People often ask me, ‘How do you manage to write with a sense of purpose each day?’ My answer is simple because someone has to record not just the events of the day for the history books, but the raw emotion of the moment: the anger, the sense of injustice and the tragedy of it all. What frustrates me more than anything else is that it really doesn’t have to be this way.
The White House is no longer the people’s house. Trump has taken it hostage, along with the word ‘patriot’ and the flag, to convert it into a spa retreat for the obscenely rich to gather and decide what’s best for the American people. It’s become a political brothel where those with wealth can meet with the people’s pimp to buy policy and legislative changes, along with a side of deregulation.
As each day passes, Trump becomes more emboldened, and far from seeing the government shutdown as a problem, he sees it as an opportunity to engage in yet more corruption in office. The White House has become the centre of operations for the largest international extortion gang in history. On a domestic level, the US Treasury has become a king’s counting house, where the power of the purse has been usurped and is being used on a crime spree to move money around, much like Pablo Escobar.
He has little concern for the welfare of federal workers who have no choice but to work for free, as legislators on both sides of the aisle continue to receive their salaries. At the same time, the American people are used as pawns in a battle in which they are the only losers. Just remember, the rich aren’t feeling a thing. Construction on the White House ballroom continues at a pace, as the very fabric of American society is being reshaped to serve only the top 10%.
There is much discussion now among activists about what comes next following the resounding success of the No Kings Day protests on October 18th. Having listened to Ezra Levin both before and after the event, I feel more than confident that he and Leah want to grasp this opportunity to take the No Kings movement to the next level. I am so impressed with their ambition that I’ve reached out to offer my services to create content for free moving forward. It seems to me that the Indivisible coalition is in pole position to take this forward and become a focus point for a sustained and disciplined assault on this tyranny imposed on the American people.
The key to success is coordination, and I believe No Kings has that capability, so I’m excited to see what they are proposing next. The key here is that there must be continuous, coordinated, and ongoing action.
My thoughts are really well documented on the need for a campaign of economic disengagement (spending strike). I am aware of the widespread calls for a general strike, but there are inherent dangers in taking that step, particularly in the current economic climate. When it comes to general strikes, unity must be absolute and sustained. The issue with that is that over 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and approximately 14.1% of U.S. households earn less than $25,000. This is a nuclear option and one too often promoted by what I like to call ‘champagne socialists’, i.e. those with enough money not to have to worry about staying home from work for maybe a few days, or losing a job.
The truth of the matter is that many can’t afford to participate, and in the current economic climate, with a collapsing job market, many employers would jump at the chance to trim their payroll. So, what then? For some time now, I have advocated for a more innovative and more strategic approach that helps protect the vulnerable while having the same effect. A withdrawal of labour is, in my view, high-risk right now, but strategic economic disengagement is the smart bomb of political protest. Those who have long been readers of my work will have to excuse me for repeating myself for the benefit of the newcomers.
The US is the largest consumer-based economy on the planet, and that makes it highly vulnerable to direct action that the government can’t control in any way. If you protest on the streets, they can send in the army to crush the protest. If you go on strike, they can encourage employers to fire you, but there is absolutely NOTHING they can do to make you press the ‘buy now’ or ‘order now’ button. They can’t intimidate you, fire tear gas or pepper balls at you. You are the one with the economic gun in your hand, and those delivering the tyranny are, despite what they may think, at your mercy. You quite literally hold ALL the cards.
This is all about coordination, and the No Kings movement should be the epicentre of what could be the most devastating act of socio-political realignment the world has ever seen, let alone America, and I’m deadly serious. Indivisible needs to create a database of every American willing to participate, then set up a war room consisting of message specialists, content creators, and a panel of economic advisors to develop a targeted strategy. I’m sure they already have a starting point for the database; it’s just about consolidating lists, etc.
