Trump thought we would fall in line. Instead we fought back.

While America’s elites rushed to enable this administration’s excesses, ordinary people mobilized to protect the thing that is most sacred to all of us—American democracy.

Credit: The White House

One year ago today, we launched this Substack. The idea was simple and straightforward: provide a platform for courageous Americans who are willing to speak out against this administration’s abuses. We knew there were still people out there unafraid to take a stand for democracy. We just weren’t hearing from enough of them.

This time last year, large multinational corporations and some of our society’s most prestigious institutions—legacy media companies, Big Law, universities, tech giants—were consciously choosing to self-censor. Worse, many were opting to align themselves with the administration in the hopes that Donald Trump wouldn’t single them out for abuse.

This is how the Trump administration has attempted to consolidate its power—with the active participation of those people and institutions who put fear or expediency over principle. We sought out those people who are doing the exact opposite, and committed ourselves to amplifying their stories. Today, more than 50,000 of you have subscribed to hear from them directly.

These are stories of courage, selflessness, and a stubborn refusal to bend the knee. We want to bring you just a few of them. And if these kinds of pieces inspire you or bring you hope, here’s our only ask: Support our work to help ensure we can continue telling them to the world.

1.) The US citizen and veteran who ICE abducted.

George Retes signed up to defend his country as part of the Global War on Terror. Years later, as Trump put boots on the ground across his native California, George was violently arrested by federal agents. They held him for three days with no charges, no information, and no ability to contact his family.

Then one day, he was simply released without an explanation or an apology. He missed his daughter’s third birthday, and was traumatized by the experience. As a soldier and a patriot, George refused to take all of this lying down. Today, he is suing the federal government over what happened to him—a persistent, living reminder of the need for accountability in the face of state violence.

2.) The brilliant mathematician who was de-funded for no reason.

It’s hard to overstate the brilliance of Terence Tao, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at UCLA who has been called the “Mozart of Math.” He is considered by many to be the greatest mathematician alive. Which is why it was so bewildering when, amid DOGE’s rampage across the federal government, his research funding was abruptly cut off.

This left Prof. Tao scrambling for other funding sources, and working overtime to protect his research team from the harmful effects of these needless cuts. This all left him discouraged, but refusing to give up—because, as he writes, in the current environment, “the luxury of disengagement is no longer a viable option.”

3.) The tennis star who has lived under totalitarianism.

The legendary Martina Navratilova has seen this movie before: Growing up in communist Czechoslovakia, she saw firsthand what it feels like when an authoritarian regime seizes power and refuses to let go. She came to America in part because it was the one place where she could pursue her craft with total freedom—the place a person could go to become the very best in the world.

Now, she says she’s seeing many of the same worrying signs that alarmed her all those years ago: the strongman rhetoric, the cowardice of elites, the self-silencing, the sense of constantly needing to look over one’s shoulder. That’s why she’s speaking out, in order to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself here in America.

4.) The general who is speaking out against domestic deployment of troops.

Retired Maj. Gen. Randy Manner served for more than 35 years in the US Army and National Guard, part of a long line of service running through generations of his family. He rose to become the number-two leader in the National Guard Bureau in the Pentagon, which commands the 450,000 citizen-soldiers who help keep our homeland safe.

So when Trump insulted that proud institution by deploying National Guard troops in unfriendly blue cities across the country, Gen. Manner recognized what a uniquely dangerous move it was. Not only did this corrupt the apolitical nature of our armed forces, but it put the young men and women in uniform in direct opposition to their fellow Americans.

5.) The Nobel Prize-winning immigrant who no longer recognizes America.

Born in London and raised in Canada, Jack Szostak is quintessentially American. He chose this country as the home base for his pathbreaking research in biology and chemistry. Eventually, along with his coauthors, he won the Nobel Prize in 2009 and has been recognized with dozens of other distinguished awards for services in his field.

In recent years, he has watched in shock and horror as his adoptive country—or at least its current leadership—has turned its back on everything that drew him here in the first place. The nativism, the anti-scientific dogma, the de-funding of potentially lifesaving research; all of it has left him reeling, and resolved more than ever to raise his voice in opposition.

6.) The cop who is still holding the line.

My friend Michael Fanone defended democracy on January 6. He spent hours being attacked viciously by rioters summoned to the Capitol by Trump, and he was nearly killed when they dragged him into the crowd, with one man shouting, “Kill him with his own gun!”

In the years since, Michael has refused to allow the memory of that day to be whitewashed by MAGA liars—up to and including the president himself. In this scorching piece, he tells his story, and lays out why exactly he doesn’t plan on shutting up or going away anytime soon.

This is just a small sample. In these pages, we’ve published hundreds of voices from across the spectrum of American life:

The Maine reverend sheltering immigrants. The veteran family cut off from VA support. The architect appalled by Trump’s DC vanity projects. The Minnesotan lamenting ICE’s occupation. The infectious disease expert skewering this administration’s ebola response. The rural American watching her neighbors fall prey to Trumpism. The European whose fellow countrymen are afraid to visit America. The son of immigrants whose friends are fleeing to Canada. The veteran activist laying out the Iran war’s costs on service members.

The DC cops who bravely held the line alongside Fanone. The career prosecutor sickened by the politicization of justice. The disabled veteran speaking out on behalf of his comrades. The Ohio farmer suffering Trump’s tariffs. The parent of a child with special needs who is suffering from research cuts. I’ve even told my own story of working inside the first Trump administration, and resigning in protest on January 6, in hopes that it can offer lessons for others to follow their consciences, and not be lulled by the false promises of those currently in power.

Each and every one of these stories holds a lesson, a fragment of wisdom about the precarious moment we’re living through. We share them not to depress or overwhelm you—just the opposite. We’re telling these stories to show that bravery is still, always, an option. That the silence of cowardice is a choice, and one that Americans need not make in this moment of slow-rolling crisis. There is another way. All of these people prove that.

Be like them. Speak out. Refuse to be silenced. This is a moment of darkness that our democratic way of life can—and will—survive. But it requires that each of us do our part.

Sarah Matthews is an advisory board member for Home of the Brave, which exists to show Americans the real-world consequences of this administration’s policies, and to highlight what bravery looks like in defense of American democracy.