“I will govern according to a simple motto: promises made, promises kept.” In front of his supporters who came to gather in Florida to celebrate his victory, Donald Trump sets the tone. From next January, the man who has just been elected 47th president of the United States intends to apply all of the measures in the summary of his program. A worrying obstinacy for Democratic states, which are struggling to digest the defeat of their candidate Kamala Harris.
In the state of California, Illinois, Washington or New York, there is only one course of action: prepare for a legal battle. While the Republican enjoys his large victory in the race for the White House, the Democrats are mobilizing to counter the implementation of future national policies. Among other things, mass expulsions of illegal immigrants, the withdrawal from renewable energies in favor of the oil sector and the ban on voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) are feared. Since in the event of a Republican majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, Donald Trump could have a free hand.
California, the beating heart of the resistance
On the front line of this fight: California, a state which had established itself as a leader of the opposition during the Republican’s first term. And after the re-election of the real estate mogul this Wednesday, November 6, the “Golden State” intends to resume the fight. “The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack and we will not stand by,” state Governor Gavin Newsom said Thursday, calling on lawmakers to hold a special parliamentary session on December 2 to “safeguard the values and fundamental rights of California in the face of the arrival of the Trump administration”.
To achieve this, the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said he had prepared with his team for more than two years for a series of legal challenges. Among other things, since the infamous decision of the Supreme Court to overturn the Roe vs Wade decision, paving the way for the ban on abortion. “If he comes into office and follows the law, we will do nothing. But if he violates the law, as he said, as ‘Project 2025’ says, then we are ready. We went into the detail, to the point of thinking about the court before which we will file our complaint”, he explained in a speech. A struggle shared by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass: “No matter where you were born, how you arrived in this country, […] Los Angeles will be at your side. Now is not the time for despair but for action. […] We are ready,” she said in a statement released Wednesday.
If the “Golden State” is so involved, it is because it has more to lose with the Trump administration than most other states. The future president’s environmental agenda alone could threaten California’s climate policies, which for decades have helped set the tone for the rest of the world. During his first term, Donald Trump sided with the agri-food industry during the eternal standoff over water management in the state. He had also suggested that if he were re-elected, he would eliminate federal aid against forest fires if California did not provide more water to farmers. Among the main concerns of state leaders are also the questioning of protections granted to transgender or immigrant residents, as well as the annulment of California laws on firearms or on the right to abortion and contraception .
Four against all
As America’s true economic powerhouse, California could thus guide national policy. Especially since she is not alone in her fight. Illinois Governor Jay Robert Pritzker has asked his state’s lawmakers to consider the potential threats of a second term for Donald Trump. According to a senior adviser to the governor interviewed by The New York Times speaking on condition of anonymity, Jay Robert Pritzker is “looking for ways to protect the records of women seeking abortions in Illinois.” His team would also study a set of bills that would codify environmental regulations written into state law, to strengthen them against federal challenge.
The state of Washington, the second Democratic stronghold on the west coast, is also in the party, accompanied by that of New York. Both, highly determined to fight alongside California and Illinois. Provided, of course, that resistance does not tire the Democrats. During Donald Trump’s first term, some of the fervent defenders of the California opposition expressed a feeling of “resistance fatigue”, believing that the cascade of lawsuits and laws had sometimes distracted the attention of the leaders of urgent problems of the State. During its first four years in office, the Trump administration was sued more than 120 times by California.