51% of Americans say they do not intend to watch the inauguration.

Unfortunately, television ratings alone will not scrub the Donald Trump presidency. 

But at least one out of two American people on day one, will decide to tune him out. 

They will also gear up to boycott, resist and protest the unprecedented farce of witnessing a divisive felon take the oath to lead the greatest democracy in the world.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee offered some sage guidance within a multi-page statement titled— “How to Resist Trump and His Extreme Agenda”—and he wrote this, the first time Trump was elected. 

It still applies. And then some. 

We do this by: 1. Holding him accountable for the tenor and tactics of his campaign, as well as his past and ongoing deplorable personal, professional and political conduct; 2. Waging fierce battles against every regressive action he takes—from personnel appointments to his legislative program—in order to thwart or at least slow them down; 3. Exposing his Republican enablers in Congress, and voting them out of office in 2018, with the goal of taking back either the House or the Senate for Democratic control. 

Nadler added, as members of the concerned public, we must also help strengthen the hand of Congressional Democrats resisting Trump—but the top priority must be…

The first order of business must be to refuse to allow the “normalization” of Trump. 

While respecting the results of the election and the Office of the President, we cannot allow for the normalization of the hatred and bigotry that Trump used to stir fear and resentment, or of his behavior that is completely unbefitting the office he is about to occupy, like his sexually predatory actions or his cozying up to world leaders who reject our democratic from of government. 

We must never lend these things or his expressed contempt for democratic principles any legitimacy. Whether or not he himself feels these hateful things almost doesn’t matter, as he exploited them to come to power, and, in doing so empowered the most wicked tendencies in American society. Nor have we seen any evidence that this was all merely campaign strategy, or that he intends now to condemn these ideologies. 

Donald Trump doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt because he has not earned the benefit of the doubt. 

There can be no normalization of him or his Administration. Anti-normalization is the first key step to long-term eroding of Trump’s support. Individual citizens and concerned organizations can do much to ensure that we don’t normalize. 

It is essential that the public speak loudly so that elected leaders—both Democrats and Republicans—as well as the media, do not get lulled into a false sense of business as usual. 

This is precisely what the Trump Administration is hoping for and will try to project daily. 

They will also accuse those of us in government who resist normalization as obstructers of the popular will of the people. So, we must have sustained, loud voices at our backs. The large-scale protests in this country have been a critical first step in combatting normalization. They should certainly continue in the non-violent way they have been conducted thus far. 

Other ideas of resistance

Write letters to media editors every time you see an article or broadcast that utilizes a normalizing tone or doesn’t make note of the extreme nature of Trump, his behavior and rhetoric, or his Administration’s actions. 

Use the hashtags #AntiTrump #ResistTrump #NotMyPresident on personal social media platforms. 

Contact your elected officials via petitions, letters, calls and social media to urge them to resist any action that would normalize the Administration and demand that they loudly condemn any Trump actions that are unbefitting our democracy. 

Reach out to your friends and family and encourage them to do the same. 

Support rhetorically and financially those organizations that are stepping up to fight normalization. Advocacy groups and everyday citizens must become a unified block!

Find an alternative to watching the inauguration—get a root canal, finally go to the DMV, file your tax return. 

It’s back to work anti-Trump America.