My column yesterday in OnlySky–I put it as a question, but only because we might lack the will.

It was almost a relief to read that the Trump Administration admitted in court documents that it cancelled clean energy research grants “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state.” Grants were cancelled only if the researchers were from states that voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Of course, this action was an outrage that no previous president of either political party would have committed. Things like this have undoubtedly happened before, but nothing of this scale. It was a relief to read about it because, while it was obvious that the Trump administration is corrupt in this partisan way, the administration had previously lied about its motivations. Now the abuse of power is in the open.

They do it because they can

Ironically, Trump does not do things like this for any obvious political gain. Republicans will only lose support, not gain it, because of actions like this. His supporters will be unaffected, and maybe a few will actually be disgusted. Independents will not like it and Democrats will just be motivated all the more to vote in the midterms.

Trump does things like this because he can. He likes to punish perceived enemies, even though that does not actually serve his interests. Trump has no respect for, or even understanding of, scientific research. He either believes that clean energy research, and the climate change issues it addresses, are fraudulent—or he just doesn’t care about the welfare of the country or humanity in the future. Trump has all the instincts of a narcissistic dictator.

Trump also does things like this because he is old. Partly because of his character, but partly also simply because of his age, he is unable to learn anything new, like the basics of climate science. I don’t mean to insult the old—Trump at 80 is only a few years older than I—but there is a reason judges in Pennsylvania must retire at 75. It is a scandal that the President of the United States is older than I am. Whatever party is in the presidency, we need someone younger than Joe Biden or Trump. (The same is true for Congress, but that is a column for another day.)

The grants in question may eventually be restored by the courts, because basing cuts on politics is obviously illegal. The question is how to undo the greater underlying damage to constitutional government that Trump has caused. Even before Trump was reelected, people believed that politics and government were corrupt. This is partly why false claims of voter fraud have proved easy for Trump supporters to accept. It is the sort of thing they expect politicians to do. Hearing about the cancellations of these grants will only reinforce this belief in government corruption. Many people will say, this is what they all do. They will think that Trump is just more open about it.

These feelings are not true. Nobody but Trump would do the things he does. Studies have shown a slight advantage in securing grants based on political affiliation, but only at the margins. Mostly, government research has been based on the value of the potential scientific gain.

And Trump’s partisan actions are not limited to research grants. He has threatened to withhold disaster relief if states do not adopt his voting rights policies and has paused Medicaid payments to two blue states based on claims of fraud that are either false or are not materially different from the performance of red states. These actions will probably also be struck down or limited by the courts. Trump basically treats public money as if it were his personal property.

The danger of partisan government has always been present. But we have previously kept this danger in check. I remember the outrage that Republicans felt when it was revealed that the IRS under President Barack Obama had targeted conservative religious groups for special scrutiny. The IRS justification was that these were the groups abusing their tax-exempt status. Obama moved quickly to end this practice. Trump now does far worse things and Republicans look the other way.

Democratic ideals aren’t obsolete

What can we do now to reverse this damage? Since Trump is the immediate issue, the most important action will be for Democrats to retake Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. I know people who are so angry or in such despair about the current state of American public life that they believe the only thing to do is take to the streets and, if necessary, buy a gun. They’re wrong. The toppling of Viktor Orbán in Hungary shows us that as long as elections are still held, authoritarian government can be stopped.

If the Democrats gain control of at least one house of Congress, they can use the investigative powers of Congress to expose the political and financial corruption of the Trump administration. Someone other than Trump ordered those research grants to be cancelled for political reasons. That person can be brought to public light and prosecuted. Somebody was ordered to approve the regulatory actions that have enriched the Trump family. These people can be brought to light and eventually prosecuted. Trump will have a hard defending his corrupt actions in public. The American people will not like what they see.

In the longer run, the need is for the Democratic Party to return to the 50-state strategy championed by Howard Dean when he was DNC Chair from 2005 to 2009. It is absurd that in the Midwest—not so long ago a bastion of left-wing politics—the Democratic brand is toxic. Sen. George McGovern represented South Dakota, and he was a very liberal Democrat. Republicans are able to keep every national election close because Democrats practically concede a third or more of the country. A 50-state strategy should not be hard to carry out. Trump is actually bad for everybody, especially farmers.

We don’t have to take up arms to deal with Trump. We just have to do a better job convincing our fellow Americans. This observation leads to the most important change of all. Americans have to talk to each other. I have many friends who have never had a serious conversation with someone who voted for Trump. We assume that our political opponents are very different from ourselves. But Americans share a surprising amount of common ground on the issues. Admittedly, climate change is the exception. But on issues like trade, the economy, China, and even Israel, the policies of the Biden and Trump administrations have been broadly similar.

Most important, Americans share fundamental democratic commitments. The majority of Americans, 80% or more, endorse compromise, reject political violence and believe that American multiculturalism is a strength. Of course, people say things in polls that don’t reflect their darker beliefs. But that poll result still means that these democratic ideals have persuasive power. Even on immigration, most Americans want the southern border to be lawfully controlled and don’t want law-abiding undocumented immigrants to be deported. That is why Trump talks about nonexistent rapists and criminals rather than the actual people he is deporting.

If Trump interferes with voting in the midterm elections, then people will and should take to the streets and my moderate pleas will be obsolete. But until that happens, the ordinary and hard work of politics calls: voter registration, helping people obtain mail-in ballots, driving voters to the polls, knocking on doors, talking to our neighbors. I am much more confident than many Americans that we can restore lawful government this way and put the Trump nightmare behind us.