The only way to stop a bully is to challenge their authority!

Get the Point!

"Power concedes nothing without a demand..." Famous Black abolitionist and civil rights leader Frederick Douglass

History and literature are replete with examples of people seeking to accommodate wicked despots and evil doers in every field of human endeavor, only to later learn that "appeasement" only serves to delay the inevitable battle that should have been fought from the very first.

While I can cite many examples, as a lover of World War II era history, perhaps none is better than the moment when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced that he had brokered “peace in our time” with Adolf Hitler in September of 1938. That month, Hitler had annexed the Sudetenland, a heavily German section of Czechoslovakia that the dictator desired for “lebensraum,” or “living space” for future German housing developments. Earlier that year, Hitler had annexed his home country, Austria, for the same reason. But during the Munich Peace Conference with Chamberlain, Hitler promised that in exchange for the Sudetenland, that he would not annex the rest of Czechoslovakia and by so doing, the world breathed a sigh of relief about Chamberlain's perceived diplomatic victory. Six months later, Hitler broke his promise and annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia and a few months after that—invaded Poland and ignited World War II!

To this day, historians continue to study and debate how very different world events may have been had the Allies fought Hitler in 1938, a year before his military was at peak strength? To the regret of over 60 million people who died during the war, we will never know!

But what this historian and legal scholar does know is that appeasement often comes when one side believes that "compromise" with a seemingly stronger opponent is a better option than being conquered. And while there is a certain self-preservation logic to this notion, the choice to pursue such a course really depends on whether one feels compelled to compromise for the sake of peace, or whether resistance to the very last is necessary for principle's sake, if nothing else.

Like many of you, I have watched in horror over the past eight months as members of the legal system, the media, and educational administrators have bent the knee and, at times, paid millions of dollars in tribute to avoid fighting the Trump administration's attempts to stifle free speech per the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. From prominent law firms, to media giants like CBS, ABC, and even Ivy League schools like Columbia University, the very minute that Trump and his MAGA minions called them out or issued some legally shallow executive order, the frightened among these professions started tripping over their feet to keep themselves out of his administration's cross hairs as far as licensing and/or federal contracts and funds being eliminated.

Nevermind the fact that the Trump administration's tactics are nothing short of a mafioso shakedown, but when some of the most powerful law/lobbying firms, media operations, and an elite private university chose to stand down instead of fighting in court, such made me sick to the stomach from my own apprehension that liberty will die due to certain folks choosing comfort and convenience over fighting for the principles of free speech, a free press, and free association to teach that diversity, equity, and inclusion are hallmarks of a just society.

But just when I started to lose hope as the MAGA Republican dominated Legislative Branch of the Federal Government also bent the knee to Trump, the Judicial Branch, at last, has started to flex its muscle and say "no.” You don't see the articles often, and there are very few social media reels and posts that break down each time Trump's executive orders are being checked by judges, but trust when I tell you that Trump knows, which is why he is angry and constantly threatening lawyers, the judiciary, and academic institutions like Harvard University, one university that has bucked his authority, on his social media pages.

For example, Trump has shaken down major law firms, like Paul, Weiss, Skadden and Latham & Watkins, to the tune of $1 billion in future pro bono services since his election and inauguration. While these firms have lost lawyers, clients, and clout due to their capitulation, other firms, like Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block and Wilmer-Hale have chosen to fight via the federal courts—and win! Curiously, the Trump administration has not chosen to appeal any of these losses because deep down, they know that their own arguments are legally suspect and likely to end in increased fines, penalties, and grievances against individual administration lawyers for failing to negotiate reasonable settlements or proferring nonsensical arguments in court.

Even Trump knows that his shakedowns are farcical, as evidenced by a speech last April where he said, “Have you noticed that lots of law firms have been signing up with Trump: $100 million, another $100 million, for damages that they’ve done. But they give you $100 million and then they announce, ‘We have done nothing wrong.’ And I agree: They’ve done nothing wrong. But what the hell. They’ve given me a lot of money, considering they’ve done nothing wrong.”

Trump, arguably the most intellectually unsound president of all time, is just wise enough to know that his attacks on law firms are arbitrary and capricious, but he attacks anyway because he knows that many would prefer to bend over than to stand straight up and fight!

In summary, I know that many of you are struggling to make sense out of ALL of this, but I remind that even the worst hurricanes eventually run out of wind and rain. Applying this to the second Trump administration, the way we can impact the wind and rain is by staying abreast of the issues, helping to fund groups like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU to fight Trumpism in courts of law, while using your own voices to protest and to fight Trumpian injustices in the courts of public opinion on social media apps! Appeasement and “hoping” for change has never stopped a bully—only spiritual, intellectual, and physical might can get a bully to stop bullying.

Lest we forget…