President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated in less than 50 days. He has already announced some of his plans for his first 100 days as president—and they're not looking good. A president's first 100 days in office set the tone for their administration and are known as their most powerful time in office.
This will be a critical time for us to fight back against Trump and his cabinet of deplorables' attempts to dismantle democracy. Megan Seling, a former staff writer for The Stranger, and current contributor Lauren Hoffman, launched an organizing project, "Our First 100 Days," to get people to commit to taking action.
"Leading up to the election, I was being outspoken and telling people to vote," said Seling. "There was the feeling of, 'Oh he's not going to win' and I felt more relaxed than I should've. I was pretty shocked by the results. I wasn't shocked because it happened, but that no one saw it coming."
"Your commitment doesn't have to be the same thing every day," Seling and Hoffman write on the website for Our First 100 Days. "Your project can be as loose as it needs to be to keep you going ... [it's] more about committing to taking a small amount of time every single day to put something positive and thoughtful in the world."
Seling is encouraging people to take bite-sized steps to ensure that they "don't back down and don't burn out."
Some of their tips include not falling victim to fake news and instead shelling out to support the newspapers and journalists working to shed light on important issues. Here are some other suggestions:
• Put $1 into a jar or bank account every day. When the project ends, donate the money to the charity of your choice.
• Save the phone numbers of your senators or other elected officials. Call every day, once a day, to voice any of your concerns. If calling makes you nervous, consider sending a postcard or email.
• Look into volunteering. While you probably can't volunteer every day, you could make the promise to volunteer for 100 hours in the first 100 days.
• Sell your services or talents and donate the proceeds. Are you a painter, songwriter, photographer, designer or any other kind of maker? Offer your services and donate a portion or all of the proceeds to an organization.
You can also refer to our Resistance & Solidarity calendar for organizing here in Seattle. We also have some tips for how to stay safe, informed, and on-message when you take to the streets to protest.
The "Our First 100 Days" project officially begins on January 20. Seling and Hoffman ask you to take a pledge and document what you've done to accomplish your commitment to resist Trump through their hashtag #ourfirst100days. They will be sharing what participants are doing through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
"By [the end of the 100 days], we'll have a better idea of what he's trying to do," said Seling.
Our work is just beginning.
