I don’t know if Mike Johnston has some real insight here or is simply hope-casting, but the Denver mayor has gladdened the hearts of many of us looking for a way to resist the Trump threat to democracy and other ideals that at least half the country still holds dear.
In a recent interview with Denverite, Johnston promises that Denver, a proud sanctuary city, won’t be “bullied” by Donald Trump’s threats to withhold federal funding to various agencies if the city refuses to cooperate with Trump’s promised mass deportation of unauthorized — and even some authorized — migrants.
And he predicts that if Trump were to send in the troops to round up hard-working Denver migrants and break up families, as he has said he would, that people in Denver would rise up to stop them.
I’d say that prediction is heartening, whether or not it ever comes into play. At this point, I’ll take heartening. At this point, many liberals I know have even stopped reading or watching the news because the Trump restoration is just that depressing. At this point, there seems to be more active withdrawal than active resistance.
When Trump was somehow elected again — and, by the way, it was hardly a landslide, not even close, meaning he’s not working with the “unprecedented” mandate he claims — I wrote several columns suggesting that we can’t give up.
And even more importantly, I said we must actively resist. But I didn’t exactly offer suggestions for the best ways to resist in Colorado, a solid blue state mostly surrounded by a sea of solid red, because I confess I don’t know the answer.
Jared Polis did announce a plan to resist authoritarianism, with the Governors Guarding Democracy group that he and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have formed. But then again, Polis — who has also inexplicably supported one of Trump’s wackier cabinet appointees in bear-dumping Robert Kennedy Jr. — may not turn out to be the resistance leader we need.
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And yes, in other parts of the world, there was a brief show of resistance from some Republican senators, who refused to vote for Matt Gaetz, an accused sex trafficker who is generally considered the least qualified person ever nominated for attorney general. It was so clear that Gaetz would not be confirmed that, upon Trump’s insistence, Gaetz withdrew.
But, of course, there are a number of other cabinet crazies nominated by Trump, who quickly announced that Pam Bondi — the former Florida AG, election denier, member of Trump’s impeachment defense team and possibly the second worst person ever nominated to be attorney general — was his Plan B for the job.
How many times do you think at least four Senate Republicans — the minimum number needed to block a Trump nomination — would actually risk offending Trump? One may be as far as they go, although the accusation of rape against Pete Hegseth could force another. And could Tulsi Gabbard actually fly as head of American intelligence? Here’s the thing — and, yeah, it’s depressing — RFK Jr. might be only the fourth wackiest Trump cabinet-level nominee.
But if you’re looking for real resistance, look to Johnston. When asked if Denver would change any of its policies on migrants if Trump did pressure the city, Johnston said:
“The short answer is, we won’t change that, because those are one of our core values. And we’re not going to sell out those values to anyone. We’re not going to be bullied into changing them.”
Johnston said, in fact, that if Trump launches “Operation Aurora” and goes so far, as promised, to use the military to forcibly remove local migrants as part of his plan to deport millions nationally, that Colorado citizens would rise up to protect them.
Polis says mass deportation, as many studies have shown, would devastate the American economy, not to mention Colorado’s. He has also said he wouldn’t allow the use of the Colorado National Guard to round up undangerous, hard-working Coloradans just because they might not have papers.
Meaning that if the military is called on to roust Colorado migrants, it would probably be with invading National Guard forces from, say, Texas or Alabama. Johnston says the people in Denver and in greater Colorado would not stand for that.
Here’s the money quote:
“More than us having (Denver police) stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there. It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”
Is he right? Tiananmen Square comes to Denver? A rose and a gun? Really?
It turns out that Johnston felt the need later to walk back his quote about DPD officers confronting federal enforcers if they showed up. Not sure where the blowback came from, but Johnston told 9News he wishes he had not included the Denver police in his resistance scenario.
But he said he still believed Denver citizens would engage in civil disobedience , and that if public officials — as Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has threatened — would be arrested if they tried to interfere, he’d be willing to risk jail to join in the protest.
Again, I don’t know. The United States was born in activism, but we don’t generally take to the streets in great numbers unless it’s to oppose a war or police brutality, say, following the deaths of George Floyd and Elijah McClain.The Women’s March on Washington, not to mention quite a large march in Denver and other cities, attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters, many sporting pink pussyhats, the day after Trump was first inaugurated. But the movement was short-lived, and now I wonder if there will be a similar protest this time, even after the end of Roe.
But if you’re in need of a little hope, Johnston — who has welcomed migrants to Denver in the most challenging time, fueled by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s cruel migrant bus tours of blue cities — is your person.
The Sun recently published a must-read series on how the Trump restoration would affect Colorado on 10 issues ranging from deportation to abortion pills to climate change.
However you voted, you must know that the effects will be significant. Trump’s promises to upend a host of American institutions and knock down a number of constitutionally protected democratic guardrails explain both why people voted against Trump and why others voted for him.
But I think Johnston is mostly right if we’re going to see resistance emerge organically, mass deportation is the most likely issue.
☀️ MORE FROM MIKE LITTWIN
Roughly one in 10 Coloradans is an immigrant. Many are undocumented, but many are not. And none, as far as I can tell, including violent Venezuelan gangs, has poisoned the blood of America, much less conquered Aurora or any other cities.
Trump used immigrants, as they’ve been used in America for what seems like forever, to pretend there is an American hellscape that only Trump — with help, of course, from his buddy Elon — can fix. We’ll see how far he takes it. According to Trump, they’ll start with deporting criminals. But they’re going to run out of violent criminals pretty quickly.
And then what?
The idea of rounding up law-abiding migrants, sticking them in large camps, separating families, forcing people to return to countries some don’t even remember, is un-American. It’s un-Coloradan. It’s un-Denverite.
A plurality of American voters may have elected Trump, but not a majority of Coloradans. And if gangs of mass deporters come to town, Johnston is probably right.
This aggression will not stand.
Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.
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