The IRS tries to quietly freeze all the assets of the tax resistance committee. A high-ranking Paperclip Movement whistleblower tells you a story of insider intrigue over Trump’s worry about your growing movement. Apparently, some Trump administrators argued against the IRS action, worried it would only continue to sink Trump’s approval ratings. The argument that won was that this is a good way to shift attention away from the shaky economy — suffering whiplash from Trump’s changing policies. “Trump’s administration is in chaos. They want to stay in power forever,” they say, “but they fear your movement.”
For the next week the news is all consuming. The Paperclip Movement had wisely dispersed money among multiple organizational entities — so most is safe. But the website, database, and organizational infrastructure are temporarily immobilized. You spend late nights in emergency meetings to keep the infrastructure afloat. The Paperclip Movement holds.
The movement worries deeply it isn’t building enough pressure. Trump’s been given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court to replace 50,000 government workers under Schedule F. He’s been installing judges at a fast rate — and gerrymandered maps now make long-term control of Republican power a distinct possibility. Sure, Trump’s 16-week abortion ban is killed quickly in Congress by the movement’s rapid direct action. And the courts handed Trump another setback when he ruled, for the second time, against his Mexican border bill. But Trump doubles down on everything. He vows to return the military to the border. Trump opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. He vows to “introduce an abortion bill that everyone will love.”
The resistance wing is uncertain. You know you cannot do reactionary protests to everything he does — much less proposes. But many criticize the movement as too ineffective. The Paperclip Movement has hundreds of thousands of participants, at various levels. Some want to escalate by announcing the movement will make certain we have open and fair elections — on the bet Trump might prevent this. You wonder if you need a bigger perspective to see who is out there and where to find more energy.