Democratic states should make contingency plans for secession

By Jon Hochschartner 

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that, in the current moment, President Donald Trump’s fascist regime views Democratic-controlled states as occupied territory. Perhaps the most dramatic example of this can be seen in the White House sending National Guard troops from Republican states to subdue fabricated unrest and crime in Democratic states, against the wishes of liberal governors. But that’s just one example of many.

Trump is also redirecting federal funds from blue states to red states. For instance, White House budget director Russel Vought recently announced he was illegally cancelling nearly $8 billion in clean-energy investments planned in 16 states, all of which voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Similarly, Trump pledged to cut off federal funding to New York City if Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani wins the mayoral election.

“He is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great City,” the president wrote on social media. “Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises. He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him?” Needless to say, withholding such funds is against the law, but, under the current Supreme Court, the law seems to matter little.

It sould also be noted blue states give significantly more money to the federal government than they receive. As Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Stephen Henriques wrote for the Time Magazine website, “From 2018 to 2022, individuals and organizations from blue states contributed nearly 60% of all federal tax receipts but only received 53% of all federal contributions to states in the form of either direct payments, grants, contracts, or wages.”

In other words, blue states are helping red states pay their bills. I’m not opposed to this, but when a Republican president is simultaneously enforcing martial law in Democratic states and withholding funding to the same, it becomes politically unsustainable. Democratic governors need to begin making contingency plans for seceding from the union. It’s not an outcome I’d like to happen, but the present course can’t be tolerated.

The anti-fascist coalition has a wide variety of policy goals. For instance, as an animal activist, I want to see a massive infusion of public funding into cultivated-meat research. The new protein is grown from livestock cells without slaughter. I view the commercialization of this product as the most promising means of reducing nonhuman suffering and premature death. But none of our goals can be achieved under a right-wing dictatorship.

Again, secession should be viewed as a last resort, but Democratic governors must make it clear to this fascist White House there are limits to the amount of abuse their constituents will take. Beginning these difficult conversations is both a practical necessity and an important way of communicating a basic political reality. More than 75-million people voted against this madness in the 2024 presidential election. We cannot sit idly by as Trump consolidates a far-right, authoritarian state.

Jon Hochschartner lives in Connecticut. He is the author of a number of books, including The Animals’ Freedom Fighter: A Biography of Ronnie Lee, Founder of the Animal Liberation Front. Visit his blog at SlaughterFreeAmerica.Substack.com.