media, including the Washington Post, where he was fired for some obscure rants against Republicans.

You may have missed them, but there were nationwide protests against Donald Trump on April 19. They were a follow-up to the protests you missed on April 5. Froomkin thinks these protests are the start of something big. Why? Because they were reported on in the Washington Post and other major newspapers.

“Mainstream media coverage of the widespread anti-Trump protests on April 19 was much more extensive than it was after the April 5 protests — despite smaller crowds,” writes Froomkin.

But what does it all mean, Dan?

“To me, the increased media attention signifies a growing recognition that we are in a period of civic unrest – that the public rejection of the Trump/Musk agenda is going to be a big part of the American story in the coming months,”

“Civic unrest” as a meme isn’t likely to go viral. This is especially true because the country is still split nearly 50-50 between those who think we’re entering the Second Age of Hitler and those who don’t.

The unbalanced nature of this “civic unrest” meme precludes ordinary people from joining it. So, we’re left with just another left-wing attempt to mount the battlements, waving the bloody shirt, beckoning the common man to follow.

Of course, it’s silly. Froomkin pointed to several recent efforts at lefties playing their favorite game of “Pretend”: Revolutionary.

Here’s David Brooks atop the parapet, waving his arms like a madman.

It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.

Lord, deliver us from fools and madmen.

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich sounds even more self-important as he rallies “millions” non-existent plebes.

It may look like a general strike — a strike in which tens of millions of Americans refuse to work, refuse to buy, refuse to engage in anything other than a mass demonstration against the regime.

And not just one general strike, but a repeating general strike — a strike whose numbers continue to grow and whose outrage, resistance, and solidarity continue to spread across the land.

Oh, Bobby. You’re my hero.

In other words, no one works until Trump is gone. Sheesh. This isn’t just silly. It’s delusional. 

“Why is the idea of mass actions catching on?” asks Froomkin. Where is it “catching on?” Who, besides left-wing nitwits, sees anything except the same old tired marchers, protesting the same old tired causes and making believe they’re reaching anyone besides the liberal echo chamber in the media?

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Froomkin supports the notion of a “national strike” and believes that the less than 11% of workers who hold union cards will be key.

One key question about a strike is what role labor unions would play. On the one hand, it’s almost impossible to imagine a general strike working without the enthusiastic participation – indeed the leadership – of labor unions. On the other hand, unions are traditionally loath to call for strikes that aren’t directly tied to contract negotiations, and there are also legal risks, internal politics and the risk of failure to be considered.

Hamilton Nolan, who writes about labor in his newsletter, How Things Work, told me in an interview this week that he thinks the major unions will come around. Trump has already directly attacked unions, including by signing an executive order ending collective bargaining for over a million federal workers.

This is the quality of opposition to Trump. It’s like they’re stuck between the “denial” and “anger” stages of the five stages of grief and have entered the netherworld, looking for their lost mojo.

A “civic uprising” will never exist without the “civic” part. That’s the masses of people who have not been “harmed” by Trump’s policies, while many have benefited.

I would recommend that Dan Froomkin and his navel-gazing friends continue to wave the bloody shirt. It won’t achieve the desired result, but it makes for excellent news visuals.

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