Let me break this down so we can divide it into areas of focus. As both a messaging specialist and content creator, it is critically important not to fall into the trap that far too many politicians do, seeking validation of the message from political focus groups. If you can’t read the political mood, you should not be in the room in the first place. Indivisible has eyes and ears across the country, and they possess an intimate understanding of the political ground game. They need to leverage this expertise to develop a messaging strategy and distribution network that is entirely in sync.
The critical element in this plan is the panel of economic experts, who can assess how best to target areas of economic disengagement. I’m pretty sure that Scott Galloway would be more than happy to chair the panel, too. This is the team that needs to direct the millions of No Kings conscripts on when and what to target. It’s a simple matter of setting up a schedule for distributing emails or text messages that instruct the soldiers on the ground on which economic targets to paint. Then those soldiers can switch off the tap on the designated target (s). I use a military analogy for good reason; this is a war, and what we need to do is conserve ammunition so we can direct fire on the vulnerabilities within the economy.
Before I continue, I want to emphasise the vulnerability of Trump’s economy at present and why this is significant. He has created an illusion of a ‘hot economy’ when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Consumer sentiment is now lower than it was pre-COVID and is at the levels seen at the depths of the 2008/2009 financial crisis. The bottom line is that Americans are very concerned about the economy right now, and they are justified in their worries. The US is carrying almost $38 trillion in debt, with $9 trillion of that needing to be refinanced THIS YEAR, given there is no possibility of paying it off. But wait, Martin, didn’t our great leader tell us he had bagged $20 trillion from overseas extortion rackets? Yes, but alternative facts don’t pay the bill when it becomes due, I’m afraid.
The interest alone on this debt will amount to $1.1 trillion in 2025. To put that into context, this is the same amount of tax evaded each year, mainly by the wealthy. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this report in the New York Times, which was initially published in April 2021 and updated in May 2025. The report begins:
The United States is losing $1 trillion in unpaid taxes every year, Charles Rettig, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, estimated on Tuesday, arguing that the agency lacks the resources to catch tax cheats.
The so-called tax gap has surged in the last decade. The last official estimate from the I.R.S. was that an average of $441 billion per year went unpaid from 2011 to 2013. Most of the unpaid taxes are the result of evasion by the wealthy and large corporations, Mr. Rettig said.
Feel free to read the full report. I have gifted it here, so there’s no paywall.
It’s essential to note that those avoiding the payment of most of this estimated $1 trillion not only evaded enough tax to eliminate homelessness and food insecurity in the US, but also evaded enough of the change to reverse the Medicaid cuts in the Billionaire Benevolence Bill. Far from lifting a finger to tackle this illegal activity, Trump has gutted the IRS and handed the thieves 3 times the same amount in tax cuts over the budget cycle.
Another interesting fact is that the Trump tax cuts and the ACA subsidies were both set to expire in December 2025. You will note that Republicans fell over themselves to extend them in the budget bill, claiming economic armageddon would occur if they didn’t hand the rich yet more corporate welfare. Meanwhile, they tell us there’s no need to get all hot under the collar about millions of Americans facing massive healthcare insurance premium hikes. That’s before we discuss rising inflation, rising job insecurity, and rocketing consumer prices driven by a federal sales tax masquerading as tariffs. Oh, did I mention by the way, that the dollar in your pocket is now worth 11% less than it was at the start of the year? Those fortunate enough to take a trip to Europe will undoubtedly have noticed that for sure.
Trump is fiscally raping the American people, then handing the proceeds to the rich; there’s no other way to describe it. It is an egregious act of state-sponsored theft that would make the Sheriff of Nottingham proud. I think it’s time Robin Hood and his merry men entered stage left to deliver a little pain to the rich, don’t you think?
Returning to the task at hand of developing a plan for strategic economic disengagement. I would suggest that, to begin with, it’s all about symbolism. There was no better symbol than the boycott of Disney’s streaming services. It had an almost immediate impact. One of the key aspects of streaming services is their high visibility from a corporate media perspective. The best way to send up a test balloon is to gather together the No Kings Army to point their arrows at Netflix and hit them hard. The reason I suggest Netflix is to make it a very public attack, make it clear that No Kings is dispensing economic justice in the absence of corporate responsibility and make it happen en masse. The media would pounce on it; this would capture the narrative from Trump, and it would place a marker in the sand.
