Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office has officials in Democratic jurisdictions preparing to defend against a barrage of presidential executive orders, angry social media posts and legislation from a Republican-controlled Congress that could run counter to their own policy preferences.
Some are even forming loose alliances to push back against what they see as possible “threats of autocracy” from the incoming administration.
In his first presidential term, Trump and Democratic politicians at the state and even local level engaged in typical debates stemming from differing liberal and conservative viewpoints on a range of issues.
But at other times, as Atlantic writer and CNN analyst Ron Brownstein has argued, Trump and others in his administration “sought to use national authority to achieve factional ends to impose the priorities of red America onto Democratic-leaning states and cities.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently said the state filed 120 lawsuits in opposition to Trump administration actions in his first term, while Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to hold a special legislative session next month to, in the words of an office spokesperson, “Trump-proof” California.
Newsom previously moved to shore up abortion access protections for California women after the landmark 2022 Supreme Court decision.
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Trump and New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul are also on opposite sides of a number of issues, including planned vehicle tolls to ease Manhattan congestion.
Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Trump vowed to “take over” Washington and usurp local government authority in the District of Columbia.
“We just have to do our best and hold on for another few years. We have to figure out how to make it work,” said Christina Henderson, a member of city council in D.C., told the Associated Press. “Unlike millions of voters around the country, I actually believe the man when he speaks. He said what he’s going to do.”
Here’s a look at some of the issues that could lead to friction between the White House and blue states.
Deportations
During his first campaign and term, Trump railed against so-called sanctuary cities, where local police don’t always see eye-to-eye with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on removing individuals not accused of serious crimes. ICE raids and Trump’s flip-flop on the fate of the Dreamers living in the U.S. left some communities on edge.
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Trump and expected members of his administration like Tom Homan have made no secret of plans to deport undocumented immigrants, possibly at a level not seen since a 1950s operation that saw many U.S. citizens erroneously sent to Mexico. If the undocumented are detained, will there be equitable numbers across the blue and red states that contain tens of thousands of people in this category?
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said any removal actions not involving gang members or felons would be intolerable.
“Obviously, it would devastate our economy and our society if someone were to come in and forcibly take our neighbours away from us,” he recently told Colorado Public Radio.
Protests
After the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, Trump raged as protests continued for weeks across the country, and he sent troops to several locations. While one study estimated that the vast majority of demonstrations were peaceful, violence and significant property damage occurred in Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland, Ore.
Then-attorney general Bill Barr officially declared those cities “anarchic jurisdictions,” a move that according to David Rohde’s recent book Where Tyranny Begins: The Justice Department, the FBI, and the War Against Democracy was at the behest of Trump.
The Department of Homeland Security under Trump was also accused of collecting data on Portland protesters, and of apprehending some individuals off the street in unmarked vans.
Protesters look up as a military helicopter flies low during a protest on June 1, 2020, in Washington, D.C., over the death of George Floyd. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to use the military if necessary to deal with demonstrations. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)
In the nation’s capital, a few D.C. National Guard helicopters — which are under the auspices of the Pentagon — flew dangerously close to the ground, buzzing protesters.
This October, Trump suggested that “radical left lunatics” could be “easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or really necessary by the military.”
Weather events and disaster aid
Storms and disaster aid are not free from politicization in contemporary American life. Some North Carolina Republicans. recently pleaded with national figures from their own party to stop spreading misinformation about Hurricane Helene; Trump falsely stated Joe Biden’s administration was deliberately withholding aid for political reasons.
Donald Trump is shown praying with officials as he visits a site damaged by Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 21. But Trump has been accused of spreading misinformation about weather events both in North Carolina and in California. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Trump has been more credibly accused of doing just that in his first term. According to a recent Politico series of investigative pieces, he withheld wildfire aid to Washington state, due to animus toward Gov. Jay Inslee, and was hesitant to approve aid for 2018 wildfires in California, until being reminded of potential negative political implications.
During his first term, and in this year’s campaign, he made claims about California’s frequent wildfires that largely run counter to the views of forest management experts and even a firefighters’ association.
Public health and climate science
When COVID-19 hit, Trump initiated Operation Warp Speed to get vaccines into arms as soon as possible. But in spring 2020, he posted a tweet to “liberate” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia, states he viewed as having implemented onerous restrictions on daily life. Armed protesters upset about those restrictions descended on the legislature in Lansing, Mich., days later and throughout the year.
Trump’s vow to defund school systems that have vaccine mandates — not just for COVID-19 — appears impossible without congressional approval, but experts worry continued statements like that could depress child vaccination uptake.
A confirmation of vaccine and fluoridation skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary could also lead to battles with some states and cities over immunizations and other public health issues.
Trump also has expansive plans to undo many of Biden’s climate initiatives. During his first term, Trump clashed with California over emissions and auto mileage standards.
Legal issues
There are still outstanding legal issues and cases involving Trump and his allies that could roil the 47th president.
Steve Bannon, a onetime Trump White House adviser, faces a New York state trial beginning Feb. 25 over an alleged border wall fundraising scam.
While Georgia is not a blue state, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is a Democratic official in Atlanta, which has long had Democratic mayors. Willis has overseen a racketeering case that led to indictments for Trump and associates like Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani.
A legal consensus about sitting presidents means Trump won’t be in an Atlanta courtroom anytime soon. But since her own re-election on Nov. 5, Willis has promised to pursue justice against defendants “no matter who they are.”