Last Thursday was the fifth anniversary of the death of civil rights hero John Lewis. He was with Martin Luther King Jr at the 1963 March on Washington (King’s “I have a dream” sermon from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial). Lewis was beaten by police on a civil rights march over the Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in 1965. Lewis served heroically in Congress and championed voting rights – the bedrock of democracy.

John Lewis often spoke about Rosa Parks who, in 1955, refused to relinquish her seat on a public bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Parks sparked a bus boycott that lasted until the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional.

“Rosa Parks inspired us to get into trouble,” Lewis recalled. “And I’ve been getting in trouble ever since. She inspired us to find a way, to get in the way, to get in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.”

After Lewis’ death, a movement of motivated people was joined, Good Trouble Lives On, to advance his causes.

Good Trouble came to the streets of Frisco, Colorado and around the US last Thursday evening. In a town of less than 3000, 150 came out after work to say that they were done with Trump, and that it was high time America was done with Trump. “I assume this is the resistance,” a man said, approaching the crowd. “He’s stealing our future.” “We are for free speech and free press.” “Make good trouble – we must save our democracy.” “I came here because we are not OK.”

It was modest and peaceful. Hundreds of cars passing by honked in support.

To be sure, Colorado is a strong Democratic state in presidential elections, Congress and the state legislature.

But those gathered in Frisco knew there was no clear road forward to stopping Trump.

“The problem with Democrats,” a fellow said, “is that Democrats are f---ing lazy.”

He said that because the Democrats have not stopped Trump from going further, much less reverse the furies he has unleashed across the country in just six months.

Democrats are especially frustrated given Trump’s polls are under water. In a YouGov poll last week, 39 per cent of voters approve of Trump, but 56 per cent disapprove. Trump’s rock-solid MAGA base is about 40 per cent of the country. So Trump still has his base.

But you can sense, with the tariff wars and higher prices for toys from China and tomatoes from Mexico, that inflation is about to return. Few are spending freely. The immigration raids are ugly. The markets are high but no one knows if that will last – or if Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, will get the letter Trump has drafted that informs him he has been fired.

But the Democrats cannot stop Trump – even on smaller stuff. The day Good Trouble rallies unfolded around the country, Congress approved $US9 billion in cuts to foreign aid programs and public media – the PBS television and NPR radio networks.

The only hope to save public media was for Republicans from rural states, whose citizens rely heavily on public radio and television, to stand up against Trump’s demand that public media be silenced. But only four of 273 Republicans in all of Congress dared to cross Trump.

Trumpism is now infused with McCarthyism.

Why? In a word, it is fear. It is Trump’s weapon of choice.

“It is very important that all Republicans … DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR) … Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”

Republicans in Congress know that Trump can end their careers.

In addition, public media for Trump is the enemy and must be punished. In April, Trump posted on Truth Social, “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT “MONSTERS” THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”

Trumpism is now infused with McCarthyism. Fear of being punished for not aligning with Trump is now joined with retribution against Trump’s enemies – Democrats, the Deep State, media – for all the indictments, convictions and impeachments inflicted on him, and for all the woke causes they spawned.

Trump successfully sued powerful TV networks for anti-Trump bias, and they paid out tens of millions of dollars to settle. The executives of CBS’ 60 Minutes program lost confidence that CBS would stand by the program if it took on Trump. CBS has just announced – as its parent company, Paramount, is seeking regulatory approval of a major merger – the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late night hit show. Trump loves that Colbert got fired. “A purely financial decision,” Paramount said.

Nothing has reached critical mass to stop Trump. But he has now hit a huge speed bump with his attempts to bury records in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Theories have been cultured in MAGA petri dishes for years over who was part of the Epstein web of abuse, exploitation and rape of young girls. Who are the sexual predators? The MAGA dog has caught the car and will not let go.

Trump wants this to go away, but it will not for now. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump wrote bawdy birthday greetings to Epstein. Trump has sued the paper for $15 billion in defamatory damages and wants to put its owner, Rupert Murdoch, on the stand.

The cover-up of Epstein’s crimes and the network of the rich and famous who partook of his cravings have unleashed a storm of Good Trouble on Trump and his presidency.