Fascists are using laws and norms against us. Stop letting them.

On Thursday, the Trump administration moved to seize control of Washington D.C. by deploying the military, federal agents and armored vehicles. Attorney General Pam Bondi then attempted to install the current DEA administrator as the District’s new police commissioner. In response, District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit.

A lawsuit is clearly the first course of action, but Democrats need to understand that it can’t be the only one. We’re not dealing with Bob Dole in 1995 anymore. It’s 2025 and we’re dealing with fascists.

As California Governor Gavin Newsom said of President Trump yesterday, “He doesn't play by a different set of rules. He doesn't believe in the rules. And as a consequence, we need to disabuse ourselves of the way things have been done. It's not good enough to just hold hands, have a candlelight vigil and talk about the way the world should be.”

Newsom is not my preferred candidate to oppose Trump, but he’s correct here. Policymaking in a time of fascists requires an entirely different kind of thinking from what Democrats are normally used to. The old ways of opposition don’t work.

Democrats are rule followers. Normally, that's good, considering we live in a society based on rules and law. But there is a time and place. When that very rules-based society comes under attack, it's no longer the time.

I use the bank robbery example. Take these laws: It's illegal to speed. It's illegal to run red lights. It's illegal to discharge a firearm within city limits. It's illegal to commit homicide.

Yet in the case of a bank robbery that results in a hostage kidnapping, law enforcement officers are frequently required to do all these things to uphold the rules-based system of which they are a part. If law enforcement officers insisted on pursuing a hostage-toting bank robber by observing the speed limit and waiting for red lights, the suspect would undoubtedly escape.

It's no different when it comes to upholding democracy and preserving the Republic. When fascists are wrecking our law-based society, it becomes necessary to ignore some of the usual norms and rules. You gotta run the light.

So, for example, what does this mean for the arrival of Washington’'s new MAGA police commissioner? It means bar the door. Place armed officers outside with orders to enforce the law: No illegally appointed federal officials enter. Don’t wait for courts to adjudicate this in a process that could take weeks or months, before ultimately being decided by a compromised and corrupt, Republican-controlled Supreme Court.

This is an aggressive mentality, but it’s one Democrats need to adopt nationwide. Protect our institutions. Protect our residents. Protect our democracy.

As we proceed through this existential fight, observing every rule and law provides an advantage to the very people who want to destroy our present society and system of government. Fascists will bury us in bureaucracy if we try to play this game. It's not tolerable.

Democrats need to get comfortable operating in an environment that's more legally fluid. Period. It's the only way to defeat an opposition that has no respect for existing laws and norms and no intent to abide by them.

Brandon Friedman is the founder of The McPherson Square Group and Rakkasan Tea Company. During the Obama administration, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and as the Director of Digital Strategy at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He served two tours as an infantry officer in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan and Iraq. Follow him on Bluesky.