From the most successful Democratic operative of the last decade, a revelatory account of what you―yes, you―can do to defeat Trumpism.
Ben Wikler served as the Wisconsin Democratic Party chair from 2019 to 2025. In that time, he led the state’s party to improbable and extraordinary victories. He argues that his key to success has been what he calls people-powered politics. His plan, as he refers to it, entails steadily and methodically – invariably at the grassroots level – ending America’s headlong rush into authoritarianism and instead reimagining a democracy that builds meaning, a stronger sense of community and even a bit of mirth.
It’s a little hard to fathom how we got to where we are today. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Chris Hedges insightfully goes far enough back in history to blame a lot of the bottled-up resentment by the electorate on Bill and Hillary Clinton, who abandoned their Progressive base in favor of centrist Democratic Party policies, a battle that has recently been re-energized. Perhaps the most telling conjecture deals with the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Pundits and pollsters have argued that if Bernie Sanders had been the Democratic Party nominee, he would have defeated Donald Trump. Instead, the Democrats railroaded Hillary Clinton into the nomination with its superdelegates – consisting of high-level party officials, the equivalent of a sledgehammer to rig outcomes – in the belief that only so-called mainstream candidates could win general elections. The use of superdelegates came about after the nomination of Progressive candidate George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election, in which he was decimated at the polls by Richard Nixon. The Democratic establishment reacted by largely overriding populist preferences put forth during the state-by-state nominating process. That strategy has worked after a fashion, though not necessarily in the way the party intended. Yes, it ensured for a time that centrist candidates almost certainly won the nomination, but it also froze out fresh voices from the political arena. The fault of that endeavor really started to unravel with the surprise election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 and has since mushroomed. Despite Senate minority leader Charles Schumer’s admonitions about the perils of nominating leftist candidates, many of them keep winning just the same. This development underscores the dissatisfaction with mainstream parties and politics. It’s why Trump got elected. It’s why Progressive candidates on the Democratic side of the aisle keep prevailing in 2026. Folks just aren’t happy with the way things are going. People voted for Trump on a hope and a prayer, and instead got new forever wars and rampant inflation.
Wikler points out that consistent enforcement of the rule of law is like oxygen in the sense that you don’t notice it until it’s not there. Incredibly, that’s where we seem to be. Selective application of laws is now standard practice. Allies of the administration get a pass while its enemies are targeted disproportionately. It’s so punitive that it would be laughable except for its bitter gravity. As a prime example, John Bolton, the former national security advisor to Trump, was charged and eventually pled guilty to one count of mishandling classified documents. Yet after he was no longer president, Trump retained – which is to say, mishandled – several boxes containing hundreds of classified documents, and by comparison to Bolton, faced no consequences. Other perceived political enemies unreasonably targeted by the Department of Justice include former CIA director John Brennan, former FBI director James Comey, and New York attorney general Letitia James. Former Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell was inexplicably investigated and, though not charged, may still not be out of the woods. Meanwhile, scores of convicted criminals received pardons because they are political enablers of Trump. This is what autocrats do.
The situation is not without hope. Wikler uses the Wisconsin Supreme Court as an example of the state’s legacy of independence: in 1852, it declared a U.S. law affirming slavery unconstitutional. Of course, state courts cannot legally make rulings regarding federal law – that remains under the purview of federal courts – but the judges did so anyway. Only after four years did the U.S. Supreme Court overrule the decision, mainly because the Wisconsin Supreme Court dragged its feet transmitting the case records to Washington DC. Time enough for Joshua Glover, a formerly enslaved black man in St. Louis, Missouri, to flee first to Wisconsin, then to Canada, living his remaining thirty-plus years as a free man. The Wisconsin court simply did what it believed was right, though its actions were considered radical at the time.
Wisconsin boasts a lot of firsts – or radical steps, if you prefer – in American politics. The state implemented the first progressive income tax, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, equal rights for women in 1921, and a ban on job discrimination based on disability in 1965 as well as sexual orientation in 1982, among others. Nowadays, Wisconsin has become a genuine swing state – arguably the country’s most divided – where both Republican and Democratic parties have been elected at every level.
The book does a nice job of inferring Republican Party motivations, a philosophy seemingly steeped in the writings of Ayn Rand coupled with a firm belief that ultra-talented, ultra-rich should be taxed as little as possible. Further, there is the strongly held view that taxes used to fund social programs are wasteful, if not outright immoral. Perhaps most importantly, if a Republican politician does not side with the rich, their popular support will hit a ceiling, thus limiting the prospects for their government career.
Crucial periods in political history render worthwhile insights. The number of legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives, for example, increased along with population growth documented after the decennial censuses until 1910, when it reached 435. At that time, each congressional district contained just over 210,000 people. Presently, that average population per district is more than 750,000, making these electoral constructs less diverse than a century earlier. Wikler’s real-world experience is also valuable in addressing related issues such as gerrymandering, where Congressional districts are contorted into peculiar shapes to benefit a particular political party. As a result of the reform under Wikler’s watch in Wisconsin, the state is now truly competitive, the way democracy is supposed to work.
Near the end, Wikler emphasizes the point made repeatedly throughout the book: the choice people face in 2026 and 2028 is no longer about one political party or another. Rather, it’s about retaining some semblance of democracy or, alternatively, descending into an authoritarian realm from which return will be – in the best-case scenario – difficult, if not nearly impossible. But perhaps not entirely impossible.
Wikler closes by saying that if Americans want to write their values into the law, then they must also do the legwork to make that happen. Simply voting may not be enough, especially if reported election outcomes lose credibility due to tampering. Increasing turnout, one person at a time across the country, will be essential. “This Is The Plan” offers a fine primer on erecting a countervailing force to the corporate and billionaire interests that seek to pit Americans against each other, a tactic that provides – by design, sort of like bread and circuses to distract the masses – a bizarre entertainment spectacle for anyone who unwittingly falls into the trap.
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