I would make no secret of the plans to use the power of No Kings economically against the oligarchy and, in return, the government. The events on Saturday have already made the administration and their friends sit up, despite their trying to spin it as a non-event. The secret to this whole strategy is what I like to call ‘The Threat’, it’s all about proving you have the numbers signed up to do real targeted damage. This is no different from the fear that this administration is trying to instil among middle- and lower-income families. The political leverage that could be obtained as a result of Ezra Levin getting his ducks in a row and promoting the creation of a No Kings Economic Army would put the DNC to shame.
Once the system has been tested, it’s a matter of the economic experts selecting the targets in line with the broader agenda. Then hit each target in unison as required. I’ll guarantee that corporate America would want to have a chat to de-escalate, and that’s where you bring in expert negotiators. I’m sure trade unions would be happy to help on that front.
This should be presented as a non-partisan project, where prominent figures and influencers from across the political spectrum come together to unite people in an army of economic warriors, fighting a war from their living rooms and on the go. There would be no threat of harm, no threat of arrest; it would genuinely be a bloodless economic revolution.
Scott Galloway can also advise on a strategy for high-wealth individuals opposed to Trump who can apply pressure by using their significant wealth to create more leverage. Having read about the topics Scott has been discussing in recent weeks, he would be a perfect fit for this project on so many levels. I’d be happy to produce content and graphics, etc., as I am sure many of my fellow creators would. The really cool thing about it is that if structured correctly, it would also say to Democrats, if you won’t get this job done, WE WILL.
I can see absolutely no downside. I would also add that you should not take this as a fully developed plan; it is merely a green shoot of what could become a giant oak tree, sown in the fertile soil of democracy, freedom, and moral clarity, marking the beginning of a third way to do politics.
People keep asking me about solutions. Well, here you go: this is my outline proposition. It is not a blunt instrument as would be a general strike, it’s not street protests, although I have no objection to them, and it’s not screaming on social media either. It’s a simple laser-targeted approach that the Indivisible existing infrastructure can facilitate. It’s a low-cost option, and I can assure you without fear of contradiction that it could bring the government to its knees in weeks, if not less. Social media algorithms would be unable to silence it because all No Kings conscripts would simply receive daily orders and act as instructed, no algorithms involved. It’s often the simplest of ideas that are the winners.
All we have to do is sign up as a No Kings conscript. There can be a basic sign-up with a verified email address and zip code, or for those wanting to play a bigger role, each conscript can have a profile where they can bring added value, with a specialised skill set. A 3% drop in consumer spending would send the economy into a near-instant recession. That’s the power of the economic gun you’re holding. That’s why coordination by a team of financial specialists is essential.
I’ll leave it at that for today, but I will give it further thought overnight.
Read PART TWO
I believe that what you are suggesting is what would work. If all of those who participated in the No Kings protests would stop buying all non-essential consumer items, i.e. clothing, entertainment items, concert tickets, etc., but still continue to purchase necessary for life items such as groceries, medicines, commuting costs, the economy would quickly take a nose dive. As you say, the government can't make you purchase anything.
This is certainly what many of us have been saying for a very long time - targeting the billionaires where it hurts. You're exactly right - it must be an effort like the Disney boycott, threatened, carried out and in unison. After No Kings it should be simple to spread the word. I like your target of Netflix as a start. I've heard rumblings of No Transaction Tuesdays and we could capitalize on that weekly as another simple way to damage their pockets. Switch from Home Depot to Lowe's or any other hardware brand. Mom and Pop Mondays where we buy, eat and boost small businesses, not billionaires. Food Bank Fridays we could donate staples to fill the food banks since they are desperately needed right now. So many ways to help or make a strong statement without even leaving home. I so appreciate all that you and other organizations/leaders are doing to help us turn things around. It will take all of us, but we're in it for the sanity of our nation and the world.